Last updated:Tuesday, May 20, 1997, 8:30 a.m.
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A six-pack of Molson and a laptop: What else do you need at college? An Ontario college is going to require laptops for its students (at the bargain lease rate of $875 annually) within three years.

Ticketmaster mollified: It looks like Microsoft's Sidewalk removed the "deep links" to Ticketmaster's ticket-ordering site and that's calmed the tiff between the two, for the moment. But the lawsuit goes on. In case you're worried about the conflict of interest that Microsoft co-founder and Ticketmaster stockholder Paul Allen has in this matter, relax. The Home Shopping Network is buying him out.

Face it: Managing your own PC takes a little more effort than refilling the inkpot and keeping a stash of quills at hand. Even Bill Gates admits that making personal computers easier to manage is Microsoft's top priority.

Building more chips: NEC of Japan, counting on improved forecasts, will increase production 18 percent this year. Note this other report, which says NEC's production last year fell 6 percent.

What's with Kasparov? OK, it's tough to lose a good chess match. But give it up, Garry. Competition is competition.

Microsoft patches: Those "out of band" attacks that afflict Windows 95 users targeted by hackers now has a patch, but here's the rub: Hackers who use Macs may still be able to harass you. (An aside: C|Net's News.com reports that its most-read stories in the past few days have been about Microsoft bugs and fixes.)

Netscape releases Netcaster into public beta testing later this week.

Never count a giant out: Surprise, surprise -- IBM is back, with increasing PC sales, rebounding stock prices and new products.

Take it with a grain of salt: Ad revenue on the web has supposedly grown to $37 million in April; another semi-reliable source says web ad rates have gone up 12 percent.

Psst! Don't tell anybody, but sometimes we buy used gear.

How goes the browser wars: Lycos narrows its third quarter losses to 9 cents per share.

Is it fraud or is it the Net? Those 56K modems won't always speed you along at 56K. Shocked? A California lawyer was, so he filed suit, charging fraud.

Just a reminder: Judging from the missives that pile up in some of the other mailboxes around here, some Net users could use this Netiquette reminder. Copy and forward on to abusers in your organization. And keep those elbows off the table when you type. ;-)

We're not going away: It doesn't matter how low newsprint prices go. We're committed to the online world here at Mercury Center. After all, we've been online for four years this month.

Dear readers: Thanks for the notes last week about problems with Good Morning Silicon Valley e-mail delivery. We're changing hardware and software in an attempt to fix these problems and will have to suspend delivery for a few days while everything's installed. Sorry for the inconvenience. We'll still publish every morning right here on the web, so be sure to stop in.

Making personal computers a lot more manageable is our top priority.
-- Microsoft CEO Bill Gates

In Mercury Center today:

Sun slips through encryption loophole
Microsoft bid for WebTV examined