Message-Id: <55206A473154D011924D0020AFF7ACB553C9FB@mail1.oulan.ou.edu>
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 14:57:23 -0600
From: "Swisher, Bob" <bswisher@ou.edu>
To: "'it-fyi@ou.edu'" <it-fyi@ou.edu>
Subject: Edupage, 15 January 1998
************************************************************
Edupage, 15 January 1998. Edupage, a summary of news about information
technology, is provided three times a 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
SAFE Act Still In Danger
California State Postpones Industry Partnership
Microsoft Loses Bid To Dump Special Master
Slate Tries Subscription Model
ALSO
High-Tech Dream House
Retailers Happy With Online Sales
Forget Push Technology -- Now It's "Pull-Casting"
Women Like Books, Men Like Sports
SAFE ACT STILL IN DANGER
The Security and Freedom Through Encryption (SAFE) Act, sponsored by
U.S. Rep. Robert Goodlatte (R-Va.) is intended to protect citizens'
right to use and sell strong encryption products, and prohibits the U.S.
government from requiring citizens to give their private encryption keys
to a third party. The bill, originally introduced in 1996 and modified
last year, is still under attack from the FBI and national security
lobbyists, who maintain that even with the modifications the bill could
undermine law enforcement efforts. Goodlatte, who points out that the
bill had about 250 cosponsors at last count, says: "Anytime we're
dealing with anybody who claims that legislation threatens national
security or law enforcement, we have to take that seriously. But we
have nothing to apologize for. This is a pro-law enforcement measure."
(Net Insider 13 Jan 98)
CALIFORNIA STATE POSTPONES INDUSTRY PARTNERSHIP
California State University System officials have put a controversial
partnership deal on hold until spring, citing a longer-than-expected
negotiation process and a need to give incoming chancellor Charles Reed
more time to acquaint himself with the details. The California
Education Technology Initiative would affiliate the system with four
corporate partners -- Fujitsu, GTE, Hughes Electronics and Microsoft --
who would contribute some $300 million in funds for upgrading computers,
network equipment and support services in exchange for a role in
overseeing the system's software and hardware purchases. The plan,
which has met with
opposition from some students, faculty and consumer groups, also calls
for selling some excess Internet capacity to off-campus customers.
(Chronicle of Higher Education 16 Jan 98)
MICROSOFT LOSES BID TO DUMP SPECIAL MASTER
U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson has refused Microsoft's
request to remove Lawrence Lessig, an expert on Internet law from
Harvard University. Microsoft had charged that Lessig was biased
against the company, but Jackson's written remarks called those charges
"defamatory." A Microsoft spokesman said the company was disappointed,
but "will continue to work with Prof. Lessig as we have." In further
developments, a Microsoft witness said the company's response to a
December order -- to remove all
Internet Explorer files from Windows operating software, thereby
disabling the program -- was devised by a small group of lawyers and
software developers, along with Chairman Bill Gates. That's not
unusual, according to Microsoft's chief operating officer: "Bill makes
all the important decisions here." (Wall Street Journal 15 Jan 98)
SLATE TRIES SUBSCRIPTION MODEL
Slate, Microsoft's online periodical, is planning a move to a
subscription-based business model, at somewhere between $20 to $30 a
pop. "We don't believe that the advertising-only approach is sustainable
for us," says Slate's publisher. Slate joins a growing number of
publications that have found it impossible to generate enough revenue
through Web-based advertising alone -- the Wall Street Journal is the
most successful of the bunch, largely on the strength of its print
reputation and the content differentiation available in the online
version. "If you have something that isn't available somewhere else,
that's how you assign value," says a
Time New Media spokesman. Slate's original plan was to charge $19.95 a
year for the weekly e-publication, but its publisher now says the price
could be a bit higher, based on the number of top-notch writers it hopes
to hire. Other publications experimenting with subscription pricing
include The Economist, Business Week and Money.com. The New York Times
has been charging overseas users for access to its electronic version,
and eventually plans to charge everyone for online access.
(Broadcasting & Cable 5 Jan 98)
=========================================
HIGH-TECH DREAM HOUSE
Microsoft, Intel, Softbank Holdings and a venture-capital fund started
by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen are backing a small start-up company
that's developing wireless technology to coordinate various household
functions and appliances. ShareWare's system uses wireless radio with a
common PC as the hub. The system would enable the homeowner to access
the Internet from anywhere in the house using a handheld PC, and enable
seamless transition from conventional television to program-related Web
sites, all on the same appliance. (Business Week 19 Jan 98)
RETAILERS HAPPY WITH ONLINE SALES
Cyberstores racked up record sales over the holidays, with $800 million
worth of goods sold to consumers over the Web between Thanksgiving Day
and New Year's, says the Yankee Group. That figure is more than double
the $300 million sold during the same period in '96. "People don't have
to deal with parking or going to a mall," says a Forrester Research
analyst. And you never get put on hold. (Investor's Business Daily 14
Jan 98)
FORGET PUSH TECHNOLOGY -- NOW IT'S "PULL-CASTING"
Advertisers are still debating over how to make the maximum impact on
the Web -- banner ads have fallen out of favor because they are too easy
for the reader to skip over, and cookie technology, which was touted as
the ultimate Web surfer tracking device, can't tell "whether one person
requests a page five times or five people request it one time."
Meanwhile, a former IBM advertising executive says online advertising
will require an entirely marketing approach: "The consumer will be in
total control. We're moving
from the era when the advertiser controlled everything through
broadcasting to what I call 'pull-casting' -- where the consumer decides
what he wants to see and when he wants to see it." (Los Angeles Times
15 Jan 98)
WOMEN LIKE BOOKS, MEN LIKE SPORTS
A survey by Relevant Knowledge Inc. shows that one in five homes surfed
the Web in December, with search engines being the most popular
destination for all users aged 12 and over. When the results were
tabulated by gender, and restricted to users aged 18-48, the top three
sites visited by women were barnesandnoble.com, warnerbros.com, and
switchboard.com, and the corresponding sites for men were
espnsportszone.com, dejanews.com, and flashnet.com. (Investor's
Business Daily 15 Jan 98)
Edupage is written by John Gehl (gehl@educom.edu) and Suzanne Douglas
(douglas@educom.edu). Telephone: 770-590-1017
Technical support for distributing Edupage is provided by Information
Technology Services at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
************************************************************
Edupage ... is what you've just finished reading. To subscribe to
Edupage: send mail to: listproc@educom.unc.edu with the message:
subscribe edupage Gertrude Stein (if your name is Gertrude Stein;
otherwise, substitute your own name). To unsubscribe send a message to:
listproc@educom.unc.edu with the message: unsubscribe edupage. (If you
have subscription problems, send mail to manager@educom.unc.edu.)
Educom Review ... is our bimonthly print magazine on information
technology and education ... Subscriptions are $18 a year in the
U.S.; send mail to offer@educom.edu. When you do, we'll ring a little
bell, because we'll be so happy! Choice of bell is yours: a small dome
with a button, like the one on the counter at the dry cleaners with the
sign "Ring bell for service"; or a small hand bell; or a cathedral
bell; or a door bell; or a chime; or a glockenspiel. Your choice.
But ring it!
Educom Update ... is our twice-a-month electronic summary of
organizational news and events. To subscribe, send mail to:
listproc@educom.unc.edu with the message: subscribe Gertrude Stein (if
your name is Gertrude Stein; otherwise, substitute your own name).
Translations & Archives... Edupage is translated into Estonian, German,
Greek, Hungarian, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish. For accessing
instructions, send a blank message to translations@educom.unc.edu.
Conference Reminder! January 16 is the deadline for responding to the
Call for Proposals for EDUCOM'98: Making the Connections. For more
details, see http://www.educom.edu/conf/98/call/.index.html, send e-mail
to conf@ivory.educom.edu, or call 202-872-4200. EDUCOM'98, the premier
conference on information technology in higher education, will be held
October 13-16, 1998, in Orlando, Florida.
Today's Honorary Subscriber is Gertrude Stein (1874-1946), the American
expatriate writer whose style influenced a whole generation of writers;
among her favorite literary devices were repetition (such as the famous
"a rose is a rose is a rose") and minimal punctuation. As a collector
of art and friend of artists (Picasso, Braque, etc.), she also worked
toward gaining public acceptance for modern art. Her most famous
literary disciple was Ernest Hemingway, whose early novel "The Sun Also
Rises" bore the Gertrude Stein epigram "You are a lost generation," and
led to the phrase "Lost Generation" being applied to all the young
people who had weathered the ordeal of the First World War. Between the
wars she lived in Paris with her companion, Alice B. Toklas, and one of
Stein's most well-known books appropriated her friend's name: "The
Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas."
Here is a brief excerpt from the Gertrude Stein work called "The
World Is Round":
Once upon a time the world was round and you could go on it around and
around. Everywhere there was somewhere and everywhere there they were
men women children dogs cows wild pigs little rabbits cats lizards and
animals. That was the way it was. And everybody dogs cats sheep rabbits
and lizards and children all wanted to tell everybody all about it and
they wanted to tell all about themselves. And then there was Rose. Rose
was her name and would she have been Rose if her name had not been Rose.
She used to think and then she used to think again. Would she have been
Rose if her name had not been Rose and would she have been Rose if she
had been a twin. Rose was her name all the same and her father's name
was Bob and her mother's name was Kate and her uncle's name was William
and her aunt's name was Gloria and her grandmother's name was Lucy. They
all had names and her name was Rose, but would she have been she used to
cry about it would she have been Rose if her name had not been Rose. I
tell you at this time the world was all round and you could go on it
around and around.
************************************************************
Educom -- Transforming Education Through Information Technology
************************************************************