DIGITAL TV
Digital TV Broadcasts to Begin (NYT)
Four Area Stations to Offer Digital Broadcasts (WP)
INFRASTRUCTURE
Evanston on Road to High-Speed Data (Chi-Trib)
ED TECH
Educators Emphasize Teacher Training in Technology (NYT)
NYU Sees Profits in Virtual Classes (NYT)
INTERNET
U.S. and Domain Registry Reach Accord (NYT)
Firm Loosens Control of Internet (WP)
Commerce Dept. and Network Solutions Reach Agreement (NTIA)
Internet Giants Plan Campaign to Teach Consumers Their Online
Privacy Rights
(WSJ)
Firms Plan Ad Blitz on Internet Privacy (WP)
Coalition Announces Intiative for Online Privacy (NYT)
France Telecom Plans Update for Minitel (NYT)
Study Finds Ad Banners Make an Impression (NYT)
TELEPHONY
Press Statement by Chairman Kennard on Access Charge Reform (FCC)
FCC Seeks Comment on Changes to Local Telephone Companies' Rate of
Return to Reflect Marketplace Conditions (FCC)
MERGERS
2 Book Giants In Global Deal To Sell Titles Via Internet (NYT)
Publisher, Bookseller Join Forces (WP)
Bertelsmann to Buy A 50% Interest in Web Bookseller
2 Big On-Line Music Stores Said to Be Discussing Merger (NYT)
CDNow and N2K Music Retailers Online to Merge (WSJ)
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DIGITAL TV
==========
DIGITAL TV BROADCASTS TO BEGIN (NYT)
FOUR AREA TV STATIONS TO OFFER DIGITAL BROADCASTS (WP)
Issue: Digital TV
The National Association of Broadcasters announced that 42 stations -- 16
more than were originally scheduled -- will air digital broadcasts beginning
this November. While the stations will only broadcast some program events --
like movies or sports -- in the razor-sharp high definition format, regular
digital programs will sill have much higher resolution than current analog
broadcasts. Digital's rocky start, including compatibility problems between
cable and DTV sets, could mean that even some viewers who have spent
$5000-$10000 to purchase digital receivers might have trouble receiving the
new broadcasts.
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Associated Press]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/10/biztech/articles/07digital-tv....
[SOURCE: Washington Post (C11), AUTHOR: Paul Farhi]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-10/07/114l-100798-idx.html
See also: Press Statement by Chairman Kennard on Digital Television Transition.
[SOURCE: FCC]
http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Kennard/Statements/stwek875.html
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INFRASTRUCTURE
===============
EVANSTON ON ROAD TO HIGH-SPEED DATA
Issue: Infrastructure
A group of regional planners in the Chicago area is working toward the goal
of turning suburban Evanston into the area's first totally wired community.
Made up of officials from Northwestern University and the City of Evanston,
the group has solicited proposals from a half-dozen companies to wire up
every residence in town with high-speed connections. A study to be released
by the Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC) Wednesday suggests that municipal
officials should embrace digital infrastructure as ardently as zoning.
According to the Chicago regional planners, high-speed information
infrastructure will become as essential to a community's economic well-being
in the near future as streets and sewers are now, . The new report, called
``The Digital Network Infrastructure and Metropolitan Chicago,'' notes that
electronic commerce will be a key factor in the next century and suggests
that Chicago can be as much at the center of information services as it has
been at the center of traditional transportation technology. ``We're trying
to provide models of how to get these networks built,'' said Patricia
Widmayer co-author of the report. ``We want other communities to have
examples of how to expand broadband networks. Municipalities don't have a
lot of money to spend, but what they do spend should be used strategically
to further planning goals.''
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec 3, p.1), AUTHOR: Jon Van & LeAnn Spencer]
http://chicagotribune.com/textversion/article/0,1492,ART-16164,00.html
See full MPC report: http://www.nwu.edu/it/metrochicago/
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ED TECH
=======
EDUCAOTRS EMPHASIZED TEACHER TRAINING IN TECHNOLOGY
Issue: EdTech
Education experts have begun to focus on a seemingly simple concept: If the
billions of dollars being spent on technology in schools are to reap any
educational benefit, teachers need to know how to use the computers.
Officials from the United States Department of Education announced that, for
the first time since the award program was established four years ago, this
year's Technology Innovation Challenge Grant awards were only being given to
projects that focused on teacher training. Last week, the results of a new
study of classroom computer use appeared to support the new emphasis of the
challenge grants. The report found that computer-equipped students taught by
educators who had received technology training scored better on achievement
tests than other students. The message of these two developments was clear:
The machine is only as effective as the teacher using it.
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Pamela Mendels]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/10/cyber/education/07education.html
NYU SEES PROF ITS IN VIRTUAL CLASSES
Issue: EdTech
Moving to become a major player in the emerging Internet education market,
New York University plans to create a for-profit subsidiary that will
develop specialized online courses. The move is a direct response to what
many educators see as the biggest challenge to higher education: the rise of
profit-making institutions. These new schools threaten to use the Internet
to siphon off some of academia's most profitable courses -- continuing
education for adult learners -- and leave universities only in the expensive
business of undergraduate education. "Online courses can be developed very
cheaply, but what people are discovering is that the success rates are not
very high," said Gerald A. Heeger, dean of N.Y.U.'s School of Continuing and
Professional Studies, who will run the new enterprise. "The issue here is
not to have thousands of courses, but to have highly focused courses that
meet large needs." The for-profit venture is designed to help cover the
costs of developing, marketing and running new, more effective online classes.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A20), AUTHOR: Karen Arenson]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/yr/mo/biztech/articles/07nyu.html
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INTERNET
========
U.S. AND DOMAIN REGISTRY REACH ACCORD (NYT)
FIRM LOOSENS CONTROL OF INTERNET (WP)
COMMERCE DEPT. AND NETWORK SOLUTIONS REACH AGREEMENT (NTIA)
Issue: Internet
The Internet domain name system enters its third phase with the signing of
an agreement between the Department of Commerce and Network Solutions, Inc.
Network Solutions will allow other firms to enter the market to assign
Internet addresses and will become answerable to a nonprofit corporation
which will govern assignments on the Web. Other firms can begin to assign
names ending in ".com," ".net," ".org" and perhaps other suffixes beginning
March 31. Network Solutions will continue to maintain the master database
for most names and will be responsible for telling the other firms if
specific names are available. The nonprofit corporation which will govern
the system and its 19-member board are still on the drawing board. (NTIA
note: "Last week, the Department received three proposals to administer
policy for the development of competition in the Internet name and address
space. The proposals are posted at www.ntia.doc.gov and public comments on
the proposals will be accepted through October 13, 1998.") Network
Solutions agreed to make available a variety of information to the new
corporation and to the new retail companies who will be selling domain
names. Originally Network Solutions was paid by the U.S. government to
handle the assignments. More recently Network Solutions has held the
contract to administer the assignments with payments coming from the
registrants. The current charge for an initial two-year registration is $70.
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Jeri Clausing]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/10/cyber/articles/07domain.html
[SOURCE: Washington Post (C12), AUTHOR: Rajiv Chandrasekaran]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/digest/tech3.htm
[SOURCE: NTIA]
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/press/NSI100698.htm
INTERNET GIANTS PLAN CAMPAIGN TO TEACH CONSUMERS THEIR ONLINE PRIVACY RIGHTS
(WSJ)
FIRMS PLAN AD BLITZ ON INTERNET PRIVACY (WP)
COALITION ANNOUNCES INTIATIVE FOR ONLINE PRIVACY (NYT)
Issue: Ed Tech/Privacy
About 85 major Internet companies begin a privacy awareness campaign on
October 12 that will attempt to convince computer users that they can safely
share personal information online. The companies fear that legislation will
come from Congress or rules will come from the Federal Trade Commission if
they do not convince the public that the Web offers adequate privacy
protection. The campaign will include millions of advertisements at World
Wide Web sites and electronic links to privacy resources. The initiative,
called Privacy Partnership, was organized in part by TRUSTe, a nonprofit
company formed to promote privacy online. The effort which runs through
October 31 will include ads on America Online, Microsoft and Netscape sites,
among others.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B9), AUTHOR: Rebecca Quick]
http://www.wsj.com/
[SOURCE: Washington Post (C12), AUTHOR: Robert O'Harrow Jr.]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/digest/tech1.htm
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Jeri Clausing)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/10/cyber/articles/07privacy.html
FRANCE TELECOM PLANS FOR MINITEL
Issue: Online Services
France Telecom, which pioneered the quirky Minitel online information
service years before anyone ever heard of the Web, announced plans to bring
its aging child into the modern world. Working with the International
Business Machines Corporation, the French telephone company said it would
develop a network to let customers surf the Internet with simple and cheap
screen-based telephones, which would give technophobic customers access to
the Internet without using a more complex personal computer. Under the
agreement announced today, I.B.M. is to develop a new networking platform
that connects a new generation of Internet devices. Unlike most other
Internet access providers, most of the management and navigational
information, including users profiles and their bookmarks, would be held
within France Telecom's network rather than in the terminals.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C2), AUTHOR: Edmund Andrews]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/yr/mo/biztech/articles/07france-interne
t.html
STUDY FINDS AD BANNERS MAKE IMPRESSION
Issue: Advertising
Advertisers accustomed to 30-second television commercials and full-page
print ads have long criticized Internet ad banners for being too small, too
dull and incapable of luring viewers to another page. But with the release
of a new report, the lowly Internet ad banner may finally get some respect.
According to a study conducted by NetRatings, a Web audience measurement
company, sites that invest in even a modest banner advertising campaign can
significantly increase their audience size, regardless of the number of
people who actually click on the advertisement. The report found that there
is a "significant correlation among sites who consistently advertise" online
and increased audience size.
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Bob Tedeschi]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/10/cyber/articles/07advertising.html
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TELEPHONY
==========
PRESS STATEMENT BY CHAIRMAN KENNARD ON ACCESS CHARGE REFORM
Issue: Long Distance
In a written statement, FCC Chairman William Kennard said that access charge
reform is going through a series of steps that will "fulfill our promise of
bringing to consumers the benefits of competition in the form of more
choices and lower rates." Referring to the market-based approach being
implemented he said three aspects are being re-examined. "First we must
consider the X-factor, the measure of productivity that pushes access
charges lower