========================================================================== DIGITAL FUTURE NEWSLETTER (formerly FYI) Abridged Edition Information Media and Technology News Published online every Saturday Volume 1, Number 19 / Saturday, November 5, 1994 CIRCULATION: See list at end of this newsletter ========================================================================== Copyright 1994 by John Hart & Hart Publishing. NOTE: This abridged version of Digital Future Newsletter may be freely duplicated and/or uploaded to BBS's and online host systems, providing that the entire contents remains unchanged. Except as permitted herein, unauthorized duplication is a violation of Pan-American & International Copyright Conventions. Any and all parties found guilty of infringement will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. ==================== EDITOR AND PUBLISHER ==================== John Hart 767 South Xenon Court, Suite 117 Lakewood, CO 80228 Voice/Fax: 303-987-3246 CIS: 71044,2446 Internet: fyi@marketplace.com (Please send press releases and other news to jhart@csn.org.) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * STORIES IN DIGITAL FUTURE NEWSLETTER... 1. From the Editor 2. Gates Confirms Microsoft Online Service 3. Three Bells To Produce TV Shows 4. Optigon, Online Entertainment Network Due 5. Direct Mail Goes Interactive 6. "Video-Over-Cellular" For TV News Reporting 7. OneSource Launches CD/Notes - CorpTech Profiles 8. Private Press Preview--Next Generation Internet Navigation 9. What's Online--New Syndicated Print Service From Tribune Media 10. California's New Online Voter Guide 11. New Technology From IOTEX Bypasses Local Exchange Facilities 12. New Zealand Gets On-line User Magazine 13. Government Managers Get Piracy Lecture 14. Everyone's Guerrilla Guide to Marketing on the Internet and Other On-Line Services--Book Review 15. Internet Changes Foreseen 16. FCC Chairman Reed Hundt On Telecom Competition 17. Upcoming Conferences and Workshops 18. What I Want From The Digital Future * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * FROM THE EDITOR OF DIGITAL FUTURE NEWSLETTER (formerly FYI)... A new name deserves a new format... Beginning with this issue of Digital Future, the content format will be slightly different. All stories will be previewed in one or two paragraphs, with full details available in the Expanded Edition of Digital Future. It has become necessary to reduce the file size of the Abridged Edition of Digital Future to make downloading faster on various interactive host systems where Digital Future is available, thus the new format. Now the news highlights... Hollywood's biggest talent agency adds three familiar acts... The New York Times reports that Bell Atlantic, Nynex and Pacific Telesis are looking to Michael Ovitz's Creative Artists Agency to provide new video programming that will allow them to offer phone subscribers customized shopping, entertainment and interactive services. The software that manages delivery of the programming will be able to monitor what a customer watches and suggest similar viewing fare for the future. Meridian threatens to build a Velocoraptor to bite Microsoft's assets... Business Week reports that Microsoft's recent bid for Intuit combined with Marvel, its soon-to-be online service, could spell serious competition for the conventional banking industry. But some banks plan on fighting back, and are developing their own software to do so. "Not all dinosaurs roll over and die. Some of 'em can run real fast and bite the hell out of you," warns a senior vice president of electronic banking at Meridian Bancorp Inc. Just how many photocopies of a journal will violate "fair use?"... A federal appeals court ruled in a 2-to-1 decision that a corporation violated copyright law by letting its library photocopy whole journal articles and send them to company researchers suggesting that the researchers make copies to keep for future use. The court's decision turned on the fact that "the dominant purpose of the use is 'archival' -- to assemble a set of papers for future reference, thereby serving the same purpose for which additional subscriptions are normally sold, or for which photocopying licenses may be obtained." I'll have my "agent" call your "agent"... A system called Wildfire offers a smart phone that stores a person's contact numbers so that it can screen incoming calls, schedule return calls, and manage messaging functions. "Agents" do routine tasks like forwarding calls or delivering messages, while "assistants" are trained to know the user's schedule and direct the agents to act accordingly -- such as to forward calls to the carphone when appropriate. Wildfire treats phone calls as "objects" that can be stored, forwarded and manipulated like e-mail. The system costs $2K per user for hardware and software. --JH * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GATES CONFIRMS MICROSOFT ONLINE SERVICE Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has confirmed that Microsoft will offer some type of online service next year, but says he is still unsure about the exact content. Gates, speaking at Microsoft's annual shareholders meeting at the Bellevue Hyatt hotel, confirmed widespread speculation that the company is working on a product code-named Marvel and said it will be unlike other commercially available services, but declined to elaborate. He did confirm that some of the features of the proposed online service will be included in the beta version of Windows 95, the next incarnation of the Microsoft's operating system for personal computers. The next beta version of Windows 95 is expected to go out to testers in early November. [Details in Expanded Edition of Digital Future] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * THREE BELLS TO PRODUCE TV SHOWS Three regional Bell operating companies, or RBOCs, have decided to venture into the world of TV show production and interactive services. Working with Hollywood deal maker Michael Ovitz and his Creative Arts Agency, they intend to lay a foundation for near-future forays into cable TV and video dial-tone territories. The three "Baby Bells" are Bell Atlantic (NYSE: BEL), Nynex (NYSE: NYN), and Pacific Telesis Group (NYSE: PAC), acting as equal partners in a new entertainment network that will compete with traditional cable operators. CAA will have no direct ownership stake, sources said, but Ovitz may be paid up to $50 million for his part in the venture over the next several years, according to published reports. [Details in Expanded Edition of Digital Future] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * OPTIGON, ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT NETWORK DUE The Total Entertainment Network (TEN) is in its beta testing stage in the San Francisco Bay Area. Developed by Optigon, a start-up company launched by a former executive from Maxis, maker of SimCity, TEN promises to be the first online service devoted to real-time multi-player games, custom graphic environments, and user interactivity at 9600 baud rate modem speed. [Details in Expanded Edition of Digital Future] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * DIRECT MAIL GOES INTERACTIVE A Cleveland design company has moved direct mail to a new level by putting the firm's advertising brochure on interactive disk. Ramba Design Inc., has created an interactive digital portfolio that lets viewers turn the pages of the brochure electronically with the click of a mouse to view samples of the firm's work. [Details in Expanded Edition of Digital Future] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "VIDEO-OVER-CELLULAR" FOR TV NEWS REPORTING "Hello, Sweetheart, get me rewrite," has long been the cry of the busy print reporter, calling in a breaking news story from the scene. Now, with an assist from Bell Atlantic Mobile, a subsidiary of Bell Atlantic (NYSE:BEL), TV reporters for the cable channel Newschannel 8 in Washington will be able to call in their video stories over cellular phones. [Details in Expanded Edition of Digital Future] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ONESOURCE LAUNCHES CD/NOTES - CORPTECH PROFILES The latest addition to OneSource Information Services Inc.'s CD/Notes line of CD-ROM products is CorpTech Profiles, a collection of corporate and product information on more than 36,000 companies in the US. [Details in Expanded Edition of Digital Future] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * PRIVATE PRESS PREVIEW--NEXT GENERATION INTERNET NAVIGATION Quarterdeck Office Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: QDEK) has announced plans to hold a private press preview of their Project Normandy on Tuesday, Nov. 15, in Las Vegas in conjunction with Comdex '94. Normandy is a next generation complete family of software products for use on the Internet and on private distributed data networks. [Details in Expanded Edition of Digital Future] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * WHAT'S ONLINE--NEW SYNDICATED PRINT SERVICE FROM TRIBUNE MEDIA Tribune Media Services has announced the creation of a new service that will allow newspaper readers to keep up with the rapidly growing world of online events. The new service, called WHAT'S ONLINE, will provide newspapers with up-to-date listings of celebrity guest appearances and other major events on the nation's online services. In addition to concise listings, WHAT'S ONLINE will include highlights, previews, reviews and tips. [Details in Expanded Edition of Digital Future] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * CALIFORNIA'S NEW ONLINE VOTER GUIDE A collection of non-profit organizations, telecom companies, pubic library services, computer firms, and print publications has brought the California Online Voter Guide onto the Internet. The Guide, available through Internet Gopher services, World Wide Web, and America Online, describes candidates and issues in the coming California election. [Details in Expanded Edition of Digital Future] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * NEW TECHNOLOGY FROM IOTEX BYPASSES LOCAL EXCHANGE FACILITIES Amnex, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMXI) has today that it has acquired an exclusive 15-year license from IOTEX, Inc., a privately owned company, to market and deploy in certain territories a new revolutionary technology which has been designed to allow carriers, public communications companies and other telecommunication service providers to bypass local exchange facilities in a wireless environment. Additionally, this technology has been designed to process digital voice/data information at speed up to 20 times faster than currently available wireless solutions, while reducing transmission cost by as much as 30%. [Details in Expanded Edition of Digital Future] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * NEW ZEALAND GETS ONLINE USER MAGAZINE "The Net" is a new magazine which specializes in online communications and related fields. In a country with less than four million people, it has a creditable print run of 10,000 copies. Despite its rural image, New Zealand has always been an early adopter and exporter of technology, often jumping ahead of neighboring Australia. Although the country only supports a handful of computer magazines, the Net has found quick acceptance in its first five issues. [Details in Expanded Edition of Digital Future] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GOVERNMENT MANAGERS GET PIRACY LECTURE Government information managers have attended a copyright infringement conference, reportedly the first of its kind targeted at such officials. "Development of the national information infrastructure (NII) will make digital storage, retrieval, and delivery systems widely available in the United States, and will change the way that information and entertainment products are created, marketed, and delivered," Patent and Trademark Commissioner Bruce Lehman told a group of information managers from 20 federal government departments and agencies. [Details in Expanded Edition of Digital Future] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * EVERYONE'S GUERRILLA GUIDE TO MARKETING ON THE INTERNET AND OTHER ON-LINE SERVICES In their new book, one that is sure to rank among the most controversial of the year, Laurence A. Canter & Martha S. Siegel point out that, whatever else it may be, the Information Superhighway is a terrific venue for the ordinary entrepreneur to do something very simple and very dear to the heart of every American. According to the authors, The Internet, with its instantaneous access to a marketplace of over "thirty million computer users," is a great place to make money. Correction, the Internet isn't yet a marketplace, and correction deux, the Internet isn't thirty million computer users dying to buy something. [Details in Expanded Edition of Digital Future] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * INTERNET CHANGES FORESEEN The Internet will go through some major changes in the next few years, but will emerge the better for it, according to a recent report from Forrester Research, Inc. In its report entitled "Internet Adolescence," Forrester points out that the NSFnet network funded by the United States government is the backbone of the Internet in the US today. Regional operators can send traffic over the NSFnet at no cost. But the National Science Foundation plans to stop bankrolling the Internet as of April 30, 1995, and plans a transition to a commercially operated Internet. [Details in Expanded Edition of Digital Future] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * FCC CHAIRMAN REED HUNDT ON TELECOM COMPETITION The development of the information superhighway "gives us a great opportunity to commit irrevocably to a policy of competition," Federal Communications Commission Chairman Reed Hundt said on Thursday. "Let broadcast compete with cable, let cable provide telephone service, let telephone companies deliver video programming," he said. [Details in Expanded Edition of Digital Future] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * UPCOMING INFORMATION MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY RELATED CONFERENCES & WORKSHOPS NOVEMBER 1994 Multimedia 1994: Positioning For Profit In An Interactive World, November 6-8, 1994, San Francisco, CA. Contact 212-279-2525. CMA Telecom 94, November 7-10, 1994. New York Hilton Hotel & Towers. Contact 800-CMA-EXPO. Fax 214-245-8700. Silicon Studio '94: The Entertainment Authoring Conference, November 8-10, Los Angeles, CA. Contact 415-390-3156. Technology 2004, the fifth annual technology transfer conference and exposition, November 8-10, at the Washington Convention Center, Washington, DC. Contact: 212-490-3999. COMDEX, November 14-18, 1994, Las Vegas, NV, contact Registration Dept., 300 First Avenue, Needham, MA 02194-2722, or fax 617-449-2674. Supercomputing '94, November 14-18, 1994, Washington D.C. Convention Center Contact: Linda Callahan, 607-254-8609; fax 607-254-8888. New York Virtual Reality Expo 94, November 29-December 2, New York. Contact 800-632-5537 or 203-226-6967. E MAIL World--The Mail Enabled Technologies Conference & Expo, November 29-December 1, 1994, Boston, MA. Contact 508-470-3880. Convergence IV: Opportunities On The Information Superhighway, Washington, DC. Contact: 303-393-7449. DECEMBER 1994 Electronic Learning Fair, December 2-4, 1994, San Jose, CA. Contact: 408-271-3797. Internet World 94, December 6-9, Washington Hilton & Towers, Washington, DC, contact 800-632-55337 or 203-226-6967. Interactive Information Expo, December 6-8, 1994, New York, NY. Contact: 201-346-1400. Workshop on Mobile Computing Systems and Applications, December 8-9, 1994, Dream Inn, Santa Cruz, CA, contact 313-763-4413. JANUARY 1995 Mobile Communications '95 Conference, January 16-18, 1995, Dallas, TX, contact 800-256-1076. Lotusphere '95, January 22-26, 1995, Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel, Orlando, FL, contact 617-894-5326. ComNet '95, January 23-26, 1995, Washington, DC. Contact 800-225-4698. NATPE, January 23-26, Sands Expo Center, Las Vegas, NV. Contact 800-628-7346. Information Superhighway '95, January 24-27, 1995, Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, CA, contact Charles Van Horn, ITA, 505 Eighth Avenue, New York 10018; Tel: 212-643-0620; Fax: 212-643-0624. FEBRUARY 1995 InterMedia '95--The International Conference and Exposition on Multimedia February 7-9, 1995, Moscone Center, San Francisco, CA. Contact: 203-840-5634. Inter Comm 95, February 20-23, 1995, Vancouver, Canada, contact 604-669-1090. SALT -- The Society for Applied Learning Technology, February 22-24, 1995, Orlando, FL. Contact 800-457-6812 or 703-347-0055. High Tech Direct 2000, February 27-March 1, 1995, Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, CA, contact 800-808-3976. MARCH 1995 IEEE INFOCOM'95 -- The Conference on Computer Communications, April 2-6, 1995, Boston, MASS., USA, contact 816-235-2361. JUNE 1995 INET'95, the 5th Annual Conference of the Internet Society focusing on worldwide issues of Internet networking, June 28-30, 1995 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Contact: 703-648-9888. Fax: 703-648-9887. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ========================================================================= INTRODUCTORY SUBSCRIPTION FOR EXPANDED EDITION OF DIGITAL FUTURE NEWSLETTER! The expanded edition of DIGITAL FUTURE NEWSLETTER is available only by subscription and delivered electronically to e-mail addresses. Limited offer: 26 weekly issues of the expanded edition of DIGITAL FUTURE, uploaded to your e-mail address, are $25.00; 52 weekly issues are $40.00. SPECIAL OFFER EXPIRES December 31, 1994. NAME_________________________________________________________________ ADDRESS______________________________________________________________ CITY/STATE/ZIP_______________________________________________________ EMAIL________________________________________________________________ VOICE PHONE__________________________________________________________ FAX PHONE____________________________________________________________ Print the above coupon and mail it with check or money order in U.S. funds on a U.S. bank, to: John Hart, 767 South Xenon Court, Suite 117 Lakewood, CO 80228 USA CIS: 71044,2446 INTERNET: fyi@marketplace.com ========================================================================= * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * WHAT I WANT FROM THE DIGITAL FUTURE by John Hart This week, this is what I want from those wonderfully inventive Japanese video-heads: No more video cassette recorders. Instead, one box. With HDTV, built-in hard drive or chip sets that record any program I want by touching the screen. Trash those stupid remotes. Burn those ridiculous rolls of VHS tape. C'mon, it can't be that hard. Touch Thursday. 7:00 p.m. Channel 4, and I've got "Mad About You" recorded for time-shifting. No tape to load. No brain surgery to perform. Touch "Replay," and I get a list of what I have stored. And to change channels, all I do is speak into a small handheld mic and say "7." "4." "10." "Mute." Or maybe "Internet." Yeah, that's it. Log on to the Internet, get my e-mail and display it on screen. Answer back with my voice and the cursor types out every word I say. Then, "Send e-mail and log off. Get latest news on Microsoft." Zap. The screen displays text and graphic files on the big MS. Now that's a video box I could love. --JH * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ========================== DIGITAL FUTURE CIRCULATION ========================== DIGITAL FUTURE NEWSLETTER (abridged edition) is available every Saturday by one of these methods: 1. Internet, gopher Marketplace.com 2. E-mail. Submit your email address for free delivery every Saturday 3. CompuServe at these locations: IBM Communications Forum, Library 6, Hot Topics Internet Forum, Library 1, General Information Telecommunications Forum, Library 14, Internetworking Work At Home Forum, Library 1, General Information BBS Sysops worldwide are welcome to make this abridged version of DIGITAL FUTURE Newsletter available to your callers, however, if you do make it available on a regular basis, please email your BBS name and phone number so the information can be published here. ========== DISCLAIMER ========== DIGITAL FUTURE Newsletter publishes the information herein with the understanding that it is accurate and reliable, however, it can not be guaranteed. Although every attempt has been made to ensure accuracy of the data contained herein, the publisher cannot accept liability for misstatements. Furthermore, the views represented herein do not necessarily reflect those of the editor or the publisher. =================================================================== END DIGITAL FUTURE Volume 1 Number 19 / Saturday, November 5, 1994. ===================================================================