Happy New Year

Date:       February 1, 2001
Time:       10:00AM
Where:     Channel 3
Topic:       Computing I Basics

The first lesson of the promised video of Computing I Basics will be premiered on Thursday, February 1, 2001 at 10:00AM on your local Heritage Village Channel 3. It will be repeated at 3:00PM that same day. Thereafter, at one week intervals, the remaining lessons can be viewed on Channel 3 on Thursday, February 8, 15 and 22 at 10:00AM and at 3:00PM,.

There is a total of four lessons, each lasting between 20 and 30 minutes. As explained in the video there will be copies of the Assignments and Exercises available at the Activities Desk for all who would like to have them. We hope these lessons will reinforce your learning experience. Remember, too, that you are encouraged to bring any and all resulting questions you may have to an Open House. We solicit and welcome any suggestions or comments you may have about this video.

Free Internet Service - No More

The era of unlimited free Internet service is over, a victim of its own popularity. Last week, Bluelight.com announced it would limit the number of hours subscribers could spend on its site. By Internet standards, this news signaled the end of a short era. Following Juno Online Services and NetZero, Bluelight found it could no longer support the strain that active users were putting on its network since relatively few subscribers accounted for the large majority of its traffic.

NetZero, the free service leader, announced it would start charging subscribers $9.95/month after they reached 40 hours in any given month. Earlier last year, Juno announced a tiered pricing program, whereby customers who pay $9.95/month would receive better service, get more reliable connections and view fewer ads. Mark Goldstein, CEO and President of Bluelight (privately held but majority-owned by Kmart), proclaimed the free ISP (Internet Service Provider) for everyone experiment was over. His announcement was an attempt to head off migration of NetZero's heaviest customers to Bluelight's free service. Bluelight did not want them or the heavy users it already had.

Free ISP services discovered that subscribers had been using them to run their businesses. Although active users contributed to the demise, the real culprit was the dismal climate for online advertising. A year ago, when free Internet service providers were just beginning their services, advertising was abundant - as was venture financing. Spinway, the company that provided the underlying technology for Bluelight, Barnes&Noble and Costco, claimed it could not raise any more capital and was going out of business, handing many of its assets over to Bluelight, its largest customer.

In July, Juno gobbled up two competitors, Freewwweb and WorldSpy, both of which had declared bankruptcy and referred subscribers to Juno. Thus, NetZero and Juno remain the industry leaders, each with 3.7 million active users. But even these two remaining major free providers are walking on rather thin ice. Like many Internet stocks, shares of Juno and NetZero, which are embroiled in patent lawsuits against each other over the way ads are displayed on computer screens, have plummeted in recent weeks. Juno shares dropped from $41.63 last January to under a dollar last week. NetZero was also under one dollar falling from $36.38. Analysts predict that free ISP services are likely to continue in some form for those customers who do not overuse them. These analysts also feel that tiered pricing will be put on a back burner with the hope of converting users of the free service into paying customers.

Not too long ago Internet customers bought service by the minute - upward of $100 a month for active users. By the late '90s, most ISPs in the U.S. modified their business models, switching to flat monthly fees in an effort to gain more revenue from advertisers and e-commerce and less from subscriptions. From that position some providers eliminated the subscription fee. Adding it back now appears the next step.

There is a possibility that AOL, MSN, and Compuserve will end up as the biggest beneficiaries of the free-ISP shakeout. All three already offer tiered service with limited plans for $9.95. As more active users are removed from free service, analysts feel they may migrate to the more established names rather than pay the same amount to a relative newcomer who may not be able to offer the same level of service.

NetZero has brand recognition through heavy advertising and Bluelight, with its Kmart connection, has broad visibility through its established customers. In the meantime, the start-ups that have survived thus far are simply relieved to still be standing.                                                                                                              Laurie J. Flynn - NOT

It has always been true that whatever PC you buy now will be made obsolete by next year's faster models. I might even say that obsolescence sets in as soon as you open the box of a new computer and set it up. It is somewhat like buying a new car with depreciation setting in as soon as you drive it around the block.

The Intel Corporation has released a new processor chip, the Pentium 4, but it is slower than the Pentium III. The Pentium chip is the square silicon brain inside most Windows-based computers. Why is Pentium 4 slower? Simply, its assembly line for processing commands is twice as long.

There is no good, reliable way to measure the speed of a computer. Every test gives different results, depending on the kind of software being tested and the components of the PC. Most consumers compare computer horsepower by studying a single statistic: clock speed. That is the number you see in computer advertisements expressed in megahertz, which is computerese for miles per hour. A year ago, 700 or 800 megahertz was extremely fast. Early last year 1 gigahertz chips were introduced. Now Intel has produced two unheard-of clock speeds: 1.4 and 1.5 gigahertz.

Beware: Don't be a victim of Megahertz Myth. Megahertz ratings are only meaningful when making speed comparisons between chips in the same family. It is necessary to compare a Pentium III with a Pentium III. To bear this out, a 500 megahertz Macintosh chip is much faster than a 500 megahertz Pentium III.

In studies performed by several PC magazines and websites for techies, the Pentium 4 is about 10 percent slower than the Pentium III 1-gigahertz in performing routine tasks. And the first place winner in almost every test isn't a Pentium at all. It is the 1.2 gigahertz Athlon, a chip made by Intel's rival, AMD.

In addition to costing $500 to $700 more, the Pentium 4 requires a special kind of memory (Rambus or RDRAM), which costs about $250 more per 128 megabytes than standard memory. Intel has been working on this chip for five years and, with tongue in cheek, states a Pentium III is a fine performer unless you are involved in graphics, video compression, 3-D games, etc. But in tests that have been run, the Pentium 4 only beats the Pentium III or Athlon chips in playing Quake III. That does not say much for it.

Clearly, the Pentium 4 is all about the future. At this point, the powerful acceleration will not be of optimal performance until Windows programs are rewritten to take advantage of it. Currently, the Pentium 4 is an example of More is Less. In a year, the Pentium 4 may be the chip to beat. For the moment, you would be foolish to pay for it.

Miscellany

At one of our General Membership Meetings a request was made for Weekly Bulletin information to reach snowbirds. Your wish has come true. You will find a a link to the Heritage Village Weekly Bulletin on the second page of this site.. Isn't the Cyberage wonderful?!

Are you interested in returning to the classroom?     Try: www.barnesandnobleuniversity.com

I've enrolled in a course studying Shakespeare's Tragedies. I'll keep you posted. By the way, it is FREE. There is an effort to sell you books but I already have several sets of the course material so they won't make money on me this time.

Concert Hall on the Internet
Classical Music Lovers Take Note

There is no longer any reason for music lovers to shy away from live classical music. For the closet classical music fan the Internet offers barrier dissolving advantages. Global Music Network (www.gmn.com) and Online Classics (www.onlineclassics.net) are the most comprehensive classical music venues online. The two sites, British counterpoints to the legal nightmare called Napster, present artist- and corporation-sponsored Webcasts free. There are other sites, www.webconcerthall.com and www.centerseat.com that have some classical music offerings.

But the nuts and bolts of Global Music Network make it revolutionary. Its offerings are evenly split between classical and jazz. It also carves its concerts into separate audio files. Users register via e-mail for access to hyperlinks to each movement of each musical piece.

Users select concerts, whenever they choose, from a menu. They then listen to them in a sequence of their choosing in any number of formats, e.g., RealPlayer, Windows Media Player and QuickTime.

Global Music Network's premise is simple. The station gets the Webcast rights for concerts that have already occurred at some of the world's best-known locations and then offers the concerts online for a week or so. It offers high-quality, streaming recordings that cannot be stored on the listener's computer, but the performance lives longer than it would have on conventional radio.

Other features on Global Music Network include biographical and historical articles, links, free audio clips for downloading, interactive forums and a selection of recordings for sale.

Artists found on Global Music Network include cellist, Lynn Harrell and the Russian Valery Gergiev and, the sound streams with seamless fidelity.

On the other hand, Online Classics focuses on classical music, ballet, Broadway musicals and dramatic theater. This site offers its concerts for a longer amount of time and in a fixed, online-video format. Windows Media Player reveals a screen on which you may watch the performance. You have the option of listening to the concert in its original order or altering the order in which the pieces of music stream by clicking through to a track list.

Because of its sophistication and its many facets, Online Classics does not have the sound quality since audio and video together require a substantial amount of bandwidth which may cause the "concert experience" to not buffer smoothly. That said, at Online Classics you can hear and see Bach performed from Leipzig, Germany; Verdi from Verona, Italy; Messiaen from Paris; and Dvorak from Prague.

High profile artists like Yo-Yo Ma and Anne Sofie von Otter (on Global and Online, respectively) participate in this new form of concert which suggests that a performer is interested in obtaining a wider, more enduring exposure within the classical music field as well as reaching those unable to attend live performances. Classical music in cyberspace is affordable and accessible and requires no more effort than television.                                   Adam Baer - NOT

Ed. Note: Once you have selected your performance, you can minimize the screen and continue surfing on the Web while you listen to glorious music.

Websites

http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/temp/StationLoc.html    This site will show you where the Space Station is. If you also check the J-Track 3D button in the screen you can view all the satellites whirring around the world. Now if you really want some fun, maximize the window with the earth and black background, check on the options button, select update rate to 1/4 second, then select timing below update rate and set the timing to X1000. Watch all the satellites spin around the earth.                                                                                                                    Member Walter Fair

www.quoteland.com  The right word at the right time is the province of this "bon mot" site.

www.topozone.com  Maps on this site are created with the assistance of the USGS (US Geological Service) and reveal topography which is a boon to hikers, bikers and others into outdoor activities.

www.quizland.com.cotd.htm  Free crossword puzzle daily

www.brainbashers.com  A unique collection of puzzles

www.nurseryphotos.com  Complete database of pictures for EVERY baby born in hospitals from around the world since 1910.

www.cooltick.com  FREE scrolling stock ticker. Customize it with your stocks.

S.O.S. - HVCC Help Line: Call Ken Pelletier 264-2310 or Bob Greene 264-9747.

The Board of Directors has been asked to clarify club policy regarding services involving computer problems. The names posted above are volunteers who will try to walk you through a computer problem that you may be experiencing. If that does not resolve the glitch, it is suggested that you bring the specifics of your problem to one of our Open Houses (Th 1-3PM and Fr 10:30-12:30). Members are encouraged to offer volunteer assistance when they are able. If none of these suggestions fixes the problem, your only recourse is to seek professional help. It is not the Club’s policy to recommend professional computer technicians.

Be sure your current E-mail address is sent to Gerry Schnutt: Gerrysc@aol.com or call him at 264-0423 and tell him you will volunteer for the telephone tree, which means making several calls a month.

HINTS
Windows 98

Sort by Name

Each time a new item (program,favorite) is added it goes to the bottom of the list. A destination so much easier to reach when alphabetically arranged. Just go to the Start button, scroll to Programs, move the cursor to the list of Programs then right click the mouse and select Sort by Name from the drop down menu that appears. Repeat the moves for Favorites.

Move a Favorite to the Desktop

Move your mouse to the desired Favorite, click and hold, and drag the Favorite to the desktop. A shortcut to the page appears, ready for clicking.

Lock your Screen Saver with a Password

Choose Start, Settings, Control Panel. Double click the Display icon. Click the Screen Saver tab. Click to insert a check into the Password Protected check box. Click Change. Now you get to enter the password of your choice and click APPLY and OK.

MAC

Comment Box

One of the hidden jewels in the Mac world is the Comment Box. Tucked away in the Get Info window, the Comment Box allows you to type in certain information such Web addresses or phone numbers for later use. You can make a comment on any icon. Click once on the icon and then press Command-I. The Comment Box is located at the bottom of this window. Click inside the Comment Box and type away.

Trash Can

To send an item to the Trash Can with a shortcut, first click on the item(s) to select it/them and then hold down the Command (Apple) key and then press the Delete key. This will send all selected items to the Trash.