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Edupage, 28 February 1999. Edupage, a summary of news about information
technology, is provided three times a week as a service of EDUCAUSE,
an international nonprofit association dedicated to transforming higher
education through information technologies.
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TOP STORIES
Computer Makers Join Forces On Privacy Problem
Gateway 2002
FCC Declares Its Jurisdiction Over Access To The Internet
Niche Web Sites Play To Diversity
ALSO
Pocket-Size Web Server
Gore Calls For Fight Against Sexual Predators On The Net
Honorary Subscriber: Fred Astaire
COMPUTER MAKERS JOIN FORCES ON PRIVACY PROBLEM
Computer manufacturers are working together to address the privacy concerns
raised over Intel's new Pentium III chip, which is expected to appear in PCs
beginning Sunday. The Pentium III includes a unique serial number designed
to support secure online transactions, but the fact that it can identify the
processor -- and indirectly, the PC user -- has resulted in calls for a
boycott of the new machines. Meanwhile, IBM, Dell, Gateway, Compaq and some
other major vendors say they will disable the ID in the basic input/output
system (BIOS) software that controls basic PC functions. "We know that the
BIOS mechanism is completely secure," says Gateway's VP of product
management & planning. Computer buyers will still have the option of
reactivating the serial number if they so choose. (Los Angeles Times 26 Feb 99)
GATEWAY 2002
Gateway founder Ted Waitt plans to transform his company into a full-scale
high-tech services provider, making the purchase of the PC is only the
initial contact point in a long customer relationship: "Three years from
now, the majority of our revenue will still come from selling hardware
products, but the majority of our earnings will come from service-based
systems." In addition to build-to-order PCs, Gateway will offer Internet
access and personalized Web services, training, support and software, as
well as financing. The company's shift may signal what could be a major
transition in the PC manufacturing business toward the pricing system used
for cell phones and satellite TVs: the income comes from the monthly
contract, not from a one-time sale. "Everyone will move in that direction,"
says an International Data Corp. analyst. (Forbes 8 Mar 99)
FCC DECLARES ITS JURISDICTION OVER ACCESS TO THE INTERNET
Claiming it is merely resolving a dispute over how local and long-distance
phone companies must compensate each other for calls accessing the Internet,
the Federal Communications Commission ruled that all such calls fall within
its jurisdiction as regulator of interstate communications. Some consumer
groups are concerned that the FCC ruling will ultimately lead to per-minute
charges for Internet access in the future; however, FCC Chairman William E.
Kennard says they don't have to worry: "Consumers are used to dialing a
local phone number to get access to the Internet, and they are used to
paying that access as a local call. Nothing that we are doing in this item
will change that." (New York Times 26 Feb 99)
NICHE WEB SITES PLAY TO DIVERSITY
Increasingly, Web entrepreneurs are finding profitability in targeting
smaller, more defined audiences with services that could be, but aren't,
aimed at the masses. "You have a more diverse set of consumers coming
online," says a Forrester Research analyst. "It only makes sense for that
diversification to trickle down to financial Web sites." For example, the
Gay Financial Network -- founded by the first openly gay member of the New
York Stock Exchange -- offers generic information such as the latest
commodities prices and market news, but its audience chooses to get that
information there because they'd rather support a gay business. The site
hopes to register 93,000 users by the end of the year, many of whom can
indulge in a more upscale lifestyle than their straight counterparts,
because they don't have children to support. "We are targeting a rather
wealthy niche market," says the Network's president, who adds that the gay
community represents about $560 billion a year in spending. (Wall Street
Journal 26 Feb 99)
================================================
POCKET-SIZE WEB SERVER
A professor of computer science at Stanford University has created a tiny
Web server about the size of a business card and only a quarter-inch thick.
Vaughan Pratt developed the device "initially just for the impact... Fifty
years ago, a computer with less computational power than a modern pocket
calculator filled a whole room, and ran programs consisting of only a few
hundred instructions. Today we can fit the extensive software needed to
drive a World-Wide Web server into a computer the size of a box of matches."
Pratt's server uses a 486 processor and runs the Linux operating system. <
http://wearables.stanford.edu/ > (Chronicle of Higher Education 26 Feb 99)
GORE CALLS FOR FIGHT AGAINST SEXUAL PREDATORS ON THE NET
Saying that the Internet has become a new way for stalkers to harass women,
Vice President Al Gore has asked Attorney General Janet Reno to conduct a
study of ways to curtail such activity. As an example of the problem, Gore
described the actions of a man who, angry with a woman who had rejected his
advances, retaliated by assuming her identify on the Internet and providing
personal information about her in a number of sex-oriented chat rooms. The
man then "listed directions to her house, gave details of her social plans,
and even provided advice on how to short-circuit her alarm system. Within
days, this terrified woman was not only receiving lewd phone calls, she had
men showing up on her doorstep. She could have been sexually assaulted or
even worse... These are not just family matters, these are crimes. As a
society, as a country, as a national family, we don't have to put up with
this kind of abuse, and we will not." (USA Today 26 Feb 99)
HONORARY SUBSCRIBER: FRED ASTAIRE
Today's Honorary Subscriber is the wonderful Fred Astaire, one of the
greatest dancers (and singers!) of this fading century. See the very end
of today's Edupage.
Edupage is written by John Gehl (gehl@educause.edu) and Suzanne Douglas
(douglas@educause.edu). Telephone: 770-590-1017
Technical support for distributing Edupage is provided by Information
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UPCOMING EDUCAUSE CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS:
The Council of Independent Colleges and EDUCAUSE, Mar 25-27, 1999,
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. http://www.cic.edu/conferences/
Networking'99 Conference on Advanced Networking, Apr 28-30, 1999,
Washington, D.C. http://www.educause.edu/netatedu/contents/events/apr99/
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HONORARY SUBSCRIBER
Today's Honorary Subscriber is the legendary dancer, singer, choreographer
and actor Fred Astaire (1899-1987), born in Nebraska as Frederick Austerlitz.
Among his most-remembered films are "Flying Down to Rio" (the first of
ten movies with the great Ginger Rogers as his dancing partner); "The Gay
Divorcee"; "Top Hat"; "Follow The Fleet"; "Holiday Inn" (with Bing Crosby
and Rosemary Clooney); "Easter Parade" (with Judy Garland); "Royal
Wedding" (with Jane Powell); "The Band Wagon" (with Cyd Charise); and
"Funny Face" (with Audrey Hepburn).
One of the most famous (and most absurd) Human Resources Department
judgments of all time was the verdict given on Astaire's Hollywood screen
test in the early 1930s: "Can't act. Can't sing. Balding. Can dance a
little."
Of course, it turned out that not only could Astaire "dance a little,"
but he could also sing well enough to be the singer the great American
popular composers (such as George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, and Cole Porter)
wanted to have introduce their songs. It was Fred Astaire who introduced
such classics as "Night And Day," "Lovely To Look At," "Begin The Beguine,"
"Isn't It A Lovely Day To Be Caught In The Rain," "I Won't Dance," "Cheek To
Cheek," "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off," and "A Fine Romance" (along with
many others, all of them sung with his impeccable musical phrasing).
As for Fred Astaire's dancing, both George Balanchine and Mikhail
Baryshnikov called him the greatest, most original dancer of all time.
A perfectionist, Astaire was uninterested in the advice of others, and
wrote in his autobiography:
"I believe that if you have something in mind in the way of creation,
you are certain to come up with inaccurate criticism and damaging if you go
around asking for opinions. It is the easiest thing in the world to become
discouraged by a well-meant suggestions which may throw you off your
original train of thought."
The perfectionism paid off. Movie director Rouben Mamoulian said,
"Fred Astaire makes it look easy by only taking the greatest of pains. He
works harder than any newcomer. He never lets up. You'd think his entire
life and future depended on the outcome of each dance. He keeps at the top
because he does the impossible -- he improves on perfection."
Though Fred Astaire was the 20th century's icon of style, grace, and
sophistication, he could also be very funny. To refresh your memory of this
quality of his, see if your video store has "Royal Wedding" (1951). The
show includes a wonderful rendition, by Fred Astaire and co-star Jane
Powell, of the witty Alan Jay Lerner song:
"How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Loved You When You Know I've
Been A Liar All My Life!"
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EDUCAUSE, an international nonprofit association dedicated to transforming
higher education through information technologies
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