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Volume 3 Number 14
• NW News • Feature • TechNews • Events • Careers • JobsNW |
TOOL BOX: The following news items are from The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2004.) This publication is distributed on line and is a free subscription service. WeatherPop Free 2.0.1 [Macintosh Operating System]. If you work in a building where you can't open the window (or are disinclined to trust your own impressions of existing weather), the free version of WeatherPop 2.01 may be worth downloading for use on your computer. The small program operates as a drop-down window on your screen, and includes such features as National Weather Service forecasts (with storm watches and warnings) and 3 to 5 day upcoming forecasts. Users can pick up to three locations within the United States, so that they may keep an eye on upcoming vacation or business destinations. This version of WeatherPop is compatible with all systems running Mac OS X. [KMG] Pluck 0.9.2.53 [Windows Operating System]. It seems everybody these days wants a web-based application that does a number of things, from sharing a set of websites with friends and colleagues to keeping track of online information about any given topic. At its essence, Pluck is an Internet Explorer add-on, with a user interface similar to Outlook. The various features of Puck allow users to share webpages with individuals or groups, track RSS-enabled sites, and perform a search across numerous major search engines. Pluck 0.9.2.53 is compatible with all systems running Windows 2000 and above. [KMG] IN THE NEWS: The following news items are selected from NewsScan Daily an online publication distributed Monday through Friday. Readers are encouraged to subscribe to this free news summary.To subscribe or unsubscribe to the TEXT version of NewsScan Daily, send an e-mail message to NewsScan@NewsScan.com with 'subscribe' or 'unsubscribe' in the subject line. To subscribe to the HTML version of NewsScan Daily, send mail to NewsScan-html@NewsScan.com, with the word 'subscribe' as the subject. CAMERAS ON THE NET. Digital cameras with Internet protocol capabilities are functioning as standalone servers that stream video over the Web. IMS Research predicts that IP cameras will account for about 20% of a surveillance market in Europe forecast to be worth $460 million in annual sales by 2008. Industry analyst Simon Harris of IMS says, "It's going to be one of the biggest trends in the surveillance market over the next few years without a doubt. The companies that don't have good product offerings for network surveillance are going to lose market share." (Reuters/USA Today 7 Jun 2004) Read Full Article. DUKE EXPERIMENTS WITH iPOD AS LEARNING DEVICE. Freshmen at Duke University this fall will receive their own iPods in an experiment to see whether the Apple's portable music player can also serve as a learning tool. The university will distribute 1,650 iPods for the pilot program, as part of Duke's plan to use more technology in teaching. The university also will create a Web site modeled on the Apple iTunes online music site from which students can download songs and course content from faculty, including language lessons, lectures and audio books. Will students listen in class to music rather than to the lecturer? Duke teacher Sally Schauman isn't worried: "If you're in a class so boring you need to do that, then I encourage you to do so. Or if your need to learn is so low, you shouldn't be here in the first place." (AP 23 Jul 2004) Read Full Story. THIS IS YOUR LIFE, ONE MESSAGE AT A TIME. Many users of text messaging are unaware of the fact that their messages are likely to be saved on servers. Telecom analyst Jeff Kagan says, "One of the false assumptions that people make is that when they hit the delete button, messages are gone forever, but nothing can be further from the truth... It's just a common practice. I don't know an instance where [messaging companies] delete them." Cell phone text messages seem likely to be admitted as evidence in the current high-profile trial of basketball player Kobe Bryant, in that the woman who made charges against him sent several messages within hours of the alleged incident. Kagan warns text-messaging enthusiasts: "I think in these days of corporate fraud and in these days of terrorism we're seeing more and more reason to store forever. Don't ever say anything on e-mail or text messaging that you don't want to come back and bite you." (AP/Los Angeles Times 7 Jun 2004) Read Full Article. AFRICA SET TO DIAL INTO DIGITAL FIRST-WORLD. Under pressure to provide unlimited access to telephones, African countries are considering a U.S. technology that also offers the promise of bringing the Internet to some of the world's poorest people. Telephones are a luxury for the continent's estimated 800 million people, over half of whom have never made a call. Experts say a version of the US Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) standard offers Africa an opportunity to leapfrog technology into the digital first-world. The CDMA 450 wireless local loop CHASKA, MINNESOTA PLANS CITY-WIDE 'HOT SPOT'. Chaska, Minnesota is raising the bar on ubiquitous wireless connectivity -- the whole city will soon be blanketed by a Wi-Fi hot-spot and city officials plan to offer wireless Internet access as a municipal service for about $16 per month for home users. Chaska anticipates that about 2,000 of its 18,000 residents will take advantage of the service, creating a "connected community," says the city's information-systems manager, Bradley Mayer. The Wi-Fi network will also double as a public safety tool, with the local police force adapting squad cars to be Wi-Fi friendly. The network will be built by deploying about 200 wireless-networking devices over a 12- to 13-square-mile area, says Mayer. (AP 26 May 2004) Read Full Story. EVERY FOURTH CHINESE TO HAVE CELL PHONE BY YEAR-END One in four Chinese persons will have a mobile phone by the end of the year. The Ministry of Information Industry predicts that by late 2004 24.5% of the people, or about 320 million, will own a cellular phone. Cell phones already account for about half of all operating revenue in China's telecom industry, with short message and wireless Internet services seen as important growth sectors. (The Age 7 Jun 2004) Rec'd from John Lamp, Deakin U. Read Full Story. SEE (AND PHOTOGRAPH) THE USA. Imageos Inc. has built a van on which 13 digital cameras have been mounted so it can photograph 50 million buildings in the country while the van moves along (taking pictures every 15 feet). The van's drive-by snapshots will then be matched against GPS satellite positioning data and aerial photographs in a database, so that police, insurance agents and others can call up overhead and street-level views simply by entering an address. (AP/Los Angeles Times 25 May 2004) Read Full Story. EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN IN VIDEO GAMES. ASKJEEVES ADDS PAGE PREVIEW FEATURE. AskJeeves is adding a new preview feature that enables users to sneak a peek at thumbnail images of the Web pages displayed in results. (The feature works only when used with Windows/Internet Explorer.) "It eliminates the need to go pogo-sticking around the Web to decide where you want to go," says Jeeves senior VP Jim Lanzone, who notes in user testing, the preview feature reduced the number of clicks used by searchers by 50% to 70%. Although the images are tiny, they still are large enough to convey an idea of the Web site's focus. Jeeves is also adding new shortcuts designed to enhance user experience. For instance, after the user types in INTEL INSIDE YOUR LIVING ROOM. Intel is introducing chips and circuitry for a new generation of PCs that help people manage their growing libraries of digital photos, music, games and videos. Intel executive Bill Siu calls the move "the most ambitious and significant makeover of the PC platform in more than a decade." Intel's two chipsets, code-named Grantsdale and Alderwood, deliver better high-definition video and audio playback, offer more lifelike animation, and make it easier to share music, photos and video over wireless networks. Jeff Lowe, of Intel competitor Advance Micro Devices (AMD), muses: "It's an odd way for a microprocessor company -- to lead with a chipset rather than a processor." He says AMD will continue to focus on computer logic and memory chips and let others focus on audio and video cards. (Los Angeles Times 18 Jun 2004. Read Full Story. From Other News Sources: Virtual veins give nurses a hand. A virtual reality hand, complete with vital veins, that "feels" could help trainee nurses practise their jabs. The tactile 3D virtual reality system uses force feedback technology that is usually found in video game controllers, known as haptics. Source: BBC. Read Full Story. TV project aims to kick-start 3G. High-quality, affordable video delivered to mobile phones could be the kick-start 3G phones need. An ambitious project is under way to find a way to send TV broadcast signals to mobiles by 2010. Source: BBC. Read Full Story. Apple warns about bad batteries. Apple is recalling 28,000 faulty batteries used to power its 15-inch Powerbook G4 laptops. An internal short circuit in the batteries causes them to overheat and could pose a fire hazard to consumers. So far no injuries have been reported. If users find that they are using one of the faulty batteries, they are advised to stop using it immediately. Source: BBC. Read Full Story. Web sites agree to be accessible to blind. In one of the first enforcement actions of the Americans with Disabilities Act on the Internet, two major travel services have agreed to make sites more accessible to the blind and visually impaired.Source: USA Today. Read Full Story. College established for Internet game industry. A college to provide training for the Internet games industry has been opened in Beijing. China's Ministry of Information Technology, the Hong Kong Vocational Training Council, and a Beijing Internet company devised the new college as a joint venture. Source: China Daily. Read Full Story.
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