COM NET NEWS Vol. 1 No. 5 August Part 2--News from Other Newsletter Sources >From the Editor Starting with this issue of COM NET NEWS, I am requesting donations from readers to help defer the costs of production of this newsletter. I am requesting a donation of $35 per year. Non-U.S. subscribers, please send donation in U.S. currency. But, please note that this is a request--you will not be dropped from the subscription list if you don't contribute. Also, I will continue to post COM NET NEWS on various listservs and the it may be freely distributed among groups for noncommercial purposes. The request for donations is due to the time and other costs incurred in putting together COM NET NEWS. It is hoped that you feel that it is of value to you, and you can be assured that I will continue to better COM NET NEWS. As a reminder, this issue of COM NET NEWS reflects the suggestions of several subscribers. COM NET NEWS now contains a Table of Contents, and, the newsletter is broken down into two parts--Part 1--Original and Other News; and Part 2--News from Other Newsletter Sources, e.g., Edupage. The two parts will be emailed to you as separate messages. Richard W. Bryant, Editor RW Bryant Associates Advanced Technology Market Research & Com Net Consultants P.O. Box 1828 El Prado, NM 87529 Tel/fax: 505-758-1919 rbryant@hydra.unm.edu **************************************************************** **************************************************************** NEWS FROM OTHER NEWSLETTER SOURCES ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Educom New Virus Lurking Phone Numbers for Life Information Highway on G-7 Agenda A Shakeout for On-line Services? Yellow Pages for the Web CNN Wants "Talkback" from the Net Electronic Morgues US West Buys Atlanta Cable Systems IBM in Hong Kong Satellite ISDN GNN Offers Personal Finance Center Freenets Raise the Ire of Commercial Providers Newton Goes Wireless Targets Technology Internet Statistics Bypassing the Music Industry Fighting Music Bandits on the Information Highway NBR Online Scouting Around on the Net Patent Titles by Email Brazil's a Hotbed for Computer Sales Electronic Public Information Newsletter One-Fifth of Public Libraries Have Internet Access Editorial Comment Freenets Raise Ire of Commercial Providers ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FROM EDUCOM NEW VIRUS LURKING A new virus capable of disabling computers can infect any computer using the MS-DOS operating system, according to the U.S. Energy Department. `KAOS4,' as the virus is called, has spread quickly through software downloaded from USENET, and the primary symptom is a freeze-up as the system is booted. Check your command.com file for new files that contain the word `KAOS4' if you suspect contamination. (Chronicle of Higher Education 8/10/94 A17) PHONE NUMBERS FOR LIFE AT&T's True Connections plan offers you a phone number for life (at least as long as you pay your bill). The new "500" area code numbers will enable subscribers to program their existing phone numbers to follow them wherever they go. The numbers could ring in sequence -- e.g., at the office, then at a cellular phone, then at home. Pending FCC approval, the new service will be available in September. (Washington Post 7/8/94 F1) INFORMATION HIGHWAY ON G-7 AGENDA During preliminary talks by the Group of Seven nations this weekend, the Clinton Administration will propose topics for a telecommunications conference to be held within the coming year. The agenda will include making information from public libraries readily available to each other's citizens electronically and developing common international standards for transmitting data and video signals. (Washington Post 7/8/94 F2) A SHAKEOUT FOR ON-LINE SERVICES? Some analysts are predicting a glut of information services on the net, and the v.p. and general manager of Delphi says, "There's a shakeout on the horizon. The numbers are growing rapidly, but they won't be high enough to accommodate all the companies who are coming into the market." The 10 largest revenue producers among the online services brought in approximately $500 million last year. (New York Times 7/12/94 C1) YELLOW PAGES FOR THE WEB An MIT graduate student has developed the closest thing so far to Yellow Pages of commercial activities on the World-Wide Web. Commercial Services on the Net (http://tns-www.lcs.mit.edu/commerce.html) currently consists of an alphabetic list of 60-80% of the existing commercial Web sites. The developer plans to add a search capability and a category breakdown. (Internet Business Report 7/94 p.3) CNN WANTS "TALKBACK" FROM THE NET A new one-hour CNN program hopes "to use technology to bring us closer together. The cable station is making deals with MCI and CompuServe that will allow two-way communication with viewers, and the MCI-CNN link will provide teleconferencing based on compressed video sent by phone lines. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution 7/11/94 A1) ELECTRONIC MORGUES Newspaper "morgues" have been replaced by computer-supported editorial information centers, managed by librarians. At the Miami Herald, for example, the librarian runs her operation from the city desk, where she gathers background on the stories being reported. Librarians say the rise in number of databases has increased the importance of their jobs, "because reporters often suspend their customary skepticism when dealing with electronic material." (American Journalism Review July/August 94 p.39) U S WEST BUYS ATLANTA CABLE SYSTEMS U S West has sneaked into BellSouth's backyard and snatched up two companies that together control 65% of the cable television market in Atlanta. The deals, valued at $1.2 billion, translate to about $2,500 per customer, which is high for the industry, but the president of U S West's multimedia group justifies it: "This property has cash-flow characteristics which are far in excess of industry norms." The company will invest an addition $700 per subscriber over the next three or four years as it upgrades existing systems. (New York Times 7/16/94 Y15) IBM IN HONG KONG IBM and Hong Kong Telecommunications Ltd. will test a video-on-demand system in Hong Kong this fall. The trial will start with 50 homes, and expand to 400 subscribers by the end of the year. (Wall Street Journal 7/15/94 B3) SATELLITE ISDN Orion Atlantic will offer satellite-delivered ISDN service by year's end. Tariffs are expected to be similar in structure to terrestrial ISDN: a one-time installation fee, monthly equipment rental and per-call charges. (Data Communications 7/94 p.18) GNN OFFERS PERSONAL FINANCE CENTER O'Reilly & Associates' Global Network Navigator has added a Personal Finance Center to its list of services; the Center will offer annotated links to personal finance resources on the Internet, such as 15-minute-delayed stock quotes, stock and mutual fund data in chart form, and 1994 SEC filings (http://gnn.com). (Internet Business Report 7/94 p.7) FREENETS RAISE THE IRE OF COMMERCIAL PROVIDERS State-supported projects to provide citizens with Internet access for little or no money are upsetting commercial service providers who want to sell that same access for $20 or so a month. A NYNEX official noted the company "does not oppose the use of public libraries and other facilities to disseminate access to the Internet." But when a university hooks up a FreeNet and provides access to commercial entities, "we think that's bad public policy and a waste of taxpayer funds." (Chronicle of Higher Education 7/27/94 A19) NEWTON GOES WIRELESS Harris Corp. has teamed with Apple to develop a wireless communications system for the Newton Message Pad. (Tampa Tribune 7/25/94 Business & Finance p.12) TCI OPENS EDUCATIONAL TRAINING FACILITY Tele-Communications Inc. recently opened a teacher training facility in Colorado. The J.C. Sparkman Center for Educational Technology offers teachers, students, administrators, school board members and parents training in emerging communications technologies. (In Motion 7/94 p.13) GREGORIAN TARGETS TECHNOLOGY Brown University's Vartan Gregorian has been traveling the country looking for worthy projects to endow with some of philanthropist Walter H. Annenberg's $500 million. Among the projects targeted for largesse is one to develop an electronic reference library with 1,000 titles, that eventually would be available to every high school in the country. Gregorian describes the project as "just in a germinal stage." (Wall Street Journal 7/26/94 B1) INTERNET STATISTICS Internet Info reports that as of July 15, there were more than 17,000 company domains registered with the Internet. Predictably the companies with the "heaviest" presence (defined as 25 or more networks) were primarily defense contractors and telecommunications firms. California had the largest concentration of .com activity. (info@internetinfo.com) BYPASSING THE MUSIC INDUSTRY Two seniors at the University of California - Santa Cruz offer would-be rock stars a way to get their music distributed electronically to millions without ever signing a record contract through their Internet Underground Music Archive. (Details 7/94 p.118) FIGHTING MUSIC BANDITS ON THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY The Recording Industry Association of America is lobbying Congress to approve a copyright law that would provide royalties to recording artists and record companies for music that is digitally transmitted. Current copyright law provides royalties only to songwriters and publishers. (Wall Street Journal 8/2/94 B1) NBR ONLINE PBS's "Nightly Business Report" is going online, providing transcripts, market analysis, business news briefs, personal finance tips and expert commentary through America Online. Subscribers will be able to post messages to NBR reporters and guests on the show. (Broadcasting & Cable 7/25/94 p.34) SCOUTING AROUND ON THE NET InterNIC Information Services has a new free publication called the Scout Report that provides useful information to assist educators and researchers in using the Internet. For instance, a recent issue explained how to connect to information servers at various research labs and universities. To subscribe, send e-mail to majordomo@is.internic.net with the message: subscribe scout-report. Mosaic users can connect to http://www.internic.net/info-guide.html. (Chronicle of Higher Education 8/3/94 A16) PATENT TITLES BY E-MAIL A free weekly patent update service allows patent searchers to retrieve a list of all patents (mechanical, chemical, or electronic) issued by the Patent Office during the previous week. For info: patents@world.std.com. (Internet Business Journal July-August 94 p.7) BRAZIL'S A HOTBED FOR COMPUTER SALES Brazil's become the Latin American magnet for computer companies from around the world, with $10.7 billion in sales this year. "I believe that Brazil is doubling its hardware and software every two years," says the general manager of Borland International's Brazilian subsidiary. (New York Times 8/6/94 Y13) ============================= SUMMARY OF ELECTRONIC PUBLIC INFORMATION NEWSLETTER VOL. 4, NO. 13; July 1, 1994 EPIN: For more information on the complete ELECTRONIC PUBLIC INFORMATION NEWSLETTER and subscription rates contact: James McDonough Electronic Public Information Newsletter epin@access.digex.net Tel:/Fax: (301) 365-3621 ONE-FIFTH OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES HAVE INTERNET ACCESS Of all public libraries, 20.9% currently possess an Internet connection, although only 12.7% of that total provide public access terminals for patron use, according to a new study released this month by the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS). Public Libraries and the Internet: Study Results, Policy Issues, and Recommendations, which was prepared for the NUCLEUS by Syracuse University Professor Charles McClure, University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor Douglas L. Zweizig, and Syracuse University Doctoral Student John Carlo Bertot, noted that bigger libraries located in urban areas tended to be better connected to the Internet than smaller libraries from rural areas. The report was based on a survey of 1,495 libraries (with 1,148 responding) that was conducted from January through March. EDITORIAL COMMENT In the article from Edupage "Freenets Raise Ire of Commercial Providers," NYNEX links the development of freenets and their frequent association with universities and state funds as "...bad public policy and a waste of taxpayer funds." The NYNEX official also noted that the company "...does not oppose the use of public libraries and other facilities to disseminate access to the Internet." Commercial providers are not going to be put out of business by "freenets" or other community-based networks. Freenets and most other community networks provide very limited security for messaging and other services. One of the commercial provider's main services should be high levels of security for their customers. Recently, the issue of security came up during a discussion about an Albuquerque, NM commercial provider that was not providing any security, yet charging significant fees for limited access. Commercial providers, if they are to be successful, must provide unique services, as well as simply Internet access. Freenets and community networks provide public access and a public service, typically with limited specialized services, but they are essentially free for the public to utilize. It is absolutely imperative that the public have free access to the Internet and related services at some level or we are going to have even greater divisions in our society. One has access to books at the public library, yet publishers and booksellers have not gone out of business because of the free public library system. Commercial television networks have not gone out of business because of the Public Broadcasting System and public access cable channels. To complain that freenets and community networks will drive commercial Internet providers out of business is nonsense and very misleading. It would appear that greed is more the issue than "...bad public policy and a waste of taxpayer funds." ************************************************************************ CNN SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION Please send an email message to Richard W. Bryant, Editor & Publisher at: rbryant@hydra.unm.edu indicating that you wish to subscribe. You will be put on the e- mailing list for the following month. COM NET NEWS is published only in electronic format. Subscription donation checks or money orders should be sent to the address below. **************************************************************** COM NET NEWS is solely under my editorship, and is unrelated and independent of the La Plaza Telecommunity, of which I am vice president. The editorial comment is my own and does not reflect in any way on La Plaza. You may reproduce or publish any parts of COM NET NEWS and distribute it electronically or in paper format for noncommercial purposes. However, any reproduction or publishing of COM NET NEWS material must be accompanied by the following reference: >From COM NET NEWS: Richard W. Bryant, Ph.D., Editor & Publisher RW Bryant Associates Advanced Technology Market Research & Com Net Consultants P.O. Box 1828 El Prado, NM 87529 Tel/fax: 505-758-1919 rbryant@hydra.unm.edu ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Richard W. Bryant, RWBA, 1994 ************************************************************ ************************************************************ .