164 lines
7.3 KiB
Plaintext
164 lines
7.3 KiB
Plaintext
The Teleputing Hotline
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The Worldwide Network Letter
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Volume 3 Number 93 -- November 27, 1990
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215 Winter Avenue, Atlanta, GA 30317
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FAX: 404-378-0794 Phone: 404-373-7634
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MCI:409-8960 GEnie: nb.atl CompuServe: 76200,3025
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Editor: Dana Blankenhorn
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European Editor: Steve Gold
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Associate Publisher: Lamont Wood
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Correspondent: Masayuki Miyazawa
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Sales Manager: Hiro Nakamura
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BACK IN THE USSR: SATELLITE EXCHANGES, A SOVIET COMPUSERVE?
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Kirill Tchashchin writes for Newsbytes that the Russian
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Commodities and Stock Exchanges will launch their own satellite
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within 2 years. It will mostly handle data flows between the two
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Moscow exchanges and subsidiaries in the USSR. Until the launch,
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the exchanges will lease 20,000 satellite phone channels from the
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Soviet Space Control center.
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Also, 12 Soviet supercomputers in Moscow are being linked by
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fiber cable. The project will be complete early next year. Oleg
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Guskov told Tchashchin Elbrus-2KB and MKP computers will be
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linked in the net -- the latter at 100 million operations/second.
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He added, "We plan to build a publicly-available computer
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network, Soviet Compuserve, using these supercomputers'
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facilities."
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PRODIGY STILL BATTLING PROTESTERS
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Prodigy, the IBM-Sears joint-venture running a NAPLPS videotex
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system in the U.S., sent out press releases offering to take 8
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people back despite their protests of a rate hike. But it also
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imposed new guidelines on messaging, forbidding chain letters and
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notes to advertisers, and warned 4 more members will be shut-off
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if they keey using Prodigy mailing list features.
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Prodigy had been stunned by overseas press attacks of its fight
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with the "Cooperative Defense Committee," but says it won't back
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off the rate hike, won't allow further discussion of the
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question, and will never meet with the protesters. Said one of
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those terminated, cancer researcher Dr. Henry Niman, "Prodigy is
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creating an atmosphere of fear and intimidation. They are
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selectively imposing their restrictions on private communication.
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That is a clear example of harassment."
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CAMBODIA JOINS THE TELECOM WORLD: KIRIBATI NEXT
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Cambodia's new telecomm system has gone online, with the first
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call being made between Phnom Penh and Canberra. OTC of Australia
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did the upgrading with a satellite earth station. More
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improvements are expected over the next 10 years, including a
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phone exchange and training of local staff. Meanwhile, an OTC
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joint venture will offer the same kinds of services to Kiribati,
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the 33 islands spread across 1 million square miles of the South
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Pacific.
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HAYES WILL SUPPORT V.32BIS
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Hayes Microcomputer Products will support the CCITT V.32Bis
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standard in future products, offering an upgrade path for users
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of its Ultra 96 modem. CCITT V.32Bis is an extension to the
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V.32 standard adopted in 1984. It was agreed on in October and
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will be formally adopted next February. In addition to supporting
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speeds of 9,600 bits per second (bps) and 4,800 bps, the new
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standard supports 14,400, 12,000 and 7,200 bps, and offers
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backward compatibility with V.32.
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BATTLE OVER PCN ALLOCATIONS BEGINS
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The question of what to do with Personal Communication Networks,
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the microwave-based cellular system using smaller, handheld
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phones, has reached international standards bodies. European
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governments are proposing that a single slice of the microwave
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radio spectrum be dedicated to PCN, worldwide, allowing for a
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single integrated digital radio system to develop. The U.S.
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opposes the plan, claiming things like microwave relays used by
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phone firms, and by some TV stations for news gathering, are
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already using the frequencies the Europeans propose to allocate.
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JAPANESE IN TROUBLE IN FAX MARKET?
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Japan, which now dominates the market for fax equipment, may have
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trouble holding that edge against U.S. software in the 1990s,
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according to Ken Bosomworth of International Resources
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Development, a market research firm. Bosomworth predicts the fax
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market will "zoom upward in 10 different directions at once,"
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with links to laser printers, local area networks and other
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systems. He said, "The Japanese weakness lies in understanding
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relatively fast changes in fashions and fads. They've been unable
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to keep track of markets where there was a rapid pace of change
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in user fashions, especially in the PC field. Japan regards
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itself as weak in business software, and the fax market is
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becoming more software intensive."
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US SPRINT ANNOUNCES VISAPHONE
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US Sprint announced VisaPhone, which will let any Visa card
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holder make long distance calls worldwide. It's the latest move
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by credit card companies against AT&T's Universal Card, which
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offers both credit and long distance services and has 5.6 million
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users. Versions of the VisaPhone service are in operation in the
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U.S. with a number of large banks. The newest move will allow all
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Visa cardholders to use the service, regardless of the bank
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issuing their card, and regardless of where they're calling.
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SINGAPORE PROPERTY MARKET MOVES TO EDI
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Electronic Document Interchange (EDI) is to make a further
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advance in Singapore with the introduction of RealNet, early next
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year. It will first provide a bulletin board and electronic mail
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system, plus a computerized listing service. By the middle of
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1991, a second phase will be completed, providing analysis of
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past property market trends. Eventually RealNet will provide both
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buyers and sellers of property with full online information for
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dealings. The system is a joint venture involving Realty
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International Associates and Singapore Network Services, writes
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Norman Wingrove for Newsbytes.
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ONLINE FACTOIDS
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AT&T opened direct-dial service to 10 countries and areas,
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including Syria, Albania and The Congo. Before now calls to the
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10 areas required operator assistance.
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JETSET TOURS of Australia created its own online reservation
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system, linked overseas to Sabre and Galileo.
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MEGATEL of Canada bought the Wildcard-88 line of Intel, which
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puts an IBM PC/XT onto a board the size of a credit card. It
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costs $70 in quantity.
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STRYKER ASIA-NET came online through Hong Kong Telecom CSL's
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Dialcom network. It is the first online business information
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service to consolidate trading, business news, project and
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investment opportunities from Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia,
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China, Thailand and Vietnam.
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VU/TEXT added "USA Today," "The Knoxville News-Sentinel" and the
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"Dayton Daily News" to its list of online papers, bringing the
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total to 68.
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XOTERIX released memory upgrades, a hard disk, and utility
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programs for the 1-pound (.4 kg.) Atari Portfolio. The company
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also makes a modem for the PC.
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CONTACT:
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AT&T, Dave Bikle, +201-953-7614
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Hayes, +081-848-1858
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HK Telecom, Lousiana Chan, + 852 829 6628
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IRD, Ken Bosomworth, +203-966-2525
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Megatel, Piero Presutti, +416-245-3324
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OTC, Paul Rea, +61-2-287 5602
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Prodigy Opponents, Penny +Hay, 213-472-0443
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Prodigy, Brian Eck +914-993-8811
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Russian Commodity exchange, Sergey Perov, +7 095 924-7530
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Supercomputer Association, Oleg S. Guskov, +7 095 264-4090
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US Sprint, Vince Hovanec, +202-828-7423
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Vu/Text, Tonia Kimbrough, +215-574-4400
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Xoterix, Mark Henderson, +818-888-7390
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