COMPUNOTES - Issue #58 - November 17, 1996 This Week's Contents: My Notes: 1) This issue . . . Columnists' Corner: 1) Reed's Corner News: 1) Adobe Acrobat is a Winner! 2) Helix Software is Granted a Patent! Reviews: 1) Product: DigiPhone Deluxe (Windows 3.11 or Windows95) Reviewed By: Danny Williams 2) Product: Exploring Java by Patrick Niemeyer and Joshua Peck Reviewed By: Doug Reed 3) Product: Hoyle's BlackJack & Solitaire Reviewed By: Doug Reed 4) Product: Triple Play Plus! Japanese from Random House/ Syracuse Language Systems, in their Living Language Multimedia Series Reviewed By: Gail BC Marsella 5) Product: Website Professional Reviewed By: Judy Litt Web Sites: 1) Santa on the Web 2) More Season's Greetings! Interview: 1) None this week! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date : November 17, 1996|CompuNotes is a weekly publication available Issue: 58 |through email and many fine on-line networks. ------------------------|We cover the IBM computing world with CompuNotes is published |software/hardware reviews, news, hot web B440, |sites, great columns and interviews. We also 1315 Woodgate Drive |give away one software package a week to a St. Louis, MO 63122 |lucky winner for just reading our fine (314) 909-1662 voice |publication! Never dull, sometimes tardy, we (314) 909-1662 fax |are here to bring you the way it is! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Backroom Workers: |We are always looking for Patrick Grote, Managing Editor |people to write us with |honest, constructive Doug Reed, Asst. Editor / Writer Liaison |feedback! We need to hear |from you! Please take the Judy Litt, Graphics Editor/Web Master |time to send us your |opinions, comments and ------------------------------------------|criticisms. Some of our I am looking for a collection of shareware|better features have reviews I put out in the 87-88 timeframe |actually come from our under my handle of NEVER BEFORE. I think |readership! Thanks! they started as NB*.ZIP. Can you look |--------------------------- on your local BBS? THANKS! | Go St. Louis Rams! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Every issue of CompuNotes ever published can be found at the following ftp site: ftp://ftp.uu.net:/published/compunotes. 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If you can volunteer to receive the UUENCODED version, turn it into a ZIP and upload it to your BBS, we'll list you in our sysops directory. If you are interested, fill out the following lines and send them back to notes@inlink.com with SYSOPS. We'll list your BBS in our SYSOPS LIST which will be included in each version of CompuNotes we ship out. If you have a WWW link we'll throw that up on our page. BBS NAME: BBS SYSOP: BBS NUMBER: URL: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Patrick's News Being The Publisher and Managing Editor Has Its Perks! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This Issue . . . | ------------------ I popped this issue out to catch up with my delay and to give you something to read in case I do not call in from Comdex. Enjoy! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Columnists' Corner - We bring you a different person each week! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Reed's Corner| -------------- As you know, Patrick and I have been tossing ideas back and forth about new things we can do with CompuNotes. This short little column will introduce our newest ideas to you and explain how you, our loyal readers, can help. First up is the First Annual CompuNotes Reader's Choice Awards. At the beginning of this next year I will sit down and sift through all of the software we've reviewed in the last year. I'll make a list of nominees in several categories and then publish the list in CompuNotes, and allow a month for you to send in your vote on who you think should win. Winners will be decided in a democratic fashion - those that get the most votes win. The product getting the most overall votes will win the "Best Overall Product of the Year" Award. So be looking for your ballot in the first issue of CompuNotes in 1997. Secondly, we want to change the way in which websites are presented in CompuNotes. Rather than the current format - which is little more than simply a promo to visit the site - we want to do critical reviews of various commercial and personal sites from around the web. What we need is several people - at least 8 preferably - who can visit one or two sites a month and write a review of the site. What we want is a description of the site, things of interest on the site, as well as the visual appeal of the site. We would also like mentioned the browser that the site is optimally viewed with and some mention of the load time during peak and off-peak hours. Then at the end of the year we will do Website Awards to complement the Reader's Choice Awards for software. If there is sufficient interest we could also give an award the worst website- perhaps the CompuNotes Raspberry Website Award. We'd like a stable of website reviewers - as I mentioned, at least 8 so you wouldn't be doing more than one a month. While we could simply accept website reviews submitted by readers, three problems would arise: 1) we could reliably depend on getting reviews, 2) duplication would almost certainly occur, and 3) no guidelines would be adhered to. Of course, since we can't pay you the only recognition would be admiration and praise from us and our readers. If you are interested, please let me know at dr2web@sprynet.com. That's it for now! Have a Happy Holiday season! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NEWS OF THE WEEK| This section is dedicated to verified news . . . All News (C)opyright Respective Owner - Will Only Reprint ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Adobe Acrobat is a Winner!| --------------------------- SAN JOSE, Calif., Nov. 5 /PRNewswire/ - Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq: ADBE) announced today that its Adobe(R) Acrobat(R) Reader software has exceeded distribution of 10 million copies worldwide as the result of strong demand on the World Wide Web. Bundled with products from leading industry vendors including Apple Computer, Inc., CompuServe, IBM, Lotus Development Corp., Netcom On-Line Communications Services Inc., Silicon Graphics, Inc., and Sun Microsystems Inc., Adobe Acrobat Reader software is widely used by businesses to easily and effectively distribute documents electronically. Vendors bundling Acrobat Reader join the increasing number of companies using Acrobat software to deliver final form electronic documents on the Internet, corporate networks, CD-ROM and other digital media. On the World Wide Web alone, the growing popularity of Acrobat software has resulted in excess of 20,000 downloads a day of Acrobat Reader from AdobeUs Web site. Acrobat software can help customers save time and money by enabling them to quickly and efficiently share documents over the World Wide Web, corporate Intranets, CD-ROM, e-mail and other media, without having to learn new authoring tools or reauthor existing information into other formats. Through support of the Netscape(TM) Plug-In API and Microsoft(R) ActiveX(TM) controls, Acrobat Reader 3.0 provides seamless integration with popular Web browsers, enabling customers to access and view PDF files directly within their browser window. "Using Adobe Acrobat to publish our publicly available financial documents on the Internet has reduced the document delivery process from days to minutes. We can do this with virtually no cost of reauthoring to deliver documents in a globally accepted format, PDF," said Gregory Smith, director of Corporate Finance and Systems at Sallie Mae. "We have improved the quality of our service by making these documents available almost immediately to anyone on the Internet, anywhere in the world. In addition, we are reducing the time and money spent responding to inquiries and mailing documents around the country and the world." "Acrobat is the only solution that allows Fidelity to electronically deliver documents that retain the look and feel of our printed materials which extends our brand awareness and recognition on the Internet," said John Noble, senior marketing manager, Fidelity Investments Electronic Channel Development Group. "Acrobat documents are as robust as paper delivery, but offer a substantial cost advantage in areas like printing, storage and mailing costs with electronic distribution versus traditional media." Acrobat Reader software allows customers to view, navigate and print electronic documents in the Portable Document Format (PDF), an open file format that preserves the fidelity of documents across all major computer platforms and printers. Supporting Windows(R) 3.1, Windows NT(R) and Windows 95, Macintosh(R), SunOS,(TM) Sun(TM) Solaris(R), HP- UX, Silicon Graphics(R) IRIX(TM), AIX(R), OS/2(R), LINUX and MS-DOS(R) systems, Acrobat Reader is widely available for free through the Internet or bundled with products and services from a variety of software and hardware vendors. ------------------------------------ Helix Software is Granted a Patent!| ------------------------------------ LONG ISLAND CITY, N.Y., Nov. 14 /PRNewswire/ - Helix Software Co., Inc., the world's leading Windows 95 performance enhancement software vendor, announced today that it has received a basic patent for RAM Compression technology. The patent is "a method for increasing the efficiency of a virtual memory system by selective compression of RAM memory contents" and covers technology found in Helix Software's ground-breaking Hurricane performance enhancement utility. "Helix pioneered RAM compression. Although it's been on the market only a short time, this technology has been in development at Helix for quite some time," said Michael L. Spilo, President of Helix Software. "The time has been well spent - using this technology Hurricane has shown significant, over-all system performance improvement." Other companies providing performance enhancement software for Windows 95 include: Quarterdeck Corp. (QDEK), Syncronys Corp. (SYCR), and Connectix Corp. Helix Software has a long history of awards for their patented memory and performance enhancing utilities: including Windows Magazine's Win 100, PC Magazine's Editor's Choice, PC Week's Products of the Year, Windows Sources Expert's Pick, and PC Magazine's Technical Excellence Finalist for Helix's patented Cloaking Technology found in NETROOM and Multimedia Cloaking. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- REVIEWS OF THE WEEK | Interesting software/hardware you may need . . . ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Product: DigiPhone Deluxe (Windows 3.11 or Windows95) Reviewed By: Danny Williams Reviewed on: Pentium-75, 16Mb RAM, 4X CD-ROM, 28.8 modem ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Long distance phone companies are running scared - it is now technically possible to place a voice call over the same connection you use to surf the Web for no more expense than what you are already paying for the Internet connection. No wonder the TelCos are chatting up Congress to put a stop to these renegade Internet phone programs that are threatening their $1+ per minute cash cow. So far, however, they need not worry. Even a well designed, nicely finished product like DigiPhone Deluxe can’t overcome the current performance problems rooted in the underlying technology. The Internet was designed to carry packets of data, sent by whatever route works best at that millisecond. Packets often arrive at their destination late due to routing delays, out of sequence, or damaged. Packets are reassembled in the proper order at their destination, or, in the case of damaged or missing packets, a resend is requested. For your HTTP or FTP activities, this all works very well. Audio has been sent over the Internet with some success via programs like RealAudio. These are one way transmissions, however, and achieve smooth sound by saving a few seconds of incoming audio before playing it. That way if packets are lost. they have those few seconds to arrive and be sequenced into the audio stream. For things like radio programs, this procedure works very well. Because of their interactive nature, telephone conversations are much less tolerant of delay This makes out of sequence and missing packets a big problem and can degrade the quality of the sound to the point that conversation is impossible. One other technical point troubles Internet phones - projects connecting Internet phones to regular phones are in their infancy, so you can’t call or be called by a regular telephone. Unless your Grandma in the old country is on-line, you won’t be able to call her. I found it very challenging to hold a conversation with DigiPhone. Roughly every other syllable was missing and it made for an interesting game of guessing what the other person was trying to say. Please don’t try to close any large business deals or dispense lifesaving advice using this medium! DigiPhone is not alone in suffering from these limitations, as all Internet phone products must work with the same infrastructure which you now know is quite poorly suited for interactive voice communications. As the fastest connection I have to the Internet is 28.8bps, I wonder how much better a 56k, ISDN, or faster line would work. Enough background. Let’s look at DigiPhone. DigiPhone Deluxe comes on a two CD-ROMs each in a small folder. One folder is DigiPhone Deluxe, which in addition to the basic phone call making and taking software, includes some extra capability - conference calling, speed dial, macros, and voice mail and extra software - an FTP client, Telnet client, and Netscape 2.0. The second folder is DigiPhone (no Deluxe) which performs the basic telephony functions but is missing the extras. This second copy is for sending to a friend so you will have someone to call right away. There is no printed manual, nor is one necessary, as the installation and operation are both quite easy. DigiPhone Deluxe installs with both a "read-me" manual and a "print-me" manual, so if you feel more comfortable with a book in your hands you may do so. DigiPhone does not come with any telephony hardware like a headset or earpiece - you must already have speakers, a microphone, and a sound card in addition to your Net connection. A quick, optional registration includes you in DigiPhone’s central directory so other DigiPhone users can find you - sort of like being in your local white pages. If you chose not to be listed, that too is easy. DigiPhone differs from some other Internet telephony packages in that it deals with your phone listing more like the phone company. It is designed not to cruise a large list of people looking for someone with whom you may "chat," but more like "real" phones where you call a particular person to whom you wish to speak. This works great for privacy and limits the number of "I just wanted to see how this thing works" calls from total strangers. Installation was very straightforward and easy - just run INSTALL.EXE from the CD-ROM. About 5Mb is copied to the hard disk, then the CD-ROM is not needed to run the program. There is no option to run directly from the CD-ROM. DigiPhone does includes an uninstall utility DigiPhone is not as immediately intuitive as it might be because it does not look or act much like a phone - it looks like a Windows program. To place a call right out of the box, for instance, one has to select "Communications," then "Voice" from a menu bar. Of course, that doesn't’t take long to get used to, but I would prefer something like a big, iconic "Make a call" button. Fortunately, it is easy to customize DigiPhone by adding a row of big icons that perform various tasks, including "Make a Call." Different sets of these custom configurations can be saved and recalled separately, so your phone can have a different look according to the task at hand. The "Make a call" window provides a box in which you may type the email address of the person you’d like to call, or you can select their listing from your on-disk phone directory. It is also possible to find listings from DigiPhone’s central directory, either by WWW or email. I tried both, and found the WWW site to slow to be usable and email takes about 2 hours to respond. Once you’you've found the address, press the big "Call" button. LED-type lights keep you aware of what’s going on, like finding the address, connecting to the address, then opening the connection. Once the connection is open, start talking! One more note about the technology - although DigiPhone supports full- duplex sound cards, most sound cards out there these days are half- duplex. That means that they can talk and listen but not both at the same time. For phone use, this means you have to use your DigiPhone sort of like a 2-way radio - when you are talking, you cannot hear what the other person is saying. DigiPhone call be set up to use voice activation or push-to-talk buttons, and both work well once you are used to it. A set of features that makes DigiPhone stand out from other similar products is the special effects. Your voice can be disguised with effects like Reverb, Robotic, and Echo to alter what you sound like at the other end. DigiPhone Deluxe can also set up a conference call between three people at once, use encryption to protect your conversation en route, and record and play back conversations. Third Planet’s tech support proved excellent when the friend to whom I sent the second copy had some minor trouble getting her copy to work. Her experience with tech support was outstanding - a real person answered quickly and walked her through the setup, then connected with her via DigiPhone to make sure everything was working correctly. She said the tech was knowledgeable, courteous, and made sure everything was solved before terminating the call. Some people joke that Internet telephony is a great way to turn your $2,000 computer into a $10 telephone. If you only call across town, then, yes, that’s right. If you have contacts overseas, however, and both of you have a fast connection, then you can save enough money in phone costs to make this worth the trouble. Of course some people enjoy simply trying new things and possibly leading the way with this new adaptation of technology. In either case don’t throw away your regular telephone but do spend the ($150 retail, $80 street) for a copy of DigiPhone Deluxe and take a look at a possible future of long distance voice communication. Third Planet Publishing P.O. Box 797728 Dallas, TX 75379 email: 3pp@planeteers.com WWW: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Product: Exploring Java by Patrick Niemeyer and Joshua Peck Reviewed By: Doug Reed ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The last year or so has seen an explosion of books about Java and its potential for use on the web. Exploring Java by O'Reilly is part of series, the first of which was the highly acclaimed Java in a Nutshell by David Flanagan. I've reviewed one other Java programming for CompuNotes (The Java Programming Language by Ken Arnold and James Gosling, published in Issue 50) as well as read another that I purchased (Teach Yourself Java in 21 Days, by Laura Lemay and Charles Perkins). Exploring Java falls somewhere in between; it is much easier on the eyes than Arnold and Gosling's prose, but is intended for a more veteran programmer than is Lemay and Perkin's book. That isn't to say that Exploring Java isn't good - it is - but I am warning beginners that they would be wise to consider other books first. In addition, Exploring Java covers some unique areas that I haven't seen covered in either of the other two texts, or in anything I've browsed at my local bookstore. Niemeyer and Peck spend a considerable part of the book focusing on using Java for network programming - protocol handlers, security managers, issues and software that while beyond my own realm of expertise is nevertheless quite important to a number of people interested in programming with Java. Exploring Java covers the following topics: History and principles of Java How to write simple applets How to integrate applets into the Web Java Class Libraries Using Threads Using Arrays Network Programming Content and Protocol Handling Using the Abstract Windowing Toolkit Writing a Security Manager As I mentioned before, the book is far easier to read than many programming books that I have read. The text is laden with examples, some that start small and build throughout the chapter, and others that are simply "snippets" of code (for example, to show how a particular statement might be user). Chapter 1 starts with a detailed explanation of why Java is "hot" and why the potential for using Java (beyond that of the Web) has insured that Java will have a future. Also included is an explanation of how Java was developed, and what makes Java different from other languages. On a broad scale, the chapter explains how Java handles such issues as memory management, multi-threading, and security. Chapter 2 is a short tutorial, demonstrating how to create an applet on a web page and how to make that applet interactive with the user. Virtually all aspects of applet programming are touched on, from graphics and event handlers to using multi-threading to create a blinking applet. Chapter 3 actually takes a step back and explains the components of the JDK (Java Development Kit), as well as the applet tags used to integrate a Java applet into a web page. Chapter 4 then covers the basics of the Java language, including comment lines, variable types, statements and expressions, and exceptions. This leads up to Chapter 5, which discusses objects, and how they are used in Java, along with Packages and Interfaces. As you might guess, Chapters 4 and 5 are the meat of programming with Java. Chapter 6 deals with using threading in your Java programs, including issues such as synchronization and establishing priority. Chapter 7 discusses the Java API (application programming interface), the collection of classes and interfaces that comes with every Java implementation, such as java.lang. Input and output via the java.io package is covered in Chapter 8, while Chapter 9 covers the java.net package. Chapter 9 also demonstrates how to write content and protocol handlers. Chapter 10 explains how to use the java.awt package to construct a user interface for your Java program, beginning with a long and detailed explanation of GUI concepts in Java and the organization of the AWT and advancing into the guts of how to implement the environment you want to create. Chapter 11 deals with the other side of the GUI environment, namely creating and displaying images with Java. The book concludes with a glossary lifted from Java in a Nutshell. Exploring Java is well written and comes with excellent examples to introduce programmers to Java. I would not recommend it to people who have never programmed before, nor those who have never programmed in object oriented languages before. Experienced programmers will find this book to be superior to Arnold and Gosling's book, especially since it offers detailed examples of how to use Java for network programming, a key feature of Java's long-term viability. O'Reilly & Associates 101 Morris St. Sebastopol, CA 95472 707-829-0515 Ratings: Installation/Manual: not applicable User-Friendliness: Silver Medal Quality: Gold Medal User: Programmer ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Product: Hoyle's BlackJack & Solitaire Reviewed By: Doug Reed Requires: Windows, 4 MB RAM ---------------------------------------------------------------------- BlackJack and Solitaire are two of the most well known card games in the world, which makes it only natural that they would be adapted to the computer. Let's admit it - one of the most often played games on your computer is Solitaire. How many times have you loaded it up while waiting for someone to call, or just because you're bored? It amazes me that somebody would even attempt to compete with that old standard, but Sierra has teamed up with Hoyle cards to create what they think are the ultimate games of BlackJack and Solitaire for the PC. Having played it, I would say they have accomplished it; the bigger question might be- will anybody care? The two games are sold separately and come on a single CD each and are installed easily under Windows 95 using autoplay. Windows 3.1 is also supported, although I didn't test this. The graphics are SVGA, and very pretty to look at; the color and sheen are definitely reminiscent of a dealer's table. Although both games can be installed to run solely from the hard drive, I wouldn't recommend this since it eats up space while removing background music -the trade off is how quickly the game loads, which even on a CD-installation is fairly quick. The loss of sound is hardly worth it. Probably the most noteworthy feature of either of the two games is that the Windows 95 version of BlackJack allows you to compete over the Internet. Solitaire is - well - it's solitaire. What more can you really say about it? If perchance you don't know what it is - it's a card game played by one person (hence the name) where the object is to get rid of all of your cards. Hoyle's Solitaire comes with some 28 variations of Solitaire, most of which you've probably never heard before. Luckily, the game screen includes along the bottom a toolbar where you can find the rules for each of the various games. The computer is strict about the rules, not allowing for any cheating and making it difficult to score high. This may be the official rules for Solitaire, but let's face it - how often do you Solitaire against someone else ;^). Solitaire is a pleasant diversion when you need a break mentally, but personally if I really want to play Solitaire, I'll probably just load Microsoft's version since it boots quicker and is a little kinder and gentler to play. To me, BlackJack is the better of the two games for one simple reason - you have opponents! You can play against computer opponents, human opponents at the same computer, or opponents from across the Internet. Just in case you don't have any friends you want to play with, Sierra has set a special page at their web site where you can find opponents. You aren't allowed to play for real money, of course, but it still makes for a better game. Up to four opponents are allowed, and they can be a variety of human and computer players. Computer players are animated and occasionally make comments about how they're doing or what you should do in certain situations (like should you split or take a hit?). The skill level is adjustable, and a variety of games are available including tournament play. Tournament play is a little different from normal play in that there is a set limit to the tournament (dollar-wise) and you play until either one person reaches the limit or everyone else has dropped out. Should you require more money in a normal game, you can always "visit" the ATM. Both games offer plenty of help in how to play and how to win. Both games play by the rules, which is especially handy in BlackJack since if you know the rules and know when to stand, take a hit, etc..., you can usually win (so I was told by a professional dealer at a bachelor party). I can't say that I would necessarily recommend these games unless you love to play cards or are looking for a game that is a pleasant diversion that doesn't require a lot of thought or wild maneuvering with a joystick. Sierra On-Line P.O. Box 85006 Bellevue WA 98015-8506 206-644-4343 Ratings: Installation/Manual: Gold Medal User-Friendliness: Silver Medal Quality: Bronze Medal User: All ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Product: Triple Play Plus! Japanese from Random House/ Syracuse Language Systems, in their Living Language Multimedia Series Reviewed By: Gail BC Marsella Reviewed on: Pentium120, 16 MB RAM, Windows 95 Requires: 386DX33, Windows 3.1 or 95, 4 MB RAM, CD-ROM, SVGA MSRP: $99.95 from publisher, about 30% less from mail order. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The college where I teach has several Syracuse Language Systems programs available in their language laboratory, where they are well liked. They don't have this particular title, but only because Muhlenberg College doesn't teach Japanese. With that good recommendation, I sat down to review the software. It comes on a CD-ROM, with a microphone included, and loads conventionally on either Windows 3.1 or Windows 95. You must have a sound card and speakers to use this program, although you can get along without the microphone. The jack on the microphone did not fit my sound card (an Ensoniq Soundscape) so I was unable to review the speech recognition feature of Triple Play Plus Japanese, but that's largely an extra. The program is very usable even without it. I started using the program as an absolute beginner, with very modest goals. I do some work for a subsidiary of a Japanese company, so I'd like to be able to say at least "Please" and "Thank you" in their language. If you have any doubts that a language reflects its culture, this program will remove those doubts. You can't speak Japanese properly without learning a lot of important etiquette points in the process, and Triple Play does a pretty effective job of teaching you to avoid cultural landmines while you're learning to pronounce words. For example, the word "grandmother" depends on context; you say "sobo" if talking about your own family, and "obasan" if talking about another's family. Also, the prefix "o-" is added to certain words to show politeness, but only to some words, not others, and although "-san" is a common polite suffix, you should never use it to refer to yourself. Although Japanese is not a tonal language like Chinese, it retains a few inflections unfamiliar to English speakers, and the program gives examples of pronunciation very clearly. In several places, you can also slow down the pronunciation to listen carefully to each syllable. Interestingly, games and comic strips form the core format of the system. There are three modes of play: listening comprehension, reading comprehension, and automatic speech recognition. There is also a selection of subject areas, games, and comic strips. The games and comic strips are divided into three groups of increasing difficulty: words, phrases, and conversations. Not all the games and comic strips are available for all the modes and subject areas. You begin on the main screen, where you pick a mode of play, then a subject area, and finally a game or comic strip type. The games are familiar - things like picture matching and bingo - and most of them allow you to practice listening or reading the words or phrases before you begin playing. The comic strips show conversations in everyday locations: a cafe, a market, a clothing store, an apartment, and a library. Real-life situations are presented. The customer in the cafe, for example, complains that the coffee is cold. The person shopping for fruit bargains over the price. The library conversation has nothing to do with books, but rather involves Ken introducing himself and asking Kathy out for a date. A short, but well illustrated user's manual explains how to play each game, and a quick-reference brochure translates the conversations. Syracuse also provides a card with the Japanese characters (both hiragana and katakana) and their rough sound equivalents in English. Finally, a Japanese- English dictionary is included in the package, although I was surprised to find that the word "hello" was not in it, and several common expressions are spelled differently in the dictionary than they are on-screen. For details and cultural notes on grammar, a button on the main screen leads to pages of text notes, with sections on common expressions, various parts of speech, sentence structure, pronunciation, and the structure of the written language. This is an excellent program. It won't teach you any technical or specific business terms, but a few weeks of concentrated practice should give the beginner a good start on both spoken and written Japanese. Others in the Living Language Multimedia series include French, German, Hebrew, Italian, and Spanish. Random House/Syracuse Language Systems 719 East Genesee Street Syracuse, NY 13210 (800) 688-1937 customer_service@syrlang.com Ratings: Installation/Ease of Use: Gold User-Friendliness: Gold Quality: Gold User: Beginning student of Japanese, age 8 to adult ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Product: Website Professional Reviewed By: Judy Litt Requires: Windows NT/95 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The package that the cd-rom for Website Professional comes in claims that the software is "everything you need for advanced, secure publishing on the World Wide Web." I'm not sure it's everything, but it does come darn close. Website Professional is basically the upgrade to O'Reilly's WebSite software. It is server software: if you wanted to set yourself up as an internet service provider (ISP) and you're on a Windows95 or NT machine, Website Professional includes all the tools you need to get started: Website Professional Server A full 32-bit, multithreaded HTTP server that runs under Windows NT or Windows 95 Server Admin Configure the Website Professional server to meet the needs of your environment (virtual servers, intranet, etc.) Certificate Manager To use a secure server, you'll need a public key certificate (a digital ID). Certificate Manager helps you obtain and manage certificates WebView Helps you visually manage your webs and their links WebIndex Creates an index of your web WebFind Searches the index created with WebIndex and returns the results to the user Cold Fusion "a database application development tool that enables the rapid creation of interactive, dynamic, information rich webs." In other words, you can use it to create search forms, bulletin board conferencing, interactive training, and more HotDog Web Editor An html editor Map This An image map creator: software that supports both NCSA and client-side image maps Spyglass Mosaic Browser software that includes support for secure sockets layer (SSL), HTML 3 specification, and many netscapisms Website Professional Resources Examples, additional documentation, reference material, and tutorials The box even includes a t-shirt (size large)! There are also upgrade offers to Cold Fusion Professional ($250), HotDog 32 bit (free), and HotDog Professional ($50). There is also a card with other software from O'Reilly that can enhance your webs, such as WeBoard ($149) and PolyForm ($119). Website Professional can be run as either a system service or a desktop application, and you can change how it's running at any time. Basically, if you actually plan to run this as a server, or an Intranet that must run 24 hours a day, run it as a service. I chose to run it as a desktop application. Installing Website Professional was a fast, painless experience - which surprised me. I expected it to be very complicated. Once you've completed the installation, you run the server self-test to make sure it's functioning properly (the server, that is). The self-test runs through your browser. It's basically a series of web pages which test that the following features are functioning: Document Retrieval Directory Tree Navigation Image Maps Server-Side Includes Automatic URL Fixup Java Applets WebSite API Perl vers. 5 Using CGI Programs WebSite's CGI Interfaces Security WebView is the heart of Website Professional. It allows you to graphically view your webs, and also allows you to launch all the other programs included in Website Professional. You can view (and print!) webs in five different modes: Hyperlink File Name Title (helps you find any pages you've forgotten to title) Label (what goes in the ALT tag) URL WebView also allows you to search your web, view authorized users and groups, view error messages, and view the accesses of a page all by right clicking on the file name. You can also generate a quick stats report, which shows a report on: html files served non-html files served erroneous requests served total requests served average requests per hour average requests per day unique hosts visiting You can choose to save this report as an html file. There are a few Wizards in WebView that can help the novice create new pages: Find Form Home Page Under Construction What's New Page Website Professional comes with three books (manuals): Getting Started Website Professional Basics Website Professional Advanced Topics Getting Started takes you through installing the software and the server self-test. It's a small book; the other tow are larger. Website Professional Basics takes you through WebView, a quick tutorial on html, WebIndex and Web Find, working with image maps, and server side includes. It also shows you the administration side of Website Professional: mapping, virtual servers, automatic directory listings, controlling access, logging, and remote administration. In short, Website Professional Basics will get your service up and running. Website Professional Advanced Topics helps you make your webs more interactive and dynamic. It covers the following: Enhanced security Using Cold Fusion CGI (Windows, C++, Perl, and DOS CGI) WAPI Java Overall, I'm impressed by the ease of use of Website Professional, as well as the abundance of helper applications bundled with the product. However, don't expect to be taught how to run an ISP - you'll have to learn how to obtain a Domain Name, DNS & NLS, connect to the Internet, how often to back up, etc., etc., on your own. Some of the material covered in Website Professional Advanced Topics is quite sparse - Java is barely touched on, even though it has its own chapter. Website Professional is a great collection of programs to get wannabe ISPs up and running - assuming they know the basics of running an ISP, Website Professional has the tools they need. Website Professional O'Reilly Software O'Reilly & Associates 101 Morris St. Sebastopol, CA 95472 707-829-0515 Voice 707-829-0104 FAX ----------------------------------------------------------------------- WEBSITES OF THE WEEK! | This section is devoted to cool WebSites . . . ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Santa on the Web!| ------------------ SEATTLE, Nov. 14 /PRNewswire/ - Dump those "bah humbug" feelings and say "goodbye" to the frantic race against time by avoiding the traffic jams, long lines at the mall and a stiff, cramped hand from writing holiday cards and letters. This year ... there's help on the Internet, giving you more time to enjoy the holidays. Recharge your run-down holiday spirit - plug into two new Internet sites from The OutPost Network. One new Web site, HolidayCards.com is as refreshing as that first deep breath of air after escaping from the shopping mall. Another site, SantaMail.com , gives you an inside line, direct to St. Nick, himself. HolidayCards.com offers genuine, high-quality holiday cards, letters and gifts to be sent anywhere in the world. Visitors to this Web site can choose from dozens of colorful cards for Christmas or Hanukkah - traditional, religious, lighthearted or irreverent. The site includes cards especially for kids (e.g., Suzy Zoo and Curious George) and even cards to send to pets (who just hate to be left out). There are even cards for Kwanzaa and Thanksgiving. To help express just the right sentiment HolidayCards.com lists traditional poems and classical Christmas quotations that can be imprinted on the cards. One card costs $3.75 (payable via a secure online credit-card transaction), which includes imprinting a personal message on the card, affixing a postage stamp and mailing via the U.S. postal service. Gifts can also be purchased and sent with each card order, including: .. "Your Words" from AT&T - an innovative personal gift that lets the card sender add a spoken message to the card, .. Nordstrom department store gift certificates, .. Magazine subscriptions, .. Beer of the Month Club membership, .. Rustic, limited-edition birdhouses made in Washington state. To help keep your spirits up, HolidayCards.com also invites you to 'join in' on some fun features (even Rudolph can play): .. Good or Bad Poll - Rate your performance in 1996 (it's confidential, so be honest) and get an instant report card from Santa on where you stand with him. .. Christmas Trivia Quiz - Test your knowledge of key holiday moments in film and television. .. Christmas Stories - Post your story on this page, sharing your favorite holiday experience. .. Recipes - Exchange your favorite Thanksgiving and Christmas recipes. SantaMail.com The OutPost Network is also introducing SantaMail.com , a companion Web site to HolidayCards.com. SantaMail.com lets children of all ages write and get personal letters from Santa, Mrs. Claus, Rudolph the Reindeer or those hardworking elves. Every child's letter will have a North Pole postmark (from the village of North Pole, Alaska). SantaMail.com letters are $2.95. ------------------------- More Season's Greetings!| ------------------------- MINNEAPOLIS, Nov. 14 /PRNewswire/ - Cyber greeting cards move at lightning speeds over the internet. Across cities, states, countries, arriving in seconds. Faster than a speeding bullet, a sleigh and reindeer - or the postal service. Where do all these greetings go? "To friends, family, loved ones, business associates, cyber pals, and of course Santa Claus," says Marjory Williams, founder and CEO of Awesome Cyber Cards, the international provider of cyber greeting cards over the World Wide Web. Who will receive the most cyber mail? Well, of course, who else? "Santa Claus," says Williams without hesitation. Awesome Cyber Cards will send tens of thousands of Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Year's cards. "But we are betting on Santa as the Most Popular Single Recipient," says Williams. Awesome Cyber Cards and An Awesome Site for All Ages will offer free holiday WWW features . A major attraction will be letters to and from Santa Claus. Returning from last year will be "Dear Santa" , an easy-to-use, fast, kid- safe way to send a note to Santa and receive one back instantly on the computer screen. No email address or contact information is needed. Older kids - and adults who want to have Santa send a note to a child, grandchild, niece, nephew, or friend - can write to Santa and get a note back by email at "2 and From Santa" . What if a child doesn't know the email address or puts in a wrong address? Santa has the uncanny ability to spot many address errors. In that case, he still writes a letter but sends it to the computer screen rather than to an undeliverable email address. Whether this is due to the wonders of technology or Santa's magical powers, no one knows for sure. But Santa won't get all the attention this holiday. Awesome Cyber cards received 1,800,000 "hits" and 600,000 page visits from card senders in October alone. Before the holidays even started. Why? "Cyber cards use the newest technology," says Williams, "to do the oldest things. To say 'hello,' 'I love you,' 'hope you have a good holiday,' 'I miss you,' or 'hey, you sure do make the holidays fun.'" Awesome Cyber Cards, a division of Marjory Williams Ltd., is a service and technological leader in the electronic greeting card industry. First available on the World Wide Web in December 1995, Awesome Cyber Cards serves visitors from over 70 countries and receives 1,800,000 hits and 600,000 page visits per month. Marjory Williams, founder and CEO of Marjory Williams Ltd., previously founded SHE/Laura Caspari, the first specialty retail chain in the United States to target career fashions and to bring together a focused presentation for executive women. Williams has been named the Entrepreneur of the Year by the governor of Minnesota and Business Woman of the Year by the National Association of Women Business Owners. The WWW address for Awesome Cyber Cards is . ----------------------------------------------------------------------- INTERVIEW WITH ????? | Weekly Interviews with the Movers and Shakers! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- No interview this week! We'll see you next week! --END OF ISSUE--