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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 02 Issue 52
Volume 2, Issue 52 Atari Online News, Etc. December 29, 2000
Published and Copyright (c) 2000
All Rights Reserved
Atari Online News, Etc.
A-ONE Online Magazine
Dana P. Jacobson, Publisher/Managing Editor
Joseph Mirando, Managing Editor
Rob Mahlert, Associate Editor
Atari Online News, Etc. Staff
Dana P. Jacobson -- Editor
Joe Mirando -- "People Are Talking"
Michael Burkley -- "Unabashed Atariophile"
Albert Dayes -- CC: Classic Chips
Rob Mahlert -- Web site
With Contributions by:
Kevin Savetz
Jerry Martin
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To download A-ONE, set your browser bookmarks to one of the
following sites:
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Visit the Atari Advantage Forum on Delphi!
http://forums.delphi.com/m/main.asp?sigdir=atari
=~=~=~=
A-ONE #0252 12/29/00
~ People Are Talking! ~ Happy New Year!!! ~ Free ISPs, Or Not
~ Privacy Debate Lingers ~ Interface Editor Free! ~ StarOffice For Mac?
~ Bush Win Helps Gates? ~ Nintendo To Buy Sega?! ~ Napster Update!
~ Atari BASIC Source Book ~ Top 10 Privacy Concerns ~ PayPal Debit Cards!
-* Falcon "Towers II" Freeware! *-
-* eBay Cracks Down On Offline Deals! *-
-* NetZero Files Patent Infringement At Juno! *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
It's been quite a few weeks since the last time that I really had something
to say within these pages - at least seriously. Since it's our last issue
of our second year publishing - 2001 is almost upon us - I'd like to reflect
on the past year, and thank the people who have helped make, and keep, A-ONE
successful.
First of all, my thanks to all of you who read A-ONE week after week. Over
the past year I have received numerous e-mails from many of you expressing
your appreciation of what we've been doing. Believe it or not, those
messages mean a lot to us.
Secondly, my "partner-in-crime" Joe Mirando deserves a lot of credit. Not
only does he contribute a weekly column for the magazine, but he also helps
me maintain my sanity with his weekly banter. I think we keep each other
going, week after week!
And people like Scott Dowdle and Rob Mahlert have been tremendous behind the
scenes for us. Not only have they been working on our web site and pages,
but they have also been supportive in other ways. Also, the general
membership of Delphi's Atari Advantage forum continues to be the backbone of
online support for us. The folks online there are, simply put, the best!
And even though we don't "see" them as regularly as we'd like, guys like
Albert Dayes and Michael Burkley are still around. We're hoping that over
the new year we'll see more of them in these pages.
Continuing to do a weekly online magazine - with support for the Atari
platform - has been difficult. Why do we continue, you might ask? If you
do, you're a casual user, or not one at all. You old-timers understand what
I mean.
When we started A-ONE, we had some big plans. Things like our dealer
resource and Atari software catalog haven't been forgotten. Reviews and
interviews have been sparse, but continue. Our excuse? Simply stated,
we're human. We're all older and have more and more responsibilities that
don't always allow us the time necessary for these kinds of projects. Will
they happen? I certainly hope so. Time will tell.
So, another year is about over. I can't believe we're about to embark on
our third year of A-ONE! Naturally, we'll start it of with a bang around
here. We're about to be on the receiving end of a major Nor'easter here
tomorrow. They predict over a foot of snow! My back is already starting to
hurt and I don't even have a shovel in my hands!
While my wife and I will spend New Year's Eve at home, many of you will be
out revelling in the New Year. Nothing wrong with that, but please do so
responsibly! Party like crazy! Just remember that if you want to drink,
let someone else drive. In that way, you'll increase all of our chances to
be back here next year!
Happy New Year! from all of us here at A-ONE!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
Towers II for the Falcon Is Now Freeware
"For X-mas we decided to release an unrestricted version of Towers II -
Plight of the Stargazer for the Atari Falcon. Towers II was originally
released in 1995 for the Atari Falcon, using Hi-Color graphics,
smooth-scrolling 3D, and the DSP for a 16bit stereo MOD player. Since that
time, Towers II has made its way to the Atari Jaguar in 1996, Windows 95 in
1997, and will debut on the Game Boy Color (as a Step 3D graphic game) in
2001."
You can download the game from:
http://ftp.jvgames.com/towersii.zip
INTERFACE Resource Editor Available
Hi all!
Spotted this bit of news on the german Atari news sites. Might be of
interest! Olaf Meisiek, the author of the resource editor Interface, has
released it for free download exclusively from the homepage of Gerd Heller.
It is NOT freeware and so may not be distributed, so you have to download
directly from Gerd's website.
The url is http://www.hadley.de but apparently the site is not 100%
compatible with atari browsers (Javascript and such I guess...) so they
also kindly supply the link directly to the Interface Archive:
http://www.hadley.dusnet.de/atari/dateien/intrface.zip
(The GFA-Interpreter 3.5 is also available for download)
Have fun,
Jerry Martin
8-bit Atari BASIC Source Book Online
The full text of the Atari BASIC Source Book is now available
for downloading at:
http://www.ping.be/kim-1__6502/
and
ftp://ftp.spudster.org/pub/Atari/CTH/Programming/Assembly/AtariBasicSourceBook.zip
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
jmirando@portone.com
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. I hope none of you got coal in your
stocking from old Saint Nick. In case that turns out to be a reference
unique to the United States, I'll explain... Santa Claus is supposed to
fill good children's stockings with toys and bad children's stockings
with coal.
I guess that whoever started that tradition didn't envision fuel prices
being what they are today!
Anyway, I hope that your holiday was happy and healthy. I try to keep
things here religion-free, but this holiday seems to be a sort of a
focal point. At least three religions have holy days during this short
period. That in itself makes it special. If nothing else, it gives us a
reason to take a look at what's going on around us and think a bit
about what's important to us. And if that's not enough, the beginning
of a brand new year is just around the corner.
Since humans first decided to map the march of the seasons, the
beginning of each year has signified a new start. New opportunities,
new possibilities and, of course, new challenges present themselves and
it is up to us to do what we can.
May each of you find a stocking full of possibilities laid out before you
this coming year.
The NewsGroup seems to be a little thin this week, so the column is
going to be short. Well, let's get to the news, hints, tips, and info
from the UseNet.
From the comp.sys.atari.st NewsGroup
====================================
Mirko asks:
"Is it possible to connect an old EGA Monitor (supports up to 80Hz) to
an Atari ST?
If yes, can I find a connection schematic somewhere on the web?"
Dave Wade tells Mirko:
"But its a DIGITAL monitor, 2 Bits per colour. You STE only outputs
Analogue Video. I can't remember how many possible colours there are
but I know its more than the 64 the EGA will display.
I suppose you might get it to do MONO but I don't think the line rate
on the EGA is fast enough for that.
"Phantomm" asks:
"Anyone in North America know if Systems For Tomorrow and ChroMagic are
still in the Atari business?
I think that B@C and Best are.
Are there any other Atari hardware/software dealers in the USA?"
Edward Baiz tells Phantomm:
"As far as I know they (SFT and ChroMagic) are, but they also do other
platforms.
...try these sites:
http://www.vme.net/dvm/aty/
http://www.myatari.com/
http://www.teleport.com/~bensmith/bscomputers.shtml
http://www.best-electronics-ca.com/
http://chromagic.digistar.com/
http://www.SystemsForTomorrow.com/
http://www.iarelative.com/ "
Dan Ackerman tells us about the latest CAB.OVL:
"Well I think I got it working well enough to do a general release.
There might be a few problems running around still, so keep a back up
of your current OVL.
http://www.netset.com/~baldrick/
Changes:
Numerous small changes patches and fixes.
HTTP 1.1 compliance in place.
User can now configure OVL to not display the infamous
POST/GET/CANCEL dialog.
Have a happy holiday and I hope you enjoy this small gift from me."
Charles Stanley speaks for many of us when he tells Dan:
"Thank you very much, Dan, for your gift and all your gifts.
May I ask you to explain just what the @@@ that infamous message box
means and what is the result of clicking one or the other, please?"
James Pinson asks about fixing a hard drive problem:
"A program I just installed on my Atari ST's hard drive has caused the
drive to freeze on boot up. If this were a PC, I'd just boot off a boot
disk, delete the offending program, and all would be OK. But as near as
I can tell, there's no equivalent on the ST. Am I wrong? How can I gain
access to my hard drive to delete the program that's keeping the drive
from booting?
Thanks for any relevant advice."
Peter West tells Jim:
"You don't say which hard disk driver you are using. With most of them
you can press [Control] to bypass all AUTO folder programs, and holding
down [Alternate] boots from the floppy. I hope you have kept a copy of
your hard driver on floppy! If so, boot from that, install new icons on
the desktop the usual way, and you can start up the hard disk and
access it as normal to delete the program..."
Jim Logan adds his thoughts:
"Hold down the Alt key while booting, run your hard driver from a
floppy, put an icon for drive C on the desktop and open it."
Chris Thorley adds:
"If you can make up a boot disk up try booting up using that.You can
try and force the computer to boot from the 'A:' drive by holding down
the <Alt> key on switch on and keeping it depressed until it starts
booting from that drive.This might enable you to get at the 'C:'
partition on its own."
'Dennis' asks about configuring Gemulator to work with MagiC:
"Does anyone have any experience running Gemulator 2000 with MagicPC6.0?
I found the German demo, but I'm a bit queasy on installing it if I
don't know what I'm doing. I remember running earlier versions of Magic
and Gemulator on an older PC a few years back without too many
problems, but it's been a while, so I thought I'd ask around here
before I do something silly."
'Mark' tells Dennis:
"Magic PC is a version of magic that runs directly on a PC, Gemulator is
an ST Emulator they will not work together in the manor you talk about.
If you want to run Magic only then use Magic PC, if you want to use
Gemulator with Magic then you need a standard ST Magic (as it were)."
William Wong asks about serial transfer speed:
"Over christmas, I transferred over 26MB of stuff off my Falcon to my PC
so that I can backup them on a CDR. It took over, 2 hours over a RS232
link, at 115Kbps & 8N1 settings. I was using Zmodem, and the rate was
3200CPS.
Why shouldn't it be 115200/9 = 12800CPS?? It seems to be 4x slower."
Dan Ackerman tells William:
"Because PC's are notoriously bad with serial connections. I've
seen situations in the past where we had to set the speed to 32k on the
serial port to get the NULL modem to work at all, anything faster and
too many packets would be dropped to make it worthwhile."
William tells Dan:
"Me thinks that my 933MHz PC can take that 115Kbps speed.
The motherboard specs seems to say it's a 16550 plus UART chip (what
ever that means).
Anyway, I don't think that any packets was dropped as the error count
was 0 and I was monitoring it for about 5-10 minutes before I started
monitor another screen ... TV.
I wonder if it's something to do with zmodem protocol."
Dan replies:
"IF I were in hardware mode I would remember, I could look it up
if it really mattered. But yes that chip should handle 115k, if you
have a decent bios that chip should handle 230k.
[ZModem as the culprit] is possible, but it doesn't conflict that much
with my experience in the past. There is a conflict that occurs
somewhere along the line and if you slow the PC serial port down the
actual transfer rate increases. This was what we saw on 486's, a media
gx and most recently a P2 400. I didn't have this sort of problem null
modem to a mac and even the mac people will admit that mac serial isn't
everything it could be.
As to the zmodem, that is possible as well. Back in the bbs days
we always used to use ymodem 1k, actually generally gave us a better
through put."
Edward Baiz adds:
"I would have used PARCP for the transfer. It uses the parallel ports
at a speed of 100,000 bytes/sec..."
Edward Baiz posts this about HDDriver and his Hades:
"I just received my HDDriver upgrade to 8.01. This version does not
seem to have the cache problem for the Hades like the other versions. I
can access my Jaz drive and the HDDriver utilities program without
turning off the instruction cache. Nice..."
Well folks, that's it for this week. See? I told you it was going to be
a short column.
Please be careful when out on the road during the upcoming holiday. I
myself prefer to stay home and celebrate quietly. I figure that there
are enough fools on the road without adding one more.
See you "next year"! 'Till then, keep your ears open and listen to what
they are saying when...
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - Nintendo Denies Sega Takeover!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Sega To Do Game Boy Software?!
AquaAqua!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Nintendo, Sega Deny Takeover Report
Leading Japanese video game makers Nintendo Co. and Sega Corp. on Wednesday
denied a published report that Nintendo is mulling a buyout of Sega.
``The information in some overseas report that we are buying Sega is
completely wrong," Nintendo President Hiroshi Yamauchi said in a
statement.
Sega also issued a statement, saying news of the buyout ``is completely
false" and that the company ``would like to deny all reports related to
the matter."
The New York Times reported in its Wednesday edition that executives close
to the negotiations said the deal could see Nintendo acquiring Sega for
about $2 billion.
The report, citing executives it did not identify, said the talks have been
going on for months and the deal could still collapse.
The report comes as Sega struggles to survive intensifying competition.
Sega said in October that it no longer expected to turn a profit after
years of losses and projected a group net loss of 22.1 billion yen ($194
million) for the year ending March 2001. That was a reversal from the
previous forecast of net profit of 1.5 billion yen ($13 million).
Price cuts in the United States and Europe of Sega's Dreamcast video game
systems are weighing on the company's earnings as the cost of producing the
online gaming service remains high.
Sega faces formidable challenges from domestic rivals - Nintendo, the
creator of Mario games, and Sony Corp., which introduced the hugely
successful PlayStation2 vido game console.
Nintendo is expected to release a new game machine GameCube next year while
overseas U.S. software company Microsoft Corp. is vying to enter the video
game market in 2001 with a game console called X-Box.
Nintendo Says Sega May Supply Game Boy Software
Game machine maker Nintendo Co Ltd said on Thursday that rival Sega Corp
may supply software for its ``Game Boy Advance" game machine.
But a Nintendo spokesman denied a report in the evening edition of
newspaper Sankei Shimbun that the two firms are in talks on collaboration
to develop software for the machine.
A Sega spokeswoman said it could not comment on the report.
On Wednesday, both firms denied a New York Times report that Nintendo was
in talks to buy Sega for about $2 billion.
Nintendo's Game Boy Advance, a next-generation wireless game player to be
launched next March, is a successor to the existing Game Boy, global sales
of which have reached 100 million units.
3DO Ships AquaAqua for PlayStation2
Try Not to Get Wet With This Irresistible Watery Puzzle Game From 3DO
The 3DO Company announced it has begun shipping the AquaAqua game for the
PlayStation2 computer entertainment system. Developed by Zed Two, Ltd.,
the AquaAqua game is an addictive, fast-action, 3D puzzle game set in a
liquid landscape. Players trap water by positioning pieces as fast as they
fall to form dams and lakes. Watch the weather; if it rains too much your
lake will overflow and the water goes down the drain. Lose too much water
and it's ``game over."
Players maneuver land pieces to create hills and mountains that form lakes
that hold water pieces and the rain. Water pieces are dropped in the hills
and mountains to create lakes of all sizes. Deep lakes attract lake mates
and the more lake mates you have, the higher your score will be. If too
much water accumulates in one spot and leaks out, you can dry it up with a
Fireball and score points. Downer pieces can be used to decrease land mass
whish decreases the chance of an earthquake. Watch out for those Bombs,
though; they can leave holes through which precious water can escape.
The AquaAqua game features three addictive play modes in which to play. In
Story Puzzle Mode you clear stages and travel through four different time
periods in the earth's history. Players also come face-to-face with
monsters that try to thwart their progress. Quick Puzzle Mode is where you
play any cleared stage for maximum score. VS. Puzzle Mode enables you to
play head-to-head against a friend. With play this fun and absorbing, you
won't want to stop!
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Microsoft Could Profit From Bush Victory
Microsoft could benefit from the election of George Bush as U.S. president,
as the former Texas governor has indicated he is not in full agreement with
the U.S. Justice Department's decision to break up the software giant, the
New York Times reported on Tuesday.
``I stand on the side of innovation, not litigation," the paper quoted
Bush as saying last spring. Bush is troubled by the court decision to break
the company in two, the paper said.
Bush aides have said there is no decision on how to handle the case yet,
but the attorney general-designate, Senator John Ashcroft of Missouri, has
not taken a firm stand on the matter, the paper added.
``The signs are that (the case) isn't the kind of thing (Ashcroft) would be
enthusiastic about," the paper quoted a senior Clinton administration
official as saying.
eBay Cracks Down On Members' Offline Deals
eBay is cracking down on offline business deals between its buyers and
sellers that circumvent the fees normally paid to the online auction
company.
Effective immediately, eBay will first warn, then suspend, members who use
their eBay connection to conduct business offline. For example, it is
against eBay rules for a person to contact a losing bidder on eBay to
offer that person the same product without going through eBay.
The company also announced that it would start cracking down on spam, or
unsolicited email, sent to its members.
The rules against offline trading have been in place for some time, eBay
spokesman Kevin Pursglove said Wednesday. But the company initially chose
not to enforce the rules against offline deals at the request of members,
he said.
However, fraud that occurs in those offline transactions and spam have
become the two biggest complaints eBay receives from members, prompting
the changes, Pursglove said.
"In the very early days, many of our users didn't want us to crack down on
offline trading. They felt it built a sense of community on eBay," he
said. "That may have been appropriate in the early days, but it isn't
appropriate now."
For most auctions, eBay charges about $2 or less to list an item and a
transaction fee of up to 5 percent of the closing bid. Additional fees may
apply to real estate, auto listings or reserve auctions.
Some eBay members complained on AuctionWatch.com's message boards that the
new rules are draconian, stifling legitimate commerce and communications
between bidders and sellers.
"Someone out there has lost their grip," wrote one member. "Obviously eBay
needs to rustle up more money. Sales are down. They ain't looking so good
on paper. Did it ever occur to them to be more conciliatory toward their
sellers? No. Instead there is going to be a long list of 'thou shalt
nots.'"
Under the rules, sellers are banned from offering to sell items offline to
people other than the high bidder in their auctions. This means sellers
would violate the rules if they contacted not only people bidding on
competitors' auctions, but those bidding on their own items.
Sellers also are not allowed to send unsolicited email to people about
products similar to what they have bid on in the past. It wasn't spelled
out whether sellers can contact bidders about such products if they are
offered on eBay.
The rules also target bidders, banning them from contacting sellers about
purchasing a listed item away from eBay.
These sorts of scenarios are not uncommon on eBay. Many small businesses
use eBay like they would banner ads or newspaper classifieds: as a way to
draw in new customers.
It's not unusual, for instance, for sellers to contact losing bidders
offering similar goods to the ones they just sold. And buyers often
contact sellers to find out whether they can purchase items such as
tickets in advance of the date the auction closes.
Auction service sites such as AuctionWatch and Auctionworks have customer
relations management software that allows auction sellers to create
databases of their customers. Such databases could be used to send
unsolicited email to bidders or to offer products to eBay members off of
eBay.
In some cases, such as reserve auctions, eBay has even encouraged sellers
to contact losing bidders to inform them of the reserve price and to offer
the item offline, said Rosalinda Baldwin, editor of The Auction Guild, an
online newsletter. In reserve auctions, a seller won't sell the item
unless bidding reaches a preset, hidden price.
"What was once good manners is now a violation of eBay rules," Baldwin
said. "All this does is (upset) what is left of the eBay community."
eBay is not able to collect a fee on sales between eBay members that occur
offline. Some eBay members and industry experts suggested that new rules
are part of an effort to boost the company's revenues.
Pursglove said the amount of revenue lost to offline transactions is
"insignificant" for the company, and that the changes were prompted by
customer complaints. In addition, offline transactions are not covered by
the company's insurance program or feedback system, and eBay is powerless
to investigate them should fraud occur, he said.
"This is probably the largest source of fraud complaints that we get in
our customer service department," he said.
Some eBay members questioned how the company will police the policies
since it will have to rely on members themselves to turn in their fellow
members.
"Do they really think sellers are going to turn business away just because
eBay isn't getting their cut?" wrote one seller on AuctionWatch who said
he often gets email from bidders wanting more copies of his auction items.
"They should concentrate on getting the deadbeats and bad sellers off eBay
and bring in more bidders."
And a self-policing community could lead to abuse, such as a seller trying
to get a rival kicked off eBay by asking the person to sell his or her
goods offline.
"This whole thing is supposed to be based on honesty and trust, and
they're doing the one thing that will ruin that honesty and trust,"
Baldwin said.
The rules are only the latest controversy between eBay and its auction
community. Earlier this year, some members complained about the
promotional deal eBay signed with Keen.com, the relaunch of its automotive
site, and an effort to clean up auctions of pornographic material. In each
case, some members felt that eBay was not communicating with its community
and was unfairly restricting or affecting people's ability to trade on the
site.
eBay Policy Shift Angers Users
This week's decision by eBay to enforce a prohibition on offline deals
between members has angered many users, sparking allegations that the
Internet auction giant's stated goal of protecting its customers is
disingenuous.
It has long been the official policy of eBay to prohibit members from
arranging deals outside the confines of cyberspace, but company spokesman
Henry Gomez told the E-Commerce Times that eBay announced its intention to
enforce the policy after receiving complaints from members.
However, at least one auction insider believes eBay's priority is profit,
and that the move will lead to "further alienation of sellers." Rosalinda
Baldwin, editor of the online newsletter The Auction Guild, told the
E-Commerce Times that the enforcement will "increase mistrust between
sellers and buyers" and lead to "further degradation of the weak and dying
'community.'"
Gomez said that eBay decided to enforce the policy in order to protect its
users, because buyers who choose to conduct business outside of eBay are
not protected by the company's insurance program or feedback system.
Some of the users who had purchased items in so-called offline
transactions were not even aware that they were doing so, according to
Gomez. He said the company has had "lots of complaints" over the past
several months by people who thought they were protected by eBay but
actually were not.
"They come back to us when they've been wronged and we have no way to
help," Gomez said.
Under the new policy, sellers who use their eBay connections to conduct
business offline will first be warned and then suspended from the site.
Prohibited conduct includes offering to sell a listed item outside of eBay
to avoid paying a listing fee, as well as offering to sell users
merchandise similar to what they are bidding on at eBay.
Also prohibited is sending unsolicited e-mail, or spam, to people met
through eBay.
Despite eBay's contention that the rule change is designed to protect its
community, some users believe the adjustment was made to protect eBay's
profit margin. Baldwin claims that eBay needs "to do something to attempt
to boost their revenue for the fourth quarter."
Added Baldwin, "Depending on what else they do, [eBay] might give us a
better idea of which financial reason they are doing this for -- such as
another insider stock sale, or possibly a sale of eBay to a company like
GM, or an attempt on eBay's part to buy some of the other dot-com
companies."
Baldwin is not the only observer questioning eBay's motives. Frustrated
sellers have filled message boards across the Web with complaints about
the policy change.
Even eBay's Gomez conceded that the move was at least partially profit
driven. He said that if sellers are using eBay to advertise their
products, then the company "should collect those fees."
Some eBay users also believe that the San Jose, California-based auction
house will have a hard time enforcing the rule without turning members
into tattletales.
"Whatever goes on between people (buyers, sellers, other sundry
capitalists) outside of eBay is none of eBay's business," one poster at
eBay's message board wrote. "And how the devil is eBay going to know what
is in the correspondence (e-mail, phone calls, etc.) between potential
buyers and sellers?"
Noted Baldwin: "In truth, eBay cannot enforce these policies unless
sellers and buyers snitch on each other, and unless they start offering a
bounty, there is little reason for folks to do this."
Bluelight And Netzero Now Almost Free
'Road closed' signs and toll booths are popping up all over the
Information Superhighway, particularly for once-free Internet service
rides like Kmart's Bluelight.com and Netzero, as those services struggle
to pay their own bills and stay in business.
Kmart, which recently bought the troubled free Internet service provider
(ISP) Spinway, announced that users who log on to Bluelight.com for more
than 25 hours per month will be cut off from the service until the
following month. The company said the moves were necessary to avoid losing
Spinway's customer base.
Kmart's move was preceded by Netzero's announcement that users of its free
Internet service would be limited to 40 hours a month, incurring fees
after that.
The two announcements are the latest in the trend of free Internet
services, used by some 10 to 20 million users, that have gone out of
business or started charging fees to cover operating and marketing costs
amid falling advertising revenues.
Kmart's takeover of Spinway was aimed at giving the company an online
presence after it learned that more than half its customers were not
connected to the Web.
Kmart says the limit on monthly Bluelight usage is intended to control
heavy Net users until the company can support its 5.2 million users with a
new service in February. According to Kmart, the small group of online
gluttons reportedly account for nearly half the costs associated with
running the service.
While Bluelight users who spend more than 25 hours a month online will
simply be cut off, Netzero users who exceed 40 hours a month can continue
logging on for about US$10.
The year that began with a number of companies offering free Internet
service was also marked by announcements of failures and new fee-based
plans. AltaVista, the latest free ISP to halt service, cut off some three
million users earlier this month.
AltaVista joined a handful of free ISPs, including WorldSpy,
FreeInternet.com and Freewwweb, which have closed down in the last six
months.
A lack of advertising revenue and increased operating costs are the main
causes of problems for the free ISPs. AltaVista said it ceased operations
because 1stUP Corp., the company that provided its telecommunications and
infrastructure, went out of business.
Despite failures and fees, analysts say this is not the end of free
Internet service. The concept still holds the potential to lure customers,
deliver advertising and collect demographic information, according to
researchers Strategis Group.
The Internet analyst predicts there will be 35 million users of free ISP
services by 2005. Another research firm, Jupiter Research, predicts the
number of free ISP users will jump from the current 8 percent to 13
percent by 2003.
While Bluelight and Netzero were among the few remaining free services,
Juno is the last major ISP to remain totally free. The online company that
began with free e-mail service in 1996 now has about 3.7 million active
customers for its free Internet service, making it the third-largest ISP
in the U.S.
Meanwhile, the "free" ISPs are not making life any easier for one another.
Netzero filed a patent infringement suit against rival Juno in U.S
District Court in Los Angeles on Wednesday, claiming that Juno used
Netzero's patented process for displaying online ad windows without
permission.
However, according to Charles Ardai, Juno's president and chief executive
officer, the patent suit was probably in retaliation to an as-yet
unresolved patent infringement suit that Juno filed against NetZero last
June.
NetZero Files Lawsuit Against Juno
Free Internet access pioneer NetZero Inc. has filed a patent infringement
lawsuit over advertising windows used by rival Juno Online Services.
Westlake Village-based NetZero filed the lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District
Court in Los Angeles. The company has declined to comment further on the
lawsuit, said spokeswoman Allison Chesher on Wednesday.
NetZero claims that its patent covers the technology used to present an
on-screen advertising window that pops up separate from an Internet
browser.
The window serves as a navigational tool and displays advertisements and
customized messages while a computer user is online.
NetZero offers free dial-up access to users who are willing to provide
information about their Internet surfing habits and allow a stream of
advertisements to appear in a portion of their screens while online.
Juno officials Wednesday denied infringing on NetZero's patent.
``On the contrary, we believe that NetZero has been infringing a key patent
held by Juno, in connection with which Juno filed a lawsuit against NetZero
in June of this year," Charles Ardai, Juno's president and chief executive
officer, said in a statement. ``We look forward to seeing both our suit
against NetZero and this new suit brought by NetZero resolved through the
appropriate legal process."
Juno, with about 3.7 million subscribers, is the nation's third-largest
Internet service provider behind AOL and EarthLink.
Napster Updates Software As Court Case Looms
Despite the uncertain outcome of a court case that threatens to deal
Napster a potentially fatal blow, the music-swapping service has released
an updated version of its software that makes it easier to find specific
songs and bands.
The release is proof that development is continuing at the San Mateo,
Calif.-based start-up, even as it awaits the outcome of a federal court
case that threatens to shut down the service almost in its entirety.
A federal appeals court is still reviewing the decision of a trial court
judge to block trades of most copyrighted music using Napster's software.
That decision, though put on hold just hours after it was issued, served
as a turning point in the music industry's battle against encroaching
online music companies.
Many court-watchers had expected a decision from the Ninth Circuit panel
of appeals judges before now, but a ruling still could come any day.
The updated software gives a small indication of what Napster's developers
are doing as they work toward creating a new subscription-based service
with German media conglomerate Bertelsmann.
The two companies have yet to give details on the planned service, part of
a landmark deal announced in October. Both parties have said that the
original Napster software will remain in place in some form, but that a
better version will be available for a fee. Bertelsmann and Napster are
still trying to bring other major record labels into their alliance,
however.
The software upgrade, dubbed 2.0 beta 8, offers a handful of new features,
including a "Boolean minus sign," which people can use to exclude certain
items from their searches. For example, entering the search term
"Primitive" will return results for Primitive Reason and Primitive Radio
Gods. Now a Napster user who does not want returns for Primitive Reason
can type "Primitive -Reason."
The new software, which can be downloaded on Napster's Web site for free,
also lets people rename MP3 and Windows Media Audio files from within
Napster.
In addition, "many minor bugs have been fixed," the company said in its
newsletter.
Music fans discussing the updated software on message boards had mixed
reactions.
"Personally I like it," wrote one Napster user, identified only as
"solidstate23." "They fixed the bug that froze up the search function,
added a Boolean minus to the search, and made it so you can rename files
from inside the client. Those were on my top five list of fixes that
needed to be made. It also seems to run smoother."
Others complained that music files downloaded with the new software were
being stored in their computer's C drive, rather than in specifically
designated folders.
"All my downloaded songs go to the c drive, I cannot get them to go into
the music or my files folder," wrote a message board poster, identified as
"genie25." "Oh well, back to beta 7 for me."
Still others complained that the updated software left them unable to log
on to independent, non-Napster servers using the program Napigator.
Napigator offers a way for people to swap songs from independent servers
using Napster's software, but without using Napster's servers.
Chatting on Napigator's Web site, users of Napster's software seemed
certain that it would not remain incompatible with independent servers for
long.
"Resolution of that will occur shortly, one would assume, as the
independent servers simply update their software," wrote "Steve G."
PayPal To Issue Debit Cards
PayPal, an Internet-based ``digital cash" payment network, will begin
issuing MasterCard debit cards to its customers, the company said Thursday.
PayPal's 5 million users will now be able to untether themselves and their
cash from the computer to make their purchases.
To date, PayPal members have primarily used the system to conduct online
auction transactions.
A buyer using PayPal provides a credit card or bank account number so
PayPal can withdraw a specified amount. The seller is then notified by
e-mail and has the option of either cashing out or carrying a digital cash
balance to conduct other online business.
PayPal accounts aren't insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. like
banks, but the company does offer up to $100,000 in insurance coverage per
account.
Mac Version of StarOffice Next Summer?
Now that Apple and Sun are working more closely together, Mac users have
been hoping that Sun's StarOffice product will come to the Mac platform
sooner. According to the updated StarOffice Frequently Asked Questions Web
site, Sun is "targeting availability [of version 5.2] by summer 2001."
StarOffice is a downloadable cross-platform office productivity suite that
includes components for word processing, spreadsheets, e-mail, graphics,
Web publishing, scheduling, database, and management applications.
On the FAQ page, it was asked, "How committed is Sun to having StarOffice
software available on multiple platforms and as a standalone product?"
Sun's answer: "Our commitment to the standalone product is firm. Although
we are excited about revolutionizing the productivity software market with
StarPortal, we realize that standalone software is important now and for
many years to come. The StarOffice suite will continue to be an integral
part of the total application solution."
In October, Sun released the source code for the StarOffice suite, opening
the way for possible development for the Mac under OS X by others. The
reason for the open-source, according to the company, is to follow its core
principles to develop and support open standards and compete on
implementations. Other reasons include the development of a higher quality
product as more development means fewer bugs and new features coming faster
to market, as more programmers would be working on the product.
With the code now open, the possibilities of it being ported to the
Macintosh platform are wide open, although the project would be a
monumental task, according to a number of programmers with whom MacCentral
spoke.
'Big Brother' Knocked In 2000
For privacy experts, 2000 looked more like 1984.
Workplace surveillance was the leading privacy concern in 2000, according
to an analysis released Thursday by the Privacy Foundation, a Denver-based
nonprofit that performs research and educates the public on privacy issues.
This year, millions of Americans were watched at work, as employers became
increasingly concerned about employee productivity and their use of the
Internet. Two-thirds of major U.S. companies now perform some type of
in-house electronic surveillance, according to the American Management
Association, and 27 percent of all companies surveyed now monitor email.
The Big Brother tactic has led to some people losing their jobs. Dow
Chemical fired 24 employees and disciplined 235 others in September for
allegedly storing and sending sexual or violent images on the company's
computers. Xerox, The New York Times Co. and the CIA were others that fired
or disciplined employees because of alleged bad behavior.
"Employers may be rightly concerned about security and productivity issues,
or legal liability arising from emailed sexual banter," Stephen Keating,
executive director of the Privacy Foundation, said in a statement.
"But pervasive or spot-check surveillance conducted through keystroke
monitoring software, reviewing voice-mail messages, and using mini-video
cameras will undoubtedly affect morale and labor law, as well as employee
recruitment and retention practices," he added.
In the future, the foundation predicts that employers, especially so-called
New Economy companies, may offer "spy free" workplaces as a fringe benefit.
Keeping medical records private was the second most important privacy
concern in 2000, according to the report. Fears that personal medical data,
disclosed to medical practitioners, could reach the wrong hands propelled
new federal rules in December. The new policy, which could be delayed in
Congress in the coming year, will require doctors to get patient consent to
use medical records in routine matters, as well as give patients more
access to their own records.
Privacy issues surrounding Carnivore, the online surveillance technology
developed by the FBI for investigations, fell into the survey's top three.
Civil libertarians fear that the FBI could use Carnivore to watch people
through entry points to the Web or randomly read email communications.
Privacy advocates criticized the FBI for releasing too little information
about the surveillance technology in October.
Online advertising network DoubleClick also received top billing this year
for its widely noted but unrealized plans to merge anonymous online
customer data with personally identifiable offline data from subsidiary
Abacus Direct.
After public outcry and a federal investigation, DoubleClick postponed its
plans. But the issue highlighted the online profiling practices of online
ad networks and marketers, causing a number of legal cases to be filed
against online companies.
Because of such heightened privacy concerns in 2000, companies including
Microsoft, IBM and American Express hired for a new position: chief privacy
officer. In the future, the foundation predicts that universities will
offer degree programs in privacy and business.
These were some other top privacy concerns in 2000:
* Online customer data became a hot commodity, prompting online retailers
to change their privacy policies and inciting privacy advocates and
legislators to tighten their watch over them.
For example, federal regulators blocked Toysmart.com from selling customer
data after the company went out of business. And Amazon.com came under fire
after changing its privacy policy to allow for transferring customer data
in certain instances.
* Privacy fears cropped up regarding new legislation that allows financial
institutions to combine customer information housed under different
divisions and potentially share it with third parties, as long as they
notify customers and provide them the option to opt out.
Advocates are concerned that the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act doesn't go far
enough to protect consumers with the transfer of online information. In
2001, many more consumers may complain about the mishandling of their
personal data by financial institutions.
* Wireless tracking technologies raised privacy hackles. Location-sensing
technology for cell phones, under a new federal program called E911, and
new ad-delivery plans fueled questions about privacy and receiving
unsolicited email, or spam, via handheld devices.
The Privacy Foundation predicts that tech companies and federal regulators
will keep spam at bay by setting industry standards on consumer choice to
receive text messages.
* Microsoft issued a software patch for Internet Explorer that lets Web
surfers automatically block third-party "cookies," or electronic
surveillance tags often set by online advertisers to track surfing habits.
Bowing to pressure from some in the online advertising industry whose
businesses rely on placing third-party cookies, the company has retreated
from incorporating such controls into the upcoming version of IE and
instead will support the Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P) standard
for IE 6.0. P3P allows Web surfers to control their privacy preferences
when they visit Web sites.
In the coming year, the foundation predicts that "Web bugs," or barely
visible tracking tags, and other online surveillance methods will upstage
cookies.
* Email and computer server logs played a larger role in court cases in
2000. The federal antitrust trial against Microsoft tapped archived emails,
and during the 2000 presidential election, the media sought the email
communications of Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
In 2001, the Privacy Foundation predicts much more of this kind of activity
as people tap public open-record laws.
Workplace Spying Topped Year's Privacy Debate
Driven by inexpensive monitoring technology and concerns regarding
Internet security, the issue of workplace surveillance has emerged as the
top privacy story of the year 2000, according to the Denver,
Colorado-based Privacy Foundation.
Of the 10 most pressing privacy issues that the non-profit, non-partisan
organization identified, 8 involved the Internet and high-tech sectors.
Also on the list were the FBI's Carnivore e-mail surveillance system,
attempts by Net firms like Amazon to secure customer profiles as
marketable assets, and the rise of the chief privacy officer (CPO) as a
common executive position.
Privacy Foundation executive director Stephen Keating told NewsFactor that
he knew workplace surveillance was a top story after the foundation
tracked incidences of workplace surveillance and connected them to reports
that people were losing their jobs.
The Foundation cites scores of well-known U.S. companies including Xerox,
Dow Chemical and The New York Times, as well as the Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA), that have terminated or disciplined workers over the past 12
months for using company communication technology in a way they deemed
inappropriate.
The report found that two-thirds of major firms in the U.S. use some kind
of electronic surveillance on their employees, and 27 percent of all
companies surveyed their employees' e-mail accounts. Monitoring Web
surfing behavior and telephone use were also among the most common forms
of surveillance.
"Productivity and security issues are what employers are most concerned
about," Keating said. "All the leverage is in the employer's hands, so
when you add up the new technology and the keystroke and video monitoring
of workers, it creates an intensive situation for employees."
Keating added that employees are not always clear on how company
surveillance policies work. "Often what we find is a 'don't ask, don't
tell' policy, and it's only when the policy is enforced that it has
visibility," he said.
Specifically, because most employees work on an "at-will" basis -- meaning
that employers and employees each have the right to terminate the working
relationship at any time -- employers are free to engage in a wide variety
of surveillance techniques.
However, skilled high-tech job candidates of the future, Keating suggests,
are likely to begin requesting a "spy-free" workplace as a condition of
their employment. "Workers are becoming more cognizant about the privacy
issue and raising it with employers when they take a new job," he said.
Third on the Privacy Foundation's list was the FBI's Carnivore e-mail
surveillance program. The Carnivore system works with an Internet service
provider (ISP) to filter e-mail and target specific, "meaty" messages.
The FBI has argued throughout the year that the system was designed
specifically to be used in criminal investigations, but the agency has
drawn sharp criticism from privacy advocates and public officials, who say
that Carnivore compromises the privacy rights of law-abiding Net users.
The top 10 list also included Amazon's controversial policy to consider
the profiles of its 23 million customers to be marketable assets should
its operations be sold to another company. Company CEO Jeff Bezos said
Amazon adopted the new policy in part because it is now the parent of many
smaller companies that might be sold or consolidated as part of Amazon's
growth strategy and drive toward profitability.
Amazon's move seemed to be a direct response to the flap in July
surrounding Toysmart.com's decision to sell the names, addresses and
buying habits of thousands of customers who used its site before it ceased
operations.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) stepped in to block the identity
firesale, noting that Toysmart.com had previously promised consumers it
would protect their privacy rights.
Fifth on the Privacy Foundation's list was the emergence of the corporate
position of chief privacy officer (CPO), as companies address the need to
shape and enforce privacy policies.
The trend began with small Internet firms that needed to ensure that their
company's practices complied with government privacy regulations. Now,
larger high-tech firms like IBM and Microsoft have signed on CPOs with
public relations and legal backgrounds to be accountable for privacy
questions and to ensure a secure online environment for customers.
Top 10 privacy issues of 2000:
1. Workplace surveillance
2. Patient privacy rules
3. Carnivore attacked
4. DoubleClick debacle
5. The advent of chief privacy officers
6. Changing privacy policies
7. Merging financial information
8. Wireless privacy battles
9. Microsoft cookie-blocking software
10. Emails, Web activity sought in legal cases
=~=~=~=
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