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Edupage, 10 November 1996. Edupage, a summary of news about information
technology, is provided three times a week as a service by Educom,
a Washington, D.C.-based consortium of leading colleges and universities
seeking to transform education through the use of information technology.
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NEW ENCRYPTION BLOW-UP LIKELY
Because it makes use of a 128-bit encryption code that is much more
powerful than the 40-bit code authorized for export by the Clinton
Administration, a $300 TV set-top device developed for Web-surfing and
e-mail has been classified in the "munitions" category to keep it away
from terrorists and criminals. The device is manufactured by the Sony
and Philips corporations based on a design by Web TV Networks, Inc.,
which had planned to market it next year in Europe and Japan. However,
having recently proposed a "key recovery" encryption plan using third
parties to hold parts of the encryption key, the Clinton Administration
is unlikely to allow exportation of the Web TV device. (New York Times
8 Nov 96 C2)
TELECOM PANEL RECOMMENDS DISCOUNTS FOR SCHOOLS, LIBRARIES
A panel of federal and state telecommunications regulators has made its
recommendations regarding expansion of the universal-service system,
suggesting that rural health-care providers, schools and libraries all
have access to new telecommunications services at discounted rates. The
panel's findings, which were submitted to the Federal Communications
Commission, recommended a tiered system for discounts to school systems,
from 20% for the country's wealthiest school districts, to 90% for
low-income areas. The subsidies could total as much as $2.25 billion a
year. (Wall Street Journal 8 Nov 96 B17)
EGGHEAD MOVES SOFTWARE SALES TO THE INTERNET
Egghead Inc. has become the first major software retailer to deliver its
computer programs directly to the customer via the Internet. A number
of Internet sites sell software online, but the product is then boxed up
and shipped to the buyer by mail. Egghead's move is the first of
several pilot projects backed by Microsoft to bolster the ability of
traditional retailers to compete with software companies that distribute
their products directly via the Net. Analysts predict that online
distribution will account for 20% of retail software sales by the end of
next year. (Wall Street Journal 8 Nov 96 B6)
ORACLE PUTS IT TRAINING ONLINE
Oracle's education unit will begin offering information technology
training courses over the Internet, beginning in December. By next
summer, the company plans to expand from the original 75 third-party
courses to more than 1,000. "We'll provide one-stop shopping for all
kinds of corporate training," says Oracle's senior director of worldwide
marketing. The company has about 60 partnerships with other vendors and
training companies, including Hewlett-Packard, Lotus, Microsoft and
Novell, that are providing the content and technical support for the
online venture. "The Holy Grail of training via the Internet is the
ability to slice and dice content to suit individuals' training needs,"
says the marketing director of HP's education unit. (Information Week 4
Nov 96 p106)
BIG MAC -- EXPONENTIAL WORKING ON 500-MHz MAC CHIP
Exponential Technology recently debuted its X704 microprocessor, a
500-MHz PowerPC chip slated for use in Apple Macintosh computers, as
well as machines made by DayStar Digital Inc., Power Computing Corp. and
UMAX Computer Corp. Apple has worked closely with Exponential engineers
during the development process and is rewriting the Mac ROMs to function
at the higher speeds. The X704 is based on BiCMOS technology -- a
combination of the CMOS technology typical in microprocessors and the
bipolar architecture more commonly found in mainframe processors. The
X704 chips are scheduled to ship in March 1997. (MacWeek 3 Nov 96)
SEC FILES FIRST CASE FOR STOCK MANIPULATION USING INTERNET
The Securities & Exchange Commission has filed a suit alleging a
massive, ongoing market manipulation of the stock Systems of Excellence
Inc. The Florida company's chief executive has been accused of
distributing unregistered shares of the company to accounts controlled
by him and to a market research company that published an
Internet-transmitted stock market newsletter. (Atlanta
Journal-Constitution 9 Nov 96 H3)
WORLDNET SUBSCRIBERS GET A DAY OFF FROM E-MAIL
The AT&T WorldNet Internet access service (which, with 425,000 customers
is the second-largest Internet access provider, after Netcom)
experienced a computer problem last week, which prevented more than
200,000 of its customers from receiving e-mail for more than a day. No
mail was lost. (New York Times 9 Nov 96 p29)
REVEALING SOFTWARE GLITCH BARES CREDIT CARD INFO ON THE WEB
Some Web shoppers have recently had their worst fears about electronic
commerce confirmed -- the credit card information they trustingly typed
in was accessible by anyone using a simple Web browser. The sites
affected had improperly installed a software program called SoftCart,
made by Mercantec Inc., to handle their transactions. "Our standard
documentation clearly explains how to avoid these security break-ins,"
says Mercantec's president. The problem was attributed to human error,
which occurred when inexperienced installers failed to place completed
order forms in directories not accessible to Web browsers. Vendors
affected by the glitch say they've taken steps to remedy the situation.
(Wall Street Journal 8 Nov 96 B6)
Edupage is written by John Gehl <gehl@educom.edu> & Suzanne Douglas
<douglas@educom.edu>. Voice: 404-371-1853, Fax: 404-371-8057.
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adam@cs.caltech.edu
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