   ______                            _   __      __
  / ____/___  ____ ___  ____  __  __/ | / /___  / /____  _____
 / /   / __ \/ __ `__ \/ __ \/ / / /  |/ / __ \/ __/ _ \/ ___/
/ /___/ /_/ / / / / / / /_/ / /_/ / /|  / /_/ / /_/  __(__  ) 
\____/\____/_/ /_/ /_/ .___/\__,_/_/ |_/\____/\__/\___/____/  
                    /_/                                       
                         This Week's Contents:

My Notes:
1) New Email Addresses!
2) Changes with Me!
3) Welcome TourBus Readers!
4) Buy My Booklet, Please!

News:
1) NetWare Mobile Debuts!
2) Windows95 Virus Defeated!
3) ClearWeb Maps the Internet!
4) Novell Reorgs Networking Division!

Reviews:
1) Quarterdeck Internet Suite Reviewed by Judy Litt (jlitt@qualitty.com)
2) Mathemagics CDROM Reviewed by Gail Marsella
   (71551.3200@compuserve.com)
3) Steel Panthers Reviewed by Doug Reed (dreed@panda.uchc.edu)
4) Strategy Games of the World Reviewed by Paul Vess
   (veracity@interpath.com
5) The Telecommunications Information Millennium Reviewed by
   Herbert J. Lidstone (lidstone@eznet.net)
6) Visual C++ 4.0 Reviewed by Paul Ferrill (ferrill@teas.eglin.af.mil)

Web Sites:
1) National Engineers' Week! (http://www.sme.org)
2) Chemicals and You! (http://www.hcc.com/)
3) Test Drive a Chevy On-line! (http://www.gm.com)
4) Personalized News Delivered by Email! (http://www.newspage.com)

FTP File:
1) A Great Point of Sale System!
2) An Action Packed Graphics Game!

Interview:
1) No Interview for This Week!

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date  : February 11, 1996 |CompuNotes is a weekly publication available
Issue : 35                |through email and many fine on-line networks.
--------------------------|We cover the IBM computing world with
CompuNotes is published   |software/hardware reviews, news, hot web
4Point, Inc.,             |sites, cool FTP files and interviews. We also
135 W. Adams, Suite G9    |give away one software package a week to a
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(314) 984-9981 fax        |are here to bring you the way it is!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Backroom Workers:                     |We are always looking for
Patrick Grote, Managing Editor            |people to write honest,
(pgrote@basic.net)                        |concise reviews for us. Send
Doug Reed, Games Editor                   |a message to notes@basic.net
(dreed@panda.uchc.edu)                    |with REVLIST in the subject.
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(jlitt@aol.com)                           |writer's guidelines and a
Raymond Hines, Web Rambler                |list of available software
(solari@gate.net)                         |to review. Follow the
Paul Ferrill, Languages Editor            |instructions for requesting
(ferrill@teas.eglin.af.mil)               |software to review.
Dennis MacPherson, Utilities Editor       |-----------------------------
(pctc@infi.net)                           |     Go Chicago Bulls!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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                             Patrick's News
         Being The Publisher and Managing Editor Has Its Perks!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our New Email Addresses!|
-------------------------
    We've switched internet providers, so our email addresses have
changed! To contact me send a message to pgrote@basic.net. If you have
any administrative items like list problems, comments, complaints, etc.
they should be sent to notes@basic.net.
    This change does not affect how you subscribe/unsubscribe to the
mailing list.
    Folks who have written for us should send a message to
notes@basic.net with the subject of REVLIST. This will add you to the
REVIEW LIST distribution. This list will be sent out every weekend and
includes a listing of software we have for review.
    This issue is EXTRA LARGE due to the fact we missed last week. Next
week we'll be back to normal size.
    Also, sysops, check out the last few lines of this issue!

-------------------------------
Welcome TourBus Readers . . . |
-------------------------------
    We were recently honored by the TourBus mailing list when we were
mentioned as a mailing list to join! I want to welcome all our new
readers who heard about us via TourBus. Enjoy CompuNotes!
    I encourage all new readers to add our homepage to your homepage. We
can be found at http://users.aol.com/CompNote/.

-------------------------
Buy My Booklet, Please! |
-------------------------
    How is that for selfless self promotion? I have just finished a new
booklet called "10 Huge Mistakes Every SOHO Business Owner Should
Avoid". How's that for a title? They have been sent to the printer and
will be available in a day or two.
    This booklet details the ten huge mistakes that every SOHO business
owner could make and how to avoid them! Instead of simply telling you to
avoid the mistake, the booklet details how to recover from each mistake
if you happen to make it!
    Our normal price for the booklet is $10.00, but since you are a
CompuNotes reader we'll sell it to you to for $8.00 plus $2.00 shipping
and handling. Just kidding. $8.00 gets your own copy of "10 Huge
Mistakes Every SOHO Business Owner Should Avoid" and a free trial
subscription to SOHO News, a new newsletter for the SOHO business owner.
    Send your check or money order for $8.00 in US funds to:
                              4Point, Inc.
                        135 West Adams, Suite G9
                          St. Louis, MO 63122
                          (314) 984-9691 Voice

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEWS OF THE WEEK| This section is dedicated to verified news . . . All
News (C)opyright  Respective Owner - Will Only Reprint
------------------------------------------------------------------------
NetWare Mobile Debuts!|
-----------------------
    OREM, Utah -- January 9, 1996 -- Novell, Inc. today announced
NetWare Mobile, the first client software that enables mobile users to
access their NetWare networks, anywhere in the world, whether they are
remotely connected to the network or working offline. With NetWare
Mobile, users can transfer selected network data to mobile computers and
then automatically update and synchronize files when they reconnect to
the network. NetWare Mobile provides mobile users with their familiar
view of network files and resources, even when disconnected.
    NetWare Mobile also offers a sophisticated dialer and graphical
configuration utilities that make it easy for mobile users to dial into
NetWare networks.  In addition, NetWare Mobile provides advanced
administration utilities, including integration with NetWare Directory
Services (NDS), that make mobile network computing secure and manageable
for organizations of all sizes.
    When used with NetWare Connect, Novell's scalable communications
server for secure remote access, customers have a comprehensive remote
access and mobile networking solution.
    "For mobile users, connecting to the network while traveling has
sometimes been impractical," said Tom Steding, vice president and
general manager of Novell's Communications Infrastructure Division.
"NetWare Mobile changes all that by creating a virtual NetWare network
on your portable computer. Now our customers can work with their
familiar network environments, whether they are in a hotel room, in the
middle of the desert, or in an airliner at 30,000 feet."
    NetWare Mobile has gained strong support from vendors of mobile
products. "Business people need to get access to their corporate data
from wherever they are.  As they become more mobile, access to their
network is a must," said Bengt Carlstrom, General Manager, Mobile Data
Terminals at Ericsson Mobile Communications AB. "Ericsson's broad line
of wireless data products with NetWare Mobile provide an easy, cost
effective, flexible and powerful reason for customers to deploy mobile
networking solutions," he added.
    Today, more than 50 million computer users have access to NetWare
LANs, according to International Data Corporation (IDC). In a January
1995 survey by Giga Information Group, they estimate that out of a
worldwide workforce of 870 million, some 165 million can be classified
as mobile professionals. Further, Giga findings show that an increasing
number of these mobile professionals need to continue to be productive
and have access to corporate data no matter where they are.
    With NetWare Mobile, mobile professionals can "take the network
along" for consistent access to NetWare resources, whether they are
directly connected to the LAN, remotely connected via dial-up, or not
connected at all. Providing mobile users with a consistent work
environment can reduce training and support costs.
    Mobile users can work with their network files even in situations
such as on an airplane, when they are not physically connected to the
network. When the user reconnects to the network, mobile files are
synchronized with the network to keep all files up-to-date. To reduce
remote connection costs, NetWare Mobile updates only the parts of the
files that have been changed. NetWare Mobile also enables users to order
print jobs while offline by saving them in a deferred print queue. The
print jobs are stored in the queue until the user reconnects to the
network and requests the printing to an available printer at that
location.
    NetWare Mobile includes graphical configuration utilities, or
Location Profiles, to help users store and manage network connections
from different locations, such as dialing conventions, connection media,
and calling card support. Location Profiles save customers time and
effort, eliminating the need to memorize connection details or
reconfigure the dialer every time. Selective driver loading saves
memory, because only the drivers needed for a specific location will be
loaded upon startup. In addition, NetWare Mobile's advanced dialer makes
it easy for users to initiate dial-up connections anywhere without
having to know the dialing convention for each area.
    NetWare Mobile, due to ship within a month, is available in the
following license configurations: single-user for $129; 5-user for $495;
25-user for $1,995 and 100-user for $6,995. The initial release of
NetWare Mobile supports NetWare 4.1 and 3.X networks as well as the
Windows 3.1 client operating system.  Novell  intends to support NetWare
customers as they migrate to other popular client operating systems,
including Windows 95.
    NetWare Mobile is a key component of Novell's strategy to enable the
Smart Global Network by extending networks beyond traditional PC LANs to
connect mobile computers and a broad range of intelligent devices.

-------------------------
Widows95 Virus Defeated!|
-------------------------
    COLUMBUS, Ohio, Feb. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Computer users will now be
able to fight and destroy the first virus working under the Windows 95
operating systems using a new anti-virus utility debuting exclusively on
the CompuServe Information Service.
    ThunderBYTE Anti-Virus Utilities, Version 7.0 for Windows 95, has
been thoroughly tested and is ready to detect and destroy BOZA, alias
Bizatch Virus, a reasonably fast-spreading virus that targets the true
32-bit executable files with the Windows Portable Executable EXE-headers
(such files are used in both Windows 95/NT).
    ThunderBYTE Anti-Virus (TBAV) Utilities, Version 7.0 for Windows 95,
ready to detect BOZA, will be released on CompuServe immediately. Howard
H. Thaw, president of TCT-ThunderBYTE Corporation (USA) reports that
"through special arrangements with CompuServe and the Windows Users
Group Network (WUGENT), Windows 95 users around-the-world can download a
free, 30-day, fully-functional trial version of TBAV from CompuServe on
the Windows 95 Support Menu (GO WIN95).
    Larry McJunkin, Online Operations Manager for WUGNET, added that
"The needs of our members are what fosters relationships with vendors
such as ThunderBYTE."  Complete support for ThunderBYTE will continue to
be available on CompuServe in the Windows Utilities Forum (GO WINUTIL).
    "Being the exclusive outlet for this impressive anti-virus software
further demonstrates our commitment to supporting the world's hardware
and software community," said Rob Mainor, CompuServe's vice president of
product marketing and business information services.  "Once again, we
have been the first to offer leading-edge anti-virus software to our
members.  This announcement strengthens our position not only as the
online leader in Windows 95 support, but as the best source of technical
support in the online world."
    Each time a file that is infected with the BOZA virus is executed it
immediately infects up to three EXE files in its current directory,
before returning to execute the code of the originally infected file. To
most unsuspecting users, the process is relatively fast and everything
may appear as normal.
    The potential harm caused by the virus itself stems from the chances
that the extra codes added by the virus may destroy some of the files
during the process of infection and an apparent error in its programming
may cause some of the infected files to grow up to megabytes in size.
    "From the outset, scientists at the ThunderBYTE Anti-Virus Research
Center have focused on understanding the mechanisms of viral behavior
and the techniques used by virus writers to manipulate PC hardware,"
said Sean Nadeau, Director of Technical Support for ThunderBYTE in North
America.
    "With that understanding has come the knowledge necessary to render
those techniques ineffective, making TBAV software one of the best
solutions for computer users," added Dr. Frans Veldman, author and
architect of the world acclaimed ThunderBYTE Anti-Virus Utilities and
CEO at ThunderBYTE Center For Anti-Virus Research.  "Our scientists and
researchers have been working around-the-clock to study the etiology of
BOZA and develop a solution, rather than a simple fix for this type of
Windows 95 virus."

------------------------
CLEARWeb Maps Internet!|
------------------------
    PALM SPRINGS, Ca., January 29, 1996 -- Today at Demo 96, CLEAR
Software announced CLEARweb, the first software utility that
automatically draws a map of Internet addresses for direct access to
most-frequently visited web sites. By "reading" Internet addresses
contained within Web pages or derived from search-engine results or
bookmark files, CLEARweb lets users create, organize and publish custom
Internet information maps (and/or outlines) for easy navigation of the
World Wide Web.
    With CLEARweb, users can collect Internet addresses such as URLs,
FTP, or e-mail addresses, and organize them into manageable CLEARweb
maps and/or outlines.  Users can save, edit, share, and link CLEARweb
maps to each other. CLEARweb maps can be personalized to reflect any
individual or company's favorite web site collection, then published and
distributed for easy location of Internet or Intranet sites.
    The CLEARweb application allows users to upload CLEARweb maps to any
remote server -- including Internet/Intranet servers -- where they can
be accessed, viewed and utilized by other users.  The CLEARweb Viewer,
which enables anyone to view a CLEARweb map, is free and can be used to
distribute CLEARweb maps at no charge.
    "The Web provides a wealth of information on almost any topic, yet
people are struggling with how to organize this information and make it
more relevant," said Vadim Yasinovsky, president, CLEAR Software.
"CLEARweb presents a 'birds-eye view' of the Internet landscape.  Users
see all possible routes and can go directly to the information they
want.  There are no detours or dead-ends.  CLEARweb lets users see where
they're going on the Web before they start."
    Each box on the CLEARweb map is a live, direct link to the
Internet/Intranet address it contains; clicking on a box brings the user
to the corresponding web page.
    CLEARweb is designed for anyone who wants to find or share useful
information easily on the World Wide Web.  Experts in a variety of
industries can use CLEARweb to produce maps of particular subjects as
research aids, or as a quick guide to their works available on the Web.
Corporate IS managers can easily control the delivery of corporate
information over Intranets and give employees direct point and click
access to important information.  Webmasters can use CLEARweb to
organize their web sites and make them more user-friendly for visitors,
presenting the complete content of a Web site in a single view to ensure
that visitors won't miss key information.  Individual users can share
maps of the bookmarks they've collected, and customize the Web using the
information that interests them most.
    The built-in CLEARweb Viewer lets users share their CLEARweb maps or
outlines with others.  CLEARweb can support a large number of addresses
-- up to 700 boxes -- per map.  Maps can be linked to one another,
enabling quick navigation among different subject-specific maps.
Because CLEARweb maps are approximately one-half the size of traditional
bookmark files, even the most information-rich maps are downloaded
quickly, reducing connection costs and eliminating long waits for
information.
    CLEARweb's ability to "read" Internet addresses directly from Web
sites allows Webmasters to map the entire contents of their site, giving
visitors a clear path to the most important information.  When users
discover a favorite Web site, they can use CLEARweb to automatically map
the site, then share it with others.  In addition, CLEARweb offers
built-in FTP uploading and downloading capabilities, eliminating
complicated programming steps and allowing users to easily publish their
maps to any remote server.
    CLEARweb uses the technology inherent in CLEAR Software's
award-winning flowcharting software, allCLEAR III.  Like allCLEAR,
CLEARweb automatically turns simple text into a visual map to easily
communicate complex information.
    A user simply imports bookmark information or enters a collection of
Internet addresses in a text outline format, and CLEARweb draws the map
showing each address and how they are connected.  CLEARweb supports
bookmark formats from a variety of popular browsers, including Netscape
Navigator.  Edits can be made either to the map or the outline. CLEARweb
updates the map instantly and automatically.  Maps can be customized
with different shapes, colors, multiple line styles, map styles and
drawing tools, or by using the CLEAR clip-art library.  Users can also
drag addresses from CLEARweb maps or outlines, and drop them into their
Web browser.
    A beta version of the CLEARweb Viewer can be downloaded from the
CLEAR Software web site (www.clearsoft.com).  The CLEARweb Viewer is
free for non-commercial use.  CLEARweb will have a suggested retail
price of $49 and becomes available online in Q1 1996.  The CLEARweb
Distribution Kit, which allows developers to create a customized version
of the CLEARweb Viewer for commercial use, will also be available online
in Q1 1996 with a suggested retail price of $495.
    CLEARweb requires an IBM PC or compatible 386 or higher with 4MB RAM
and runs on any Windows or Windows 95 compatible operating system. The
CLEARweb Viewer alone requires 1 MB of hard disk space.
    CLEARweb currently supports Netscape Navigator; support for a wide
variety of Web browsers, including Microsoft Explorer, Mosaic, GNN and
WebSurfer, is planned for the final release.
    Established in 1987, privately-held CLEAR Software, Inc., is a
developer and marketer of intelligent diagramming and flowcharting
products and business process analysis tools that help people define,
visualize and manage their critical business procedures. Their
award-winning flagship product, allCLEAR, turns simple text into a
visual map for easy communicating of complex information through
presentation-quality flowcharts, process flow diagrams, organizational
charts, fishbone diagrams and other common diagram types. CLEAR Process,
a Windows-based process management tool designed to graphically analyze
business procedures, combines flowcharting with an Excel-compatible
spreadsheet in a single desktop package. CLEARweb profits from this
technology foundation, giving web surfers a drawing tool by which to
organize, manage and publish Internet and e-mail addresses for the first
time.

------------------------
CLEARWeb Maps Internet!|
------------------------
    OREM, Utah -- January 11, 1996 -- Novell, Inc. today announced that
it is reorganizing its product organization in concert with its recent
decisions to exit the UNIX application server and personal productivity
applications businesses and focus exclusively on its market-leading
network software products. The new Novell Products Group will
consolidate the Systems, Applications, and Information Access and
Management Groups into a single organization that will better coordinate
product development and marketing to deliver more value to Novell
customers.
    Steven Markman, formerly executive vice president, Information
Access and Management Group, heads the new product organization as
executive vice president, Novell Products. Reporting to Markman are
Richard King, currently executive vice president and general manager of
the Systems Group; Jeffrey Waxman, currently executive vice president
and general manager of the Applications Group; and other executives to
be appointed later this month.
    The unified organization will allow Novell to enhance
interoperability among its broad range of network software products,
which span from today's private business networks to the Internet.
Novell believes rapid change in networks is leading to a managed
Internet, or Smart Global Network, that will interconnect today's
private business networks and Internet solutions as a single information
resource for business and consumers.
    "The business choices we've made over the last year have
reestablished Novell's single focus to support our customer's network
solutions." said Robert J. Frankenberg, Novell Chairman and CEO. "Now is
the time to mirror this focus with a unified product organization that
will fully empower cross-functional programs and product teams, speed
issue resolution, improve decision making, and leverage Novell's
strengths."
    Novell will begin the reorganization in parallel with its sale of
the personal productivity Business Applications Division, which it
expects to announce by the end of January. Novell completed the sale of
its UnixWare application server business to The Santa Cruz Operation,
Inc. in December 1995.
    Novell, Inc. (NASDAQ: NOVL), is the world's leading networking
software provider. Novell software provides the infrastructure for a
networked world, enabling our customers to connect with other people and
the information they need, anytime and anyplace. Novell partners with
other technology and market leaders to help customers make networks a
part of their everyday lives.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
REVIEWS OF THE WEEK | Interesting software/hardware you may need . . .
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Product: Quarterdeck Internet Suite                                    |
Reviewed By: Judy Litt (jlitt@qualitty.com)                            |
------------------------------------------------------------------------
    As the program name implies, this software suite includes everything
you need to connect to the Internet -- and almost everything you need to
do anything on the Internet (except Internet Chat). I'd call
Quarterdeck's InternetSuite software that's almost there. Why? Because
it introduces a lot of innovative features, but then doesn't support
some features that are commonplace in other, similar software.
    Quarterdeck InternetSuite is made up of four programs: Quarterdeck
Mosaic (a web browser), Quarterdeck Message Center (e-mail and offline
newsgroup reader), Quarterdeck FTP (a way to transfer files over the
net), and QTerm (a telnet program).
    When I asked for this program, I was actually thinking of WebAuthor,
which is an HTML editor add-on for MS Word 6. When I opened up the
package and discovered what I'd got, I thought, great -- what do I do
with this? I don't have an ISP (Internet Service Provider).
    Wait, you gasp -- a web page designer without an ISP? Never fear,
I've got one now. Basically, I found out that web page design is
becoming a larger part of my business than I originally thought it
would. So this software came just in the nick of time. I was able to
test everything except the QTerm program, since telnet just isn't
something I have a need for at this point in time.

Installation
=========
    Installation was relatively smooth and painless. You have a choice
of either installing QWinsock (a winsock is a program that connects you
to the net - it must be running before you run your browser, e-mail,
etc. ) as your primary winsock, as an optional winsock, or not at all. I
chose not at all -- then I had to reinstall when I signed up with my
provider, because I needed a winsock.
    You need to choose your location, time zone, etc. You even have to
tell the software which COM port your modem is on -- it's not detected
automatically.
    This past weekend I also upgraded my modem to a 28.8. It wasn't a
very easy switch in this software. In order to change the type of modem
I used to connect with, I had to go back into the location manager --
which meant I had to re-enter all the username, email, IP address, etc.
information.

Quarterdeck Mosaic
===============
    Quarterdeck Mosaic is a prime example of "the almost thereness" of
this software. It has many innovative features, such as:
    1. There's a global history: it will show you the sites you've
visited within a time span you set. IOW, you can see where you've gone
on the Web in the last week, month, or year -- depending on the setting
you choose.
    2. There's a "link tree." It will show you all the links that are on
the page you're currently viewing -- so that you don't even have to read
the text to jump to information that interests you!
    3. When you view the source code, the screen splits horizontally. In
the top window you see the page, and in the bottom window you see the
source code. Both windows are independently scrollable. I really like
this feature.
    4. There's a "url helper". You still have to know the url (uniform
resource locator) of where you're going, but you may not have to type as
much. You choose the method (http, ftp, etc.) from a drop down list,
then type in the domain name & path. The slashs between the http, domain
name & path, will be put in for you.
    With all these great features, would you believe the browser doesn't
support "Netscapisms", such as background graphics or centering?
Probably a minor annoyance to some, but if I can't see the background
I've created, it's a problem.

Quarterdeck Message Center
=====================
    More almost there software. Like all the other components of this
suite, I didn't find its interface very intuitive. But once I read the
manual I often found myself saying "cool".
    You can create as many folders as you'd like for e-mail, newsgroups,
etc. This is a handy feature for saving mail & newsgroup messages by
subject matter. It's also handy if there's more than one person using
the software.
    You can also create subfolders -- folders under folders. My biggest
problem was that I wanted to create subfolders with different groups of
newsgroups under one main folder, then download headers for all the
subfolders at once. You can't - you have to select a subfolder, get its
messages; select the next subfolder, get its messages . . . you get the
idea.
    I also found it annoying that every time you want to add a
newsgroup, it "retrieves" the list, rather than immediately presenting
you with the list.
    You can easily sort messages in ascending or descending order, by
message number, sender, date, size, or subject. You can limit the amount
of headers to download, but still get a warning that there's more
headers available and override the limitation you've set (or not).

Quarterdeck FTP
=============
    I don't really have much to write about this software, other than
the fact that it just did not work on my system. The program opened
fine, would log into the appropriate server, but every time I tried to
upload a file it just locked up. My first guess is that it's just not
compatible with Windows95. It was a big disappointment, because I have a
very large web page I'm in the process of uploading -- it would have
been very nice to have a suite that works together.
    I dropped by Quarterdeck's web page and left them an e-mail message
(informing them I was reviewing the software). A week later I finally
got a reply telling me that my original e-mail message had been
forwarded to technical support -- and I haven't heard a further word.

Conclusion
=========
    This whole suite is relatively inexpensive, and may be worth a try
if you'd rather get some out of the box software rather than hunting
down what you need on the net. I do know that most people seem to have
tremendous problems connecting to their ISPs at first -- and I had none
at all. I'm sure the software helped. And even if you don't buy it now,
it would certainly bear a looksee at future versions - this first
version has great promise.

                        Quarterdeck Corporation
                       Quarterdeck InternetSuite
                          Street Price: $49.95
                           150 Pico Boulevard
                        Santa Monica, CA  90405
                          Phone: 310-392-9851
                           FAX: 310-314-4217
                         e-mail: info@qdeck.com
                          WWW: www.qdeck.com/

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Product: Mathemagics CDROM                                           |
Reviewed By: Gail Marsella (71551.3200@compuserve.com)               |
----------------------------------------------------------------------
    Anyone who is math anxious or has a math anxious kid should take a
look at the MatheMagics CD-ROM from L3 Interactive. Ordinarily I
disapprove of education masquerading as entertainment, but math instills
such fear in some people that maybe a little show business wouldn't
hurt. It sure does a good job here. Dr. Arthur Benjamin - a
mathematician who teaches at Harvey Mudd College in California -
presents the material like a magic show in some sections, and then in
other sections explains how he did the tricks. He even gives some
practical applications for mathematics, although I would have liked to
see more in that area; half the battle with learning math is convincing
yourself it will be useful to know.
    Computer requirements include a 16-bit sound card, Windows 3.1 or
95, a 486SX-3 3 class processor, a double-speed CD ROM drive and at
least 8 megs of RAM - in short, a reasonably muscular system. Although
it loads rather slowly on a 486DX-33, it runs acceptably because most of
the program has to do with listening and thinking, not quick reflexes.
Setup with Windows 95 is particularly easy - you put the disk in the
CD-ROM drive and the program starts itself. Setup on Win3.1 is the usual
drill (choose Run from the File menu of Program Manager and so on). Both
WinG and MS Video for Windows are required, but the program installs
them for you.
    Interacting with MatheMagics is a little disorienting for awhile,
but makes sense once you get used to it. A cube appears in perspective,
each face divided into 9 sections, like a stack of children's blocks
three high, three wide, and three deep. One side has a different picture
on each of the nine blocks; each picture is an entry point, and the
three block row behind the picture holds the lessons for a particular
type of math (addition, multiplication, squaring, and several other more
unusual procedures.) A single-click on a picture gives you a short
introduction to the material. A double-click on a picture causes the
three-block row to move out of the cube and into closer focus.
    The front block of the three-block row is always the parlor trick
episode; Dr. Benjamin comes on screen and dazzles the audience by
multiplying two huge numbers in his head or some similar feat. The back
two blocks of the row are explanatory; Dr. Benjamin comes on screen
again, but this time in the role of teacher. He talks fast, but all of
these little video segments can be paused, rewound, and replayed as
often as you like. If you prefer text explanations, you can click the
left side of any block and get the exact same lesson as the video
portion on the block, but this time written down. At any time, you can
back up (all the way back to the original cube if you like) and select
something else.
    In spite of the gorgeous appearance of the presentation, sight
impaired people will be able to use this program too. You don't really
need to see anything since the mathematic manipulations are all done in
the mind anyway, and Dr. Benjamin explains them verbally very
clearly.The graphics, sound, and full-motion video, although
state-of-the-art, are really just window dressing for some very solid
instructional material.
    The minimum age for MatheMagics is about nine or so, since the
program assumes you know the basics of addition, subtraction,
multiplication, and division already. The program aims to show that math
is fun and anyone who is willing to work a little bit can do it faster,
more accurately, and with greater confidence.

                          L3 Interactive, Inc.
                           3000 Olympic Blvd.
                      Santa Monica, CA 90404-9729.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Product: Steel Panthers                                              |
Reviewed By: Doug Reed (dreed@panda.uchc.edu)                        |
----------------------------------------------------------------------
    Steel Panthers, a squad level wargame, is the latest offering from
SSI guru Gary Grigsby.  It has been quite awhile since Mr. Grigsby has
offered something new, and the wait was definitely worth it.  Computer
wargame grognards know Gary Grigsby well and need no introduction, but
for those new to wargames suffice it to say that Grigsby is the
penultimate computer wargamer.  He ranks behind only Sid Meier in the
number of games he has designed which have made the Computer Gaming
World Hall of Fame (3).  The scale of his games has ranged from tactical
to strategic, and he is renowned for his attention to detail and
authenticity.
    Steel Panthers is a tactical game, allowing you to control squads
and tanks of any of the major Allied or Axis powers during World War II.
The game comes with a considerable number of predesigned scenarios based
on actual and hypothetical battles, as well as a campaign feature that
allows you to purchase core units and lead them throughout the entire
war.  As you progress, units improve both in skill and weaponry.  The
interface is simple and easy to understand, requiring very little time
to master.  What really stands out about Steel Panthers is the graphics,
which are spectacular. They are SVGA, of course, but what is amazing is
the depth of detail in both the terrain and the units.  Different
infantry squads have slightly different looks, and all of the tanks look
exactly like, well, tanks!
    Does any of this sound familiar?  Those of you who have played
Panzer General should be shaking your head yes.  Steel Panthers borrows
a lot from that game, in particular with the campaign feature and the
nice, easy to use interface.  I've played a considerable number of Gary
Grigsby's previous games, and this by far is the easiest to play.  Rumor
has it that there was considerable friction between Gary Grigsby and SSI
because SSI wanted a Panzer General-esque game (after all, it is
probably the best-selling computer wargame to date) but Gary didn't want
to sacrifice attention to detail for a slick look and interface.  Both
should come away satisfied; this game rocks!  One would hope that
designers and companies would fight like this over every game, because
then they all would be excellent and choosing would be even tougher.
    So, it looks good and is easy to play, but is it fun?  Yeah, it is.
Although this game is much more for wargame grognards than Panzer
General, there is a lot of fun and excitement for everyone else as well.
There is a visceral thrill to pushing the tanks and infantry around the
screen and ordering your deadly artillery and aircraft to begin their
bombardment. Most scenarios only last between 10 and 20 turns, so
playing a complete game in one night is not out of the question (playing
a campaign is another matter).  The computer opponent could probably be
best described as competent although I did have considerably more
success as the Germans in the early part of the war than I thought I
should have (although that is what happened historically).  Thankfully,
the game supports both hot-seat play and play-by-e-mail, although the
latter is not password protected and play is on the honor system.  A
patch including modem play has been promised.  There are a number of
good web sites around that post listings of people looking for
opponents, and I definitely recommend that you find opponents here after
mastering the AI.
    If that isn't enough, Steel Panthers includes a scenario design
editor that allows you to not only modify existing scenarios but also to
design your very own.  Those very same web sites that have opponent
listing are also now offering a considerable number of these
user-designed battles, yet another great way to increase the playability
of the game.  The scenario editor even allows for the modification of
the various units in the game, and some sites on the web have begun
offering scenarios for Steel Panthers with modern tanks and equipment.
    Playing the various Allied and Axis powers will bring the quick
realization that each requires its own unique strategy.  American troops
are inexperienced at first and their tanks are perpetually inferior, but
they have superior numbers and lavish air and artillery support.  The
Germans have the best tanks, men, and leaders, but the cost of equipment
and shortages of supplies continually hamstring the Wehrmacht.  The
Russians are pitiful at first but will eventually overwhelm with vastly
superior numbers.
    The Japanese have the best infantry, but are woefully ill equipped at
fighting tanks.  The list goes on, but you get the idea.  More and more,
you find yourself fighting with whichever troops fit your own personal
philosophy towards warfare.  The exception, of course, is the Germans,
as so many of us want to know if we could avoid the historical result.
    Steel Panthers is a great game, well worth the money of both the
die-hard grognard and those new to wargames.  The game provides both
depth and ease of play, making for a enjoyable and long lasting
pleasure.
 
                      Strategic Simulations, Inc.
                     675 Almanor Avenue, Suite 201
                        Sunnyvale, CA 94086-2901
                        http:\\www.mindscape.com

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Product: Strategy Games of the World                                 |
Reviewed By: Paul Vess (veracity@interpath.com)                      |                     |
----------------------------------------------------------------------
    I have to say that reviewing Strategy Games of the World turned out
to be much more interesting and challenging than I had imagined.  Even
though the external packaging for many games has to sell the product,
this game has the ability to draw you into three different, easily
learned, strategy games.  From there, you are challenged from your
selection of easy, to hard, to try to defeat characters who pull you
into their world and entice you to try harder.
    Strategy Games of the World was developed by the Edmark Corporation,
a company which has been developing educational material for children
for over 25 years.  The first in a new family of Edmark products,
Strategy Games of the world was developed for children between the age
of 8-14.  The guiding hand of Edmark Vice President Donna Stanger, who
is an award-winning software designer and teacher for over 25 years, is
evident from the shared thoughts and ideas she presents on the CD, and
accessed from a simple menu adorned with straight-forward icons.  The
three games on the Strategy Games of the World are Nine Men's Morris,
Go-maku, and Mancala.
    Like all three games, Nine Men's Morris has been played and enjoyed
for thousands of years.  Traces of the game turned up first in Egypt,
with game boards discovered in such places as Sri Lanka, the ruins of
Troy, Stone-Aged Ireland, and carved into cathedral pews in England.
The vikings were particularly fond of Nine Men's Morris, thus the
sitting for the characters you play against in Nine Men's Morris are
from the viking era  As with all three games, each level has a "coach"
character you can click on to offer you advice.  As the games progress,
and you are alert and quick, your coach will hold up a sign that reads
"Real Life Strategies.  Click on your coach while this sign is displayed
and you are rewarded with a short video clip with real life people in
medicine, business, and various other occupations offering you advice on
how to be successful.  Nine Men's Morris is played with each player
possessing 9 playing pieces, and an empty playing board.  The object is
to capture all but 2 of your opponents pieces, or blocking your opponent
so that movement is impossible.
    The second game, Go-maku,  was brought to Japan from China almost
1500 years ago.  This game is also one of the most popular of the three
games, enjoyed by millions worldwide.  A playing board is divided into
varying numbers of squares, (you determine how many by the level of game
difficulty), and players take turns adding their pieces to the board on
at a time.  The first one to get 5 game pieces in a row wins.  Very
simple to learn to play, but very difficult to master.  Again, you have
a coach who will instruct you with strategy advice when you select him.
Your coach character changes, depending on your level of difficulty.
Start out easy and he is a monkey.  Go to the most difficult level and
he is a frog, and your opponent is a fire breathing dragon.  All the
characters are colorful, lively, and entertaining.
    Mancala, my favorite of the three games, was the most difficult to
learn.  I remember seeing this game played by the natives while watching
a geographic special on TV featuring the lives of a tribe somewhere in
Africa. With no dice to roll, I suppose I created a mental block for
myself.  I finally stopped blundering along and clicked on the game
instructions.  Each player starts with an equal number of stones.   The
board can either be made of wood, or other material, and it has 2 large
holes, one at each end called "stores".  The board also has 12 holes, 6
for each player, side by side, and running parallel along it's length.
The game is over when a player no longer has "stones", or player pieces,
on his side of the board.  The stones are counted, with the player with
the most stones declared the winner.  The rules are a bit more
complicated than I have described, but the game explains them perfectly.
    Mancala, also known as "Pits and pebbles", is popular throughout
Africa, the Middle East, and the South Pacific.  Player boards have been
found that measure up to 20 feet.  In the absence of a board, this game
can be played by creating a game board on the ground, and then gathering
up small stones to use as player parts.
    Throughout the game, a variety of resources displayed as games
progressed, or when help, or advice, was sought.  Trying to gauge
whether children within the age group defined as the target users of
these games would find enough appeal to make them want to play again and
again is hard to say.  My 13 year old son test drove this package, and
here are his comments.
    "Strategy Games of the World was a fun game that makes you think of
different strategies for different problems.  It has lots of colors,
noises, and funny voices for young children, and has the quick-play mode
for older users.  I especially liked Mancala because it was fun and easy
to learn. Overall, I think that Strategy Games of the World is a fun
game for kids." Installation and Requirements:
    The game installed easily on a 486-DX-100 running 8 MB RAM and a
double-speed CD-ROM, and Windows 3.1.  A Soundblaster sound card
provided complimentary background sounds.  Movement did become jerky at
times, with some start and stop sounds.  Wanting to test the difference,
I also loaded the game onto a Pentium 60 with 8 MB RAM, a double-speed
CD-ROM,  Windows 95, and a Ad LIb compatible sound card.   Vidio
improved somewhat but sound still stopped and started every now and
then.  Although the ideas and goals of this game are commendable, I'd be
tempted to "flunk" the programmers. If your kids can live with a bit of
video flutter, and sound stop and start from time to time, this program
for the most part does what it was designed to do...help developer
strategic thinking.

System Requirements:  IBM/Mac Compatible
Windows:  Windows 3.1 (enhanced mode)
Windows 95 or later  8 MB RAM
Double-Speed CD-ROM or faster
486 DX/33 MHz or faster
Super VGA, 640X480 (256 colors)
 
                      Strategy Games of the World
                           Edmark Corporation
                             P.O. Box 97021
                        Redmond, WA  98073-9721
             1-800-691-2988 (New Product and Upgrade News)

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Product: The Telecommunications Information Millennium               |
Reviewed By: Herbert J. Lidstone (lidstone@eznet.net)                |
----------------------------------------------------------------------
    Information Society by Robert K. Heldman, with contributions by
Thomas A. Bystrzycki; 230 pages; illustrated; 6"X9"; $24.95;
McGraw-Hill.
    The Foreword states "we need to formulate a vision of increased
breadth and scope that challenges us to expand our capabilities and
enables anyone to communicate to anyone--anyway, anywhere, anytime
through a full range of voice, data, image, text, graphic, and video
information."  A lofty goal that is explored in the body of the book
(60% of the pages, most of the remainder are appendices.) by painting a
vision of the future, providing excellent descriptions of narrowband,
wideband, broadband and wireless information, analyzing the issues and
strategies of a plan for the future, and outlining a plan of action.
    The back of the book indicates the audience is "a telecommunications
professional or government official involved in the field."  If you are
not one of these, most of what is discussed will be difficult to
understand, and, unless you own a telephone company, make you wonder
what you can do about it.  Acronyms are used when words would do.  There
is not a clear distinction between the current situation and what the
author believes the future should be.  The word "ubiquitous" is
overused.   There are paragraphs of just questions.  You should be an
advocate of the proposition that problems will be solved with better
telecommunications.
    I thought computer nerds had acronyms.  The telephone people seem to
have more. A/D, ADM, ADPC, ANI, AUTOVON, B, B8RZ, BOC, BRI, CAP, CCC,
CCITT, CCSA, CUG, are just a few.  One example, from page 60, "Personal
communications services (PCS) are a set "   Another example, from page
128, " indicated by the CCITT Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) models
fourth "  My preference would be to leave all acronyms out and
substitute in their place the words.  In this book, with so many
acronyms, with an acronym in parenthesis after some expressions, and
sometimes with just the acronym, confusion reigns.
    There is a blurring between what is and what ought to be.    Page
16, "The ISDN data transfer network handles "  Page 17, "The public data
network, based on ISDN interfaces and hierarchy, will use "  I am not
certain we have ISDN, we should have ISDN, or we have some ISDN but
should have more ISDN.  I do not know if ISDN is the public data
network, is part of the public data network, or if the public data
network is part of  ISDN.  In the discussion of  wideband information it
appears that, except for the transmission of  the "design of the hood of
a new sports car," we do it now, but need infrastructure to accommodate
more of it, but I am not certain.
    We need to improve the telecommunications infrastructure to handle
increased workloads.  The workload will increase primarily because the
network will have to process graphics and video effectively.  The
graphics work will be transmitting designs, x-rays, and the like.  The
work in video conferencing will be handling business meetings, medical
conferences, client contacts, training and education.  The author
proposes pricing the services reasonably so that the volume will
increase.  Over time, the increased volume will produce profits, and the
money for more infrastructure improvements.
    The book might be interesting to telephone company decision makers.
It is probably desirable for telephone company people to believe, even
without evidence, that important issues can be resolved through
telecommunications infrastructure improvements.

----------------------------------------------------------------
Product:        Visual C++ 4.0                                  |
Reviewed By:    Paul Ferrill (ferrill@teas.eglin.af.mil)        |
----------------------------------------------------------------
    Microsoft's Visual C++ 4.0 is the standard by which all other C++
compilers are compared. It's kind of like those commercials where the
company says "We're just like xyz only better". With version 4.0
Microsoft chose to focus strictly on 32-bit applications, meaning you'll
need Windows 95 or NT 3.51 to use the product. They also chose to
"improve" the integrated development environment (IDE) making it
difficult to port applications created with previous versions of the
product.
    The primary basis for evaluating any programming environment should
be its ease-of-use in producing a working program. C++ includes a number
of concepts that have the goal of making it easier to reuse large chunks
of code. The lowest level building block is called a class. Visual C++
1.0 came with a set of base classes called the Microsoft Foundation
Classes (MFC). Using these base classes and the application wizards
simplified the task of developing applications.
    Microsoft calls their new IDE for Visual C++ 4.0 the Microsoft
Developer Studio. All program editing, compiling, and debugging is
performed from within the Developer Studio. You can even read the
documentation from within this environment. Many seasoned programmers
are used to editors like BRIEF and Epsilon. Microsoft addressed this
issue by providing emulation of these popular editors from within their
IDE.
    Unless you write perfect code the first time you'll probably spend a
significant amount of time with the debugger. Visual C++ 4.0 really
shines in this department. New features like DataTips make debugging
much less painful. DataTips work just like ToolTips in Word and Excel.
All you have to do is point your mouse cursor to a variable in the
source code and the DataTip will show you the current value. There's
also built-in support for debugging OLE remote procedure calls (RPCs)
and the ability to remotely debug over a serial port or a TCP/IP network
connection (can you say debug via the Internet?).
    The most useful addition to Visual C++ 4.0 has to be the component
gallery. Think of it as the tinker toy approach to building software.
Microsoft provides a number of objects in the component gallery for such
things as pop-up menus, windows sockets, and a whole list of OLE tools.
Selecting a component to be included in your project copies all of the
necessary parts and adjusts any settings needed to make the component
useable by your program. You can also add your own components to the
gallery to create your own library of reusable objects.
    I find learning a new programming language much easier with a good
supply of examples. Visual C++ 4.0 obliges with a library of sample code
covering everything from the simple "hello world" program to a
complicated database program. The on-line documentation makes it easy to
search for a specific topic rather than wading through a stack of books.
There's also context- sensitive help for getting past those points when
you don't know what to do next.
    Support for other environments comes in the form of Win32s for
building Windows 3.x executables and the Visual C++ cross- development
system for Macintosh and Power Mac (the Mac stuff is sold separately).
There's also international support in the form of multilingual
documentation, Unicode and double-byte character sets, multinational
currency and dates.
    If you scan any list of job offerings in the computer field you'll
find that a majority of companies looking for programmers want people
skilled in C++. Learning C++ from scratch with no prior programming
experience can be a little difficult. If you already know C or some
other high-level language the task is not quite so bad. Microsoft's
Visual C++ 4.0 provides all the tools you'll need to get started at a
suggested retail of $499.
 
                      Microsoft Corporation
                        One Microsoft Way
                     Redmond, WA  98052-6399
                          (800) 426-9400
                     http://www.microsoft.com

------------------------------------------------------------------------
WEBSITES OF THE WEEK! | This section is devoted to cool WebSites . . .
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ENGINEERS ON-LINE!|
-------------------
    DEARBORN, Mich., Feb. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- During National Engineers
Week, students and teachers can "talk" to chief executive officers and
engineers from major U.S. companies via e-mail to find out more about
engineering.  CEOs and engineers of 3M, AMP, Ameritech, Raytheon
Engineers & Constructors and Westinghouse will answer questions students
and teachers have about what an engineer does, how products are
manufactured and what kind of education people need to become an
engineer.
    Students and teachers can gain access by surfing the National
Engineers Week home page, which is part of the Society of Manufacturing
Engineers (SME) home page, http://www.sme.org.  Once on the page, click
on National Engineers Week, then on the "Ask the Engineer & Executive
Team" icon.
    Teams are comprised of CEOs:  L.D. DeSimone, 3M; William Hudson,
AMP; Richard Notebaert, Ameritech; Charles Miller, Raytheon Engineers &
Constructors; and Michael Jordan, Westinghouse; and engineers
representing the various engineering disciplines at each organization.
    "This setting allows students to ask CEOs and engineers about
engineering, what an engineer does, how the engineering disciplines
differ, and how products are manufactured.  It will also make children
more aware of engineering and how it affects everyday life," said Jack
L. Ferrell, chairman of National Engineers Week and 1996 SME president.
"This forum is an exciting tool for teachers to bring into the
classroom.  Students can ask questions about the products they use every
day."
    This special forum runs during National Engineers Week, February
18-24. All engineering teams will respond to questions within one week
of receiving the message.
    For additional information, contact Mary Krome at 313-271-1500, Ext.
432 or at new(at)sme.org.
    National Engineers Week was founded by the National Society of
Professional Engineers in 1951 to increase awareness and appreciation of
the engineering profession.  The Society of Manufacturing Engineers is
the 1996 lead society for National Engineers Week and 3M is the lead
corporate sponsor.
    SME, headquartered in Dearborn, Mich., U.S.A., is an international
professional society dedicated to serving its members and the
manufacturing community through the advancement of professionalism,
knowledge, and learning.  Founded in 1932, SME has more than 70,000
members in 70 countries.  The Societies also sponsors some 300 chapters,
districts, and regions, as well as 240 student chapters worldwide.
    3M is a diversified manufacturing company with 1994 sales of $15
billion.  3M makes more than 60,000 products serving industrial,
consumer, commercial, and healthcare markets and has operations in 62
countries.

-------------------
CHEMICALS AND YOU!|
-------------------
    SOMERVILLE, N.J., Feb. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Hoechst Celanese today
announced its World Wide Web address (http://www.hcc.com/) is available
on the Internet.
    The company's new Web site allows Internet users access to a wide
range of current information about Hoechst Celanese.  Interested users
can find descriptions of the company's businesses, product descriptions,
and much more.  In the near future, information regarding locations of
offices and manufacturing facilities as well as employment opportunities
with the company will be added. Besides company information, the Hoechst
Celanese site includes a number of links to other Internet "home pages,"
including those of Hoechst AG, Hoechst Celanese's parent company in
Frankfurt, Germany, and to the American Chemical Society, and Chemical
Week magazine.
    Hoechst Celanese's Web site allows for easy retrieval of information
about the company.  Users interested in specific information about a
particular Hoechst Celanese business unit will find links that take them
right to a business unit's own home page.  Company documents such as the
annual report and quarterly earnings reports will be posted.
    Hoechst Celanese, with 1994 sales of $7 billion, is the fifth
largest chemical company in North America.  An affiliate of the Hoechst
Group, Hoechst Celanese has leading positions in chemicals, fibers,
technical polymers and advanced technologies.  The Hoechst Group is an
international network of companies and one of the world's largest
producers of pharmaceuticals, chemicals and agricultural products.

----------------------------
TEST DRIVE A CHEVY ON-LINE!|
----------------------------
    CHICAGO, Feb. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Surfers on the Internet with an
interest in Chevrolet or Geo should add a new site to their list of
"favorite places" -- The Chevy Spot.  With a few simple key strokes,
Internet users can log into a broad array of Chevy/Geo information
including product lines, features, content and prices.
    Chevrolet/Geo began testing its home page on the Internet in
November 1995, as part of a coordinated effort by General Motors (NYSE:
GM). Available at http://www.gm.com, the GM website links directly with
six additional brand sites -- Chevrolet, Buick, Pontiac, Cadillac,
Saturn and GMAC -- to provide a total of 1,300 pages and 15,300 links.
    Today, The Chevy Spot is reaching out to consumers with new services
and places to browse.  Here's just a sample of what's in store:
    From the comfort of your home, you can boot up your personal
computer and enter the address of Chevrolet's worldwide web site --
www.chevrolet.com.  Welcome to the Chevy Spot!  There are a number of
places to go and things to do.  Dive into one of three product sections
-- Chevy cars, Chevy trucks or Geo -- to get information on features,
specifications and pricing.  Find out what's "New" and "Cool" from
Chevy, like free software and licensed products -- such as wearables --
for purchase.  Other options off er a payment estimator for purchases or
leases, and information on dealer locations.
    The Chevy Spot is also interactive.  Browsers are encouraged to tell
their favorite product stories, ask for brochures or suggest ways to
evolve the web site.  A number of new options will be available soon,
many as a result of user feedback.
    George Hanley, Strategic Market Planning Manager for Chevrolet, says
the Internet offers Chevrolet a new way to communicate with current and
potential owners.  "Through use of the Internet, Chevrolet may be
reaching an entirely new customer -- a very savvy shopper who can look
at us and talk to us in a non-intrusive way.  I think our web site says
Chevrolet understands new technology, as well as the changing habits of
consumers, and is committed to constructing and expanding a site based
on customer requirements."
    Chevrolet is officially announcing The Chevy Spot for the first time
at the Chicago Auto Show.  It will also be unveiled at a GM exhibit at
the North American Dealer's Association Convention (NADA) in Las Vegas.

--------------------------------------
PERSONALIZED NEWS DELIVERED BY EMAIL!|
--------------------------------------
    BURLINGTON, Mass., Feb. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Individual, Inc. today
announced the availability of NewsPage Direct, an e-mail enhancement of
Individual's award winning NewsPage service located on the World Wide
Web.  The enhancement allows users to create unique news profiles and
receive a tailored issue of NewsPage Direct by e-mail every weekday
morning.
    Each NewsPage Direct issue includes headlines and news briefs for up
to 20 relevant stories, prioritized according to each user's news
profile. Users can access the full-text versions of these stories by
pointing their World Wide Web browsers to the NewsPage topic where the
stories are found.
    "We designed NewsPage Direct to be the ultimate e-mail briefing
service. It combines the convenience and delivery of electronic mail
with the depth and coverage of NewsPage and the power of the World Wide
Web," stated Rusty Williams, Individual's Vice President of New Internet
Ventures.
    To facilitate the use of NewsPage Direct as a launch-pad to the
World Wide Web, each issue contains URLs pointing users to NewsPage
topics and advertisers' websites.  Many HTML-enabled e-mail packages
take advantage of this feature by turning URLs into live hotlinks,
launching the browser and connecting to the appropriate website once the
user clicks on a hotlink.  NewsPage Direct is capitalizing on the
approaching integration of HTML and e-mail technology to create a
seamless point-and-click service.
    The NewsPage Direct service is available to users for $6.95 per
month. This includes a personalized daily issue of NewsPage Direct,
unlimited access to the majority of news stories found on NewsPage, and
access to the NewsPage Search facility.
    NewsPage (http://www.newspage.com) and NewsPage Direct captures news
from more than 600 information providers including newswires,
newspapers, trade magazines, and industry-specific newsletters.  Up to
20,000 electronic news stories are sorted by Individual's proprietary
news filtering system each day, resulting in a comprehensive hierarchy
of news Topics, each containing the day's relevant news in that area of
interest.
    NewsPage and NewsPage Direct's system of linking readers with
relevant news allows high profile advertisers to utilize the power of
targeted advertising banners, which provide interested readers with
relevant product and company information, and hotlink these readers back
to the advertiser's website.  Some of the NewsPage advertisers include:
Bank of America, Bay Networks, Cisco Systems, Digital Equipment,
Hewlett- Packard, MGM/United Artists, Millipore and Nynex.
    Formed in 1989, Individual Inc. is a leading provider of customized
news to business professionals worldwide.  Through its SMART agent
technologies, Individual intelligently connects content publishers with
subscribers.  Its interactive, customized news services include First!
for corporate workgroups and enterprises, HeadsUp and iNews for single
subscribers, and NewsPage (http://www.newspage.com) and BookWire
(http://www.bookwire.com) on the World-Wide Web.  The company received
the Breakout Company of the Year award by the Information Industry
Association for 1995.  Individual has established alliances with many
prominent industry leaders including Apple Computer Inc., AT&T, Gartner
Group, Lotus, Knight-Ridder, and Microsoft Corp.  The company is
headquartered in Burlington, MA with offices in Burlingame, CA, New York
City, Tokyo, and the United Kingdom.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
COOL FTP FILE OF THE WEEK | You may need this file . . .
------------------------------------------------------------------------
    CJPOS Ver. 5.35 <ASP> A complete point of sale program configurable
to any small businesses. This very easy-to-use program will write
invoices, estimates, track inventory and salespersons, Perform sales
analysis for any period, keep a customer database with purchase history,
track accounts receivable, and more. A powerful program. Included is
demo data for an auto install.

      You can find this as CJPOS537.ZIP on the following FTP site:
            ftp.asp-shareware.org/pub/asp/programs/business/

    ORBOTS THE GAME V1.10 <ASP> - Heart pounding, shoot em up
extravaganza. 256 color graphics, digital sound. Adrenaline junkies
dream! Pilot the astro-chopper to defeat an invasion of half machine,
half organo mutants from another dimension. Plenty of surprises and some
nasty tricks for you to figure out. If you get through their defenses,
you must face their mother ship! Level 1 of 3. 386+, 640k, vga req.,
mouse, sndcrd, jstick optn.

      You can find this as ORBOTS11.ZIP on the following FTP site:
            ftp.asp-shareware.org/pub/asp/programs/gametime/

                           SYSOPS READ HERE!

    Wanting to make CompuNotes available on as many BBS as possible, we
can't afford to call everyone's BBS every week. What we would like to do
is send those interested sysops a UUENCODED version for posting on their
BBS. If you can volunteer to receive the UUENCODED version, turn it into
a ZIP and upload it to your BBS, we'll list you in our sysops directory.
    If you are interested, fill out the following lines and send them
back to notes@basic.net with SYSOPS.
    We'll list your BBS in our SYSOPS LIST which will be included in
each version of CompuNotes we ship out. If you have a WWW link we'll
throw that up on our page.

BBS NAME:
BBS SYSOP:
BBS POSTAL ADDRESS:
BBS NUMBER:
WILL COMPUNOTES BE AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOADERS ON THE 1ST CALL?:
URL:
                            --END OF ISSUE--


