Tuesday, February 2

If you couldn't figure out how Hondo's magic web page could guess which card you picked, here's the answer.

Margot Williams of The Washington Post looks at the mysteries of getting full performance out of 56K modems, and helpful web sites (including 56K.COM).

Mike Landberg of The San Jose Mercury News serves up the most in-depth article about free ISP NetZero that anyone has written.

Computer Reseller News has details about the Palm III X due this month, along with sketchy details about the Palm IV and V.

Microsoft is investing $500 million in NTL, Britain's third-largest cable network.

TDK has a V.90 version of its modem/ISDN PCMCIA card.

Apple has posted the entire System 7.5.3 operating system as a free download. The MacOS is now up to 8.5.1, so this is an old version, but it's amazing that it's free. Originally, the Mac operating system was free and you could upgrade legally by copying disks at the local Apple dealer or Mac users group. That changed with System 7.1 and the OS has been a profit center ever since.

Dana Baggett found another Apple tech note on iMac modem issues. This one covers iMac "modem not responding" issues.

In response to problems with auction fraud, eBay has changed their user agreement. Registered users received this notification last week:

We are committed to improving your experience at eBay. Based on suggestions from our users, we decided to revise the User Agreement. This agreement clarifies and improves your rights and responsibilities while bidding and selling at eBay. To learn more about this revision, please go http://pages.ebay.com/aw/uarevision1-faq.html. To see the revised User Agreement, please go to http://pages.ebay.com/aw/user-agreement.html.

In addition, we have added to the User Agreement FAQ which is available at:

http://pages.ebay.com/aw/agreement-faq.html.

This email provides you thirty (30) days advanced notice of these changes. The User Agreement revision will be effective March 5, 1999.

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Friday, February 5

Comsys Communications and Wireless Link announced ComCell, a data-over cellular solution to wireless Internet access that offers speeds up to 40K.

Beginning October 1, Californians in the 408 area code have to dial 1 plus the area code plus the number when calling other people in the 408 area code. All of California may come under a similar plan because of the proliferation of cell phones, faxes, and data lines.

News.com reports on BellAtlantic's unwillingness to offer ADSL for any Mac other than the iMac, along with the company's change of heart following an online campaign. MacInTouch's Rick LePage reports on his experiences ordering ADSL service for his Macintosh. Mac users frequently run into resistance with cable modem and DSL ISPs, and sometime even with traditional analog modem ISPs. Note to ISPs: Mac users usually raise so much hell that you have to give in and support them, so save yourself the trouble and support Mac customers from the beginning.

Intel caught a lot of flack for serializing CPUs, but it turns out that there is nothing new under the sun, CPU-serialization-wise.

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Card trick answer

If you haven't tried the card trick for yourself, you owe it to yourself to prove that it really works. How it works is simple. On the first page you pick a card. On the second page you click your heals, which helps you forget the other cards on the page. On the third page you see a set of cards and are told that Hondo has removed your card. Sure enough, your card isn't there. That's because none of the cards from the first page are on the third page!

This is apparently an old trick that predates the web. Dave Farrell wrote about an almost identical site in this weekend's Roadside Attractions, a syndicated column that runs in U.S. newspapers.

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