Need To Know 1998-09-04

archive

"The government is *trolling* for evidence that Microsoft 'engaged in a comprehensive plan and pattern of anticompetitive conduct to monopolize markets.'" http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,26012,00.html?st.ne.fd.gif.e ...now you know who posts all those slashdot attacks >> HARD NEWS << but who's whose? After their "Net users get depressed" anti-news, we're hoping Carnegie-Mellon will turn their sociological microscopes to a rash of Net-related amnesia that's been doing the rounds. Sources close to the BILL GATES court deposition indicate that The World's Cleverest Man has great problems recalling the exact chain of events that lead to company writing its browser - and indeed, many Microsoft representatives apparently found it different to even remember the term. "Witnesses claim they don't know what a browser is. What used to be browsers are now simply 'bits of browsing technologies.'" reports the NYT's Joel Brinkley, though of course this was all in the pre-Outlook days, an era of almost medieval chaos... http://homenet.andrew.cmu.edu/progress/HN.impact.10.htm - "basing their estimates on detailed time dairies"? Australasia seems to be heading for a Mad Max period of lawlessness. Australia's LABOR PARTY has fired two workers, following a Web crack of the opposing Liberal party's Website (which linked the site to hardcore porn, and called John Howard the "Prime Minister for Pain, Suffering and Inequity". Satire!). Thank God New Zealander PETER GUTMANN still has some respect for law and order. Wanting to demonstrate his cryptlib software on a US trip, he wrote for - and received, a temporary permit for its dangerous crypto wares. The principle proviso was that he came back with the disk. Naturally, to comply with US export laws, the disk he returned with had to be re-formatted before leaving the US. That was okay, though, because the code on the disk was readily available from European ftp sites anyway. Naturally, Peter complied with all existing legislation during his trip, including a document that allowed him to export a disk to Auckland, then re-import it back to the same spot. As Peter says, "It's folk wisdom that dealing with bureaucrats is like running around in circles, but I may be one of the few people on earth to have an official government permit to do this." http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/policy/mfat_5l.html - looping... http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/policy/mfat_6r.html - the loop There's no news around for our third item, so instead we'll keep you informed on how all the other Net journalists are coping with the famine. MICHAEL WOLFF, who famously wrote a book on his own experiences as a Net publisher in "Burn Rate", devotes his New York Times Magazine column to how he's being written about by Brill's Content, a mag entirely devoted to analyses of other journalists. Noah Robischon, the Net journalist commissioned to do the Brill piece, is ex-editor of Netly News, the Net publisher of which, Josh Quittner, wrote the definitive Net-journalist-on-other-Net-Journalists piece, the story of Suck in Wired. Suck's Carl Steadman, the only man we believe qualified (by talent and academic training) to indulge in this kind of postmodernism, has been subtly demolishing Michael Wolff in his Industry Standard columns (a magazine that Michael Wolff himself writes a column for). Carl's also been encouraging Gary Wolf to write *his* story of everybody else's stories in his upcoming history of Wired. Hopefully, the Wired book will include a chapter on the executive editor of HotWired, Gary Wolf, and thus an infinite regress. http://www.nymag.com/Critics/view.asp?id=1648 - why journalists have to be protected from other journalists http://www.freedonia.com/~carl/ - six degrees of mr steadman http://www.ntk.net/index.cgi?back=archive98/now0904.txt&line=10#l - worst of the lot >> ANTI-NEWS << berating the obvious CD writing a dangerous business: DORLING KINDERSLEY MD Alan King now receiving fatwahs over a pic of Mohammed on CD-ROM... guess we won't be seeing that underwater SWISS AIR advert again... "Change is good" - KATZ leaves Hotwired... EPSON printers claim to be "Year 2000 ready" - ah, those notorously time-dependent font renderers... "MICROSOFT pledges support to SET" - the Egyptian God, right?... DISNEY kill Onion book after unfortunate Walt/Hitler headline proposal... last week to enter Interactive BAFTAs - apparently not much competition... did LUCASFILM kill http://www.starwarsfarts.com/ (www.lucasfarts.com still available)?... US gov claim they "checked the website" of EL SHIFA factory before bombing it... http://www.motoracer.com points to something a "racier" than EA PlayStation game... BANDAI pulls plug on http://www.my-cd.com, stunned by own "inability to license content from major record labels"... >> EVENT QUEUE << goto's considered non-harmful Thanks to everyone who responded to last week's entirely genuine NTK job ad, including acclaimed cyberpunk author PAT CADIGAN, who - fear not - will have to undergo the interview stages and "aptitude tests" just like everyone else. We *think* it's just a publicity ruse for her new VR whodunnit novel, TEA FROM AN EMPTY CUP (Voyager, 5.99), which she will be reading and signing at various real-world locales from Forbidden Planet, London WC1 (1pm, Sat 05/09/98), to Cyberia Cybercafe, London W1 (6pm, Wed 09/09/98), and the Birmingham Science Fiction Group/ FantasyCon (7.30pm, Fri 11/09/98). The latter will be webcast via LineOne (headsets/ neural jacks not provided). http://www.wmin.ac.uk/~fowlerc/patcadigan.html - SFX gave it "B-", but what the hell do they know? Next week's BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE FESTIVAL (Cardiff University, 07-11/09/98) takes a more populist tone (presumably to attract young people to the field) with its TOYS FOR THE BOYS theme, and promises of "gadgets, cars, and girls!". Oops, no, sorry, got the press releases muddled up: the BAAS fest examines "The Challenge For Science" under the calm gaze of controversial neuroscientist Prof Colin Blakemore, while the appalling sounding "Toys For The Boys" show is run by "Crucial Events Ltd" at the Wembley Exhibition and Conference Centre, 04-06/09/98. Please note that the "gadgets" include very few useful household devices, like washing machines, food processors or irons, and that - disappointingly - the show features no actual children's toys. http://www.britassoc.org.uk/info/annfest.html - with Sociology Challenge and Human Brain Challenge sub-games http://www.toysfortheboys.co.uk/ - it's no War Planets (http://www.trendmaster.com) And levelling out the gender balance is video games trade fair ECTS (London Olympia, 06-08/09/98), nowadays attracting a surprising number of female delegates (admittedly either in a PR capacity or wearing bikinis and brandishing machine guns). Your mission(s): try to convince yourself that Dreamcast will be any good, nick a Colour Game Boy, and see if there's any truth to the bizarre "Eidos to buy Psygnosis" rumours (one - refreshingly honest - PR reassured us: "Not after this lot of financial results".) http://www.ects.com - welcomes live "Lara Croft" *and* "Daikatana girl"! >> TRACKING << making good use of the things that we find Devon smugglers were quick to sneak PGP 6.0 past the sleeping coastguards this week. It's just the Mac and Windows users who get to revel in embedded photo-IDs in their key certifs, secure server access and better revocation features (like giving trusted friends revocation capabilities and keys that expire). Bitter UNIXen should stick to GnuPG, although last we heard, the guy working on the UNIX ports had left Network Associates (after death threats regarding his junking of the old command line, no doubt), and so they're a tad undermanned in that department. Zimmerman may be a DOS-boy at heart, but he's paid his dues by now. ftp://ftp.replay.com/pub/crypto/pgp/pgp60/ - fell of the back of a lorry, guv'nor http://www.d.shuttle.de/isil/crypt/gnupg.html - Windows version "should not be used for real work" >> MEMEPOOL << hasta la altavista http://www.worlddomination.com/ ... Win PSXemu ... POCKET OPERATION http://www.basicfun.com/KeyChains/games2.htm ... STAR TREK: Special Edition... pocket DONKEY KONG http://www.basicfun.com/KeyChains/donkeykong.htm... best name for OASIS tribute band that isn't : http://iasos.com ... http://www.scour.net/ ... candid raw TV feeds at http://www.wildfeedtv.net/ ... REBOOT series three makes it to the US... KRISPY KREME doughnuts... Now REALDOLL has a friend: http://www.inti-mate.com/stud.html ... a study on the effect of too much caffeine amongst mathematicians: http://www.bell-labs.com/user/cbm/dew/dew-mail.html ... http://www.sysinternals.com/ ... "Lately, I've been experimenting with the asexual quality of LEGO. I've created actual women." - http://www.sweet-peas.com/lego/intro2.htm ... http://www.iproject.net/WFH/JackieChan/InjuryGame/ ... >> GEEK MEDIA << may contain strongly-typed language TV>> marvel at the aimless plotting, stunt casting and occasional gag in the terrifying "highlight" of BBC2's returning "Comedy" Zone - the "University Challenge" episode of THE YOUNG ONES (10pm, Fri, BBC2)... fear not: "Mr Hankey The Christmas Poo" is widely regarded as one of the best SOUTH PARKs ever (11.05pm, Fr, C4)... while Hywel Bennett's PERCY (12.35pm, Fri, BBC1) may be *the worst sex comedy of all time* (unless there's another Bennett vehicle called "Bysshe")... Astra-owning MiSTies rejoice, as MST3k reschedules to avoid the Sky watershed with Gemini Man nonsense "Riding with Death" (10pm, Fri, SciFi)... fortunately, the "new season" starts on Sat, with ITV fielding GLADIATORS (6pm), Cilla Black's alt.games-style MOMENT OF TRUTH (7pm), plus - wait for it - MOTORWAY LIFE (8.30pm), a fly-on-the-wall docu about people who work on (or near) the M6... the competition: Costner's costly not-too-bad (but bad) WATERWORLD (9pm, Sat, BBC1), one of those rare films where the studio logo merges seamlessly into the opening scene... still, a bit more action than Crichton's emotionless (but widescreen) repeat, WESTWORLD (10.45pm, Sun, BBC2)... most promising phrases used by Radio Times to describe Di doc THE PRINCESS'S PEOPLE (9.30pm, Sun, BBC2): "unsentimental" and "those who appeared to be indifferent"... if there was any justice, viewers of Gus Van Sant's dire EVEN COWGIRLS GET THE BLUES (12.35am, Sun, C4) could go to him and demand two hours of their lives *back*... new cop drama LIVERPOOL ONE (9pm, Mon, ITV) ingeniously pits Brookie's Barry Grant against hot new psychologist, Samantha Janus!... when will they pay tribute to whoever invented mad cycling science demo show LOCAL HEROES (8pm, Mon, BBC2)?... plus: surprise! ITV buries new, actually OK-ish Kirstie "Lieutenant Saavik" Alley sitcom VERONICA'S CLOSET (10.40pm, Mon, ITV)... EQUINOX (9pm, Tue, C4) looks at "gravity" (please, no)... high hopes for TV review/ preview slot THE HAUNTED FISHTANK (12.40am, Tue, some ITV) - presented by Ed Hall, possibly the new, ginger Johnny Vaughan... flee from BATMAN FOREVER (8.30pm, Wed, ITV), and - there is no god - *another* series of incoherent musos "chatting" with JO WHILEY (11.25pm, Wed, C4)... HORIZON samples Viagra (9pm, Thu, BBC2)... though alternative "cures" include those offered by Nick Broomfield in FETISHES (11pm, Thu, C4)... coverage of the 50th Farnborough on THE AIR SHOW (8pm, Thu, BBC2)... and of course Sly Stallone and pals forgetting to check that there's no-one pointing guns at them while they're pointing guns at someone else, in ruined-by-dumb-flying-bikes production treat JUDGE DREDD (9.35pm, Thu, BBC1)... FILM>> Spike Lee almost slam-dunks his heavy-handed message-movie tendencies in not-as-good-as-Hoop-Dreams black/street battler HE GOT GAME (imdb: father-son / drama / sport / basketball). Still, the lead character is called "Jesus"... sassy dialogue is the salvation of Whit Stillman's Barcelona-prequel THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO (imdb: drama / nightclub / scrooge-mcduck / venereal-disease / 1970s / comedy / disco / 1980s / roommates / new-york / studio-54) - and don't get your hopes up for Mike Myers' similarly themed "54"... hard to tell which you should avoid harder: Anna Friel and god-awful Rachel Weisz in THE LAND GIRLS (imdb: drama / wwii / period / rural / women / dorset / love)... or The Krays/ Let Him Have It director Peter Medak warping back to his Space: 1999 origins with the truly terrible SPECIES II (imdb user's plot summary: "Lazard's character gets infected by an alien and slowly begins to mutate. When they get back to Earth all he has on his mind is to have sex with [Natasha] Henstridge!")... BEAUTY WITHOUT CRUELTY (WITHIN)>> admittedly, something of a departure for NTK, prompted by the launch of Gillette's MACH 3 "male shaving system" (http://www.mach3.com), descibed by reader BEN ROONEY as "the best a man can get" - and he's the editor of the Telegraph's Connected section... oddly, rivals Wilkinson Sword also chose this month to launch their clashing blade, PROTECTOR 3D METAL, promising "technology in 3 dimensions" - though not, as yet, an OpenGL API... other personal grooming tips include LLOYD WOOD's 80 things to do with shampoo (http://www.alberto.com/vo5hdtip.htm) - yet another example of life simply imitating The Onion (http://www.theonion.com/onion3404/vitaminshair.html)... KEVIN CECIL was very taken by Lancome's release of a perfume called "Oui!", looking forward to ads like: "Now you can smell... of Oui!"... the ASA upheld complaints against press ads for Elida Faberge's hip new FUSION fragrance for incorporating white powder samples plus the tagline "The only thing in a club worth sniffing"... also from Connected (tech supplement to the "beautiful people"), GEORGIA CAMERON-CLARKE highlighted alarming claims from ESTEE LAUDER that their latest skin toner "actually re-programs" the skin to produce less oil... but READER MILLINGTON wins the NTK geek makeover prize with his observation that BOOTS' SPA TONING lotion asserts that "after one application", it increases the skin's elasticity "by at least 19 per cent". His girlfriend has "been applying it all week, so I should be able to pull her ears right the way down onto her chin then watch them spring up again"... >> SMALL PRINT << Need to Know is a useful and interesting UK digest of things that happened last week or might happen next week. You can read it on Friday afternoon or print it out then take it home if you have nothing better to do. It is compiled by NTK from stuff they get sent. It is registered at the Post Office as "ragged-trouser misanthropists". NEED TO KNOW THEY STOLE OUR REVOLUTION. NOW WE'RE STEALING IT BACK. Archive - http://www.ntk.net/ Excuses - http://www.spesh.com/ntk/ Unsubscribe? Mail majordomo@lists.ntk.net with 'unsubscribe ntknow'. Subscribe? Mail majordomo@lists.ntk.net with 'subscribe ntknow'. NTK now is helped by THE ILLUMINATI and UNFORTU.NET. They worry about us, but we don't worry about them. (K) 1998 Special Projects. Non-business copying is fine, but retain SMALL PRINT. 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