"c|net central"
TRANSCRIPT
- EPISODE 28 -

Original air date: 10/7/95

HOSTS: RICHARD HART and GINA ST. JOHN


GINA:  Find out how an 11-year-old is making big money in 
cyberspace.  And is your computer safe from hackers?

MALE 1:  I think that hackers would be dangerous.  

FEMALE 1:  Hackers are social misfits.  

MALE 2:  They think it's fun.

GINA:  Hi, I'm Gina St. John.  Those stories, plus new c|net 
correspondent Desmond Crisis takes us on a wired ride.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GINA:  Welcome to "c|net central."  I'm Gina St. John.  Netscape 
Navigator is by far the most popular World Wide Web browser.  Now, 
Netscape is introducing the next generation of browsers with its 2.0 
version.  Richard Hart has an exclusive look.

HART:  If you use the Net, you probably use a number of different 
programs to deal with it.  For example, one to participate in 
discussions in newsgroups, another to send and receive email.  Well, 
the new 2.0 version of Netscape Navigator goes a long way towards 
integrating many of those functions.  New, separate windows for mail 
and newsgroups; you're going to love the new bookmarks.  The new 
bookmarks can be viewed as hierarchical folders.  And to move 
something up or down, forget the up or down arrows.  You can just 
drag it into its new position.  But wait, what are these separate panes 
within one window?  Have you ever seen that on the Web before?  
This is another new feature, along with a few new HTML tags, called 
frames.  And frames allow you to have more than one window inside 
other windows.  One of the most frustrating things about the World 
Wide Web is the sometimes long wait for a picture to paint itself 
across the screen, particularly if you're not using one of the fastest 
modems.  In that regard, 2.0 is a rocket.

Part of that is due to a new way it downloads images--Progressive 
JPEG.  This comparison of four popular ways to send a picture shows 
it loads much more quickly. Now, the new version is going to cost you 
about $10 more.  The regular will be $49, and there's a gold version 
now which will include an HTML editor to help you make pages like 
this without being a programmer.  And of course, there will be 
colored letters and justification and improved security.

GINA:  Security features are a primary concern for Internet services 
and users alike, including hackers who've exposed flaws in many 
new and existing systems.  So, what are hackers?  Do they provide a 
service or are they the outlaws of the Internet?  The world of the 
hacker.  A world with danger and intrigue.

MALE 3:  Hackers penetrate and ravage private and publicly owned 
computer systems.

GINA:  That, as they say, is only in the movies.  The real world of 
hackers is far tamer. It's a world of problem-solving and long hours 
in front of a computer monitor.  And when we talk about hacking, it's 
important to understand there's no such thing as a typical hacker.

JOHN SMITH (COMPUTER CRIME INVESTIGATOR):  The term "hacker" 
has been around for a long time.  It's a legitimate term.  It's a person 
who likes to play around on the computer.

MALE 1:  I think a hacker could be dangerous.

FEMALE 2:  I don't think you can tell if a person's a hacker just by 
looking at them.

FEMALE 1:  I think hackers are social misfits who don't really 
interact with other people so they find that outlet in their PC.

GINA:  What hackers share is a passion for computers.

SAMEER PAREKH (COMMUNITY CONNEXION):  A hacker would be 
someone who likes pushing computers to their limits.  Doing things 
with computers which no one has done before and things no one has 
expected, surpassing limitations of any kind.

GINA:  Right now, hackers are hot.  And not just in Hollywood.  The 
Internet has become a haven for hackers and hacker-wannabes.  
Newsgroups have several places for hackers of various levels to 
share strategies.  And there are FTP and IRC sites where they share 
hacker software.  On the World Wide Web, there are dozens of sites 
by, for, and about hacking.  There are 'zines dedicated to hacking, 
such as 2600 and Phrack.  And there are hacker home pages. There 
are even sites that'll teach the uninitiated how to hack. Hacking is 
about pushing human and machine to the limits of intellect and 
technology. Though when the hacker pushes the limits of the law, he 
becomes a cracker and steps into the world of John Smith.

JOHN S.:  If he shows up, why don't you grab one of the deputies to 
take him into custody.

GINA:  Smith is an investigator for the Santa Clara District Attorney's 
office in San Jose, California.  He is one of the high-tech sheriffs of 
Silicon Valley.

JOHN S.:  The term that really is more appropriate for what we're 
talking about is an illegal intruder or a "cracker," a person who's 
illegally going beyond the area they're allowed to be in a system and 
trying to break into other people's accounts.

GINA:  As computers become a bigger part of our lives, the battle 
between crackers and law enforcement will become even more 
important.  If you'd like to express your opinions about hackers or 
crackers, email us at letters@cnet.com.  When "c|net central" 
continues, meet Desmond Crisis and take a ride on the wired side.  
And check out Web sites designed just for kids.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RICHARD:  Now it's time for some of the latest news in the digital 
world.

VOICE-OVER:  We the jury, in the above-entitled action, find the 
defendant, Orenthal James Simpson, not guilty of the crime of 
murder in violation of Penal Code Section 187A, a felony upon Nicole 
Brown Simpson, a human being, as charged in count one of the 
information.

RICHARD:  Within seconds of the reading of the verdict, the trial of 
the century moved from the courtroom into cyberspace.  The words 
"Not Guilty" echoed across home pages as stunned people went online 
to try to make sense of the year-long spectacle.  Some even prepared 
alternative pages for any outcome.  Newsgroups and chat rooms were 
abuzz with reaction.  Some people rejoiced, others complained.  Many 
questioned the justice system.  The trial is over, but for many the 
debate has just begun.

GINA:  Today on "c|net central," we'd like you to meet Desmond Crisis.  
He'll take us behind the scenes to meet the people who create all the 
coolest sites on the World Wide Web.  Today he visits the creators of 
Yahoo, the Internet directory that has become one of the most 
popular sites on the Net.  But first, let's meet Desmond Crisis.

DESMOND:  Just like the roads we drive our cars on, the information 
superhighway offers countless roads to countless destinations.  
However, when you're trying to get someplace in your car, it's 
generally a lot easier because the place you're going to has been 
there for awhile.  Most of the roads on the Internet haven't been 
around quite so long.  I'm Desmond Crisis, and I'm what you might 
call a "new early adopter."  I spent the last several years exploring 
the way people are putting new technologies to creative use. With 
the awesome amount of information available on the Internet, the 
chances of finding what you're actually looking for are pretty slim 
without a map.  One such map that's available is the Yahoo page.  It's 
a grassroots guide made by the Internet community for the Internet 
community.

Yahoo offers two different ways to find the information that you're 
looking for.  The first is a subject-oriented index:  14 different 
subjects which appear on the home page. The second way to find 
what you're looking for is a search engine.  You simply type the text 
of what you intend to find in the box, and the search engine will look 
in the database and find every occurrence of that word, either in the 
title of the page or in the description.  In this case, we typed in the 
word "sports."  It's a pretty common heading. We found 1,433 
different matches on the subject "sports."  To keep things under 
control, Yahoo returned to me the first 100.

DESMOND:  Yahoo started in April 1994 as a hobby of two Stanford 
Ph.D. students, David Philo and Jerry Yang.

DAVID PHILO:  We want people to associate a lot of fun and 
discovery with finding information, that's what Yahoo is all about.

DESMOND:  Is this what you guys do all the time, or what?

DAVID P.:  This is it, yeah.

JERRY YANG:  This is the recreational--

DAVID P.:  It's really stress-relieving.

DESMOND:  So how did you guys come up with "Yahoo"?  Where did 
this come from?

DAVID P.:  Well, it used to be called "Jerry and David's Guide to the 
Web," and that was pretty boring, so one day we decided to come up 
with something a little more interesting.

JERRY Y.:  We consider ourselves a couple of Yahoos and it was pretty 
fitting, I think, to the site and the Internet in general.

DESMOND:  So, here we are right in the middle of Yahoo.  What drives 
it?  How fat of a connection have you guys got?

DAVID P.:  Well, we just installed a T3 which is 45 megabits.

JERRY Y.:  We're not going to use all of it.  We're actually sharing with 
somebody else, but we're probably going to take a big chunk of that.

DAVID P.:  It's fairly unimpressive as far as the space is concerned.  
Most people think it's going to be a huge space with all kinds of 
computer stuff, but there are maybe ten computers that are doing all 
the work here.

JERRY Y.:  Recently, over the last week, we were getting over 6 
million files transferred a day.

DAVID P.:  Today we're adding between 500 and 1,000 sites a day.

DESMOND:  Did this rapid expansion, did this catch you guys by 
surprise while you were at Stanford?

DAVID P.:  Well, we certainly never thought we'd be at this point.

DESMOND:  When you're finding these sites, how do you decide if one 
is cool?

DAVID P.:  If we find something as we're adding these that really 
catches our eye and it's interesting and we think that other people 
will think it's really interesting, then we designate that as a What's 
Cool.

JERRY Y.:  It is Bug Watch.

DESMOND:  OK, there's Bug Watch for all you entomology freaks.  And 
Robocut for all you fans of the Mighty Flobie.  Committed to keeping 
the service free, David and Jerry have yet to make a profit.  But to 
pay the bills they've taken on a few sponsors.

DAVID P.:  It's kind of like the Yellow Pages.  When you go to the 
Yellow Pages, you don't really mind seeing the ads that are in there.  
That type of advertising, I think, is more useful to the user.

DESMOND:  Do you need interns?

DAVID P.:  Absolutely.  We need people pretty much in everything 
you can imagine.

DESMOND:  What is the future for Yahoo?

JERRY Y.:  Well, I think what's going to happen is we are going to 
really have to stay on top of the Internet because it's going to change 
really fast.  What's real important to us is our brand, our recognition. 
That's what Yahoo is all about.

DESMOND:  You know, when you think about it, my car is actually like 
Yahoo--it's got an engine and it will take you where you want to go.  
So consider that an invitation to climb in and get on.

GINA:  In future episodes of "c|net central," Desmond and his digital 
dashboard will be taking us to some of the newest and most 
interesting sites on the World Wide Web. If you have comments or 
questions for Desmond, you can email him at crisis@cnet.com.

RICHARD:  Every week we receive lots of email from viewers about 
our show and our Web site.  Doug Hendrix sent us this message about 
the virtual software library. Here's what he wrote:

"The virtual software library is very valuable.  Last week my wife, a 
school teacher, found out that in addition to report cards she had to 
put out progress reports.  She teaches 200 students, so she was in a 
panic.  I was able to locate a shareware program for her to use--VAR 
Grade for Windows--that automates much of the process.  After all, 
who wants to live with a panic-stricken person?"

Thanks, Doug.  Our virtual software library is a great tool to find all 
kinds of software. Send us your comments and suggestions about our 
show or our Web site to: letters@cnet.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GINA:  "Children with access to computers learn faster and better."  
Those are the words of President Clinton, whom we covered in a 
recent story here on "c|net central."  His initiative to connect every 
school in the U.S. to the Internet by the year 2000 underscores the 
importance of finding places for kids to go on the World Wide Web.

VOICE-OVER:  What's that mean when you mean the highest 
number?

GINA:  A child in school.

VOICE-OVER:  How did you get that job?

GINA:  He gets picked up by his mom.

VOICE-OVER MOM:  What did you do today?  

GREGORY MILLER (PRESIDENT, TENADAR SOFTWARE):  Um, we were 
finishing up the science projects.

GINA: Goes home, has some milk and cookies.

VOICE-OVER MOM:  Your first Claris paycheck.

GINA:  And finds an $855 paycheck from the Claris Corporation.  
Welcome to Gregory's world.  He's president of his own software 
company, a paid consultant to a major software manufacturer and, 
well, an otherwise normal 11-year-old kid.

GREGORY:  I was born in Texas, so I'm a Dallas Cowboys fan.  This is 
my zip drive that I got for my 11th birthday just a week ago or 
something.

GINA:  What do you do for Claris?

GREGORY:  I evaluate software for them.  I evaluate their internal 
products, as in, like, Wriggleworks, Earth Explorer, Amazing 
Animations.  And I also evaluate competitive analysis.  Steve?

STEVE:  Mmn-hmm?

GREGORY:  I was wondering if you had any suggestions on the 
proposal I wrote?

STEVE:  Well, I think you did a good first draft.

GINA:  Gregory's father, who also works in the computer industry, 
was having a meeting at Claris one day and suggested that Gregory 
attend.

GREGORY:  At the end of the meeting they were joking about hiring 
me.  So two days later I sent a serious proposal to them asking them 
for a job.  When I got the reply, it was "yes."

GINA:  In addition to the Claris gig, Gregory's software company that 
he started with his friend, L.T., sells educational software and games 
on the Internet.

GREGORY:  That would be known as Tenadar Software.  It's really a 
virtual company. We don't have a location.  Although, I'm trying to 
get one set up in my basement, but it's not very big.

GINA:  Are you chairman of the board?

GREGORY:  Yeah.  I'm president of Tenadar.

GINA:  It happens like that when you're 11, sometimes.  Well, not 
every kid has their own software company, but the Internet seems 
to be getting younger every day.  Sites like the Global Show and Tell 
home page feature kids’ artwork and provide links to their home 
pages, like six-year-old Lizzie in Chicago.  There's Cyberkids, an 
online magazine for kids, and the Diary Project, an ongoing collection 
of children's stories from around the world.  This fall, commercial 
providers like CompuServe will debut Internet In A Box for Kids, an 
all-in-one Internet provider with a special Web browser just for 
kids.  And America Online has joined up with a CD-ROM and print 
magazine, "KidSoft," to provide prescreened software and games 
online.

MARIAN SALZMAN (AUTHOR, KIDS ONLINE):  I think the first reason 
that kids tend to want to go online is it sounds fun.  Computing is fun, 
electronic games are fun.

GINA:  Marian Salzman is coauthor of the new book "Kids Online."

MARION S.:  I believe that the adult community has no clear idea 
about how strong the Internet resources for kids are.  And they're 
not only strong, they're also very, very deep.

GINA:  Kids' interest in the online world also appears very deep, as 
the numbers in this new survey indicate.

So what's your favorite sport to play?

GREGORY:  Oh, soccer.

GINA:  Parents of computer-literate kids like Gregory encourage their 
child's online adventures to a point.

ALICE MILLER (PARENT):  Someone who just sits in front of a 
computer all day is obviously not going to learn to interact with 
other people.

VOICE-OVER:  Here you go, Craig.  Yeah.

GINA:  Do you feel like some kids spend too much time in front of the 
computer now?

ALICE MILLER:  A lot of people think Gregory does.  But you have to 
try very hard to make sure that they don't become just a one-
dimensional person.

GINA:  If you think there's not a lot on the Internet for kids, you 
might want to take another look.  As you've seen in this story, there 
are many cool sites designed by kids who decided for themselves 
what kind of a place they want the Internet to be.  So if they're 
showing that kind of responsibility at 11 years old, then it looks like 
the future of the Internet is in good hands.

RICHARD:  Well, many people are excited about the role the Internet 
will play in the education and entertainment of children.  Others 
worry that it's a poor substitute for interaction with the real world.  
Fortunately, Dave Ross might be able to shed a little light on that.  
And he gets "the last word."

DAVE:  There is so much for kids to do on the Internet.  Here's 
something I found the other day:  Uncle Bob's Kids' Page, which is a 
gateway to museums, astronomy, a hangman game, and limericks 
written by 11-year-olds in Ohio.  

(HOLDS UP CARD WITH URL:  
http://gagme.wwa.com/~boba/kidsi.html)

But now, kids, I want to introduce you to something completely 
different, something available ONLY on "c|net central":  Uncle Dave's 
Kids' Page. 

(HOLDS UP CARD SAYING:  Uncle Dave's Kids' Page) 

Just go ahead and click on one of the icons.

Games?

(LIFTS CARD, GAME OF "LIFE" APPEARS)

Ta-da!  You have just downloaded this 3D multimedia adventure 
game.  I think you'll find it filed in the attic or in the back of the 
closet with the rest of your parents' old stuff.

(OPENS BOX)  

This game has icons that you can pick up and drag WITHOUT a 
mouse, and the neat thing is, you can have it up and running before 
your high-tech friends even get to their first menu.  And by the time 
they download anything, you'll already have a wife and two kids, 
and be on your way to Millionaire Acres.

OK, back to the home page.

(BRINGS "UNCLE DAVE" CARD BACK)

What?  Sports?  Excellent!

(LIFTS CARD TO REVEAL A FOOTBALL)

You see how quickly Uncle Dave's Kids' Page works?  You've just 
downloaded this hyperrealistic 3D football simulation, which you'll 
probably find filed behind a bed, in a closet, or under a bush in the 
backyard; all you do is pick it up and THROW.

(THROWS THE FOOTBALL)

Fully compatible with all the other kids, even if they're Macintosh 
users.

I'm Dave Ross.  And I get "the last word."

RICHARD:  Please remember that for every story you see here on 
"c|net central," there's more information available at c|net online.  For 
instance, right now you'll find our complete guide to resources on the 
Internet for children.

GINA:  And don't forget to check out c|net's picks for "best of the 
Web."  Our staff of writers and critics have gotten together to pull the 
ultimate list of sites.  Not just helpful, it's a lot of fun, too.  And 
organized into a dozen categories from business to music to online 
shopping, you can find whatever you'd like--and we update that list 
with new sites every week.

RICHARD:  And remember that, just like everything else at c|net 
online, the "best of the Web" is free.  Thanks again for tuning in and 
logging on.
