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---------- Forwarded Message ----------
Date: Wednesday, November 24, 1999, 1:33 PM -0500
From: Faulkner Information Services <flash@faulkner.com>
To: ???
Subject: Faulkner's Cyberscape Digest 11/24/99

                                 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 11/22 through
Wednesday 11/24. Here's what you should know...

Internet Companies Commence Holiday Shopping
Just in time for Thanksgiving, several Internet companies decided to gobble
up other companies. Internet portal GoTo.com looked around for a
comparison-shopping engine, and settled on privately-held Cadabra for stock
valued at $242 million plus $8 million in cash. GoTo will integrate the
company's search and comparison technology into its Web site. Lycos took a
gamble on interactive entertainment company Gamesville, to the tune of $207
million in stock. Registered users of Gamesville's site provide the company
with detailed personal information, which is useful for direct marketing.
Paul Allen's Vulcan Ventures agreed to purchase 64 percent of ZDTV for
$204.8 million. Since Vulcan purchased a 33 percent stake in ZDTV earlier
this year, Vulcan will practically own the cable company. Cabletron looked
to sell, not buy, as it divested itself of its FlowPoint unit. Efficient
Networks picked up the unit for stock valued at $860 million. The purchase
is a good match, since Efficient makes DSL modems, and FlowPoint makes DSL
routers. The deal gives Cabletron about 25 percent of Efficient's
outstanding shares. Internet hosting company Exodus Communications purchased
Tokyo-based Global OnLine Japan, another Internet hosting company, for an
undisclosed sum. Even SBC Communications got into the act; the company took
a 43 percent stake in venerable ISP Prodigy. The deal, which is expected to
close in three to six months, is a win for both companies. Prodigy will gain
many subscribers, since it will become SBC's exclusive retail consumer and
small business ISP, while SBC will benefit from Prodigy's experience as the
companies move together in providing their subscribers with broadband
Internet access.  
[ http://www.goto.com/ ], [ http://www.cadabra.com/ ], [
http://www.lycos.com/ ], [ http://www.gamesville.com/ ], [
http://www.zdtv.com/ ], [ http://www.cabletron.com/ ], [
http://www.efficient.com/ ], [ http://www.exodus.com/ ], [
http://www.gol.com/ ], [ http://www.sbc.com/ ], [ http://www.prodigy.com/ ]

AOL Makes Two Online Alliances
America Online entered into a five-year strategic agreement with Electronic
Arts. The terms call for Electronic Arts to take full responsibility for all
of the games-related content on AOL, CompuServe, Netcenter, and ICQ,
including AOL's Games Channel. Electronic Arts agreed to pay AOL $81 million
over five years for the privilege. The new gaming site, set to go live next
summer, will offer products and services catering to a wide range of gaming
interests. For those so busy paying bills that they don't have time for fun
and games, AOL made another five-year agreement, with Intuit. The two
companies will offer an online bill payment service, which will go live
early next year. Users of the service will be able to view, track, and pay
all of their bills, even if they require a paper check. Financial terms for
the agreement were not disclosed. 
[ http://www.aol.com/ ], [ http://www.intuit.com/ ]

Microsoft to Face Mediator, Class Action Suits
Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson appointed a mediator, Richard Posner of the
Seventh Circuit US Court of Appeals in Chicago, to help Microsoft and the
Department of Justice negotiate a settlement in their antitrust lawsuit. A
Microsoft spokesperson called the move "potentially a positive step" and
expressed hope that the mediator would help in reaching "a fair and
reasonable solution." But Microsoft's legal troubles are far from over; the
company faces at least four private class action lawsuits, in California,
Alabama, New York, and Louisiana. All of the suits take Jackson's findings
of fact in the Microsoft antitrust case as their starting points. Since
Jackson's findings of fact are not yet part of a final ruling, if Microsoft
settles, the class action suits won't be able to use the findings as
evidence. [ http://www.microsoft.com/ ], [ http://www.usdoj.gov/ ] 

Melissa Variant to Leave Damaging Holiday Present
A virus detected on at least three continents could have computer users
crying on Christmas. Named "Prilissa," the virus appears to be the offspring
of the Melissa virus and a program called PRI. Like Melissa, it uses
Microsoft Outlook to spread itself via e-mail to the first 50 addresses in a
user's contact list--and if opened, it reformats the infected computer's
hard drive on December 25. The body of the e-mail, which contains the virus
as an attachment, says "This document is very important and you've GOT to
read this!" Researchers at antivirus company Network Associates initially
classified the virus as "low risk," but within two days 10 Fortune 500
companies in Europe, the US, and Australia have reported finding the virus.
[ http://www.networkassociates.com/ ]

Senate Passes Digital Commerce Bill
The US Senate passed a bill that should help encourage e-commerce. The
Millennium Digital Commerce bill makes digital signatures on contracts as
binding as handwritten signatures, and also tries to guarantee certain
consumer protections. According to bill co-sponsor Patrick Leahy (D-VT), the
bill is intended as a stopgap measure until the states ratify their own
e-commerce regulations. The House version of the bill, which passed
recently, is different from the Senate version; the two bills will be
reconciled, and the reconciled version will be voted on again by both House
and Senate.
[ http://www.house.gov/ ], [ http://www.senate.gov/ ]

One IPO, Others Preparing
Interactive TV company OpenTV successfully premiered its stock this week.
Starting at $20 a share, the stock rose to $38 per share, nearly doubling in
midday trading. The company raised $150 million with its IPO. Good things
come to those who wait, so they say; perhaps Melbourne IT's IPO will be one
of those good things. Set to premiere on the Australian stock exchange on
December 14, the domain name registrar gets a lot of traffic--and
money--from those who wish to register a domain name ending with "com.au."
The company hopes to sell 42.5 million shares at AU$2.20 per share.
Excite@Home is also getting into the act; its board of directors approved a
tracking stock for the company's media assets. The tracking stock won't be
issued at least until August 2000; it will create a somewhat independent
company, with its own board of directors and separate financial books. The
new board will oversee the Excite.com Web portal, the broadband portal site,
and advertising services such as MatchLogic. 
[ http://www.opentv.com/ ], [ http://www.melbourneIT.com.au/ ], [
http://www.home.net/ ]

Salomon Faces Lawsuit from Former Auctioneer
Z Auction, an out-of-business online auction site, is suing investment
company Salomon Smith Barney. According to Z Auction, Salomon was negligent
and broke its contract when it did not raise any money for the auction site
in a $10 million private placement. Z Auction claims that Salomon's advice
led it to reject lucrative financing offers and that Salomon put its
transaction in the hands of a junior person with a track record showing an
80 percent rate of failure to raise funds. Z Auction maintains that because
of these problems, it was forced to go out of business. The company had
hired Salomon in 1997 to raise funds as part of its planning for an IPO. Z
Auction is looking for more than $1 billion in damages from Salomon.
Strangely, Z Auction's URL now leads to the Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Option
Pack page.
[ http://www.salomonsmithbarney.com/ ], [ http://www.zauction.com/ ]

Outage Ticker: Bell Atlantic, Sprint
Even a week this short sees connectivity problems. Around 1 AM EST Tuesday,
a Bell Atlantic digital to analog converter (DACs) reportedly failed in
Newark, NJ, leaving much of the northern part of the state without fast
packet services (Frame, ATM); also not working were 411, 911, 0, 800, and
900 services. The outage appears to have been caused by a software problem
in the DACs. Repairs were expected to be completed by Wednesday morning. In
an unconnected failure, Sprint reported experiencing a hardware failure
starting at 1:30 AM in Chicago, leaving customers temporarily without
service. Again, no estimated time to repair was given.
[ http://www.bellatlantic.com/ ], [ http://www.sprint.com/ ]
   
Cyberscape Dee-Lite: Something Small to Contemplate
Moore's Law states that the number of transistors on a chip will double
every 18 months. This particular law, maintain some scientists, will be
broken soon because of even more rigid laws: namely, the laws of physics.
But the University of California (Berkeley) seems to have found a loophole
of sorts. Professor Chenming Hu unveiled FinFET, a prototype semiconductor
transistor so small that a computer chip can hold 400 times more of these
devices than of conventional transistors. The switch, or "gate," on the
prototype transistor is fork-shaped and controls both sides of the passage
that current flows through; conventional transistors feature flat gates and
only control one side. The increased control of current, and decreased
leakage, means the transistors can be made smaller. Much smaller, in fact:
the prototype's gate is so small (18 nanometers) that it can only be seen
through a scanning electron microscope. The FinFET prototype was created in
July and seemed to work well. Research for the invention was funded by the
US Defense Advanced Research Project Agency. The device will not be
patented; according to Hu, "We want the widest possible future usage. We
hope this becomes a mainstream transistor structure in the future." Usage of
the design in microprocessors could lead to faster and cheaper chips, and
thus less expensive and more powerful computers and electronic devices.
[ http://www.berkeley.edu/ ], [
http://www.urel.berkeley.edu/urel_1/CampusNews/PressReleases/releases/11-22-
1999b.html ], [ http://www.darpa.mil/ ]

Happy Holidays from Faulkner
Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, Cyberscape Digest has been abbreviated this
week. Next week, we will expand once again to our usual size. Have a safe
and enjoyable Thanksgiving!
   

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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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