| Rise and Fall of the Wired Empire |
| Starr on 60 Minutes - Not! |
| No Ewoks Please, We're Hackers |
| Media Grok |
| Fonts, Graphics, Wow... |
| Les Toil, the San Francisco Treat |
| Netsurfer Book Recommendations |
| NSD's Longer Looks at Books |
| Scuba Surf |
| A Tale of Two Search Engines |
| M/C, Journal of Media and Culture |
| "Growing Up Digital" |
| What Do Teens Really Want? |
| High-Speed Photos Document Principles of Physics |
| Personality Plus |
| Volcanoes Online |
| Is There a Pediatrician on the Web? |
| Sandstorm Releases Commercial Wardialer Program |
| Window Shop Online for Science |
| BOOK REVIEWS |
| LETTERS TO THE EDITOR |
| Contact and Subscription Information |
| Credits |
BREAKING SURF
Impeachment for the Rest of Us
Now that the House of Representatives has voted to begin an impeachment investigation of President Clinton, let's brush up on what that actually means. Fortunately, Jurist offers an exhaustive, first-rate source of information on the theory and practice of impeachment. You can follow links to primers that explain impeachment to the uninitiated. Some history about the procedure looks primarily at the cases of Presidents Nixon and Andrew Johnson. Legal professionals will be interested in the court cases, legal and academic opinions, and constitutional information. Other sources bring you the current Clinton proceedings, including links to various official documents, and an extensive bibliography. The site will particularly interest teachers trying to explain the fuss to pupils from grade school to grad school. Top quality material.http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/impeach.htm
Navigator and Explorer Browsers Hit with Serious Privacy Problems
This was not a good week for Web privacy. Serious problems which can let hackers download files from your computer were exposed in both Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer (MSIE). Dan Brumleve discovered an exploit he called Cache-Cow, which allows your Navigator cache and browser history files to be downloaded by Web sites containing hacked JavaScript. Netscape released Communicator 4.07 to deal with the problem last week, but right on the heels of that fix, Don discovered another problem, dubbed Son of Cache-Cow, which compromises your cookie file, and thus potentially sensitive Web site log-in information. Juan Carlos Garcia Cuartango found a way to exploit MSIE to steal virtually any file from your computer with a suitably coded Web page. The hackers must know in advance the name of the file they want, but that's easy to do given that many Windows files stay in well known locations. Both Microsoft and Netscape are scrambling to develop fixes.Cache-Cow: http://www.shout.net/~nothing/cache-cow/index.html
Son: http://www.shout.net/~nothing/son-of-cache-cow/index.html
MSIE: http://pages.whowhere.com/computers/cuartangojc/cuartangoh1.html
Roddy McDowell, who died last week, will always be remembered for his roles in the "Planet of the Apes" films - not a bad legacy considering the accomplishments of the series. The series originated and exploited - to the point of absurdity - the sequel concept, spawning six films, live action and cartoon TV shows, and multiple comic books. "Planet of the Apes" itself has possibly the most memorable Rod Serlingesque twist ending in cinema history, and the producers displayed amazing Hollywood chutzpah in coming up - successfully - with a sequel after destroying the world in "Beneath the Planet of the Apes". For an amusing tribute to the Apes phenomenon, try Andrew Parmet's Planet of the Apes site. You can find out more about Roddy's prolific career as actor, photographer, and performer at the affectionate fan site run by Sally Mierop.
Parmet: http://www.spleenworld.com/apes/main.html
Mierop: http://www.ameritech.net/users/rm_fan/roddy.html
Recording Industry Sues over Hardware MP3 Sound Player
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), a tenacious fighter of copyright pirates, has filed suit against Diamond Multimedia and its upcoming Rio PMP 300, a player of MP3 files which contain efficiently compressed sound of near-CD quality. Online pirates use the MP3 format for a thriving trade in music files. The RIAA apparently wants to stamp out any technology that might contribute to that activity. The lawsuit contends that the Rio violates the 1992 Audio Home Recording Act (which requires digital recording devices to contain anti-copying technology) but the argument fails because the Rio device is not a recorder - it simply plays files produced, not necessarily copied, on a computer. This boils down to an established industry group trying to stifle what it perceives as threatening technology, and control its market as a happy side-effect. The outcome may produce some interesting legal precedents. MP3.com covers this issue and has good info on MP3 in general.RIAA: http://www.riaa.com/
Rio: http://www.diamondmm.com/products/current/rio.cfm
MP3.com: http://www.mp3.com/
How Does Australia Produce Such Great Swimmers?
Motivation!http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/asiapcf/9810/09/fringe/australia.crocs/
ONLINE CULTURE
Rise and Fall of the Wired Empire
At one time, Wired magazine and its online properties under the umbrella of Wired Digital was the quintessentially hip network age company run by inexhaustibly wired digerati. Last week, the last vestiges of Wired as an independent company were sold for around $83 million to Lycos, which acquired Wired Digital properties HotBot, Wired News, and Webmonkey. Earlier this year, Wired itself was sold off to Conde Nast. We confess to a certain fondness for the Wired of old - the riot of typography, day-glo colors, tribal Web designs, breathless stories about colorful characters careening towards an improbably utopian digital future. Along the way, Wired Ventures went through two failed IPOs, a failed book publishing project, and ultimately the ironic fate of consumption by the wired industry within which it foraged for its sustenance. We covered the gestation (NSD 0.14) and delayed birth of Wired online (NSD 0.27) and the sale of the paper mag (NSD 4.18), and over the years we often directed you to the fine content it produced. It is with fond nostalgia - and perhaps a smidgen of smugness - that we cover its death. Wired news also covered the funeral. RIP.Gestation: http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/v00/nsd.94.08.12.html#AO1
Birth: http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/v00/nsd.94.11.01.html#SS1
Sale: http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/nsd.04.18.html#BS6
Death1: http://www.wired.com/news/news/business/story/12182.html
Death2: http://www.wired.com/news/news/business/story/15437.html
So there's this e-mail circulating, supposedly a quote from Ken Starr in an interview with Diane Sawyer of "60 Minutes" in 1987: "Public media should not contain explicit or implied descriptions of sex acts. Our society should be purged of the perverts who provide the media with pornographic material while pretending it has some redeeming social value under the public's 'right to know'." Didn't happen. Check out the Washington Post story.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-09/25/080l-092598-idx.html
No Ewoks Please, We're Hackers
Portrait of J. Random Hacker, by a computer science professor at the University of Amsterdam, treats the hacker lifestyle as natural history. Professor Arjan de Mes attempts to document dominant characteristics with which, he claims, hackers are hard-wired. For example, contrary to popular belief, hackers cleave more to health food than junk; they're generally not tech-nerd narrow, but interested in a wide variety of fields. Intellectually arrogant, they hate TV (except Star Trek), spectator sports, kludgy fixes, and stupid people. The 19 categories here cover traits from dress habits to religious tendencies. The document is an appendix to a larger work on hacker culture called the Jargon File.Portrait: http://www.wins.uva.nl/~mes/jargon/a/AppendixB.html
Jargon: http://www.wins.uva.nl/~mes/jargon/t/Top.html
If highbrow discussion on finance, technology, media, and e-commerce is your bag, the Industry Standard is probably already on your coffee table. Now it can sit pretty on your monitor, too. We especially relish the Media Grok section, which seems to focus on the online world. With links throughout the articles to similar topics in other e-zines, along with links to the companies and people mentioned in the article itself, this site provides a wealth of information for the savvy reader, presented in a lighthearted but well-informed manner ("the stock market veers every which way like a drunken driver on New Years Eve").
http://www.thestandard.com/articles/mediagrok/
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Buglight, a Web collection of graphics and fonts, wouldn't seem all that unique, but the site elicits an "ooh" of pleased surprise as each screen loads. This "urban insect evening theatre" presents you with delicate tones, subtle humor, glorious imagery, and soaring imagination. Buglight is not just a graphics/fonts site - it is the online gallery of talented artist Don Barnett and it is worth the time of art-lovers everywhere.http://www.donbarnett.com/
Les Toil, the San Francisco Treat
Intrigued by pop art? Visit Les Toil's Dead Wait Room. Brian Clarke's work includes B-movie-esque album covers and endearing depictions of Shirley Temple. Check out the links; many lead to other online galleries of Brian's art. Don't miss the tasty goodness of Weaselroni. Now, Brian Clarke is a graphic artist, and his work can be pretty graphic at times. This site might not be suitable for the munchkins out there. You must be this tall to ride this site. Please keep hands and feet inside the page until the browser comes to a complete stop.http://members.aol.com/lestoil500/
BOOKS & E-ZINES
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Netsurfer Book Recommendations Books our staff likes and you might too. Click on the cover or title to order the books at a hefty discount from Amazon.com and send a few pennies our way as well.
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Treasure Box
Tending Lives: Nurses on the Medical Front
Sams Teach Yourself Java 1.2 in 21 Dayshttp://www.netsurf.com/nsd/books/book.04.30.html
Every sport has at least one Web site. Scuba diving boasts Rodale's Scuba Diving, an e-zine with a boatload of features that will keep aficionados returning. To wit: articles ("The plane ride sucked. The hotel was worse. And the diving? Well, let's just say there was better visibility in the welcome cocktail."); message board; gear buyer's guide ("Boot up, baby: ScubaLab reviews a new generation of downloadable dive computers"); diver's handbook (training articles, "dive medicine," and lessons in survival); scuba travel database ("If you dream of buzzing a shipwreck on a rebreather while riding a DPV amid schooling sharks and dolphins, then check out the Bahamas"); a detailed dive planner with clickable maps ("It's possible to get into the engine room but, with the dark and the murk, not so easy getting back out."); a photography section with a gallery; and so many curious nooks and crannies we're out of breath - and space - to describe them all. Wow!
http://www.scubadiving.com/
If you're a bibliophile, you probably enjoy frequenting used book shops but rarely have the time. Online search engines can help you get that hard-to-find book. Meet AddAll and MX BookFinder, two book meta search engines, each with its own strong points. AddAll compares prices at 18 online bookstores and reports its findings with the cost of shipping included. MX BookFinder searches only six sites, handpicked for server speed and specialties like out-of-print and rare books. We searched for a copy of Jon Krakauer's "Into Thin Air" on each. AddAll had lower prices, but MX BookFinder offered an uncorrected proof, a first edition, and a signed copy.
AddAll: http://www.addall.com/
BookFinder: http://www.mxbookfinder.com/
M/C, Journal of Media and Culture
Ahh, Queensland - beautiful one day, perfect the next, or so they say. Yet the sunshine has apparently not restricted the growth of the local intelligentsia. This Queensland-based e-journal features article like "What Happened?" with its inescapable conclusion that "alien abduction represents an unprecedented sociological and psychological phenomenon." Don't miss "They will be the Death of Diana", which reports that the media may have "semiotically constructed 'Princess Diana' out of a previously unknown aristocratic teenager." Ho ho ho! If that's not enough, look at the rest of the latest, memory-themed issue, including "Remembering the Week after Next" which, beyond a silly title, mentions "Will Radio Make People the Government", a 1924 headline in Radio Broadcast, an early industry magazine. Sound familiar, netfolk?http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/
"Today's kids are so bathed in bits that they are no more intimidated by digital technology than by a VCR or a toaster." So goes Growing Up Digital, a site based on Don Tapscott's book about the Net Generation, with insights into their ability to play, interact, lead, and participate in social and cultural events. We liked the anonymous analysis of computer games which found that "Many girls look for games which require a higher level of intelligence."
http://www.growingupdigital.com/
If you, like, want a clue to the raves and faves of your favorite adolescent, click your way into Teenmag.com. Designed for the over-12-and-under-20 crowd, this online version of the paper magazine rocks with such critical issues as "Fall's Hottest Faces" and "PMS - No Head Trip". Teens can send their questions to "The Love Doctor", vote for "fave" cover, and read the "Babe Poll" results. As if.
http://www.teenmag.com/
SURFING SCIENCE
High-Speed Photos Document Principles of Physics
Photographs at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics site prove how the tip of a bullwhip, or even a wet towel when it snaps, breaks the sound barrier. There are so many interesting aspects to this site, but foremost is that the photographer/scientists were all junior high or high school students. See a match igniting 1/100th of a second after being struck by a BB. One student used high-speed photographs of a rubber band to document waveform behavior. A photographic technique essay is instructive, and the gallery is beautiful, especially one photo showing falling milk drops looking like ribbons of neon.Site: http://www.pacsci.org/public/education/gallery/high_speed_photos/default.html
Towel: http://www.pacsci.org/public/education/gallery/high_speed_photos/towel.html
Personally speaking, personality is fascinating. What makes one person, well, Bill Clinton, and another one Monica Lewinsky? Their personalities, right? But just what is a personality? This well designed and lucid Web site delves into that topic, in terms of knowing both ourselves and others more fully. The site's a winner.
http://www.learner.org/exhibits/personality/
Riveted by plate tectonics? Mesmerized by mantle? Love lava? If so, this site will provide everything you could possibly want, from basic theory to deep science, about volcanoes. Play Save the Village - test your knowledge and have fun at the same time. Examine the acres of clear drawings and diagrams, in which every scientific term is explained. Read about all seven different kinds of eruption, study photos of the devastation and power of volcanoes, and explore ancient myths and legends associated with volcanic activity. This first class information and entertainment site is enjoyable and interesting for all ages.
http://library.advanced.org/17457/
Is There a Pediatrician on the Web?
Yes, there is. Dr. Paula is a parent as well as a physician, and she uses her expertise to ease parents through such problems as bedwetting, croup, and rashes. She helps even more if the kids have those problems. We liked the Ask the Doctor forum and an interesting feature called "The Doctor's Journal" in which Dr. Paula chronicles situations that can help parents to understand what a doctor experiences.http://www.drpaula.com/
SOFTWARE
Sandstorm Releases Commercial Wardialer Program
A wardialer program uses a computer and a modem to systematically call phone numbers, generally looking for an unsecured modem connection on the other end with which it can hack into a corporate network - potentially a neat sidestep around an Internet firewall. Until now, all such wardialers were written by hackers for their own nefarious uses. Recognizing an opportunity, Sandstorm Technologies has released a fully featured commercial wardialer called PhoneSweep which system administrators can use to audit their own organization's phone lines for unauthorized modem connections. The program runs on Windows 9X/NT and features a nice GUI, support for dialing through multiple modems simultaneously, fax line detection, system identification, and brute force username/password guessing attempts. Price ranges from $980-$2800.http://www.sandstorm.net/
COMMUNITY SUPPORT
Window Shop Online for Science
Preben Savik, grad student, is conducting an online experiment for a thesis. It is "designed to measure certain psychological aspects of decision-making" by Web users. We participated through a short series of forms: answering questions; reading descriptions of various products; selecting a putative purchase; answering questions about how we felt about our choice; and replying to a few simple demographic questions. And that was that. We're fairly confident our participation will help Preben but will do little for the industry (our reviewer doesn't use the product). Still, Web surveys - and we know all about them, don't we? - may become an important tool for marketers and pollsters as well as academic researchers. If you plan to conduct your own Web surveys, you may pick up a thing or two here while you donate your time to science.http://carmen.murdoch.edu.au/~psavik/honours/