COMPUNOTES - Issue #58 - November 17, 1996

                         This Week's Contents:

My Notes:
1) This issue . . .

Columnists' Corner:
1) Reed's Corner <dr2web@sprynet.com>

News:
1) Adobe Acrobat is a Winner!
2) Helix Software is Granted a Patent!

Reviews:
1) Product: DigiPhone Deluxe (Windows 3.11 or Windows95)
   Reviewed By: Danny Williams <danny@packet.net>
2) Product: Exploring Java by Patrick Niemeyer and Joshua Peck
   Reviewed By: Doug Reed <dr2web@sprynet.com>
3) Product: Hoyle's BlackJack & Solitaire
   Reviewed By: Doug Reed <dr2web@sprynet.com>
4) Product: Triple Play Plus! Japanese from Random House/ Syracuse
   Language Systems, in their Living Language Multimedia Series
   Reviewed By: Gail BC Marsella <gbcmars@enter.net>
5) Product: Website Professional
   Reviewed By: Judy Litt <jlitt@qualitty.com>

Web Sites:
1) Santa on the Web <http://www.santamail.com>
2) More Season's Greetings!

Interview:
1) None this week!

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date : November 17, 1996|CompuNotes is a weekly publication available
Issue: 58               |through email and many fine on-line networks.
------------------------|We cover the IBM computing world with
CompuNotes is published |software/hardware reviews, news, hot web
B440,                   |sites, great columns and interviews. We also
1315 Woodgate Drive     |give away one software package a week to a
St. Louis, MO 63122     |lucky winner for just reading our fine
(314) 909-1662 voice    |publication! Never dull, sometimes tardy, we
(314) 909-1662 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 us with
<pgrote@inlink.com>                       |honest, constructive
Doug Reed, Asst. Editor / Writer Liaison  |feedback! We need to hear
<dr2web@sprynet.com>                      |from you! Please take the
Judy Litt, Graphics Editor/Web Master     |time to send us your
<jlitt@aol.com>                           |opinions, comments and
------------------------------------------|criticisms. Some of our
I am looking for a collection of shareware|better features have
reviews I put out in the 87-88 timeframe  |actually come from our
under my handle of NEVER BEFORE. I think  |readership! Thanks!
they started as NB*.ZIP. Can you look     |---------------------------
on your local BBS? THANKS!                |  Go St. Louis Rams!
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SYSOPS READ HERE!

Wanting to make CompuNotes available on as many BBS as possible, we
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Patrick's News
Being The Publisher and Managing Editor Has Its Perks!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
This Issue . . . |
------------------
I popped this issue out to catch up with my delay and to give you 
something to read in case I do not call in from Comdex. Enjoy!

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Columnists' Corner - We bring you a different person each week!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Reed's Corner|
--------------
As you know, Patrick and I have been tossing ideas back and forth about 
new things we can do with CompuNotes. This short little column will 
introduce our newest ideas to you and explain how you, our loyal 
readers, can help. 

First up is the First Annual CompuNotes Reader's Choice Awards. At the 
beginning of this next year I will sit down and sift through all of the 
software we've reviewed in the last year. I'll make a list of nominees 
in several categories and then publish the list in CompuNotes, and allow 
a month for you to send in your vote on who you think should win. 
Winners will be decided in a democratic fashion - those that get the 
most votes win. The product getting the most overall votes will win the 
"Best Overall Product of the Year" Award. So be looking for your ballot 
in the first issue of CompuNotes in 1997. 

Secondly, we want to change the way in which websites are presented in 
CompuNotes. Rather than the current format - which is little more than 
simply a promo to visit the site - we want to do critical reviews of 
various commercial and personal sites from around the web. What we need 
is several people - at least 8 preferably - who can visit one or two 
sites a month and write a review of the site. What we want is a 
description of the site, things of interest on the site, as well as the 
visual appeal of the site. We would also like mentioned the browser that 
the site is optimally viewed with and some mention of the load time 
during peak and off-peak hours. Then at the end of the year we will do 
Website Awards to complement the Reader's Choice Awards for software. If 
there is sufficient interest we could also give an award the worst 
website- perhaps the CompuNotes Raspberry Website Award. We'd like a 
stable of website reviewers - as I mentioned, at least 8 so you wouldn't 
be doing more than one a month. While we could simply accept website 
reviews submitted by readers, three problems would arise: 1) we could 
reliably depend on getting reviews, 2) duplication would almost 
certainly occur, and 3) no guidelines would be adhered to. Of course, 
since we can't pay you the only recognition would be admiration and 
praise from us and our readers. If you are interested, please let me 
know at dr2web@sprynet.com. 

That's it for now! Have a Happy Holiday season! 

----------------------------------------------------------------------
NEWS OF THE WEEK| This section is dedicated to verified news . . .
All News (C)opyright  Respective Owner - Will Only Reprint
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Adobe Acrobat is a Winner!|
---------------------------
SAN JOSE, Calif., Nov. 5 /PRNewswire/ - Adobe Systems Incorporated 
(Nasdaq: ADBE) announced today that its Adobe(R) Acrobat(R) Reader 
software has exceeded distribution of 10 million copies worldwide as the 
result of strong demand on the World Wide Web. 

Bundled with products from leading industry vendors including Apple 
Computer, Inc., CompuServe, IBM, Lotus Development Corp., Netcom On-Line 
Communications Services Inc., Silicon Graphics, Inc., and Sun 
Microsystems Inc., Adobe Acrobat Reader software is widely used by 
businesses to easily and effectively distribute documents 
electronically. Vendors bundling Acrobat Reader join the increasing 
number of companies using Acrobat software to deliver final form 
electronic documents on the Internet, corporate networks, CD-ROM and 
other digital media. On the World Wide Web alone, the growing popularity 
of Acrobat software has resulted in excess of 20,000 downloads a day of 
Acrobat Reader from AdobeUs Web site. 

Acrobat software can help customers save time and money by enabling them 
to quickly and efficiently share documents over the World Wide Web, 
corporate Intranets, CD-ROM, e-mail and other media, without having to 
learn new authoring tools or reauthor existing information into other 
formats. Through support of the Netscape(TM) Plug-In API and 
Microsoft(R) ActiveX(TM) controls, Acrobat Reader 3.0 provides seamless 
integration with popular Web browsers, enabling customers to access and 
view PDF files directly within their browser window. 

"Using Adobe Acrobat to publish our publicly available financial 
documents on the Internet has reduced the document delivery process from 
days to minutes. We can do this with virtually no cost of reauthoring to 
deliver documents in a globally accepted format, PDF," said Gregory 
Smith, director of Corporate Finance and Systems at Sallie Mae. "We have 
improved the quality of our service by making these documents available 
almost immediately to anyone on the Internet, anywhere in the world. In 
addition, we are reducing the time and money spent responding to 
inquiries and mailing documents around the country and the world." 

"Acrobat is the only solution that allows Fidelity to electronically 
deliver documents that retain the look and feel of our printed materials 
which extends our brand awareness and recognition on the Internet," said 
John Noble, senior marketing manager, Fidelity Investments Electronic 
Channel Development Group. "Acrobat documents are as robust as paper 
delivery, but offer a substantial cost advantage in areas like printing, 
storage and mailing costs with electronic distribution versus 
traditional media." 

Acrobat Reader software allows customers to view, navigate and print 
electronic documents in the Portable Document Format (PDF), an open file 
format that preserves the fidelity of documents across all major 
computer platforms and printers. Supporting Windows(R) 3.1, Windows 
NT(R) and Windows 95, Macintosh(R), SunOS,(TM) Sun(TM) Solaris(R), HP-
UX, Silicon Graphics(R) IRIX(TM), AIX(R), OS/2(R), LINUX and MS-DOS(R) 
systems, Acrobat Reader is widely available for free through the 
Internet or bundled with products and services from a variety of 
software and hardware vendors. 

------------------------------------
Helix Software is Granted a Patent!|
------------------------------------
LONG ISLAND CITY, N.Y., Nov. 14 /PRNewswire/ - Helix Software Co., Inc., 
the world's leading Windows 95 performance enhancement software vendor, 
announced today that it has received a basic patent for RAM Compression 
technology. The patent is "a method for increasing the efficiency of a 
virtual memory system by selective compression of RAM memory contents" 
and covers technology found in Helix Software's ground-breaking 
Hurricane performance enhancement utility. 

"Helix pioneered RAM compression. Although it's been on the market only 
a short time, this technology has been in development at Helix for quite 
some time," said Michael L. Spilo, President of Helix Software. "The 
time has been well spent - using this technology Hurricane has shown 
significant, over-all system performance improvement." 

Other companies providing performance enhancement software for Windows 
95 include: Quarterdeck Corp. (QDEK), Syncronys Corp. (SYCR), and 
Connectix Corp. 

Helix Software has a long history of awards for their patented memory 
and performance enhancing utilities: including Windows Magazine's Win 
100, PC Magazine's Editor's Choice, PC Week's Products of the Year, 
Windows Sources Expert's Pick, and PC Magazine's Technical Excellence 
Finalist for Helix's patented Cloaking Technology found in NETROOM and 
Multimedia Cloaking. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------
REVIEWS OF THE WEEK | Interesting software/hardware you may need . . .
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Product: DigiPhone Deluxe (Windows 3.11 or Windows95)
Reviewed By: Danny Williams <danny@packet.net>
Reviewed on: Pentium-75, 16Mb RAM, 4X CD-ROM, 28.8 modem
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Long distance phone companies are running scared - it is now technically 
possible to place a voice call over the same connection you use to surf 
the Web for no more expense than what you are already paying for the 
Internet connection. No wonder the TelCos are chatting up Congress to 
put a stop to these renegade Internet phone programs that are 
threatening their $1+ per minute cash cow. So far, however, they need 
not worry. Even a well designed, nicely finished product like DigiPhone 
Deluxe cant overcome the current performance problems rooted in the 
underlying technology. 

The Internet was designed to carry packets of data, sent by whatever 
route works best at that millisecond. Packets often arrive at their 
destination late due to routing delays, out of sequence, or damaged. 
Packets are reassembled in the proper order at their destination, or, in 
the case of damaged or missing packets, a resend is requested. For your 
HTTP or FTP activities, this all works very well. 

Audio has been sent over the Internet with some success via programs 
like RealAudio. These are one way transmissions, however, and achieve 
smooth sound by saving a few seconds of incoming audio before playing 
it. That way if packets are lost. they have those few seconds to arrive 
and be sequenced into the audio stream. For things like radio programs, 
this procedure works very well. 

Because of their interactive nature, telephone conversations are much 
less tolerant of delay This makes out of sequence and missing packets a 
big problem and can degrade the quality of the sound to the point that 
conversation is impossible. 

One other technical point troubles Internet phones - projects connecting 
Internet phones to regular phones are in their infancy, so you cant 
call or be called by a regular telephone. Unless your Grandma in the old 
country is on-line, you wont be able to call her. 

I found it very challenging to hold a conversation with DigiPhone. 
Roughly every other syllable was missing and it made for an interesting 
game of guessing what the other person was trying to say. Please dont 
try to close any large business deals or dispense lifesaving advice 
using this medium! DigiPhone is not alone in suffering from these 
limitations, as all Internet phone products must work with the same 
infrastructure which you now know is quite poorly suited for interactive 
voice communications. As the fastest connection I have to the Internet 
is 28.8bps, I wonder how much better a 56k, ISDN, or faster line would 
work. 

Enough background. Lets look at DigiPhone. 

DigiPhone Deluxe comes on a two CD-ROMs each in a small folder. One 
folder is DigiPhone Deluxe, which in addition to the basic phone call 
making and taking software, includes some extra capability - conference 
calling, speed dial, macros, and voice mail and extra software - an FTP 
client, Telnet client, and Netscape 2.0. The second folder is DigiPhone 
(no Deluxe) which performs the basic telephony functions but is missing 
the extras. This second copy is for sending to a friend so you will have 
someone to call right away. 

There is no printed manual, nor is one necessary, as the installation 
and operation are both quite easy. DigiPhone Deluxe installs with both a 
"read-me" manual and a "print-me" manual, so if you feel more 
comfortable with a book in your hands you may do so. DigiPhone does not 
come with any telephony hardware like a headset or earpiece - you must 
already have speakers, a microphone, and a sound card in addition to 
your Net connection. A quick, optional registration includes you in 
DigiPhones central directory so other DigiPhone users can find you - 
sort of like being in your local white pages. If you chose not to be 
listed, that too is easy. 

DigiPhone differs from some other Internet telephony packages in that it 
deals with your phone listing more like the phone company. It is 
designed not to cruise a large list of people looking for someone with 
whom you may "chat," but more like "real" phones where you call a 
particular person to whom you wish to speak. This works great for 
privacy and limits the number of "I just wanted to see how this thing 
works" calls from total strangers. 

Installation was very straightforward and easy - just run INSTALL.EXE 
from the CD-ROM. About 5Mb is copied to the hard disk, then the CD-ROM 
is not needed to run the program. There is no option to run directly 
from the CD-ROM. DigiPhone does includes an uninstall utility 

DigiPhone is not as immediately intuitive as it might be because it does 
not look or act much like a phone - it looks like a Windows program. To 
place a call right out of the box, for instance, one has to select 
"Communications," then "Voice" from a menu bar. Of course, that doesn'tt 
take long to get used to, but I would prefer something like a big, 
iconic "Make a call" button. Fortunately, it is easy to customize 
DigiPhone by adding a row of big icons that perform various tasks, 
including "Make a Call." Different sets of these custom configurations 
can be saved and recalled separately, so your phone can have a different 
look according to the task at hand. 

The "Make a call" window provides a box in which you may type the email 
address of the person youd like to call, or you can select their 
listing from your on-disk phone directory. It is also possible to find 
listings from DigiPhones central directory, either by WWW or email. I 
tried both, and found the WWW site to slow to be usable and email takes 
about 2 hours to respond. 

Once youyou've found the address, press the big "Call" button. LED-type 
lights keep you aware of whats going on, like finding the address, 
connecting to the address, then opening the connection. Once the 
connection is open, start talking! 

One more note about the technology - although DigiPhone supports full- 
duplex sound cards, most sound cards out there these days are half- 
duplex. That means that they can talk and listen but not both at the 
same time. For phone use, this means you have to use your DigiPhone sort 
of like a 2-way radio - when you are talking, you cannot hear what the 
other person is saying. DigiPhone call be set up to use voice activation 
or push-to-talk buttons, and both work well once you are used to it. 

A set of features that makes DigiPhone stand out from other similar 
products is the special effects. Your voice can be disguised with 
effects like Reverb, Robotic, and Echo to alter what you sound like at 
the other end. DigiPhone Deluxe can also set up a conference call 
between three people at once, use encryption to protect your 
conversation en route, and record and play back conversations. 

Third Planets tech support proved excellent when the friend to whom I 
sent the second copy had some minor trouble getting her copy to work. 
Her experience with tech support was outstanding - a real person 
answered quickly and walked her through the setup, then connected with 
her via DigiPhone to make sure everything was working correctly. She 
said the tech was knowledgeable, courteous, and made sure everything was 
solved before terminating the call. 

Some people joke that Internet telephony is a great way to turn your 
$2,000 computer into a $10 telephone. If you only call across town, 
then, yes, thats right. If you have contacts overseas, however, and 
both of you have a fast connection, then you can save enough money in 
phone costs to make this worth the trouble. Of course some people enjoy 
simply trying new things and possibly leading the way with this new 
adaptation of technology. In either case dont throw away your regular 
telephone but do spend the ($150 retail, $80 street) for a copy of 
DigiPhone Deluxe and take a look at a possible future of long distance 
voice communication. 

Third Planet Publishing
P.O. Box 797728
Dallas, TX 75379

email: 3pp@planeteers.com
WWW: <http://www.digiphone.com>

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Product: Exploring Java by Patrick Niemeyer and Joshua Peck
Reviewed By: Doug Reed <dr2web@sprynet.com>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The last year or so has seen an explosion of books about Java and its 
potential for use on the web. Exploring Java by O'Reilly is part of 
series, the first of which was the highly acclaimed Java in a Nutshell 
by David Flanagan. I've reviewed one other Java programming for 
CompuNotes (The Java Programming Language by Ken Arnold and James 
Gosling, published in Issue 50) as well as read another that I purchased 
(Teach Yourself Java in 21 Days, by Laura Lemay and Charles Perkins). 
Exploring Java falls somewhere in between; it is much easier on the eyes 
than Arnold and Gosling's prose, but is intended for a more veteran 
programmer than is Lemay and Perkin's book. 

That isn't to say that Exploring Java isn't good - it is - but I am 
warning beginners that they would be wise to consider other books first. 
In addition, Exploring Java covers some unique areas that I haven't seen 
covered in either of the other two texts, or in anything I've browsed at 
my local bookstore. Niemeyer and Peck spend a considerable part of the 
book focusing on using Java for network programming - protocol handlers, 
security managers, issues and software that while beyond my own realm of 
expertise is nevertheless quite important to a number of people 
interested in programming with Java. 

Exploring Java covers the following topics:
History and principles of Java
How to write simple applets
How to integrate applets into the Web
Java Class Libraries
Using Threads
Using Arrays
Network Programming
Content and Protocol Handling
Using the Abstract Windowing Toolkit
Writing a Security Manager

As I mentioned before, the book is far easier to read than many 
programming books that I have read. The text is laden with examples, 
some that start small and build throughout the chapter, and others that 
are simply "snippets" of code (for example, to show how a particular 
statement might be user). Chapter 1 starts with a detailed explanation 
of why Java is "hot" and why the potential for using Java (beyond that 
of the Web) has insured that Java will have a future. Also included is 
an explanation of how Java was developed, and what makes Java different 
from other languages. On a broad scale, the chapter explains how Java 
handles such issues as memory management, multi-threading, and security. 
Chapter 2 is a short tutorial, demonstrating how to create an applet on 
a web page and how to make that applet interactive with the user. 
Virtually all aspects of applet programming are touched on, from 
graphics and event handlers to using multi-threading to create a 
blinking applet. 

Chapter 3 actually takes a step back and explains the components of the 
JDK (Java Development Kit), as well as the applet tags used to integrate 
a Java applet into a web page. Chapter 4 then covers the basics of the 
Java language, including comment lines, variable types, statements and 
expressions, and exceptions. This leads up to Chapter 5, which discusses 
objects, and how they are used in Java, along with Packages and 
Interfaces. As you might guess, Chapters 4 and 5 are the meat of 
programming with Java. Chapter 6 deals with using threading in your Java 
programs, including issues such as synchronization and establishing 
priority. Chapter 7 discusses the Java API (application programming 
interface), the collection of classes and interfaces that comes with 
every Java implementation, such as java.lang. Input and output via the 
java.io package is covered in Chapter 8, while Chapter 9 covers the 
java.net package. Chapter 9 also demonstrates how to write content and 
protocol handlers. 

Chapter 10 explains how to use the java.awt package to construct a user 
interface for your Java program, beginning with a long and detailed 
explanation of GUI concepts in Java and the organization of the AWT and 
advancing into the guts of how to implement the environment you want to 
create. Chapter 11 deals with the other side of the GUI environment, 
namely creating and displaying images with Java. The book concludes with 
a glossary lifted from Java in a Nutshell. 

Exploring Java is well written and comes with excellent examples to 
introduce programmers to Java. I would not recommend it to people who 
have never programmed before, nor those who have never programmed in 
object oriented languages before. Experienced programmers will find this 
book to be superior to Arnold and Gosling's book, especially since it 
offers detailed examples of how to use Java for network programming, a 
key feature of Java's long-term viability. 

O'Reilly & Associates
<http://www.ora.com/info/java>
101 Morris St.
Sebastopol, CA 95472
707-829-0515

Ratings:
Installation/Manual: not applicable
User-Friendliness: Silver Medal
Quality: Gold Medal
User: Programmer

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Product: Hoyle's BlackJack & Solitaire
Reviewed By: Doug Reed <dr2web@sprynet.com>
Requires: Windows, 4 MB RAM
----------------------------------------------------------------------
BlackJack and Solitaire are two of the most well known card games in the 
world, which makes it only natural that they would be adapted to the 
computer. Let's admit it - one of the most often played games on your 
computer is Solitaire. How many times have you loaded it up while 
waiting for someone to call, or just because you're bored? It amazes me 
that somebody would even attempt to compete with that old standard, but 
Sierra has teamed up with Hoyle cards to create what they think are the 
ultimate games of BlackJack and Solitaire for the PC. Having played it, 
I would say they have accomplished it; the bigger question might be- 
will anybody care? 

The two games are sold separately and come on a single CD each and are 
installed easily under Windows 95 using autoplay. Windows 3.1 is also 
supported, although I didn't test this. The graphics are SVGA, and very 
pretty to look at; the color and sheen are definitely reminiscent of a 
dealer's table. Although both games can be installed to run solely from 
the hard drive, I wouldn't recommend this since it eats up space while 
removing background music -the trade off is how quickly the game loads, 
which even on a CD-installation is fairly quick. The loss of sound is 
hardly worth it. Probably the most noteworthy feature of either of the 
two games is that the Windows 95 version of BlackJack allows you to 
compete over the Internet. 

Solitaire is - well - it's solitaire. What more can you really say about 
it? If perchance you don't know what it is - it's a card game played by 
one person (hence the name) where the object is to get rid of all of 
your cards. Hoyle's Solitaire comes with some 28 variations of 
Solitaire, most of which you've probably never heard before. Luckily, 
the game screen includes along the bottom a toolbar where you can find 
the rules for each of the various games. The computer is strict about 
the rules, not allowing for any cheating and making it difficult to 
score high. This may be the official rules for Solitaire, but let's face 
it - how often do you Solitaire against someone else ;^). Solitaire is a 
pleasant diversion when you need a break mentally, but personally if I 
really want to play Solitaire, I'll probably just load Microsoft's 
version since it boots quicker and is a little kinder and gentler to 
play. 

To me, BlackJack is the better of the two games for one simple reason - 
you have opponents! You can play against computer opponents, human 
opponents at the same computer, or opponents from across the Internet. 
Just in case you don't have any friends you want to play with, Sierra 
has set a special page at their web site where you can find opponents. 
You aren't allowed to play for real money, of course, but it still makes 
for a better game. Up to four opponents are allowed, and they can be a 
variety of human and computer players. Computer players are animated and 
occasionally make comments about how they're doing or what you should do 
in certain situations (like should you split or take a hit?). The skill 
level is adjustable, and a variety of games are available including 
tournament play. Tournament play is a little different from normal play 
in that there is a set limit to the tournament (dollar-wise) and you 
play until either one person reaches the limit or everyone else has 
dropped out. Should you require more money in a normal game, you can 
always "visit" the ATM. 

Both games offer plenty of help in how to play and how to win. Both 
games play by the rules, which is especially handy in BlackJack since if 
you know the rules and know when to stand, take a hit, etc..., you can 
usually win (so I was told by a professional dealer at a bachelor 
party). I can't say that I would necessarily recommend these games 
unless you love to play cards or are looking for a game that is a 
pleasant diversion that doesn't require a lot of thought or wild 
maneuvering with a joystick. 

Sierra On-Line
P.O. Box 85006
Bellevue WA 98015-8506
206-644-4343
<http://www.sierra.com>

Ratings:
Installation/Manual: Gold Medal
User-Friendliness: Silver Medal
Quality: Bronze Medal
User: All

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Product: Triple Play Plus! Japanese from Random House/ Syracuse Language
Systems, in their Living Language Multimedia Series
Reviewed By: Gail BC Marsella <gbcmars@enter.net>
Reviewed on: Pentium120, 16 MB RAM, Windows 95
Requires: 386DX33, Windows 3.1 or 95, 4 MB RAM, CD-ROM, SVGA
MSRP: $99.95 from publisher, about 30% less from mail order.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The college where I teach has several Syracuse Language Systems programs 
available in their language laboratory, where they are well liked. They 
don't have this particular title, but only because Muhlenberg College 
doesn't teach Japanese. With that good recommendation, I sat down to 
review the software. 

It comes on a CD-ROM, with a microphone included, and loads 
conventionally on either Windows 3.1 or Windows 95. You must have a 
sound card and speakers to use this program, although you can get along 
without the microphone. The jack on the microphone did not fit my sound 
card (an Ensoniq Soundscape) so I was unable to review the speech 
recognition feature of Triple Play Plus Japanese, but that's largely an 
extra. The program is very usable even without it. 

I started using the program as an absolute beginner, with very modest 
goals. I do some work for a subsidiary of a Japanese company, so I'd 
like to be able to say at least "Please" and "Thank you" in their 
language. If you have any doubts that a language reflects its culture, 
this program will remove those doubts. You can't speak Japanese properly 
without learning a lot of important etiquette points in the process, and 
Triple Play does a pretty effective job of teaching you to avoid 
cultural landmines while you're learning to pronounce words. For 
example, the word "grandmother" depends on context; you say "sobo" if 
talking about your own family, and "obasan" if talking about another's 
family. Also, the prefix "o-" is added to certain words to show 
politeness, but only to some words, not others, and although "-san" is a 
common polite suffix, you should never use it to refer to yourself. 
Although Japanese is not a tonal language like Chinese, it retains a few 
inflections unfamiliar to English speakers, and the program gives 
examples of pronunciation very clearly. In several places, you can also 
slow down the pronunciation to listen carefully to each syllable. 
                      
Interestingly, games and comic strips form the core format of the 
system. There are three modes of play: listening comprehension, reading 
comprehension, and automatic speech recognition. There is also a 
selection of subject areas, games, and comic strips. The games and comic 
strips are divided into three groups of increasing difficulty: words, 
phrases, and conversations. Not all the games and comic strips are 
available for all the modes and subject areas. 

You begin on the main screen, where you pick a mode of play, then a 
subject area, and finally a game or comic strip type. The games are 
familiar - things like picture matching and bingo - and most of them 
allow you to practice listening or reading the words or phrases before 
you begin playing. The comic strips show conversations in everyday 
locations: a cafe, a market, a clothing store, an apartment, and a 
library. Real-life situations are presented. The customer in the cafe, 
for example, complains that the coffee is cold. The person shopping for 
fruit bargains over the price. The library conversation has nothing to 
do with books, but rather involves Ken introducing himself and asking 
Kathy out for a date. 

A short, but well illustrated user's manual explains how to play each 
game, and a quick-reference brochure translates the conversations. 
Syracuse also provides a card with the Japanese characters (both 
hiragana and katakana) and their rough sound equivalents in English. 
Finally, a Japanese- English dictionary is included in the package, 
although I was surprised to find that the word "hello" was not in it, 
and several common expressions are spelled differently in the dictionary 
than they are on-screen. 

For details and cultural notes on grammar, a button on the main screen 
leads to pages of text notes, with sections on common expressions, 
various parts of speech, sentence structure, pronunciation, and the 
structure of the written language. 

This is an excellent program. It won't teach you any technical or 
specific business terms, but a few weeks of concentrated practice should 
give the beginner a good start on both spoken and written Japanese. 

Others in the Living Language Multimedia series include French, German, 
Hebrew, Italian, and Spanish. 

Random House/Syracuse Language Systems
719 East Genesee Street
Syracuse, NY 13210
(800) 688-1937
customer_service@syrlang.com

Ratings:
Installation/Ease of Use: Gold
User-Friendliness: Gold
Quality: Gold
User: Beginning student of Japanese, age 8 to adult
 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Product: Website Professional
Reviewed By: Judy Litt <jlitt@qualitty.com>
Requires:  Windows NT/95
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The package that the cd-rom for Website Professional comes in claims 
that the software is "everything you need for advanced, secure 
publishing on the World Wide Web." I'm not sure it's everything, but it 
does come darn close. 

Website Professional is basically the upgrade to O'Reilly's WebSite 
software. It is server software: if you wanted to set yourself up as an 
internet service provider (ISP) and you're on a Windows95 or NT machine, 
Website Professional includes all the tools you need to get started: 

Website Professional Server
A full 32-bit, multithreaded HTTP server that runs under Windows NT or 
Windows 95 

Server Admin
Configure the Website Professional server to meet the needs of your 
environment (virtual servers, intranet, etc.) 

Certificate Manager
To use a secure server, you'll need a public key certificate (a digital 
ID). Certificate Manager helps you obtain and manage certificates 

WebView
Helps you visually manage your webs and their links 

WebIndex
Creates an index of your web 

WebFind
Searches the index created with WebIndex and returns the results to the 
user 

Cold Fusion
"a database application development tool that enables the rapid creation 
of interactive, dynamic, information rich webs." In other words, you can 
use it to create search forms, bulletin board conferencing, interactive 
training, and more 

HotDog Web Editor
An html editor 

Map This
An image map creator: software that supports both NCSA and client-side 
image maps 

Spyglass Mosaic
Browser software that includes support for secure sockets layer (SSL), 
HTML 3 specification, and many netscapisms 

Website Professional Resources
Examples, additional documentation, reference material, and tutorials 

The box even includes a t-shirt (size large)! There are also upgrade 
offers to Cold Fusion Professional ($250), HotDog 32 bit (free), and 
HotDog Professional ($50). There is also a card with other software from 
O'Reilly that can enhance your webs, such as WeBoard ($149) and PolyForm 
($119). 

Website Professional can be run as either a system service or a desktop 
application, and you can change how it's running at any time. Basically, 
if you actually plan to run this as a server, or an Intranet that must 
run 24 hours a day, run it as a service. I chose to run it as a desktop 
application. 

Installing Website Professional was a fast, painless experience - which 
surprised me. I expected it to be very complicated. Once you've 
completed the installation, you run the server self-test to make sure 
it's functioning properly (the server, that is). The self-test runs 
through your browser. It's basically a series of web pages which test 
that the following features are functioning: 

Document Retrieval
Directory Tree Navigation
Image Maps
Server-Side Includes
Automatic URL Fixup
Java Applets
WebSite API
Perl vers. 5 
Using CGI Programs
WebSite's CGI Interfaces
Security

WebView is the heart of Website Professional. It allows you to 
graphically view your webs, and also allows you to launch all the other 
programs included in Website Professional. You can view (and print!) 
webs in five different modes: 

Hyperlink
File Name
Title (helps you find any pages you've forgotten to title)
Label (what goes in the ALT tag)
URL

WebView also allows you to search your web, view authorized users and 
groups, view error messages, and view the accesses of a page all by 
right clicking on the file name. You can also generate a quick stats 
report, which shows a report on: 

html files served
non-html files served
erroneous requests served
total requests served
average requests per hour
average requests per day
unique hosts visiting

You can choose to save this report as an html file.

There are a few Wizards in WebView that can help the novice create new 
pages: 

Find Form
Home Page
Under Construction
What's New Page

Website Professional comes with three books (manuals): 

Getting Started
Website Professional Basics
Website Professional Advanced Topics

Getting Started takes you through installing the software and the server 
self-test. It's a small book; the other tow are larger. 

Website Professional Basics takes you through WebView, a quick tutorial 
on html, WebIndex and Web Find, working with image maps, and server side 
includes. It also shows you the administration side of Website 
Professional: mapping, virtual servers, automatic directory listings, 
controlling access, logging, and remote administration. In short, 
Website Professional Basics will get your service up and running. 

Website Professional Advanced Topics helps you make your webs more 
interactive and dynamic. It covers the following: 

Enhanced security
Using Cold Fusion
CGI (Windows, C++, Perl, and DOS CGI)
WAPI
Java

Overall, I'm impressed by the ease of use of Website Professional, as 
well as the abundance of helper applications bundled with the product. 
However, don't expect to be taught how to run an ISP - you'll have to 
learn how to obtain a Domain Name, DNS & NLS, connect to the Internet, 
how often to back up, etc., etc., on your own. Some of the material 
covered in Website Professional Advanced Topics is quite sparse - Java 
is barely touched on, even though it has its own chapter. Website 
Professional is a great collection of programs to get wannabe ISPs up 
and running - assuming they know the basics of running an ISP, Website 
Professional has the tools they need. 

Website Professional
O'Reilly Software
O'Reilly & Associates
101 Morris St.
Sebastopol, CA 95472
707-829-0515 Voice
707-829-0104 FAX
<http://website.ora.com/>

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
WEBSITES OF THE WEEK! | This section is devoted to cool WebSites . . .
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Santa on the Web!|
------------------
SEATTLE, Nov. 14 /PRNewswire/ - Dump those "bah humbug" feelings and say 
"goodbye" to the frantic race against time by avoiding the traffic jams, 
long lines at the mall and a stiff, cramped hand from writing holiday 
cards and letters. This year ... there's help on the Internet, giving 
you more time to enjoy the holidays. 

Recharge your run-down holiday spirit - plug into two new Internet sites 
from The OutPost Network. One new Web site, HolidayCards.com 
<http://www.holidaycards.com> is as refreshing as that first deep breath 
of air after escaping from the shopping mall. Another site, 
SantaMail.com <http://www.santamail.com>, gives you an inside line, 
direct to St. Nick, himself. 

HolidayCards.com offers genuine, high-quality holiday cards, letters and 
gifts to be sent anywhere in the world. Visitors to this Web site can 
choose from dozens of colorful cards for Christmas or Hanukkah - 
traditional, religious, lighthearted or irreverent. The site includes 
cards especially for kids (e.g., Suzy Zoo and Curious George) and even 
cards to send to pets (who just hate to be left out). There are even 
cards for Kwanzaa and Thanksgiving. 

To help express just the right sentiment HolidayCards.com lists 
traditional poems and classical Christmas quotations that can be 
imprinted on the cards. One card costs $3.75 (payable via a secure 
online credit-card transaction), which includes imprinting a personal 
message on the card, affixing a postage stamp and mailing via the U.S. 
postal service. 

Gifts can also be purchased and sent with each card order, including: 

 .. "Your Words" from AT&T - an innovative personal gift that lets the 
card sender add a spoken message to the card, 
 .. Nordstrom department store gift certificates, 
 .. Magazine subscriptions, 
 .. Beer of the Month Club membership, 
 .. Rustic, limited-edition birdhouses made in Washington state. 

To help keep your spirits up, HolidayCards.com also invites you to 'join 
in' on some fun features (even Rudolph can play): 

 .. Good or Bad Poll - Rate your performance in 1996 (it's confidential, 
so be honest) and get an instant report card from Santa on where you 
stand with him. 

 .. Christmas Trivia Quiz - Test your knowledge of key holiday moments 
in film and television. 

 .. Christmas Stories - Post your story on this page, sharing your 
favorite holiday experience. 

 .. Recipes - Exchange your favorite Thanksgiving and Christmas recipes. 

SantaMail.com
The OutPost Network is also introducing SantaMail.com 
<http://www.santamail.com>, a companion Web site to HolidayCards.com. 
SantaMail.com lets children of all ages write and get personal letters 
from Santa, Mrs. Claus, Rudolph the Reindeer or those hardworking elves. 
Every child's letter will have a North Pole postmark (from the village 
of North Pole, Alaska). SantaMail.com letters are $2.95. 

-------------------------
More Season's Greetings!|
-------------------------
MINNEAPOLIS, Nov. 14 /PRNewswire/ - Cyber greeting cards move at 
lightning speeds over the internet. Across cities, states, countries, 
arriving in seconds. Faster than a speeding bullet, a sleigh and 
reindeer - or the postal service. 

Where do all these greetings go? "To friends, family, loved ones, 
business associates, cyber pals, and of course Santa Claus," says 
Marjory Williams, founder and CEO of Awesome Cyber Cards, the 
international provider of cyber greeting cards over the World Wide Web. 

Who will receive the most cyber mail? Well, of course, who else? "Santa 
Claus," says Williams without hesitation. 

Awesome Cyber Cards will send tens of thousands of Christmas, Hanukkah, 
and New Year's cards. "But we are betting on Santa as the Most Popular 
Single Recipient," says Williams. 

Awesome Cyber Cards and An Awesome Site for All Ages will offer free 
holiday WWW features <http://www.marlo.com/holiday.htm>. A major 
attraction will be letters to and from Santa Claus. 

Returning from last year will be "Dear Santa" 
<http://www.marlo.com/dearsant.htm>, an easy-to-use, fast, kid- safe way 
to send a note to Santa and receive one back instantly on the computer 
screen. No email address or contact information is needed. 

Older kids - and adults who want to have Santa send a note to a child, 
grandchild, niece, nephew, or friend - can write to Santa and get a note 
back by email at "2 and From Santa" <http://www.marlo.com/santa.htm>. 
What if a child doesn't know the email address or puts in a wrong 
address? Santa has the uncanny ability to spot many address errors. In 
that case, he still writes a letter but sends it to the computer screen 
rather than to an undeliverable email address. Whether this is due to 
the wonders of technology or Santa's magical powers, no one knows for 
sure. 

But Santa won't get all the attention this holiday. Awesome Cyber cards 
received 1,800,000 "hits" and 600,000 page visits from card senders in 
October alone. Before the holidays even started. Why? 

"Cyber cards use the newest technology," says Williams, "to do the 
oldest things. To say 'hello,' 'I love you,' 'hope you have a good 
holiday,' 'I miss you,' or 'hey, you sure do make the holidays fun.'" 

Awesome Cyber Cards, a division of Marjory Williams Ltd., is a service 
and technological leader in the electronic greeting card industry. First 
available on the World Wide Web in December 1995, Awesome Cyber Cards 
serves visitors from over 70 countries and receives 1,800,000 hits and 
600,000 page visits per month. Marjory Williams, founder and CEO of 
Marjory Williams Ltd., previously founded SHE/Laura Caspari, the first 
specialty retail chain in the United States to target career fashions 
and to bring together a focused presentation for executive women. 
Williams has been named the Entrepreneur of the Year by the governor of 
Minnesota and Business Woman of the Year by the National Association of 
Women Business Owners. The WWW address for Awesome Cyber Cards is 
<http://www.marlo.com/card.htm>. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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  --END OF ISSUE--

