*** Internet
Expedia logs $100M in travel sales
(February 6)
Microsoft Corp.'s Expedia travel reservations site
logged more than $100 million in travel sales last
year - the site's first full year of operation. The
fast-paced growth most likely makes Expedia the crown
jewel of the software giant's commerce initiatives
and illustrates the growth that is possible in some
consumer service sectors on the Web. Online travel
sites are extremely popular. While hardware and
system makers, such as Cisco Systems Inc. and Dell
Computer Corp., have rolled up much larger sales
results, Expedia's performance reflects growing
willingness by consumers to handle some transactions
online. It also helps Expedia's rank as a viable
contender with other Web travel leaders, such as
Preview Travel Inc. and American Airlines'
Travelocity site.
Expedia plans to roll out a new "associates" program
in which it offers cobranded versions of its travel
reservations services with partners such as American
Express Corp. and Wired Corp.'s HotBot search engine.
The program may add as much as 20 percent in traffic
to the Expedia site, which now attracts more than 1
million unique visitors monthly, said Joshua Herst,
group product manager in Microsoft's Travel Business
Unit.
expedia.msn.com/daily/home/default.hts
Superscape Announces Viscape Universal 3D Web Browser
(February 6)
Previewing at VRML 98 in Monterey, California is
Viscape Universal, the first interactive 3D browser
that allows users to view both VRML 97 and SVR files.
Fully compliant with VRML 97 and developed by
interactive 3D specialist Superscape, Viscape
Universal provides the fast, reliable and consistent
3D interactive experience. Users can now browse not
only the Virtual World Wide Web (vwww.com) but also
the thousands of pages of VRML content already on the
Internet.
Viscape Universal has an easy to use navigation
system and requires no user set up. The advanced
graphics renderer is able to run on all systems using
Microsoft DirectX. Although it delivers excellent
frame rates on standard hardware, it can also take
full advantage of fitted accelerator cards for
optimum performance. It supports fully spatialised
sound and wherever it is installed can use Microsoft
ActiveMovie to further enhance VRML content. In
addition, Viscape Universal is fully multi-threaded
to make best use of multi-processor systems running
Microsoft NT.
www.superscape.com
www.vwww.com
CNN Interactive Networks Still Number One News Web
Site (February 5)
The CNN Interactive Networks served a record-breaking
76 million-page impression during the week ending
Feb. 1, 1998. This weekly traffic total is up 40% on
the average weekly traffic for the months of October
and November 1997. The CNN Interactive Networks
maintained their industry lead for unduplicated
Internet users according to Media Metrix's data for
December 1997. During December 1997, 4.6% of home-PC
users and 10.0% of work-PC users accessed the CNN
Interactive Networks; this far surpassed the 3.3 and
4.7 percent respectively for MSNBC.com and the 3.0
and 7.7 percent for USATODAY.com.
Fueled by their coverage of the allegations against
President Clinton, the CNN Interactive Networks have
served more than 145 million page impressions in the
last two weeks. In the same period AllPolitics.com
had more than a tenfold increase in traffic and
CNN.com's community section received more than 30,000
messages relating to these allegations.
The CNN Interactive Networks include CNN.com;
CNNfn.com; CNNSI.com; AllPolitics.com; CNN
CustomNews; CNNenEspanol.com; and Svenska CNN
www.cnn.com
Popular Card Game `Magic: The Gathering, Makes Its
Debut on the World Wide Web.
(February 5)
MicroProse, Inc announced the global availability of
"ManaLink," the free "Magic: The Gathering(R)"
multiplayer update. "ManaLink" is now available in
five languages, including English, French, Italian,
Spanish and German at www.gathering.net. For the
first time, "Magic" fans can reach out to challenge
players next door, or on the other side of the world,
to play the number one strategy card game on the PC
any time of the day or night. It is a turn-based
strategy card game that appeals to all ages. With
more than two billion of the Wizards of the Coast
trading cards sold to date and the shipment of more
than 270,000 copies of MicroProse's original
interactive computer game on CD-ROM, the game has
successfully transitioned from paper format to
computer game and now the Internet. The "ManaLink"
multiplayer update enables two players to duel over
the Internet, chat, send messages and taunt opponents
inside and outside of the Duel. For easy opponent
matching over the Net, "ManaLink" creates a "live"
player environment, allowing players to view a list
of other "Magic" players who are currently online and
playing over the Internet. Players can sort potential
opponents by attributes such as skill level and
concede rate. MicroProse has also shipped the PC CD-
ROM "Magic: The Gathering Duels of the Planewalkers.
www.microprose.com
www.gathering.net
www.wizards.com
Free Trial of 2D/3D Graphics Add-on for FrontPage 98
Instantly Creates Java Effects, Animated GIF, VRML
and Photo-realistic Images
(March 9)
Microsoft Corporation and TGS (Template Graphics
Software Inc.) announced an exclusive offer for
3Space Publisher, a powerful graphics authoring
product for Web page designers using FrontPage 98.
Through the agreement between Microsoft and TGS,
FrontPage 98 users can download a free 7-day trial
version of TGS's 3Space Publisher directly from the
WWW. FrontPage 98 users can then purchase the
complete 3Space Publisher Interactive 3D Suite CD-ROM
for $89.
With 3Space Publisher, Web page designers can easily
create custom 2D and 3D photo-realistic images,
animated GIFs, AVI's and VRML scenes, as well as
lightweight 3D Java effects. Through a drag-and-drop
interface, 3Space Publisher lets novice and expert
users create 3D animated buttons, banners, icons and
images within minutes. It also automatically converts
all 2D TrueType fonts into stunning 3D text, which
can be used for logos and animations. 3Space
Publisher includes over 1,000 3D objects and
textures, and has a key-frame animation engine that
allows for frame by frame animation of lights,
colors, scaling and movement.
The 3Space Publisher Interactive 3D Suite CD-ROM is a
complete graphics authoring solution for Microsoft
FrontPage 98 that includes the 3Space GIF Animator,
3Space HTML Helper and 3Space Screen Saver utilities.
3Space Publisher Interactive 3D Suite supports the
widest range of output types for a product in its
class. Web page designers can create Java Effects,
VRML, AVI, animated GIF, GIF, JPG and bitmapped
images with optimized, high-resolution photo-
realistic rendering.
3Space GIF Animator allows drag-and-drop editing of
animated GIF files, and provides an easy way to set
looping factors, color modes, transparent color and
time between frames. While similar products sell for
over $25, 3Space GIF Animator is included in 3Space
Publisher Interactive 3D Suite.
3Space HTML Helper automatically generates the HTML
required for using 3Space Java Effects, images and
animations in a Web page. The HTML generated by
3Space HTML Helper is optimized for the Web, and can
be added to FrontPage via cut-and-paste.
3Space Screen Saver is a program that allows users to
instantly turn 3Space projects into custom 3D screen
savers.
FrontPage 98 users can order the complete 3Space
Publisher Interactive 3D Suite on CD-ROM for $89 (a
$129 value), plus $15 shipping and handling (US).For
more information, visit www.tgs.com/fp98offer.html,
www.tgs.com.
International Datacasting’s SuperFlex Data Broadcast
System Selected by GTE
(February 23)
International Datacasting announced that it has been
awarded a contract by GTE Government Systems of
Chantilly, Virginia to furnish its SuperFlex
satellite data broadcast system for use in GTE’s
weather information systems. The SuperFlex system,
which provides bandwidth up to 40 Mb/s, will be
enhanced with EchoNet, the Corporation’s
Internet/Intranet broadcasting software.
Wave Issue 9738 3/17/98 Article 6-01