Bob Jensen's New Bookmarks on July 30, 1999
Bob Jensen at Trinity University

You can change the viewing size of fonts by clicking on the View menu item in your browser.

Scroll down this page to view this week's new bookmarks.

For the 1999 Additions and Summaries go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book99.htm  

For the 1998 Additions and Summaries go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book98.htm

For the (almost) full set of Bob Jensen's Bookmarks go to http://WWW.Trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob.htm

I will leave for Iowa on August 3 and then on to San Diego.  Please do not send me email messages between August 3 and August 20.

If you are interested in the case solutions to my derivative financial instrument and hedging activities cases, please download them now.   The solutions will be removed next week in anticipation of the arrival of students on campus.  The solutions will be removed next week from the files at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/acct5341/caseans/000index.htm.

I embedded the piece about computers in e-Bras in an undisclosed part of this edition of New Bookmarks in order to force you to read Jensen's J-rated items as you scroll down in search for the X-rated smut that makes "rubies glow with every heartbeat" in the MIT Media Lab.

I gave up!  Until Microsoft kills the bugs and deficiencies in FrontPage 2000, I am returning to FrontPage 97.  FrontPage 2000 chokes on big files, takes all day to search for word strings, and has no menu options for (Edit, Delete) or (Edit, Replace).  

FP 2000 will load a large file, but word searching takes forever.  If you try to do some things like use the Help Wizard on a large HTML file, the application freezes up entirely.  FP 2000 has a memory management problem that does not exist in FP 1997.

If you are experiencing similar problems or detect other bugs, it would help if you contacted Microsoft.  Even if it is about a problem that I already complained about, Microsoft is more apt to correct something like not having the (Edit, Replace) and (Edit, Clear) menu choices if a whole lot of users send in complaints.  The place to type your feedback message (after choosing FrontPage) is at http://support.microsoft.com/support/feedback/.

After posting the first edition of the July 30 New Bookmarks, I received the following helpful advice from Dennis Schmidt:

When you start FrontPage 2000, you see "short" menus, which include only basic commands. As you work, FrontPage (as well as other Office 2000 programs) adds the commands you use most often to the set you see.

To locate a menu item that does not appear (e.g., edit/replace), click the little down arrow icon at the bottom of the "short" menu.

To turn off the "short" menu feature and display "full" menus, click on tools/customize/options, then unselect the "Menus show recently used commands first" option.

A nifty way to learn more about the features of FrontPage 2000 is to work through the multimedia demos at: http://microsoft.saltmine.com/frontpage/demo/ 

Dennis R. Schmidt, Ph.D., 
CPA Professor of Accounting 
University of Northern Iowa Cedar Falls, IA 50614-0127 
Voice: (319) 273-2968

This worked for me and solved my "short menu" problems.  Thank you Dennis.  However, my problems with large files in FrontPage 2000 still remain.  For example, nothing has speeded up word searches in large files.

I just purchased a Rocket e-Book (my price was $282).  This allows me to download copyrighted books and journals that are available for purchase in hard copy but are not available on the web.  I found the selection of books to be very limited, but I anticipate that more will quickly become available as the Rocket e-Book takes off.

The Rocket e-Book has a cradle that attaches to your serial port of a PC linked to the Internet.  You can then set up your account and download books and journals online.  Note that you do not have to be connected to your PC in order to use the Rocket e-Book.  You only have to connect when you want to download some more books.  You can also delete books and reload them from an online library of books that you have selected for possible downloading.

The portable e-Book device will hold over 4,000 pages (about 10 books on average).  It has a built-in standard dictionary (Random House).  You can point to most any word in a book and bring up the definition.  You may not, however, install other dictionaries for more technical terminology.  The battery is good for about 30 hours before you have to recharge in the cradle.  Both the cradle and the e-Book are portable and do not have to be connected to a PC except for initialization of your account and for downloading books.  The Rocket e-Book weighs 22 ounces, but it is easier to hold in one hand than a book.   You can flip pages easily with your thumb while holding the book in one hand.  Warning:  old duffers who tend to doze should not drop the device even though they are prone to dropping books on the floor when they nod.  It should come with a wrist cord.  It does have a very nice carrying case.  Its dimensions without the case are roughly 7 inches by 4.5 inches.

One nice surprise is that some books can be downloaded free as an enticement to purchase other books.  For example, I am a mystery buff.  I downloaded two mystery books (including one Agatha Christie book) for free.  You can also download free samplers of books.  The screen is monochrome, but the resolution is quite good.  Old duffers like me can increase the font size.  It will show the graphics.  Audio is available, but the speakers are as bad or worse than laptop speakers.

With this gadget I will probably read books that I would not otherwise think of reading.  The library list is pretty strong on the classics.  It is weak on new books from publishing houses.  Specialty books are available, but the selection is very limited.  You should probably investigate what books are available before purchasing the Rocket e-Book.  

Key web sites are as follows:

Franklin Electronic Publisher for Rocket e-Book at http://www.franklin.com/ 
Rocket e-Book Library at http://www.rocket-library.com/ 
Barnes & Noble e-Books at http://www.barnesandnoble.com/bookshelf/ebooks/epub1.asp 

Another E-book device is called the Softbook Electronic Tablet from Softbook Press at http://www.softbook.com/index.html.  Don Steinberg gives it raves at http://www.zdnet.com/products/stories/reviews/0,4161,368946,00.html .  He claims that this device has the best screen resolution among the electronic book alternatives..

At the moment, about 800 books are available for the Rocket e-Book priced at about $300.  Many books are free, and some journals are available.  You must pay for other books, but the prices are quite reasonable.  Most publishers also allow you to download free samples.  About 500 books are available for the Softbook.  Softbook users may also subscribe to the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.  This would be much easier to read on a plane or train than the hard copy versions.  The Softbook costs $599 whereas the Rocket e-Book is only $299 before academic or other discounts.

What amazed me are the books that can be downloaded free.  I can understand getting free classics such as Alice in Wonderland, the works of Shakespeare, and a lot of Keats' poetry books.  But the selected free downloads of Agatha Christie books and the Sherlock Holmes books surprised me since the same books are actively sold in book stores at prices that are not free.  You can view many of the free selections at http://www.rocket-library.com/.  Some of the free downloads are amazing and some appear to be garbage.  It is nice that readers supply reviews of unfamiliar books.  You can spontaneously submit your own reviews.

eBooks
Why do publishing firms like Rocket e-Book and Softbook?

• No printing costs (not even any need for color imaging, although color may not be far off in this technology).
• No costs of distributing and warehousing and marketing of hard copy (This eliminates most of the publisher's cost).
• No chance of pirating pages with a photocopy machine.
• Since pages of the book cannot be placed in a scanner, pictures and text cannot be digitized (and as a result, text images cannot be converted into text files with OCR software such as Omni Page Pro).
• Owners cannot resell the books or even give them away without giving up the entire e-Book or Softbook device.
• Owners can more easily shop for books to download without having to go to malls.
• Owners may find books that are not available in local bookstores.
• Owners may be more apt to think to shop for some books since going to the marketing web sites is so convenient.

Why are publishing firms afraid of electronic books in general, including web-based books?  I think the primary fear is that authors are tempted to by-pass publishing houses by producing and distributing their own books.  You can write your own Rocket e-Book, make it available to the world, and receive 100% of the revenues.  Of course you can also write your own textbooks and publish them directly on the web.  Professors Murthy and Groomer are going to demonstrate their great online textbooks at the American Accounting Association annual meetings in San Diego:

Sunday, August 15 (afternoon) Workshop 37 at 
http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/99annual/cpe/99cpe37.htm 
Their web site is at http://www.cybertext.com/ 

Will online books and/or e-Books replace hard copy on campus?  Once again there is bad news and good news.  Students probably will prefer reading from hard copy.  Some courses need color images, especially science courses.  Online books must be viewed on PCs or printed as desired on a computer printer.  It is not possible to read e-Books on a PC or to print the pages.  An e-Book must be viewed in a device such as Rocket e-Book or Softbook.  It sounds a bit unlikely, but there are some advantages for students if and when their textbooks are available for e-Book and Softbook.  These advantages include:

• All books for the semester or even the year can be downloaded quickly and easily into one relatively light and portable device, thereby eliminating the need for back packs that weigh 35 pounds.
• Books that are inadvertently erased from the device are easily downloaded for no added replacement fee.
• A word's definition pops up simply by clicking on the word.
• The entire book can be searched with simple word searches.
• It is possible to highlight key passages.
• It is easy to bookmark and return to key passages.
• Users can take notes (although punching each letter with a stylus is very slow).
• Because of the tremendous savings in the cost of printing, distributing, storing, and paying campus bookstore commissions, some of the savings may be passed along to students.
• I expect that book rentals will one day be available so that users can download a book for a day or a week at lower prices.  This may be sufficient for research work (e.g., to merely look something up or find a quotation).  
• Students may be able to one day locate research books that are not available in the campus library and download these books "just-in-time" rather than having to wait and pray for two weeks that Interlibrary Loan will deliver the book from some other library.
• Students will have less skin cancer since they cannot use e-Book devices in bright sunlight.
• If this technology catches on, it can only get better.  For example, the e-Book that I just bought may be analogous to buying the first IBM PC that did not even have a hard drive in the 1980s.  The e-Book of the future may hold an entire library of books and charges may be on the basis of usage rather than a fee for downloading the book.  For example, there might be no charge for books in the device that are never accessed.  Readers may pay a usage fee for the time a particular book is being used plus a fixed cost of initial access.

Immediate improvements would be wrist strap and a cord that prevents users from misplacing the stylus.  Medium-term improvements would be a detachable keyboard (like the keyboard that is at last available for the Palm VII), a color screen, and a wireless modem connection that bypasses a PC when users want to download books.  Long-term improvements would be to add a wireless digital phone and enough memory to store hundreds of books (coupled with a new fee arrangement based upon book usage rather than book downloading).  One day these devices may be a part of wireless computers (e.g., a subset of the computer that cannot be accessed by other parts of the computer for copying pages into the computer's hard drive.)

I do not think that these devices will replace hard copy in this decade, but then I didn't buy a PC until 1990 --- I thought it would never be anything but a gadget for bored adults to play with in leisure time.  I was a main frame die hard!  Now I own an e-Book and have joined the "Boys-and-Their-Toys Club."

After posting the first version of the July 30 New Boommarks on the AECM, Craig Polhemus wrote the following:

Here at the American Accounting Association, we are experimenting with both devices. (And also eagerly awaiting release of the Everybook [www.everybook.net].)

We of course are looking at them from the perspective of a publisher, though one less concerned about unauthorized copying than most commercial publishers. In this regard, the inability to "cut and paste" or print from these electronic books is more of a drawback than an advantage for us.

One aspect you did not dwell on is the (limited) ability in each system to add your own materials. For the Rocket e-book, you can add PDF files on your own -- but, due to the small size of the screen, essentially every table, graph, etc., would need to be re-formatted.

For the Softbook, you can add ASCII files on your own and can allegedly buy software (some of which is not really released yet) to convert HTML files as well. Unlike the Rocket e-book, the Softbook screen is about a full page, so tables and graphs that are already in HTML will probably look pretty good without manual re-formatting to fit another screen size.

I believe screen size is very important for professional journals, which is why I am so eager to see a functioning Everybook -- it is said to show two portrait pages at once. I envision this as being important to someone who wants to look at a chart or graph on one page while reading relevant text on another. (I do not know how easy it may be to transfer one's own material to the Everybook -- I've been told to "expect a response" to my inquiries of a month or so ago.)

So far, I have downloaded PDF versions of Accounting Horizons articles to the Rocket e-book and transferred ASCII versions of various AAA materials to the Softbook. The Softbook company has also promised to convert one or more articles from the online HTML version of Accounting Horizons to Softbook format -- I'll check tonight to see if they have done so. I will have both devices with me at the AAA Annual Meeting in San Diego, if any list members are interested in seeing them.

Ultimately, I think B5-sized notebook computers will have all the capabilities of these early electronic books without the dubious "advantage" of restricting printing and copying text. However, for now the electronic books are about one-tenth the cost, and even after B5 prices stabilize it may be that copy-fearing publishers will keep the separate electronic book market alive as well.

(As a reader rather than a publisher, I like both the Rocket e-book and the Softbook -- with an edge toward the latter because of its larger screen size. On the other hand, the Rocket e-book's ability to present text either portrait or landscape is a really neat feature! I read several books on the Softbook on the way to and from the AAA First Globalization Conference in Taiwan, and although the Softbook is heavier than one book, it's much lighter than ten!)
Craig Polhemus, American Accounting Association [ AAACraig@AOL.COM ]

Especially note Craig's reference to the forthcoming Everybook Dedicated Reader described at http://www.everybook.net/.  Everybook will have two screens that open up like a book.  More importantly, they will be color screens (I don't know what this will do to battery life and weight).

Medical Professionals on the run can read their journals and reference books in full color, with easy-to-view charts, graphs, and formulas, as well as high-resolution photographs and illustrations.

Thanks to its cutting-edge technology, the EB Dedicated Reader™ is poised to take its place as the natural extension of the traditional book.

Speaking of wireless technology, Palm VII, digital phones, and e-Books are not the latest really big thing in going wireless.   The next big thing is a wireless transmission protocol called Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) and forthcoming modems that use CDPD.  The Novatel Merlin costs $279 is described at http://www.novatelwireless.com/.

San Diego, California –June 14, 1999– Novatel Wireless, Inc., a leading provider of wireless Internet solutions, today announced their latest product – the Merlin™ Type II Wireless IP Modem. Priced well below the competition, this wireless Type II PCMCIA modem expands the functionality of laptops and Windows® CE devices without bulky external hardware or cumbersome phone lines.

Designed for Windows 95/98/NT/CE and 2000 computers equipped with a Type II PCMCIA slot, Merlin allows mobile workers to send and receive email, connect to the World Wide Web, and access corporate files and databases wirelessly. Merlin weighs approximately 1.6 ounces and has a foldable antenna that locks into five positions for convenient use and storage. Priced at $279, Merlin offers a savings of $100-$300 compared to similar wide-area wireless modems, and will be commercially available in August 1999. Advance orders for Merlin are being accepted by calling Novatel Wireless at 888-888-9231.

"Merlin is a breakthrough product, offering mobile access to mission-critical data at an unbeatable price point," said Robert Corey, chief executive officer for Novatel Wireless, Inc. "We were able to use the expertise garnered from developing our other products, notably the Minstrel® line of modem cradles and the Expedite™ OEM module to create a cost-effective, reliable product in a PC card format."

Each Merlin has its own IP address and connects to the Internet via the Wireless IP network. Wireless IP, also known as Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD), is a method of transmitting data in small packets of information over the existing cellular phone network (AMPS). Wireless IP is a fully digital network overlay, providing all the benefits of digital service, including lower error rates and lower costs. If a connection is lost during transmission, Merlin automatically reconnects to the network and resumes transmission or receipt of a message in its entirety. This feature, in addition to advanced verification techniques, makes the Wireless IP network an extremely reliable method of transmitting data.

The chief competitor will be the Sierra AirCard costing $500 at http://www.sierrawireless.com/.

June 21 - Sierra Wireless has introduced the "AirCard 300 for Windows"- with support for Microsoft Windows CE, 95, 98 and NT operating systems. The AirCard 300 for Windows is the industry's first cellular network interface card. It is also the smallest cellular data product on the market - the only true, Type II PC Card package. (more...)

Beyond message boards and chat rooms --- the next generation of online communities:

"Community is a Commodity," by Jim Cashel, NewMedia, August 1999, pp. 34-43.  The online version is at http://newmedia.com/newmedia/99/08/techreport/Community.html.  

Nobody knows for sure how many online enclaves are out there, but they're definitely proliferating at a fast clip. Yahoo launched Yahoo Clubs (a "host your own" community) only nine months ago, and people have already formed over 200,000 distinct communities.  Remarq, an online community site, logs over 500,000 daily postings to Usenet. Even the most obscure topics are generating vibrant communities. Case in point: the Reel-Time forum on saltwater fly-fishing.

Jim goes on to tell us why communities are so vital to the future of networking and e-Commerce, to say nothing of education and training.

Polly Sprenger adds a nice piece about how message boards are really not passé.  See her piece about "Messaging Promotes Portals" at http://newmedia.com/newmedia/99/08/outsource/Messaging.html.

Trivia Question: Who is Paul Allen and why is he unhappy with San Antonio?
Answer: One of the richest men in the world as a result of being Bill Gate's partner in founding Microsoft. He is not too happy with San Antonio since the Spurs prevented his Trail Blazers from becoming 1999 NBA Champions.

Serious Question: What is Paul Allen's latest big-time investment venture?

Answer: A venture for simple authoring of courses directly online --- course authoring for the web becomes an online cottage industry.  See http://click2learn.asymetrix.com/cda/createcourse/frontpage/

I will now summarize some options for putting your course materials up "for free" on commercial servers rather than having to rely upon the servers on your campus (many universities and other schools are way behind the time in providing server space and software shells for courses).

Both Paul Allen and Mike Milken are "Titans" in the eyes of an insignificant salaried professor.  However, Paul Allen has more billions than Mike Milken, and Paul Allen has spent less time in jail.  However, since being released from prison, Mike Milken set a course to monopolize much of the online education material and distribution via his Knowledge Corporation and its many subsidiaries.  It is nice to see that Paul Allen is putting up some competition.  Actually what Mike Milken and Paul Allen are both doing with their vast wealth is for the good of making training and education available worldwide.  I applaud what they are doing with their vast wealth and the risks that they are taking with their money.  I think both of these wealthy titans have more than profits in mind --- they both want to be global leaders in helping to bring low-cost and convenient learning materials to the entire world.

In summary, the Clash of the Titans seems to be Paul Allen's newcomer "Click2Learn" versus Mike Milken's earlier "Milken's Virtual Education Workspace."  Key features in both alternatives include the following:

• Both web sites have authoring software that can be used free for authoring courses.  
• Course authoring is a simple process from a web browser (no complicated authoring packages to install and learn).
• Both web sites have free server space for approved courses (even your kids can put up a course).
• Milken requires course approval in a somewhat more formalized process than Allen.
• Both will give you a royalty on the revenues generated from your course usage online.  Mr. Allen pays 30%.  (However, your university may object if you are a faculty member putting up courses for royalty payments. It is best to clear everything you do in this regard with your employer.)

Don't forget about the "non-Titan" CyberClass option for authoring courses.  CyberClass offers professors free space on its commercial servers.  You must provide your own course materials authored in the software of your choosing such as Microsoft FrontPage.  However, CyberClass offers more than you can get from the "Titans."  Cyberclass is a complete course management shell in the sense of allowing students to interact with the system, take tests online, enter chat rooms for synchronous course discussions, and track student performance and grades.  However, not just anybody can put up a course in CyberClass.  You must be the instructor of a formal course with enrolled students who can purchase the password to the course.  Publishing firms like South-Western Publishing have course materials mounted in CyberClass.  These publisher-generated materials can be accessed by students at discounted prices for selected textbooks required for a course.  CyberClass does not have author royalties per se, but a small company like HyperGraphics might negotiate royalties for large-scale courses from popular authors.  You can read about what universities are using CyberClass at http://www.hgcorp.com/cyberclass/hg/Newsroom/newsschools.htm.

If all you want is free server space without the bells and whistles (i.e., no point and click authoring software, chat rooms, course grading, or course management utilities), XOOM offers "unlimited" free server space.  Alan Whitten provided me with the following link to other free server alternatives:  http://cas.uah.edu/whittena/mis114/fr_web_sp/webdef.htm 

In summary, the options are as follows:

Free course authoring software and server space with royalties from the results of you labors from the "Titans":

http://click2learn.asymetrix.com/cda/createcourse/frontpage/ from titan Paul Allen

http://www.mevw.org/ from titan Mike Milken

Free server space and a CyberClass server shell for course management, interactive testing, chat rooms, etc.:

http://www.hgcorp.com/cyberclass/ from HyperGraphics Corporation.  To see a listing of the colleges and universities that have one or more courses delivered from the CyberClass servers, see http://www.hgcorp.com/cyberclass/hg/Newsroom/newsschools.htm.

No frills free "unlimited" server space:

http://xoom.com/home/

http://cas.uah.edu/whittena/mis114/fr_web_sp/webdef.htm (reviews of other alternatives--- thank Alan Whitten for the tip on this web site)

In the United Kingdom, free server space is on web servers at FortuneCity.com at http://www.fortunecity.com/.  One accounting professor who has a course available at FoturneCity is Duncan Williamson.  The course, as pointed out to you in the July 1 Edition of my New Bookmarks, is Cost and Management Accounting at http://business.fortunecity.com/discount/29/index.htm.

If you would rather mount your courses on your university's servers, you should convince your webmaster to install one or more of the web authoring shells for servers discussed at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/245soft1.htm.  I still recommend Blackboard if you go that route.

"There are 25,000 CD-ROMs sitting there with nobody making any money from them" according to Marc Canter in "Inventing New Venues," NewMedia, August 1999, pg.17.  The online version is at http://www.newmedia.com/NewMedia/99/08/frontrunners/index.html.

For an earlier (August 1998) analysis of what went wrong, see http://newmedia.com/NewMedia/98/09/feature/trip.html.

Thanks go to Chris Nolan for the lead on the following web site about "Putting Your Course Online" http://www.library.okstate.edu/dept/dls/prestamo/nom/titlepage.htm 

An example of accidental discovery aided by scientific visualization (three cheers for Iowa State University)
http://www.sdsc.edu/discovery/lo/vis.htm 

The Innovator's Dilemma When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail by Clayton M. Christense (Harvard Business School Press, 1997)
 http://www.tiac.net/users/nhannon/news.html 

US News ranking of the Top 10 graduate accountancy programs (although some are MBA programs with accountancy concentrations):   http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/beyond/gradrank/gbmbasp1.htm   

From FEI Express

SHAREHOLDER LITIGATION
 It's an unpleasant subject, but a reality of our legal system. Two weeks ago there was a significant court decision as to shareholder litigation and how it relates to public companies. It dealt with the exposure to frivolous securities lawsuits. The Ninth Circuit ruled in favor of defendants in a case that will likely heighten the requirements plaintiffs must meet when pleading securities fraud. The Court announced its decision in a case that alleged that certain Silicon Graphics officers and directors misled investors about the Company's financial prospects. The Court interpreted the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and as a result, complaints of securities fraud based on circumstantial evidence will likely not meet the Act's heightened pleading requirements. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is the largest of the 13 federal circuits, and encompasses the nine western states.

ACQUISITION MODEL
Bruce Valentine's acquisition model has been downloaded 2,023 times from FEI download library. You can still access it at http://www.fei.org.download/valentin.xls .

This is a search engine used by banking and finance professionals according to Page 62 of the FEI's Financial Executive, Jul/Aug 1999.  

Welcome to FinanceWise, the first search engine to focus specifically on financial-only content.

Unlike other search technologies, FinanceWise doesn't aim to index the Internet in its entirety, only sites which possess content of interest to the financial world. Every topic, from risk management to syndicated finance and equities is indexed in depth, with the contents of each site evaluated by our editorial staff before sites are allowed into FinanceWise's search index.

Tax News 
http://www.taxnews.com/tnn_public/ 

Small business helpers:

Bob Jensen's small business bookmarks 
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob1.htm#022119Small Business  

AltaVista Wants To Host Storefronts for Local Merchants
http://altavista.b2bmarketplace.com/partner/altavista/main.asp

The Wall Street Journal will help your business set up a web site 
http://www.tiac.net/users/nhannon/news.html 

Business to business product buying and selling
http://www.bizbuyer.com/ 

What's Nu on the net?  (this mostly focuses upon new or newly-discovered commercial web sites)
http://www.whatsnu.com/ 

News from or about Microsoft Corporation

The Future of Computing May Be Invisible  (known at Xerox Parc as Ubiquitous Computing)
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/1999/07-16summer.htm
Forty of the U.S.'s top university and industry researchers explored "invisible computing" at a summer institute hosted by the University of Washington and Microsoft Research.

Tips and tricks for FrontPage 2000 (at the moment the best tip is to go back to FrontPage 97)
http://www.microsoft.com/insider/frontpage2000/articles/htmledit.htm 

For Mike Kearl --- a web site on cemeteries 
http://www.5finger.com/DirtNap/Explorer/index.html 

Chase Funds --- An education-oriented investment site featuring the basics of investing and easy-to-use tools.
http://www.chasefunds.com 

Online tutoring (various categories including languages) 
http://www.tutornet.com/ 

Home Appraisal and Selling Helpers
http://www.homegain.com 

World of Spain (includes MP3 Audio)
 http://www.worldofspain.com/ 

Web Exhibits (Choose from a wide range of categories, including science and technology)
How come nobody wants to exhibit accountants?    
http://www.webexhibits.com/ 

Cow pictures (this is a big deal in Chicago) 
http://www.cowsonparade.net/ 

Rome's Imperial Forums (this is a great archaeology web site) 
http://www.capitolium.org/ 

Free bartenders guides
http://www.mixed-drink.com/ 

A fiction writing contest sponsored by the Department of English as San Jose State University
http://www.5finger.com/DirtNap/Explorer/home.html 

New Books for Kids 
http://www.bookhive.org/ 

If books bore them, try Warner Brothers Cartoons 
http://www.spumco.com/magazine/eowbcc/ 

Find a job on Wall Street 
http://www.wallstreet-search.com 

"Record Industry Strikes Back at MP3," by Jason Compton, NewMedia, August 1999, pp. 13-14.  The online version is at http://newmedia.com/newmedia/99/08/radar/Digital_Radar.html.

Remember Microsoft's slogan, "Embrace and Extend"? The record industry would like to do the same to MP3, and make SDMI (Secure Digital Music Initiative) everything that MP3 is -- with copyright protection. The initial specs for SDMI show that the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) is willing to compromise temporarily for the long-term victory. And it may prevail.

Initially, SDMI will coexist with MP3, and popular devices will play both. Then the plan is to start blocking pirated MP3 files once SDMI has reached critical mass in the market.

A message from Paul Dierks

Thank you for your Bookmarks' featuring of my site for the Financial Accounting Course I taught last fall. Yes, the links did not connect to anything since the administration moved the folder to another server. I managed to restore a good number of the links to the old server as a temporary remedy but really should redirect them to the new server - which I'll do in the near future. I'll also have to let you know the address of the new server.

One thing I want to point out to you - and others checking the site - is that it is the "front-end" of the course that is available on the Internet. There is another, much larger site, that I built on the Babcock School's Internet that dealt with the operational aspects of each class session during the semester. A password is required to access the Internet site.

On another matter - in a recent posting you expressed frustration over FrontPage 2000 and you were keeping Frontpage 97 on an alternate computer. I am on the verge of upgrading to Frontpage 2000 and would like to know more about the basis of your frustrations over switching to it.

Hope all is going well with you. Keep up your good work in the computer area and thanks for transmitting all your valuable thoughts to the rest of us.

Paul Dierks [ Paul.Dierks@mba.wfu.edu ]
Wake Forest University

My original reference to Paul's course is at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book99.htm#PaulDierks.

Surf the Web in your own unique way with this free software. NeoPlanet's program lets you customize Internet Explorer to look any way you want it to look.  
http://hotfiles.zdnet.com/cgi-bin/texis/swlib/hotfiles/info.html?fcode=000M6C&b=  

Welcome to the July 23rd edition of the Internet Essentials '99 Newsletter for the financial professional.
http://www.tiac.net/users/nhannon/news.html 

Here are this week's topics:

1. Your Comments Displayed on Any Web site

2. The Innovator's Dilemma 

3. E-business Could Mean Out-of-Business

4. Wall Street Journal Startup Web Site

5. Traveling on a Budget

6. JBM Logic Introduces Integra Internet Accounting

7. Top Ten Quick Hitters

smut
OK --- Now for the smut you've been searching for about ubiquitous (invisible, undercover) computing:

Computers in e-Bra straps and other unmentionable places (for computers that is) are being seriously studied in the MIT Media Lab.  See "Get 'Em in Their Underwear," by Harry Bruinius in NewMedia, August 1999, pp. 28-36."  The online version is at http://newmedia.com/newmedia/99/08/feature/In_Their_Underwear.html   You won't believe this one.

"Things That Think" -- that's what the MIT Media Lab is calling its current set of Internet "smart" gadgets. But the TTT Consortium doesn't just want these gadgets to think on their own -- they want them to think together in a flexible hive network.

"The big 'aha!' in the last five years was the World Wide Web," says Michael Hawley, a professor at the Media Lab and a participant in the TTT Consortium. "The big surprise in the next five years will be the ground swell of 'capillary networks' -- a new web of threadwork connecting appliances, toys, cars, phones, and more." The Media Lab is calling this education of toasters and toys "think and link," to describe how these gadgets will anticipate and then meet the needs of their users.

Among the projects at the Lab are smart clothes that respond to the wearer, smart screws on plane wings that tell the network when they're coming loose, and Web search "assistants" that, far beyond doing a keyword search, know exactly what information a user needs. "One of my personal favorites is still the Heart Throb brooch we designed with Harry Winston," says Hawley. "It's a $500,000 diamond and ruby brooch, plus a special bra and clutch purse. The bra contains a sensor and mini radio link. The rubies glow with every heartbeat, and the purse transmits the data to the Internet." The Lab is also investigating many smart toys. "Think of Furby with an invisible network link," says Hawley. To link these household appliances, PDAs, clothes, and other wireless gadgets, the Lab is going deep into the gadgets'...DNA. MIT recently announced a partnership with Motorola to establish a Digital DNA Lab at the Media Lab. 

 (The rest of this undercover sidebar is at http://newmedia.com/newmedia/99/08/feature/Device.html )

You may also like Harry's discussion of Internet Appliances at http://newmedia.com/newmedia/99/08/feature/Appliances.html.

The elite of computer science researchers are focusing on "invisible computing" (no e-Bras mentioned in this one, but computers may be in the wallpaper) as described at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/1999/07-16summer.htm.   The two major problems in advancing technologies of both wireless and invisible (ubiquitous) computing are batteries and heat.  Who wants an overheated e-Bra or wall paper that catches on fire?  I mentioned previously that my new Rocket e-Book weighs 22 ounces.  The reason is mostly the hefty size of the battery needed to run the device for 30 hours.  It is not possible to have relatively high powered devices run on tiny batteries.  Lighting the viewing screen of wireless devices such as e-Books requires a serious amount of power from batteries.  Computer science researchers point out that technology in batteries and heat dissipation is behind the pace of new technology in computing.

If you want to see the computers in Bob Jensen's shorts (ala the MIT Media Lab discussion above), you have to sign up for one or two of the Continuing Education Program Workshops that I organized for the American Accounting Association annual meetings in San Diego:

Saturday, August 14 (all day) Workshop 1 at 
http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/99annual/cpe/99cpe1.htm 
(In order to not have any misleading advertising, I seriously doubt whether Sharon Lightner will be demonstrating any computers in an e-bra, and nobody wants to watch Bob Jensen strip to his shorts.  Sharon will, however, be demonstrating live on the Internet her International Accounting course that is now taught synchronously in four countries on all sides of the globe in (with the added participation of accounting standard setters from each nation, accounting experts from each nation, and accountancy professors from each nation.)

Sunday, August 15 (afternoon) Workshop 37 at 
http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/99annual/cpe/99cpe37.htm 

Concerning all the CPE workshops on August 14 and 15, I received the following excerpt in a message from Tracey:

As it is likely that we'll have at least 300-400 more pre-registrants by the time the meeting convenes, and because participants can register for CPE's until the morning they are offered (providing the session is not full . . .
You can register online at http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/99annual/register.htm 

You may also contact Tracey as follows:
Director of Faculty Development:
Tracey Sutherland - ext. 311
Email: aaatracey@packet.net
Phone: (941) 921-7747
Fax: (941) 923-4093

I started this edition of New Bookmarks with some negative feelings about Microsoft's FrontPage 2000.  In fairness, some of the other software upgrades are great.  As I mentioned previously, I especially like the latest version of Internet Explorer.  In particular, what I really like is the way you can automatically download graphics images and animations automatically when you save a document to your hard drive.  What is neat is that IE automatically creates a folder on your hard drive, downloads all the graphics and other files automatically to that folder, and then creates the links to those files so that you open the downloaded web page on your local computer and not really know that you are not at the live web site.  If you have the latest version of Internet Explorer, you can try this by going to http://www.sdsc.edu/discovery/lo/vis.htm and then clicking on (File, Save as).  Then open this file from you local computer and watch the skull spin about.  

Why is this feature of IE so important?  The main reason is that when you are making presentations on the road and sometimes during classes on campus, you cannot rely on live connections on the Internet.  Reasons include the following:

• The network may have crashed.
• The external web site may be down.
• The external web site may have been removed from the web.
• Internet traffic may be clogging the network and making downloads real slow.
• You may be using an agonizingly slow modem.

Audiences hate long pauses while your computer is trying to find and then download a web site into cache.  If you previously downloaded the external web file and all of its accompaniments with one swift (File, Save as) click, you can then dazzle your audience with the speed at which you "appear to" visit web sites all over the world --- when in fact you have simply simulated those visits.  Your downloaded files will always be available as long as you leave them on your computer.  It may even be interesting to compare the changes in some web site over time since you have a historical record of what somebody's web site used to look like.  Warning:  It is not ethical to post somebody's web materials on your own server without permission.  It is not even ethical to keep them for more than a short time on your computer if they are pay sites.  U.S. Copyright Law does allow short-time saving and presentation of pay material under Fair Use provisions that are not available in all nations. I've never been as concerned about saving free documents on the web.

For example, you can see one of my "simulation modules" for my August 14 workshop by clicking on Module 2 document at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateel.htm.  Proceed to the section entitled "Virtual Realities and VR Caves."  Click on the link in that section and note that you are only being transported to my simulation of that visit to the San Diego Super Computer Center web site.  Although we will be connected to the Internet on August 14, I will not have to actually visit most of the web sites that I illustrate in my presentation.  Their web sites were easily simulated and stored on my laptop computer's hard drive.  I suspect that I am now in technical violation of copyright law by putting my simulations temporarily just for you on a web server, but this is only for illustrative purposes so that you can see what I am talking about.  After a few days, my simulations of other peoples' work will only reside in my laptop and will no longer be available on a web server due to copyright issues.  None of my simulations involve pay sites.  Simulation of a pay site is a quagmire in terms of copyright law.  The bottom line is that you must obtain permission.  For example, it is absolutely against the law to download and make presentations of Wall Street Journal editions except if you are making a presentation to students a day or two after the publication

As far as the above Module 2 is concerned, it is really in rough draft form and needs more of my attention before August 14.

And that's the way it was on July 30, 1999. 

Professor Robert E. Jensen (Bob) http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen
Jesse H. Jones Distinguished Professor of Business Administration
Trinity University, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200
Voice: 210-999-7347 Fax: 210-999-8134  Email:  rjensen@trinity.edu