Last updated:Wednesday, July 23, 1997, 8:30 a.m.
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Software that sings: A leading software piracy watchdog group promised corporations and small businesses in Singapore that agreeing to have their software examined will ensure a year's immunity from raids and possible civil suits. It's aimed at curbing the risk of software piracy in that nation.

Get a clue: Or, since we're talking about teenage boys, how about their parents insisting that these kids get a job? A web site that purported to rate 152 middle-school girls has been shut down because it's sexual harassment.

Was traffic the usual nightmare? We know; many of you have just gotten in after the everyday hassle of the commute. Dream over this automated highway experiment; it's just 7.6 miles of an interstate in southern California, but maybe, someday, it will ease your commute just a bit.

Easy access to information is what the Net is all about, so news that there will be online archives of disciplinary actions taken against stockbrokers makes us optimistic about the future.

IBM has reorganized, creating a new unit that would include its personal computer, network computer and consumer operations because lines of distinction between those division have blurred.

Don't forward, please: One hundred e-mails per day isn't that uncommon any more, it's overwhelming the ability of people to cope. A recent Gallup poll says 71 percent of managers, professionals and support staff feel overwhelmed by the volume.

You've got phone calls: In an all-too-quiet decision, America Online will start selling users' phone numbers to telemarketers.

Don't reinvent everything: Existing laws work just fine on the Internet, lawyers concluded. "An important lesson from (the CDA case) is that we don't need a new First Amendment for the 21st century," one of the attorneys said.

Despite recent glitches, the Net is getting more reliable, new statistics from Inverse Network Technology indicate. Most e-mail from big providers arrives at its destination within five minutes; connection rates have improved and web page delivery is more reliable as well.

So you want to be a domain-name registrar? (Just get yourself an electric guitar... oops, flashback to the Sixties). It's going to cost you big bucks. The Policy Oversight Committee (formerly the Internet Ad Hoc Committee) wants $10,000 down with the application, proof of assets totaling $300,000, and liability insurance coverage of $500,000.

Sneak peek: Search engine Alta Vista is redesigning. The release is set for July 26, but here's a sneak peek at the interface.

But the leader in the search engine/web directory field is still Yahoo, a study by Media Matrix (formerly PC Meter) says. The "At Work" study estimated that 48.8 percent "active" Web users visited Yahoo! in April, almost a full percentage point more than those who visited Netscape's home page, and almost 20 percent more than visits to AOL's web page.

That little hijack of InterNIC's visitors to the AlterNIC web site (aimed at protesting Net Solution's policies) has landed in court, but the fellow who fooled most of the Net's name servers into the redirect still sounds jolly.

If you didn't get to Chicago, there are a couple of Net casts of Internet World available: the Pat and Mike show and the keynote address,(which won't be available until Thursday) by AT&T WorldNetService President Tom Evslin who will talk about the infrastructure demands of the Net.

A handful of features: Just in case you want a little diversion today, here are three feature stories about the web: A traveling family makes online friendships; an overview of spam; and the motivation of hackers.

HP's new technology
White out at Informix
Apple hires headhunter



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