Fun_People Archive
27 Sep
NeedToKnow-Bits, 26/9/97
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From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Sat, 27 Sep 97 11:54:05 -0700
To: Fun_People
Subject: NeedToKnow-Bits, 26/9/97
Excerpted-from: NTK Now, 26/9/97
_ _ _____ _ __ <*the* weekly high-tech sarcastic update for the UK>
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|_| \_| |_| |_|\_\|_| |_|\___/ \_/\_/ o www.spesh.com/cgi-bin/now
>> ANTI-NEWS <<
berating the obvious
"Banner Ads Are Annoying", reveals DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF...
CONNECT to cease publishing... "Infants Have Keen Memory
For Learning Words", psychologists uncover... PLAYSTATION
PLUS "relaunching".. Julia Roberts to appear in FOUR
WEDDINGS sequel... Economists "still can't measure any
productivity gain" from billions spent on IT... mobile
phones cause "lapses in concentration"... Mute relaunches
in handy new 2000AD-style format... CD-ROM TODAY merging
with PC GUIDE... British Interactive Broadcasting boss
plans to "overtake Internet use within 18 months"... Larry
Ellison demo backfires when NC application freezes, entire
network crashes... "Intel suspected of unfair practice", PC
PRO guesses wildly... SHIFT CONTROL to end publication...
NZ hero teenager didn't "solve" Y2K bug after all...
>> TRACKING <<
Web site come by this way two moons past
Okay, worthiness over. Here's a utility that pulls
passwords from a Windows 95 machine. REVELATION is 15KB
long, pulls the passwords from the cache, and exposes this
whole "storing passwords in memory as plaintext" nightmare
we've been on about before. Many security analysts have
been using it as a way of showing Windoze users the
benefits of NT's secure systems. Right. Excuse me while we
choke on our cola.
http://www.snadboy.com/ can we have our fix now, Mr Gates?
The REALAUDIO 5 BETA hits the already punch-drunk Net
listeners next week, promising "even nearer CD quality over
28.8". Well, we'll believe *that* when we hear it. Oh, and
something calling itself "THE INTERNET EXPLORER - VERSION
4.0" is being released by Microsoft in a characteristically
tasteful and low-key manner. Apparently it's a utility for
PC users who feel their machines run too fast. Look out
mentions of it on TV, radio, food, drink, and
subcutaneously tattooed onto the inside of your eyelids as
you sleep.
http://www.real.com battling those bad MP3 boys
http://www.microsoft.com can *anyone* get on this site anymore?
DR HERMANS' new Web site offers the online purchase of
bongs, pipes, seeds, and "smoking paraphernalia" in the UK.
Hmm. This isn't some sort of drug thing that we're missing
out on, is it?
http://www.drhermans.co.uk bet he's not a real doctor
>> MEMEPOOL <<
hasta la altavista
XXX Prize offers $1 million to first sub-orbital sex act...
Are there really 100,000 copies of Peter Gabriel's Eve
lying in a warehouse?... keep cool, Cyberjunky et al...
Jenni off of Jennicam to launch weekly streaming video
show... MicroAnvika's hold music... Bill Jillians is
back... Demon's IP number sneaked into "Hackers"...
www.osk.threewebnet.or.jp/~vacuum05/goods.html ... Steve
Bennett, Kevin Warwick - MEDIA WHORES... the Army used the
Welsh to carry codes in the War... the Campaign Against "
double-you-double-you-double-you-dot"...
www.spesh.com/thoughts.txt ... the handbag contained
cocaine... "Teach yourself COBOL in 21 days" hits tech
bestseller list: Y2K hero teens suspected... Mir to use
docking program from Elite... Congrats, Dave Garaffa... so
what does Compaq need a $4 billion credit line for?...
"Like a cheapo knock-off Maglite with dead batteries in"...
Telehouse is on the Greenwich Meridian (and a nexus of
celtic laylines)
>> GEEK MEDIA <<
MOVIES >> CONTACT (imdb: "sci-fi / drama / faith / atheist
/ scientists / astronomy / father-daughter / alien-contact
/ prime-numbers ") is appallingly acted, has some daft
sentimental moments plus an ending that's almost not 2001-
ish enough, yet - thanks mainly to a different twist to the
book (www.spesh.com/contact.html) - is arguably *the best
geek film of the year*... alternatively, don't let that
Hamish Macbeth guy, Damon Albarn or yet another failed-
heist plot put you off FACE (imdb: drama / gangs) - still,
probably more laughs than the usual Canadian gloom from
Atom "Exotica" Egoyan in THE SWEET HEREAFTER (imdb: drama /
road accident / lawyers / dead kids - alright, I'm making
it up now...)
BOOKS >> Now that Amazon's revamped and all those dull
Updike clones have checked out, it's time for *you* to
check out the latest batch of US-only book releases.
Straight in at the heart of the NTK demographic is Richard
Handley's THE METAPHYSICS OF STAR TREK (ISBN: 0465091245) -
a sub-Hofstadter muse on identity, time-paradoxes and that
old is-Data-isn't-Data-human dichotomy. Logic-choppers will
love to debate whether this is, in fact, the same book as
THE MEANING OF STAR TREK (ISBN: 0385484372)... IRC's
Eggdrop, CancelMOOSE and - most bizarrely - Hunt the Wumpus
are part of the rich tapestry of Andrew LEONARD'S BOTS: THE
ORIGIN OF A NEW SPECIES (ISBN: 1888869054), but somehow he
pulls it off in a storming read... For the committed
americanophobe, we recommend Jim Goad's scouring defence of
Poor White Trash in THE REDNECK MANIFESTO (ISBN:
0684831139) - not quite up to his Answer Me! Days, but
worth checking out on Amazon for the table of contents
alone. And it'll pass the time while you await with
something close to stark terror pomo-funster Mark Leyner's
new opus, THE TETHERBALLS OF BOUGAINVILLE (ISBN:
0517701014), billed by the author as his "first 100 percent
BONA FIDE NOVEL--story, characters, everything!". Wh-wh-
what, *everything*?
>> CORRIGENDA <<
Look, we did say we were slacking off during the MiniNTK
interregnum, didn't we? Thanks to Joseph Gallivan for
pointing out that our "US campsites to pay $1 per camper
for campsong rights" story was, and we quote, "bollocks".
The correct figure was $1, for all rights, for everyone;
somewhat different. NTK regrets the error. Also, we picked
up an mistake in the US Delphi/Mindspring deal snipe -
Mindspring didn't get all the Delphi customer base: just
the dial-up guys. All 1,100 of them. NTK regrets this error
a bit less, because that's *such* a pathetic figure (thanks
to Robert Seidman for both story and correction). Also, in
last week's issue, in the sentence promising an exciting
competition next week, "next week" should be amended to
read "the week after next", the word "exciting" should be
replaced with "long overdue", and the word "promise" should
be altered to "hope in vain".
>> 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 "on a mission from God".
(K) 1997 Special Projects. Non-biz copying ok, but retain SMALL PRINT.
Tips, news and gossip to tips@spesh.com.
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© 1997 Peter Langston
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