Digital Village Radio January - March 1998 Programs
3/28/98Mark Pesce. Once upon a time (actually it was just a few years ago), a couple of guys named Mark Pesce and Tony Parisi wanted to find a way to bring Virtual Reality to the Web. A few magic months later VRML was born. Mark sees VR as a way a sensualize information and bring emotion to the Web. Whether it's cartoon characters or a Mars landing, VRML is finding it's uses on the net. Blitcom, for which Pesce is CTO, was launched to bring just this kind of character-based VRML into mass use.
3/21/98Steve Bass Our guest today was Steve Bass, Contributing Editor of PC World magazine (where he writes the Home Office Column) and President of the Pasadena IBM Users Group. He also writes about neato-keen gizmos and gadgets for Computer Currents.
3/14/98Spring Internet World Update. We had a special program today as we took an hour-long look at this year's Spring Internet World at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Take a look at the special page we created to tell you about what we saw.
3/7/98Mr. Bill on the Hill. Last week, Washington was overrun by geeks as Bill Gates, Jim Barksdale, Scott McNealy, Michael Dell, Stuart Alsop and others visited Orren Hatch and his Senate committee. The Senator is known for his dislike of some of Microsoft's business practices and this hearing was seen by many as his way of making sure Bill Gates knew it. To help make some sense of what happened, we were joined by Brock Meeks, Chief Washington Corespondent for MSNBC. Brock explained that, while Mr. Gates did try to put his own spin on things, Senator Hatch was able to make his point. The Microsoft CEO never admitted that his company has a monopoly on desktop operating systems, but when Netscape's Barksdale asked for a show of hands, nearly every Intel-based computer user indicated they ran on Windows. It's no wonder that Microsoft is putting forward a softer face, what with Bill hawking Callaway Golf Clubs and all. And is it just a coincidence that Microsoft changed it's agreements with ISPs and announced plans to drop it's channel partners from an upcoming release of Internet Explorer during the same week as the hearings? We may never know.
On other topics, Brock expressed his whole-hearted support for the likes of Matt Drudge to do what they do, though he's less enthusiastic about that particular product. He also pointed out that the Federal Government is consolidating it's cyber-law enforcement, with the announcement of The National Infrastructure Protection Center being just one of the most recent examples of how the government is using the perceived threat from computers as a reason for increased funding of law enforcement and domestic spying.
In the news:
whitehouse.com protest backfires - The Analyser helped tutor teen-aged hackers - Senate passes measure to give regulators Y2K authority over thrifts and credit unions - Microsoft sues German magazine for publishing security secrets - NT machines owned by the government are attacked while UNIX boxes go untouched - Some folks gather to protest Apple's Newton decision - Hotmail is still free, for now
2/28/98Surprise Open Phones. A scheduling error left us without a guest today. But no problem. All we have to do is open the phones to our wonderful listeners.
2/21/98Kids Games Our guest today was Mike Hayes, CEO of Gizmo Gypsies. Their latest release is The Little Wizard, a learning game aimed at children aged 3-8.
2/14/98Aliza Sherman, Cybergrrl Despite the stereotypes about guys being the only ones interested in technology, the Internet has millions of women online. Aliza Sherman was one of the first to use the Web to bring these women together. Her Cybergrrl web site offers a place of interest to women (and men) around the globe. Webgrrls is an organization with chapters worldwide (including Los Angeles) which promotes networking, both online and face to face. Aliza's new book is Cybergrrl: A Woman's Guide to the World Wide Web. It offers a practical non-technical look at getting online and taking advantage of the resources to be found there.
In the news:
New Hampshire legislators working on new Internet Child Porn laws which make it illegal to receive banned material - Atlanta man fired because of his Man-Boy love web page - Conviction in second trial of UCI Hate Mailer - Gates and Barksdale will testify before Congress - Some lawmakers are upset at the FCC's efforts to provide 'net access - Senator McCain has proposed a law requiring filtering in libraries - CyberSitter may start filtering ads, in addition to politics and porn - Clinton Administration broadcasts first Millenium conference live over the Internet - Congress takes comments live online during IRS hearing - Anti-abortionist can't use plannedparenthood.com domain name - Bill Gate's pie-in-the-face may have had some help from a Microsoft insider - Netscape's future is in doubt, so the Chairman urges folks not to worry - Sun's Scott McNealy offers the Top-Ten reasons he should keep his day job
2/7/98Video Periscope This weekend marks the opening of The California ScienCenter in Exposition Park. Today we were joined by Eric Marshall, the museum's Curator of Technology, Gwen Young, a consultant to the Center, and Jim Bower of the Getty Information Institute. GII is a partner with the museum with the Video Periscope which links to two facilities. Much more than just a big video telephone, the technology will eventually link schools, libraries, research facilities, and more. The idea is to give the participants in one place the experience of being in the other, interacting with the people there. The ScienCenter is open seven days a week and there is no admission fee.
1/31/98Winter Pledge Drive. Today we once again asked for your support during KPFK's Winter Fund Drive. As always, Ric and Doran thank all of you who have called in to pledge your support to Digital Village and the station. Without you, we wouldn't be on the air.
1/24/98Open Phones. It has been too long since we last opened the phones to you, so that's what we did today. Calls included questions about hardware requirements for old Mac machines, NetCops patrolling Newsgroups, how best to learn about Photoshop, the new Opera web browser, the new BeOS, Microsoft's plans regarding Novell's NDS,and more.
1/17/98Margie Wylie. Joining us for the entire hour this week was our guest Margie Wylie, Opinions Editor and author of the weekly Signal2Noise column at C|Net's News.Com.
1/10/98MacWorld Expo Update. Our guest today was independent Mac consultant Christian Boyce, who had attended this week's MacWorld Expo in San Francisco. The products that impressed him included Microsoft's Office98, the soon to be released Jaz-beater called Orb, and a new streaming-media technology known as Emblaze. In the meantime, Steve Jobs' is still running the company and speculation swirls as people wonder why no permanent CEO has been named. That said, most people don't seem to be in any hurry to see him go, especially since the company is just now beginning to show a profit again.
