1997 09 Computer Player! BC Edition

Vol. 6

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Deciphering Computer Ads

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OS2 Ready: The Future MacRant: End of the Holy War? Softwary: Technology Advocate Saluted Books

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news 37 44 45

Technology News Briefs Ha ckers Fail Challenge UB C Internet Marketing Program

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l et t e r

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Pusus«ER Douglas Alder MANAaR

his month the Computer Player!takes a look a t s ome celebrity Internet addicts-actors, authors, and other "personalities" who have jumped into the onlinefi ay and become hooked.

Considering the amount of time I s end online at work, I w o ndered whether I would fall under the "addict" label. So I ' fired up my Web browser and olnted It to

Judy Prange

AssooATE EIToR Megan Johnston Co«TR!suTI«o EOIToa Alan Zisman PRooucTIO«MA«AOER Sari Prelutsky PRooucno«Jason Edmunds, jennifer FitzGeraid, Alexandra Moms, Lisa Wilder

AovERTIsI«c SALEs

Jamie Leighton,jamieCatcp.ca Randy Chaster,randyfatcp.ca

OIsTRIRuTIO«Brian Gold Co«T«oLLER Chris McPhie

Fou«OERsKent Liqin Chen, Li Ding Computer pjayerf is published monthly by Canada Computer Paper Inc. ComputerPlayer.' is a member of theCanadaCompute! family af publications; ComputerPlayer! circulation60,000 OttawaComputes! circulation 35,000 Quebec Micro! area!ation 60,000 Toronto Computes! a'rc ufation !00,000 Canada Computed total circulation 255,000 Canada Computes!

EorroR-I«-CHIEF Mara Gulens MANAcI«o Eo!ToR Lara Thais King ART OIREcToR Jennifer Hanlon Scott CQPY EDIT0RWIliiam Wood

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to my delight that an such a bad thing.

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Data loss? What data loss?

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American subscriptions: USS75 Overseas subscriptions: CanS1 35 Mail cheques and/or money orders (payable to Canada Computer Paper Inc.) to: ComputerPlayer/ 425CanalStreet,Suite503,Vaxouver,K V686E3

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ANNouNcEM<Nrs: pressreleases@tcpon.corn

You AsKED Us: yau@tcpon.corn

OcTDBER1997 IssUE: Small 61HomeOwce Issue AD DEADLINE: Tuesday, September 16, 1997 CAMERA READY, Thursday, September 18, 1997 Distribution Date: October 3, 1997 The full text of CP! is available to read online at: http: //www.computer-player.corn/

C OMP U T E R

PL A Y ER!

unparalleled enthusiasm; and Wendy Mesiey whose Undercurrentscasts a critical eye on (page 5z) new technology and how it is used,

Writer June Campbell also takes a look at resource (at h t tp: //www.quest-u5ed l n a g O O d SenSe. a5 so me of the most exciting new Web technoloresearch.corn/ webster.htmi), the word A~ t a t E~ gy — Netcasting (Page 4z) — and. not su~Prising"addict was f ormerly used in a good auu Ct u tO l etter P ly, finds that much of that innovation is coming sense; as , ad d i cted t o let t e rs; out of Vancouver. ...expressing habitual earnestness in earneStneSS in the PurSuit From the headY heights of celebrity and cutthe pursuit of some favorite object" ting- e dge techno ogy, weescend ack to the And, in ail earnestness, the web has O f SOme faVOrlte ObieCt Ps basics with a guide to deciphering computer become a habit I can't do without. In ads for first time buyers by Contributing Editor addition to the online dictionary (and Roget's Thesaurus at http: //web.cs.city.ac.uk/text/roget/thesaurus, as And last but certainlY not least, our Mac Ranter, David Rosen, weil as the acronym expander at http: //w~.ucc.ie/cgi-bin/acronym) I depend on the Internet for finding information and contact details g i ves readers his take (Page 32) on the Microso t/APPle engageon products, services and people. I have also found plent of good ment and what it maY mean for comPan'es and for the users of ' "" ' " ' h n " g '" . reading online. Through the Web I can view more newspapers local, national and international — in a more timely way than I would Let us know what you think! if they were dropped on my doorstep.

Megan johnston Associate Editor With the RealAudio plug-in (found at http: //download.realaudio meganj4Ptcp.ca .corn/) and a connection to a portable stereo in our corner of the

salesCaottawacompv!es.corn Quebec Micro!

Aaarr THE COVER

We also hear from two PeoPle who are celebrated for the way they decIpher technology-Steve Dotto (page 61). of 00~05 Data Cafe, who helps his viewers understand how to

ACCOrdln~ tO thiS inVaiuu "addict" ain't able Online l e5OurCe the

AovERTIsI«aSALEsChris Cole,

The cover photo of Ziggy Lorene was shot by Taffi Rosen, and colourized by Lisa Wilder using Photoshop 4.0. Cover design was created by Jennifer Hanlon Scott, using Photoshop 4.0 and Adobe illustrator.

In th's issue we Set some insight into how some of the famous connect with this new rising star on the celebrity honzon — the

Webster inter-

Tel: (613) 789-6431 Fax: (613) 789-6433

Tel: (514) 843-4770 Fax: (514) 843-3484 AovERTIEI«oSALEsSteve Gagne, ventesCaquebecmicro.corn

office, we can listen to CBC Radio's The World at Six at 3 p.m. and a variety of music and news from stations around the world.

Letters oII issuesraiseII is tka paper or peneral cImRIItsrtopics are malcomo Pleisehcbrief.

Ule regret thet Ivx are unableta laok upstones from psstissues.

suggest products, er solv• allBour computer problcss.

Oolg tbose RIitkRamax RIId

e-mailer snail.«IaI! addresses RIill be published.

LettersmaR be edited for spaceor content

The Editor.

Camprjrer Player! f,"anode Computes!

SC fdiliun AZB Carral iStreet Swts 803.

Vancoaren BC Y68 6E3 ccletters@tcpoII.corn

Fear Mrsngering

When I saw your story "Protecting kids from the dark side of the Net," I was shocked. At first, I thought it might just be a catchy title to a lame article, but my hope was in vain.

Right from the introductory paragraph, I, being a 16-year-old surfer myself, was appalled. This kind of fear mongering is what is keeping computers out of schools, and keeping schools with computers off the Net. As the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the CDA [Communications Decency Act] read, if a family has the money for a computer, they have the money and means to watch their young surfers.

The people who want programs like Net Nanny arethe same people who want the VChip:people who use theirTVs, VCRs, and computers as cheap babysitters.

Matthew Gamble

SEPT E M

BE R 1 9 9 7

t

After reading Jim Caughran's letter in the July issue of the Computer Played, I felt compelled to write. He raises two issues under the guise of addressing digital data loss: the first is the longevity of digital information, and the second is the longevity of software.

Well, I dug out a few S.z5 inch floppies and tried to read the documents and run the programs. All documents (recorded 1o to sz years ago) read fine. It helps to be running MS Word for over a decade. Programs? Well, one ran into a burn instruction and bombed out my DOS session out of Windows 95; others seemed to run fine. (The major bomb was MS Flight Simulator version 1, in case you' re interested.)My 586-133 seems to have no problem with DOS1 and z programs otherwise. So where's the proof of data loss?

The other issue is that Mr. Caughran doesn't seem to think ahead. (Or behind, I guess.)

Programs and data that I want to keep get loaded onto fioppy or unarchived from a backup before I switch to a new motherboard and processor. The files I mentioned before were recorded onto 5.z5 inch disks on an SO88, for crying out loud. And I kept a 5.z5 drive when I upgraded over the years, even when everyone else was looking down their noses and sniffin with disdain. (Someday I' ll even transfer all the files to 3.25 inch, just to be safe — then it' ll have to be DVD, I sup-

pose.)

The point I'm trying to make is that you have to think of your existing data when you upgrade. As in when you upgrade, not a year or two down the road. Not that this knowledge didn't come with its own share of pain — I lost an entire set of backup disks (7zoKB) when I used a now-defunct backup system... but at least I had other copies,

which weren't archived by some proprietary compression scheme.

So where's the beet?

Steve Fahnestalk

Mac hack attacked I have an issue with the "Hack Proof Mac Server" article in the July issue, about a Swedish company boasting of their hack proof server. While I do note that Mac users seem to feature very prominently in the letter pages of computer magazines complaining how mags neverpay the Mac enough attention, just because the user base is a fraction of that of PCs this does not justily printing some kind of "rah-rah, see how great Mac's are" ill-informed article If Mac users are content to consider their technology "hack proof" because of a two month evaluation period on a particular Web server, they are in for a rude awakening. A server marketed under the claim that it was guaranteed hack proof for two months would be laughed at. The Out of Band Bug (Winnuke) that was recently discovered in the TCP/IP stack used by all versions of Windows has existed for YEARS, in a vastly more used piece of code than that Swedish Web server, and it was only very recently discovered (and fixed). Leave that server up for two years claiming it's hack proof and I sure wouldn' t lay money on it.

It was a neat empty publicity stunt for the site owners, and an empty ego boost for uninformed members of the Mac community, but was at a rather poor standard for a computer Inagazine. In case you think this is some kind of Anti-Mac rant, I'd find any similar claim by Unix or NT servers to be just as ridiculous, but no sane person would say

h t t p : I / ww w . c om p ut er - p l ay er .

Continued on page S

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Letters Corrtinued from page6

Street Buzz

either is "hack proof".

Just my thoughts, Thor Newman Megan Johnston replies: Don't turn to page 44 Thor.We have another tale of Mac versus hackers this month. This time, however, the contest promoters don't make the h eady claim that th eir Mac s erver was "hack proof" —they call it "uncrackable."

ears of disaster still loom for businesses whose computersystems are expected to freeze at midnight on Dec. 31, 1999. For some specialized consulting firms, fixing potential corporate computer catastrophes is a profitable endeavour. Burnabybased Group WestSystems Ltd.is one such firm that has wisely specialized in correcting mainframe systems from mistakenly interpreting the two-digit year notation of "oo" as the year 1900.

Group West holds exclusive licence to market a software product called INTO zooo to businesses in provinces throughout Canada, and into Washington and Oregon states.

They also have distribution agreements with IBM, Microsoft, and Computer Associates.

So far this year, revenues from sale of the software and related Year zooo services have reached nearly $Soo,ooo.

Group West boasts a client roster that includes Rogers Sugar and Clearly Canadian Beverage Co. Earlier this year, Group West was named on of Canada'stop go professional service companies by The Financial Post. Since a public offering recently, the

F

Departmental error I was just reading the July 1997 issue of the Computer Player/ when I came across the article "CD ROMS are Vancouver Creator's Latest Canvas" byJune Campbell. Under the subheading of "Canadian culture" the article states, "The Department of Canadian Heritage used t o be the Depa r t ment of Communications."

The statement is not entirely true. While some of the responsibilities of the Department of Communications was taken over by the Department of Canadian Heritage, most were transferred to industry Canada. Other responsiblities involving culture/heritage were never within the Department of Communications.

To say that the "Department of Canadian Heritage used to b e t h e D epartment of Commu'nications" would be like saying Corel used to be Novell just because Corel took over WordPerfect from Novell.

Dave Koyanagi M.i. replies: Thanks for the clarification. The statement you quote was actually made by the interview sub/ect, OJ/ver Hockenhull. +

Year 2000 Fears Turning to Gold

an effort to sell and distribute its software through one of the biggest Web mails on the Internet. Santa Clara, Calif.-based McAfee has established itself as one of the leading anti-virus software companies in the high-tech industry. Its own products — especially its anti-virus code — are sold and distributed through its own Web site, which Features elaborate Internet commerce functionality.

Absolute w i l l se l l it s wel l - known C omputrace software through t he site.

Computrace enables users to secure their computer hardware by installing code that automatically notifies local law enforcement via the Internet when connected to a phone line even if caller identification is blocked or the number it calls from is unlisted. McAfee and Absolute are also in partnership with KPMG, Kensington, Toshiba, and local law enforcement in further development of the

company's stock has increased jumped from roughly $1 to a high of more than $6.

B.C. injects 56 miilion into high-tech research and development In a move that continues to throw a life line to British Columbia's software developers, the provincial government announced plans to invest $5.9 million into local hightechnology research and development projects next year. The Science Council of B.C. will administer the program, which uses a quarterly competition and a panel of voluntary judges to determine which companies and projects qualify. According to Dan Miller, the minister responsible for the Information, Science, and Technology Agency, for every dollar invested, the province enjoys a return of $z.6rr in economic benefit. The deadline for the next quarterly competitions is Nov. 1.

software.

Web sites: McAfee, http: //www.mcafee,corn Absolute, http: //www.absolute.corn

Elections spur big business Global Election Systems Inc. of Vancouver announced plans last month to raise more than $zi million through a private share offering in a move to raise the necessary funds to purchase Nebraska-based I-Mark Systems, inc. for $1.rI million. Purchase of the American competitor includes all assets,

Tel: 604-438-2752 Web site: http: //www.scbc.org

Absolute to sell through McAfee Vancouver-based Absolute Software has worked out an arrangement with McAfee in

Continued on page TS

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Li e stabs o the Wired and Fumous B Y JOYC E

SI N C ER

eople are not new to the Net anymore-and vice versa. By now, most of us have found our niche, and we' re pretty well hooked. Read on, as these stars reveal their own Internet addictions.

Actor David Hewlett, who plays computer whiz Grant Jansky on the TV drama Traders, was so drawn to the Net that he developed his own Web-sitedesign company.

"I'm an absolute and utter nerd when it comes to the Interne. To me, it's the concept of it — it ties in so weil with any sci-fi dreams youVe got. If you want to get really geeky, it's like a collective consciousness.

I'm hooked on the Web, because I'm an information junkie."

At the Toronto Trek XI science-fiction convention, both TV a ctors Robert Duncan McNeill (Tom Paris o n t h e St a r T r e k: Voyager) and Claudia Christian (Commander Susan Ivanova on Babylon S) took a break from meeting with fans, to talk tech.

•

•

Pebmting the Nabit McNeill admits that at one point he was in danger of succumbing to the allure of the Web. Likemany of us, he's discovered the addiction of surfing 'til the wee hours. So he simply decided to curb it, before it became a full-blown addiction.

"The time I wasted surfing is better spent reading, playing with m y c h i ldren, and studying scripts," he says.

Claudia Christian says she's not very Netsavvy, yet she's very involved with her fans online. "IVe done live chats with John Copeland and Joe Straczynski (B5's producer and executive producer/creator, respectively). Once, when I tried to get into the BS chatroom, they kept kicking me off. They' d given me a code word toprove who I was.

Of course I lost it, and Joe had to convince them. " On the Web, i f y o u p u nc h i n m y name...well, I have a lot of Web sites, especially Diana Kirksey's. There's an accidental photo on her Web page, from my Taboo (CD) shoot, where something was exposed...

CO M P U T E R

P L A Y E R!

And the worst part is, that I sent it to her. I sent her the wrong one — the reject onewith the nipple showing, thank you very much!"

At the Canadian Booksellers Association conventionand trade show, we caught up with various celebs fogging their books.

Skating champion Elvis Stojko (Heart and Sout) surfs on his Apple computer when he can find the time. "IVe been so busy touring,Ihaven'tbeen home much. And I' m currently between servers right now. But I enjoy looking up a lot of stuff on cars and sports."

What does he miss the most? "Surfing!

There's always something new and interesting that comes out." What does he miss from his pre-Inte rnet days? "Oh, I guess, relaxation. But I can still relax when I'm in front of the computer, and chill out."

Best-selling n o v elist a n d pu b l i sher Charlotte Vale Allen (Mood Indigo) has less time these days for computer solitaire since going online at Christmas.

"I mastered the Internet in about a day and a half. I don't know why I was so phobic about it — it was so easy! I' ve even tracked people down on it. I'm on one mailing list t hat d eals with j ustice, people who've beenfalsely accused — and that generates a lot of email.

"My friends and I are in touch S,ooo times more than we ever were before email. I find it's the equivalent of an answering machine.

Ifyou log on and there are no messages you think, 'nobody likes me?'"

Browser Singing?

Geoff Pevere, TV personality and co-author of Mando Canuck,an anthology of Canadian pop-culture, is addicted to the Internet's capacity to indulge his need to browse.

"My mind is a buffet-oriented organism.

I' ll go onto the Net specifically looking for something — and get off an hour and a half later, realizing that I never got there, I was so distracted.

"Although there's a high ratio of bilge-tosubstance on the Internet, I think that it' s

W SE P T E M B E A

19 9 7

a

managed to outclass television, regarding the amount of garbage that's on it."

Amazingly, he was frustrated for over 20 years with traditional genealogical research about his family name, until he surfed the Net, and discovered several other Pevere's worldwide.

Former Ontario Premier Bob Rae (From Protest To Power) benefits from email, using it to communicate with people, particularly

inte rnationally.

"It's replaced, in g oo d m easure, the phone, and in good measure, letters. I find with a lot of people, it's easier to communicate by email, rather than write them.

Obviously, I use the Internet for any kind of information I can get a hold of. For me, it' s like going into the stacks in the library. It gives you unlimited access. But I find I get lost when surfing the Web... I'm not a 3 a.m. cruiser."

Joyce Singer's articles have appeared throughout North America since 1979. You can browse her Web site at web.!direct.corn/-joycie or write to her at joycie@idirect.corn +

Celeb Qtes: Ziggy Lorene/Bravo www.bravo.corn/bravo David Hewlett/Darkyll www.darkyl.corn Robert Duncan McNeill/RanooM Flight www.iag.net/-ricknpam/rdmflt.htrnl Claudia Christian/Diana Kirksey www.draal.corn/christian Elvis Stojko/Skate.Org wwvv.skate.org/stojko Charlotte Vale Allen/Island Nation Press www.charlottevaleallen.corn cvallen@concentric.net Geoff Pevere perverse®astral. magic.ca Bob Rae raeb@tor.gpv.corn

Xiggy online The enigmatic and popular host of several T V pr o g rams o n t wo C anadian s t a t ions — Bravo a n d C ityTV — Ziggy Laurenc ls a lso a n author (Life On VenusAve. and Other True Confessionsof a Nash 'n Wear Virgin).

Zlggy also worked closely with Charlotte Vale Allen, whose new company, Island Nation Press, is publishing her first book, "Actually I'm very much connected to computer land! With my PC at home and my PC at work, I'm constantly connecting with my friends, and especially Charlotte, who lives in Connecticut, via email. Who can write longhand anymore? I'd kill myself if I had to write a letter...forget it! I'm hooked on email! We write really ' funny letters back and forth and it' s unbelievably fast!"

Ziggy has tried Net surfing, "but after a white it got boring. I think it' s a wonderful marketing tool...to visit other people's sites and to do.business with them. For me, it's research.

I also love the gossip on the Net. CityTV's site is really good for that.

But have you tried the chat groups?

Omigod! Make some sense, peo'

ple!" — JoyceSinger

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example, claims its 6x86MX-233 model is competitive with 233 MHz CPUs from AMD and Intel, even though it actually runs at only x88 MHz. Pretty much any CPU sold today will do a good job of running standard business and Internet software. Those users should put their money into memory, hard drive, or monitor upgrades. Heavy-duty game players should get the fastest processor they can afford.

2. RAM

Your computer needs memory (RAM) in order to hold instructions, data, and the results of its operations. Without enough RAM, the computer will need to be continuo, you' re thinking of buying a new can get a new, low-end computer for around ally reading and writing to the drives, thus computer-maybe your first, or maybe $t,ooo, or spend $5,ooo or more. Make sure slowing itself down, Luckily. RAM is relativemoving up f ro m a n o l der m odel. you budgetsome money for such things as ly cheap these days.

RAM is measured in megabytes (MB or You' ve picked up a copy of this publication. a printer and software. megs). Systems are typically being adver(Good move!) You' re thumbing through the 4. What are you planning to do? tised with i6 MB of RAM. If you can afford ads, andthe more you look, the more conto, upgrade that to 3z MB — your computer Just a bit of word processing?

Connecting fused you get. All you want to do is pick a vendor, and go and spend some money. to the Internet? Video production? Playing will run more smoothly, and within a year or two, you' ll be running software that will Why are there so many options? It's worse the latest games?

Ironically, game playing is one of the most demand that much memory. than buying a car! demanding things you can do with your Any system with a CPU running faster than Your confusion is perfectly justified. There computer.

New games typically need newer, about a5o MHz will work best with more effiare lots of options — and many of them are referred to in mysterious acronyms. Maybe more powerful hardware. But if you' re most cient SDRAM. Slower systems will work fine you thoughtyou knew what RAM meant, but interested in typical business uses, or even with the slightly cheaper EDO chips.

As well, computers typically have what' s what's EDO RAM? SDRAM? What's better? Web surfing, you can be quite happy with a machine further from the cutting-edge. called Level-z (L-z) cache RAM: expensive, Should you care? super-fast memory chips to take part of the Let's try to unravel some of the secrets, load olf the main RAM. You want at least and help you to read the ads.

256 kilobytes (KB) of this.

To start off, let's try to narrow your choices, soyou can decide the ads to which you 1. The central processing unit 3. Hard drives should pay attention.

(CPU) Programs and data are stored on hard driThe CPU is the brain of the computer. ves. The capacity of these devices has Typically, it i s r a ted b y s o-called clock grown dramatically in recent years, such that speed, measured in millions of cycles per size is no longer measured in megabytes. second or megaHertz (MHz). The original Now it's in gigabytes (GB or gigs) — biilions 1. PC or Mac? ran at p.77 MHz, while This debate has been raging since x si84 IBM PC — circa x98> — of bytes of information. and I'm not going to try to end it here. There speeds of zoo MHz or more arecommon Advertised systems often offer z GB driare lots of good reasons to choose either today. ves, but with a single game or program takIf you' re getting a Mac or a Mac-clone, all ing up ioo MB,you may want to check the computer platform. new modelsare based on the PowerPC chip: cost of upgrading to a 3.g GB or larger unit.

My advice:ifyou have a background using a 6o3 or 6oq model. Get the fastest you can one platform or the other, it's probably best If you' re getting a copy of Windows 95 to stick with it, unless you have a good rea- afford. PC buyers have more complications, with your system, make sure you get the latson to switch. Otherwise, go with what most however. est (Windows 958) version, and ask the venMost PCs sport CPUs from Intel, with a of your "co-computing community" — the dor to preinstall it with the FAT3z (file allocomputer usersyou know at home, school, choice (i n o r de r o f po w er) b e tween cation) option. Otherwise, vast amounts of Pentiums, MMX-Pentiums (enhanced for your drive will be wasted by the inefficient or work-are using. multimedia), Pentium-Pro (mostly in office way older versions store data.

Macs are the majority platform in K-zz education and graphics sectors, but PCs servers), and t h e n e west, (also MMX4. CD-ROM drives and sound cards have about 9o percent of the overall market. enhanced) Pentium-II.The MMX enhanceA CD-ROM drive is no longer a frill. Even if As a result, about 9o percent of the ads in ments are mostly aimed at garners, and this p u b lication a r e f o r PC - platform even here, software making use of it is only you' re not interested in games or multimeslowly arriving. As a r e s ult, s t andard dia, the CD-ROM format is virtually the only machines.

Pentiums can be good performers for busi- way you canbuy today's massive programs.

2. Name brand or clone? ness users — and prices for these are drop- You' ll see systems advertised with Bx, iox, If you feel more comfortable with a nation- ping dramatically. izx, i6x, even zox CD-ROMs drives — the ally advertised name brand, you' ll pay a preIf the computer ad doesn't mention a spe- number compares the drive's speed to the mium and get fewer choices. Clones, both cific Intel model, or if it uses phrases like speed of the original CD-audio drive in your PCs and Macs, can be a good choice, how- "586," "686," or "5x86," then it's using a home stereo. While faster is better, after ever. More and more, personal computers CPU from one of Intel's competitors, AMD or about Bx, the difference is often hard to have become commodity items, using stan- Cyrix. Both companies make good products notice. Don't pay too much of a premium to dard parts. As a result, a no-name clone, that can be bought without fear of incom- get a presumably faster drive. assembled with quality parts, can be as reli- patibility. Their newest models even include If you don't want to play games or access able as a brand-name that's advertised on TV. the equivalent of I ntel's MMX enhance- CD-ROM reference or education software, ments. you may have less need for a sound card or 3. What's your budget?

It is sometimes hard to compare CPUs speakers, but they' re included in most sysOnly you know the answer to this one! You from different companies, however. Cyrix, for tems. Basic systems oifer clones of the stanB Y A L A N Z I SM A N

Piecing it Together

The Classic Questions

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CO M PUT ER

PL A Y E R !

1

SE P T E M B E R

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dard Sound Blaster card, along with low-end speakers. You may want to spend a little bit more for a so-called OEM (original equipment manufacturer) Sound Biaster-x6 card.

Game players should budget for a r e al Sound Blaster-3zAWE and better speakers, maybe including a subwoofer to really shake the house down.

5. Video cards and monitors Basic systems mostly come with a noname brand PCI video adapter, often by Cirrus Logic, and z MB of video RAM. These are perfectly adequate for typical business software, Web browsing, and now and then graphics work. Again, the garners will want more: ahigher-end video card,such as models from Canada's ATI or Matrox, featuring more video RAM and 3D acceleration.

Basic monitors used to be pretty bad, like the speakers in many low-end stereo sys. tems, but they' ve improved. These days, the monitor included with the system will be a >5-inch, non-interlaced, o.z8 mm dot pitch unit that will be perfectly adequate for most users.

Look at a few aiternatives, however, and decide whether the extra quality or size is worth the extra cost for you — and don' t assume that a brighter picture is automatically better. If you' re going to be staring at that screen for many hours a day, you' ll want something that's flicker-free, with a crisp resolution. And if you' re going to be keeping multiple windows open on your screen, or working on graphics and page design, paying extra for a larger monitor may be worthwhile.

6. Mouse and keyboard Similarly, the choice of mouse and keyboard is personal. You' re going to be using these all the time, so make sure they' re comfortable. Low-end models bundled with most systems retail for about $~o and $3o respectively, while replacements can cost up to $zoo each. If they feel more natural to your hands, though it may be a worthwhile investment, just as buying comfortable but expensive shoes is a better choice than getting a cheaper pair that pinch your toes.

But more expensive isn't necessarily better. The large Microsoft Mouse and Natural Keyboard, for example, may be awkward for users with small hands (and just because something is labeled "ergonomic" doesn' t automatically make it safer or more comfortable!).

7. Bundled software A computer without software is an expensive paperweight. Check what's included in any advertised deal. Is the operating system (at least) included? If you have to pay an extra $aoo or so for Windows 95B or Mac OS 8, it may not be as good a deal as it looks.

Also, it isn't worthwhile to pay anything extra for a system that includes a bunch of games or applications you don't want.

Hopefully, these tips will help you untangle some of the options mentioned in the ads. Clarify your needs, pay attention to the fine print, and happy shopping! +

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Handling Windows '95 glitches

gram crashes.Whether you get a message about the program having performed an illegal operation, or the dreaded blue screen, accept the fact that your system will now be unstable and restart Windows by going to the Start menu, choosing Shutdown, then Restart the Computer.

If Windows 95 is royally stuck, and you

i t / B u'

l t- .

ScanDisk. Select the drive(s) to check, then click Start.

Finally, an anti-virus program, properly updated, can be worth its weight in gold if you surf the Net, or receive files or diskettes from outside sources regularly.

As they say on The X-Files,trust no one! +

have to push the reset button, the first thing you should do when the system has restarted is to run ScanDisk. Like its DOS 6.z cousin, it will clean up any lost clusters that the crash may have created and improve system stability. You' ll find the program by clicking Start, then choosing Programs, then A ccessories, then S ystem Tools, t h en

by LynnGreiner

indows 95, like any operating system, has its "moments of interest" when you'd like to run screaming from the room, hoping elves will somehow fix the quirky behaviours that are driving you nuts. We' re a little short of elves, but a surprising number of problems are quite easy to fix, if you know how.

Windows 95 applications don't use INI files the way their Windows 3.x predecessors did. They place entries into a special database called the Registry — which, if corrupted, will wreak merry havoc on your entire system, so a smart bit of preventive medicine is to make a backup of the file by choosing Run on the Start menu, and typing in "regedit" (no quotes).

When the Registry Editor starts, open its File menu and choose Export Registry File. Pick a name and location for the file and click Save, and you' re done.

Alternatively, use the special registry backup program from your Windows 95 CD-ROM. Copy CFGBACK.EXEfrom the CDROM's iOtheriMisc'iCfgback folder and put it into the Windows directory, and put CFGBACK.HLP into th e W i ndows~help folder. Then run the program by doubleclicking CFGBACK.EXE, and follow t he detailed instructions.

The nightmare of any Windows user is an unbootable system, and th e b est defense is a startup disk. Using Windows 95, open the System icon under My Computer, then choosing the Startup Disk tab. Insert a blank floppy in drive A:, and click Make Disk, then follow the prompts.

Lesser nightmares happen when a pro-

Crazy Billy's

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Street Buzz Continued from page 8 proprietary technology, and existing client contracts. I-Mark's main business involves development of t o uch-screen products and smart card technology. The remainder of the funds raised will cover increased inventory costs.

Web site: h t t p: //www.globalsystemsInc.corn

Feministspierce the Web In a move to provide a female perspective on the impact of women in technology,the BC Wired Women Society now has its own e-zine. Last month, the society launched Wired Woman Magazine,which features a creative profile of feminist animator Anja Haman. The I'all issue is expected sometime this month.

Web site: http: //www.wiredwoman.corn Steve Bain is the Computer Player/Canada Computes

w e s t er n cor r e spondent

in

Vancouver, Canada. Send news tips, questions or comments to Steve@helix.net. +

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. f i x , l t / B U y'="' t In the August issue we asked computer repair shops and businesses to provide us with some details of the services they provide. Here are the resuits:

Hourly fee: $50, 30 minute minimum BCIC Computer Servke • 1104 DavieSt., Vancouver, Tel: 682-6668. Email: PR@intemetcoffee.corn

Age of business: 1 year Repair/service spe«ialtles: Software, hardware, upgrades, printers, monitors and CPUs Authorized to service certain brands: NP Warranty on work: 1 year parts and labour House calls: Yes. Pick up/delivery: Yes Hourly fee: $49 (in shop), $79 (on site) CLE Service Center • 117-3989 Henning Dr., Burnaby, Tel: 299-5674 (ext. 27). Email: Klausigi«eservice.«om

Abbotsford Interactive • 2235 Ware St, Abbotsford, Tel: 855-9158. Email: gcrook@uniserve.corn Age of business: 2months Repair/service specialties: Hardware Authorized to service certain brands: NP Warranty on work: Yes House calls: Yes. Pick up/delivery: Yes

Age of business: Over 6 years Repair/service specialties:Printers, monitors, faxes

and computers, parts sale and supplies Authorized to service certain brands: Brother, Goldstar, Multi Computers Warranty on work 90 dayslabor, parts as per manufacturer House calls: Yes Pick up/delivery; Yes ($6 charge each way) Hourly fee: Call for details. Estimates free.

CEO Consulgng • Abbotsford, Tel: 853-6003.

Email: dlahay@direct.ca

Age of business: 11years Repair/service specialties:Hardware, software, business solutions Authonzed to servke certain brands: No Warranty on work; 15 days to 1 year (new) House calls: Yes Pkk up/delivery: Yes Hourly fee: $32 to $55 call for details 0IgltaI Edge Computers. • Tel: 241-8504 Email- digital@intergate bc ca Age of business: 3 years (10 years experience) Repair/service spedalties: Hardware, software, upgrades, printers, CD drives Authorized to servke «ertain brands: No Warranty on work: 30 days House calls: Yes Pick up/delivery: Yes Hourly feei 530 for consulting/training, repair rate varies depending on parts kifospec Systems Inc. • 180-3700 North Fraser Way,

Bumaby, Tel: 430-1223.

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Email: calebliinfospec.corn Age of business: 12 years Repair/service spe«ialties: Hardware, software, net-

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works, printers Authorized to service certain brands: Compaq, Epson, Seanix, Okidata, Profitek, ISS Warranty on work: 30 days (for service/parts not covered by manufacturer's warranty) House calls: Yes (with travel charge) Pick up/delivery: Yes (with travel charge) Hourly fee: $90 (30 minute minimum) Maple Oak Computer • 500-1281 Georgia St., Vancouver, Tel: 681-3770. Email: info®mapleoak.corn Age of business: 7 years Repair/service specialties: Desktop and notebook upgrades, and software installation Authorized to servke certain branch: NP Warranty on work: Yes(call for details) House calls: Yes. Pick up/delivery: Yes (by courier)

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MImos New Tech Computer Systems • 321A-4501 North Rd, Bumaby, Tel: 421-3362 Emaili mimos@intergate.bc.ca Age of business: 1 year Repair/service specialties:Software and hardware upgrades, CPUs and monitors Authorized to service certain brands: NP Warranty on work: 2 years House calls: Yes. Pick up/delivery: Yes Hourly fee: $49 Pine • 2-440 Brooksbank Ave., North Vancouver,

CompuServe connects you to the Internet, and to the world.

From Halifaxto Vancouver.Canadians Il' you' re interested in business, are getbngonline with CompuServe CornpuServe has its pulse on the — winner of PC i//Iagaane's prestimarket.Stock prices from the gious 1997 Editors' Choice Award TSE and MSE, Reuters Financial for best online service.

Newsciips, Canadian Corporation CompuServe covers the News, and more than 850 business world, and puts you in touch with and financial databases. We also other places, people and cultures, put worldwide communication at wherever you are. And. although your fingertips with global e-mail CompuServe has over 3,000 links to millions of addressesinternational online areas, we' re from Intei net to cc: Mail. And, if II I particularly proud of our Canadian you need to send a fax or a telex, i gg H content: the camaraderie you' ll you can do that too, straight from findinthe Canada Forum, heated your computer. "its sheer ifeptfi and value ure unporugeled debates in Canadian Politics, fish HNANI' Technical support> Don't worry. stories in Canada Outdoors. by online servke competitors or by theWefx" From Apple to Zenith, all the major business connections in the Canada — PC Alogeziae manufacturers are online with Professionals Forum, and current CompuServe to answer your and past articles from Canada's top magazines — /I/iaclean's, questionsand solve problems, 2'Ihours a day.

Canadian 8usiness andPROFIT.VVe also have daily AP newswire Find oggt why CompuServe summariesof Canadian events. is your intelligent online choice.

Sportsfans can get game scores in Sports illustrated Online; =E )%ca U . i c C xET i ( ' F f'. » travellers can book a trip complete with airline reservations, car C all I 800 4 8 7 0 9 $ 1 rentals and hotels — and shop online for the lowest rates availfor your free CSi software. able.

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Tel: 986-P INC (7462). Email: sales@pin«.bc,ca Age of business: 11 years Repair/servi«e specialties. 'Disasterrecovery, includes extreme equipment failure reconciliation as a result of loss by theft, and fire damage, and crashed hardArive reconstruction.

Authorized to service certain brands:Authorized to sell/support many brands, but have not actively pursued repair authorization.

Warranty on work: Yes, 30 days to 2 years House calls: Yes Pick up/delivery: Yes Hourly fee: Negotiable, minimum $50

Trinity Com puters• 3601 8 Westwood St„Coquitlam, Tel: 552-3199 Age of business: 18years Repair/service spedalties: Printers, monitors, upgrades, software, etc.

Authorized to servke certain brands: No Warranty on work.' 90 days House calls: Yes. Pick up/delivery: Yes Hourly fee: Repair costs depend on parts.

Consultations free.

Versatex Sales and Services Ltd. • 4390 Fraser St., Vancouver, Teli 876-3224.

Age of business: 10 years Repair/service specialties:Printers, fax/copiers, multi-function devi«es.

Authorized to service certain brands:Brother Select Dealer, Olympia, Ideal, SVC Warranty Centre Warranty on work 3 months parts and labour House calls: Yes. Pick up/delivery: Yes Hourly fee: $60 (carry in), 575 (on site) Walker Business Senrkes • 30980 Brookdale Ct, Abbotsford, Tel: 309-5279.

Email: «walker«®msn.corn Age of business: 4.5 years Repair/service spedalties: Software,hardware upgrades and general troubleshooting

Authorized to servke certain brands: No Warranty on work: 30 days, or manufacturer's warranty on parts

House calls: Yes. Pick up/delivery. Yes Hourly fee: No charge for First 30 minutes, $22/hour over that time

Note: The survey was open to all business in the Lower

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NP indicates the business did not provide the information for the particular category.

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T ro u b l e s h o o t i n g o r Beg i n n e r s

i t/ B u y monitor (or TV for that matter), or near audio speakers or even your eel-skin wallet, you can often expect several hours of retyping. Heat also kills, so keep all diskettes out of direct sunlight and other hot environments.

Cleanliness is also important for computers. Yours won't w ork p r operly i f i t ' s gummed up with stuff that has fallen into it.

Prevention is the first order: don't eat near your computer or let your cat sleep on top

hand corner); unlock the diskette if you want to copy onto it„. make sure the diskette is formatted for your computer.

The golden rule of computing?

The good news is that most are fixable (and S Y D A V I D R O SE N s your c omputer a delicate piece of preventable) by you!

Technical-support folks start at the typical machinery or is it too tough to break? The problems and methodically eliminate possianswer lies somewhere in the middle.

On the positive side, there are very few bilities as they go. Check all plugs and things you can do that will really destroy cables to make sure they' re firmly in place; your computer. On the negative side, there adjust the monitor contrast and brightness; are hundreds of minor things that can — and insert the diskette properly (following the frequently do — go wrong with a computer. arrow stamped on the case in the upper left-

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If all else fails, try restarting your computer.

Then there are the less obvious problems that require prevention. Don't leave your diskettes near anything that produces a magnetic or electrical field, because these fields will scramble any magnetically stored information. If you put a diskette near a ringing telephone, on top of your computer

Continued onpage 27

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BY ALAN THWAITS The graduate students are, of course, visitors to the Brain Opera soon find themselves cavorting from one hyperinstrument working on their degrees, and the sponto another, or solemnly concentrating on sors — businesses like the National Science exploring one particular machine. Brain Foundation, Bell Canada, Hewlett Packard, Opera hyperinstruments have been used by and, yes, the Central Intelligence Agencyit is."

A visit to the Media Lab is a curious, yet such artists as Yo-Yo Ma, Peter Gabriel, are looking for marketable products. But exhilarating mix of the sensible and the magicians Penn and Teller, the artist for- what's in it for the rest of us? almost surreal. On th e on e h and, t he merly known as Prince, and the Kronos atmosphere is "computing academic," very Quartet. cerebral and logical. On the other hand, the One example of "real-world" visioning is projects being tackled, and the atmosphere the Wearable Computing project. This will in which faculty and students work, are Upstairs from the Brain Opera is an area culminate on Oct. 15, when the Media Lab guaranteed to stretch the mind. used b y a res e arch p r oject called will sponsor a gala event on Wearable Take, for exampie, the Brain Opera. No, Programmable Bricks. This is an ongoing Computing, hosted by none other than it's not a Be!a Lugosi film remake — it's a project that builds computational power Leonard Nimoy (better known to fans of full, real-world opera, which first opened at directly into the familiar world of Lego Star Trek as Mr. Spock). the Lincoln Centre in New York, and which MIT researchers are hoping to shatter the building blocks. Using Seymour Papert's is currently on tour in the United States and myth that a personal computer is someLOGO programming language (hence the Europe, and has a permanent installation at unomcial name LOGO/Lego for the project), thing that sits on your desk. To be truly perthe Media Lab. sonal,they say, a computer should be a children create their own "Things That The Brain Opera installation at the Media Think," and to use the new bricks — and part of your daily life, going with you wherLab occupies an immense room —go m related sensors — to build a utonomous ever you go, and serving as your very own square — called The Cube, located in the intelligent personal assistant. To support robots called "critters." centre of the building. At first, it seems just ve developed such conThe resulting critter communities (the that view, they' a complex tangle of cables, CPUs, and robots can communicate with each other) sciousness-elevating components as a speakers, all hanging from scaffolding and are used to explore the ways communities wristband that serves as a pager and fax shrouded in bolts of dark cloth. Closer are created and how they behave. The area machine, "smart" clothing, jewelry, and examination reveals that this complex array set aside for Programmable Bricks project m akeup that change with t h e wearer's connects a number of interactive "hyperint thatcan be resembles a k indergarten classroom as mood, anda logo on one's shir struments' (bearing such f anciful a nd interpreted by a g e nius-level computer a heart monitor. cell phone, or navigation charming names as the Digital Baton, the aid. junkie.

Melody Easel, the Rhythm Tree, and the Inventing the future? The folks at t he Media Lab projects are about "inventing Gesture Wail).

Media Lab are certainly doing that. And, if the future." This phrase was first used by Visitors t o t h e B r ain Opera quickly author Stewart Brand in his book The Media we' re lucky, that future may be just around become co-creators of a new work and use Lab, and then by The New York Timesin its the comer. the musical tools of their choice to program profile of the facility in 1987. The lab par- Alan Thwaits visited MIT's Media Labs as a guest sounds to a networked set of synthesizers ticipants start with a idea, progress to a of the Massachusetts Office of Travel and and computers, which then play back the vision, transform into a demo by a graduate Tourism. + integrated score to the concert hall, where student or two, then are presented to fac- Site seeing: the works' composers have become conNegroponte sees the Media Lab'sman- certgoers. It's such a delightful idea that ulty, Media Lab sponsors, and, sometimes, The Media Lab http: //www.media.mit.edu the outside world. date as illuminating the landscape of the

fter a visit t o t h e Massachusetts Institute o f T echnology's (MIT's) rned Media Laboratory in Boston, a friend asked where I'd been. Without thinking, I blurted out, "I feel like I' ve been in God's office!"

No presumption or blasphemy intendedit's just that exposure to the incredible creativity generated at the Media Lab is more than a little overwhelming. This, after all, is the place where multimedia was invented, where Seymour Papert and a l e gion of grade-schooiers have programmed a world of "critters" constructed out of Lego bricks, and where wearable computing devices are part of the everyday landscape.

It's a tumultuous idea factory, where bleeding-edge projects are b eing envisioned for real-world applications. It's an intellectual free-for-all. where disciplines meet, merge, and are transformed. Among the Media Lab faculty are an opera composer, a filmmaker, a team of educators, and an artificial-intelligence researcher.

Originally housed in MIT's computer-science department,the Media Lab found a home — and a new history — in 1985• when it moved to its own I.M. Pei-designed building on Ames Street in Cambridge, an adjunct of Boston. Its founder and current director is Nicholas Negroponte, who began his career as an architect, and now graces the pages of Wired magazine as a columnist. He is also the author of the eminently readable book 8eing Digital, and is regarded as a guru by academics and business honchos alike.

human-computer interface. As he said in a 1995 interview in Wired, " I want to d o things on a large scale in order to have impact. That's why the Media Lab is the way

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ossiblythe single most neglected addition to any home computer is a good set of speakers. Whether you are a die-hard gaming enthusiast or simply enjoy humming to your favourite music Cos while doing work on your beloved PC or Mac, there are many options for bettering your auditory experience.

While a distinct minority of users have opted to connect their computers to their stereo, most users are still slaves to those small, tinny-sounding, non-amplified speakers that accompanied your desktop purchase. Besides games and other multimedia software (such as edutainment products, music creation programs, and interactive reference tools), the Web has also become a fantastic medium for music lovers with RealAudio,Beatnik, Crescendo, Shockwave Audio,MP3s, and other plug-ins and sound players.

Audio is also one of those underestimated senses when it comes to your overall multimedia experience. and it is a classic example of "you don't realize how bad your equipment is until you hear something much better."

I once read that the rule of thumb for reg-

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Keep in mind that sound clarity, positioning, and range levels are very subjective. In my defense, I have spent over 2o years in recording studios behind engineering controls as a production assistant, plus I' ve been reviewing computer games for three years, often arguing that good music and sound areoveriooked by the game developers. As a backup, I had a second and third pair of ears on hand for extra opinions, and kept all other factors constant to ensure the most accurate reliability.

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ular computer users is to spend roughly to percent of the value of their PC on the sound system. After reviewing six sets that varied as much in price as in performance, I feel this is a fairly accurate piece of advice.

Of course,this depends on what you use your computer for, how often, and what kind of a sound card you have. In other words, there is no point investing in a $3oo set of speakers for your PC if you only have an 8bit no-name sound card in your system!

Before we get into the various pairs of speakers on trial, let's quickly go over how each set was measured.

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a rdw a r e All sets were used on a Pentium zoo MMX running Windows 95, with 32 MB RAM, a 16x Panasonic CD-ROM drive,and an AWE 32 Creative Labs sound card with the latest drivers.

In addition, one still has to employ the appropriate tools in order to derive the right conclusions, so to test each set I used three CD-ROM games with Redbook audio and some MIDI, and three music CDs. For games, I used Scourge of Armagon (the first official

veteran audiophile, you' ll notice I tried to keep things as non-technical as possible, therefore excluding often confusing terms such as impedance, total harmonic distortion, input sensitivity/volt, and fuse type.

For clarity, I have also opted to discuss wattage instead of f r equency response (although this can be misleading, too, since some manufacturers measure wattage by the root-mean-square [RMS] formula, while others rate sheer peakage), but all readers Quake add-on pack with a killer soundtrack should know there is far more to sound outby leehun Hwang), Activision's Twinsen's put than just volume.

Odyssey (16-bit music and sound effects by Philippe Vachey), and Sierra's moody Ultra Pinball: Creep Night.

Koss 325 Series MusicCDs obviously were chosen by genre These sleek speakers, available in your so these following titles made the cut: choice of black or white, are 9 watts apiece Vivaldi's 6 Double Concertos (recorded and for a total of 18 watts, with a 1o.z cm (ti in,) mastered in DDD by Sony Classical), The woofer and 3.8 cm (1.5 in.) tweeter built in.

Counting Crows' Recovering the Satellites T he s p e akers a re 13X 2 7.5x12 c m for its nice balance of acoustic and electric (sx1o.7xzi.68 in.), so they look nice on each songs,and Nine Inch Nails'The Downward side of your monitor. Setup is a snap and Spiral for its heavy, industrial sound. the controls for the power, treble, bass, and All speakers testeo were magnetically 3D surround sound are on the lower right shielded to prevent monitor interference, speaker.A handy one-touch "mute" button and are all self-amplified. since most sound and headphone jack are also accessibl e. cards are only capable of pumping out ti There is no subwoofer included, but there is watts of power. an output jack for one at the back.

Now that you know how and why we' ve These speakers are ideal for classical tested these products. let's jump right in music and some Web browsing, but the lack and take a look at the summaries for each of bottom-end was quite apparent in rock of the six sets used. Take note that not all music, plus most game sound effects lacked speakers have the same wattage, extra fea- that lower punch. tures, or, of course, price. And if you are a

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subwoofer controls). The sound itself was not "crisp" enough for my tastes, and I felt much of the music sounded flat.

Game play withthe Quake add-on pack was convincing enough, with the gun blasts and hand-held bombs thundering from under my d esk w h ere t h e s u bwoofer resided. The Dolby Surround sound was remarkable (and boosted the mid-range considerably). Perhaps Altec Lansing should concentrate on a larger tweeter dome to A[tee Lansing AC555 handle the highs so classical music and At roughly $z59, this space-age looking speech from RealAudio sites won't sound so set of speakers (with subwoofer) is a com- dampened.

As an added bonus, a CD-ROM with petent "middle-of-the-road" choice. If you can manage to get by the tricky setup, you' ll WaveCube — special drivers, utilities, and f ind t h e sub - other programs to use in conjunction with woofer delivers a your sound card and new speakers — is s olid ri o w a t t s included. from it s s m a l l, o val desi g n , Labtec 2612 and 3210 North A m erica' s while t h e two best-selling speaker satellites carry 1z manufacturers has watts apiece — two 7.6z cm (3 in.) mid/bass ' designed the z61z and one 1.zT cm (o.s in.) dome tweeter. j I and 3z1o m odels Features include Dolby Pro-Logic Surround specifically for sound. asecond input,and two subwoofer knobs; one on the unit and the other on the garners and regular 4t' .: I ~- - ' multimedia u sers, right speaker along with the other controls: respectively. Both centering (does anybody use this?), level of contain the spatializer 3D surround stereo, surround sound, and volume.

Despite its impressive power and modern easy setup, and an affordable price tag of architecture, I found the ACS55's to be quite $139 99 weak in its high-end delivery (even with compensating between the two separate Continued pn page 22 On the fiip-side, the 3D spatialized sound worked extremely well and it r eally did sound likethe music and sound effects were coming from the air instead of the speakers themselves. If you are frequent computer user looking for a nice sounding, relatively inexpensive set of m ultimedia speakers, then consider the Koss 325 Series, since there is a full one-year warranty and will only run you roughly $139.99.

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H ar d w a r e

, Diamond Audio S2 HPM-4100 Series

Speakers Continued frrnn page 21 The z6tz model, with its tz watt, 13.3 cm (S.zs in.) mini-subwoofer and two 4 watt satellites, proved to be warm and "clean" sounding three-piece system. It delivered the highsand laws of both games and CD music well, although I found the mids a little faint.

When used, t he 3D spatializer feature compensated for it, s preading the sound widthw ise. The s u b woofer is s m ail enough to k e ep on your desktop, plus the controls are right there: power, mute, treble, bass, 3D Spatializer, and two jacksfora microphone and headphones.

The free mounting bracket is a nice touch that allows users to hang the satellites on the sides of your monitor.

The 3zto modeldoes not come equipped with an external subwoofer and has fewer features, but can also pump out zo watts of power. It d elivers a n i ce, well-rounded sound, with 3D sound support for music CDs and, to alesser extent, games. The 26tz model, on the other hand, had a nice bottom-end kick for the thunder in Twinsen's Odyssey, but the rich, pipe-organ soundtrack to Ultra Pinball: Creep Night was just as nice from the 3210.

We are now jumping from the affordable up to the more expensive lineup of speaker systems available. If you consider yourself a serious a u diophile and want the best music and gaming sound possible, then the Diamond Audio i Sz 4too series is the ultimate c o mputer speaker sys t e m.

Period.

This three-piece jet-black set ships with a rumbling So watt subwoofer, and 25 watts for each of the two-way satellites — t.3 cm (.5 in.) dome tweeters and tt.4 cm (4.5 in.) mid-bass drivers. A very handy control box resides beautifully on top of your monitor to handle volume, bass, treble, instant mute, loudness,and 3DSP (Diamond Audio'sproprietary 3D surround sound technology).

Optional are these neat little black rubber satellite holders for your desktop.

The bottom-end really drives home with an "in-your-face" punch, while the highs and mids are crisp and tight. The subwoofer unit allows for all kinds of inputs, so this is definitely the system to consider for keyboard musicians looking to record directly onto their PC or Mac. The only drawback (besides the price) is a distinct hiss when the 3DSP stereo expander

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Site seeing: Koss, http: //vvww.koss.corn Altec Lansing, http: //www.altecmm.corn Labtec, http: //www. Iabtec.corn

Diamond Audio,

http: //www.diamondaudio.corn Cambridgesoundyyorks, http//www.hifi.corn

Canadian Contenders Although not part of the roundup, the following value-priced Canadian speaker systems may appealto consumers whose budget is a little tight. Let's face it, the Diamond Audio Sz 4toos were like angels singing

(okay, very loud angels singing) but the price tag may scare off buyers. hharkham, Ontario's SonLab — a division of Pro-Sonic Electronics — has designed a complete line of magnetically shielded, amplified speaker units starting from as Iow as $29.95, to as high as their top product, dubbed the CS-SW2 system, at a ve r y r e asonable $129.95.

In fact, the white CS-SW2 three-piece sys. tern delivers quite a bit of power and clarity from such a small unit. Traditional speaker wire connects the two 7.6 cm (3 in.), 3 watt satellites to the zo watt subwoofer, and satellite stands are included at no extra charge.

A handsome and good-sounding alternative to the higher price units. n'est ce pas? Visit SonLab on the Web at http: //arex.corn/soniab .—Mark Saltzman

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low-end systems. The high-end units were more difficult to judge, but, blowfor-blow, the Diamond Audio Sz 4too system emerged as the winner. +

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The last of the speaker systems under inspection is a lso o n t h e p r icey end ($479.99), but delivers stunning, accurate sound.

After Creative Labs invested in Cambridge SoundWorks by Henry Kloss (now owning zo percent of the company), Cambridge began pushing more into the home-computer market with a new line of m ultimedia speakers. After only a f e w m onths, the company has enjoyed a healthy handful of awards from prominent publications. Their top line, the Microworks, is a 67 watt powerhouse: 43 for the 26.5 cm (6.5 in.) vertical subwoofer and xz watts for each of the tiny but punchy satellites. A small remote unit can rest by your mouse pad, allowing consumers to adjust the volume of the system, but must carefully balance the level of subwoofer output at the rear of the ground unit.

When positioned properly, the entire Microworks package simply rocks with hardhitting lows and precise highs. The mids, however, are hard to find, but this seems to be more of a problem for music than game sound-effects and rock soundtracks. When compared to its competition, another small drawback is th e l ack o f a 3 D s t e reo expander/Spatializer, mute button, or separate tone controls for b ass and t reble (beside the subwoofer output knob).

As excellent as the Microworks sound, Henry Kloss' next endeavour should recognize these handy features.

Labtec 2612

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Editor's Choice

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PalmPilot

Professional

From US Robotics. Estimated street price: $579 he US Robotics Pilot that won an Editor's Choice in the recent personal d i gital a s sistant ( PDA) roundup has just g otten better. The PalmPilot Professional and it s l i t tle brother, the PalmPilot Personal, build on the hugely successful Pilot without messing with the parts that

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Professional edition), allowing more records to be stored, and more software to be run and standard applications have b een enhanced.The calendar,for example, now has a much-needed monthview, as well as an improvedweek view,and you can call up a history of your current session on the calculator.

There are some new applications, including an expense tracker (for the PC onlysorry Mac users) that dumps its contents into an Excel 5.o spreadsheet, using customizable templates (Excel 97 users must download a newer version from USR's Web site). As well, the PalmPilot Professional lets you interact with VIM or MAPI-compliant email programs, and also has a TCP/IP stack (but no programs that take advantage of it).

Seeing is Believing

But the biggie for most users is the backlight, a feature Pilot users have lobbied cation with a desktop comlong and loud for. To save power, it's only P uter — droPPing the u n i t activated on demand, providing a biueinto a cradle and pressing a greenish glow that illuminates the screen single button-i s i d entical. surprisingly well.

Even the Graffiti text-entry Additional software (purchased separate~yst~m is the same ly) lets you synchronize the PalmPilot's But the PalmPilot offers database with most popular personal inforsignificant i m p rovements, mation manager (PIM) software, including nonetheless. Its memory has Goldmine, Maximizer, Lotus Organizer, been doubled (to 1 MB in the

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ECCO, Sidekick, and Act!. The PIM that comes with the unit is q uite functional, though, so it's well worth trying out before you go shopping. With the $69 Network HotSynch, you can even let your PalmPilot commune with your desktop computer from another PalmPilot owner's machine. And a $189 modem permits dial-up access.

Owners of the original Pilots can upgrade their units for $179, and get everything but the backlight.

Gaps in the PalmPilot's software are often filled by user-written programs, which you can find on the Web site. For example, a free application called Scribble lets you sketch maps, or scrawl notes, and the PalmPilot will s imply store the i mages instead of trying to interpret them. There' s a respectable selection of games, as well, and even a p r ogram that makes your PalmPilot think it's a Star Trek Tricorder!

But it's not the cute stuff that endears the PalmPilot to it s d o ting owners, it's t he sheer functionality. This little device packs more usefulness into its few g rams than many larger, more expensive contraptions.

It's basic, but if all you need is a calendar, an address and phone list, a to-do list, and some way to write brief notes, then the PalmPilot is the answer to your dreams. +

Site seeing: US Robotics, http: //www.usr.corn/palm

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ASUS T2P4 (HX) 512K ASUS TX97E (TX) 512K Acer APSVM (VX) 512K 518/650/1850 Acer APSTX (TX) 512K Acer AP67 (SIS) 512K 249!279/499 Hl M537 (VX Pro) 512K HT M538 (VX) 512K Laser Printer HP LascrJct 6L/6P/6MP SI 8 ! 9 70/1250 HT M550 (TX) 512K HP Laser Jet Si SN/SM HP LaserJet 4V/4MV

Bank '

•

P-133 $1100 P-166 $1180

Kiwi

Royal,'

L,I

•

205/265 285!560 Mainboard (MMX Ready) 2 7 0 /385/559 ASUS VX97 (VX)512K

278/368/398

I

Upgrade Your 386/486 Systent GC T-5GX MainBoard Cyrix 166+, VSA Soft VGA Soft AudioFor $250.00

Fax:604-273-5599

Panasonic ZipDrive IOOMB Ini/Fxi 1 7 5 / 188 l omega ZipDrive 100MB Parallel, cxt 20 0 ZipDisk IOOMB Single Cartridge/10 Pack 18/180

•

•

Cougar,'

Tel: 604-273-3899

Mass Storage 715'740 Fujitsu 1.7GB 2.1(18 I-ujitsu 2.5(113 3.5(18 270i340 I'ujitsu 4.3(i8'5.2(18 430'530 JTS 1 . 3GB 2.0GB 190i220 JTS 2 . 5GB'3.0GB 260i280 Quantum FB ST 2.1GB 2.5GB 260/280 309,415 Quantum FB ST 3.2GB 4.3GB W.D. 1 . 6(18/2.1GB!2.5GB 235!260!280 W,D, 3 . 1GiB'4. I GB 3 15/390 235! 266 M ax ior 1.7GB, 2. I GB 278/322 Maxtor 2.5GB/3.5GB Maxior 4.0GB/S. I GB 395/510

I

Richmond Center

I

2.0G 13

Scanner AccrScan 300F /610~ HP Scanjei SS/SP!4C

300/480 335! 510! 998

SoftWare (with Systems) Windows 95 (R2)!CWin95 120/160 Twinbridge for Win95 260 L otus Smartsuit,'WordPerfect Suite 60 / 6 8 Video Card CL 5446 PCI (MPEG) I M/2M S3 Trio64 I MB,'2MB S3 Virgc 3D 2M/4M AT13D Xpn 2MB ATI 3D Xpn+ 2M/4M ATI 3D Xpn+ PC2TV 2M/4M ATI 3D ProTurbo/PC2V 4M/8M ATI all-in wonder 2M!4M

30!40 40. 50 50/70 75 98/118 115!135 188!238 320.'345

25 / 50 95 / 120 265 75

ACea (

I

10X

11.3DSTN

$325 0

I OX

12.1TFT

$4360

10X

1 1.3 TFT

$3950

Diamond 3D 2M'4M DRAM Diamond 3D 2Mi4M VRAM Mairox Mysi 3D 2M/4M SRAM Mairox xt ill. 3D 2lvt/4M WRAM Matrox Mii II 4M/8M (Retail)

102! 116

155 '210 125'157 185 243 315!425

Monitor Proview 14/15/17 AccrVicw 15 54c'56c AccrView 17 76ie/78ic ADI 15 4V/17 SV/17 SG

Sony 15 IOOSX/IOOSF Panasonic SI 5/P I 5/PM 15 Panasonic S17,'P17!PM17 Samsung 15SOOS/5008 Samsung 17 700S/7008 NEC 15 MSOO/XVI 5+ NEC 17 M700/XV17+ ViewSonic I SGA!17GA

Fax Order And Bid Are Accepted.

Govermcnt And Corporate Purchase Order Welcome

All Prices Reflect 3oio Cash Discount. All Systems Cotnes With Three Years Labor And One Year Parts Limited Warranty.

Price Subject To Change Without Prior Notice. All Products Name. Trademarks Are Properties Of Their Respective Owner.

205/285!550 325!375 640/670 430!705!900 498/578 394'431/478 783/941!836 400/430 765!795 525/550 1070/975 548,'884

4ET INTO THE SPRIN4 OF THI N4 5 W ITH ACER, HEWLETT-PACKARD AND EA.

ro

A NEW WAY VOOK GOOD ON PAPER.

ASPIRE MAKES IT EASY. Now the easiest computer to use also comes loaded with value.

FEATURES OF THE DESK)ET 670C

• Prints up to 4 pages per minute in black

a eur-

and white and1,5 pages per minute in colour HP Realtife Imaging System for true-to-life images • Crisp black text and photo-quality colour printing Spectacuiar colour automatically with HP Coloursmart technology No special paper required • Great looking results on plain paper,

etm

premium paper,card stock, envelopes. transparencies and iables • Compatible with Windows and DOS Quick, easy driver installation

CP3 PAGKARo

Aces gi

PROCESSOR MMX 200 MHzPentium Processor • Zero Insertion Force Socket

FAST, EASY INTERNET ACCESS. NETCOMplete gives you everything you need to explore the Internet. It's all here — inone place. Featuring unprecendented ease of use,simply point and click your

• 32Mb EDO memoryexpandableto 128Mb • 512k pipeline burst cache

.~. NETCOMplete

way throughCyberspace. NETC OMplete olfers:

• 6.2 Gb hard drive

• 5 channel stereo mixer •

• 16 speed CD-ROMdrive

McAfeeWebscan INTERNA TIONALNOCHARGEROAMING

W

. apmm

• ATI Rage II 3-D graphics with 2Mb EDO Video RAM

', atm o~ a

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GRAPHICS

! ea mes

~< P+ggQg c a pd a o a

16 speed CD-ROM drive with data and audio playback capabilities

•j

!doe tmo

• Vocaltec Internet Phone • 2695 Unlimited Access per Month 330 Points of Presence in the U.S.,U.K.and Canada

DRIVES/DEVICES

• Wave Tabel Synthesis 16-bit Sound Card with 3-D stereo sound

3.5" high density floppydrive

Netscape Navigator 3.0 SurfWatch

56K Access

MU LT I ME D I A

p

• MPEG video playback N

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L

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I nter n e t

EXPANSION • 3 PCI slots and 4 ISA slots (1 shared)

TELECOMMUN ICATIONS • 33.6Kbps fax/modem with telephone answering machine and voice mail • DSVD and video phone ready Integrated speakerphone with full duplex capabilities

SOFTWARE ALLEY

MS COMPUTECH

1630 South EastMarine Drive

Chilliwack Mall ¹130

NET/TECH COMPUTE R SYSTEMS

ANITEC

Vancouver

45610 Luckakuck Way• Sardis

¹204- 21183 88Avenue

Vancouver

(604) 321-5499

(604) 858-8337

Langley

(604) 435-2038

2607 Kingsway

(604) 882-3101

SYSTEM PRO COMPUTERS 10330-1S2nd Street Unit I

Surrey (604) 583-9977

S E E-MORE P R I NTI NC AND STATIONERY 1206 Main Street Smithers (250) 847-3220

PENDRACiON COM P U T ERS 103 — 4716 Lazelle Avenue Terrace (250) 635-2172

WESTCOAST COMPUTERS

CAROUSEL COMPUTER

Vancouver

930 West First Street ¹120 N.Vancouver

(604) 436-2333

(604) 986-7680

497A Garbaliy Road Victoria !250) 380-1146

C OMPU-2 0 0 0 2811 KingswayAvenue

R %C P A 6 . Nw aBnSing aawM r

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i deadsny A uaftakle 1

Everything is Ready to Go I! I Enjoy CD music, video CD Movie.

Browsing the internet, E-mailing around the world.

Chating over internet with the Web Phone Calculation, Word Processing Games, cool video clips ...,

HomeOssest AMD/Cyrix/IBM 6x86 PR-75 16 i18 EDO R:&XI

PR90 P R100 P R133 PR 166+ Options:

Pentium MotherBoard 512K PB Cache 13 GB HD 8x CD-ROM I 44M FDD PCI IM Video w' MPEG MiniTov ei w CSA PS Wm95 Key board.

3B mouse ec Pad

MS-Windows 95 ...+$119 MS-Home Bundle ....+$89

33 6K Fax Modem & Sound Card ..+599

I 4" Digital SV GA %1onilor

At the price of a 486 or 5x86 computer, This system a//owyou to enjoy!hePentium's true 32 bit power with the potential of upgrading up lo a P-200 CPU.

chine $2318

Pentium Pro 200

32518 EDO memoo

Pentium II 233 ...$2689 Pentium II 266 ...$2899

1 Riel Origulal Motherboard

Option:

3 1 GB FF esrrrnI/iguai HD Panacaec 1 44M FDD Panasanic 24x CD ROVI Matron 6/Sett t/ur 4M SG Gtapbjc Card

W lndawa 95

e$11 9

ttttjttd awS NT

+$229 15"/17 iVEC Mondor

CSR S6K Voice/Fax,'Modenl

Sounds/ann 4 IFFssrSouttc l Card

Fully loaded with state of the a/t technologies, finely tvned for t/ie ultimate performance, this machine will make your dream come true

Motherboard ABIT VX/HX/TX 'CPfj PnP'...$139/179/169 ASUS VX97/TX97 .. $135/209 Glgabyta HX w/512K ...$189 Intel Triton 430VX PCI/512K ...$119

Intel 430TX MB w/512K ...$139 Intel l440FX PCI/Pesum Pro ...$19S Penbum Triton lii 512K KS/K6/MMX .. $89 Intel Panbuin II ATX, Audio ...$399

CPU AMD K5-75/90/100/133 . . $ 4S/59/89/109 AMD K6-166/200/233 ...$199/299/439 Pentium MMX-166/200/233...$219/359/539

32MB SDRA.'bl itnel TX wis ltk Cache

166 MHx /ntrl Pentium

• •

Tuner

Capture

Video 15"/17 TTX $359/639 Pro Sends Monitor

.$249/359/689 $219/310/595

$339/636 ...$449

.. $529/1026 $428/735 . $259/339/599 $649 . $426 .$1759 .. $505/575 $930/1170 ...$275/359

26dp Ir Samsung 15GLe 28 20GLs tSIKtx1200 28 SONY 15" 100SX/SF 0.25dpi 17n 200SX SF 0.25dpt

TTX 28 14"/15" TTX P rofessional 15n .28

3D Video +$39 14"/15" digital SVGA Monitor +$199/299

Professional 17" 28/ 26 7785S Professional 21" 28/ 26 VlewSonic 15GS/17GS

fOr maidmt/m flexiblity, and Of COurae, fOrIntel Inside...

1 7P S/PT770

..$379 ...$649n59 $1388/1998

. $460n90 . $919/988 ... $2345

21PS .25dp 21

Modem

Video Cards ATI 3D Xptes 2M ...$75 ATI 3D Xptas.+ 2M(up)/4M ...$89/119 ATI 3D Xpies.+ PC2TV 2M/4M ...$108/139 ATI 3O Pro Turbo PC2TV 4M/8M ...$179/249 ATI TV Tuner .$149 Cirrus Logic 5438/5446 MPEG 1M . .$26/32 Diamond Stealth 3D 2M , $118 Matrox Millennium 2/4M VVRAM .. .$142/182 Matrox Millannium II 4/8M ...$299/439 Matrox Mystique 02M/4M SG ...$175/209 83 Tno 64V+ w/MPEG 1M/2M .$32/42 83 ViREG 3D 4M ..$65 Trident 9685 PC2TV 1M ...$59

Acar 33.6Kwlv cseeFax SVO

...$99 USRdbssties 33.6K Voice FaxModatn ...$129 USRob6secs56K Fax IVoica $188/195 Supra 33.6K Vcjca/Spkr Phone/Fax ...$76/156 scar CD ROM 12/1 6/20/24x .. $79/89/102/122 Panaaonic CD 8x/1 2x/24x ...$86/96/1 29 GoldSlar ExternalBx CD /sara/as/ port

Sony/Pioneer SCSI 12XCDROM CD VVydar

..$219 ...$139 ...$489

SoundCard

Aear AVVE32 Pro Sound Card $46 Sound Blaatar 16/32/64 .. $65/106/119 ESS/Zoltrix/Optl 1688 3D Full Duplex $22 YAMAIIA 30 PnP Fua Duplex .. $29 50

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Hard Drive Champ 1.3/2.0/2 5/3.0 ...$178/228/249/279 Fulitsu 1.7/2.11/2,57/3.5GB ., $229/249/279/329

Western Digital 1 8/2 1/2.5/3.1I4.3G

CDROM

SUBWAY w

Windows 95 c$119 All AIMn-Wonder +$299

Monitors

Forpremium quality, for superior performance,

•

•

Options:

ACerview 14"/15"/17" Acula 14"/15"/1 7' Komodo 28 15"/17" MAG 15" 28 NEC M500/M700 15"/17" 0.25 Hitachi 15"/17" Sceptre 28 14"/1 5"/17

,4$f'$97 MB ii' 512KCache 208IfjIHZ I 7 GB (Fvj/tsulHTsdfPuanrutn) HD Panasonlc I 44M FDD .~V.-Op'5ons: PCI Video Card IM MPEG cx/ Wtr l dows95 & htIS-Work Bundle +5198 Panasonic I2x CD ROM ~> x 33.6K Modem P owe~ontcMX M l d o» ~ ~ & S d c rd $99 sfiuumi Wtn95 Enhanced Kety @ard S3 yroe 4M

3B mouse e Pad

...$1 328 .. . $1539

Nothing fancy but every bit you need for your multimedia demand; 3D games. digital sound recording. video conferencing ......

$789 $798 $989

150NHz

$1 pgg

MMX-233

$3 ryrxe 3D Video Card4SI .4 IVF.32 Sound Card Panasonic242 CD ROM Acer 33.6K VotceipaxtModcnl Powersonic 3/4/ Tow et Fuji/su Keyboard Logi/acbnmu.ic

$889

133iMHL

16MB EDO RAM

4/8/16/32MB 60nS EDO ...$29/39/69/155 16/32MB Iasptn SDRAM ...$99/179

•

512k Cthe 2.5 GB Fujictu HD Panasonic I 44M FDD

A jtfD K6, the leading-edge processor, intel TX, thenew & hl'gh pennance mother board, and the 10nS SDRAIVI, the laslesl memory are combined for Super Power!

Premium

...9$90

Canon Color Printer ...$189

MMX-200 16%IB SDRAsst

idtindows 95 SR2 Full version 2CD .. $ 119 Canon BJC-4100 .....+$239 15" TTX Pro Monitor..+$359

3/atrax Mysaque ll Vtdtxt A/ l.'S'RS6K Voice/Fax/btodcat Scend a/aster 4 u'SSSound Card P nrrrccmic 8 t/Totnet Fu/iisu keyboards Inta/treat Vloose

I 5" Monitor

Microsoft Home 4 CDs $79 Lotus SmartSuite ...$59

Intel Pentium MMX- 166

Option:

2.1 GB HD FLi/ITSCt Pailasanic 1 44M FD Paniuanic. '4x CD ROhl

Option:

MediaMaster

K s 233$$$8X $1 8 5 9

Memory

•

...$1059 ...$1069 ...$1129 ...$1199 ...$1369 IBM 6x86-PR1664 ...$1129 Intel Pentium 133MHz ...$1158 Intel Pentium MMX-166 ...$1219 Intel Pentium MMX-200 ...$1399

$1538

KS <66 MMX

tuSOQtMTOO r$499/989

Pawrnanic HQ 19 Ton,er Fuji isa Keyboard 4 4/$-toouse

AMD K5-75

AMD K5-90 AMD K5-133 AMD K6-166 MHz ANID K6-200 MHz

PowerStation Ka 260MMx $1 849

AMD ...$799 ...$8 3 6 ...$8 5 9 ...$849

S Years Limited Paramita

16MB EDO Memory 2.1GB Fujitsu Hard Drive S3 PCI 2MB Video Card w/Video CD l.44MB Panasonic FDD 12x CD ROM, 33.6K Voice/Fax Modem YAMA HA Stereo Sound Card MultiMedia Speakers & Microphone l4 n Super VGA Color Monitor Win95 104K Keyboard. 3B Mouse Windows95 CD & manual (also loaded) Internet Ready & I Month Free Internet

•

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.. $232/259/279/299/389

Quantum Ultra ST 2.1/3.2/4.3/6.4GB

.. $259/299/389/519

Printer Canon BJC-240/4200 Epatsn 400/600 Brother 641 Laser (refurbished) Laser HL730/760DX Laser HL720 HP Lase r 6L

...$196/289 ..$289/386 .$319 $429/525 $379 .. $515

UMAX FlatbedScanner 4800dpi

..$296

c

• •

ss • 9 ss

s •

s

• •

All system are internet ready and offered with one month free internet access

Prices are effective before August 31 and subject to change without notice.

F ix i t / B u y i

B Y PIPPA

B . W Y SO N G

CeoRiddler Canada

GeoRiddler Tests

Your Canadian Content~ "

From IC) Media and Canadian Geographic.

Win95 (k 3.1 CD-ROM. $56.99.

ith its a l l-Canadian content, GeoRiddjer Canada, an interactive trivia game For up to three players, will help anyone who is feeling culturally illiterate get over it.

Not only are all th e q uestions purely Canadian(such as "Which Vancouver novelist's book coined the term 'Cyberspace?'" Or " A fire swept through this city i n 1886 destroying almost the entire town. What town got toasted?"), but a bonus portion of the game is "hosted" by Alex Trebek, the Canadian-born host of jeopardy.

The main portion of the game is conducted by a voice-with-a-sarcastic-wit-attitude that sounds an awful lot like jim Carrey (but isn' t). The script for the game was created by writers from the Second City comedy team. Watch out for the amusingly sarcastic comments when youget a wrong answer.

To get the most fun out of the game, the user is supposed to purchase "slammers"special buttons to hit when players think they know the answer. Using a keyboard is equally effective, though.

When I tried the game as a solo player, it wasn'tha!fthe fun. The game doesn't have an option to let the computer play against you. It's like playing jeopardy against two empty podiums.

Still, it's fun and it's surprising what you learn. Being all-Canadian makes it a bit special, too. +

United Computers ',"„... "

< Pendum-166MHx CPI' w/hLXIX Technology v'Intel Triton II C34pset/512k PB Cache

-

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< ATI PCI 3D 2hIB VMeo Canl v'I A4 MB 3.5" Hoppy Drive

v'15" %1 L/R SVGA Monitor <h1M-Tmrcr Case /230 W Power

< hIM-Tower Case w I 230 Power < 104 key Wtn95 keyboanl v'hH rosoII Vcr2 I Losttcch Mense

< I6x KIDE CD-ROM Drive v'Sound Bbii stcr 16 Pnp /6OW Stereo Speaker v'33.6kInLVoice Fax /Modem/Mcrophone <104 key Wla95 keyboanl <hHcrosofl Ver2 / I Mense

s .i. . . , . :

ipP120/PI50 / P166 / P200 $095 /94$ /97$ /1,005 0PentiumI66 5f5tX:$99$ 4 Pentium200.$IMX I $1,12$

Sale PriCe:

$1 92 95

WPentium Pro200/ $1,535

Pentium II System

~.335

<Intel PD44OFX ATX $1oiherboanl <%1tb SameComponentsss above

O'PI33/P150/ P166/P200/ P200<O/X $1265/120$/131$/134$ / 146$

$90/260 Q33.6 Fax/DstaNoice Modem $6$

„

<P~ P~ I SO S I H* CPC 256k L2C < Intel 440FX Chlpset 51otherbosnl <32MB EDO 72pln RAM <3.0 GB FIDE (mode4) Hard Drive

< 16hIB KDO 72pln RAM W I.SGB EIDK (modc4) Hsnl Drive < PCI SVGA 2$IB VMeo CsnLI.MPKG <1.44 MB 3S" Hoppy Drive

Sale Price:

Q14"~15 /17 Monitor

. ,

I n t el Pentiuas le MMX Intel Pentium Pro 180

< Pentlum-133$1Hz CP I' <Intel Triton II C3dpset/512k PB Cache <1631B EDO 72pln R.<M <1.2GB EIDK (mode4) Hard Drive < PCI SVGA I SIB h ldeo Card (exp. to GA MB) <1.44 MB 3$" Hoppy Drive v' l4 NI L/R SVGA hlonltor <hBd-Tower C~ /230 W Power <104 key %1n95 kevboard <Qtnmlx Lynx90 2B Mouse

OI,Molh Fe httret~i45m)atm Upgrade Op t io n s :

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Intel Pentium133

,

-

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0AMD K6 166 3AIX I $1,32$ WAND K6 200 /If.MX I $1,41$

~

Q8MB~I6MB /32MB EDO RAM $49/ 16$ Qt.2~1.6/2 0 / 2 $ / 3 . 1GB $ 20/60/ 90 / l 2 0 Q12x / 16x CD-ROM Driver $110 / 130 QMerosolt Home CDpack $80 QWindows9$ / MSOffjce97 $l2$ /420

~

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skMITSL BISHI 'l7" 25 Dtamondtron

$625

4kW'D 1.6GB HD Mode4 KIDK P.x/EIV lii/lstroxhIyaektue220 4M

$235 $190

s rLMAX Astra660S 30bltScanner

$32 5

Printers / Scanner D i splays I Sound

Storage Devices

AMJei 33.6Int Voice $6S Canon ~ 70 Po rt able $280/38514"/15 /t r Mando' $2OS I295 /SSO Powenxxn 56k ini Voice $135 Canon SJC240/4200 Ccsor $195/295 Acer 15 /17 Nl LIR $ 350 / 680 $245 /270 C ardinal 33.d Int /Exl $125 / 1 4 5 HP 670C/820Cxi/870C $28O i440/540 MAQ 15 DJ530/ DX15T $450 I 485 WD 25/3.1/4.0 GS $28 5 / 310/400Supra SSK PnP w/Voice $175 HP6L /6P 600dpl Laser $5 2 0/945 MAG 17"DJ700/ 70(yr $7 7 5 / 835 WD 2,1/4 3 GS U SCSI $710/1060 GVC 33.5 PCMCIA Fax/Modem $2 05 HP 5 I 5M Laser $1580 I 2445 NEC 15 CSOO/ MSOO $44 0 I 510 Quantum 1.2 /2.1GS $225 / 270 Motor 56K Voice int/ exl $185 /220 E peon Slyl.400/600/800 $295/380/540 N EC 17 M700/XV+ $970 / 9 5 0 Quantum 2 5/3.2QS $28 5 / 300USR 33.6 ini/Voice $145 Lexmark 2030 Color $250 Sceptre 17 26/28 PnP $ 61 0 /660 Ousnhim 12/2.1QS SCSI $31S I 350 IJSRSdki nt/ext voice $ 215 / 2 7 5 Lexmark Oplre E Laser $525 Sony 15 100SX /100SF $ 5 1 0 /580 Quantum ST3.2/4.3/6.4 $310/385/515 Sic&sr 730/780DX Laser $430/530 Sony 17" 20OSX /200SF $ 8 7 0 / 980 Sesgsle3.3 /S.OQS $33 0 /620 HP 5P /4C Color Scanner $ 5 19975 P enseonic 515 I S17 $395 / 7 8 5 Sesgaks2.1/2.15GS USCSI $455 / 690 Microlec E3/ ES I ESP/o $290/850/855 Viewsoidc 17" Q771 / PS $ ~ / 9 10 Seagide4.3/4.5QUWSCSI 1110/1250 Vaiksx 800S /1200S $330/885 Viewsonic QT770/PT775 $895/1185 E/ac/(VP I JAZ / ZIP DnVe/S/ Intel P120/P133/P150 $135/145/ 150 OpdquestV773 N775.2S $ 5 75 I 780 CD-Wrftsr: $190 I 205 Colorado T1000 inl/ext $160/200 Intel P166/P200 825 SONY 926S 2x/Sx scsi $450 NTSUSISHI17 87TXV.2S $ Intel bMX 166/200/233 $21032(h'435 Cokuado T2000intiext. $200/250 99S HP 8020 kn/ exi. $580/ 740 bdTSUSSSHI1 r 57TXM25 $ Dine 2GS Int/ext. $205 /245 Intel Pentium Pro 180/200 $375/580 Yamaha 400 dxl4x int. I exl. $650 /985 Cinus LogicwOSsEQ 1M/2M $40/80 Intel Pentium H 233/2S6 $7 5 S I 955 Z IP 10(n48 Drive Parol/SCSI $1 9 0 S3 Vsse 3D w/4MS $75 AMDK8168/200(NMX) $ 2 0 0 / 285 JAZ 1GS SCSI Int I exl. $ 3 9 5 /520 A TI30 2M/4M INPEQ $80 l 1 4 5 Cyrhr166+/200v/M2 166 $60/120/190 SCSI COntraller: A TI 30 PC2TV 2M/ 4M $150 / 1 7 5 7 2 pin 4M/SM/16MEDO $30 / 4 9 / 85 Pioneer 12x EIDE/SCSI $1 1 0 / 1 75 ATI 3D Pro Tinbo 4M/8M $ 215 I 270 A dspbsc 2920/2940 $190 / 2 5 5 72 Pn 32MEDO $15S Panasonic 12x/24xEIDE $1 05/140 Adoptee 2940(/ I2940(/W $275/330 Intel VX w/512K PSCI SD( $ 110 Ace/ 16x/18x/20xEIDE $1 00/115/130 ATI Ad In Wonder 2MI4M $325/355 Diamond STL3D 2MI4M $140/175 Adaposc3940L/ I3940 UW $485/490 intel TXwi512K.PSC bsdX $155 ksnI 13'/ksd 15" Tower $45 / 55 Mabox Rsfnbow Runner Studio $315 QA588 VX I HX 512K PSC $145/ 185 Full-Tower 19 I 25" $65/95 Myssque220 2M/4M $1 3 S /190 GASSS TX 512K PSC $190 17 ATX Tower $95 M illennium 1 4M / 8M $280 / 3 8 0 Powercom ISA SNC Network Cord $35 ASUS T2P4 HX 512K PSC $185 Windows 95 Keyboard (104Key) $22 Sound Slaeler 18 I 32 P nP $ 6 5 / 1 0 5 Powercom PCI SNC Neiwoik Caid $45 Asus 97TX 512K PSC $215 I 'ujiisu d725/4725 keyboard $ 3 0 / 5 9 SS AWE64/64 Gold PnP $ 1 20/ 250 3 COM PCISCSOO I 905 $95 I 9 5 ASUS PSNP5 Pro $295 MS Nansei K $86 eyboard / 80 3COM PCQC900 Comb $125 TYAN Tomcat III DuaI4xendum $280 Ssc/osos Ver2/ Log ilechMoueemsn$32 60W I 240W Sub+Speaker $ 2 5 $130 KOSS Subwoo/er Intel Pro10+ PCI 1OST $95 Intel PD440FX ATX (PJI) $350 Obonix P/o 26 Mouse $15 Aliec Lansing Sub+Speakw $ 130

Hard DFIVeS/

WD 1.6/2.1 GS

Fix It/ Buy It Continued f'rorII page 17

CPU/RAM/M-Board

of the monitor. I know it's nice and warm, but fur will clog up the workings and block air Row. Clean your mouse pad and your mouse or trackball periodically. Turn the computer off, and then open up the mouse. Use a little rubbing alcohol on a Q-Tip, making sure that no cotton strands are left behind.

Think you' re out of toner? Even when the cartridge reads empty, t here's usually enough toner left for about 2o more pages.

Remove the cartridge, hold it away from you and gently rock it back and forth to redistribute the remaining toner (don' t shake it!). Replace the cartridge and try printing again.

Remember: when nothing else works, save your file (under a different file name) and then restart your computer to give it another chance. You don't have to understand why it works, just stay calm and let the glitch fix itself. +

Peripherals

networks

Notebooks

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Galaxian — or throw a virtual quarter into original titles such as Ice Blox or Unearthed. If you are running Microsoft IE as your browser, cool MIDI music wiil also keep you humming from room to room. If a mini arcade on your PC is what you' re after, then go to the Virtual Arcade at http: //www. virtualarcade.corn/ door.htm

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the Gallery, Arcade, Staff Picks, or At the Movies, and you' ll be sure to enjoy at least one or two games from the long list of choices.Make sure to bookmark the ones you like the best, since the games will be on separate s e rvers altogether. Get shocked at htt p/ / w ww.macromedia. corn/shockzone .

Java is also a very effective language to code small interactive games with, and there are many applets on the Web for your amusement. Java technology s h o uld IIP already be inherent in your browser, so ShockZone is Macro-media's don't worry about any special plug-ins official page showcasing many here. skill at http: //www.station. sony.corn . You impressive Shockwave games The Gamelan Java Arcade carries over may also win some neat prizes for your on the Net. Here you' ll be linked to fun z,ooo games and links to games that have efforts. games such as Celebrity Slugfest (punch been developed with Java, such as good out David Letterman or Bill Gates), Lobe Tetris clones, poker variations, or even Runner (a humorous spin-off from the Mike replicas of the complete Zork text advenTyson biting incident), Slap a Spice Girl, t ures. Gamelan has categorized all t h e Virtual Cow Tipping, Coke Bowling, Five game genres for you, so click away to your This next site brings me Degrees of Separation featuring Wayne heart's content. back to my younger days Knight (AKA Seinfeld's "Newman" )• and Here's the main site worthy of a bookhanging around Funland plenty more. mark and countless returns: http: //www.

A rcade at Y o nge a n d Choose, if you desire, the Site of the Day, gamelan.corn/pages/Gamelan.game.html Dundas str e et s in Toronto. Toronto's own Virtual Arcade is brought ZOAe to y o u by Web w u rx Muitimedia, and has been The E-Zone is a wonr ecently e x panded t o derful collection of a include a second floor dozen-or-so animated with even more playing movie- and TV-based "rooms." Each section is g enre-specific games, such as Roar, (action/arcade, strategy, the role-playing Daylight• Hercules, and room, and so forth) and you must saunter ET: The Extraterrestrial. up tothe machines to play Shockwave and These may appeal to a Java versions of classics like Frogger, Dig slightly younger audiDug, Asteroids, S pace I n vaders, or ence, but are entertaininguIs t the same. The ET game, for example, ) will have you building f~ I I IC,l I 8(;(APRIL~ .'LIEXTl the contraption used

by ET to phone home. Simply use your mouse to match objects together such as the umbrella, the Speak-and-Spell, and the ' LES'LL old record player, and, once completed. you will be in for a treat!

Try out some of these clickable timeI IsIEL wasters at http: //www.ezone.corn .

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I ' F I114I IS( (>RLP Note: Don't forget to keep an eye out when you' re watching a movie trailer on TV ) AC R j' 0 1 ' to jot down the Web site domain name at ( t' )P the end of the commercial (they all have S ' F ) 'Ll them now). You' re almost guaranteed to • • ate FP)

ost of you know the feeling of staring blindly at the monitor at school or in the office, and just not being in the mood to do any work. So you launch Windows solitaire yet again.

Well, if you' re craving a fresh diversion to get you through to your next coffee break, the World Wide Web is your answer. There are literally thousands of fun little games to play, tucked into the small dark corners of cyberspace that require no downloading

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The following sites are great for all ages, and are perfect for those who aren't permitted to install games on a computer's hard drive (like my last "suit" job — geesh!):

Sony Satisfaction Sony has created a stellar site, dubbed The S Station, for garners looking to capture TV game-show excitement right on their PC. Play online versions of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy, which look and sound almost identical to the prime-time versions. If you are one of those couch potatoes who watches these shows and

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Intel Pennum MMX166/200/233hIHz CPU 512KPipe-line BurstCache 16MBE.D.O,RAM(exp. 128MB) 2.0GBEIDEHardDnve 1.44MBFloppyDrive ATI Mach64 VideoCardw'IM DRAhl 15" Nl, LR,SVGAProview Monitor hlini-towerCasew/?30V' PS 104 Win'95EnhancedKeyboard Logitek 3BMouseman Onemonthfreeinternetaccess

lmel Pentium Prol80' 2(O'PI(?33266MHzCPU SMB io 16MB..........,.............„......,.538 16MB lo3?MB................................$69 ?56K (Pll 512k)Pipe-line BurstCache 1.6GB->2.0GB->?5GBHD......$20530 3?MB E.D.O.ILV( 2.5GB->3.0GB->4.0GB HD......540'530 ?.5GBEIDEHard Drive 14" to 15' momtor....,.........................$90 1.44MBFloppyDrive L'se Gigabwe,'Asus M'B ............... $40'80 ATI 3DXpressionVideoCardv.'2hl Multimedia12I16/24XKt(...$169/1791$219 15" NI, LR,SVGAProview Monitor Including I? X/16X/24X CD-ROM 16 Bit Full Duplex3DSoundCard Mid-TowerCasew/230W PS MultimediaStereoSpeakers 104Win'95EnhancedKeyboard 48 CD titlesw'th encyclopedia Logitek 3BMouseman InternetReadyupgrade: Onemonthfreeinternetaccess InternetPackage..............................$?0 33.6 Fax Modem..................,....,......$69

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Monitors Proview 14"/15 "/17" ..„..............$209i$299/$559 Daytek 14 "/I 5 "/I 7" ....................$235/$299/$569 Acer 14"/15"/17" ........................S239/$399i$619 MAG 15" T/DJ530 ...........,.....,...,.....,..$469i5469 MAG 17" DJ700/700T.........................$795/$859 ADI 4V 15"/5V 17" ........„...................$439/709 ViewSonic 15 "GS!17"G771.................$4S9/$769 NEC 15" C500/M500..........................$479/$519 NEC 17XV+/P750.............................$969/$1229 NEC 17" M700...........................................$1029 SONY IOOSx/100 Sf..........„........,...,..$509/$579 SONY 200Sx/200 Sf/SE2T.....$889/$1069/51299

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30 Pin I lvL'4M......................, ..56/21 72 pin 4M ...............................,..$21 72 pin 8M ......,...,.......................$38 72 pin 16M ................................$69 72 pin 32M ..............................$145 72 pin 4M EDO ...............,.........$21 72 pin 8M ED0...,.....................538 72 pin 16M EDO .......................$69 72 pin 32M ED0......................$145 168p 16M/32M SDRAM...$105/189

Canon BJ-30/240Ci4200C.......$279/S199/279 Canon BJ 4100/4550.............,.„...„..$239/549 HP DcskJet 670C/692C...........,...,..$269/$369 HP DeskJet 820Cxi/870C...............$389r5529 HP LaserJct 6L/5N.........................$529/)979 HP LaserJet 5/5M/5Si..........$1679/2359,'3589 HP Laser)et 4Vr4M+ ......„...,.....$2489/$2610 HP 4MV/1600C..........................$3819/$1819 HP 6P/6MP...................................$949/51179 Brother HL-720. 600dpi, 6ppm..............$369 Brother HL-730, 600dpi. 6ppm...............$429 Brother HL-760, 1200dpi, 6ppm ............$535 Epson Stylus 400/600/800.....$279/$389/$539 Lexmark2030/2050/2070.....$280/$335/$399 HP ScanJct 4S/5P/4C............$269r$499/5999 UMax s6e lite/fulL.........................5395/$795

Motherboard with CPU P133/150/166 MHz.....$229 239/279 MMX 166/200/233......$299/449/679 Pentium?00/Pr o200............$379.'899 Pentiumll 233/266 MHz. $1111/1349 686 P 150+/166+i200+„5169/179/199 AMD K5 75!100........,...,.....$129/159 AMD K6 166/200/233..$279/389/529 686 M2 166 MMX.....................5329 1.6GB EIDE Hard Drive ...........$219 2.0GB EIDE Hard Drive ...........$239 2.5GB EIDE Hard Drive............S269 3. IGB EIDE Hard Drive............$299 4/5/6GB EIDE HD...$329/5499/$509 2. IGB SCSI-2 Hard Drive ...,.....$369 3. I GB SCSI-2 Hard Drive ...,.....5439 S 4.2GB SCSI-2 Hard Drive .........$999

Tape/Zlp/Jaz Drives Zip Drive. 100MB, Int'Ext...........$139'5189 lomega JazDrive. I G, lntiExt.......S399,'$525 Zip 100MB,'Jaz I GBDisk...............517/5119 Colorado T1000, 800MB Int Ext...$159/$199 Colorado T3000 Int/Ext.................$259/$309 lomega Dino ?.OGBlnt/Ext ..........5199/$249

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as/z Pondering :-- +IL Readii the Future of QSl2

development. IBM claims Warp 4.x (or 4.oi?) will be released during the third quarter of 1997, and the next version of Warp Server (S.o?) should ship in t998. It would not surprise me to see the client-and server verI sions of OS/z consolidated into one package.

A project code-named BlueBird is a new businesses. Warp Server is growing at over type of OS/z designed to complement OS/z, ately,there has been some confusion zo percent per year and has recently sur- It is a network computing environment conabout IBM and OS/z. I have been get- passed Novell in y e arly new l i cences, sisting of three components: a client operting more than the usual share of ques- according to IBM. ating environment, a set of utilities to mantions asking about the future of OS/z. Since A recent press release by IBM on the age that environment (Bluebird Manager), I am not IBM, I cannot possibly give a Internetclaims they made mistakes when and a service offering for setup and rollout. "proper," or "correct" answer. What I can do OS/z Warp 3 was marketed to the home All Bluebird Client code (operating system) is summarize some of the truth, rumours, user,and the desktop market has been con- and Bluebird Manager software reside on and gossip circulating as I write this. ceded to Microsoft. I suspect this will result the server, simplifying system management. in no marketing dollars for the home market, Still in beta as I write this, you can get more All Business but home users should still be able to order information from the BlueBird home page at As I have mentioned before, IBM is targethttp://www,software. ibm.corn/os/warp/bluebird future versions of OS/z directly from IBM. ing OS/z at businesses and corporations Y2K't No Worries! only. Just like AIX and AS/4oo, OS/z will con- N ew Versions in the W o r k s tinue to have a strong presence for large With all of the talk in the trade rags about New versions of OS/z are definitely in the Year zooo disaster" waiting to happen, note that OS/z Warp 3.o and above are fully Year zooo compliant. Bank ATMs (automatic teller machines) — most of which run OS/z x.3 — and any person or company running an 0121- 4940, No.3 Road, Richmond, BC, V6X 3A5 old version of OS/z should get cracking and R (604) 2144020, Fax (604) 214-8021 upgrade within the next two years.

As an aside,Windows 3.x is notYear zooo We specialize in: compliant, but the Win-OS/z code in Warp 3 CPU w/cooling fan PC Upgrades and Repairs, and above is.

Triton II chipset MB w/512k Pipeline Cache Installation of Software, CD Domino theory On Board 2x EIDE, 2x Fast Com Port ROMS & Modems Enhanced Printer Port 8 Floppy Controller As mentioned in last month's OS/z Ready 16MB EDO Memory PE column, IBM is not interested in the entire 2.1G Hard Drive (Mode 4) ready Netscape Communicator 4.o package for 1.44 Floppy Drive OS/z, as it competes with Lotus Domino. It 14" SVGA NI .28 dpi monitor LOW PRICES looks like Netscape blinked first, because in PCI Video Card w/1 MB Memory (exp. to 2M) on all items 15" Tower Case, 104 key Win95 keyboard, mouse 8 pad early August Netscape announced they will offer Netscape Navigator 4.o as a separate P-120 $948 p roduct a s we l l as bun d le d w i t h $988 Communicator 4.o.

P 15O $1028 W%44 0 f %' P 166 $1088 Jave is still hot P-200 MMX $1288 'ki i = ' 0',a.

IBM may be putting its OS/z eggs in the P-233 MMX $1488 Java basket. Right now there are perfora// leasing for 36 months mance issues,and IBM is working on a separate Java operating system 0avaOS), but + A.K t JN S 8 . $ K V @ C @ 4 % 4 % % f 8 : T- 4 % 4 t , •Vi4 • Java under OS/z is an IBM priority. Lotus is 4 +3.Sl4> Rk . f uff-+ — 5 • ILa@3L.k4 • 8 4 4 4 e k I working on SmartSuite for Java, which will

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be operating-system independent, to compete with Corel's WordPerfect Suite for Java.

Quicklime for OS/2 The official beta o f I B M an d Apple's QuickTime z.z for OS/z can be downloaded at hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/osz/apps/mmedia/video/players/QUICKTIME.ZIP .

It requires OS/z Warp 4.o, and, since it is in beta, there are known problems, such as inemory leaks and occasional audio corruption. IBM claims the next version will include additional features such as MIDI track support, file dialogue, movie player, picture viewer, more video compressions, and multiple-movie playback support. More information on QuickTime can be obtained from http: //www.quicktime.apple.corn .

W eb wo n d e r Surpdsing as it sounds, I have l earned that IBM's most popular Web page is the one for OS/ z Warp at http: //www.software. ibm.corn/osz/warp .Be sure to check it out.

F reeware of t h e m o n t h Since I do more typing than is probably healthy for the average person, I now use the Microsoft Natural Keyboard to support my wrists and keep my hands in the proper position. Although it does take some getting used to, I hope it wiil prevent me from getting carpal tunnel syndrome or other ailments.

To get the most out of the keyboard under OS/z, I recommend getting WinKey z.o. This freeware device driver (written by Robert Muchsel who can be contacted via email him at muchsel©acm.org) replaces the IBM keyboard driver and maps the left and right Windows keys to display the task list (same as CTRL-ESC) while the Menu key switches between tasks (same as ALT-ESC). The driver requires OS/z Warp 3 of 4 and it can be downloaded from the I nternet FTP site hobbes.nmsu.edu at pub/osz/util /keyboard/WINKEYoz.ZIP Kevin Linfield is aToronto-based consultant and freelance writer. He can be reached via email at linfield@torfree.net +

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been Apple's loyal customers, who faced a daily dilemma: fight alongside Apple (and possibly lose in th e face of Microsoft's Mighty Marketing Machine) or switch to Microsoft (and know they are abandoning the only computer that can work the way they do).

Well, it appears the fight is over. And, like many arranged truces, both parties can claim a victory — of sorts.

The agreement paves the way for a broad patent cross-licensing arrangement in which the two companies will work more closely on Mac projects. This means Apple, once and for all, will stop its legal battles with Microsoft.

It also means Apple will share many of its technological secrets with Microsoft. Of course, MacZealots might suggest Apple had already been sharing these with Microsoft for years — without payment.

What does Apple get?

Further, by making this deal, Microsoft Apple gains in three key ways. assures the world that Apple will survive, at First, it gets Microsoft's blessing, an impor- least for three or four more years. Apple's tant tool for Apple's continued existence. survival is important to Microsoft for two reaConsidering Microsoft's successes over the sons. First, Microsoft makes more money past decade, the Redmond, Wash.-based with every Mac sold than does Apple, due to software giant is the only game in town. the inherent differences between hardware Coupled with it s s heer size, marketing margins and software margins. Second, prowess, and aggressive business practices, Microsoft gets to say 'we' re not a monopoMicrosoft is the proverbial goo lb. gorilla that list" to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. can do just about anything it wants.

This is very important for MicrosoR, since the Apple also gains US$sSo million from company has spent millions of d o llars Microsoft's purchase of Apple's non-voting defending its aggressive business practices. shares. Apple and Microsoft both have many times this amount of cash in the bank, but if C ustomers gain as w e l l But the real winners in this soap opera are you' re an Apple fanatic, you' ll rationalize that it's probably better to have $sSo million in Apple's loyal customers. The deal signals that Apple will be around for years to come.

Apple's hands rather than in Microsoft's.

Single-computer customers, as well as large Finally, Microsoft has agreed to port its organizations who buy hundreds of Macs at Office 98 software suite over to the Mac plata time, know that Apple is (again) a safe form, giving Apple respectability in the coralternative. Promises of better integration porate world, where the lack of a particular between the Windows side of life and the cross-platform software application can often Mac side will probably improve sales for seal the Mac's fate.

Apple. After all, it's nice to be able to share

Rant

t

n a startling about face, Apple director and co-founder Steve Jobs and Microsoft Corp. chairman and chief executive officer Bill Gates have announced a broad product and technology development agreement between the two companies. In effect, the agreement is a technology truce of sorts. The Mac community was immediately polarized into two camps: the deal was either a complete sell-out of Apple's values or the most savvy businessdeal of the decade.

To many in the Mac community, the agreement represents a logical resolution to the recent problems of both Apple and its customers. To others, however, the agreement represents the worst possible conclusion of many years of struggle and sacrifice.

To review: Apple and Microsoft have been self-declared enemies for over a decade, with Apple accusing Microsoft of copying its software to mimic Apple's "look and feel."

Microsoft has clearly made market gains in almost every Apple stronghold, reducing Apple'smanagement to a bunch of panicked school kids arguing over who's going get laid off first.

The real losers in this fight, however, have

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Beleaguered Sun Microsystems also lost Apple as an important ally in its fight with Microsoft to control the destiny of its Java Web language. Under the agreement, Apple has resolved to side with Microsoft on future plans for Java, plans that might exclude Sun and relegate it to a secondary role.

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Awkward introductions, fast friends There were some unhappy moments for me while installing the ArtPad. My computer has a notorious distaste for Plug and Play, and it was a while before ail the confiicts were ironed out. It also takes some adjustment to get used to using a pen to point and click, but the rewards are worth the effort. The pen is more ergonomically suited

to the way an artist works, and its point and two buttons can be customized to taste.

One final bonus is that the pad allows you to easily sign your name to your artwork and documents — a nearly impossible task with an ordinary mouse. +

Site seeing:

For more in(orrnation, visit the Wacom site at httpf /www wacom corn

Brandi jasmine is a freelance writer and illustrator. She can be reached at via email at jasmine@idirect.corn and you can view some of her ArtPad Il efforts online at http: //web.idirect.corn /-bjasmine/gallery +

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B Y B R A N O I JA SM I N E he Wacom ArtPad II is a small digitizer pad that I sometimes describe to colleagues as a cordless pen-mouse. The thin workspace, about the size of a small mousepad, isthe canvas on which I now paint. I have thrown away the brushes, sheets of paper, and boxes of paints, to concentrate my creative efforts entirely within the digital platform, all as a result of finding this tool.

It's incredible to think that the technology for the ArtPad has been available for more than so years. It has only been recently that it has become affordable for the average user. Available at local computer suppliers for around SzSo, the ArtPad comes packaged with Fractal Design Dabbler z.o, a strange but functional paint program with a fun assortment of tools. Its interface is an artists desk, complete with noises for each tool — the squeak of felt pens, scratches of pencils, and gloops of ink bottles.

ArtPad really shines in the light of Adobe's powerhouse, Photoshop. ArtPad is pressuresensitive, meaning that th e h arder you press, the deeper the line. This permits the artist to really draw on the computer, to create the same effect as if he or she had drawn on paper with pen, ink, pencil, or airbrush.

The results can be astonishingly realistic.

The images for this article were produced entirely within Photoshop, using the ArtPad II, wit h n o pr e p aration o r s c a nning (although you can certainly make use of a scanner and a printer to expand its use).

ArtPad's pressure-sensitive tools operate in a huge variety of software packages, including those from Adobe, Fractal, Micrografx, Macromedia, and Corel.

The Wacom Graphics Tablet works with all Macintosh applications that s upport a mouse, but only those programs with pressure-sensitive tools will respond to the pressure-sensitive aspects of the Tablet.

This opens up a whole new range of possibilities to the digital artist, and at a price that is far lower than one might spend annually on paint and brushes. A new set of plugins for Photoshop, including a 3D chisel effect, should be avaiiable to Wacom users in early August.

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PCS the New Cool Tool for Early Adopters last Io numbers dialed, the menu provided many bells and whistles. Some features here's nothing like a new gadget. While were puzzling — there's no more Send and I was testing the Ericsson DF388, the End, merelyYes and No. Even more puzzling, top-of-the-line digital phone for Cantel, No turnsthe phone On. But who can argue people eyed my phone with envy every- with progress?

Service was good outside of downtown where I went.

From changing sounds to calling up the Toronto, but inside, reception was definitely B Y CA RY N M L A D EN

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spotty. It's easy enough to switch to the analogue menu optionon those occasions, however. Remember, digital service is a work in progress and Cantel freely admits that it is working to enhance street-level performance to match the 93 percent coverage of analogue by the end of the year.

Other than th e s t reet-level buffering,

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Cantel has declared the Quebec City-toWindsor land mass to be covered. Now the company is concentrating on service in the West, with other regions to follow. About 75 percent of Canadians are covered by PCS availability and the service will eventually reach virtually everywhere in the United States and Canada.

In the Lower Mainland, digitai coverage extends east to irfclude Chilliwack, north to envelope Port Moody and south to the U.S. b order. For d e t ails o n c o v erage o n Vancouver Island, the rest of Canada and the analogue coverage areas, check out the Cantel Web site at http: //www.cantel.corn .

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Email came through with only a few seconds delay between sending and receiving.

This service is great for people who need to p ick up s hort messages while out o n rounds, including real-estate agents, contractors, and troubleshooters. Make sure to tell anyone sending you email to limit the message to z5o characters. Any more than that is cut off.

Anyone online who k nows your new Cantelemail address can send you a message, with either a regular email package, Cantel's Airsource software, or by going to the Cantel Web site.

Having a phone battery run out is a nightmare for anyone on the go. The Ericsson's nickel metal hydride batteries last up to 6o hours, and go into sleep-mode when not in use. This means you can leave your phone on all day without recharging, so you never have to cut out on a caller or move the conversation to the next available land line. just as thrilling, the battery doesn't lodge a footprint the way cadmium batteries do, so you can recharge well before you get to a dangerously low battery point without having your battery reset itself to the smaller capacity. Besides, the recharger can also discharge and recharge the battery for peak performance.

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SEPTEM B ER 1 9 9 7

Anyone with a cheap scanner and a little know-how can listenin on anyone's analogue cellular-phone calls. This is not the case with digital technology and it's one of the key benefits for the growing number of justifiably paranoid people.

Of course, those with sophisticated technology can still target you directly — good hackers can do anything — but the likelihood of b e in g o v e rheard i s co n s iderably decreased. (Remember to block your calls before dialing by using 67.)

If you' re set to order, the service is available from any Cantel store. You have to obtain basic Cantel service first, and PCS is $9.95 extra per month. For that you get the digital service, mobile message, Caller ID, exact to-the-second pricing, and visual call waiting, with optional upgrades including PCS messaging ($9.95 per month) and email messaging ($3,95 per month). You also have to buy or lease a digital phone, with purchase prices starting at $3zt9.

For those who demand excellent reception in the city, wait a few months. For the early adopter in the crowd, PCS is the cool tool of the moment. +

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Educator' s Enthusiasm ForTechnology Leaves Rich Legacy ForB.C.Schools hen they go back to school this month,thousands of Vancouver public school computer-using students and teachers will be missing a friend and advocate. Barry Macdonald, teacher, administrator, and pioneer in the use of computers in the classroom, died in the spring, of cancer, at the age of S3.

As a young teacher at East Vancouver's

South Hill Elementary in the early19705,Batty gained access for his students to the main frame computer at john Oliver Secondary, down the street, via a teletype link. A few years later, seeing the potential for the classroom of the "new" personal computers, Barry started working with a Commodore Pet, one of the first generation of PCs. With such primitive equipment, and with

support from the school district, he soon fired up EdNet, Western Canada's fi rst schoolfocused BBS, which remained in operation until 1996, sewing generations of students and teachers with educational software, online games and trivia contests, Internet links, and a safe environment for students to chat.

Moving into district administration, Barry helped to build up the Vancouver School

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Board's Media Services department, which among other services, provided a library of software that teachers could borrow for classroom use. He also helped create a district technology centre to provide training for teachers in the educational use of computers.

While providing leadership and direction to schools looking for ways to increase the use of computers in the classroom, Barry never lost sight of the idea that computers were not an end in themselves — they were a tool to encourage student learning. The key question for Bany was always "What will students leam from this activity'?

During the 199os, while his job responsibilities increased as he was appointed district principal, managing a department that was expanded to include library resources and curriculum development, Barry continued to look for ways to connect technology with education. For a year, he led a group of local teachers, contracted by the provincial ministry of education in developing ideas for integrating information technology into the school curriculum at all grade levels. helping to create the framework that, this year, has become information Technology, a new required course for students in Kindergarten through to Gr. 1o.

As well • he pushed and prodded the Vancouver school district to connect schools e lectronically to one another and to t he Internet. Stargate, a Web server, was set up to host school Web sites (http: //stargate.vsb.bc.ca/j and because of his efforts, Vancouver continues to build a wide area network, promising high-speed Net access to all students, even in these times of lunding cutbacks The cutbacks did take their toll, however.

As part of Vancouver's budget tightening, Barry, along with all the other district principals, was laid off in the spring. At the same time, his Media Sewices and Technology department was pared back, losing much of its staff, and dispersing much of its collection of software, films, and other media to individual schools.

And in May, Barry, who had been battling cancer for several years, died.

He will be remembered for a sense of humour, and for a strong belief that given technology tools and training, teachers and students can become more creative problem solvers... that it's not enough to throw hardware into a classroom... that while that needs to be done, it needs to be done with thought, with support, and with a plan for its use. This was always done while keeping in mind the question "What will students leam from this?"

In the coming school year, as parents, teachers, and students work together to get computersand the Internet into Vancouver classrooms, as they experiment with ways to meet the requirements of the new Information Technology curriculum, as they leam to use this new technology to prepare students to be active learners and citizens of the next millennium, they wili be building upon the ideas and leadership of Bany Macdonald. His encouragement of the use of technology in the classroomhas made Vancouver schools a richer l earningnvironinent, but the loss of e the man has made us all the poorer, +

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A look at the Latest Persona~~ 2 '~~«i ~ I Quicken starts kom the familiar Home Base screen, =o control your finances is to control which retains the sraadcweo your life, Whether you have a lot of task organizers money or a little, knowing what it' s and navigation doing can mean the difference between tools of past veradvancing steadily on the financial front and sions, but is prefeeling like a hamster on a treadmill. sented in a more Fortunately, the latest in personal finance attractive format. software goes a long way toward enabling Entries in the program's main sections, good financial management. In fact, the bet- such as chequebook or portfolio manager, ter programs will afiow users to move past are done intuitively, and moving from one recording deposits and withdrawals, and task or utility is done by clicking on tabs. reconciling bank accounts to more sophisti- Regular and repeated financial actionscated financial management, such as bud- which Quicken calls memorized transacgeting expenses, drawing up a retirement tions — can be "dragged and dropped" from plan, and tracking investments. a list to a particular date, at which point Each of the programs reviewed here does Quicken updates your account records and much the same thing: keeps track of your pays your bill. Nothing could be simpler! transactions, and converts the numbers into Where Quicken really comes to the rescue useful information. But the latest versions of of those whose desire to tcnow is greater these popularpackages make doing both than their ability to find out is in the reports. simple and more complex financial transac- Such reports as I ncome and Expense, tions a breeze, Budget Variances, and the like can provide "snapshots" of the user's financial situation, CkuicIc.er 9 : and so — in theory, at least — point towards From Intuit. For Windows 95, Mac. Price: either celebration or corrective action. The $52.99, $69.99 Deluxe. Rebate available: 510. latest version of Quicken has an Easy Web site: http: //www.intuit.corn/quicken97 Answers report feature that builds a cusIntuit's Quicken has been a best-seller for tomized report in response to the user's some years, because it's both easy to use and selection from a list of relevant questions. comprehensive. There are new versions of Quicken also offers links to online banking Quicken for PC- and Mac-based systems services, although these are American.

(Versions 6 and 5 respectively), with each verThe Deluxeversion adds a home inventosion available in Standard and Deluxe editions. ry module and tax planning information. The

BY ALAN

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CD-ROM versions ofTer advice from financial advisers Jane Bryant Quinn and Marshall Loeb. ic yos r: From Microsoft. For Windows 95. Price: $39,95.

Rebate available: $15. Web site: http: //www.microsoft.corn/money/default.htm Better overall organization marks the new version of Microsoft Money, as does a newly designed Contents page. From Contents, the user can jump to much the same utilities as users of Quicken, as well as to the program's Planning Wizards, which are adapted from the Windows 3.s version of Money. Standard Windows 95 conventions,such as tabs, allow a choice of tasks; deposit, transfer, withdrawal, and so on.

Money's reporting capabilities are a little less useful than those in Quicken, if only because onlyone graph at a time can be shown (compared to the six at one time that

Quicken's Snapshots utility ca n s h ow).

And Money's budget editor isn't as easy .'bLtru 'tt for the number-chalieuged, because it requires the user to edit figures in each budget cat e gory, rather than offering a spreadsheet-like interface as does Quicken.

I.ike Quicken, Money allows access to online banking, although, again, the offerings are American. tv" a na g i n g Y o u r V io n e ,.

From MECA Software. For Windows 95/3,1, Mac. Price: 529.95 Windows 95, $ 19.95 Windows 3.1 or Mac (not available through retail-525 shipping 6c handling fee applies).

Conrintted on page 40

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A l ook at consumer-level video-editing software

BV

BN A H D I

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er, and now is a good time to begin to drive up the l earning curve.

f you' re familiar with video-editing technology, you' ll have noticed that the software included with the latest crop of video-capture cards doesn't go v ery far beyond simple capture. While few of us have the talent, budget, or hardware capacity to do real movie making on the desktop, there are affordable programs available that can add a little spice to your AVI clips.

One of the most exciting developments in the past few years has been the explosive growth in the complexity and availability of desktop video-editing tools. High-end desktop tools, such as Video Toaster, are now used at major television studios.

Those in the consumer price-range tend to provide only the most fundamental editing capabilities, due to the inherent limitations of the hardware for which they are designed.

E diting mu l t i g igabyte fi l e s with both sound and images eats up resources. It w is also a technically challenging task. S o ftware manufacturers are working to simplify the process, howev-

t

Fractal Painter S .O For Mac and Windows 95. Price: US$449.

Web site: http: //www.fractal.corn

If you are looking for an image-manipulation and paint program that also provides basic editing support for animated GIF and AVI, then look no f urther than Fractal's Painter 5.o.

A hands-down winner for ease of use, you hardly need to 5 crack the manual t o get s tarted. T h e program does not have sound-editing features, but it's an excellent still-image editor that handles the basic functions needed to add moving pictures to your Web sites and presentations.

Painter deserves a special look if you need help in the creativity department, because of its wide range of paintbrushes and filters.

Set up is a breeze, and Painter easily converts AVI files into the animated GIF format supported by most Web browsers. This may be the program of choice for amateur animators, as it is not as demanding on system

resourcesas some ofthe alternatives.

•

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One thing to note: you may require a downloadable patch from the Fractal Web page if you do not have an Intel chip.

MSI Video leave .hg

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• ww w

For Win95. Price: US$89.

Web site: http: //www.mgisoft.corn

text, sub t i t les, scrolling text, and fade. Capture still images from video c lips. D esign a soundtrack for your mini-movie with a built-in sound studio. You also have the choice of the three most common file-types: AVI, MOV and MPEG. This is an affordable option if you are producing video clips for presentations or Web sites. MGI Video Wave supports streaming video and allows you to directly capture video from a number of cards, including the ATI All-ln-Wonder.

a do@ P

MGI Video Wave is an affordable, full-featured video-editing suite. The features of the program are geared towards adding motion and manipulating moving images. There is no paint function.

The interface is ultra-modem, and may be a bit confusing to those of us stuck in the comfortable "sameness" of most Windows 95 applications. It is comparable in appearance to Kai's Tools.

Choosing from a variety of special effects, you canblend scenes together,add moving

~ ~

For Windows 95, Mac, and Silicon Graphics.

Price: US$450.

Web site: http://www .adobe.corn

Premier is a scious tool for serious talent, offering a full studio of features for the desktop director. In addition to titles and editing, Premier permits you to format your output f o r bro a dcast-quality s e rvice bureaus, meaning that you can export the final product to high-quality video tape.

Continued onpage 40

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Co I v mn s -. eie s of e pensbook to write a cheque, tax drawer to esties, budgets, and mate taxes, and so forth), Otherwise, comD Continued from page 37 the like). and in pleting transactions is done in much the its financial plansame way asin Quicken and Money. ning area, One feature that's different is in a transacretail-$25 shipping 8 handling fee applies). because its exceltion-search feature, which lets you enter Web site: http: //www.mymnet.corn/mym.htm lent c a l culators Managing Your Money offers a "home" information from a previous transaction into allow projections your present one (the search features in screen that's a little different. It comprises and de c i sions interactive icons arranged on a desk, so Quicken and Money don'tallow you to do based on when you want to access various tools, you anything with the results of your search). informed choices.

MYM's approach to online MYM also shines in its Financial Snapshot simply hit the representative icon (cheque(like Quicken, it o f fers month-to-month banking is limited, although that will likely be upgraded in the next version.

Money Matters

Summing up

THE CGRSOR STICK

Personal finance packages are exactly what they claim to be: personal. Find the one thatpleases you and meets your needs, use it regularly, and you' ll be on the way to controlling your finances — and your life! +

• Easy on the wrist and fingers

• Quickly convert your arrow keys into a joystick

• Fits most standard keyboards

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• Supports diagonal movement

Video Editing Continued from page39

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• Fast game playing speeds

You can splice together any number of images and sounds to create a real movie experience. For example, you can splice two clips so that one melds into another, or have one clip fioat across the other while your titles and special effects complete the effect.

Send cheque or money order to:

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Premier also features a new GIF export feature, so that you can e asily e x p ort yo u r video images to animated GIFs. Premier is the best eae choice for serious deskAdobe Premiere 4.2 top video editing, but its level of complexity may prove to be a barrier to the casual user.

4B IE hSE+II

What more do you need?

To be a real Lucas or Spielberg, you' re going to need to lay out some serious cash.

While the average camcorder takes passable pictures for end-users and hobbyists, serious digital filmmakers will have to look towards the high-end for their digital fix.

And video-editing applications eat up RAM like candy: 32 MB is the bare minimum.

While you' re upgrading your multimedia PC, don't forget storage space. That gigabyte drive you once thought was huge will fill up at lightning speed once you start seriously experiimenting with digital video.

You will also need to plan for a longer than average l earning curve. Video editing is a challenging and rewarding task, but the basics will require a lot of experimentation and patience to master. +

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Cruising For Wheels Online

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thousands of helpful car-related sitesenough, in fact, to warrant its own category on the coveted Hot too Internet Charts (at http;//www.hottoo.corn/autos.chtml).

So, strap yourself in, and let's go!

B Y M A R < S A L . T ZM A N AutoWeb Canada is t h e Great White Northern counterpart to the award-winning hile banks, credit-card companies, AutoWeb of the United States. You can painand retailers are j ust g u shing lessly "visit" hundreds of dealers in your city about the possibilities of online and traipse through their inventory (without commerce, the only products really moving the fast-talking salesperson, of course), through Internet sales these days are music whether you' re after used or new vehicles. If CDs and books. The reasons are obvious: you know what you' re after, simply select they are small, relatively inexpensive com- the make, model, and year from the pullmodities that can ship within a day, and down menu. Daily specials are posted buyers don't necessarily need to see the across the country. product prior to purchasing.

If you' ve got a vehicle for sale, drop by the On the other end of the scale, buying cars Autos Wanted area for a potential buyer. over the Web may seem like a ridiculous Other features, such as an online loan calpremise. Still, the Internet is being used culator, an Auto Talk page, and a hefty list more and more often as a very effective of related links, make AutoWeb Canada an medium for research, classifieds, and gener- excellent resting stop on the information al car-care information, There are literally highway.

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associated with Carbiz, a new and used and in-depth reviews from the top vehicle dealer search engine, and Cdr6t/ide maga- reporters in the industry. CarPoint, dubbed zine. "the smartest way to buy your next car," is Next. we' ve got a unique e-zine (electron- Microsoft's online car 'zine with plenty to ic magazine) catering to women visitors see, do, and use: free pricing reports, autoentitled Woman Motorist. The goal of this site is to provide informative yet light-hearted articles on many automotive subjects, 4aattezzzm euiek--. such as car maintenance, safety, car shopPontiac ping (including reviews of newer models), Cadillac travel tips (e.g., "to Tips for Cutting Gas Costs" ), and racing news and features.

The layout is colourful and sleek, and each motive studies and surveys, a leasing-rate area is presented in large clickable buttons. utility to calculate payments and interest, a Keep in mind, this site will appeal to men as dealer search engine, many "test-drive" well, but it is refreshing to see a magazine reviews from the likes of Dan ledlicka for slanted more towards a women's perspec- 1997 and 1998 model vehicles, and over 55 surround videos. These 36o-degree cameras are placedin new cars so you can zoom in and out, up and down, or around, with the I v (Tolglld click of a mouse. They really are something 55 invoice ~ to see (not to mention that these cars will F & ~ * JJ .P make you drool) and the downloadable selfextracting plug-in is extremely small and dr lv simpie to install.

I saw the Web address for the To Find A CarPoint is perfect for those interested in doing extensive research for their next car, Car site on a cardboard lamppost sign near my house! It's essentially a used-car search tive — in an industry that is very male-domi- truck, or mini-van. engine with a database of over z,ooo vehi- nated (remember that Saturn commercial Our last Web stop for car owners and lovers is suitably called CarTalk. Hosted by cles (and growing) for sale. Customize your poking lun at how car salesmen talk to Chicago residents and car enthusiasts Tom search by make, model• year, mileage, or female customers?).

This next site is one o f m y p ersonal and Ray Magliozzi, CarTalk contains many price, or scroll down the long list until something catches your eye. To Find A Car is favourites for its real-time surround videos Continued onpage 44

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by June Campbell etcasting is defined as the real-time transmission (live broadcasting) of audio and video over the Internet.

It is a subset of Webcasting. a multimedia mixed bag that includes chat and video-ond emand (the video streams, but is n o t broadcast live).

The Netcaster uses video cameras (digital or analogue) to capture and download video signal to a computer. Special commercial or proprietary software is then used to stream the video (i.e., Netcast) over the Internet lines and connectors.

It can be accessed by the Net surfer using a special viewer, which can usually be downloaded for free. For viewers, modem speeds of at least z8.8Kbps are recom-

CO M P U T E R P L A Y E R !

Cannes Film Festival, the Tony Awards, the Irish election, sporting events, concerts, London theatrical productions, and much, much more.

Since ITV.NET first covered the Grammy Awards in 1995• the little Vancouver company has become the w o rld's largest Netcaster. Although there are presently about fivecommercial companies in the world offering Netcasting, and approximately zoo Web sites that ar e v i deo enabled, ITV.NET has no real compe tition.

Success in Netcasting requires a robust system capable of handling dramatic peaks in traffic without failing. The company has Covering it All overcome the horrendous financial and I TV.NET has Netcast coverage of t h e technological challenges associated with

mended — with a gati.tIKbps modem, video would likely appear as a slide-show.

Commercial Netcasting products include applications such as VXtreme, RealVideo, VDO, VIVO Active, and Net TOOB. "Netcasting is an Internet technology that is still in its infancy, but over the next two years, the whole idea will become commonplace — with huge implications for the b roadcasting i n dustry," a c cording t o William Mutual, the chief technology officer and founder of ITV.NET, the world's first and largest content-driven Netcasting company.

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Netcasting b y es t a b lishing s t r ategic alliances and sponsorships from big industry names, such as Microsoft, Apple, Digital Equipment, and Intel.

Money Matters To put the dollar side in perspective, to Netcast to t , ooo peopie simultaneously would cost approximately S~oo,ooo for start-up equipment (replaced regularly), $25,ooo per month i n I n ternet service provider (ISP) charges, wages for two or three technicians and operators, and the usual operating expenses connected with running a small business.~ ITV.NET's network- architect, Ron Grant,

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BY L E E

Hackers Fm'Lj Another

C hallenge

L O BSTER

H

ackers around the world tried and failed to break into a Canadian company's World Wide Web site.

They came from 125 countries and together made 127,zt56 attempts to change a phrase and snatch a credit card number.

But all failed and the $1o,ooo prize for a successful attempt went unclaimed.

Attempts to crack the VirTech server were made from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Ind o n esia, Net h e rlands, Romania, S i n gapore, S o u t h Af r i ca, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, the United States, and Zimbabwe.

Interested visitors included computer users at Apple Computer, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle, PGP Inc., and the U.S. Army, Navy, and federal government.

Gilbert Tai, o perations manager for Vancouver-based VirTech Communications Inc., says the contest to break into the company's Macintosh-based Web server proved how secure electronic commerce and credit transactions can be. He says it also showed how the tight design of the M ac operating system protects it f r om unauthorized visitors. The more o p en design of Wintel and UNIX machines, he claims, makes it easier for hackers to break in.

Prize money has also gone unclaimed in two similar contests: one in Sweden earlier this year, and the other in the United States two years ago.

Apple Europe is now offering a zoo MHz Powerbook to anyone who can break into a Workgroup Server 965O in Germany. The Swedes have mounted a second contest, again with a Krtoo,ooo ($18,ooo) prize, but this time to test Mac OS 8, the latest version of the Macintosh operating system.

Virtech would not have been dismayed if there had been a successful hack. The conditions of the contest laid down that, to

receive the prize, the hacker must reveal what was done to gain the unauthorized entry. Virtech, says Tai, would then have acted to m ake th e Mac more secure, although he admits the company would have faced a problem: should it reveal how it was done so other software devel • opers could take similar precautions? Or would distribution of the knowledge be used by more hackers to break into other sites that had not taken proper precautionss?

Cruising for WheeIs Continued front page 41

fun and i nformative features, such as RealAudio "radio" shows, trivia and contests, a discussion cafe, regular columns, free classifieds, postcards, CarTalk 1O1, and lots more. In short, CarTalk is a premium Web site for die-hard automotive fans.

Make sure you have the RealPlayer plug-in installed (available at http: //www.real.corn).

This should start you on your journey across the vast digital landscape, whether you' re out to buy or sell a vehicle, or just Mac to front?

VirTech operations director Frans Susilo surfing for a worthwhile car appreciation believes the contests have shown the Mac site. Remember to let the Webmasters know OS to b e u ncrackable. Security-minded if you enjoyed their free services or if you corporations, he suggests, should consider have any comments to better the publication. Enjoy! + installing Mac Servers as the front ends to the Internet to p rotect their UNIX and Windows NT networks.They would save AutoWeb Canada, considerable amounts by not having to http: //canada.autoweb.corn install and maintain expensive firewalls.

Carbiz, http: //www.carbiz.corn Susilo is amazed that 3,ooo attempts to break in were made with Get Admin, a CarPoint, http: //carpoint.msn.corn popular freeware program used by crack- CarTalk, http: //www.cartalk.corn ers to enter NT systems.

To Find A Car, http: //www.tofindacar.corn One young man, he says, tried sub- Woman Motorist, terfuge when he phoned to complain that http: //www.womanmotorist.corn his credit card had been wrongly debited.

If only he could have VirTech's merchant's The following are some more auto-relataccount number, he would contact the ed sites worthy of a pit stops: bank to sort out the problem. "But we Auto-By-Tel, http: //www.autobytel.corn don't have a merchant's account," Susilo The Auto Channel, says with a smile. http: //www.theautochannel.corn VirTech used an ordinaryMac 7zoo/1zo AutoRow, http: //www.autorow.corn with 65 MB RAM and a 1,z GB hard drive Beat the Car Salesman, running on Mac 0/S 7.5,3 and WebStar http: //www.beatcar.corn server software. No firewalls were Car and Driver, http: //www.carartddriverected. er,corn VirTech specializes in Web site and CD- The Car Place, ROM production, and a nimation. Last http: //www.thecarplace.corn December, it launched HyperMarche, one Edmund's, http: //www.edmunds,corn of Canada's first online shopping mails, where visitors can visit well known stores including Future Shop and Club Monaco. +

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UBC Launches Internet Marketing Program B Y JUNE

M

C A M P B EL L

arketing professionals wanting to

add Internet expertise to their existing skills will be interested in UBC's new Certificate in internet Marketing, which runs from October to March.

The Continuing Studies program, believed to be the first of its kind anywhere,!s targeted to participants who have a s olid understanding of traditional marketing principles and want to apply these to the online world. Tailored to accommodate their schedules, aoproximately half of this part-time course entails classroom sessions on weekends with the remainder delivered via the Web. According to promotions consultant, Kim Clayton, the idea for the program originated with William Koty, manager of the department's Internet programs, who perceived a need in t h e b u siness community. Koty assembled an 13-member advisory committee representing business and academic interests with experience in both traditional and online marketing and new technology.

The committee recommended a curriculum that includes three broad subject areas: InternetTechnologies, Online Behaviour and Online Business Environment, as well as two development-oriented components, Product and Service Development and Integrated Marketing Plan Development. internet Technologies covers telecommunications and client-server computing,Internet hardware, software, and electronic comrnerce. Online Behaviour addresses consumer behaviour from psychological and sociological p e r spectives, w h i t e the Business Environment looks at I n ternet business models, industry trends, government regulations, and legat and ethical environments of the Internet.

Product and Service Development has participants apply their understanding to the development of online products and services such as corporate strategies, vision and mandate, market research, conceptual development of digitally oriented goods and services, and product testing. The Integrated Marketing Plans component brings together the participant's knowledge and understanding of the Internet and electronic commerce within the framework of marketing and product plans.

In addition to Koty, the key program facilitators include: Tom Berryhiil, the president E xpression Technology Inc. and a U B C Internet Programs instructor; and Clay Braziller, the regional director of CATA and president of Triumph Communications.

"Interest from Vancouver's business community is very strong. After announcing the program just two weeks ago, we have already received six applications. So we' re very pleased with such an excellent and immediate response, especially given that the program is limited to zo participants," Clayton says.

"We anticipate full registration for the fall program. One interested participant is a

ht t

third-year Ryerson University student from Toronto. He's currently majoring in marketing, but wants to take a year off and come to Vancouver just to take this program. Me said it's exactly the type of interdisciplinary

program he's looking for — one that combines marketing and technology — and something that traditional marketing curriculums don't really teach."

Tuition for the program is $4,2oo. +

Contact: UBC Internet Programs Tel: 604-822-1431 Web site: http: //www.cstudies.ubc.ca/internet Kim Clayton, email: claytontatcce.ubc.ca

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Netcasting Continued from npge 42 "SWAT team" moves in with cameras, technicians, and portable equipment. Art director Fabrice L'Heureux creates a Web site For the event, including original art, often with less than a day's lead time.

Arrangements are established for content coverage (interviews, performances, and so on). The video data is digitized at a compression rate of 3ooig (using MPEG 2, 2, or /I, Fractal, Wagelet, or various hybrids), and then transmitted around the world to 20 high-powered servers with major backline feeds (at the most recent Grammy awards, ITV.NET used 2.2 gigabits worth of bandwidth — four times the aggregate bandwidth available in all of Europe).

Anticipating the need for persons trained in Netcasting techniques, the Vancouver Film School's Multimedia Campus is sponsoring a VXtreme Netcasting Special Interest Group comprised of "keeners" who participate in Netcasts from the school's server and from The Web Cafenext door. The VFS is emerging as Canada's leading Netcasting training facility.

Site seeing:

According to executive director David Baker, the VFS opted to use VXtreme technology for Netcasting because the audio transmission was deemed superior. Utilizing uni-casting technology, VFS has the ability to broadcast 2oo streams at once (zoo users can log on at a time — one to each stream)• and is l ooking at a multicastenabled system (where several users could log on to each stream).

The Web Cafe, owned in part by VFS, is Vancouver's only venue Netcasting locally on a regularly scheduled basis. The almost nightly Netcasts include performances by esoteric groups such as Close to the Fridge (a group newly created by Dana Moran, based on the belief that Canada's real music originates in kitchen vjams," close to the Fridge!), Dead Voices on Air (DVOA), and Mindscrew (a local business with the ambitious goal of creating a 2/4-hour global Netcasting station). The Caf/5 also Netcasts special events, such as t h e a n n ual duMaurier Jazz Festival. +

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research project, in that the limits and the uses of the technology are being tested and group Vancouver performers is expanded. The real meaning of the project, breaking new ground with its for Naugle, however, is t o p r omote an 'nnovative use of t h e Internet appreciation of dance, and to use the techand new media as a vehicle for presenting nology to help people experience the art interactive, improvisational performance art. form in new ways.

Inspired by the mythological Cassandra, Since the group— Naugle and Yeomans, artistic director Lisa Marie Naugle (nau- dancers Lena Macdonald and Marion gle@lsfu.ca) and technical director Maryann Sanders and New York composer, John Yeomans (yeomansosfu.ca)have assembled G ilbert — first assembled i n 1 9 93 , t h e a key group ofdancers and musicians who Cassandra Project has been a labour of interact live over the Internet with musi- love. Many other artists have participated, cians, poets and actors from Toronto, New and other forms of support have been proYork, the Netherlands and other locations. vided from various sources, such as Simon In a typical performance, video cameras, Fraser University's LOHN Lab's hosting of a CuSeeMe video-conferencing technology performance held in May. and dynamic Web pagesare used to allow "What the Cassandra Project needs most performers from various locations to inter- is dedicated space,"Yeomans says. "We act spontaneously. The Vancouver dancers have to set up so much high-techequipmay perform accompanied by musicians in ment every time we have a performance, New York while a writer in Europe reacts to and we' re never sure what the conditions the event by posting a selection of poetry. will be in the performance venue. We need In one performance, the dancers per- a place to call home." formed in a Vancouver studio without an The next Cassandra performance is schedaudience,accompanied by music broadcast uled for late September and will take place from New York over the Net, then bowed to at The Web Cafe inVancouver (contact the videocamera, encouraged by applause Naugle or Yeomans by email for details). from the distant New York audience.

Naugle, a SFU research associate and "The technologybecomes an extension of instructor, has also designed Dancing in the artist," Naugle says. "When I dance, I Cyberspace, the first online dance course. 0 may move behindthe camera and zoom in for a close-up of another performer... the Site seeing: camera, th e s o f tware, t h e c o m puter Cassandra, becomes anextension of the moving body. http: //vvww.sfu.ca/-naugle/Cassandra/ The technology has become my medium, Dancing in Cyberspace, the way I express my art. The performers http: //vvvvvv.cde.sfu.ca/dance/cyberdance.htm have to feel connected with the technology".

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Sun Microsystems, the creator of Java, and the other members of the JavaCard coalition are talking about many millions of cards and applications in use as early as the year

Coming soon to a wallet near you

2000.

The JavaCard OS is a smaller, simpler version of Java OS. Its best feature is the small

BY P A U L A N G Y A L amount of memory it requires, bringing back sweet thoughts of early computers, like the mart cards — similar to a credit card, Commodore VIC 2o or the venerable 64 but c o ntaining a p ro g rammable needing a paltry 39 KB of RAM. JavaCard t.o microchip — have been around for uses 4 KB. years in Europe as telephone cards. On the The next release, expected soon, will add old continent, where local calls are metered, more functionality and still promises to be these cards quickly proved to be a popular lean on memory. Several major players in alternative to fumbling for coins. the field have joined Sun to help develop it.

In North America — where local calls are MasterCard, its Mondex subsidiary (currently free and debit cards are widely used — the doing a field trial with stored cash cards in ascent of intelligent plastic has been slower.

Guelph), Motorola, Siemens, and a few othBesides, smart-card technology was as fragers are working together to create a worldmented as any other facet of the computer wide open standard for cards. Add to this industry in its infancy: no common prothe cooperative efforts of IBM, Netscape, gramming language. no standard — not even and Oracle to promote OpenCard framethe chips were alike. works and you get the sense that there is But all that has changed with the advent really something in the air. of worldwide networking (both the Internet

PardTrick~

But what are the real-life applications for a smart card? Here is one: Bank of America and Visa just rolled out a pilot program with Visa smart cards to be used for small purchases on the Internet. The customer can select the shop, pick out the merchandise, fill in the order form, and then click "payment" and the cash will be removed from his or her card through a little card reader attached to the computer. The transaction is secure and instantaneous, and the card can be refilled again if needed f rom the client's BankAmedca account.

Welcome to your own home-based ATM machine.

More generally, InteliOata's MoneyClip (http: //www.usorder.corn/moneyclip) might bring true home banking one step closer, replacing our lnterac Access cards — and then some. MoneyClip is the shape and size of a 3.5-inch diskette. It is a card reader that pops into a computer's diskette drive. Once inserted, it will execute whatever is programmed on thecard's chip.These could be little "programlets," replenishing spent cash, and so on.

The MoneyClip can go and be used anywhere, so long as you are connected to a n etwork. It s s u ggested l is t p r i ce is US$59.95.

Other potential applications include:

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LUendy Mesley Rides Technolo gy's Vndercurrents I M TER VIE W B Y C HR I S T O P H E R G U L Y

tions have more of an impact on how we raise our kids, how we educate ourselves, what we do in our leisure time, what jobs is fall, Wendy Mesley will return as are available, how we see things, how we host of Undercurrents. CBC-TV's week- think about things. This is the politics of the ly series that examines "how the 199os, and the next couple of decades, if explosion of technology and communica- not forever. tions influences our l i ves" and helps Last year, we did a show on data mining, "decode the decade" for viewers on Tuesday where when you subscribeto a magazine, nights. you start getting al l t h i s w eird mail.

Toronto-born Mesley, a former parliamen- Everyone talks about the information supertary correspondent who also hosts Sunday highway, but it's just not our access to inforReport on the same network, came up with mation. We leave an electronic trail behind the idea for the series, which enters its sec- us. ond season on Sept. 24. She recently spoke CPI: Should we be (righrened about that? to CP!correspondent Christopher Guly about MESLEY: If I had to decide whether techher take on technology and what it's doing nology is a boon or a bane, I probably to us. would sit uncomfortably on a post. While technologygives many more people access CPI: Your journalistic beat used to be pol- to information, and information is power, it' s itics. also giving the elite and the powerful more MESLEY: Yeah,and now I think technolo- ways of accessing, controlling, and influencgy and mediahave much more of an impact ing us. on our l ives — more than politicians in Still, you can access so much information.

Ottawa or anywhere else do. Whether it' s If I were in high school today, I would be Nike, Disney, or Microsoft, those corpora- brilliant. Not that I wasn' t, of course.

I'm a windsurfing maniac and, if I wanted to — and I don't — there are all kinds of online communities I can get access to.

The Internet gives people a sense of legitimacy. If you' re the only person in school i nterested in d o ing something odd o r bizarre, you don't have to feel isolated anymore.

First and foremost, it gives you information so you' re better armed to make deci-

sions. There's still a lot of crap on it, however.

Apocryphal lessons CPI: Does that concern you as aj oumalist, that there's a lot of quantity, bur rhe quality of the content may be in question?

MESLEY: Last year, there was this urban myth about a woman who went with her Continued on page $7

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Barrs Focuses on Entertainment for Fun and Profit B Y JUN E

C A M P B EL L

Alumni Association magazine, Tangent, and the Pacific Songwriter's Association publicaf you'd sooner get a root canal than listen tion, Hook, Line & Singer. to a lawyer deliver a three-hour presentaOriginally from Ontario and Quebec, Barrs tion on contract law, then clearly you completed his final two years of high school have never attended a session taught by in Italy. on a scholarship. After graduation, Vancouver lawyer S. T y ler B a rrs. T he he studied political science at McMaster legalese, delivered in down-to-earth lan- University, then studied law at McGill. After guage with practical examples, comes sand- relocating to Vancouver in 1993, Tyler artiwiched between song, jokes, imperson- cled,passed the bar exams, and began his ations and stories, stories, stories. law career.

Of course, Tyler Barrs is not your typical lawyer, and the contracts being discussed June Campbell: Why did you go into law? pertain to the entertainment industry.

Tyler Barrs: I'm a good Jewish boy! I wantSince establishing his practice, Barrs & ed toplease my mom! Oh, and because law Associates, in 1994, Tyler is one of the few gives you a good, solidbusiness backVancouver lawyers to focus on intellectual ground. It lets you understand a transaction property, entertainment and new media law. and properly protect yourself during a transHis clients represent the film, music, design, action. IVe always been interested in lawanimation,fashion, multimedia and Internet I enjoy helping others in pursuit of business industries as well as software development goals. companies.

JC: Why focus on entertainment law?

Not surprisingly, Barrs' legal focus, comTB: I'm an entertainment junkie. I love the bined with his elfervescent personality has whole area of multimedia.. the way enterput him in h igh demand as a l ecturer, tainment streams are starting to converge. instructor, guest speaker and writer. His cur- Plus there's lots of opportunity, not only as rently has teaching committments at the a lawyer, but as a producer. That's down the Vancouver F il m S c h o ol's M u l t imedia road, but eventually I want t o p roduce Production program, BCIT's Multimedia Internet-and TV-based content. I want to Program and UBC's Multimedia Certificate produce material that will be both entercourse.Speaking engagements have includ- taining and informative.i ed t he Van c o uver Vid e ographers JC: How is e ntertainment law different Association, the Vancouver New Media from corporate law?

Alliance, various musicians' associations and TB: It involves intellectual property conothers, with writing published in the UBC

cepts [patents, t r ademarks, i n dustrial designs, confidential information and trade secrets, and copyright]. I have to have a good understanding of all that, plus being familiar with the industries and with industry-specific information. I also have to know international law, since clients get contracts from other countries. I'm a member of an international association of entertainment and new media lawyers.We referback and forth and consult with one another on multinational issues.

JC: Is Canadian copyright law different horn LLS. copyright?

TB: Minute differences only. We both subscribe to the same copyright conventions.

JC: What's the main message you'd like to give to readers?

TB: About intellectual property: if they' re developing content — writing, music, pictures, animations, for instance — that this is property just as much as a physical item is property, and that you have to protect yourself by making sure that your property is protected. People have a right to profit from intellectual properties. You have to make sure that you' ve properly licensed any source material you' re using and that you protect yourself sufficiently well that others do not take advantage of your intellectual property without getting permission or paying the creator.

JC: Where is new media law heading?

TB: It's not the wild west the way some

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people believe. Most issues that emerge are protected under existing intellectual property laws. It's the media that's changed, not the issues. Legislators just need to expand the application a little but don't need to rewrite the application.

JC: What issues are emerging?

TB: The issue of fair use and fair dealings is being reviewed. If you download something from the Internet for your own use, is it a violation of copyright? We have to agree upon norms and standards. L e gislators have to expand upon existing legislation to clarify these issues.

JC: What about your personal life?

TB: I live in Gastown with my cat, Goo Goo. Are you going to write that? I play guitar and sing. I used to sing in clubs in Toronto and Montreal. I wanna be a singing lawyerf I'm absolutely mad about jazz. My parents and my brother live back East. I'm a member of an outrigger canoeing team and a fan of all things Brazilian. I'm still a bachelor.

JC: How can people contact you?

TB: By phone or email. Or I hang out at Rossini's Pasta Palazzo listening to jazz, or at my favourite watering hole, Subeez on Homer and Smythe. +

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Cosmo Helps Vou Chnoge Y our Look Vi r t u n l lq B Y JUN E

C A M P B EL L

hanks to a CD-ROM being developed by Motion Works of Vancouver for Segasoft and Hearst Magazines, women will soon be able to have a Cosmopolitan makeover via their PC before trying out the look in real life. With the click of a mouse, consumers will be able to view themselves in a variety of new looks, using their own digitized photo or an image from the "library of faces."

Consumers can get their photo digitized by their local film developer (a offer for a free Kodak Image Magic Picture Disc will be included with the CD-ROM), or by using a scanner or digital camera.

No need to wonder what you' ll look like in Cover Girl's Toasted Almond Continuous Colour Self-Renewing lipstick. Try it and other name-brand cosmetics on "virtually," then check out a new hairstyle or hair colour before you make the transition for real. The Virtual Makeover purports to "eliminate the expense, inconvenience, performance, and potential embarrassment of getting a 'real' makeover."

Feeling haute, haute, haute

According to Djoboulian, the development of Cosmopolitan Virtual M a keover p r esented some special challenges. First, Cosmopolitan is a print publication, unfamiliar w it h d i g ital media. Secondly, Motion Works personnel are accustomed to

developing edutainment titlescatering to th e o lder, female market was a learning experience. Since little or no market research was available on potential interest in this type of product, they relied on focus groups.

"We wanted to design a product with an intuitive interface that would appeal to adult women without being condescending," says Djoboulian.

Motion Works is a Vancouver-based public company, which is so percent owned by Toronto's Greenlight. Segasoft develops interactive software for PCs and the Internet and is situated in Redwood City, Calif. Hearst Magazines publishes Cosmopolitan. +

Since fashion trends change almost as quickly as computer technology, software owners will be able to download the latest hairstyles, makeup, beauty tips, and product releases every three months from an accompanying Web site.

Site seeing: The concept for Virtual Makeover was developed at Motion Works by Russ Baker, Hano Virtual Makeover, Djoboulian, and Jeff Macht, who presented a proposal and demo to Segasoft and Hearst http: //wwwvirtua Jmakeover.coin Magazine.

The Motion Works Group, The CD-ROM, scheduled for a fall release, is the result of more than a year's labour by an eight-person team. Developed with Motion Works high-end internal graphics engine and h ttp://www. mwg. corn Adobe Photoshop, the CD-ROM will be available for Mac, Windows 95, and Windows 3.x Sega So~~, http: //segasoft.corn operating systems.

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he said that computers won't increase our I'm an optimist and I would like to think productivity, and we' re going to be without everything goes in cycles. Our love affair or Continued from page $2 Iobs and without incomes. obsession with technology will come to a CPI: These cyber-prophets, once derided point where we say, "Whoa" and put the daughter to a N i eman Marcus store in as computer geeks, are now la uded as brakes on.

Dallas. She ordered a cookie and liked it so heroes. Look at Bill Gates. much she wanted the recipe. She was told MESLEY:WeVe been talking about doing it would cost her "two-fifty." "No problem," a program on who the most powerful perCPI: Your mterest in technology then is If you a r e a I n t e rnet service she said, "just add it to my bill." It tumed son on Earth is, and we' re trying to decide somewhat like your fascination with poliout it was $2So, so she wanted to get even whether it's Bill Clinton or Bill Gates. p rovider and would like to b e tics — the machine behind the power and with Nieman Marcus and went home and included in our list, please do the CPI: Who do you think it is? what governs inRuences. put the recipe on the Web — giving it away fello wing: MESLEY:I don't know. Increasingly, I don' t MESLEY: Yeah. I'm fascinated with who for free. It was a myth, but [CBC] Newsworld think it's politicians. holds power and what is inRuencing our and The Globe and /trr(ai/ covered it because 1.Check to see if your service is CPI: /sit a person or thing? lives. Our political bases are shifting outside journalists are intrigued by the Internet. included in our online searchable MESLEY: Like what? traditional parties into s omething more database (go to http: //tcp.ca and CPI:Do you surfthe Web? technology-oriented. Politicians don't make CPL Like a computer. click on ggarch~ab( in the lower MESLEY:Not very m uch.We have a couple any major changes or decisions before marMESLEY: No, although I did a story on the right side of the page), and if the of researchers at the CBC who can find me ket testing an idea. There's no such thing as show about wired flesh, where scientists are information is correct and up to anything I want in seconds. a great man or woman deciding what's best trying to get human consciousness into a date. Send confirmation that the CPI: But if you didn't have such great folks computer. for us. Everything has entered the real of listing Is correct or changes, via researching for you? information technology, like polling, where email, to meganj(Ntcp.ca CPI: So, the l ines between what is a MESLEY:Yeah, absolutely.You can'tbe a machineand what ishuman are becoming people have these little machines and press journalist without some sort of way of getbuttons.

2. If your service Is not included ting information. But when we' re in produc- somewhat blurred.

CPI: So where do peop/e put their dreams in our database, contact us at MESLEY: WeVe been accustomed about tion, I spend three or four days on the road and desires?

604%08-2688 and we willsend the idea of having pacemakers and bits and I just don't have the time.

MESLEY:In Undercurrents. (She laughs). It you a form. embedded in us. But what about bits of us CPI: What's your take on where technolo- embedded incomputers. can'tbe in a person anymore. We have to gy is taking us as a society? believe in our own selves and take advanThe deadline for changes and CPI: How old are you?

MESLEY: Lastyear on the show, we talked tage of technology. It's about being active completed forms is: MESLEY: Forty. to this computer programmer in Toronto and taking part in s ociety, about caring CPI: What do you think society will look about other people and caring about the 5 pm, Fri. Oct. 3 who said that more and more resources are going to put in making computers that are like in 40 years? world. It sounds so sappy — but ultimately, Note:This survey is a free rea4er service.

MESLEY: I think we' re spinning, but I don' t humans are good. + smarter, and so smart, that we won't need There is no chargefor the listing. humans any more for jobs. But, ultimately, know whether we' re spinning out of control.

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for three generations." Eerie green light • Netcasting of live events and special flooded the studio, and a Web site was interest programming; projected on a large screen over a row • sites hosted by "E jso who provide a of computers at the front of the room g uided video tour of a s ite or a n as a robotic voice counted down. area; The event was thelaunch of BCTV's • and utilization of WebTV and/or other new Web site,designed by Vancouver's emerging technologies.

Blue Zone Entertainment. The television station and Blue Zone are joining Warren says Blue Zone has a policy to forces to focus on the future of digital develop compelling, entertaining conmedia — combining BCTV's broadcast tent, before deciding what technology expertise with Blue Zone's interactive should be used to deliver it. "The techexperience. The agreement represents nology's in its infancy. I liken it to the t he culmination o f n e g otiations t h at early days of radio. Right now, we' re B Y JUN E C A M P B EL I . began in October. streaming video from the Web site at According to Blue Zone president, four frames per second. But when techt wasn't your typical business lun- Bruce Warren, the BCTV site is just the cheon. It started with the arrival of beginning of the "convergence" story. nologies like Rogers Wave and BC Tel's lines become widely available, the strangely secretive invitation He says that in th e f uture, viewers ADSL we' ll be able to broadcast high-speed (Two worlds will collide and you' re should expect to see many of the folcontent over the Internet." invited!) to attend a launch at the stulowing on the site: Blue Zone is best known for RAD-IO, dios of BCTV. • exclusive, online content; an online video comedy show, and for So, at noon on Aug. 8, a group of • Internet access e ducation via t h e their w or k w i t h E l e ctronic Arts and c urious media types arrived to b e television; Reboot. + greeted by men i n w hite lab coats • areas of the Web site devoted to (actors from Theatre Sports) brandishelectronic commerce (i.e., viewers will Site seeing: ing garden hoses and saying "Don' t be able to make reservations and BCTV ht tp://www. tvforbc.corn worry, we' re purifying you now. The transfer funds electronically via the RAD-IO http: //www.rad-io.corn effects of the radiation won't show up travel section of the BCTV site);

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Who's watching you? Police officer, private eye, skip tracer, journalist, bureaucrat, marketing manager? Any or all of them, and others, may be observing what you have done, when you did it, and who you did it with.

The Orwellian world in w hich sleuths, scribblers, and Nosy Parkers operate has expanded, thanks to computers, CD-ROMs, and the Internet. Big Brother has indccd grown bigger.

The people who pry into your private and public personae peruse credit ratings and census data.They scan birth, death, marriage, and adoption certificates — with thc best of motives, of course. But what they unveil can decide if you get a loan, whether you are the target of a headhunter or a blackmailer, or whether things you wished to k ee p secret become public property.

The secrets o f c y b erspace sleuths revealed i n a new boo k , N a k e d i n Cyberspace,will come as a shock to many.

But don't shoot the author, Carole A. Lane, an American psychologist who operates her own research firm. The information is there. She has no control over how it is used.

Understandably, Lane concentrates on American sources. But she also provides a wealth of information on how t o o btain information in other countries, including Canada.

She shows how businesses can gain comp etitive intelligence, and even ho w t o screen potential mates. Finding people via news databases, online biographies, mailing lists, and telephone and professional directories are just a few of the sources used by the electronic trackers.

pz

..

The ease with which information can be obtained is scary.

When Lane began her book, she planned only a small section on the Net. It grew into 513 jam-packed pages.

She writes: "So much information is now accessible through the Internet that it can be virtually impossible to weed through it all to locate any specific fact. One needs a m inimum o f s o f tware t o a c c ess t h e Internet [which is available free from many online vendors, or included in a variety of magazines on the newsstand); after that, dozens or hundreds of utilities can be found online to help with navigating and searching the Net." White and Yellow Pages, Yahoo's People search, reverse phone-number lists, political profiles — these are just a few of the tools available. And if those and many others aren't enough, you can always go to Naked i n Cy b e r space's o w n sit e , www.onlineinc.corn/pempress/nak«d .

The paperback doesn't confine itself to online sources. It also cites time-honoured inines of information: books such as Wbo's Who and other reference storks, as well as th» more modern CD-ROM directories.

When Lane, or readers of her book, get on your trail, there is almost nowhere left to hide. We are truly Raked in Cyberpace.

— Lee Lester +

ht t p :/ / www. co mpu t er - p l ay er . com/

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Change My Approach, Not My Tools B Y STEV E

D OTT O

mer away, trying to waste as little time as possible to get ideas out of my head and onto the computer screen.

h e Hu r g g n r eco n d i t i o n For the majority of my work, I'm held back not by the power or features of a computer. but by my own limitations in inputting data.

Until this bottleneck is eliminated, I won't be seeing any change in my work day.

All the advances in speed and in software features combined don't get my pulse racing anywhere near as fast as a discussion of how we can fundamentally alter the way we use a computer.

The first change should occur in the area of voice recognition-the Holy Grail for many a research project. In fact, it represents the longest continuously funded research project in IBM's history. The folks at Big Blue have been working on voice recognition for some z5 years.People have begun their careers on and retired from this project-it' s gone on thatlong. Good news, though; the fruits of their labour are about to be realized.

IBM and a few other select firms have been battling it out trying to get products to market that are accepted by the general public. The other key players in the game are Kurzweil and Dragon Systems.

Each of these companies is trying to provide what is called "continuous voice recognition." That is, a real-language voice-dictation system. In most existing voice-dictation systems, you need to be trained as much or more than the computer. You actually have to learn to speak in a way the computer can decipher into words.

find it increasingly difficult to get excited ' about nearly all the improvements we see in computer software and hardware. For example, I get a press release claiming this model or that model now runs at 225 MHz and I realize that the clunky old Power PC I am writing this on wheezes by at a mere rzo MHz. I should feel less than adequate. After all, many people are blasting by me on the old superhighway, aren't they, with faster and better machines than I have.

In point of fact, I don't feel bad at all. I have come to the realization that all the power and features in the world don't mean squat unless there is a way for me to access and use the power. And in that way, computers are, in my opinion, in roughly the same shape they have been in for the past eight or so years.

Whether it's writing scripts or articles, or corresponding with business associates, I spend the majority of my time typing data into my computer. And I have a confession to make: I'm lousy at the keyboard. I don' t touch type. I use somewhere between four and six of the stumpy sausages that are supposed topass as my fi ngers and I ham-

applications, Dragon NaturallySpeaking, and IBM ViaVoice respectively. Both products should fall in the $7oo price range for the professional editions.

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Finicky finder Q: Dear Doctor: IVe got a toughie for you.

I recently upgraded from one version ofAOL software to the next (version z.T to 3.o).

Now I when I double click on the documents I saved using the old application, my Mac says it can't "find the application that created the fil" (e venthough it's right on the desktop). The weird thing is that not only can I open them in TeachText, but once I launch the new AOL software, it recognizes my olddocuments. What's going on? janice, via AOL. NacShrink David Rosen replies: In general, what you' re describing happens when your Nac's Finder can't figure out which application created a particular document.

Behind the scenes, the Finder stores information about each file's document type and its creator within each file. When a document is created it gets assigned a creator type depending on the application that created it. Similarly, the document type tells the application important information about the document, such as whether it's a simple text Irle, a piece of stationery, and so on.

When you double clickon a document, the Finder looks first atits creator type and figures out which application to l aunch.

Once launched, the application itself looks at the document type of the file to determine how to retrieve the file. If the creator type is missing or damaged or if the creator

CKIIN P U T E

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doesn't match the document, your Mac won't be able to open the document properly and you' ll get an error message.

In your case, the new version of your AOL software has a different creator type than the older version, causing the Finder to get confused. Yourold documents want to be launched by the old software but they can' t find the old software.

The upshot of all this is that the new AOL software should recognize the old files once they're opened under the new software.

Once you launch the new software, go to the Open menu and select the file you want to open.Once opened, your old documents can be saved in the new format using the Save As command.

Keep inmind, though, that once you save your old documents in the new version, it will be tricky using them on other machines t hat have th e o l der s oftware. This i s because, while the new software recognizes the old software (ce., it's backward compatible with the previous version), the old software won't recognize the new software.

forget that you can add a "new" modem to the dialer. Look in your manual to obtain the recommended initialization string (or else try using ATZ or ATBFz) and create a n ew entry f o r y o u r m o d e m i n the MODEM.IAK fife in your 1TCPIPLETC directory (you can use PMSEEK.EKE to findit) if you are using the "Dial Other Internet Provider." Simply follow the examples as seen in t hi s fi l e a f ter consulting your modem manual.

I am using a USR Robotics S6K Dt2) modem to connect to my Internetservice provider (ISP) without any problems.

If you are using IBN's Advantis as your ISP,you can download an updated modem list by launching the dialer, going to the settings, and t urning to the modem page. If you are connected (at ~, 4 o o o r e v e n z8,8oo bps), simply click on the Download Modem List button and an updated modem list will be retrieved and set up on your computer.

Additionally, recall t ha t t h e I n t e rnet Access Kit that comes with OS/2 (non-Warp Connect) has a u t i l it y t i t le d " R etrieve Dialer update madness Software Updates" in your "IBM Internet Q Hi! I am currently looking for the dialer Connection for OS/z" folder. Double-clicking update that wi l l su p port a US R 33 . 6 on this icon will launch IBM's update packmodem. I am running version 3 of Warp. It age for Warp.

And last, but no t l east, you can use is not the Warp Connect version. All I seem to find is t he Warp Connect version for Netscape Navigator and go to w wwsoftware. ibm.corn/os/warp/downloads w h ere everything. Help!

Kevin Linfield responds: First off, don' t youcan download a plethoraofupdates forOS/z.

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Q Bonjour. I have an IBM machine running OS/z. I would like to install another hard disk and install Windows 95 on this second hard disk,then dual boot. Can you suggest to me where to obtain more information on ho w to d u a l-bootOS/z and Windows g5? Is there any utility/software that may help me in this respect?Thanks a lot.

Dumitru Kevin Linfield responds: Since Windows SrSmust boot from a primary C; partition, it is not possible to do what you suggest.

Dual Boot is a u t i lity that allows two operating systems to be located on a primary C: partition (do a HELP BOOT horn your OS!z command prompt). What you suggestis having OS/z and Windows gS on two different hard drives. To do this, you must use BootManager.

OS/2 can be on any partition (primary or logical), while WinpS has to boot from a primary C: drive. If your OS/2 is currently on a primary C: drive, then you will not be able to put a Microsoft operating system on your second drive (note that Linux would not have a problem with this setup).

If I w ere you, I' d b ackup everything, install the new hard drive, install Boot Manager and put Windows SrSon C: and OS/z on a logical partition somewhere else.

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Explosive issue

Alan Zisman responds: Whew! You' re Delete existing Partition" (you can't create right-FDISK is literally prehistoric; the user a new partition, since your disk is already interface has remained the same since DOS full of existing partitions-that's why you got 3.3 in zy8p. And you did the right thing by the error message you reported). stopping when you knew that you weren' t The next choice is "z) Delete Primary DOS sure, rather than going ahead and poten- Partition." It will ask for your disk's label, tially wrecking everything! and ask if you are sure. Be persistent.

The $6S betteralternative is Parti tion After deleting your partition, you are back Magic, a nice, Windows-like utility that can at themain menu. Now you can choose "z) convert an existing FATz6 disk into a FAT3z Create DOS partition or logical drive. You one without destroying your data. want to create a Primary partition, set it You say you want to start over again, active, and have it take up all your drive however. This being the case: space (I think it lets you agree to all those Make sure you' ve backed up your per- options at once!). sonal data and anything else you need to After that, it will require you to reboot. keep, After rebooting, at th e A : p r ompt, type Make sure you have your Windows pS "FORMATC:/S (no quotes), which will forCD-ROM. mat the hard drive (with FAT3z) and add Make sure you have a boot diskette that the DOS operating system files to y o ur works, and that has the DOS liles onit that drive. That should take about live minutes. you' ll need to be able to access your CDWhen that's done, type D: to switch to ROM horn a DOS prompt. Test this; make your hard drive, and type "setup" to run sure that you can boot to a DOS prompt, the WIND'Ssetup. and that by typing D: and then DIR you can see the hleson a CD-ROM disk. Make sure • Send Mac-related questions to MacShrinkat that F D ISK. EXE, FORMA T. COM, and MacCuy@tcpon.corn. Ail questions become the SYS.COM are on the boot disk. property of MacShrink™ and David Rosen.

Now you' re ready for the dangerous part! • OS/2 questions should be directed to Kevin Boot to your Iioppy. You should get an A: Linfieid via email at IinfieldOtorfree.net prompt. Type FDISK. • Send PC-related questions to Alan Zisman via The fiat screen will ask if you want to email at Alan Zisman,a zisman®cyberstore.ca enable large disk support. Type Y for yes.

This sets up support for FAT3z.

At the menu, your lirst choice is

Q; Do you have anyidea how to get the take advantage of t he situation and 128-bit version of Netscape for OS/z? IVe upgrade to FAT3z. Unfortunately, however, I heard that at some lucky user groups in the can find no information as to how to do this other than to run FDISK at the DOS prompt.

United States, IBM reps have given out Well, after a couple of days spent creating copies of this software. Is the Toronto OS/z a boot disk that would recognize my CDuser group as lucky?

ROM, I thought I was ready. I believed that Talk to you later, Brian all I would have to do is run FDISK, say yes Kevin Linfield responds: I spoke to someone at IBM and I was told that due to V.S. I wanted to f ormat to FAT3z, and that export laws, encryption software is a muni- would be it. What I was not prepared for, however, were the choices that FDISK pretion(l ike gunpowderi) and is not supposed sented me with. to leave the Vnited States. Netscape has The first menu I encountered was: r eceived p ermission t o d i s t ributei t s z)Create DOS Partition or Logical DOS Windows program with this encryption, but Drive s ince IBM i s i n ch a r g e of Netscape z)Set Active Partition Navigator for OSI'z, they have been drag3)Delete Partition or Logical DOS Drive ging their heels on t his o ne. Expect it p) Display Partition Information "some time soon" is what I' ve been told.

When I made the assumption that choice number t was the correct one, I was then Reformatting your hard told that it already existed, which makes perfect sense, but has left me stymied. drive for FAT32 At this point I backed olf. With my limited Q: My current insanity concerns reformat- understanding of computerese, I am conting the OSRz version of Win9S. Following cemed that I was about to do something your earlier column, I checked to see what that could only be rectified by throwing FAT system my OEM had set up . Sure large amounts of cash at it. I am not afraid enough, it tumed out to be FATz6. At least to do this myself, but the lack of informanow I know why my hard drive is a third tion about this is staggering. I could find no smaller in capacity than I thought it was. step-by-step instructions after a fairly intenSince I really do have to reformat and sive search of the Web. start again (I was not running an uninstall Howard Koopferstock program for the lirst several months, and

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September Feature: Faronics Performer System

16 MB RAM

256KB PipelineBurst Cache LevelTwo Cache Removable 12.1" Color TFT Active Screen 2MB Video Card & 16 Bit Sound Card Full Software MPEG Support Two Type II or Type lil; Microsoft Plug and Play Compliant PCMCIA 10x CD-ROM 1.3GB Hard Drivel.44MB Floppy Drive CD-ROM andFloppy Drive can be used at the same time Windows 95 Keyboard Glidepoint Mouse Lithium lon Battery with dual battery capability; Plugs into either CD or FDD Bay Infared Port, Serial Port, Parallel Port & External PS/2 Port Beautiful Fit& Finish;Lessthan 3.2Kgs. Microsoft Windows 95 OSR2 w/CD and Manual

Faronics 5166MMX32

Faronics Speedbook with Pentium 166MMX also available • Intel Pentium 166 MMX CPU, 2.1GB HDD, Rest Same as Faronics Speedbook P150: $3,995.00 or Lease for $144p/m • Special Configurations can also be arranged for Corporate/Public and Educational Sectors.

neW

Special Price $1,899.00 or Lease for $68p/m Many different System Configurations Available - Just Call 540-B199 or Fax 540-B179 for a Customized Quotation.

Ilgt The

•FaronicsPA-2007 M sinboardw /512kPB Cache • Flash Rom Bios • Enhanced IOE Controller, Mode 4 • 2 High Speed Serial Ports 8r Enhanced Parallel Port • Intel Pentium 166 Processor with MMX Technology • 3.5GB Hard Dave, Mode 4 • 32MB EDO RAM (2 x 16MB Modules} • 1.44MB Floppy Drive • 16X CD-ROM Drive, 32Bit • 2MB Cirrus Logic 5446 Video Card w/Software MPEG •U.S.Robotics33.6Data Fax M odem Infernal • 3D Surround Sound Card • Labtec LCS-1224 Speakers • 15" KTX Monitor, Nl, Low Radiation,.28dpi • Enhanced Windows 95 Keyboard • Microsoft Mouse with Mouse Pad • Faronics Mini-Tower Case, CSA Approved Power Supply • Microsoft Windows 95 OSR2 Release with CO t6Manual

• Every Faronics Speedbook comes with Dur Guaranteed Two Oay Turnaround on all Service and Support.

Special Price $3,495.00 or Lease for $126p/re

-Sefuiion~

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n u m b e r O n e am ongst the Socket 7

boards is called PA-2007 and is sold by Faronics. This board is using the VIA Apollo VP2 chipset. It supports SDRAM and Ultra DMA just as well as its TX chipset competitors, but its big advantage is the 1 MB onboard level 2 cache, which is mainly responsible for its excellent Win95 and especially NT performance. Due to its VIA Apollo VP2 chipset it also supports linear burst for Cyrix/IBM CPUs, so that this board is a double win for every Cyrix/IBM CPU user, since it's not only the fastest Socket 7 board anyhow, it even speeds up your 6xB6 MX CPU by another 1.5% to 2%.

FkEE Uk -" t)I .yl L)~Tel'I A' E K COMES ~M EASPORT<TRtPLE PLAY 97

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With a200 Mhz CPU, this board reaches a performance as high as other boards with 512KB cache and a 233Mhz Processor...ft is currently the Fastest Socket -7 Board on the market.'

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Now available in 512K and 1MB Configurations!

Introducto

P r i ces

PA-2007 512K Cache $ 125 PA-2007 1MB Cache $145

PC ProfessionelL Ziff Davis Magazine, August 1997

L~yiE;; ~TF «i NTH ~, r rakuliiL,h 5YKTEI4

With 4-player competition, modem play, and EA SPORTS authenticity, exhibition season is over.

Tournament-tested by EA SPORTS - the award-winning GrlP Game System with the full retail version of TriplePlay 97. Experience high-speed digital GrlP action. With automatic calibration, easy setup, and hassle-free installation, you' ll spend less time getting ready to play the game and more time playing!

(Valued at $149)

®e

®:=1W,

Corporate/Public and Educational Enquiries Welcome.

No Paymentsfor 90 OaysAvailable OAC. Leasepaytnants basedon Iflmonths with a 00 buyout,and n~nalty salty payment options Pricra unct Spcctlications Sub1cct to Changr without Hotter

Includes the EA SPORTSGrlP MultiPort and two 8-button EA SPORTSGrlPPad controllers plus the full version of EA SPORTS TriplePlay 97 • Plug and play connection to any standard PC game port • Connect up to 4 GrIP controllers (additional GrlP-Pads sold separately) a Digital interface speeds game performance • Automatic calibration • DOS and WirtdowsyE 95 compatibility for all your favorite games • Simple Wirtdovss 95 software lets you assign keyboard commandsto Grip-Pad buttons.

• MultiPort lets you COnnect Standard joysticks too (through 2 pass-through connectors), so all your loysocks are ready whenever you want fo play.

Hours; Mon-Fri 9-6 Sat - Sun 11-5 57A - 53 Clipper Street, Coquitlam. B.C. V3K 6X2 No Surcharge

TECHNOLOGIES INC

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