          ͻ
      NEWS           THE San Diego County BBS List (with     
             NEWS & NOTES) is distributed each Friday. 
      AND           Look for it each week on your favorite  
    ܲ۲      BBS in the San Diego area.  If you detect  
      NOTES ۲       an error or omission, please leave a note  
      in the county-wide NET202_BBSLIST echo or  
       April  1, 1994        on the 9-1-1 BBS @ 669-0385 1:202/123.     
    ͼ

Ŀ
 There are  3 new and  5 revised entries this week.   1 board  was  marked   
 "down".  A total of  9 changes.  Another 20 obsolete listings were removed. 

ķ
       > Does anyone know about the text file re: converting your            
       > 2400 modem to a high speed?                                         
                                                                             
     Yes, I have the kit to convert your 2400 baud to a 14.4K modem.         
     Simply send me your old 2400 baud modem, and $150 for the "kit",        
     and I'll send you back a 14.4K modem.  It's that simple.                
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          The following is NOT an APRIL FOOL'S story........                 
                                                                             
                                                                             
          BEFUDDLED PC USERS FLOOD HELP LINES, .........                     
                AND NO QUESTION SEEMS TO BE TOO BASIC                        
                                                                             
   AUSTIN, Texas -  The exasperated help-line caller said she couldn't       
   get her new Dell computer to turn on.  Jay Ablinger, a Dell Computer      
   Corp. technician, made sure the computer was plugged in and then asked    
   the woman what happened when she pushed the power button. "I've pushed    
   and pushed on this foot pedal and nothing happens," the woman replied.    
   "Foot pedal?" the technician asked. "Yes," the woman said, "this little   
   white foot pedal with the on switch."  The "foot pedal," it turned out,   
   was the mouse.                                                            
                                                                             
   The questions are often so basic that they could have been answered by    
   opening the manual that comes with every machine.  One woman called       
   Dell's toll-free line to ask how to install batteries in her laptop.      
   When told that the directions were on the first page of the manual,       
   says Steve Smith, Dell director of technical support, the woman replied   
   angrily, "I just paid $2,000 for this damn thing, and I'm not going to    
   read a book."                                                             
                                                                             
   Compaq's help center in Houston, Texas, is inundated by some 8,000        
   consumer calls a day, with inquiries like this one related by             
   technician John Wolf: "A frustrated customer called, who said her brand   
   new Contura would not work. She said she had unpacked the unit, plugged   
   it in, opened it up and sat there for 20 minutes waiting for something    
   to happen.  When asked what happened when she pressed the power switch,   
   she asked, 'What power switch?'"                                          
                                                                             
   Seemingly simple computer features baffle some users. So many people      
   have called to ask where the "any" key is when "Press Any Key" flashes    
   on the screen that Compaq is considering changing the command to          
   "Press Return Key."                                                       
                                                                             
   Some people can't figure out the mouse. Tamra Eagle, an AST technical     
   support supervisor, says one customer complained that her mouse was       
   hard to control with the "dust cover" on. The cover turned out to be      
   the plastic bag the mouse was packaged in. Dell technician Wayne          
   Zieschang says one of his customers held the mouse and pointed it at      
   the screen, all the while clicking madly.                                 
                                                                             
   Disk drives are another bugaboo. Compaq technician Brent Sullivan says    
   a customer was having trouble reading word-processing files from his      
   old diskettes. After troubleshooting for magnets and heat failed to       
   diagnose the problem, Mr. Sullivan asked what else was being done with    
   the diskette. The customer's response: "I put a label on the diskette,    
   roll it into the typewriter..."                                           
                                                                             
                          The Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, March 1, 1994.   

ķ
    > Some innocent little twerp, skipping along with a dee dee dum dum,     
    > dee dee dum dum... here I go, tra la la la....  Some cute little       
    > little guy with his cute little Q.W.K. packets... (Qwazy Widdle        
    > Kid packets) and KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!.... one of you let him      
    > have it, right between his widely opened little innocent eyes....      
                                                                             
   Ok, you blew it!  You just caused my M.B.E. (Major BULL Editor) to        
   blow a gasket trying to deal with the above line of out-of-this-world     
   -stink-to-high-heaven-can't-believe-you-can-stack-it-that-high pile of    
   BBBBBUUUUUUULLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!  So I will have to deal with this myself.   
   (I can stack it pretty high myself)                                       
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                              Bill Gates - SEER?                            
                                                                            
    Rumors are making the rounds these days that Bill Gates, chairman of     
    Mircorsoft, is soliciting publishers for a manuscript he co-authored     
    describing his vision of the future of technology and the information    
    superhigh. The Seattle times reported an asking price of $2.5 million    
    which Gates plans to donate to charity.  Apparently 8 publishers have    
    responded and it is hoped a contract will be signed in April, with a     
    late fall publication date expected.                                     
                                                                             
    Co-author of the book will be Pulitzer Prize winner Peter Rinearson.     
    A spokeman for Mircosoft stated, "We think this book can play a major    
    role in influencing the view of what this superhighway can be."  It      
    will attempt to be appealing to a variety of readers, including those    
    with less technical backgrounds in computers.                            

ķ
    >> Two wrongs don't make a right.                                        
    >> Thanks for understanding.                                             
    >> (Moderator)                                                           
                                                                             
    >       No, they don't.  really.  But two rights made an airplane,       
    > and then they was air to ground phones and then fax connections        
    > and now..,,  and now there are pc hook-ups and these cute little       
    > decks for your lap-top to sit on.                                      
    >    Now all I need is a modem with the speed of light hook up so        
    > that I can change bbs as I cross over state lines................      
                                                                             
    If you ever had it, Rex, you've lost it for sure now. <giggle>           
    (Moderator)                                                              
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                           Banking with Microsoft                            
                                                                             
      Mircrosoft is a founding member of the Home Banking Network, which     
    permits U.S. Bancorp, Michigan National Bank and First National Bank     
    of Chicago customers with home computers and modems to review account    
    information, pay bills and transfer funds between accounts.              

Ŀ
   The Chicago Tribunes' Carlsbad-based Compton's NewMedia subsidiary had    
   a CD-ROM patent revoked last week, after opponents in the multimedia      
   industry complained.  Competitors claimed the patent covered technology   
   already used by other firms.  The companies could have been forced to     
   pay millions for royalty and licensening fees if the patent had been      
   permitted to stand.  And, they claimed, future software development       
   would have been slowed.                                                   
                                                                             
   Patent Commissioner Bruce Lehman reopened the case and during a series    
   of meetings heard testimony and reviewed programming examples submitted   
   to overturn Compton's claims.  Joe Clark, founder of Videodiscovery in    
   Seattle, stated, "..for the most part the patent is emasculated."  The    
   executive director of the Interactive Multimedia Asssociation added,      
   "This is a real victory for developers and publishers of multimedia       
   software titles."                                                         

