908 lines
47 KiB
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908 lines
47 KiB
Plaintext
Rugged Geekism is the path to the information superhighway. Bill Gates
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is a geek. Geeks, nerds -- they're in."
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Consultant Frank Hoar (WSJ 1/28/94)
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======================================================================
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BBB III TTT SSS BBB Y Y TTT EEE SSS ONLINE EDITION:
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B B I T S B B Y Y T E S =THE ELECTRONIC
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BBB I T SSS AND BBB YYY T EEE SSS =NEWSLETTER FOR
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B B I T S B B Y T E S =INFORMATION
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BBB III T SSS BBB Y T EEE SSS =HUNTER-GATHERERS
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======================================================================
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Volume 2, Number 2 <HAPPY YEAR OF THE RAT!> (February 28, 1994)
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======================================================================
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CONTENTS =
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SPECIAL SECTIONS: | On Reading Mondo 2000 =
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The Clipper Chip Controversy | The Online World =
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The Post Human Condition | New Products and Services =
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Focus on Business Issues | PDA News: The Newton Saga =
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| Future Tech =
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INTERNET 101: | The Kultchur Korner =
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Where to get answers about | Business Briefs =
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Internet basics; Internet | On the Newsstand =
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Magazines; | Bits and Bytes Bookshelf =
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======================================================================
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= See the ADMINISTRIVIA section for subscription and back issues info=
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======================================================================
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Special Section: The Clipper Chip Controversy
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========================
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EDITORIAL
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Welcome to another factoid-filled edition of Bits and Bytes Online
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Edition, the electronic newsletter for information hunter-gatherers,
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the last bastion of rugged geekism in the brave new age of (too much)
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information. My name is Jay Machado and I'll be your guide thru
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cyberspace as we roam the dense thickets of the emerging information
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infrastructure, which is already in progress. Indeed, there's a whole
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lot of shaking going on these days, and I don't mean in California,
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where extensive earthquake damage to the highway system may give
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telecommuting an opportunity to prove it's viability as an alternative
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to 4 hour (one way) commutes. No, I'm talking about Clipper. After
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several months of relative obscurity, the Clipper chip proposal has
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burst back onto the scene with renewed vigor.
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On January 4, 1994, the Clinton administration announced it's adoption
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of the Clipper Chip and the SKIPJACK encryption scheme as national
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standards. This system relies on a "key escrow" system with a built-in
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"back door" so that security agents can decrypt and monitor even
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supposedly "secure" communications. The administration claims that
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there will be safeguards to prevent abuse of the system. For one thing
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the two keys needed to unscramble a message will be held by two
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separate government agencies, and anyone wanting to tap into your
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communications will need to obtain both through proper channels. You
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can trust your friendly government man. Do you begin to see the subtle
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flaw in this argument?
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In the meantime, WIRED Magazine reports that federal security agencies
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have been meeting for some time with telecommunications companies to
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design back doors into the entire National Information Infrastructure
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(NII). The Clipper Chip will be installed directly into telecommunica-
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tions devices such as telephones, computers, and digital set-top boxes
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for interactive TV. Since the system can be used to encrypt any
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communications that pass across telecommunications lines (including
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text, sound and images), ANY AND ALL communication that passes through
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your system has the possibility of being intercepted. Any system
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connected to the NII would be required to include a "back door" in
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order to facilitate monitoring by government agencies.
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There's more going on than these brief paragraphs can hint at. Super-
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spooky spy-type agencies are getting VERY involved behind the scenes.
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The National Security Agency, who already monitor a great deal of the
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data flowing in and out of the US, for one. The government has seen
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the digital writing on the wall and they've realized that things are
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going to slip further out of their control unless they put in the
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technological fix NOW! Unsuspecting federal prisoners are having
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strange electrical devices implanted in their craniums even as we
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speak. I saw it on the X Files, it MUST be true!! Well, OK, probably
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not, but it doesn't hurt to keep your guard up.
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Opposition to the Clipper proposal has been swift and overwhelmingly
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negative. Here was an issue that everyone -- the cypherpunks, the
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business community, Big Business, and just plain folks -- could agree
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on. Even close allies like Canada and Britain said they were not
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willing to adopt Clipper. It seems nobody trusts our government with
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the keys to the cookie jar anymore. Imagine that.
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The folks at WIRED go on to say that:
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"These government initiatives, taken together, constitute one
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of the most grievous threats to our constitutional liberties in
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modern times. The security agencies and the administration are
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involved in a stealth strike at our freedoms that could
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effectively abrogate the Bill of Rights in cyberspace, where we
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and our descendants will be spending increasingly larger parts
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of lives."
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WIRED has set up an online Clipper Archive, accessible via gopher or
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WWW or by email. The organization Computer Professionals for Social
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Responsibility is circulating a petition, which I am reprinting below
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along with instructions for adding your name to the petition. Those of
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you that feel the need for secure encryption with NO BACK DOORS are
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encouraged to seek out Pretty Good Privacy, a freeware program that
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provides just that. See the ACCESS area at the end of this section for
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contact information.
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========================
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William Safire on the Clipper Chip
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For those of you who might have missed it, William Safire published a
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very good essay on the Clipper proposal yesterday (February 14). We're
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providing some excerpts here and recommend the piece in its entirety.
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Well-meaning law and intelligence officials, vainly seeking to
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maintain their vanishing ability to eavesdrop, have come up with
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a scheme that endangers the personal freedom of every American.
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* * *
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The "clipper chip" -- aptly named, as it clips the wings of
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individual liberty -- would encode, for Federal perusal whenever
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a judge rubber-stamped a warrant, everything we say on a phone,
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everything we write on a computer, every order we give to a
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shopping network or bank or 800 or 900 number, every electronic
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note we leave our spouses or dictate to our personal-digit-
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assistant genies.
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Add to that stack of intimate data the medical information
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derived from the national "health security card" Mr. Clinton
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proposes we all carry. Combine it with the travel, shopping and
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credit data available from all our plastic cards, along with
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psychological and student test scores. Throw in the confidential
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tax returns, sealed divorce proceedings, welfare records, field
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investigations for job applications, raw files and C.I.A. dossiers
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available to the Feds, and you have the individual citizen standing
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naked to the nosy bureaucrat.
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* * *
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The only people tap-able by American agents would be honest
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Americans -- or those crooked Americans dopey enough to buy
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American equipment with the pre-compromised American code.
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Subsequent laws to mandate the F.B.I. bug in every transmitter
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would be as effective as today's laws banning radar detectors.
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* * *
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Cash in your clipper chips, wiretappers: you can't detect the crime
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wave of the future with those old earphones on.
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(SOURCE: CPSR Alert Volume 3.04, 12/15/94)
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========================
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Electronic Petition to Oppose Clipper
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Please Distribute Widely
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On January 24, many of the nation's leading experts in cryptography
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and computer security wrote President Clinton and asked him to
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withdraw the Clipper proposal.
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The public response to the letter has been extremely favorable,
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including coverage in the New York Times and numerous computer and
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security trade magazines.
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Many people have expressed interest in adding their names to the
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letter. In response to these requests, CPSR is organizing an
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Internet petition drive to oppose the Clipper proposal. We will
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deliver the signed petition to the White House, complete with the
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names of all the people who oppose Clipper.
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To sign on to the letter, send a message to:
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Clipper.petition@cpsr.org
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with the message "I oppose Clipper" (no quotes)
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You will receive a return message confirming your vote.
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Please distribute this announcement so that others may also express
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their opposition to the Clipper proposal.
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CPSR is a membership-based public interest organization. For
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membership information, please email cpsr@cpsr.org. For more
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information about Clipper, please consult the CPSR Internet Library -
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FTP/WAIS/Gopher CPSR.ORG /cpsr/privacy/crypto/clipper
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======================== Here's the text of the petition:
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The President The White House Washington, DC 20500
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Dear Mr. President:
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We are writing to you regarding the "Clipper" escrowed encryption
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proposal now under consideration by the White House. We wish to
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express our concern about this plan and similar technical standards
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that may be proposed for the nation's communications infrastructure.
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The current proposal was developed in secret by federal agencies
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primarily concerned about electronic surveillance, not privacy
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protection. Critical aspects of the plan remain classified and thus
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beyond public review.
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The private sector and the public have expressed nearly unanimous
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opposition to Clipper. In the formal request for comments conducted
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by the Department of Commerce last year, less than a handful of
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respondents supported the plan. Several hundred opposed it.
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If the plan goes forward, commercial firms that hope to develop
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new products will face extensive government obstacles. Cryptographers
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who wish to develop new privacy enhancing technologies will be
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discouraged. Citizens who anticipate that the progress of technology
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will enhance personal privacy will find their expectations unfulfilled.
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Some have proposed that Clipper be adopted on a voluntary basis
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and suggest that other technical approaches will remain viable. The
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government, however, exerts enormous influence in the marketplace, and
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the likelihood that competing standards would survive is small. Few
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in the user community believe that the proposal would be truly
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voluntary.
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The Clipper proposal should not be adopted. We believe that if
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this proposal and the associated standards go forward, even on a
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voluntary basis, privacy protection will be diminished, innovation
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will be slowed, government accountability will be lessened, and the
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openness necessary to ensure the successful development of the
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nation's communications infrastructure will be threatened.
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We respectfully ask the White House to withdraw the Clipper
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proposal.
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========================
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<<<ACCESS>>> Clipper Chip and related files
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=== WIRED Clipper Archives
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o WIRED Infobot e-mail server send e-mail to infobot@wired.com,
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containing the words "send
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clipper/index" on a single
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line inside the message body
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o WIRED Gopher gopher to gopher.wired.com
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select "Clipper Archive"
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o WIRED on World Wide Web http://www.wired.com
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select "Clipper Archive"
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o WIRED on America Online keyword: WIRED
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o WIRED on the WELL type "go wired" from any "OK" prompt
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type "clipper" to access the menu
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=== Pretty Good Privacy
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pgp23.zip is the latest version and can be FTP'd from:
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sunb.ocs.mq.edu.au Location: /PC/Crypt
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ftp.cc.adfa.oz.au Location: /pub/security/pgp23
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ftp.lcs.mit.edu Location: /pub/pgp
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pc.usl.edu Location: /pub/msdos/crypto
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ftp.luth.se Location: /pub/infosystems/pgp
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alf.uib.no Location: /pub/unix/next/source/crypt
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isy.liu.se Location: /pub/misc/pgp/2.3
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ftp.germany.eu.net Location: /comp/msdos/utils/pgp
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=== PGPShell (a friendly front end to PGP)
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This program is archived as pgpshe30.zip.
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ftp to garbo.uwasa.fi in /pc/crypt
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ftp to oak.oakland.edu in /pub/msdos/security
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=== Related Usenet Newsgroups
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alt.risks (discuss all aspects of the dangers of computers)
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alt.security.pgp (issues relating to the pgp program)
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comp.org.eff.news (News from the Electronic Frontier Foundation)
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comp.society.cu-digest (The Computer Underground Digest)
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sci.crypt (discuss all aspects of encryption)
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talk.politics.crypto (Here's a place to get political about it)
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======================================================================
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THE ONLINE WORLD
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=> NEW ONLINE SERVICES. Starting this fall, Ziff-Davis will offer the
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Interchange Online Network, carrying on-line versions of its
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publications -- including PC Magazine, PC Computing, PC Week, Mac
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User and Mac Week. The interface is said to be most impressive,
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with a Windows interface, photo-realistic images and a hypertext
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"shared data space". APPLE COMPUTER is set introduce their eWorld
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service in April, and MICROSOFT's rumored InfoServ service
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continues to be that -- a rumor. The word is on the street but MS
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isn't talking. News publisher KNIGHT-RIDDER and BELL ATLANTIC will
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introduce the Stargazer Service in 1995. Stargazer will deliver
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information via video and text over Bell Atlantic's networks,
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including movies, TV programs, interactive commercials and home
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shopping. Knight-Ridder will contribute news, entertainment and
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advertising to the service. The two are still ironing out the
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details. (SOURCES: St. Petersburg Times 1/31/94, Boardwatch,
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Investor's Business Daily 2/3/94)
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=> HOLE IN THE CENTER. John Perry Barlow, co-founder of the Electronic
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Frontier Foundation, says that one thing that is essential to
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community is some sense of physical proximity, and that a problem
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with network communities is that "all they've got is a shared
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interest, not a shared necessity"; he makes the point that it's
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easy to drop out of network discussion groups, but "not that easy
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for me to leave my little town in Wyoming. There, we have to learn
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to stick it out and make it work." He says that "if you look at
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the overall trend, not just in cyberspace but everywhere, it's
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toward globalization and localization. What seems to be coming
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apart is everything in the middle." (New York Times 12/26/93 p. F8)
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(E/P)
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=> ONLINE MAGS MOSTLY TALK. Most publishers may not realize it yet,
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but online services won't become a repository for magazines until
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they provide access to back issues, computer programs, and other
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features, like text search and information-filtering front ends.
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According to one industry observer, people go on-line not read but
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to chat -- and that's why "there are more bars than libraries."
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(SOURCE: "Testing The Waters Online", Thomas Forbes. Folio, 12/1,
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p. 65)
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=> TRAFFIC JAMS ON THE INFORMATION HIGHWAY? (Sorry, I couldn't help
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myself) America Online's president publicly apologized in a letter
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to AOL customers for the network's recent sluggish performance. He
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further promised the unusual step of postponing efforts to attract
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new customers. AOL's online population has doubled from 300,000
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since last summer. ... On the Internet, increasing use of MOSAIC,
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a nifty graphical internet front-end was reported to be causing
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data traffic jams. ... In the February 94 issue of Boardwatch,
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editor Jack Rickard makes the bold prediction that by the end of
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1994 there will be a SHORTAGE of BBS's and ONLINE SERVICES, even
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taking into account some of the new services coming online. Heads
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up, all you entrepreneurial types! (SOURCES: NYT, Boardwatch)
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======================================================================
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The Post Human Condition
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======================== (Jeffrey Deitch)
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The issue of using genetic engineering to "improve" the fetus will
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potentially become much more highly charged than the controversy over
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abortion. It may not be an exaggeration to say that it will become the
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most difficult moral and social issue that the human species has ever
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faced. Genetic engineering is not just another life-enhancing
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technology like aviation or telecommunications. Its continued
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development and application may force us to redefine the parameters of
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life. ("Post Human," Adbusters Quarterly, Winter 1994, p. 21)
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=> REALLY SMART CHIPS. Researchers are experimenting with electronic
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microchips that use living brain cells. The embryonic cells are
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placed on silicon or glass chips and induced to grow along desired
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paths. The scientists hope to encourage the brain cells to form
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connections, gaining insight into how neurons work.
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(WSJ 4/1/94, p. B7)
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======================== (Claudia Springer)
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Cyberpunk fictions visions of the future extrapolate from our current
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cultural preoccupation with computers to create worlds where the
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computer metaphor for human existence has triumphed. When cyberpunk
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characters are surgically hardwired, jack into cyberspace, plug
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software programs directly into their brains, create computerized
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virtual bodies for themselves while their actual bodies decay, or
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abandon their bodies to exist inside the computer matrix, the boundary
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between human and computer is erased and the nature of the human
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psyche is redefined in accordance with the computer paradigm.
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Computers and human minds become thoroughly compatible because the
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differences between them have been effaced. ("Sex, Memories, Angry
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Women," The South Atlantic Quarterly Fall 1993, p.720)
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=> BRAIN SALAD SURGERY. Hippocampal neurons, the brain cells
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responsible for logic and memory functions, may become the
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computing platform of the future. The Naval Research Laboratory,
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National Institutes of Health, and others are cooperating in
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developing the science of bioelectronics to speed the integration
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of living brain cells -- currently donated by lab rodents -- with
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solid-state devices. These could outperform silicon-based computing
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chips, which are predicted to have no more cognitive capability by
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the end of the century than a chicken. (SOURCE: Clarence A.
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Robinson Jr, "Bioelectronics Computer Era Merges Organic, Solid
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State", Signal, February 1994, p. 15)
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======================================================================
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NEW PRODUCTS AND SERVICES:
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=> PATENT DATABASE. PatentScan Plus is a set of 10 CD-ROMS with
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information on close to 2 million patents spanning the past 20
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years. "This may be the most significant body of information
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ever published in electronic format." (WIRED) (ACCESS: PatentScan
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617/576-5747)
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=> THE SOUNDS OF WORK can now be purchased on a 90-minute cassette.
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This is ideal for one man offices or telecommuters who want callers
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to think they're working in a busy office. The tape, from Nextech,
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features the sounds of doors closing, phones ringing, typewriters
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clacking, drawers banging, and unintelligible voices droning in the
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background. (Atlanta Journal/Constitution 11/3/93 F2) (E/P)
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=> MULTIMEDIA MODEM. AT&T Paradyne has developed a new modem capable
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of sending text or voice plus video images over the same phone line
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simultaneously. The DataPort 2001 uses a technology called
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VoiceSpan, which increases the capacity of existing phone lines by
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splitting a single line into two channels, one for audio and the
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other for high-speed data, such as images. (St. Petersburg Times
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11/2/93 E1) (E/P)
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=> COMMERCIAL ZAPPER. The Arthur D. Little consulting firm has
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developed the technology for a device that can detect and eliminate
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commercials; it finds a commercial by sensing blank frames and
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sound-level dips that precede and follow it. God bless Arthur C.
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Little. (SOURCE: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Bill Husted, 2/3/94,
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p. C2) (E/P)
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=> CHANNEL-SURFER ZAPPER. Keep your eye out for Stop It!, a device
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designed to temporarily jam the remote control's infrared signal,
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rendering it inoperative. Couch Potato power politics may never be
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the same again. Since channel-surfing seems to be a male behavior,
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the idea of an equalizer appeals to some women. But how long before
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we see the device used as evidence in a murder case? The device
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should retail for about $30. The inventor's wife, who has been
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testing prototypes, says the best strategy is not to use it all
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the time. "It works better when there's an element of surprise."
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What possesed this man to invent this insidious device?
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(SOURCE: WSJ 11/24/93, p. B1)
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======================================================================
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"We know a former senior intelligence official who says, 'Give me $1
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billion and 20 people and I'll shut America down. I'll shut down the
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Federal Reserve, all the ATMs; I'll desynchronize every computer in
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the country.' We are in fact going to see infoterrorism, not just
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hackers playing games." - Futurist Alvin Toffler, interviewed in
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Information Week 1/10/94, p. 10
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======================================================================
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FOCUS ON BUSINESS ISSUES
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==================================
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Stop Wasting Time!
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Let's get right to the point: About 280 hours a year, or some seven
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typical work weeks are wasted due to poor communication. That's the
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conclusion Office Team, a temporary-staffing firm in Menlo Park,
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Calif., arrived at after they asked 150 executives at large U.S.
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companies to estimate how much time was wasted in their companies each
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week because of crossed wires between staff and management. All the
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executives queried were VPs or higher, and included several IS
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managers. They responded that on average 14% of each week is wasted.
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To regain that time, Office Team recommends that managers give clear
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and precise instructions, and employees should speak up if they fail
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to understand what's expected of them. In general, the firm says,
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everyone should try to stay focused on the task at hand. Can't say it
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clearly? See the next item. It all sounds so simple, and yet . . .
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what was that last part? (SOURCE: InformationWeek, 11/22/93)
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==================================
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In Memos, Brevity is the Soul of IT
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IS workers can expect to do a fair amount of writing on the job. Every
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day, there are a profusion of memos, documents, letters, plans,
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reports, and performance reviews to turn out. There's one small
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problem: IS people are sometimes more fascinated by technology and
|
|
business than by grammar and sentence structure. Their [non-computer]
|
|
language writing skills frequently leave something to be desired.
|
|
|
|
Gary Blake, a consultant in Port Washington, N.Y., has written a guide
|
|
called The IS Manager's Friend. Designed to help IS managers write
|
|
clearly and concisely, it includes samples of status reports, meeting
|
|
minutes, and memos written by real IS managers. All of the prose is
|
|
easy to read; in many cases, names and details have been changed to
|
|
protect the innocent. The guide shows IS managers how the most
|
|
successful execs communicate with top management, subordinates,
|
|
consultants and vendors. It also includes tips on the proper tone and
|
|
level of persuasiveness for various topics. Blake says good writing is
|
|
vital. "If managers want their staff to communicate more clearly, they
|
|
have to lead the charge."
|
|
|
|
For a copy of the $18 guide or further information, write to Blake --
|
|
clearly and concisely -- at the Communications Workshop, 130 Shore Rd.,
|
|
Port Washington, N.Y. 11050.
|
|
==================================
|
|
Surefire Cures for Meeting Madness (Stanley Bing)
|
|
|
|
REMEMBER delegation? Sure you do. That was the thing you did when you
|
|
had staff -- people you could tell to go to all the meetings you
|
|
didn't wish to take, make or do. Today, even the most august nabob
|
|
must attend an endless series of confabs, sitdowns and chatfests. Here
|
|
are some easy, fun games to lighten the meeting load, or at least keep
|
|
you awake.
|
|
|
|
= PASS THE TRASH. Carefully scan the table for the other individual
|
|
who is about to experience synaptic collapse. Don't worry -- he'll be
|
|
there. Now carefully and soberly write something idiotic on a small
|
|
piece of paper and, in full sight of reigning authority, pass it
|
|
across the table to him. Again: this move should be obvious and
|
|
unabashed, so brazen that no one could possibly guess that the inside
|
|
of the missive reads: "LaVigne should probably do something about the
|
|
hair in his ears." Your goal here is to make your colleague blow ice
|
|
water through his nose.
|
|
|
|
= VISION QUEST. Deep into the meeting, while the V.P. of H.R. is
|
|
touting the new H.M.O., when the only light at the end of the tunnel
|
|
is an oncoming train, have some real fun. Think back to your company's
|
|
Big Themes over the years. Remember 1984's "You Make the Difference"?
|
|
How about "Reachin' the Top!" from 1989? Or why not make a chart
|
|
showing how "Employee Ownership" led to "Stewardship Through
|
|
Excellence," producing today's thrust toward "Performance Plus"?
|
|
|
|
= MANAGING BY WALKING AROUND. When all else has failed, you're going
|
|
to have to stave off sleep by appearing so engaged that you can't stay
|
|
in your seat. Bonus points are granted to those who move cleanly and
|
|
swiftly to a corner of the room and stand rocking back and forth,
|
|
looking as if they just might say something of great import.
|
|
|
|
(Stanley Bing came up with these. He writes the pseudonymous
|
|
"Executive Summary" column for Esquire, and his 1992 book "Crazy
|
|
Bosses" is available in paperback from Pocket Books)
|
|
======================================================================
|
|
INTERNET 101:
|
|
=======================
|
|
The Magic of the Internet (Peter H. Green)
|
|
|
|
According to research supplied at the Internet World '93 conference in
|
|
Manhattan last week, the Internet is attracting some 150,000 new users
|
|
each month, who join a population now estimated at 15 million or more.
|
|
Many of these new users are businesses that sense the importance of
|
|
being on the "Net" but may not understand why, beyond the obvious
|
|
appeal of electronic mail.
|
|
|
|
"It's like magic, it's like an incantation," said Elizabeth Lane
|
|
Lawley, director of Internet Training and Consulting Services of
|
|
Tuscaloosa, Ala. "You don't have to know what it means. You just say
|
|
'Internet' and everyone smiles and nods their heads and says, 'Oh yeah,
|
|
it's the wave of the future, yeah.' " Internet mania affects companies
|
|
large and small. "Kentucky Fried Chicken just sent me an inquiry, and
|
|
I've been talking to cable companies," she said. "I've also been
|
|
hearing from relatives who operate small businesses and want to know
|
|
what the Internet is all about."
|
|
|
|
What the Internet is all about, basically, is this: It has become the
|
|
postal service, telephone system and research library of the
|
|
electronic age allowing millions of people to exchange information
|
|
virtually anywhere in the world and at any time usually in a matter of
|
|
minutes, using commonly available technology.
|
|
|
|
The source of the Internet's appeal is that anyone on the Net can post
|
|
and retrieve information, but the practical result, which is often
|
|
frustrating to businesses accustomed to logical hierarchy and order,
|
|
is that there is no defined or enforced structure for posting that
|
|
information. As a result, even experienced Internet users often wind
|
|
up chasing their tails when they try to fetch information. (SOURCE:
|
|
"A Growing Internet is Trying to Take Care of Business", NYT 12/12/93,
|
|
p. F7)
|
|
=======================
|
|
<<<ACCESS>>> Where to get answers about Internet basics
|
|
|
|
= Internet Services Frequently Asked Questions & Answers (FAQ)
|
|
|
|
As a novice, you will be more welcome on the internet if you make an
|
|
effort to at least understand the basics. Most of us aren't used to
|
|
dealing with a communications medium like this, where your every
|
|
utterance can be spread far and wide. It must be annoying to hear
|
|
people asking the same questions over and over. "How do I FTP files?
|
|
How do I get information about the Internet online? What's a good
|
|
book to read for more information about the Internet?" The
|
|
internet-services.faq was created to answer those basic questions and
|
|
more. It's short, it's sweet, and it will tell you where to go from
|
|
there.
|
|
|
|
To receive the latest version by email,
|
|
send a message to: mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu
|
|
message: send usenet/news.answers/internet-services/faq
|
|
|
|
A program at that address will read your mail, process your request,
|
|
and reply with mail containing the FAQ. You'll be off to a good start.
|
|
=======================
|
|
<<<ACCESS>>> Internet Magazines (All prices in US dollars)
|
|
|
|
= 3W - A global networking newsletter, published bi-monthly. ($45 a
|
|
year) including airmail postage. Individual issues cost $7.50
|
|
including airmail postage. For more information, contact
|
|
3W@ukartnet.demon.co.uk . 3W has a nice homebrew air about it.
|
|
|
|
= Boardwatch, published monthly. ($36 a year) (800) 933-6038.
|
|
E-mail: jack.rickard@boardwatch.com
|
|
Focus includes bulletin board systems, legal aspects of the online
|
|
world and the Internet. Boardwatch also has an online BBS. This is a
|
|
good place to keep up with the online scene. Check your local
|
|
newsstand.
|
|
|
|
= The Internet Business Journal, a monthly newsletter ($149 a year;
|
|
$75 for educational institutions and small businesses.) published
|
|
by Strangelove Press. E-mail: mstrange@fonorola.net
|
|
or phone: (613) 565-0982. Sample copies available on request or by
|
|
gopher to "gopher.fonorola.net".
|
|
|
|
= The Internet Letter, a monthly newsletter ($249 a year) published by
|
|
Net Week Inc., Washington (800) 638-9335.
|
|
|
|
= Internet World, a bimonthly magazine ($29 a year) published by the
|
|
Meckler Corporation, Westport, Conn. (800) 632-5537.
|
|
E-mail: meckler@jvnc.net
|
|
Internet World has been getting better with each issue. The March/
|
|
April issue has features on museums online, the trouble with gopher,
|
|
and Internet culture. A general interest mag for the net. Check your
|
|
local newsstand.
|
|
|
|
= Matrix News (Matrix Information and Directory Services.) Published
|
|
in online and paper editions. Online edition is $25 for 12 monthly
|
|
issues ($15 for students.) Run by John Quartermain, author of The
|
|
Matrix, one of the first comprehensive overviews of the emerging
|
|
information infrastructure. E-mail: mids@tic.com
|
|
|
|
= Online Access. Subscription is $19.80 for 8 issues.
|
|
E-mail: 70324.343@compuserve.com
|
|
Their coverage is more oriented towards BBS systems, and they
|
|
publish lots of resource listings, like BBS numbers arranged by
|
|
subject areas.
|
|
======================================================================
|
|
On Reading Mondo 2000 (Vivian Sobchak)
|
|
|
|
Writing at a historical moment when the starving or dead bodies of
|
|
Somali children and the emaciated or dead bodies wrought by Bosnia's
|
|
civil warfare fill our television screens and the displaced bodies of
|
|
the homeless fill our streets, it is both comprehensible and extremely
|
|
disturbing that Mondo 2000's supposedly utopian celebration of the
|
|
liberating possibilities of the new electronic frontier promotes an
|
|
ecstatic dream of disembodiment. This is alienation raised to the
|
|
level of ekstasis: "A being put out of its place." It is also an
|
|
apolitical fantasy of escape. Historical accounts of virtual reality
|
|
tell us that one of the initial project's slogans was "Reality isn't
|
|
enough anymore," but psychoanalytic accounts would more likely tell us
|
|
that the slogan should be read in its inverse form -- that is,
|
|
"Reality is too much right now."
|
|
|
|
Hence the ambivalence of mondoid desire. In a cultural moment when
|
|
temporal coordinates are oriented toward technological computation
|
|
rather than the physical rhythms of the human body, and spatial
|
|
coordinates have little meaning for that body beyond its brief
|
|
physical occupation of a "here," in a cultural moment when there is
|
|
too much perceived risk to living and too much information for both
|
|
body and mind to contain and survive, need we wonder at the desire to
|
|
transcend the gravity of our situation and to escape where and who we
|
|
are? It is apposite that one of the smarter articles in the early
|
|
issues of M2 philosophically entitles itself "Being in Nothingness,"
|
|
and tells us of the ultimate escape: "Nothing could be more
|
|
disembodied or insensate than . . . cyberspace. It's like having had
|
|
your everything amputated." This is dangerous stuff -- the stuff that
|
|
(snuff) dreams are made of. Indeed, M2 is exceedingly -- and
|
|
apparently indiscriminately -- proud that it is dangerous, for, as of
|
|
its fourth issue, it quoted the preceding sentence as a "come on" to
|
|
potential subscribers. ("Reading Mondo 2000", The South Atlantic
|
|
Quarterly, Volume 92, Number 4 (Fall '93) p. 576) ==>On the Newsstand
|
|
======================================================================
|
|
THE KULTCHUR KORNER
|
|
|
|
=> CYBERSPACE-SHIP ENTERPRISE. Though commercial uses of the Internet
|
|
have been growing rapidly, Educom VP Mike Roberts says that "for
|
|
every greedy guy who shows up on the network trying to make a buck,
|
|
there will be people around with something of equal value that's
|
|
available for free. That will be do a lot to thwart the greed."
|
|
(New York Times Week in Review 1/2/94 p. 5) (E/P)
|
|
|
|
=> BILLBOARDS IN SPACE. Public outcry over plans to put a mile-long
|
|
inflatable billboard in Earth orbit has prompted the House and
|
|
Senate to introduce legislation banning space advertising. The
|
|
Space Advertising Prohibition Act would deny licenses for space
|
|
billboards, ban import of products advertised on billboards, and
|
|
ask the president to seek an international agreement on space
|
|
advertising. (SOURCE: The Internet Letter Vol.1, No1, October 1993)
|
|
|
|
=> RADIO SHACK IN RUSSIA. In mid-December, the first Radio Shack store
|
|
in Russia opened on Leninsky Prospect in Moscow. (Atlanta
|
|
Constitution 12/28/93, pg. F3) (E/P)
|
|
|
|
=> GO OUT AND PLAY. Japan's Education Ministry blames deteriorating
|
|
eyesight in Japanese youth on the increasing use of video games and
|
|
monitors, and long study periods. An agency survey reported children's
|
|
eyesight at the worst levels ever. (WSJ 1/5/94, p. A7) (E/P)
|
|
|
|
=> THE SLOB FACTOR. The IT-enabled telecommuting phenomenon has led to
|
|
numerous new problems, such as isolation, stagnation, and family
|
|
strife. The problem that has gotten the least notice is sloppiness.
|
|
Telecommuters have very messy offices. Thus, a cottage industry is
|
|
springing up to help people who are technologically adept but lack
|
|
more mundane skills. (SOURCE: Home Workers Are A Bunch Of Slobs, Sue
|
|
Shellenbarger. WSJ, 12/15/93, p. B1)
|
|
======================================================================
|
|
FUTURE TECH
|
|
|
|
=> I CAN TELL BY THE WAY YOU SMELL. Australian engineers have created
|
|
prototype robots that can find their way around by sense of smell.
|
|
Like ants, who use pheromones to mark the path to food, these
|
|
mobile robots can spit out, detect, and follow a trail of camphor.
|
|
This gives the robot two new abilities -- it can find it's way home
|
|
and it "knows" where it's been. (SOURCE: Sunny Bains, "Stinking
|
|
Robots", WIRED 2.02 February '94, p. 26)
|
|
|
|
=> CDC BITTEN BY VIRUS. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
|
|
(CDC) in Atlanta, the federal government's top agency in fighting
|
|
biological viruses and diseases, recently got infected by a
|
|
computer virus. According to a memo to CDC employees, the virus,
|
|
named Chile Medeira, was introduced via a computer disk sent from
|
|
overseas. The cost to the CDC-mainly from employee downtime and
|
|
systems repair -- has not been tabulated, but estimates run as high
|
|
as $300,000. No data was lost, however, as the virus spread from
|
|
a single workstation through the CDC network and prevented other
|
|
workstations from being booted.
|
|
|
|
=> ROBOTS DISPENSE DRUGS. Hospitals are finding that using robots to
|
|
dispense drugs frees pharmacists to spend "more time monitoring
|
|
patient therapy and teaching [patients] how to take medication,"
|
|
according to a doctor at the University of Wisconsin Hospital &
|
|
Clinics. Meanwhile, nurses at the University of California San
|
|
Diego Medical Center use an ATM-like machine that issues drugs for
|
|
patients when the correct personal code is punched in.
|
|
(WSJ 11/4/93 p. A1) (E/P)
|
|
======================================================================
|
|
BUSINESS BRIEFS
|
|
|
|
=> PRICE/PERFORMANCE SHAKEUP IMMINENT. Intel recently announced that
|
|
that its entire line of chips will double in speed over the next
|
|
year -- without a price increase. With the PowerPC chip due to hit
|
|
the market soon, there should be some great prices on Pentium and
|
|
486 machines by the end of the year.
|
|
|
|
=> MULTIMEDIA PATENT. Back in November Compton's New Media surprised
|
|
the world by announcing that it effectively had a patent on
|
|
multimedia. US Patent #5,241,671 holds that the company invented
|
|
"multimedia search system using a plurality of entry path means
|
|
which indicate interrelatedness of information." Compton's wanted
|
|
a 3% royalty payment on any products using the multimedia/hyper-
|
|
text interface, which covers a lot of ground. Last I heard, the
|
|
patent is not holding up in court on the basis of "prior art" --
|
|
in other words that people had been working on similar designs
|
|
before the patent was applied for. (SOURCE: NYT)
|
|
|
|
=> DIGITAL HDTV STANDARD CHOSEN. The Digital HDTV Grand Alliance chose
|
|
Zenith's Vestigial Sideband, or VSB technology as the standard on
|
|
which future HDTV transmissions will be based. The technology was
|
|
chosen based in factors such as geographic coverage area, minimal
|
|
interference with with existing analog TV, and the robustness of
|
|
the broadcast signal. A complete HDTV system is scheduled for field
|
|
testing later this year in Charlotte, N.C. The first HDTV systems
|
|
are expected on the market by 1997. (SOURCE: NYT, 2/17/94, p. D1)
|
|
======================================================================
|
|
LESSONS OF TIME (Joel Dreyfus)
|
|
|
|
The story of the hardware company that becomes obsolete has
|
|
turned into a computer industry cliche. But software companies
|
|
are also vulnerable to marketplace shifts. For example, when new
|
|
desktop platforms arise, software companies scramble to respond
|
|
to the capabilities of the new machines. Not all can successfully
|
|
make the transition (remember SuperCalc?). So you can bet that a
|
|
number of big software companies are having sleepless nights over
|
|
the possible emergence of new computing platforms based on the
|
|
PowerPC and Alpha chips. (InformationWeek, 1/31/94, p. 4)
|
|
======================================================================
|
|
PDA NEWS
|
|
===================
|
|
The Newton Saga
|
|
|
|
JOHN SCULLEY, chief executive of Apple Computer Inc., traveled the
|
|
world last year to preach about products he predicted would set his
|
|
company apart from the rest of its industry.
|
|
|
|
The star of his show was a palm-sized computer that would read
|
|
handwritten notes jotted on its screen with a special pen, convert
|
|
them to text, store them for future use, even transmit them wirelessly
|
|
to other computers. More than that, the computer would anticipate its
|
|
master's needs like a secretary for example, automatically entering
|
|
into the machine's electronic datebook an appointment time transmitted
|
|
from someone else. Dubbed the Newton the new device would arrive, he
|
|
promised, not in the 21st century but well in time for a place under
|
|
the Christmas tree in a year or two.
|
|
|
|
To those who heard Mr. Sculley and watched demonstrations of the
|
|
Newton, it seemed it was almost ready to ship.
|
|
|
|
The truth was very different. While Mr. Sculley was proclaiming an era
|
|
of "Newton Intelligence," the team designing the computer was
|
|
floundering. For one thing, the computer language on which the Newton
|
|
was supposed to be based was nowhere near ready; even as Mr. Sculley
|
|
was touting the Newton, its design team was throwing out four years of
|
|
Apple research and starting from scratch using another language.
|
|
|
|
The completion of the Newton, originally scheduled for April 1992,
|
|
would ultimately be postponed until August 1993. And the computer
|
|
would be far less ambitious than the one Mr. Sculley was describing.
|
|
|
|
The pressure to finish, exhilarating at first, eventually overwhelmed
|
|
some of the young designers. After 18-hour days, some engineers went
|
|
home and cried. Some quit. One had a breakdown and ended up in jail.
|
|
One took a pistol and killed himself.
|
|
|
|
For all their efforts, though, the Newton has so far come up short. It
|
|
has been ridiculed for its mistakes in translating handwriting and
|
|
called unworthy of its price, $699 and up. Apple has sold little more
|
|
than 50,000 Newtons in the four months since the computer hit the
|
|
market; by contrast, the company's Macintosh computer sold 70,000
|
|
machines in just its first three months a decade ago, even though it
|
|
cost three times what the Newton does.
|
|
|
|
=> TRY AND TRY AGAIN. The first generation of personal communicators
|
|
is dead in the water -- long live the second generation. History
|
|
indicates there's nothing remarkable or ominous about, say, the
|
|
Newton's slow start; Apple's own Macintosh, for example, languished
|
|
for two generations. Now, Sony and Compaq are preparing their own
|
|
personal communicators, and Apple and AT&T will be back with
|
|
follow-ups. (SOURCE: Christian Hill, "First Hand-Held Data
|
|
Communicators Are Losers, But Makers Won't Give Up", WSJ, 2/3/94,
|
|
p. B1)
|
|
|
|
=> WHEN THE PEN IS NOT MIGHTY. After collectively investing nearly
|
|
$100 million in the technology, several companies are coming to
|
|
the reluctant conclusion that pen-based computing isn't all it was
|
|
cracked up to be. AT&T's Eo Inc. subsidiary, whose combination
|
|
cellular phone/fax/pen computer sold poorly, is reorganizing to
|
|
sell a "smart" cellular phone instead. Slate Corp., a pen computing
|
|
software developer, has run through its funding and sold most of
|
|
its assets to Compaq. (SOURCE: Rory J. O'Connor. "Pen Computing's
|
|
Tragic Heroes Meet Their Fate", San Jose Mercury News, 12/2/94,
|
|
p. lF)
|
|
|
|
=> EO SHIFTS GEARS. AT&T's Eo Inc. announced it will throw in the
|
|
towel on its Model 440 data communicators, and will refocus on
|
|
producing cheaper, smart cellular phones. (SOURCE: WSJ 2/1/94, p.
|
|
B6) (E/P)
|
|
|
|
=> HAND-HELD WIRELESS. Motorola is entering the personal communicator
|
|
market with Envoy, a hand-held communicator with built-in ability
|
|
to send data over a digital wireless network. (SOURCE: WSJ 2/3/94,
|
|
p. B6) (E/P)
|
|
======================================================================
|
|
Bits and Bytes Bookshelf
|
|
|
|
Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction - by
|
|
Steve McConnell [Microsoft Press, 1993. 880 pp. $35.00]
|
|
|
|
- This book, written for software developers and their managers,
|
|
covers the art and science of the development process from design
|
|
to testing. Example programs are provided in C, Pascal, Basic,
|
|
Fortran and ADA, but the emphasis here is on programming
|
|
techniques. This looks like an excellent reference for anyone
|
|
interested in improving their coding skills. I look forward to
|
|
living with this book and learning some secrets of the Master
|
|
Programmers at Microsoft.
|
|
======================================================================
|
|
On The Newsstand
|
|
|
|
WINDOWS MAGAZINE. The March 1994 issue has VERY useful articles on
|
|
tuning and troubleshooting Windows. The latter would come in quite
|
|
handy when you're having trouble with your Windows system.
|
|
======================================================================
|
|
Beautiful Plans for World Marketing . . . er, Peace:
|
|
|
|
"We now sell virtually the same toys all over the world. So it stands
|
|
to reason, if all these kids are playing with the same toys, how could
|
|
they ever possibly fight with each other? There's a common thread
|
|
about how they grow up and what they play with. I thinks that's
|
|
terrific. It makes for one world." - Charles Lazarus, founder and
|
|
C.E.O., Toys "R" Us (SOURCE: Unplastic News)
|
|
======================================================================
|
|
### ADMINISTRIVIA ###
|
|
|
|
ATTENTION SYSOPS! If you are archiving B&B on your BBS, please drop
|
|
me a note. I'd like to mention your BBS in B&B if that's OK.
|
|
|
|
LETTERS. We welcome submissions and commentary. All mail sent to the
|
|
editor or to B&B will be treated as a "letter to the editor" and
|
|
considered printable, unless noted otherwise.
|
|
|
|
(E/P) You may have noticed this symbol on many of the news items this
|
|
time around. This indicates the source for this article was the
|
|
EDUPAGE newsletter. EDUPAGE is a bi-weekly summary of recent news
|
|
items on information technology. It is provided as a service by
|
|
EDUCOM -- a consortium of leading colleges and universities seeking
|
|
to transform education through the use of information technology. To
|
|
subscribe, send e-mail to listserv@bitnic.educom.edu containing the
|
|
text: SUB EDUPAGE firstname lastname.
|
|
|
|
ACCESS: BITS AND BYTES ONLINE EDITION
|
|
|
|
BY LISTSERVER:
|
|
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======================================================================
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= BITS AND BYTES ONLINE, an electronic newsletter for information- =
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= based lifeforms, is printed using 100% recycled electrons, and is =
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= intended for distribution IN THAT MEDIUM. Please contact the =
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= editor for reprint permission. B&B is published on a fractally =
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= determined schedule. You figure it out. =
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======================================================================
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= Jay Machado = (Copyright 1994 Jay Machado) *unaltered*=
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= 1529 Dogwood Drive = ELECTRONIC distribution of this file for =
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= Cherry Hill, NJ 08003 = non-profit purposes is encouraged. =
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========================== The editor is solely responsible for the =
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= jaymachado@delphi.com = editorial content or lack thereof. =
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========================== Please drive safely and enjoy your ride =
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= ph (eve) 609/795-0998 = on the information superhighway. =
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======================================================================
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=============== End of Bits and Bytes Online V2, #2 =================
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======================================================================
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