FreeTel Version 1.00 Date 4/10/96 Rating **** Size 265 Kb Location ftp://freetel.inter.net/pub/freetel/ft100.exe Description Totally free real-time voice communication over the 'net Status Freeware. Commercial Version - $29.95 Company FreeTel Communications, Inc. Information The FreeTel Page at http://www.freetel.com/sponsor.htm#company FreeTel -- FreeTel is a new real-time voice communications application in the Internet Phone mold. The product is free for non-commercial use (albeit with heavy advertising) or just under $30 for the commercial version (the price you have to pay to get rid of the advertising). Audio quality for FreeTel is surprisingly solid (though not quite in the same league as Internet Phone or WebPhone's audio quality). Additionally, FreeTel is currently the only Internet phone client to offer separate bass and trebel controls as well as microphone and speaker volume controls. While FreeTel does offer superior audio quality, the delays between sending and receiving messages do tend to be longer than in comparable clients. Like most high-end phone clients, FreeTel supports both full-duplex (if you have the necessary hardware) and half-duplex (if you don't) voice communications. Although real-time voice communication is FreeTel's forte, you can also communicate via old-fashioned text mode as well as send files to other users. Additional FreeTel features include CallerID, introduction messages, multiple user configurations, phone web links, and the Booster option. Booster is a feature designed to improve sound quality during peak time periods (when the Internet is overloaded or congested with traffic) at the expense of minimal delay increases. FreeTel's electronic phone directory is testament to the popularity of the client; unfortunately, there are often so many people on-line that it can take a while to get a complete listing of users. A major annoyance in the free version is the inability to fully minimize the program - attempting to do so will minimize the interface, but you're still stuck with the advertising! The free version also has a permanent 'stay on top' feature that provides further hindrance to your attempts at removing the advertising (or working on other programs while in auto-receive mode). If you can look past these quirks, or if you take advantage of the inexpensive price tag for the commercial version, FreeTel can be a surprisingly fun client to use; if not, you're better off looking elsewhere. Pros: Real-time voice communication once again achieved on the 'net, freeware status Cons: Quirky design in the free version due to advertising, lacks some of the competitions' features New: This is the initial review for FreeTel Version Reviewed: 1.00 Date of Review: 7/10/96

Above review: from Forrest Stroud

Today's "what's new" at Stroud's site is Map This! "Map This offers users an intuitive, graphics-based interface for creating and modifying image maps. Map This includes grid lines; zoom in/out; rectangle, polygon, and circle tools; right mouse button functionality; and a map area editor for quick and efficient map editing." - Forrest Stroud

Graphics Workshop -- Graphics Workshop is a do-it-all graphics utility program from the makers of the GIF Construction Set, Alchemy Mindworks. Graphics Workshop goes above and beyond its sibling by sporting more powerful features as well as offering support for over 30 different graphic formats. Cool features in Graphics Workshop include tools for graphics conversion (quickly and easily convert nearly any type of graphic to another format), quick image viewing and/or printing, special effects (sharpen, dither, reverse, soften, crop, color balance and reduction, etc.), screen capturing, thumbnails and image catalogs, graphics scaling, and slideshow prensentations. Graphics Workshop's extensive array of graphic filetypes includes Windows Bitmap (BMP), MacPaint, self displaying pictures (EXE), Kodak Photo CD (PCD), Sun raster (RAS), icon (ICO), JPEG (JPG - with support for progressive JPEGs), Targa True Vision (TGA), Tagged Image Format (TIF), GIF (GIF - with support for transparent, interlaced, and animated GIFs), Corel Draw (CDP), and PiNG (PNG) images. Similar to Thumbs Plus, multimedia formats like Microsoft Video for Windows (AVI), Quick Time for Windows (MOV), and audio (WAV), and UUEncoded files (UUE) are covered as well. This super deluxe graphics manipulation client is not without its shortcomings, though. Suprisingly, Graphics Workshop lacks support for the Photoshop (PSD) graphics format. Additionally, while Graphics Workshop does offer more features and graphics formats than GIF Construction Set, it costs twice as much ($40) and lacks the special GIF features like animation wizards, image transitions, and graphics merging. Graphics Workshop also comes up short in terms of image decoding speed when compared to apps like ACDSee and VuePrint. Whereas GIF Construction Set and WebImage are designed primarily for the power web designer, Graphics Workshop is targeted more towards the serious graphics user. Against its competition in this area, Graphics Workshop lacks the features and raw power of an app like Photoshop, but it does measure up well to clients closer to its price range like LView Pro and Paint Shop Pro. Its file conversion capabilities are second to none and its special effects tools are above average, but it does lack Paint Shop Pro's extensive feature-set of image manipulation tools, especially its advance image filtering and color replacing tools. Despite these few limitations, you simply can't beat a deluxe do-it-all graphics program that costs less than $50. Pros: Tons of graphics formats supported, image conversion and other great features Cons: Lacks advanced image manipulation tools and support for Photoshop graphics New: This is the initial review for Graphics Workshop Version Reviewed: 1.1w Date of Review: 7/14/96

There's a new item on FTP2000. See topic 286. A potential hot new app!

These are the last few topics entered, and I'll point out a few things. 288 8 HomeSite for Windows 95 289 1 Northern Exposure 290 1 NetFerret 291 2 Teleport Pro 295 0 Shareware 296 0 Shareware 297 1 LDS 298 0 PhotoImpact GIF Animator 299 0 PhotoImpact SmartSaver 300 1 WebCompass for Windows 95 301 0 FreeLoader 302 0 FTP OutBox for Windows 95 303 3 HOTDOG PRO 304 1 DynamIP 305 0 Transoft Mail Control Note that Northern Exposure, which a great series, is not one of Stroud's apps or is it likely to be a candidate for one. We have a tv conference for topics like this. Well, I guess someone could develope an app with this name. I'm not sure what someone had in mind with 295 and 296. Shareware? Well, ok, we've got lots of shareware here but usually topics are more specific. I froze 303 HOTDOG PRO because we already have a HotDog Pro. But I also transplanted the comments in this item to the other item. Will the real HotDog Pro topic please stand up? DynamIP, FTP Outbox for Windows 95, FreeLoader, Webcompass, PHotoimpact, etc are from Forrest bag of tricks. And Transoft Mail Control is not a Stroud reviewed product (at leat not yet), it came via an email today. That's the wrapup for the latest stuff. Please, if you're going to create a new topic, keep it relevant and make sure that it hasn't been entered already. OK. OK. That's my lecture for today.

I love Northern Exposure - that's why I'm here! How can you help me find it - it is listed on your site???

Go to the tv conference ------ >

Video on Your PDA? Its Not Just Talk, Its Here REDWOOD CITY, Calif., May 16, 2000 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Users of Microsoft Pocket PC and WindowsCE handheld devices are getting a pleasant surprise these days when they find that a simple download of some free software will let them view high-quality video and animation in addition to the datebooks, stock market quotes, and games that are a staple of personal digital assistants (PDAs). Whats more, the enabling technology, from a startup company called ActiveSky, will soon be available for PDAs using other operating systems, such as many of the popular Palm devices that have so far dominated the market. In April, ActiveSky was a Launch Partner with Microsoft at the introduction of the Pocket PC, and just three weeks later introduced the WindowsCE version. Users of those devices are now downloading the ActiveSky Media Player in increasing numbers from the companys website, www.activesky.com. Until now, PC users could routinely watch video on their desktop computers, but t ...

Microsoft Adds New Security Features to Outlook May 15, 2000 (Tech Web - CMP via COMTEX) -- Microsoft said Monday it will offer new security features for its Outlook e-mail program in the wake of the destructive "Love" virus. The Outlook Email Security Update, scheduled to be available for free download the week of May 22, will offer three security features designed to combat viruses. One prevents users from accessing several file types when sent as e-mail attachments, including executables and batch files that contain executable code used to spread viruses. Another feature prompts customers with a dialog box when an external program tries to access their Outlook address books or send e-mail on their behalf. The third increases the default Internet security zone setting within Outlook from "trusted" to "restricted," which disables most automatic scripting and ActiveX Controls from opening without the users permission. Microsoft (stock: Copyright (C) 2000 Cmp Media Inc. Tech Web on May 15, 2000

Opera Software Announces Release of Opera for Windows 4.0 Beta 4 -- The First Windows Browser with Wap-Wml Capability OSLO, Norway, May 16, 2000 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Opera Software is proud to announce Beta 4 of the Opera for Windows 4.0 browser. Beta 4 includes experimental support for WAP-WML. WAP stands for Wireless Application Protocol; it gives devices access to information written in the Wireless Mark-up Language (WML). Many WAP-WML sites are available on the Internet, but ordinary browsers cannot access them. "Opera 4.0 gives Web users access to WAP services, opening up a whole new frontier for the entire WAP industry," says Hakon Wium Lie, CTO, Opera Software. "Operas formatting engine is very fast and flexible." With the added support for WML, Opera Software re-affirms its position as a technological leader in the Internet browser market. The Opera browser combines Internet standards-compliance with fast and effective graphics and text layout, giving the Opera user a better Internet experience. "Part of the Opera vision is to make the Internet open and accessible to all," says Jon S. von Tetzchner, CEO Opera Software, "The ability to surf WAP-WML sites is a natural part of this." Opera for Windows 4.0 beta 4 includes the following features: E-mail, faster rendering speed, small size, low resource requirements, plug-in support, standards-compliance, 128-bit encryption, TLS, SSL 2 and 3, CSS1, CSS2, XML, HTML 4.0, HTTP 1.1, WML, ECMAScript and JavaScript 1.3. Beta 4 can be downloaded for a 30-day free trial period at www.opera.com/download About Opera Software Opera Software AS is an industry leader in the development of Web browsers for the desktop and device markets. The Opera browser has received international recognition from end-users and the industry press for being faster, smaller and more standards-compliant than other browsers. Opera Software AS is a privately held company headquartered in Oslo, Norway. You can learn more about Opera on the Web at www.opera.com Copyright (C) 2000 Business Wire. All Rights Reserved. Business Wire on May 15, 2000

The complete articles of the above headline stories are available at http://www.inyouremail.com/workstationezine.com/