Message-Id: <55206A473154D011924D0020AFF7ACB56A64E4@mail1.oulan.ou.edu>
Date: Mon, 16 Mar 1998 10:36:10 -0600
From: "Swisher, Bob" <bswisher@ou.edu>
To: "'it-fyi@listserv.ou.edu'" <it-fyi@listserv.ou.edu>
Subject: Edupage, 12 March 1998
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Edupage, 12 March 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.
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TOP STORIES
Drudge Case Tests Cyber Journalism
California Bill Would Block Spam
Java -- With One Teaspoon Of Microsoft
Intel Wants To Serve
ALSO
Banks Back Digital Signature Law
Internet Stock Prices, Somewhere Over The Rainbow
Digital Strongarm Could Prove Intel's Secret Weapon
Crackdown On Computer Counterfeiters
DRUDGE CASE TESTS CYBER JOURNALISM
The libel lawsuit brought by Clinton aide Sydney Blumenthal against
cyber journalist Matt Drudge is testing the rules of the Internet and
the rules of journalism. Drudge, a self-styled gossip columnist,
reported a rumor about Blumenthal that turned out to be incorrect; he
issued a retraction the next day and apologized to Blumenthal, but
Blumenthal demanded to know his sources for the story. (More recently,
Blumenthal has won attention by objecting to Kenneth Starr's inquiries
into Blumenthal's own dealings with the press.) Asked by other
reporters such questions as, "Are you a reporter? Do you check
sources?" Drudge answered: "I'm a working reporter who has written
thousands of stories and driven dozens of news cycles. I check all
sources." (New York Times 12 Mar 98)
CALIFORNIA BILL WOULD BLOCK SPAM
A bill introduced in the California legislature would allow Internet
service providers to establish any policy they choose against junk
e-mail, including blocking it altogether from their machines and suing
e-mailers who violate their guidelines. "This approach offers a
market-based solution to spamming," says Rep. Jim Cunneen. "We can
avoid the Pandora's box of government designing the rules and procedures
for unsolicited commercial e-mail advertisements." The bill would
enable ISPs to sue spammers for $50 per e-mail message, up to $15,000
per day. At least a dozen states have introduced anti-spam legislation
in the past two years, but only Nevada has passed a law. Starting July
1 in that state, junk e-mailers will be required to use real return
addresses and remove recipients from their lists if requested. (Net
Insider 11 Mar 98)
JAVA -- WITH ONE TEASPOON OF MICROSOFT
In a move that will anger Sun, Microsoft has released new programming
tools to allow software developers to write Windows applications in
Microsoft's version of Java, the computer language developed by Sun.
Java was originally conceived as a language that could allow software to
run on all computer platforms. Sun is suing Microsoft for allegedly
misappropriating the language by creating a version that will run
exclusively on computers using Microsoft's Windows operating systems.
(AP 11 Mar 98)
INTEL WANTS TO SERVE
Intel is branching out into the computer help center business, offering
an "AnswerExpress" service combining software and three months of
standing by the phones for your questions about any kind of hardware and
software you use. Intel executive Jim Johnson says the typical customer
question is: "I lost my tool bar and I don't know how to get it back."
Johnson says: "This is not rocket science." (USA Today 11 Mar 98)
http://www.answerexpress.com/
==============================================
BANKS BACK DIGITAL SIGNATURE LAW
A group of banks and credit card companies has endorsed the Digital
Signature and Electronic Authentication Law sponsored by Sen. Bob
Bennett (R-Utah). The law would enable financial institutions to use
new technologies in serving their customers. "Authentication technology
is critical to enabling two important Visa initiatives -- Internet
payments and smart cards," says a senior VP for corporate risk
management at Visa. More than 40 states either have or are considering
electronic authentication legislation, but the federal bill would
provide uniformity to these efforts and speed up the mainstreaming of
electronic finance. (TechWeb 11 Mar 98)
INTERNET STOCK PRICES, SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW
The 25 most valuable Internet companies, including America Online, have
a combined value of $37 billion, but 20 of the 25 are still operating in
the red. Yet Internet stocks continue to scale new heights, and Silicon
Valley venture capitalist John Doerr says that the Internet stock boom
is the greatest legal creation of wealth in human history, and is still
in its early stages. (Financial Times 12 Mar 98)
DIGITAL STRONGARM COULD PROVE INTEL'S SECRET WEAPON
As part of the settlement last year between Digital Equipment Corp. and
Intel, Intel received licensing rights not only to Digital's well-known
Alpha chip, but also to a more obscure family of Digital chips -- the
Strongarm. Strongarm, which may turn out to be the hidden gem in the
deal, is a high-speed processor that runs at very low power, making it
ideal for use in battery-powered portable devices, such as palmtop
computers. The chip is "an absolute technical tour de force," says an
analyst with consulting firm MicroDesign Resources. "For $29 to $49,
you get performance that rivals a Pentium at about one-tenth the price.
And it uses one-tenth the electricity... I think it's going to scare a
lot of the other chip companies. Now Intel is armed to enter the
consumer electronics industry." (Investor's Business Daily 12 Mar 98)
CRACKDOWN ON COMPUTER COUNTERFEITERS
With computer counterfeiting on the rise, Treasury Secretary Robert
Rubin and the Secret Service Counterfeit Division want the laws changed
to make it easier to imprison amateur counterfeiters caught making just
a little bit of fake money. In the past, first-offenders (often high
school students) got away with a scolding, but a Treasury official now
says: "The ballgame has changed. People are going to jail." (New York
Times 12 Mar 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.
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Edupage ... is what you've just finished reading. To subscribe to
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Today's Honorary Subscriber is the colorful and legendary movie
producer Samuel Goldwyn (1882-1974). Born Shmuel Gelbfisz in Warsaw, he
arrived in the United States in 1899 and became a successful glove
salesman before eventually getting involved in show business. His first
film production company released The Squaw Man in 1914, directed by
Cecil B. DeMille. Goldwyn was ousted from the company before the merger
that produced Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, but his roaring lion trademark
remained as the symbol of that company. He created a new organization
called The Samuel Goldwyn Company, specializing in films with high
production values. Among the more than 70 films he produced were Porgy
and Bess (1959), Guys and Dolls (1955), The Bishop's Wife (1947), The
Best Years of Our Lives (1946), The Pride of the Yankees (1942), The
Little Foxes (1941), The Westerner (1940), and Wuthering Heights (1939).
A man with a special way with words, he is famous for such wonderful
"Goldwynisms" as:
"An oral contract isn't worth the paper it's written on."
"Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist ought to have his head
examined."
"I had a great idea this morning, but I didn't like it."
"Gentlemen, include me out."
"A hospital is no place to be sick."
"If I could drop dead right now, I'd be the happiest man
alive."
"I read part of it all the way through."
"If I look confused it's because I'm thinking."
"That's the trouble with directors. Always biting the hand
that lays the golden egg."
"Never make forecasts, especially about the future."
And perhaps the best of them all:
"I don't want yes men around me. I want everyone to tell the
truth, even if it costs them their jobs."
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Educom -- Transforming Education Through Information Technology