www .at-magazin.at

number.03
english-version-at.at
(download.english.pdf.files)
stories.from
the.net
the.internet
magazine.from
nic.at
}03
Welcome to the new issue of the .at magazine. We hope you are beginning to enjoy this
periodical paper version of the online world.
As usual, the content mix is as exciting and
manifold as the Internet itself.
(2)
Stopline is an initiative successfully working
for a clean web – with the aid of many responsible users.
What would Mozart have done with all the
possibilities the Internet offers in order to get
his art around the world, without being dependent on arrogant patrons and ignorant
monarchs? He is going to tell us – rapping like popstars do nowadays.
Colourful as the web may be in its entire global variety – someone has look after coordination, if not order. This is accomplished by
a rather unknown but powerful American
company called ICANN, which is under US
Government control. Now the rest of the Furthermore, there are some interesting details about the continued success of ENUM
world is striving for more influence.
technology, which enables the most intelliBeing the global language, English has also gent way of Internet telephony, about the
become the language of the Internet. There- possibility of every iPod-user to become a
fore, a new search-engine tool has been in- potential radio broadcaster (as many already
troduced for all English amateurs, which al- are), about the Internet as a gigantic source
so offers a German translation. While testing of knowledge and as a crucial factor for the
a delicate text, cabaret artist Dolores Schmi- revolution in (business) communication.
dinger experienced the tricks of such an
We hope you will enjoy reading our magazine.
Internet translation. Rating: very amusing.
And, as the magazine provides a link to the
Such delicate matters are also the domain of web, there is even more information on the
a leading expert in the horizontal well-being Internet. Just enter one of the headlines into
of the Austrians. Gerti Senger looks into the your Internet browser.
motivations of Internet users exploring the
Richard Wein
more private sites.
Robert Schischka
Internet auctioneers like eBay show us that
there is nothing too weird and too useless nic.at CEOs
that it may not be in some way important to
someone – even so important that he or she
is anxious to get hold of it at all costs. Read
more about it in the story of the Internet as
the world’s largest flea market.
Critics say the Internet is also the world’s largest garbage dump. As for the dissemination of right-wing radicalism and child pornography, this statement is legitimate in any
case. We want to show you what efforts
are made to wipe the smut from the web.
www.at-magazin.at
(1)
CONTENT(03):
wer-regiert-das-internet.at...S.05
internet-an-telefon.at..........S.09
schmidinger-schreibt.at......S.10
reinsteigern.at....................S.14
sauberes-netz.at.................S.18
radio-star.at.......................S.22
senger-schreibt.at...............S.24
mozart-talk.at......................S.28
keine-frage.at.....................S.30
lauf-und-kauf.at.................S.32
wer-regiert-das-internet.at
The Internet, the final frontier. But is there some kind of order amidst the chaos?
For anyone who has ever asked himself about the coordinator of the web – the
answer consists of five letters: ICANN.
}07
senden&empfangen
www.wer-regiert-das-internet.at
If there is a founding father of the Internet, then his name is Jon
Postel. Looking like a combination of Santa Claus and a Woodstock veteran, with his long white hair and beard, the professor at
the University of Southern California also represented the classical image of the web pioneers: a chaotic genius who was a bit –
well, let’s call it deviant. Thus, the international coordination of
the Internet began in an accordingly spontaneous way, when one
man, namely Postel, finally decided to get the whole thing started.
Together with some like-minded people he launched the Domain
Name System (DNS) in the early 80s of the 20th century, which
is still in use today, and invented country codes like .at, .fr or .de.
The country code .at as a national identification for Austria, for
example, could be fixed in a quite unbureaucratic manner. Just
one e-mail (which the patriarchs of the web already had at this time) to California, an entry in Postel’s huge personal notebook –
that was all. He used to call it "handshake agreements”, and his
administration tool was the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
(IANA). As long as the internet had manageable dimensions, there was enough space for working without the interference of the
government or public authorities. The most notable thing was that
everyone was observing the rules, although there were no laws.
America first
Jon Postel’s sudden demise resulted in a vacuum that was difficult to fill. Also because nobody else was familiar with his chaos.
As mentioned above, the only documentation the professor had
the ICANN model. It works, but it
could still be improved. It would
be reasonable to integrate international bodies further.”
This goal will be hard to reach: In
Tunis, the government representatives of 191 countries will have
to find one common solution that
is satisfactory for all. Bad chances for a fast agreement, as the Americans want to continue
their domination – or, according to a recent statement of a toplevel representative of the US Department of Commerce: "The
USA will maintain a sustained responsibility.”
was his huge notebook. Bottom line: The web also needs some
clear structures. So in the year 1998, the Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) was founded with the
support of the US government in order to coordinate the administration of the Internet. Without the take-over by government organisations but with a certain US influence. While ICANN is some
kind of the Internet’s "global administrator”, it is not a public authority. It is a powerful company located in California and represents an Internet junction for the entire world: ICANN not only has
access to the country codes, but also assigns IP addresses and
has control over the creation of new Top Level Domains (TLDs)
like .info.
The idea of a self-regulation is still important for ICANN, even if
things are no longer as easy as in Postel’s time. The US Department of Commerce pulls the strings in case of emergency. And the
motto is: America first. While Bill Clinton was willing to abandon
control of the central root servers, the Bush administration doesn’t even think about it. Like before, the American government is
theoretically able to exclude whole countries from the web via
ICANN. Even the .at zone could easily be shut off this way.
191 countries are looking for 1 solution
In the meantime, the rest of the world is beginning to offer resistance. Many countries – among them are nations like Brazil, In-
dia and China – want to push back US predominance. The UNO
should play a major role concerning the regulation of the Internet.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan personally established a working group. However, the 40 specialists of this "Working Group on
Internet Governance” could not agree upon a consistent model for
a global Internet administration. Thus, the UNO World Summit on
the Information Society (WSIS) will start a new attempt in Tunis
in November.
On the part of the Austrian Internet administrator nic.at, CEO
Richard Wein shows much sympathy for this approach to a "real” internationalisation of the Internet administration: "A worldwide web cannot be dominated by only one country.” However,
Wein advises against an overdose of politics around the web:
"The Internet is dependent on a maximum degree of freedom,
and the idea of a self-regulation must be kept up. We support
}09
refresh
internetan-telefon.at
In December 2004, Austria launched the commercial ENUM service (Electronic NUmber Mapping) as the first country worldwide.
Due to the new technology, it has become possible to create a link
between the conventional telephone network and the Internet. As
of May 2005, there is also a separate ENUM-based call number
area. This will boost the dynamic market of Internet telephony.
On 17 May of this year at 12 o’clock sharp, the ENUM delegation
for the (0)780 call numbers was launched. Providing the new call
number area makes it much easier to implement attractive ENUM
applications. The 780 area is not only limited to voice telephony
but also offers other convergent services that link the classical telephony with the Internet – including transfers from SMS to Instant Messaging, Presence services or pure fax services, which
convert incoming faxes to mails and forward them to any mail address configured by the user. This is the decisive advantage: The
owner of the call number doesn’t have to care for the fax service
or operate an adequate server anymore.
Robert Schischka, CEO of enum.at and thus responsible for the
delegation and administration of the respective domains, is positive about the resounding success of this technology: "ENUM will
cause a smooth revolution. It will come slowly but tremendously.”
More and more registrars (ISPs and telecom enterprises) – as an
ENUM number can only be registered via those – are becoming
partners of enum.at, which is a proof of Schischka’s forecast.
(0)780 – The new call number area
"The number area (0)780 has been created by the Austrian telecom regulator Rundfunk und Telekom Regulierungs-GmbH (RTR)
and is especially designed for the use of convergent services. Call
numbers from this area are available via Internet and the telephone network and are linked to the corresponding ENUM domain.
Calls from the conventional telephone network are forwarded via
gateways. Via ENUM-query these gateways identify the Internet
www.internet-an-telefon.at
addresses at which the user is available”, explains RTR’s managing director, Mr. Georg Serentschy, the intended purpose of
(0)780 numbers.
number areas – is an allocation or usage prerequisite, no validation
of usage rights is necessary regarding the delegation of ENUM.
Unlike "ordinary” (regional) numbers from the conventional telephone network or (0)720 numbers, which are independent of location, the use of call numbers from the (0)780 area does not depend on the provision of a telephone service. Thus, interoperable
data services between the telephone network and the Internet also meet the legal terms of use.
ENUM makes it cheaper
On the other hand, the possibility to establish a connection via
Internet is an interesting aspect for conventional network operators in terms of costs. Companies and organisations with private
branch exchanges can greatly benefit from it.
As a result, special communication service providers who only use
VoIP (Voice over IP) technology can quite easily and quickly offer
their customers call numbers including an ENUM domain that can
be reached from the telephone network. When a free ENUM domain
is registered, the corresponding call number is requested and accordingly allocated to the communication services operator by RTRGmbH. As the allocation of the ENUM domain – unlike other call
By the use of ENUM, connections between Internet users served
by different providers all over the world can be directly established via Internet without the need of bilateral arrangements and
without having to use the "classical telephone” (PSTN). The possible applications for these call numbers offer a wide range of
new, innovative services for end customers. 7
Monika Kerck
schmidingerschreibt.at
Are you well informed? If not, go to the Internet ...
You can read the newspaper – even if it is of a larger size – if you want to get informed about global politics, or society magazines if you are interested in details
about Brad Pitt’s marriage. After you have just finished making a piracy copy of
the movie "Troy” without getting a Trojan horse.
}13
autorfill
You can get your personal A-grade, a university degree or download
the "Moorhuhn” cheats.
You can purchase valuable stamps at an auction, and a garden gnome with a funny hat as well.
On the homepage of the "European Vampires” you can find information on when and where their next meeting is going to be held
and, most notably, you will find that there is also a catering for vegetarians.
Or you can receive the holy sacrament of confession instead, "Online with Jesus”, of course anonymously – just enter your sins, press
the button, forgiveness, bell-ringing.
And not to forget – you can go "flirtlining”. You can arrange a date,
even a "blind date”. The identification mark could be a flower in the buttonhole. Just be
10 minutes late, peer cautiously through the pub window and get on the run if there
is an ugly guy waiting with a
withered red carnation in his
hands. Well, there might a
confusion, as this person
could turn out to be a lost
member of the Austrian socialist party, while your lovely
prince from the chat room is
just on the toilet. You will miss
the chance of your life, but
such mishaps will have to be
www.schmidinger-schreibt.at
taken into account. As a matter of fact, more and more Internet acquaintances result in a happy ending in front of the altar.
To cut a long story short – everything is possible via screen.
And not only via screen – you can manage an entire company by means of your small mobile phone, crash the stock markets, or just
show your friend Patrick pictures of his fiancée Jessica cuddling
with Alex at last night’s clubbing.
But be honest – the only really exciting Internet links lead to the ...
well, ahhh, naughty sites.
Is there anyone who hasn’t visited such a site yet?
Alone or twosome – a virtual peepshow can really be animating ...
(I’m just thinking about a man who only got turned on by clicking on
two mud-wrestling Valkyries in my study before he made it to my bedroom).
But also those who practice "straight” sex can get useful tips for
their sex life by using search engines.
But be careful: You should be able to speak the English language well!
Although "Google” offers the option "translate this page”, you should
be aware of some possible complications regarding your love life
Seen at sexuality.about.com/
"How to play with a vibrator”
(German translation) "Wie man mit einem Zerhacker spielt"
"Schwierigkeit: einfach
Zeit erforderte: 15 Minuten
Ist hier, wie:
Geben Sie ein reizvolles shampoo – entdecken Sie den scalp als
erogenous Zone des unsung, indem Sie ein reizvolles Haarwasch geben.
Körperfarbe kann ein Element von Spass und Kreativität Ihrem Sexualleben hinzufügen. Diese, die, farbige Farben gewürzt werden,
sind essbar und so viel Spass, sich an zu setzen, da sie weg lecke
sollen.
Handgelenkbegrenzungen – erhalten des richtigen Sitzes
Neigen Sie für das Sichern der Handgelenkbegrenzungen oder die
Bindungen, richtig …"
So are you well informed? If not go to the Internet and take an English course! 7
erhalten Sie sich in der Stimmung. Lesen Sie ein schmutziges
Buch, gehen Sie um das blanke Haus (walk around the house naked).
Verwenden Sie genügend Schmieröl.
Versuchen Sie unterschiedliche Positionen. Liegen Sie auf den Zerhacker, liegen Sie auf Ihrer Rückseite mit dem Zerhacker auf Sie,
greifen Sie ihn zwischen Ihren Schenkeln.
Viele Zerhacker kommen mit mehr als einer Geschwindigkeit oder
einer Variabelgeschwindigkeitssteuerung, also können Sie Zahnräder jederzeit schalten.
Wenn die Erschütterung zu intensiv ist, setzen Sie Ihre Hand, Kleidung oder ein Tuch zwischen den Zerhacker und Ihre Genitals um
etwas von der Erschütterung aufzu saugen.
Erhöhen Sie Ihr Zerhackerspiel, indem Sie sich necken. Beachten
Sie Ihr Erweckungsniveau und drehen Sie Ihren Zerhacker weg
stossweise.
Erhalten Sie andere Arten Anregung – passen Sie einen Pornofilm
auf, oder sprechen Sie mit sich selbst.
Wenn der Zerhacker Sie nicht kommen lässt, sorgen Sie sich nicht."
For those who prefer a partner after this rather bizarre description of
a vibrator aka "chopper”, there are further general tips at:
"Sexuality Index Quick tips"
"Überspringen Sie die Unterwäsche, um das Verleiten verursachen
foreplay zum Geschlecht.
reinsteigern.at
When things turned out fine at last, I was satisfied as well. But not really happy. I was missing 10 things. Ten "things” I needed somehow, even if nobody else would need them: 1. Two gaudy pictures of Jesus and Mary, like my grand parents had them hanging above
their bed. 2. An US ice-cube machine from the 60ies. 3. The "Black & White” whisky terriers made of porcelain. 4. My first Corgi toy
which I had lost, an Austin driving school car. 5. A brand new nose hair trimmer. 6. A road map of Mongolia. 7. The LP record "Lion of
Zion” by the "Gladiators”. 8. An original Escoffier cookery book. 9. Sneakers with heels that were flashing on each step. 10. A football
dress of the Córdoba team with original autographs. I would never get those things, I thought.
}17
www.reinsteigern.at
shoppingcart
Everyone in the world
is looking for something special. These
are things others
have and you wish
to have. Something
new, something you
can’t buy any longer,
something you don’t
find or something
you didn’t even look
for? There are probably enough of these
"things” in the world,
but they are quite unjustly distributed. At
the same time, some
people are looking for
it for years, while
others are thinking
about letting it get dusty in the attic or throwing it away at last. The
flea market has been a great help to those people. Potential buyers
and sellers could meet, usually on rainy Saturdays, and finally some
business was made successfully. In this regard, the Internet has literally tidied up. Nowadays, Internet auctioneers offer anything to
anyone.
eBay, starting off as one of many New Economy torchbearers, has
become the distinct ruling stag of the international flea market
business. Just like Amazon or Google, there are many other providers here, but in this respect the Internet community is as conservative as the consumers at the end of the 19th century. If something works, people stick to it, and those who claim that they
can do the same will have a hard time. eBay is ingenious, because all that these guys are doing is bringing people together. Anyone who wants to offer something works for himself, whereas eBay
is only a platform that charges a small fee. Anyone wishing to buy
something looks for it and purchases it directly from the seller.
This works astoundingly smooth, and those who try to trick eBay
will be punished with a lifelong dealer suspension. If you have
found a way to earn money via eBay, you will surely be wary of
that. In the USA about 430,000 people earn their living partially
or entirely by making sales and purchases via eBay. For that rea-
son this special provider is one of the biggest employers in the
United States, "employer” being a somewhat casual term. As a
matter of course, the people must take out their own insurance,
and the tax rate is about the same level as in the principality of
Monaco.
Some oddities have appeared in the media recently, hitting a peak with the former Volkswagen Golf of our current pope. This kind
of pre-popemobile bestowed its owner a total of 180,000 Euro.
My attempts to take profit out of this hype remained unsuccessful, however. My half-full Kleenex box from Angelina Jolie’s bedroom with a starting price of 15,000 Dollar proved a failure, and
so did a (vacuum-packed) Martini Cocktail left by George Clooney
in the Beverly Hills Hotel for 7,500 Dollar. My mailbox didn’t get
any replies, except for two attorney letters from Hollywood. Well, I
was just giving it a try!
There is much going on in the flea markets of this world. Even in
the USA about 60 Million people browse though their inventory
each month. This is more than the total population of France.
Thus, this part of the Internet has reached dimensions no one
would have imagined a few years ago. The total turnover of this
marketplace must certainly have reached the level of an average
multinational company.
They even offer new and almost new things. Flatscreen TVs from
Bangladesh (not available in the regular market! – Why that?) and
popular branded technical equipment with a slight transport damage, which can be bought for half the price. It would be appropriate to say that a daily visit to the global flea market is always
enjoyable, even if you are not looking for something particular. After having visited three additional online auctioneers, you will certainly find some really exciting stuff within five minutes: a piece
of clothing from the Federal President intended for a charitable
purpose (President Fischer’s tie on One Two Sold: currently
€ 115,–), a quite practical Finnish language course at Vulpino for
only € 30,– (Who would want to learn Finnish??), and a kittenish,
affectionate (original description) king python at dhd24 for
€ 22,–.
What is the matter with classical auctioneers? The Dorotheum,
Christie’s, Sotheby’s etc. have wonderful homepages, but it is impossible to quickly purchase a Picasso there.
There is a true story proving that the world of Internet auctioneers
is really small. A businessman wanted to sell his old set of garden
furniture by offering it on eBay. After a few days a highest bidder
was found. The deal was closed and both parties were happy –
even after realising that the furniture set was bought by the secretary who was working next door to him.
You have certainly reached your goal as soon as people start writing songs about you. Here is the amusing song by Geoff Ellis,
which can be listened to at www.reinsteigern.at 7
Christian Strasser
© Geoff Ellis
The Ebay Song
A used ... pink bathrobe
A rare ... mint snowglobe
A Smurf ... TV tray
I bought on eBay
My house ... is filled with this crap
Shows up in bubble wrap
Most every day
What I bought on eBay
Tell me why (I need another pet rock)
Tell me why (I got that Alf alarm clock)
Tell me why (I bid on Shatner's old toupee)
They had it on eBay
I'll buy ... your knick-knack
Just check ... my feedback
„A++!“ they all say
They love me on eBay
Gonna buy (a slightly-damaged golf bag)
Gonna buy (some Beanie Babies, new with tag)
(From some guy) I've never met in Norway
Found him on eBay
I am the type who is liable to snipe you
With two seconds left to go, whoa
Got Paypal or Visa, what ever'll please
As long as I've got the dough
I'll buy ... your tchotchkes
Sell me ... your watch, please
I'll buy (I'll buy, I'll buy, I'll buy ...)
I'm highest bidder now
(Junk keeps arriving in the mail)
(From that worldwide garage sale) (Dukes Of Hazzard ashtray)
(Hey! A Dukes Of Hazzard ashtray)
Oh yeah ... (I bought it on eBay)
Wanna buy (a PacMan Fever lunchbox)
Wanna buy (a case of vintage tube socks)
Wanna buy (a Kleenex used by Dr. Dre, Dr. Dre)
(Found it on eBay)
Wanna buy (that Farrah Fawcett poster)
(Pez dispensers and a toaster)
(Don't know why ... the kind of stuff you'd throw away)
(I'll buy on eBay)
What I bought on eBay-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y
sauberesnetz.at
There are two sides to every coin – even with regard to the Internet.
The numerous new possibilities and advantages the Internet offers for both the recreational and professional use are beyond controversy. But the aspects of a fast global distribution of information – with low costs and efforts – as
well as the possibility of its largely anonymous use make the Internet also an interesting market for shady
characters. Thus, the Internet has become a vital
medium for the spreading of child-pornographic
and right-wing extremist material in recent
years. Stopline has taken up the fight against
this development!
}21
www.sauberes-netz.at
Sherlock
Let’s assume you are surfing through the World Wide Web without
any bad intent. Suddenly, a banner appears before you showing promising young women or men. So why not take a short look ... You decide to visit the website and – while clicking from one site to another
– you are suddenly asked whether you are interested in even younger
girls or boys. What now? Close the Internet quickly and turn off the
computer, while being angry about the people who offer such services? But there is also an alternative: Stopline.
www.stopline.at – The hotline for a clean web
Stopline is a report office for persons who – of course also anonymously – want to report child-pornographic or right-wing extremist
material they have come across on the Internet. The reason of establishing such a report office was a controversial event in the year
1997: At that time, an Austrian Internet service provider was reported
to the police after one of his customers had published illegal contents
on the Internet. As a consequence, the ISP’s entire technical equipment was confiscated.
This much-discussed incident prompted the Austrian ISPs to think
about a voluntary self-control. In September 1997, the ISPA (Associ-
ation of Austrian Internet Service Providers) was established, followed by the foundation of the "ISPA-Hotline” –now Stopline – in November 1998.
Today the Stopline is a publicly authorised and accepted report office, which closely cooperates with the police report offices within the
Federal Ministry of the Interior (www.bmi.gv.at/meldestellen) and with
the Austrian Internet Service Providers in connection with the ISPA.
Furthermore, the Stopline is also linked with international partner
hotlines. Inhope (www.inhope.org) is an organisation currently formed by a total of 23 report offices from 21 countries. If one of these
countries is a possible country of origin of an illegal content, the relevant information is directly forwarded to the corresponding partner
hotline, which can in turn contact the national executive authorities in
an unbureaucratic way.
How does the Stopline work?
Apart from completing the online form at www.stopline.at, there is the
possibility to report an illegal content by sending an e-mail to [email protected]. But be careful: Never send any pictures as evidence, as this might already be an illegal action as well. All the Stopline staff members need is a detailed reference of the suspicious
material, like a clear URL in case of homepage contents (www), a detailed specification of the author, date, subject and/or search term in
case of file-sharing programs (e.g. Kazaa), or a detailed description of
the newsgroup posting (name of the newsgroup, news server, originator, date and subject of the posting).
Stopline’s website if you want to make a difference. The Stopline is
dependent on the help of the internet users in order to achieve sustained success. So please assist in preventing the dissemination of
child pornography and right-wing extremism on the Internet, thus
making life hard for criminals in the World Wide Web. 7
Monika Kerck
Even in the last year, the Stopline staff members received more than
1,400 reports about child-pornographic or right-wing extremist Internet contents, about 640 of which were classified as "appropriate”,
which means illegal according to Austrian law. In terms of content,
reports on child pornography are predominant with a share of 90 %.
Analysing the incoming reports with regard to the content’s country of
origin, the USA and Russia are at the top of the list and significantly
ahead of countries like Korea, Spain or China.
Make a difference
Anyone who doesn’t come across child-pornographic or right-wing
extremist material on the Internet can still support the Stopline. The
Stopline gladly offers you free information brochures, or you can simply put the Stopline logo on your homepage and create a link to the
}23
radio-star.at
Podcast turns the radio on!
The media landscape is still getting larger, as all people are starting to "podcast”. Digital audio data is put on the internet like a
Weblog and thus shared with other users. All users become a giant
network of radio broadcasters, and in order that they don’t have to
purchase an expensive broadcasting license or costly radio transmitters, they now "podcast”, using iPod and the Internet.
What would the media be like without a hype? Apple, which is not
a fruit but a producer of computers and, in the meantime, the world’s biggest online-music trader, has introduced another example of
the expansion of the media landscape. While websites and Weblogs ("Blogs” -> internet diaries using text and even pictures) have become a private and personal news competitor for the well-set
media, it was only a question of time that the Internet would start
taking up other formats serving this purpose.
Broadcasting and the small, usually white but sometimes coloured
MP3-player produced by the Apple company, the "iPod” are the
two sources of this nomenclature: "Podcasting” – This is what you
do now, just as you were blogging one year ago in order to have your
own Weblog. In technical terms, there is not much difference between a Podcast and a typical Weblog. Audio files are stored on a
server, and a text file (so-called RSS-Feed) defines which audio files are referred to in which order. The Postcasting client (e.g. iTunes 4.9+, Windows Media Player), which is the program you install
on your computer in order to listen to other users’ Podcasts, reads
the text file and downloads the audio data.
It is almost as simple to become a Podcaster yourself, thus establishing a small Internet radio station. Just take a recorder or some
other tool that allows you to convert sound into a digital format (like MP3). A computer with a sound card or a cassette recorder
would serve this purpose. Even a dictating machine can be linked
to your sound card, and if you only want to have your own talk
show, a microphone and a couple of friends who act as if they called the Late-Night-Show will be sufficient.
Webradio has existed for a long time, hasn’t it? It is the same with
Podcasting, which was not developed by Apple by the way. But there is one significant difference: Most Podcasts only have a few
hours of broadcasting and they are not live but rather stored on the
server and can be listened to over and over again, until the Pod-
caster replaces it by a new program. And the fact that it is not live
is the most distinctive feature compared to the classic webradio
(which requires much higher internet bandwidths and can therefore often be afforded only by professional providers).
Regarding the question of the originator of such an idea, two names are often mentioned. On the one hand, there is Dave Winer
(*1955), who was the software creator, programmer, developer and
even the boss of different companies as well as a co-editor of the
magazine "Wired” from 1994 to 1996. On 22nd February, he started his first Weblog called "24 Hours of Democracy” as a political
counterpart to the "Communications Decency Act” (an attempt by
the US government to regulate Internet contents – originally aimed
at Internet pornography – but soon transformed by activists fighting for freedom of expression). While Winer is considered the originator, Adam Curry (*1964) shaped the "Podcast” format in September 2004. Curry, who originally came from the radio business,
became famous with his program "Count Down”, which was broadcasted in 22 countries.
The music business doesn’t need to care about this trend at the
moment. The Podcasts hardly contain any illegally distributed music material, and, similar to Weblogs, most Podcasts can only be
listened to: politically, socially oriented or experience-based. The
Podcaster doesn’t like Britney Spears but his own voice, thus broadcasting regular radio shows like "John’s Travelogue” or "Mary’s
Cooking Recipes”.
It is only a question of time that aliens will hear these talk shows.
Even now Bloggers are transmitting their own Weblogs into outer
space, which an American company offers for free. However, the
users are prompted to use a proper language and to represent a
good example of humanity – after all it should also prevent an
intergalactic war.
And, as many people have expected: Video-Blogging is already coming up. The homepage informs readers of the ".at magazine” about a number of Podcasts as well as the possibility of presenting
their own radio show to the world. 7
Roland Vidmar
sengerschreibt.at
The editors gladly welcome Professor Doctor Gerti Senger!
She is a clinical and health psychologist as well as a psychotherapist (behavioural therapy). Gerti Senger, who is Austria’s number one in terms of love matters, offers tips for a satisfactory sex life in each Sunday edition of the "Krone”
newspaper. In addition, she has published many bestsellers dealing with this topic.
}27
www.senger-schreibt.at
autorfill
. We kindly asked her if she was interested in writing an article about "Sex on the Internet”. She told us that this topic would not
exist there. So we were quite surprised, but also relieved. However,
she added that all things that could be found on the Internet about
this topic were just "old wine in new fibre-glass wineskins”. The
internet is a huge and quick medium, but not more than a new kind
of technology. The things going on in people’s minds have not
changed much since the stone- age. For this reason, she writes about our behaviour, which has changed with the Internet, but not
the other way round.
Hardly any woman would get turned on by the sight of a biceps or
a black silk pyjama for man and start masturbating right away. Regarding men it is much simpler. The separation of sexual excitation
and emotion is and will remain man’s business. This can be explained by the fact that the mother is the first "love partner” of
each child. However, a girl moves away from the woman as a "love
object” and redirects her sensual emotions to a man. She innocently chooses the first man in reach – "when I grow up, I will marry daddy”, she says. The girl and her environment get larger, and
daddy becomes less important, while other men become more and
more interesting.
Huge problems for women: "My partner needs porn movies.” "My
boy-friend likes sex on the Internet.” And there is always one particular ques-tion: "Why is he doing that? After all he keeps telling
me that he loves me!”
Things are different with little boys: The target of their sensual desires needn’t be transferred to a different sex, so it stays the women.
This way it is possible that the tender and sensual emotions, which
were originally aimed at the beloved mother, get separated. After
all it was not allowed to desire mummy, as she belonged to daddy.
So, all tender feelings were shifted to her, the "good” woman. The
sexual feelings, on the other hand, are directed to a woman who is
"not so good”. In the course of time and by growing together, the
intimate partner can become the "good” but unimpeachable woman. The more motherly a woman behaves towards her man, the
more imminent becomes the danger that the man’s sexual desire
fades.
Scientific literature and popular knowledge describe this phenomenon as "madonna/whore complex”. According to this system,
the computer, the porn magazine, the Internet partner or the porn
movie symbolise the sexual aspect, the "whore,” whom a man can
meet apart from any emotion.
First of all, stay cool: Love is usually not in danger. However, in our
media age the difference between the emotional needs of women
and men is becoming more and more evident.
Women want to build up a partnership in order to get the ideal sexual stimulation. Men can be turned on ‘solely physically’ regardless of their mental stimulation. They can replace a certain sexual
aspect with the aid of special magazines or computer games. A
proof of this argument is that a man can simply repair a switch or
drive a car while having an erection. Women have a more integral
sexual experience. They want to love and need the feeling that they
are being loved.
In addition, the Internet also offers many other aspects of seduction: The anonymity allows playing with different identities. The
chat rooms are crowded with "women” who are men and "men”
who are women. You can play with bisexual and homosexual tendencies, which are not allowed to unfold in real life. Also exalted,
particularly good or particularly negative characteristics are shown.
Life during minutes or hours on the Internet does not represent an
actual but an intended state. People who are scared at the idea of
contact also prefer Internet "relationships”. There is no closeness
in these bloodless, imaginative relationships, which would be
frightening in a relationship with a partner of flesh and blood. You
get all you need without having to deal with any kind of worries.
Salvation via mouse click? Actually not. Internet sex can hardly be
dosed. If the desire for an impersonal contact gets more intense
and un-controllable, the only solution is to get out completely. Just
close the pro-gram and shut down your computer … 7
Prof. Dr. Gerti Senger
}29
thomas-e.at
Thomas A. Edison im Gespräch
mit „.at“
It’s me, your lateral thinker, traveller, searcher. A prodigy and a genius.
Without a childhood, and without age. Global popstar for 250 years.
And Mozartkugel. Present in all online music stores. Despite authoritarian archbishops and an emperor who did not know what a cool
sound is like.
Call me Amadeus, as Falco did. Amadeus, the Latin word for Gottlieb, or "Lovegod”, my nickname during my tours. My trademark.
I have always been a trademark, but during my lifetime I made as
much money as Andrew Lloyd Webber in one day. And he is not better than me, but he has the gift of a later birth and a global music
business. If I had known before what would become possible in the
future, I would really have been down. I think it is fascinating what
chances and liberties this hi-tech and mobile info-society offers to a
popstar. You wouldn’t even need anyone to put your sound on a record – and to squeeze money out of you.
As for money: I admit having earned 10,000 Guldens a year during
my best time, which is about 125,000 Euros in your currency. This
is as much as DJ Ötzi earns for a show in front of some drunken
Scandinavians in Ischgl. But I was never good at dealing with money, used to live in big flats and had servants around me. And I did
not only play instruments. It is stunning to see how much your socalled superstars earn – and they don’t even have to contribute
much. Or is there anyone like me who leaves more than 20 operas,
more than 50 symphonies, 27 piano concertos, 18 piano sonatas,
19 Masses and hundreds of other smaller or bigger works?
I think the Internet is quite groovy. The web is the Magic Flute of
knowledge and inspiration. Nowadays, almost anyone can access the
world-wide knowledge with simple tools. I think it’s cool that my native city is the location of nic.at, which makes it the domain capital
of Austria today. The Internet would surely have been supportive of
making my art well-known all over the world. I’m thinking of online
organisers for my tours through the farthest regions of Europe, or music stores which would have brought my music to people’s homes
and guaranteed me the privilege of being independent. Also independent from big music labels, which are in no less restrictive than
my ignorant patrons from dioceses and dynasties. To all post-Napster
rebels: Keep your tail up!
Maybe I would also have my own online fan-shop including the "Mozartkugel”. What really fascinates me most are the small mp3 players,
enabling you to store my entire lifework and listen to it anytime and
anywhere. Fascinating instruments.
During my lifetime, the hippest instrument was the church organ,
which was definitely less handy. At that time, a music download meant placing a piano in a room.
I don’t envy anybody his success, something I had strived for all my
life and which I could merely enjoy in Prague – even if it was just rudimentary. However, some popstars have impressed me quite a lot.
I also think it’s cool that data are sent around the globe at the speed
of light. You don’t even have to move out of your home in order to reach the entire world. In contrast, my father, my sister Nannerl and I
had to visit the European hotspots by making long journeys. Our
world tour only covered a distance from Bratislava to Bad Ischl. And
there were only snobbish wig-wearers with too much perfume. No jet,
no data highway. Just bumpy roads and a carriage with 2 HP.
And my demise would be a real gift for today’s users. 10,000 forums
would discuss different conspiracy theories. In fact, in the end I felt
like having been poisoned.
For example: Robbie Williams, who makes ten thousands of gals
scream and faint just by shaking his ass. Nannerl would have liked
that. But what you call classical music has also got its smart characteristics: Anna Netrebko, for example. Golden curl, what a vocal
body!
If it really was Salieri, then God punished him quite justly. Today, I
am something like The Godfather of Music, whereas Salieri is but the
name of a minor street in the 18th urban district of Vienna. Another
tip for those who regard classical music as uncool: It is like Valium
and whiskey – so tranquilising that it becomes exciting over time.7
Exclusively for the magazine „.at” –
right from the other world and indeed
a bit otherworldly:
Double U Lovegod Mozart.
An overground rapper from Saltbury
performing a word-rap.*
* W. Amadeus Mozart.
Upper-class composer from Salzburg.
mozarttalk.at
}31
keinefrage.at
The world’s knowledge
Collecting knowledge in encyclopaedias like wikipedia.org is one
way to gather the world’s entire knowledge. However, anyone who
wants to collect knowledge and nescience as well as speculations
and impertinences will not accomplish this with one single, editorially well-kept dictionary. This has become the motto of the leading company in the search engine business – which is "Google” by
the way.
Regarding search engines, most Internet users only know the three
big companies – Google, Yahoo and MSN. The variety of search engines available on the internet is impressive – but anyway: The
most impressing story is that of Google.
The founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page named their search engine after Googol, which is the mathematical term for a number consisting of a one and 100 zeros – a synonym for an incredible mass
of information. On 7th September 1998, Google opened its gates
– via remote control. All staff members could walk into the office
side by side, its main entrance was a garage door, and Google consisted of 3 employees. Brin and Craig hired Craig Silverstein as
their first employee, who is the technical director today.
Google’s simple design was considered a stroke of genius in many
places – whereas some people claim that Brin and Page were not
good a programming HTML-pages, which prevented them from ma-
king a complex layout. Then it became cult. This strategy included
the "Year-End Google Zeitgeist”, which in December 2001 opened
the most frequent search criteria to the public for the first time.
Google almost had problems explaining the term "zeitgeist” to the
mostly English-speaking audience.
Excerpt from the press release: "zeit·geist | Pronunciation: 'tsIt-"gIst,
'zIt | Function: noun | Etymology: German, from Zeit (time) + Geist (spirit) | Date: 1884 | Meaning: the general intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of an era”
In the meantime, Google has become a giant in every respect. Having already complicated the lives of free-webmail companies like
GMX, Microsoft (Hotmail), Lycos, ... in the previous year by introducing a service that provides its users with a free one-gigabyte
web space for e-mails (more than 2 gigabytes in the meantime),
they decided to offer the earth as a download-file ("Google Earth”,
3D-pictures, satellite and aerial photos of the terrestrial globe) this
year. Just download the program, search for a certain spot in the
world and view the satellite image. As geographical data and satellite photos are quite expensive, this data is understandably out-ofdate. Because such a globe can also be created by others, Microsoft has released a competitive product which also bore some surprises: The Apple building does not appear on the Microsoft satellite map, whereas the Twin-Towers still stand in New York ... The
address search with satellite photos was extended and offers many
gadgets for voyeurs and anyone who wants to know whose car is
parked in front of Pamela Anderson’s house.
Meanwhile, Google has also expanded its service by offering satellite images of the moon, going online exactly on the 36th anniversary of the first moon landing (20th July 1969). At this point, the
clever reader starts asking himself when the address search for the
moon will be available – which primarily depends on the NASA and
ESA, of course.
By the way, other interesting search engines and funny new ideas
can be found on the link page of the .at magazine. And if you want
to know how many sub-pages of your own homepage "Google” already knows, just try it – in the search window: "site:www.yourdomain.at www.yourdomain.at”
"Wikipedia”
The free encyclopaedia consists of more than 260,000 articles in
German, but offers 10 languages and is administrated by the users
themselves. Anyone who thinks to know more about a topic or to be
better informed can change the content. But of course, Wikipedia
has administrators and the modifications of all articles are constantly saved. There even was a political fight on Wikipedia: Using
a computer in the German Bundestag, someone tried to rid the cur-
riculum vitae of Jürgen Rüttgers (CDU party, prime minister of
North Rhine-Westphalia) of critical contents right before the election in North Rhine-Westphalia. This was tried several times, but
each time was reset by the administrators. 7
Roland Vidmar
Trend: Clustering and information summary – for trial
www.kartoo.com
Lives up to its name – an experiment by Visio...
www.clusty.com
Animated search results from Yahoo – everything in Flash... with
www.ujiko.com
lauf-undkauf.at
15 years ago people laughed at the innovation of the Internet
and only a few foresaw a long and, if at all, only somewhat
glorious future. Parallels to the inventions of the telephone
or mobile phones were drawn, and the chances were considered zero. Five years later, nobody wanted to miss this innovation, which had brought new chances but also risks to
many companies. And the role of the web with regard to its
advertising possibilities was being discussed. While "Party
A” considered the Internet to be the ultimate successor of
classical advertising, "Party B” did not see any advantages
for advertising companies regarding the new possibilities.
And what is the situation nowadays – ten years after the beginning of its advertising purpose, the use of Direct Mailings,
pop-ups and other creations by advertising experts? A critical article about the current situation of the last decade’s
most discussed medium.
}35
The miracle
Meanwhile, one half of all Austrians regularly use the Internet, which
are just four million people who can theoretically be reached daily.
Nevertheless, while the preconditions for the commercial use of the
Internet are steadily changing and improving, the number of customers and advertising campaigns reached its lowest level at the beginning of last year. For the last four years the number of banners had
decreased by more than a third, although the number of "page impressions”, i.e. the number of website visits by a user, has almost
quintupled in the years 2000–2002. So where is the problem here –
in view of the vast potential the e-commerce business offers to advertising companies one might expect more ventures, not just sporadic ones by some pioneers.
registration, acquiring passwords, choosing complex nicknames.
How often do you forget your password or mix up the innumerable
different codes? Frustration is at its top as soon as you are denied access after entering a wrong password three or four times. And don’t
be surprised if your access is blocked for twenty minutes for security
reasons ...
then.now.tomorrow
In former times things were much simpler. People only knew abovethe-line, which is classical advertising like TV, radio and print products, and they created posters and brochures. Nowadays people
want to participate in the indispensable Internet marketplace. Homepages, banners and skyscrapers have become indispensable in order to attract attention. Although we have all multimedia-based possibilities at our disposal (jumping, turning round and producing weird
sounds) it is hardly possible to grab and improve the Internet user’s
attention.
The summary
The need to be present in the most significant media, and the realization of this need, will certainly become an important issue also in
the central-European region. According to the German prognoses,
the reason why Internet users have mostly been spared from the advertising measures up to now is due to the New Economy and the crisis of the advertising industry, which has decelerated the European
development for two years.
The advantages of the well-tried print media are at the same time the
disadvantages of online advertisement: You could decide when and
how often you took notice of the advertising measure. You could
scribble short notes on it, accept it gratefully, or throw it away immediately. You had a certain degree of freedom. In front of the monitor,
the ad is directly put in front of your face, you are defenceless and
annoyed by the animation that is moving around the screen and cannot be clicked away.
Quite displeasing
It is quite understandable that an Internet user who is merrily searching the time schedule of a cinema movie is disgusted facing some
animated slimy claws smeared with blood moving around the screen.
And not just that – have you ever found this elegantly hidden "X”,
which can be clicked in order to close the ad but is not larger than
half a square centimetre? And it gets easier still if it is designed in
exactly the same colour as its background. So this has often been the
cause of many aggressions.
The assumed advantage
Apart from all the negative aspects, some advantages can be identified on closer examination: tons of brochures, magazines or inserts
are cut, labelled, folded and put in an envelope and sent to the company hoping it will not be lost under the heaps of mail. Normally, this
would cost another 55 Cents. But thanks to our modern technology,
an electronic message is both faster than mail and less complicated.
However, exactly this service of transmitting your concern to an addressee via mail makes many companies shoot themselves in the
foot. What many companies consider a decisive gimmick is often the
main reason for losing a customer: mails are not replied to, no supporting arguments are allowed, but you often make a contrary experience.
The next barrier
The objective of a website is to offer the customer an alternative to the
shop. Information that is usually given by a staff member in a store
can be obtained from the web. However, the relation to a potential
customer is disturbed already at the beginning by an obligatory
The result
Why should a businessman train competent and dedicated clerks in
a store if he succeeds in scaring off potential customers by his unprofessional Internet presence. His interest vanishes, the subscription is not renewed, the offer is rejected, the consumer gives up, resigns and turns to the competitor.
It is a fact that progress will continue. The propaganda material of former times is being digitised and transformed into banners or skyscrapers on the Internet.
Even if online advertising has become a largely unnoticed part of the
complex Internet world nowadays – an element characterised by
enormous losses due to non-selective advertising – one must realise
that below-the-line measures will primarily be found on the World Wide Web in the future.
Whatever the future may bring, we will be anxious to know how the
technical development of advertising will influence the Internet.
(We will see, hear, and experience it.) 7
Wolfgang Mader
TECHNICAL GOBBLEDYGOOK FOR BEGINNERS:
Above-the-line: So-called classical advertising material like ad, poster,
TV commercial and radio commercial.
Below-the-line: Any other means of advertising like brochures, direct
mails, events, promotion.
Direct Mail: Personally addressed mass distribution that is usually
sent in two or three steps for the purpose of new-client prospecting
and customer care. The possibility of reply is usually a vital element.
Inserts: A card or brochure of an advertiser enclosed in the print media. This way they are both a part of the newspaper or magazine and
a stand-alone advertising material.
Pop-ups: A small website opening before the chosen website, which
can be closed by clicking. This has become a dead duck since the invention of pop-up blockers.
Banner, Skyscraper: Advertising information included in an existing
website, which forwards the user to the advertiser’s website by clikking on it. Banners are in landscape format, and skyscrapers are ads
in portrait format.
IMPRESSUM:
Copyright holder, editor and publisher: nic.at
Internet Verwaltungs- und Betriebsges.m.b.H.
Jakob-Haringer-Straße 8/V, A-5020 Salzburg
Place of publishing, production and publication: Vienna
Verlagspostamt: 1040 Vienna
Printer: „agnesketterl“ Druckerei GmbH
Editorial staff: David Mock, Monika Kerck
(legend/PLEON Publico), Christian Strasser
Interneteditor: Roland Vidmar (echonet)
Art direction: Dieter Lebisch
Responsible for the content: Richard Wein,
Robert Schischka
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Zn: 04Z035786M. Verlagspostamt 5020 Salzburg, P.b.b.
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