Silicon Times Report "The Original Independent OnLine Magazine" (Since 1987) May 30, 1997 No.1322 Silicon Times Report International OnLine Magazine Post Office Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida 32205-6155 R.F. Mariano, Editor STR Publishing, Inc. Voice: 1-904-292-9222 10am-5pm EST FAX: 904-268-2237 24hrs STReport WebSite http://www.streport.com STR Publishing's FTP Support Server 10gb - Back Issues - Patches - Support Files (Continually Under Construction) ftp.streport.com Anonymous Login ok - Use your Email Address as a Password Have you tried Microsoft's Powerful and Easy to Use Internet Explorer? Internet Explorer is STReport's Official Internet Web Browser. STReport is prepared and published Using MS Office 97, Corel Office Perfect 7 & Adobe Acrobat Pro Featuring a Full Service Web Site http://www.streport.com Voted TOP TEN Ultimate WebSite Join STReport's Subscriber List receive STReport Via EMail through The Internet Toad Hall BBS 1-617-567-8642 05/30/97 STR 1322 Celebrating Our Tenth Anniversary 1987-97! - CPU Industry Report - 3D Mini Golf Review - Corel WPerfect Suite 8 - Adobe NEW Fonts - Shareware Listings - Samsung, Intel Ink Pact - Jurassic Park Site Hacked - Apple Yellow Box - IRS Back On Net - ICD ships AirCars - People Talking - Classics & Gaming AT&T SECURITY BREACH A HOAX!! ISP SHAKE OUT? NOVELL LAYING OFF 1000! STReport International OnLine Magazine Featured Weekly "Accurate UP-TO-DATE News and Information" Current Events, Original Articles, Tips, Rumors, and Information Hardware - Software - Corporate - R & D - Imports Adobe Acrobat Pro 3.0 Please obtain the latest issue from our Auto Subscription, Web Site or FTP Site. Enjoy the wonder and excitement of exchanging all types of useful information relative to all computer types, worldwide, through the use of the Internet. All computer enthusiasts, hobbyist or commercial, on all platforms and BBS systems are invited to participate. IMPORTANT NOTICE STReport, with its policy of not accepting any input relative to content from paid advertisers, has over the years developed the reputation of "saying it like it really is". When it comes to our editorials, product evaluations, reviews and over-views, we shall always keep our readers interests first and foremost. With the user in mind, STReport further pledges to maintain the reader confidence that has been developed over the years and to continue "living up to such". All we ask is that our readers make certain the manufacturers, publishers etc., know exactly where the information about their products appeared. In closing, we shall arduously endeavor to meet and further develop the high standards of straight forwardness our readers have come to expect in each and every issue. The Publisher, Staff & Editors Celebrating Our Tenth Year! 1987-1997 Florida Lotto - LottoMan v1.35 Results: 05/24/97: five of six numbers with one four number match and four 3 number matches From the Editor's Desk... Spring Comdex is upon us. Atlanta is the place to be. The new products, the updates and the fixes for those undocumented features we discovered from time to time. In the very near future, look for reviews and comparisons of various DeskTop Publishing and Photographic manipulation packages. There are of course the very best from Adobe like PhotoShop 4.01 and PageMaker 6.5.1 and a number of new packages emerging onto the market that deserve our attention. Notably, at this time, those of MGI Corp. MGI has a number of packages. Including Calamus whose claim to fame is it was a premier DTP package on the old Atari ST Platform. Calamus was quite the program back in those days. except for its strange proprietary file format and use of expensive, coded fonts. Hopefully, that's all changed now that MGI is attempting to earn a niche on the PC platform for Calamus. We'll keep you posted about our excursion into the DTP world on the PC. It should be very interesting. The world of powerhouse Laptops is really upon us. Watch for reviews of the very latest models of Laptops and their powerful accessories. Like USR's Megahertz PCMCIA 33.6 Modem/LAN combo Cards, 56k modem cards and of course, ISDN cards all super thin, blazingly fast and simply amazing. Next week, we begin a series of views, reviews and overviews of NetManage's Z-Mail Pro and Ecco Pro. These two fine programs have a great deal to offer. The coverage will be in-depth. Of Special Note: http://www.streport.com ftp.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/FTP Site, 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. You'll be pleased to know you are able to download STReport directly from our very own FTP SERVER or WEB Site. While there, be sure to join our STR AutoMailer list which allows a choice of either ASCII or Acrobat PDF. STReport's managing editors DEDICATED TO SERVING YOU! Ralph F. Mariano, Publisher - Publisher, Editor Dana P. Jacobson, Editor, Current Affairs Section Editors PC Section Mac Section Shareware Listings R.F. Mariano Help Wanted Lloyd E. Pulley Classics & Gaming Kid's Computing Corner Dana P. Jacobson Frank Sereno STReport Staff Editors Michael R. Burkley Joseph Mirando Victor Mariano Vincent P. O'Hara Glenwood Drake Contributing Correspondents Jason Sereno Jeremy Sereno Daniel Stidham David H. Mann Angelo Marasco Donna Lines Brian Boucher Leonard Worzala Please submit ALL letters, rebuttals, articles, reviews, etc., via E-Mail w/attachment to: Internet rmariano@streport.com STR FTP ftp.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 Apple Newton to Be Independent Apple Computer Inc.'s struggling Newton hand-held computer division will be restructured into an independent but wholly owned subsidiary that can attract outside investors and partners. And maybe one day it can go public, says reporter Lee Gomes to The Wall Street Journal this morning, noting Apple initially tried to sell the unprofitable Newton division outright, retaining the mergers and acquisition firm of Broadview Associates to find a buyer. "While Apple had talks with a variety of companies," says Gomes, "including Sun Microsystems Inc. and Sweden's Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson, none offered anything close to the estimated $50 million to $100 million that insiders say Apple wanted for the operation." The Journal quotes a person familiar with Newton unit's books as saying the 200-person section has annual expenses of about $35 million, but revenue equal to just two-thirds of that. Gomes says the new, as-yet unnamed company will have its own stock and its own board of directors. With that structure, it can be spun off to Apple shareholders, and equity can be sold to investors or partners. "But without a spinoff or capital infusion, the move won't benefit Apple shareholders or reduce Apple's costs," Gomes comments. Analysts told the paper the restructuring move is one of the least risky steps Apple could take: ú If the operation proves successful, Apple will profit from being a shareholder in the company; it would even be able to bring it back inside Apple. ú Should the Newton fail even in its new incarnation, Apple will have distanced itself from the operation, and thus won't be stuck with the high severance costs involved with closing down the business and laying off its employees. Apple Accepts Orders for Fancy Mac Apple Computer, Inc., says it has begun accepting orders for its Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh computer. Slated to ship this summer, the high-end machine features a 12.1-inch flat-panel display, a Bose sound system, a vertically mounted CD player, a television tuner and an FM radio tuner. The system's computer hardware includes a 250MHz PowerPC 603e RISC processor, an S-video input with a cable adapter for composite video and a custom keyboard with Italian leather palm rests and a detachable trackpad. "We were looking to define a radically new solution in Industrial Design when we began designing the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh," says Jonathan Ive, Apple's senior director of industrial design. "Its smooth integration of personal computer and consumer appliance are clear indications of the future of technology design." In the United States, The Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh sells for about $7,500. It comes with a special "concierge service," which includes a three-year limited hardware warranty, three years of toll-free telephone support and delivery and set-up of the product. Apple is manufacturing a limited quantity of the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh, so the product is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Customers in the U.S. can order a Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh through selected Apple resellers. More details are available on the World Wide Web at http://twentiethanniversary.apple.com. Growth Seen for Digital Cameras A new study by InfoTrends Research Group indicates that shipments of digital cameras in the midrange and high end market will grow 40 percent annually through 2002, rising from about 10,000 units in 1996 to over 75,000 units by 2002. "Digital camera adoption is on the rise as its benefits are beginning to be understood," says Susan Moyse, an analyst at the Kansas City, Missouri, market research firm. "High quality digital photography is finally progressing beyond a small niche of professional users." Average prices of business and professional cameras are projected to fall from over $10,000 in 1996 to about $2,500 in 2002, making digital photography more accessible for business use. As prices become more affordable, businesses and professionals will adopt digital capture for its unique capabilities. Revenues resulting from sales of midrange and high end digital cameras are forecast by the study to reach nearly 200 million dollars in 2002, as acceptance of the technology escalates. The study also notes that industry growth depends on the ability of digital cameras to provide conventional capture functionality while offering its own unique benefits. Samsung, Intel Ink Pact An agreement to work together on future computer and consumer electronics projects has been signed by Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and chip giant Intel Corp. Reporting from Santa Clara, California, the Reuter News Service quotes Intel as saying in a statement the working relationship between Intel and Samsung will allow both companies to explore and accelerate the development of products and technologies that combine personal computer technology with consumer devices. The agreement was signed by Intel Chairman/CEO Andrew Grove and Samsung Electronics President/CEO Jong-Yong Yun during a business meeting at Intel. Novell Laying Off 1,000 Workers Still trying to become a major force in Internet software, Salt Lake City publisher Novell Inc. is streamlining its business by laying off some 1,000 workers. This leaves Novell with 4,800 employees worldwide. New Novell CEO Eric Schmidt, an Internet expert hired two months ago to guide the transition, announced the cuts late yesterday. Associated Press writer Kimberley Murphy notes, "Novell is reshaping as its main business -- selling operating systems used to control personal computer networks -- is under pressure from software giant Microsoft Corp." The cuts come as Novell reports second-quarter losses shrank to $14.6 million, "but still showed disappointing sales of software products sold through distributors," Murphy added. Besides the layoffs, Novell plans to reduce its inventory in the third quarter by reducing shipments to distributors, which will result in an operating loss for the third quarter. Before joining Novell, Schmidt was the chief technology officer at Sun Microsystems Inc., where he was a driving force behind the company's Java programming language for creating software on the Internet. Compaq Notebook Buyers Warned Gartner Group, Inc. is advising potential Compaq Computer Corp. notebook PC buyers of product quality problems. The Stamford, Connecticut, research firm reports that Compaq's Armada 4100s series has been placed on its "Problem Watch" with a "do not buy" status, while the LTE 5000 line has been tagged with a "buy with caution" status. Gartner says it has compiled "numerous complaints" from clients during the first quarter of 1997 concerning high "dead on arrival" and "infant mortality" (failures within 30 days) rates, as well as a wide range of component failures, including power supply, battery, system board, hard drive and read-only memory (ROM) woes. "The notebook industry is experiencing a crisis of quality," says Leslie Fiering, head of Gartner's personal computing technologies unit. "Notebooks generally require more testing than desktops due to large trade-offs required to optimize weight, size, price, power consumption and thermal characteristics. However, their short product life means that vendors cannot afford to delay introductions until all bugs are resolved." Gartner is on the World Wide Web at http://www.gartner.com. Claris Releases Home Page Book Claris Corp. has released Claris Home Page Companion, an instructional Web design book for Claris Home Page software and the first book to be published under the new Claris Press imprint. A statement issued by the Santa Clara, California, software publisher, a subsidiary of Apple Computer Inc., notes that Claris Home Page Companion covers all aspects of home page design using Claris Home Page. The book includes tips and tutorials, ranging from basic Web page design and planning to more advanced topics such as tables, interactive forms, frames, multimedia and editing HTML. "This book reflects our commitment to better serve our customers by increasing their understanding of our products," says Dominique Goupil, Claris' president. "I'm convinced that the Claris Home Page Companion will add even more value to our customers' productive and enjoyable Web-publishing experiences." PGP Gets Limited Export Approval Pretty Good Privacy Inc. reports that the U.S. Department of Commerce has approved the export of its encryption software to the overseas offices of the U.S.'s largest companies. The San Mateo, California, company says the ruling makes it the only U.S. firm currently authorized to export strong encryption technology not requiring key recovery to foreign subsidiaries and branches of the largest American companies. According to PGP, the approval allows it to export 128-bit encryption without a requirement that the exported products contain key recovery features or other back doors that enable government access to keys. More than one-half of the Fortune 100 already use PGP domestically to secure their corporate data and communications, says PGP. "Now we are able to export strong encryption technology to the overseas offices of more than 100 of the largest companies in America, without compromising the integrity of the product or the strength of the encryption," says Phil Dunkelberger, PGP's president. "We worked closely with the State Department when they controlled the export of encryption, and are now working with the Commerce Department. And we have never had a license application denied." The license allows export of strong encryption technology, without government access to keys, to the overseas subsidiaries and branch offices of more than 100 of the largest American companies, provided that the offices are not located in embargoed countries, namely Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan or Syria. "Pretty Good Privacy still opposes export controls on cryptographic software, but this license is a major step toward meeting the global security needs of American companies," says Robert H. Kohn, vice president and general counsel of Pretty Good Privacy. Pretty Good Privacy is on the World Wide Web at http://www.pgp.com. White House Starts Stats Site A new Internet site to make official statistics easier to find has been unveiled by the White House. The World Wide Web page, located at http://www.fedstats.gov, uses link and search capabilities to navigate statistics from more than 70 federal agencies, the White House's Office of Management and Budget said in a statement. The Reuter News Service quotes OMB administrator Sally Katzen as saying, "FedStats takes advantage of Internet technology to make federal statistics more accessible." Feds to Launch Medical Site Uncle Sam next year will launch a National Guideline Clearinghouse on the Internet for patients who want to know the recommended treatments for their medical problems. Officials with the Department of Health and Human Services tell The Associated Press the World Wide Web feature, to include the full range of treatment guidelines, is expected to be launched in fall 1998. It will be developed with the American Medical Association and the American Association of Health Plans, which represents health maintenance organizations and other managed care plans. In a statement, HHS Secretary Donna Shalala said, "Internet technology makes it possible to provide the rapid access to the latest information on medical treatments." Says AP, "The Web site will offer summaries or full texts of the recommended treatments for various conditions, compare different recommendations on similar topics and offer electronic mailing lists to allow discussions among people with similar interests." Dr. George Isham, a leader in the HMO group, added the information should help respond to the growing interest in quality of care. AP comments, "HMOs have been accused by some of skimping on treatment to save money. Knowing the proper guidelines, Isham said, will 'provide a solid scientific basis for allocation of health care resources.'" Feds Seek Ideas on Cyber Market Federal securities regulators are seeking ideas on how they should supervise the nation's technology-driven stock markets in the future. Yesterday the four members of the Securities and Exchange Commission voted unanimously to issue a "concept release" soliciting public comment on regulation of so-called alternative trading systems and foreign stock exchange activities in the United States as well as more traditional U.S. stock markets. The Associated Press reports that before the vote, SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt Jr. said, "We seek a forward-looking and enduring approach that will permit diverse markets to evolve and compete, while preserving marketwide transparency, oversight and fairness. While technology has changed, the principal goals of regulation remain the same -- to protect investors and to ensure our markets are fair and orderly. We really approach this with a totally open mind." AP adds the changes under consideration would mark the biggest shift in the way the SEC regulates stock markets since the agency's formation in 1934. Richard Lindsey, director of the SEC's division of market regulation, told the wire service, "Paper and pen technology has gone the way of the crossbow. Our regulatory scheme must be reassessed to allow new technologies to flourish." There will be 90 days to comment on the proposals after their publication in the Federal Register sometime next week. Another version of the 150-page concept release written in plain English is expected to be published in several weeks. AP says the proposals call for the SEC to: Establish a class of smaller, exempt stock exchanges that are supervised by a self-regulatory organization and have limited disclosure requirements. If such an exchange became larger, it would move into the category of regulated exchange. Find new ways to regulate investors' access to foreign stock markets that want to do business in the United States. "Stock trading on the Internet is becoming increasing popular," AP notes, "and experts believe it is only a matter of time before there is an Internet-based stock exchange." Set up three levels of market regulation: the first one for the smaller, exempt exchanges; the second for the biggest alternative trading systems, not now regulated as markets, such as Instinet, Bloomberg, Island and Terranova; and the third for traditional markets such as the New York Stock Exchange and the regional exchanges. Net Privacy Standard Boosted A standard for handling the use of private information over the Internet -- a move intended to boost electronic commerce over the Web -- is being proposed by browser publisher Netscape Communications Corp. and two other leading Net companies. Writing for the Reuter News Service, reporter Samuel Perry says representatives of Netscape, Firefly and Verisign already have won widespread support for the proposal, which, he comments, "could help manage a thorny issue of protecting privacy over the Internet while promoting commerce." What they propose is a standard that would enable people to exchange personal profile information over the Internet, while still making it possible for individuals to limit the use and distribution of their private information over the Web. Last month, the Boston Consulting Group released a report estimating that instituting measures to provide assurance of privacy over the Internet could boost electronic commerce by $6 billion by 2000. Perry says the proposed Open Profiling Standard would give each individual control over his or her own personal profile and the ability to manage which personal information gets disclosed or withheld from a particular Web site. The profile data can then be used to provide targeted information, products and services directly to individual users, while allowing them also to be notified every time their profile information is being requested. (Personal profiles contain information ranging from names, addresses, ZIP codes and phone numbers to marital status, interests, hobbies and passwords.) "Individuals could also allow certain sites to exchange the data with other Internet parties," says Perry, "giving rise to the possibility of a whole market for electronic profiles similar to existing demographic data businesses." In addition, they also may choose to have different profiles for business and home use, for example (and perhaps additional profiles for what one expert described as "the darker side," to receive pornographic material, for instance.) Look for a draft of the new proposed standard to be filed this week with the Worldwide Web Consortium, or W3C, for consideration and debate, a process expected to take months to complete. Texas Suit Claims 'Spam' Onslaught A suit has been brought in Austin, Texas, against a company and an individual believed to be responsible for the mass distribution of junk mail over the Internet, also called "spam." Plaintiffs contend C.N. Enterprises and Craig Nowak of San Diego, California, sent thousands of electronic messages selling information on "Free Cash Grants" for $19.95. The suit contends the ad's content was not only misleading, but the company's e-mail used a false return address, causing the electronic mail boxes of several Austin residents to overflow with returned copies of the junk mail. "In effect," the lawsuit says, "C.N. Enterprises deliberately dumped tons of its electronic garbage and pollution" into the Austin residents' mailboxes. The lawsuit claims that the use of false return addresses on junk e-mail, and the resulting fallout on those who own the addresses used, is illegal under the traditional common law causes of action of nuisance, trespass and conversion. Notable among the plaintiffs is Internet author Tracy LaQuey Parker, who owns the Internet domain name ("flowers.com") used by C.N. Enterprises without her permission. "As a long-time Internet advocate," said Parker, "I am saddened that the goodwill spirit of the Internet is being spoiled by irresponsible individuals who forge their identity in order to make a quick buck. There are plenty of examples of legitimate commercial uses of the Internet. This isn't one of them." Meanwhile, writing for HotWired, the electronic extension of Wired Magazine, reporter Ashley Craddock comments that respondent Nowak "seems less the mass emailer out to trample cyberspace than an online dilettante," noting, "After he and a few buddies decided spamming would be a good way to pick up some hassle-free cash, Nowak started sending out email advertising 'free cash grants' for $19.95." Nowak told Craddock last night, "The software program we used said you could just use any random name" for a return address. ... I don't know why I picked 'Flowers.'" Plaintiffs' attorney Peter Kennedy argues carelessness is no defense, that "there are reasonable regulations which keep you from dumping your garbage on someone else's land. You shouldn't be able to attach a false address to junk mail just so you don't have to deal with all the junk that comes back at you when you send mail to a false address." Study Sees ISP Shakeout A new study published by International Data Corp. forecasts a shakeout among Internet service providers. At the end of 1996, the total market for ISP services reached more than $3.3 billion, finds the study. The largest percentage of revenues -- 58.5 percent -- came from corporate access services, which reached $1.94 billion. The next-largest segment represented individual access services, which reached $949.7 million at the end of 1996. "The ISP market, which until this time has sustained thousands of ISPs, will begin to constrict more rapidly over the next few years," says Caroline Robertson, director of business network services and electronic commerce research programs for the Framingham, Massachusetts, market research firm. "Performance, reliability, and support expectations will prevent a number of small ISPs from scaling up to compete on a regional or national basis without merging." But at the same time, the study claims that the market will sustain hundreds of local or regional ISPs that can cost-effectively provide tailored services to a specific regional market or town. Man Sues Because of E-Mail San Diego Internet provider ElectriCiti has been sued by a San Francisco man who alleges he was harassed by someone posting Internet messages accusing him of ritual sex abuse of children. Retired Army Lt. Col. Michael Aquino says he is suing ElectriCiti after it refused to help him track down his alleged harasser, United Press International reports. The San Francisco Examiner says Aquino, who founded the Temple of Set, a church devoted to alleged satanic worship, charges ElectriCiti breached its duty to him by failing to cut off the anonymous user and allowing that person to continue posting. "The case is believed to be the first in California in which a service provider is sued over libelous messages sent by a user," UPI says, adding the newspaper reports the suit asks for $100,000 in emotional distress damages and $150,000 in punitive damages. Aquino contends a person using the Internet name "Curio" posted more than 500 defamatory messages against him, including posting his address. The suit says Curio accused Aquino and his wife of participating in the molestations of dozens of children enrolled at the Presidio of San Francisco's child day care center in 1985 and 1986. Police searched Aquino's home at the time, but he was never charged. The suit says the messages began on Dec. 2, 1996, and continue today. Meanwhile, ElectriCiti contends that under the Communications Decency Act, passed by Congress in 1996, the company is not responsible for content posted by a user. 'Jurassic Park' Web Site Hacked Wired wiseguys re-worked the Web site for the film "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" this week. Replacing the film's trademark dinosaur logo, vandals inserted a profile of a prehistoric-looking duck with the title "The Lost Pond: Jurassic Duck." "As if there was any doubt," says the Reuter News Service, in a report from Hollywood, "the pranksters left a one-word calling card: 'hackers.:'" The site, located at http://www.lost-world.com, was altered sometime Tuesday, says Alan Sutton, Universal Studios vice president for distribution and marketing, who told the wire service, "I thought it was amusing." Sutton said a colleague in New York alerted him to the prank yesterday morning. Sutton told technicians, who restored the page to its original appearance, snarling dinosaur and all. He added, "We're taking a closer look at our firewalls, obviously," referring to computer network security. The studio has no plans to pursue the pranksters. Says Sutton, "It was just done in a spirit of fun." Alleged Cracker Wins Bail Thirty-six-year-old Carlos Felipe Salgado Jr., accused of collecting 100,000 credit card numbers from a major Internet provider, has won bail on the condition he not go near a computer. Salgado, known in the computing underground as "Smak," is accused of inserting a program that gathered the credit information from a dozen companies selling products over the Internet. In San Francisco, FBI spokesman George Grotz told Associated Press writer Richard Cole the suspect was arrested at his parents' home after trying to sell the information to an undercover agent for $260,000. AP says that if Salgado is convicted of charges of unauthorized access of computers and trafficking in stolen credit card numbers, he faces up to 15 years in prison and fines of $500,000. At yesterday's bail hearing, a federal magistrate released Salgado on a $100,000 bond. As a condition of bail, says Grotz, "the judge forbids him to come anywhere near a computer." The FBI alleges Salgado copied the credit information and was able to encrypt it to be sold. Grotz says that had Salgado succeeded, "at minimum we'd have 100,000 customers whose accounts could have been compromised and would not have known it until they got their bill at the end of the month." AP says technicians for the unidentified San Diego-based Internet provider discovered the scheme during maintenance, determining the intruder used a "packet sniffer" program, which locates blocks of information, such as credit card numbers. The FBI says it traced the intruder program to Salgado, who was using an account with the University of California-San Francisco. The school has not determined whether Salgado attended or worked there or how he got access to the account. Says AP, "With the cooperation of a civilian computer user who was in communication with Salgado, the FBI set up its sting. The FBI first made two small buys from Salgado -- 710 numbers for $710 and later 580 numbers for $2,900, court papers show. Then, on Wednesday, the FBI agents arranged to meet Salgado at San Francisco International Airport to pay $260,000 for 100,000 credit card numbers with limits ranging to $25,000 each." The FBI says it has not found any evidence Salgado made any purchases with the numbers himself. Japanese Cops Charge Computerist A 27-year-old computer engineer has been arrested by Tokyo police who suspect him of replacing public weather charts on the Internet with pornographic pictures. Koichi Kubojima, a resident of the northern Tokyo suburb of Fujimi, is the first person in Japan to be arrested for suspected violation of a 1987 computer vandalism law, a spokesman for Osaka police TOLD the Reuter News Service. Reuters says Kubojima is accused of taking over seven web pages of the Osaka-based television network Asahi Broadcasting Co. last Sunday and replacing five of the seven weather charts on the pages with pornographic pictures. He also faces charges under Japan's anti-obscenity laws. Reuters reports, "Police said Kubojima told investigators he was just trying to have some fun and tried but failed to delete the pictures when he learned that his own actions were being reported all over on the Internet. He used a fake password obtained from a local Internet provider to enter the website from his personal computer at home, but his operations were retraced by investigators through phone records kept at the provider firm, police said." If convicted, Kubojima faces a fine of $8,600 and a prison term of up to five years under tough penalties adopted in 1992. Missouri Challenges Net Gambling An Internet gambling company has been banned from operating in Missouri by a local judge, but look for the case to end up in federal court. Reporting from Kansas City, United Press International reports the state judge's ruling, issued Friday in Jackson County Circuit Court, bars Pennsylvania-based Interactive Gaming & Communications Corp. from offering or promoting gambling in Missouri. The company will have to post a message on its homepage stating that Missouri residents cannot register to gamble. Judge Stan Murphy also fined the company $66,000, although Interactive Gaming has refused to pay, the Kansas City Star reports. Notes UPI, "The Missouri ruling and a similar pending case in Wisconsin are drawing attention to the growing business of online gambling. Cyber-gambling companies, some of them based in offshore sites like the Caribbean, make money by offering online versions of slot machines, roulette wheels and other casino-style games. Customers send money to set up their own gambling accounts." The Interactive Gaming ruling represents the first time an online gambling company has been sued and stopped in the United States, says Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon. But the attorney for Interactive says it isn't over yet. Lawyer Lawrence Hirsch says he's planning a lawsuit in federal court to stop regulators who he says are "trying to murder a legitimate business." Intel Sues Digital Over Data Chipmaker Intel Corp. has sued Digital Equipment Corp., alleging the computer maker has refused to return confidential information. In Santa Clara, Calif., an Intel spokesman told the Reuter News Service the suit covers a broad range of Intel technology used not only in Digital microprocessors, but also in personal computers and other products marketed by Digital. The suit comes on the heels of Digital's suit against Intel, alleging Intel's family of Pentium processors violated several technology patents held by Digital on its Alpha microprocessor line. Intel said it asked Digital during the past week to return confidential information pertaining to Intel products it had transferred to Digital over the past few years. In its suit two weeks ago, Digital claimed Intel's Pentium family violates patents associated with Digital's Alpha chip, an advanced microprocessor it has sought unsuccessfully to position as a mainstream rival to Intel chips. Says Reuters, "The latest lawsuit is one in a long and twisted lineage of intellectual property fights that have divided the highly competitive microprocessor industry. For example, Advanced Micro Devices Inc., among others, waged battle against Intel earlier in the decade in a successful effort to win the right to make Intel-compatible microprocessors." FBI Urged to Attack Valley Thefts Silicon Valley business and political leaders want the FBI to step up its investigations of a boom in thefts and espionage in the technology-rich area. A letter from the region's bipartisan congressional delegation urges FBI Director Louis Freeh to upgrade San Jose's satellite office, currently under San Francisco headquarters, to a full bureau and increase its staff, according to Associated Press writer Richard Cole. Locals say their losses to crooks are staggering. AP quotes insurance companies as estimating Silicon Valley companies lose $1 million a week to theft, both by outsiders and employees. In a statement, the American Electronics Association says that worldwide, in the $800 billion computer industry, "it would seem reasonable to place theft losses in the billions of dollars." AP says last year's major sting operation "has all but stopped the invasion-style robberies, often by Southeast Asian gangs, who raided Silicon Valley computer chip warehouses and manufacturers." However, the wire service observes, the thieves simply changed tactics. Sgt. Don Brister, head of the San Jose Police Department's high-tech squad, told the wire service the gangs now are more likely to track and break into delivery vans, making off with $50,000 to $100,000 in chips or computer parts at a time. The FBI Computer Crimes Division estimates the average cost of each high-tech theft at $500,000. The record is a $12 million 1995 armed invasion of Centron Electronics in Irvine, Calif. Internet Bomb Injures Teen A bomb built reportedly from a recipe found on the Internet has injured a teen-ager in Helsinki, Finland. Two 16-year-olds may face charges over the explosion, Finland's second "Internet bomb" in a week. According to the Reuter News Service, no one else was hurt in the blast, but about 60 people were evacuated from the building in a northern Helsinki suburb. One of the boys told authorities he watched as his friend's fingers were almost blown off while he was manipulating a small quantity of the explosive cocktail. He said he had not understood how dangerous the chemicals were. "The thing is," said police commissioner Olli Koski, "they were using materials which are freely available," referring to the household items that are listed on several Internet sites alongside their chemical names and a list of recipes for explosive devices. 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 Shareware Treasure Chest STR Feature "The Latest & Greatest" Shareware Treasure Chest By Lloyd E. Pulley lepulley@streport.com Name/Version Release Date Size Price AOL Instant Messenger 32-bit beta 5/23/97 1.50mb Free AOL Instant Messenger is for anyone who wants to communicate "instantly" with friends, family and business colleagues, on the Internet and AOL, anywhere in the world. AOL Instant Messenger combines AOL's popular Buddy List and Instant Message features. The Instant Message feature lets users send and respond to messages immediately while the Buddy List feature lets users know instantly when friends are online. Previously only available to its 8 million members, AOL is now delivering these features to Internet users worldwide. Home Page Site - http://www.aol.com/buddylist/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price CU-SeeMe 32-bit 3.0 Official Release 5/23/97 5.80mb Shareware $49 Enhanced CU-SeeMe is desktop videoconferencing software for use over the Internet. Currently, it's one of the most popular. This new version features: *TCP/IP multicast support for LAN/WAN conferencing *New Phone Book with Graphical Contact Cards *Directory Services for locating other CU-SeeMe users *Whiteboard and Chat for multiuser collaboration during conferences *View up to 12 participant windows simultaneously *Caller ID for incoming connections *Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) video codec for high quality video over LANS and ISDN or higher connections Home Page Site - http://www.cuseeme.com/cu-seeme.html Name/Version Release Date Size Price Iron Wolves 1.20 for Win95 5/23/97 .66mb Free Iron Wolves is a graphical 3D multiplayer real-time WWII Submarine simulator. Currently in Free test Iron Wolves is a developing naval sim in which you will be able to command a U-Boat, Corvette, Destroyer or Merchantman. Requires DirectX Home Page Site - http://www.on-line.co.uk/iw.html Name/Version Release Date Size Price Resumeware 3.1 5/23/97 1,448kb Demo $29.95 This appplication will get you noticed with HR! Our shareware version illustrates how easy it can be to have a Windowed startup screen with a classical wave file playing background music that will compact to a Single 3.5 Floppy Diskette for distribution (396KB)! When the program has loaded a Word Document Icon that contains your latest resume appears and requires only a double click.This will carry HR off to your latest Up To The Minute Resume! You may edit your Resume at any time and the startup screen will remain the same! Pack it to a 3.5 Floppy Diskette or send it via email to some major online corporations! Home Page Site - http://www.gntech.net/media/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Small Utility Pack 1.31 5/23/97 342kb Shareware $20.00 A software package of many useful utilities. There are tools to increase your productivity and potentiality. Home Page Site - http://www.zdev.pair.com/utilpack/\ Name/Version Release Date Size Price WorldView for Internet Explorer 2.0 5/23/97 6,394kb Freeware WorldView for Netscape Navigator 2.0 5/23/97 6,335kb Freeware A highly optimized VRML 2.0 compatible plug-in for Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator. WorldView is the best way for you to experience 3D worlds on the Internet, Intranet, or your own desktop. Intervista Software provides WorldView 2.0 free of charge, so if you've got Windows '95, just download and enjoy. Home Page Site - http://www.intervista.com/products/worldview/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Magic Mail Monitor 2.1 5/22/97 40kb Freeware Post Office Protocol v3 compliant e-mail notifier, ideal for multiple account maintenance, convenient to handle and very descriptive. The latest added features include quick delete and many, many more. Home Page Site - http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Vista/2576/magic.html Name/Version Release Date Size Price Pile'em 1.5 5/22/97 595kb Shareware $5.00 Rendered Graphics, music, sound and alot of fun, clear the grid of coloured balls before the time runs out. Collect bonus points, explode crusing flower pots but look out for the Time Stealer, Diamonds awarded for mega piles, mega piles mean mega point, 99 levels of play, fast paced, this game will keep you on your toes, full documentation included. Home Page Site - http://members.aol.com/paulcraw/index.html Name/Version Release Date Size Price PrimaSoft Address Organizer 2.0 5/23/97 2,335kb Shareware $33.00 A powerful and flexible program that will help you organize your personal or business addresses, emails, phones, web pages,.. Data entry is easy, and you can customize the fields to fit your particular needs (some fields include: first & last name, company, email, phones, web page, category, notes, ...). Features: Unlimited number of records; Graphical fields; Flexible sorting; Powerful reports; Printing labels, envelopes; Print preview; Flexible filters; Custom fields; Customizable display; Dialing; Integration with email program & web browser; and more. Graphical binder style of the program, button bars, bubble help make the program easy-to- use. Home Page Site - http://www.primasoft.com/ado.htm Name/Version Release Date Size Price WinDownload 32-bit 3.4 5/24/97 1.00mb Shareware $20 WinDownload is a great utility that lets you schedule the download of selected files. WinDownload is a 32 bit, multi-thread application which can maximize bandwidth on any size pipe. Drag and drop a shortcut from Internet Explorer or Netscape and keep browsing. You can download the files on demand or schedule them to download anytime you want. Copy and paste a valid URL from any file or copy shortcut from your browser or add a new URL manually. Home Page Site - http://mason.gmu.edu/~rmcclana/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Private Music Collection 1.21 5/23/97 979kb Shareware A music database that is developed for use at home. You can keep track on all information you want to. Up to the songs on an album and it's producer or composer. This new version has some added features like reading the track information from the CD and opening the database by putting it's path as parameters in the command line. This way you can make an icon that directly opens your own database. Home Page Site - Name/Version Release Date Size Price Netscape Communicator 32-bit 4.0 beta 5 5/24/97 13.59mb Free The newest version of Netscape Communicator. Enhanced visual appearance and user interface, Taskbar that enables easy access to Communicator components and much more. Home Page Site - http://www.netscape.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Coin Organizer 2.0 5/23/97 2,320kb Shareware $33.00 A powerful and flexible program that will help you organize your coin collection. It has all the features that you have been asking for: Unlimited Number of Records; Graphical Data Field for scanned-in images; Flexible Sorting and Searching; Powerful Reports; Printing Labels; Print Preview; Flexible Filters; and more. Home Page Site - http://www.primasoft.com/coo.htm Name/Version Release Date Size Price Adr_Book 5.0 5/23/97 989kb Shareware $24.95 An address book database program and phone dialer for Windows 95. This program prints a 1/4 size address booklet, labels, envelopes, and serveral reports. Adr_Book 5.0 now has a web server built into the software. This means that Adr_Book is Internet aware, and can be accessed by any browser on an Intranet or Internet. A browser connection can query, add, update, and delete records. Whether you use the program as a traditional address book, or open it to the web it is an extremely fast and efficient program. Home Page Site - http://www.alaska.net/~mikeg/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Book Organizer 2.0 5/22/97 2,220kb Shareware $33.00 A powerful and flexible program that will help you organize your book collection. It has all the features that you have been asking for: Unlimited Number of Records; Graphical Data Field for scanned-in images; Flexible Sorting; Powerful Reports; Printing Labels; Print Preview; Flexible Filters; Custom Fields; Customizable Display, and more. Home Page Site - http://www.primasoft.com/bko.htm Name/Version Release Date Size Price EmEditor Free 1.20 5/23/97 263kb Freeware A simple text editor for general use instead of Notepad. Win95/NT3.51/NT4.0. Unlimited size of files, Undo/Redo counts are unlimited. Word wraps, auto wraps, no wrap words, hilite words. Link URLs and mail addresses. Drag and drop. Keyboard, toolbar, font, color customization. Can split into maximum of 4 panes. Double byte character aware. IntelliMouse aware. Home Page Site - http://www.emsoft.co.jp/index-e.htm Name/Version Release Date Size Price McAfee Virus Scan Monthly Update 5/22/97 1,060kb Freeware This is the May update for Mcafee VirusScan version 3.0. Note: This will not work with earlier versions of VirusScan. Home Page Site - http://www.mcafee.com/down/dat.html Name/Version Release Date Size Price Alien 3-D 2: Rebel's Revenge 1.1 5/24/97 2,596kb Freeware A game unlike any other, the best way to explain is to try it, also includes multiplayer support. Home Page Site - http://web.ukonline.co.uk/members/james.pickering/alien3-d 2.html Name/Version Release Date Size Price TheBook 1.1 5/25/97 817kb Freeware A small, fast, intelligent Windows95/NT4 address book. It is designed to be light on hard drive space and memory, yet contain all the features a person should need. It includes TAPI telephone dialing, shell link email/URL browsing, complete name, company and address fields, 6 phone fields, 2 email and 2 URL fields, notes, minimize to tray support, comma/tab seperated value import and export, searching and sorting on any field, window and column size saving, and quickfind addressing along with a wealth of other features. Home Page Site - http://www.sonic.net/~tengel/thebook/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Personal Stock Moniter 32-bit 2.0.5 5/26/97 1.30mb Shareware $25 Personal Stock Moniter runs in the background and at user defined intervals checks the current price on selected stocks. It also has an alarm feature to notify you if for example a stock reaches a new high, etc. Home Page Site - http://www.clark.net/pub/aivasyuk/psm/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Direct Audio Player 32-bit 2.4 5/26/97 1.00mb Free DirectAudio Player is a WAV, AU and GSM6.10 audio player for Windows. It will play any Microsoft WAV file formats, Sun/Next .AU (8000 Hz/ 8bits "mu" law encoded) files, and can also receive, expand and play GSM6.10 encoded files in real time from any HTTP/1.0 (WWW) server on the Internet. GSM 6.10 is a lossy speech compression standard that has been developped for cellular telephony applications. It is widely used in Europe and in over 60 countries over the world as the algorithm used for digitalisation of speech for digital cellular telephony. This version also supports TrueSpeech files. Home Page Site - http://www.cam.org/~noelbou/gsm_wine.html Name/Version Release Date Size Price June '97 definition update for Norton AntiVirus 5/26/97 1.20mb Free 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. Home Page Site - http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/index.html Name/Version Release Date Size Price Thumbs Plus 32-bit 3.0g beta 5/27/97 2.60mb Shareware $65 ThumbsPlus is a graphic file viewer, locator and organizer which simplifies the process of finding and maintaining graphics, clip-art files, fonts and animations. It displays a small image (thumbnail) of each file. You can use ThumbsPlus to browse, view, edit, crop, launch external editors, and copy images to the clipboard. You can use drag-and-drop to organize graphics files by moving them to appropriate directories. ThumbsPlus will also create a slide show from selected graphics, and install bitmap files as Windows wallpaper. You can print individual graphics files, or the thumbnails themselves as a catalog. ThumbsPlus can convert to several formats, either one at a time or in batch mode. You can also perform image editing in batch mode. ThumbsPlus will also convert metafile graphics to bitmaps (rasterize). One important new feature in 3.0g is the ablity to generate Web pages of thumbnails. Home Page Site - http://www.cerious.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Where Is it? 0.90.2 5/26/97 725kb Shareware $30.00 The latest in 32-bit Windows software, targeted on disk media cataloging. Successor to outdated Floppy Master, WhereIsIt? extends its capabilities, featuring full 32-bit, multithreaded coding, explorer-like user interface and extensive search capabilities, while retaining small, compact and easily relocatable catalogs. Detailed, easy to access info on every item in the database, each with up to 4kB description and user defined categories and flags, can mark the content of files and folders. User list is a place where all items of interest can be gathered in one place, and report generator is a very adjustable tool to produce reports in many different ways, taking data from three different sources. This program is currently released as pre-release, gathering user feedback and polishing up some last final features. Home Page Site - http://www.s-sser.lj.edus.si/robert/whereisit.html Name/Version Release Date Size Price PassWords Plus 32-bit 2.1a 5/27/97 1.10mb Shareware $5 Passwords Plus allows an unlimited number of users to each keep an individual password-protected list of their passwords. Names and passwords may be pasted into other applications using the standard Windows clipboard. Passwords lists may be browsed and printed. Home Page Site - http://www.dlcwest.com/~sorev/passplus.html Name/Version Release Date Size Price Digital Business Card 7.0 5/26/97 7kb Freeware A Single Click Digital Business Card featuring an animated slideshow with background music and special effects to distribute freely to potential clients. Insert your business or personal documents into our main startup window. When you return after saving your work, your information remains! Home Page Site - http://www.gntech.net/media/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price AutoWinNet 95 32-bit 2.5 5/27/97 2.0mb Shareware $29.95 Automated Internet for Windows95/NT. Allows scheduling common tasks for unattended operation. Upgrades himself automatically, plus supports 30 steps, including FTP: retries busy sites, wildcard download and upload, make/remove remote files and directories, plus customized logins. Email: Sends mail with an advanced, feature packed editor, unlimited multiple mailboxes, mailing lists, checks mail, or cleanup your mailbox. Auto- Responder: Checks and responds to email, allowing custom variables and attachments. WWW: Grab Html/binary files, local forecast, fetch 21 weather maps, then view them with our internal graphics viewer. News: Binary usenet posting with wildcards. Home Page Site - http://www.webcom.com/autownet/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Gone Bowlin' 95 League Bowler Companion 5.0 5/25/97 990kb Shareware $19.95 The perfect individual bowling statistician. Stats, graphs, and records galore. Graphs show weekly series, running average, average by ball, by lanes, by lane condition, by month, plus tons more! Requires the VB 4.0 Runtimes. Home Page Site - http://members.aol.com/gbw95/index.html Name/Version Release Date Size Price Schedule Wizard97 32-bit 1.3i 5/27/97 .76mb Shareware $25 Schedule Wizard allows you to schedule programs to run, schedule messages to pop-up, keep a list of dated reminders or appointments, and keep a to do list. Scheduling can be done with many variations including advanced warnings and alarms, and most importantly, it can be done with ease! Home Page Site - http://www.net1fx.com/ScheduleWizard/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price The Virtual Bar 2.0 5/26/97 1,876kb Shareware $30.00 Gives home and professional bartenders easy access to a database of more than 3,100 drink recipes. You can search the database alphabetically, by recipe ingredient, perform searches by name or generate a random list of recipes. Turn on Your Virtual Bar and you'll see the real power of the program. Simply enter the ingredients you have on hand and let the program generate a list of only the drinks you can make! The ultimate party companion. Home Page Site - http://www.thevirtualbar.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Super Ice Qube Hopper 1.4 5/25/97 3,179kb Shareware $19.00 Classic Arcade Style game based upon Q*Bert in a 90's environment. Hop from Qube to Qube cracking them while avoiding Snow Balls, Snow Men, and Seals! Digital Voice, Digital Sound, High Resolution Graphics using DirectX. Many screens, and construction set to make your own levels! Now supports Force-Feedback Joysticks and Password Registration. Requires DirectX 3.0 or higher. Home Page Site - http://www.sgnstarline.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price X-Replace 32-bit 1.75 5/28/97 .48mb Shareware XReplace-32 is designed to provide a secure and fast replacement of text in text files (like .INI or .HTM). You can select as many files you like that are accessible from your computer. You can replace a virtually infinite number of strings at the same time. This new version features redirections. Yes, you can redirect a file, a directory, a drive to different locations, so replacements are made and files are written to the target redirections with a different name (if you wish). Home Page Site - http://www.infomaniak.ch/~dblock/xreplace.htm Name/Version Release Date Size Price Klondike Deluxe 2.0 5/26/97 996kb Shareware $15.00 This is a Klondike Card game with the possibility to make your own cardsets. The game is made for 32000 colors and higher. It supports drag n' drop, background color changing, a midi play list and more. Home Page Site - http://www.cybercomm.nl/~reko1/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Eudora Pro 32-bit 3.0.2 5/28/97 4.20mb Shareware One of the best email clients around. It features: *Enhanced message filtering *Multiple e-mail accounts *Plug-ins *Stylized text *"Drag and Drop" support and almost everything else you can think off. This file is just the update to 3.0.2. You need a previous version already installed to use it. Home Page Site - http://www.eudora.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price 1-Step Backup System Agent Extension Beta 2 5/28/97 14kb Freeware Allows you to schedule backups using System Agent and Iomega 1-Step Backup for Zip and Jaz. Once installed, you can schedule backups easily using the familiar System Agent component of Microsoft Plus. Just put your backup disk in your Zip or Jaz, set the time you want the backup to occur, and your computer does the rest. (You must make the first backup manually to set the options in the Iomega 1-Step Backup program). Home Page Site - http://www.emeraldis.com/rsc/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price The Joke Collector 1.4 5/26/97 1,623kb Shareware $20.00 Enables you to easily store and view jokes using a category filing system, where you use joke categories to keep track of the jokes you collect. The Joke Collector features: Easy category selection using notebook style tabs; Ability to quickly scroll through jokes; Rich Text Formatting of jokes; Random joke viewing; Search facilities to find suitable jokes; Joke editing facilities. Plus, as a bonus, I have included my collection of over 260 jokes, so that you can quickly get your joke collection started. Home Page Site - http://matu1.math.auckland.ac.nz/~emms/atfuros/joke_collector.htm Name/Version Release Date Size Price CRT 32-bit 2.0 beta 6 5/28/97 .97mb Shareware $30 CRT is a 32-bit terminal emulator designed for Internet and intranet use with support for both the telnet and rlogin protocols. CRT is ideal for connecting to remote systems running UNIX and VMS as well as the many BBS's and databases that are now available via the Internet. CRT delivers quality VT100, VT102, VT220 and ANSI terminal emulations. All of CRT's emulations support ANSI color. CRT is packed with features. Some of the more popular features include named sessions, auto login, printing, zmodem file transfer, emacs mode, and SOCKS firewall support. Home Page Site - http://www.vandyke.com/products/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Neko95 2.5 5/24/97 185kb Freeware Neko is a little cat who sits on the desktop and chases the mouse pointer. This version contains a bug-fixed configuration program and also has support for sounds! Home Page Site - http://www.uea.ac.uk/~u9530134/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price BackBround Changer - o - Matic 1.5 5/26/97 131kb Shareware $5.00 A program for managing your desktop wallpapers. Changes your Wallpaper from your specified list. Changes your Wallpaper in your specified range of time. Changes your Wallpaper minimized from the Icon tray. Changes your Wallpaper in full 32 Code. Home Page Site - http://www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/6696/bgc.htm Name/Version Release Date Size Price MileMarker 2.00.23 5/26/97 1,787kb Shareware $20.00 Allows you to easily track and report your reimbursable travel mileage. MileMarker's intelligence and easy-to-use interface make entering your trips fast and accurate. MileMarker remembers where you've been... You never have to re-type locations you visit often. And MileMarker remembers the distance between locations, so you rarely have to enter odometer readings... MileMarker does it for you! Simply point-and-click to enter your trips. MileMarker generates easy-to-read mileage reports you can submit to your employer for reimbursement. This one-of-a-kind program is perfect for employees who use their own vehicle for company business. Home Page Site - http://www.emeraldis.com/rsc/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price WebSnake 32-bit 1.0 beta 3 5/29/97 1.70mb Shareware Anawave WebSnake is a new off-line browser designed exclusively for Windows 95/NT. In addition to off-line browsing, WebSnake is unique in that it uses proprietary "intelligent pull" technology to search and retrieve files from the World Wide Web. For example, WebSnake supports website mirroring (including directory structure), retrieval of e-mail addresses, site maps and advanced file search. Home Page Site - http://www.anawave.com/websnake/index.html Name/Version Release Date Size Price MultiPlay '97 2.0 5/28/97 1,796kb Freeware A 32-bit multimedia file player forWindows 95 and NT. Unlike the Media Player, which requires you to manually select, open, and play each file, MultiPlay requires only a single clickto open and play a file automatically, and has built-in play list support. Supported file typesinclude AVI, MIDI, MPEG, and WAV formats. Home Page Site - http://home1.gte.net/jones/multiplay/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price System Editor 1.0 5/27/97 3,300kb Freeware You've heard of the System Configuror that Windows gives you? Well I've made an application that will let you customize your session and let you decide which files should be loaded at start up. Plus, this application has a user profile system similar to the one that Windows 95 gives you. Also, this has backup and restore features. Home Page Site - http://www.geocities.com/~jon999/syseditor/index.html Name/Version Release Date Size Price Need for Speed 2 for Win95 5/29/97 17.00mb Commercial Demo The second installment of EA's popular racing game. This version features: The most exotic cars on the planet. Eight licensed, supercar and concept machines. *Full 3-D World: 50% more polygon detail means richer environments. *Improved driving freedom: Full 360 degree POV. Drive off road, stay in-car at all times, drive backwards on every track. *Six International Tracks: Exotic machines demand exotic tarmac. We searched the world for the most demanding roads and mapped them onto the game NotesDirectX required to play. Home Page Site - http://www.nfs2.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price AntiHack File Protector 2.0 5/28/97 156kb Shareware $80.00 As The Hackers go down to crack some AntiHack Files, finally they've done a good job. They've succeeded of obtaining the password of an AntiHack file. OK! That's not a problem, just upgrade all of your files which you've protected with AntiHack v1.0, because some hackers can hack them. Protect your files again with AntiHack v2.0 with powerful system security from VisuaLand Technology. Don't worry anymore because this new system has a high level security protection for your important files. AntiHack v2.0 Shareware version is a decendant of registered AntiHack, it has several new technique of data protection. Home Page Site - http://www.visualand.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price WinGate Pro 32-bit 2.0c 5/29/97 1.12mb Shareware 1 user=free 2 or more=$ Connect an entire LAN to the Internet with only one modem!WinGate allows you to connect many LAN users to the Internet over a single dial-up link. You can run your favourite WWW Browsers, email, news, FTP, Telnet, and more, without the expense of setting up routers, or installing and running additional phone lines. Most important though, WinGate can save you a lot of time and money, and simplify the management of your Internet access. Home Page Site - http://www.deerfield.com/wingate/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Rally Racers 1.0 5/28/97 2,902kb Shareware $19.95 An arcade racing challenge where you try to reclaim your ten flags scattered across dozens of maze like race tracks. Sounds reasonable? Did we mention there are a couple of road hazards on each track, you have only one tank full of gas, and there are a couple of mean enemy car drivers on the track that will do anything to stop you. But don't feel like it's all against you cause there several bonus tracks and plenty of great graphics and music scores for everyone. This arcade strategy race game is guaranteed hours of thrills. Home Page Site - http://www.tccons.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price WS-FTP 32-bit 4.50 build 97.05.17 5/29/97 .59mb Shareware Designed for non-programmers but sophisticated enough for power users, WS_FTP is widely recognized as the fastest, most powerful Windows file transfer client application available. WS_FTP takes full advantage of Windows' point-and-click capabilities. Its highly intuitive graphical user interface with side-by-side directory windows for local and remote sites makes it easy for users to select and transfer files. Home Page Site - http://www.csra.net/junodj/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price bravo! 5.10 5/29/97 1,103kb Shareware $22.00 A trigonometric and scientific RPN calculator. Mathematic - Solution of triangles - Complex numbers and vectors calculations - Measure converter: 112 different measures grouped in 12 categories - 8 stac-registers that may be seen in a separate window. A must for every family! Absolutly necessary for students and workers. Home Page Site - http://www.freeyellow.com/members/lis/index.html Name/Version Release Date Size Price Net.Medic 32-bit 1.1 5/29/97 1.00mb Shareware $39.95 Net.Medic is a browser companion, it works with your Internet browser to monitor, isolate, diagnose, and correct problems that affect your Internet experience. Now you can identify the source of your network bottleneck: your PC, modem, your Internet Service Provider (ISP), the Internet backbone, or remote Web site server. Net.Medic identifies problems in split seconds, offers you recommendations for solving them, and in certain cases, automatically fixes them for you. Net.Medic is the personal Internet utility you've been waiting for, giving you actionable information that can measurably improve your personal online experience. Before Net.Medic, you could only talk about your frustration. Now you can do something about it. Home Page Site - http://www.vitalsigns.com/ EDUPAGE STR Focus Keeping the users informed Edupage Contents Apple's Newton Unit Seeking Investors Internet Thief Apprehended Advertisers, Privacy Advocates Debate Cookies Higher Ed CIOs Come In All Sizes Faster Modems Put ISPs In Lose-Lose Situation Business Software Alliance Focuses On Florida Cable Ads, By Special Delivery Apple's Yellow Box Resource Center For Cyberculture IRS Gives Technology Another Try More Schools Join Internet 2 Effort What Is Possession Of Porn? AT&T WorldNet Security Breach Is A Hoax Low-Cost Log-Ons Overseas Who's More Wired? Digital VHS Due Out Soon Weeding Out Info-Junk FCC's Reed Hundt To Step Down AT&T, SBC Discussing Mega-Merger The Empire Strikes Back -- Intel Sues Digital Individual Unloads Freeloader Year 2000 Problem Will Cost EDS $144 Million Microsoft-DirecTV Venture On Hold Where Do You Put 100,000 Cell Phone Towers? When E-Mail Slows To A Snail's Pace Sega-Bandai Deal Called Off APPLE'S NEWTON UNIT SEEKING INVESTORS Apple Computer will restructure its Newton division into a wholly owned subsidiary, able to attract outside investors and possibly go public. The new company will have its own stock shares and board of directors. "Apple was looking at several alternatives, but the conclusion was that the best solution was to make it a free- standing company funded by Apple Computer," says an Apple VP. The company had sought to sell the unit outright, but couldn't find anyone willing to pay the $50 million to $100 million price. The new arrangement will give Apple the flexibility to spin off the new company to shareholders, or bring it back inside the fold, should the Newton become more successful. "This allows us to distance ourselves from Apple. That had been a big problem for us. We spent a majority of our time explaining to people that the Newton wasn't a little Macintosh," says a Newton team member. (Wall Street Journal 23 May 97) INTERNET THIEF APPREHENDED A computer cracker who broke into a San Diego Internet service provider's computer and stole 100,000 credit card numbers has been nabbed. The thief used a "packet sniffer" program to gather the information from a dozen companies selling products over the Internet, and was arrested as he tried to peddle them to an undercover FBI agent for $260,000. "What is unique about this case is that this individual was able to hack into this third party, copy this information and encrypt it to be sold," says a Bureau spokesman. The cracker was using an account at the University of California at San Francisco, although authorities have not determined whether he is affiliated with the university. (New York Times 23 May 97) ADVERTISERS, PRIVACY ADVOCATES DEBATE COOKIES A recent proposal by the Internet Engineering Task Force would make it easier to control the use of "cookies" -- the technology that tracks a user's clicks through a Web site -- by changing the default setting for "third-party cookies." "The proposal will allow users to exercise greater control over the creation and collection of personal information resulting from transactions between we clients and web servers," say supporters in a letter. Rumors of some Web sites sharing information -- for instance, information given as part of a financial transaction combined with other information collected by cookies -- have heightened fears of privacy invasion, as the cross- referencing of this information could allow a company to match up an individual's virtual persona with his or her real identity. The IETF proposal would change the specifications for third party cookies to direct the browser not to accept the cookie. The Association of Online Professionals has come out against the proposal, citing potential loss of services from online providers who rely on cookies for passwords, preferences and other tasks; loss of a major method used to assess the success of Web advertising; and loss of "hundreds of thousands of man-hours for reprogramming Web sites." (BNA Daily Report for Executives 23 May 97) HIGHER ED CIOs COME IN ALL SIZES "The three major problems that confront higher education today are quality, costs and access," says Educom President Robert C. Heterick, Jr. "Institutions that are trying to improve in those areas are invariably looking to information technology." Meanwhile, Peter Segall, a partner in Coopers & Lybrand's higher education consulting group, points out that these information technology needs vary by institutional size, making the academic CIO's role flexible: "You can't be a chief of anything at (large research institutions) because they are feudal empires. Decision making is decentralized to the local level where each dean runs the show." Mid- sized universities with budgets ranging from $25 million to $200 million are more manageable, while smaller colleges allow a CIO to have the most influence: "Those CIOs have an easier time dictating technology decisions because there's more acceptance of centralized control, particularly when it comes to administrative computing," says Segall. (CIO 15 May 97) FASTER MODEMS PUT ISPs IN LOSE-LOSE SITUATION Internet service providers, struggling to make ends meet in a flat rate environment, find themselves under even more pressure now that some customers are investing in the new 56-kbps modems. The fact that it could cost an ISP millions of dollars to upgrade their technology and access equipment is bad enough, but because industry standards haven't yet been set and probably won't be for another 18 months, providers that upgrade now run the risk of having to spend even more down the road. The confusion stems from the arrival of two separate and so far incompatible 56-kbps modem technologies -- X2 from U.S. Robotics and K56flex from Lucent Technologies and Rockwell International. "Most ISPs find they're in one camp or another because of the access equipment deployed throughout their networks," says a director at Pacific Bell Internet Services. "Is anybody really going to put two sets of equipment out there? The economics of that don't make a lot of sense." (tele.com May 97) BUSINESS SOFTWARE ALLIANCE FOCUSES ON FLORIDA The Business Software Alliance is targeting Florida as a major area for software piracy: "We've noticed a disproportionate number of our hot line calls are coming from Florida," says a BSA enforcement director. He cites Florida's growing economy -- fueled primarily by small and mid-sized companies, which are more susceptible to piracy -- and the state's proximity to Latin America and the Caribbean as reasons for the problem. Twenty-four Florida companies are currently under investigation, and the BSA recently sent 50,000 smaller businesses in the state letters describing their intent to track down and prosecute users of unlicensed software. (St. Petersburg Times 25 May 97) CABLE ADS, BY SPECIAL DELIVERY Cable company advertisers are slicing and dicing cable viewers - targeting their ads to more narrowly defined market segments. New digital ad insertion technology from SeaChange International Inc. puts the ads into digital form and then enables cable operators to run dozens of ads simultaneously -- for instance, a couple in Chicago's swanky suburbs might see a commercial for a nearby bakery, while downtown viewers would see an ad for a local rib joint. The best part is, the cable company can sell the same space over and over. (Business Week 26 May 97) APPLE'S YELLOW BOX Apple Computer is working on a development environment called Yellow Box, an evolution of the OpenStep environment. The plan is to enable programs written using Yellow Box to run on five desktop platforms: PowerPC, Intel, MacOS, Windows 95 and Windows NT. (Information Week 19 May 97) RESOURCE CENTER FOR CYBERCULTURE A University of Maryland graduate student has developed a Web site that serves as a networking center for academics dealing with cybercultural issues. The Resource Center for Cyberculture Studies has a variety of areas for teachers to explore, including an area where they can post information on their classes or areas of study. Professors from other institutions have found the site useful: "It's a good filter. The stuff I've seen there is helpful," says a professor at the University of Virginia. "One of the big challenges here is fighting link rot," he adds. (Wired News 14 May 97) http://otal.umd.edu/~rccs IRS GIVES TECHNOLOGY ANOTHER TRY The IRS is endeavoring once again to modernize its aging computer system, after the Treasury Department last year put a stop to a 10-year, $3.3- billion Tax Systems Modernization program that turned out to be a bust. The IRS admitted it had wasted $400-million over the last decade on the failed effort. The new plan, which won't go into effect until October 1998, is expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars and could take several years to complete. "This is the world's largest modernization of all time; there is no question about that," says the IRS's assistant commissioner in charge of technology. This time around, the agency plans to ask private business to help it develop a "real world" information system in increments, instead of having government staff design systems that just weren't realistic. (Tampa Tribune 26 May 97) MORE SCHOOLS JOIN INTERNET 2 EFFORT Thirty-five more colleges and universities have signed on to participate in the National Science Foundation's Internet 2 project, bringing the total number of schools involved to 64. "We are now more than half of the way to our goal of connecting the top 100 research institutions," says National Science Foundation official Mark Luker, who coordinates NSF's vBNS program. IBM pledged last week to donate $3.5 million to the project's funding, in addition to the $12.3 million in federal grants for the 35 institutions. The Internet 2 project's goal is to create a network 100 times faster than the Internet that will be available for a variety of academic and research purposes. (Chronicle of Higher Education 30 May 97) WHAT IS POSSESSION OF PORN? The Ontario Provincial Police anti-pornography unit says possession of computer pornography occurs when an image is saved on a computer's hard drive or diskette. A University of Waterloo computer science professor notes, however, that most people have no idea what the software on their computer can do. A McMaster University science professor points out that anyone surfing the net who takes a peek just to satisfy their curiosity may find their computer has made a copy of the illegal picture and stored it indefinitely on the hard drive. Assistant Crown Attorney Denis Allan says the courts have not yet addressed the issue of whether a person is guilty of possession of illegal pornography if the images were loaded onto the hard drive by the software and stored without the person's knowledge. (Toronto Globe & Mail 26 May 97) AT&T WORLDNET SECURITY BREACH IS A HOAX The Georgia-based computer software engineer who previously told PC World Online that he and a colleague had collected Internet packet data using a "sniffer" program, now says he later discovered that his associate hadgathered the data from hard disks on a LAN, not on the open Internet. "It appears that there is no hole in the security on the WorldNet service. The two gentlemen who were doing the network 'sniffing' misled me as to where the data was coming from. To reach the WorldNet account page, they had to be on the AT&T side of the security wall. This did not happen. I was led to believe that they had hacked into the AT&T network and were getting 'live' data streaming across the network. The data we captured was not from users on the system that night. It was a ruse," he said in a letter to AT&T. "By all indications, the security of the AT&T WorldNet service was not compromised," says an AT&T WorldNet spokesman. (PC World News Radio 23 May 97) LOW-COST LOG-ONS OVERSEAS Two innovative companies, AimQuest Corp. ( www.aimsoft.com ) and i-Pass Alliance ( www.ipass.com ) now are offering worldwide Internet access to global travelers through local Internet service providers. They use the same type of network that allows automated teller machines to dispense cash in foreign countries. No matter where you are, access time averages less than $5 an hour. "Small companies have the least cushion for absorbing the kind of expenses associated with international travel," says an AimQuest spokesman. "We let users go with a local or regional provider and still have access to the world." No special software is needed, but your local ISP needs to sign up with one of the companies to offer the service. (Home Office Computing May 97) WHO'S MORE WIRED? Although research indicates that the United States has more computer users than any other country, a University of Guelph computer scientist re- processed figures published by Web research company Morgan Stanley and found that Canada beats the U.S. by a country mile. While the U.S. boasts 28,470 networks linked to the Internet and Canada has only 4,796, this translates to 114 networks per 1-million in population compared to Canada's 192 per million. In descending order, the seven most-wired countries based on networks per million of population are: Canada (192), United States (114), Australia (110), France (37), Britain (24), Germany (22), and Japan (15). (Toronto Globe & Mail 23 May 97) DIGITAL VHS DUE OUT SOON VCRs capable of recording digital signals beamed from direct-broadcast satellites and other digital sources should be out this fall, says JVC, which developed the original VHS format. The D-VHS format will enable five to seven hours of TV programming to be recorded on a tape similar to a regular VHS tape, and will also record conventional analog television and play analog tapes. (Popular Science May 97) WEEDING OUT INFO-JUNK Michael Dertouzos, head of MIT's Laboratory for Computer Science, says the wealth of information on the Web needs to be filtered to be valuable: "The question that businesspeople keep asking is: How do I exploit this new information world to start a business? Bill Gates says buyers and sellers will find each other frictionlessly, without middle people. I take issue. I think there will be a tremendous amount of info-junk and we're going to need intermediaries to sort through it. We will need info- tailors, info-brokers, info-navigators... Search engines are not satisfying. We do not know how to construct anthropomorphic agents one- thousandth as capable as humans in general intelligence terms. A wave of human agents? Now you're talking." (Forbes 2 Jun 97) FCC'S REED HUNDT TO STEP DOWN FCC Chairman Reed Hundt will step down from his post, saying he plans to return to the private sector and spend more time with his family. Potential replacements include William Kennard, the FCC's general counsel, Commissioner Susan Ness, a Democratic appointee, and Kathleen Wallman, former chief of the FCC's Common Carrier Bureau. (Wall Street Journal 28 May 97) AT&T, SBC DISCUSSING MEGA-MERGER AT&T and SBC Communications are considering tying the knot, just months after SBC completed its merger with Pacific Telesis. The mega-union, if completed, would be the largest corporate merger in history, valued at more than $50 billion. "This is a remarkably grandiose proposition," says a communications lawyer who prosecuted the federal government's antitrust case against AT&T, resulting in the breakup of the Bell System. "It would be very hard to get this approved any time soon." People close to the deal say AT&T has also had talks with BellSouth Corp. and has looked at GTE Corp. as possible partners. (New York Times 28 May 97) THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK -- INTEL SUES DIGITAL In response to Digital's lawsuit against Intel, filed a couple of weeks ago, Intel now has allegedly asked Digital to return confidential product- related information that it had received as part of licensing arrangement. "When you've got a situation where another company is accusing you of theft and making accusations on your integrity, the last thing that you want to do is take your confidential advanced intellectual property information and supply that into that company," says an Intel spokesman. Digital has not yet returned the information, so Intel sued. Meanwhile, Digital's suit alleges that Intel stole Digital's Alpha microprocessor technology and incorporated it into its Pentium-class chips. The acrimonious situation between the two companies makes it highly unlikely that Intel will continue to supply Digital with microprocessors for its products when that contract expires next fall. (InfoWorld Electric 28 May 97) INDIVIDUAL UNLOADS FREELOADER Individual has discontinued its free, advertising-supported Freeloader Internet service, which it had purchased a year ago. The service used push technology to send personalized news and a customized selection of Web sites to subscribers' desktops. Instead, Individual has formed a new division to focus on Webcasting applications, and will be a channel partner for Microsoft's Internet Explorer 4.0. (TechWire 28 May 97) YEAR 2000 PROBLEM WILL COST EDS $144 MILLION Electronic Data Systems will spend about $144 million over the next three years to revamp its computer systems so they will function properly in the year 2000. The company arrived at the estimate after studying contracts and surveying its 9,000 customers, who rely on EDS for their computer operations. Existing customers, because of the contract structure, won't have to pay extra for the service. At the same time, EDS plans to capitalize on its expertise: the company is hiring several hundred new programmers, bringing old ones out of retirement, and is currently negotiating new contracts for Year 2000 conversion worth about $350 million. (Wall Street Journal 28 May 97) MICROSOFT-DIRECTV VENTURE ON HOLD Microsoft says it won't have its new operating system, code-named Memphis, ready this year for the software maker's joint venture with DirecTV -- meanwhile, DirecTV is said to be determined to launch its satellite-to-PC service this year, and is rumored to be looking around for another software partner. "We are looking at our options in developing contingency plans," says a DirecTV spokeswoman, who declined to elaborate. Microsoft had announced the project with great fanfare last January, naming NBC, USA Network as content partners and IBM, Gateway 2000 and Sony Corp. on the technology side. A Microsoft spokesman says he thinks DirecTV is going to have a hard time finding a substitute software partner: "If it was easy to do, we would have done it already." (Broadcasting & Cable 26 May 97) WHERE DO YOU PUT 100,000 CELL PHONE TOWERS? While the U.S. government eagerly sells off portions of the electromagnetic spectrum in the interest of balancing the federal budget, legislators are overlooking a major hurdle for the companies that want to use these frequencies. Unlike analog cellular service, which is supported by fewer than 15,000 towers nationwide, the next-generation digital cellular - known as PCS -- will require more than 100,000 cellular towers to provide reliable service. More than 300 communities already have revolted, imposing moratoria on cell tower construction, and the movement is growing. Fueling the problem are fears that property values will be adversely affected by the giant structures and suspicions that cellular transmissions can cause increased instances of leukemia and other health problems. "Today, there are 45 million users of wireless phones, yet we are still unable to certify the safety of this product for American consumers because adequate research apparently has not been performed," writes Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), who's asked the FDA to assess the research done to date. (Investor's Business Daily 29 May 97) WHEN E-MAIL SLOWS TO A SNAIL'S PACE A recent study by Inverse Network Technology shows that on the average, nearly 12% of e-mail takes more than five minutes to deliver, and some providers keep 10% of their customers waiting more than an hour for their mail. Inverse sent some 3,300 messages to and from each Internet service provider to compile its data. "Generally speaking, you're not going to lose mail," says Inverse's CEO. "What happens 99% of the time is that the mail just sits in a machine somewhere for hours or even days." Some people blame Internet gateways for most of the problems. Gateways are "where reliability goes to hell," says the co-director of the Internet Mail Consortium, who notes that flaky technology can play havoc with e-mail attachments, such as spreadsheets or word-processing documents. "A bad gateway will mishandle the attachment and drop it on the floor or turn it into something you can't read." (Wall Street Journal 29 May 97 B1) SEGA-BANDAI DEAL CALLED OFF A proposed merger between Sega Enterprises and Bandai Co., Japan's leading toy maker, has been called off, following a protest by Bandai middle managers, who feared their "homey atmosphere" would dissolve in the more structured, business-like Sega environment. The president of Bandai also cited other unresolved differences that led to the collapse of the merger. The two companies say they plan to collaborate on consumer multimedia products, although no details are available. Bandai is currently enjoying a huge success with its Tamagotchi toy -- a miniature video game on a key chain that features a little chick that must be fed and nurtured in order to thrive. (New York Times 28 May 97) 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! Choice of bell is yours: a small dome with a button, like the one on the counter at the dry cleaners with the sign "Ring bell for service"; or a small hand bell; or a cathedral bell; or a door bell; or a chime; or a glockenspiel. Your choice. But ring it! EDUCOM UPDATE is our twice-a-month electronic summary of organizational news and events. To subscribe to the Update: send a message to: listproc@educom.unc.edu and in the body of the message type: subscribe update John McCarthy (assuming that your name is John McCarthy; if it's not, substitute your own name). INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE The CAUSE organization's annual conference on information technology in higher education is scheduled for the end of this month in New Orleans. 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