Something which appeared in The Onion as a spoof some months ago has become a reality in Dublin. Unlikely as it may sound, Tony Gill, a well known character in Dublin's homeless community, now has his own homepage. Based around Westland Row for the past 12 years, he has agreed to give the public access to his `Street Files' each week at local.ie/tony/. Local Ireland will interview him about his life on the street. Tony's poems have featured on BBC Radio, he has written lyrics for Mary Black and remains determined not to sleep under a roof again.
No protection: Federal regulators in the United States have warned companies who do business on the Internet to improve protection of consumers' privacy or face new regulation. With surveys showing many websites collecting personal data about Web users, without revealing how they subsequently use the information, momentum has grown to reject merely voluntary industry standards.
Graphic deal: Intel has bought an 8 per cent stake in graphics developer Evans & Sutherland Computers and the two companies have agreed to accelerate development of high-end graphics and video subsystems for Intel-based workstations. Intel paid $24 million for the stake and purchased warrants that could be used to raise its interest in Evan & Sutherland to 11.3 per cent.
Firewall's future: Network Associates has released WebShield for Firewalls, the world's first anti-virus solution optimised for enterprise-class scanning performance on high-capacity corporate firewalls. WebShield for Firewalls is the first new product to result from the recent merger of Network Associates and Trusted Information Systems.
Ms woes rumble on: Attorneys General in 20 states have filed an updated complaint in their landmark anti-trust suit against Microsoft, dropping charges related to Microsoft Office. The state officials said they would continue to investigate the Office allegations but not for the current case because of "time and witness limitations set by the court for the September 8th trial." Instead officials will focus on charges that Microsoft has abused a monopoly position to gain power in the browser market and eliminate the threat posed by Netscape. Meanwhile, the company has denied a RealNetworks accusation that Windows Media Player prevents RealNetwork's software from working, claiming that the problems are caused by a bug.
Online casinos under threat: The US Senate has voted overwhelmingly to ban gambling on the Internet and online gamblers could now face fines while those running gaming sites on the Web could face fines or imprisonment. The Justice Department has estimated that $600 million was wagered illegally over the Internet in 1997.
Encrypting ads: A private-sector coalition opposed to strict U.S. export controls on data-scrambling technology has launched a multimedia advertising campaign to press for changing the rules which sharply limit the ability of American companies to sell products that include encryption overseas.
Cheques in the post: A U.S. government agency has mailed more than $3 million in cheques to people in 70 countries who were defrauded by an Internet pyramid scheme called Fortuna Alliance. The Federal Trade Commission said that the sum was in addition to $2.4 million already posted by a court-appointed receiver. A judge in Seattle ordered the money returned by one Augustine Delgado who was also ordered not to offer any more get-rich-quick schemes.
Bright light blocks spam: Bright Light Technologies' plans to market software which blocks spam to ISPs and corporations. Bright Light's software relies on setting up fictitious email accounts on major Internet servers, serving as an early-warning system against unwanted commercial mail.
Digital cash: A new way of delivering payments to social welfare customers living in Ennis has been announced. Customer will be given bank cards to draw payments at outlets throughout Ireland's `Information Town'. Participating customers will be given bank accounts, have their social welfare payments electronically delivered on a weekly basis and receive ATM/Laser cards to enable them to access funds. All this prompts an obvious question: are ATM cards really that high-tech?
Interactive training: Dublin-based Interactive Services have signed an agreement with Visio Corporation to develop a suite of interactive computer-based training courses based on Visio's drawing and diagramming software solutions.
In Brief. . .The Minister for Public Enterprise, Mary O'Rourke, officially opened Esat Telecom's new £32 million Network Management Centre at Dundrum Business Park last week. . .Hewlett-Packard has warned that its third-quarter earnings will probably drop due to continued weakness in Asia and signs of economic uncertainty in other regions. . . Piercom has raised £3.5 million by way of an institutional private placing through NCB Corporate Finance. . . Excite came out the winner in a recent IntelliQuest survey, seeing off the challenge of both Yahoo and Infoseek in terms of entertainment, content, appeal and ease of use. . . Iona has announced record revenues of $18.5 million for the second quarter of 1998, an increase of 77 percent over the corresponding period in 1997. . . To evaluate how teleworking might impact on Dublin's traffic problems, Telework Ireland and Telecom Eireann have commissioned a survey, in conjunction with the Dublin Transportation Office and Amarach Consulting. . .