SECURE WEB PROTOCOLS ANNOUNCED
NCSA, Spyglass, CompuServe, and DEC jointly announced support for Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol (SHTTP), based on the patented RSA encryption standards. Netscape also announced a protocol called Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). Spyglass and DEC will support both protocols in products shipping next year. The W3 Internet standards consortium is checking out both protocols, noting that the world may need both of them. The question is, do we need more than one proprietary protocol for this critical application? What are the legalities involved in making a freeware copy? Sounds like a serious mess in the making.
DON'T SPAM SANTA, IT'S JUST A RUMOR
Some kindly (NOT!) soul is spreading the rumor that for every E-Mail message you send to "santa@north.pole.org", large companies will donate money to various charities. It's just a rumor so restrain yourself and don't spam Santa. See this site for the disclaimer, and check out our own holiday section for other places to visit. "http://north.pole.org/"
IBM ANNOUNCES BIG PRODUCTS AND SERVICES INTERNET PUSH
Specifically, IBM announced hosting services for putting businesses on the Net, complete with firewall software, turnkey Net and Web consulting solutions, LAN dial up and 56 kbps access services, and realtime credit card clearing services. Also look for their multiple mirrored and dispersed Web, FTP, and Gopher sites to roll out during the next year. They are also developing Mac and Windows Internet client packages, but then, who isn't?
MODEM MAKER HAYES FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY
Hayes used to be the standard setter in the modem business, with prices reflecting their lofty brand leader position. Now it has apparently fallen victim to relentless price slashing in the modem market. Management insists it's just a temporary cash shortage caused by trouble keeping up with demand.
Apple and America Online, that is, who just announced the formation of an interactive shopping company called 2Market Inc. You'll be able to browse merchandise on CD-ROMs or online via AOL and eWorld. Online shopping is the holy grail of just about every big online player. Unfortunately, nobody has made it pay off yet.
America Online has acquired Advanced Network Services, an Internet access provider. Given that the Net is rapidly swallowing the bulk of everyone's mind share, this is a wise move. Word is that AOL wants to be in the distribution business rather than the content provider business.
The massive games related site just went through a round of updates. Among the highlights: the Mortal Kombat WWW Pages, Star Wars and Lucas Arts pages, and Silicon Graphics' SILICON SURF. It's all at: "http://wcl-rs.bham.ac.uk/GamesDomain"
From the silly legal ideas folder (and as a cheap excuse to run that headline): Apparently WIRED, the hypertrendy and occasionally readable magazine, once tried to trademark the "@" symbol (Time, 11/14/94, p.38). Hmmm, we'll have to talk to our attorney about trademarking all that whitespace we use so copiously.
NHK JAPAN TV TO HOST VIRTUAL CHRISTMAS BASH
It's a four-hour cyberland Christmas program live at 11 p.m. JST (9 a.m. EST), December 25, 1994. They'll have a holiday story which you can control via touch-tone phones, party links via CU-SEE-ME, E-Mail Christmas cards, a live Internet netsurfing competition, video phones, a Web page, and other cyber, rave, world-beat, togetherness kinds of things. Send E-Mail for more info: Toshio Kuramata "kuramata@dbs2.sat.nhk.or.jp"
In a recent issue we reported on a site which contained 100,000 digits of pi. Well, no sooner had the issue gone out that we got word of another site (thanks Fabrice!) with 500,000 digits. That smells like a challenge! Do we hear one million? Two? A billion? We're looking for the champ here folks, so let's hear it. The winning site gets a link on our home page and T-shirt. We'll even wash it first. For the moment, here is the Pi King: "http://www.enst.fr/~pauliat/pi_io.html"
Cybercafe is yet again on the leading edge of... well, something. This time they are collecting details on at least one public telephone in every country in the world. Why? Because "in a time of private prosperity and public poverty, public telephones offer the potential for a wealthy public space." Makes sense to us. Submit phone entries to their Web site. They're also looking for cool phone graphics (<50K please). E-Mail: "heath@cybercafe.org" "http://www.cybercafe.org/cybercafe/pubtel/pubtel.html"
The libertarian site we reviewed not too long ago, dedicated to the creation of a new country, has changed it's URL: "http://unicycle.cs.tulane.edu/oceania"
ELUSIVE WWW TEST DRIVE AND ASSAULT COURSE
Rumor is that the WWW testing site has moved. However, nobody seems to be able to connect, getting various TCP errors in the process. Here is the URL we have; if you have a better one let us know: "http://sashimi.wwa.com/~tenec/users/paulf/demo/demo.html"
HAVE A STICKY CHRISTMAS ALL AROUND THE WORLD
We submit two holiday sites for your consideration. First there is the Sticky Web Xmas, distinguished by the number of holiday-related links. From this page, you can write letters to Santa, send cards to your friends, and download vintage holiday card JPEG images. There are also a number of shopping sites. Alas, Sticky Web does not feel as festive as Christmas Around the World, mostly because of the latter's better graphics. Unfortunately, the prettier site has fewer links. But don't sweat it - both sites overlap quite a bit, so you won't miss out on too many holiday sites if you visit only one. "http://www.auburn.edu/~vestmon/christmas.html" "http://www.mindspring.com/~kmims/xmas.html"
THE NETSURFER DIGEST 12 SITES OF CHRISTMAS
This is our own modest contribution to the holiday madness. We took the holiday song chestnut, did unnatural things to it, and put the results on the Web. And they said it couldn't be done! "http://www.netsurf.com/12sites.html"
THE COMMERCIAL HOLIDAYS: CAPE FEAR CHRISTMAS HOUSE
Their tag line is "The Year Round Christmas Store", and their collection of items for sale is, to put it kindly, eclectic. There are such things as "A Pictorial History of Wilmington", something called "Par for the Claus", the joyous-sounding "Mickey's Christmas Delivery" (Hey, who forgot to tell us about Minnie?!), and the ominously named "Storybook Nutcrackers" (appropriately placed in Little Nell's Room). Worth a visit. "http://www.noel.com/xmas/"
It's back this year and better than ever. Well, better than last year anyway, when they made headlines by hooking up the tree lights to the Net. There are movies, things to turn on and off, a form you can use to send holiday cards containing cute ASCII graphics, and ways to query the status of the tree. "http://www.cygnus.com/xmastree/"
If so, his sleigh zooms through the winter sky at 650 miles per
second. Finally we have a firm technical analysis of this whole
Santa phenomenon. You don't want to miss this one, despite the
monstrous URL:
Humor/ChristmasHumor/HTML/SantaAnalysis.html"
DUELING SANTAS PART 1: CITY LINK
First there's Citylink with a "letter to Santa" which you have to
load into a word processor and alter before sending in. Blech!
Checking the presents, we find items like a "15 Function Stainless
Steel Swiss Army Knife" and the "M-Tronic Rolls Royce AM Radio".
AM? Now really.
"http://www.neosoft.com/citylink/xmas/default.html"
DUELING SANTAS PART 2: NORTH POLE
On to the first North Pole, where we find a pair of silly messages
and a chance to get an "I E-Mailed Santa" button. Sponsors are a
Net access provider, an online shopping mall and - the single
redeeming feature - a Unix hardware shop.
"http://www.northpole.net"
DUELING SANTAS PART 3: THE COOL NORTH POLE
Onward we trek to the other North Pole, where right off we find
links to some worthy charity sites, a cool form to E-Mail Santa,
some Santa's helper humor (try Rudolph's Kitchen for algae newtons
and elf logs), and a number of neat digital Christmas trees. We
have a winner, folks! "http://north.pole.org/"
"BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED, SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED"
Our tight format doesn't lend itself to feature writing, but every
once in a while we do like to let our talented staff stretch their
literary wings. This amusing piece by staff netsurfer Jay Mills is
very appropriate in view of the recent massive newbie influx to
the Net. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll truly LIVE this tale of
hopes raised and dashed, of tribulation, redemption, comeuppance,
and ultimate humility. Truly an epic in a box.
"http://ftp.netsurf.com/pub/nsf.94.12.14.txt"
"Well darling, what shall it be, the real or the virtual chicken?"
Here's the blurb: "CYBERSEX is a discussion on how emerging
technology - especially in the computer field - is changing how
people define, communicate and act out their sexuality. Topics
will include on-line sex, erotic software, hi-tech sex toys,
home-made videos, etc." To subscribe, send E-Mail with the message
"subscribe CYBERSEX" to
"LISTSERV@soundprint.brandywine.american.edu".
FLORIDA BBS BUST SPARKS NET FUROR
A recent BBS bust in Florida on (what else) pornography charges
has sparked the usual furor on various newsgroups. This was fueled
by a rather hysterical post which seemingly overstated the case a
bit, claiming large numbers of arrests and the imminent
involvement of the EFF, ACLU, and other guardians of
cyber-freedoms. Reliable information was hard to come by at press
time, but tune in to alt.bbs for the developing story.
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY FRENCH PAINTING EXHIBIT
"Le siecle des lumieres dans la peinture des musees de France" is
a virtual exhibit featuring the paintings, artists, literature,
and history of 18th century France. The paintings are
"magnifiques", but if you don't speak French, you might find the
text a bit difficult to follow, n'est-ce pas? At any rate, it's
worth stopping by for the visuals. Besides, with a really short
URL to type in, it's a breeze to get there.
"http://dmf.culture.fr/"
UNIVERSAL PICTURES PREMIERES "JUNIOR" ON THE WEB
"Junior" is a new movie featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny
DeVito, and Emma Thompson, each of whom has a bio Web page
available here. The site features three major sections called "The
Premiere", "Celebrity Arrivals", and "Previews", all rich in
visuals and multimedia, almost overwhelmingly so. The site is
poorly suited for slow connections but nevertheless is an
interesting glimpse into what Hollywood can do, or plans to do,
with the Internet. Worth checking out, if only for Arnold's
message to netheads.
"http://www.mca.com/universal_pictures/junior/index.html"
AUDIO POEMS FOR YOUR HEARING PLEASURE
B.A.W.P stands for Best-quality Audio Web Poems. The quality of
the poetry is probably in the ears of the beholder, but this site
will let you judge for yourself. The poems are in mono MPEG audio
format ranging in length from 18 seconds (141K) to six minutes
(2.5MB). When we looked there were four poems online. This nice
idea cries out for more bandwidth.
"http://www.cs.brown.edu/fun/bawp"
The LINK starts with original digital image files commissioned
from international artists, and enables an infinite chain of
images (and soon other digital media) to be created by
modification and/or development of those originals. New work can
also be added to the LINK, in response to themes or aspects of the
contributed images. Not all the artists involved work on AIDS
issues. "http://artaids.dcs.qmw.ac.uk:8001/"
Time Magazine is one of the giants in the weekly newsmagazine game
and they've made a good start at cracking cyberspace. Time's new
WWW server features complete articles from Time, Vibe, and
Entertainment Weekly magazines. "Pathfinder", from Time Warner,
offers three choices: a full-color version that uses up
"substantial" memory, a full-text version with minimal images, and
a "quick navigator". The latter offers links to Time Daily, Money
Watch, and Entertainment Weekly reviews. Time Daily is a useful
news summary for those who like overviews rather than indepth
articles. "http://www.timeinc.com/"
NETGUIDE MAGAZINE AND SITE DEBUT
The print magazine just debuted, and they are offering a special
test drive. Send E-Mail to "netsubs@netguide.cmp.com" and they'll
send you three free issues, and (as usual) will bill you $14.97
for the next 12 unless you cancel the subscription. The site is
their front end in cyberspace. Their CyberGuide, sort of an
infrequent and more verbose version of our modest efforts, had 24
sites, with the likes of The Virtual Tourist, NASA, The
Confessions of St. Augustine at the Virtual Library, The Doomsday
Brunette (a hyperbook) and so on. Everything is buried a few
levels down, but there is a searchable index. Nice clean design,
but the best part is the Dave Barry column "Dave Barry Turns
Geek". Search "Barry" to get to it, since we could not find a
direct link.
"http://techweb.cmp.com/techweb/ng/current/default.html"
Family Times Online, a Web-zine we reviewed early in our
existence, has updated its resources page. As the name implies,
the links they provide have to do with the art/science of
parenting. Emphasis is also placed on education sites, Net and Web
info, and cool stuff for the larvae in your life like NASA sites
and interactive games. You can backsurf to Family Times Online
from this URL for more family-oriented information, but be advised
that the parent page's images are acting a bit loopy.
"http://marlin.ssnet.com:8011/~family/resources.html"
To prove that California is not the only center of new age
thought, the "Best of Free Spirit Magazine" shows that New Yorkers
are in the thick of the self-discovery movement. The TAG Online
Mall has done a good job of organizing the magazine content into
interesting text headings, and you can find advice on subjects
from awareness to world events. Also articles on food, health, and
what must be one of the best guides to (about 90) vegetarian and
health food restaurants and delis in the NY City area.
"http://www.tagsys.com/Ads/FreeSpirit"
NEW COMPREHENSIVE WWW BOOK "UNLEASHED"
From Sams Publishing comes the self-described "first comprehensive
book" on the WWW. Entitled "The World Wide Web Unleashed," it is
directed at users with varying experience. Included in the
1,100-page book are subjects ranging from the basics to
exploration and development techniques. The book also provides
information on Web browsers, Web navigation, and using HTML, and
explores of current and future issues surrounding the WWW. For
ordering information, call Sams Publishing at +1 800 428 5331
from within North America.
At least you'd think so after visiting the morally worthy
Cyberspace Christmas Campaign site. Funky psychedelic graphics
frame links to several non-profit organizations. Visit, help out,
be cool. "http://north.pole.org/santa/visit.html"
PENN AND TELLER PULL A DISAPPEARING ACT
What can you expect from a couple of wise-ass magicians? The site
we reviewed in the last issue moved sometime between when we
looked at it and publication date. Here is the real Penn and
Teller site by Michael Solinas, along with another bonus site by
Paul Nielsen. Sorry for the confusion, folks.
"http://www.portal.com/~magic/PennandTeller/penn-n-teller.html"
"http://krusty.eecs.umich.edu/people/nielsen/penn-n-teller.html"
How to Really Get to Brown College (If You're Not in Houston)
Rice University's Brown College won our admiration for having the
best dorm site of those we found. We crowned them with an
incorrect URL. Kudos to Prentiss Riddle ("aprendiz de todo,
maestro de nada") for pointing this out.
"http://riceinfo.rice.edu/~beaumont/brown.html"
We've been informed that the Macintosh Perl port can be run as a
standalone package on a Mac, and does not, as we reported in the
last issue, require MPW C. Look around at the FTP sites for more
info: "ftp://ftp.demon.co.uk/pub/mac/mac-perl/"
"ftp://ftp.maths.tcd.ie/pub/Mac/"
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