CD-ROM gift ideas: from a bug hunt to Gates with bugs
Article Abstract:
Headbone Interactive's $35 Elroy Goes Bugzerk and Soleil Software's $35 Zurk's Alaskan Trek are multimedia CD-ROMs that offer interesting interactive learning experiences for young children, while Vicarious's $60 Our Time and Simon & Schuster Interactive's Star Trek Omnipedia are multimedia encyclopedias that offer excellent entertainment for adults. Elroy Goes Bugzerk is for children ages seven to 12. The CD-ROM has children help Elroy and his dog find an unusual bug by solving challenging puzzles and learning about insects. Zurk's Alaskan Trek, for children six to 10, helps children learn about the Alaskan wilderness and math. It includes features that allow kids to create their own online scrapbooks of wilderness images. The Our Times CD-ROM encyclopedia focuses on the history of the 20th century. It is narrated by James Earl Jones and includes a tremendous amount of information. Star Trek Omnipedia is an encyclopedia about the Star Trek TV shows.
Publication Name: The Wall Street Journal Western Edition
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0193-2241
Year: 1995
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In the garden they're bugs; in PCs, they're defects
Article Abstract:
Computer software companies should be held more accountable for software they release that is defective and contains bugs. The computer software industry used to be more experimental and was allowed some leeway in the marketplace but has now become more like a business and should be treated like one. Both the buyers and the sellers in the computer industry have changed. The sellers have gone from small, garage-based companies to massive corporations making billions of dollars. Buyers are now not just hobbyists or technically-minded users but are millions of users who just want their software to operate properly. Other industries are held to higher standards. Car companies can not release faulty products on the basis that the product has more features and is worth the risk. Consumers need to hold companies responsible for faulty products and not take the blame for computer problems.
Publication Name: The Wall Street Journal Western Edition
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0193-2241
Year: 1995
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Web Translator is, how do you say it, quite not perfect
Article Abstract:
Globalink's $49 Web Translator foreign language translation software attempts to provide a solution for non-English speakers that use the Web, but the translation quality is too poor to provide detailed accuracy. Since the vast majority of information available on the World Wide Web is English-based, speakers of foreign languages are unable to benefit from the bulk of that data. Web Translator quickly turns an English-based Web page into Spanish, French or German, or vice versa, while retaining the integrity of the page links. However, the software's inability to recognize idioms, its too-literal translations and its continual misidentification of fundamental words and phrases severely compromises its reliability.
Publication Name: The Wall Street Journal Western Edition
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0193-2241
Year: 1996
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- Abstracts: The inevitable: death, taxes, and now bugs. Upgrading to Windows 98? Upgrade your vocabulary, too. Computers beware! a virus is on the loose
- Abstracts: No big deal? PCS is coming. And there may be a lot less to it than you've been led to believe. Court grants stay delaying PCS auction; ruling seen as major blow to set-aside program for minorities, women