61 Silicon Times Report "The Original Independent OnLine Magazine" (Since 1987) June 06, 1997 No.1323 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 06/06/97 STR 1323 Celebrating Our Tenth Anniversary 1987-97! - CPU Industry Report - ULTRA EDIT-32 - WINFAX PRO 8 - Wares are BIG BIZ! - Authenticode 2.0 - MS & NET Privacy - Shareware Listings - Internet Gambling - AOL Users FLEE - Resident Evil Update - People Talking - Classics & Gaming APPLE'S NEW USER CREDIT DEALS CYRIX RELEASES 6X86MX PROCESSOR AT&T/SBC MERGER DEAD? 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 1987-1997 Florida Lotto - LottoMan v1.35 Results: 05/24/97: five of six numbers with eight 2 number matches From the Editor's Desk... Not too much to discuss this week as all the information from Spring Comdex is being compiled for next week's issue. But. you must make it your business to look over Word Perfect 8. They've done a very nice job on this one. Much better than 7 and holding great promise for their Pro release in the late summer. At least they didn't go for the "ersatz rtf" file format we are seeing in Word at this time. To the guys number crunching Office Pro package. Its time for the "Hat Trick" with file formats to end guys. We've all had a great laugh but far too many legal and medical professional offices have been hosed with this jazz. Let's get back to REAL import and export routines. The rtf thingy just doesn't make it. I've talk to more irate professionals in the last three months than I have in the last three years. all because of the horrid file management of Office Pro 97. Well, maybe some good did come of it my consultation activities have tripled. UltraEdit-32 has an update available on their website. This is the finest quickie editor that has everything one could possibly need to get the job done. From number crunchers to code crunchers and everyone in between, this is the very best replacement for both notepad and word pad. They have gotten our attention. So much so that Ian D. Meade's efforts have won an Editor's Choice Award for Ultra Edit-32. 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 Sony Unveils Notebook PCs Sony Electronics has introduced its first line of multimedia notebook computers for the U.S. market. Featuring a 12.1-inch TFT LCD screen, 14.5X CD-ROM drive, built-in modem and 2.1GB hard drive, Sony's new VAIO notebooks are based on 150MHz and 166MHz Pentium MMX processors. The notebooks also come with remote control headphones, which allow users to listen to music CDs and control CD audio playback functions while the system's LCD panel is closed. In the same violet and gray color scheme as Sony's VAIO tower PCs, the VAIO notebooks are designed to fit into a variety of home and office environments. "Our aim was for Sony's new notebooks to deliver professional quality technology to the home user in an easy- to-use, compact package that is ideal for today's active lifestyles," says Tim Errington, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Sony Information Technologies of America. "With high-end specifications, corporate users also gain a top performance, mobile business tool, while home users have access to full multimedia entertainment and communication capabilities of the typical home PC." The notebooks are scheduled to become available in July at prices ranging from $3,500 to $5,000. More details are available at Sony's Web site: http://www.sony.com/pc Picture Publisher 7 Ships Micrografx Inc. is now shipping Picture Publisher 7, an image editing tool for professional-quality photo manipulation and Internet graphics. Previously available as a component in the Micrografx Webtricity and Graphics Suite 2 software suites, Picture Publisher 7 is now available standalone product. The updated software includes built-in MMX multimedia support and numerous other enhancements. Picture Publisher 7 is compatible with PCs running Windows 95 and Windows NT, and supports Microsoft Office applications. "The use of digital imaging to create exciting Internet graphics and effects is one of the industry's fastest growing graphics categories, and is of interest to professional artists and PC enthusiasts alike," observes Eric Cowles, Micrografx's Picture Publisher product manager. Picture Publisher 7, priced at $99.95, is available at Best Buy, CompUSA, Computer City, Egghead and Fry's. Cyrix Releases 6x86MX Processor Cyrix Corp. has released the 6x86MX, its new MMX-enabled processor. The Richardson, Texas, chipmaker notes that the device, formerly code-named M2, delivers Pentium II-class performance at about half the price. "The 6x86MX processor now enables our customers to deliver high-performance, MMX-enabled entertainment PCs in the rapidly growing sub-$1,500 category," says Jay Swent, Cyrix's acting CEO. Systems based on the 6x86MX processor are available now through Cybermax, USA Flex and numerous other direct channel marketers, says Cyrix. In addition, CTX will sell systems based on the chip in the retail channel starting in July. Toshiba Unveils New Laptop Breaking the two-pound weight barrier is a new laptop being unveiled by Toshiba Corp. this week. The Associated Press says the Libretto 50CT is the first notebook running on Windows 95 operating software elow hat threshold, at 1.85 pounds. The Libretto runs on a 75MHz Pentium processor and is priced at about $2,000. "While hand-held 'palm-top' computers tend to weigh less," AP notes, "most run on Microsoft Corp.'s more basic Windows CE operating system, use a smaller keyboard and are limited in what they can do." In fact, look for Toshiba to unveil aarange of lighter models in an attempt to solidify its position as the No. 1 maker of laptops: ú The Portege 300 uses Intel's Pentium MMX chip with multimedia technology, for better running of graphics and sound. It lists for $3,500 and weighs 3.8 pounds. Two other portable models offer enough power to replace corporate desktop computers, but at prices lower than the company's previous similar offerings. ú Starting at $4,500, the Tecra laptops weigh 6.5 pounds and feature a powerful 166 MHz Pentium processor with multimedia technology, a CD-ROM drive and hook-ups for synchronizing information with desktops. Packard Bell Rolls Out New Unit Packard Bell NEC's new Platinum 2250X computer now is available for $2,299. Reporting from Sacramento, California, the Dow Jones news service quotes the company as saying the Platinum 2250X is based on the new 233MHz Intel Pentium processor with MMX technology. "The computer can self correct more than 5,000 common computing errors automatically through SystemSoft's System Wizard support-call solution software pre-loaded on the system," the wire service adds. DJ says the system features include a 6.4 GB hard drive, 32 MB EDO RAM expandable to 128 MB, 256 KB pipelined burst Level 2 Cache memory, 16X CD-ROM and x2 high speed modem designed to support download speeds up to 56Kbps. Apple Unveils New Financing Option Apple Computer Inc. has introduced a new financing plan that aims to make it easier for college students to acquire Macintosh computers and accessories. The Apple loan program is available to qualifying individuals, 18 years of age or older, who purchase Apple-branded products. The program combines low-interest loans with low qualifying income requirements and flexible payment options. For example, students can use co-signers to help them qualify and can lower their payments by deferring payments on the loan's principal by up to four years. Borrowers can accelerate their payments or pay off the balance of the loan at any time, without prepayment penalty. Having already achieved success with similar loan programs for college students buying on campus and for educators, the new Apple Loan Program is designed for individuals who buy at retail stores. "With our Apple Computer Loan, we want to make buying a Macintosh as easy as using one," says Mike Muench, Apple's vice president of consumer and small business markets. "The Apple Computer Loan is remarkably easy to use, addresses limited incomes associated with many college students and offers them deferred principle payments until they graduate, or for up to four years." Dell Reaches Milestone Dell Computer Corp. reports that it has shipped its 10 millionth computer. Dell, the world's No. 3 computer maker, has built PCs since 1984. The company, based in Austin, Texas, has major manufacturing facilities in Austin; Limerick, Ireland; and Penang, Malaysia. Dell has become well known in the computer industry for its fast inventory turns and build-to-order manufacturing, which allows the early incorporation of newer, faster and often lower-cost components into its products. "Dell has set standards for efficiency and customization with our build-to-order process," says Michael Dell, the firm's chairman and CEO. "The strength of our manufacturing processes is a significant factor in Dell's growth and product leadership. We could not have reached this point without the hard work and continual improvements of our teams around the world." CNN, Oracle Team on News Service A new personalized online news service tailored to the tastes and needs of the computer user has been unveiled by Cable News Network and software publisher Oracle Corp. The system, called CNN Custom News, invites users to fill out a profile form once to select what types of news, weather, and sports will automatically appear on the Web home page each time they log on. "Rather than watching CNN 24 hours a day, it edits what you want," Time Warner Vice Chairman Ted Turner told United Press International. "You can see what you want to see when you want to see it." Appearing during the unveiling at the COMDEX-Windows World trade show at Atlanta yesterday, Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison said news stories from CNN and more than 100 other sources are read into the system by a server using Oracle database technology. Adds UPI, "Many Web application servers connected to the database server will connect users with the information. Information not desired on a daily basis can be located through a search." Ellison pointed out the feature can be accessed by any Web compatible device. Users who connect with a Web TV box can watch television programs while simultaneously receiving a ticker of breaking stories and personally selected stocks and other information at the bottom of the screen. This scrolling ticker also can be received by personal computers. The service is available to anyone with Web access free of charge at CNN.com/CustomNews and is sponsored by Citibank. Other advertising will appear on the customized pages based on the interests specified by users. Study: Software No. 3 U.S. Industry A new report issued by the Business Software Alliance, finds that the software industry is the fastest growing sector of the U.S. economy. According to the study, the software industry's contributions reach beyond product sales, generating substantial increases in employment, wages, taxes and productivity. Compared to manufacturing, software publishing is the third largest industry, behind only the automotive and electronic manufacturing industries. "This study reflects the dramatic economic ripple effect of the nation's fastest growing industry," says Robert Holleyman, president of the Business Software Alliance, which represents most major U.S. software publishers. "By the year 2005, the U.S. software industry will generate more than 3.4 million jobs and $139 billion in wages. These are critical numbers as we chart the future of our nation's economy." The study was issued as software industry leaders arrive in Washington to ask Congress for increased copyright protection, relaxed data encryption export rules and other legislation favorable to the industry. Copies of the report can be obtained from BSA's Web site at Congress May Balk on Net Upgrade Word is Congress may be skeptical about funding scientists' work on the next generation of the Internet. In fact, says reporter Aaron Pressman of the Reuter News Service, "Rather than stumbling over new hardware or software, the next generation network has quickly run into several road blocks on Capitol Hill." This week scientists involved with the project -- including President Clinton's top science adviser John Gibbons -- are heading for a Senate hearing to try to soothe concerns. Reuters says some lawmakers worry the project lacks focus and is not sufficiently different from a related university project known as Internet2. Announced with great fanfare in Clinton's re-election campaign last year, Internet2 aims to send data at 1,000 times the speed of today's net, which could spur a host of new uses for the network, some with sound and video. Candidate Clinton pledged the government will spend $100 million annually for five years to build the super high-speed network and promote its use. "The money was to come from reallocating existing research funds," says Pressman, "but that plan is already in trouble. In April, the House of Representatives passed a budget for the National Science Foundation that specifically barred any spending on the next generation Internet. The bill is awaiting action by the Senate and could be modified before going to the president's desk." Last month, 28 senators sent a letter to science adviser Gibbons complaining about the composition of the next generation Internet's advisory board. Representing both political parties but all from rural states, the 28 noted the board's 20 members came from only eight states. Said the letter, "Instead of a potentially major positive development, therefore, 'Next Generation Internet' and Internet2 becomes a significant source of concern for us." Meanwhile, officials with the National Science Foundation told the wire service they are confident the program will go forward. Says NSF spokeswoman Elizabeth Gaston, "Next Generation Internet is a presidential initiative that will have a lot of congressional involvement." But some congressional staffers tell Pressman they remain confused about the administration's priorities, including details of which agencies get which portions of the budget. "To some degree," Pressman comments, "the confusion reflects the changing fortunes of the Internet. While the original Internet, including connections to universities, was largely funded by government, this time around higher education and industry are more likely to foot some of the bill. More than 100 schools have pledged to spend $50 million a year on Internet2, mainly for higher speed connections and switches. The schools are also seeking corporate sponsorship." Microsoft Backs New Privacy Idea Microsoft Corp. is backing a privacy initiative that is different from one boosted last week by arch rival Netscape Communications Corp. The plans are being rolled out in advance of Federal Trade Commission's upcoming hearings on Internet privacy. Cyberspace writer Elizabeth Weise of The Associated Press says Microsoft and Netscape "want to convince consumers and regulators that they can protect personal information on the World Wide Web and that legal fixes aren't needed." She notes the flurry of activity follows a threat last year by FTC Commissioner Christine Varney that the Net industry can expect either regulation or legislation unless substantial progress is made on setting privacy standards. As reported here earlier, Netscape is backing the Open Profiling Standard, a common format proposal supported by 60 high-tech companies that would enable Web surfers to stop personal information from being sent automatically from their personal computers to Web site operators. Says Weise, "The Netscape standard focused on the ability of Web sites to plant nuggets of information -- known as 'cookies' -- into a users' PC. These data files can track which Web sites are visited, what pages are looked at, even a user's hobbies, then link the data to people's names and addresses. Site owners can sell the information to advertisers and other interested parties, without the consent or knowledge of users." As reported, some users are concerned about this kind of information gathering. A Georgia Institute of Technology survey recently reported some users even deliberately give fake information when required to fill out forms before they can get to a Web site. As a result, two other plans are on the table: ú The Platform for Privacy Preferences, known as P3, is being proposed by the World Wide Web Consortium. Backed by Microsoft and the Center for Democracy and Technology in Washington, "this standard creates a language for Web sites and Web users to talk back and forth using the already existing Platform for Internet Content Selection," Weise says. The P3 standard would allow users to define the information they were willing to be collected about them when visiting a Web site. "If a given site gathered more information than they chose to give out," says AP, "a pop-up menu would alert them and given them the chance to either leave or accept a lower level of privacy." ú eTRUST, a kind of "seal of approval" program initiated by the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation but now spun off as a separate for-profit organization based in Palo Alto, Calif. Weise says web sites that sign up with the program will display icons specifying exactly what they would and would not do with information gathered from users. eTRUST sites would be audited to make sure they truly adhered to the standards, spokesman Curt Kundred told the wire service. Clinton Urged to Change Stand President Bill Clinton is being urged by some of the top names in the computer software business to drop his efforts to regulate data-scrambling technologies. In an open letter to the president, Microsoft Corp. Chairman/CEO Bill Gates and 12 other industry titans said U.S. competitiveness in electronic commerce was at stake in the debate, adding, "Network users must have confidence that their communications, whether personal letters, financial transactions or sensitive business information, are secure and private." The corporate chiefs -- who banded together as the Business Software Alliance, an industry trade group -- said access to computer programs with strong data-scrambling, or encryption, capabilities was "critical to providing this confidence." But, notes reporter Jim Wolf of the Reuter News Service, even as they argued at a news conference late yesterday against export controls on encryption programs, FBI Director Louis Freeh was telling Congress the U.S. is at an "historical crossroads" on the issue. Speaking before a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on the FBI, Freeh said, "Uncrackable encryption will allow drug lords, terrorists, and even gangs to communicate with impunity," adding the government needs a kind of mathematical "key recovery" system in which a spare key, or decoder, for encrypted information is held in escrow by a trusted third party. Wolf comments that in theory this sort of escrowed "key" would give law enforcement authorities the ultimate ability to unscramble communications only if authorized to do so by a court. Freeh told the senators, "Other than some kind of key recovery system, there is no technical solution," adding the widespread use of strong encryption without an escrowed key "will devastate our ability to fight crime and prevent terrorism." In their appeal to Clinton, the computer chiefs -- including the heads of Adobe Systems, Autodesk, Bentley Systems, Compaq, Intel, SCO, Symantec, Claris, Digital Equipment, Lotus Development, Microsoft, Novell and Sybase -- said governments should not impose import or export controls on encryption products nor "attempt to force use of government-mandated key management infrastructures." As reported, the Clinton administration earlier this year began allowing companies to export stronger encryption technology so long at it involved a spare key, possibly even held outside the United States. Congress now is considering several bills, strongly backed by the software industry, to all but eliminate the export controls. New Net Must Involve Rural U.S. Powerful senators are warning the White House technical advisors that development of the next generation of the Internet must involve rural states or Congress won't fund it. Covering yesterday's hearing before the Senate Commerce subcommittee on communications, reporter David Lawsky of the Reuter News Service says senators appeared "unhappy that elite urban universities seem to have the best representation on a White House planning committee for a new generation of the Internet," which backers say will run 100 to 1,000 times as fast as the existing one. Sen. Ted Stevens, an Alaska Republican who chairs the Appropriations Committee, said, "Why proceed with a proposal that will isolate the rural universities? This proposal leaves us entirely out. You go back to the drawing boards." As reported, President Clinton made the so-called "Internet2" proposal a major issue in last year's re-election campaign, promising the government would spend $100 million annually for five years to build the super high-speed network and promote its use. However, some key senators are grumbling. For instance, Committee Chairman Conrad Burns, a Montana Republican, says, "I am very concerned that rural states are not being given a seat at the table as critical decisions are being made," adding that of 20 members on Clinton's advisory committee on the new Internet, 11 are from California and only eight states are represented overall. But, members of Clinton's technology team tell Lawsky they are ready to accommodate the concerns of Congress as they fill existing vacancies on the 25-member committee. For instance, Henry Kelly, acting associate director of technology in the White House Office of Sciences and Technology Policy, told the wire service, "It was always our intention to get rural people on the committee." While Sen. Stevens said the new information highway sounded to him like an ordinary highway project (where rural states need far more money than urban states because they "drive five times longer"), director Neal Lane of the National Science Foundation said the new Internet "is not (established) infrastructure like a highway." Lane said this "is a work in progress, it is experimental. That is the reason we need the nation's researchers to help us move forward." And Sen. Burns said that despite the dispute, he thought yesterday's hearing set the stage for introduction of a bill to provide the needed money. Added Burns, "We have to find a mechanism to put (the plan) together and present it to Congress. I personally place a high importance on this project. People in remote areas should have access to this new technology." Novell President Set to Leave Novell Inc. President and Chief Operating Officer Joseph Marengi is expected to step down, according to a published report. Computer Reseller News reports that Marengi's planned departure comes after the beleaguered networking company posted a loss of $14.6 million for its second quarter ended April 30. The company, which is losing shares to Microsoft Corp.'s Windows NT in the small business market, recently announced plans to cut its workforce by 18 percent or approximately 1,000 employees. The trade publication adds that Marengi, an aggressive Novell marketing veteran, will receive a lucrative severance package. Marengi and Novell could not be reached for comment. More details are available on Computer Reseller News Online http://www.crn.com Study: AOL Faces User Defection A new study finds that America Online Inc. faces trouble retaining its most prized users. The study, issued by FIND/SVP, notes that nearly one-half of surveyed AOL members who also use the Internet are "somewhat likely" or "very likely" to leave the service in coming months, including 8 percent who say they will "definitely leave." "AOL members who said they were most likely to leave represented some of the most demographically desirable users of the service -- young family members with multiple incomes," says Tom Miller, vice president of emerging technologies research at the New York-based market research firm. "The silver lining for AOL in this picture is that we also found a higher ratio of 'pass along usage,' meaning individual AOL members who share accounts. This phenomenon is clearly more widespread than previously reported. By our estimates, AOL has 30 percent more users of the service than there are members, or a total of 10.6 million people using AOL's 8 million memberships." Study Finds PCs Helps Kids A national survey of families shows that regular access to a personal computer has improved the grades of the children who use them. The study, commissioned by PC maker Gateway 2000 Inc., shows that 56 percent of students ages 10 to 18 reported significant grade improvement after they began to make regular use of computers. Among children ages 10 to 12, grade improvements were reported by 67 percent of students. Parents were surveyed alongside their children and they confirmed that computer use coincided with improvements in their grades, notes the study. "Computers are becoming an important tool in helping our children learn," says Luanne Flikkema, director of global research at North Sioux City, South Dakota-based Gateway. "This is the first study that shows a definitive, statistically significant correlation between PC use and academic performance. It appears that kids who use PCs have a real advantage." The survey also finds that the image of computer users as "nerds" or "geeks" is overblown. According to the study, 63 percent of children believe kids who use a PC well are considered "smart" and an additional 28 percent of students consider regular PC usage "cool". New Mag Helps Net Job Seekers A new magazine aims to help job seekers find employment via the Internet. According to its Albany, New York-based publisher, The Internet Job Source is a new publication devoted to finding the best sites on the Internet for job hunting. Each 40-page issue contains articles on employment trends, state and federal government jobs, plus listings of top sites to visit on the World Wide Web for finding news and information on employers. "The Internet has started a revolution for job seekers," says Joseph Shieh, editor and publisher of The Internet Job Source. "With a computer and access to the Internet, job hunters can find more information on jobs, much faster than ever before. And they can search for jobs at their convenience, day or night, seven days a week." More details are available on the Internet Job Source Web site http://www.statejobs.com Domain Name Sells for Big Bucks A an unnamed Texas firm has paid $150,000 for the rights to "business.com," the highest price ever reported for an Internet domain name. The deal shatters the previous record price of $75,000 paid by CNET Corp. last year for the domain name "television.com," reports idNames.com, the Houston firm that handled the record-setting transaction. Several other popular domain names have reportedly been acquired by major corporations for big bucks over the past few years, but the amounts haven't been publicly disclosed. "While the price paid for the name is seen by outsiders as an excessive amount of money for a domain name, companies are just beginning to understand that their domain names in cyberspace are much more than just a name," says Marc Ostrofsky, founder of idNames.com. "A domain name in today's `networked society' represents a company's name, address, phone number and all-around information access point for the world to do business with." Games Ban Pushed for Fed Offices A ban on computer games in federal government offices is being proposed by a Republican senator, who also wants to require a person -- not a machine -- to answer the telephones there. A bill called the "Responsive Government Act" has been introduced by Sen. Lauch Faircloth of North Carolina who tells the Reuter News Service he got the idea for the game ban after his staff took him on a tour of his Web site and he saw how easy it was to switch from games to work areas on the computer. "So that was the end of the games in our office," jokes Peter Hans, the senator's spokesman. "We were showing him the games that were on there and he said, 'There's no reason that should be on any government computer'." Faircloth said the computer game ban "could save the taxpayers millions of dollars recovered from lost productivity." Other parts of the bill, he said, came from suggestions from constituents "frustrated with the federal government not always being responsive." Faircloth's measure would require a person rather than an automated system to answer the main telephone number at service-oriented federal offices until at least 5 p.m. Eastern Time. The bill would also require federal agencies to publish main telephone numbers in local directories, locate service offices in areas with sufficient parking, and include a telephone number of the author on all official correspondence. Calif. Weighs ID Theft Bill State legislation to protect consumers from thieves who open phony credit accounts with stolen personal information has been advanced in the California Senate. Reporting from Sacramento, United Press International quotes the bill's author, Sen. Herschel Rosenthal, D-Los Angeles, as saying the measure would allow consumers to block access to their accounts so thieves couldn't raid them for information. UPI says the bill also would require credit card issuers to confirm changes of address by sending a confirmation notice to the customer's former address. Opposing it are credit bureaus, finance companies and the banking industry, which say the measure is costly and unnecessarily burdensome to implement. On the other side is the California Public Interest Research Group, which praises the proposed law as "the best consumer bill of the year." Identity theft, says CALPIRG's Jan Golinger, has proliferated with the transmission of personal information over the Internet and the easy access to credit cards offered by the industry. He adds that too often consumers don't find out until it's too late that someone has used their name, address, Social Security number and other personal information to obtain fraudulent credit. 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. 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Pulley lepulley@streport.com Name/Version Release Date Size Price Microsoft Authenticode 2.0 update for Internet Explorer 06/04/97 .32mb Free Authenticode 2.0 Brings Improvements and Renews Security Feature for Users Running Internet Explorer on Windows 95 and NT 4.0 Computers. Here are some of the new features that Authenticode 2.0 will bring to you: ú Timestamping support, so you can always be sure that the software you download from the Web was signed during the validity period of a publisher's certificate. ú Support for the new code-signing format that software publishers are now using. ú Renewal of internal certificates that will expire on June 29 on every Internet Explorer 3.X client for Windows 95 and NT 4.0. The last point makes it very important that you download Authenticode 2.0 before June 30. Otherwise you'll begin to see confusing messages while surfing the Web. If you haven't upgraded by June 30, a number of key Authenticode certificates on your computer will have expired, which will result in warnings that perfectly good software components, including ActiveX Controls and Java applets, are either unsafe to download or that their certificates are out of date. Note: You must be running Internet Explorer version 3.02 to download Authenticode 2.0 Home Page Site - http://www.microsoft.com/ie/security/authent.htm Name/Version Release Date Size Price WipeOut XL for Win95 5/30/97 6.00mb Commercial Demo Requires Direct X and supports Direct3D Wipeout caused jaws to drop the world over and became an instant classic. Now WipeOut XL is poised to take anti-gravity racing completely over the edge. Lightning-fast reflexes rule in this race 'n' chase thriller where your goal is to stay in the lead and defend your craft against other pilots. Negotiate hairpin turns, make gut-wrenching drops and initiate jumps all while blasting your opponents with intimidating weaponry. With faster, smoother graphics, more tracks, more vehicles, and more weapons, WipeOut XL sets a new standard in 32-bit gaming. Home Page Site - http://www.psygnosis.com/wipeout2/index.html Name/Version Release Date Size Price AVI Screen Saver 2.10 5/29/97 102kb Freeware If you have AVI, QuickTime, or MPEG movies, this program will allow you to create a playlist of those movies to play as your screen saver. Features include: Random play, Looping, Scaling, Password Protection, Power Management, Mute, and individual movie settings. (QuickTime requires QuickTime from Apple; MPEG requires ActiveMovie from Microsoft) All feature requests from Version 1 have been implemented in Version 2! Home Page - http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~bfcarter/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price BulletProof FTP 32-bit beta 0.3 6/03/97 .19mb Free Bullet Proof FTP is an FTP client for anyone who's ever been frustrated by unreliable FTP sites - once you tell it to download a file, there's not much that'll stop it from retrieving the file. It will never give up on trying to get the file(s) until you tell it to. It'll keep trying to connect to an ftp site until it gets in (no limit on the number of retries). If a connection is broken then it'll automatically reconnect and keep transferring, continuing from where it left off. Plus many other features not often found in FTP clients - tagging multiple files in multiple directories, tagging files while transferring, caching the entire ftp structure for quick browsing, remote mirroring - and its free. Home Page Site - http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~aconnell/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Gazillionaire Deluxe 1997 Version 5/29/97 5,124kb Shareware $34.99 An intergalactic game of wheeling and dealing! It's similar to Monopoly set in outer space. Make billions rocketing from planet to planet, while buying and selling rare commodities. Up to 6 human players and 6 computer players compete in this game of financial strategy. Home Page Site - http://www.gazillionaire.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Quick Color 32-bit 3.0 beta 3 6/01/97 .29mb Shareware The latest shareware release of QuickColor for Windows 95/NT is now available, adding extended hotkey support, screen saving and DirectX querying capabilities to an already rich feature set, including on-the-fly color depth switching and support for over 500 monitors under NT. Up to 20 applications and shortcuts can be associated with specific display settings, and launched from the Windows desktop, QuickColor toolbar or system tray popup menu. Home Page Site - http://www.entechtaiwan.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Dominion 3.0 5/29/97 1,296kb Shareware $10.00 Announcing, the second game in our Intersoft series. Dominion is a fast moving strategy board game of territory based on a Scottish classic. It has two kinds of match play, three levels of computer play. Remote play via the Internet, a LAN, modem to modem or serial connection. Board Designer, Sound, Music and our"Never a Wrong Move" interface. Home Page Site - http://www.wingames.com/wingames/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price McAfee Viruscan for Win95 3.0.2 5/30/97 3.82mb Shareware An excellant virus scanner that scans all system areas to provide extensive security including local and network drives, CD-ROMS, floppies, boot sectors, file allocation and partition tables, folders, files and compressed files. It also accurately cleans most virus infections from files, master boot sectors, partition tables and memory back to their virus- free state. Home Page Site - http://www.mcafee.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Kyodai Mahjongg 2.01 5/27/97 195kb Freeware After an award-winning (6 stars at Nonags) v1.21 of Kyodai for Windows 3.1, here is the latest version for Windows 95. The purpose of the game is to remove all the tiles from a board by pairs, following certain rules. It's free, easy to use and extremely addictive. Home Page Site - http://www.namida.com/mahjongg.en.html Name/Version Release Date Size Price Szipw 32-bit 4.0c 5/30/97 1.60mb Shareware Szipw is the Ultimate Zip file manager for Windows. It supports command line parameters, Creates and manages backup sets for easy backup operations , makes Zip archives with long filenames.View Zip files like Disks with a directory tree, Internal Zip/Unzip. Easy configuration. Easy edit of Zip comments and file comments. Accepts command line parameters like PKZIP. Internal File viewer, updates zip file when contents changed. Support Files and dirs dropped from windows file manager, Add files using a list of path/wildcards, very usefull when files to compress are in different locations. Recompression of archives using different password.compression level. Spanned Disks (multiple diskettes), Hidden/System files, Volume labels, full PKzip 2.0 Encryption supported.Support for Self Extractable archives. Allow renaming, changing file date/time, Moving to another dir (using drag/drop), of the files and directories within the archive. Internal Zip repair functions. Home Page Site - http://www.voicenet.com/~jank/astec/szipw.htm Name/Version Release Date Size Price GSWin97 2.5 5/27/97 1,710kb Demo PostScript Viewer! With GSWin97 Demo (from the makers of GoScript(r) software), you can now view color PostScript documents in Windows 95! This is a FREE Demo version. Can now automatically view .EPS files with a binary header (embedded viewable image)! Home Page Site - http://www.lasergo.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price AnySearch 32-bit 1.0 beta 9b 5/30/97 .66mb Freeware A plug-in which adds a user-configurable button and text field to your Netscape browser pointing toward your favorite search engine. Home Page Site - http://www.privnet.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price SecurityPlus! 4.0 5/28/97 1,960kb Shareware $29.95 File viewer with on-the-fly encryption/decryption. Supports 24 different file formats including Animated GIF files. Zoom, Full view, Auto-Hide, JPG options, File Info including CRC, Full privacy of images and any other files, runs in the tray, +more. Home Page Site - http://www.softbytelabs.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Pagoo 1.0 5/28/97 319kb Freeware A free software/service for Windows that lets you receive phone calls while you're online. This is the new revolutionary way to communicate. Ideal for people that only have one phone line. Home Page Site - http://www.pagoo.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Lotus Weblicator 32-bit 1.0 5/31/97 7.50mb Shareware Lotus Weblicator is a powerful Web information manager that lets you experience the Web when, where and how you choose, totally unplugged from the Internet. Once Web pages are on your computer's hard drive you can unplug from the Internet and work with the information just as if you were still connected. But because you're working offline, you'll enjoy faster display times for text, graphic and animation and avoid endless delays on busy sites. You can also schedule Lotus Weblicator to automatically surf and copy Web sites to your computer's hard drive while you're in a meeting or at lunch -- then when you're ready, so is the information. Home Page Site - http://www.lotus.com/weblicator/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price DDClip Free Audio and Video Editor 2.20 5/29/97 1,829kb Freeware A non-linear non-destructive multitrack real-time audio and video editor for Windows95/NT. It allows mix in real time up to 4 CD quality audio tracks on your PC with any sound card (each audio clip has volume and balance profile). DDClip is especially effective for video clips scoring, creating audio commercials, synchronizing voice with music. Home Page Site - http://www.softlab-nsk.com/Pro/DDClip.html Name/Version Release Date Size Price Front Page Sports: Baseball Pro '98 for Win95 5/31/97 34.0mb Commercial Demo Requires DirectX 3 Whether you're already a hardcore FPS: Baseball gamer or just getting ready to step up to the plate for the first time, you'll find Front Page Sports: Baseball Pro '98 to be the most complete, true-to-life baseball game available. Play season after season since our career play lets you manage your athletes from their Rookie season all the way to the Hall of Fame! The game features: * Ultra-deep stats in 2,000 categories * 28 Major League ball parks rendered in stunning 3D * Motioned-captured player movement rendered to 16 angles of animation for smooth moves on the field and more Home Page Site - http://www.sierra.com/entertainment/bball98/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price VT RESCUE 95 Ed Std 2.2 5/30/97 3,278kb Shareware $45.00 Able to recover, prevent troubles, analyze, repair, control and improve your Windows 95 system (ScanREG, BootMAN, RegMAN, Diagnosis, File32, ScanMEM, LoadFailed Search, VTSYS startup control, VTLX task manager and more ...) In case of a crash, RegMAN will restore your configuration or create a new one! Home Page Site - http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/VTVIRTUAL/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Streaming Shockwave 32-bit 6.0 beta 6 Plug-In 5/31/97 1.30mb Freeware Macromedia Shockwave gives you fully interactive multimedia clickable and dynamic animations, graphics, text, and audio from directly within your web browser. Install Shockwave and get immediate access to: *Thousands of cool web games *On-demand, streaming audio *Live concerts and radio *The latest interactive news, sports, and information. This new version also streams the animations/movies to your computer instead of having to wait for the whole thing to download first. Home Page Site - http://www.macromedia.com/index.html Name/Version Release Date Size Price NetSelect Business Series 2.0.1 5/30/97 757kb Demo $49.95 An Internet technology based product designed for the traveling business professional. NBS automates the entire Time & Expense process from submission to reimbursement and client invoicing - all using the Internet or an Intranet. It's the first platform independent Tand E solution of its kind. NBS security and administration functions provide the necessary mechanisms to securely approve and process T and E transactions. Additionally NBS allows for seamless integration with any financial accounting application, reducing redundant data entry and time to process invoices and reimbursements. The Contact Manager module allows sales teams and virtual offices to stay up to date with contact information as well as daily communications. Home Page Site - http://www.ballou.net/nbs/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price UltraEdit 32-bit 4.31 6/01/97 .89mb Shareware $30 A really good text editor with almost every feature you could want. Some of it's many features include: Disk based text editing - No limit on file size, minimum RAM used even for multi-megabyte files, Column mode editing!!!, Insert columns/ delete/ cut/ add sequential numbers, 100,000 word spell checker, Syntax highlighting - configurable, pre-configured for C/C++ and VB and some HTML, Hexadecimal Editor - Allows editing of any binary file, HEX Cut, Copy and Paste support , HEX Insert and Delete of characters, HEX Find, Replace and Replace All, Multiple files open and displayed at the same time, and more. Home Page Site - http://www.idmcomp.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price After Dark Online 2.0 5/30/97 3,041kb Freeware A collection of screen savers that brings news and information directly to your desktop. Sources include: DBC Financial, E! Online, Sports Illustrated Online, USA Today, ZD Net and the Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition. Home Page Site - http://www.afterdark.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Web Expander 32-bit 2.19 6/01/97 .35mb Shareware Web Expander is protocol enhancement utility for Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. Web Expander can launch your favorite mail program from clicking mailto: on Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. Web Expander can launch any program from clicking any protocols. i.e ftp:, news:, telnet: on Netscape Navigator. Web Expander adds new protocols you wish for Netscape Navigator. i.e notepad:, webexp: and more... Home Page Site - http://spock.vector.co.jp/authors/VA005227/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price TurboZIP 2.0 5/31/97 1,655kb Shareware $39.95 A powerful ZIP and e-mail file manager. The intuitive and versatile interface makes zipping, unzipping, encoding, and decoding files as easy as it can be. More importantly, it provides essential supporting tools so you can fast view, print, search, and launch files within ZIP archives without first unzipping the archive or having to have the programs that created them. TurboZIP also creates customizable SFX (Self-extracting EXE) for unlimited redistribution. Home Page Site - http://www.turbozip.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Happy Calendar 1.4 5/31/97 1,080kb Shareware $25.00 A flexible desktop calendar/PIM with several handy options. You can leave a resizable calendar page on your desktop, with the time and Saint of the Day shown, or access the PIM and other calendar features from a tray icon. You can choose from six tabbed views of the week, month, or year and enter or view upcoming events and notes. Happy Calendar's event function includes different functions for alarms, reminders, and to-do items and is a great way to keep track of your life. Alarms can feature optional, user-defined wave sounds, and the notes page offers formatting, Clipboard functions, and nested groups for notes. Happy Calendar has a lot of nice features beneath its quiet exterior that could be very useful. Password protection, encryption, print functions, wallpaper calendar, search facility, runs program on event. Windows 95 compatible install and unistall provided. Full 32 bit development. Bug removed, added options, shortcuts, note search. Event can run programs. Home Page Site - http://www.jimjams.com/xhaca.html Name/Version Release Date Size Price Terracide for Win95 6/02/97 11.50mb Commercial Demo DirectX Required. Terracide, programmed by Simis, is an atmospheric true 3D game, encompassing exploration, frenetic combat and puzzle-solving. Mutated ex- humans, having left Earth generations ago, are returning in their gigantic ships to destroy their former home world. You are Earth's only hope, flying the single vessel small enough to penetrate their defences. The game offers a choice of first or third person perspective views, as you wind your way through 7 ships over 20 huge levels. Over 20 lethal weapons will provide you with all the firepower you need. So prepare yourself for space-based and interior combat as you infiltrate these massive enemy ships, cleansing and eventually destroying them from the inside. Home Page Site - http://www.eidosinteractive.com/terracide/terracide.html Name/Version Release Date Size Price Convert-It! 1.2 5/31/97 23kb Shareware $5.00 Converts between Metric and Standard Units, and vice versa. Very easy-to- use with a Great GUI (graphical user interface). Home Page Site - http://www.geocities.com/Baja/2857/index.html Name/Version Release Date Size Price Thumbs Plus 32-bit 3.0g beta 2 6/02/97 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 System Utilities 2.0 6/02/97 3.3mb Freeware This packet has 4 system utilites including System Editor 2.0, System Monitor 2.0, System Alarm 2.0, and System Tray 2.0. System Editor 2.0 is an enhanced system maintenance utility that allows you to edit up to 8 system files at once efficiently and easily. System Monitor 2.0 has more than 48 things to monitor! It also has a status bar that monitors when your configuration has changed, when your system settings have changed and a bunch of other stuff. This utility has the ability to sit in the system tray. System Alarm 2.0 is an alarm that sits in your system tray. You enter a time (during that day) along with a message and an executable (optional). When the time has come, a message bo appears with your message and the execuable executes (if you chose it to). System Tray 2.0 allows you to take any executable and put it into the system tray with any icon and any tooltip. Home Page Site - http://www.geocities.com/~jon999/index.html Name/Version Release Date Size Price NetScan Tools 32-bit 3.00 6/02/97 1.00mb Shareware $25 NetScanTools is a shareware application that has many UNIX functions ported over to a Windows environment. The 32 bit version has: Name Server Lookup, Finger, Ping, Traceroute, Whois, Daytime, Quote, Winsock Info, Services, Protocols, NetScanner, Hosts file Management and "What's New At NWPS"-- a barebones URL grabber. Home Page Site - http://www.eskimo.com/~nwps/nstdl.html Name/Version Release Date Size Price Space Invaders: The Year We Make Contact 2.0 6/01/97 1.0mb Shareware $5.00 A clone of the orginal Space Invaders to Windows 95. Except with better graphics, sound, and perhaps even gameplay. Home Page Site - http://home.thezone.net/~jmccarth/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Spam Hater 16-bit 2.03 6/02/97 .60mb Free Get lots of e-mail offering you get-rich-quick schemes? Want to hit back? "Spam Hater" is free Windows software that helps you respond effectively and makes it hot for these people. It: * Analyses the Spam * Extracts a list of addresses of relevant Postmasters, etc. * Generates a "WHOIS" query to help track the perpetrator * NEW - Generates a "TRACEROUTE" query to help track the perpetrator's upstream provider * Prepares a reply * Choice of legal threats, insults or your own message * Appends a copy of the Spam if required * Puts it in a mail window ready for sending Spam Hater works with lots of popular e-mail programs directly - there's no tedious cutting and pasting. Home Page Site - http://www.compulink.co.uk/~net-services/spam/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price DiscPlay 32-bit 4.0 6/03/97 1.00mb Shareware $15 An audio CD player with some nice features such as: DiscPlay can search your entire CD collection for tracks or albums; by title, artist, category, owner, or user-defined information, DiscPlay offers five different window sizes, and allows you to specify exactly what information will be displayed in the window and on the title bar, and Editing playlists and disc properties is as easy as dragging a track (or a file) onto a list. Home Page Site - http://www.obvion.com/discplay/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Registry Backup 2.0.0310 6/02/97 990kb Freeware This utility is make a backup of Windows registry, win.ini, system.ini and if you want autoexec.bat and config.sys.It run at startup for maximum protection. Requires the VB 4.0 Runtimes. Home Page Site - http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Way/3550/index.html Name/Version Release Date Size Price AME Info - Arabian Middle East Business 2.1 6/01/97 1,255kb Demo $100.00 Database covering details of some 125,000 companies in 13 Middle East countries. Users can contact selected companies directly by telephone, fax, e-mail or letter. The software allows the user to seach by company name or product. Download up to 25,000 records or print labels. Home Page Site - http://www.ameinfo.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Print Screen Deluxe 3.0 6/02/97 545kb Shareware $29.95 An all new product from the people who brought you Print Screen for Windows. A powerful and easy to use Screen Capture utility that allows you to capture your screen in many ways. Capture the Full Screen, Current Window, a Roped area, a window's Client Area, and much more. Crop the image, apply visual effects to it, configure your hot key, set a time delayed capture, and even Zoom in on your image! Supports several file formats. Also captures DOS full screens. Home Page Site - http://www.americansys.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Auto Expense Manager 97 1.5 6/02/97 702kb Shareware $39.95 This application is used to track expenses and trip data for multiple vehicles. It can track all trips and expenses wheather they are business related or not. The trip entries and expense entries have a field to denote whether it is business related. Tracks and unlimited number of vehicles, trips and expenses. Stores insurance and auto club information. Generates reports for specific date ranges that can be used for tax purposes. Home Page Site - http://www.turbosystems.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price ContactCoordinator 1.1 6/01/97 1,265kb Shareware $39.95 An Internet-enabled contact manager and universal address book. Use it to storeweb and e-mail addresses, along with standard address and phone or fax information. Works with all popular Windows 95 browsers and E-mail programs. ContactCoordinator provides a common interface for using Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, Eudora, MSExchange, WinFax Pro, and many other communications programs. And, since it works just like the WindowsExplorer, you will feel right at home the first timeyou use it. It is also designed to allow sharing ofcontacts with others over the Internet or corporate Intranet. You can export HTML files with activelinks that allow users to download contact information directly from the web page to Contact Coordinator. Supports import of data in seven popular formats, including cross-platform vCards. Extendable architecture allows use of "Add- On Tools" for mail merge, E-mail merge, contact logging, tracking websiteupdates, and storing Internet Phone & video-conferencing addresses. Home Page Site - http://www.logicpulse.com/cocohome.htm Name/Version Release Date Size Price Microsoft Entertainment Pack 6/04/97 2.50mb Commercial Demo Power up your gray matter for The Puzzle Collection -featuring games by Alexey Pajitnov, the Russian mastermind behind Tetris. 10 original mind- twisting puzzles with infinite variations - you do the math. They are easy to play, but to master them is another story. You'll find they are so challenging and addictive your brain will beg for more. The Puzzle Collection includes a full spectrum of multi-level quick fixers and strategic sticklers. Just see if you can stop after one level! Home Page Site - http://www.microsoft.com/games/puzzle/default.htm Name/Version Release Date Size Price Defense Of The Squid Man 1.1 6/02/97 2,787kb Freeware A Windows 95 shoot-em-up game with three progressively more difficult levels of game play (including animation, music, and sound effects), plus an integrated background story and instructions. Control Squiggler Q. Squidman to destroy the space pirates' ships, before they destroy Squiggler, his family, and the fantastically luxuriant and fulfilling life to which they have all become accustomed! Home Page Site - http://multiverse.com/~jvgeier/Defense.html Name/Version Release Date Size Price Zeus 32-bit 1.0 final beta plug-in 6/04/97 1.80mb Free beta ZEUS is a VRML 1.0 plug-in for Netscape Navigator, Netscape Communicator and Microsoft's Internet Explorer version 3.x and version 4. VRML (Virtual Reality Markup Language) is a file format that allows a VRML client to view and easily navigate a 3D world using a mouse or other input device. Developed using some of the latest proprietary techniques, ZEUS is more than 5 times faster on some worlds than other VRML plug-ins and has the following features: Gouraud Shading Textures Full Lightsourcing Lines. Home Page Site - http://www.zeus.virtek.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price NSCDPlayer 1.00 Beta 2 6/02/97 1,890kb Freeware A Windows 95/NT application for playing audio cds. It is 100% compatible with the Windows 95/NT cd player. Allows searching, viewing, and editing of artists, titles, and tracks from one easy to use interface. Home Page Site - http://www.solgate.com/~kschreib/nscd_features.html Name/Version Release Date Size Price Net2Phone 16-bit 8.23 beta 6/04/97 1.30mb Free program - Service costs $$$ Net2Phone is a new technology which makes it possible to place domestic and international calls from a personal computer to any telephone in the world. Net2Phone enables Internet users with sound-equipped PCs to initiate calls from their computers and transmit them over the Internet to IDT's phone switches. The switches then convert the signal from the "packet switch network" Internet environment to the "circuit switch network" telephone environment. And then to its' final destination - any ordinary telephone. The result is real-time uninterrupted voice communication between the two calling parties." Look out AT&T :) Home Page Site - http://www.net2phone.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price EliaShim's ViruSafe 95 2.3 6/02/97 3.5mb Demo $30.00 MSOffice 7.0 support. It has a VXD scanner (Virtual Device Driver) with an integrated SmartScan option. This offers an online protection against both known and unknown viruses, and 100% protection against polymorphic computer viruses. The technique of the stand-alone ViruSafe-WEB version has been integrated in the new ViruSafe95 product; now one can surf without care the Internet and download files from WEB and FTP sites. Home Page Site - http://www.eliashim.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price ViruSafe WEB 4.0 6/02/97 1,088kb Freeware ViruSafe-WEB is a unique Plug-In Anti Virus for Internet Web Browsers. Whenever user downloads a file from the internet, ViruSafe-WEB will automatically scan this file, even before it is saved to the disk. It can scan programs, compressed ZIP files and WORD documents. If a virus is found, ViruSafe-WEB will suggest erasing the infected file and thus get rid of the virus. If no virus is found, user will be prompted to save it. Home Page Site - http://www.eliashim.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Pegasus E-Mail 32-bit 2.54 Official Release 6/04/97 1.80mb Freeware A really good E-mail program that's free. It has a lot of nice features like a spelling checker, mailing list support, and much more. Home Page Site - http://www.pegasus.usa.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price TextPad 32 3.0 Beta 5 6/02/97 1,179kb Shareware $27.00 TextPad is the most powerful and flexible text editor on the market. Clean and uncluttered, the interface does not get in the way. Yet hiding just a few mouse clicks away are powerful search and replace, macro commands, and a highly customizable interface. When you need more than notepad can offer, TextPad is the obvious next step. Home Page Site - http://www.textpad.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Polyview 32-bit 2.90 beta 5a 6/04/97 1.40mb Shareware $20 PolyView is a BMP, GIF, JPEG, photo-cd, PNG, and TIFF graphics viewer, file conversion, and printing utility for Windows NT and Windows 95. PolyView features fast image rendering, panning, and zooming that is optimized for Windows 95 and Windows NT. PolyView is a 32 bit application that uses multithreading to enhance usability and allow time consuming operations, such as image file reading and writing, to be performed in parallel with user interface operations. PolyView's multithreaded nature also allows the reading and writing of multiple image files at the same time. With its image appearance manipulation, copy and paste facilities, and DDE execution capabilities, PolyView is an excellent companion to your favorite Web browser. Home Page Site - http://www.netins.net/showcase/polybytes/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price SB NewsBot 32-bit 4.4 6/05/97 .46mb StatusShareware $15 SBNews/News-Robot is designed to automatically download and uudecode files from binary newsgroups. Binary newsgroups contain binary files which are typically encoded via uuencode and sent as text. These newsgroups are a popular means of distributing images across a wide area, and this is the primary purpose that SBNews was designed for. It has some nice features including a built in JPEG viewer, Dupe-Checking capabilities, logging, and some miscellanious statistical functions. Home Page Site - http://smbaker.simplenet.com/sbnews/sbnews.html Name/Version Release Date Size Price Internet Neighborhood 32-bit 1.1.25 6/05/97 1.00mb Shareware Internet Neighborhood is a Windows 95 Shell Extension which is used for browsing remote FTP sites as if they were directories/folders on your local computer! With KnoWare's Internet Neighborhood, there's no longer any need for those 'Explorer Like' applications and utilities; It's all integrated into your existing namespace. Why launch a separate application to browse a remote FTPsite, download the file, close the application, then run Explorer? Simply launch Explorer directly, browse your way through the Internet neighborhood, then drag-drop the files/application directly into your file system. Home Page Site - http://www.knowareinc.com/ EDUPAGE STR Focus Keeping the users informed Edupage Contents Edupage In French Market Test For Wireless Cable TV Services AT&T/SBC Merger Looks Like Decision To Stay At Home Are The Phone Companies Dancing -- Or Getting Ready To Fight? Scholastic Sheds Computer Magazine @Home's New IPO: Will Investors Rip The Bags Open? French Secrecy Law Evaded By Internet Users Anonymous Harassment On Net Eludes Florida Law Software Business: "Major Engine Of The Modern Economy" Gates, Hawking Team Up On British Research Center Intranets Aim At Employee Services K56flex Technology Gets A Boost PGP Granted Export License Women And Technology Will Microsoft Stay In "Access" Business? NASA Puts Stop To Teenager's "Cracking Spree" The Ultimate Internet Name Fight -- Who Owns "Internet"? Microsoft Miffed By Student Name-Poacher Employee Goofing Up, Productivity Down PointCast Pushes Onto College Campuses Service Aimed At Nabbing Music Pirates Disenchantment With The Net Intel's New Products = New Profits Netscape Launches New Products In Browser Battle CNN To Offer Personalized News Indictments For Computer Chip Theft Green Tools For Business Students Name Speculators Eye New Domains What's In A (Domain) Name? Maybe $150,000 Internet Gambling EDUPAGE IN FRENCH We are pleased to announce that a new French version of Edupage is now being managed by the Centre de recherche informatique de Montreal (CRIM) http://www.crim.ca. Edupage-fr will be produced by Dtech http://dtech.qc.ca, CRIM's technology watch service, and will be distributed by one of CRIM's divisions, the Reseau interordinateurs scientifique quebecois (RISQ) http://www.risq.qc.ca. To receive Edupage in French, send a message to majordomo@dtech.qc.ca, and in the body of the message type: subscribe edupage-fr. [Nos salutations aux abonnes de la version francaise d'Edupage et mille mercis et bonne chance a notre bonne amie Josee Marianne Proulx, la pionniere qui a fait du francais la premiere langue dans laquelle Edupages' est taille une place en dehors des Etats-Unis.] MARKET TEST FOR WIRELESS CABLE TV SERVICES Pacific Telesis, a unit of SBC Communications, has begun a small-scale commercial rollout of wireless cable TV services in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Why the caution? "We want to make sure customers accept it on a paying basis as well as they did when we gave it to people for free." (Wall Street Journal 30 May 97) AT&T/SBC MERGER LOOKS LIKE DECISION TO STAY AT HOME Telecom industry analysts are interpreting the merger talks between long-distance carrier AT&T and local phone service provider SBC, the largest of the regional Bell operating companies, as a retrenchment from global telecom competition by AT&T. AT&T's most recent business reversal in Europe was a decision by Telefonica, its partner in Spain, to withdraw from the partnership and form a new one with Concert, the global alliance between MCI and British Telecommunications. (Financial Times 29 May 97) ARE THE PHONE COMPANIES DANCING OR GETTING READY TO FIGHT? Discussing the plans of long-distance carrier AT&T to merge with regional Bell operating company SBC, Federal Communications Commission chairman Reed Hundt says: "The telecom law invited everybody to fight each other. It's natural that these companies would explore the possibility of dancing instead of fighting. It's up to government to tell them when their combinations, alliances and mergers are pro-competition and when they're anti-competition." But Congressman W. J. "Billy" Tauzin (R-La.), chairman of the House Commerce Committee's telecommunications subcommittee, says: "Is there any real difference between getting down to two or three or four big competitors through mergers or having a dozen competitors fight it out to get to two or three or four large competitors? The outcome is the same." (Washington Post 1 Jun 97) SCHOLASTIC SHEDS COMPUTER MAGAZINE As part of a retrenchment effort, Scholastic Corporation plans to sell off its consumer magazine Home Office Computing. Although the magazine is profitable, it does not fit with Scholastic's new strategy of focusing strictly on the education market. (New York Times 30 May 97) @HOME'S NEW IPO: WILL INVESTORS RIP THE BAGS OPEN? An initial public offering of stock in the company @Home, Inc. for $7 a share will the latest test of investor interest in Internet-focused companies. @Home provides high-speed Internet access and a package of content via cable modems. When the company was founded in 1996, venture capitalist John Doerr said optimistically: ``It's not a matter of `Will the dogs eat the dog food?' They're ripping the bags open.'' But the company has accumulated a deficit of $38 million, and the new prospectus says that @Home ``expects to incur additional substantial operating and net losses for the foreseeable future.'' (San Jose Mercury News Center 1 Jun 97) FRENCH SECRECY LAW EVADED BY INTERNET USERS A French law requiring that opinion polls be kept secret during the week before a parliamentary vote was evaded by tens of thousands of French Internet users who accessed Web sites on which the polls had been posted anonymously. The Le Monde newspaper editorialized: AFrom here on, it is the globalization of communications that renders the law obsolete.@ (AP 31 May 97) ANONYMOUS HARASSMENT ON NET ELUDES FLORIDA LAW Two Florida men who had been arrested for anonymous harassment on the Internet have now been released. A chief assistant state attorney in Florida explains: "It's simply not criminal under statute in the state of Florida. I'm not condoning this activity. All I'm saying is that I'm left powerless to do anything about it." The two men are 19-year-old former high school students who had used a Web site to allege that a teacher and student at their school were engaging in homosexual relations. The statute cited in the men's arrest prohibits anonymous publication of material that holds a person up to ridicule or contempt; however, the Florida state attorney's office concluded that the statute is an unconstitutional infringement of the right to free speech. (St. Petersburg Times 31 May 97) SOFTWARE BUSINESS: "MAJOR ENGINE OF THE MODERN ECONOMY" A study sponsored by the Business Software Alliance, an industry trade group, says that the computer software business now ranks as the third-largest manufacturing industry, pays wages twice the national average, and generated revenues of $102.8 billion last year. BSA's president says: "We see the study as a framework for saying to leaders in Washington that software is a major engine of the modern economy. And as we move to a new generation of software -- software used and distributed on the Internet B it is essential to have policies that encourage innovation and protect intellectual property." (New York Times 3 Jun 97) GATES, HAWKING TEAM UP ON BRITISH RESEARCH CENTER Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has pledged a multimillion-pound grant to set up a research center in Cambridge, England. The company plans to run the center as a business and will keep it separate from Cambridge University, although there will be "very close links" between the two, allowing Cambridge professors to work at the center part time. The arrangement for the center, which is considered Microsoft's "big project" for the new millennium, was brokered by a small group of Cambridge University academics, including renowned mathematician Stephen Hawking, who taught Microsoft executive Nathan Myhrvold. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 1 Jun 97) INTRANETS AIM AT EMPLOYEE SERVICES A survey by Creative Networks predicts the use of corporate intranets will rise by 110% this year, and Ziff-Davis's Computer Intelligence research arm estimates that 45% of large companies already have an intranet installed. While much of the growth initially was fueled by a desire to provide Net-based purchasing and sales opportunities, companies now are devising ways to use their intranets to deliver information, benefits and services to their employees. High on the list for intranet/Internet use are health-related services: IBM has paired with Allina Health System to provide HMO members with general medical information, enrollment services and appointment scheduling over the Internet, and Blue Shield of California offers some of its 1.5-million subscribers Net-based services through Healtheon Corp., an online healthcare company started by Jim Clark, who also founded Netscape. (St. Petersburg Times 2 Jun 97) K56FLEX TECHNOLOGY GETS A BOOST A consortium of companies backing the K56flex modem technology developed by Rockwell Semiconductor Systems and Lucent Technologies says it will upgrade 1 million Internet ports to be compatible with the technology by the end of September. The announcement comes on the heels of U.S. Robotics' announcement that it will offer current users of its x2 technologies free upgrades to the International Telecommunication Union standard that will be announced next year. The ITU standard likely will combine elements of both K56flex and x2 technologies. (InfoWorld Electric 30 May 97) PGP GRANTED EXPORT LICENSE Pretty Good Privacy Inc. has obtained U.S. government approval to export 128-bit encryption technology B without key-recovery features -- to foreign subsidiaries and branches of large U.S. companies. The branches and subsidiaries are not allowed to re-export, resell or transfer the encryption software without government authorization. "As far as we know, Pretty Good Privacy Inc. is now the only company that has U.S. government approval to sell strong encryption to the worldwide subsidiaries and branch offices of such a large number of U.S. corporations, without having to compromise on the strength of the encryption or add schemes designed to provide government access to keys," says a PGP VP and general counsel. (BNA Daily Report for Executives 2 Jun 97) WOMEN AND TECHNOLOGY A recent survey commissioned by Avon Products Inc. shows that contrary to the popular perception of females as technophobes, women increasingly are embracing technology as a business ally: "Women view technology as the leveler," says the pollster. "They see it as an integral tool in the workplace and for entry into fields they felt might not have been available to them." Eighty percent of the 400 women surveyed said technology was a good way to get into male-dominated fields, and 75% attributed a recent advancement at work to their ability to use technology. The more women used technology at work, the more likely they were to earn salaries higher than $25,000. (St. Petersburg Times 2 Jun 97) WILL MICROSOFT STAY IN "ACCESS" BUSINESS? Industry analysts are speculating that Microsoft will eventually drop out of the Internet service provider business and concentrate instead on providing information services ("content," as it's described in the industry). But Microsoft Network (MSN) denies it plans to stop providing network access services and says it will be trying to enlarge its own subscriber base while offering MSN as a content package to other Internet service providers. A Microsoft marketing executive says: "We didn't expect to make money in the overall business for two to three to four years" -- when the network has 30 million subscribers (up from the current 15 million). "At that size, when you get 30 million people going on regularly, then you have a mass medium." (San Jose Mercury News Center 3 Jun 97) NASA PUTS STOP TO TEENAGER'S "CRACKING SPREE" Delaware law enforcement officers seized the personal computer of a teenager charged with invading Web site of NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Agency in Huntsville, Alabama, and posting the message: "We own you. Oh,what a tangled web we weave, when we practice to deceive," and calling the NASA site administrators "extremely stupid." A NASA statement described the teen's hacking as "a cracking spree" and said, "We live in an information environment vastly different than 20 years ago. Hackers are increasing in number and in frequency of attack." (USA Today 3 Jun 97) THE ULTIMATE INTERNET NAME FIGHT WHO OWNS "INTERNET"? In 1990 the word "Internet" was registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark by a Reston, Virginia, company called Internet, Inc. (now called Honors Technologies Inc.) which runs the "MOST" automated teller machine network for 450 member banks, savings and loans, and credit unions. Recently, Honors Technologies has sent letters to other companies, warning them that their use of the word "Internet" is a trademark infringement. But Don Heath, chief executive of the Internet Society (also, coincidentally, located in Reston) says: "We think it's preposterous that anyone should trademark the word 'Internet.' Our objective is the cancellation of the trademark so that it can be used by anybody." Honors Technologies maintains it is interested only in restricting the use of the word by companies in the banking business. (Washington Post 2 Jun 97) MICROSOFT MIFFED BY STUDENT NAME-POACHER Here's another name controversy in the news. Microsoft is taking action to stop a California college student from continuing to use a WWW page he developed using the name "microsoftnetwork.com," which he had registered through the Internic domain-name clearinghouse. The student has also registered more than a dozen other addresses with names related to Microsoft products. A Microsoft spokesman says the student "is clearly involved in copyright infringement, trademark infringement and unfair trade practices. We will try to contact him and request him to stop. Failing that, we'll send a cease-and-desist letter requesting he stop infringing upon our name." (New York Times 3 Jun 97) EMPLOYEE GOOFING UP, PRODUCTIVITY DOWN Informal estimates of "employee goofing" -- surfing the Web for personal entertainment on company time B range anywhere from 5% to 40% of the Web sites accessed during an employee's work hours. A video production manager at IBT who wrote his thesis on "goofing" says he estimates that each employee with access to the Internet loses at least one to two hours of productivity per week through goofing. In addition to lost productivity, workers who surf the Web during work hours also clog up the network: "Network-based games and online pornography take up a lot of bandwidth," says a marketing director at a company that makes blocking software. "The IS manager is the first one to notice this sort of activity, because it tends to slow down the network for everyone else." Industry experts urge companies to formalize Internet usage policies, both to protect productivity and to avoid liability. "If you ask most people what the Internet is, they'll tell you it's a collection of networks or the next great medium," says one attorney. "I tell them that the Internet is a productivity sinkhole and a fount of legal liability issues. That's why you need those policies to be in place." (CommunicationsWeek 3 Jun 97) POINTCAST PUSHES ONTO COLLEGE CAMPUSES Internet "push" technology pioneer PointCast is developing the PointCast College Network, which will enable university administrators to feed announcements and other information to all the computers on a campus so that the students working in a lab, for instance, will see messages alerting them to new parking policies or entertainment events on campus. The company plans to supply free software to the campuses and will provide a new set of channels aimed at the college crowd, offering news and entertainment. (Chronicle of Higher Education 6 Jun 97) SERVICE AIMED AT NABBING MUSIC PIRATES A newly formed company called Intersect, Inc. is marketing a product aimed at detecting unauthorized use of copyrighted music on the Internet. MusicReport uses Audio Video Scan technology to search for RealAudio, MPEG Audio Layer 3 and other media formats commonly used to deliver video and audio over the Internet. It also provides the source of each file, including the Internet service provider, the domain name, and a list of files for downloading. The product was developed in response to music and film industry concerns over misuse of copyrighted material. (InfoWorld Electric 3 Jun 97) DISENCHANTMENT WITH THE NET As universities jump onto the Internet 2 bandwagon, one professor who directs a university program to deliver technical courses via the Net sees disenchantment with the current Internet's flea-market-like atmosphere as a hidden motivation: "Saying that classes will be conducted on the Internet these days is like saying the classes are being offered on 'The X-Files.' Many universities, well aware of this distaste, would prefer to be associated with Internet 2. It's not merely a matter of bandwidth." Futurist Paul Saffo says it's just an unfortunate phase, however: "It takes time to take a raw, untamed technology and turn it into a compelling medium. All media go through adolescence; the Web happens to be going through a particularly rough one." (Scientific American Jun 97) INTEL'S NEW PRODUCTS = NEW PROFITS Saying his company is in the midst of a massive chip transition, Intel CEO Andy Grove says that by next fall, about 90% of the company's microprocessor revenue will come from sales of new chips, especially MMX-based Pentiums and the newer Pentium II. The company expects the PC market to grow at a compound annual rate of about 17% through the rest of the decade. (Investor's Business Daily 4 Jun 97) NETSCAPE LAUNCHES NEW PRODUCTS IN BROWSER BATTLE Still fighting to keep its Web browser dominant in the industry, Netscape CEO James Barksdale promises "an unmitigated flurry" of promotional activity in the next few weeks, including the formal launch of both Communicator and the new version of its SuiteSpot server software. At the same time, Netscape will introduce its "Great Internet Tune-up." From any of the four major Web search engines, users will be able to download new software by clicking on "tune-up@Netscape." The company hopes to persuade at least 10 million users to download the new software within 30 days of its June 11 release. (Wall Street Journal 4 Jun 97) CNN TO OFFER PERSONALIZED NEWS In a joint venture with Oracle, Cable News Network's CNN Interactive will be offering an advanced personalized news service on the Internet, using linguistic analysis to identify themes and topics among the news stories filed by CNN reporters, and to match them against a reader's profile of interests. (Financial Times 4 Jun 97) INDICTMENTS FOR COMPUTER CHIP THEFT Federal prosecutors have indicted 17 individuals for their involvement with an Asian organized-crime syndicate responsible for armed robberies in May 1995 of more than $10 million worth of Intel Pentium chips from two companies in Orange County, California. (New York Times 4 Jun 97) GREEN TOOLS FOR BUSINESS STUDENTS The Geneva-based World Business Council for Sustainable Development, representing 125 international companies, and AISEC, the largest student organization in the world, have developed a program to improve environmental literacy ( http://www.wbcsd.ch/foundation/ ). Students passing the exam will receive a certificate that will be recognized by all member companies in job applications. (Toronto Financial Post 5 June 97) NAME SPECULATORS EYE NEW DOMAINS The seven new top-level domain names haven't been introduced yet, but speculators already are eyeing the new possibilities hungrily, and some entrepreneurs have established "preregistration" services, offering to take reservations for $15, with an additional $35 due if they're successful in securing the deal. If they fail, they get to keep the $15. One of these services claims it's already received 1,800 preregistrations. "We're already seeing the beginning stages of a rush to get these new names as more people are finding out about it," says the operator of a preregistration service. To date, more than 1 million Internet addresses have been officially registered through Network Solutions, 90% of them with the ".com" suffix. (Wall Street Journal 5 Jun 97) WHAT'S IN A DOMAIN NAME? MAYBE $150,000 An undisclosed company in Houston, Texas, has paid $150,000 to purchase the domain name "business.com" from the British company that had registered it without charge four years ago. The company that brokered the purchase claims the price is the highest ever paid for a domain name. (New York Times 5 Jun 97) INTERNET GAMBLING Senator Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), the new chairman of the technology subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, wants to restrict gambling on the Internet: "Yes, we know we are facing a challenge with enforcement, but society does need to say what is right and wrong even when it is hard to enforce. It's still a crime, even though it's in a new venue." But David McClure of the Association of Online Professionals counters: "It's not the job of ISPs [Internet Service Providers] to play nanny to people who use the Web, and government shouldn't legislate morality and place that onerous burden on business owners. Providers are easy targets for legislators who don't know how to deal with complex international technology." (USA Today 5 Jun 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. The conference will bring together administrators, academicians and other managers of information resources. For full conference information check out or send e-mail to conf@cause.colorado.edu. ARCHIVES & TRANSLATIONS. 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: It's time to break out of the mundane routine! Speaking of the mundane - not so with Atari users! Lots of interesting items for you this week, including what we hope to be a fairly regular column from our new correspondent, Mark Showalter. Mark's a musician and uses Atari computers in his work. We'll see what he has to say this week, and in future issues. Welcome aboard, Mark! So, with plenty of news and STuff this week, let's dive right in and get to the rest of this issue - I can ramble any time! And no, we still haven't found a house yet. Grumble... Until next time... TITAN DESIGNS & BLACK SCORPION SOFTWARE PRESS RELEASE Dated: 1st June 1997 Quite a few new developments have taken place at TITAN/BSS. Prices of several programs have been lowered, and we also have some new adaptors for internally fitting IDE and SCSI hard drives to the Falcon. Atari Shows We were very pleased with the response from both Birmingham and London shows, finding that products like 14MB memory upgrades, Nemesis and Videlity were in great demand (even though we ran out of Nemesis during the Birmingham show!). The introduction of the Power Pack - APEX Intro, Nemesis & Videlity - was also very well received and, although intended as a show offer only, we will continue to offer this bundled package for the foreseeable future. A lot of interest was expressed at the sheer power that was available to the forthcoming APEX Alpha software, currently in development by Black Scorpion. Although attendance at the Glasgow show was disappointing, sales were reasonably encouraging. Titan Designs/Black Scorpion Software 6 Witherford Way, Selly Oak, Birmingham B29 4AX. U.K. Tel: +44 (0)121-693 6669 Fax: +44 (0)121-414 1630 e-mail: 100345.2350@compuserve.com Browse our Web site for full details on any product: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/TITANWEB/ NEWSie v0.78 NEWSie v0.78 by John Rojewski is released. There are toolbars in many of the windows (buttons) now (The default is set off) and NEWSie supports user defined function keys too. NEWSie has support for cc (Carbon Copy), but "only" in a one-line and multiple users can receive cc, if they are included with a nickname. The ability to cancel a post to a newsgroup now exists by pressing the 'c' key for a selected article in the Overview window. This works only while online, and only for articles that match your email id. NEWSie also speaks French now (Alain Vondra). You will find NEWSie at: http://www5.tripnet.se/~mille/english/newsie.html (web_apps.html) and of course at: http://www.primenet.com/~rojewski Peter Rottengatter has updated STinG, The TCP/IP-stack. No support for PPP yet, but improved functionabilty for some of the routines. You can find a STinG support page at: http://www5.tripnet.se/~mille/english/sting.html Best Regards Mille Babic eMail: mille@mail5.tripnet.se http://www5.tripnet.se/~mille (English, German, Swedish, Croatian) Atari Falcon CPU40MHz:DSP50MHZ (12MB RAM 540MB+1.0GB HD) N.AES Operating System with MiNT Kernel and N.Thing Desktop JTS Offers High Capacity Slim-profile Notebook TAIWAN (June 2) BUSINESS WIRE -Computex--June 2, 1997--JTS Corp. (AMEX:JTS), a world leader in the development of hard disk drives, Monday announced four new additions to its 3.0-inch Nordic family of slim-line, high-performance hard drives for notebook computers. The offering includes some of the industry's highest available capacity notebook drives in 12.5mm and 10.5mm heights. This introduction marks JTS' migration to Magneto-Resistive (MR) heads and features slim profile 3.24 Gigabyte (GB) and 2.69GB as well as ultra-slim 2.1GB and 1.6GB notebook hard disk drives. "MR head technology combined with 3.0-inch media will significantly impact the future of the portable hard disk drive market," said Tom Mitchell, president and chief executive officer, JTS Corp. "It will enable our 3.0-inch Nordic disk drives to provide customers even better performance and higher capacities than 2.5-inch disk drives. "At 1 gigabit (Gbit) per square inch, this is our first offering with MR heads and is an important step in the industry transition to a 3.0-inch portable hard disk drive standard. We will more than double our capacity using advanced MR heads by the end of the year." The four new hard disk drives bring the total number of products in the Nordic family to seven. JTS is currently shipping 12.5mm 2.1GB and 1.6GB, and 10.5mm 1.4GB Nordic hard disk drives to major notebook Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). The Nordic 3.0-inch portable hard disk drives offer numerous benefits when compared to 2.5-inch alternatives including overall lower power consumption, higher capacity, greater reliability and better performance. The Nordic Family features 1 Gbit per square inch MR head technology, a digital PRML read channel, 512K cache buffer, and can withstand up to 350Gs of shock. They also offer SMART (Self Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology) capability, industry-leading power management commands, an average seek time of less than 12 milliseconds, a disk rotation speed of 4103 RPM and PIO Mode 4 transfer rates of up to 16.6 MB/sec. Like all JTS hard disk drives, the Nordic family is encapsulated to lock in quality, protect against handling and ESD damage, improve drive reliability and provide for easier installation. This unique feature gives the installer the ability to handle the drives on all surfaces without touching the PCBA. This technology also reduces electromagnetic radiation interference to and from the units. The MTBF is an industry-leading 500,000 hours and each drive is backed by a three-year warranty. Samples of the new Nordic Family additions are available now with production volumes in August. ATARI & MIDI By Mark Showalter Hello. This is the first in, hopefully, a series of articles on Atari computers & Midi. I am a composer/arranger/performer, & I rely heavily on my Atari for all my sequencing. I then transfer the files to my rack sequencer, which after using my Atari for sequencing, I wouldn't go back to for all the tea in China unless my Atari died. I'm using a 1040Ste with 4 meg ram; a Syquest EZ135 Hard Drive; & I'm running Edit Track Gold from Hybrid Arts as my sequencing software, although I generally won't be discussing any topics that directly rely on Edit Track. I must say though, at this point, that the un-mix channels feature is both very powerful &, as far as I know, unique to Edit Track. This feature allows you to select a track with multiple midi channels, & extract each channel to a separate track. This is especially great if you transfer a sequence from some other source, you can then separate each midi channel to edit the sequence. Well, there are two basic tips I want to go over today, & both relate to the dreaded Midi timing problem. As many of you may have experienced, dense sequences, especially if they have a lot of CC# info ( i.e. volume or panning changes occurring in real time & not fixed mix points, like say a sea wave that swells in volume & pans across the stereo field ), can cause audible timing problems. Although I haven't noticed it happening too much on my hardware sequencer in my rack, it definitely occurs on my Atari, & I've found several ways of avoiding this. Here are two of them. 1) Edit bass lines to remove note overlap. 2) Edit percussion tracks to the shortest possible note duration. In the fi st inttance, I find it's really silly to have bass lines with overlapping notes. For one thing, unless you're doing an up-right bass, as is commonly used for Jazz, overlapping bass notes don't do anything except muddy up your bass lines & often take the punch out. Also, it means you've got two notes sounding, which robs your polyphony available from your sound module. Now, unless your particular patch or configuration is set to mono-phonic play, for as long as the previous note is sounding over the new one, you've lost one note. Also, this means your sequencer is doing twice as much work as necessary for something you usually won't be able to hear anyway. So, you go into your edit window, & make sure that all note on's are followed by note off's before the next note on occurs. Although I have a Graphic Edit window, it find it easier to use the Event window for this procedure. It's simple to scroll through the events & I can easily spot two note on's side by side. I then move the note off for the previous note to a point behind the new note on. How far back you move the note off depends on how punchy you want the part to sound, & what the tempo is. At slow tempos, you probably won't need to go back more than 5 to 10 ticks. Now, at a faster tempo, you may find it necessary to go further. Now, you've read my word " punch ", but may not know what I mean. When I use the word, I'm referring to what a normal bass player would do ( if there is such a thing as a NORMAL bass player 8-) ! ), which is to play each note as a single line note & not play many overlapping notes, especially for songs that need a strong & rhythmic bass line. So, an example would be, the bass line to Van Morrison's " Brown Eye Girl ", which is somewhat Island or reggae sounding. In order to keep the punch or rhythmic quality to the song, the bass line must be keep clear & " punchy, & you can do this by editing the bass line as I've previously described. Also, keep in mind that some bass patches do not fully re-trigger unless the note off occurs, especially when it comes to synth patches. Obviously, your own ear will ultimately have to tell you if there's any difference, so go with what sounds right to you, but I strongly recommend trying this tip out. It'll at the very least help with timing errors by cutting down on the work load on your computer. Now, the second tip involves percussion parts. There are two basic ways that sounds are triggered on any module. One is a fixed sample, like a conga slap, that will sound regardless of how you play it. Holding the note generally won't make any difference. Then, there's, say, a flute, that will sustain as long as you hold the note & the patch will respond. Most percussion patches are the first type, they only respond to a note on, then play whatever & they are done. In order to clean up your percussion tracks, shorten the duration of the notes to the smallest value possible & still trigger the sounds. My drummer uses an Alesis D4 module, & I've so far found that it still will play my backing percussion parts (say, conga & bongos, shakers. claves, while he's playing the set pads i.e. kick drum, snare, etc.), with the note duration as short as a 10 ticks. This also applies to my Roland GM sound module. Now, there are even some older drum machines, like my Sequential Circutes 420 TOM, that don't even use note off's. So, it doesn't matter what the note duration is, the unit ignores duration anyway. This will also help cut down on your sequencer's load by having the note off's occur at the shortest duration possible, therefore note having to keep track of a lot of sustained notes that don't need to be sustained. This will also cut down on the number of events that must be sent out together. Say, you're doing a song at 120 bpm. A quarter note sustains for say, 95 ticks at a resolution of 96 ticks to the quarter note. If most of your rhythms are quarter & eight notes, derating your percussion notes to 10 ticks will put all of the note off's nowhere near the other note offs. I hope you find this info of value, & I welcome any comments; responses; or questions you may have. If you want to contact me, feel free to e-mail me at: 105273,2344 or post a message on the midi area of the Atari forum, or at the Midi forum. Especially let me know what kind of computer you have & what software you are using, as that is going to be the subject of a later article. Thanks & make lots of Atari music. GAMING SECTION World Tour Racing! Resident Evil! Sony Gaming TV! Thunder Truck Rally! Jaguar Gaming Journal Back! And more! From the Editor's Controller - Playin' it like it is! Well, World Tour Racing should start arriving in people's hands any day now. I haven't heard much about this game, so I'm looking forward to hearing your comments - drop us a line and let us know what you think. Resident Evil, Director's Cut sounds intriguing - check out the article about it later in this issue - love those monster games! Lots of interesting news and articles this week, so let's get right to it, shall we! Until next time... Industry News STR Game Console NewsFile - The Latest Gaming News! The Terror of Resident Evil Is Screaming Its Way... SUNNYVALE, CALIF. (June 5) ENTERTAINMENT WIRE -June 5, 1997--Capcom Entertainment today announced that it will release its best-selling video game Resident Evil(TM) for the Sega Saturn(TM) in the third quarter of 1997. The game that created an entirely new genre originally released last year for the Sony PlayStation held the number one spot for six consecutive months. To date Capcom has shipped more than 2.5 million units worldwide and although no longer in production, it continues to sell. The availability of Resident Evil for Sega Saturn comes as great news to Sega owners who have lobbied Capcom steadily for this release for the past year. Capcom will sell Resident Evil at a suggested retail price of $49.99. Not only will the Sega Saturn version of Resident Evil have all of the macabre elements of the original version, it will also include enhancements only available on the Sega Saturn. Resident Evil's design team has added a new monster, a weapon and other hidden surprises. Also exclusive to the Sega Saturn version is the Arena Battle/Survival Mode where players must use their skill to battle a continuous onslaught of zombies and monsters that approach with relentless speed. "Capcom is excited about bringing Resident Evil to the Sega Saturn," said Robert Lindsey, senior vice president of sales and marketing. "The demand from Saturn owners has been overwhelming. We feel they will be pleased with the results and expect Resident Evil to be the number one selling Saturn title this Christmas." "Sega's first priority is delivering quality titles for the Sega Saturn users," said Bernard Stolar, COO, Sega of America. "I believe our customers will be very impressed with the enhancements Capcom has made to the Sega Saturn version of this hit title." For those that do not know, Resident Evil is a third-person perspective, horror action adventure game with elements of role-playing and puzzle solving, and lots of the strange and macabre. It is the first video game to truly capture the kind of action, suspense and drama that directors like John Carpenter, Alfred Hitchcock, and Sam Raimi have been able to achieve on film. The 3D environment has been pre-rendered with gorgeous texture maps and unbelievable shadows and light sourcing. Players control a polygon character, who is seen through shifting noir-style, third-person perspective camera views that change as the character moves. Players are forced to think carefully, as the game relies on very little screen text, forcing the player to really examine the surroundings. Resident Evil also features full-motion video introduction and ending sequences, as well as incredible computer-animated cut scenes. In Resident Evil you control either Chris Redfield, the slacker pilot and sharpshooter; or Jill Valentine, the tough demolition's expert, of S.T.A.R.S. (Special Tactics And Rescue Squad), sent in to investigate your fellow teammates' helicopter crash. Once at the crash site, however, you're quickly chased into a nearby foreboding mansion by a pack of monstrous creatures. Inside, you become separated from your squad, and are forced to solve the mysteries on your own as you search for your missing compatriots. Besides your quick wit, there are items to be found along the way, including bazookas, shotguns, flame-throwers, pistols, knives, medicine, batteries, keys and maps. You're going to need them because this house is filled with acid-spitting zombies, giant spiders, horrid frog-like creatures, mutant dogs and a host of other tricks and traps guaranteed to make you sweat and beg for more. Capcom's Masterpiece of Horror Returns in Resident... SUNNYVALE, CALIF. (June 5) ENTERTAINMENT WIRE -June 5, 1997--Capcom Entertainment today announced details of Resident Evil Director's Cut, an uncut and enhanced version of its horror masterpiece, Resident Evil. As an added bonus, Director's Cut will also include an exclusive, interactive demo of Resident Evil 2, one of the most anticipated games this year. True to its title, Director's Cut features elements and scenes not in the original multi-million unit selling blockbuster. This includes graphic cinematic opening sequences and cut scenes never before released in the U.S. Other new levels of terror exclusive to the Director's Cut include more enemies in different locations, alternate character graphics, haunting new camera angles and music, and rearranged items and puzzles. Players will also discover a new monster when a dead colleague comes back to life. Resident Evil Director's Cut is a two disc set and is appropriately rated "M" for mature audiences. A PlayStation exclusive, it is slated to release in September at a suggested retail price of $39.99. "Sony PlayStation owners are receiving an excellent value with Resident Evil Director's Cut," says Robert Lindsey, vice president of sales and marketing for Capcom Entertainment. "Not only are they going to see and play an uncensored version of the horror classic, they are also getting a sneak peak at its successor, Resident Evil 2, easily the most anticipated game of '98. All of this combined with a very attractive suggested retail price of $39 makes the Director's Cut a must-buy for PlayStation owners." Resident Evil Director's Cut features three levels of difficulty to provide any player a challenge. As in the original version, in Resident Evil Director's Cut you control either Chris Redfield, the slacker pilot and sharpshooter; or Jill Valentine, the tough demolition's expert, of S.T.A.R.S. (Special Tactics And Rescue Squad), sent in to investigate your fellow teammates' helicopter crash. Once at the crash site, however, you're quickly chased into a nearby foreboding mansion by a pack of monstrous creatures. Using wits and weapons, you must battle the likes of acid-spitting zombies, giant spiders, horrid frog-like creatures, mutant dogs and a host of other tricks and traps guaranteed to make you sweat and beg for more. Buckle up! Psygnosis Releases Thunder Truck Rally FOSTER CITY, CALIF. (June 4) BUSINESS WIRE -June 4, 1997--Adding to its growing lineup of action-packed driving titles, Psygnosis has released Thunder Truck Rally, a fast-paced, off-road racer for the Sony PlayStation game console. Whether flying across the desert in a baja buggy or driving over parked cars in an oversized truck, Thunder Truck Rally offers players plenty of options for a dirt-busting good time. The game has an approximate retail price of $49.95. Developed by the same team that created Psygnosis' award-winning Destruction Derby and Destruction Derby 2, Thunder Truck Rally features realistic texture-mapped 3D landscapes with complete 360 movement and stunning special effects, including dust clouds, blizzards, mist and lens flare for an authentic racing experience. The game allows drivers complete freedom of movement while zooming at insane speeds through changing weather patterns and terrain. Players can choose between two types of vehicles -- low-slung desert buggies or earth-moving giant trucks -- developed using an artificial intelligence program that calculates the forces on each vehicle's wheels for accurately-modeled suspension and car body effects. For example, driving too quickly over very bumpy terrain will cause the truck body to start bouncing out of control -- possibly turning over! Thunder Truck Rally features a variety of different racing environments. Players will be smart to start out on some of the 12 Training Modes to hone their skills before entering the Endurance Race. Practicing on the short circuits and stadiums, players can learn the layout and fine-tune their performance in handling obstacles, including earth mounds, dips and water jumps. When players feel confident about their driving skills, they can enter the Thunder Truck Rally Endurance Race, a four-day, five-stage competition featuring 500 miles of some of the most punishing terrain and weather conditions imaginable. To complete each stage, players must beat either a set time or finish in one of the top three positions. For the ultimate in reckless four-wheel action, players can also wreak havoc as they speed over the roofs of battered cars in the Stunt and Challenge mode, where they'll win points based on the amount of damage they cause. Thunder Truck Rally offers players the choice to view race highlights with three different camera options. In the Preset Mode, cameras are fixed in different locations for panning and blimp/helicopter views; in Programmable Mode, players can position cameras around the track, focusing on specific cars throughout the race; in the Film Director mode, they can set up their own dramatic, moving sequences, replaying highlights with the camera zooming and panning from a variety of angles. With all these features, gamers would be crazy not to add Thunder Truck Rally to their sports racing library of Psygnosis titles. Sony Targets New TV At PlayStation Owners TOKYO, JAPAN, 1997 JUNE 3 (Newsbytes) -- By Martyn Williams. Sony Corporation [TOKYO:6758] [NYSE:SNE] has launched a new television targeted at users of its popular PlayStation consumer video games console. The TV features a direct RGB input to give players a better picture than conventional television sets. The 21-inch conventional aspect ratio set also features two prominent speakers, just below the screen, that allow player to enjoy the stereo sound on games. This is part of an "SD Speaker System" on the set, said Sony. The KV-21SP1 will go on sale in Japan on July 5 with a price tag of 53,000 yen ($455). Monthly production is set at 5,000-units per month. Jaguar Online STR InfoFile - Online Users Growl & Purr! According to Bits of Fun, WORLD TOUR RACING (CD) began shipping on Wednesday, June 4th 1997. Hello Atari enthusiasts: I have several great items of interest to announce. The response of those wanting to be apart of the return of The Jaguar Gaming Journal is very strong. The mailing list includes a portion of the members who have requested JGJ. Among the members are Jeff Minter, Don Thomas, Albert Dayes, Dana [Jacobson] of STReport, Purity web design. Francois B. and Frank Slater have been contacted. The Atari Preservation Society welcomed JGJ with open arms, but I did it under my other e-mail account! * Work on the new JGJ Web page will begin this week. The site will probably become the main foundation of the new JGJ. With me going to college in the fall, it would be tough to put out a monthly or bi-monthly issue of JGJ. Instead, starting in September, there will be bi-weekly or monthly updates to the site. * New issues, however, will be produced. They will definitely be produced in June, August, December, and January. The issues will be e-mailed to each of you, and posted on several online services. * Our site may feature IRC conferencing, but it will depend on your browser capabilities. The site is currently being designed with Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0. in mind. I also know that Navigator 3.0 Gold supports IRC chat, as does many of the internet services such as Netcom and Juno. The site should be open by June 30. * Including with this update is the first edition of The Jaguar Gaming Journal, at the time called Jaguar Journal. Although it may seem written on a younger level (it was the first edition in 1994), it is pretty neat. I will be sending an issue, one every 10 days, to people on this list. Anyone who joins now will not receive this issue, and will have to wait until the next. Until the new site is up, please visit my current sites: http://members.aol.com/jglmac http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Jeffrey_Norwood (include the _ when typing it in) Please visit our sponsor on the Web. The place features great Jaguar games at low prices. http://www.vglq.com http://www.vglq.com Thank you, Jeffrey Norwood President/Editor-in-Chief The Jaguar Gaming Journal ONLINE WEEKLY STReport OnLine The wires are a hummin'! PEOPLE... ARE TALKING On CompuServe Compiled by Joe Mirando jmirando@streport.com Hidi ho friends and neighbors. Well, I FINALLY got a hard drive for my MegaSTE. It took a while to find one (but only because I wasn't looking very hard). I can cheerfully report that the Seagate ST3390N works just fine with Atari ST computers. It's a 340 megger, which is smaller than I was looking for, but I found the price very attractive (it was recently removed from a laptop PC and replaced with a larger drive and sold just to offset the cost of the new one). I had at first worried about whether or not it was only the hard drive that had gone bad, or the controller too. It turns out that the controller was just fine and all is now well with my setup. Of course, the very day that I got this drive, I got a call from my brother who said, "Hey Joe, I just found my old 300 meg SCSI drive from my PC... I don't use it anymore... you wouldn't have any use for it, would you?" Isn't that the way it always happens? Well at any rate, the drive is in and running just fine. I'll be taking my brother's 300 meg drive and using it as a backup for the time being (hey, he DID offer, you know! ). Well, let's get on with the reason for this column in the first place... all the news, hints, tips, and info here on CompuServe. From the Atari Computing Forum When Michael Lotosky asks about the availability of Atari ST emulators for the PC, Mark Showalter tells him: "Toad computers has software emmulaters for the PC to run Atari sofware. You can inquire at info@toad.net. I'd be interested in knowing what Atari hardware you have. I'm looking for a Mega ST to use in my equipment rack for live performing." Eckhard Zeitz adds: "There is an Atari emulator for PC (ie you can run Atari programs on your pc) called PaCifiST. The actual version is 0.44. You can get it on http://wwwperso.hol.fr/~gidouin/pacifist.html. Some of you may know that OXO Concept has released several demo versions of WENSuite (Web, Email, and News) over the past several weeks. I haven't had the time to try it out yet, but it is supposed to have PPP capability. Having heard this, Karen Stimson asks: "Has anyone been able to get this demo to work with Compuserve? The best I can do with it is to get as far as dialing in and then I always get an "ERROR" message in the status box. I can't figure out how to configure the Dialogue section to logon to CIS and I've tried a zillion different combinations. Can anyone help me with this?" John Raymond tells Karen: "No. I am getting the same error message when trying to connect. It fails at the PPP connection. Does anyone know the correct compuserve DNS number? Does anyone know how to configure the PPP dialogue?" Carsten Baron adds: "...Yes, I have the same problem. Can anybody write the preferences of the PPP?" Michael McDade asks about what he needed to be able to run current programs like the AOL access program and WinCIM on his 8 bit Atari: " I did, eventually, write to America Online explaining what type of disk drive I have(Atari 1050). GOOD NEWS!!! They sent me a floppy disk. Just what I needed. BAD NEWS!!! An incompatible program disk. Since I had so many all together, I gave away 2 AOL disks to 2 friends each." Michael, I've got news for you.... Friends don't let friends use AOL! Rick Detlefsen tells Michael: "A hard drive or 850 wold be no help in any case. Even if the disk were 5", it would be a foreign format that the atari can't read, and the programs would be useless. A hard drive on any system is only useful for programs that will run on that system, or for data it can use or pass along." Michael then asks: "So, if all disks sent to me are bootless for 800xl, 1050 or program recorders what options am I left with; pertaining to this new internet age as well as these AOL, PRODIGY AND WinCIM disks ?" Tom Harker of ICD tells Michael: "It is called unsolicited junk mail. Throw them in the trash. You need a Win/tel machine to run these programs. Most software now requires Microsoft Windows these days and you won't find that on an Atari 800XL." Martin Spinks asks for info: "I have a good B & W 520 STFM but insufficient memory to run the CUBASE software I have purchased. Is it still possible to buy memory upgrades, in whatever form, for this model. There don't appear to be any dealers in Atari left here in New Zealand. If anyone can help an E mail message would be most welcomed." Albert Dayes tells Martin: "You should still be able to find ram boards for the 520STF. There is a list of dealers in North America in a file called dealers.txt which can be found in the library. Some of those dealers have web sites. I believe toad computers is at www.toad.ne, for example." Mark Busse asks for info for a friend: "I have a friend who has a 1040ST, he has upgraded them memory, and installed the PC processor upgrade too. Does anyone know if/how to operate a parallel ZIP drive via the LPT on the PC so that it may save and write accross to the Atari." Albert Dayes again comes to the rescue and tells Mark: "Only the SCSI ZIP is supported on the ATARI." Tom Harker of ICD explains: "The Atari ST parallel port does not have enough handshake lines to support parallel port hard drives that are found on the PC." Meanwhile, over in the Atari Gaming Forum, Fred Horvat adds to the list of... "Good Jaguar Games AVP Battlemorph Rayman Doom Breakout 2000 Iron Soldier II Pinball Fantasies Missle Command 3D " Gary Kato tells Fred: "Thanks for the list! Are these cartridges or CDROMs? So far, I don't have a CDROM drive for the Jaguar yet." Fred replies: "AVP Battlemorph <===== CD-ROM Rayman Doom Breakout 2000 Iron Soldier II <===== CD-ROM Pinball Fantasies Missle Command 3D Many others are fun games like Flip Out Atari Karts Evolution Dino Dudes Super Burnout Blue Lightning <====== CD-ROM Tempest 2000 One bonus if getting into the Jaguar now is that it is very cheap compared to other newer gaming systems. $49.95 for the unit and 3 games and games average $10 each except for new releases." Our old friend Don Thomas, formerly of Atari, now of Sony America, adds: "A lot has happened just in the time since Iron Soldier I. Pentiums are faster, there's MMX and Duke Nuke 'em puts Wolfenstein to shame many will tell you. Few games came close to fully exploit the Jaguar for many reasons. A primary reason is that every game published was within the first couple years of release. There was a trend toward higher quality games, but Atari couldn't keep the system alive to see those games fully evolve. Another reason is that Jaguar never fostered the level of support that the more popular systems did. Although talented people worked on Jaguar games, they were not always very well financed or otherwise supported. Another reason is that Atari wisely put a 68000 on board. This was as much as a mistake as a good thing. The value was that it lured programmers to the Jaguar that might otherwise be intimidated by a completely alien system... everyone is familiar with the 68000. The bad part was that it was too easy to exploit the familiar 68000 and just dabble with the cool proprietary stuff especially when timing was critical to get games out. Having said all that, Jaguar games have a magical fun factor that was popular in almost every Atari video game system. Other systems are fun too, but the "fun factor" was somehow unique to Atari ... at least to us who adored their products so much. " Hans-Martin Krober mirrors my own thoughts when he tells Don: "Congratulations - very well said. God, I miss those times!" Fred Horvat asks: "Is World Tour Racing CD a CD-R like Iron Soldier II or a normal CD?" Randy Baer tells Fred: "They claim to have all the CD problems fixed, so it will be on a 'regular' CD..." Well friends, that's about it for this week. I know it's short, but I've got me some file restoring to do. Tune in again next week, same time, same station, and be ready to listen to what they are saying when... PEOPLE ARE TALKING WE MUST NEVER FORGET! D-DAY Normandy, France: June 6, 1944 They paid the Highest Price for Our Freedom STReport International OnLine Magazine [S]ilicon [T]imes [R]eport HTTP://WWW.STREPORT.COM OVER 200,000 Readers 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" June 06, 1997 Since 1987 Copyrightc1997 All Rights Reserved Issue No. 1323