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---------- Forwarded Message ----------
Date: Friday, March 17, 2000, 1:50 PM -0500
From: Faulkner Mail Server <mailserver@faulknerinfo.com>
To: ???
Subject: Faulkner's Cyberscape Digest 03/17/2000

                                 CYBERSCAPE DIGEST

Welcome to CyberScape Digest, a roundup of top internet stories delivered
weekly to Faulkner Information Services subscribers.

This issue of CyberScape Digest covers events from Monday 03/13 through
Friday 03/17. Here's what you should know...

Mergers Proliferate Among Old, New Companies...
One of the biggest merger stories this week happened early on, when the
Tribune and the Times Mirror agreed to merge in a deal worth $8 billion. Why
talk about such an "old media" deal? Between the two of them, they possess a
large enough network of Web sites to make the combined company one of the
top 20 Internet destinations for news and entertainment. They also own 22 TV
stations, 11 daily newspapers, four radio stations, and the Chicago Cubs
(somebody has to). For this week's biggest merger, look to a couple of newer
companies: i2 Technologies and Aspect Development, both software makers
involved in the B2B marketplace. The former agreed to buy the latter for
stock valued at $9.3 billion in what both companies claim is the largest
merger in the history of the software industry. Software makers E.piphany
and Octane also agreed to merge, with E.piphany putting up stock valued at
$3.2 billion to complete the transaction. Online auctioneer FreeMarkets bid
$325.1 million in stock for iMark.com, operator of an online surplus
marketplace. The purchase puts FreeMarkets in a good position in the online
B2B space, which has been growing by leaps and bounds over the past few
weeks. Online health products merchant HealthCentral.com spent $103.5
million in stock to take its vitamins--more precisely, to purchase
Vitamins.com, a company that sells vitamins online. Working on the
convergence between voice phone calls and the Web, HearMe Networks agreed to
acquire AudioTalk Networks in a mostly stock deal. The deal will allow
HearMe to expand the capabilities of its technology to connect to ordinary
non-Internet-connected telephones. In a different sort of "convergence"
deal, online financial-services firm E-Trade agreed to purchase Card Capture
Services, owner of a network of 8500 ATM machines in 48 US states and three
countries. With this deal, E-Trade will be able to offer its customers more
convenient access to their money--a major hurdle for online-only banks.
Finally, VA Linux agreed to purchase two companies in cash-and-stock
transactions worth $189 million and $38 million. From TruSolutions, VA Linux
gains a slim server design; from NetAttach, the company gains some storage
system knowhow. 
[ http://www.tribune.com/ ], [ http://www.timesmirror.com/ ], [
http://www.i2.com/ ], [ http://www.aspect.com/ ], [ http://www.epiphany.com/
], [ http://www.octane.com/ ], [ http://www.freemarkets.com/ ], [
http://www.imark.com/ ], [ http://www.healthcentral.com/ ], [
http://www.vitamins.com/ ], [ http://www.hearme.com/ ], [
http://www.audiotalk.com/ ], [ http://www.etrade.com/ ], [
http://www.valinux.com/ ], [ http://www.trusolutions.com/ ], [
http://www.netattach.com/ ]

..But Two Decline to Join the Party
Citing finances, online retailer CDNow and direct-mail company Columbia
House called off their plans to merge. CDNow CEO Jason Olim explained that
Columbia House received too little income and held too much debt to help his
own loss-suffering company grow. Columbia House CEO Scott Flanders pointed
to the regulatory problems slowing down the merger as a major contributor to
the cancellation of the deal. Columbia House will still invest $51 million
in CDNow, however.
[ http://www.cdnow.com/ ], [ http://www.columbiahouse.com/ ]

Microsoft's Busy Week
Granted, Microsoft always has a busy week, but this week it received a lot
of help from others to make sure it stayed busy. The first of these others,
Andersen Consulting, accepted a $385 million investment from the software
giant to create a joint venture. Dubbed Avenade, the venture will target
businesses of all sizes and provide Internet services based around
Microsoft's Windows 2000. Microsoft also put its money where its mouth is
with RealNames, taking a 20 percent stake in the Internet keyword address
system developer. America Online uses a similar system; could this be the
start of another Microsoft-AOL war? Be that as it may, one should not
confuse RealNames with RealNetworks, a Microsoft rival in the downloadable
audio arena. But just in case one does, Microsoft also dealt with
RealNetworks, agreeing to grant it a free license to the Windows Media audio
technology for the RealJukebox product. Don't think for a minute this means
RealNetworks gave up competing; RealJukebox still supports a variety of
audio formats. If these deals leave one wondering where Microsoft wants to
go today...perhaps the answer is "home," as in home mortgage. Teaming up
with Freddie Mac, Chase Manhattan, and Bank of America, the software giant
is launching HomeAdvisor Technologies, a new company with its own Web site
designed to automate and streamline many of the steps involved in getting a
home mortgage. To shore up the new venture, it already made its first
purchase: Tuttle Decision Systems, a mortgage technology company. If the
name of the new company's Web site seems familiar, it's because Microsoft
already possesses the service as part of the Microsoft Network; it's
spinning it off. To round out the week, Microsoft found itself in the
embarrassing position of needing to stop network administrators from using a
security patch for its Internet Explorer 5.0 browsers. Seems that the patch
can prevent Windows 2000 users from logging into their computers. Oops.
[ http://www.microsoft.com/ ], [ http://www.andersen.com/ ], [
http://www.realnames.com/ ], [ http://www.aol.com/ ], [
http://www.realnetworks.com/ ], [ http://www.homeadvisor.com/ ], [
http://www.tuttle.com/ ], [ http://www.freddiemac.com/ ], [
http://www.chase.com/ ], [ http://www.bankofamerica.com/ ]  

Billions of B2B Deals
Okay, perhaps the headline exaggerates a bit, but it certainly seemed as if
an overwhelming number of companies leaped onto the B2B bandwagon. For a
deal with real chemistry, look no further than VerticalNet and Eastman
Chemical creating an Internet marketplace for the $64 billion paint and
coatings industry. The deal will take advantage of a site started about two
years ago by VerticalNet, which will now feature Eastman Chemical as its
first anchor tenant. Another deal, sure to go places, featured six
transportation companies starting up Transplace.com, an online marketplace
focused on logistics needs. Each company will put $5 million into the joint
venture, which includes J.B. Hunt, Covenant Transport, US Xpress, and
others. Entrade, a B2B software maker, hooked up with Textron Financial,
Safeguard Scientifics, and ATM Service, to create a B2B marketplace for the
resale of surplus industrial equipment, excess inventory, and commercial
real estate. The companies aim to launch the marketplace, dubbed
AssetControl.com, by the end of June. Ariba, glutton for B2B deals, made
two. With American Express, Ariba agreed to work on electronic payment
services for transactions between businesses; the services will, among other
things, permit users to automate the authorization, payment, and settlement
of shipments into a single transaction. With Dell, Ariba agreed to create a
B2B marketplace for small- and medium-sized businesses.  Commerce One looked
east for a B2B deal in China with seven Chinese companies: Beijing
Enterprises, i-Cable Ventures, Jardine Internet, New World China Enterprises
Projects, SUNeVision, Swire Net Ventures, and WI Harper Group. The firms
will work together on a worldwide B2B portal for the exchange of goods and
services. The portal will target a wide range of industries, including
aviation, healthcare products, and retail. For its second B2B deal of the
week, Commerce One worked with Concert. As a result of the deal, Concert, a
joint venture between two telecommunications companies, will be able to
create and host Web sites for the exchange of goods and services.
[ http://www.verticalnet.com/ ], [ http://www.eastman.com/ ], [
http://www.transplace.com/ ], [ http://www.jbhunt.com/ ], [
http://www.usxpress.com/ ], [ http://www.entrade.com/ ], [
http://www.textron.com/ ], [ http://www.ariba.com/ ], [ http://www.dell.com/
], [ http://www.americanexpress.com/ ], [ http://www.commerceone.com/ ], [
http://www.concert.com/ ]

AOL Has Sears, Plus a Whole Lot More
America Online and Sears teamed up to market AOL's products and services to
Sears customers in more than 800 Sears stores. The customers will be able to
pay their AOL bills with their Sears charge card. The marketing agreement
puts Sears on AOL's Web sites and calls for the creation of a co-branded
version of AOL. The two companies also agreed to work together on broadband
initiatives. Perhaps this deal left AOL feeling hungry--because it also made
a marketing agreement with OpenTable to let customers book restaurant
reservations through AOL's Digital City Web sites. A long-anticipated matter
was finally settled between AOL and Bertelsmann, with Bertelsmann selling
its share of their AOL Europe and AOL Australia joint ventures for a
reported $8.25 billion. Observers have been expecting the deal since AOL and
Time Warner announced their merger agreement, because Bertelsmann competes
with Time Warner. Finally, let it not be said that Microsoft's mistakes get
preferential treatment here; AOL makes its share of mistakes. This week, the
company found it necessary to disavow "Gnutella," a program which several
workers in its music software division came up with for sharing digital
files easily. The software is similar in function to Napster, whose makers
are being sued for piracy by the Recording Industry Association of America.
The program had been posted on one of AOL's Web pages, but was taken down.  
[ http://www.aol.com/ ], [ http://www.sears.com/ ], [
http://www.opentable.com/ ], [ http://www.bertelsmann.de/ ], [
http://www.timewarner.com/ ]

Legal Matters and the Internet
A restrictive anti-spam law passed in the state of Washington violates the
interstate commerce clause of the US Constitution, a King County Superior
Court judge ruled. Judge Palmer Robinson declared that the law is "unduly
restrictive and burdensome." Among other typical spammer practices, it
forbids the use of misleading information in the subject line. The state
must decide by April 10 whether to appeal the ruling. Meanwhile, in another
case with Constitutional implications, the news site APBnews.com won a
powerful backer in its campaign to place the public financial records of US
judges on its Web site. US Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist
wrote a six-page letter supporting the company and denouncing the judges who
stand opposed to the move. The letter caused the US federal judiciary to
back off from its attempts to bar the records from the Web site. APBnews
hailed the action as an important First Amendment victory for Internet news
sites. Of course, the Internet also raises copyright issues, which brings up
a case involving reverse engineering. Microsystems Software, maker of the
Internet filtering program Cyber Patrol, is pursuing a federal lawsuit
against Eddy Jansson and Matthew Skala for distributing a program that
allows a user to grab the password and thus gain access to the "filtered"
Web sites. Neither of the two live in the US, so it's questionable whether
US law--in this case, copyright law, according to the Microsystems
suit--applies to them. In Virginia, governor James Gilmore signed the
Universal Computer Information Transaction Act into law. UCITA helps govern
the use of so-called "shrink-wrap licenses" and both supporters and
opponents of the measure have spilled much ink on the matter. The law will
not take effect until mid-2001; other states are considering enacting
similar laws. Finally, the Justice Department is so concerned about
cybercrime that it launched a Web site to act as a one-stop center of
information on the subject. The ambitious site displays press releases,
speeches, Congressional testimony, legal texts, information on intellectual
property piracy, and similar matters. It also covers international aspects
of computer crime, encryption and computer crime, and even includes a kids'
page with "Internet Do's and Don'ts."     
[ http://www.apbnews.com/ ], [ http://www.cyberpatrol.com/ ], [
http://www.state.va.us/governor/ ], [ http://www.usdoj.gov/ ]

Companies Team up to Increase Range of Services
It seems like the easiest way for a company to increase its reach, and the
range of services it offers to customers, is by teaming up with another
company. At least, that's what one would think when looking at this week's
variety of deals. Taking advantage of a certain deadline looming large in
the minds of most US citizens next month, AltaVista added tax services to
its list of services by linking up with H&R Block. The one-year agreement
calls for the two companies to build a tax preparation site, with services
provided by H&R Block and promotion provided by AltaVista. Three other
companies taking advantage of each other's expertise are Clique.com, Attic
Futura, and North South Publishing. The first company, a US-based Internet
company that helps put publishers on the Internet, will work with the other
two companies, UK publishers of teen magazines, to launch a Web site for
teenagers in the UK. Net2Phone and RealNetworks teamed up to offer the
former's software for making phone calls over the Internet bundled with the
latter's software for downloading and playing music over the Internet. The
two companies are throwing a headset and 100 domestic minutes of calling in
for free to those who download RealPlayer and register for Net2Phone. Hmmm.
Does this mean users can play their own favorite music while waiting on
hold? Speaking of music, Yahoo got together with Launch Media and Softbank
to create a joint venture for getting into the international online music
market. Or, for those who prefer conversation, especially while driving,
Ford and Sprint agreed to begin offering wireless phones with both voice and
data capabilities in some model year 2001 Lincolns.  
[ http://www.altavista.com/ ], [ http://www.hrblock.com/ ], [
http://www.clique.com/ ], [ http://www.realnetworks.com/ ], [
http://www.net2phone.com/ ], [ http://www.yahoo.com/ ], [
http://www.launch.com/ ], [ http://www.softbank.com/ ], [
http://www.ford.com/ ], [ http://www.sprint.com/ ]

Businesses Introduce B2B Services
Some companies team up to offer B2B services and marketplaces; others go it
alone. Comdisco, for instance, began pitching a suite of services for
Internet start-ups to assist with B2B e-commerce. Are they reliable? Well,
one certainly hopes so; Comdisco used to specialize in disaster recovery.
EarthLink is also getting into the B2B biz, with a business services branch
called--what else?--EarthLink Biz. Online auction house eBay expanded into
B2B with the launch of its Business Exchange, aimed at the small business
market. SAP also adjusted its focus, creating a subsidiary dedicated to the
B2B sector. Dubbed SAPMarkets, the company's mission will be to build online
marketplaces.
[ http://www.comdisco.com/ ], [ http://www.earthlink.net/business/ ], [
http://www.ebay.com/ ], [ http://www.sap.com/ ]

Network Solutions Slapped with Lawsuit
A class-action suit on behalf of eight domain name registrars was filed
against Network Solutions, the National Science Foundation, and the US
Department of Commerce in a US District Court in San Francisco. The suit,
which seeks $1.7 billion in refunds and antitrust damages, accuses NSI of
violating federal law by charging a $70 fee plus $35 per year renewal for
Internet domain name registration. The suit also claims that NSI failed to
restrict .com, .net, and .org domain names to commercial companies, ISPs,
and not-for-profits, as called for by Internet protocols--thus committing
breach of contract with the government. The attorney bringing the suit,
William Bode, maintains that the Internet is a public facility and calls
NSI's fees "unconstitutional." For its part, Network Solutions pointed out
that this lawyer is the same one "who has unsuccessfully challenged the
company in lawsuits stretching back to 1997" and that the suit is similar to
an earlier lawsuit brought against the company "which was dismissed in its
entirety." The company believes the suit to be entirely without merit and
plans to oppose it vigorously.   
[ http://www.nsi.com/ ], [ http://www.nsf.gov/ ], [ http://www.doc.gov/ ]

Does China Finally "Get" the Internet?
While its citizens have taken to the Internet like cranes to the air, all
things considered, China's government has been slower to adapt, building
walls around the communications medium. But its attitude may be
changing--slowly. This week, Beijing reportedly changed its mind about
forbidding the use of products with encryption software designed outside the
country. The original rules would have prevented Microsoft from marketing
Windows 2000 in China, and forced other companies to remove their own
encryption and replace it with encryption from Chinese companies. In many
cases, the redesign would have caused significant delays with technology
roll-outs--for mobile phone networks, for instance. The Chinese government
also ventured onto the Internet with 21 Dragon News Network, the first
company authorized to release official news online. Nine Beijing-based news
firms agreed to work together to keep the Chinese language Web site updated
24 hours a day.  
[ http://www.microsoft.com/ ]

Unmetered Access in UK Gains Three More Supporters
After three companies introduced unmetered Internet access in the UK in
rapid succession, three more joined the bandwagon this week. LineOne linked
up with Quip for an end-of-the-month offer: unmetered access if the user
pays 20 pounds (US$32) for a phone dialer and makes a minimum of five pounds
(US$8) a month in calls on Quip's service. Breathe.net advertised unmetered
access in exchange for a 50 pound (US$80) registration fee, paid only once.
The company is already registering users for the service, which launches
April 3. Finally, Freeserve teamed with Energis to offer two different
unmetered access plans. The  6.99 pound plan (US$11) provides users with
unmetered access only during off-peak hours, and starts in May. The
all-the-time unmetered plan requires users to make 10 pounds (US$16) per
month of voice calls with Energis.
[ http://www.lineone.com/ ], [ http://www.quip.com/ ], [
http://www.breathe.net/ ], [ http://www.freeserve.net/ ] 

IPO Interest Heats Up with Warmer Weather
Spring warmed the air a little early this week, and the IPO market grew
frisky in response to the thaw. FairMarket raised about $78 million with its
initial public offering of stock, selling five million shares for $17 per
share, slightly above the $13 to $15 range the company originally intended.
Frequent readers of this newsletter may remember FairMarket as the company
that put together a shared-listing auction network for Microsoft, Lycos, and
other auction runners in an attempt to compete with online auction giant
eBay. Loudeye made plenty of noise with its IPO. The music and video digital
conversion company put up 4.5 million shares for $16 each, and saw its stock
climb as high as $54 per share before closing at $40 on its first day of
trading. RADVision's stock really spoke to investors; the online voice and
video communications firm started six million shares of stock at $20 each,
and watched them skyrocket to $55.94 each. Meanwhile, outside the US, chip
maker Infineon shot up on Germany's bourse. After starting at 35 euros, the
stock leaped to 84.99 euros. Infineon CEO Ulrich Schumacher anticipated this
performance--he showed up at the Frankfurt stock exchange wearing a race car
driver's outfit. In the UK, Lastminute.com launched its much-anticipated IPO
and saw its stock rise nearly 50 percent before settling for a 28 percent
gain by the end of the day. The company assists those who must change their
plans at the last minute, by letting users buy goods and services on short
notice at low prices through its Web site. Finally, four companies reported
their IPO plans. PacketVideo, a maker of software for Internet-ready cell
phones, plans to raise $64.4 million. Petopia, an online pet products
merchant, hopes to raise up to $100 million with its IPO. Rivals.com, an
online sports hub, filed for an IPO, but did not specify how much money it
plans to raise. Finally, Virage, a maker of software for distributing video
over the Internet, said it will sell 3.5 million shares in a range of $10 to
$12 per share, netting about $34.2 million for the company.   
[ http://www.fairmarket.com/ ], [ http://www.loudeye.com/ ], [
http://www.radvision.com/ ], [ http://www.infineon.com/ ], [
http://www.lastminute.com/ ], [ http://www.packetvideo.com/ ], [
http://www.rivals.com/ ], [ http://www.virage.com/ ]

Horrors! Stephen King Overwhelms Servers
The novella "Riding the Bullet" written by Stephen King and available solely
via the Internet, caused servers at both Amazon and Barnes & Noble to
overload. Some Web sites charged $2.50 for the novella, while others offered
it for free. Many fans tried for hours to download the work, without
success. One suspects the fiasco may lead to the inspiration for a rather
different horror story--"Stalled in the Bitstream," anyone?
[ http://www.amazon.com/ ], [ http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ ]  

Outage Ticker: Sprint, Pacific Bell, DLJ Direct
On Monday, Sprint reported emergency maintenance on two routers: gw4-che and
sl-gw18-pen. The company gave the same purpose for the maintenance in both
cases--a network fix. For both routers, the maintenance was scheduled to
start just after midnight and continue until about 6 AM. Sprint stated that
users connected to the routers at that time may experience a loss of
connectivity. On Tuesday, Sprint again performed emergency maintenance on
its sl-gw18-pen router: same time, same reason, same outage advisory.
Pacific Bell, meanwhile, has been grappling with much worse problems in the
San Jose area. A contractor reportedly cut four major cables on March 10,
affecting 11,000 circuits. The company expected to complete repairs by March
17, but local businesses suffered in the meantime. Finally, online brokerage
DLJ Direct experienced technical difficulties two days in a row, March 13
and 14, which prevented users from making trades online both mornings.
[ http://www.sprint.com/ ], [ http://www.pacbell.com/ ], [
http://www.dljdirect.com/ ]

Cyberscape Dee-Lite: For Those Celebrating (or Ignoring) St. Pat's Day
When one is redheaded, possesses a birthday two days before St. Patrick's
Day, and isn't Irish by birth (dubious distinctions claimed by yours truly),
one is caught between ignoring the holiday and celebrating it. For those
bent on celebrating the day, why not go to the source? Tara TV, Ireland's
own entertainment channel for those in Britain intrigued by all things
Irish, set up a section of its Web site for those seeking information about
St. Patrick and the festivities scheduled for March 17. The site even
includes a recipe for Irish stew. As any celebrant knows, beer plays a major
role on this day--and for those who like to do everything virtually, even
barhop, a Canadian firm named Beer.com that takes its beer seriously
introduced StellaCam. The Web camera lets users check out the Shark Club in
Vancouver, Cafe Comm in Brussels, and Belgo Nieu-York in New York City.
Looking is free; chatting for 15 minutes with a signed-up bar patron costs
C$3; buying someone a Stella Artois beer costs C$10 (US$7). Of course, those
really into the virtual life may miss the holiday altogether amid the
excitement of the International Academy for Digital Arts and Sciences
revealing the nominees for the fourth annual Webby Awards. The 27 categories
this year include arts, activism, commerce, music, and the inevitable
"weird." The awards will be Webcast (of course) May 11. Finally, for those
simply bored with the idea of celebrating anything--well, there's the Web
site for the National Council of Dull Men. Promising to relieve users from
the pressure to be "in and trendy," the site features "dull" jokes
(including some groaners), a report on the presidential race, boring book
reviews, and a calendar with featured events (for March, it's "Watching Sap
Drip").    
[ http://www.tara-tv.co.uk/ ], [ http://www.beer.com/ ], [
http://www.iadas.com/ ], [ http://www.dullmen.com/ ] 


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---------- End Forwarded Message ----------



Missy Harvey
Computer Science Librarian
Engineering & Science Library
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA  15213

http://www.library.cmu.edu/usr/missy/

                   .--~~,__
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"Golden retrievers are the best alarm clock 
 around.  They're gentle as a lamb and they  
 always wake you up with a smile!"