EDTECH
Major Players Going Online With SAT Prep Courses (CyberTimes)
The Learning Network (USA)
DIGITAL DIVIDE
Commerce Secretary Daley Hosts First Digital Divide Summit
INTERNET
'Real Time' TV on Web Under Fire (SJM)
Japan Edges Closer To Affordable Web Access (SJM)
A Pyramid Marketing Ploy Clicks (WP)
Extra, Extra, Download All About It (USA)
HEALTH
It's Not A Perfect World (SJM)
E-COMMERCE
EU Economic Ministers Approve Draft Law to Ease E-Commerce (WSJ)
EDTECH
MAJOR PLAYERS GOING ONLINE WITH SAT PREP COURSES
Issue: EdTech
The Kaplan Educational Centers has launched an SAT prep class on the
Internet. For $399, nearly half the price of the regular class, students
receive lectures through video streaming and interactive exercises online.
Instructors promise to respond to student email questions within 24 hours.
The Princeton Review, Kaplan's biggest rival in the world of test
preparation, also has plans to offer online class some time this spring.
"There's no question that anyone that has something to attract parents with
income to their service is looking to the Web to do that," said Anne Wujcik,
managing editor of the Heller Report on Educational Technology Markets. The
rush to bring test preparation online highlights concerns the quality of
online instruction and the way in which such services advantage wealthier
students. "The downside of this entire coaching business is that these
courses are available to kids who have computers, high-speed connections and
$399," said Robert A. Schaeffer, public education director for the National
Center for Fair and Open Testing, "Those who already have had every
advantage in society get another leg up."
[SOURCE: CyberTimes, AUTHOR: Pamela Mendels]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/12/cyber/education/08education.html)
THE LEARNING NETWORK
Issue: EdTech
Like everyone else, schools have headed online, giving parents the ability
to talk with teachers, check on children's schoolwork and find out about
school events. Busy parents like the idea, teachers worry about extra
workload, and kids worry that mom and dad know a little too much about their
school work and play. Schools claim that having an online presence allows
email exchanges in place of teacher-parent conferences, calendars that allow
a teacher to automatically upload assignments into the online organizer of
each student, snow closing notifications, payment for field trips and
lunches, and the viewing of report cards.
[SOURCE: USA Today (1D), AUTHOR: Karen Thomas]
(http://www.usatoday.com/life/dcovwed.htm)
DIGITAL DIVIDE
COMMERCE SECRETARY DALEY HOSTS FIRST DIGITAL DIVIDE SUMMIT
Issue: Digital Divide
On December 9, 1999, the Secretary of Commerce will host a Digital Divide
Summit, which will be broadcast live on the Department of Commerce Web Site,
www.doc.gov. The event will focus on expanding access to information for
underserved populations and areas. Participants from the Federal Government,
technology industry, civil rights and non-profit communities, grassroots
community organizations, and the general public will examine existing public
and private initiatives aimed at closing the technology gap and will discuss
how to expand upon and coordinate these efforts.
[SOURCE: NTIA]
(http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/press/120799digitaldivide.htm)
INTERNET
'REAL TIME' TV ON WEB UNDER FIRE
Issue: Copyright/ Old Media vs. New Media
ICraveTV.com is a new site that takes television signals out of the air and
broadcasts them over the Internet. The free Canadian service allows
consumers to click on a Web site menu for 17 channels, including ABC, NBC
and CBS and the Canadian CBC. This amounts to a "real-time" broadcast of a
chosen station, just like any television set. The networks whose signals are
retransmitted over the Internet complain the service amounts to stealing.
"Just because it's technically possible doesn't mean you can do that,'' said
Bill Roberts of the North American Broadcasters Association, representing 37
networks and other broadcasters in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Another industry group, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, threatened
legal steps if iCraveTV.com continued redistributing the television signals.
But Craig argues that iCraveTV.com is not so different from other
controversial media innovations of the past 50 years, such as when radio
stations first broadcast records or consumers used audio and
video tapes to record music and television programming. While he has offered
to negotiate copyright fees for the programming involved, Roberts said this
is like "stealing a car and saying afterward you're willing to pay for it."
Craig noted it is "entirely within the law" and said that anyone linking up
to the iCraveTV.com Web site must declare their computer is in Canada, where
he said copyright laws allow the television signals to be retransmitted. But
technically, anyone outside Canada can declare their computer is in Canada.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury, AUTHOR: Tom Cohen (Associated Press)]
(http://www.sjmercury.com/svtech/news/breaking/ap/docs/1163827l.htm)
JAPAN EDGES CLOSER TO AFFORDABLE WEB ACCESS
Issue: Internet
Japan's state-run telecommunications company, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone
(NTT) has reached a breakthrough with Internet access providers over how
much it would charge for use of its phone lines for Asymmetric Digital
Subscriber Line (ADSL) service. Analysts expect the spread of ADSL
technology, already widely used in the U.S and Britain, to force NTT to trim
its high Internet access charges, which is one of the main reasons many of
the Japanese are not on the Web. The service, using ADSL technology, will
allow ISPs and small telephone carriers to launch low-price, high-speed
Internet access service using NTT's conventional copper telephone lines. NTT
has agreed to charge the ISPs 8000 yen ($7.8) a month per subscriber for the
use of NTT phone lines, which is likely to touch off intense competition for
Japan's Web users. Immediately after this announcement, Tokyo Metallic
Communications, a competitor, announced a fixed monthly access fee of 6,300
yen by the end of 1999. Competition will likely intensify next year, with
players including the telecom carrier KDD, Japan Telecom and several
start-up ventures, all using ADSL. Japan's Internet users totaled 17 million
as of March 1999, while web users in the U.S., according to some estimates,
are expected to reach 80 million by the end of the year.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury, AUTHOR: Kiyoshi Takenaka (Reuters)]
(http://www.sjmercury.com/svtech/news/breaking/internet/docs/1164685l.htm)
A PYRAMID MARKETING PLOY CLICKS
Issue: Advertising
Internet users are making money through a new Internet marketing process.
Dozens of companies are paying audiences who are willing to let advertisers
track their Web surfing and send them ads tailored to their habits. These
pay-to-surf companies give surfers a portion of their revenue from selling
ads. Advertisers see the formula as cash payments attracting more "eyeballs"
that let the companies raise ad rates since surfers will respond more
frequently to ads that interest them. Supporters say this approach will
transform online marketing by making it more efficient and personal.
Skeptics, compare the pay-to-surf business model to off-line pyramid
marketing. They point out that advertisers will have difficulty ensuring
people really pay attention to the ads, which flow into a window the users
must keep open on their computer screens. Some surfers block out the ad
window with masking tape while others use software programs that simulate
Internet surfing by automating mouse movements while they are away from
their computers.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A1), AUTHOR: Ariana Eunjung Cha and Leslie Walker]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28670-1999Dec7.html)
EXTRA, EXTRA, DOWNLOAD ALL ABOUT IT
Issue: Internet
The Internet is cutting into the profits margins of imported newsstand
businesses. Instead of buying newspapers from around the country at local
newsstands that import them, readers are logging online to visit the
newspapers' Web sites. According to Editor & Publisher magazine, 2,224
newspapers in the US and Canada have Web sites, more than double the number
two years ago. Another 1,500 overseas newspapers are on the Web. Newsstand
owners chalk declining sales up to bookstore chains and the Internet. "Out
of town classifieds have moved to the Internet," one newsstand owner said.
[SOURCE: USA Today (3A), AUTHOR: Fred Bayles]
(http://www.usatoday.com)
HEALTH
IT'S NOT A PERFECT WORLD
Issue: Health/Internet
Questionnaires that help people become aware of their own depression have
now become available on the Internet. Gunn believes that these kinds of
resources highlight the Internet's promise. "A person needs help when they
need it, and let's face it - the Internet is out there 24/7," she notes. It
is essential, says Gunn, that people have the ability to confidentially take
advantage of the personal support and information provided on the Internet.
For this reason, she suggests that work places give their employees a little
"`confidential time` on their computers" each week. "It could help with any
number of other medical conditions, like HIV, as well as other pressing
personal needs."
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Moira Gunn]
(http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/columns/gunn/docs/mg120799.htm)
E-COMMERCE
EU ECONOMIC MINISTERS APPROVE DRAFT LAW TO EASE E-COMMERCE
Issue: E-commerce
A draft e-commerce law that promises to eliminate trade barriers within the
15-nation European Union moved forward a bit with a blessing from EU
economics ministers. The directive on "legal aspects of electronic commerce
in the EU's internal market" aims to establish legal guidelines for every
aspect of electronic services, including online newspapers, databases,
financial services, professional services and entertainment such as
video-on-demand. Most of the law deals with business relationships but parts
apply to consumer issues such as consumer protection, freedom of speech and
advertising directed at consumers. Although it still faces a second reading
in the European Parliament, the directive would put all electronic contracts
on the same legal footing as any other contracts; establish the principle of
mutual recognition of the laws of other EU countries; require online
operators to provide clear information about their identity; limit the
liability of intermediaries in cases where they merely act as a conduit for
illegal content and allow doctors, lawyers and other professionals to
operate online.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Brandon Mitchener]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB944592061873399168.htm)
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