EP Topic News: 30th May 2002EP Topic News: 30th May 2002
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Interactive
Electronic Publishing in FP6
Cognitive Computer Vision network
Cultural heritage news
Digital collection management
VS Production for video production
Sheet music authoring tool - free!
Digital TV development
Inktomi Search Toolkit
Stellent Audio Video Indexer
PerlMx mail filtering tool
Internet2 progress
XML-DBMS version 2.0, alpha 3
e-learning marketing agreement
Epic Editor available online
Plumtree Corporate Portal .NET services
Mobile application development
Motorola - mobile Atari games
Arbortext to "help" Interleaf users
Openwave Short Movie Messaging
VoiceXML for Linux
InfoLibria wins award
Image compression product suite
Biometric protection for PDAs
CSC identifies "disruptive technologies"
3D animation for mobiles
XML Europe Conference reports
Learning Photoshop
The report and papers from the INFORM Interactive Electronic Publishing Workshop on 6th Framework Programme held in Barcelona on April 23, 2002 are being published on the El.pub site. The first set of slides and presentations are available for download and include:
• a comprehensive overview of research directions in FP6, from Pascal Jacques, Head of the IEP Sector, European Commission, DG INFSO.
• a report of the event from the organisers of the event - which includes contact details of participants.Further information via the conference agenda page on El.pub.
The European Commission is funding the ECVision: European Research Network for Cognitive Computer Vision (CCV) Systems. A working definition of CCV used by the network in defining its role is that it is, "focused on: knowledge representation, reasoning about events & structures recognition and categorisation, model learning and visual processing control".
The network's first task is to survey what educational activities and resources exist in this area. They are requesting that all readers of El.pub with an interest in this area get involved with the network, including answering their questionnaire.
European Museum of the Year
Chester Beatty Library has won the European Museum of the Year Award 2002. This is the premier award for museums in Europe and it is the first time it has been awarded to an Irish museum.
URL: press release http://www.cultivate-europe.org/newsandevents/News/news_story_html?storyid=1021633212
URL: Chester Beatty Library web site http://www.cbl.ieNew Digicult plus info day
The European Commission sponsored Digicult web site has been given a facelift - the site focuses on the digital cultural heritage sector of the IST Programme's Key Action Line III - Multimedia Content & Tools.
The project has also announced a national CULTIVATE Information Day in Vienna, entitled: "The transition from FP5 to FP6 and the Cultural Heritage Area" on June 13, 2002 at the Vienna University Library. The morning session of the programme will focus on: EU research in the area of cultural heritage from information - and research political points of view; the European Union and networks in the area of cultural heritage. The afternoon session will be subdivided into two workshops:
• Workshop I: projects and activities for "cultural heritage" and "digital content";
• Workshop II: IST projects of the FP5 with Austrian participantsDetailed information can be viewed at the Cultivate Austria web site.
URL: Digicult web site http://www.cordis.lu/ist/ka3/digicult
URL: Austrian info day http://www.cscaustria.at/events/eu0009.htm
The Scout Report of May 17, 2002 includes a couple of reports on resources of particular interest to those involved in larger-scale digital collection management.
• "Creating a Framework of Guidance for Building Good Digital Collections", a paper presented at the Web Wise 2002 conference held in March 2002, which attempts to articulate a framework for "good practice" in digitisation projects and the subsequent management of digital resources. The Scout Report evaluation believed that the paper would be of particular interest to those working on the digitisation of primary source materials.
URL: http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue7_5/cole/
• an announcement that the Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) has relaunched its web site which offers a sections covering: the creation and management of digital content; intellectual property - providing information on rights management and licensing issues; collections management providing software reviews and cataloging procedures; conservation - providing information on proper care and preservation of museum collections.
URL: http://www.chin.gc.ca/English/Digital_Content/index.html
URL: Scout Report (current issue) http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/report/sr/current/
URL: Scout Report (this issue) http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/report/sr/2002/scout-020517.html
Virage has released VS Production, which it describes as "an integrated software solution for professional video production, providing workflow from content acquisition to distribution". The software provides desktop access to frame-accurate, low-resolution video providing the basis for this simple content (video) management solution to be used in a networked production environment.
The system is based on Virage's SmartEncode process, where content is simultaneously indexed and encoded into frame-accurate MPEG-1 and broadcast-quality MPEG-2. Next, VS Production provides browser-based search and review of all available content, including desktop access to frame-accurate MPEG-1. In addition, the software allows any user to assemble and preview frame-accurate playlists from the desktop. Playlists can then be exported as an edit decision list (EDL) to "a variety of popular edit systems". After editing, finished content packages can be added to the system for final review and approval.
The company has streamed a webinar about VS Production available via the link below. Other products recently relaesed from Virage include: VS Webcasting (for producing and managing live and on-demand webcasts), VS Publishing (for automated rich media web publishing), and VS Learning (enterprise application for rich media training and e-learning).
URL: webinar http://webinar.virage.com/vsproduction
URL: http://www.virage.com/
Finale Notepad 2002 is a simple to use sheet music authoring tool available for free download from Coda Music Technology. The software is available for both Windows and Mac.
EFFector (Vol. 15, No. 13, May 10, 2002), the electronic news service from the US Electronic Frontier Foundation is an issue dedicated to discussing the Broadcast Protection Discussion Group (BPDG) which it describes as: "a self-appointed group of technologists and entertainment companies that is setting out the standard for all new digital television technology, including consumer PC components. Theoretically, they're going to come to a consensus on what any device that can interact with a digital television signal must and must not do, and then Congress will give the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) the power to force all technologists to comply with their 'standard'."
The issue is well worth reading as it draws into focus many of the issues associated with the development and future of digital broadcasting in the widest sense. Details about this issue and the EFF's wider remit is available via the EFF's web site.
URL: EFFector newsletter http://www.eff.org/effector
URL: EFF http://www.eff.org/
URL: "Consensus at Lawyerpoint", EFF weblog about the BPDG http://bpdg.blogs.eff.org
The Inktomi Search Toolkit is a solution for extracting relevant data from structured, unstructured and semi-structured content. It provides the unstructured search functionality of a keyword search engine, such as relevance ranking, natural language search and filtering for various file formats, and XQuery-based structured query capabilities allowing sophisticated retrieval functions such as parametric searching and retrieval of content based on a document's structure. Further information from the Inktomi
web site.
The Stellent Audio Video Indexer provides indexing and search functions for rich media content, using voice recognition software to enable users to index and full-text search video files. The software also provides "thumbnail" representations of search results.
Version 2.0 of ActiveState's mail filtering tool PerlMx has been released. This version purports to block 98% of unsolicited email at the gateway, as well as checking for viruses and assuring emails conform to site policies.
Discover Magazine web site has an article describing some of the projects being developed that will be hosted on the next generation, Internet2 network. Several are concerned with telepresence for astronomy, music education or the "office of the future", others are concerned with visualisation of data or micro-object manipulation. Internet2 can run at 2.4 gigabits per second and an individual application can use the whole capacity. Internet2 is one of the US partners in the international Global Terabit Research Network.
URL: http://www.discover.com/may_02/featinternet2.html
URL: http://www.internet2.edu/
XML-DBMS version 2.0, alpha 3 has been released, and the major new functionality in this release is a map generation tool that can start with an XML-DBMS map, a DTD, or a database schema and generate an XML-DBMS map, a DTD, or a set of "CREATE TABLE" statements.
XML-DBMS is a set of Java packages for transferring data between an XML document and a relational database using an object-relational mapping. It includes a flexible, XML-based mapping language for describing the mappings. XML-DBMS, version 1.0 is also available in Perl.
US company, Lightspeed Interactive, a provider of information management and delivery software and Innovative Learning Solutions (ILS), a e-learning solutions company, have signed a joint marketing agreement. Under terms of the agreement, ILS will provide Lightspeed customers with value-added instructional design services while ILS will incorporate and resell Lightspeed products in their own solutions.
URL: Lightspeed Interactive http://www.lspeed.com/
URL: Innovative Learning Solutions http://www.innls.com/
Arbortext's Epic Editor software is available for purchase online. Epic Editor, provides authoring capabilities, alongside a broad set of industry-standard document types, and the capability to automatically compile and load document types. Built-in connections to Documentum, Interwoven, Oracle and FileNET are also part of Epic Editor to enable organisations to use their in-house content management system. Arbortext's Epic products aim to enable organisations to create a single source of information and publish the content for multiple audiences and to multiple types of media, including: web, print, CD-ROM, and wireless.
URL: Arbortex http://www.arbortext.com
URL: Epic Editor http://www.arbortext.com/html/buy_epic_editor.html
Plumtree Software is planning to release a beta version of its Microsoft .NET Gadget Development Kit (GDK), software to enable developers to write .NET Web services for the Plumtree Corporate Portal. According to Plumtree, "developers can write Plumtree Gadget Web Services using the .NET GDK, in any .NET-compliant language, including VisualBasic, C# and Jscript. The company expect the production version of the toolkit to be generally available for download from the Plumtree Gadget Workshop at the beginning of the third quarter of 2002. Developers interested in using the beta version of the .NET GDK now can contact Plumtree via the email below.
URL: request the beta mailto:beta@plumtree.com
URL: Plumtree Gadget Workshop http://workshop.plumtree.com/
URL: Plumtree Software http://www.plumtree.com/
URL: Corporate Portal demo http://www.corporateportal.com/
Metrowerks, a Motorola company, has released CodeWarrior Development Studio for Motorola HC08 Microcontrollers, a broad-based tool suite for 8-bit application developers in a variety of markets, including automotive, consumer, and industrial. "We've integrated the features required by embedded developers in a single Integrated Development Environment (IDE), eliminating the difficulties frequently encountered in trying to piece together different products from multiple vendors, while significantly streamlining the development process," said John Smolucha, vice president of marketing, Metrowerks
The software ships integrated with Processor Expert, a rapid application design (RAD) tool from Unis that combines easy-to-use component-based application creation with an expert knowledge system. Used with the CodeWarrior tools, Processor Expert enables developers to graphically describe their applications before the hardware is available, or even experiment with different hardware configurations to optimise the performance of their applications. Processor Expert was awarded the European IST Prize 2001. CodeWarrior Development Studio for Motorola HC08 Microcontrollers, Professional Edition, Version 2, is available direct from Metrowerks
URL: http://www.metrowerks.com/buy/
URL: Processor Expert http://www.unis.cz/
URL: Metrowerks http://www.metrowerks.com/
URL: Motorola http://www.motorola.com/sps
Motorola and iFone have signed a global distribution deal to bring a number of all time favorite console games including Pong, Centipede, Breakout and Asteroids to mobile users the world over. The deal includes access to iFone's Atari classics games catalogue via its agreement with Infogrames.
Juan Montes, VP of Technology and Content Solutions for Motorola's Personal Communications Sector, EMEA commented, "As the industry produces more Java enabled handsets, we are creating a compelling Atari gaming experience wirelessly, particularly as these games are well suited for Java devices". iFone's Java games will be available via all of Motorola's network operators, wireless portals and retail partners. In addition, a selection of Motorola handsets will also have the games embedded on them.
URL: Motorola http://www.motorola.com/
Arbortext has launched the "Rescue Kit for Interleaf" program. The program, running now through to June 30, 2002, is designed to provide a risk-free offer to qualifying Interleaf customers, including:
• a "Content Physical" - for qualifying organisations, Arbortext will complete a free assessment of an organisation's systems for creating, sharing and publishing content. Based on that assessment, they will describe a customised Rescue Kit that enables Interleaf customers to implement an Arbotext XML-based solution.
• Interleaf customers who undergo a Content Physical can receive a 50% discount on each license of Interleaf that is replaced with Epic Editor, the company's XML and SGML content authoring solution.
• Epic E-Content Engine (E3) which enables the conversion of Interleaf documents to XML and automates the publishing of dynamic content to print, web and wireless devices.
• high-precision electronic data conversion and data capture services for legacy data.
• comprehensive training and instruction in XML, SGML and the Epic product suite."This program was developed to provide Interleaf customers with a low-risk transition to Arbortext for content creation and publishing needs," said Karen Krumholtz, Marketing Director for Arbortext. "Following the free Content Physical, a combination of software and services will be offered that outlines a tailored implementation plan for these organizations".
Interleaf customers interested in taking advantage of the Rescue Kit should visit the web site below. Qualifying customers must sign up for the program by June 30, 2002.
URL: Rescue Kit http://www.arbortext.com/html/rescue_kit.html
URL: Arbortext http://www.arbortext.com/
Openwave Systems, a developer of IP-based communication infrastructure software and applications, is working to enhance the existing messaging capabilities of J-Phone in order to support short movie clip attachments. J-Phone started their packet data network throughout Japan on March 1, 2002. With this network, subscribers are currently using a service called "Super Mail," which can send and receive short movie clips taken by the camera on the handset that are attached to an email.
URL: Openwave http://www.openwave.com/
The Plum Group, has announced a Linux version of the Plum Voice Portals system, a VoiceXML Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system built on an open Linux platform. Plum is using this technology to offer turnkey customer premise voice-response systems and hosted solutions.
Plum Voice Portals for Linux run on RedHat 7.2 and on a selection of other versions of Linux. Plum Voice Portals integrate advanced voice technology such as AT&T Natural Voices to provide text-to-speech (TTS) and automatic speech recognition (ASR) capabilities. VoiceXML is a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) specification that provides for a simple text markup language for specifying voice applications.
URL: Plum Group http://www.plumgroup.com/
InfoLibria, is a US-based provider of server-based content delivery platforms for elearning and information dissemination. It's Rich Media Starter Kit (RMSK) has won CMP's Network Computing "Well- Connected Award 2002" in the category of Content Delivery Solution. The are two major components of the platform are: MediaMall E-Class, a streaming and web application delivery appliance, and Content Commander, server-based software for managing and monitoring content and application distribution, delivery and management. The platform can be used to efficiently and accurately distribute information from one central location to multiple distributed locations for applications ranging from sales or compliance training, classroom instruction and marketing launches.
URL: InfoLibria http://www.infolibria.com/
URL: Well- Connected Awards http://www.nwcwellconnected.com/
URL: Network Computing http://www.networkcomputing.com/
Compressus has released ImageI/O and accompanying Software Developer Kit (SDK), its lossless and lossy compression software suite which is optimised for high resolution image data and aims to improve image capture, reduce storage, speed transition and enhance analysis capabilities.
"We developed ImageI/O to preserve data without alteration," said Laszlo Gasztonyi, Chief Technology Officer of Compressus. "As our product suite is based on the JPEG 2000 standard, developers will be able to fully integrate our unique algorithms with any standard-compliant software package".
Communication Intelligence Corporation ("CIC"), a developer of electronic signature, biometric verification and natural input solutions, has announced that its Signature Wallet product is available for all PDAs and handheld devices running the Palm OS, including all Palm series handhelds, Handspring devices, the IBM WorkPad series and the Sony CLIE.
Signature Wallet is described as "a secure account management application" enabling users to store, in an encrypted file, and retrieve many forms of personal and confidential data such as, bank account information, credit card account numbers, and Internet account information.
"Data security has become increasingly important in today's mobile environment," said Russ Davis, CIC Vice President of Product Development. "By using our industry proven biometric signature technology we have dramatically enhanced the application security without requiring users to remember, yet another password, rather, they simply sign their name or draw an image on their handheld screen".
Signature Wallet is available for US$ 24.99 and can be purchased via the link below.
URL: Signature Wallet http://www.cic.com/
URL: purchase software http://www.shopcic.com/
According to Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), think tanks call it "digital disruption" - the arrival of a technology so radically superior that it has the potential to render entire industries obsolete. It's happened more in our lifetime than in any other period, and the pace is accelerating, according to a new report from CSC entitled: "On the Edge: Exploring Next-Generation Digital Disruptions". The report identifies six areas of technology fostering the most significant change, including: evolutionary computing advances, revolutionary computing advances, biotechnology, intelligent systems and robotics, human-computer interfaces, and finally the connections between people, objects and information.
On the Edge, available on the company's web site, sums up a year of research and interviews by CSC's Leading Edge Forum. The LEF, comprised of leading technologists, provides a CSC point of view on the technology marketplace and provides a useful overview of emerging technology trends.
URL: CSC http://www.csc.com/
Pulse is working with Texas Instruments (TI) to offer personalised interface technology on 2.5G and 3G mobile devices that use TI's OMAP application processors. Using Pulse Veepers on TI's OMAP processors the aim is to enhance mobile device users' experiences as they interact with multimedia messaging, enterprise, entertainment and instant messaging wireless applications. Personalised 3D characters such as celebrities or other personalities will help to present information in "more intuitive, visually engaging ways on 2.5G and 3G mobile devices".
"Rendering true interactive 3D images on mobile devices powered by TI's OMAP processors creates new opportunities for the leading content providers and the service providers who support them," said Mark Yahiro, president of Pulse. There is more on the technology being proposed via the web sites below.
URL: OMAP Developers Network http://focus.ti.com/docs/apps/catalog/overview/overview.jhtml?templateId=1106&path=templatedata/cm/level1/data/wire_omap_devnetw_ovw
URL: Pulse http://www.pulse3d.com/
Reports from the XML Europe Conference held in Barcelona during May 2002 are available on the web via the links below. Edd Dumbill the editor of XML.com was the Chair of the Conference and he is interested to hear (via email) from attendees on how the conference could be improved for next year.
Email: Edd Dumbill mailto:edd@usefulinc.com
URL: http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2002/05/22/deviant-en-espana.html
URL: http://xmlhack.com/read.php?item=1654
URL: http://xmlhack.com/read.php?item=1658
URL: http://xmlhack.com/read.php?item=1659
Trainingtools.com have published online "Learning Photoshop 6.0" a free online training course consisting of thirteen chapters. The course provides useful information for both the novice and professional user.
URL: http://www.trainingtools.com/online/photoshop6/index.htm
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