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Spencer was saddened to hear that Cliff Hillegass, the founder of the popular CliffsNotes study guides, passed away recently. Cliff began publishing the study guides in 1958 with a CliffsNotes version of “Hamlet.” Since then, college students have been allowed to party their butts off, read the CliffsNotes at the last minute and turn in bland, C-average papers. “Im guessing George W. Bush is planning a national monument to this guy,” mused the Mouser.
B2B service provider Ventro may be the latest customer to join in the “exodus from Exodus.” Ventro is reportedly having a bit of trouble relinquishing ties with the Internet hosting company, though. A Tabby tattler claims that Ventro wants to retrieve equipment from Exodus Santa Clara facility but is being denied access by its former business associate.
According to the tipster, the companies are in a financial disagreement, and Ventro may be seeking a court-ordered injunction from the local sheriffs department to gain access to the Exodus facility. A spokeswoman for Exodus refused to comment on the matter.
Spencer hears that the Internet Operators Group has filed an application with the government to receive certification for an Information Sharing and Analysis Center. ISACs are private/public partnerships established to protect critical infrastructure by facilitating information-sharing within an industry and between an industry and the government. Back in January, about 19 high-tech companies formed an IT ISAC to cooperate on cyber-security issues.
IOGs initiative would give ISPs their own forum and would focus on Internet operational problems.
It seems RealNetworks has been practically doing somersaults to spin rumors that AOL may be dropping it as a streaming-media provider. Most of the rumors have pointed to AOL possibly being open to increasing use of Microsofts Windows Media Player.
So, with all the hoopla in the press centered on the big boys, the Puss cant help but ponder the significance of a recent announcement that Loudeye Technologies, a Seattle-based media company, will be providing online music services to AOL.”Wazzup with that?” mumbled the Matted One.
Folks may expect a bug or two with Microsofts products, but the Kitty has heard that an invitation for the companys eXPerience events also may have been a little buggy.
It seems the toll-free phone number Redmond provided for event information was actually the number for a company called Burgess Manufacturing. Sure enough, a very harried woman from Burgess answered the Kittys call to the 800-number and informed the Furry One that the MS event info was actually available at an 877-number. “Theres one lady whos definitely gonna buy an iMac,” laughed the Lynx.
Namezero.com has joined with Sequoia Hospital in Silicon Valley to offer newborns access to free e-mail. By registering the infants name at birth, the child will receive his or her e-mail identity for life. Sequoia is the first medical center in the country to offer free Internet domains to newborns.
“I think I heard of a hospital in the late 70s that used to assign infants their own CB handle,” cackled the convoy-lovin Kitty.