Silicon Times Report The Original Independent OnLine Magazine" (Since 1987) January 03, 1997 No.1301 Silicon Times Report International OnLine Magazine Post Office Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida 32221-6155 R.F. Mariano, Editor STR Publishing, Inc. Voice: 1-904-292-9222 10am-5pm EST STReport WebSite http://www.streport.com STR Publishing Support Server MULTI-NODE Operation 24hrs-7 days THE BOUNTY INTERNATIONAL BBS Featuring: * 5.0GB * of File Libraries Mustang Software's WILDCAT! Client/Server BBS Version 5 95/NT (Under Construction) STReport published with MS Office 97 & Adobe Acrobat Pro v3 Featuring a Full Service Web Site http://www.streport.com Voted TOP TEN Ultimate WebSite Join STReport's Subscriber List receive STR through Internet FAX: 904-268-2237 24hrs Toad Hall BBS 1-617-567-8642 01/03/97 STR 1301 The Original Independent OnLine Magazine! - CPU Industry Report - N64/Mario 64 Review - Shareware List - USR X2 Rated - SyQuest, NEW Drive - Lexmark Offer - Quake Review - Dinosaur Explorer - PSX Zone 2 - Towers II - People Talking - Classics & Gaming Point, Click and Bet! Computer Xmas Sales Weak Tandy Closes Computer City Stores STReport International OnLine Magazine Featuring Weekly "Accurate UP-TO-DATE News and Information" Current Events, Original Articles, Tips, Rumors, and Information Hardware - Software - Corporate - R & D - Imports STReport's BBS - The Bounty International BBS, invites all BBS systems, worldwide, to participate in the provision and distribution of STReport for their members. You may call The STReport Home BBS, The Bounty @ 1- 904-268-4116. Or obtain the latest issue from our WebSite. Enjoy the wonder and excitement of exchanging all types of useful information relative to all computer types, worldwide, through the use of the Internet. 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The Publisher, Staff & Editors Florida Lotto - LottoMan v1.35 Results: 12/28/96: 3 of 6 numbers, 3 three number matches From the Editor's Desk... How about those Gators!! Now, I guess those sad jokes coming from Coach Bowden will abate. In any case, Florida's number one industry still seems to be the production of first class Football players and teams. As with all things. Changes are inevitable. The familiar way to reach the STReport support BBS is undergoing sweeping changes. Next week, you'll be able to reach the BBS and all our files, back issues etc., via telnet. The routers are in, the lines are in. Now, all that's left to the final configurations is to make the gateway to the net reliable. We are using 3Com networking hardware exclusively. the systems are using 3Com XL 100 NICs and a pair of Hubs. The entire network is connected with RJ45 twisted pairs. The Routers are 3Com 530u units. The actual server for the support duties is a 166 Pentium with 10gb of storage, 32 mb ram, running Windows NT 4.0. That should do the job very nicely. Its safe to say, once all the "wrinkles" are ironed out it will be available 24-7. We will post the addresses etc., as soon as everything is solid. Can you believe we've been doing STReport for TEN years? This year, 1997, is STReport's tenth anniversary year. It all started as a very humble newsletter for the Atari computers in 1987 and now we are a very humble, but highly informative weekly magazine. All our back issues will be available at our support site. Stay tuned for all developments as they occur. Ralph... Of Special Note: http//www.streport.com STReport is now ready to offer much more in the way of serving the Networks, Online Services and Internet's vast, fast growing site list and userbase. We now have our very own WEB/NewsGroup/FTP Site and although it is in its early stages of construction, do stop by and have a look see. Since We've received numerous requests to receive STReport from a wide variety of Internet addressees, we were compelled to put together an Internet distribution/mailing list for those who wished to receive STReport on a regular basis, the file is ZIPPED, then UUENCODED. Unfortunately, we've also received a number of opinions that the UUENCODING was a real pain to deal with. So, as of October 01, 1995, you'll be able to download STReport directly from our very own SERVER & WEB Site. While there, be sure to join our STR AutoMailer list. STReport's managing editors DEDICATED TO SERVING YOU! Ralph F. Mariano, Publisher - Editor Dana P. Jacobson, Editor, Current Affairs Section Editors PC Section Mac Section Special Events Section R.F. Mariano J. Deegan Lloyd E. Pulley Gaming & Entertainment Kid's Computing Corner Dana P. Jacobson Frank Sereno STReport Staff Editors Michael Arthur John Deegan Brad Martin Michael R. Burkley Paul Guillot Joseph Mirando Doyle Helms John Duckworth Jeff Coe Victor Mariano Melanie Bell Jay Levy Carl Prehn Paul Charchian Vincent P. O'Hara Contributing Correspondents Jason Sereno Norman Boucher Daniel Stidham David H. Mann Angelo Marasco Donna Lines Brian Boucher Glenwood Drake Vernon W.Smith Bruno Puglia Paul Haris Kevin Miller Craig Harris Allen Chang Tim Holt Ron Satchwill Leonard Worzala Tom Sherwin Please submit ALL letters, rebuttals, articles, reviews, etc., via E-Mail to: CompuServe 70007,4454 Prodigy CZGJ44A Delphi RMARIANO GEnie ST.REPORT BIX RMARIANO AOL STReport Internet rmariano@streport.com WebSite http://www.streport.com STReport Headline News LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS Weekly Happenings in the Computer World Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson Internet: Year's Top Tech Story The top technology news story of 1996 was the Internet, says the nation's leading tech writers, and the Net probably will be the top tech story of the new year as well, they add. Reporting from San Francisco, United Press International notes the California business communications firm Wilson McHenry interviewed the 25 most influential technology journalists as listed in the publication Marketing Computers. "It says their verdict that the Internet dominated their beat this year and would do again in 1997 was unanimous," UPI reports. Wilson McHenry says everyone talks about the Internet, and that will keep up in the year to come, "but with a sharper focus on how to turn the information superhighway into a marketplace," adds the wire service. Here's Why the Program Is Late Ace technology columnist Gene Emery notes "Promises, Promises" could be the theme song of the software business, since companies regularly must delay release of new products beyond the promised debut, usually because bugs have cropped up. Writing for the Reuter News Service, Emery notes VR Sports (which originally promised to release its "VR Baseball" game in 1995), has come up with a "Top Ten" list to explain why we may not see the game until the first pitch this spring. The reasons, listed in reverse order, a la the David Letterman Show, are: 1. Marketing is complaining there isn't enough blood and guts in the game. 2. An EA virus has been detected in VR Baseball which causes players to purposely throw a game. 3. Have not been able to get the game to boot since implementing the "Players' Strike" feature. 4. Two words: Nomo Mania. 5. There was a setback in testing because many of the testers were using illegally corked joysticks. 6. It takes way too many polygons to represent major-league umpires. 7. Stupidly hired "Codeless" Joe Jackson as lead programmer. 8. Many programmers were found aimlessly roaming through corn fields saying, "If you program it, it will crash." 9. Programmers and artists can' continue without a collective bargaining agreement. 10. Took too long to abandon the "We can save money by using the old source code for Pong" theory. Encryption Plan Comes Next Week The final version of the federal government's new policy on export of computer encoding products will be unveiled next week, and insiders say the plan is not likely to mollify the software industry and privacy advocates who objected to the first draft. Reporting from Washington, Aaron Pressman of the Reuter News Service says some changes were made in the final rules, available Friday at a government printing office, from the earlier draft, "but the bulk of the proposal remains the same, including portions strongly criticized by the software industry that applied to real-time communications." Undersecretary William Reinsch of the U.S. Commerce Department said two weeks ago the draft rules would be modestly revised, but warned that some objections could not be addressed. The old rules, dating from the Cold war, allow the administration to severely limit the export of products containing encryption, programs that use mathematical formulas to scramble information and render it unreadable without a password or software "key." The new Commerce Department rules were intended as a compromise, allowing U.S. companies to compete in the encryption market while protecting the interests of law enforcement officials. "The policy relies on so-called key recovery features which allow government officials to decode encrypted messages when acting under proper legal authority," says Pressman. "Under the policy to be issued Monday, products containing key recovery features will be eligible for export after a one-time review." Reuters notes software firms had hoped the key recovery exception would only apply to stored data, like a document on a hard drive, "but," says the wire service, "the final rules, like the draft rules, also require key recovery for real-time data transmission such as coded phone calls." The new rules say non-key recovery software with keys of up to 56 bits will be exportable under six-month, renewable licenses until the end of 1998, but only if the manufacturer commits to producing software with key recovery by then. Also, all other encryption products, such as state-of-the art 128-bit software without key recovery features, would continue to be treated as munitions. "Such products include ordinary e-mail programs and even the recently introduced set-top box for surfing the Internet with a television," Pressman reports. Bernstein Renews Encryption Row Chicago college professor Dan Bernstein is set to square against the U.S. government again next month on the subject of computer encryption. Bernstein is set to teach a course on encryption Jan. 13 at the University of Chicago, but United Press International notes new federal regulations may require that he clear this with the government. The professor acknowledges that new U.S. Commerce Department regulations restricting computer encryption -- published over the Christmas holidays and put into immediate effect this week -- might be violated by his class. Bernstein told the wire service he thinks the Commerce Department regulations are substantially the same as State Department regulations ruled unconstitutional in a Dec. 6 decision by federal Judge Marilyn Hall Patel, who ruled the controls were too broad. Attorney Cindy Cohn, representing the professor, says she may seek an injunction unless Washington agrees to suspend enforcement of the rules pending a court review. UPI notes, "Bernstein developed an encryption algorithm. In ruling that his algorithm is protected free speech, the courts have extended First Amendment protection to computer code." WebTV Had Healthy Christmas Makers of WebTV -- the set-top box manufactured by Philips Magnavox and Sony Electronics that allows TV viewers to access the Internet -- are happy with retail sales during their first Christmas season. Writing in PC Week Online, reporter Margaret Kane notes the device was aimed mostly at Internet novices, although retailers like Raymond Navarrete, vice president of Tops Appliance City, in Edison, New Jersey, said it also sold well to computer-savvy buyers. Said Navarrete, "There are people who said, 'My computer is in my office' or 'It's over in the corner.' This becomes a product that can easily be added. It's like buying a VCR." Kane notes neither Sony nor Philips has released sales figures for the device, "but it did make it onto the list of 'hot gifts' put out by the International Council of Shopping Centers," adding soe retailers suggest buyers were captivated by the novelty of the device. Adds Kane, "Installation of the device is similar to setting up a VCR. It automatically dials into WebTV Networks Inc., a Palo Alto, California, Internet access provider that charges a flat rate. Users surf the World Wide Web via a remote control, although peripheral devices, including keyboards, are offered." PC May Revive Japanese Village Japan is watching to see if the new year will witness the revival of the small rural village of Yamada in Toyama Prefecture after farmers there received free computers linked to the Internet. The Kyodo Japanese news service notes that earlier last summer the Yamada office distributed a free PC to each of 325 families in the 456-house village, where 350 households are engaged in farming. "The move," says Kyodo, "is aimed at bringing significant changes to the rural community with a population of only 2,000, down from 3,000 a couple of decades ago." The wire adds that like many others in Japan's rural areas, Yamada's residents were hit by the government's trade liberalization policy on agricultural products, which means Japan can no longer offer the same level of protection to its farmers, he said. Local official Harunobu Sugimoto says they might help stimulate the people by, for example, accepting distant orders for farm products through online shopping services. Meanwhile, the wire service notes 44-year-old Isao Kurata has a more radical idea. Says Kurata, the driving force behind Yamada's computer project, "The latest infrared modem can provide wireless access to information from anywhere in the village, even in the rice fields during work breaks." He said that although it has begun trial usage of the latest modems, Yamada will need a total of 200 transmission poles ranging up to an elevation of 1,000 meters for full infrared coverage of a roughly 40-square-kilometer area. Kurata, who has used computers for 14 years, moved the base of his machine-design office four years ago to his home vilage and came up with the idea of introducing the Internet there. He says he now has committed himself to voluntarily visiting up to three houses every night to teach the families how to use the Internet, with the teleconferencing and other application software supplied. He said, "I want to support my home village and make it nice to live in. The farmers can live their way and preserve the land by comfortably accessing necessary information on things like markets and plant diseases." Kyodo says the village will upload information of its own -- such as data relating to skiing and hot springs which bring the village some 1.5 billion yen in tourist revenues every year -- and aims to increase the number of its residents, especially the young, through the computer project. Great Lakes Hot Tech Job Market Word is the latest, greatest job market for information technology skills in 1997 is the Great Lakes region. Meanwhile, last year's hottest market -- the Mid-Atlantic region -- has slipped all the way to 7th place, out of 9 sites. These are the findings of a new technology employment survey 270 information services managers conducted by Computerworld newspaper, which adds in a statement, "With most companies increasing their spending on information technology, nationwide demand for information technology skills will continue to grow in 1997. The survey also finds the continuing importance of the Internet and intranets in business is influencing the most sought after skills. "The hottest skills," says the paper, "include programmers experienced in HTML, which is the language used to create Web pages, Microsoft Visual Basic development tools, Windows NT operating systems, and TCP/IP networking." IBM Creates Higher Disk Capacity A new milestone in storing information on a hard disk is being claimed by IBM scientists who say they have developed a drive that can hold 5 billion bits of data in a square inch. The Wall Street Journal reports this morning the device could store the text of 625 novels on a single square inch of disk surface. "That's between five and 10 times the capacity of the disk drives currently used in typical personal computers," the paper adds. Right now, the ultra-high capacity disk drives exist only in the laboratory at IBM's Almaden Research Center and at its Storage Systems Division, both based San Jose, California, but the company says it expects computers using the drives to be available in two or three years. The Journal comments, "The five-billion-bit announcement comes just a year after the company said it had developed drives with a capacity of three billion bits a square inch. A company spokesman said he expects IBM scientists to reach the 10-billion bit level by he end of the decade." SyQuest Delivers New Disk Drive Volume shipments of SyQuest Technology Inc.'s new SyJet 1.5 gigabyte removable cartridge disk drive are to begin this month. In Fremont, California, officials with the storage device maker told the Reuter News Service the firm already has shipped more than 90,000 units of its new EZFlyer 230 disk drive, the second of its EZ product family. Reuters notes SyQuest has seen its market share decline in the last year from new competitors in the computer storage business such as Iomega Corp., a maker of optical drives including the Zip drive. The company has been putting out new products in an effort to meet competition. X2 Performance Data Released U.S. Robotics has released initial performance data on its new x2 modem technology, showing that the system generally lives up to the company's expectations. The Skokie, Illinois, firm plans to be first to market x2 modems, with initial consumer products shipping later this month. A statement issued by U.S. Robotics says the company has conducted testing in 87 area codes across the U.S., with early performance data showing that the vast majority of households should be able to download Internet text and graphics at nearly twice the speed as current standard modem connections. "This early test data is based on nearly 20,000 V.34 calls placed with diagnostic software that predicts whether the connections will support the new technology," notes the company. "Based on early testing in seven Bell operating company regions, a high percentage of test calls to date have only one analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion in the path of the call, which is a condition necessary to connect at the higher speeds supported by x2," states U.S. Robotics. "The remaining calls would automatically fall back to V.34 operation, the 28.8K/33.6K bps modem standard widely used today. "When x2 connections are not made, it's typically because there's been more than one analog-to-digital conversion in the path of the call," states U.S. obotics. "However, because the telephone network is evolving to a primarily digital infrastructure, most calls to trunk side digitally-connected ISP equipment have only one analog-to-digital conversion in their path." U.S. Robotics also is in the process of obtaining Federal Communications Commission certification of its x2 products. Currently, FCC rules limit the signal level that digitally connected server equipment can transmit into the digital portion of the network phone lines. "Based on product testing to date, the result of this limitation is that the top transmission speed in the downstream link is 53K bps," says U.S. Robotics. "At higher signal levels, laboratory tests indicate that the x2 top speeds increase, with connections at 56K bps and potentially higher rates." Apple Paid Amelio $3M for 8 Months For eight months of work, Apple Computer Inc. paid new Chairman/CEO Gilbert Amelio nearly $3 million in salary and bonuses, according to a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Dow Jones news service reports that in comparison, Amelio, who joined the struggling computer maker last February, earned $1.3 million in the previous eight months as president/CEO at National Semiconductor Corp. A proxy statement filed last week with the SEC says Apple paid Amelio $655,061 in salary and $2.33 million in bonuses for the fiscal year that ended in September. Former Apple CEO Michael Spindler received $939,576 in compensation and a $3.3 million severance payment when he left. Notes Dow Jones, "Apple was losing market share and money when Amelio arrived in February. The company has since undergone a restructuring and reported a profit in its fourth quarter - six months earlier than many on Wall Street had expected. However, some of the profit was reclaimed from a $207 million restructuring charge taken earlier in the year." Iomega Lays Off 500 to 700 Some 500 to 700 jobs are being eliminated at Iomega Corp.'s Roy, Utah, plant, as the company, a leader in portable data storage units, makes plans to shift manufacturing of its portable computer disk drives to Malaysia. Business writer Kristen Moulton of The Associated Press quotes Iomega officials as saying the move will help the company keep its costs down and prices low for consumers in the competitive market. Adds Moulton, "Production and packaging employees at the Roy plant were told they'll lose their jobs beginning in March. The company plans job counseling, training and flexible time so workers can find other positions. ...Workers also will get severance pay and medical benefit extesions." Iomega's headquarters and research, prototype development, sales and marketing offices will remain in Roy, where the company soon will move into a new building. The firm employed 1,900 in Roy in November. Worldwide, it had 2,800 employees, up more than 1,000 from the previous year. Tandy Closes Computer City Stores Tandy Corp. is closing 19 Computer City stores and relocating two others as part of a strategic plan to reposition the superstore chain to focus on the experienced user and SOHO (small office, home office) markets. The Fort Worth, Texas, retailers expects the moves will result in a $170 million after-tax charge to fourth quarter earnings. Computer City has 113 outlets nationwide. Tandy is also exiting the consumer electronics superstore business. The company has entered into contracts with Fry's Electronics Inc. of Palo Alto, California, for the sale of the assets in six Incredible Universe stores located in the Arlington, Texas; Dallas, Texas; Phoenix, Arizona; Portland, Oregon; Sacramento, California; and San Diego, California, markets. Contracts have also been entered into to sell the six buildings and land to limited partnerships who will lease the stores to Fry's. The deals' financial terms weren't disclosed. Fry's Electronics currently operates 10 computer and consumer electronics stores of up to 150,000 square feet in California. "The Incredible Universe concept was developed to provide a larger selection, non-commissioned sales environment and a 'hands-on' experience," says John V. Roach, Tandy's chairman and CEO. "While individual stores enjoyed success and customers surveyed had strong positives for Incredible Universe, the economic model is not viable for Tandy." CompUSA Chief Bemoans Weak Sales CompUSA Inc. CEO James Halpin says holiday sales were weak in the Dallas company's computer superstores. CompUSA reported a disappointing 1.5 percent increase in same-store sales in the second quarter of fiscal year 1997, which ended Dec. 28. "Retail sales in the last two weeks of December were soft and that caused a little bit of disappointment, but things go forward," stated Halpin in an interview with the Reuters news service. Halpin added that he thought holiday sales were slow because customers are awaiting next week's introduction of Intel's new multimedia MMX chip. "We think our corporate customers and a lot of our retail customers are waiting for that chip to come out on January 8," he said. Doctors' Service to Go Online A new online service for doctors intended to provide up-to-minute medical information is to be launched in May by a consortium of major U.S. publishing companies, including Harcourt Brace, Wolters Kluwer and Times Mirror. Reporting from St. Louis, United Press International says the Internet service will be called MD Consult, and the publishers promise it will become for doctors what the Lexis and Westlaw services are for lawyers. CEO Brian Knez of Harcourt Brace told the wire service, "MD Consult represents for us an important opportunity to meet what we believe to be the growing demand by health care professionals for online access to comprehensive medical information and services." UPI says the partners will include Harcourt Brace's medical publishing subsidiary WB Saunders Co., Wolters Kluwer's Lippincott-Raven Publishers of Philadelphia and Times Mirror's Los Angeles-based Mosby-Year Book. MD Consult President Jerry Freeland said the service will allow the publishing companies to respond quickly to customer requests for information in different formats, adding licensing agreements have been offered to other medical publishers. When doctors sign onto the service in May, he said, they will be able to access the full contents of more than 35 medical journals and 30 medical reference textbooks. "Also available will be a clinical reference library and access to other existing medical databases," says UPI. Air Force Site Vandalized Vandalized by online intruders, an Internet site operated by the U.S. Air Force was taken down this weekend, along with some 80 other sites maintained by the Department of Defense. The Wall Street Journal today noted that on Sunday morning, officials at the Department of Defense's Defense Technical Information Center noticed that someone had gained access to the Air Force's Web site and changed it from its standard fare. "Instead of the unclassified information about the military service, including fact sheets, biographies on commanders and ews releases," said the paper, "users were offered a brief sexually explicit video clip. The bogus site also claimed that everything the government says is effectively a lie." Major Cecily Christian of the U.S. Air Force told the Journal, "Some vandals -- somebody who knows how to gain access to our computers -- was able to gain access and put pornographic pictures on our site," adding that the FBI and the Air Force's office of special investigations is looking into the incident. No other Defense Department computers were affected. The paper says the attack prompted the Defense Department to temporarily take down its 80 other Web sites to check whether they had been altered, but no intrusions were discovered. By yesterday afternoon, all but the Air Force's site was back up. MCI Berates NYNEX Order Processing MCI is charging that "a seriously flawed NYNEX order processing system" is delaying the ability of New Yorkers and New Englanders to switch their local telephone service to another company. "The NYNEX system fails to meet system standards established by the Federal Communications Commission," says a statement issued by MCI. The FCC is requiring local telephone monopolies to install electronic order processing systems by January 1 to ensure that customers who chose to switch their local telephone company can do so easily and quickly. "The NYNEX system does not meet the FCC test because it is an interim plan that requires manual input from sales representatives and is not an electronic, system to system solution," notes MCI. "The manual system can lead to serious delays and errors in processing customer sales orders and other pertinent information." According to MCI, fully automated electronic order processing system better enables companies to share information required to handle new service requests, repair calls and billing information. It adds that electronic systems also allow competitors to more quickly and more effectively resell local network capacity at a lower cost to customers. "NYNEX is imply not preparing a system that can meet customer needs," says Donald T. Lynch, MCI senior vice president for financial operations and accounting. "We already are competing with NYNEX through our own, state-of-the-art local networks. Allowing NYNEX to use this flawed order processing system would severely limit MCI's ability to expand local competition by competing in the resale market." Investigation of Cowboys' Irvin, Williams Ongoing The investigation of aggravated sexual assault charges made against Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin, offensive tackle Erik Williams and a third unnamed suspect is continuing, but Dallas police said no charges will be filed Thursday. "Detectives are gathering and evaluating physical evidence and will be interviewing a number of individuals who may have knowledge about the allegations and whereabouts of the suspects named by the complainant," Dallas police said in a statement released Thursday afternoon. "Neither of the Dallas Cowboys named has been interviewed; no determination has been made on when they might be asked to provide statements to the police." The Cowboys visit the Carolina Panthers Sunday in an NFC divisional playoff game. It is unlikely that the investigation will keep either player from playing in that contest. Stallings & Alabama win in final game Gene Stallings, whose seven-year tenure at Alabama included a national title and an NCAA probation, went out a winner Wednesday in his final game, a 17-14 victory over No. 15 Michigan in the Outback Bowl. Linebacker Dwayne Rudd returned an interception 88 yards to put the 16th-ranked Crimson Tide ahead to stay. Stallings announced his resignation, effective at the end of the season, following a 24-23 victory over Auburn on Nov. 23. Stallings, 61, was 70-15-1 at Alabama and won the 1992 national championship with a 13-0 record. Defensive coordinator Mike Dubose takes over for Stallings. In other New Year's Day bowl action, Peyton Manning threw for 408 yards and four touchdowns as No. 9 Tennessee routed 11th- ranked Northwestern, 48-28, in the Citrus Bowl. In the Cotton Bowl, Ko Kealaluhi caught a 28-yard touchdown pass with 3:39 remaining as fifth- ranked Brigham Young overcame a 10-point deficit to defeat No. 14 Kansas State, 19-15. Curtis Enis scored three touchdowns as No. 7 Penn State ripped 20th-ranked Texas, 38-15, in the Fiesta Bowl, and Oscar Davenport threw for one touchdown and ran for another to spark No. 11 North Carolina to a 20-13 victory over No. 25 West Virginia in the Gator Bowl. Arizona's loss set up national title game When Florida State met Florida five weeks ago, it was for the top spot in college football. Thursday's rematch in the Sugar Bowl will be no different. Second-ranked Arizona State fell out of the championship hunt with a heart-breaking 20-17 loss to No. 4 Ohio State in Wednesday's Rose Bowl. The previously unbeaten Sun Devils had taken the lead on an 11-yard TD run by quarterback Jake Plummer with 1:40 to go, only to watch the Buckeyes march 65 yards to the winning score -- a four-yard scoring toss from Joe Germaine to freshman David Boston with 19 seconds left. Third- ranked Florida (11-1) is back in the picture and likely would claim the championship by beating Florida State (11-0), the nation's only unbeaten team. The Seminoles squeaked by The Gators 24-21 on Nov. 30. GATORS HAMMER `NOLES In pursuit of Title Third-ranked Florida staked a claim to its first-ever national championship as Heisman Trophy winner Danny Wuerffel threw three touchdown passes to Ike Hilliard and ran for another score in a 52-20 victory over top- ranked Florida State in the Sugar Bowl at New Orleans. Wuerffel connected on touchdown passes to Hilliard in each of the first three quarters -- of nine, 31 and seven yards -- and added a 47-yard completion to the receiver to set up another score. The third touchdown pass to Hilliard began a 28- point explosion that broke open a close game and enabled the Gators to avenge a 24-21 setback to Florida State on Nov. 30. The Gators also erased the memory of last season's 62-24 loss to Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl, a defeat that kept Florida coach Steve Spurrier from his first national title. Seven Letter bombs found in U.S., FBI issues alert Seven letter bombs disguised as Christmas cards and mailed from the Middle East were found in three different locations in the United States Thursday, prompting the FBI to warn Americans to be on alert. FBI officials declined to confirm reports that they were investigating a possible connection between the cards and key figures in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and the foiled plot to bomb other New York landmarks. The FBI said none of the seven letter bombs found Thursday exploded but that they would have caused "grave harm," including death, if detonated. Penney, Dayton Hudson, CompUSA report weak sales Shoppers watched their spending this Christmas at some of the nation's biggest stores, resulting in disappointing sales during the important holiday season. Providing more evidence of a weak Christmas season, J.C. Penney and Dayton Hudson Corp. reported some holiday sales that were below their own expectations. CompUSA said second-quarter sales rose only 1.5% from a year ago. After a dismal Christmas one year ago, store owners had hoped a rebounding economy and high levels of consumer confidence would ignite buying this year. In late afternoon trading, Penney was off 1-1/4 at 47-1/2, Dayton Hudson was down 1-3/8 at 37-7/8 and shares of CompUSA dropped 5 to 15-3/4. (USA TODAY) Midsize manufacturers have yet to feel Internet's impact Some U.S. manufacturers believe that the Internet will continue to have little or no effect on their companies over the next two years, according to a national survey by Grant Thornton LLP. The survey found that 95 percent of the owners and top executives who run America's midsize companies believe that the Internet is a permanent part of the business landscape. However, only 11 percent said that the Internet has had some impact on their companies. In contrast, 53 percent said the Internet has had no impact at all. Microsoft to introduce IE 3.0 and FrontPage for Macs Microsoft reportedly will introduce a final version of Internet Explorer 3.0 and a version of FrontPage for the Macintosh platform at the Macworld trade show in San Francisco next week. Microsoft is also expected to introduce the ActiveX Part Adapter. This new technology is designed to run ActiveX programs through CyberDog, which is Apple's Internet application suite, and other applications compatible with Apple Computer's OpenDoc architecture. Commercial printing shop debuts on the Internet The first interactive commercial print shop is making its debut on the Internet. iPrint is a self-service Internet application that makes designing and ordering printed materials as easy as using an ATM machine. iPrint is a push-button, "self-service" design environment where the consumer can see what they are creating. The iPrint technology is the first desktop publishing engine of its kind for the Internet. iPrint can be reached at www.iPrint.com. Shareware Focus STR Feature Presenting the Latest Goodies Shareware Treasure Chest By Lloyd E. Pulley I've been asked if I d/l (download) and/or try all of the programs I list. The answer is 'no'. There just isn't enough time to d/l and test out all of the files. Besides that, I don't have any use for 90% of them - which doesn't mean that you won't. Take the first one on my list for example, "Wallaby". That one I did d/l and try out, and it looked like a good program. But since I'm happy with WinZip, I had no need for it. What I do is try to get a decent mix of different types of programs for you each week, whether they're ones that I like/would use or not. But there are some that I do keep and use - the Polyview graphics viewer, the Starfish Internet meter and the McAfee virus scanner to name just three. ------------ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Wallaby - 2.5 1/2/97 2mg Shareware $19.95 Wallaby for Windows '95 is the fastest, easiest and best way to zip and unzip in Windows '95. But thats not all - Wallaby can also create Self- Extracting EXE's - perfect for an installation/distribution, it also has a unique "Favourite Folders" which will seek out and locate your files. Wallaby is also tightly integrated with the Windows '95 shell, right-click any folder or drive and in minutes it will be compressed. Download Site - http://www.clearlight.com/~localnet/unzip.htm ------------ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Wave Events - 2.1 12/27/96 712k Shareware $10.00 A Windows 95 utility to individually install/delete up to 12 different sound events, and their WAV file associations for any windows program. Have different sounds/sound events for different programs. Requires VB4.0 Runtime. Download Site - http://www.waveevents.com/waveevbs.htm ------------ Name/Version Release Date Size Price McAfee Scan for Windows 95 - 2.08 12/27/96 2.07mb Shareware $65 The most popular shareware virus scanner! Comes complete with ViruShield. VirusScan superior detection rates are the envy of the industry; more than 20% better than the number two market leader. VirusScan natively supports Windows 95 with an extensive array of features to keep your system immune from viruses. Download Site - http://www.mcafee.com/ ------------ Name/Version Release Date Size Price PBTerm - 1.10 12/30/96 1200k Shareware $10.00 PBTerm is the Windows 95 client for Paintball Net. Paintball Net is a multi-player, real-time, Internet-based game. Players deck themselves out with everything from paintball guns to scope-mounts to refracto suits (a la Predator) and run around the countryside taking potshots at other players and computer controlled 'bots. Download Site - http://www.busprod.com/davidrm/ ------------ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Image Commander - 2.0 12/27/96 1.97mg Shareware $19.00 JASC Image Commander 2.0 is a fast and easy image viewer. It supports over 30 file types including GIF, JPG, PNG, TIF, BMP, CDR, WMF and many more! It is an excellent choice for a fast default image viewer in Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0. Image Commander 2.0 also supports quick and easy image conversions and fast image printing as well. Download Site - http://www.jasc.com/ic.html ------------ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Easy Pool - 3.0 Beta 1 1/2/97 106k Shareware $16.95 Easy Pool is a Windows 95 software program that completely automates your NCAA Basketball Pool. Grid-like screens, similar to the ones you see in newspapers, make it easy to setup and manage a pool. You can print and view detailed reports with a click of the mouse. Easy Pool now features: pick sheet printing, selectable points setup, tie-breaker entry, on-line help, right click option for instant player standings, and fax compatibility. Easy Pool can track up to 1500 player participants. A MUST for any serious College Basketball Fan! Download Site - http://members.aol.com/easypool/index.html ------------ Name/Version Release Date Size Price MediaBlaze SE 32-bit - 3.2c 12/27/96 2.10mb Shareware $20 The Internet and Intranet, powered by multimedia, are booming and you cannot afford to be left behind. There's never been a greater demand for multimedia applications than now. Your computer needs to become a part of the revolution that is shaping the way computers are being used. The best tool to do this effectively and quickly is MediaBlaze SE. You'll do this quickly by individually using one of the specific tabs for different media and executing the method. It's really that simple. What makes MediaBlaze SE effective is its seemingly unlimited flexibility. Each tab's properties and methods give you quick control over the media selected. Tabs for Images, Music, Sound, Video, CD Audio, MCI Devices and more guide you through every step. Download Site - http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/3862/index.html ------------ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Online Meter - 2.0 1/1/97 2445k Shareware $15.00 The counter for your Dial-Up Networking connections with Windows 95. Starts counting when you connect. Tariff definition is easy to do, including special support for holidays. Moreover, the program creates a detailed log of all your connections. Download Site - http://www.kagi.com/mkrebs/meter/ ------------ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Starfish InternetMeter Inlay - 2.0 01/01/97 789k Freeware Watch the Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 and Netscape Navigator browsers come alive - with the InternetMeter Inlay from Starfish Software! This unique utility provides a glimpse of the technology behind Starfish Internet Utilities - the essential utilities for every Internet user. The InternetMeter Inlay embeds itself into the top right corner of your Web browser and tracks your online activity in real time. Session time, data transfer rates and connection status are all monitored - then complete details of the browser session are added to a cumulative Call Log. Download Site - http://www.starfishsoftware.com/ ------------ Name/Version Release Date Size Price GatherTalk 32-bit - Final beta 6 01/02/97 1.14mb Freeware GatherTalk is a phone for the Internet. It allows interactive voice conversations around the world. GatherTalk does even more than a phone. It allows teleconferencing on Internet, even with modem connections. It can support 3 people conferencing using 14.4kbps modems and 5 people conferencing using 28.8kbps modems. No special chat servers are required, all connections are direct. This shortens the transmission and processing delays, and also allows the most valuable feature, private conferencing. i.e. You can make your own conferencing groups as you wish. This version started a concept of GatherTalk PlugIn. TextTalk and WhiteBoard are two new Plug-ins for the first distribution. Download Site - http://www.cixt.cuhk.edu.hk/gtalk/ ------------ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Personal Friends - 1.0 1/1/97 3630k Freeware Nouveux Personal Friends v1.0 - Is a complete database application where you can have information about your friends, phone numbers, addresses, names in order. Personal Friends v1.0 includes a very nice phone dialer, so you can call your friends without having you to dial manually their numbers. Also you can add their photos in your database, so you know who they are. This is still a Beta but is fully functional. Download Site - http://home.coqui.net/arios/nouveux.htm ------------ Name/Version Release Date Size Price PolyView - 2.80 beta 12/30/96 1300k Shareware $20.00 PolyView by Polybytes is a shareware graphics viewer, conversion, and printing utility that has been optimized for use with Windows 95 and Windows NT (Intel). PolyView's noteworthy features are: ú Supports most of the popular graphics image formats, including BMP, GIF, JPEG, PCX, Photo-CD (read-only), PNG, TARGA, TIFF, and many others. ú Multithreading is used to enhance usability and allow time consuming operations, such as image file reading and writing, to be performed in parallel with user interface operations. ú Both full screen and windowed slide shows, using specified or random ordering. ú A wide variety of image appearance manipulation and filtering operations. ú Highly effective interpolated zooming. ú Sophisticated color resolution and pixel size manipulation algorithms. ú Thumbnail and directory browsers for image file management. ú DDE communication capabilities for convenient linking to your web browser, news reader, or HTML editor. Download Site - http://www.kagi.com/authors/polybytes/default.html ------------ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Disk PieCharter 32-bit - 2.1 12/29/96 85k Shareware $15 Disk Piecharter for Windows 95/NT is a Graphical Disk Explorer that shows disk usage per file and per directory in a piechart. You can zoom in and out on piechart segments (directories). You can also delete files and directory trees with it. Then it immediately shows the effect on free diskspace. Download Site - http://www.xs4all.nl/~hanszorn/diskpie95.html ------------ Name/Version Release Date Size Price HyperSnap - 2.78 12/18/96 396k Shareware $20.00 HyperSnap brings professional quality, convenient Windows 95 and NT screen captures to your fingertips. It was designed for ease of use, with powerful and useful features to aid the professional as well as support the needs of the occasional user. Download Site - http://www.hyperionics.com/www/snapdown.htm ------------ Name/Version Release Date Size Price QuickV1.0 12/30/96 1.77mg Freeware QuickV will view/play .wav .avi and most video formats, it will even display .bmp's (bitmaps). But it is mainly for playing .wav and .avi formats. Download Site - http://www.specent.com/~wario/ ------------ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Kali - 1.1g 12/29/96 1860k Shareware $20.00 Kali is the largest Internet gaming system in the world with over 70,000 users and 200 servers in 33 countries. Kali supports more games than any other internet gaming system, including Apache, Big Red Racing, Command & Conquer, Cyberstorm, Deadlock, Descent / Descent 2, Doom / Doom II, Duke Nukem 3D, EF2000, Fire Fight, Hellbender, Heretic, Hexen, Links LS, Mechwarrior 2, Monster Truck Madness, Mortal Kombat 3, Nascar Racing, Network Fighter Duel (NetDuel), Quake, Rise of the Triad, Shattered Steel, Super Karts, Terminal Velocity, Top Gun, VR Pool, Warcraft / Warcraft 2, Red Alert, Master of Orion II, Heroes of Might and Magic II, Marathon 2, Hellbender, Descent95, Doom95, and others.New features include organized game launching screens for Duke Nukem, Doom, Doom2, Heretic, Hexen, Terminal Velocity, and Quake. Now supports faster game play (compression), Winsock IPX, and multiple configurations. Download Site - http://www.kali.net/ ------------ Name/Version Release Date Size Price PowerPGP - 2.00 12/28/96 1086k Shareware $20.00 PowerPGP 2.00 is a front end Encryption Shell for PGP. Although mainly designed for Message encryption it's totally redesigned File Encryption and Key Management interfaces make it one of the most powerful and user friendly PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) front ends available. Redesigned from the ground up PowerPGP has even more Power. Requires DOS PGP to be properly installed before trying to use PowerPGP. With the increasing popularity of the Internet, Online Services, and BBS's more and more people are communicating electronically. After all why not? It's faster, more convenient, and cheaper. What most people don't realize is how easily someone can read their private messages. Anyone at the console of any of these systems can read your messages. Whats more it isn't even illegal for them to do so. So... What does one do to protect themselves? You can encrypt those messages with PGP. And to make the process of doing so easier you can use PowerPGP for Windows to do it. With PowerPGP you can write you message in PowerPGP and encrypt it. After that you can cut and paste your message into any windows based e-mail program. This includes many Windows terminal programs that connect to ANSI BBS systems. What PowerPGP is, exactly, is a windows based shell for the DOS PGP program. It makes encrypting a snap without having to know the complex command line switches required to use PGP. Download Site - http://www.servtech.com/public/fruitcake/powerpgp.html PowerPGP DOES require PGP to be installed properly on the system before using PowerPGP Download Site - http://www.pgp.com/ ------------ Name/Version Release Date Size Price CYBERMAN Calculator - 1.4 12/29/96 961k Freeware This is a calculator we all have waiting for. Huge numbers and display and it's freeware. Nice Icon-animated and shows different events every time you press a button! Download Site - http://home1.swipnet.se/~w-12471/homepage.html ------------ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Card File '97 - 1.0 12/31/96 2108k Shareware $5.00 This is a full-featured card file program that includes password protection, registry tampering detection (if someone trys to alter your win95 registry setting for Card File '97 password or password state), changeable fonts and colors, automatic record saving, automatic opening/displaying of "default" file (this can be set by the user), file encryption for records (so no one can read your files through an ASCII viewer). Download Site - http://www.cnsnet.net/user/lucky13/ ------------ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Video Poker - 2.01 1/6/96 182k Shareware $10.00 Play Vegas-style video poker from the comforts of your home. While this game is fun and challenging, you won't go broke putting quarters into this game. Payout odds are based on real Vegas machines. Download Site - http://members.aol.com/noshoes/index.htm ------------ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Hover Race 32-bit - beta 12/30/96 2.50mb Freeware Multi player hovercraft racing over the internet. Rev up your racer and compete against human opponents from all around the world. Up to eight players can engage in races around different courses. It also has a convenient meeting room for chatting and setting up games with other players. The game is very quick, with a great physics model, easy to learn and intuitive gameplay, and various options such as speed up zones and weapons. And all with no lag! The game plays with no pauses or skips on a 14.4k connection. It's free, and doesn't cost anything to play. HoverRace is very easy to play with only a few keys. Furthermore, HoverRace is not violent. You won't find any blood or death in HoverRace. Download Site - http://www.grokksoft.com/hover.html ------------ Name/Version Release Date Size Price See 'Em Post It Notes 32-bit - 1.0 1/1/97 .03mb Freeware Pop an icon in your tray at startup for quick and easy access to com'puter post it notes. Viritually unlimited number of notes, each note has an alarm feature, group notes by category, easy maintenance of notes ... organize your desk, your day, your life! Resource friendly. Download Site - http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/3519/page4.html ------------ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Vosaic 32-bit - 1.0 plug-in Official Release 12/31/96 .82mb Shareware Real time streaming of video means you don't have to wait for the whole video to be downloaded before being able to watch it. Vosaic adaptively streams MPEG1, MPEG2 and H.263 video over a wide range of transmission bandwidths. Both high quality MPEG audio and low-bitrate GSM audio is supported, as well as a very low bitrate 3.3 Kbit/s audio. Vosaic's Video Datagram Protocol intelligently adapts to the available network bandwidth and CPU power on your machine, providing the best possible video transmission under the circumstances. A full set of control buttons enable you to play and stop, and even fast forward or rewind through the video. Download Site - http://www.vosaic.com/ ------------ Name/Version Release Date Size Price MidiMaster 32-bit - 6.0 beta 1 12/31/96 830k Shareware $18.99 MidiMaster is a multimedia player for Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0 that supports MID, RMI, AVI, QuickTime and WAV formats. It is not only a media player but also a media file organizer. It is specially designed for those who like a desktop media player which brings convenience whenever they play and manage their beloved media files. MidiMaster runs on both Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0 as it provides specific Windows 95 GUI features. Also, users can either minimize MidiMaster to taskbar or shrink it to the TaskTray of Windows 95. MidiMaster also provides library functions for managing or categorizing media files. It has many extensive functions which make media files playing extremely simple and controllable. There are many more functions available to make your life of playing media files easier. Download Site - http://www.cs.ust.hk/~paul/mm/ ------------ Name/Version Release Date Size Price DUNCE - 2.5 12/31/96 118k Freeware An excellant little utility that automatically hits the "connect to" button for you if your using Win 95'. It also will fill in your password, start other programs for you, and automatically redial your provider if the line is busy until it gets through. This is a "must" have program. Download Site - http://www.vecdev.com/dunce.html ------------ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Net Term 32-bit - 4.0 12/29/96 .77mb Shareware $20 The benefits of NetTerm is in it's ability to provide you with a DIALER, TELNET CLIENT, and support for national BULLETIN BOARDS with only one program. As an extra, NetTerm has tools to resolve host names to IP address and remove WINSOCK.DLL from memory for those with multiple TCP/IP stacks. The benefits of NetTerm is in it's ability to provide you with a DIALER, TELNET CLIENT, and support for national BULLETIN BOARDS with only one program. As an extra, NetTerm has tools to resolve host names to IP address and remove WINSOCK.DLL from memory for those with multiple TCP/IP stacks. 16-bit version 4.0 (590kb) also available. Download Site - http://starbase.neosoft.com/~zkrr01/netterm.html ------------ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Hard Disk Sleeper 32-bit - 1.42 12/29/96 .07mb Shareware $20 With HDSleep, you can control the Power Management of your IDE and EIDE harddisk drives even if your BIOS does not support it. This is not only a question of power saving, it significantly reduces the noise your computer makes. HDSleep enables you to define suspend times common to all drives or, apply independent settings to each of them. With the small taskbar icon and its context menus, you will control the power management just with a mouse-click. HDSleep works with IDE- and Enhanced-IDE-compatible drives only. Do not use HDSleep for SCSI drives. Download Site - http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/M_Wolf/hdslp.htm ------------ Name/Version Release Date Size Price PIRATES - The Quest For The Seas - 2.01 12/31/96 3.2mb Shareware The multiplayer strategy game of piracy and plunder on the high seas, now in it's second major release! Play with up to 5 of your friends by email, or match wits with the computer pirates. Make an honest living as a trader or plunder and terrorize the local merchants and other players. Bury and hunt for treasure, build and customize your ship, and be the master of the Caribbean. Includes tutorial. Download Site - http://www.mountainside.com/ ------------ Name/Version Release Date Size Price CD/Spectrum Pro 32-bit - 3.0 build 301 1/2/97 204k Shareware CD/Spectrum Pro has two independent parts: The CD-Audio player and the spectrum analyzer. The CD-Audio player has almost every feature you can find on any software CD player - programmed mode, intro mode, optional taskbar icon operation,auto-play, auto-exit, auto-eject, artist/track/title database, etc. It also recognizes CDP files which can save you from typing in all the track/title information for your CDs. The spectrum analyzer graphically depicts the frequency spectra of the CD music in real time. (Unless you don't have a Pentium, in which case it is *almost* real time ) You may use either or both of the components without effect on the other. In other words, if you don't like the CD player, you can close it and use only the spectrum analyzer, or the other way around. Download Site - http://www.halcyon.com/gator/cdspro.htm ------------ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Norton AntiVirus 1/2/97 1.00mb Freeware January '96 definition update for Norton AntiVirus. This file is a complete replacement for any previous definitions set for all of the Norton AntiVirus products. The product list includes Norton AntiVirus 3.0 (DOS/Win 3.1), Norton AntiVirus for Windows 95, Norton AntiVirus Scanner for Windows NT, and Norton AntiVirus for NetWare 1.0 and 2.0. Note: If you have an older version of Norton then you'll also have to get this upgrade. Download Site - http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/index.html ------------ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Crescendo Plug-in - version 2.31 12/31/96 1192k Freeware UPDATE (STR1251) - Crescendo is a Web "Streaming" music player for Netscape and Microsoft browsers that lets you listen to MIDI music as you browse a web site. Over one thousand sites already have it...and hundreds more are being added each month. "Streaming" is the ability to listen to music while it is being sent to you over the Internet. Final update. Download Site - http://www.liveupdate.com/crescendo.html ------------ Name/Version Release Date Size Price EditPad 32-bit - 1.31.1 1/2/97 210k Postcardware UPDATE (STR1251 & STR1252) - EditPad is a replacement for the standard Windows NotePad. EditPad requires Windows 95 or later to run. No additional DLLs or whatever are required. Download Site - http://www.tornado.be/~johnfg/jgsoft.html **** Nintendo/Mario 64 STR Review A quick, to the point review CHECKING OUT THE NINTENDO 64 By Brain M. Boucher Nintendo 64, in summary, is a game which combines strategy and skill with amazing sixty-four bit graphics and a wide array of levels and worlds. The game's most obvious feature is its amazing three-dimensional graphics system. These graphics are very real, allowing the player to feel he is moving across a plane in any direction chosen. Instead of being forced to adhere to the conventional everything-is-right-in-front-or- behind-of-everything-else appearance. This gives the game most of its amazing reality, allowing the player to "see" his location, as well as his surroundings, better. The game also has an amazing controller system. The controller itself has been specially manufactured to fit any hand. One of the things that makes conventional video games so difficult is when you need to press two buttons at once and maintain running at the same time. Usually, it takes a lot of effort and practice to do this, and in certain games, "training" can be lethal. Nintendo has solved this problem by making the multiple buttons on their sleek controller ergonomically designed to be easily reached without shifting hand positions. Another good point of the controller is the fact that movement is controlled by an analog joystick, not the traditional four button (up, down, left, and right) approach. This allows the character to move in any direcition in a range of 360ø. The joystick itself is so small it can be moved with only two fingers, and not a whole hand. The most popular game out for Nintendo 64, at present, is Super Mario 64. This game can, at times be hard to control, but all in all, it is extremely challenging. One reason for this might be that Super Mario 64 covers a wide variety of settings, from the warm, light forest of the woods outside the castle to the freezing, slippery world of the Big Penguin Race to the watery world of the Jolly Roger Course. Mario is capable of swimming up, down, and in any other direction, including completely submerging. He reacts to different environments in fitting ways, again making the game more realistic. In conclusion, I believe the Nintendo 64 and Super Mario 64 are the beginning of a new wave of games covering, for the first time, an extra dimension in fun and excitement. I would recommend the N64 system to all. Watch for our special overview of the 64DD A T T E N T I O N-A T T E N T I O N-A T T E N T I O N LEXMARK OPTRA C COLOR LASER PRINTER For a limited time only; If you wish to have a FREE sample printout sent to you that demonstrates LEXMARK Optra C SUPERIOR QUALITY 600 dpi Laser Color Output, please send a Self Addressed Stamped Envelope [SASE] (business sized envelope please) to: STReport's LEXMARK Printout Offer P.O. Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida 32205-6155 Folks, the LEXMARK Optra C has to be the very best yet in its price range. It is far superior to anything we've seen or used as of yet. It is said that ONE Picture is worth a thousand words. The out put from the Lexmark Optra C is worth ten thousand words! Send for the free sample now. (For a sample that's suitable for framing, see below) Guaranteed. you will be amazed at the superb quality. (Please.. allow at least a two week turn- around). If you would like a sample printout that's suitable for framing. Yes that's right! Suitable for Framing. Order this package. It'll be on special stock and be of superb quality. We obtained a mint copy of a 1927 COLOR ENGRAVER'S YEAR BOOK. Our Scanner is doing "double duty"! The results will absolutely blow you away. If you want this high quality sample package please include a check or money order in the amount of $6.95 (Costs only) Please, make checks or money orders payable to; Ralph Mariano. Be sure to include your full return address and telephone number . The sample will be sent to you protected, not folded in a 9x12 envelope. Don't hesitate.. you will not be disappointed. This "stuff" is gorgeous! A T T E N T I O N-A T T E N T I O N-A T T E N T I O N EDUPAGE STR Focus Keeping the users informed Edupage Contents FCC Reluctant To Apply Access Charges To Internet Providers AOL Ponders Alternative Revenue Sources China Strengthens Control Over Internet Point. Click. Bet. Cyber Freeway Offers Free Ride On Internet New Domain Names On Track Air Force Web Page Hacked Into By Vandals Encryption Export Policy Takes Effect, Remains Controversial Software Pirates Make Out Like Bandits NLII's Instructional Management System Project Judge Rules Internet Off-Limits For Convict Consulting Company Urges Academics To Sell Research A Brown-Out For Consumer Electronics IBM Develops Hefty Hard Drive World Book Teams With IBM On CD-ROM Encyclopedia FCC RELUCTANT TO APPLY ACCESS CHARGES TO INTERNET PROVIDERS The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) says that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) should not have to pay the same "access fees" that long- distance companies now pay to local phone companies for connecting long- distance calls at their initiation and destinations. ISPs are not currently paying such fees, although the local phone service companies argue that Internet usage accounts for an increasing amount of phone traffic and the phone companies are being prevented from recovering the associated costs. AOL chief executive Steve Case dismisses such arguments as a request for a "modem tax," and Intel executive Paul Misener says that Intel will submit to the FCC a paper that will "debunk Bell studies which have wildly overstated the negative impact on their network" resulting from Internet communication. (New York Times 26 Dec 96 C2) AOL PONDERS ALTERNATIVE REVENUE SOURCES Admitting that it will never make money charging a flat monthly fee of $19.95, America Online is considering charging extra fees for some premium services, such as online games, which would become accessible only via a separate amusement park area. "Offering something that is unique and different could be translated into being able to charge money," says the company's marketing VP. In addition to the tiered fee structure, AOL also is looking to advertising and electronic transactions for alternative revenue streams. (Investor's Business Daily 26 Dec 96 A9) CHINA STRENGTHENS CONTROL OVER INTERNET The newspaper called China Consumers Daily says that China plans to increase its controls over the Internet, which already include the requirement that all Internet users register with the police. In its war against pornography and "cultural rubbish," Chinese police detained more than 47,000 people and seized 320,000 pornographic products in the first ten months of 1996. Chinese authorities use the term "cultural rubbish" to include anything they consider unhealthy or politically suspect. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution 27 Dec 96 D3) POINT. CLICK. BET. New York's Off-Track Betting Corp. is sponsoring an experimental Web site that offers bettors the option of placing their wagers directly via their PCs. While there are many sites that focus on betting, OTB's site is the first state-sponsored race-wagering business to allow customers to bet directly from a PC -- the other sites require users to make their bets by phone. "We've been testing it internally for a couple of months," says the company's director of corporate services. "If our test is successful, we will go live to the general public, probably within a month." The New York Council on Problem Gambling sees the new development as just more of a bad thing, however: "The person never has to get up from their chair and in no time at all can lose a lot of money," says the Council's director. (Wall Street Journal 26 Dec 96 p11) CYBER FREEWAY OFFERS FREE RIDE ON INTERNET Hyper Net USA thinks it has found a way around the flat-pricing dilemma facing many Internet service providers today. After a one-time fee of $29.95, its Cyber FreeWay service offers free unlimited access to residents in San Francisco who are willing to provide their household demographic data. The information is then given to advertisers who target users with online ads, which are segregated in a secondary window on the right side of the screen and change about every minute or so. The service has been a big hit in Japan, home of Hyper Net's parent company, drawing more than 135,000 subscribers. (Investor's Business Daily 26 Dec 96 A8) NEW DOMAIN NAMES ON TRACK The Internet Ad Hoc Committee, formed under the auspices of the Internet Society, has recommended creating seven new generic top-level domains (in addition to the existing .com, .edu, .org and .net domains) as part of its "Draft Specifications for Administration and Management of gTLDs" (generic Top Level Domains). The Ad Hoc Committee will come up with the new domain names following input from the Internet community and other stakeholders. In addition, the committee has recommended the creation of 20 to 30 new domain name registrars, all of whom would compete in the second-level domain business. Organizations could compete for registrar status by plunking down a $20,000 registration fee and hoping for the best in a lottery draw. Losers would have their money refunded. In addition, the committee has recommended that second-level domain name applications be subject to a 60-day publication period before being assigned to an applicant as part of an effort to "promote accountability, discourage extortion and minimize obsolete entries." (BNA Daily Report for Executives 24 Dec 96 A15) AIR FORCE WEB PAGE HACKED INTO BY VANDALS The U.S. Air Force's home page on the World Wide Web < http://www.af.mil > was broken into Monday afternoon and replaced with a pornographic image, obscenities, and anti-government tirades. Identifying himself only as a 23- year-old San Diego "business man," the individual who claimed responsibility for the invasion told a reporter by telephone: "This was a complete server takeover. We literally could have dismantled all the electronic information, including e-mail." The man said that he and the individuals who participated with him in the vandalism "didn't do any damage," and claimed that, "We did it simply to show them you've got to upgrade security. The security is simply pathetic on government systems, and it's not stopping anyone. One of the people involved in the actual break-in was only 15. A foreign government could go through that security in a few minutes." He gave himself only 50-50 odds of not being caught, and predicted: "The government is going to treat this very, very seriously. The illegality of this is extreme." The Air Force Office of Special Investigations and the Federal Bureau of Investigations are investigating the break-in. (New York Times 31 Dec 96 A9) ENCRYPTION EXPORT POLICY TAKES EFFECT REMAINS CONTROVERSIAL The Commerce Department has put into effect the new rules it devised to relax the restrictions on exportation of encryption software, but the computer industry says the rules are still too restrictive and will inhibit effective competition with foreign manufacturers with powerful offerings, and a lawyer for the non-profit Electronic Privacy Information Center describes the government's strategy as a "shell game," because there's "very little functional difference" between the new rules and the old ones, which had been rejected in part by a U.S. district judge in San Francisco. "They've just moved the pea under a different shell, but the rules are the same." (Washington Post 31 Dec 96) SOFTWARE PIRATES MAKE OUT LIKE BANDITS Data gathered by the Business Software Alliance and the Software Publishers Association indicates that the retail value of pirated software last year was $13.2 billion, up 8% from 1994. In comparison, software vendors received $15.5 billion in revenue in 1995. U.S.-based pirates accounted for the largest monetary value of illegally acquired software -- $2.9 billion -- but had the lowest piracy rate -- 26% -- of any country. Highest was Vietnam with 99%. (Information Week 23 Dec 96 p26) NLII'S INSTRUCTIONAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM PROJECT Educom's National Learning Information Infrastructure has launched a new effort, dubbed the Instructional Management System project. The goal of the project is to develop and publish standards for information management systems, creating a common mechanism for organization and retrieval of Web- based instructional objects used in coursework, and providing a framework within which individual software objects or modules can be integrated. The project will ensure that instructional software developers will have a technical standard that allows modules to be shared among institutions and across a wide range of technical environments. For more information see < http://www.iat.unc.edu/nlii/dcms/techmtng > or nlii@educom.edu. (WCET Communiqu‚ Dec 96 p22) JUDGE RULES INTERNET OFF-LIMITS FOR CONVICT A U.S. district judge in Florida has sentenced an online child pornography trader to a $5,000 fine, five years' probation and a prohibition against subscribing to any computer online service for the length of his probation. The U.S. Parole Commission says it's aware of only two other cases nationwide in which a judge has ordered Internet restrictions. This case is of particular interest because the sentence prompted an Ocala federal probation officer to design a software program called "Sleuth" that automatically searches hard drives and generates a complete list of files, so that probation officers can check the computers themselves, rather than calling in computer technicians to ascertain whether parolees are adhering to the terms of their release. The program has been shipped to the U.S. Parole office in Washington, D.C., and may be distributed nationally. (Tampa Tribune 31 Dec 96 A1) CONSULTING COMPANY URGES ACADEMICS TO SELL RESEARCH New findings from Toronto-based Mercer Management Consulting Inc. indicate that it takes 6,000 scientific findings to generate a single successful new venture. Therefore, Mercer suggests that academic research and development efforts take on a more commercial focus: "As institutional budgets shrink and outside grants become scarcer, universities have more incentive to commercialize the results of scientific scholarship... The research conclusively shows that by adopting a business-world strategy toward commercialization of scientific research, not-for-profit research institutions can capture an enormous opportunity to replace diminishing internal budgets." (Investor's Business Daily 30 Dec 96 A6) A BROWN-OUT FOR CONSUMER ELECTRONICS Suffering from weak consumer electronic sales this year, the Tandy Corporation is closing all of its Incredible Universe stores and 19 of 108 of its Computer City stores. The Incredible Universe stores were about five times the size of most electronics stores. Tandy's rivals are also experiencing slow-downs, and one industry analyst described the current environment as "terrible" for consumer electronics, because "they're all banging heads selling similar products." (USA Today 30 Dec 96) IBM DEVELOPS HEFTY HARD DRIVE IBM has developed a computer hard-disk drive capable of storing five billion bits per square inch, or three times as much as the most advanced systems it currently sells. The new drives won't reach the consumer market for several years. IBM expects that it will reach the 10-billion bits per square inch level by the end of the decade. (New York Times 31 Dec 96 C4) WORLD BOOK TEAMS WITH IBM ON CD-ROM ENCYCLOPEDIA IBM and World Book Inc. have teamed up to develop a multimedia version of World Book's 22-volume encyclopedia, priced at $59.99 (after a $20 rebate). The main competing product, Microsoft's Encarta, is priced at $79, but Microsoft says it's not worried. (Business Week 30 Dec 96 p6) Edupage is written by John Gehl (gehl@educom.edu) & Suzanne Douglas (douglas@educom.edu). Voice: 404-371-1853, Fax: 404-371-8057. Technical support is provided by the Office of Information Technology, University of North Carolina. EDUPAGE is what you've just finished reading. To subscribe to Edupage: send a message to: listproc@educom.unc.edu and in the body of the message type: subscribe edupage Marvin Minsky (assuming that your name is Marvin Minsky; if it's not, substitute your own name). ... To cancel, send a message to: listproc@educom.unc.edu and in the body of the message type: unsubscribe edupage... Subscription problems: educom@educom.unc.edu. EDUCOM REVIEW is our bimonthly print magazine on learning, communications, and information technology. Subscriptions are $18 a year in the U.S.; send mail to offer@educom.edu. When you do, we'll ring a little bell, because we'll be so happy! 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For archive copies of Edupage or Update, ftp or gopher to educom.edu or see URL: < http://www.educom.edu/>. For the French edition of Edupage, send mail to edupage-fr@ijs.com with the subject "subscribe"; or see < http://www.ijs.com >. For the Hebrew edition, send mail to listserv@kinetica.co.il containing : SUBSCRIBE Leketnet-Word6 or see < http://www.kinetica.co.il/ newsletters/leketnet/ >. For the Hungarian edition, send mail to: send mail to subs.edupage@hungary.com. An Italian edition is available on Agora' Telematica; connection and/or free subscription via BT-Tymnet and Sprint (login: " Curt replies: "Aha!!! That would explain why I could use a 1.44 on my Mega STe, very interesting." In the Atari Gaming Forum Steve Watkins asks: "Isn't Iron Soldier II still a CD ROM? I wonder what per CD cost they could manufacture them at... considering the teeny-tiny Jaguar CD base. Still, should be much less risk than carts." Larry Tipton tells Steve: "The last word was that it is CD based -- lots of FMV sequences. But the game itself looked pretty much like the original -- with NO network play. I suppose it could be either way. Cart or CD. The last I heard was that there were less than 10,000 CD units sold." Daniel Skelton tells us about his experiences with CDs: "From the experience we had putting together the "Supercharger" CD for the 2600, it is possible to run less than 500 CDs for about $5.00 each. Cost is minimal compared to carts. These were commercially-produced CDs with two-color artwork, not CD-Rs. Of our $18/unit selling price, well over half the cost was from the high-resolution manual with multicolor covers, not to mention that pesky packing and postage. So it's possible for a CD to be created with a low user base, sporting a high-quality manual with color covers, for less than $15 in media creation costs. This, of course, does not include man-hour costs for layout, programming, etc., because in our case those services were provided by volunteers. Any CD game should be more easily producible than a cartridge- based game. That only 10,000 CD units sold limits the potential customer base too severely, though, to choose CD over Cart if the game can be released in either form." Steve Watkins tells Daniel: "Sure, we know they're far, far cheaper than carts. The real question is can they even sell CDs in an amount that will be worth the effort? There is a (starving, desparate) core still going strong, but I think the vast majority of Jaguar (CD) owners probably already moved on... ??? [It] makes a big difference, not so much in raw bucks to have your man(woman)power doing the project, but also in having them NOT doing other things. ...The question is do you go for a tiny potential market of Jaguar CD owners for little cost and little return, or do you go for the much, much larger cart base and less profits? I think if they sold anything close to 10,000 CDs they'd be pulling off a miracle." Friend to all Atarians, Don Thomas, asks Daniel: "Do you guys have an official release date on that CD?" Daniel tells Don: "I don't think we had an "official" release date for the Supercharger CD. We basically just started shipping the minute every item was complete, and did not have anything as formal as a real release date. In related news, I now understand from reading my e-mail after the holidays that the entire pressing of 350 copies has sold out, so there are no more available at the current time. If we are able to get agreement from Atari and Bridgestone Multimedia Inc., the two companies which own aspects of the Supercharger game copyrights, we may be able to press additional copies; however, none are anticipated at this time, and making a move toward pressing additional copies would be driven by Glenn Saunders, who produced the project and has handled distribution and publicity." On the subject of the much anticipated BattleSphere from 4-Play, Larry Tipton posts: "...here is something from our friend Thunderbird... BattleSphere Update 12/28/96 Hey there BattleSphere Phanatics! The wait is drawing to a close. Gauntlet Play Mode is now in Playtesting, and I must say that it RULES!!! Never before have I met such a challenging shooter game in my life! (Well... maybe Tempest 2000). But it's great!!! The levels start off pretty easy for me (I'm an expert) but the ememy gets smarter and stronger as you go. Some levels require a great deal of strategy as you're outnumbered and outgunned. Careful planning of when and where to use your special weapons is crucial. The level bosses are particularly fun and challenging, and really make the time fly by. Finding the weakness in these guys is going to be a real challenge! It took me 90 minutes to get through one particular level and I know the achilles heel already (heh heh heh) you guys are gonna love this. Watch out now that the enemy AI is programmed to use special weapons on you. Some of you complained a while back that some of our special weapons were not particularly useful, right? Well, you'll be singing a different tune when you discover how "INeffective" they are when the enemy is using them on you. (Don't cry to me.) At any rate... if you finish all 100 levels of Gauntlet, you will indeed be a supreme BattleSphere champion. In other news, our nifty new introduction which tells the story of the game is completed, which really spiffs up our Attract Mode. There's even some cool easter-eggs in that sucker. There's a couple of other things new too, but I can't tell anyone about them ;-) Let's just say we have another "first" for Jaguar games!" [Now, anyone who's read STReport for more than a very short time knows that there is often animosity between the folks here and the folks at 4-Play. I've always done my best to stay away from it, but we all understand that we are known by the tags at the end of our online signatures. I'll tell you quite truthfully that I can't wait to play this bad boy! Most of it will probably be well beyond my abilities, but it does sound hot!] Larry Tipton posts: "...There seems to be a lot up unsold CD units floating around. If they drop below $50 I'll probablly pick up a second unit. The demand for good CDs should be high at least for the folks that have the CD Unit. Rumors are now appearing claiming that Iron Soldier 2 will come out on CD and a scaled down version will appear in cart form about two months later. Have you heard this rumor?" Craig Harris tells Larry: "$49.99 at Nobody Beats the Wiz." Well folks, that's about it for this week. It's time for me to go work on my New Year's Resolution . Be sure to tune in again next week, same time, same station, and be ready to listen to what they are saying when... PEOPLE ARE TALKING STReport International OnLine Magazine [S]ilicon [T]imes [R]eport HTTP://WWW.STREPORT.COM AVAILABLE through the Internet and OVER 250,000 BBS SYSTEMS WORLDWIDE All Items quoted, in whole or in part, are done so under the provisions of The Fair Use Law of The Copyright Laws of the U.S.A. Views, Opinions and Editorial Articles presented herein are not necessarily those of the editors/staff of STReport International OnLine Magazine. Permission to reprint articles is hereby granted, unless otherwise noted. Reprints must, without exception, include the name of the publication, date, issue number and the author's name. STR, CPU, STReport and/or portions therein may not be edited, used, duplicated or transmitted in any way without prior written permission. STR, CPU, STReport, at the time of publication, is believed reasonably accurate. STR, CPU, STReport, are trademarks of STReport and STR Publishing Inc. STR, CPU, STReport, its staff and contributors are not and cannot be held responsible in any way for the use or misuse of information contained herein or the results obtained therefrom. STReport "YOUR INDEPENDENT NEWS SOURCE" January 3, 1997 Since 1987 Copyrightc1997 All Rights Reserved Issue No. 1301