950 lines
51 KiB
Plaintext
950 lines
51 KiB
Plaintext
From JAYMACHADO@delphi.com Tue Apr 5 03:42:47 1994
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To: "Bits N Bytes Distribution List" <bits-n-bytes@acad1.dana.edu>
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Subject: Bits and Bytes Online v2 #3
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"I must say that I find television very educational. The minute
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somebody turns it on, I go to the library and read a book."
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- Groucho Marx
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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 3 (HAPPY YEAR OF THE RAT!) (April 4, 1994)
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(I MADE A MISTAKE LAST TIME)
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======================================================================
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(PARTIAL) CONTENTS =
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True Confessions = PDA NEWS: New Newton, General Magic =
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Lost in Cyberspace = BUSINESS BRIEFS: Prognosis, Piracy =
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FUTURE TECH: = Virtual Suppliers =
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House of the Future, = Selected Cool Guides to the Dataverse =
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Holographic Data Storage = Animals and the music that moves them =
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DIY grocery checkout = New and Improved <<ACCESS>> section =
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======================================================================
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[EDITORIAL]: True Confessions
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This is the last thing I'm writing for this edition of B&B. I've been
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putting it off since this is not a pleasant thing I have to report. As
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I've mentioned before, this is pretty much a one man operation, if you
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don't count all the fine people whose thinking and writing I excerpt
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from in every issue. Ultimately, responsibility for any errors must
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rest squarely on my shoulders. And I have made one doozy of an error.
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In Bits and Bytes Online v2#1 (January 31, 1994) I opened with the
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following:
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I programmed three days
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and heard no human voices.
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But the hard disk sang.
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- Jay Machado
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There's only one small problem with the above. I didn't write it.
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The real author is Geoffrey James, author of The Zen of Programming,
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The Tao of Programming and Computer Parables. (All available from
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Info Books at 310/394-4102) Without going into the details, I found
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the haiku in an a 10-year old notebook of mine, and mistook it for one
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of my efforts. I was writing oriental-themed material at the time,
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staying up all night computing, heavily into my mystic phase if you
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really must know. I collect quotes, so I normally attribute them to
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their authors. This one was not properly labeled, alas. I own 2 of
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James' books, and I suspected that the prose in question sounded a lot
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like his, so I pored over the books I had. Turns out it's in the one
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I don't own, though where I saw that book I'll never know. I am very
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careful to attribute text to its sources here in B&B, and for me to
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make this massive an error is quite embarrassing. So correct your
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copies as I have corrected mine, and please accept my apologies.
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======================================================================
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It's a Kind of (General) Magic (Jay Machado)
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As a swimmer in the sea of (too much) information, I await with baited
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breath the latest and greatest of the emerging breed of computer-based
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personal organizers. Be they a handheld PDAs or some software-based PC
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incarnation, the promise is that these intelligent front ends will
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help us organize our hectic lives and find the information we need
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(primarily by filtering out all the stuff we don't need to see, I
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suspect). By using neural nets and rule-based reasoning technologies,
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the software will learn to anticipate our needs, actively seeking out
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and bringing to our attention useful facts that might otherwise be
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lost in the flood of incoming data.
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Unfortunately, in the real world the promise of PDAs has far
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outstripped the reality of what these devices are capable of: they
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are difficult to use, and the wireless infrastructure needed to make
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the devices truly useful is still "under construction," to put it
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kindly. "They are beta [test] products being sold as commercial
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products," says Alan Reiter, publisher of the Mobile Data Report. The
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Apple Newton is the best known example of this demon brood from
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development hell [see NEW PRODUCTS AND SERVICES section for an update
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on a new Newton model], and it's sluggish sales reflect this. But
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there's a glimmer of hope on the horizon, brought to us by people who
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revolutionized personal computing once, and may be standing on the
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verge of doing so once again.
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10 years ago, Bill Atkinson and Andy Hertzfeld (along with a talented
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team of programmers and techno-wizards) created the Macintosh
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computer. With it's now familiar GUI interface and (relative) ease of
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use, it changed the way we interacted with our computers, and it
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changed our expectations of what a computer could *do*. In January
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their company, General Magic, demo'd their latest endeavor, a powerful
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new operating system called Magic Cap, to an enthusiastic audience at
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the MacWorld Expo. Designed to run on a variety of PDA-type devices,
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the program will eventually be ported to other platforms as well, like
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PC and Mac. Initially, the system will reside on devices to be sold by
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Sony and Motorola (both General Magic partners) in late summer;
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eventually the system will be ported to other PDAs platforms (like
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Newton?) and to microcomputer platforms as well.
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In an article in the April 1994 issue of WIRED, Atkinson describes
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the forthcoming devices as ones that people will "welcome into their
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lives and enjoy, as opposed to something they submit to and suffer
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with. ...here will be our measure of success: What happens if I ask
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you ten years from now to stop using your personal communicator? The
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idea is that you will say, 'This is core to how I live. It's like my
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glasses and my watch and my wallet.' Not using it would seem as
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disempowering as not using the telephone does today."
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Pre-release hyperbole you say? I don't think so. If I could include
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graphics I'd show you Magic Cap's main screen -- one quick glance and
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you'd know how to start using the tools provided. Magic Cap uses a
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place-based metaphor for it's OS, and those places are reassuringly
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familiar: the 3 main on-screen environments are the desk, the hallway,
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and main street.
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Let's take a look at the desk. The point of view is what you'd see if
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you were seated in front of it. On the wall is a clock and in and out
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baskets. To your right is a filing cabinet. On the desk proper is a
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phone, a rolodex, a postcard with a pencil lying next to it, a notepad
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and a date book. There are two drawers, one sports a paper and
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envelope icon, the other a calculator icon. Most of the functions are
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pretty apparent: to make a call, tap the phone icon. To send a short
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note, click on the postcard -- your address list pops up so you can
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choose the intended recipient(s). Nice touches abound, many of them
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hidden away in the OS, unobtrusively working their, uh, magic:
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Postcards and letters can be stamped with virtual rubber stamps -- the
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stamps not only look cool, but they can contain embedded scripts that
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perform special functions, such as an URGENT stamp, or a return
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receipt requested stamp. Your inbasket can contain rules for
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prioritizing and dealing with incoming messages, beeping you directly,
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for example if the incoming message is from your boss and/or
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significant other, but sending your junk mail to a garbage can. Ease
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of use is the key here.
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That's a quick tour of the desk. Now let's get up and stretch our legs
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for a spell. We'll mozy on down the hallway, the second of Magic Cap's
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primary spaces. The hallway (which you can decorate to your taste,
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contains as many rooms as you care to set up: a game room, or a files
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storeroom, the Zen Room, or the Love Grotto (don't ask). Again, the
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metaphor seems intuitive to me; it maps naturally to the task at hand
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as long as you've had some exposure to the "point-and-execute" type
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interfaces. And, hey, who hasn't? Magic Cap doesn't try it's hand at
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handwriting recognition either, although you can write and draw on the
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screen with a stylus.
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It's getting pretty stuffy in here, so let's head outside to Main
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Street, the final primary "place" in the Magic Cap scheme of things.
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Here's where things *really* start to get interesting. The different
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buildings that appear in your downtown area will depend on what files
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from software companies and service providers you choose to allow on
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your system. Tower Records could have a shop here, with access to
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their catalog, and a listening bar. You'd link up with their service
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over the net -- whatever form that connection might take, the process
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would be invisible to you. You'd just *be* there. Or you could head
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over to the Electronic Newsstand to pick up a copy of your favorite
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e-zine: Bits and Bytes Online Edition, right?
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The graphics, designed by Susan Kare, who also perfected the look
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of the Mac Interface, are elegant but simple. Magic Cap is intended to
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run on handheld PDAs and phone-like devices initially. But as the OS
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is ported to more sophisticated platforms, I expect to see some pretty
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funky downtowns to develop. And imagine this: throw in some multimedia
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capabilities, a virtual reality front-end, and Magic Cap is good to
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head on into the 24th and a half century. It reminds me of the
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Metaverse in Neil Stephenson's great novel Snow Crash (reviewed in B&B
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v1 #4 and now out in paperback). Let's all plan on getting together
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for a massive vr block party when this all comes together. I'll bring
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my James Brown Records.
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Hear me now and believe me later: I've saved the best part for last.
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The other major component of the General Magic OS is the Telescript
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communications software. This was created by Jim White, who developed
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the X.400 international message transmission standard in wide use
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today. Here's how Telescript works: instead of being a static slabs
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of data, each T-script message is a software agent that can actively
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execute its appointed task(s) as it goes out into the net. An example
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of how this might work: You need to book a flight to Atlanta. You fill
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out a travel-request form (actually a Telescript "macro") and an
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agent goes to book your flight, perhaps checking with several airlines
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for the best rate. The agent sends you back the flight information,
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which is automagically added to your schedule. The original agent
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stays on the airline's server, waking up on the day of the flight,
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where it can send you gate information or information about last
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minute changes in the schedule. Or let's say you want to acquire mass
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quantities of PRODUCT X (and hey, who doesn't?) but only if the price
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is right. Again, your agent will scour the dataverse, sending you
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messages when your criteria are met. There are some interesting
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applications here for information hunter-gatherers. Magic Cap *good*.
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There are possible problems too. The resemblance of agents to computer
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viruses is all too apparent. And how long can an individual agent stay
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active? I can imagine the nets clogged with forgotten agents. I'm sure
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the system is designed to take these possibilities into account.
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Agents can be verified for authenticity and traceable (uh-oh) to their
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senders, both necessary steps if these agents are authorized to
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transact business on your behalf. Each agent has a "permit" so you
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can't send out a million of the things by accident.
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So when does all this wonderful tech reach the streets? The first
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Magic Cap equipped device, Motorola's Envoy, will start shipping
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later this year. It will be able to communicate with Windows and Mac
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machines, fax machines, public and private email systems, and other
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Envoys. It has 2 PCMCIA card slots for expandability, and infrared
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and wireless communications links that will let it work with wireless
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LANs and cellular services. This summer, AT&T will unveil their
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PersonaLink service based on Telescript technology. This service will
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fully support Telescript agents and provide a 'place' for businesses
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wishing to do business with t-script agents to set up shop. Third
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party developers are already planning Magic Cap apps. Mead Data
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Central will offer daily news summaries, America Online's services
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will be available, and Intuit Inc. will offer Pocket Quicken, an
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electronic checkbook. Around midyear, eShop Inc. will begin shipping
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software that will enable stores to build virtual versions of
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themselves on your main street. The first virtual malls won't be far
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behind. Virtual versions of stores like L.L. Bean, Williams-Sonoma and
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Land's End are already on CD-ROM, and the online versions won't be far
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behind when the infrastructure is in place. Magic Cap provides an
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important component of that infrastructure.
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Other operating systems want to do what Magic Cap and Telescript will
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do, but the General Magic OS has been under development for 4 years,
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and it's here now. None of that would matter if it was not a well
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thought-out system. Magic Cap has all the earmarks of a classic to me:
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the interface is elegant and intuitive, and ease of use was built in
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from the ground up. I'm sure there will be some rough spots around the
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edges, and other technologies need to mature a bit more to take full
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advantage of all the possibilities, but this has all the makings of a
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a new standard to me. I don't want to turn into a trend mongerer, but
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this is one technology I think is poised for takeoff. But then again I
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was wrong about the comet -- it missed. I'll keep you posted.
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(SOURCES: G. Christain Hill and Jim Carlton, "Getting Personal," WSJ
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2/11/94, p. R6. Steven Levy, "Bill and Andy's Excellent Adventure,"
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WIRED 2.04, Feb '94, p. 103)
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======================================================================
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NEW PRODUCTS AND SERVICES:
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=> FIRST PENTIUM CLONE CHIP SHIPS. NexGen's NX586 is a fully binary
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compatible clone of Intel's Pentium chip -- the first one to reach
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the marketplace. Four small U.S. hardware vendors -- Tangent
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Computer, Computek International, Adisys Corp. and Lucky Computer
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Co. -- will be announcing systems using the chip, systems that are
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expected to start at around $2000. An industry analyst said that
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this was the first time Intel had competition so early in its
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product cycle. This development should keep Pentium prices firmly
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on their downward course. (SOURCE: Computerworld 3/14/94, p. 14)
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=> NEW NEWTON RELEASED. The MessagePad 110 is the next generation
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Newton device from Apple. Due to ship in April, the handheld PDA
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features improved battery life, an improved operating system,
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including options for fine-tuning the handwriting recognition,
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and a 38.4 Kbps infrared communications link. That's twice as fast
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as the one in the original Newton, which incidentally has been
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renamed the MessagePad 100 and which can now be had for only
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$499 (list). (SOURCE: InfoWorld 3/28/94, p. 29)
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=> FORWARD... INTO THE PAST. This is too cool, in a retro sort of way.
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S.H. Pierce and Co.'s new software takes your QuickTime animation
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and turns them into color or b/w flipbooks. Oh, you heard me right.
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The Flipbook software comes with a special paper that's easy to
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assemble into your very own flipbooks. "For when you're tired of
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being wired" is how the ad puts it. Indeed. The ad's on page 21 of
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the April '94 WIRED. <<ACCESS>> S.H. Pierce (617/338-2222)
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=> PICK YOUR CITY VIA DISK. A software version of the best-selling
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"Places Rated Almanac" allows you to pick your ideal city,
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factoring in, for instance, your tolerance for crime against your
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desire to have more access to fine arts. The computer crunches the
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numbers and comes up with your dream city. (SOURCE: St. Petersburg
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Times 11/1/93, p. E2) (E/P)
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=> ET PHONE HOME. Sprint has begun marketing a voice-activated long-
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distance calling-card service which allows a customer to dial a
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number by speaking the desired person's name rather than punching
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a bunch of buttons. As many as 10 numbers can be stored in the
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system. (SOURCE: WSJ 1/6/94, p. B4)
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======================================================================
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Lost in Cyberspace (Dan Kennedy)
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... there's a dark side to the emerging electronic village,
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acknowledged almost as an afterthought amid the glowing financial
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projections and the futuristic technobabble. And that dark side is
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this: As information becomes increasingly decentralized, there's a
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danger that consumers of that information -- all of us, in other
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words -- will become more and more isolated from society and from
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each other.
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What's being lost is the sense of shared cultural experience -- the
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nationwide community that gathered to watch, say, the Vietnam War in
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the 1960s, or the Watergate hearings in the 1970s. With 500 channels,
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he [Media analyst Les Brown, a former TV reporter for the New York
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Times] fears, people will choose news programming that suits their
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political biases -- if they choose any news programming at all.
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(Originally published in The Boston Phoenix (May 7, 1993), this
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portion was extracted from the Utne Reader, Jan/Feb 1994 issue,
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p. 104)
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======================================================================
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THE ONLINE WORLD
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=> ONLINE SALONS. The magazine industry is discovering electronic
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publishing in a big way. In the last 6 months of 1993 almost 100
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magazines have signed up with online services, and others are
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joining up at the rate of 1 or 2 a week. Those taking the plunge
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are relieved to find out that their online versions are not cutting
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into newsstand sales. The real popularity of these services is not
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reading, but talking. Users are eager to make their opinions be
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heard, to participate in online forums and discussions, and to send
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letters to the editor. Some magazines have been overwhelmed by the
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number of responses. Among the well-known magazines on various
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online services: Time, Newsweek, U.S. World and News Report, Omni,
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Consumer Reports, WIRED, The Atlantic Monthly, The New Republic,
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The New Yorker, The Economist, and National Review. The Electronic
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Newsstand (on the Internet, see <<<ACCESS>>> section) contains
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excerpts from many of these (and subscription information also, of
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course) (SOURCE: Deidre Carmody, "Magazines Create On-Line Salons",
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NYT 12/20/93, p. D6)
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=> JOURNAL OF INFORMATION NETWORKING. A new journal on networking is
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being published in Great Britain. For info: colin@uk.ac.salford.
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=> ELECTRONIC JOURNALS. The Association of Research Libraries has
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published the third edition of the hard-copy Directory of
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Electronic Journals, Newsletters, and Scholarly Discussion Lists.
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For info: ann@cni.org.
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=> NETNEWS FILTERING SERVICE. Attention net.surfers: Surf's up! The
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Stanford Netnews Filtering Service, a personalized netnews delivery
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service, recently went online. You subscribe to the service with
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profiles that describe your interests. Netnews articles (from
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newsgroups available to our local news host) that match your
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profiles (based on content, regardless of which newsgroups they
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fall into) will be sent to you periodically via email. Only the
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first 15 lines of a message are sent to you, and if you like what
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you see, a simple command to gets you the whole file. After you
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receive useful articles, you send positive feedback to the service
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to improve your profile. You can also adjust the frequency of
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delivery, the volume of articles, and the length of subscription.
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The service is free, FREE I tell you! I use it regularly, and have
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gotten some good hits on the database, as well as some mysterious
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ones: My profile on the National Information Infrastructure has
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yielded postings from the rec.woodworking newsgroup. Go figure.
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To receive instructions for access by email, send a message with
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the word "help" in the message body to: netnews@db.stanford.edu
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Netnews can also be accessed via Mosaic:
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http://woodstock.stanford.edu:2000
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Questions, comments to tyan@cs.stanford.edu
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======================================================================
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Lost in Cyberspace II (Gerald Grow)
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We may be overlooking the obvious here. Media separate as much as they
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connect -- perhaps more. Only as media help people overcome separation
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can they compensate for the extra separation any medium introduces
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between a person and the world.
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30 years, when I was a teenage ham radio operator I met many middle-
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aged men who spent hours every evening straining to make contact with
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fellow strangers from remote parts of the globe. But never spoke to
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their own wives, living in the same house with them.
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Email decenters us from the immediate reality of our lives. So does
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the newspaper. ("12 Die in Plane Crash in Thailand," you read, while
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not talking to your family across the breakfast table.) We live in a
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hypermediated age, a time when direct, immediate experience of the
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basic realities of life is rare enough to require special meditative
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training. We know more about Opra, Michael Jackson, and Tonya
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Harding's E-mail than we know about our neighbors.
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A neighbor I liked died two weeks ago. Almost no one in the
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neighborhood knew he was sick. Or even that he died. Yet we all read
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the paper every morning. Many of us are on internet, read magazines,
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receive the mail, watch television, listen to radio.
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Have media so far brought America together? Anywhere? Any time?
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No. So what makes anybody think an electronic newspaper is going to do
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it better?
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This is not a despairing question, only an attempt to find the pulse.
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If we in journalism do not find the pulse, I fear that, one evening
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around 1998, seventy-seven million baby boomers may suddenly,
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independently all decide to stop using electronic media altogether,
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stop reading newspapers, let their subscriptions lapse, and yearn for
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direct human contact instead.
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How -- to repeat the question -- can our media become centripetal
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enough to overcome the powerful decentering centrifugal forces
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inherent in their nature?
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[Gerald Grow (ggrow@freenet.scri.fsu.edu), Professor, Division of
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Journalism, Florida A&M University, Tallahassee FL 32307. This message
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was reprinted with Dr. Grow's permission from his posting on the
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online-news mailing list.]
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======================================================================
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ANNOUNCEMENT: Compter Mediated Communication Survey via WWW
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The Decision Analysis Lab of Stevens Institute of Technology, in
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conjunction with SmartChoice Technologies Corporation, is undertaking
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a Computer Mediated Communication Survey to gauge the impact that CMC
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has had on the workplace. It will be accessible from Sunday, March 20
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until Saturday, April 2. You need to be using a WWW Browser with forms
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support to take part in the survey.
|
|
|
|
The URL to access the survey is:
|
|
http://copeland.smartchoice.com/~dbelson/survey.html
|
|
|
|
Contact dbelson@vaxc.stevens-tech.edu with questions or problems.
|
|
======================================================================
|
|
PRIVACY
|
|
|
|
=> CANADIAN SUPER SNOOPER. A super-secret branch of the Canadian
|
|
Security Intelligence Service has awarded three contracts to a
|
|
Montreal firm to make equipment that can quickly isolate key words
|
|
and phrases from millions of airborne phone, fax, radio signals and
|
|
other transmissions. The hardware has the "Orwellian potential to
|
|
sweep through ... and keep records of all conversations," said one
|
|
CSIS critic. President Clinton on the line, Mr. Prime Minister.
|
|
(SOURCE: CTV National News, 01/31/94) (E/P)
|
|
|
|
=> THE TESSERA CARD. The Defense Department reportedly plans to employ
|
|
the Clipper technology in a device known as a "Tessera Card."
|
|
Someone at CPSR checked the dictionary and found the results to be
|
|
kind of frightening: "Terrerea n. Lat. (pl. tessereae). Literally,
|
|
"four-cornered". Used to refer to four-legged tables, chairs, etc.
|
|
Also, a single piece of mosaic tile; a single piece of a mosaic.
|
|
_Pol._: An identity chit or marker. Tessereae were forced on
|
|
conquered peoples and domestic slaves by their Roman occupiers or
|
|
owners. Slaves or Gauls who refused to accept a tesserea were
|
|
branded or maimed as a form of identification." (From Starr's
|
|
History of the Classical World and the Oxford Unabridged)
|
|
Unfortunate choice of names -- or was it? (SOURCE: CPSR ALERT
|
|
Volume 3.04, 2/15/94)
|
|
|
|
=> AIDS DATA STOLEN. Police are investigating the theft from a Miami
|
|
hospital of 3 PCs and several diskettes containing confidential
|
|
records on about 7,000 South Florida residents infected with HIV.
|
|
The South Florida AIDS Network databases are protected by access
|
|
codes and passwords; the agency has backup diskettes of all the
|
|
stolen data. (SOURCE: Andres Viglucci, "Aids Records Stolen From
|
|
Jackson", The Miami Herald, 12/4/93, p. lB) (E/P)
|
|
======================================================================
|
|
Not Exactly the Jeffersonian Ideal (John J. McCormick)
|
|
|
|
I believe it was Thomas Jefferson who said that the government that
|
|
governs least govern best.
|
|
|
|
With that in mind, it's unfortunate that the Clinton administration
|
|
has decided that government -- not the people, not private industry --
|
|
will control encryption standards in the United States.
|
|
|
|
The administration's policy endorses a National Security Agency-
|
|
developed standard known as Clipper, based on a chip that, once
|
|
embedded in a telephone or data terminal, can scramble a conversation
|
|
or document so it can be deciphered only by the intended recipient. By
|
|
the recipient and federal agents, that is.
|
|
|
|
Officials say they will require law enforcement to receive approval
|
|
from two government agencies before they gain access, and to comply
|
|
with all legal protections against unlawful wiretapping.
|
|
|
|
But the business community remains skeptical. "We're not sure how
|
|
secure it is," says Brian Moir, an attorney who represents large
|
|
telecom users opposed to the policy.
|
|
|
|
"Another problem is that the government says the standard will be
|
|
voluntary," says senior editor Mary E. Thyfault. But, she notes, the
|
|
sheer size of government contracts and government-defined export rules
|
|
will make Clipper a de facto standard.
|
|
|
|
It's no surprise that security and privacy experts and key computer
|
|
executives are fighting the plan. But the rest of us should be
|
|
concerned whether Jefferson's words are falling on deaf ears.
|
|
|
|
(John J. McCormick is the editor of InformationWeek. This piece
|
|
appeared as an editorial in Information Week (2/14/94, p. 2)
|
|
======================================================================
|
|
FUTURE TECH
|
|
|
|
=> HOLOGRAPHIC DATA STORAGE. IBM scientists predict that holographic
|
|
technology will make it possible to store the entire Encyclopedia
|
|
Britannica in a space the size and thickness of a penny.
|
|
Holographic memory systems can stack data 40 "pages" deep, as
|
|
opposed to computer disk and magnetic tape, which line up data on
|
|
flat, single-layer tracks. The deeper "pages" can be read by
|
|
tilting the angle of the laser beam used for reading the data.
|
|
(Investor's Business Daily 1/20/94 p.4) (E/P)
|
|
|
|
=> PHOTOS DON'T LIE, DO THEY? The 1993 front-page photo of Yitzhak
|
|
Rabin and Yasser Arafat shaking hands wasn't the first of its kind;
|
|
Life magazine in 1988 showed Arafat greeting then-Prime Minister of
|
|
Israel Yitzhak Shamir. The latter, of course, was a computer-
|
|
manipulated fake. Such tricks can now be played more easily with
|
|
image-processing software, raising concerns that doctored photos
|
|
may be used more frequently. The day is fast approaching (or maybe
|
|
it's here) when photographs will no longer be admissible as
|
|
evidence in a court of law. (SOURCE: William T. Mitchell, " When
|
|
Is Seeing Believing?", Scientific American, February 1994, p. 68)
|
|
|
|
=> SMART LIVING. Entergy Corp. of New Orleans wants to wire 440,000
|
|
homes into a high-tech electrical service. The system will use
|
|
minicomputers in each home to communicate with computers at the
|
|
power company, and will be able to direct appliances in the home to
|
|
operate at the most energy-efficient times and levels. Bills
|
|
itemized by appliance will help customers (and manufacturers? - ed)
|
|
track energy usage and patterns. Entergy is also offering its
|
|
existing fiber optic network, used for internal communications, to
|
|
companies ready to provide information services and entertainment.
|
|
Sprint has already signed up to connect customers to long-distance
|
|
service, bypassing local phone companies. (SOURCE: Washington Post
|
|
12/28/93 D1) (E/P)
|
|
|
|
=> HIGH TECH SUPERSTORE. Infrared devices designed to gauge the flow
|
|
of shoppers into stores are being installed in shopping centers in
|
|
London and other major UK cities. Such a system can also help
|
|
retailers count the number of times shoppers pick up and put down
|
|
products by firing an infrared beam across individual shelves to
|
|
find out precisely which are the most eye-catching parts of the
|
|
store. (SOURCE: London Sunday Times, 10/24/93) (E/P)
|
|
|
|
=> DIY GROCERY CHECKOUT. The portable personal shopper is a handheld
|
|
scanner that allows patrons to scan their own groceries as they
|
|
shop and have a printed receipt ready when they reach the checkout,
|
|
speeding up the grocery-shopping process. The device can be
|
|
attached to the shopping cart for convenience, and you can change
|
|
your mind and deduct an item from your inventory. Shoplifting and
|
|
less than honest customers could be a problem. (SOURCE: Newsweek
|
|
12/13/94, p. 73M)
|
|
|
|
=> THIS IDEA REALLY SUCKS. It sounds like it's out of a sci-fi novel,
|
|
but it's for real. Officials in Osaka, Japan, a city plagued by
|
|
industrial and auto emissions, announced plans for test a giant
|
|
vacuum cleaner that sucks dirty air through a filter of soil rich
|
|
in pollution-eating microorganisms. And in Mexico City, scientists
|
|
began testing mobile air-filter units they hope will Hoover
|
|
pollution particles out of the capital's filthy air. (SOURCE:
|
|
"Disregard That Giant Sucking Sound", Newsweek 2/28/94, p.8)
|
|
======================================================================
|
|
The Magic of the Internet II (Peter H. Green)
|
|
|
|
It is relatively simple and inexpensive to gain indirect access to the
|
|
Internet's electronic mail services through popular online
|
|
information services like CompuServe, America On-Line and MCI Mail,
|
|
which are known as Internet "gateways." But woe to the individual
|
|
executive or computer novice who wants to tap directly into the rich
|
|
depths of the Internet.
|
|
|
|
Despite all the recent hyperbole praising the Internet as the
|
|
precursor to the national data highway, establishing a direct
|
|
connection to the Internet is about as easy for a novice as traveling
|
|
a muddy road on a pogo stick, with traffic signs written in Unix.
|
|
|
|
It will almost certainly get easier as more commercial Internet
|
|
service providers spring up to meet the growing demand from businesses
|
|
and as increasingly powerful computers and software make it possible
|
|
to hide the Internet's Unix command system behind graphical, point-
|
|
and-shoot interfaces like Mosaic (a free software program developed
|
|
with Federal financing by the National Center for Supercomputing
|
|
Applications) or even Microsoft Windows. (SOURCE: "A Growing Internet
|
|
is Trying to Take Care of Business", NYT 12/12/93, p. F7)
|
|
======================================================================
|
|
<<<ACCESS>>> NETGUIDE: The Guide to Network Resource Tools
|
|
|
|
This guide makes a handy one stop reference to many of the tools in
|
|
use on the internet today. There are chapters on: exploring the
|
|
network with gopher and WWW; searching databases with WAIS and ASTRA;
|
|
finding resources with archie, WHOIS and NETSERV; getting files via
|
|
trickle and ftp; and interest group activities with listserv and
|
|
netnews. The following tools are also covered: WHOIS, X.500, Netfind,
|
|
BITFTP, Listserv, Prospero, Mailbase, Relay, and IRC. For each tool,
|
|
the guide provides a general overview and details on availability,
|
|
intended audience and basic usage with examples.
|
|
|
|
The Guide to Network Resource Tools is available electronically from
|
|
LISTSERV@EARNCC.BITNET in Postscript and plain text format by sending
|
|
the command GET NETTOOLS PS (postscript format) or GET NETTOOLS TXT
|
|
(plain text format) in an email message. The Guide is also available
|
|
via anonymous ftp as follows:
|
|
|
|
site directory file
|
|
ns.ripe.net earn earn-resource-tool-guide.ps
|
|
earn-resource-tool-guide.txt
|
|
naic.nasa.gov files/general_info earn-resource-tool-guide.ps
|
|
earn-resource-tool-guide.txt
|
|
=======================
|
|
<<<ACCESS>>> NETGUIDE: Business Sources on the Internet
|
|
|
|
Business Sources on the Net (BSN) was created by 7 business librarians
|
|
as a comprehensive guide to business sources available on the
|
|
Internet. After months of soul searching, many discussions about the
|
|
content of the guide, and finally a whole lot of net-surfing, the
|
|
Guide was finished, and finding business information on the net got
|
|
a little easier.
|
|
|
|
BSN is organized by subject. Each section is a separate file,
|
|
available via anonymous ftp to KSUVXA.KENT.EDU in the Library
|
|
Directory. BSN is also available via GOPHER to REFMAC.KENT.EDU 70
|
|
under its full name. There are nine files available to the public.
|
|
Information on other business subjects is being compiled, and will be
|
|
made available in later editions of BSN.
|
|
|
|
Subjects covered in this edition: (name of file in parenthesis)
|
|
|
|
- Introduction, Internet Guides and Common Definitions (BSN.INTRO)
|
|
- General Business Sources (BSN.General)
|
|
- Economics (BSN.Economics)
|
|
- Foreign Statistics, Economic Trends and International Management
|
|
(BSN.Statistics)
|
|
- Corporate Finance and Banking (BSN.Finance)
|
|
- Human Resources and Personnel Management (BSN.Personnel)
|
|
- Management Science, Statistical Methods and Productions and
|
|
Operations Management (BSN.Operations)
|
|
- Accounting and Taxation (BSN.Accounting)
|
|
- Management and Management of Public and Nonprofit Organizations
|
|
(BSN.Management)
|
|
- Computers (as they relate to business) (BSN.Computers)
|
|
|
|
Inquiries about BSN may be directed to the editor,
|
|
Leslie M. Haas (lhaas@kentvm).
|
|
=======================
|
|
+ THE WIRED ONLINE CLIPPER ARCHIVE - features crucial essays written
|
|
for WIRED by John Perry Barlow and Brock N. Meeks, and lots of
|
|
other clipper material, pro and con. send email to:
|
|
infobot@wired.com, containing the words: "send clipper/index"
|
|
on a single line in the body
|
|
|
|
+ A.WORD.A.DAY LISTSERVER
|
|
This server will email you a daily message containing an
|
|
english vocabulary word and its definition. Subscribe by
|
|
sending a message to: wordsmith@viper.elp.cwru.edu with the
|
|
subject line: subscribe <your full name here>
|
|
/\
|
|
/ \ + UNPLASTIC NEWS - an eclectic occasional collection of
|
|
/ /\ \ weird and neat stuff (email tt2@well.sf.ca.us for info)
|
|
/ / \ \
|
|
/ / /\ \ \ + NET RESOURCES FOR CONSULTANTS (and you know who you
|
|
/ / / \ \ \ are): alt.computer.consultants (Usenet newsgroup)
|
|
/ / RANDOM \ \
|
|
< < <ACCESS> > > + UFO BBSs: keeps list of worldwide MUFON net BBS
|
|
\ \ \ __ / / / USA: 901/785-4943
|
|
\ \ __ / /
|
|
\ \__/ / + NETNEWS FILTERING SERVICE (netnews@db.stanford.edu)
|
|
\ __ / Send message with "help" in the body for directions
|
|
\__/
|
|
\/ + ELECTRONIC NEWSSTAND (Gopher: gopher.internet.com 2100)
|
|
(mentioned in THE ONLINE WORLD section)
|
|
|
|
+ FLOPPY DISK MANUFACTURERS. In the March 1994 issue of
|
|
WIRED Magazine, Simson L. Garfinkle, senior editor at
|
|
NextWorld magazine was kind enough to gather together contact
|
|
information for the major manufacturers of floppy diskettes.
|
|
All major brands have lifetime warranties. Just throw your
|
|
defective floppies in an envelope with a note saying "bad
|
|
sectors, please replace," and send it back so the manufacturers
|
|
can honor their guarantees.
|
|
|
|
=> 3M Data Storage Products, PO Box 709, Weatherford, OK 73096-0709
|
|
(ph) 800/328-9438, 405/772-5500
|
|
|
|
=> BASF Corporation Information Systems, Computer Media Warranty
|
|
Claims, Crosby Drive, Bedford, MA 01730-1471 (ph) 800/356-9006,
|
|
617/271-4000
|
|
|
|
=> Fuji Computer Division, Fuji Photo Film USA, 555 Taxter Road,
|
|
Elmsford, NY 10523 (ph) 800/755-3854, 914/789-8390
|
|
|
|
=> Sony Magnetic Products Customer Relations, Sony Corporation, 1 Sony
|
|
Drive, Park Ridge, NJ 07656-8003 (ph) 800/222-7669, 201/930-1000
|
|
|
|
=> Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc., Floppy Disk Warranty
|
|
Claims, 1 Parkway North, Suite 500, Deerfield, Il 60015
|
|
(ph) 800/843-2108, 708/945-1500
|
|
======================================================================
|
|
BUSINESS BRIEFS
|
|
|
|
=> PROGNOSIS FOR SOFTWARE. Cutthroat competition in PC software is
|
|
predicted for 1994. Bundled software -- "suites" -- and networking
|
|
software will be big sellers, and companies are also expected to
|
|
focus on software for rising numbers of home computers, many with
|
|
CD-ROM drives. HOME EDUCATION SOFTWARE is hot and getting
|
|
hotter, according to the Software Publishers Association. Home
|
|
education software sales for the first three quarters of 1993 were
|
|
up 46% from the same period in 1992, outpacing all other categories
|
|
except databases. Microsoft CEO Bill Gates predicts that by the end
|
|
of the decade, 50% of his company's revenues will come from home
|
|
sales -- a ten-fold increase from the current level of activity.
|
|
Fueling the upward trend in both software and hardware is a DECLINE
|
|
IN TECHNOPHOBIA among buyers, according to the president of Merrin
|
|
Information Systems Inc. (SOURCES: The Heller Report 1/94 p.11,
|
|
Business Week 1/10/94 p.82, Investor's Business Daily 1/6/94,
|
|
Fortune 2/21/94 p.101) (E/P)
|
|
|
|
=> PROGNOSIS FOR HARDWARE. PC sales, up 25.8% from 1992 will continue
|
|
to boom, according to Business Week's Industry Outlook 1994, with
|
|
units sold growing around 10% in the coming year. The home market
|
|
for PCs is growing at a rate almost three times higher than the
|
|
overall U.S. PC market. The new PowerPC, Alpha and Pentium chips
|
|
will turn desktop machines into "the new mainframes," according to
|
|
an industry research analyst. Sales of the new high-powered PCs
|
|
will be slow at first, as companies absorb the 486-based systems
|
|
they purchased in 1993. MAINFRAME sales are expected to decline,
|
|
although mainframe makers are hoping for a new lease on life,
|
|
spurred on by Bell Atlantic's recent order for three new
|
|
supercomputers and the software needed to build the first segment
|
|
of the information superhighway. The mainframe industry is
|
|
anticipating that hundreds of video servers (refitted mainframes)
|
|
will be needed to manage the interactive TV services of the future.
|
|
(SOURCES: Business Week 1/10/94 p.81, 1/24/94 p.92. Atlanta
|
|
Journal-Constitution, 2/3/94, p. C2) (E/P)
|
|
|
|
=> ONLINE PROGNOSIS. Forrester Research predicts that the commercial
|
|
on-line service market will be a $3 billion industry by 1998, up
|
|
from today's $530 million. (SOURCE: WSJ 2/3/94, p. A1)
|
|
|
|
=> SOFTWARE PIRATES RULE OVERSEAS. To understand the gravity of the
|
|
software piracy problem, take a look at what happens overseas. In
|
|
Cuba, there is a National Software Interchange Center, where all
|
|
kinds of software are available to any Cuban -- free (kind of like
|
|
what goes on in many American offices, I suspect). In China and
|
|
South Korea, 90% of all software is thought to be pirated; in
|
|
Italy, the number is 80%. (SOURCE: Suzanne P. Weisband and Seymour
|
|
E. Goodman, "Subduing Software Pirates", Technology Training,
|
|
November 1993, p. 30)
|
|
|
|
=> VIRTUAL SUPPLIERS. We've heard about the virtual corporation, the
|
|
virtual boss, and the virtual office. But what we have now is even
|
|
more real. It's taking shape each time buyers put together systems
|
|
with multiple vendors: the virtual supplier. (SOURCE: Jeff
|
|
Anderson, "Revealing The Virtual Supplier," Infomart Magazine,
|
|
First Quarter 1994, p. 10, quoted in Information Week 1/31/94, p.
|
|
56)
|
|
======================================================================
|
|
What's Wrong With this Crazy Old World Anyway?
|
|
|
|
"The national budget must be balanced. The public debt must be
|
|
reduced; the arrogance of the authorities must be moderated and
|
|
controlled. Payments to foreign governments must be reduced, if the
|
|
nation doesn't want to go bankrupt. People must again learn to work,
|
|
instead of living on public assistance."
|
|
-- Marcus Tullius Cicero, 55 BC
|
|
======================================================================
|
|
IN BRIEF...
|
|
|
|
=> A KINDER GENTLER ATOM BOMB. The Air Force's ICBMs will soon be
|
|
fitted with new cooling systems to eliminate their use of CFCs,
|
|
which deplete the Earth's ozone layer and contribute to global
|
|
warming. The ICBMs, however, will continue to carry up to 10
|
|
nuclear bombs, each capable of wiping out an entire city. (SOURCE:
|
|
The ZPG Reporter (Feb 1994) ->> Bill Love <love@internet.com> ->>
|
|
bert@netcom.com)
|
|
|
|
=> FREE SEX. The backlash against the information superhighway
|
|
metaphor is already building... "It's a moronic term," complains
|
|
Paul Saffo of the Institute for the Future. A Denver publisher
|
|
says, "If they say `information highway', they figure people will
|
|
read it. It's like saying, `free sex.'" (SOURCE: WSJ 2/1/94, p. A1)
|
|
|
|
=> AI BATTLE LINES. There are two factions in the artificial
|
|
intelligence community, and they're at war. The pure-science types
|
|
scorn the make-a-buck practicality of the commercial faction, while
|
|
the commercializers ridicule the scientists' tendency to
|
|
investigate such esoterica as "How much of a bird is Tweety?"
|
|
As the battles continue, AI has never been more cleverly, and
|
|
profitably, woven into applications in corporate America. And some
|
|
generate a whopping return on investment. (SOURCE: Lew McCreary,
|
|
"AI-dentity Crisis," CIO, September 1993, p. 34)
|
|
======================================================================
|
|
Bits and Bytes Bookshelf: Selected Cool Guides to the Dataverse
|
|
|
|
The Internet Yellow Pages - by Harley Hahn and Rick Stout [Osbourne/
|
|
McGraw-Hill, 1994. 450 pp. $27.95]
|
|
|
|
Net Guide - by Peter Rutten, Albert F. Bayers III, and Kelly Maloni
|
|
[Random House Electronic Publishing, 1994. 364 pp. $19)
|
|
|
|
- These books are similar in intent, but different in execution: they
|
|
aim to be subject-organized guides to the richness of the online
|
|
world. NET GUIDE logs over 4,000 cybersites by address and
|
|
description in more than 150 subjects, from financial management
|
|
to paganism and the occult, from football to fantasy role-playing.
|
|
Net Guide covers not only Internet resources but also forums and
|
|
services on various online services like AOL, Delphi, Genie, Fidonet
|
|
and even some of the larger (or cooler) BBS systems popping up
|
|
everywhere these days. According to NET GUIDE's creators: "It's 1954
|
|
and your family has just bought a television set! Along with
|
|
millions of others up and down Maple Street you want to know one
|
|
thing: what's on? Now that same question echoes out in Cyberspace.
|
|
As the Net becomes an entertainment as well as information medium, a
|
|
program guide becomes an essential tool and a must-have part of the
|
|
experience." The quote in the ads for this book says that "NET GUIDE
|
|
is the `TV GUIDE' to Cyberspace!" They got that right. The NET GUIDE
|
|
folks have also started an online service. NET GUIDE Online is an
|
|
Internet-access provider that uses the NET GUIDE database to create
|
|
an easy navigation tool for the Net.
|
|
|
|
The Internet Yellow Pages takes a similar approach, but focuses
|
|
exclusively on Internet resources. It's big, and it looks just like
|
|
the yellow pages we all know and love. It's written by the same guys
|
|
that wrote the most excellent book The Internet Complete Reference
|
|
(reviewed in B&B V2 #1). That's a big plus for it. Look for Bits and
|
|
Bytes Online Edition on page 61. Another big plus. #:-> Buy many
|
|
copies of this heartwarming book! I did.
|
|
|
|
There's a great quote from Penn Jillette (the big one of Penn and
|
|
Teller) near the front of the book. I am quoting it here in it's
|
|
entirety as it is most apropos: "This is a great book to skim
|
|
through while you're downloading files from the Internet, and then
|
|
you'll find other files you have to download, and faster than you
|
|
can double grains of wheat on the squares of a checker board you'll
|
|
have no life, and soon after that you'll have no time to read the
|
|
stuff you downloaded before you had this goddamn book." I can relate
|
|
with Mr. Jillette's predicament.
|
|
|
|
UNFORTUNATELY, I have a bone to pick with the editors of the
|
|
Internet Yellow Pages: they got one of my email addresses wrong. The
|
|
other one was correct, but there was no mention of my listserver
|
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access. Fearing that there would be other errors I picked 10 items
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at random from each book and went out and verified that the
|
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information was correct. Both books passed that little test. Both
|
|
are fun to browse through, and would make useful additions to any
|
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budding internaut's bookshelf. Any paper-based version of a
|
|
net.resources listing is going to be out of print almost instantly.
|
|
But they make good starting places. Send updates directly to the
|
|
authors just to help keep them honest.
|
|
|
|
Covert Culture Sourcebook - by Richard Kadrey [St. Martin's Press,
|
|
1993. 216 pp. $12.95]
|
|
|
|
- "Nothing interesting ever happens at the center. Everything
|
|
interesting is at the edges. Sparks kick up when opposing edges
|
|
meet. Sometimes hot edges fuse, creating something wild and new --
|
|
the birth of a hopeful monster. That's covert culture." (from the
|
|
introduction) If you are looking for something different, the Covert
|
|
Culture Sourcebook will point you the best in truly alternative
|
|
music, books, videos, zines, fashions, software, technology, and
|
|
"tools for living". The material is reviewed, and contact information
|
|
is given. I found all kinds of neat stuff I fully intend to check
|
|
out when I get a chance, which (keeping in mind Penn's principle)
|
|
may be in the year 2525).
|
|
======================================================================
|
|
SOUND BYTES
|
|
|
|
=> CHICKENS PREFER CLASSICAL MUSIC. Chickens rank second in farm-
|
|
animal intelligence, as evidenced by their favorite composer, who
|
|
is Vivaldi. This was discovered by a farmer who noticed that
|
|
chickens were clucking happily in the hen house when he played a
|
|
classical-music tape. In Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons," chickens
|
|
much preferred the "Spring" movement to "Winter."
|
|
|
|
CD> MUSIC REVIEW: Material: Hallucination Engine. Bill Laswell's
|
|
floating musical ensemble has made some great music, but this is
|
|
their best work to date. This record really swings, it almost
|
|
swings TOO MUCH. If you are a fan of house/funk/techno/ambient/
|
|
fusion/jazz/rock/world music -- and who isn't? -- and of
|
|
adventurous music in general, this is what happens when you put a
|
|
roomful of world-class musicians together, ignore labels and
|
|
boundaries, and let them PLAY. Eclectic, essential music. Even the
|
|
chickens will groove to this one. (Axiom Records)
|
|
|
|
=> ELVIS TOPS COW CHARTS. One herd studied by scientists produced more
|
|
milk while listening to the King. This was supported by another
|
|
study, which showed that cows generally prefer rock'n'roll to other
|
|
music.
|
|
|
|
CD> MUSIC REVIEW: Elvis Costello: Brutal Youth. If you're a fan but
|
|
miss his work with the Attractions, put this new CD on and you'll
|
|
think you're in a time warp. Costello's songwriting is in fine
|
|
form, and the band plays like they never skipped a beat. Some new
|
|
Costello classics here. (Warner Brothers Records)
|
|
|
|
=> AND, HEY, HOW ABOUT THOSE BEATLES, finally getting back together
|
|
after all those years. Is technology great, or what?
|
|
======================================================================
|
|
"God only knew. If there was a God. And if there was a God and he
|
|
knew, he was not talking. And even if he did know and was talking,
|
|
no one would have been listening. Not here. Not now."
|
|
- Bernice Richmond, winner of this year's International
|
|
Imitation Hemingway Competition.
|
|
======================================================================
|
|
### ADMINISTRIVIA ###
|
|
|
|
IN THE FUTURE. Next up is our Information Superhighway mega-issue.
|
|
We got a *lot* of mail with your favorite information superhypeway
|
|
cliches. I will print the best (and worse) of them. We will also
|
|
discuss BIll Gate's ambitious (to put it mildly) plans for a worldwide
|
|
network of satellites. Keep watching the skies! B&B v2#4 will be in
|
|
your emailbox around April 18th. Hear me now and believe me later.
|
|
|
|
HEY 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.
|
|
|
|
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 you tell me otherwise.
|
|
|
|
(E/P) This symbol on some of the news items indicates that the source
|
|
for this article was the EDUPAGE newsletter. EDUPAGE is a bi-weekly
|
|
summary of recent news items on information technology. To subscribe,
|
|
send e-mail to: listproc@educom.edu
|
|
containing the message: SUB EDUPAGE firstname lastname.
|
|
|
|
<<<ACCESS>>> BITS AND BYTES ONLINE EDITION
|
|
|
|
BY LISTSERVER:
|
|
Subscribe to B&B by sending email to listserv@acad1.dana.edu
|
|
text: SUBSCRIBE bits-n-bytes
|
|
To unsubscribe send a message to listserv@acad1.dana.edu
|
|
text: UNSUBSCRIBE bits-n-bytes
|
|
Retrieve back issues by sending email to listserv@acad1.dana.edu
|
|
text: send <filename>
|
|
in the body of your mail message, no subject.
|
|
Example: send bitsv1n1.txt
|
|
Issues 1-9: The file name is in the form: bitsv1n1.txt
|
|
Issues 10- : The file name is in the form: bits1n10.txt
|
|
(Remember to disable or delete your signature, as this will generate
|
|
an error message) (I'm not sure if all the back issues are available
|
|
yet. Watch this space)
|
|
|
|
ONLINE ACCESS.
|
|
B&B is available for downloading on America Online in their telecom
|
|
files area, and in CompuServe's telecom forum library, and on various
|
|
fine BBS systems all across this wunnerful wunnerful world of ours.
|
|
BBSs like the MICRO BBS in Denver, CO (303) 752-2943.
|
|
|
|
INTERNET ANONYMOUS FTP SITES:
|
|
ftp.dana.edu in /periodic directory (DOS Users go here)
|
|
ftp.eff.org in pub/Publications/CuD/BNB/bnb????.gz
|
|
(where ???? is volume & number, e.g. bnb0116.gz) (UNIX users go here)
|
|
|
|
INTERNET GOPHER ACCESS.
|
|
gopher.law.cornell.edu
|
|
in the Discussions and Listserv archives/Teknoids directory
|
|
gopher.dana.edu in the Electronic Journals directory
|
|
======================================================================
|
|
= BITS AND BYTES ONLINE, an electronic newsletter for information- =
|
|
= based lifeforms, is printed using 100% recycled electrons, and =
|
|
= is intended for distribution IN THAT MEDIUM. =
|
|
= Contact the editor for reprint permission. =
|
|
======================================================================
|
|
= Jay Machado = (Copyright 1994 Jay Machado) *unaltered*=
|
|
= 1529 Dogwood Drive = ELECTRONIC distribution of this file for =
|
|
= Cherry Hill, NJ 08003 = non-profit purposes is encouraged. =
|
|
========================== The editor is solely responsible for the =
|
|
= jaymachado@delphi.com = editorial content or lack thereof. =
|
|
========================== Bits and Bytes contains no artificial =
|
|
= ph (eve) 609/795-0998 = colorings, flavorings or preservatives. =
|
|
========================== Please refrigerate after opening. =
|
|
======================================================================
|
|
=============== End of Bits and Bytes Online V2, #3 =================
|
|
======================================================================
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