[Stefan98.com - The number ONE source for YOU !] (GMT +1) Latest News Latest News Best experienced with * Windows 98 Build 1581 [Microsoft Internet Explorer] Well, our dear friends at Redmond seem to get ready for their develepor conference in San Diego 1024x768 on 256. in the week of September 22. First, I got my hands Hosted by on NT 5.0. Now MS has released a brand-new build [Virtual Servers] of Windows 98 on September 11, namely build 1581. Here's the scoop: Also visit o Newest build of IE4 ever (1703.1) [MyDesktop.com : The Ultimate site for your desktop] o Improved stability o Better toolbar control Download o ALL settings everywhere are remembered at [Get Pointcast - F R E E !] last! o "Failed to boot" help Click to subscribe [Get Pointcast Connections - F R E E !] This last feature is to be understood as follows: Statistics made with If Windows 98 stops during a boot or fails before [HIT LIST : Ultimate Log Analysis] the shell is active and you restart, a box/screen appears with the boot failure reason and gives you [Microsoft Sitebuilder Network Level TWO Member] options to deal with the failure. This is very useful indeed! [Tech Planet] * Update on my Celine Dion Page [IE 4 - Daily Tips] I sometimes get mail complaining that I concentrate on Windows too much. Well, here's [Are you on the list ? C L I C K H E R E !] something to prove you wrong. Incidentally, if you really like to see something [Starting Point] else than my Microsoft coverage, be sure to check out my personal pages. They not only include info on Celine Dion, but also on Chris Rea, background info on myself and a Star Trek section. * Windows NT 5.0 beta 1 I am VERY happy to give to you this WORLD PREMIERE of Windows NT 5.0 beta 1 To be released by Microsoft on September 22 on its developer conference in San Diego. Enjoy! * Microsoft bans applets, ZDNet reports SEATTLE (DBC) -- Bill Gates' opposition to cross-platform language Java is so strong that Microsoft has issued an edict to Web developers to remove all applets from the company's Web sites, ZDNet reported Friday. The report says the ban on Java, developed by Sun Microsystems, is the result of several weeks' of study inside the company and "speaks volumes about Microsoft's antipathy toward Java." Webmasters are reported removing as many as 570 applets on the company's various Web sites including MSN, and the Microsoft Developer Network site, the report said. * New WebTV technology speeds Net access WebTV has come up with technology that helps get around the current bandwidth limitations of the Net to deliver high-quality, high-speed Web images and video, Business Week reported in its new edition Friday. The key is a new chip that puts a TV tuner, a cable modem and a high-speed PC modem into one unit, the magazine said. Calling it "bandwidth-busting technology," Business Week says the promise of this new system is the r eason Microsoft chairman Bill Gates bought the company last Spring. The new version of WebTV's access device is set for public introduction Sept. 16, the magazine said. * NetChannel signs ISPs GridNet, PSINet, and UUNet were announced as Internet service providers for the RCA's NetChannel Web-surfing box to be formally launched Monday, according to the Communications Daily newsletter. The three services will provide $19.95, flat-rate, Net access for the service which has been operating since Labor Day. NetChannel, a competitor to Microsoft's WebTV, says it has agreements with more than 30 content providers to tailor content for its Net-access-by-television service. RCA is the only manufacturer of NetChannel boxes, but additional hardware suppliers are to be announced in the "very near future," the newsletter reported Friday. * Cable TV operators stand-offish to Net access This week's announcement by Bensalem, Pa.'s Worldgate Communications that it's rounded up investors and suppliers to produce a set-top box for Internet access is drawing skepticism about its success. Virginia Brooks of Aberdeen Research says the cable industry is slow to adopt to new technology. She explained, saying "The cable guys have the least savvy, I think, about doing this sort of information exchange," PC World reported. Media consultant Gary Arlen says the cable guys are simply bottom-line focused. He pointed out Cable Labs is offering a cable broadband modem which can be rented for $40 a month. Worldgate's service, on the other hand, may be priced at $5 a month. "Cable operators, when they look at business models, start to think, 'Where's the cash cow in this," Arlen told PC World radio. * Report: Mining Company to change focus A spokesman for one of three venture capital firms which has made new multi-million dollar investment in The Mining Company, a Web navigation and content-aggregating venture, says what the site is today is not likely to be what it will be in the future. Dixon Doll, of Doll Capital Management, said founder Scott Kurnit now has enough financing to "build something significant here. And it is something that does not resemble what the media and the world think of The Mining Company today," according to an exclusive report by Inter@ctive Week online. The report says the Web effort is likely to shift to corporate users and applications. Today, The Mining Company offers about 500 topic pages, maintained by volunteers, who create their own content and point visitors to resources on the Net, by various categories and interests. * Blacks replace mainstream media with online African-American families spend twice as much time online per household as their white counterparts, according to a market research report released this week. The author of "The Buying Power of Black America," Ken Smikle, said African-Americans are going online in reaction to the consolidation of media and buyouts of many black radio stations, Wired news reported. "Over the last ten years, black public-affairs programming has virtually disappeared from the airwaves," Smikle said. He added that disillusionment with TV and radio programming "of questionable quality" is driving blacks onto the Net. * Microsoft will change Internet Explorer 4.0 before it's released Microsoft will change Internet Explorer 4.0 before it's released on September 30. To begin with, there will be a bare-bones "browser-only" version, just like Netscape has with Navigator 4.0. This will be an 8-10MB download. Apart from this extra version, Microsoft has also decided to put some "new" features off by default, like the "one-click metaphor" instead of the double-click you're used to. For those who just got used to it: don't worry, the option is stil lthere, but you'll have to turn it on by yourself. The browser-only version won't change your start menu and taskbar either, nor will it have Active Desktop enabled. Moreover, over half of the corporate beta testers said they didn't see much use for that feature anyway. The release of IE 4.0 will contain a new font embedding technology jointly developed by Microsoft and Adobe systems, enabling you to incorprate all kinds of Truetype and Type1 fonts in your site, the browser wil do the rest. In an effort to greatly facilitate the "call from anywhere to anywhere at any time" principle, Microsoft will include a new technology in NT for this based on a brand-new connection manager. Microsoft is, as usual, hish-hush about this and wouldn't say a thing, but I can say for one that's in build 1627 of NT 5. * Windows 98 on this site ? Microsoft reacts... My web site seems to become more and more popular. Remember the mail from Microsoft from a month ago when I was asked to remove the FrontPage 98 preview (it was posted way ahead of the beta release). Well, I've got another mail from Microsoft today. This time it was about Windows 98. It seems some beta tester has "recommended" my site to them (and I already know who it is) . Next thing I know, I get a link from their homepage LOL. However, I fear it'll not come to that at all. From his mail, I could deduct that he didn't seem too happy with my reporting.... Maybe it's my British English instead of the American variant? LOL * Windows 98 beta site and password I've got numerous e-mail requests for the beta site (and password) for Windows 98 this past few weeks. No use to try this anymore, these requests will be ignored. * Microsoft sets Explorer date Microsoft said Tuesday that it would release its Explorer 4.0 suite of Web-browsing software on Sept. 30, including communication and collaboration tools and Active Channel content. The company said it will take orders until Sept. 19 for a "Commemorative Edition" CD-ROM containing Explorer 4.0 for Windows 95 and NT to help people "avoid the anticipated download demand and be among the first" to have the software. The disc will cost $4.95. A disclaimer on the Microsoft site says, "Please allow 6-8 weeks for shipment." * Windows 98 build 1564 ! As promised, here is some info on the (so far) newest build of Windows 98, build 1564. This build doesn't add anything new, it just contains loads and loads of fixes, including the ones that were in build 1559. Click HERE for screenshots. * Members Only ! There have been 1110 people who send it solutions for our site-contest thus far. 132 of them were correct. They have been upgraded to site members already and are reaping the fruits from it. Not a member yet? Solve My Puzzle correctly and you'll be one! [Pieter's Grandprix 2 Homepage] Send mail to webmaster@stefan98.com with questions or comments about this web site. Copyright © 1997 Stefan Assmann -------------------------------------- Special thanks to : Sigurd Knippenberg for his constructive help on this site. You can visit his site on : http://sigurd.knippenberg.com/ --------------------------------------