Last updated:Thursday, July 31, 1997, 8:30 a.m.
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Canadian cooperation: Seven Canadian wireless companies will launch a joint venture that will establish a national network of carriers using a digital transmission standard known as global system for mobile communications and set uniform rates for their customers.

Eyes on China: Trying to keep up with scientific and technological developments in China? A Chinese scientific institute will launch soon a national computer service dedicated to that topic; it starts Aug. 6 and will be free until February.

Eyes on government: If you want to keep an eye on the fellows who control your government (and maybe your company's destiny), there's a new web site that contains lots of information about the members of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Spies' eyes: It's a threat to national security to relax the encryption export ban, an official of the super-secret National Security Agency told Congress yesterday. (For another perspective, see the story on our home page about whether encryption helps criminals or not.

Good news, bad news: All those rumors swirling around whether Steve Jobs will return to the top of Apple has done some good for the Apple stock prices, up yesterday. You can keep an eye on the stock price anytime you want, of course. The other paper says that Jobs told Pixar employees he's not going anywhere.

BTW, we've got some useful software here... American governors were apparently dazzled by a demo run by Microsoft founder and CEO Bill Gates, who urged government to more fully computerize.

Fingerprints? The Commodities Futures Trading Commission, which regulates U.S. commodity brokers and dealers, want to require those who put up web pages or discuss commodity trading on the Net to be finger printed, and supply subscribers names and addresses to the agency. Newsletter and book publishers are crying foul, and suing.

Whoa: America Online is trying to steer its users into safer computing by posting an automatic warning when they try to download attachments that have been associated with Trojan Horse programs.

Sun and appliances: Sun Microsystems is going to acquire Diba, which makes network computers. Purchase price is unknown.

It's lonely at the top: Phil White, who resigned as CEO of Informix nine days ago, now surrenders his board seat where he sat as chairman.

Software's a gas: That is, it expands to fill the available space. But the question is: Is it gassing us to death?

Browser or server? Or something in-between? IBM has made available for free download a piece of software that acts as an intelligent concierge, that monitors and remembers your movements on the web, and alerts you to changes, how fast a site is, and other cool stuff.

Or how about a virtual human: We're not kidding. Matsushita Electric says it's developed 3-D computer graphics software for creating animated virtual humans to use over the Internet. They're supposed to be more realistic than the cartoon avatars now in use.

Happy 20th birthday, TRS-80

In Mercury Center today:

Encryption expert revises views
Amdahl swallowed up
Pixar can survive without Jobs
Mike Cassidy: Area code is identity
Chris Nolan: Silicon Valley gossip



The latest stock and market information in Mercury Center's stock page.



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