DIGITAL DIVIDE
FCC Dials In On Phone Inequities (USA)
BROADCASTING
Radio We All Need (WP)
UPI to Sell Its Radio Unit (WP)
INTERNET
Web Becomes A Cybertool For Political Activists (WSJ)
Microsoft-AOL War Heats Up Over Plans for Internet Access (WSJ)
Internet Showing Its Value in Remote Alaskan Villages (NYT)
Nebraska Students Get a Look at the Innards of the Internet (NYT)
Big Business Experiments with Web Art (CyberTimes)
Living Dorm Life In Camera's Eye (USA)
WIRELESS
Talk Not Cheap in LA, Boston, other U.S. Cities (SJM)
Cell Phone Craze Has Italy Humming (NYT)
INTERNATIONAL
Telecommunications in Mexico Lag Behind Deregulation Effort (WSJ)
INFOTECH
Colleges, Public Schools Lag in Y2K Preparations (WSJ)
Free Computer Network Goes Offline (SJM)
DIGITAL DIVIDE
FCC DIALS IN ON PHONE INEQUITIES
Issue: Digital Divide
The Federal Communications Commission is expected to propose rules today to
improve telecommunications access on Indian reservations. Only around half
of homes on reservations have phones and fewer than 20% on many tribal
lands, compared to 95% phone penetration in all of U.S. homes. "Telephone
service on Indian lands in a disgrace," said FCC chairman William Kennard.
"I am committed that we do every thing we can to make sure we don't leave
the Indian people in the dark ages." The FCC proposals will include, asking
phone companies to bid for federal subsidies to serve reservations,
providing discounts in airwave auctions to wireless companies that will
serve reservations, making wireless carries eligible for federal
subsidies to build networks on reservations, and increasing phone discounts
for residents of reservations.
[SOURCE: USA Today (3B), AUTHOR: Paul Davidson]
(http://USA.today.com/)
BROADCASTING
RADIO WE ALL NEED
Issue: Public Broadcasting
[Editorial] In response to a George Will column -- "Who Needs Public
Broadcasting?" -- Cohen says public broadcasting is something we all need.
Nothing like "Morning Edition" or "All Things Considered" can be found
anywhere else. These shows are of higher quality than what can be found on
TV news, they retain an interest in foreign news and help bind a nation.
They make us one community. And, though cable television might offer
programming for children, it's not free. Only 15% of public broadcasting's
funds come from the government/taxpayers, anyway, which help perpetuate or
create something that otherwise would not exist.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A23), AUTHOR: Richard Cohen]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-08/05/116l-080599-idx.html)
UPI TO SELL ITS RADIO UNIT
Issue: Ownership
As early as next week, United Press International could sell its radio news
operation and exit the radio business. Though a buyer has not been
identified, the wire service is trying to move from a conventional wire
service to an Internet newsletter agency. "In radio, you have to produce
stuff that I'm not at all interested in producing," said UPI President
Arnaud de Borchgrave. "Producing headlines every hour on the hour is very
manpower-intensive and not the kind of effort you'd like to expend on a
wire service that is positioning itself for the next century, one that is
entirely Web-based." The subscription-based Internet newsletter service
will focus on diplomacy, intelligence and political issues.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (C1), AUTHOR: Frank Ahrens]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-08/05/170l-080599-idx.html)
INTERNET
WEB BECOMES A CYBERTOOL FOR POLITICAL ACTIVISTS
Issue: Activism/Internet
As the Internet becomes a hot bed of political activism, some analysts wonder
about the ultimate effectiveness of online advocacy and protest. But Web
activists say the Internet is a revolutionary organizing tool. "There are
two benefits of the Internet that I see," says Evan Henshaw-Plath, founder
of Protest.Net. "One is that it enables users to discuss coordinated action
and more easily mobilize others. The second is that there are no printing
costs which allows more people to express their views." An organization
called J18 used the Web to coordinate a protest with more than 2,000
participants that coincided with the Group of Eight conference in Cologne.
Other Web activism is centered in cyberspace, such as sites that make it
easy for individuals to email concerns to public officials.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B11), AUTHOR: Edward Harris]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB9337981299111661.htm)
MICROSOFT-AOL WAR HEATS UP OVER PLANS FOR INTERNET ACCESS
Issue: Online Services
The No.1 software maker and No.1 online service are at war over
instant-messaging, but now Microsoft is taking up AOL's dial-up
Internet-access business. Microsoft is laying plans to provide low-price,
or even free, Internet access, a trend that threatens AOL directly. "We
intend to be aggressive with access," said Brad Chase of Microsoft. "AOL
might think about it as a profit center. That's not how we think about it."
AOL has hinted at developing an alternative software "platform," which
could threaten Microsoft's operating system. Steve Case, AOL's chief
executive, has said, "Windows is the past. In the future, AOL is the next
Microsoft." Though Microsoft has obtained subscribers through its MSN
Messenger to compete against AOL's Instant Messenger, it continues to rally
industry executives to push AOL to open up it's proprietary instant
messaging service and is pondering plans to consolidate the fragmented
Internet-service market and broaden its cut-rate offerings.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B6), AUTHOR:Nick Wingfield and David Bank]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB933809287178472446.htm)
INTERNET SHOWING ITS VALUE IN REMOTE ALASKAN VILLAGES
Issue: Internet
Alaska is tripling its fiber-optic connection to the lower 48 to improve
Internet and telephone connectivity for its 600,000 residents. "It has gone
from being like the Long Island Expressway at rush hour to a major
interstate across Nevada in the middle of the night," said Ronald Duncan,
president of General Communications in Anchorage. The fiber-optic advances
will reach a population that is unusually sophisticated when it comes to the
Net. Alaska has relatively young residents, as many older people retire to
warmer climates. According to 1998 figures from Fort Nocs, an E-commerce
company in Anchorage, 40% of the households in the lower 48 states have
computers and about a quarter of them are on line, while 73% of Alaskans
have computers and just over half of them are on line. Internet use is
highest in the winter when it is really cold, dark and there's not much for
people to do. The benefits include telemedicine, education and ecommerce.
[SOURCE: New York Times (D9), AUTHOR: Tina Kelley]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/08/circuits/articles/05alas.html)
NEBRASKA STUDENTS GET A LOOK AT THE INNARDS OF THE INTERNET
Issue: Education/Internet Infrastructure
To show students how buildings are engineered in the Internet age, the Peter
Kiewit Institute of Information Science, Technology and Engineering at the
University of Nebraska at Omaha was built with cables exposed and wiring
closets with glass doors. "We had a great desire to build something that
wouldn't simply house programs," said Winnie L. Callahan, the institute's
executive director. "The idea of a building as laboratory came immediately
to mind." "Books are nice, but all the technical information in the world
doesn't give you the feel of a fiber-optics connection," said Bing Chen,
co-chairman of the computers and electronics engineering program at the
University of Nebraska at Omaha. "It doesn't give you the sense of how all
the networks are really distributed in a building."
[SOURCE: New York Times (D7), AUTHOR: Lisa Guernsey]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/08/circuits/articles/05nebr.html)
BIG BUSINESS EXPERIMENTS WITH WEB ART
Issue: Arts
Major corporations are showing more interest in buying the work of online
artists. Companies like MTV, the makers of Altoids and Absolut vodka have
sponsored curated exhibitions and promotional campaigns featuring digital
art and music in an effort to attract sophisticated, demographically
desirable customers. Some projects are product-focused others are not. The
challenge remains, however, to uphold creativity while staying within
company content guidelines. The timing of this new trend, however, is for
the moment proving beneficial to artists.
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Matthew Mirapaul]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/08/cyber/artsatlarge/05artsatlarg...)
LIVING DORM LIFE IN CAMERA'S EYE
Issue: Lifestyles!
At campuses around the country, students are going (all the way) online. A
new trend among some college students is to record and display their
day-to-day activities on the Internet using a Webcam. "It's weird and
voyeuristic and different and stupid. And it's fun and funny to watch,"
said college junior Ben Miller, whose life is tracked by a Webcam. This new
trend has raised some tough ethical and legal questions for universities,
like: "What if an unsuspecting roommate is taped in a compromising
position?" Ashley Carl, a spokeswoman for Hillshorough Community college in
Tampa, admits that officials are "struggling with how strict you can be."
Colleges, she said, have a particularly tough time negotiating the
appropriate use of new technologies and the preservation of academic freedom.
[SOURCE: USA Today (C1), AUTHOR: Mary Beth Marklein]
(http://wsj.com/)
WIRELESS
TALK NOT CHEAP IN LA, BOSTON, OTHER U.S. CITIES
Issue: Wireless
Econ One Research, a Los Angeles economic research firm, found that Los
Angeles, Boston, Detroit and San Francisco are the most expensive U.S.
cities for wireless phone users. Cell phone users in these cities buying
between 600 and 1,500 minutes of talk time pay an average between $120 and
$115 a month, while heavy cell users in Chicago pay an average of $111.56
and those in Philadelphia pay $93.58. Researchers at Econ One said the
relatively high rates seen in major California cities were a reflection of
geography and mobility, with a large population of cell phone users
demanding service in areas where wireless towers are often difficult to build.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Reuters]
(http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/ap/docs/722931l.htm)
CELL PHONE CRAZE HAS ITALY HUMMING
Issue: Wireless/International
Italy ranks 6th in the world with 36.3% of the population using cell phones.
The country now has more cell phones than telephone lines -- a feat only
accomplished in the small country of Nokia...um, I mean, Finland. Italy has
three wireless providers and a fourth will start providing service by year's
end. The costs per calls can be as low as six cents per minute in the evening.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A8), AUTHOR: Alessandra Stanley]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/europe/080599italy-cell-mania.html)
INTERNATIONAL
TELECOMMUNICATIONS IN MEXICO LAG BEHIND DEREGULATION EFFORT
Issue: International/Telephone
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) released a
study that applauds Mexico's regulatory-reform efforts but also says more
progress needs to be done in the telecommunications sector. The report says
prices remain "very high" while the number of phones per capita in Mexico
is by far the lowest of OECD countries. It says the government should
impose additional regulations on Telefonos de Mexico SA to remove
barriers to entrants in the telecommunications business and clarify methods
for settling interconnection rates among carriers. AT&T, MCI WorldCom should
especially be pleased as the companies believe the government should curtail
the role of the dominant phone company. Telmex Chairman Carlos Slim Helu
called the report "perverse," saying rigorous competition already exists.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A15), AUTHOR: Jonathan Friedland]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB933808063805735301.htm)
INFOTECH
COLLEGES, PUBLIC SCHOOLS LAG IN Y2K PREPARATIONS
Issue: Y2K
The Department of Education reports that nearly 40% of U.S. colleges and
30% of public school districts in the U.S. will not be Y2K ready by October
1st. "I'm concerned, because that doesn't leave a lot of time for them to
correct their mission-critical systems this year if they fall behind
schedule," said Bob Davidson, chief of the department's Year 2000 project
team. Critical systems that could be effected include cooling or heating
buildings, registration and preparation of class and bus schedules, report
cards, transcripts and payrolls. This could be especially problematic for
some schools which are slated to be used as emergency shelters if Y2K
emergencies interrupt their community's supply of water, electricity or fuel.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Cox News Service]
(http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/merc/docs/011654.htm)
FREE COMPUTER NETWORK GOES OFFLINE
Issue: Y2K
The nation's fist free community network, Cleveland Free-Net, has succumbed
to the effects of the so called Y2K bug. Cleveland Free-Net, which was
started at Case Western University in 1984, is scheduled to cease
operations on October 1 of this year. The system was not programmed to
recognize the year 2000, and university officials say that it would require
too much time and personnel to fix the problem. The free-net has about
7,000 visitors daily.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Associated Press]
(http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/ap/docs/722931l.htm)
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With phrases like "going (all the way)" and words like "perverse," our
Beevis and Butthead readership is sure to soar today.