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Wednesday Afternoon, May
13, 1998
News
Audition for the Daily Links
Team
So far, Your Humble Editor has written every word of every Daily
Links page since January.... And it's taken a big chunk of my time! If
the Daily Links are going to continue to be, well, Daily Links, we'll need
to get some other folks to do the pages two or three days a week. Hence,
the Daily Links Team.
Members of the Daily Links Team will be hand-picked individuals
with good writing skills, good grammar, a sense of humor, a broad perspective
on the computer and telecommunications industries, and enough HTML savvy
to compose a Web page based on a standard template. Knowledge of JavaScript
and/or Perl is a plus. Team members should be motivated by a sense of fun
and passion as well as profit. (Right now, YMMV has no income to
pay anyone with. But as we move to a reader-supported model -- by the end
of the summer -- there will be money to pay a decent fee for each page.)
If you're interested in auditioning for the Daily Links Team, please contact
us at the "Feedback" link at the bottom of this page.
The Most Beautiful Dwarf
In The World?
Well, it's official: according to this Web page, Hank the Angry,
Drunken Dwarf has won the #1 spot in People Magazine's "Most Beautiful
People" poll. The write-in campaign started by shock jock Howard Stern,
on whose radio show the character appears, snowballed until Hank won by
a huge margin. A professional wrestler (who actually is quite a hunk, according
to YMMV's ad hoc panel of female judges) was #2, followed by the usual
cadre of movie stars and starlets.
People
Will "No New Internet Taxes"
Benefit Only The Rich?
According to one study, eliminating taxes on Internet purchases
could benefit the rich more than the middle class or the poor. But we think
the result is overblown; Internet access is now far cheaper than basic
cable, which many poor families have. And the exemption from "new" Internet
taxes won't eliminate state use taxes, which have been around for decades.
Reuters/ZDNN
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Documentum Allies With Microsoft
Documentum, a maker of groupware and paperless office software,
has formed an alliance with Microsoft and is putting all of its eggs in
the Windows NT basket. We wish the company well, but wouldn't exactly want
to invest in it.... Microsoft is known to ally with such companies only
long enough to appropriate and copy their technology.
San
Jose Mercury News
RIAA Cracks Down On Web
Music
Ever wonder why so may Web sites that used to have music are now
eerily quiet? Or why, when you search for a song on the Web, you so often
get broken links? The answer: the RIAA, ASCAP, and other music industry
groups are shutting the sites down as fast as they pop up. The groups have
latched onto the notion that every time one visits a Web site with music,
or downloads a MIDI sequence, one is enjoying a "performance" of the piece
and royalties must be paid.
While some kinds of copying do hurt composers and performers, we're
not convinced that these overzealous watchdog groups are hurting anyone
but their own members. For example, if the Web doesn't provide a means
of listening to a CD before one buys it (as one can do in a store), there
will surely be fewer online sales -- and the Internet will be a sterile,
silent place.
C|Net
NEWS.COM
By The Time You Read This,
Microsoft Will Probably Be Sued Again
The big "non-news" of the day today consisted of widespread rumors
that the DoJ and nearly 20 state Attorneys General will file antitrust
suits against Microsoft tomorrow (Thursday). Thursday will be the day before
Microsoft is supposed to ship Windows 98 to manufacturers for inclusion
in new systems, and it's expected that the various government officials
will seek a temporary restraining order and then a preliminary injunction
against the shipment. We suspect that the reason the government is displaying
such dramatic brinksmanship is that they had to wait until Microsoft had
a finished product -- or close to it -- before they could use it as evidence.
In any event, watch the major Web news outlets for initial reports; we'll
sum up at the end of the day.
CNNfn
Digital Jam
What's In A Name? Trouble,
If It's A Domain
This USA Today story summarizes the state of trademarks and domain
names on the Internet -- and the picture doesn't look good. Existing trademark
law can't handle the notion of a truly global Internet, and there's no
consensus on what the rules should be. We have some ideas, which
we plan to put online in our AFAIK
section soon.
USA
Today
Senate Wants To Outlaw Both
Spamming And Slamming
An amendment to a bill on its way through the US Senate has turned
an anti-slamming bill into an anti-spamming bill as well. In particular,
it outlaws "spoofing" -- sending e-mail with a bogus return address. We
wonder, though, if the bill has adequate safeguards for anonymous transmissions.
Also, because there's no penalty until the second offense, we wonder what
good it'll do; most spams are one-off volleys that last only until a dial-up
account is turned off.
C|Net
NEWS.COM
US West/Qwest Deal Legal?
Rivals say that the "virtual merger" between US West and Qwest
should not allow US West to offer long distance service until it opens
up local markets to competition. And they're suing to make their point.
CNNfn
Digital Jam
Internet Explorer and IIS:
Yet Another Bug
According to BugNet, Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Internet
Information Server fail when they interact via Microsoft's caching proxy
server. The browser hangs and never gets the page, leaving users high and
dry. The report says that the bug only crops up on Microsoft's proprietary
"active server pages."
C|Net
NEWS.COM
Commentary
Major Disconnect: Time To
Revisit The Telecom Act
Dan Gillmor notes that the US' largest telecomm companies made
out like bandits as a result of the 1996 Telecomm Act, which deregulated
them but has yet to spark real competition in most places. Time for a course
correction? Dan thinks so, and so do we.
San
Jose Mercury News
Jenni Talks
Jennifer Ringley, better known as the star of "Jennicam,"
talks about what it's like to have a Webcam peeking out from the corner
of her bedroom, broadcasting the intimate details of her life to the Web
24 hours a day. (Ironicallly, the site that's made her so famous is very
popular but not particularly profitable.) You'll need the RealPlayer to
hear this interview.
ZDTV
Fine Print
The citations (hyperlinks) in this column will take you away
from the YMMV Web site. We try to link to only the best, but since we can't
control the editorial content of others' Web pages, we cannot be responsible
for errors, omissions, or damaging information that might appear there.
For the same reason, we cannot guarantee that the material won't
change, move, or even vanish! The names of the publications cited are,
in virtually all cases, their trademarks or service marks.
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