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Bits And Bytes Online Edition Volume 1 Number 09
BBB III TTT SSS BBB Y Y TTT EEE SSS
B B I T S B B Y Y T E S ONLINE EDITION
BBB I T SSS AND BBB YYY T EEE SSS VOL 1, NUMBER 9
B B I T S B B Y T E S 9/6/93
BBB III T SSS BBB Y T EEE SSS Labor Day 1993
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"It is unworthy of excellent [people] to lose hours like slaves in the
labor of calculation" - Baron Gottfried Wilhelm Von Leibniz(1646-1716)
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Nobel Prize winning physicist Dr. Richard Feynman writes about his
antics while studying at MIT. The following excerpt is from his
autobiography "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!":
I often liked to play tricks on people when I was at MlT. One time,
in mechanical drawing class, some joker picked up a French curve (a
piece of plastic for drawing smooth curves - a curly, funny-looking
thing) and said, "I wonder if the curves on this thing have some
special formula?"
I thought for a moment and said, "Sure they do. The curves are very
special curves. Lemme show ya," and I picked up my French curve and
began to turn it slowly. "The French curve is made so that at the
lowest point on each curve, no matter how you turn it, the tangent is
horizontal."
All the guys in the class were holding their French curve up at
different angles, holding their pencil up to it at the lowest point
and laying it along, and discovering that, sure enough, the tangent is
horizontal. They were all excited by this "discovery" even though they
had already gone through a certain amount of calculus and had already
"learned" that the derivative (tangent) of the minimum (lowest point)
of any curve is zero (horizontal). They didn't put two and two
together. They didn't even know what they "knew."
I don't know what's the matter with people: they don't learn by
understanding, they learn by some other way-by rote, or something.
Their knowledge is so fragile.
("Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of A Curious
Character [Bantam Books 1986])
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"Skilled work, of no matter what kind, is only done well by those who
take a certain pleasure in it, quite apart from its utility, either
to themselves in earning a living, or to the world through its
outcome." - Bertrand Russell
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National Online Media Association Formed at ONEBBSCON
"A new trade association, the National Online Media Association
(NOMA), was formed at ONE BBSCON '93 in Colorado Springs on August
27th, 1993. NOMA comprises BBS operators, Internet service providers,
and other online media and services."
"NOMA's mission is to act for the BBS and online service industry
on matters of national importance by creating an industry presence
in Washington, D.C. and other means; assist its members at the
state and local levels; educate the public on the unique social,
business and legal roles of BBS's and other online services;
establish appropriate industry standards and guidelines;
promote business development in the industry; and maintain and
provide access to resources and industry information for use by the
public and the industry."
An 11 person Organizing Committee composed of BBS sysops and people
from AOL, Delphi, and other online service industries, will be
issuing a proposal detailing NOMA's charter, bylaws, membership
requirements, structure, and form of leadership will be distributed
within the BBS and online services industry by November 30th, 1993.
"Discussion areas are being set up immediately for those interested
in participating in NOMA's early development. An Internet mailing
list is available to all those interested at natbbs@echonyc.com
(subscribe to natbbs-request@echonyc.com). A conference area is
also being made available on the Delphi national information
service."
(ONEBBSCON is the largest gathering of BBS operators and industry
leaders in the world. It was held in late August at Colorado Springs,
Colorado. All quoted material is from NOMA's press release. If you
need more information, please contact:
Phil Liggett (LIGGETT@delphi.com), (203)233-3163
Lance Rose, Esq. (elrose@echonyc.com), (201)509-1700
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"I considered preaching, but preachers don't make a lot and have to
work hard." - Willie Nelson
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Rupert Murdoch Buys Delphi
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. has bought General Videotex, which runs
the Delphi and Bix services. The company will be renamed Delphi
Internet Services when the deal closes in about a month, which gives
you some idea where the controversial media empire's interests lie.
Delphi will become a part of News Corp.'s news technology group, and
with Murdoch's backing hopes to become a much bigger player in the
interactive services future. Delphi does not yet have a graphic
interface, although one is in the works. Tentative discussions have
been had regarding online versions of the TV Guide, Boston Herald, NY
Post and other Murdoch newspapers.
Delphi hopes to develop templates for the newspapers of the future,
which will take time, though some changes will come much sooner, like
online appearances by authors, and the establishment of virtual
communities for different subjects of information, perhaps in
conjunction with Harper Collins, Murdoch's book publishing arm.
Murdoch has bold plans for forming alliances with many other kinds of
communication companies and Delphi could become a major player in the
US online market.
One thing Delphi will *not* change is "the community feel people
really cherish on Delphi," explained Rusty Williams, vice president
and general manager of Delphi. Smart move, since these are the things
that keep people online. I can personally recommend Delphi's service.
If you are looking for an inexpensive point of entry to the internet,
their 20/20 gives you 20 hours of access for $23 monthly, including
email, gopher and FTP. They have a well-stocked file library of basic
guides to the internet, and their internet forum is full of budding
infonauts eager to help beginners out.
(CONTACT: Delphi 800/111-1111) (SOURCE: Newsbytes 9/2/93)
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"Bozo" Filters Revisited
In B&Bv1#7, I reported of a biologist from Ohio's program that
automatically wipes out anonymous messages on the internet. It seems
I misunderstood exactly what the program did. A reader writes:
> Could you check the original story again? The way I heard it, the
> guy was in fact ARMMing the anonymous messages, using a demon that
> automatically sent out unauthorized "cancel" messages for the
> messages he didn't like. A cancel message causes the original
> message to be deleted from every machine that the cancel message
> reaches. This, I think you'll agree, is much more serious than
> simply having a kill file.
In other words, his program was actively seeking and destroying
messages he found personally offensive as opposed to merely filtering
them out from his view. When I understood that fact, a small chill
went up my spine and I began to see how tricky things can get in a
digital universe, where all information and communications are subject
to manipulation. Issues of privacy and genuine freedom of speech, of
secure lines of communication and information exchange, take on new
and added urgency as more and more people come online and begin to
transact business and exchange confidences there.
On the one hand, I subscribe to the concept of owning one's words, of
standing behind them. This can be problematic in the real world, as
evidenced by the disclaimers on many postings that opinions expressed
do not necessarily blah blah blah... my employer's opinions. Gregory
Steshenko, an employee of Microsoft, was allegedly fired from his job
because his usenet postings (posted through the company email system)
were deemed politically offensive. Microsoft says he was dismissed
for performance reasons. I myself have not read the postings and so am
in no position to defend or denounce them. I do however, defend his
right to express himself to anyone who cares to listen.
Perhaps people should use their own facilities to send postings that
may be deemed offensive; even so the possibility exists of someone
reading your posting, disagreeing or being offended by it, and taking
some kind of action: Sending a complaint to your employer (as happened
in the Steshenko case), or perhaps sending a program out on the net to
delete your postings wherever it finds them. What if everyone decided
to send out programs to delete postings they found offensive or
politically incorrect? Dangerous precedents are being set: in a medium
where the free flow of information is critical, any stanching of
that flow will only slow the growth of that medium and stunt it in
unforeseen ways. Freedom of expression must be maintained on the net
if it is to be an accurate mirror of our society.
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"We had pleased ourselves with the delectable visions of the
spiritualization of labor....Each stroke of the hoe was to uncover
some aromatic root of wisdom....But...the clods of earth, which we
constantly belabored and turned over and over, were never etherealized
into thought. Our thoughts, on the contrary, were fast becoming
cloddish. Our labor symbolized nothing and left us mentally sluggish
in the dusk of the evening." - Nathaniel Hawthorne, as quoted in "In
the Age of The Smart Machine" by Shoshana Zuboff(Basic Books 1988)
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NEW PRODUCTS AND SERVICES:
+ADVENTURES IN TELEPHONY I: LET'S PLAY PHONE TAG! Here in the stone
ages of information age we must often make do with the tools we are
provided with until something better comes along. Anyone who has ever
had to play phone mail tag or deal with an automated answering system
from hell know how frustrating some "labor-saving" gizmos can be. For
those of us who have to use voice mail to communicate, a FREE 12 page
booklet, "Making The Most Of Voice Mail" provides some good tips and
techniques for making vmail work for you and not vice-versa. The
booklet was prepared for the Voice Messaging Educational Committee, a
consortium of voice messaging manufacturers and service providers, by
Vanguard Communications Corp., facilitators for the committee.
Some tips are common sense, like changing your greeting if you know
you'll be out of the office or on vacation, but some advice is not so
obvious. The elements of a good voice mail greeting, how do deal with
an unknown voice mail system, and design of voice mail menus ("press 7
to speak to Kuthumi...") are among topics touched on. The info
provided will help users of conventional v-mail systems make the best
of it until next generation PDAs, smart phones, and other computer-
driven technologies simplify the task of staying plugged-in in an
increasingly networked world.
(ACCESS:) Copies of this useful booklet may be obtained from Vanguard
at 210/605-8000, or from AT&T (800/325-7466 x93000, Digital Sound
Corporation (800/366-0700 x2130), or VMX Inc.(800/444-4VMX).
+HYBRID NETWORKS INC.'S "NEW INTERNET" SERVICE. Hybrid Networks Inc.,
announced the Hybrid Access System (HAS) Service, which delivers
information at 10 Mbps (Ethernet-speed) using common personal
computers, modems, telephone and cable lines, and Hybrid's Remote Link
Adapter. The HAS provides wideband remote access to the Internet and
corporate networks in selected metropolitan areas. With one of
Hybrid's systems, home and business users can connect to the Internet
at speeds previously available only to users at large corporations or
universities.
Hybrid announced two services that work off of the HAS: The Hybrid
Telecommuter Service and The New Internet. The Telecommuter Service
provides access to corporate information without the expense of
dedicated lines, and the New Internet service provides access to
Mosaic, a user-friendly Internet search-and-retrieval tool from the
National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA).
Hybrid President and CEO Howard Strachman, claims that his company has
constructed the on and off ramps to the data highway. Sounds good to
me. Not surprisingly, the PCs used will need lots of RAM and
processing power to handle the images users want to display. The
system will require *at least* a 9600-baud modem. (CONTACT: Hybrid
Networks, 408-725-3250) (SOURCE: Newsbytes, 8/11/93)
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INTEROP CONVENTION 1993
An estimated 75,000 people attended this year's Interop convention in
San Francisco, where the techno-people go to see what's coming next in
interoperable systems - new gizmos that perform more and more
functions, perhaps operating in conjunction with other networked
devices to deliver seamless service to a waiting public - at least
that's the phantasy.
The TV people were there, and the cable operators and telco reps too.
They see these technologies (and rightly so) as the key to their
continued well-being, and have all invested major amounts of money
and effort in positioning themselves in these emerging markets through
a truly mind-boggling array of mergers and alliances. A major problem
all are faced with is that of the interface: If these new services are
to gain mass acceptance, interfaces must be easier to use than current
ones. A million blinking VCR clocks just won't cut it this time. The
stakes are too high.
There is a wealth of useful (and just plain neat) information out on
the internet, but it's usually not easy to find or to get to. Well
this just won't sell to a populace that will want at least the same
push-button ease of use they get from their TVs and microwave ovens.
Now I don't mind diving into the internet for some data, but it sure
would be nice if certain standard ways of accessing and retrieving
information were available so I could save my energy for the much
more difficult task of analyzing that information for possible
relevance or usefulness (or entertainment value, for that matter).
Here are summaries of two convention reports, gleaned from the net:
I. Laws of The Telecosm
The keynote speaker George Gilder, delivered an address entitled "Laws
of Telecosm" that forecasts the death of TV, the telephone, and
computers as we now know them. The fatal blow will be delivered by
advances in cellular telephony coupled with wireless computer
networks. Gilder stressed that the standalone PC is an inadequate
tool. "A computer without a network is like a car in the jungle...
The magic of a car comes in conjunction with asphalt. The real
benefits of computers arise from the links among them." said Mr.
Gilder, a former Kissinger staffer and author of "Life After
Television (1991)".
Between 1989 and 1993, the percentage of computers connected to
networks rose from less than 10 percent to more than 60 percent.
"Networks are the driving force of economic growth today," Gilder
said. Those of us who have played with our computers for (too?) long
know that there's only so much you can do with one that can be
considered meaningful before you need to connect with the outside
world - the journalist checks his sources :, the scientist publishes
his findings and exchanges data with colleagues. The computer has
played a major role in bringing on the so-called information
explosion.
Gilder describes three technologies emerging to rule the new telecosm:
sand (silicon chips), glass (fiber-optics), and air (the electro-
magnetic spectrum). He says that there will be more than enough
bandwidth to go around for emerging technologies. "Today, we're on the
verge of the largest opportunity in the history of technology," he
said, adding that by the turn of the century the power of 16 Cray
supercomputers would be available for less than 100 bucks. Network
architectures based on the assumption of scarce bandwidth are
obsolete. On the contrary, Gilder envisions 25,000 gigahertz system
capacity , which is the equivalent to " the number of phone calls in
America during the peak moment on Mother's day" (WIRED 1.4). Imagine
that much data coming at you on a thread of glass the width of a human
hair. "The most common PC of the next decade will be a ... as personal
as your wallet." To what uses will we dedicate these amazing
bandwidths and processing abilities? What exactly will we paying
attention to with our brave new senses?
II. Internet 101
In this tutorial presented by Sue Estrada (formerly of CERFNet and now
of Aldea Communications), Ms. Estrada gave a basically negative
assessment of accessibility on the Internet. "She presented most of
the new Internet "tools" in her tutorial, but was frank and often
funny in her description of her own difficulties in getting these
"tools" -- mail ftp telnet, Usenet, gopher, WWW, WAIS, Archie -- to
work right. It's not a perfect world on the Internet yet, Sue told
us, and it's far better that we admit this and admit it to our users
than that we pretend that we can do the impossible on what
nevertheless still is the most exciting new information resource since
the printed book." (From a conference report by Jack Kessler to the
Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <LIBPACS@uhupvm1.bitnet>,
transmitted from the convention floor on a "wireless" radio modem-
equipped Powerbook laptop, via a little "cigarette-girl" front-pack
display rack, carried by a guy named Chris who is walking around the
Convention Center selling the RadioMail Service ($89/mo) to Interop
Conference attendees)
* * *
(SOURCES: Newsbytes, WIRED 1.4, Public-Access Computer Systems Forum)
======================================================================
(Not So) Stupid E-Mail Tricks
Interested in getting some data from the internet but only have access
to internet e-mail services? Or perhaps you don't want to master the
intricacies of ftp to get something to read? Well hang on, help is on
the way! Try this one out: (from WIRED 1.3)
Send a message addressed to: "info.new.technology@ieee.org" (leave the
quotes out). Doesn't matter what the message is, it probably won't be
read by hu-man eyes, but what you will get back in email is a voice
mail type menu explaining how to request a variety of technical
reports on emerging technologies. The process was likened to an
"internet vending machine," and the requested document could be in
your mailbox in minutes, depending on traffic. It's elven magic, I
tell you! The idea is also known as ftpmail (anonymous ftp, or file
transfer protocol, is one of the commonest tools for getting files on
the internet), and I will be posting other mail-server addresses in
upcoming issues of B&B.
======================================================================
AT THE NEWSSTAND:
I would be remiss if I did not inform you that WIRED 1.4 (Sept/Oct)
has hit the racks, and by gummy it is another fine issue, jam packed
with thought-provoking reading in a visually stimulating package. The
centerpiece is William Gibson's first major piece of non-fiction, a
report from Singapore, that most determinedly high-tech of the pacific
rim nations. From the sound of it, a strange and twisted place to find
oneself. Other articles include an interview with George Gilder about
"dark fiber", a look at successful commercial BBS systems, a
fascinating article by Michael Critchon (The Andromeda Strain,
Jurassic Park) on where the mass media is headed (hint: the way of
the dinosaur), the state of the telephone industry in Russia,
cyberpunk R.I.P., and a tour of Industrial Light and Magic's special
effects facilities by Rudy Rucker. A new column, Net.Surf, is a two
page grab-bag of internet goodies, addresses and stories, and makes an
excellent addition to their other ongoing columns. Amazing Stuff!
======================================================================
"Blessed is he who has found his work. Let him ask no other
blessedness." - Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881)
======================================================================
### ADMINISTRIVIA ###
IN THE FUTURE...Please note the new release schedule. The next issue
is due out 10/20/93.
THANKS! I'd like to thank the academy, and my pet dog sparky, and all
ACCESS. B&B is available for downloading on America Online in their
telecom files area, and in Compuserve's telecom forum library. Delphi
access is forthright, and forthcoming.
INTERNET ANONYMOUS FTP SITES:
ftp.dana.edu in /periodic directory
INTERNET GOPHER ACCESS.
- gopher.law.cornell.edu in the Discussions and Listserv archives/
Teknoids directory
- gopher.dana.edu in the Electronic Journals directory
======================================================================
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*This newsletter is printed on 100% recycled electrons*
======================================================================
Jay Machado = (Copyleft 1993 Jay Machado) *unaltered* =
1529 Dogwood Drive = ELECTRONIC distribution of this file for =
Cherry Hill, NJ 08003 = non-profit purposes is encouraged. =
ph (eve) 609/795-0998 = Opinions expressed in B&B are subject to =
======================== change without advance notification. =
======================== Consult your local newspaper for daily =
======================== show times. =
=============== end of Bits and Bytes Online V1, #9.==================
