Internet Digest for January 15, 1996

Internet News

“Online Newshour” Debuts on the Web

http://www.pbs.org
Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and MacNeil/Lehrer Productions have announced the “Online NewsHour” on the Internet’s World Wide Web.

IDC’s 1996 Predictions for the IT Industry

Forecasts:
â‚¬IT industry revenues will jump from $500 billion to more than $2.5 trillion
â‚¬Corporate spending on IT will rise from 2.0-2.5% of revenues to more than 5%
â‚¬Eighty percent of PC shipments will be to the home market
â‚¬The number of “wired” (i.e., online) users will rise to more than one billion
â‚¬Online commerce volume will hit $150 billion by 2000, more than $1 trillion by 2010

Harlequin Introduces WebMaker 2.1

Harlequin of Boston introduced its newest version of WebMaker, a multi-platform software system that converts documents written in FrameMaker 5.0 and 4.0 into HTML. The $99 software includes Internet-based technical support and comprehensive documentation available via Harlequin’s World Wide Web site. WebMaker is available via Harlequin’s WWW site at http://www.harlequin.com/webmaker/.

Sony Launches Advanced VRML Editor/Browser

Sony Pictures Imageworks of Culver City, Calif. yesterday unveiled a beta version of CybePassage Software, which it claims to be the most advanced version of VRML, (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) currently available for users of the Internet and World Wide Web.
The CyberPassage beta software can be accessed free from the Sony Pictures Entertainment home page at http://sonypic.com/vs.

First Interactive Super Bowl

Internet service provider UUNET Technologies of Fairfax, VA, has announced that it has been selected by NFL Enterprises, NBC Sports, and Microsoft as the “Supplier of Internet Connectivity for superbowl.com” (http:// superbowl.com), the official Web site of Super Bowl XXX, (January 28, 1996, Tempe, Arizona).

AOL Launches Stand-alone Internet Service

As reported last week, America Online launched their stand-alone Global Network Navigator (GNN) Internet based service on Monday, 10/30.
America Online was very aggressive with the pricing of the GNN service. According to America Online, the service will be available in over 600 cities, in the U.S. making it, according to the press release, “the first truly national full-featured Internet service for consumers.” Unlike the AOL service, where the typical trial offer waives the $9.95 monthly fee and allows use of up to 10 hours before the charges kick in, the GNN service offers FREE UNLIMITED USAGE for the first month. After that, pricing is $14.95/mo. for 20 hours of service with additional hours at $1.95. Short of flat fee based services, this is one of the most aggressively priced plans available.

Internet survey results

This week the granddaddy of numbers in the television world, Nielsen Media Research, released summary survey results for a study done for CommerceNet. Executive Highlights of the study are available at http://www.commerce.net/. But, if you don’t have the time, here are some interesting tidbits lifted directly from the Web page: 11% (24 million) of total persons aged 16 and above in the US and Canada have used the Internet in the past three months.
Approximately 8% (18 million) of total persons aged 16 and above in the US and Canada have used the WWW in the past three months.
Internet users average 5 hours and 28 minutes per week on the Internet.
Total Internet usage in the US and Canada is equivalent to the total playback of rented video tapes
Males represent 66% of Internet users and account for 77% of Internet usage.
On average, WWW users are upscale (25% have income over $80K), professional (50% are professional or managerial), and educated (64% have at least college degrees).
Approximately 14% (2.5 million) of WWW users have purchased products or services over the Internet.

Articles

Best Sites of the Week

The Internal Revenue Service

http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/cover.html
IRS lightens up with tax site it is trying an image makeover with its new web site. The taxpage is campy and fun, with easy to understand language. It offers tax forms, publications for downloading and answers to hundreds of questions about business or personal taxes.

PC Magazine’s Top 100 Web Sites

http://www.zdnet.com/~pcmag/special/web100/
PC Magazine’s regularly updated guide to the best of the Web.

Darrell’s Talking Web Site

http://www.csug.rochester.edu/users/ugrads/anderson/sayit.html
The net is a diverse place. Fill out the form below and with a click of a button your message will be spoken from my machine. Whether or not anyone is listening is another question…

HTML Help

Sports Network’s Java Applets

http://www.sportsnetwork.com/java.html

Demoschool

http://www.mds.mdh.se/~dat94avi/demoschool.html–
A tutorial on x86 assembler programming, especially as relates to graphical demos.

Cyberdog

http://cyberdog.apple.com/
Internet browser from Apple Computer!

Internet Spec List

http://www.graphcomp.com/info/specs/–
contains links and documents for various protocols, specifications, and standards used on the Internet.

MapMurl Little Language

http://found.cs.nyu.edu/beads/mapmurl/
Language for producing imagemap for points on projected
coordinate systems. currently defined to work with the Census Bureau’s TIGER Map Server.

Web Media Publisher

http://www.wbmedia.com/software.html
Full featured 32 bit HTML editor with complete JAVA and
Shockwave support.

Marketing Articles and Sites

NET IS A Handy Market Tool, But Don’T Ignore Dangers

By Yardena Arar And Dawn Yoshitake c.1996 Los Angeles Daily News
http://nytsyn.com/live/Features1/020_012096_194851_11985.html

Publish Your Own Web Pages, But Have Mercy on Us Browsers

by Walt Mossberg – WSJ
http://ptech.wsj.com/html3/newest.html

The Internet Digest is a publication for Webmasters, HTML programmers, and anyone interested in learning more about the internet. Internet Digest is a convenient way for you to stay informed of valuable resources on the Internet. Internet Digest Focuses on helping you with page design basics, and explaining HTML and how the Web works, and the technical aspects of running, administering, and marketing World Wide Web sites.

Internet Digest First Year (50) Back Issues for 1996