Bill Hopkins is the Webmaster of PhotoSourceFolio* (www.photosourcefolio.com) and a regular contributor to PhotoStockNotes. Send comments via Email to wh@photosourcefolio.com. Fax: 1 818 831-0916. Or US Mail: PhotoStockNotes. (*Display 6 of your images on our Web site!) For on-line marketing questions, contact him on the Kracker Barrel at www.photosource.com/board

Internic, the ubiquitous registrar of (non-government) Internet domains, may soon get some competition. Preliminary guidelines have now been set, and while the financial requirements are relatively modest, the technical standards competitors must meet are high. And in an attempt to prevent speculative hoarding of desirable domain names, they've proposed a ban on purchasing domain names on credit. They also want to add $1 to each registration to help fund the governing body's (called Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN) operating costs. No more new taxes, eh?

We've been watching this for many months now (see recent past issues), and have listed various places on the Web where you can get more information about the issue, and check out various programs for testing your computer. But here is a simple test: Set your computer's date to a few minutes before midnight on 12/31/99 (you could use 11:55pm) and then turn off (or shut down) the computer. Wait several minutes and turn it back on. If the date reads 1/1/2000, you're in good shape. Next, trying saving a couple of files and check the filedate (you can use Windows Explorer, for example). If you see a date of January 1980 (or any date other that January 2000), start looking for fixes! (You can start at your computer manufacturers' web site.) Ed. Note: Be sure to make a backup before using this procedure. Some reports we've seen say that partial data can be lost.

No, that's not a typo. Kodak's latest foray into the digital world will be hitting over 40,000 retail outlets by this summer. While other film processors such as Seattle FilmWorks have offered photos on CD, Picture CD is Kodak's third attempt at this market (Photo-CD was the previous one). In addition to the digitized images, software will be included that, among other things, will allow you to zoom and crop, create photo albums, change color to B&W, combine elements of one photo with another, adjust various image parameters (contrast, color, etc.), convert images to computer "wallpaper," and of course Email and print out the pictures. Estimated price for the CD at time of development is about $9. It's a joint venture by Kodak and Intel, with software by Adobe.

The next-generation Internet went live last month. Dubbed the Abilene Project, it connects 50 universities and several corporations throughout the U.S. with a 13,000 mile, 2.4Gigabyte optical network. Soon thereafter, it will expand to include another 100 or so universities over a 10Gb network. Security is a top priority and so is the so-called "Quality of Service." The purpose of the testbed is to address the Internet's current lack of dedicated bandwidth needed for current and future applications, such as broadcast-quality video (are you getting some ideas???).