TELECOM Digest     Fri, 9 Sep 94 13:33:00 CDT    Volume 14 : Issue 363

Inside This Issue:                          Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Book Review: "On Internet '94" by Dern/Abbott (Rob Slade)
    ISLIP'94 Final Program Announcement (R. Jagannathan)
    Cell One NY/NJ is becoming "Hell One" (Stan Schwartz)
    Free Demo - Multi-User Virtual Reality (Jim Durward)
    Novel TeleMarketing Dialing System Needed (Rich Williams)
    Help: Computer Voicemail Hard/Software (Peter Salzman)
    Cable & Wireless Won't Give Me Their Rates (Alan Boritz)
    Wanted: Information on CTI (Dermot Wall)
    Help: Universities to Pursue Telecomm Managemant Grad Studies (D. Nyarko)
    Audiovox MXT-950 900 MHz Phone (Dick Kalagher)
    Area Code 562 May Arrive Early (Craig Milo Rogers)

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----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Fri, 09 Sep 1994 11:20:55 MDT
From: Rob Slade <roberts@decus.ca>
Subject: Book Review: "On Internet '94" by Dern/Abbott


BKONIN94.RVW  940606
 
Mecklermedia
11 Ferry Lane West
Westport, CT 06880
"On Internet 94", Dern/Abbott, 1994, 0-88736-929-4, U$34.95/C$44.95
ddern@world.std.com meckler@jvnc.net
 
This is a set of resource listings of mailing lists, texts and
archives, systems, services, newsgroups and WAIS databases on the net.
Of great value to those who act as Internet guides within their own
institutions, this is promised to be an ongoing service, updated on a
yearly basis.
 
The largest section of the book is devoted to mailing lists and
electronic journals, in chapters one and two.  The distinction is not
readily apparent other than in degree of moderation, and this may
account for the fact that a number of lists appear in both chapters.
(Indeed, some entries appear, in slightly different terms, more than
once in a given chapter, since most are listed by list name, but some
are listed by descriptive name.)  Another odd division is the
separation of the reviewed mailing lists to an appendix at the end of
the book.  This work relied upon returns from a questionnaire sent out
by Meckler, which had both advantages and disadvantages.  On the one
hand, if full details were returned, there are some very interesting
datum points which you are not likely to find in the list of lists.
On the other hand, it is obvious that many list owners sent back very
terse entries largely with insufficient instruction on how to get or
use the lists.  Some lists are startling by their absence, and I
therefore assume that the returned questionnaires were the sole source
used.  I would hope to see more editing in future editions.
 
Chapter three refers to electronic texts, archives, ftp sites, and
resource guides.  Obviously, this had to be very selective.  Like the
"catalog" of the Krol book, it is interesting, useful, and even fun,
but definitely limited.  Chapters four, five and six list community,
campus, and commercial systems which may allow greater or lesser
degrees of public access.  Chapter seven is the annotated Usenet
newsgroup list by Spafford and Lawrence.  The final chapter is a list
of WAIS servers.
 
It is certainly handy having all this information in hard copy, and
the research, particularly in the mailing lists, can be quite useful.
At the same time, some general editing needs to be done.  Access
methods still need a bit of work.  The index, for example, at least
has a "Mystery" entry for the DOROTHY-L list, but nothing under
"Literature" or "Writing" (even though these categories exist).  Tech
support types will find no entries at all for desktop, IBM, Mac,
MS-DOS, personal computer or PC.
 
In spite of the gaps, this first effort at "On Internet" shows
significant promise beyond the comparable "Internet: Mailing Lists"
(cf. BKINTMAL.RVW) and I look forward to the 1995 edition.
 
copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994   BKONIN94.RVW  940606. Distribution
permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated newgroups/mailing lists.

DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters
Editor and/or reviewer ROBERTS@decus.ca, RSlade@sfu.ca, Rob Slade at 1:153/733
Author "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" (Sept. '94) Springer-Verlag

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 9 Sep 94 17:12:08 -0700
From: R. Jagannathan <jagan@csl.sri.com>
Subject: ISLIP'94 Final Program Announcement


                          ISLIP '94
SEVENTH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON LUCID AND INTENSIONAL PROGRAMMING
                  FINAL PROGRAM ANNOUNCEMENT 

STARTS Monday  September 26th at 9 AM;  
ENDS   Tuesday September 27th at 530 PM.

WHERE: At SRI International, 333 Ravenswood Avenue, Menlo Park, California.
       A building, Conference Room B

PROGRAM

Talks should take 30 minutes, plus 10 minutes for questions.

Monday, September 26

9:00    Welcoming remarks
        Jaggan Jagannathan and Ed Ashcroft

9:20    Multidimensional Declarative Programming: The Book
        Ed Ashcroft

10:00   Hyperindexical Pandimensional Beings
        Bill Wadge

10:40   Break

11:10   Prescription for Modelling Time in Databases
        Mehmet Orgun

11:50   On the Design of an Indexical Query Language
        Joey Paquet and John Plaice

12:30   Lunch

1:50    Objectflow - Adding Objects to GLU
        Weichang Du and Tony Faustini

2:30    Object-Oriented Implementation of Intensional Languages
        Weichang Du

3:10    Break

3:40    Developing Scientific Applications in GLU
        Pushpa Rao and Jaggan Jagannathan

4:20    Particle Simulation with Lucid
        John Plaice

5:00    End of program for Monday

 
Tuesday, September 27

9:00    Observations on Spreadsheet Languages and Dataflow
        Alan G. Yoder and David L. Cohn

9:40    Adding Eagerness to Eduction
        Jaggan Jagannathan

10:20   Break

10:50   Isomorphisms between Two Groups: An Experiment in Program
        Synthesis and Transformation
        F. Esfandiari and C. T. P. Burton

11:30   Transforming First-Order Functional Programs into Intensional Programs

        of Nullary Variables: Theoretical Foundations
        Panos Rondogiannis and Bill Wadge

12:10   Lunch

2:00    Standard Cell Designs for Hardware Synthesis with Lucid Operators
        Abhay Kejriwal and Ben Huey

2:40    An Object-Oriented Visual Dataflow Language
        Da-Quian Zhang, Sute Lei, and Kang Zhang

3:20    A Visual Programming Environment for GLU
        Dhanraj Rajender and Tony Faustini

4:00    Break

4:30    Panel Discussion

5:30    End of ISLIP 94


HOW TO GET TO SRI: 
 From San Francisco or San Jose Airport, 
take Highway 101 to Willow Road (Menlo Park).  
Go west on Willow Road to Middlefield Road, 
right on Middlefield to Ravenswood Avenue (2nd stop light), 
left on Ravenswood to 333 Ravenswood (main entrance).

PARKING: 
Park in visitors lot in front of building A 

REGISTRATION:
Registration by mail recommended (by September 19th, 1994)
On-site registration possible as a last resort.
Registration form follows.

ACCOMMODATION:
Information on places to stay near SRI follows.

          ISLIP '94 REGISTRATION
            September 26-27, 1994
  SRI International, Menlo Park, Calif., USA

Name _____________________________________________________________

Institution ______________________________________________________

Address __________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

Phone __________________FAX ________________ email________________


Registration fee:  $15.00

Send registration (by September 19th) to:
Judith Burgess
ISLIP 94
Computer Science Laboratory
SRI International
333 Ravenswood Ave.
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Tel. (415) 859-5924, FAX (415) 859-2844
email: burgess@csl.sri.com
 
Please enclose check or money order in US dollars, payable to SRI
International.  No credit cards.  Registration includes break
refreshments -- lunch is on your own.


ACCOMMODATIONS

Note: Prices not guaranteed and not necessarily current.
      Saying you are attending a conference at SRI 
      *may* get you a better rate.

Holiday Inn
625 El Camino
Palo Alto, CA
(415) 328-2800, fax 327-7362
(800) 465-4329
SRI 89/99, gov`t  69/79 if avail.

Menlo Park Inn
1315 El Camino
Menlo Park, CA 94025
(415) 326-7530, FAX 328-7539,
 res 800-327-1315
SRI/gov't 57.00/62.00 
(walking distance)

Mermaid Inn  
727 El Camino
Menlo Park, CA
(415) 323-9481
$48/$58, $60/70 w/kitchen
$62 2bed double
(walking distance)

Riviera Motor Lodge 
15 El Camino Real
Menlo Park, CA 94025
321-8772, FAX 321-2137
$44/52
(long walking distance)

Red Cottage Motel 
1704 El Camino
Redwood City, CA
(415) 326-9010
Reg.  S=$50, D=$60-65
Govt S=$45, D=$55 No tax
(5-10 min. drive)

Stanford Park Hotel
100 El Camino Real
Menlo Park, CA 94025
(415) 322-1234
S=$148-225; D= $158-225
(walking distance)

------------------------------

From: stans@panix.com (Stan Schwartz)
Subject: Cell One NY/NJ is Becoming "Hell One"
Date: 8 Sep 1994 21:06:15 -0400
Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC


A couple of months ago, I posted my dissatisfaction with attempting to
use my cell phone in Montreal, Canada while roaming from NY with a
"Fraud Protection Feature" on my account.  To Cell One's credit, one
of their representatives read the Digest and contacted me directly to
discuss my problem.  The resolution was to:

  A: Have me call customer service before I plan to travel to Canada
     again to have them remove my FPF before I travel there.

  B: Make a notation on my account so that when I call under condition "A"
     I won't get a hard time.

So I believed them.

Last Thursday, I called customer service to have them remove my FPF
before my trip to Toronto.  The rep didn't want to do this and when I
insisted and explained myself, I got the pleasure of holding for five
minutes.  When she returned, after checking with the "technical
department", she confirmed that there is still a problem with the FPF
in Canada and that she would remove the feature.  She begged me to
call back when I returned to re-activate the feature.  She also told
me that Toronto was a NACN city and I should have no problem using my
phone.

Saturday night in Toronto, I tried to make a call and I alternately
got a re-order or a CanTel operator.  When trying to call in from a
pay phone, I got my voice mail.  I tried to activate call delivery
(*350) and that code was not valid in Toronto.  The CanTel rep couldn't 
tell me what the equivalent code was there and he wouldn't/couldn't 
connect me to Cell One NY.  I went down to a pay phone (Bell Canada,
with the neat two-line display), and I called 1-800-242-7327 (CellOne NY
customer service).  I got the menu choices and was holding for a rep
for about 30 seconds when a recording came on to tell me that the
number I dialed could not be reached from my calling area.  BUT I
HAD!!!  

I tried this a couple more times, only to resign myself to the fact
that this was the strangest supervision I had ever encountered.  I
called Cell One's Paramus number and was lucky enough to find that
their switchboard has a voice response option to reach customer
service.  The rep there tried calling my phone a few times (at one
point she said, "Let me try another way.  Hold on."), put me on hold,
and returned to tell me that Toronto IS a NACN city, but because of
the large amount of fraud in the NYC area, I am in a "Pooled Region".
This means that CanTel's system sees that my home area code (516) is
in a high-fraud area and won't complete calls.  Nice, eh?  "Imagine No
Limits" indeed!!!  (The limit is when you reach the Canadian border).

I called CellOne today to make sure that I won't have the same problem
on my next trip to Denver next week.  My conversation went something
like this:

Me:  "I'm calling to see if a couple of cities are in the NACN."
CellOne: "Sure, what cities?"
Me:  "Denver and Toronto."  [ I _HAD_ to see what answer I'd get ;-) ]
CellOne: "Yes, sir, those are both NACN cities, which means that your
 callers won't have to use a roamer access number to reach you."
Me:  "But I was in Toronto last week and I was unable to make calls."
CellOne: "That shouldn't have been a problem."
 .....insert above situation here.....
CellOne: "A pooled region is where Canada's phone companies won't let 
 THEIR customers make calls here.  None of our customers are in 
        a pooled region. "

Now I'm fuming.  Josie (the customer service rep) was kind enough to
do some research, call me back, and file a trouble report.  I'm just
not feeling safe depending on the phone anymore while roaming.
CellOne NY/NJ is probably _THE_ most expensive carrier in the country,
doesn't offer discounted/unlimited weekends, and they can't provide
dependable roaming.  What's the deal!??


Stan

------------------------------

From: jim@virtual.cuc.ab.ca (Jim Durward)
Subject: Free Demo - Multi-User Virtual Reality
Organization: Virtual Universe Corp
Date: Thu, 8 Sep 1994 20:11:45 GMT


                     VIRTUAL UNIVERSE CORPORATION
                    Suite 510, 700 - 4th. Ave. S.W.
                           Calgary, Alberta
                                T2P 3J4
                Tel. (403) 261-5652, Fax. (403)237-0005
               Internet Address - jim@virtual.cuc.ab.ca


                                                   S.E.C.
                                                   Rule 12g3-2(b)  
                                                   File number
                                                   82-3467

                  Alberta Stock Exchange Symbol - VRX


September 8, 1994

                             NEWS RELEASE

   The Company is pleased to announce that it has entered into a
development agreement with Virtual Games Inc.(VGI) whereby VGI will
port its STIMSLUM videogame to The Parallel Universe. This represents
a major step forward as this will be the first commercial application
to run on The Parallel Universe and is expected to be a showcase for
the leading edge technology of both companies.

   VGI's videogame is a first person perspective, three dimensional
texture-mapped, real-time game that takes place in the future on an
abandoned space station. The game is specifically designed to be
playable as a networked game and focuses on a rich playing environment
versus a linear storyline, to provide the players with enhanced
roleplaying interactivity in an alternate virtual society.  Players
can speak to each other anonymously and are able to select and modify
body types and game playing instruments. As Director and Chief
Programmer at VGI, Anselm Hook has extensive videogame experience
including the programming of hit titles such as Sword of Sodan (SEGA),
Dragon's Lair (PC and 3D0), and Maelstrom (PC). The initial STIMSLUM
target platform is the PC-CDROM due the large installed base and the
strong growth in the CDROM market.

   The Company believes that the release of STIMSLUM with The
Parallel Universe will represent the dawning of a new age in real-time
networked videogames.

   The Parallel Universe allows multiple users, regardless of physical
location, to enter into a common networked three dimensional
environment and fully interact with each other in real-time. The
system is enhanced with spatially-relative voice using a proprietary
process dubbed "Steereo". To the company's knowledge, this system is
the only one of its kind in the world and has the significant
advantage of allowing fully interactive three dimensional Virtual
Reality delivery to home, business, or arcade-based computers over
standard telephone lines.

   The Company continues to seek strategic partners in order to
implement its long term plan of worldwide deployment of The Parallel
Universe.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

"Ian T. Tweedie"

Ian T. Tweedie C.A.
President

The Alberta Stock Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved this news
release and the Company takes full responsibility for its accuracy and
content.

FREE VIRTUAL UNIVERSE DEMO SOFTWARE AVAILABLE BY EMAIL.

In order to demonstrate the capabilities of The Parallel Universe,
Virtual Universe is making available a simple demo program that is a
sort of multi-player tankwar. When you enter into the Parallel
Universe using this demo, you are represented as a tank and you can
drive around the playing field while firing at others. You can speak
to the other players while you are playing.  The graphics rendering is
basic as a result of the use of the public domain renderer called
VR386. The demo runs on PC only and requires 386/387 or 486.  USERS
ARE ASKED TO CONCENTRATE ON THE SYSTEM CAPABILITIES, NOT THE GRAPHICS.
Commercial applications such as STIMSLUM will have a much higher
resolution and speed and will be texture-mapped. If you wish to have
the demo emailed to you, please request it from:

                      info@virtual.cuc.ab.ca


Jim Durward             Virtual Universe Corporation
jim@virtual.cuc.ab.ca   voice: 403-261-5652
                        fax  :     237-0005

------------------------------

From: rvw@laplace.math.purdue.edu (Rich Williams)
Subject: Novel TeleMarketing Dialing System Needed
Date: 8 Sep 1994 22:49:31 GMT
Organization: Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana


I am looking for a Automated Dialing system that can be driven by a
Novel Network based database.  This is one of those pain in the *ss
tele-marketing system, that take input from a database dials and once
a real voice is detected switches the phone over to a Lot Lizard. I
know of Unix based versions of this, but these folks want a Novel
system version as the database and network already exist.

So if you sell or know of someone who sells these systems let me know
please. Contact me at rvw@cs.purdue.edu or (317) 494-4246.


Thanks,

Rich  Williams            
rvw@math.purdue.edu          Purdue University
(317) 494-4246               Department of Mathematics
#include <std/disclaimer.h>  West Lafayette, IN 47907

------------------------------

From: psalzman@sfsuvax1.sfsu.edu (Peter Salzman)
Subject: Help: Computer Voicemail Hard/Software
Date: 8 Sep 1994 08:42:02 GMT
Organization: California State University Sacramento


I am desperately looking for the needed hardware and software that is
used in computer voice mail and telepersonals services.

Specifically, my roomate and I would like to start a telephone dating
service where people call up, leave messages in other peoples boxes,
record their own messages, etc etc.

Would some kind soul tell me what I need for this?  If someone has
actually done this I would be appreciative of any tips you can give me,
like system requirements, drive requirements, etc.

Since I cross posted this to a slew of groups, the best thing would be
to email me.  If anyone wants the information, I'd be glad to forward
it.


Thanks so much,

peter

------------------------------

Subject: Cable & Wireless Won't Give Me Their Rates
From: drharry!aboritz@uunet.uu.net (Alan Boritz)
Reply-To: uunet!drharry!aboritz@uunet.uu.net (Alan Boritz)
Date: Fri, 09 Sep 94 08:08:02 EDT
Organization: Harry's Place - Mahwah NJ - +1 201 934 0861


Called this LD provider about DDD service and they wouldn't even talk
to me about rates until they saw a copy of my phone bill!  I was
impressed when I found out that they deliver ANI on interstate calls,
but now I'm not so sure if I'm still "impressed."  Ignoring for the
moment that they stand a good chance of losing a customer every time I
audit a customer's long distance billing where Cable & Wireless is the
PIXC, would anyone be familiar with this vendor's switched-access wats
rates?


aboritz%drharry@uunet.uu.net  or  uunet!drharry!aboritz
Harry's Place (drharry.UUCP) - Mahwah NJ USA - +1-201-934-0861

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 9 Sep 1994 13:34:16 +0000
From: dermot@nt.com
Subject: Wanted: Information on CTI
Reply-To: dermot@nt.com
Organization: Northern Telecom, GALWAY, Ireland


[Please note correct email reply address is gidxw01@nt.com]

I am interested in finding some information on computer telephony, eg
TAPI etc and wonder if anyone could point me to where I could find
some, ideally in the vein of "An Idiot's Guide ...".


Thanks for the help,

DERMOT WALL  EMAIL : gidxw01@nt.com
Northern Telecom    
Galway      
Ireland   ESN :  570 3334 
      
------------------------------

From: nyarko@ee.ualberta.ca (David Nyarko)
Subject: Help: Universities to Pursue Telecomm Managemant Grad Studies
Date: 9 Sep 1994 14:21:24 GMT
Organization: Computer and Network Services, U of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada


Hi,

Could I have some pointers to Universities in Canada and the US for
pursuing a postgraduate program in Telecomms Management.  Please email
responses. This posting is on behalf of a friend without internet
access.


David Nyarko   email: nyarko@bode.ee.ualberta.ca 
Dept. of Electrical Engineering  Tel:(403)-492-5877 (Office)
University of Alberta,               (403)-431-0408 (home)
Edmonton, AB, CANADA          Fax:(403)-492-1811

------------------------------

From: kalagher@mitre.org (Dick Kalagher)
Subject: Audiovox MXT-950 900 MHz Phone
Date: Fri, 09 Sep 1994 13:43:49 -0500
Organization: The MITRE corporation


Has anyone tried this phone?  I saw it at the Price Club and it looks
really nice.  Its a small flip phone (smaller than the Panasonic, I
think) that would easily go in shirt pocket.  It has an LCD display
that apparently lets you store names for speed dialing.  Claims to
have 40 cahnnels but it doesn't say whether it hops over the channels
or somehow selects the best one.  Even has nine different ringer tones
and music while on hold (don't know how this works, though).  The best
part is it is only $199 which is a great price for a 900 MHz phone.

------------------------------

Subject: Area Code 562 May Arrive Early
Date: Thu, 08 Sep 94 21:08:49 PDT
From: Craig Milo Rogers <rogers@ISI.EDU>


 According to an item on p. D2 of the Thu 8 Sep 1994 edition of
the {Los Angeles Times}, areac code 310 is in jeopardy of running out
of numbers.  Consequently, area code 562 may be activiated within a
year.


Craig Milo Rogers

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V14 #363
******************************

