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The LangaList
9-Jun-99
A Free Email
Newsletter from Fred Langa About BrowserTune,
HotSpots, Columns, Tips & Tricks, and Other Activities
In This
Issue:
Huge Response on Stealth Ad Applets!
Who's Lying In the AOL/Microsoft Wars?
BT2K Draws Near…
...And This Newsletter’s Publication Schedule Changes
Vacation Planning? (These CDs can help.)
Bill 602P---The Postal Service Email Surcharge
Fried (Silicon) Chips
A Book Chapter From Fred
Yahoo! (the exclamation, not the site)
A PG-13 Grin
More!
Wow! Great Reader Feedback on Stealth Ad Applets!
Lots and lots of you are as unhappy as I am about the new kind of banner ads that stuff stealth Java applets onto your system (via CAB files) and then run the programs automatically. The annoyance factor is high, and the potential for trouble seems (to me, and many of you) not worth the slight added "benefit" of more animation in the ads and such.
The response was so strong and the topic is so important---we’re talking about things that could potentially destabilize your system or be a outright security risk---we’ve extended the discussion for another week.
If you haven’t seen the comments at all, or if you dropped by last week early on and haven’t been back, you owe it to yourself to click on over: You’re probably collecting megabytes of these stealth programs without even knowing it!
Come see what the (justified!) fuss is all about over at http://bbs.winmag.com/columns/archives/053099/monday/column.asp?frames=yes and then join in!
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More Weirdness re: Netscape?
Last week's column on "Wither Netscape?" (and no, I didn’t mean "whither") coincided with some surprising revelations at the Microsoft antitrust trial.
AOL’s Steve Case had said that AOL bought Netscape for the portal, not the browser, which raises all kinds of questions about the future of "Mozilla" (the open-source project developing the next versions of Communicator).
Not trivially, it also seemed to buttress the DOJ’s claims that Microsoft is just a nasty playground bully: If AOL/Netscape has no intention of competing with Microsoft, why did Microsoft turn all guns to bear on Netscape?
But at the trial, Microsoft produced documents that seem to clearly show that AOL/Netscape did want to compete with Microsoft, even to the point of creating a kind of mini-operating system that would replace Windows. This mini-OS would power small special-purpose computers (more than set-top boxes, less than full-blown PCs) and enable them to connect to AOL and surf the web.
Someone’s lying. Maybe everyone involved is lying. But either way, it’s stuff that may affect your choices in browsers and operating systems. Come join the ongoing discussion on Netscape’s future at http://www.informationweek.com/langaletter !
Q: Why Only One Newsletter This Week?
A: I’m a multitasking kind of guy---I work best when there’re many balls to juggle--- but there’s a limit to the hours in the day. And right now, finishing the BrowserTune2000 beta is my #1 priority.
I’ve posted two updates to the demo version at http://www.browsertune.com/bt2kdemo/ in the last week, and soon will have a fully integrated beta of the two components---the highly automated "10 minute tune up" and the more detailed tests that will let you track down just about anything that might be wrong with your browser.
It’s a large project. The smaller portion (the automated demo itself) actually comprises over 500 files, 154 of which are HTML pages. (You’ll only see the ones appropriate for you and your system when you use the demo---no one user would ever see all 500/154 files!)
The full, integrated version contains 1,653 files and 640 HTML pages---so far. (But likewise, most users will see only the subset of these files and pages appropriate for their browser, OS, and so on.)
I’m typing as fast as I can, but man, this sucker is huge! 8-) So I’ve cut back on the newsletter frequency for this week (and next) to make more time for BrowserTuning. Stay, um, tuned--- it’s so close… 8-)
Vacation Planning?
My son’s birthday is in the summer, and for the last several years we’ve taken a father/son trip together as part of his birthday present. For him, it’s a chance to do things he normally doesn’t get the chance to (we’ve climbed a mountain, spent a day scrambling our inner ears on roller coasters, gone to professional ball games, etc). For me it’s a chance to cement my relationship with my son as he enters his teen years: A way to help ensure we’re OK together.
This year, he wants to go on a canoe fishing trip, and I turned to a local company--- Maptech, of Greenland NH--- for help. They’ve digitized the maps and park guides for all the US National Parks so you can search, navigate, and plan your routes through and around them.
It’s wonderfully convenient to pop in a CD and have half the Country’s park system at your fingertips. You can search for types of lodging, types of activities, additional contact and reservation info--- just about everything you need. The maps have a high zoom-factor: you can pull way out for a park-at-a-glance view, or dive in close for a highly-magnified view of individual park features, trails, and such.
Maptech makes lots of other digital mapware---topo maps, NOAA charts, marine maps, etc. If you’re interested in digital maps, check ‘em out: http://www.maptech.com
Now, all I have to do is learn is learn to fish. 8-)
Bill #602P: The Postal Service Internet Surcharge
I got copied about 50 times on this item, usually when some well-intentioned soul dropped me onto a CC list along with about 500 other people to "alert me to this problem!"
It was hard to read the actual item because it was buried so far down the page and had been forwarded so many times
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>so
that the text was all
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>indents
and leaders and all but
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>unreadable.
Know what I mean?
The gist of the story was that
"…the U.S. Postal Service will be attempting to bilk email users out of 'alternate postage fees'. Bill 602P will permit the Federal Govt to charge a 5 cent surcharge on every email delivered, by billing Internet Service Providers at source. The consumer would then be billed in turn by the ISP."
Some versions of the mail asked you to write to "Washington D.C. lawyer Richard Stepp" who was "working without pay to prevent this legislation from becoming law." Others urged you to write to a "Congressman Schnell."
The first time I saw this email, my BS Detectors starting clanging loudly. If anything this major were about to happen, why on earth would we first be hearing of it via a chain letter that’d been copied about 900 times? Why wouldn’t the tech news services be covering it?
So I went to the Postal Service’s web site at http://www.usps.gov/.
There, in the news section ( http://www.usps.gov/news/press/99/99045new.htm ), I found an item titled: "E-MAIL RUMOR COMPLETELY UNTRUE." The news release states:
"A completely false rumor concerning the U.S. Postal Service is being circulated on Internet e-mail. As a matter of fact, the Postal Service has learned that a similar hoax occurred recently in Canada concerning Canada Post. The e-mail message claims that a "Congressman Schnell" has introduced "Bill 602P" to allow the federal government to impose a 5-cent surcharge on each e-mail message delivered over the Internet. The money would be collected by Internet Service Providers and then turned over to the Postal Service.
"No such proposed legislation exists. In fact, no ‘Congressman Schnell’ exists.
"The U.S. Postal Service has no authority to surcharge e-mail messages sent over the Internet, nor would it support such legislation."
Hoaxes like this crop up from time to time (fake virus warnings are another common hoax). They’re NOT harmless because unsuspecting people forward them to their entire distribution lists, eating bandwidth, clogging mail boxes, and wasting people’s time.
Email is a great tool for getting the word out fast, but please--- take a few seconds to check out a rumor before you blast out 500 copies to everyone in your address book. (The total elapsed time to completely debunk the hoax mail above was maybe a minute.)
If you get a chain-letter warning about a virus, go to an anti-virus site to see if it’s true before you spam your friends. If you get a chain letter warning about scary new legislation, check out a government site, or if you don’t trust the government, use a search engine like Metacrawler: A metasearch for "Bill 602P," for example, brings up the information that it’s a hoax in the very first hit.
I know most people mean well when they spread these emails. But consider: It’s actually far friendlier to NOT bombard your friends with hoaxes than to deliver real-sounding but completely false alarm mail. Please, don’t spread hoax mail!
Fried Chips
No, not the potato variety--- I mean silicon.
With the return of hot weather to the US, I’m getting mail like this:
Fred,
I've got a problem that I can't seem to figure out and I can't find anyone who knows what the problem might be. I've got a Dell Dimension 300Mhz w/ 64MB RAM, originally installed with OEM Win 95, upgraded to retail Win98. I'll be going along fine working with a few apps in the background like Microsoft Outlook, Excel, IE 5.0, etc, then BAM! Black screen and a hard reboot, or else I've got to hit the reset button and cause a hard reboot to get the PC working again. I have no idea what causes this, it seems to be random as I cannot duplicate it on purpose. I asked a consultant we use for various PC stuff and he said that it was rare and couldn't offer much advice. It's not rare to me, it happens at least 2 or 3 times per week, and that is down from 4-5 times during the day, it's better now that I re-installed Windows. Do you have any ideas on where to look? It drives me up the wall!---Steve Winslow
There are many possible reasons, but when I see something like this happen, I immediately suspect overheating, a loose chip or cable, or a power supply going bad.
One clue is the black-screen---that’s usually a sign of a hardware crash. In contrast, the Windows "blue screen of death" is a software crash. A hardware crash is often electrical: an overheated CPU that's lost its mind, a short circuit somewhere inside the system, or a power supply that went out of spec and delivered too much or too little voltage or current, etc.
Alas, it’s not a foolproof thing because these serious problems may also cause a blue-screen software crash instead of the black screen/total shutdown. But it’s still a clue.
It’s a good idea to open your PC case from time to time anyway. Unplug the unit, unscrew the top or side of the case to get access within, and then touch the power supply housing to ensure you’re not carrying any static charge. Carefully remove any dust or dirt you see blocking fans or air-supply holes. (You may be surprised at the amount of crud that gets sucked into a PC over time….)
Gently push down on your plug-in cards, cables, and any socketed chips you can see. If you know what you’re doing, you might want to fully field-strip your PC---remove the plug-in cards and cables, and then clean and reinsert them. And if you’re really hard-core, you can use an anti-oxidant/lubricant product like "Stabilant" to help prevent future problems with your electrical contacts.
When everything’s reasonably clean and tight, restart the system with the cover still off: Make sure your body parts are out of the way and there are no screws, slot covers, tools or whatnot left lying loose in the case. Plug the system back in and turn it on with the top or side still open. Watch to ensure all the fans are working. If they are, shut the system back down, pop the case back together, and you’re done. If you have a dead fan, you can replace it yourself if you have a modicum of Erector-Set skills, or have a service tech do it for you.
The idea is to make sure all the fans work; that there’s unobstructed airflow through the system; and that any friction-fit electrical contacts are solid. These three things can cure a host of weird problems than can sometimes afflict your system, especially in warmer weather!
Tracking down a subtly bad power supply is harder: Fortunately, most power supplies don’t partially fail---when they die, they die all the way, leaving little doubt. 8-)
How
To Publish Your Own Email Newsletter
(A Book Chapter From Fred)
I wrote a long chapter about this free email newsletter, the "LangaList," for a book called "Poor Richard's E-Mail Publishing : Creating Newsletters, Bulletins, Discussion Groups and Other Powerful Communications Tools." (The book is part of the popular "Poor Richards'" series.)
The main authors are Peter Kent and Chris Pirillo, and here's how Amazon.Com describes the book:
"E-mail publishing is growing faster than the World Wide Web. This book shows entrepreneurs how to use e-mail to create newsletters, discussion groups, news bulletins and other powerful communication skills. This book presents the essentials of E-mail program, signing up members, successfully moderating a list, and using the lists to promote a product without alienating members. It also discusses making money by selling advertising, writing newsletter messages, using E-mail services when your subscriber lists is down and much more. With the help of this book, readers can confidently stem into the fastest-growing area of Internet communications."
If you've ever considered starting a newsletter, discussion list or other email-based group communication tool, this book can help!
The book lists for $29.95, but if you order via the following link, you can save $5.99 (20%!): your cost will be $23.96. (Online ordering is 100% safe--- guaranteed by Amazon.Com!)
Order the book (and get your 20% discount) by this special "Amazon Associates" link:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0966103254/langacom
or go to
to see a cover shot, order the book--- or search for any other book, music or video from Amazon.com.
Yahoo! (The exclamation, not the site.)
The LangaList passed a long-awaited internal subscriber milestone last week, and its rapid growth is due almost entirely to word-of-mouth recommendations from people like you. Thank you!
I have no promotion budget to try to drum up new readers---all I have is you, telling your friends that this free newsletter is worth a look. (And hey, you can’t beat the price!)
Do you know just one other person who might find this newsletter interesting or useful? Send ‘em a copy using the 60-second form over at http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm#2 . They‘ll instantly get a free, no-obligation sample issue of the LangaList in your name.
Thanks!
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And a (PG-13) Grin:
I mentioned how you can use search engines to good effect to track down hoaxes--- but that doesn’t mean they always work.
For example, I went searching for cyber birthday cards for a friend, and entered "birthday card" in a search engine. As expected, I got back a bunch of links.
But the very first hit was a site whose description was:
"Lusty Ladies and their birthday cards, Huge birthday cards, Pointy birthday cards, Free Funky Photos Of Naked Lusty Ladies With Astonishing birthday cards."
Apparently these guys figured out how to spoof the search engine by dynamically substituting any search term---in this case, the innocuous phrase "birthday card"--- in their X-rated pages.
Amazing (and kind of funny!) "Naked lusty ladies with astonishing birthday cards:" My imagination fails me. 8-)
return to top of page
See you next issue!
Best,
Fred
( fred@langa.com )
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