Australian PC World articles from June 2000

Australian PC World archives from June 2000

Judge rules: Microsoft broke law.(Company Business and Marketing)
June 1, 2000... US District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson has ruled in his conclusions of law that Microsoft violated federal antitrust laws. The judge found earlier, in findings of fact released last November, that Microsoft is a monopoly. This...

news briefs.(News Briefs)
June 1, 2000... Worm makes emergency calls If your system is on the Net and sharing files, a new virus-like program of a type technically known as a "worm" may be able to download itself into your computer -- without any action on your part. This differs...

Aussies storm Comdex Asia 2000.(Industry Trend or Event)
June 1, 2000... A group of Australian companies have signed up millions of dollars worth of deals in a concerted attack on the Asian market. The 18 companies launched a two-pronged attack on Singapore recently and came away with a wide range of agreements...

Storm brews over new memory.(Company Business and Marketing)
June 1, 2000... For some time now, Intel has been promoting a new memory standard for PCs that use its processors -- RDRAM, a high speed product designed by the Rambus corporation. According to Intel, its advantages include higher bandwidth (the amount of...

Utility combats spyware.(Product Announcement)
June 1, 2000... Are you warming up to advertising-supported software, which can mean getting a full-featured program essentially for free? The "catch" is that ads are part of the interface, and they're watching you while you're watching them, privacy...

Digital spies are watching you.(Government Activity)
June 1, 2000... According to intelligence experts in Australia, the United States and Europe, a massive electronic intercept program called Project Echelon scans all Internet traffic, cell phone conversations, faxes, and long-distance telephone calls --...

GST software wars.(Company Business and Marketing)
June 1, 2000... A war is brewing among accounting software providers over which can provide the most compliant GST solution. Fresh from an Australian Tax Office-led Tax and Technology Road Show, local provider Sybiz is claiming that its product, Vision,...

Catch me if you can.(Internet/Web/Online Service Information)
June 1, 2000... Cheating is always a risky shortcut for any student. Most have probably tried it at some stage, and many have been caught. With the Internet being used to illegally distribute software or music, it is no real surprise that it can also be a...

online news.(Government Activity)
June 1, 2000... Online government -- Act One While the National Party continued to raise concerns over the quality and availability of communications technology in the bush, the Federal Government has said it is a step closer to putting most of its...

MetaCreations Carrara.(Software Review)(Evaluation)
June 1, 2000... GRAPHICS SOFTWARE Named after Michelangelo's favourite marble quarry, MetaCreations' $799 Carrara is billed as the "complete" 3D modelling tool for artists and designers. Inspired by its siblings Ray Dream and Infini-D, Carrara collects...

Leo BabyNet PC.
June 1, 2000... LEGACY-FREE PC If you thought PC's couldn't get any smaller or change radically in appearance -- think again! The Leo BabyNet PC made a stay in our Test Centre this month amid comments of "oh, that's pretty" and "ooh, what's that?" from...

Epson Stylus Photo 870 and Sony UP-DP10.(Hardware Review)(Evaluation)
June 1, 2000... PHOTO PRINTERS It's only logical: when you print digital photos, you want results that look, feel and last as if they came from a photo lab. Two new photo printers -- Epson's $799 Stylus Photo 870 and Sony's $680 (ex tax) UPDP10 -- come as...

Halfbrain.com's BrainMatter and Bitlocker.(Company Business and Marketing)
June 1, 2000... CALCULATING WEB SITES Who needs Excel? Halfbrain .com's BrainMatter isn't for macro maniacs, but this Web-based spreadsheet may be all you need. If you travel a lot and need to use a spreadsheet or database at different work sites, you...

Dell Dimension B-1000r Special Edition.(Hardware Review)(Evaluation)
June 1, 2000... 1000MHZ PENTIUM III PC To celebrate the milestone of processor power reaching 1000MHz, Dell has released a Special Edition version of its Dimension XPS B-1000r. Based on the Intel 1GHz processor, this system includes 256MB of PC700 RDRAM,...

SurfSaver Pro 2 and Web Space Professional.(Product Announcement)
June 1, 2000... WEB UTILITIES Finding information on the Web is easy; organising it can be a nightmare. AskSam's $US30 SurfSaver Pro 2 and Giage's $US179 WebSpace Professional go beyond browser bookmark tools to help you save and organise information --...

WinFax Pro10.(Product Announcement)
June 1, 2000... FAX SOFTWARE Most fax software makes sending and receiving faxes with your PC possible, though not exactly uncomplicated. The unrivalled flexibility and intelligence of Symantec's WinFax Pro have long set it apart from the crowd. The...

Macromedia Director 8.(Product Announcement)
June 1, 2000... MULTIMEDIA SOFTWARE When it comes to creating multimedia content, Macromedia Director has absolutely no peer. Now in version 8 for both the Macintosh and PC platforms, Director has matured into a comprehensive package no self-respecting...

CuteFTP 4.(Product Announcement)
June 1, 2000... FILE TRANSFER SOFTWARE The release of CuteFTP 4 rounds off a significant number of improvements in this robust FTP program over the 12 months. For years, it has introduced beginners to FTP and is clearly gaining the edge over competitors...

Castlewood Orb 2.2GB USB.(Hardware Review)(Evaluation)
June 1, 2000... REMOVABLE STORAGE As the files transferred between PCs get bigger, so, too, do the mass storage devices we use to transfer them and back them up. The Orb is a 2.2GB drive based on magnetic media, giving higher speed than optical storage...

HP DeskJet 930C.(Hardware Review)(Evaluation)
June 1, 2000... INKJET PRINTER The DeskJet 930C, weighing just under 6kg, feels somewhat heavier than the average inkier printer of this size, which is hopefully an indication that there's lots of good stuff inside. Its stylishly rounded grey casing holds...

Adobe LiveMotion.(Software Review)(Evaluation)
June 1, 2000... WEB GRAPHICS AND ANIMATION SOFTWARE Users of Macromedia Flash will certainly want to take a look at a new offering from Adobe called LiveMotion. Flash has become the de facto standard for streaming Web animation and interaction and, until...

Netscape 6.(Software Review)(Evaluation)
June 1, 2000... WEB BROSWER Netscape is back. After three years with nothing but point releases, the browser that helped put the Web into gear is revving up again -- so radically altered that its creators decided to change its name and skip a release...

Beware of the speedbumps.(Australian Telecommunications Users Group 2000 conference)(Industry Trend or Event)
June 1, 2000... Telecommunications company UUNet spruiks that, in the future, every device connected to mains power will have an IP address. It is a world where the television and the computer merge; where utilities piggyback information services to each and...

Who is winning the desktop race?(Linux)(Product Information)(Column)
June 1, 2000... It seems that someone writes at least once a week to tell me why Linux can never succeed on the desktop. Invariably, the proof they offer is in the form of a list of the problems they had installing and running Linux or Linux applications. ...

When did phones become Nikes?(mobile phones)(Industry Trend or Event)
June 1, 2000... I went to buy some sports shoes. There amidst a wall of design choice -- Nike, Reebok, Asics, Puma, Adidas, running, walking, cross-training, hi-top, low-top, gel, pump and hydroflow -- I wondered when men started to care so much about shoes....

Travelling on the Net.(Internet/Web/Online Service Information)
June 1, 2000... If there's anything guaranteed to test the reliability of the systems you take for granted, it's travelling. These days it really is easy to book a trip using one of the Internet travel sites. But have you ever changed your plans mid-trip? None...

Readers forum.(Technology Information)
June 1, 2000... Technical value I couldn't help noticing two letters, both of which referred to problems the authors were having getting their PCs upgraded ("Hardware Woes", PCW March 2000 and "A male domain", PCW April 2000). I have no doubt that there...

Cyber cents.(Industry Trend or Event)
June 1, 2000... MANAGE YOUR MONEY ONLINE Last year 6 million Australian adults -- or about 44 per cent of the adult population -- accessed the Internet, but less than 4 per cent used the Internet for online banking. Our population remains suspicious of...

PCs in your pocket.(Buyers Guide)
June 1, 2000... PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANTS HAVE GONE FROM GEEKY GADGETS TO PROFESSIONAL POWER TOYS (EVEN THE PM SPORTS ONE). WITH THE LATEST PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS, SOME NEW HUES, AS WELL AS PRICING TO SUIT A RANGE OF BUDGETS -- NOW'S THE TIME TO CHECK OUT...

Is Linux right for you?(Product Information)
June 1, 2000... LAST YEAR WAS ONE BIG COMING-OUT PARTY FOR LINUX. Attended by the buzz worthy of a Microsoft product launch, this Unix-like operating system arrived on the computing scene as the Next Big Thing. Existing Linux companies made plans to go public,...

Windows 2000 performance tests.(Hardware Review)(Evaluation)
June 1, 2000... In this feature we endeavour, via benchmark testing comparisons, to show you how your applications will perform under different configurations if you do decide to use Windows 2000. To get the most from their Windows 2000 system, people...

HOME PCs.(Hardware Review)(Evaluation)
June 1, 2000... 1 Peripherals Plus Athlon 700 In the No. 1 position on the Home chart, the Peripherals Plus Athlon 700 -- with its blazing performance and fully featured configuration -- represents power, versatility and value for either the enthusiast or...

BUSINESS PCs.(Hardware Review)(Evaluation)
June 1, 2000... 1 Gateway E-4400 Power-hungry business users have no need to look past the Gateway E-4400, for it provides the latest advancements in PC technology, such as Rambus, ATA66, AGP 4x and a 133MHz front side bus, as well as essential networking...

SUB-$2000 PCs.(Hardware Review)(Evaluation)
June 1, 2000... 1 Beyond SuperO M-Class NEW For under $2000, this Pentium III-powered system is highly recommended if you're looking for a bang for your buck! It comes configured with a 600MHz processor, 128MB of SDRAM, a TNT2 M64 graphics adapter, a...

POWER NOTEBOOKS.(Evaluation)
June 1, 2000... 1 Gateway Solo 2150xl Deluxe NEW At $4799, this machine is outstanding value for money from the flagship of the Solo 2150 range. This feature-rich desktop replacement, weighing little more than 3kg, consistently handled all the benchmarks...

VALUE NOTEBOOKS.(Hardware Review)(Evaluation)
June 1, 2000... 1 Compaq Armada M300 NEW IT managers and frequently travelling end users alike should be pleased with the magnificently packaged $4416 Compaq Armada M300. The configuration of an Intel Pentium III 500MHz processor, 64MB of SDRAM, 6GB hard...

WEBCAMS.(Hardware Review)(Evaluation)
June 1, 2000... Digital cameras aimed at Internet use have been around for a few years now. When PC World last looked at webcams, in December 1999, devices using a parallel port were the norm, and although USB (Universal Serial Bus) devices were in use, they...

Sun's StarOffice 5.2 beta.(Software Review)(Evaluation)
June 1, 2000... This month, LinuxWorld.com.au reviews the beta release of Sun Microsystems office suite, StarOffice 5.2. Available free by download from Sun's Web site (www.sun.com/staroffice/), StarOffice is a cross-platform, total office product that runs on...

Multihead in X.(Technology Information)
June 1, 2000... Multihead is a relatively new feature in XFree86 and allows a user to run two or more monitors simultaneously while in X. This has been possible since XFree 3.3.x, but has only become particularly useful in the newly released XFree 4.0 (see...

Beowulf: a new approach to supercomputing.(Technology Information)
June 1, 2000... What do you get when you cross off-the-shelf hardware and Linux? You get a powerful, highly standardised supercomputer called Beowulf. And you get it cheap. The University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratories built a Linux...

Multi-boot: Adding Linux and BeOS to your Windows machine.(Technology Information)
June 1, 2000... The trial of more than one operating system on a single PC is far more difficult than that of different application software. Yet, in order to ensure you are using the most suitable operating system, installing and using alternative operating...

Give us this day our daily tip.(Product Support)
June 1, 2000... Remember when you first installed Windows 95 and that annoying "Welcome to Windows 95" message appeared in the middle of the screen every time you rebooted? Remember how quickly you unchecked `Show this Welcome Screen next time you start...

Open one file type in different applications.(Product Support)
June 1, 2000... Windows recognises a file's type by its three-digit file extension (which Windows 2000 hides by default) and will associate each type with one application. What if you open a file in multiple applications? You could do this in Windows 9x, but...

Wireless networking with AirPort.(Product Support)
June 1, 2000... These days, a Mac that's not on a network is a very lonely beastie. iMacs and iBooks especially are designed from the ground up to be connected to other computers -- how else can you share files with no floppy? But networking can be a daunting...

WINDOWS 9x.(Product Support)
June 1, 2000... Protect against catastrophic installs Installing software is dangerous. Every time you put another program onto your system, you run the risk of breaking something that's already there. And uninstalling a new app doesn't always fix a...

INTERNET.(Product Support)
June 1, 2000... Command your modem with HyperTerminal Once upon a time, connecting to an online service required an artefact called communications software. If you're a relative PC geezer like me, you may remember some of the leading titles -- Procomm...

WORD PROCESSING.(Product Support)
June 1, 2000... Build automatic return addresses in Word The envelope and labels dialogue box in Word 97 and 2000 (Tools-Envelopes and Labels) automatically fills in a return address for you. But where does that address come from? And what if it isn't the...

SPREADSHEETS.(Product Support)
June 1, 2000... Surprise, surprise! Excel can handle fractions Some types of data, such as stock market quotes, normally display as fractions, not decimals. To enter a fraction in Excel, type the whole number (or integer) followed by a space, and then type...

HARDWARE.(Technology Information)
June 1, 2000... How to overcome your BIOS fear Beneath the colourful screens and fancy pull-down menus of your PC lurks the BIOS -- a bit of software that acts as the subconscious of your PC. And just as your subconscious controls your behaviour, your...

bugs & fixes.(Product Information)
June 1, 2000... Office 2000 SR1 Microsoft has announced the release of SR1 for Office 2000. At the moment, this is only available as an active download from their site. First download a small file (130KB), which will check your system and then --...

skills.(Product Information)
June 1, 2000... Linux training takes off When a heavyweight like IBM supports Linux from thin client up to the S/390 enterprise server, and vendors like SAP and Oracle are porting their software to Linux, then it's clear Linux has achieved credibility...

Hacking Exposed.(Review)
June 1, 2000... Hacking Exposed Network Security Secrets & Solutions BY STUART MCCLURE, JOEL SCAMBRAY, GEORGE KURTZ Hacking Exposed is a security handbook that shows how attacks are mounted on a network, and ways of defeating them. As the book is aimed at...

I Want My MP3.(Review)
June 1, 2000... I want my MP3 BY BILL MANN There has been a rush recently of MP3 books onto the market, and most are simply not worth the time. I want my MP3 is typical. From the outset, the author never really establishes that he fully understands MP3s....

Making Money Online (The neatest little guide to ...).(Review)
June 1, 2000... Making Money Online (The neatest little guide to...) BY JASON KELLY Like many books dealing with the Internet, Making Money Online omits key information and is full of irrelevant fluff. The first half of this book has very little to do...

The Kooks Museum.(Directory)
June 1, 2000... www.teleport.com/~dkossy/kooksmus.html The Internet is a haven for anyone who thinks differently from the crowd -- and some people think very differently indeed. Dedicated to the efforts of those who are obsessed with weird ideas -- simple...

Memepool.(Internet/Web/Online Service Information)
June 1, 2000... www.memepool.com Web reviewers probably shouldn't reveal all their secrets, but Memepool is just too good not to mention. This page is what's known as a Weblog, and it's a great place to find new Web sites to review. Weblogs are a class of...

Soulbath.(Directory)
June 1, 2000... www.soulbath.com This is digital art -- not a Web page containing digitised versions of music or paintings, but a site that is a work of art in itself. Using Macromedia Flash as the canvas, the artists paint with subtle interactive images...

Peacefire.(Industry Trend or Event)
June 1, 2000... www.peacefire.org The use of filtering software for Internet censorship is an issue that will grow in importance over the next few years, and this is a site that will give you all the information that the software's manufacturers don't...

gadgets.(Company Business and Marketing)
June 1, 2000... Sony CyberShot This 2.1 megapixel camera from Sony counts as a gadget because it bends in the middle. The 10x zoom lens rotates with respect to the camera body, which is probably not as important as the fact that it is manufactured by Carl...

gizmos.(Company Business and Marketing)
June 1, 2000... Spirit Set-Top Surfer The dreaded WebTV has finally set foot in Australia, but before you head for the hills, consider the advantages of an inexpensive, easy-to-use Net connection you can control from the comfort of your lounge. The...

Evolva.(Software Review)(Evaluation)
June 1, 2000... Once in a while, a game comes along that defies classification. Often combining elements from different genres, they tend to be overlooked by the gaming masses, who prefer easy labels like "first-person shooter" or "real-time strategy". Evolva...

Metal Fatigue.(Software Review)(Evaluation)
June 1, 2000... The real-time strategy realm, once overflowing in cheap clones, has been relatively quiet this year. Apart from gems like Age of Kings and Homeworld, and overblown disappointments like Tiberian Sun, new games have been far and few between. ...

Superbike 2000.(Software Review)(Evaluation)
June 1, 2000... Real-world course, riders and teams from the 1999 racing season, along with the game's truly impressive graphics, help rocket Superbike 2000 off the starting line and into high gear -- and for those unfortunates who wipe out, into some of the...

bytesback.(News Briefs)
June 1, 2000... Scientific or pornographic? Have you ever known the unspeakable horror of sending off an e-mail with an attachment and then realising, after it's far too late to do anything about it, that you sent entirely the wrong attachment? Clearly,...

INTRODUCTION.
June 1, 2000... eComWorld is designed to help small and medium businesses join the online economy. Our goal is to help 2001 businesses start online ventures by 2001. In its infancy, the Internet was the domain of the technically elite. Internet use --...

How the Internet works for business.(Industry Trend or Event)
June 1, 2000... The Internet works for business in the same way that the telephone does: it makes it easier to communicate with people. Using the Internet makes it much easier for you to sell to customers here in Australia and even overseas. Depending on...

Why did you decide to take the plunge into e-commerce?(Industry Trend or Event)
June 1, 2000... Electronic commerce can be used as a tool to grow businesses. It opens up a new window of opportunities. By employing the opportunities provided by the Internet and electronic commerce, large businesses as well as small and medium-sized...

Work with the experts and you won't have to reinvent the wheel to go online.(Industry Trend or Event)
June 1, 2000... You're satisfied that e-commerce would benefit your business, but how do you go about getting online? The first step is to understand what needs to be done. It is important to realise that going online is not a one-off event. It is a...

Strategy, Strategy, Strategy!(Industry Trend or Event)
June 1, 2000... You're a believer in online commerce and you know you need to rewire your business to stay competative in the new economy -- but you're not quite sure where to go next. With software, form follows function, as a program manager friend of...

Internet technology enabling your business.(Industry Trend or Event)
June 1, 2000... Smart companies are beginning to sport `Internet Inside' tags like PCs wear `Intel Inside'. The reason is that using the Internet and related technologies can save a company time and money as well as increase staff and business intelligence....

Building an information site.(Industry Trend or Event)
June 1, 2000... The old adage "walk before you run" is one that any business person looking to add an online component to their enterprise should heed. For those unfamiliar with creating Internet sites, the easiest way to learn is by building one. Through...