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The WAVE Report on Digital Media
3D --- Media Creation --- Shared Space ---Published by 4th Wave, Inc.--- Issue #0445------------------11/19/04 |
The WAVE Report is Searchable on
http://www.3dlinks.com
http://www.wave-report.com
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Analog Devices Unveils Complete Chipset for TD-SCDMA Handsets
0445.2 Fighting Spam
0445.3 Biometric Identity
Aware, Inc. Introduces Biometrics Software for E-Passports and Smart Cards
0445.4 Data Governance
0445.5 Email Liabilities
A Significant Risk; Audiotrieve CEO Roger Matus Presents 'Monsters in Your Mailbox'
0445.6 Internet Advertising
Q3 2004 Interactive Advertising Revenues Total over $2.4 Billion Fourth Record-Setting Quarter
0445.7 E-Commerce
0445.8 Childrens’ Peripherals
One Year Later, Garland Puts Finger On New Computer Learning Secret: KidzMouse Keyboards
0445.9 Display Privacy
0445.10 Product Recalls
Government Website Now Provides Instantaneous Information on Recalls
0445.11 Internet Search Keywords
0445.12 Spam Trends
Commtouch Reports October Spam Trends: The CAN-SPAM Compliance Scam
0445.13 Vision Assistance
Breakthrough in Adaptive Reading Technology Opens New Doors for Millions With Impaired Vision
0445.14 Operating Systems
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***Analog Devices Unveils Complete Chipset for TD-SCDMA Handsets
HONG KONG
Nov. 15, 2004
Analog Devices, Inc., has introduced the world's first complete chipset from a single supplier for developers of 3G mobile terminals based on the TD-SCDMA Low Chip Rate (LCR) air interface, thereby adding to the technological achievements in the wireless industry. Powered by ADI's Blackfin Processor, the new SoftFone-LCR chipset, provides all the critical functions necessary to build a TD-SCDMA handset, including the baseband signal processing and control, analog-interface functions and radio. With the Chinese government expected to grant licenses for the 3G cellular service in the next few months, handset manufacturers and ODMs are racing to develop devices for China's massive cell phone market, and today's announcement provides them with the industry's first flexible, highly integrated platform to bring their 3G handset designs to market quickly and cost effectively.
About the SoftFone-LCR Chipset
Analog Devices' SoftFone-LCR chipset is based on the popular RAM-based SoftFone architecture used in Analog Devices' GSM/GPRS and EDGE chipsets. The chipset incorporates a digital baseband processor, which is based on Analog Devices' successful Blackfin Processor, achieving over 250 MHz performance and exceptionally low power consumption through Blackfin's Dynamic Power Management capability. Unlike less complete chipsets targeting TD-SCDMA applications, the SoftFone-LCR's baseband signal processing, including joint detection and decoding, is performed entirely in software running on the embedded Blackfin Processor core instead of a hardware implementation. This allows terminal developers to quickly and easily adapt to evolutionary changes in the LCR standard. The software for the SoftFone-LCR chipset is provided by Datang Mobile, which is the founder of TD-SCDMA and has the world's leading TD-SCDMA terminal protocol stack MeCo and other fundamental technologies. Datang Mobile has been using the Analog Devices Blackfin Processor in development platforms to provide the world's first TD-SCDMA mobile terminal and the first TD-SCDMA PCMCIA data card to achieve TD-SCDMA MTNet test.
Analog Devices' SoftFone-LCR's analog baseband and power management IC provides a full set of audio features, as well as efficient power management. The SoftFone-LCR chipset also includes the Othello(R)-W direct-conversion radio transceiver, offering solid performance and flexibility for either LCR time division duplex (TDD) or W-CDMA frequency division duplex (FDD) terminals. Additionally, the SoftFone-LCR chipset includes interfaces for cameras, color displays, IR, USB and SD/MMC, allowing handset manufacturers to create several designs with varying levels of feature sets for a wide range of phone models.
The TD-SCDMA (Time-Division - Synchronous Code-Division Multiple Access) standard was proposed by the China Wireless Telecommunication Standards group (CWTS) and approved by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) as the low-chip-rate TDD standard of the 3G standard family. Designed for1.6 MHz channels, it is compatible with 5 MHz unpaired 3G bands in any region of the world. TD-SCDMA can serve as a complement to W-CDMA deployments since it uses the same network backbone.
The use of time-division duplexing allows the network to adapt dynamically to varying combinations of voice and data traffic, allocating uplink and downlink time slots as needed and using spectrum more efficiently than frequency-division duplexing. In addition, the cost of terminals is reduced by eliminating the need for duplex filters.
The TD-SCDMA standard has been further developed by numerous Chinese and multinational corporations and consortia. Additional details are available at
***ColdSpark Takes the Fight Against Spam and Zombies to the Source with Powerful Counter-Spam Capabilities for ISPs
BOULDER, Colo.
Nov. 17, 2004
ColdSpark has announced the launch of the SparkEngine Service Provider Mail Gateway, with a host of powerful features for ISPs, including the revolutionary, and unique, ability to stop spam that originates in their networks, before it ever leaves.
In an effort to thwart common counter-spam measures, spammers use computers operating in known networks, frequently hijacking them, to send spam. These "Zombies" are frequently found in the large IP ranges of consumer ISPs such as cable operators and DSL providers. ColdSpark's SparkEngine enables service providers to identify Zombie and other spam traffic on the network, and block it automatically, eliminating spam emanating from their networks and improving the performance of mail operations for their customers.
Such a solution is simple to implement, on the gateway or inside it, and does not require 3rd party monitoring or disclosure of any information to outside parties. Furthermore, the system can be configured to use the SparkEngine's "Self-Healing Mail Flow Management" capability to dynamically monitor traffic and implement throttling and blocking of dangerous traffic dynamically, based on the characteristics of the traffic. Using these methods, the SparkEngine can "shape" traffic by limiting message speed (messages per hour), bandwidth (mbps) or by connection rates.
The SparkEngine offers service providers a new approach to preventing spam, one that operates at the source. With its ability to handle massive mail loads on a small hardware footprint, ColdSpark can provide this solution at a low cost, and at a high return on investment. Service providers save money on infrastructure, bandwidth, and support, while performing a public service in reducing an important portion of the total volume of spam.
The SparkEngine is in production at the world's largest ISPs and email infrastructure providers, who deploy the SparkEngine as their email infrastructure framework because it can process messages 100x more efficiently than traditional UNIX based mail servers and 10x more efficiently than today's top email appliances.
In addition to performance, the SparkEngine provides fast and flexible integration points with all types of commercial applications, in-house systems and custom scripts via an extensive Application Programming Interface (API), allowing network operators to use the SparkEngine as the foundation of powerful custom email network solutions. This extensible framework enables the SparkEngine to support current and future requirements for mail operations, ranging from scripts that filter and manipulate messages to new authentication protocols to integration with 3rd party products.
In conjunction with its massively scalable platform and extensible architecture, the SparkEngine includes sophisticated management capabilities: unlimited advanced virtual mail servers, Self-Healing Mail Resource Management, Domain-Based Flow Control, centralized reporting, cluster management, and the SparkEngine's unique Mail Traffic Monitor. These features enable service providers to segment traffic, applying different mail flow rules, security services and other settings to different segments of their mail traffic, while streamlining operations and making complex tasks easy. This powerful combination of performance and features is why the SparkEngine has never lost a customer who has brought it into the lab for evaluation.
***Aware, Inc. Introduces Biometrics Software for E-Passports and Smart Cards
BEDFORD, Mass.
Nov. 17, 2004
Aware, Inc., announced the availability of M1Pack and ICAOPack, two software development kits used to build biometrics-enabled e-passport and smart card applications. Each toolkit bundles key functionality such as file reading and writing, image compression, and quality assurance. Together these tools enable integrators and system developers to build scalable, flexible, standards-compliant personalization and reader applications. M1Pack enables full compliance to ISO/IEC SC 37 international biometrics standards, as well as U.S. biometrics standards developed at INCITS M1 and approved as ANSI/INCITS standards. ICAOPack goes further to address e-passport requirements, adding functionality required to handle biometric and security files according to ICAO e-passport LDS and PKI specifications. These toolkits are designed with expertise gained from years of deployment of Aware's NISTPack, used globally to read and write millions of biometric files submitted to databases since 1997.
M1Pack and ICAOPack each provide several software tools required for biometrics-enabled IDs and systems, including software to read, write, edit, and validate biometric files according to ANSI/INCITS M1 and ISO/IEC SC 37 biometric data interchange standards, including CBEFF. Each includes JPEG2000 for facial image compression and WSQ for fingerprint image compression, as well as Aware's QualityCheck software for fingerprint image quality scoring.
http://www.aware.com/biometrics
***Synomos Announces Free Professional Education Series on Compliance, Data Governance and Information Assurance
MONTREAL
Nov. 17, 2004
Synomos Inc., a provider of intelligent data-policy provisioning software, has announced a free professional education series of white papers and web seminars aimed at helping companies and organizations address the challenge of managing compliance and risk to meet business objectives. The first white paper is, "Introduction to Data Governance: An Information Assurance Framework." It is available as a free download from
The first white paper is authored by Patrick Sullivan, Synomos' Senior Vice President of Policy Advisory Services. The subsequent papers in this series will focus on managing information assets for financial services, pharmaceuticals, and the public sector; other papers will focus on specific regulations and their impacts on information policy compliance.
The paper provides compliance, risk and privacy executives with:
- An overview of the concept and process of data governance
- The three key challenges that data-driven organizations face when working to ensure the effective use of data and information resources to meet business objectives
- An outline of how a data governance framework can bring administrative and cost efficiency to critical compliance requirements around data-policies, information handling programs, data security, and provide a framework for compliance processes supporting organizational performance.
- A snapshot of the potential consequences of the absence of data governance processes
"Data governance refers to the processes of managing decisions about information use within complex organizations in order to meet business or other organizational objectives," according to the paper. "Often articles discussing data governance center on data quality as the key objective, linking data governance specifically to attainment of business objectives, and data value to shareholder value. While data quality is indeed a central aspect of data governance, the scope of data governance should be understood as including a wider range of elements."
The paper concludes that "an appropriate data governance approach provides a comprehensive, consolidated, and consistent framework and methodology for managing multiple strategic, operational, and compliance-related processes associated with the use of information to accomplish business objectives. In particular, a well designed and constructed data governance program can bring administrative and cost efficiency to critical compliance requirements around privacy and data security, and provide a framework for compliance processes integrated with and supporting operational and organizational performance.
***A Significant Risk; Audiotrieve CEO Roger Matus Presents 'Monsters in Your Mailbox'
ATLANTA
Nov. 17, 2004
Email is not confidential, poses a liability risk, and can cause considerable damage to a company's reputation if not handled correctly. These are the basic findings of a study conducted by Audiotrieve, LLC, producers of the InBoxer spam filter.
The results were drawn from months of study by the Audiotrieve team conducted on Enron emails that were released by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), many of which reveal the culture that led to Enron's downfall.
The results are alarming and should cause concern for corporations of all sizes. Even though FERC removed about 8% of the database because it contained personal information, such as social security numbers and salary charts, risks still remained. The study revealed tens of thousands of Enron emails (4% of all the emails available to study) contained inappropriate materials, including pornography, disparaging racial comments, and offensive jokes that could have led to law suits. Of all the emails studied, 8% included personal content including emails about medications and ailments. With the onset of legislations such as HIPAA, Gramm-Leach-Bliley, Sarbanes-Oxley and EU privacy, to name a few, corporations can be held accountable for such email communications, making employers responsible for wrongful acts of an employee.
The purpose of the study was to identify the extent and nature of email risk. Using language technology Audiotrieve implemented in the InBoxer product, the team classified the messages based on language content and found emails containing confidential information, personal details and inappropriate content.
Utilizing the existing technology in InBoxer, Audiotrieve is currently developing a solution that will address the problems detailed in this study.
***Q3 2004 Interactive Advertising Revenues Total over $2.4 Billion Fourth Record-Setting Quarter
NEW YORK
Nov. 15, 2004
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) announced that Internet advertising totaled approximately $2.43 billion in the third quarter of 2004 - the eighth consecutive quarterly increase for the industry and the fourth record-setting quarter. Q3 2004 represents a 35.3% increase over Q3 2003 ($1.79 billion) and a 2.4% increase over Q2 2004 ($2.37 billion.) The IAB sponsors the Internet Ad Revenue Report, which is conducted independently by PwC.
The third-quarter online ad revenue figure was estimated by surveying and aggregating 2004 third-quarter data from the top 15 online ad sellers. The results were then extrapolated to calculate the total estimated industry revenue figure. Actual third quarter results will be reported along with actual fourth quarter revenues in the full Internet Advertising Revenue Report, expected in Spring 2005.
Conducted by the New Media Group of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, the "Advertising Revenue Report" was started by the IAB in 1996, and represents data from all companies that report meaningful online advertising revenues. The results are the most accurate measurement of interactive advertising revenues because the data is compiled directly from information supplied by companies selling advertising on the Internet. The survey includes data concerning online advertising revenues from Web sites, commercial online services, e-mail providers, and all other companies selling online advertising. The full report is issued twice yearly at the full and half year, and top-line quarterly estimates are issued for the first and third quarters
***iSold It - The Nation's eBay Drop-off Store - Expands Presence in Los Angeles with 2nd Store in West Hollywood
LOS ANGELES
Nov. 17, 2004--
iSold It has opened its second franchise store in Los Angeles. Offering consumers an easy and effortless way to sell their items on eBay, iSold It turns online retail inside-out -- by offering a "bricks and mortar" storefront where customers can drop off merchandise that they would like to sell on the Internet. The store is located at 7160 Beverly Blvd.
The process begins when customers bring items they want to sell to iSold It. Trained team members work with each customer to collect information important in an item's listing. Before posting on eBay, items are professionally photographed and descriptions, highlighting important details, are written. iSold It then goes to work posting the auction on eBay, tracking the item during the selling period, processing payment and packing and shipping the item. After their item sells, a check is mailed to the customer.
There is no fee to list merchandise with iSold It. Rather, the company charges a progressive commission based on an item's final sale price. If an item doesn't sell, the customer can choose to pick it up or donate it to charity.
iSold Its retail format is unique, in that its store doesn't sell anything to its customers, but rather collects things that customers would like to sell to others. In addition, the store carries no cash and does not conduct any cash or revenue transactions on site, as all payments from winning bidders are collected electronically.
iSold It, LLC is a privately held company funded in part by the founders of Wetzel's Pretzels, a chain of fresh baked pretzel stores with over 200 locations. The Pasadena store is the first step in a plan to make iSold It available for franchising nation-wide.
***One Year Later, Garland Puts Finger On New Computer Learning Secret: KidzMouse Keyboards
BURLINGAME, Calif.
Nov. 17, 2004
With installations on 4,500 desktop computers in all its 44 elementary schools, you don't have to convince Terri Houser of the value of KidzMouse products. One year ago Houser, Elementary Technology Coordinator for the Garland (Texas) Independent School District, purchased KidzMouse computer mice for all her schools after testing showed that students, parents, and teachers alike raved about the colorful, kid-sized devices with the rounded shape and clickable "head".
Houser continues to get positive feedback for her KidzMouse lineup which includes the MollyMouse, BenjieBee, CoolBug, MarinaBug, Colby-T-Rex models. KidzMouse patented computer mice were designed by a grandmother for her four-year-old granddaughter; each mouse, roughly half the size of a regular computer mouse, replaces the traditional mouse buttons with a squeezable head that covers the front one-third of the device. Children can "click" by squeezing anywhere on the head, giving them easier control of the PC at a time when computer skills are still developing.
Since the 2003-2004 school year, however, KidzMouse products have expanded. One of the most popular of the new collection is KidzMouse Keys, a colorful, kid-friendly computer keyboard that also fits the physical and developmental stage of young children.
KidzMouse Keys offers only 67 keys instead of the 104 on an adult keyboard, making it less confusing than conventional devices. The standard-sized keys are rounded to fit smaller fingers; what's more the keyboard is color-coded, to help students who cannot read complete computer tasks easier.
Intrigued by the potential of KidzMouse Keys, Houser put the product into test. Already she has heard feedback similar to KidzMouse computer mice.
KidzMouse Keys has another advantage--built-in software that solves one of the most frustrating problems for kids in the lower grades. "Children at this age don't have the manual flexibility older kids do," states Houser. "When they press a key--say the "x" key--they often continue to hold it down, which sends a repeated string of x's across the screen. KidzMouse keyboards only send one character per key press, whether or not the student continues to hold down the key. The time saved in deleting unwanted characters makes classroom time more productive--not to mention making the computer more enjoyable for the learner."
Garland kids who have used KidzMouse Keys agree that the device is fun and educational. Houser believes KidzMouse Keys will make a powerful addition to the school system's PC learning efforts, from kindergartners who are just acquiring computer skills to older kids practicing keyboarding skills.
***Richardson Electronics Announces New LCD Privacy Monitors; Helping Healthcare Industry to Comply with HIPAA Standards
LAFOX, Ill.
Nov. 17, 2004
Richardson Electronics, Ltd., has announced the availability of HIPAA compliant privacy monitors. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires safeguards to protect the security and confidentiality of patient information with regard to patients' medical records and other health information provided to health plans, doctors, hospitals and other health care providers. Privacy LCD monitors enables a clear view of on-screen confidential information only to the person positioned directly in front of the monitor. From any other angle, others see a dark, blank screen.
There are currently over 5,700 hospitals in the United States. Since 2003, by law, the entire healthcare industry must comply with HIPAA standards. As privacy monitors have a wide range of applications within the healthcare industry, Richardson Electronics offers a broad selection of privacy screened LCDs for the medical market, including: Administration, Nursing Stations, Pharmacies and Reception areas. Each monitor offered carries its full original warranty, and is supported by Richardson's TekLink team of application engineers.
***Government Website Now Provides Instantaneous Information on Recalls
WASHINGTON
Nov. 16
Ever wonder where you can go to find breaking news about product recalls? Parents, consumers and reporters need to look no further than http://www.recalls.gov/. A new feature on the Website called "Recent Recalls" allows everyone to view recall announcements the very moment they are made public by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, or the U.S. Coast Guard. The "Recent Recalls" link is the only source on the Internet for up-to-the-minute information on all government recalls.
For example, consumers can go to Recalls.gov and find information about the following recalls which were recently announced:
* 225,000 York furnaces which pose a fire hazard.
* 700,000 Bowflex fitness machines which can break during use.
* 30,000 RMM Corp. pressure washers which can overheat and catch fire.
* 15,000 ready-to-eat meals by Kraft Foods Global which were mislabeled and contain a known allergen.
* Dietary herbal supplements by Kingsway Trading which could pose a possible health risk.
Nearly one million visitors have used Recalls.gov as a "one-stop-shop" for recall announcements from the Federal government. The site also contains safety warnings and information on how to report a problem with a consumer product, cosmetic, motor vehicle, boat, food product or environmental product.
0445.11 Internet Search Keywords
***Search Engine Marketing Firm iProspect Study Demonstrates Power of One-Word Keywords to Fortune 1000 Companies
WATERTOWN, Mass.
Nov. 17, 2004
iProspect, the Original Search Engine Marketing Firm, has released the iProspect Natural SEO Keyword Length Study, in which data mined from iProspect's SEMCARD (Search Engine Marketing Campaign Aggregated Results Data) data warehouse clearly demonstrates that Fortune 1000-level companies must target single-word keywords with their natural search engine optimization (SEO) efforts, or risk ceding a considerable percentage of qualified traffic to their competitors.
SEMCARD is a data warehouse created by iProspect that contains natural search engine rankings and traffic data for every keyword targeted by most of iProspect's Fortune 1000-level clients across all the major search engines over the last five years. By aggregating statistically significant results from 39-44 clients over the last three years iProspect discovered that 39% of natural search results clicks to the websites of these size companies take place as a result of searches for single-word keywords, and that another 49% of their natural search referrals come from searches on two-word keyword phrases.
Implications to Search Engine Marketers
Potential reasons for this phenomenon include:
-- An increasing number of new Internet/search engine users who are not yet search-engine-savvy - and who may still search on single-word keywords and click on their results;
-- The number of searches on single-word branded keywords – especially in the case of Fortune 1000-level brands;
-- The number of referrals garnered by big brands on unbranded single-word keywords because the user recognized the big brand's name in the search results – so they select it over the websites of lesser-known brands that appear on the same results page.
Regardless of the reason, the implication from a natural search engine optimization (SEO) perspective is clear. Big brands still need to target branded and unbranded one-word keywords that apply to their products or services.
Website visitors who arrive as a result of searching on multi-word keyword phrases often convert at higher rates than those who searched on one-word keywords. However, 39% of all referrals still come from one-word keywords and often, even single-word keywords are sufficiently relevant in certain vertical markets to suggest a degree of purchase intent, so these keywords result in a high enough volume of conversions to justify targeting them.
Consequently, failing to target those keywords means ceding the conversions that come from that substantial 39% of search referral traffic. Big brands, by their very definition, have an advantage when it comes to generating referrals and conversions from these single-word keywords due to the searching public's comfort, and familiarity with their brand.
http://www.iprospect.com/about/free-sem-information.htm
***Commtouch Reports October Spam Trends: The CAN-SPAM Compliance Scam
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.
Nov. 15, 2004
-- Email messages made claims that they were complying with law when they were actually in violation
-- Spam with political themes associated with the U.S. presidential election were employed to sell products
-- 171 countries sent spam in October vs. 166 month before
-- 52 countries hosted web sites referenced in spam message vs. 45 in September
Commtouch announced that the Commtouch Spam Detection Center analyzed hundreds of millions of spam messages in the month of October 2004 and found that the business of spam is alive around the globe. China led the world in hosting 38.5% of the web sites that spammers reference in their spam messages, while the United States placed second at 30.6%. Approximately 2.55 million URLs were used in spam messages in October; with 99.2% of those URLs not used in spam messages the previous month.
In October, spam related to topics associated with the U.S. elections was prevalent. While some political pundits were saying various politicians were misrepresenting themselves, spammers were attempting to represent their email messages as CAN-SPAM compliant when in fact they did not comply with numerous CAN-SPAM law requirements.
Commtouch's Lab Team tracked one American-based company sending emails with subject headers such as 'Earn your college degree', ''stop smoking in 7 days', 'let lenders compete for your business', 'Free IMAC G5 desktop computer', 'Product testers wanted', 'Claim your Free $250 gift card'. Commtouch analyzed 60 messages of the 'college degree' email and found the following tricks and CAN-SPAM violations:
-- the 60 messages were sent from 12 different IP's
-- the 60 messages had 7 different email addresses for the sender
-- in the 60 messages there were 6 different 'subjects' for exactly the same email: College Degree Online!; Get your college degree online!; Go to college from home!; Online Education at its best!; We've found a school for you!; You can be smart!
Commtouch's reply-to-sender emails bounced back from all the senders. CAN-SPAM clearly requires a valid return address for an email message.
Origin of Spam: U.S. Still Leads the World
In the month of October, Commtouch detected that spam was sent from 171 countries, up from 166 in September. The volume of spam email originated primarily from sources in the following countries:
1. United States 42.50%
2. South Korea 18.97%
3. China 10.85%
4. Japan 3.80%
5. Canada 2.42%
6. Brazil 2.15%
7. Spain 2.01%
8. France 1.54%
9. UK 1.48%
10. Taiwan 1.44%
11. Hong Kong 1.41%
China is Still the Main Host of Spammer Websites
Most spam that arrives in email boxes contains a URL to a web site. Commtouch detected in October that facilities in 52 countries were hosting spammer web sites, compared to 45 countries in September. Facilities in China hosted almost 38.55% of websites referenced in spam email, versus the 67.90% share the month before.
Below are the top countries that hosted websites referenced in spammer emails
during October:
1. China 38.55%
2. United States 30.68%
3. South Korea 21.47%
4. Brazil 6.23%
5. Slovakia 2.79%
6. Russian Federation 0.13%
7. Argentina 0.10%
8. Canada 0.02%
9. United Kingdom 0.007%
10. Taiwan 0.005%
11. Germany 0.005%
http://www.commtouch.com/analysts_and_publications.shtml
***Breakthrough in Adaptive Reading Technology Opens New Doors for Millions With Impaired Vision
CONCORD, Calif.
Nov. 16
Pulse Data HumanWare has announced the introduction of a new low vision auto-reading device called, myReader. The first significant breakthrough in adaptive reading technology in over 30 years since the Rand Corporation demonstrated its video magnifier prototype in 1968, myReader is a compact, transportable device that turns the difficult and frustrating task of reading into an easy and enjoyable one for millions of people with impaired vision.
People are considered vision impaired if eyeglasses or contact lenses fail to provide enough visual aid to enable them to read normal sized print. Visual impairment currently affects over 20 million people in the United States and the numbers are expected to surge as the population ages, according to a recent study published in the Archives of Ophthalmology [(April 2004). The study also reports that the leading cause of vision loss for people over 50 is age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Other causes of low vision include diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, and cataracts.
Using proprietary SmartSense technology developed by Pulse Data, myReader captures an entire 8 1/2-inch x 11 3/4-inch page and displays the text so it can be read in much the same way that fully sighted people read. Within three seconds of placing a document or page on the reading table beneath the 'sensor,' the enlarged text appears on the LCD monitor, rearranged like a page from a large print book.
The user then selects one of three reading modes: row, column, or word. In row mode, text appears in a single horizontal line across the screen. In column mode, text displays as a vertically formatted paragraph. In word mode, text appears one word at a time.
When reading in the column mode, for example, the user reads from the top of the screen to the bottom, and then touches a key on the handheld control device to bring up the next page. Depending on the selected magnification size, the original document may be transformed into as many as 30 screens of enlarged text. For hands-free reading, users can select the automatic scrolling feature, which moves text automatically at the selected speed, similar to a TV teleprompter.
myReader offers many other assistive functions, including the ability to magnify and view photographs in full color. In live video mode -- a high magnification option -- users can independently accomplish challenging tasks like threading a needle, reading a medicine bottle, writing checks, and composing letters to friends and family.
***Sun Makes Solaris 10 Free of Charge for Commercial Use
SANTA CLARA, Calif.
Nov. 15
At its Network Computing '04Q4 (NC04Q4) launch, Sun Microsystems, Inc. unveiled the Solaris(TM) 10 Operating System (OS). Representing 3,000 engineering years and a $500 USD million-plus R&D investment, Solaris 10 contains more than 600 innovative new features and is the most advanced UNIX operating system ever. Sun plans to make Solaris 10 available for SPARC, x86, AMD64 and EM64T systems as a free download by January 31, 2005. Unlike other free distributions which provide only "early access" or "evaluation" free, Sun will provide its commercial grade Solaris 10 product free for deployment. A range of services are available for a fee. Solaris 10 is a vendor-neutral operating system that is supported on more than 270 different hardware platforms from vendors as diverse as Dell, Fujitsu, Fujitsu Siemens Computers, IBM and HP. Sun also unveiled a new advertising campaign and game-changing business model in support of the Solaris 10 launch.
Designed for modern datacenter workloads, Solaris 10 is the fastest operating system ever released by Sun -- more than 40 percent faster than Solaris 9 in web server performance on both SPARC and x86.
Key features include:
1) DTrace -- With new diagnostic tools in Solaris 10, developers can quickly zero in on performance issues and hard-to-find bugs so that problems can be diagnosed in milliseconds and minutes, not hours or days.
2) Solaris Containers -- Solaris 10 is the only OS to provide multiple software partitions with more than 8000 containers - on one instance of the OS. Resources can be automatically re-allocated, achieving up to 80 percent system utilization.
3) Process Rights Management -- Solaris 10 now includes technology from the Trusted Solaris(TM) operating system, widely used for U.S. government secure communications. Process Rights Management uses a more granular privilege use model to help ensure that application vulnerabilities cannot be exploited and lead to widespread system damage.
4) Predictive Self Healing -- Solaris 10 can automatically diagnose, isolate and recover from many hardware and application faults to vastly reduce system downtime.
5) Linux Application Environment (previously code named Project Janus) -- Solaris 10 will be the only OS to run Solaris and native Linux binaries side-by-side with no modifications, providing customers with investment protection and broader access to applications written for both operating systems.
6) ZFS -- With 16 billion times more capacity than current 64-bit file systems, ZFS will be the industry's only file system with virtually unlimited storage capacity, helping to make Solaris 10 the industry's best OS for data storage. ZFS can reduce administrative overhead by up to 80 percent and provides provable data integrity with a 99.99999999999999999 percent chance of error detection and correction.
7) Cryptographic Framework -- Based on the industry accepted PKCS#11 standard, this new framework enhances performance and centralizes management of cryptographic operations. Application developers can write to a common API, which helps IT organizations protect their investment in applications and helps Sun partners write applications without worrying about the underlying cryptographic implementation.
8) Sun Update Connection -- An update service that allows users to analyze the system and stay up-to-date from almost anywhere, the Sun Update Connection provides notifications, enables users to act locally using a single-system updater and deploy remotely using Sun's update portal.
9) AMD64 -- Solaris 10 is optimized for AMD Opteron 64-bit processors, providing far greater performance than previously available on low-cost architectures, while continuing to provide binary compatibility between 32-bit and 64-bit environments.
10) Guaranteed Compatibility -- Sun offers the Solaris Application Guarantee to ensure that applications written for previous versions of Solaris will run on Solaris 10. Extending backwards compatibility to Solaris 2.6, this guarantee covers an unprecedented seven years of OS releases.
Sun is backing its product innovations with a new business model that is expected to radically redefine the economics of OS licensing. Beginning early next year, Sun will make Solaris 10 available at no charge to customers -- moving away from a fee structure and introducing a service-based pricing model. Similar to phone calling plans, the Solaris subscription plans will vary depending on the level of support and network compute capacity that is included.
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