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Silicon Times Report Issue 1330
Silicon Times Report
"The Original Independent Online Magazine"
(Since 1987)
July 25, 1997 No.1330
Silicon Times Report International Magazine
Post Office Box 6672
Jacksonville, Florida 32205-6155
R.F. Mariano, Editor
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07/25/97 STR 1330 Celebrating Our Tenth Anniversary 1987-97!
- CPU Industry Report - Adobe NewsWire - Ecstatica II Review
- Alexander's Battles - STR Mailbag - UltraEdit 4.4 Detailed
- Gaffe Kills `Net - Excite: Free Email? - Shareware Listings
- JagFest Show Report - People Talking - Classics & Gaming
Who Owns What's Inside Your Head?
Rossetto Steps Down as Wired CEO
New Mac OS: Hit or Hype?
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The Publisher, Staff & Editors
Celebrating Our Tenth Year!
1987-1997
Florida Lotto - LottoMan v1.35
Results: 07/19/97: four of six numbers with 4 three number matches
From the Editor's Desk...
Is time really flying or am I losing track of it all together? It
seems like I was doing this yesterday when I was talking about the "El
Cheapo" fan. we received quite abit of email relative to that item and we
picked a few of them for you to read. Hope you enjoy it. By the way. in
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Let's hear from you!
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and expect to be again next week. I'll tune y'all in as soon as things
begin coming together. It's gonna be good.
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Ralph F. Mariano, Publisher - Publisher, Editor
Dana P. Jacobson, Editor, Current Affairs
Section Editors
PC Section Mac Section Shareware Listings
R.F. Mariano Help Wanted Lloyd E. Pulley
Classics & Gaming Kid's Computing Corner
Dana P. Jacobson Frank Sereno
STReport Staff Editors
Michael R. Burkley Joseph Mirando Victor Mariano
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STReport Headline News
LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS
Weekly Happenings in the Computer World
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Net Tax Ban Draws Complaints
A Philadelphia city councilman has come to Congress to argue a bill banning
the imposition of any new Internet taxes would infringe on the sovereignty
of state and local governments. Brian O'Neill yesterday urged a House
subcommittee to reject a bill that would impose a moratorium on new taxes
on Internet business transactions. Associated Press writer Cassandra
Burrell says O'Neill told the subcommittee that by the turn of the century,
telecommunications could amount to one-sixth of the national economy, and
businesses, which use public resources, should contribute to the cost of
government through taxes.
Added the councilman, who also is first vice president for the National
League of Cities, "The preemption of state and local taxes on Internet
transactions will have a profound effect on one of the largest and fastest
growing parts of the nation's economy -- a change with serious consequences
for all taxpayers." On the other side of the issue, supporters of the bill
say taxes specifically targeted at Internet transactions could choke the
growth and advancement of a medium that could deliver products and services
faster, easier and cheaper than current ways of doing business.
Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Calif.), the bill's sponsor, told the subcommittee,
"The Internet will not develop this extraordinary potential if it is
shackled by government regulation and taxes. If everyone wants to cash in
on it, we're going to kill the goose that lays the golden egg." As noted,
this bill and a similar measure moving through the Senate aims to bar any
new taxes on computer transactions -- such as taxes on Internet access or
online services -- for an indefinite time while Congress conducts a
two-year study of Internet taxes. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), sponsor of the
Senate bill, notes current taxes of this type would remain in effect.
Says Burrell, "If passed, the bill would not affect normal business income
taxes, business license taxes and sales and use taxes as long as they are
the same as those imposed on interstate catalog and mail order sales. Any
income derived from Internet sales would continue to be subject to any
applicable state or local tax." Under the House proposal - but not the
Senate version - the government also would suspend the Federal
Communications Commission's authority to regulate Internet access or online
service prices.
Virginia Library to Block Net Sites
Over objections of its director, the Loudon County, Virginia, Library Board
has voted to install software to block sexually explicit material from
children who use the facility's computers. Reporting from Leesburg,
Virginia, United Press International says the new restrictions specify that
adults who want the screening software removed will need to request full
access from a library employee. The wire service says the board voted 6-2
to accept the Internet policy after four hours of debate and having heard
from about 40 people and the objection of Library Director Douglas
Henderson, who said parents should have the right to decide what is
appropriate for their children. Board member Richard Black said the debate
was over whether the library was going to allow pornography into the
library. "Under the new restrictions," says UPI, "children 16 and younger
who want full access to cyberspace will have to have a parent or guardian
with them."
Symantic Amends Copyright Complaint
Symantec Corp. has filed a motion to amend its original copyright
infringement complaint against McAfee Associates Inc. after reportedly
finding more of its code in additional McAfee products. Symantec says it
recently discovered that McAfee copied its code in other products,
including VirusScan and PC Medic 97. Cupertino, California-based Symantec
notes that its findings have been confirmed by an independent third party.
According to Symantec, the allegedly copied code includes sophisticated
routines that are used extensively in many of its products. Symantec says
the code enables it to develop applications quickly, shortening the time
required to get its products to market.
"Ultimately, customers are the losers in cases involving technology theft
because they don't get the best products for their money. The most
competitive offerings do not result from cloning, copying, or theft. They
result from innovation," says Enrique Salem, Symantec's chief technology
officer. A hearing for a preliminary injunction is set for August 29.
Symantec is requesting a court order to stop the shipment of McAfee
products with the infringing code, and to remove all the products that
include it from the distribution channel.
Rossetto Steps Down as Wired CEO
Louis Rossetto, co-founder of Wired magazine, is resigning as CEO of its
parent company but will remain its chairman and Wired's editor and
publisher. He also will stay on as CEO until a replacement is found. Also,
John Battelle, deputy editor and a founding staffer at Wired Venture's
Wired Magazine, is resigning to pursue a publishing venture. Also, a news
article posted at the Wired News site said Wired Ventures has hired the
executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles to assist in the hunt.
A Wired official told Carmen Fleetwood of the Dow Jones news service that
Wired Ventures Ltd. has grown to the point where it's impossible for one
person to do everything and that is why Rossetto decided to relinquish his
post. Spokesman Don Markley told the wire service the company is on track
to reach $50 million in revenue for the year and that online operations
make up close to 30 percent of total revenue. That's up from the 10 percent
reported by the media in October, when Wired Ventures canceled plans for an
initial public offering for the second time in the same year. "Wired
Ventures has recorded a profit from Wired magazine," DJ reports, "but it
has lost money on its Internet publishing operations."
Microsoft Buys Into Progressive
Software giant Microsoft Corp. has bought a non-voting minority stake in
Progressive Networks Inc., and says it will license Progressive's RealAudio
and RealVideo Internet technologies for its products. Reporting from
Microsoft's Redmond, Wash., headquarters, the Dow Jones news service
reports that under the agreement, Microsoft will license RealAudio and
RealVideo technologies for incorporation in its NetShow streaming server
software, which will become part of the Microsoft Site Server, its software
for operating Internet sites.
Look for Microsoft also to include Progressive Networks products in its
Microsoft Internet Explorer for browsing the Internet, and the companies
will push Microsoft's Active Streaming Format as an industry standard for
streaming media. The RealAudio and RealVideo software allows continuous
"streaming" sound and video to be sent and received over the World Wide
Web. Progressive Networks says RealAudio and RealVideo are in regular use
on some 10 million to 12 million personal computers.
New Mac OS: Hit or Hype?
While some industry observers are crying, "Hype!" Apple Computer Inc.
contends the latest version of the Macintosh operating system -- to be
released today -- is its most important software upgrade yet. Regardless
of its historical significance, the release could, says business writer
Catalina Ortiz of The Associated Press, "help Macintosh users keep the
faith as Apple struggles to restore its battered bottom line and shrunken
market share, Mac fans and analysts believe." Called Mac OS 8, this
version contains several improvements, primarily greater stability and
ability to handle more than one task at a time. Apple has had no choice
but to revamp its aging operating software, says Ortiz, noting Apple has
lost much of its market share as Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 95 operating
software for rival PCs largely erased the Mac's traditional ease-of-use
advantage.
"Apple is renewing its software two different ways," she adds. "In addition
to Mac OS 8 and future upgrades, the company is developing a more advanced
program with technology from its acquisition of Next Software Inc. earlier
this year. That operating system, known as Rhapsody, is due out next year."
As noted earlier, analysts says the new OS was designed to work with -- and
take advantage of -- the Power PC microprocessor and also simplifies
Internet access. "The new software program also is less prone to crash
than the current version," adds Ortiz. "In addition, it enhances the
Macintosh's ability to carry out more than one task at a time."
Excite Eyes Free E-Mail Service
Teaming up with Whowhere Inc., a closely held company backed by the wealthy
Rockefeller family, Excite Inc. says it is planning to offer free Web-based
electronic mail. Details are undisclosed, by reporter Samuel Perry of the
Reuter News Service reports from Redwood City, Calif., that the agreement
will make Excite the first Internet search company to offer free e-mail.
Several other companies specialize in offering computer users e-mail via
the World Wide Web but do not provide Internet searches.
Meanwhile, officials with Whowhere tell Perry the deal was the first of
several expected in its e-mail offerings. "Excite's e-mail service will
compete with privately held Hotmail Corp., which now says it has more than
5 million subscribers, along with Bigfoot and Rocketmail, a unit of Four11
Corp.," Reuters notes. "The service, which is advertising supported, will
allow Web users to pick up e-mail over the Internet using a standard
browser without being tied to a specific computer, officials said."
Who where has a directory of 11 million personal e-mail addresses, 80
million U.S. residential phone numbers and addresses and 800,000 listings
of personal pages on the Web. Perry says Whowhere is backed by $4 million
in venture capital from Venrock, the Rockefeller family's venture capital
arm, and is considering making an initial public offering.
Digital Returns Intel Documents
Capitulating to part of a lawsuit by Intel Corp., Digital Equipment Corp.
has agreed to return secret documents to Intel about a powerful chip that
company has in the works. Reporting from Santa Clara, California, Kourosh
Karimkhany of the Reuter News Service says the documents outline Intel's
technical and marketing plan for Merced, a next-generation microprocessor
that Intel is expected to unveil in a few years. "Computer makers,
including Digital, rely on information in such confidential Intel documents
to plan new lines of personal computers," says Karimkhany. "A spokesman for
Digital, which is based in Maynard, Massachusetts, said the company had not
yet returned the Merced documents, but has decided it will return them."
Spokesman Dan Kaferle told the wire service Digital had no plans to work
with Intel on developing the Merced when Digital's own Alpha processor has
been on the market for years, adding the documents "are more than a year
old and were provided so Digital could provide critical feedback to Intel
on their Merced design process. He said, "We have no need for this
information and are not participating in developing Intel's much delayed
64-bit processor. Our 64-bit processor has been on the market for five
years and we're not interested in helping them design the chip, so the
information is irrelevant to us." The fight over the documents arose after
Digital sued Intel in May, alleging the chip maker stole key semiconductor
secrets from it and had infringed on a handful of Digital semiconductor
patents. Intel retaliated by suing to force Digital to give back all
sensitive documents Intel had shared with Digital.
Gaffe Leads to Major Net Outage
A gaffe yesterday by Network Solutions Inc., the government-appointed firm
that registers online addresses, resulted in one of the worst outages in
Internet history. Many couldn't retrieve Web pages, for others, e-mail
would not go through. The problem, writes reporter Jared Sandberg in The
Wall Street Journal this morning, was caused by human error when a Network
Solutions employee accidentally sent out incorrect address files that
Internet computers world-wide rely on to route e-mail and to connect users
to Web sites.
"Though the Herndon, Va., company later realized the error and sent out
correct address files," Sandberg reports, "copies of the mistaken files
were still circulating through the Internet hours later." President Doug
Luce of Internet service provider Telerama Internet, which hosts 300 Web
sites that were largely inaccessible for hours starting early yesterday
morning, said the error caused a "considerable amount of distress for
several customers." One Internet security expert described it this way
for the paper: "Imagine if all the phone books disappeared and directory
assistance didn't work. It's a very serious problem." Meanwhile, Steven
Bellovin, a researcher at AT&T Corp.'s laboratories, said, "The real lesson
here is there is an inherent fragility in certain parts of the Net. There
are very few things in the Net that are centralized and that's one of
them."
Bellovin said he would have heard about the problem much sooner in the day
but e-mail alerting him took seven hours to reach him. A Network Solutions
spokeswoman told the paper, the problem originated about 2:30 a.m. EDT when
a database program that routinely updates "router" computers spit out
incorrect information. Though alarms went off alerting Network Solutions
to the incorrect information," the Journal adds, "an employee sent out the
faulty 'zone files' to seven of the nine major routers on the Internet."
Sweet Music for Hackers
A little-known audio-compression technique, called MPEG-2 Audio Layer-3
(MP3), has opened the door for college students and hackers to distribute
pirated, CD-quality music over the Internet. According to a report
published in the trade publication EE Times, the problem is so rampant that
hundreds of MP3 Web sites have sprung up on Internet, illegally
distributing free of charge all kinds of digital music -- everything from
Mozart to Marilyn Manson. To combat the pirates, the Recording Industry
Association of America (RIAA) is pressing for civil actions that seek
temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions against the three
top Internet MP3 sites. EE Times notes that the intense activity seems to
be paying off in the short term; a number of sites have shut down,
ostensibly out of fear of becoming the RIAA's next litigation target.
"The educational steps we were taking with universities and the people
posting these sites was only doing so much," Frank Creighton, head of the
RIAA's anti-piracy unit, told EE Times. "Even the cease-and-desist letters
we were sending were sending were only so effective. So we had to go to
litigation. We needed to send a stronger message to say, 'We mean
business.'" Meanwhile the pirates continue to press on. "Most of the MP3
sites illegally distributing music are run by college students who live in
dorms on campus," Cris Henderson, a software-engineering student at the
University of Washington who runs a Web site called MP3.Net, told EE Times.
Henderson's site, which has no MP3 files of its own, offers pointers to the
top 100 sites that do, notes the publication.
"Since most colleges offer free, high-speed Internet connections, it's
relatively easy for a student to set up a server on a computer and
distribute pirated music. Furthermore, if each college in the United States
has just two or three students running the a server from their computer,
it's clear that there are possibly 1,000 or more of these sites offering
music for download," Henderson said. Similar sites outside the U.S. may add
thousands more to that figure, adds EE Times.
Despite the piracy troubles, the music industry still continues to look to
the MP3 standard as a new way to sell CD-quality music to consumers. A new
consortium, the MP3 Audio Consortium, is seeking to establish the
compression scheme as the predominant format for music exchange and related
commerce over the Internet. EE Times' report on digital music piracy is
available on the Web at
http://techweb.cmp.com/eet/news/97/964news/pirates.html .
NSF Funds Rural Net Connections
The National Science Foundation says it will pay to connect universities in
18 rural states to government's "Next Generation Internet." It is a bid to
head off a political fuss over rural links to cyberspace. NSF Director
Neal Lane says in a letter to Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont) that the science
agency will augment grants to rural states under its existing Experimental
Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, known as EPSCoR. The Reuter
News Service quotes Lane as writing, "Rural institutions should not be
unfairly penalized by disproportionately high connection costs to high
performance networks. To ameliorate this problem, the National Science
Foundation will augment some grants for high performance connections to
help defray the high costs of links for rural institutions."
As reported earlier, the Net project has been criticized by senators who
said the NSF planned to send most of the new Internet project's money to
schools in a few big states like California and Massachusetts. Reuters
reporter Aaron Pressman notes the agency already gives qualified schools
$350,000 to connect to the fastest portion of the Internet, called the
Backbone Network Service, which will form the core of the Next Generation
Internet. Lane says schools in the rural states now will be eligible for an
additional $200,000 each.
Sen. Burns, who organized a hearing to air the concerns of rural states
about the net project, seems pleased. "These grants," he said, "should
provide a great opportunity to level the playing field and include rural
states in all aspects of future Internet development." Announced with
great fanfare by President Clinton during last year's campaign, the Next
Generation Internet project aims to send data at up to 1,000 times the
speed of today's net. Higher speed and improved reliability could spur a
host of new uses for the network, some with live sound and video feeds.
"Over the past several months," writes Pressman, "the NSF has taken great
pains to brief lawmakers on the Clinton administration's vision for the
Next Generation project. In addition to the critical June hearing in the
Senate, the House of Representatives in April passed a budget for the NSF
that prohibited any spending on the Internet project. But after the agency
reached out to legislators and clarified the project's goals, the House
reversed course." Released this month, a House Appropriations Committee
report on NSF funding included $23 million for the Internet project, a $13
million increase from the amount requested, saying, "The Committee action
is in recognition of recent changes in this multi-agency effort."
Camera Users Want Better Pix
A new study finds that more than 90 percent of digital cameras users are
satisfied, but would like to see better image quality on prints made from
digitally captured images. The study, conducted by CAP Ventures Inc.,
notes that over 30 percent of users feel that digital cameras will never
completely replace the use of traditional film cameras. The report also
finds that non-users are very aware of digital cameras, but their purchase
intentions are dependent upon having a home computer.
According to the study, computer owners are more than twice as likely to
buy a digital camera than non-owners. But the interest in digital cameras
among non-computer owners increases with the possibility they could drop
off "digital film" cartridges at a film processor. "In the near term, the
business and heavy-user home computer markets are the best opportunities
for digital camera manufacturers," says Allen Ruster, an analyst with the
Norwell, Massachusetts, company. "However, in the future, many of today's
traditional film camera owners will likely have a digital camera as well."
New Mac OS Gives Apple New Lease on Life.
(Too Bad It's a Short One)
Apple starts selling its operating system upgrade this weekend. Biggest
overhaul in six years, but don't get your hopes up. The upgrade is,
however, a major improvement, but it is not enough to pull Apple out of its
death spiral.
FCC issues key order preempting curbs on TV dishes
In a precedent-setting ruling, U.S. regulators Tuesday said federal rules
bar a small Kansas town from slapping restrictions on where consumers can
install satellite-television dishes. It is the first time the Federal
Communications Commission has preempted a local ordinance under new rules
that prevent localities from placing curbs on the placement of small
dishes as well as antennas for receiving wireless cable-TV. The ruling
signals the agency will not let local officials around the nation impose
unreasonable site restrictions.
A T T E N T I O N-A T T E N T I O N-A T T E N T I O N
LEXMARK OPTRA C
COLOR
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For a limited time only; If you wish to have a FREE sample printout sent to
you that demonstrates LEXMARK Optra C SUPERIOR QUALITY 600 dpi Laser Color
Output, please send a Self Addressed Stamped Envelope [SASE] (business
sized envelope please) to:
STReport's LEXMARK Printout Offer
P.O. Box 6672
Jacksonville, Florida 32205-6155
Folks, the LEXMARK Optra C has to be the very best yet in its price range.
It is far superior to anything we've seen or used as of yet. It is said
that ONE Picture is worth a thousand words. The out put from the Lexmark
Optra C is worth ten thousand words! Send for the free sample now. (For a
sample that's suitable for framing, see below) Guaranteed. you will be
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around).
If you would like a sample printout that's suitable for framing. Yes
that's right! Suitable for Framing. Order this package. It'll be on
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A T T E N T I O N-A T T E N T I O N-A T T E N T I O N
Adobe Systems Makes it Easy for QuarkXPress Users
to Switch to Adobe PageMaker Free
CD-ROM, Technical Support and Competitive Upgrade Pricing Provide Seamless Transition
Adobe Systems Incorporated introduced a program to help users of
QuarkXPress(R) and other desktop publishing products switch to Adobe(R)
PageMaker(R), the world's leading professional page layout software. The
new "It's Time to Try Adobe PageMaker" promotion removes the major
impediments to switching layout programs by offering discount pricing for
users of competitive products, free technical support, and a free CD- ROM
that includes a wealth of product and technical information as well as a
new QuarkXPress document converter and tryout versions of PageMaker 6.5
for Macintosh(R) and Windows(R).
"With on-line publishing capabilities, integration with other Adobe
products, and breakthrough layout features, PageMaker 6.5 helps make
customers more productive than other layout software," said Carolyn
Baillie, PageMaker product marketing manager. "Users of QuarkXPress
recognize this and have asked Adobe to help them switch to PageMaker
without having to start from scratch. The "It's Time to Try Adobe
PageMaker" program answers this call."
"It's Time to Try Adobe PageMaker" CD-ROM The cornerstone of the
program is a free CD-ROM that guides users through the process of
switching products. The CD has four easy-to-navigate sections. For
customers in the evaluation stage, the "Why PageMaker?" section includes
PageMaker 6.5 tryout software, feature information, step-by-step tutorials,
movie overviews, tips and techniques, a design gallery and press
endorsements. The "How do I Start?" section helps QuarkXPress users convert
existing documents into PageMaker publications and includes a comparison
of work environments, shortcut equivalents and a reference guide to help
QuarkXPress users learn PageMaker. "Who Can Help?" offers information on
training, Adobe- authorized service providers, customer and technical
support, PageMaker plug-ins and the Adobe Developers Association. For
customers ready to make the switch, "Now I'm Ready!" includes pricing and
worldwide dealer information.
"PageMaker 6.5 is a great one-stop solution for customers who need to
publish in print and on-line," said Jennifer Babik, vice president of
Lancaster, Penn.-based Cyber Solutions, an international computer graphic
arts training company. "With the new "It's Time to Try Adobe PageMaker"
Program, there's never been an easier way for QuarkXPress users to check
out the great new features in Adobe PageMaker."
QuarkXPress Converter* 3.0
The QuarkXPress Converter* software ensures that users can maintain
their investment in QuarkXPress documents as they move to PageMaker.
Version 3.0 of the converter, an update to version 2.01 that shipped on
the PageMaker 6.5 CD-ROM, lets users quickly convert documents created in
Macintosh or Windows versions of QuarkXPress into Macintosh or Windows
versions of PageMaker 6.5. The utility supports single or batch documents
created in QuarkXPress version 3.1 or later.
Extended Technical Support
To help users make a seamless transition to PageMaker, Adobe will
offer 90 days of free PageMaker technical support to owners of QuarkXPress
or Corel Ventura(tm) who purchase the competitive upgrade to PageMaker.
Pricing and Availability
Customers can receive the free "It's Time to Try Adobe PageMaker" CD-
ROM by calling Adobe Systems at 1- 800-422-3623. Owners of QuarkXPress or
Corel Ventura can purchase the Adobe PageMaker 6.5 competitive upgrade for
$199 (U.S.) by calling 1-800-422-3623. This offer is valid only in the
United States and Canada. Customers in other countries should contact
their local Adobe representative for details.
About Adobe Systems Inc.
Based in San Jose, California, Adobe Systems Incorporated develops and
supports products to help people express and use information in more
imaginative and meaningful ways, across all print and electronic media.
Founded in 1982, Adobe helped launch the desktop publishing revolution.
Today, the company offers a market-leading line of application software and
type products for creating and distributing visually rich communication
materials; licenses its industry-standard technologies to major hardware
manufacturers, software developers and service providers; and offers
integrated software solutions to businesses of all sizes. For more
information, see Adobe's home page at http://www.adobe.com on the World
Wide Web. Adobe, the Adobe logo, and PageMaker are trademarks of Adobe
Systems Incorporated. Macintosh is a trademark of Apple Computer Inc.,
registered in the United States and other countries. Windows is either a
trademark or registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. QuarkXPress is
a registered trademark of Quark, Inc. *The QuarkXPress Converter for
PageMaker was developed independently and is not sponsored, endorsed, or in
any way affiliated with Quark, Inc. Ventura is a trademark of Corel
Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective
owners.
Shareware Treasure Chest STR Feature "The Latest & Greatest"
Shareware Treasure Chest
By Lloyd E. Pulley
lepulley@streport.com
------------
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Netscape Netcaster 32-bit 1.0 beta 3 7/18/97 .62mb Free
Netscape Netcaster, the newest component of Netscape Communicator,
enables push delivery of information and offline browsing. Netcaster
seamlessly integrates with Channel Finder, the source for the best channels
on the Internet. Users can subscribe to the information they want and have
it delivered automatically. Offline browsing allows users to take the
valuable resources of the Web offline with them - wherever they go.
Developed entirely using the open Internet standards of HTML, Java, and
JavaScript, Netscape Netcaster is an example of the powerful applications
that can be built on the Netscape ONE platform.
Home Page Site - http://www.netscape.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Netscape Communicator Version 4.01a 7/17/97 13,000kb Freeware
An open email, groupware, and browser suite that provides the complete
set of tools you need every day to easily communicate, share, and access
information on your intranet or the Internet. It integrates open email,
groupware, editing, and browsing tools into one powerful yet easy-to-use
application. Communicate using Netscape Messenger and Netscape Navigator.
Create documents using Netscape Composer. Collaborate using Netscape
Collabra and Netscape Conference.
Home Page Site - http://www.netscape.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Real Player Version 4.01 7/17/97 1,100kb Freeware
From the makers of Real Audio comes Real Video, the only player you need
to get all the great RealAudio and the new RealVideo content on the web,
all without download delays. Stereo audio at 28.8, near-CD quality at
higher bitrates, AM-quality audio at 14.4, Newscast-quality video at 28.8
and full-motion at higher bitrates.
Home Page Site - http://www.real.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
PolyView Version 2.10 Beta 7/18/97 825kb Shareware $20.00
32-bit graphics viewing program, supports GIF, JPEG, and TIFF. Thumbnail
pictures of your images from File:Explore.
Home Page Site - http://www.polybytes.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
SpellAll Spell Checker Version 1.1 7/16/97 1,240kb Shareware $24.00
Appears as a small icon, the "spelling bee", in the Windows tool tray.
Just drag the bee over any window you want to check and SpellAll goes to
work, comparing every word to its 91,000+ word dictionary and alerting you
to any words it doesn't know, offering a list of suggested replacement
words. You can even choose to ignore numbers, words with numbers in them,
single character words, allow plurals, ignore email addresses and ignore
Web URL's!! SpellAll can check any edit or Rich Edit window, which means
that just about anywhere you can type, SpellAll can check your work!
Home Page Site - http://www.leesoftware.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Icon Drive II Version 1.0 7/17/97 215kb Shareware $12.00
An Icon Extraction Program with a twist. It will create a Directory of
Icons. So you can have your very own library of Icons. You can extract
whole directory trees of Applications or DLL's, by selecting the source
Directory where you wish to start. Icon Drive will go through all the
Applications and DLL's in that directory and all its sub directories. As
you can image there could be a lot of icons and most of them the same. So
Icon Drive will compare all icons with icons already in the destination and
that way you only have originals.
Home Page Site - http://www.genesoft.demon.co.uk/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Dipstick Version 2.00 7/16/97 691kb Freeware
This application helps you in your quest for the fastest mirror whenever
you're presented a list of them and of course you're unsure about which one
to go to. Simply drag them to dipstick's window and it will tell you the
best place to go from where you are at the time you're trying to get in
there.
Home Page Site - http://www.klever.net/kin/dipstick.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
MIcrosoft Internet Explorer Version 4.0 Preview 2 7/15/97 400kb
Freeware
This is the Active Setup program to install Microsoft Internet Explorer
4.0. Once the active setup program is installed, you can choose from
Minimal (14 MB), Standard (15 MB), or Full (22 MB) installation, depending
on which add-on components you wish to include with your download. This is
a preview release and because this software is still in development, some
of the functionality is incomplete at this time. It is intended for expert
users only.
Home Page Site - http://www.microsoft.com/ie/ie40/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
HyperSnap-DX 32-bit 3.05 7/18/97 .44mb Shareware $20
HyperSnap brings professional quality, convenient Windows 95 and NT
screen captures to your fingertips. It was designed for ease of use, with
powerful and useful features to aid the professional as well as support the
needs of the occasional user. Now features DirectX game screen capture
technology.
Home Page Site - http://www.hyperionics.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Zipcat Pro Version 2.0v12 7/12/97 4,200kb Shareware $25.00
ZipCat Pro is a 32-bit application for Windows 95/NT4 with the look and
feel of the Office 97 suite, which catalogs fixed and removable media. It
remembers your "disks" so that you can recatalog them with only one button!
Browse your disks offline visually (like Explorer,) or perform queries with
a powerful search tool modeled after, but superior to, the Windows 95 Find
tool. Export your volumes for printing, Email, or importing into other
databases. You can add descriptions to just about everything, and delete
individual items too. ZipCat Pro works with CDs, floppies, removables (ZIP,
Syquest, etc.,) network shares, and more. It can also handle FAT, FAT2, FAT-
32, NTFS, ISO-9660, Microsoft Romeo and Joliet formats and more.
Home Page Site - http://www3.blackboard.com/m2s/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Paint Shop Pro 32-bit Version 4.12 7/15/97 2,983kb Shareware $69.00
The complete windows graphics program for image creation, viewing, and
manipulation. Features include painting with 8 brushes, photo retouching,
image enhancement and editing, color enhancement, image browser, batch
conversion, and scanner support. Included are 20 standard filters and 12
deformations. Supports plug-in filters. Over 34 file formats.
Home Page Site - http://www.jasc.com/psp.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
A.G.F. Version 1.0 7/18/97 1,966kb Freeware
Asteroids like Arcade Game with multiplayer-support and level-editor.
DirectX
Home Page Site - http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lakes/1067/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
System Utilities Version 1.1 7/17/97 2,050kb Shareware
An enhanced system maintenance utility that allows you to edit as many
files at once, efficiently and easily. It includes, customization support
so you decide which system files you want to edit. You also get to choose
what the font and color should be. The #1 feature about this application is
the backup feature. It automatically backups to the App directory! System
Monitor 1.1 is a utility that monitors your system. It has more than 48
things to monitor! You have the option to let it sit in your system tray,
also. The #1 feature about this application is it's status bar. It notifies
you if your configuration has changed, if you're low on battery, a new
device is available, if a device has been removed, system settings have
changed, the display has changed and if the monitor has changed. If System
Monitor is in the system tray then it will notify you by changing the icon
to an exclamation point.
Home Page Site - http://www.usaretail.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
MediaBlaze SE Version 5.0a 7/19/97 2,400kb Shareware
Screening many types of files for multimedia projects can be a real pain-
-you're constantly switching applications just to check out your inventory
of audio, graphic, and video clips. Our hero of the day, MediaBlaze SE, can
handle just about all of your multimedia file formats, and display other
MCI components as well. MPEG, VideoDisc, and PhotoCD are supported, and you
can also play audio CDs. This application's tabbed interface makes it easy
to select which media file to view or play. Image files can be viewed in
thumbnail or "stretched" format, and sound and video files play at the
touch of a button; a moving bar displays playback progress. Right-mouse
menus offer viewing or playing options, as well as delete, copy, or move
file commands. Also included is a timer--just in case you forget to take a
break. Supports: JPG, GIF, BMP, RLE, WMF, EMF, CUR, ICO, AVI, QT, MOV,
MPEG, DAT, WAV, MID, RMI, CD and other MCI Devices. Includes Interval Based
Reminder and Windows 95 Logo Changer.
Home Page Site - http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/3862/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Cookie Web Kit 7/19/97 .01mb Free
The Cookie Web kit automates the deletion of your cookie files everytime
you boot up your computer or click on a certain icon. It works by the use
of a simple bat file, and can also be configured to delete cache and
history files. This software is compatible with all versions of Netscape,
and Internet Explorer (Windows95). Includes comprehensive setup file.
Home Page Site - http://www.cookiecentral.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Go!Zilla 32-bit 2.11a 7/19/97 .61mb Shareware $15
Go!Zilla is an internet file management and retrieval system. Gather URL
links to files that you want to download by simply Dragging them from your
favorite internet browser. Instantly see file sizes, estimated download
times and network connection performance. You can even add as many
different locations for a single file as you can find or let Go!Zilla do
the work by quickly searching FTP archives. Then when Go!Zilla retrieves
the file for you, it checks all available locations and delivers the
fastest possible connection. Go!Zilla will even resume a failed download
from both FTP and HTTP web sites. Downloads can be started at any time, or
scheduled for later when network traffic dies down.
Home Page Site - http://www.gizmo.net/gozilla/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
ChemLab Version 1.1d 7/15/97 1.0mb Shareware
A real-time 2-D simulation of a chemistry lab in which the user interacts
with animated lab equipment, similar to lab work. Each lab simulation is
contained in a separate simulation module, thus many different labs are
possible using the common lab interface. ChemLab allows users to quickly
run-through chemistry labs, in a fraction of the time of an actual lab,
while emphasizing the critical principles and techniques of experimental
chemistry. It is ideal for lab run-throughs, demonstrations, pre-lab work,
dangerous labs and labs which cannot be performed due to time limitations.
Home Page Site - http://www.hookup.net/~josephc/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Plastic Thought Quick3D 32-bit beta plug-in 7/20/97 .02mb Free
Requires QuickDraw 3d 1.5.1 to be
installed.
Plastic Thought's Quick3D Netscape plugin puts 3D in the browser. The 3D
model can be rotated, turned to a specific view, scaled and zoomed online.
It works in Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer. Product viewing is
ideal with Quick3D, as it can rotate the model automatically on screen. If
the user would like a specific view or zoom into a detail the controls
allow this. Quick3D is used to view 3DMF models online. QuickDraw3D's 3DMF
file format is a compact and efficient method of storing 3D models with
textures and camera information. New models can be made with popular 3D
packages, ready to use 3D clip art can also purchased.
Home Page Site - http://www.plasticthought.com/Quick3D_about.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Hard Disk Sleeper Version 1.43 7/18/97 68kb Shareware $20.00
With HDSleep you can control the Power Management of your IDE- and EIDE
harddisk drives even if your Computer-BIOS does not support it. You are
able to define suspend times for all drives or apply independent settings
to each of your drives. With the small taskbar icon and its context menus,
you will control the power management just with a mouse-click.
Home Page Site - http://www.mwso.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
The Space Is Special Foundation Trivia Game! Version 1.0
7/12/97 1,600kb Shareware $10.00
An excellent program for learning, or studying about space. It has
excellent graphics, a great midi soundtrack (You can change the music at
any time!), random sound effects, and over 120 questions. When you complete
the program, you can put your name on the high score table, or even print
your own customizable certificate complete with your score and percentage.
If you like this program, please register it. 100% of the profits will go
to the Space Is Special Foundation, and will go towards sending special
education students to Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama in the future. This
program was actually written by one of the students.
Home Page Site - http://www.geocities.com/~space_special/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Mcafee Viruscan for Win95 3.10 7/23/97 4.90mb Shareware
An excellant virus scanner that scans all system areas to provide
extensive security including local and network drives, CD-ROMS, floppies,
boot sectors, file allocation and partition tables, folders, files and
compressed files. It also accurately cleans most virus infections from
files, master boot sectors, partition tables and memory back to their virus-
free state.
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
McAfee Virus Scan Monthly Update Version July Update
7/14/97 1,060kb Freeware
This is the July update for Mcafee VirusScan version 3.0. Note: This will
not work with earlier versions of VirusScan.
Home Page Site - http://www.mcafee.com/down/dat.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Pagoo 32-bit 1.0 Official Release 7/21/97 .56mb Free
Pagoo is a new revolutionary way to communicate between you and your
friends. Pagoo is a FREE unique service that delivers phone calls to user's
desktop while they are on-line. Is it always impossible for your friends to
contact you because your phone line is always busy? You are browsing the
web too much! Now, they can call the pagoo center (1-805-685-9056) using
any phone and leave a message that you will receive directly on your
desktop a few seconds later. They can leave you a voice mail or a numeric
message just like a pager.
Home Page Site - http://www.pagoo.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Panda Antivirus Professional Version 5.0 7/10/97 2,735kb Shareware
Special 32 bit version for Windows 95, that includes Panda Anti-Virus
Professional 4.0 For DOS/Windows 3.x. In addition to the general features
of all the Panda Anti-Virus family, it has the following specific features:
VIRTUAL VxD DRIVER . This virtual driver keeps you constantly protected by
supervising all files that the system handles, be it from Windows itself,
from virtual DOS Windows, or files entered via the network, diskette
drives, a BBS or via modem from the Internet. NCSA Certified. Identifies
and eliminates more than 13,000 viruses. Detects known and unknown viruses.
Scans compressed files. Eliminates viruses from files, boot sectors and the
partition table. Very fast and reliable detection system. Investigation and
heuristic method for detecting unknown viruses. External and internal
vaccines. Constantly being updated for new viruses.
Home Page Site - http://www.pandasoftware.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
WinImage 32-bit beta 3.07.3046 7/21/97 .25mb Shareware $30
WinImage is a powerful disk utility that enables users to make disk image
from floppy, extract file from image, make an empty image, put the image on
blank disk. WinImage also supports many different standard and non-standard
formats, including Microsoft new DMF format.
Home Page Site -
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/gvollant/winimage.htm
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Quick Cab Pro Version 6.0 7/15/97 1,330kb Shareware $50.00
Features zip level compression, with faster speeds. You can make either a
.cab or a .exe EASILY!You can also use Quick Cab Pro to create a setup.exe
which uses SETUP API to provide a tiny redistributable package. Quick Cab
also incorporates 448bit file encryption (unrestricted by US law unlike
most other encryption utilities.) Excellent online help, support, and many
features make it a must for all computer users.
Home Page Site - http://www.cripton.com/qcpro/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Excite PAL 32-bit 1.0.51 7/21/97 .54mb Free
Excite PAL is a confidential messaging service between you and your
network of friends. You will be able to tell when family, friends and
colleagues are online, plus you can send and receive messages
instantaneously to anyone logged in to Excite PAL.
Home Page Site - http://pal.excite.com/go.webx?98@@pal/index.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
WinTAR-Remote Version 2.2.1 7/13/97 720kb Shareware $40.00
A TAR program for Windows 95 and NT. It supports backup on floppy
diskette, on TAR files, and over TCP/IP to a remote tape drive on a Unix
workstation. For SCSI tape drives support on a PC, WinTAR-SCSI is the
solution for you.
Home Page Site - http://www.spiralcomm.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Mini Notetab 32-bit 2.63b 7/21/97 .44mb Freeware
Mini Notepad is not just another Windows Notepad replacement! It is a
feature-rich program with a selection of original productivity tools that
you will find in no other editor. Mini Notepad has been designed to use a
minimum amount of Windows system resources so you can safely keep the
editor open all the time. The program is capable of opening a very large
number of files (the actual limit is determined by the amount of free
system resources). Each document is displayed on a tabbed page making it
easy to switch between them. A separate window, called the Document
Selector, makes it easy to find a specific document when a large number of
them are open.
Home Page Site -
http://www.unige.ch/sciences/terre/geologie/fookes/mininote.htm
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Virtual Book Version 2.00 7/17/97 2.0mb Shareware $10.00
An electronic book program which can be used with text, RTF (Rich Text
Format) files and markup (HTML) files. It is handy if you'd like to take a
book or two with you , but don't wish to carry your library with you.
Another nice use of it is for bed-time reading where others want the light
off. With it you can page through a book, place a bookmark, easily create
and use the index, keep notes on the book, put books on your virtual book
shelf (the shareware limit is 3)... all graphically and intuitively.
Home Page Site - http://pdxnet.com/~ayecor/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
UltraEdit 32-bit 4.40 7/21/97 .89mb Shareware $30
A really good text editor with almost every feature you could want. Some
of it's many features include: Disk based text editing - No limit on file
size, minimum RAM used even for multi-megabyte files, Column mode
editing!!!, Insert columns/ delete/ cut/ add sequential numbers, 100,000
word spell checker, Syntax highlighting - configurable, pre-configured for
C/C++ and VB and some HTML, Hexadecimal Editor - Allows editing of any
binary file, HEX Cut, Copy and Paste support , HEX Insert and Delete of
characters, HEX Find, Replace and Replace All, Multiple files open and
displayed at the same time, and more.
Home Page Site - http://www.idmcomp.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Video Tape Cataloge Version 1.0 7/27/97 758kb Freeware
If you've reached that situation where you don't know what you've got on
your video cassettes, why not download a free copy of Video Tape Catalogue.
It does exactly what it says - and anyone can use it with ease!
Home Page Site - http://www.pyramid.simplenet.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
The Journal Version 1.42.00 7/17/97 5,500kb Shareware $25.00
If you want to keep a journal, The Journal is what you are looking for!
The Journal is specifically designed to help you organize your thoughts and
ideas, whether for business or personal use. The Journal is very flexible,
allowing many options in creating the perfect Personal Journal for you,
while maintaining an unrivaled ease-of-use. The Journal sports powerful
word processing capabilities (including a spell checker and a thesaurus)
and full OLE container support. The Journal allows you to create multiple
entry categories such as "Daily Journal", "Programming Notes", "Project
Notes"--completely user defineable!
Home Page Site - http://www.busprod.com/davidrm/software/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Thumbs Plus 32-bit 3.0g1 7/22/97 3.00mb Shareware $65
ThumbsPlus is a graphic file viewer, locator and organizer which
simplifies the process of finding and maintaining graphics, clip-art files,
fonts and animations. It displays a small image (thumbnail) of each file.
You can use ThumbsPlus to browse, view, edit, crop, launch external
editors, and copy images to the clipboard. You can use drag-and-drop to
organize graphics files by moving them to appropriate directories.
ThumbsPlus will also create a slide show from selected graphics, and
install bitmap files as Windows wallpaper. You can print individual
graphics files, or the thumbnails themselves as a catalog. ThumbsPlus can
convert to several formats, either one at a time or in batch mode. You can
also perform image editing in batch mode. ThumbsPlus will also convert
metafile graphics to bitmaps (rasterize). One important new feature in 3.0g
is the ablity to generate Web pages of thumbnails.
Home Page Site - http://www.cerious.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
WebTurbo 32-bit 1.01 7/22/97 1.60mb Free
WebTurbo streamlines searching and surfing by combining two great
features--a Web Previewer and a powerful Search Tool. The Web Previewer
uses its "hypersketch" outline technology to create previews or summaries
of Web pages, letting you rapidly see the contents and links of a page in
an intuitive outline format without having to download the page itself.
These previews are not just hyperlink lists, or the first 100 characters on
the page, but meaningful summaries of the page. The search tool allows you
to query all of the popular search engines at once using WebTurbo's "smart
queries" to bring back better results in an organized, clear fashion.
Home Page Site - http://www.webturbo.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
DSpace Version 0.5 7/20/97 759kb Freeware
A very handy utility that displays information about any directory on any
disk. Using an interface similar to Windows Explorer, it tells you how much
space is taken up (both by filesize, and true allocation) under any
directory, including all nested subdirectories. It is very fast at scanning
the disk, and has an extremely fast and powerful delete feature, useful for
getting rid of those disk space hogs. This is currently a beta release, but
it functions as expected.
Home Page Site - http://www.ktb.net/~daniel/dspace/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Sand Warriors 7/22/97 17.00mb Commercial Demo
Blending Ancient Egyptian iconography and futuristic hyper-technology
with the fastest SVGA graphics engine ever, Sand Warriors from Gremlin
Interactive is the arcade 3D flight-sim for PC owners this summer. Two
warring nations are locked in genocidal war on the dying planet of Tawy.
The prize is the right to discover the Orion technology need to colonize
the mysterious desert planet.
Home Page Site - http://www.interplay.com/games/sandwar.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Cookie C
utter PC 32-bit 2.0 7/23/97 1.30mb Shareware
Each time you go to a web site using your browser, you may be having
information about your preferences placed on your hard drive. Or... each
time you go to a web site your preferences may be being read by others.
This information is stored in "cookies", and your best line of defense
against any cookie (you know it's coming) is a good Cookie Cutter. The
shareware version will cut your cookies 50 times, by which point you may
have decided whether or not to register it.
Home Page Site - http://www.pdxnet.com/~ayecor/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
PrintKey Version 1.2 7/21/97 123kb Freeware
Adds a real Printscreen to any PC runing Win95 or NT4.0 just press the
Printscreen key on your keyboard and you can print the Desktop or active
window the output can also be modified like enlarged, centered, monochrom,
landscape and more. Get it and you will love it.
Home Page Site - http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Bay/3053/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Tanarus 32-bit beta .91 7/24/97 10.00mb Free
Tired of playing against your computer? Then prepare yourself for the
ultimate online challenge in Sony Interactive Studio America's Tanarus, a
futuristic multi-player action/strategy tank game in which all the
competition are other players just like yourself. Oh and Tanarus has 3dfx
support so if you have a Monster 3d, Flash 3d,etc you are in for a treat.
Home Page Site - http://armorgeddon.station.sony.com
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Net2Phone 16-bit 8.23 Official Release 7/24/97 1.30mb Free
program/service costs
$$$
Net2Phone is a new technology which makes it possible to place domestic
and international calls from a personal computer to any telephone in the
world. Net2Phone enables Internet users with sound-equipped PCs to initiate
calls from their computers and transmit them over the Internet to IDT's
phone switches. The switches then convert the signal from the "packet
switch network" Internet environment to the "circuit switch network"
telephone environment. And then to its' final destination - any ordinary
telephone. The result is real-time uninterrupted voice communication
between the two calling parties." Look out AT&T :)
Home Page Site - http://www.net2phone.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Password Tracker 32-bit 3.01 7/24/97 .84mb Shareware $10
Password Tracker Deluxe version 3.0 now has "Autoscan", the ability to
continuously monitor your system to insert usernames and passwords
automatically, without any user action! This latest release retains the
simple and easy-to-use interface of previous versions, but has added
powerful features like autoscan, auto program launch, and random password
generation! Password Tracker Deluxe allows you to safely and securely store
and organize your passwords, usernames, and associated notes. An unlimited
number of users can each store individually password-protected lists.
Home Page Site - http://www.xnet.com/~robertc/PassTrak.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
WinWeather 32-bit 3.0 7/24/97 .71mb Shareware $19.95
WinWeather 3.0 is The Best Way to Get Weather on the Net. It brings
hourly weather reports and forecasts, satellite images, live WeatherCams,
ski reports, earthquake reports, hurricane advisories, and much more to
your PC through the Internet. Version 3.0 offers many great new features
including desk tray and dial up connection support, no screen real-estate
Weather Ticker, and more.
Home Page Site - http://www.igsnet.com/
STR Editor's Mail Call "...a place for the readers to be heard"
Editor's MailBag
Messages * NOT EDITED * for content
In reply to our editorial about the "El Cheapo Cooling Fans" ..
To: rmariano@streport.comFrom: Mike Mannweiler <mikemann@mindspring.com>
Subject: CPU Fan
Hi Ralph,To my knowledge, the best CPU fans come from a place in California
called PC Power and Cooling. You can reach them at 619-931-5700 (sorry I
don't have an 800 number for them-they usually have an ad in PC Magazine).
They are also known for their good power supplies.
The same thing happened to me last year with a cheap fan. I replaced it
with one of these and it's been working great every since. You may have
to look at the fastening wire/spring a minute before you "get" the way it's
supposed to fit. Just make sure your CPU is in a "socket 7" and be sure to
apply a thin coating of the thermal transfer "grease" that comes with
the fan. I'm not sure how the "grease" would affect a warrantee if it
turns out the CPU needs replacing. I believe a Pentium fan costs a little
under $25.00.
By the way, I've been downloading the STReport for a few months and really
enjoy it. I don't read it all, but I always read and enjoy the news and
the shareware reviews.
Good luck and feel free to email with questions.
Mike Mannweiler
mikemann@mindspring.com
In reply to: Mike..
Thank you for the great info about PC Power and Cooling. I will
follow up with our impressions of the fans. and their other high
reliability and performance products as soon as possible.
Ralph.
To: rmariano@streport.comFrom: John Crea <johncrea@interoz.com>Subject: CPU
FANS, etc.
Ralph,
Check out the cooling fans from PC Power & Cooling. Industrial strength,
with ball bearings. Pricey compared to the cheap ones, but a really great
product. Runs around $25 for the Intel MMX Pentium.
Also, while I have your "ear", I have tried to get the Adobe Acrobat 3.01
update from both your website as well as the ftp site. Have downloaded it
at least 3 time successfully, and in all three cases, the file was
glitched. On clicking it, it displayed garbage for text, and if you go
ahead and click install, it comes up with the message that it is password
protected. You may want to check the file on your hard drive.
John
In reply to: John.
Thank you too for your sincere interest and recommendations you can
believe we shall be writing about PC Power and Cooling very soon.
About your problems with Acrobat 3.01 unzipping itself. it is an .exe
file and should auto-run and install itself as soon as you click on the
exe. We're using it here with great success and soon. very soon now
STReport will go a step further and offer even better visual enhancements.
Ralph..
From: "Stan Sieger" <sieger@hotmail.com>To: rmariano@streport.comSubject:
failed fan fries files?
Sorry to read about your CPU fan problems. Of course, nobody wants
something like that to happen to *them*! I am relieved to read that no harm
actually came to the computer or your files because of this incident. A
little psychological grief? No biggie.
However, let's be reasonable about our expectations. Is CPU fan failure a
common problem? Based on the variety of replacement fans sold by my local
electronics superstore...YES! But, has this ever happened before
to you or anyone you know? Probably not, or the computer magazines would be
full of articles on the subject and full page 4-color ads for replacement
fans.
No mechanical device can be made to operate without EVER failing. If you
are the Pentagon spending unlimited tax dollars then you can afford to
design and build a fan that has a very low chance of failing and/or
replace the fan on a regular basis before it reaches its expected lifetime.
Intel could do something similar by buying $100 fans with very low failure
rates, but then *you'd* be the one to pay the extra $94. The best thing
for them to do is install cheaper fans with reasonable lifetimes and hope
that they never fail in the computer owned by a newsletter editor!
It looks like you got a fan that failed before its statistical lifetime was
up.
All is not lost! If you think that you might have this problem in the
future you may want to look into the "CP- Vue", a $20 gadget that you clip
to the CPU heatsink. Should the heatsink temperature rise above 118 degrees
(when the cooling fan fails!) an alarm sounds. For the really paranoid
(um...me), the deluxe version has an LCD readout of the heatsink
temperature. I've seen this advertised in catalogues, although I bought
mine locally. Distributor: Quad-G Electronics, 120 South Terrace Ave.,
Mount Vernon, NY 10550.
Stan
In reply to: Stan.
I don't believe I was paranoid as much as you portray. I may have
been .(literally) P.O.'ed. You must agree, to see a five figure system
come tumbling down due to a $6.00 fan is a bit much. Probably as bad as
crashing because of a cheapo power supply. I might take a moment to point
out that Fan Failure is really quite predominant and in most cases, the
last item to be scrutinized. Usually, an upstanding computer tech will do
the right thing and simply replace the fan. if that's all that's been
damaged. However, in my experience, (letters t the Editor, etc.) its been
seen that many times the damage caused is more serious than initially
thought. In any case, thanks for your reply. it too, contains some very
interesting and noteworthy information. I shall inquire of Quad-G and try
to obtain more info about this read-out goodie. (That's an interesting
device).
Ralph.
EDUPAGE STR Focus Keeping the users informed
Edupage
Contents
FCC Ready To Approve Bell Atlantic
Merger With Nynex
German Telco Launches Internet
Telephony Trial
Credit Card Companies Agree On
Security Standard
Time Warner's Stake In Cable TV
Game Over
Compaq Seeks To Bar Channel
Partners From Servicing Rivals
Mac Gets UpgradeNew Mac OS Licenses
Are Still In LimboWho You Gonna
Call? Dell-Busters!"Security Is
Not Protection, It's Delay"Who Owns
What's Inside Your Head?The
Changing Face Of The WebSprint Buys
Computer Networking Company
Microsoft Buys Stake In Progressive
Networks
E-Mail From Excite
Zilog Sold To Investors
Mac Gets Upgrade
Edupage In EstonianAOL Users Face
More Junk CallsSoftware Vendors See
Hot Market In Higher EdWindows 98
To Have Feel Of Web BrowserDigital
Fires Back With Antitrust Charges
Against Intel
Apple Options
Microsoft Targets Africa
CompusServe To Have Red Light Zone
Time Warner Agrees To Carry Fox In
New York
A Yellow Color They Call "Yellow"
FCC READY TO APPROVE BELL ATLANTIC MERGER WITH NYNEX
Pleased with an agreement by East Coast phone companies Bell Atlantic and
Nynex to open their local phone service markets to competition from new
rivals like long-distance companies AT&T and MCI, the Federal
Communications Commission is ready to approve the proposed $23.7-billion
merger of the two companies. FCC Chair Reed Hundt says: "If Bell Atlantic
and Nynex want to be the East Coast phone company, then they must open the
whole East Coast to competition." (New York Times 20 Jul 97)
GERMAN TELCO LAUNCHES INTERNET TELEPHONY TRIAL
Deutsche Telekom, Europe's largest telecommunications carrier and Internet
service provider, on Friday became the first major telephone company in the
world to offer Internet-based voice telephony in a trial involving 1,000
customers, mostly employees of multinational companies. The service is
offered among the U.S., Germany, Japan and Canada. Participants will be
able to use ordinary handsets, rather than computers, to make their calls,
and will pay only for the cost of accessing the Internet gateway at an
average cost of about 13 cents a minute -- less than a fifth of the cost
of a regular voice call from Germany to the U.S. "The targets of this
project are to test the technology, to analyze the usage, and to evaluate
whether Internet telephony can be offered at lower rates than conventional
telephone service," says the company. (TechWire 18 Jul 97)
CREDIT CARD COMPANIES AGREE ON SECURITY STANDARD
Visa and MasterCard say they've agreed on a set of technical standards for
secure electronic transactions, called SET 1.0. The two companies are
already running pilot programs to test the standards in 25 countries, and
hope to introduce the standard to the general market at the end of this
year. "If we work together as an industry, this will go a lot faster,"
says Visa's senior VP for I-commerce. The companies hope that the new
standard will be in wide use by next year. (InfoWorld Electric 18 Jul 97)
TIME WARNER'S STAKE IN CABLE TV
A year ago Time Warner's stake in the cable industry was $16 billion in
debt, but media analyst Jill Crudick says there's been "a critical
turnaround in the cable business. The value of cable assets are rising and
Time Warner is able to buy down its debts faster because its cable
operations are humming along at a good clip." The company has recently
reaffirmed its alliance with U S West, the third largest cable TV operator,
and its partner in Time Warner Entertainment. (Atlanta Journal-
Constitution 20 Jul 97)
GAME OVER
The Senate is planning to require federal agencies to remove computer games
from all government computers and to prevent them from buying any new
computers that have games already installed. Senator Lauch Faircloth (R -
NC) explains: "The taxpayers don't need to be paying the salaries of people
who are playing games while on official time. The removal of these games
will save millions, if not billions, in lost productivity. It is time to
pull the plug on people playing computer games." (USA Today 18 Jul 97)
Editor's Note: WHAT ABOUT BOTH HOUSE'S GOLF COURSEs, GYMS, HANDBALL COURTS
etc., ad infinatum, ad naseum!! Launch Faircloth ain't FAIR at all! Get
rid of all the FAT Launch! PS, "Launchie Baby" .stop trying to make a name
for yourself at the expense of others.
COMPAQ SEEKS TO BAR CHANNEL PARTNERS
FROM SERVICING RIVALS
Compaq Computer is considering including language in its Channel
Configuration Program agreement that would bar its channel assembly
partners from servicing PCs made by direct mail rivals Dell and Gateway
2000. Approximately 10-15% of Dell's products that are sold to the
corporate community currently go through the channel. "I understand why
Compaq would like to do something like that. There are probably other
suppliers that would like to do that, too. But the concern we have is
keeping the customer happy," says a VP at MicroAge, which also does
business with Dell and Gateway. Lawyers who've looked at the new wording
say it does not appear to be illegal. "They would get in trouble only if
they would prevent Dell and Gateway access from the big chunk of the
downstream market," says a partner at a D.C. law firm. "Clearly, the
gloves are off between Compaq and Dell. They will do anything to compete
against each other. I see it as Compaq jealously guarding the channel's
integrity," says the CEO of Tech Data Corp. (Computer Reseller News 19 Jul
97)
MAC GETS UPGRADE
Apple is launching Mac OS 8, the first major upgrade in six years of its
operating system for Macintosh personal computers. The new system boasts
significantly improved stability as well as a "multi-threading" capability
facilitating the simultaneous execution of various processes. An Apple
executive says, "I feel we have re-established our reputation for quality."
(Wall Street Journal 22 Jul 97)
NEW MAC OS LICENSES ARE STILL IN LIMBO
While Apple is busily touting the release of its new MacOS 8 operating
system, Macintosh clone makers are still waiting to have their licenses
renewed. Although most of the clone makers have agreed to the general
terms of the new licenses, nothing has been signed yet. "This is a
disaster," says an independent market analyst. "I expected Apple to have
resolved this last quarter." Meanwhile, Apple has said it plans to charge
more for the new licenses, and wants to institute a sliding scale
arrangement based on the price of the system and the power of the
processor. (Computer Reseller News 21 Jul 97)
WHO YOU GONNA CALL? DELL-BUSTERS!
Computer resellers and industry analysts are talking about the latest
weapon in the arsenals of the big three indirect PC sellers -- "Dell-
busters." These are specially trained sales people whose main purpose is to
sell against one particular PC maker -- singing the praises of the indirect
sales model while pointing out the shortcomings of Dell's direct sales
system. Compaq denies the existence of "Dell-busters," but resellers say
they're definitely out there: "Dell's got 200-plus people on the street
and they have compelling stories for large accounts. I think the indirect
guys have no choice but to get in with their own stories," says an IDC
analyst. IBM officials openly acknowledge their Dell-busting contingent,
formed in 1996, and Hewlett-Packard says everyone in sales is a Dell-
buster: "It's not just a core set of people -- it's the whole bloody sales
force," says an HP group marketing manager. (Investor's Business Daily 22
Jul 97)
"SECURITY IS NOT PROTECTION, IT'S DELAY"
The U.S. military is taking the threat of information warfare seriously,
with a report from the Defense Science Board predicting that by the year
2005, attacks on U.S. information systems by terrorists and foreign
espionage agents will be widespread. Even scarier is the threat from home-
grown crackers, who are responsible for most of the assaults on U.S.
information and communications systems. An innovative software program
developed at the Defense Information Systems Agency's Information Warfare
Division can tag suspected interlopers with an unerasable identification
number, and then follow them back to their home or office. Once there,
the number can be used to target the intruder with an offensive volley (a
virus, for instance) that scrambles the attacker's system. "You have to
view security as buying you time," says the chief of the Information
Warfare Division. "It's not protection, it's delay." (Popular Science Jul
97)
WHO OWNS WHAT'S INSIDE YOUR HEAD?
In a case that could set a new precedent in intellectual property law, a
former employee of DSC Communications in Plano, Texas, has appealed a
court order requiring him to reveal a software conversion procedure he
says he knows how to do, but never told the company. Evan Brown, who
worked for DSC for 10 years before he was fired, told the company he knows
how to automatically convert old software code into newer languages, and
DSC now wants that information, based on an agreement that Brown signed
making all ideas related to DSC's line of business property of the company.
If the court doesn't rule in Brown's favor, the case will go to trial Nov.
3. (Information Week 14 Jul 97)
THE CHANGING FACE OF THE WEB
PC Meter Vice Chairman Steve Coffey says his company's profile of Web users
is really changing: The fastest growing groups of users are now those
under 18 and those over 55; those over 55 spend the most time looking at
each page -- primarily financial information, which is what has drawn them
to the Web in the first place. The average Web user surfs barely an hour
a day -- the tiny contingent that surfs seven or more hours a day accounts
for a majority of overall Web usage. Entertainment sites represent 14% of
online time, vs. 1% for education sites. More than 25% of users visit
adult sites, 12% of those while they're at work. (TechWire 21 Jul 97)
SPRINT BUYS COMPUTER NETWORKING COMPANY
Sprint Corp. has made its first foray into the booming market for computer-
network services, buying closely held Paranet Inc. for $425 million in
cash. Paranet specializes in setting up and managing corporate networks
under an outsourcing arrangement. Estimates have pegged the total U.S.
market for network-management services at $27 billion this year, expected
to rise to $43 billion by 2000. (Wall Street Journal 21 Jul 97)
MICROSOFT BUYS STAKE IN PROGRESSIVE NETWORKS
Microsoft is making a minority investment in Progressive Networks Inc., a
company in the business of providing delivery of audio and video materials
over the Internet, with its Read Audio and Real Video technologies. By
forming a partnership with Progressive Networks, Microsoft will be working
to define a technical standard for future digital television that will
orient that medium toward interactivity (as the computer industry wants)
rather than just a prettier picture (as the TV industry wants). (New York
Times 22 Jul 97)
E-MAIL FROM EXCITE
The Internet search-engine company Excite Inc. will offer a free
advertising-supported e-mail service based on technology licensed from
WhoWhere? Inc., allowing users to access their e-mail messages stored on
WhoWhere? servers, using a standard Web browser. Users can access a free e-
mail account by surfing to the Excite Web site and entering a user name
and password. The service, called MailExcite, is available at
www.excite.com (USA Today 22 Jul 97)
ZILOG SOLD TO INVESTORS
Silicon Valley semiconductor manufacturer Zilog Inc. is being acquired by
the Texas Pacific Group, an investment company based in Fort Worth, Texas.
(San Jose Mercury News 22 Jul 97)
EDUPAGE IN ESTONIAN
We are pleased to report that Edupage has been available for the past three
months in an Estonian translation, prepared and distributed by Linnar Viik
and a team of translators and programmers at the United Nations
Development Programme in Estonia. Edupage on kokkuv=F5te infotehnoloogia-
alastest uudistest, mida koostab kolm korda n=E4dalas Educom, Washingtonis
baseeruv juhtivate k=F5rgkoolide konsortsium eesm=E4rgiga edendada
haridust infotehnoloogia kasutamise abil. (Edupage is now available in
Chinese, Estonian French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Hungarian,
Korean, Lithuanian, Portuguese, Slovak and Spanish, as well as English.)
http://www.ciesin.ee/undp
AOL USERS FACE MORE JUNK CALLS
America Online is reversing its policy of not handing out members' phone
numbers to marketing firms, opening up the possibility that subscribers now
will face a deluge of telemarketing calls pitching everything from discount
phone service to cheap appliances. "I'm horrified," says one subscriber.
"It's bad enough to get junk mail, but junk phone calls are much worse."
Previously, AOL had restricted its information-sharing to members' e-mail
and snail mail addresses. AOL says it plans to give subscribers plenty of
notice regarding the change in the terms-of-service agreement, and will
distribute information on how to opt out of the telemarketing campaign
before it begins this fall. (Wall Street Journal 24 Jul 97)
SOFTWARE VENDORS SEE HOT MARKET IN HIGHER ED
Many higher education institutions are scrambling to replace or upgrade
aging administrative software operations that will be rendered obsolete at
the end of 1999. "The software vendors have a hot market right now," says
a partner in KPMG Peat Marwick's higher education practice. "It's to some
extent a seller's market." For example, Georgetown University is
investing in a new system that, when finally up and running, will have
taken two years and $5-million to implement. (Chronicle of Higher
Education 25 Jul 97)
WINDOWS 98 TO HAVE FEEL OF WEB BROWSER
Microsoft's next version of its Windows operating system, Windows 98, will
allow users to access information wherever it is stored -- whether on a
PC, a corporate network, an online service, or the Internet. Industry
analyst David Coursey says that Microsoft is "really flexing its muscle...
Microsoft must own the desktop PC. It will be absolutely relentless."
The new Windows will have the look of a Web browser that can be used to
navigate through files by single-clicking on highlighted items. It will
make it easier to install PC devices (e.g., digital video disc players),
make it easier for companies to manage PC networks, and let a user connect
a $50- 100 TV add-on card to allow a PC to run TV programming from cable
and satellite companies. (USA Today 24 Jul 97)
DIGITAL FIRES BACK WITH ANTITRUST CHARGES AGAINST INTEL
Digital Equipment Corp. has charged Intel Corp. of using "monopoly power"
to harm Digital, citing its demand for the return of Intel technical
documents that Digital had received as part of its customer arrangement.
Digital's latest sally is intended to pressure Intel to drop the lawsuit it
filed May 27, demanding the return of the documents. That suit, in turn,
was filed in response to Digital's May 12 patent lawsuit that accused Intel
of violating patents on Digital's Alpha microprocessor. (Wall Street
Journal 24 Jul 97)
APPLE OPTIONS
With market share down to about 3%, many Apple observers are suggesting the
computer maker should pursue a hybrid strategy of continuing to
manufacture Macs for its loyal followers, but in addition moving into the
Wintel arena to build new business. Supporting that strategy are Prince
Alwaleed bin Talal ben Abdulaziz Alsaud, who bought a 5% stake in the
company earlier this spring, and former Apple CEO John Sculley. Sun
Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy, who toyed with the idea of buying Apple
about 18 months ago, says, "At this point, they need somebody who will
just walk in and say 'We're going to be a Compaq' or we're going to be a
[Sun-compatible] player. We're down to Tyson-Holyfield... It's better to
have your ear chewed on than to be sitting outside the ring." (Business
Week 28 Jul 97)
MICROSOFT TARGETS AFRICA
Microsoft is planning to invest millions of dollars in building an African
market for its products. The company, which has had operations in South
Africa for years, is now expanding into Zimbabwe and plans offices on the
islands of Mauritius and Reunion. (Investor's Business Daily 24 Jul 97)
COMPUSERVE TO HAVE RED LIGHT ZONE
Online services provider CompuServe is creating a separate area that will
contain "adult-oriented" content ruled off-limits to persons younger than
18. Such content will include forums for the Bettman Archive (a collection
of historic photos) and sites featuring casino poker, bisexuality,
strippers, nudists, gay and lesbian interests, and a copy of the
Unabomber's manifesto. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution 24 Jul 97)
TIME WARNER AGREES TO CARRY FOX IN NEW YORK
Time Warner's cable system in New York will now carry Rupert Murdoch's Fox
News channel to the systems 1.2 million subscribers, in an agreement that
will end the antitrust lawsuit Murdoch's News Corp. filed against Time
Warner for denying it access to cable viewers in New York City. (New York
Times 24 Jul 97)
A YELLOW COLOR THEY CALL "YELLOW"
Those "old media" people are getting creative again! At the cost of a
(quite reasonable!) $40 million paid for consulting services to ad agency
TBWA Chiat/Day, the ABC television network has decided to use yellow as
the theme color to announce its new season. An ABC marketing vice
president says: "One of the things we found out in our research about
yellow is that people tend to notice it faster, but also they tend to like
it. And it's a color that is more soothing and people tend to think that
-- you know, I think that when you see it, it's so distinctive that the
idea is - there are a lot of channels out there and if we can break
through, that's great." Columnist Maureen Dowd of the New York Times quotes
Lee Clow, the chairman of TBWA Chiat/Day (whose resume says he is an
"artist, who happens to be in the advertising business") as saying: "What
do we call this yellow - we call this yellow color 'yellow.' . . . It
seemed to have kind of an urgency, but also a fun to it. Yet it was -- it
just seemed like a different color than you kind of expect from a big
network launching a season. When we approached the whole problem, it was
kind of like, well, let's try not to look like every network has looked
every year, and we came up with yellow." (New York Times 23 Jul 97)
Edupage is written by John Gehl (gehl@educom.edu) & Suzanne Douglas
(douglas@educom.edu).
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Kids Computing Corner
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fsereno@streport.com
Ecstatica II
PC CD-ROM
Approximate Retail Value: 54.95
For ages 17 and over
Psygnosis
919 East Hilldale Blvd.
Foster City, CA 94404
415-655-8000
415-655-8031 (fax)
http://www.psygnosis.com
Program Requirements
OS: DOS/Windows 95
CPU: Pentium 60
HD Space: 40 MB
Memory: 16 MB
Graphics: 640 x 480, 256 colors
CD-ROM: Double-speed
Audio: 8-bit sound card
review by Jason Sereno (jason.sereno@mules-ear.com)
Ecstatica II is one of the most incredible games I have ever played. Since
that is out of the way, I can now give you some reasons why I think so
highly of this game. First, while other games use polygons to create
characters and landscape, Andrew Spencer Studios uses ellipsoid technology
to create the huge playing areas and over 60 monsters. There are more than
1100 camera angles in the game that give you unique views of the huge
landscapes. Ecstatica II also contains many puzzles that you must solve
using your character's wide variety of moves and your own smarts.
Ecstatica II features an abundance of sounds along with just the right
amount of music. All in all, this is a truly great game that will hook
you from the start.
Ecstatica II takes place in 931 AD in Medieval Saxony where the first
adventure leaves off. While you are on your way home from your first
journey, you discover that your castle has been captured by evil beings led
by a fellow named Archamage. He plans to take the Eldersign, which is
immensely powerful, and reassign the broken parts of it to unleash nameless
gods and unthinkable creatures on earth. To succeed in the game, you must
find all of the pieces of the Eldersign and piece it together while
defeating the evil Archamage and his four associates. If you succeed, you
will recreate the world order. If you fail, you will die and the world
will be filled with evil and anarchy for eternity.
While moving through the game, you will discover many puzzles, traps, and
secrets. In some instances, every step that you take may mean life or
death for our hero. A false move could trip a magic bomb and deplenish the
player's life. Sometimes there will be secret levers or traps set to fool
you. You can use simple objects to activate secret doors or trigger a trap
if you move the wrong way.
In the game, everything from the structures of buildings, monsters, skies,
textures, magical objects, weapons, to the player themselves are
combinations of hundreds of ellipsoids. While other games use polygons
that portray stiff and inflexible characters, Ecstatica II's proprietary
animation engine achieves organic- and fluid-looking objects using
naturalistic ellipsoids. You can see the difference when you look at the
wide variety of movements. This sequel includes more movements and new
characters. The protagonist, as well as your adversaries, can do
backflips, 360 degree roundhouse kicks, and many more maneuvers with the
eight different weapons at his whim.
Ecstatica II contains over sixty monsters and each character has its own
strengths and weaknesses that you must learn to destroy them. They are all
very distinguishable and favor certain moves more than others. Certain
monsters actually appear to be human but are definitely not on the side of
good. You may realize this just as they swing their axes and swords at
you.
While fighting these monsters, you may discover you biggest distraction
will be the scenery. Ecstatica II contains beautiful backgrounds and
textures as well as the very detailed characters within the game. The
skies range from hues of red and black and the monsters are a variety of
colors. To see these beautiful arrangements of colors and fighting
grounds, Ecstatica II includes over 1100 camera angles. These camera
angles will follow you as you travel down a dark hallway or even when you
are falling down the side of the castle.
No game can be complete however without sounds and music. E2 has many
sounds because each of the more than 60 characters has unique vocals. Each
character usually has a grunting sound, moaning sound, and some generic
sounds for running and jumping. The music within the game is a sort of
dark-medieval type of theme. It does change and increase in tempo when a
villain is in your proximity.
Of course, before I go I have to address the violence within the game.
When you begin Ecstatica II, you can see dead bodies lying on the ground
with numerous sharp objects jabbed into their lifeless, rotting corpses. As
you turn to the left, you will notice two men hanged from the side of a
castle wall. Of course, being armed with a sword, you can imagine that
when you destroy an enemy it is pretty gruesome too. Even when you jump or
fall from a high height, a puddle of blood will surround your corpse. The
game carries a rating as a "mature program for ages 17 and over." This is
one rating from the ESRB with which I agree. This game isn't for younger
children. Since no child mode is included, I honestly think kids shouldn't
play it at all.
If you are looking for a smooth rolling action game, this is for you.
You'll never lose interest in the game due to its many characters and
objects. The gaming engine is fast and displays fantastic, fluid graphics.
The large setting makes the game seem almost unreal. This is by far one of
the best games I have ever reviewed and would recommend it to any (mature)
action-adventure gamer. If you are looking for a truly great game that is
challenging and magnificently animated, then look for Ecstatica II from
Psygnosis in stores now!
Alexander The Great Follow-Up
Previously I reviewed the game The Great Battles of Alexander from
Interactive Magic for the PC. We were unable to include screen shots in
the article so the publisher decided to put them in this issue. I really
enjoyed this game and the simplicity of its play. It resembles some board
games such as Stratego and other classics in the way you position your
soldiers. The soldiers themselves have varying firepower and can ride on
carriages, horses, and elephants.
The game chronicles the career as general of Alexander the Great and his
quest for a great empire. It concentrates more on the history of this
ruler, although it does contain some animated violence. You will find
information in this program that is available nowhere else. It is a great
buy for anyone interested in war simulations or who enjoys strategy games.
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STReport International Online Magazine
UltraEdit 4.4 STReport Infofile "It doesn't get any better than this"
UltraEdit / UltraEdit-32 - v4.40
The editor for all your editing needs.UltraEdit is an excellent replacement
for NOTEPAD and a lot more, with support for unlimited file sizes, 100,000
word spelling checker, full HEX editing capabilities, configurable syntax
highlighting for programmers, column editing. UltraEdit has all the
features you will need. UltraEdit handles multiple files at once, even if
they are multi-megabyte files. It is Disk based and only requires a small
amount of memory, even for very large files. UltraEdit-32 is designed for
Windows NT and Windows 95, and UltraEdit is designed for for Windows 3.1.
One fee allows use of both products.
Standard Features:
- Disk based text editing
- No limit on file size, minimum RAM used even for multi-megabyte files
- Multiple files open and displayed at the same time
- Column mode editing!!!, Insert columns/ delete/ cut/ add sequential
numbers
- Drag and Drop Editing
- File sort (with remove duplicates, ignore case, ascending, descending)
- 100,000 word spell checker
- Syntax highlighting - configurable, pre configured for C/C++, VB, HTML
and Java
- Automatic word wrap at specified column with hard return
- Insert file into an existing document at cursor position
- Drag and Drop support from the file manager
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- UltraEdit is Windows 3.x CUA compliant
- Find and Replace - Also allows selection of text between caret and
find target when shift key is pressed, Replace all in select area
- Find in Files, Replace In Files
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- Font Selection for display and printer. (Supports all fonts installed
including TRUE-TYPE fonts)
- Print support with headers, footers, margins and page breaks.
- Automatic Line Indentation
- Tab Settings
- Word Wrap Support
- Hexadecimal Editor - Allows editing of any binary file - HEX Cut, copy
and paste support
- HEX Insert and Delete of characters
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of the original file
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- Unix/Mac to DOS Conversion
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- Auto detect UNIX/Mac files
- Convert Word Wrap to CR/LF's allowing word wrap to be written to file
with hard returns
- Convert CR/LF's to Word Wrap (removes CR/LF's from file)
- Template Support
- More ...
Also: - UltraEdit accepts a command line input and so can be used to
replace NOTEPAD or other editors that are called up from a file manager by
clicking on a file.
Registration
You are limited to 45 Days of use for an unregistered version.
UltraEdit is a shareware program. If you find it useful and continue to use
it you are obligated to register it with the author by sending $30.00 (Ohio
Residents add $1.65 Sales Tax) to:
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8209 Chestnut Hill Ct.
West Chester, OH 45069
USA
Free upgrades for at least 1 year.
Upgrade fee is $15.00 (Ohio residents add $0.83 Sales Tax)for previous
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UltraEdit may also be registered online on compuserve by typing GO SWREG
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History
// History - Purged changes prior to v4.20
V4.20
- ASCII file compare under file menu
- Replace in files
- Replace in all open files (option under standard replace)
- Command line improvements:
a) The command line parameter /r will open the specified files
for read only.
b) Wildcard support: you may now specify *.c to open all c
files.
c) You may specify that the filename on the command line
contains a list of file to open:
uedit32 filelist.txt /f
where filelist.txt contains a list of files, each on a separate
line.
- New spelling checker engine that supports French, German, Spanish,
Italian, Finnish, Swedish and Dutch. Download dictionaries separately.
Also support multiple user dictionaries and can share Microsoft's custom
dictionaries.
- New column markers to indicate the lines extending beyond specified
columns (View menu).
- Added option "Save File As Input Format" also that allows a Unix file
to be opened and then save as Unix format automatically when used in
conjunction with the "Auto Convert Unix Files" function.
- User selectable reference help files. From the Help menu you may add
help files that you want UltraEdit to be able to reference with keyword
searches. Great for adding help support for your programming API.
- Syntax Highlighting improvements:
- Fixed //* problem with comments for C/C++
- Added support for selectable colors for all 6 languages
- Added 5 user colors per language (was 3)
- Added color selection for strings (stings not recognized if cross
multiple lines)
- Added FORTRAN_LANG key word for syntax highlighting to support 'c',
'C' and '*' as comment indicators if in first column.
- Long or short filename support passing file names in the
- Dos/Windows and Tools commands. If the %F, %P, %N and %E are lower
case the name passted to the application is the long file name and the user
should put the %f in quotes i.e.
c:\somecommand "%f" or
c:\somecommand "%p%n"
- Other changes
V4.20a
- Vertical Scroll Bar Thumb SizeOpening files with UNC convention
"\\computer name..."Fix possible crash with syntax highlighting (reported
once)
V4.20b
- Vertical Scroll Bar Thumb DragPossible GPF if word-wrap set to wrap at
column and insert CR/LFSyntax Highlight related display fixes
v4.30
- Drag and Drop Editing (including column and hex modes)Directory
Specification for optional default Save Directory
- Replace All in Selected Text Only
- Option to "not" rember last file opened and open from the default
directory (including the directory specified in the shortcut when first
started)
- Feature to insert a string at a known increment in a file designed to
help DB users add delimiters (CR/LF often) at the end of every record.
(File Menu, special, "Insert String at Every Increment")
- Macro menu item to specify macro to be loaded at startup use to be on
the command line but this can be awkward these days.
- Syntax Highlighting Block comments now supported with Word Wrap turned
on.
- Case manipulation functions now work on selected text correctly when
in column Mode
- Improved HTML support syntax highlighting support
- Allow multiple language dictionaries to be used at one time
- TeX/LaTeX support with LATEX_LANG flag for syntax highlighting
- EBCDIC file conversion
- Fix for long delay when accessing drives nolonger available on most
recent file list.
- IntelliMouse scrolling support
- Reformat Paragraph will work on complete file if selected
- Set color for selected text
- Enhanced user time/date specification for templates.
- EBCDIC File Conversion (File - Conversions)
- Trim Trailing Spaces (Format menu)
v4.31
- INI file selection using command line (allows different
- configurations and personal configurations on shared stations
- across network)
- File Type Associations in Advanced Configuration (32-Bit only)
- File Compare - Option for showing Differeces Only,
- not complete file
- Regular Expressions Support tagged expressions for find/replace
- Configurable Keyboard Mapping in Advanced Configuration
- (32-Bit only)
- Word Count in Search Menu (includes line count)
- Macro option to continue when search string is not found
- Block Cursor in Overstrike Mode
- DDE Support with full command line options
- Page setup header/footer alignment commands
- Bug fixes
v4.31a
- Fix problems associated with Column mode, and Ctrl+End
v4.40
- Viewing with line numbers on left side of Window (Viem menu)Printing
of line numbers (Page Setup)
- Page Setup option for wrapping text
- Ruler for column numbers (View menu)
- TABS to select between open files (View menu enabled) (32-bit only)
- An option for the set of columns to the left of the first column
marker to be "fixed" and non scrollable (View menu)
- Configurable string characters for syntax highlighting. This may be
up to two characters.
- Allow multiple lines words starting with the same letter with syntax
highlighting.
- Allow description string for language in wordfile for reference in
color selection.
- Find In Files now optionally sends output to a regular window or by
default sends output to a new list box that can be used to double click on
to open the file at the appropirate line number. (32-Bit Only)
- Default Browser button/menu item to show current file in the default
WWW browser.
- Command Output for DOS commands option to output to a new list box
that can be used to double click on to open the file at the appropirate
line number. (32-Bit Only)
- ASCII Table in the View Menu
- Favorite Files List
- Retain Find/Replace History between sessions
- Bug fixes include:
Uninstall from Control Panel (Uninstall Icon worked)
Possible Lock Up with word wrap as default when UltraEdit Mimized
and file opened from Explorer Page Down many times somtimes
mispositioned by several lines
Windows is a registered Trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
Classics & Gaming Section
Editor Dana P. Jacobson
dpj@streport.com
From the Atari Editor's Desk "Saying it like it is!"
I'm really running short on time this week; this has to be the
earliest that I've ever had to put an issue together and get out a few
editorial remarks. It's either Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on when I
put the finishing touches on a few articles (but Tuesday as I write these
comments). A number of some of the pre-sale paperwork for our new house
will take up much of my evenings for the rest of the week, so if I don't
finish up now we won't have a complete issue!
Anyway, things are looking up with the house. The inspection turned up a
few potential problems, but they're being taken care of shortly,
thankfully. As it stands now, we'll be closing on August 29th and moving
in on Labor Day weekend, of all weekends to have to move! We're really
looking forward to the new digs after many years of living in Boston
proper. Suburbia, here we come! <grin>
So, what else is happening - anything Atari, you ask? Sure thing! The 9th
annual MIST show is this weekend. If you have an opportunity to attend, be
sure to do so. No one knows how long any of the remaining Atari shows will
be around, so try and make it if you can to show your support.
CAB 2.5 has been released overseas, but it's not known yet when it may
appear in North America. It has to be translated first, so that could take
some time as we've experienced with other software over the years. I still
haven't installed 2.0 yet, but hope to get a chance to play around with it
before my system gets packed away for the big move.
Mark Showalter has another of his MIDI installments for us this week, as
well. So, let's get to this week's issue and see what's happening!
Until next time...
Information on the July 26th MIST show
(recently circulated by co-organizer Jeffrey G. Hammer)
Here is a partial list of MIST FEST IX vendors/user groups attending:
Nashville Atari user Group
Emulators, Inc (Derek Mihocka)
FMH Games
LCACE
ACORN.
LAG
ICD
It's All Relative
Systems for Tomorrow
SCAT
Remember, because of the state of the Atari market in the U.S., this may
very well be the last great Atari Show in the U.S.
Location for MIST IX is the Post Road Community Center in southeastern
Indianapolis, halfway between Interstate Highways 70 and 74.
The location is south of Washington Street (U.S. 40) at 1313 South Post
Road.
Entry tickets are $1. Show hours: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
For details: Crossroads/MIST BBS U.S. = 317-535-1643
or csears at doe dot state dot in dot us
(csears@doe.state.in.us)
The Web browser ASH CAB is up to v2.5 and the package contains PPP-Connect
by Sven Kopacz.
You can read all about it at:
http://www5.tripnet.se/~mille/english/cab.html
There's some snapshots there of the new CAB Plug-ins, Steganography,
CABstega and CABcheck, as well as info about CABsurf, CABalog and CABcache
Plug-in modules.
With CABDLOAD in a multitasking environment, there is possible to download
several files at once in parallel with CAB.
With CAB Cache module you can navigate within the CAB Cache folder and add,
remove, copy and delete files and folders.
The AutoSurf module is able to download whole trees of WWW pages for
off-line reading. The CABstega module can be used to hide small messages
within HTML-files without changing the file size.
CABcheck checks if the hotlist entries are still valid and if the pages
have changed.
CABalog searches for GIF and JPEG images in a directory optionally the
whole directory tree and creates a catalog HTML webpage with all the
pictures minimized.
I have made The Swedish CAB Online Manual now, in 12 new web pages. It's in
Swedish but contains (soon) snapshots of some of the CAB 2.5 dialogues and
some other info that could be of interest.
http://www5.tripnet.se/~mille/cab/index.html
Mille Babic
mille@tripnet.se
http://www5.tripnet.se/~mille
Atari & Midi
By Mark Showalter
Hello all. I hope you've enjoyed reading these articles so far. I'd
appreciate any comments or suggestions, e-mail me: Folkstone@Delphi.com.
For this one, I'd like to talk about something that I have to make up a
word for, so I'm going to call it cross-program sequencing. Stumped yet?
O.K., first, what I mean is using different programs for different aspects
of midi composing. recording, performing. For instance, I've talked about
my using Edit Track in earlier articles. I just got a copy of Dr. T's
Omega 2 sequencer. So, I saved a couple of my Edit Track sequences in
standard midi file format 1, then loaded one into Omega 2. Of course, I had
completely botched the original file because I had been working on it and
forgot to un-mute the tracks that were on ignore for the moment, so I had
to go back, un-mute, re-save to standard midi file, then load again into
Omega 2. Still wouldn't work. Forgot to un-mute the tempo and meter track.
Repeated previous fix, which by now I'm becoming an expert at. Then, I hit
play in Omega 2.
Not only did it work, but I realized that it actually played back much
better than Edit Track. The parts were smoother, especially my midi-delay
(see previous article), and I noticed that my one sound module that usually
misses a few program changes didn't miss a one. However, one session trying
to figure out how to record with Omega 2, and I was back to Edit Track to
record. Now, I realize that I've been
using Edit Track for over a year, so
that's going to make a good bit of difference. Perhaps as time goes by and
I can just play around with Omega 2, I'll find myself more comfortable
recording in it. But my point here is that Omega 2 seems to be much
stronger at playback than Edit Track. I believe it's due to the greater ppq
that Omega 2 regularly uses. Also, however, I do prefer the screen layout
of Edit Track because it seems a more logical layout of what functions I
usually need to use. Now, even though the process of saving a standard midi
file is slow, I'm finding that I now prefer this so that I can move to
another programme to test out different features. If you've got access to
other sequencing programmes, try them out in the same way. I'm only just
touching the surface possibilities here, because I'm still learning about
Omega 2.
One especially nice feature is the MPE (multi-programme environment), that
allows the user to run another programme from within Omega 2, like Dr. T's
Copyist 2, which I also just recently acquired. This is a very powerful
scoring program; unfortunately, it's also VERY slow, but the quality of the
print out is way above most of the other programs. So, in this case, I am
able to start out recording with Edit Track and doing all my basic editing
and arranging and mixing, then I save to standard midi file (I don't bother
with this until I'm pretty sure I'm done with Edit Track), load into Omega
2, and then listen and test the playback, plus print out a score. My big
complaint with Omega 2 so far is that I haven't figured out where the midi
click is, which I have to have for my drummer's midi rig so he has
something to keep time with. I'm sure it's there somewhere but it's not as
obvious as in Edit Track, which is found in a drop-down menu.
Now, I know I've said in the past that I wasn't going to get program
specific in these articles because I hate it when I read a tip that
requires you have a certain program to get any benefit from it. Well, my
point here is that by setting up your different sequencing/scoring/editing
programs using the Atari's great " INSTALL APPLICATION " function, you can
turn your computer into an extremely powerful music tool; plus all this for
a great deal less than the current (i.e. " expensive ") platforms. In this
respect, Atari is NOT dead! Since I've switched all my midi work to my
1040Ste, I've found my productivity on a constant rise. My New Age
projects, some of which are an hour or more long, were simply not possible
on my hardware sequencer.
The time saved working on my Atari is unestimatable. I also have a Syquest
EZ135 hard drive via an ICD boot link that gives me tremendous memory
capability. The new EZ230 is now out, which I found at Best Buy for $179,
so for those of you still without a HD, for under $300 you can have a
tremendous amount of memory storage, plus it's on cartridge. I have two 135
meg cartridges, one will be just for my music work once I get all my files
transferred. The very fast access time means I can quickly switch between
programs, and having the storage space for multiple versions is great.
Atari has allowed me to do work that I couldn't possibly afford on a
current platform, and simply couldn't do on my hardware sequencer. If any
of you folks try this out, let me know your results, or, if you are already
doing this, let me know how you're doing and what programs you use, how
they work together; etc., so I can include your ideas and experiences in
future articles. I'm also going to pass on a tip from my friend who is my
Atari guy, John Morrison at Morrison Computers in Orlando. He'd often told
me to try to get a monochrome monitor for my music work, and now that I
have one, I'm setting up my music cartridge to boot up on it. It is much
easier to stare at for long hours and the clarity is fantastic.
I mentioned earlier that I did all my basic arranging and mixing in Edit
Track, so I'd like to explain what I mean by basic editing. I think that
this falls under three midi features:
1) Midi Volume C.C.# 7
2) Midi Pan C.C.# 10
3) Note Attack Velocity
I generally set up my channels at C.C.#7 = 100, except for Bass = 120 and
Drums = 110. C.C.#7 sets up the overall volume that the track will be
played by your sound module. If necessary, I fudge C.C.#7 if a part ends up
too loud or too soft, but usually I don't change the midi volume for a part
unless I have to.
Next, is C.C.#10, which is midi pan, that is, where in the stereo field do
you want the sound to be placed? Also, you can use this to pan a sound
across the stereo field, as in a sea wave that starts out hard left, then
pans to the right as it washes. I use this a lot in my New Age
compositions, it produces a very elemental effect.
Using C.C.#10 can take some planning. For instance, don't pan your bass
parts. You need the bass center to provide a solid bed for the music,
unless you're working on a Jazz Ensemble, in which case, panning an upright
bass part can be very effective. I have a piece that uses a drone pulse
bass, similar to Pink Floyd's " Welcome To Machine ", in which I use two
midi channels with the same patch, each panned hard left or right, and
alternating notes so that the part bounces back and forth. This is a great
way to completely change the aural landscape in your music. This can also
be applied to any repeating pulse. As far as other parts, imagine the music
in your head and determine if it needs some space. For instance, George
Martin's string arrangement for McCartney's "Yesterday" sounds great with
the middle string parts panned hard left and right. This puts the cello and
Upper violin part center, lower violin and viola panned. I love this
effect. However, be careful to listen to the patches you're using to see if
they can be panned, or if panning messes the patch. Sounds that are
chorused, like a wide string section, will completely lose their effect if
you pan it. Also, some sound effects, like complex wind sounds rely on
chorus/part panning to produce the various indeterminate sounds of a
natural wind noise, panning can remove this or turn a natural wind into
just plain noise. As I've said in my other articles however, use your ears
and imagination. If it works, it's the right way to do it.
I usually have a good idea of how I want my instruments panned as I'm
working on the track, but don't be afraid to play around with panning to
improve your tracks. However, please refer to my first article on midi
timing problems also for this next bit. Remember, the more C.C.'s you have
going in your sequence, the more likelihood for errors to occur. Keep your
C.C.'s to a minimum, and if possible, use them to make fixed point settings
as you would on a standard mixing board, then find areas where special
effects can enhance the track, like the panning sea waves I mentioned
earlier. Also, you should keep special effects for areas where there isn't
much else going on, or you may find that the effect just isn't going to be
noticed.
Now, in most cases, I actually use Note Attack Velocity to determine how
loud a part plays in the sequence. My main reason for this is twofold:
1) It avoids the previously mentioned C.C.# overuse problem.
2) It's there anyway. Any note you play must have a velocity, so I use the
info that's already there to adjust a parts level, do accents or fade
in/out.
This is merely taking advantage of information that's going to be there
anyway. Also, some patches actually respond to how loud the notes are
sounded. Just compare the sound of a full-bodied violin played with a bow
to the sound the violin plays with a pizzacata (plucked by a finger)
attack. The pizz produces a muted, quickly decaying sound with limited
dynamics whereas the bow has many tonal possibilities as well as dynamic
ones. I have a patch on my JV-880 called "Analouge Seq" that varies with
the attack velocity. As it fades in or out, the sound changes from very
soft/muted to loud/synthy-full. All you need to do is select a track you
want to fade in, go to your graphic window and set it to Attack Velocity,
and have at it. I usually try to figure out on fade in's where the part
needs to be at full volume, then figure out how soft it should tarts out,
and then simply draw the velocity response from the low point at the start
to the high point where it needs to be at full volume. Again, a big plus
here is that you're not introducing anything new to the track, just using
the info that's already there. This isn't just a good idea, it's a very
effective way to keep the midi data stream down to a minimum but still have
nice effects happening.
Unfortunately, there are some synths that don't respond to Attack Velocity,
like the Casio CZ-101. No matter what you send it, every note is played at
the same velocity, which in the case of the CZ-101 is 64. However, almost
any current synth responds to Attack Velocity. You can, by the way, do the
same process in reverse for a fade out, but I suggest that you finish the
entire sequence before you do any fade outs. You may find a part that fades
out nicely until you later add that great string pad for the big finish and
your fade out completely disappears. I also use velocity fades for drum
parts that I want to fade out, but this requires some real careful
listening. The brighter percussion, like snare or high hat, will almost
always fade out last, so you may have to bring up the kick drum a bit on
the end if it needs to be heard.
Well, I hope this all makes some sense and provides some useful
information. But especially, don't give up on your Atari, it's got a lot to
offer.
Gaming Section
JagFest Report! InfoSpace!
"Populous 3" Football!
And more!
Industry News STR Game Console NewsFile - The Latest Gaming News!
Electronic Arts' Bullfrog Unveils "Populous: The Third Coming"
JUL 22, 1997, M2 Communications - By unveiling Populous: The Third Coming
at Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Bullfrog Productions, an Electronic
Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS) company, will be showing an entirely new and original
generation of one of the most innovative and popular computer games of all
time, Populous. The game will be released for PC-CD in Autumn 1997 for
Windows 95 and DOS. A version for the PlayStation is expected in Winter
1997.
Back in 1989, Bullfrog, then an independent, fledgling British developer
with Electronic Arts as its publisher, released the critically acclaimed
Populous. It defined the "god game" genre. Along with its 1992 sequel,
Populous II, it garnered numerous awards and sold more than three million
copies world-wide. Although deriving its name from the original Populous,
where the player was provided with godly powers to lead by influence,
Bullfrog has taken a totally new approach with this latest reincarnation of
the game. Populous: The Third Coming offers players, via single or
multiplayer mode (network or modem), the god-like abilities to command true
believers while competing against other gods and their followers. Players
will find immortal souls, reincarnation and godly retribution at their
divine disposal, as well as the ability to build settlements, cast spells
and reshape terrain.
Along the way to becoming the only player with a flock of believers, the
gamer is exposed to technology that gives Populous: The Third Coming an
almost cinematic perspective. The game offers a revolutionary curved
horizon which makes tracking fluid and movie-like. Choice of perspective
allows you to go back-and-forth from ground-level view to a cosmic view of
the world as a whole, controlling your forces from either point of view.
Additional information about Populous: The Third Coming can be found on the
Bullfrog Web site at http://www.bullfrog.ea.com Bullfrog's Official Guide
to Populous: The Third Coming will be released simultaneously with the
game.
Jimmy Johnson's VR Football '98(TM) Video Game
Only Allows Dolphins to Win Super Bowl, Publisher Promises Fix By Ship!
IRVINE, Calif., July 23 /PRNewswire/ -- VR Sports today announced that its
Sony PlayStation(TM) video game Jimmy Johnson's VR Football '98 has
developed a "bug" in the program that only allows the Miami Dolphins to win
the Super Bowl when playing a complete season. The game, developed by
Padded Cell Studios, will be available November 4, 1997 from VR Sports, the
sports division of Interplay Productions. Dolphins Head Coach Jimmy
Johnson was unavailable for comment while preparing for the opening of
training camp.
"We are not sure where the problem is coming from," said Paul Sackman,
director of marketing for VR Sports. "There was an earlier development
session that involved Coach Johnson and we have calls in to the Coach to
see if he had anything to do with this bug. Gamers should rest assured
that it will be fixed before the game hits the stores in November."
Featuring the endorsement of Coach Johnson and licenses by both the NFL and
NFL Players Association, Jimmy Johnson's VR Football '98 features game-play
hints and advice, pre-game/half-time speeches, post game analysis, and
constructive criticism in the game using over 125 video sequences involving
coach Johnson.
Using motion captured animation, Jimmy Johnson's VR Football '98 from VR
Sports will feature bone crunching tackles, over the shoulder receptions,
goal post dunking, bursts of speed and much more. One Step(TM) play
calling makes finding the play you want and calling it easy. The
state-of-the-art Quarterback/Receiver logic allows the user to pass the
ball before his receiver makes his cut and allows for up to five receivers
to be available for each passing play.
Genuine plays and formations for each team are based on the actual play
book for each team and the Coaches Clipboard allows the user to create
unlimited sets of custom plays. Additional teams in Jimmy Johnson's VR
Football '98 include Pro Bowl, Historical Teams and Jimmy's teams added to
the 30 current NFL teams and the greatest teams of the '60s, '70s, '80s,
and '90s. All 30 NFL stadiums rendered to simulate each NFL location.
Jimmy Johnson's VR Football '98 from VR Sports will be available for Sony
PlayStation in November, 1997.
Electronic Arts: Electronic Arts announces NCAA Football 98
JUL 22, 1997, M2 Communications - Electronic Arts (Nasdaq:ERTS), a leading
global interactive entertainment software company, today announced at the
Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) trade show that it will ship NCAA
Football 98 for the PlayStationT and PC-CD in Fall of 1997. NCAA Football
98 is the latest version of EA SPORTS best-selling college football video
game line.
Previously only available on the Sega Genesis 16-bit game console, fans of
this franchise have been waiting for its arrival on the PlayStation and
PC-CD with much anticipation. NCAA Football 98 includes all 112 teams
from the ten different Division I-A conferences. It has 20 all-time
historic games, with 40 of the greatest college football teams ever to step
onto the gridiron. It is therefore possible to recreate such memorable
games as the historic 1987 Fiesta Bowl that featured the great 1986 teams
from Penn State and Miami. Accurate position rankings and skill levels for
each school enhance the game's realism.
Exclusive rights to the Orange, Fiesta and Sugar Bowls provide real life
bowl games not found in any other interactive football game. With the
Orange Bowl being pre-determined this season by the NCAA as the bowl game
that will decide the national champion, NCAA Football 98 is the only video
game in which the user can play a season for the national championship.
NCAA Football 98 has features unique to the college game that distinguish
it from other football games on the market. Dynasty mode allows the user to
build a powerhouse program over the course of multiple seasons. In dynasty
mode, after the season the user can pick blue-chip recruits from a field of
incoming freshman.
The better the previous season's record, the better the caliber of athletes
available to your team. Thus, a weak team can be built up to national
champion by quality play and shrewd recruiting. As seniors graduate, it is
up to the player to replace them with talented freshman who can help build
the program. Rival mode instantly brings up the main rival for each team
in the game, and with every Division I-A school in the game the number of
matchups is huge. With team rivalries being a major part of college
football, the rival mode adds an element to the game that defines what the
college football experience is all about.
Many times a winning season for a team is still considered a failure
because of the simple fact that the team lost to its main rival. NCAA
Football 98 captures that feeling and immerses the user in the passion of
the college game. "We have created a football game that stays true to the
feel of a Saturday afternoon college event," said Rob Martyn, executive
producer, EA SPORTS. "You'll hear the voice of Rose Bowl announcer Chuck
White during the game. We worked with former UCLA coach Terry Donahue to
make sure the playbook for each team was authentic and reflects the style
of play that team actually uses.
You play this game and you feel like you are on the field and part of the
college football experience. The emotion, tradition, rivalries and
enthusiasm that surround the college game is very intense and EA SPORTS
has captured that feeling in NCAA Football 98." The level of detail in
the game is incredible from the jersey numbers that are shown on each
player, to 122 fully-rendered and authentically reproduced stadiums for
every team in the league, plus extra stadiums used in post-season play.
Even the most minute details were taken care of, such as the field starting
to degrade in quality over the course of the game if it's raining. Also,
over 30 licensed fight songs are in the game. In order to ensure a
competitive game against the computer, whether the game player is a novice
or an expert, skill setting can be placed at Junior Varsity, Varsity or
All-American levels.
Saved instant replays allow the user to save a great play to a PlayStation
memory card and carry it to a friend's house to replay. Exclusive to the
PlayStation game are features called scout and practice mode. Practice mode
helps the user perfect plays, with or without a defense, prior to starting
a real game. Scout mode enables the user to get a sneak peak at upcoming
opponents and determine that team's best offensive and defensive players,
and which plays are used most effectively.
EA SPORTS is the leading interactive sports software brand in the world.
Its top-selling titles include FIFA Soccer, John Madden FootballT, NHL
Hockey, NBA Live Basketball, PGA TOUR Golf, Triple Play Baseball, and
Andretti Racing.
InfoSpace Integrates Yellow Pages With Sega's NetLink
REDMOND, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1997 JUL 21 (Newsbytes) -- By Bill Pietrucha.
The lines between entertainment and information, and television and the
Internet, just got a little more blurred today, as online directory
provider InfoScape Inc., and video game giant Sega signed an agreement to
integrate InfoSpace's directories with Sega Saturn's NetLink.
The agreement between Sega Saturn, whose video game console can be used as
a television-based Internet access device, and InfoSpace, broadly expands
the reach of InfoSpace's information directories, InfoSpace president
Naveen Jain said. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
InfoSpace offers online yellow pages that provide detailed business
information, white pages, company Web sites, toll-free numbers, fax
numbers, e-mail addresses, and local city information, including weather,
traffic, and apartments locators.
"Our partnerships with companies like Sega reaffirms the fact that
InfoSpace is the number one choice for finding information about businesses
and people," Jain said. "Sega Saturn is already a popular home
entertainment device. Now, people will also be able to enjoy seamless
access to InfoSpace's services."
InfoSpace's directories can be found at http://www.infospace.com and
http://www.sega.com on the World Wide Web. According to Jain, Sega Saturn
Net Link users can access the directories through the system's "What's
New" pages or by clicking on the "Locator" button available with the 3.0
version of the Net Link browser. The service is available free to all Sega
Saturn Net Link owners.
Paul Stathacopculos, Net Link producer, said the Net Link system "combines
two consumer entertainment products in one, an advanced 32-bit CD-based
video game system and a 28.8 Kbps (kilobits-per-second) modem providing
full Internet functionality for e-mail and Web surfing."
"Net Link allows for networked game play and full Internet access,"
Stathacopculos said. "Integration of InfoSpace with Sega Saturn NetLink
will enable people to use the rich content of InfoSpace's directories from
all over the world right from their television sets." Jain said that
InfoSpace's strategy of syndicating its content has created a distribution
network that now includes yellow pages publishers, newspapers, television
stations, search engines, ISP's, information appliances, and popular Web
sites.
InfoSpace's directory services licensees include: Lycos, Microsoft Network,
The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition, Compuserve, Playboy,
CommerceNet, New Jersey Online, Michigan Live, Maine Network, and Data
Channel. The company also recently announced a strategic partnership with
Microsoft, Intel, Oracle, DIBA, and Bandai, and through a relationship with
Unwired Planet, InfoSpace directories will be available on cellular phones
and pagers from GTE Mobilnet, Bell Atlantic/ Nynex and other
telecommunications companies. InfoSpace's services also are available on
AT&T's cellular phones and pagers.
Windows CE Ported to NEC 64-Bit CPU
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1997 JUL 22 (Newsbytes) -- By Craig
Menefee. NEC Corp.'s [TOKYO:6701] NEC Electronics Inc. says the newest
version of Windows CE original equipment manufacturer (OEM) adaptation
layer, or OAL, supports the firm's VL4300-series RISC processors, used in
Nintendo 64 game machines and other devices. The company says the porting
to VR4300-class processors heralds a move by Windows CE from low-power,
hand-held devices to machines that plug into the wall.
Arnold Estep, VR Series marketing manager for NEC Electronics, told
Newsbytes the implications are potentially far-reaching, but visible
results will not likely show up dramatically in consumer devices until
around the end of the first quarter of 1998. The VR4300, a 64-bit
microprocessor, is currently available in 100 MHz and 133 MHz versions,
which makes it one of the most powerful processors to support Windows CE so
far. It already is widely used in consumer and office applications like the
Nintendo 64 video game and in high-capacity laser printers like the QMS
2425EX.
"We're evolving our current platforms to another level at other price
points," Estep explained to Newsbytes. "With those kinds of processors,
costing under $30 at OEM volumes, you can potentially see any kind of
network terminal applications, be they telephone centers, browsers,
entertainment platforms connected by digital TV, satellite broadcast, or
whatever - the point is that given a similar base of APIs (Application
Program Interfaces) and applications, it will be much easier to get
products to market" compared to products that must be powered by a couple
of AA batteries.
"What we're seeing is an OAL that supports our development boards for the
4300. It's a type of windows terminal, entertainment platform, thin client
device - all can run Windows CE and will do so as viable platforms in the
very near future," he said. Stated Jon Magill, director of marketing for
the Consumer Appliance Group at Microsoft: "The NEC VR4300 processor is a
key example of a technology that is important to the success of Windows CE"
in embedded or tethered applications.
For equipment manufacturers that can afford 100,000 units of the VR4300
chip in order to get the $30 OEM price, a Pentium-level performer certified
to work with a Windows CE interface may be a powerful attraction. Tethered
or "plugged in" Windows CE applications such as network computers,
television-based Web browsers, industrial controls and Internet phones are
all target markets, stated the firm. NEC will continue to support
low-power and hand-held applications like the MobilePro handheld PC with
its VR4101 and VR4102 processors, stated the firm.
Jaguar Online STR InfoFile - Online Users Growl & Purr!
BRIEF JagFest report...
by J. Sean McKay
Hey guys,
I live in the area, so I thought I'd give a short little overview of
today's Jagfest. I was not able to stay the entire day, but was there til 5
p.m. I waited and waited for the Battlesphere tourney (which was supposed
to start at around 12:30 by the way), but just couldn't stay any longer
(damnit)...
Quick points...
Most of the day while I was there was simply free-play. Everyone had all
their games there, so just about every game was played. Hell, I even played
a little Raiden and Trevor McFur! Much time was spent with the newer games,
IS2, Towers II, Breakout 2000, WTR, and Air Cars. The only one I actually
own is Iron Soldier II - and let me just say that, um, I made the right
decision (although WTR is okay...). Still, it helped me decide what games I
would like to get (or definitely DIDN'T want to get...)
Tempest 2K was a big draw , as were the fighters - Ultra Vortek, Fight for
Life, and Primal Rage.... hey Wes, up for a rematch of Ultra Vortek? 8^)
Now on to the good stuff...
Yes, Battlesphere was available all during the day, not just for the
tourney, and yes, I had a few go's at it. I must say that, all of those out
there bitching about it taking so long, fine - keep bitching - you'll be
sorry if you pass up on it! As many of you know, there are "15 coding days
left" or so, but still, the game was fabulous! Visuals, sounds, music (good
job Steph!), were fantastic!
Oh yeah, did I mention the networking?! Yep, it was networking four most of
the day (at least while I was there), and I only saw it lock up twice in an
8-hour period. Slowly but surely, the bugs are getting zapped! If you're
like me, however, and are unlucky enough to not be able to do networking
(alas, no one around me even know what a Jaguar is!), don't fret, because
the single player modes were a blast to play as well!
Tom and Steph were both there to answer any questions and accept any
feedback about the game. They were both very cool, and were eager to talk
about and explain aspects of the game (thanks, Steph, for clearing up the
inertia/control issue we talked about...). And believe me, guys, 4Play
wants to get this game out just as bad as we do - they aren't pissing
around, taking their time. They would really like for their lives to return
to normal, seeing as how they haven't been since this project started...
All in all, Battlesphere is great! Oh, and the prospect of personalized
copies was discussed, and its still a possibility...
Yes, Air Cars was there, and was networking two all day, although for the
life of me I couldn't really tell what was going on... just a bunch of
"blah" polygons, if you ask me... 'nuff said....
Somebody (ICD maybe), had a Lynx running with demo's of Ponx (obviously
Pong-like game) and an overhead space-shooter (can't remember name) which
will be comlynxable times 4! Cool!
Finally, Visual Dimensions 3D had three of its representatives there who
talked to the attendees about their future Jaguar commitments. They are
planning PC, PSX, Jaguar, and Lynx development. Although they were
only VERY brief in their descriptions of game development, here's what was
mentioned is in the works:
(Jaguar) ::Automaniacs:: - basically the sequel to Club Drive, with an
added "Explore" mode, where you will actually be able to drive through the
streets of San Francisco
(Jaguar) ::DefCon 1:: - some of you have heard about this already - they
mentioned it will be a, and I quote, "Tomb-Raider-style game". I asked
about it later, and the head programmer mentioned they are looking at Tomb
Raider style characters, with Myst-style backgrounds. Polygon characters
and 24-bit backrounds... Sounds excellent... let's just hope there are more
polygons that the Highlander characters (and that the game is longer than
Highlander!)... And another thing - he mentioned that some of the coding
for this game is already underway! They are looking at a CD-format for this
one...
(Lynx) - two games.... can't remember the names of either, but here's a
brief description (a) treasure hunting game with two different female
characters; will be comlynxable times 2, so that the two female characters
can help each other out (sounds kinda like Tomb-Raider), and (b) an
overhead racer that will also be comlynxable times 6 (I think)
*Visual Dimensions 3D were quick to point out that they are stressing 3D
games, and are only going to do 3D games. They mentioned that even though
the Lynx overhead racer is, well, um, from an overhead perspective, it will
be "done in 3D perspective". How they're going to do that, I'm not sure,
and I didn't think to ask...
*They are working on getting their own web site domain, but for now, you
can check out info on this stuff at http://www.abts.net/~starbase . Or,
keep a close eye on Jaguar Interactive - updates will be posted by them
there as well.
Well, that's all I can think of for now. yes, I am sure I left out TONS. If
you'll email me with specific questions, I'll answer them the best I can...
And finally... keep up the good work, 4Play! We're waiting...... <g>
ONLINE WEEKLY STReport OnLine The wires are a hummin'!
PEOPLE... ARE TALKING
On CompuServe
Compiled by Joe Mirando
jmirando@streport.com
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. As many of you know, I took a little
vacation last issue. It was nice having some free time for a change, but
it's also nice to be back here doing what I've been doing for so long.
I also purchased MagiC, the alternative operating system for Atari
computers. I must say that it takes a bit of getting used to, but it is
fast, memory-efficient, and fairly easy to learn. Look for a mini-review
sometime soon.
That brings me to another subject (didn't you just know that it would?
<grin>). There is a lot being said these days about trying to save all the
various species that are being driven to extinction every day around the
world. All this 'bio-diversity' talk goes in circles and creates more
confusion than anything else. I see both sides of this issue. I mean,
sure, it's a terrible thing to loose almost a hundred species of plants and
animals a day all over the world, but extinction is a part of evolution.
We have no idea yet why some of these species are disappearing, but I
think it's safe to assume that at least a few of these species are going
not because we are removing their habitats, poisoning their air and water,
or crowding them into smaller and smaller spaces, but because it is their
time to 'go'. But if you stop and think about it for a moment, loosing even
one 'flavor' of life is a terrible thing.
What we really need is a 'techno-diversity' law to keep Microsoft from
wiping out all other operating systems. I don't think that it's something
that Microsoft is doing with the intent of squashing everything else...
heck, in business the goal is to sell as much as you can. The problem is
that in this market people are not even as well informed as those who
don't know about all the dying species around the world. In the computer
world, people simply don't think about the value of diversity. When all
the other operating systems have been beaten into submission and users
reach technical maturity, they will begin to see that there _were_ other
options, but that their own lack of knowledge caused their disappearance.
The only saving grace is that you can store a program, so other than not
having new software for it, you don't loose everything.
Well, let's get to the reason for this column... all the news, hints,
tips, and info available every week on CompuServe.
From the Atari Computing Forum
Continuing a conversation about Web Browsers for the Atari, Michael
Pappas asks:
"Is there any word about these programs supporting PPP in the
future?"
Joe Villarreal tells Michael:
"The author of Antmail stated in e-mail that he was trying to get
PPP to work with Stik. This was about a month or so ago."
Carsten Baron adds:
"ASH hat now a new version of CAB (2.5). It has a PPP-Tool. You
can now surf online with a Atari with MagiC/-Mac/-PC."
Richard Rives asks Carsten:
"Do you know if it is available in english yet?"
Carsten tells Richard:
"I don't know. But there is already an english 2.0 version in
this forum. I think it will be one. I'll ask ASH tomorrow."
Michel Tavir adds:
"System Solutions in Britain is allegedly selling the English
version [of CAB 2.5]. However, we have ordered it by fax on June
12th after talking to them on the phone, asking to include some
information as to how to establish a PPP connection from CAB. As of
today, we still haven't received anything!
According to ST Applications issue 70, June 1997, OXO has gone out
of business. CAB, on the other hand has been taken over and made
commercial by Application Systems Heidelberg, the team which makes
Magic. If one looks into the future (Java, aglets and what else),
it might be worth sticking to those who will keep on developing IT
programs for the Atari or the Magic platform."
Well, I mentioned before that I had gotten MagiC to try as an
alternative operating system to TOS. Well, I had a little trouble
getting it installed on my Mega STE, so I posted:
"Hey folks. I'm in a bit of a quandry... recently purchased both
NVDI 4 and MagiC 5 for my MegaSTE (hey, even computers deserve a
treat now and again <g>).
NVDI installed and ran without a hitch. MagiC seemed to install
just fine, but when I tried to boot it, it installs the reset-proof
portion, warm-boots, tries to load the main program, and chokes. I
get the following message:
*** FATAL ERROR IN GEMDOS:
*** SYSTEM HALTED ***
or something very similar.
The only thing I've got here that is non-stock is the 881 math
co-processor. Could that be giving MagiC problems?
I installed MagiC on my STacy without any problems, so I know that
the install disks are okay. Any ideas?"
Michel Tavir tells me:
"It could very well be [the co-processor].
Also check on AUTO-programs which are not compatible (one, for
instance, is CODEKEYS) - use XBOOT *before* Magic."
I reply to Michel:
"Actually, after I posted about MagiC not working on the Mega E, I
reformatted the hard drive, installed only the ICD boot software
and MagiC. It still would not get past the second boot-up.
I found that the problem _is_ ICDBOOT 6.5.5... but only on the
Mega E. The same setup works perfectly on my STacy.
I also removed the '881 and shunted the jumpers for it, but had no
better results.
I am now using HDDriver as my boot software and, except for being
able to read my Insite FLOPtical, everything works okay.
I really miss the ICD booter though. Perhaps version 7 of the ICD
package will address this problem."
When Paul Westerman encounters the Ghost Virus, a boot sector virus that
will eventually cause your mouse to do very strange things, he posts:
"I didn't realise that mice could misbehave so much!"
Rich Detlefsen tells Paul:
"Hah! I have the same problem once in a while. After reading a
directory, my vertical mouse directions are reversed. It takes
from one to many re-reading different dirs to get it back to
normal. Maybe we should share our AUTO folder list to find out if
what common program may be causing it."
Sysop Bob Retelle asks Rich:
"Are you certain the odd behavior of your mouse pointer isn't the
result of a virus on the disk when the effect first appears?
Just opening a directory on an infected disk is enough to infect
your system with a virus, and the effects will persist until you
reboot. If the effects show up again, it's likely the other disks
you try are infected too.
I really doubt anything in your AUTO folder could cause the
problem."
Rich tells Bob:
"While I haven't documented the problem, it happens rarely, and
usually while I'm moving through many folders on my hard disk.
But, it can happen when I just read one dir-even a floppy. A dozen
or so re-reads (the HD as its faster) and it fixes itself. A virus
must be run at some time, so opening a directory would not do it as
its just data being processed by another program, unless TOS has
been mangled, and then I would think the problem would show up much
more often. Knowing computers-any and all programs will cause
conflicts, even auto folder ones."
Paul jumps in and posts:
"Just to confirm - the main (or only) symptoms of Ghost are the
reversing of the up and down directions of the mouse. It usually
doesn't do anything else, but there appear to be different strains
of it around. Whatever the case, you don't want it !
I only had the problem with floppies, but even then it was
intermittent, like you described. I still think it's a virus
(albeit a minor one) but if your virus checker is already checking
the hard disk I can't think of any other remedy.... Hopefully
someone else out there will have some suggestions."
Paul then tells Rich:
"Your problem is almost certainly the Ghost Virus - I stopped
having problems ages ago because I went through all my disks with a
virus checker (Ultimate Virus Killer). Fortunately for me, at that
time I didn't have a hard disk.
I really recommend that you get a good virus killer to go over
your Atari as soon as possible."
Rich then asks:
"What are the symptoms of the Ghost Virus? The virus checkers I
have only check for boot viruses-they can't see if a program has
one attached. And they can't scan a hard disk any better than a
floppy."
Gary P replies:
"the symptoms are only the reverse of direction for 'up and down'
but I thought it was a connection fault at first until I used a
virus protection prog. for another reason and it flashed
mousevirus at me.
I didn't realise a mouse could be infected this way!"
Sysop Bob tells Gary:
"It's not really the mouse that's infected with the virus, it's
the ST itself. The reason the mouse was affected is that this is
the effect of this particular virus on your system.
Other viruses may exhibit other effects, like turning your screen
upside down, or displaying messages on the screen, but it's still
the ST that's infected.
Luckily most of the viruses in the Atari world haven't been too
destructive, but even the most benign of them is still an invasion
of your privacy as well as your computer.
Be sure to check ALL your disks with the virus killer program, as
most of these viruses will infect any disk you put in the disk
drive while the virus is active in the computer. You may find the
virus has spread to an alarming number of disks..!"
Joe Villarreal adds:
"Make sure you check the rest of your diskettes that you bootup
with. Viruses usually infect other diskettes you place in your
drives while your computer is infected with a virus.
George Woodside, the author of VKILLER, also created a program
that would simulate different viruses on your computer. The
simulator wouldn't infect your computer but would show you what the
affects of the virus were."
Well folks, that's about it for this week. Be sure to tune in again next
week, same time, same station, and be ready to listen to what they are
saying when...
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
EDITORIAL QUICKIES
Two boys were walking in the woods when one boy spied a nut on the ground.
When the other boy picked it up, they started to argue. One boy said, "The
nut is mine, I saw it first."
The other boy said, "The nut is mine, I have it in my possession."
They were just about to fight when, luckily, along came a lawyer.
The boys appealed to the lawyer to adjudicate their dispute.
The lawyer thanked the boys for the opportunity and said, "I will settle
your dispute this way.
Because you saw the nut first, I will give you this half.
Because you had the nut in your possession, I will give you this half.And,
for my fee, I'LL KEEP THE MEAT."
STReport International Magazine
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STReport "YOUR INDEPENDENT NEWS SOURCE" July 25, 1997
Since 1987 Copyrightc1997 All Rights Reserved Issue No. 1330
