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U Exclusive:
You are frustrated. You cry. Realted Story:
Company provides training, college courses on Internet When entrepreneur Ed Sattar was tossing around ideas for an Internet company last year, he had two requirements. "I didn't want to spend much on marketing, and I wanted a captive audience," he says.
As college students around the country begin studying for final exams later this month, Houston's Questia Media will be facing a big test of its own. The developer of an online service designed to help students write better research papers will be deep into a revamped marketing campaign designed to overcome a simple fact: After nearly three years, more than $110 million in spent venture capital and the building of a 300-person staff, the company still boasts fewer than 1,000 paying subscribers.
Napster chairman pleads Congress for standards in distributing music online As hundreds of college students flocked Capitol Hill in a show of support, Hank Barry, CEO of the wildly popular music-swapping service Napster, called on Congress to instill a system that likens the distribution of music on the Internet to that of music on the radio. Testifying before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Barry said that treating the Internet as a wholly separate entity prevents it from enjoying the level of prosperity that radio and television enjoy.
Executives from embattled music file-sharing service Napster — frustrated by record labels' unwillingness to negotiate with them — yesterday asked Congress to support development of on-line music distribution.
Making MIT course material available on net is savvy marketing When the Massachusetts Institute of Technology unveiled splashy plans last week to make material from all MIT courses available on the Internet for free, it was perceived as an extremely altruistic gesture. It was also savvy marketing.
Web site loses advertisers after it displayed autopsy photos Amazon.com and another Web company have pulled advertisements from the DeLand-based Web site that posted autopsy photographs of two dead NASCAR drivers. The companies said they wanted nothing to do with the Web site, which has been virtually inaccessible all week. Operator Michael Uribe said Wednesday that visitors overloaded the site trying to see pictures of Rodney Orr and Neil Bonnett, who died at the Daytona International Speedway in 1994.
Napster fans: RealNetworks' new service is off key Hoping to convert Napster's 50 million users into paying customers, three of the world's largest record companies have closed a deal to start an online music-subscription service by fall. But experts and music fans say it'll be a tough sell.
Internet radio grows in stature, popularity Like the days when an Atwater Kent console was an integral part of the American living room, radio is bracing to become a home appliance again. Only the 21st Century version is called Kerbango and along with the traditional AM and FM offerings, the big attraction is the arrival of a device that offers thousands of radio channels.
College newspapers permit Internet gambling ads Student newspapers at all 65 universities that qualified for this year's NCAA men's basketball tournament either take or would publish advertising for Internet gambling, the American Gaming Association said Thursday. The finding comes from an informal poll solicited by the AGA. National Media, a firm in Alexandria, Va., conducted the poll from March 19 through March 26 after being hired by an AGA consultant, said AGA spokeswoman Naomi Greer.
Taking up a financial battle between freelance writers and the nation's major media companies, Supreme Court justices struggled Wednesday with arguments over who owns the rights to material that is published and then stored in electronic databases. In what is being called a historic publishing case in the digital age, a lawyer for the freelancers maintained that the media companies have allowed electronic databases to reproduce tens of thousands of articles without paying the writers or getting permission to put them online.
Users pig out on MP3s thanks to new software It took a while, but the storied language of Pig Latin has finally discovered its calling. Before long, college students everywhere will be taking it to fulfill their foreign language requirement. That's because it's Pig Latin, more than any high-wire technology or fancy hack, that's allowing users of the popular music-swapping software Napster to keep on downloading free music like it's going out of style. Since U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel ordered Napster earlier this month to block the trade of all copyrighted music coming through its network, the company, which had been hit several times by lawsuits and threats to shut the service down, has struggled to block access to all of these songs. Digital U
Exclusive: · Upset
about the Napster decision? Air your opinions in the forum.
Students find Internet addictive Senior Kevin Matheson spends about six hours per day on the Internet — and this is not unusual. A ResNet survey from last semester showed the average Kent State student spends two to three hours online per day . ResNet Director Dave Futey said he doesn't know if this is affecting students' grades. It depends on what they're doing, he said.
Only a game? Snood is more like an obsession on college campuses "I got my mother addicted," says Jenkintown's Kristen Findeisen, a freshman at the University of Delaware. Anne Willis, a sophomore at the University of Texas, got hooked and passed the habit on to her boyfriend, who gave it to his father, who ensnared people at work.
Movies
are coming to a PC near you Miramax Films, which has released the first of 12 full-length feature films for download over the Internet, will soon be joined by other major motion picture studios — including Sony Pictures Entertainment, Walt Disney Co. and News Corp.'s Twentieth Century Fox — that plan to distribute movies online.
Microsoft trial judge comes under fire in appeal Microsoft Corp. attorneys yesterday argued that comments a federal judge made after the software giant's antitrust trial last year showed his bias and should invalidate his decision to break up the company. Appeals court judges argued that U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson's remarks--he compared Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to Napoleon--created an appearance that he was biased.
Website adds to naked newscast A glimpse at the headlines is not the only thing available on a Toronto, Canada-based Internet news website, whose web address is appropriately www.nakednews.com. The news service is a little over a year old and is in the process of hiring more people to join its team. Auditions were held last week for attractive men and women over the age of 18 who will not mind reading news stories in the buff in front of the site's millions of visitors. 
Adobe contract will focus on electronic books, newspapers, magazines From The Daily Kent Stater Kent State and Adobe Systems Inc. have arranged a six-year, renewable research contract. Journalism professor Roger Fidler, director of Kent State's Institute for CyberInformation, finalized the long-term research partnership in November after a one-year, pilot project. The partnership will focus on the development of electronic books, newspapers, magazines and other documents.
Internet offers wealth of information on black history A popular joke among black comedians goes like this: Figures Black History Month falls in February — it's the shortest month on the calendar. Actually, Carter G. Woodson, a noted African-American author and scholar, established Negro History Week in 1926 — in February. The week evolved into Black History Month, established in 1976.
Internet access at malls for the unlimited earns a big, fat 'wow'
When soothsaying investors were predicting that e-retailers would make brick-and-mortar stores obsolete, owners of the largest shopping malls made a show of trotting out their own Internet strategies. From
hand-held scanners for shoppers to kiosks with Internet access, these
gizmos were an anxious attempt by mall developers to prove they were ahead
of the cyber curve. But no sooner had the gadgets been launched than the
dire warnings that spurred their creation proved drastically off target.
Police
investigate costly computer crimes, student denies wrongdoing From
The Daily Kent Stater Kent State Police are continuing their investigation of an alleged computer crime committed from a computer in a Verder Hall dorm room. According to Kent State police, the crimes being investigated include tampering with records and unauthorized use of a computer system, which are third and fifth degree felonies. But the police couldn't specify exactly what the crimes were.
Students angry over uncertain future of Microsoft certification program From The Daily Kent Stater A difference of opinion concerning a technology certification program at a regional campus has students charging the Kent State administration with passing the buck on an issue they claim will negatively impact their academic future.
Businessman renews pledge to create free online university When one-time billionaire Michael J. Saylor announced plans last year to create and fund a free online university jammed with celebrity lecturers, he wasn't kidding. And despite the fact that Saylor's software company, MicroStrategy, has seen the value of its stock drop like lead in the ocean since the March announcement, he still isn't kidding.
Students opt for palm devices to get organized It is small, rests in your hand and has revolutionized the way people organize their days. They're known as hand-held organizers or palm pilots, and since they hit the market in 1994, they have become the fashionable way to serve organizational needs. They suit people on the go — making them very popular among students.
Rise
in Internet gambling prompts debate over legality, consequences The 17-year-old Springfield, Mo., student could not believe how easy it was to win big money on the Internet. He logged on to a virtual casino, set up an account with his brother's credit card and started betting.
Travelocity site breach exposes travelers' personal information Personal information of students who booked their spring break trips on one online travel agency may have been exposed on the World Wide Web for months. A security breach at the online travel agency Travelocity.com leaked personal information of 4,500 clients who entered online promotions between May and November. Names, addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses of the contestants were exposed. However, credit card information was not released.
Cyber cafe attracts java consumers From The Daily Kent Stater The construction that swept through the basement of the Student Center left in its wake the newest place for students to go. In the area previously occupied by the billiards and game room resides a place where coffee and computers collide — a place where commuters and residents alike can relax, chat, surf the Web, sleep, play pool and, of course, drink coffee.
Computer virus causes problems for departments campus-wide From The Daily Kent Stater A complex virus has infected computers in at least five different departments on campus, damaging some system files beyond repair. The
W95.MTX virus has already caused problems in the Women's Resource Center
and in the anthropology, political science, history and chemistry
departments, according to Computer Technology Coordinator Rich Aber.
Starbucks plans to offer Internet access Boot up. Log in. Get wired. Beginning this spring, Starbucks Corp. plans to serve up high-speed Internet service along with its mocha lattes and double espressos in an attempt to make its stores even more appealing to the juiced-up tech set.
Companies, feds team to stop hackers Nineteen of the nation's top technology firms including archrivals Microsoft, Oracle, and IBM have teamed up with the federal government to catch hackers. The competitors vowed to share intelligence with each other about product vulnerabilities and hacker trends in order to shore up public confidence in e-commerce and protect the over $7 billion in business-to-business revenue over the Internet.
Digital dissertations open up new world of research Digital information technology that began as an intangible idea a little more than a decade ago has found its way into mainstream academia. More and more universities now allow graduate students to submit their final research projects electronically.
It's out with the new, in with the old for laid-off cyber workers During the boom days of Internet stocks (earlier this year), B-to-B and B-to-C had indisputable meanings in e-commerce: business-to-business and business-to-consumer sales online. But amid today's demise of the dot-com companies, there's a joke going around legions of laid-off cyber workers: What's the new meaning of B-to-B and B-to-C?
Freebies drawing people to the Web From The Daily Kent Stater Melissa Kelly, a graduate student in audiology, is addicted. "I typically spend anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour on it every day," she admits. And there are side-effects. As a direct result of her addiction, she gets tons of junk mail and e-mails everyday, and she loves every minute of it. But what she likes best are the free samples.
Lucent plans to reduce by
16,000 jobs Lucent, the New Jersey-based communications equipment maker, said it would cut 16,000 jobs. The Lucent cuts come on top of 7,000 worldwide layoffs by Chicago's Sara Lee. Newly formed media giant AOL Time Warner Inc. said it would eliminate 2,000 positions.
Ron Hurst doesn't own a digital camera. But he plans to use a computer to process, view and perhaps even touch up all the family photos he took over the holidays. Even as he continued to rely on old-fashioned film over the past year, Hurst was able to improve his pictures courtesy of a digital photography Web site.
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