Windows 98 Release Set

When Windows 98 hits the market, Microsoft says it will be fully integrated with the forthcoming Internet Explorer 4.0 browser. The browser went into its final test phase last week and company executives say it has already been downloaded by more than one million users. As of now, the company plans to release the upgrade to Windows 95 during the first quarter of next year.

Expedia Sales Take Off

More people are booking their travel reservations online. Microsoft says sales of airline tickets and other travel- related items over the Internet executed using its Expedia technology have risen past $2 million per week. The software company gets a percentage of each sale, with the amount varying, depending on whether the sale is executed over the company's own Expedia Web site or on a separately branded site that uses Microsoft software. Northwest Airlines and Continental Airlines are among the carriers that operate Web sites using Expedia technology.

Computers Crack The Case

Today's Sherlock Holmes has traded in his magnifying glass for a computer terminal. Tim Allen, director of Computer Forensic Investigations, says these days, state-of-the-art technology and expertise are needed to catch the fraudsters. Using technology developed by Computer Forensics, fraud investigators are able to extract a copy of the hard disk, making sure the original computer under scrutiny can continue to be used as evidence as it is not corrupted or affected in any way.

Silicon Graphics' Pleasant Surprise

Computer workstation maker Silicon Graphics had a better second quarter than anyone realized. The company has posted a strong gain in earnings after two years of declining profits. The company said it earned $102 million, or 56 cents a share, on sales of $1.2 billion. A year earlier, the company lost $48. 7 million, or 30 cents a share, on sales of $977 million. Silicon Graphics produces products used in computer-intensive applications.

AOL Backtracks

Upon reflection, executives at America Online have decided that selling subscribers' telephone numbers to telemarketers might not be such a good idea. The online service quickly reversed itself, less than 24 hours after it was disclosed that subscriber lists would be sold. The disclosure set off a firestorm of protest. AOL says it never intended to sell the telephone numbers to anyone who wanted them, but to make them available to what it termed "a small group of AOL partners."

New Audio From At Home

Customers of high speed Internet access company At Home will be able to download music from the Web, 24-hours a day. The company today rolled out its new broadband audio feature. It uses Progressive Network's RealAudio streaming technology to deliver audio directly to desktops at 80 kilobits per second (kbps), compared with the 28.8 kbps commonly available.

Court Sides With Temporary Workers

A federal appeals court in San Francisco says certain temporary and contract workers at Microsoft are eligible for the company's stock purchase plan and may be entitled to pension benefits. The case was brought by former contract workers who pressed their claim for the same benefits received by employees of the software company. A Microsoft spokesman said the company would review the decision and consider its legal options. Microsoft could seek an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

HP Rolls Out New Computers

Hewlett-Packard is offering a new, low cost computer, the second generation of its Pavilion multimedia personal computer. Prices start at below $1,000 and come with 50 hours of free Internet use. There are six personal computers in the family, with four scheduled to be available immediately. A company spokesman said the models represented the first across-the- board revamp of the product line since it was launched 18 months ago.

New Image For Net Surfers

A British survey shatters one more stereotype. Yahoo! UK says a new survey dispels the myth that Internet users are lonely nerds," showing them instead to be active, affluent adults who use the Internet for work and leisure. The company says the "lonely nerd" stereotype should now be officially retired. The survey, conducted by Continental Research for Yahoo! UK, showed that 59 percent of the service's users are aged 25 to 44, 83 percent are part of households comprising two or more people, and 54 percent have families.

Study: Greed Causes Internet Jams

Glitches and goofs aside, traffic jams on the Internet are largely a product of human greed, scientists say. Since most net-surfers pay a flat rate, they feel justified to consume greedily while thinking that their actions have little effect on the overall performance of the Internet," researcher Bernardo Huberman and colleagues wrote in this week's edition of the journal Science. In part, this is because of the vast size and anonymity of the service, Huberman said. A more intimate group might feel more accountable for the common good.

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