VISA & MASTERCARD SET FOR INTERNET COMMERCE- (02/01/96)
Visa International Inc. and MasterCard International Inc. have teamed up with a common industry standard that would make credit card transactions secure on a public network such as the Internet. This agreement ended many squabbles between opposing parties such as Netscape and Microsoft who accused each other of wanting to set their own standard to dominate a market that may worth $22 billion by the turn of the century according to a market research firm. The lack of a single unifying standard has hampered the growth of electronic commerce over the Internet.
A set of specifications for the Visa-Mastercard standard, known as Secure Electronic Transactions, or SET will be published as early as mid-February. Initial tests will be carried out separately by the two giant credit card companies with a joint testing later in the year to ensure interoperability. A working system is to be expected by the end of 1996. The objective is to get the Internet payment method to be as efficient as the present systems used in retail point-of-sale applications. The final software which incorporates SET will be available free to software developers. Netscape and Microsoft have agreed to include SET into future versions of their Internet software. Other industry supporters include IBM, GTE Corp. and many electronic payment software developers.
The encryption coding scheme is based on the public & private key concept to be developed by RSA Data Security, a leading company in cryptography. A public key is used to scramble the consumer's credit card data for safe transport over the Internet so that when the message got to the intended financial institution, the data could then be decoded with a matched private key. Keys are essentially pieces of software that contain mathematically-derived codes. Merchants will also be given the means to authenticate the consumer as the legitimate card user. Since the technology employed will only conceal credit card information and not other computer messages, this security standard can be exported to other countries, a move that has always been a concern for the US government as encryption technology is often used for military and espionage purposes i.e. spying on your enemy's secretly transmitted messages.
- Visa and Mastercard, two of the world's largest credit card companies together provide services to more than 740 million credit card holders internationally.
- NETSCAPE & VERIFONE'S NET CASH PACT
- (01/26/96)
Netscape Communications Corp. and VeriFone Inc. said that they are working together to make electronic commerce more secure for merchants, banks and consumers. Though other companies such as DigiCash, VISA, Microsoft and others have been working on the problem for some time, the lack of a unifying standard for payment processing and a widespread concern about the lack of security over an open public network such as the Internet has hampered the growth of electronic commerce in the world wide web environment.
Just last December, The W3 Consortium called for a multi-industry participation in the exploration of Internet payment negotiation protocols that can be used to take care of transaction processings with credit and debit cards, electronic cash and checks etc. W3 is an industry consortium responsible for the development of common standards for use in the World Wide Web environment. Makers of web servers, web browsers, payment software developer and merchants were invited to join the W3 initiative. A demonstration of viable technologies is scheduled in June this year.
The Netscape, Verifone pact calls for a bundling of technologies from the two companies. Netscape is the developer of the world's most popular Internet browser software while Verifone is a company who develops retail payment systems. Verifone processes about 75% of all credit card transaction in the U.S. and about two thirds globally.
- GENIE SALE UPDATES...
- (01/26/96)
According to the new owner of General Electric's GEnie online service, membership is down to about 55,000 (not the previously reported 100,000). These numbers are in sharp contrast with other online services such as America Online who has 4.5 million subscribers with CompuServe having only a bit less. Though no financial details were disclosed, the new owner, Yovelle Renaissance Corp. did reported that they picked up the ailing service at a 'bargain' price and that they would continue GEnie's tradition of providing excellent online games. Yovelle intends to open up the former members-only service to the world wide web community. A preceeding example is AT&T's recent decision to offer its own proprietary Interchange Network to the free-for-all web infrastructure.
See earlier story 'GE's Coming & Going Internet Ventures' below - Editor.
- GE'S COMING & GOING INTERNET VENTURES
- (01/25/96)
General Electric Co. has just announced that its Genie online service is being sold to Yovelle Renaissance Corp. based in Queens, NY. A spokesperson for GE indicates that the consumer-oriented service does not bode well with GE's long range goal of supplying productivity solutions to the business community. Despite a loyal following of about 100,000 subscribers, the sale of the ailing network has been expected for some time now and many top managers at Genie including its president and GM have already left to join America Online Inc before this announcement.
On the commercial market side, GE has just launched an intranet web (a corporate internal Internet network) to add efficiency to the company's bidding process. The Trading Process Network (TPN) will allow GE subcontractors to easily access tendering information and submit bids from a desktop PC via a secure link at GE's web site. GE will provide free TPN software and training services to its suppliers to gain access to TPN. GE hopes to generate $1 billion in transaction this year via TPN. http://www.ge.com
- YES, VIRGINIA. IT'S VIRTUAL PSYCHOLOGY
- (01/25/96)
When a psychologist in Newport News, Virginia found that his practice has shrink due to the U.S. government's managed care regulations, he started a web site to provide on-demand 'pay as you feel like it's been valuable' service to anyone who e-mail their problems to him and get email advice back. Holmes charges $1.50 a minute and will bill his customers for his time. About half of the people would pay for his virtual services, Holmes said.
- INTERNET USAGE - AN ASIA PANORAMA
- (01/24/96)
- NET PORN - ONE BIG GLOBAL ISSUE
- (01/24/96)
As Jordan and Germany are clamping down on service providers delivering pornography over the Internet, China is cracking down on Internet access to the 'yellow poison' as such material is known in that country. Even the US is thinking about regulating 'indecent' Internet traffic. And recently, in the workplace, three Swiss laboratory staffs were fired after repeated offenses of obtaining pornographic stuff via the Internet using company computers.
While many politicians around the world are calling for some form of censorship for this new electronic media, a number of issues need to be to be properly addressed. Service providers can not often be expected to monitor material being carried on their network, users should not be charged with breaking the law if they innocently received illicit material over the net. Information over the Internet can be encrypted and sources can be hard to trace due to the open nature of the infrastructure and what constitutes indecency in one country may not be considered so in the view of another. For example, Italy is one country that is not considering censorship for online material at the present time.
- CLINTON MAKES HISTORY WITH LIVE WEBCAST
- (01/23/96)
Now that most of us webheads know the browser route to the Whitehouse, politicians are beginning to use the web as another information distribution channel. U.S. President Bill Clinton will make history this week when he delivers the annual State of The Union address which will be broadcast live over the Internet for the very first time a president's speech will be carried in real time over such a medium. Using 'RealAudio' software, the speech can be heard from RealAudio's home page (http://www.RealAudio.com) or the ABC Radio home page (http://www.abcradionet.com). As expected, Vice President Al Gore announced that after the speech was delivered, a plain text and a sound file will be available for downloading at the Whitehouse web site which also featured an online site for children. You know where that is, don't you? (http://www.whitehouse.gov).
Well, baby-kissing time is here. Election is as Bob Dylan's song goes 'blowing in the wind' - Editor.
W.I.N.D.
- INTERNET STOCK QUOTES, HAVE IT YOUR WAY
- (01/23/96)
Paragon Software (http://www.interquote.com) is offering different levels of stock quote subscription services to the individual investors. All of the service options require the company's software which works with any browser or commercial online service. A 15 day free trial version of the software is available immediately. End of day e-mail quote is $45 a year. Two delayed stock quote schemes are priced at $19.95 and $9.95 respectively per month. An intermediate service which requires user mouse clicks to activate updates will set you back at $34.95 a month. The premium service which has continuous real-time updates can be had for $69.95 a month.
- INTERNET ACCESS IN RUSSIA
- (01/22/96)
With only half a million computers sold in 1995 in Russia, internet access in the former Soviet Union can be difficult and expensive. Yet, despite poor quality phone lines and expensive service and connection surcharge fees, the number of Internet Service providers (ISP) are growing and online subscribers are increasing at 5% a month. For foreign travellers in Russia who want internet access, there is a choice of ISPs in major cities such as Moscow and St. Petersburg. They could also sign up with CompuServe, America Online or SprintNet who takes care of line access but imposes a surcharge on services from CompuServe and AOL.
Besides being expensive, there are other aspects to be aware of. First, the RJ11 telephone jack used in Russia is not the same as the US version, you will need an adapter such as one sold by Russian Information Services, in Montpelier, Vt. (1-800-639-4301). The poor quality Russian telephone lines make connection with modem speeds at 14.4 Kbps or higher very difficult. However, things are improving for the better. George Soros, one of the world's wealthiest philanthropist, is working on improving the Internet infrastructure in Russia and other European countries in an effort to form an open society in those former totalitarian states. http://www.soros.org/
- INTEL'S NEW VENTURE WITH HOLLYWOOD GROUP
- (01/22/96)
Intel Corp., the largest computer chip maker in the world has formed an alliance with Creative Artists Agency (CAA) to build a multimedia lab in California to showcase state of the art PC technologies including, of course, systems that utilize the powers of Pentium processors, a product that Intel is famous for. However, Intel will not be directly involved in content creation. The programming is targeted at the home PC market. The two firms hope that the venture will impress creative talents of the Hollywood establishment.
- MORE DETAILS ON ORACLE'S INTERNET DEVICE
- (01/19/96)
After months of touting the virtue of a low cost (sub $500) alternative to the PC that can be used to access the Internet, Oracle chairman Larry Ellison plans to release details on a design prototype in a business meeting this week in Tokyo, Japan. However, a full demonstration will come in the next 90 days. Dubbed a Network Computer, or NC, the device would have no hard disk for storage but can be used to access information stored in a remote sever running a database by Oracle or other vendors. Besides Internet access, the device would have ports to hook up a printer, a microphone or a CD-ROM. Andy Laursen, VP of network computing for Oracle, said the device would have 8MB of DRAM, a microprocessor from Advanced RISC, a keyboard, a mouse and a networking device such as a modem. Oracle, a database software company, plans to work with manufacturers to make the device available to the consumers by the end of this year.
- IRS SAYS "SEE YOU ON THE WEB"
- (01/19/96)
You can surf but you cannot hide. Your favorite government agency, the IRS is on the web: 'http://www.irs.ustreas.gov'. The web site was launched on 01/08/96 in an effort to take some of the workload off the telephone help line. At their site, you can download tax forms or find all sorts of tax-related information. Future enhancement could allow you to file tax returns via the web.
- US CONGRESSMAN IN CUBA TO EASE EMBARGO
- (01/19/96)
Massachusetts Congressman Joe Moakley and a delegation of US business people and academics arrived in Havana, Cuba on 01/16/95 to examine changes in the island which might result in relaxing economic embargo from Washington. Moakley, a democrat met president Fidel Castro in New York last October and was invited by the communist leader to come and visit. Moakley said Castro has to show a willingness to change in regards to human right issues before he could have solid evidence to present to other congressman who has to vote on a proposed bill passed by the House and the Senate which favors tightening of trade embargo against Cuba. Moakley and 22 others will have a chance to meet with Castro and other government officials before leave Havana on Friday.
- ELECTRONIC COMMERCE OVER THE WEB
- (01/18/96)
Anonymity and security are big issues in electronic commerce over a huge public network like the Internet. Many people do not like their spending habits being monitored and this concern for privacy has driven vendors to come up with various forms of electronic cash in which you get tokens or debit cards from your bank to pay for your purchases. DigiCash is one company promoting this idea.
For secure on-line transaction processing, encryption are often employed. For example, CyberCash has a system that make use of "cyber wallets", a software available for free to the merchants and the consumer. When the consumer buys something over the Internet, credit card data are encrypted and sent to the issuing bank directly. The merchants never get to see the credit card number. A similar idea is also developed by Portland Software. Some consumers tend to prefer this approach than just relying on various web sever software such as Netscape's Secure Sever to provide security. Though the general public may not know it, this skepticism is justified with actual facts. Recently, two California students were able to break into 'encoded' messages send over the web with Netscape's popular Navigator browser, though Netscape promised a free-for-all solution to correct this problem by increasing the size of the encoded key digits from 30 to 300.
Data scrambling requires matching keys for decoding. A pioneering company, RSA has been synonymous with data encryption. IBM recently plans to use RSA's technologies as a data encryption standard for communication over any network for their full line of hardware products from mainframe to notebook computers. It has not been an easy road for RSA to gain marketshare worldwide in the begining. At one time, the US National Security Agency was strongly against the export of encryption technologies fearing that it might be used as weapons in military intelligence warfare. However, the demand for electronic commerce over the Internet (and with so many US companies being major players in such a market) the US government is changing its mind and beginning to ease export control on such technologies.
- TURNER BROADCASTING SYSTEM TO SPIV
- (01/18/96)
TBS Inc. will have a new cyber magazine titled Spiv, a slang which stands for someone who live by his or her own intelligence. The on-line programming service is targeted at a teen and early twenty audience and will feature subjects that this group cares about - music, fashion, technology and other cutting edge cool stuffs. On the world wide web: http://www.spiv.com.
- MICROSOFT BUYS VERMEER TO ENABLE 'WEBTOP PUBLISHING'
- (01/18/96)
Microsoft announced the acquisition of Vermeer Technologies, a web page and site development tool maker. The Seattle software giant will incorporate Vermeer's flagship product, FrontPage into Microsoft's own MS-Office software. This integration of the two company's products is said to "bring web page authoring to the masses" as in the words of Chris Peters, VP of Microsoft's office products division. Members of the development team at Vermeer in Cambridge, Mass. will be relocated to Microsoft's headquarters in the Seattle suburb over the next few months. The deal is rumored to be in the $130 million range.
- ALASKA AIRLINES TO SELL TICKETS OVER THE WEB
- (01/18/96)
The Brits are doing it, but the US aren't, until now that is. Alaska Airlines may be the first airline company in the US to sell tickets via their web sites, a service that has consumer demands and some travel agencies and on-line services like CompuServe and AOL are already doing. Users can query the Alaska Airlines system to get a listings of available flights and order tickets on-line with their credit card via a Netscape Secure Sever. Future offerings include seat selection and a way to handle frequent flier mileages, Alaska Airlines says.
- W.I.N.D.
- JAPAN TO SELL FARM PRODUCTS OVER THE WEB
- (01/17/96)
Japan's largest agriculture cooperative is about to launch a web site to sell green tea, beans and other farm products over the Internet. One company in Niigata who has been doing just that since July 1995 has received an order from Hong Kong and the firm is now studying the best way to ship its products.
Get the order first before figuring how ship it. Now, that's the way to do trade. - Editor
- FROM OCEAN TO OCEAN - 24 HOURS IN CYBERSPACE
- (01/17/96)
Remember From Alice To Ocean? What about the A Day In The Life series of coffee table books and CD-ROMs by Rick Smolan? Well, he and his team of world-renowned photographers is about to do it again. On February 8, 1996, the Smolan team will trot the globe in search of images that reveal the human side of on-line technology. The project is titled "24 Hours in Cyberspace". On-line surfers from around the world are invited to send in pictures or stories documenting how cyberspace has impacted their lives. The pro pics and amateur stories will be digitally beamed back to headquarters in San Francisco where updates are to be made throughout that day on February 8, 1996 at their own web site --http://www.cyber24.com. Eventually, a permanent web site will be set up for more in-depth coverage of the project's subject. Of course, there will also be a book, CD-ROM and TV special features.
- NEW EURO ON-LINE SERVICE ATTRACTS 70,000+ HITS A DAY
- (01/17/96)
A home-grown made by European and for European on-line service is generating great interest in Europe. A reported 70,000+ daily hits were recorded. The popular computer service has sections from Britain, Germany, Luxembourg (where the service was based) and covers such subjects as sports, weather, finance, arts etc. Their web address is: http://www.eo.net/.
- Well, may be that's life after Benny Hill. --Editor
- *WELCOME TO CARDIAC ARREST, ADIOS AMIGO
- (01/16/96)
A popular Latin American song "La Macarena" has swept its way into at least one operating room in a cardiac surgical unit in Miami, FL. A Registered Nurse claimed that the flamenco dance number helps to relieve stress and keep the medical pros in good mood.Good mood, sure. But steady hands? - Editor
- IBM & SEARS MAY DUMP PRODIGY
- (01/16/96)
Rumor has it that IBM & Sears may be following the footsteps of CBS to dump their on-line service, Prodigy. Some have estimated that the two giants have invested more than $1 Billion in the ailing on-line service. CBS used to be one of the founding members back when the venture was known as Trintex but backed out in 1986 after sinking $40 million in the deal. The latest scoop is that CompuServe may be interested in buying the network should it becomes available.
- BAD WEATHER, GOOD SURFING FOR AOL
- (01/16/96)
The recent blizzard that has hit the eastcoast of the US has meant a 60% jump in usage for America On-Line during that period. Forget about the paper, just read the news on-line!
- TAIWAN SHARES NATIONAL TREASURE
- (01/15/96)
Commenting on the upcoming US tour of more than 400 paintings and other masterpiece artworks from the National Palace Museum of Taiwan, its deputy director, Chang Pi-Teh says that Taiwan wants to share the work with the rest of the world instead of just being enjoyed by the royal family as has been in the past and only recently by the people of Taiwan.Yeah, got it, flaunt it. - Editor
- ISRAELI PRESIDENT MET WITH WW2 HITLER OPPOSERS IN GERMANY (01/15/96)
On a recent visit to Germany, Israeli President Ezer Weizman met with surviving members of a German wartime resistance group against Adolf Hitler. As much as 2500 people from that group was killed by the dictator from 1933 to 1945. Some marveled at the idea that a Jewish head of state would come to Germany and pay homage.
- STATISTIC CANADA NEW STUDY ON HOME COMPUTERS
- (01/15/96)
A recent study by Statistic Canada indicates that in May 1995, 28.8% of Canadian households have computers (an increase from 10.3% in 1986). Of those who own a computer, 42% have a modem which can be used to access the Internet.
- MORE CONFUSING NUMBERS ABOUT INTERNET USERS
- (01/15/96)
A new study says that there is only 9.5 million Internet users in America (8.4M over 18 and 1.1M under 18). The results of this study by FIND/SVP differ greatly from an earlier study by CommerceNet & Nielson Media Research who said that there are 24 million Internet users in North America.
- DANISH SPIN DOCTORS ON WHEELS
- (01/15/96)
A Hell's Angel group in Denmark is opening up a fund-raising shop for charity to aid jailed members of their motorcycle gang. Merchandise on sale include tee shirts, sunglasses, hashish pipes etc. Though hashish use is illegal in Denmark, the sales of pipes and other accessories are permited. Similar charity shops are on the way in the rest of the country, the Hell's Angel's group said.
W.I.N.D.
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