From leon@hawaii.eduTue Jan 30 09:34:16 1996 Date: Mon, 29 Jan 1996 20:19:27 -1000 From: Leon James To: G3 - psy409 list , calvinc@hawaii.edu, cheller@hawaii.edu, choec@hawaii.edu, chungarr@hawaii.edu, chungarr@hawaii.edu, cmachida@hawaii.edu, conrad@hawaii.edu, cuchida@hawaii.edu, deniset@hawaii.edu, dkawamot@hawaii.edu, dorion@hawaii.edu, dougw@hawaii.edu, hjoseph@hawaii.edu, hroylo@hawaii.edu, janel@hawaii.edu, joyj@www.soc.hawaii.edu, karlad@hawaii.edu, katinka@hawaii.edu, khoe@hawaii.edu, marcwong@hawaii.edu, millerr@hawaii.edu, mizuba@hawaii.edu, rowney@hawaii.edu, shermanl@hawaii.edu, tabudlo@hawaii.edu, tsoi@hawaii.edu, ttakaki@hawaii.edu, G3 - 459 list , angiei@hawaii.edu, audy@hawaii.edu, balisaca@hawaii.edu, bnakada@hawaii.edu, cabuag@hawaii.edu, claudett@hawaii.edu, cohta@hawaii.edu, conrad@hawaii.edu, dkawamot@hawaii.edu, dorion@hawaii.edu, dorys@hawaii.edu, gtr@hawaii.edu, handoe@hawaii.edu, huisman@hawaii.edu, jeana@hawaii.edu, malonzo@hawaii.edu, millerr@hawaii.edu, mizuba@hawaii.edu, pulu@hawaii.edu, shermanl@hawaii.edu, simonr@hawaii.edu, troyy@hawaii.edu, tsuehisa@hawaii.edu Subject: Edupage, 28 January 1996 (fwd) G3 409 and 459 cybernauts! Here is EDupage for your information. If you like it, subsribe to it free (info at the bottom on how to). This is optional. Dr.james +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ** Dr. Leon James, Prof. of Psychology, Univ. of Hawaii ** http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/club/leonj/leonpsy/leon.html ** "Thoughts are from affections." E. Swedenborg AE1146 ****************************************************** ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sun, 28 Jan 1996 14:30:21 -1000 From: Educom To: EDUCOM Edupage Mailing List Subject: Edupage, 28 January 1996 ***************************************************************** Edupage, 28 January 1996. Edupage, a summary of news items on information technology, is provided three times each week as a service by Educom, a Washington, D.C.-based consortium of leading colleges and universities seeking to transform education through the use of information technology. ***************************************************************** TOP STORIES Edupage In Romanian German Prosecutors Target Internet Racial Hatred Online Service Providers Want Change In U.K. Libel Law Canada Backs Off On Blackout Threat Notes Does The Net IBM Drops OS/2-PowerPC Plans IT Hot Buttons Get Hotter ALSO Japanese Internet Users Are Night-Owls Ellerbee On Encarta Bell & IBM Close To Deal In Canada AOL Records Used To Solve Murder Case U.S. Postal Service Plans Digital Services Writing Contest Oops! Math Counts In Spectrum Auction EDUPAGE IN ROMANIAN We are pleased to announce a Romanian edition of Edupage, which will be produced and distributed by the Educational Advisory Centre of the Soros Foundation in Cluj. Welcome to our Romanian readers of Edupage! Bun venit cititorilor romani ai Edupage! To receive the Romanian edition of Edupage, send mail to: astamatian@cluj.soros.ro. (Besides English, Edupage is now available in French, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian and Spanish editions.) GERMAN PROSECUTORS TARGET INTERNET RACIAL HATRED The Mannheim, Germany, prosecutor's office has launched an investigation of CompuServe and Deutsche Telekom's T-Online service for inciting racial hatred, a crime in Germany. At issue is online access to a Web site run by a neo-Nazi extremist in Canada who uses the Internet to distribute anti-Semitic propaganda. The legal reasoning, according to a prosecutor's office spokesman, is that "because it's available over the Internet, it also can be called up in Germany. Then the scene of the crime is all Germany." Although the investigation is now limited to CompuServe and T-Online, there are also several hundred small companies that provide Internet access in Germany. (Wall Street Journal 26 Jan 96 B2) ONLINE SERVICE PROVIDERS WANT CHANGE IN U.K. LIBEL LAW Online providers CompuServe, Europe Online, and Microsoft Network are urging the United Kingdom to rewrite its libel laws to ensure that an online service provider will not be held responsible for libelous statements made by subscribers unless the provider has been posted to its system and has "the ability and the authority to prevent its publication, but fails to do so within a reasonable time." (Financial Times 26 Jan 96 p7) CANADA BACKS OFF ON BLACKOUT THREAT Following President Clinton's support for the use of V-chip technology, Canadian regulators backed away from threats to black out American programming that fails to meet standards on violence. The American and Canadian associations of broadcasters oppose the use of V-chips, arguing largely on constitutional grounds. An industry official pointed out, however, that advertising revenues are what is at stake: broadcasters are concerned that once a rating is put in place, audiences might start to diminish and advertising dollars along with them. (Toronto Financial Post 26 Jan 96 p7) NOTES DOES THE NET Analysts who predicted the demise of Lotus Notes as a result of the work-sharing advantages of the Internet may have been a bit premature in their estimations. In fact, the number of PCs using Notes has doubled in the past six months to 4.5 million, and is expected to hit 20 million in 1998 -- the break-even point for IBM's investment. "All the hype over the past six months has done us a tremendous service by espousing the benefits of collaboration," says Notes creator Ray Ozzie. Accordingly, Lotus has lowered its price for desktop software to $69 -- "in browser country" says CEO Michael Zisman -- and the company is concentrating on making new products that enhance connections between Notes and the Internet. The first step is persuading current users of the highly successful cc:Mail program to try Notes for their e-mail, and sort of ease into the new product line from there. "It's marketing simplicity," says an analyst with International Data Corp. (Business Week 29 Jan 96 p70) IBM DROPS OS/2-POWERPC PLANS IBM has decided to abandon its three-year effort to create a version of its OS/2 operating software for the PowerPC chip. A spokeswoman says, "Demand hasn't developed for it the way we thought it would." Instead, IBM will concentrate on developing OS/2 products for PCs that run on Intel chips. (Wall Street Journal 26 Jan 96 B3) IT HOT BUTTONS GET HOTTER An Information Week survey shows that nearly 60% of CIOs queried plan to boost information technology spending in 1996. Only 13% reported a planned decrease. But the money won't go for more hardware (at least not networking hardware)-- more than half the respondents said at least 75% of their 1996 budgets will go toward items other than equipment. And hot technologies will get hotter. Nearly 75% said they'll use the World Wide Web and online services this year, and all reported they'll be using client-server technology. The Internet will be used by half. One VP at a high-tech consulting firm put it this way: "To out-customize your competitors, you have to beat them on IT." (Information Week 8 Jan 96 p28) ======================================================== JAPANESE INTERNET USERS ARE NIGHT-OWLS Due to significantly cheaper night-time phone rates, Web surfers in Japan do most of their cruising after dark. "Two years ago I was the first commercial Internet provider in Japan. Today there are 45 Internet service providers in Tokyo alone," says the president of Global OnLine Japan, who says his heaviest usage time is midnight. A Cisco Systems marketing manager estimates growth of Internet hosts in Japan at 300% a year, and the annual growth rate of online services is pegged at 50%. (Scientific American Jan 96 p36) ELLERBEE ON ENCARTA Joining journalist Michael Kinsley in the leap to the Net, "NBC News Overnight" host Linda Ellerbee will work with Microsoft to create a monthly online interview show available on the Encarta Encyclopedia Web site . The first "Encarta on the Record" show will debut Feb. 21 at 9:30 p.m. EST. (Investor's Business Daily 29 Jan 96 A6) BELL & IBM CLOSE TO DEAL IN CANADA IBM Canada is poised to take over the multi-million dollar computer operation at Bell Sygma in a move that will have a serious ripple effect throughout Canada's computer services industry. In exchange, Bell will provide network services for IBM's Advantis subsidiary. International Data Corp. says the agreement effectively would make it impossible for foreign competitors to win outsourcing business and would put IBM well ahead of competitors inside Canada. (Toronto Globe & Mail 27 Jan 96 B1) AOL RECORDS USED TO SOLVE MURDER CASE Fairfax County, Va. police recently obtained a search warrant for electronic files relating to participants in an American Online chat room in an effort to solve a murder in New Jersey. The victim had met his alleged assailant through a "men for men" chat room, and investigators say several other chat room participants helped in disposing of the body. One of them, a 24-year-old woman, is now charged with tampering with the evidence. An AOL spokeswoman said that it is the company's policy to comply with subpoenas, and that although it does not keep records from chat rooms, it does keep records of e-mail for five days before they are purged. "We certainly respect and abide by our customers' right to privacy, but we are also going to follow the law. We have 4.5 million customers -- that's the size of a city. When we have some problems, we have to deal with it responsibly." (St. Petersburg Times 28 Jan 96) U.S. POSTAL SERVICE PLANS DIGITAL SERVICES Between 1988 and 1994, the U.S. Postal Service's market share of mail delivery dropped from 77% to 62%, while market share for express delivery services dropped from 4% to 2%, and market share for electronic alternatives increased from 19% to 36%. To survive and prosper in the information age, the Postal Service now has aggressive new plans for providing digital services, including a hybrid service (carrying both e-mail and paper mail), electronic shopping kiosks, and certified electronic mail. Postal executive Richard Rothwell says: "In the future, when you buy cc:Mail, the box will say, 'Postal Electronic Commerce Services-ready.' When you click on an icon, it will invoke options such as electronic postmark, certificate, return receipt and so forth." Gene Del Polito of the Advertising Mail Marketing Association objects to the Postal Service's plans, saying: "Anyone that competes with the Postal Service is at an enormous disadvantage. They don't pay taxes, they are not subject to antitrust laws, and so forth." (Computerworld 22 Jan 96 p1) WRITING CONTEST O'Reilly & Associates will publish winners of a $5,000 writing contest called "Spider or Fly?" dealing with the general question: "Are we masters of the Web or trapped in it?" and the relationships between technology and human consequences. Info: < http://www.ora.com/staff/stevet/netfuture/ >. OOPS! MATH COUNTS IN SPECTRUM AUCTION During the C-block auction of digital wireless spectrum last week, Puerto Rico-based PCS 2000 L.P. bid more than $180 million for the Norfolk, Va. license, which had a required minimum bid of $18 million. An FCC spokeswoman said another company, bidding for a Rockford, Ill. license, made a similar error, offering $22 million instead of the minimum $2.3 million. Map Wireless L.L.C. withdrew the Rockford bid, but could end up being liable for the difference between $22 million and whatever bid prevails; PCS 2000 didn't withdraw before the deadline. "As far as we're concerned, they submitted that bid," the spokeswoman says. (Multichannel News 29 Jan 96) Edupage is written by John Gehl (gehl@educom.edu) & Suzanne Douglas (douglas@educom.edu). Voice: 404-371-1853, Fax: 404-371-8057. Technical support is provided by the Office of Information Technology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. *************************************************************** EDUPAGE is what you've just finished reading. (Please note that it's "Edupage" and not "EduPage.") 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