UNISYS AND COMPUSERVE TO ENFORCE GIF PATENT
A licensing agreement circulated online states that Unisys and CompuServe will seek a royalty for any use of the GIF format, and implies a number of other restrictive limitations on its use. A huge backlash in the online community has led Unisys to furiously backpedal and soften some conditions, but the situation is already being compared to the Pentium public relations debacle. The most beneficial outcome of the situation may be the creation of a new graphics standard entirely in the public domain. The old patent covers the LZW compression used in the ubiquitous GIF graphics standard (U.S. Patent 4,558,302, recently posted to comp.infosystems.www.providers). The situation is changing quickly, so tune in for the latest at alt.gif-agreement, comp.graphics, or this Web page: Updates: "http://www.xmission.com/~mgm/gif" Patent: "http://www.clark.net/pub/muddy/GIF_Patent/"
MICROSOFT BUYS INTO UUNET, LICENSES MOSAIC FROM SPYGLASS
In order to provide full Internet access for its new online service, Microsoft has bought a minority interest in UUNET Technologies, an Internet service provider with an extensive private backbone network. Microsoft has also signed a deal with Spyglass, Inc. to use Enhanced Mosaic in its new Windows 95 operating system. In a profound fit of understatement, Spyglass CEO Douglas Colbeth said, "This agreement means a lot to us."
The online giant has finally brought its pricing in line with market rates. Connect charges for access at 9.6 and 14.4 kilobits per second will drop by 50 percent to $4.80 per hour. On the other hand, the monthly membership fee will go up by $1. On yet a third hand, CompuServe will enhance its basic service package, giving members access to more than 100 services at no additional charge (up from 75), and reduce rates for E-Mail. (Still charging for E-Mail? When will they see the light, one wonders?) Also, in Western Europe the $7.70 per hour prime-time communications surcharge will be eliminated. It all starts Feb. 5. GO CHOICES for more info.
DEALERNET GIVES AWAY CAR ON NET
It's a contest. You can win a 1995 Nissan Sentra. They'll select a registered contestant at random, and notify them by E-Mail. Entry is free. Enter at the Web page or by sending E-Mail with the message "I want the car!" to "winacar@dealernet.com". "http://www.dealernet.com"
HOUSE OF BLUES LIVE INTERNET BROADCAST
House of Blues New Media will feed an educational blues-oriented program and a live gospel concert over the Internet on Jan. 16, 1995, in honor of Martin Luther King's birthday. The program will begin at 10 a.m. Pacific time with educational programming, and features an 8:30 p.m. concert with the Five Blind Boys of Alabama. Check IUMA for more information. "http://www.iuma.com/IUMA/projects/mbone/index.html"
CONGRESSMAN INVESTIGATES AOL MAILING LIST SALE
U.S. Representative Edward Markey recently sent a letter to America Online after learning they were selling a list of subscribers along with demographic, income, and other information. He asked AOL CEO Steve Case what information AOL had made available, how much money it has made selling its lists, and whether subscribers were told of the possibility that the information would be reused or sold. Last year, Markey sponsored legislation, not yet adopted, to protect consumers whose information is being sold. Case said that AOL is compliant with the proposed provisions and that if needed, "We will pull the list off the market until this issue can be satisfactorily resolved."
The spamming debate has pretty much reached a consensus (it's a Very Bad Thing). However, now that spamming is a daily event, how do you fight what is either a threat to the very existence of the Net ("Imminent Death of the Net Predicted!") or simply an annoying irritation soon to die a natural death? The subject is no longer academic, as cancelbots run amuck deleting offending USENET articles. Unleashed by cyberspace vigilantes like the prolific, yet seemingly benign Cancelmoose[TM], they raise the specter of cancelbot arms races. Should USENET messages be auto-censored by content? Is Cancelmoose[TM] a hero or villain? The eye-opening threads are complex, conceptually dense, mostly coherent, frighteningly relevant, and found on alt.internet.services. Read it before Wired does an article on it.
"Will a facial pierce keep me unemployed?" The consensus on rec.arts.bodyart is - sadly - that it will, particularly in Missouri. This newsgroup caters to those in search of bodily modification through the wonders of needles, jewelry, and ink. Besides the obligatory nine-part FAQ, there's the "Alternative Bodyart FAQ", with info on branding, cutting, and scarification. The big action thread is "Ear Piercing Stud NIGHTMARE", which brings you a cautionary tale of botched mall piercings. Best thread title award must go to the conceptually ripe "Gang tattoo removal". Typical threads: "Tongue piercing questions"; "Pets' Reaction to Piercing"; and "Multiple Eyebrow Pierces, how close?" FAQ: "ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/bodyart"
The wind in your face, a kite string in your hand and the Kite Oracle at your side - this is happiness to the denizens of rec.kites, who take the subject very seriously indeed. How to build a kite is the least of the questions you can ask here. Want to find a good two-line kite that packs up small enough to put in a carry-on bag? How about a good kite catalogue? There's even a review of a "kiters' wedding" (good food, stunning bride). Threads here can get pretty technical (e.g. "Rhombicosi-Dodecahedron"), but you can also find out about the 1995 New Zealand Kite Festivals and an attempt to set up a series of online, interactive lectures/workshops with well-known international kite personalities. FAQ: "ftp://ftp.hawaii.edu/pub/rec/kites"
BOYS, TOYS, AND MILITARY SCIENCE
The name of the newsgroup is sci.military, but the threads have less to do with science than with military equipment fetishism. This is the place to discuss the perfect tank of tomorrow, speculate about the largest conventional explosion in WWII (could have been a munition dump explosion in the SF Bay area, followed by a mutiny among the soldiers handling the explosives), and find out why tank barrels have no rifling. Wondering what happened to the Bundeswehr's Soviet equipment after the unification of Germany? Apparently Sweden bought some, probably to use in those tough hockey games with Norway. For high tech soldiers, real and virtual.
WALTER S. ARNOLD: SCULPTOR AND STONE CARVER
Visit this site and find pictures of Arnold's work: custom fireplaces; portraiture; architectural ornaments; public sculpture; gargoyles; and grotesques. The "Tools of the Trade" page only succeeds in whetting your appetite for more but the series of GIFs (each under 20K) is quite intriguing. Educational tip of the week: A true gargoyle is a waterspout. An unusual carved creature that does not serve that purpose is properly called a "grotesque". The word "gargoyle" shares a root with the word "gargle"; they come from "gargouille", an old French word for "throat". "http://www.mcs.net/~sculptor/home.html"
TRENT REZNOR AND NINE INCH NAILS
Site author Jason Patterson goes to some pains to point out that this is an unofficial NIN page. Trent and the boys could do a lot worse. When you first arrive, you'll see pretty low tech ASCII graphics, but don't let that fool you. There is a ton of material here dealing with the hot industrial band and its heart and soul, Trent Reznor. You'll find over 25 sound clips, more then 40 images (mostly of Trent), a dozen video clips, and links to IUMA and other industrial music resources. Some highlights: 4Meg video version of "March of the Pigs"; pictures of Trent in his youth and of NIN with Larry Bud Melman; all the lyrics, real and parody; guitar tabs and chords; SinGothic font; and a listing of all Trent's posts on Prodigy. "http://www.csh.rit.edu/~jerry/NIN_RI/welcome.html"
Who needs a breadbox when we have the Internet? You'll find a picture of an ancient triangular loaf and some explanatory text at the Egyptian Artifacts Exhibit. The page belongs to the University of Memphis Institute of Egyptian Art and Archaeology. There are only four ancient artifacts featured here (yes, there is a mummy), but the explanations make interesting reading and there is a link to a picturesque tour of Egypt. Good for a quick mind break. "http://www.memphis.edu/egypt/artifact.html"
Beatles fans and others interested in creative uses of the Web will not want to miss this site set up in connection with the recently released, best selling record of the same name. Send a BEATLEgram postcard via E-Mail, download and print your own BEATLEtime calender, hear Ringo talk, get track listings from the recordings, and enter the Beatles look-alike contest by sending a scanned photo of yourself in full Beatles regalia, circa the BBC era (1962-65). If you're one of the four entrants who look most like John, Paul, George, or Ringo, you'll get your photo posted online and win a complete Beatles catalogue. Cool! "http://www.bazaar.com/Beatles/"
ENTERNET SKATEBOARDING PHOTOGRAPHS
Is this art? Well, who knows, but these are cool photos of a bunch of guys shredding it on skateboards. See the "Bitchin' JPEG" and cheer on the "Unknown Shredder". There's also a link to a page full of California Skate Spots. It's in the eye of the beholder, right? "http://www.enternet.com/skate/stills.html"
FUNNY PAGES - COMIC STRIPS ON THE WEB
Need a good laugh? Drop by the following site for a list of regularly updated comics found on the WWW. You'll find images of Dilbert, NetBoy, and other Net-famous characters. There are sections for daily and weekly comics, and the links take you to the home pages for each of them. This is a fun site to browse, and the kicker is that most of the introductory text is in Finnish. Most of the comics, however, are in English and positively brimming with relevance to humans all over this planet. "http://www.uta.fi/yhteydet/sarjikset.html"
Atomic Books offers a catalogue, ordering and shipping information, T-shirts, and shameless self-promotion. The extensive catalogue lists books with topics such as sleaze, body piercing and tattoos, conspiracy,... and then there's the weird stuff. They also have an extensive collection of zines and adult comics. John Waters shops here. Need we say more? "ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/atomicbk" "http://www.clark.net/pub/atomicbk/home.html"
The announcement for "The Virtual Mirror" mentioned that it was the "newest online publication". This is always good for a few chuckles. Being the newest of anything on the Web is a position that you may claim for approximately two to five minutes, then the Web moves on. However, this Web zine has interesting articles on Web software (TIA, SlipKnot, & others), a fractal gallery of unusual images, and a survey of film and cinema listservs. There are several other interesting articles and advertising will be included soon. A pleasant rest stop on the road to somewhere. "http://mirror.wwa.com/mirror/"
Doug Ingram likes to review books, and this page is the fruit of his effort. You will find short reviews of numerous science fiction books as well as 11 longer reviews of recent big sellers in the field. The reviews are alphabetized and refreshingly personal. If you're looking for some light SF for the new year, this is a good place to make a selection. "http://www.astro.washington.edu/ingram/books.html"
DEEP THOUGHTS OR JUST LARGE OBFUSCATING VOCABULARIES?
PSYCHE is a refereed electronic journal, and now a Web site, about the interdisciplinary exploration of the nature of consciousness and its relation to the brain. Some interesting papers can be found if you can get past the polysyllabic jargon. How do you think that you think? PSYCHE wants to list links to other info sources, sponsor conferences, callfor papers, list job advertisements, etc. Send subscriptions to "listserv@iris.rfmh.org". Discussion list: "SUBSCRIBE PSYCHE-D FirstName LastName" Journal list: "SUBSCRIBE PSYCHE-L FirstName LastName" "http://hcrl.open.ac.uk/psyche/psyche"
The recent torrential rains hitting California have not left Netsurfer unscathed. Power outages kept our site down most of last Wednesday. You can find out more about the flood situation at the page below, which has contributions from most of the major government agencies dealing with the floods, satellite pictures, weather reports (looking out the window, it's still raining), highway reports, snow info, and information about various food shelters and relief efforts. This page was organized in record time and shows how well adapted the Web is to distribute breaking information. Take a look, help if you can, send towels. "http://agency.resource.ca.gov/flood2.html"
CORRECTED ATTRIBUTION FOR USELESS WWW PAGES
In issue number five, we incorrectly identified the owner of the spectacular Useless WWW Pages site as Joe Rumsey. In reality, Paul Phillips ("paulp@primus.com")is the real visionary behind this tribute to sublime vapidity. We profusely apologise to both gentlemen and urge you to visit the site for your amusement. "http://www.primus.com/staff/paulp/useless.html"
"All we are, basically, are monkeys with car keys."
- Grandma Woody (Northern Exposure)
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