Pgmonthly 2000 05 03
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======== Subject: May Project Gutenberg Newsletter From: "Michael S. Hart" To: "Project Gutenberg mailing list" Date: Wed, 3 May 2000 13:45:58 -0500 (CDT) ***This is Project Gutenberg's Newsletter for Wednesday, May 3, 2000** Etexts Readable By Both Humans and Computers Since Before The Internet [Usually sent the first Wednesday of each month, delayed if by relay.] Main URL is promo.net Webmaster is Pietro di Miceli, of Rome, Italy *Check out our Websites at promo.net, and ask me for our FTP servers.* With 2550 eTexts online it now takes an average of 100,000,000 readers gaining a nominal value of $3.92 from each book, for Project Gutenberg to have given away $1,000,000,000,000 [One Trillion Dollars] in books. Table of Contents: Headline News Requests For Assistance Comments About Our New Files Index Listings for the New Files Notes from Edupage and News Scan *** Headline News Is it true that 60% of the world population has never made a phone call? About twice as many [64%] Asian-American families use the Internet, as the national average of all families [33%], which should include the Asian-American families. . .so the difference is even greater. 97% of Chinese households have television, 88% for refrigerators. Since 1956 US service workers have outnumbered blue-collar workers. 100 rupees [$2.34] buys 50 channels of cable access in India, this is equal to one day's wages for a rickshaw peddlar. 10 years ago there was just one part time government channel. No four lane intercity highways in India. India is currently undergoing the worst drought in 10-100 years. Some areas have been suffering from poor rainfall for 3-4 years. About half the world population now lives in cities. There are about 15 cities with 10,000,000 population.
In 1950 New York City handled about 20% of the US sea shipping, now down to only 6% of the nation's tonnage. A million Yellow Taxi trips per day in New York City. New York is NOT one of the 15 cities of 10,000,000. [Let me know if you have comments about including these kinds of information in our Newsletters.]
Requests For Assistance We need an English translation of Euripides, from before 1923, particularly for Medea. Please email Scott Fallin <[email protected]> cc:me Progress on our translation of Siddhartha is very difficult, and we drastically need more volunteers to help translate from the original German, which we have available as Etext. Due to various copyright restrictions, it may not be legal for many volunteers outside the US to help us Trying to locate: Michael Larsen, formerly of Penn. Marcus Aurelius file lost. . .can sender please resend. We need E.T.A. Hoffman books in English for David Bridson From one of our readers: While you may have some favorite word processors, here are some free ones that you might want your volunteers to have available, rather than sending them out to buy something. WordWright looks particularly good for your project, but there are others. http://www.freewarehome.com/business/wordproc.html Would anyone like to proof Walter Scott's Guy Mannering? scotgmw.txt is the one, needs work. . .headers are funny, lots of double spaces, probably from trying margination. We need a pre-1923 edition of Billy Budd, Sailor. Please email Eric Sugar and cc: me. We need a copy that says it is pre-1923: Swords of Mars, and, Synthetic men of Mars Burroughs, Edgar Rice, 1875-1950. [1909] Garden City, N.Y. : Nelson Doubleday,
"Kampung Buku Malaysia (Malaysia Book Village) is a manifestation of the Kedah State Government's ( a state in Malaysia) initiative in promoting reading to the people of Malaysia. Through the book village, we hope to make available cheap reading materials through the sales of second and remainder books. However, as part of the Worldwide Book Village and Book Towns Movement,
we also sell antiquarian and rare books. "We believe that our aspirations in bringing reading materials to the public at large will be further enhanced through Etext under Project Gutenberg. We, at the Book Village are making efforts to spearhead PG in Malaysia and South East Asia (Malaysia. Singapore, Indonesia & Brunei), to publish Etexts in the Malay Language. We will, in our endeavor try to recruit retired librarians, government servants, students, historians, government and non-government bodies to volunteer in this wonderful program. "We may be contacted at [email protected] or visit our website at www.kampungbukumalaysia.com " And I have my own request for assistance: I still very much need public relationtions people, both for contacting the media and the Billionaire Boys Club. . [email protected]
Comments About Our New Files We are closing in on being a year ahead of schedule, this is the first time I have really announced the releases of Etexts in the same month they will be officially released a year later!!! We should be able to reach 3,333 Etext by the end of 2001. . . We have released the six volume series "The Origins of Contemporary France" by Hippolyte A. Taine. Due to popular requests, we have released four new math constants [yes, there are still nerds and geeks out there in InternetLand. . .. We posted Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky. We have started releasing Aristophanes. And plenty more Bret Harte, Elizabeth Gaskell, Robert Louis Stevenson,
Index Listings for the New Files Mon Year Title and Author [filename.ext]#### *****A "C" Following a Project Gutenberg Etext Number Indicates Copyright**** New versions of the following were posted: Jan 2000 The American Republic, by O. A. Brownson
[amrepxxx.xxx]2053
Mar 2001 Two Men of Sandy Bar, by Bret Harte[Bret Harte#27][tmosbxxx.xxx]2570
Mar 2001 The Day's Work [Vol. 1], by Rudyard Kipling[RK#14][dyswkxxx.xxx]2569 Mar 2001 Trent's Last Case, by E.C.(Edmund Clerihew)Bentley[trentxxx.xxx]2568 [This was the British title, US title was The Woman in Black] Mar 2001 The Woman in Black by E.C.(Edmund Clerihew)Bentley[trentxxx.xxx]2568 Mar 2001 A Plea for Captain John Brown, by Thoreau [HDT #4][apcjbxxx.xxx]2567 [Author: Henry David Thoreau] Jan 2001 Mary-'Gusta by Joseph C. Lincoln [J.C. Lincoln #4][mrygtxxx.xxx]2473 Mar 2001 How to Fail in Literature, by Andrew Lang[Lang#26][fllitxxx.xxx]2566 Mar 2001 The Story of the Glittering Plain, by Wm. Morris 4[gltplxxx.xxx]2565 Mar 2001 Wanderings Among South Sea Savages by H. W. Walker[wasssxxx.xxx]2564 [Title: Wanderings Among South Sea Savages And in Borneo and the Philippines] [Author: H. Wilfrid Walker] Mar 2001 Memoirs of the Comtesse du Barry by Lamothe-Langon[8dbryxxx.xxx]2563 Mar 2001 Memoirs of the Comtesse du Barry by Lamothe-Langon[7dbryxxx.xxx]2563 [Full title: Memoirs of the Comtesse du Barry With Minute Details of Her Entire Career as Favorite of Louis XV] [Author's full name: Baron Etienne Leon Lamothe-Langon] [We are posting two versions, 8 bit with accents, 7 bit plain standard text.] Mar Mar Mar Mar
2001 2001 2001 2001
The Clouds, by Aristophanes [Aristophanes #1][cloudxxx.xxx]2562 Robert Falconer, by George MacDonald[MacDonald#10][rflcnxxx.xxx]2561 The Three Partners, by Bret Harte [Bret Harte #26][tpartxxx.xxx]2560 Man of Property, by John Galsworthy[Forsyte#1JG#4][mnprpxxx.xxx]2559
Mar 2001 Poems, by George P. Morris [mrrspxxx.xxx]2558 Mar 2001 Old Mother West Wind, by Thornton W. Burgess[TB#4][ldmwwxxx.xxx]2557 Mar 2001 Mr. Jack Hamlin's Mediation, by Bret Harte [BH#25][jhmlnxxx.xxx]2556 Mar 2001 Under the Redwoods, by Bret Harte[Bret Harte [#24][unrdwxxx.xxx]2555 Contains: JIMMY'S BIG BROTHER FROM CALIFORNIA THE YOUNGEST MISS PIPER A WIDOW OF THE SANTA ANA VALLEY THE MERMAID OF LIGHTHOUSE POINT UNDER THE EAVES HOW REUBEN ALLEN "SAW LIFE" IN SAN FRANCISCO THREE VAGABONDS OF TRINIDAD A VISION OF THE FOUNTAIN A ROMANCE OF THE LINE BOHEMIAN DAYS IN SAN FRANCISCO UNDER THE REDWOODS Mar 2001 Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky [FD #4][7crmpxxx.xxx]2554 Mar 2001 Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky [FD #4][8crmpxxx.xxx]2554 Mar 2001 Jeanne d'Arc, Her Life and Death, by Mrs. Oliphant[7jnrcxxx.xxx]2553 Mar 2001 Jeanne d'Arc, Her Life and Death, by Mrs. Oliphant[8jnrcxxx.xxx]2553 [We are posting two versions, 8 bit with accents, 7 bit plain standard text.] Mar 2001 Thankful's Inheritance, by Joseph C. Lincoln[JL#5][thkinxxx.xxx]2552 Mar 2001 Droll Stories [V. 3], by Honore de Balzac[HdB #95][3drllxxx.xxx]2551 Also see: Sep 2000 Droll Stories [V. 2], by Honore de Balzac[HdB #92][2drllxxx.xxx]2318 Oct 1999 Droll Stories [V. 1], by Honore de Balzac[HdB #82][1drllxxx.xxx]1925 Mar Mar Mar Mar
2001 2001 2001 2001
Tales of Trail and Town, by Bret Harte [Harte #23][totatxxx.xxx]2550 Doom of the Griffiths, by Elizabeth Gaskell[EG#10][dmgrfxxx.xxx]2549 The Poor Clare, by Elizabeth Gaskell[E. Gaskell#9][prclrxxx.xxx]2548 Half a Life-time Ago, by Elizabeth Gaskell[E.G.#8][hlflfxxx.xxx]2547
Mar 2001 Hopalong Cassidy's Rustler Round-Up, by CE Mulford[hcrruxxx.xxx]2546 Mar 2001 BAR-20[Alternate Title],by Clarence Edward Mulford[hcrruxxx.xxx]2546 Mar 2001 When God Laughs et al, by Jack London [JL #98-109][gdlghxxx.xxx]2545 Contains: 98. WHEN GOD LAUGHS 99. THE APOSTATE 100. A WICKED WOMAN 101. JUST MEAT 102. CREATED HE THEM 103. THE CHINAGO 104. MAKE WESTING 105. SEMPER IDEM 106. A NOSE FOR THE KING 107. THE "FRANCIS SPAIGHT" 108. A CURIOUS FRAGMENT 109. A PIECE OF STEAK Mar 2001 From Sand Hill to Pine, by Bret Harte[B Harte #22][fshtpxxx.xxx]2544 Mar 2001 Polyeucte, by Pierre Corneille[Tr by T. Constable][plyctxxx.xxx]2543 Mar 2001 The Doll's House, by Henrik Ibsen[Henrik Ibsen #5][dlshsxxx.xxx]2542 Mar 2001 Character, by Samuel Smiles [Samuel Smiles #6][crctrxxx.xxx]2541 Mar 2001 Father and Son [Autobiography], by Edmund Gosse [ftrsnxxx.xxx]2540 Mar 2001 The Malay Archipelago, by Alfred Russel Wallace V2[2malayxx.xxx]2539 Also see: Feb 2001 The Malay Archipelago, by Alfred Russel Wallace V1[1malayxx.xxx]2530 Mar Mar Mar Mar
2001 2001 2001 2001
My Birthday. . .if you find something cute. :-) [ xxx.xxx]2538 The Pocket R.L.S., by Robert Louis Stevenson [#39][pkrlsxxx.xxx]2537 Amphitryon, A play by Moliere, Tr. by Waller [M#2][amphixxx.xxx]2536 Openings in the Old Trail, by Bret Harte[Harte#21][oitotxxx.xxx]2535
Mar Mar Mar Mar
2001 2001 2001 2001
Eugene Pickering, by Henry James [James Round the Sofa, by Elizabeth Gaskell The Half-Brothers, by Elizabeth Gaskell An Accursed Race, by Elizabeth Gaskell
#29][eugpkxxx.xxx]2534 [#8][rndsfxxx.xxx]2533 [#7][hlfbrxxx.xxx]2532 [#6][accrcxxx.xxx]2531
Also released: Jan 2001 Repertory of the Comedie Humaine, Pt 2 [Balzac#94][2rthcxxx.xxx]2469 Also see: Jan 2001 Repertory of the Comedie Humaine, Pt 1 [Balzac#93][1rthcxxx.xxx]2468 And. . .we have these already prepared for next month: Apr Apr Apr Apr
2001 2001 2001 2001
The The The The
first first first Value
498 Bernoulli Numbers[Math Constant #22][brnllxxx.xxx]2586 1001 Fibonacci Numbers[Math Constant#21][fbnccxxx.xxx]2585 1000 Euler Numbers [Math Constant #20][eulerxxx.xxx]2584 of Zeta(3) to 1,000,000 Places[Math #19][zeta3xxx.xxx]2583
The next six Etexts comprise the series "The Origins of Contemporary France" by Hippolyte A. Taine. "The Origins of Contemporary France" = ocf Apr 2001 The Modern Regime V2, by Hippolyte A. Taine OCF V6[06ocfxxx.xxx]2582 Apr 2001 The Modern Regime V1, by Hippolyte A. Taine OCF V5[05ocfxxx.xxx]2581 Apr 2001 The French Revolution V3, by Hippolyte Taine OCFV4[04ocfxxx.xxx]2580
Apr 2001 The French Revolution V2, by Hippolyte Taine OCFV3[03ocfxxx.xxx]2579 Apr 2001 The French Revolution V1, by Hippolyte Taine OCFV2[02ocfxxx.xxx]2578 Apr 2001 The Ancient Regime, by Hippolyte A. Taine OCF V1 [01ocfxxx.xxx]2577 Apr 2001 Alps and Sanctuaries, by Samuel Butler [Butler #5][alpsnxxx.xxx]2576 [Full Title: Alps and Sanctuaries of Piedmont and the Canton Ticino] Apr 2001 Confessions of an Inquiring Spirit, by Colerige #2[cfinqxxx.xxx]2575 [Full: Confessions of an Inquiring Spirit etc., by Samuel Taylor Coleridge] Apr Apr Apr Apr
2001 2001 2001 2001
On the Frontier, by Bret Harte [Bret Harte #28][frntrxxx.xxx]2574 The Caged Lion, by Charlotte M. Yonge [Yonge #2] [cgdlnxxx.xxx]2573 On the Decay of the Art of Lying, by Mark Twain 17[lyingxxx.xxx]2572 Peace, by Aristophanes [Aristophanes #2][peacexxx.xxx]2571
Notes from Edupage and News Scan You have been reading excerpts from NewsScan Daily Underwritten by Arthur Andersen & IEEE Computer Society If you have questions or comments about NewsScan send e-mail to [email protected] To subscribe or unsubscribe to NewsScan Daily, send an e-mail message to [email protected] with 'subscribe' or 'unsubscribe' in the subject line. MICROSOFT TO ADOPT BIOMETRIC TECHNOLOGY [See Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon for details, but be forewarned, there is no ending to the book.] Microsoft says it plans to incorporate biometric technology in its Windows software that will enable users to sign on by brushing their fingertips across a scanner rather than typing in a password. Biometric technology scans the details of a person's fingerprints, iris patterns, facial structure or other physical characteristics and compares them against a database of stored user information. The company will use authentication technology from I/O Software Inc. (Reuters/Los Angeles Times 3 May 2000) http://www.latimes.com/business/20000503/t000041568.html WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE? DISNEY, SAYS TIME WARNER Three and a half million homes cable customers across the U.S. were shut out of ABC affiliate TV stations Monday as a result of a dispute between Time Warner Inc. and The Walt Disney Co. The two media giants have been negotiating for several months to form a new long-term agreement for Time Warner's cable systems to carry channels from Disney, including ABC, the Disney Channel and ESPN. Disney wants Time Warner to feature two new channels and to make the Disney Channel part of its basic package. Time Warner agreed but balked at the price and dropped affiliates in New York City; Los Angeles; Houston; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; Toledo, Ohio; parts of Fresno, Calif., and Philadelphia. Each company blames the other for the stalemate, witha Disney executive blasting, "Some deranged individual has deprived all of these people of ABC. These people are arrogant manipulators." A Time Warner spokesman says Disney is trying to extract "excessive and unreasonable terms" for its cable TV channels. Until the matter is settled, viewers are tuning into "Who Wants to be Millionaire" the old-fashioned way -- by fiddling with their antennae. (Washington Post 1 May 2000)
WEB PORTALS RETHINK THEIR BROADBAND PROMISES [Big Bandwidth is so far 98% vaporware. . . .] Faced with the reality that only a relative handful of Web surfers have access to high-speed 'Net connections, portal sites Yahoo and Lycos have quietly scaled back their plans for new applications and content designed specifically for those users. Spurred by the merger of Excite.com with the @Home Network last year, Lycos began development of a service dubbed "Lycos Lightning" aimed at high-speed surfers. But that initiative has been moved to the back burner, as has a similar effort by Yahoo. "We look at the marketplace and say, 'Well, broadband certainly is important, but there's 50 narrowband connections still in the United States for every broadband connection, so let's be careful about how much energy we put into broadband,'" says one Lycos exec. Despite broadband's limited availability today, analysts expect high-speed connections in the U.S. to reach as many as 12.9 million households in two years. When that kind of critical mass is reached, site operators will have no choice but to play to the broadband market. (New York Times 1 May 2000) http://www.nytimes.com/cnet/CNET_0_4_1779432_00.html INTERNET TELEPHONY IS COMING INTO ITS OWN [You can read about this in Cryptonomicon, too.] If you think Internet communication is limited to e-mail and instant messaging, think again. Last year, Internet Protocol (IP) networks carried 2.7 billion minutes of phone calls worldwide, and International Data Corp. says that number could jump to 135 billion minutes by 2004, with nearly a quarter of that usage occurring in Asia. One company hitching its wagon to the IP telephony star is OCen Communications. OCen -- which stands for open communications enterprise network and means "profound telecommunications" in Chinese -- has built a private IP network linking Los Angeles to Asia, enabling customers in California to place IP voice and fax calls to Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan and eastern China. Now, the company plans to sell its services to corporate customers in Asia for resale to consumers. Thought OCen faces a slew of competition from Internet phone carriers, it's the first to target the Asian business community, where quality is more of a factor than cost. Other IP phone companies have made price their big selling point. OCen is offering customers what amounts to a virtual private network -- ensuring high-quality service and four-digit dialing between company locations, even when those locations span several national borders. (Los Angeles Times 1 May 2000) http://www.latimes.com/business/20000501/t000040913.html CAN SCRATCH 'N SNIFF COMPUTERS BE FAR BEHIND? [You heard it first from me. . .hee hee] Shopping online for a Mother's Day gift and can't decide which perfume to choose? Not a problem any more. TriSenx has patented a technology that will let you click and smell. Using a device something like a desktop printer, you can download a smell or taste from the Internet. A picture of a strawberry, for example, both smells and tastes like, well, a strawberry. The scent technology, which several companies have been working on, works by mixing chemicals to create the desired smell. The scents are printed on a cardstock paper now, but future plans call for them to print to a communion-like wafer that would make it easier to sample tastes from the Web. Will it catch on? At its current price of $398, skeptics abound. "If it's going to be a couple of hundred bucks I'd be hard-pressed to see who's going to go out and buy a smell generator," says one analyst. Numerous businesses have expressed interest in the idea, including fragrance makers and cookie companies. (San Jose Mercury News 1 May 2000)
http://www.sjmercury.com/svtech/news/breaking/ap/docs/481779l.htm NEW EU ENCRYPTION EXPORT RULE LOOSER THAN U.S. The European Union has agreed to relax the rules for exporting encryption software, lifting almost all restrictions on encryption exports among the 15 EU countries and 10 other countries -- the U.S., Japan, Canada, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland -- which together make up over 80% of the world market. The new EU rules eliminate the need to secure approval from national licensing bodies and do away with security checks for all encryption products with the exception of so-called crypto-analytic tools, which can be used to test systems and crack codes. Companies will need only to promise that the end user of the encryption product is in one of the 25 countries approved. Exports to countries outside that group will be subject to current restrictions. The move puts U.S. encryption companies once again at a disadvantage, despite a liberalization of export rules that took effect in January. And although U.S. companies are likely to respond by pushing for further reforms, it's not likely that the government will oblige. (Wall Street Journal 28 Apr 2000) http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB956867771608897487.htm LOSING INTERNET WEALTH AT INTERNET SPEED Among the many technology entrepreneurs who have seen market gyrations cause their stock holdings to plummet is MicroStrategy founder and chief executive Michael J. Saylor, who made news two months ago when he announced that he was putting $100 million of his personal funds into the creation of an online university. A MicroStrategy spokesman says that Saylor will continue his plans to make that donation, even though the market value of his personal stake in the company has dropped from a high of $13.6 billion to $1.07 billion at close of the market yesterday. (Washington Post 28 Apr 2000) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29010-2000Apr27.html JUDGE WANTS HACKER OFF THE LECTURE CIRCUIT [Is this EX POST FACTO as prohibited in the US Constitution?] When he was released on probation after having been imprisoned almost five years for network vandalism, Kevin Mitnick was ordered to stay completely away from computers, cell phones, and the Internet for three years. The judge, assuming that Mitnick would have to find some minimum-wage job, didn't think of ordering him not to give speeches about his knowledge of hacking. To rectify her oversight, U.S. District Judge Mariana Pfaelzer is now telling him she'll send him back to jail if he doesn't get off the lecture circuit. Mitnick says, "They're saying I can no longer write or speak about technology issues. I think it is an abrogation of my First Amendment rights... Probation is not supposed to be punitive...They don't like the idea of my being a celebrity. They are trying to chill my free speech in hopes that my notoriety will die down." (AP/San Jose Mercury News 28 Apr 2000) JUSTICE APPROVES VIACOM-CBS MERGER [More Merger Mania] The Justice Department has okayed Viacom's $47-billion purchase of CBS, and the Federal Communications Commission has indicated it, too, plans to approve the megamerger. In its recommendation for approval, the FCC's Mass Media Bureau said the combined company should be given a year to comply with the 35% audience limit and six months to sell off two radio stations or a TV station in Dallas, in order to comply with media ownership rules. The Bureau also recommended that Viacom-CBS be allowed to keep UPN for one year, during which time the FCC likely will relax its dual-network prohibition. (Hollywood Reporter 27 Apr 2000)
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/frontpage/index.asp?ee MICROSOFT COUNTS ON TEEN WHIZZES FOR THE FUTURE Microsoft has seen the future and it is young. So it's hired two teenagers -- Michael Furdyk, 17, and Jennifer Corriero, 19 -- to explain to Microsoft executives the new generation's philosophy of work and play. "People's lives used to be all about education, then work, then retirement or fun or whatever," says Corriero. "But what's happening with us is that all three of these things are all mixed in together. We're always learning, we like our work so we're working more, and we're working when we want to, and we're having fun now as opposed to later." One example of how things are changing is that younger people seem to prefer online chat meetings as opposed to conference room get-togethers. They feel they can communicate more thoughtfully by writing, can work on other projects while waiting for a response, and can walk away from the meeting with a written record of all that was discussed. (AP/Los Angeles Times 27 Apr 2000) http://www.latimes.com/business/20000427/t000039487.html COMPUTER GIANTS SEEK SAVINGS THROUGH B2B PARTNERSHIP Taking their cue from "old economy" veterans who have formed business-to-business partnerships to help reduce supply costs, three of the top five computer companies -- Compaq, Hewlett-Packard and Gateway -announced they have joined with nine suppliers to launch a new "online marketplace company." The enterprise initially will be a catalog of products from each participant and later will link buyers and sellers. Eventually it's expected to speed up the design and manufacture of new products and will include telecom and consumer electronics components. Backers, who estimate savings will be between 5% to 7%, are actively seeking other players, including Internet software and services suppliers. Pioneer partners are chipmakers Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Samsung Electronics, Infineon Technologies, NEC Corp. and Hitachi Ltd.; disk-drive makers Quantum Corp. and Western Digital; and printed circuit-board makers Solectron Corp. and SCI Systems Inc. The new company is expected to be up and running in 90 days. IBM announced it is developing a similar exchange. (San Jose Mercury News 1 May 2000) SCI FI WRITER WINS PRIZE CREATED FOR ONLINE VISUAL ARTISTS [No. . .I swear. . .I didn't get to this one until just now, didn't know!] By-passing 250 official entries in the Internet category of the Prix Ars Electronica international computer-arts competition sponsored by the Austrian Broadcasting Company, the jurors gave the prize to science fiction author Neal Stephenson ("Snow Crash" and "Cryptonomicon'), who didn't even enter the contest and isn't even a visual artist. One juror said off-the-record: "It was a good way to make the comment that the work we were seeing wasn't as original, and also to credit Neal Stephenson because he's directly inspired so many developers." (New York Times 27 Apr 2000) http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/04/cyber/artsatlarge/27artsatlarge.html OPPOSITION TO PROPOSED AOL-TIME WARNER MERGER The Consumers Union, the Consumer Federation of America, the Center for Media Education, and the Media Access Project will file petitions with the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission in opposition to the proposed merger of America Online and Time Warner, which the groups say will add "a dangerous new dimension to the merging structure of the cable TV-broadband-Internet industry." AOL and Time Warner say that, to the contrary, the merger "will deliver tremendous benefits to consumers, bringing people around the world more choice and more convenience and accelerating the rollout of broadband services." (Washington Post 26 Apr 2000)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13380-2000Apr25.html You have been reading excerpts from NewsScan Daily Underwritten by Arthur Andersen & IEEE Computer Society If you have questions or comments about NewsScan send e-mail to [email protected] To subscribe or unsubscribe to NewsScan Daily, send an e-mail message to [email protected] with 'subscribe' or 'unsubscribe' in the subject line. *** NEW VOICE IN PORTALS A number of Internet startups are creating voice portals that allow users to access the Internet using a telephone rather than a computer. Users call a toll-free number and speak commands to navigate the Internet. Tellme Networks has built a voice portal that allows users to choose from various categories of information, including stock quotes, weather reports, and restaurant and movie listings. Using speech recognition technology, the portal takes in a caller's selection, finds the requested information online, and reads the information aloud. Voice portal developers expect to eventually create voice sites that users would navigate by speaking keywords. The market for using the phone to provide Internet access and direct users to businesses could reach $5.5 billion, says Mark Plakias of Kelsey Group. Voice portals could help narrow the digital divide since telephones are so widely available and easy to use. (SiliconValley.com, 30 April 2000) EPA TO LIMIT WEB INFORMATION [Beaten to death from both sides.] The Environmental Protection Agency has decided that it will not publish specific information on the Internet about toxic waste sites and other dangerous chemicals residing in manufacturing plants for fear that terrorists will use the information to launch an attack. The EPA had previously planned to make such information public, but objections were raised by FBI and Justice Department officials, who felt that the information could be used by people with bad intent to facilitate an attack on a chemical plant. New EPA and Justice Department regulations will be released today. Omitted from the Internet will be information relating to the size of the population surrounding chemical plants, the type and breadth of a toxic cloud that could develop if there were an accident at a chemical plant, and disaster scenarios that could occur if such an accident took place. (Washington Post, 27 April 2000) A LAPTOP FOR EVERY KID Four years after the principal of a Bloomfield, Conn., school initiated an effort to supply all of its students and teachers with laptops and wireless Internet access, other school systems across the country are seeking to act on bold plans of their own to provide their students with such technology. In Maine, the state legislature will vote this week on a proposal by Gov. Angus King that would supply all of the state's 17,000 seventh-graders with laptops, as well as the new seventh-graders of each school
year. Although King wanted to use as much as $50 million of the state's budget surplus to wire students, a compromise has reduced that amount to $30 million, which would also be used to establish a permanent endowment with its interest to be used to help buy the computers. In New York City, the board of education has already voted to pursue an initiative that could fund laptop purchases for every student in fourth grade and higher in nine years. With its April 12 unanimous vote, a school Internet portal will be created, and the Web site will make money by selling ads and licensing e-commerce sites. New York's 1.1 million public school students will obtain e-mail service through the portal. (Time, 1 May 2000) COMPANIES, SCHOOLS DO MATH: TECH PAYS The effects of the digital divide are perhaps most evident in Silicon Valley, where high-tech workers are regularly becoming millionaires while many non-tech workers cannot afford to pay rent. With local workers filling only two-thirds of high-tech labor needs, the industry is losing $3 billion a year in productivity and high salaries needed to keep workers, according to the business, government, and education think tank Joint Venture: Silicon Valley. Although Silicon Valley is renowned for technology, the region's schools are unable to meet demand for technical classes because of poor funding and a lack of qualified teachers. Schools have had to cancel technology classes because teachers, frustrated with low salaries, are entering the high-tech field. Some companies are trying to create a skilled labor pool by providing training and equipment to local high schools and community colleges. Meanwhile, Joint Venture: Silicon Valley urges local high-tech companies to send workers to teach at community colleges to "spread the wealth" of Silicon Valley. (Investor's Business Daily, 26 April 2000) You have been reading excerpts from Edupage: If you have questions or comments about Edupage, send e-mail to: [email protected] To SUBSCRIBE to Edupage, send a message to [email protected] and in the body of the message type: SUBSCRIBE Edupage YourFirstName YourLastName
Mac users can download our .txt files in binary mode to avoid the double spacing cr/lf line ends creates. Or download the .zip files, which unzip properly for nearly any operating system they are unzipped for... About the Project Gutenberg Newsletter: [Goes out approximately first Wednesday of each month. But different relays will get it to you at different times; you can subscribe directly, just send me email to find out how, or surf to promo.net/pg to subscribe directly by yourself.]
In 1950 New York City handled about 20% of the US sea shipping, now down to only 6% of the nation's tonnage. A million Yellow Taxi trips per day in New York City. New York is NOT one of the 15 cities of 10,000,000. [Let me know if you have comments about including these kinds of information in our Newsletters.]
Requests For Assistance We need an English translation of Euripides, from before 1923, particularly for Medea. Please email Scott Fallin <[email protected]> cc:me Progress on our translation of Siddhartha is very difficult, and we drastically need more volunteers to help translate from the original German, which we have available as Etext. Due to various copyright restrictions, it may not be legal for many volunteers outside the US to help us Trying to locate: Michael Larsen, formerly of Penn.
"Kampung Buku Malaysia (Malaysia Book Village) is a manifestation of the Kedah State Government's ( a state in Malaysia) initiative in promoting reading to the people of Malaysia. Through the book village, we hope to make available cheap reading materials through the sales of second and remainder books. However, as part of the Worldwide Book Village and Book Towns Movement,
we also sell antiquarian and rare books. "We believe that our aspirations in bringing reading materials to the public at large will be further enhanced through Etext under Project Gutenberg. We, at the Book Village are making efforts to spearhead PG in Malaysia and South East Asia (Malaysia. Singapore, Indonesia & Brunei), to publish Etexts in the Malay Language. We will, in our endeavor try to recruit retired librarians, government servants, students, historians, government and non-government bodies to volunteer in this wonderful program. "We may be contacted at [email protected] or visit our website at www.kampungbukumalaysia.com " And I have my own request for assistance: I still very much need public relationtions people, both for contacting the media and the Billionaire Boys Club. . [email protected]
Comments About Our New Files We are closing in on being a year ahead of schedule, this is the first time I have really announced the releases of Etexts in the same month they will be officially released a year later!!! We should be able to reach 3,333 Etext by the end of 2001. . . We have released the six volume series "The Origins of Contemporary France" by Hippolyte A. Taine. Due to popular requests, we have released four new math constants [yes, there are still nerds and geeks out there in InternetLand. . .. We posted Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky. We have started releasing Aristophanes. And plenty more Bret Harte, Elizabeth Gaskell, Robert Louis Stevenson,
Index Listings for the New Files Mon Year Title and Author [filename.ext]#### *****A "C" Following a Project Gutenberg Etext Number Indicates Copyright**** New versions of the following were posted: Jan 2000 The American Republic, by O. A. Brownson
[amrepxxx.xxx]2053
Mar 2001 Two Men of Sandy Bar, by Bret Harte[Bret Harte#27][tmosbxxx.xxx]2570
Mar 2001 The Day's Work [Vol. 1], by Rudyard Kipling[RK#14][dyswkxxx.xxx]2569 Mar 2001 Trent's Last Case, by E.C.(Edmund Clerihew)Bentley[trentxxx.xxx]2568 [This was the British title, US title was The Woman in Black] Mar 2001 The Woman in Black by E.C.(Edmund Clerihew)Bentley[trentxxx.xxx]2568 Mar 2001 A Plea for Captain John Brown, by Thoreau [HDT #4][apcjbxxx.xxx]2567 [Author: Henry David Thoreau] Jan 2001 Mary-'Gusta by Joseph C. Lincoln [J.C. Lincoln #4][mrygtxxx.xxx]2473 Mar 2001 How to Fail in Literature, by Andrew Lang[Lang#26][fllitxxx.xxx]2566 Mar 2001 The Story of the Glittering Plain, by Wm. Morris 4[gltplxxx.xxx]2565 Mar 2001 Wanderings Among South Sea Savages by H. W. Walker[wasssxxx.xxx]2564 [Title: Wanderings Among South Sea Savages And in Borneo and the Philippines] [Author: H. Wilfrid Walker] Mar 2001 Memoirs of the Comtesse du Barry by Lamothe-Langon[8dbryxxx.xxx]2563 Mar 2001 Memoirs of the Comtesse du Barry by Lamothe-Langon[7dbryxxx.xxx]2563 [Full title: Memoirs of the Comtesse du Barry With Minute Details of Her Entire Career as Favorite of Louis XV] [Author's full name: Baron Etienne Leon Lamothe-Langon] [We are posting two versions, 8 bit with accents, 7 bit plain standard text.] Mar Mar Mar Mar
2001 2001 2001 2001
The Clouds, by Aristophanes [Aristophanes #1][cloudxxx.xxx]2562 Robert Falconer, by George MacDonald[MacDonald#10][rflcnxxx.xxx]2561 The Three Partners, by Bret Harte [Bret Harte #26][tpartxxx.xxx]2560 Man of Property, by John Galsworthy[Forsyte#1JG#4][mnprpxxx.xxx]2559
Mar 2001 Poems, by George P. Morris [mrrspxxx.xxx]2558 Mar 2001 Old Mother West Wind, by Thornton W. Burgess[TB#4][ldmwwxxx.xxx]2557 Mar 2001 Mr. Jack Hamlin's Mediation, by Bret Harte [BH#25][jhmlnxxx.xxx]2556 Mar 2001 Under the Redwoods, by Bret Harte[Bret Harte [#24][unrdwxxx.xxx]2555 Contains: JIMMY'S BIG BROTHER FROM CALIFORNIA THE YOUNGEST MISS PIPER A WIDOW OF THE SANTA ANA VALLEY THE MERMAID OF LIGHTHOUSE POINT UNDER THE EAVES HOW REUBEN ALLEN "SAW LIFE" IN SAN FRANCISCO THREE VAGABONDS OF TRINIDAD A VISION OF THE FOUNTAIN A ROMANCE OF THE LINE BOHEMIAN DAYS IN SAN FRANCISCO UNDER THE REDWOODS Mar 2001 Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky [FD #4][7crmpxxx.xxx]2554 Mar 2001 Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky [FD #4][8crmpxxx.xxx]2554 Mar 2001 Jeanne d'Arc, Her Life and Death, by Mrs. Oliphant[7jnrcxxx.xxx]2553 Mar 2001 Jeanne d'Arc, Her Life and Death, by Mrs. Oliphant[8jnrcxxx.xxx]2553 [We are posting two versions, 8 bit with accents, 7 bit plain standard text.] Mar 2001 Thankful's Inheritance, by Joseph C. Lincoln[JL#5][thkinxxx.xxx]2552 Mar 2001 Droll Stories [V. 3], by Honore de Balzac[HdB #95][3drllxxx.xxx]2551 Also see: Sep 2000 Droll Stories [V. 2], by Honore de Balzac[HdB #92][2drllxxx.xxx]2318 Oct 1999 Droll Stories [V. 1], by Honore de Balzac[HdB #82][1drllxxx.xxx]1925 Mar Mar Mar Mar
2001 2001 2001 2001
Tales of Trail and Town, by Bret Harte [Harte #23][totatxxx.xxx]2550 Doom of the Griffiths, by Elizabeth Gaskell[EG#10][dmgrfxxx.xxx]2549 The Poor Clare, by Elizabeth Gaskell[E. Gaskell#9][prclrxxx.xxx]2548 Half a Life-time Ago, by Elizabeth Gaskell[E.G.#8][hlflfxxx.xxx]2547
Mar 2001 Hopalong Cassidy's Rustler Round-Up, by CE Mulford[hcrruxxx.xxx]2546 Mar 2001 BAR-20[Alternate Title],by Clarence Edward Mulford[hcrruxxx.xxx]2546 Mar 2001 When God Laughs et al, by Jack London [JL #98-109][gdlghxxx.xxx]2545 Contains: 98. WHEN GOD LAUGHS 99. THE APOSTATE 100. A WICKED WOMAN 101. JUST MEAT 102. CREATED HE THEM 103. THE CHINAGO 104. MAKE WESTING 105. SEMPER IDEM 106. A NOSE FOR THE KING 107. THE "FRANCIS SPAIGHT" 108. A CURIOUS FRAGMENT 109. A PIECE OF STEAK Mar 2001 From Sand Hill to Pine, by Bret Harte[B Harte #22][fshtpxxx.xxx]2544 Mar 2001 Polyeucte, by Pierre Corneille[Tr by T. Constable][plyctxxx.xxx]2543 Mar 2001 The Doll's House, by Henrik Ibsen[Henrik Ibsen #5][dlshsxxx.xxx]2542 Mar 2001 Character, by Samuel Smiles [Samuel Smiles #6][crctrxxx.xxx]2541 Mar 2001 Father and Son [Autobiography], by Edmund Gosse [ftrsnxxx.xxx]2540 Mar 2001 The Malay Archipelago, by Alfred Russel Wallace V2[2malayxx.xxx]2539 Also see: Feb 2001 The Malay Archipelago, by Alfred Russel Wallace V1[1malayxx.xxx]2530 Mar Mar Mar Mar
2001 2001 2001 2001
My Birthday. . .if you find something cute. :-) [ xxx.xxx]2538 The Pocket R.L.S., by Robert Louis Stevenson [#39][pkrlsxxx.xxx]2537 Amphitryon, A play by Moliere, Tr. by Waller [M#2][amphixxx.xxx]2536 Openings in the Old Trail, by Bret Harte[Harte#21][oitotxxx.xxx]2535
Mar Mar Mar Mar
2001 2001 2001 2001
Eugene Pickering, by Henry James [James Round the Sofa, by Elizabeth Gaskell The Half-Brothers, by Elizabeth Gaskell An Accursed Race, by Elizabeth Gaskell
#29][eugpkxxx.xxx]2534 [#8][rndsfxxx.xxx]2533 [#7][hlfbrxxx.xxx]2532 [#6][accrcxxx.xxx]2531
Also released: Jan 2001 Repertory of the Comedie Humaine, Pt 2 [Balzac#94][2rthcxxx.xxx]2469 Also see: Jan 2001 Repertory of the Comedie Humaine, Pt 1 [Balzac#93][1rthcxxx.xxx]2468 And. . .we have these already prepared for next month: Apr Apr Apr Apr
2001 2001 2001 2001
The The The The
first first first Value
498 Bernoulli Numbers[Math Constant #22][brnllxxx.xxx]2586 1001 Fibonacci Numbers[Math Constant#21][fbnccxxx.xxx]2585 1000 Euler Numbers [Math Constant #20][eulerxxx.xxx]2584 of Zeta(3) to 1,000,000 Places[Math #19][zeta3xxx.xxx]2583
The next six Etexts comprise the series "The Origins of Contemporary France" by Hippolyte A. Taine. "The Origins of Contemporary France" = ocf Apr 2001 The Modern Regime V2, by Hippolyte A. Taine OCF V6[06ocfxxx.xxx]2582 Apr 2001 The Modern Regime V1, by Hippolyte A. Taine OCF V5[05ocfxxx.xxx]2581 Apr 2001 The French Revolution V3, by Hippolyte Taine OCFV4[04ocfxxx.xxx]2580
Apr 2001 The French Revolution V2, by Hippolyte Taine OCFV3[03ocfxxx.xxx]2579 Apr 2001 The French Revolution V1, by Hippolyte Taine OCFV2[02ocfxxx.xxx]2578 Apr 2001 The Ancient Regime, by Hippolyte A. Taine OCF V1 [01ocfxxx.xxx]2577 Apr 2001 Alps and Sanctuaries, by Samuel Butler [Butler #5][alpsnxxx.xxx]2576 [Full Title: Alps and Sanctuaries of Piedmont and the Canton Ticino] Apr 2001 Confessions of an Inquiring Spirit, by Colerige #2[cfinqxxx.xxx]2575 [Full: Confessions of an Inquiring Spirit etc., by Samuel Taylor Coleridge] Apr Apr Apr Apr
2001 2001 2001 2001
On the Frontier, by Bret Harte [Bret Harte #28][frntrxxx.xxx]2574 The Caged Lion, by Charlotte M. Yonge [Yonge #2] [cgdlnxxx.xxx]2573 On the Decay of the Art of Lying, by Mark Twain 17[lyingxxx.xxx]2572 Peace, by Aristophanes [Aristophanes #2][peacexxx.xxx]2571
Notes from Edupage and News Scan You have been reading excerpts from NewsScan Daily Underwritten by Arthur Andersen & IEEE Computer Society If you have questions or comments about NewsScan send e-mail to [email protected] To subscribe or unsubscribe to NewsScan Daily, send an e-mail message to [email protected] with 'subscribe' or 'unsubscribe' in the subject line. MICROSOFT TO ADOPT BIOMETRIC TECHNOLOGY [See Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon for details, but be forewarned, there is no ending to the book.] Microsoft says it plans to incorporate biometric technology in its Windows software that will enable users to sign on by brushing their fingertips across a scanner rather than typing in a password. Biometric technology scans the details of a person's fingerprints, iris patterns, facial structure or other physical characteristics and compares them against a database of stored user information. The company will use authentication technology from I/O Software Inc. (Reuters/Los Angeles Times 3 May 2000) http://www.latimes.com/business/20000503/t000041568.html WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE? DISNEY, SAYS TIME WARNER Three and a half million homes cable customers across the U.S. were shut out of ABC affiliate TV stations Monday as a result of a dispute between Time Warner Inc. and The Walt Disney Co. The two media giants have been negotiating for several months to form a new long-term agreement for Time Warner's cable systems to carry channels from Disney, including ABC, the Disney Channel and ESPN. Disney wants Time Warner to feature two new channels and to make the Disney Channel part of its basic package. Time Warner agreed but balked at the price and dropped affiliates in New York City; Los Angeles; Houston; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; Toledo, Ohio; parts of Fresno, Calif., and Philadelphia. Each company blames the other for the stalemate, witha Disney executive blasting, "Some deranged individual has deprived all of these people of ABC. These people are arrogant manipulators." A Time Warner spokesman says Disney is trying to extract "excessive and unreasonable terms" for its cable TV channels. Until the matter is settled, viewers are tuning into "Who Wants to be Millionaire" the old-fashioned way -- by fiddling with their antennae. (Washington Post 1 May 2000)
WEB PORTALS RETHINK THEIR BROADBAND PROMISES [Big Bandwidth is so far 98% vaporware. . . .] Faced with the reality that only a relative handful of Web surfers have access to high-speed 'Net connections, portal sites Yahoo and Lycos have quietly scaled back their plans for new applications and content designed specifically for those users. Spurred by the merger of Excite.com with the @Home Network last year, Lycos began development of a service dubbed "Lycos Lightning" aimed at high-speed surfers. But that initiative has been moved to the back burner, as has a similar effort by Yahoo. "We look at the marketplace and say, 'Well, broadband certainly is important, but there's 50 narrowband connections still in the United States for every broadband connection, so let's be careful about how much energy we put into broadband,'" says one Lycos exec. Despite broadband's limited availability today, analysts expect high-speed connections in the U.S. to reach as many as 12.9 million households in two years. When that kind of critical mass is reached, site operators will have no choice but to play to the broadband market. (New York Times 1 May 2000) http://www.nytimes.com/cnet/CNET_0_4_1779432_00.html INTERNET TELEPHONY IS COMING INTO ITS OWN [You can read about this in Cryptonomicon, too.] If you think Internet communication is limited to e-mail and instant messaging, think again. Last year, Internet Protocol (IP) networks carried 2.7 billion minutes of phone calls worldwide, and International Data Corp. says that number could jump to 135 billion minutes by 2004, with nearly a quarter of that usage occurring in Asia. One company hitching its wagon to the IP telephony star is OCen Communications. OCen -- which stands for open communications enterprise network and means "profound telecommunications" in Chinese -- has built a private IP network linking Los Angeles to Asia, enabling customers in California to place IP voice and fax calls to Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan and eastern China. Now, the company plans to sell its services to corporate customers in Asia for resale to consumers. Thought OCen faces a slew of competition from Internet phone carriers, it's the first to target the Asian business community, where quality is more of a factor than cost. Other IP phone companies have made price their big selling point. OCen is offering customers what amounts to a virtual private network -- ensuring high-quality service and four-digit dialing between company locations, even when those locations span several national borders. (Los Angeles Times 1 May 2000) http://www.latimes.com/business/20000501/t000040913.html CAN SCRATCH 'N SNIFF COMPUTERS BE FAR BEHIND? [You heard it first from me. . .hee hee] Shopping online for a Mother's Day gift and can't decide which perfume to choose? Not a problem any more. TriSenx has patented a technology that will let you click and smell. Using a device something like a desktop printer, you can download a smell or taste from the Internet. A picture of a strawberry, for example, both smells and tastes like, well, a strawberry. The scent technology, which several companies have been working on, works by mixing chemicals to create the desired smell. The scents are printed on a cardstock paper now, but future plans call for them to print to a communion-like wafer that would make it easier to sample tastes from the Web. Will it catch on? At its current price of $398, skeptics abound. "If it's going to be a couple of hundred bucks I'd be hard-pressed to see who's going to go out and buy a smell generator," says one analyst. Numerous businesses have expressed interest in the idea, including fragrance makers and cookie companies. (San Jose Mercury News 1 May 2000)
http://www.sjmercury.com/svtech/news/breaking/ap/docs/481779l.htm NEW EU ENCRYPTION EXPORT RULE LOOSER THAN U.S. The European Union has agreed to relax the rules for exporting encryption software, lifting almost all restrictions on encryption exports among the 15 EU countries and 10 other countries -- the U.S., Japan, Canada, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland -- which together make up over 80% of the world market. The new EU rules eliminate the need to secure approval from national licensing bodies and do away with security checks for all encryption products with the exception of so-called crypto-analytic tools, which can be used to test systems and crack codes. Companies will need only to promise that the end user of the encryption product is in one of the 25 countries approved. Exports to countries outside that group will be subject to current restrictions. The move puts U.S. encryption companies once again at a disadvantage, despite a liberalization of export rules that took effect in January. And although U.S. companies are likely to respond by pushing for further reforms, it's not likely that the government will oblige. (Wall Street Journal 28 Apr 2000) http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB956867771608897487.htm LOSING INTERNET WEALTH AT INTERNET SPEED Among the many technology entrepreneurs who have seen market gyrations cause their stock holdings to plummet is MicroStrategy founder and chief executive Michael J. Saylor, who made news two months ago when he announced that he was putting $100 million of his personal funds into the creation of an online university. A MicroStrategy spokesman says that Saylor will continue his plans to make that donation, even though the market value of his personal stake in the company has dropped from a high of $13.6 billion to $1.07 billion at close of the market yesterday. (Washington Post 28 Apr 2000) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29010-2000Apr27.html JUDGE WANTS HACKER OFF THE LECTURE CIRCUIT [Is this EX POST FACTO as prohibited in the US Constitution?] When he was released on probation after having been imprisoned almost five years for network vandalism, Kevin Mitnick was ordered to stay completely away from computers, cell phones, and the Internet for three years. The judge, assuming that Mitnick would have to find some minimum-wage job, didn't think of ordering him not to give speeches about his knowledge of hacking. To rectify her oversight, U.S. District Judge Mariana Pfaelzer is now telling him she'll send him back to jail if he doesn't get off the lecture circuit. Mitnick says, "They're saying I can no longer write or speak about technology issues. I think it is an abrogation of my First Amendment rights... Probation is not supposed to be punitive...They don't like the idea of my being a celebrity. They are trying to chill my free speech in hopes that my notoriety will die down." (AP/San Jose Mercury News 28 Apr 2000) JUSTICE APPROVES VIACOM-CBS MERGER [More Merger Mania] The Justice Department has okayed Viacom's $47-billion purchase of CBS, and the Federal Communications Commission has indicated it, too, plans to approve the megamerger. In its recommendation for approval, the FCC's Mass Media Bureau said the combined company should be given a year to comply with the 35% audience limit and six months to sell off two radio stations or a TV station in Dallas, in order to comply with media ownership rules. The Bureau also recommended that Viacom-CBS be allowed to keep UPN for one year, during which time the FCC likely will relax its dual-network prohibition. (Hollywood Reporter 27 Apr 2000)
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/frontpage/index.asp?ee MICROSOFT COUNTS ON TEEN WHIZZES FOR THE FUTURE Microsoft has seen the future and it is young. So it's hired two teenagers -- Michael Furdyk, 17, and Jennifer Corriero, 19 -- to explain to Microsoft executives the new generation's philosophy of work and play. "People's lives used to be all about education, then work, then retirement or fun or whatever," says Corriero. "But what's happening with us is that all three of these things are all mixed in together. We're always learning, we like our work so we're working more, and we're working when we want to, and we're having fun now as opposed to later." One example of how things are changing is that younger people seem to prefer online chat meetings as opposed to conference room get-togethers. They feel they can communicate more thoughtfully by writing, can work on other projects while waiting for a response, and can walk away from the meeting with a written record of all that was discussed. (AP/Los Angeles Times 27 Apr 2000) http://www.latimes.com/business/20000427/t000039487.html COMPUTER GIANTS SEEK SAVINGS THROUGH B2B PARTNERSHIP Taking their cue from "old economy" veterans who have formed business-to-business partnerships to help reduce supply costs, three of the top five computer companies -- Compaq, Hewlett-Packard and Gateway -announced they have joined with nine suppliers to launch a new "online marketplace company." The enterprise initially will be a catalog of products from each participant and later will link buyers and sellers. Eventually it's expected to speed up the design and manufacture of new products and will include telecom and consumer electronics components. Backers, who estimate savings will be between 5% to 7%, are actively seeking other players, including Internet software and services suppliers. Pioneer partners are chipmakers Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Samsung Electronics, Infineon Technologies, NEC Corp. and Hitachi Ltd.; disk-drive makers Quantum Corp. and Western Digital; and printed circuit-board makers Solectron Corp. and SCI Systems Inc. The new company is expected to be up and running in 90 days. IBM announced it is developing a similar exchange. (San Jose Mercury News 1 May 2000) SCI FI WRITER WINS PRIZE CREATED FOR ONLINE VISUAL ARTISTS [No. . .I swear. . .I didn't get to this one until just now, didn't know!] By-passing 250 official entries in the Internet category of the Prix Ars Electronica international computer-arts competition sponsored by the Austrian Broadcasting Company, the jurors gave the prize to science fiction author Neal Stephenson ("Snow Crash" and "Cryptonomicon'), who didn't even enter the contest and isn't even a visual artist. One juror said off-the-record: "It was a good way to make the comment that the work we were seeing wasn't as original, and also to credit Neal Stephenson because he's directly inspired so many developers." (New York Times 27 Apr 2000) http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/04/cyber/artsatlarge/27artsatlarge.html OPPOSITION TO PROPOSED AOL-TIME WARNER MERGER The Consumers Union, the Consumer Federation of America, the Center for Media Education, and the Media Access Project will file petitions with the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission in opposition to the proposed merger of America Online and Time Warner, which the groups say will add "a dangerous new dimension to the merging structure of the cable TV-broadband-Internet industry." AOL and Time Warner say that, to the contrary, the merger "will deliver tremendous benefits to consumers, bringing people around the world more choice and more convenience and accelerating the rollout of broadband services." (Washington Post 26 Apr 2000)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13380-2000Apr25.html You have been reading excerpts from NewsScan Daily Underwritten by Arthur Andersen & IEEE Computer Society If you have questions or comments about NewsScan send e-mail to [email protected] To subscribe or unsubscribe to NewsScan Daily, send an e-mail message to [email protected] with 'subscribe' or 'unsubscribe' in the subject line. *** NEW VOICE IN PORTALS A number of Internet startups are creating voice portals that allow users to access the Internet using a telephone rather than a computer. Users call a toll-free number and speak commands to navigate the Internet. Tellme Networks has built a voice portal that allows users to choose from various categories of information, including stock quotes, weather reports, and restaurant and movie listings. Using speech recognition technology, the portal takes in a caller's selection, finds the requested information online, and reads the information aloud. Voice portal developers expect to eventually create voice sites that users would navigate by speaking keywords. The market for using the phone to provide Internet access and direct users to businesses could reach $5.5 billion, says Mark Plakias of Kelsey Group. Voice portals could help narrow the digital divide since telephones are so widely available and easy to use. (SiliconValley.com, 30 April 2000) EPA TO LIMIT WEB INFORMATION [Beaten to death from both sides.] The Environmental Protection Agency has decided that it will not publish specific information on the Internet about toxic waste sites and other dangerous chemicals residing in manufacturing plants for fear that terrorists will use the information to launch an attack. The EPA had previously planned to make such information public, but objections were raised by FBI and Justice Department officials, who felt that the information could be used by people with bad intent to facilitate an attack on a chemical plant. New EPA and Justice Department regulations will be released today. Omitted from the Internet will be information relating to the size of the population surrounding chemical plants, the type and breadth of a toxic cloud that could develop if there were an accident at a chemical plant, and disaster scenarios that could occur if such an accident took place. (Washington Post, 27 April 2000) A LAPTOP FOR EVERY KID Four years after the principal of a Bloomfield, Conn., school initiated an effort to supply all of its students and teachers with laptops and wireless Internet access, other school systems across the country are seeking to act on bold plans of their own to provide their students with such technology. In Maine, the state legislature will vote this week on a proposal by Gov. Angus King that would supply all of the state's 17,000 seventh-graders with laptops, as well as the new seventh-graders of each school
year. Although King wanted to use as much as $50 million of the state's budget surplus to wire students, a compromise has reduced that amount to $30 million, which would also be used to establish a permanent endowment with its interest to be used to help buy the computers. In New York City, the board of education has already voted to pursue an initiative that could fund laptop purchases for every student in fourth grade and higher in nine years. With its April 12 unanimous vote, a school Internet portal will be created, and the Web site will make money by selling ads and licensing e-commerce sites. New York's 1.1 million public school students will obtain e-mail service through the portal. (Time, 1 May 2000) COMPANIES, SCHOOLS DO MATH: TECH PAYS The effects of the digital divide are perhaps most evident in Silicon Valley, where high-tech workers are regularly becoming millionaires while many non-tech workers cannot afford to pay rent. With local workers filling only two-thirds of high-tech labor needs, the industry is losing $3 billion a year in productivity and high salaries needed to keep workers, according to the business, government, and education think tank Joint Venture: Silicon Valley. Although Silicon Valley is renowned for technology, the region's schools are unable to meet demand for technical classes because of poor funding and a lack of qualified teachers. Schools have had to cancel technology classes because teachers, frustrated with low salaries, are entering the high-tech field. Some companies are trying to create a skilled labor pool by providing training and equipment to local high schools and community colleges. Meanwhile, Joint Venture: Silicon Valley urges local high-tech companies to send workers to teach at community colleges to "spread the wealth" of Silicon Valley. (Investor's Business Daily, 26 April 2000) You have been reading excerpts from Edupage: If you have questions or comments about Edupage, send e-mail to: [email protected] To SUBSCRIBE to Edupage, send a message to [email protected] and in the body of the message type: SUBSCRIBE Edupage YourFirstName YourLastName
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