Each weekend we highlight the most relevant stories we've covered. To find out what's coming up, click over to The Calendar of E-vents.
IPO, the way to go: Shares of the online-rights manager InterTrust more than tripled on the company's first day of trading. InterTrust helps secure and track intellectual property, like text and music (think MP3), on the Net. Investors obviously believe it's going to be big -- really big.
Meanwhile, Buy.com, the company that thinks it can make a profit selling stuff at or below cost, filed papers to go public. Hey, it's the thing to do: This year, 332 companies launched IPOs on Nasdaq in the first nine months, compared to fewer than 200 in the same period a year ago. And professionals who take companies public say the number of actual IPOs pales in comparison to the number of companies that are seriously considering taking the leap.
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Deposit it, or pay: In one of those interesting but ain't-gonna-happen proposals, a top US banker said the country ought to tax folks for holding onto cash. The Fed governor who floated this winner said a "carry tax" will discourage hoarding of currency, deter black market and criminal activities, and boost economic stability during deflationary periods when interest rates hover near zero.
Wait'll next week: The buzz all over Washington was that Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson would release a preliminary decision Friday evening in the government's antitrust case against Microsoft. But it didn't happen.
Sex, sex, sex: Scientists studying genes on the X and Y chromosomes concluded that the biological element that determines sex in humans evolved from a pair of identical chromosomes perhaps 300 million years ago. And that's not all. Another researcher created a strain of transgenic mice whose offspring all turned out to be male, and every one of them had a double X chromosome. In other words, the X and Y chromosome combination may not determine maleness.
Protecting privacy: Canada's House of Commons passed legislation that requires Canadian companies and institutions to obtain informed consent before they collect or disclose personal information. The law, a cornerstone of the government's electronic commerce strategy, still has to make its way through the appointed Senate, where the insurance and health care industries promise to put up a fight.
What the doctor knows: President Clinton was set to propose tightening rules on how the US health care industry handles personal medical information. Under the Clinton plan -- except in cases related to law enforcement, national security, or emergencies -- doctors, hospitals, and health plans will be required to seek written consent to release information for purposes not related to payment and treatment.
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Spec threat: The World Wide Web Consortium said an exhaustive legal analysis determined that software using the W3C's Platform for Privacy Preferences, known as P3P, will withstand a patent-infringement claim by Intermind Corporation. Intermind claims it owns the rights to the technology used for controlling interactions between clients and server software, specifically personal information swapping.
Merging, thanks: Researchers in Virginia said the answer to road rage may be lights that flash messages like "sorry" or "please" to other drivers. Road Rage Reducers would introduce civility into driving by using either color-coded lights or a set number of flashes to convey each idea, its inventors said. Skeptics abound.
Big brother's burden: America Online found that it's not easy censoring content. It was accused of applying its anti-hate policy inconsistently, to which the company said it was doing its best. The online giant's most passionate critics were gay groups, who vowed to burn AOL disks until AOL sits down and talks to them.
The wireless tap: Architect-turned-activist John Young began warning the public that government spies don't need to intercept communications to know what you're typing on your computer. The spooks have even got a cool-sounding a code name for technologies used to intercept and decipher the electromagnetic signals that all computers emit -- TEMPEST. "They're able to do standoff surveillance without tapping," said Young. "That's the most lethal thing in there."
Without a clue: Web sites are a big part of virtually every political campaign, but the Federal Election Commission hasn't figured out how to regulate the medium. Faced with a host of ticklish questions, its most significant act during a daylong discussion in Washington was to ask for the public's opinion on what new rules and regulations it should consider.
First things first: Just a little more than half of US schools are Y2K ready, possibly jeopardizing heating, security, and telecommunications systems across the land, according to a government report. But not to worry if you're a teacher. Most schools have made sure that their accounting and payroll systems are Y2K-OK.
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No-news conference: Marc Andreessen called in the media to announce that they'll have to wait until early next year for an announcement of what his next endeavor is really all about. Whetting appetites, Andreessen did wax bullish on the business prospects of a planned company that could "crack the code" of how to help dot coms set up and manage enormous Web sites with minimal hassle.
Women's Web: Women are good at forming supportive communities and the "Internet is the perfect medium for those kinds of communities to form." Lip Service author M.J. Rose said it, and she should know. Her big break came when writer Sally J. Walker saw Rose's work on the Internet and put her in touch with Joel Gotler of the Artists Management Group/Renaissance agency.
Toy story: The MIT Media Lab and Lego announced another kid-centered venture, with the toymaker ponying up US$5 million to fund a new center for developing technologies for children. Lego and the Lab have been working together for nearly 20 years, since Seymour Papert envisioned placing a computer inside a Lego brick.
Mind shape-up: The latest evidence of just how clever the human body is comes from Canada, where researchers found that older brains can compensate for cognitive decline by routing tasks away from weak areas of the brain toward other, stronger circuits. What's really cool is this discovery opens up the possibility that elderly people with thinking problems could be rehabilitated by retraining their brains.
Zero cents a minute: A site that offers free Web-to-phone calling said its traffic grew by 10,000 users a day since its launch in mid-October. DialPad.com works by digitally transmitting the number through GTE Internetworking, a private fiber-optics network that converts the digital packets into an analog signal that is sent to the phone being called.
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Digital prodigy: "It used to be the only ones who could be entrepreneurs were engineers from MIT or Stanford. [But] the Web opens it up to everybody." That was Silicon Valley VC man Tim Draper's take on Alex Meshkin, the 19-year-old who day-traded a college tuition fund to big profits -- enough to start an Internet company with his brother, who's all of 23. ____
Dotsocialism: Grand thoughts were uttered at the Pop!Tech Conference in Maine last weekend. John Perry Barlow, veep of the Electronic Freedom Foundation, argued that the end is nigh for the ad elite's control of pop culture. With the Web, he said, "people can manifest their culture and send it anywhere."
Barlow, BTW, caught flak on the diversity front when he discussed his work on the standards for creating Internet2. Asked if everyone in his group were Americans, Barlow replied they were. And he added: "But just because you are an American doesn't mean that you are an asshole."
Cracking down: Lots of online sellers of pharmaceuticals are in legal trouble, but for the first time one's been ordered to pay restitution and a fine for its transgressions. The PillBox.com, according to the Missouri attorney general, had provided "consultations" with potential customers for an added fee, and sold them drugs based on that bogus consultation.
Er, nevermind: The sound of backpedaling echoed through Redmond this week, as Microsoft reversed a decision to discontinue its Most Valuable Professional tech support program after a tidal wave of protests. MVPs are unpaid volunteers who aid users of Microsoft products when technical support staff are unavailable or unable to help them.
Stopping AT&T: Bay Area ISPs played the friend-of-consumer card, again, forming an alliance to warn that AT&T's ownership of cable providers could limit choice when it comes to next-generation, high-speed Internet access. AT&T argues that "open access" would rob it of any incentive to do the upgrades necessary to support high-speed cable access to the Net.
Selling to Gen Y: Marketing experts said Web sites are making a mistake in trying to lure kids in with content in order to sell them stuff. "You don't need to fool kids into buying. It's OK just to sell to them," said Cheskin Research's Davis Masten. "It's more important to project a clear and authentic attitude."
Doing good: The Web may not be a major fund-raising medium, but Doctors Without Borders and other charity groups said having an online presence helps out in less direct ways. A user might get information about a particular group's activities over the Internet, for example, and send in a check later -- and that check is likely to be on the large side.
That's the week that was. For information on ongoing goings-on, click over to The Calendar of E-vents.
