EP Topic News: 10th June 2003EP Topic News: 10th June 2003
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Analytic 14 - "Looking back - 7 years of El.pub (part 1)"
The June 2003 issue of El.pub Analytic (number 14 in the series) has been published and is entitled: "Looking back - 7 years of El.pub
(part 1)". The paper reviews how the information and entertainment services that make up digital content creation and publishing have
developed over the past seven years.
eMeta Corporation's eRights platform recently won the Best Digital Rights Management (DRM) Solution Codie Award from the US Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA). The eRights Suite provides the infrastructure and applications necessary to secure and sell digital assets and services. The platform is currently being used to control the digital assets of a number of information and service providers, including The McGraw-Hill Companies, Celera Genomics and New York Times Digital.
The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) is a trade association for the software and digital content industry. SIIA provides global services in government relations, business development, corporate education and intellectual property protection to more than 600 software and information companies.
URL: eMeta http://www.emeta.com/
URL: SIIA http://www.siia.net/
Le Monde available from Dialog
Le Monde, the leading French newspaper, is now available for electronic searching and article retrieval through Dialog NewsRoom, an online database of more than 7,500 news sources from around the world. The availability of the new content stems from an agreement between Dialog and Le Monde Interactif, the new media subsidiary of Le Monde Group, publishers of the influential newspaper. Dialog NewsRoom, available through the Dialog family of online services and also as a stand-alone web-based service, offers one-stop searching of broadcast transcripts, newspapers, periodicals, newswires, trade and scholarly journals, and other sources, drawn from nearly 80 countries in English and ten other languages.
URL: Dialog NewsRoom http://www.dialognewsroom.com
URL: Le Monde http://www.lemonde.fr
URL: Dialog http://www.dialog.com/
Nokia and MasterCard International are collaborating on mobile payment and messaging technologies to enable mobile commerce. Nokia is planning a trial of a systems where "consumers simply tap or wave their Nokia mobile phone enabled with MasterCard PayPass over a special reader at the point of sale to make a payment". A limited market trial of the system is currently taking place at a selected group of retailers in the local area surrounding Nokia's US headquarters in Irving, Texas.
URL: Nokia http://www.nokia.com/
URL: MasterCard http://www.mastercardinternational.com
URL: press release http://press.nokia.com/PR/200305/903588_5.html
Sony took the opportunity at the annual gaming convention, Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) to announce a series of initiatives to advance its share of the games console market based on the PlayStation 2 (PS2) platform. Among the announcements for developing the PS2 the the proposed launches of:
• EyeToy - a USB camera that uses motion-tracking technology to project player images on-screen (October 2003).
• a USB Headset that utilises Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and voice recognition technologies for use with online and offline games for PlayStation 2 (September 2003).
• an Online Pack - providing a combination of the standard PlayStation 2 console equipped with the network adaptor (Ethernet/modem) for connection to the Net via dial-up or broadband connection (Summer 2003). The network adaptor is currently available as a peripheral.
• a simultaneous release of a 40GB internal hard disc drive for PlayStation 2 with Square Enix's massively multiplayer online role-playing game Final Fantasy XI (first quarter of 2004).
In addition to news on platform enhancements, Sony also announced the scheduled release of a large number of titles for the PS2.
Sony is planning to release a new, all-in-one portable entertainment platform, "PSP" towards the end of 2004. Making the announcement the company claimed its goal is "to extend the reach of PlayStation to a broader audience, allowing consumers to enjoy gaming and other entertainment content anytime, anywhere". Specific details on release plans and pricing will be disclosed at a later date.
According to Sony the foundation of this new platform is Universal Media Disc (UMD), which comprises of a 60mm optical disc (1.8 GB) in a cartridge and "the latest copy-protection technology to offer content developers and publishers a safe and copy-protected environment". Initial specifications for the PSP are: wide screen (16:9) TFT LCD with backlight (480 x 272 dots) display; "UMD" 60mm optical secured ROM disc with cartridge (1.8GB); MPEG4 video codec; 3D Polygon/NURBS graphics; PCM (built-in stereo speakers, stereo headphone output) sound; USB 2.0 port and Memory Stick slot; rechargeable (lithium-ion) battery.
The company is hoping to provide PC-based development tools, for the new system, "starting from fall 2003" for the preparation of a new range of computer entertainment content. A new license scheme for "PSP" software development will be announced in summer 2003.
Not to be outdone by Sony's expansion plans for its PS2 line of products, Microsoft also took the opportunity at the E3 event to announce its plans for enhancing its Xbox platform. Based on developing the use of Xbox for online gaming, Microsoft has termed its moves in video game entertainment: "the Digital Entertainment Lifestyle". Microsoft's vision is based on the notion of expanding gaming content and merging it with network-based services leading to the idea of "gaming communities". Much was made by the company of the scheduled release of multiplayer/networked games and the development of its Xbox Live online gaming community. The company expects that by summer 2004 there will be around 100 Xbox Live games available.
URL: Xbox http://www.xbox.com/
Sega Mobile, a division of Sega.com, dedicated to bringing Sega content to the mobile market in North America and Handango, the leading publisher and platform for mobile software, have announced a partnership making Sega Mobile content available online. Utilizing Handango AMPP, Handango will provide transaction processing and over-the-air delivery of applications to customers' mobile phones from the Sega Mobile web site, the Handango web site, as well as through mobile software download portals powered by Handango AMPP, including Yahoo! and Wireless Gaming Review. The Sega Mobile games are will be available at prices ranging from US$ 2.99 to US$ 5.99.
URL: Sega Mobile http://www.us.segamobile.com
URL: Handango http://www.handango.com
The Nokia N-Gage is described as a mobile game deck which provides online, mobile, multiplayer game play and also features a digital music player (MP3/AAC), stereo FM radio, as well as a tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900 mobile phone. The platform should be available in October 2003, along with around 20 titles. Nokia is working with a number of publishers, including Activision, Eidos, Gameloft, Sega, Taito and THQ, to develop content for the device. The company is also acting as a publisher in its own right and plans to create branded Nokia N-Gage game titles as part of the evolving games portfolio. The games will be sold separately on game cards using the MultiMediaCard standard.
URL: developers http://www.forum.nokia.com/games
URL: N-Gage http://www.n-gage.com
URL: Nokia http://www.nokia.com
Port City Web (PCW) has released GeekTools 3.0, the company's suite of web-based customer management modules which are designed for non-technical users to send and track HTML e-mail newsletters and announcements; maintain customer databases and membership lists; update their web sites with news, available jobs, and press releases; and perform other related customer relationship management (CRM) functions. GeekTools can be hosted on PCW's redundant servers or installed on the client's server. End-user system requirements are PCs equipped with Internet Explorer 5.5 or greater. Licensing fees are based on number of users.
Version 9.0 of WinZip - the popular zip utility for Windows, has been released as a public beta version. Enhancements include:
• support for 128- and 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption.
• support for 64-bit extensions to the Zip file format, which eliminate all practical restrictions on zip file capacity, and support for the "enhanced deflate" compression method.
• the WinZip E-Mail Attachment Add-On for Outlook which makes it easy to zip files that are being attached to Microsoft Outlook e-mail messages.
• the WinZip Command Line Support Add-On enables quick zipping and unzipping from the command line, and for automating repetitive tasks using batch (.BAT) files or scripts.Individual copies of WinZip are US$ 29. All registered users of earlier English-language versions of WinZip will be able to download a free upgrade to WinZip 9.0. The official release of WinZip 9.0 is scheduled for later this year. Download links and ordering information can be found on the WinZip web site.
The IPv6 Forum is a worldwide consortium of Internet vendors, research and education networks that is helping to promote IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) by improving the market and user awareness of IPv6. IPv6 has the potential to provide the technical infrastructure for providing a quality and secure next-generation Internet.
Digital Interactive Systems Corporation (DISC), launched DISCover, a game console that plays unmodified PC games at the E3 event. The company has announced that a number of consumer electronics firms and PC manufacturers (including SVA, ABS Computers, and Hyundai Electronics) are developing consoles based on their technology ranging from Pentium-class consoles starting at US$ 299, to digital home entertainment consoles that play PC games, movies, music, and PVR TV starting at US$ 545 and media centers featuring high-end audio systems, the fastest Pentium 4, 512 MB - 1GB of memory, and more than 120 GB hard disk starting at US$ 1,000. DISC claim that to have their PC games play on a console, "publishers only need to ensure their games have been registered".
The European Commission has issued a call for proposals for projects of common interest in the field of trans European telecommunications networks, in the context of the eTEN programme. Proposals must refer to one of the following action lines:
• A1: e-government (e-administration);
• A2: e-health (e-healthcare);
• A3: e-inclusion;
• A4: e-learning;
• A5: trust and security;
• A6: supplementary support and coordination actions.The proposed indicative budget for this call is 37.5 million euro and the deadline for submitting tender documents is 10 September 2003.
URL: eTEN http://www.europa.eu.int/eten
URL: CFP http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/dat/2003/c_118/c_11820030520en00290030.pdf
TANDBERG Television has launched its new real-time hardware encoding platform for Microsoft Windows Media 9 Series in Europe. The real-time hardware encoding platform, named the EN5920, is designed for use in professional broadcast, cable, telco and streaming environments.
"Virtually everybody who moves video professionally from one place to another will benefit from the EN5920’s ability to reduce the bit-rate for the same quality picture by as much as 50% over the performance of MPEG-2", claimed Eric Cooney, COO of TANDBERG Television.
TANDBERG Television, is also rolling-out its four-tier scale for delivering video over IP via commercial xDSL and FTTH (fiber to the home) deployments. The four headend packages based on the company's TT7116 platform are designed to assist telcos and other non-traditional broadcasters to enter the broadcast market quickly and cost effectively in one of four ways:
• Stream it - a straight pass-through streaming package applicable to FTTH deployments. Digital services are taken off-air, passed through a TANDBERG Television TT7116 Streamer, and streamed directly to the home unprocessed.
• Rate Change it - a bit-rate changing module is added to the TT7116 to alter the bit-rate of the incoming digital channel so that it can fit into an ADSL stream. Ideal for digital turnaround of digital content from Satellite.
• Standard Encode it an encoder is added to the TT7116 for up to 10 channels of encoding and streaming. A cost-effective solution for analog to digital conversion and for turnaround of video into lower data rates of DSL.
• Premium Encode it - premium encoding via the TANDBERG Television E5710 MPEG-2 encoder provides high picture quality at lower bit-rates. Picture quality can be traded for longer loop length to lower the costs of DSLAM implementation or to send more channels into the home simultaneously.
"Wireless Virtualization: Data and Databases" is an article published by IBM in which the author discusses the creation of wireless databases, traces their evolution, and explores the inherent challenges and security therein.
URL: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/wi-wirevirt/?ca=dnt-420
XML for Tables is software, available free from the IBM alphaWorks site, "that provides an XML view of relational tables and a query of those views as if they were XML documents". Written in Java, XML for Tables enables the publishing of XML documents from relational data, thereby satisfying the requirements of Internet (business-to-business) applications and other XML-based applications while taking advantage of relational database technology and current storage of business data.
URL: http://www.alphaWorks.ibm.com/tech/xtable?Open=daw-flut-052203
The annual XML Europe Conference took place in London in May 2003. XML.com has published a number of reports from the event including: Notes from the Exhibit Floor by Simon St.Laurent; Jon Bosak on the Universal Business Language (UBL); and Daniel Veillard considering XML from an Open Source perspective.
Respected XML expert and developer, Alan Kotok, has published a report on Webservices.org site covering the XML Europe Conference, which takes particular interest in webservices.
URL: http://www.webservices.org/index.php/article/articleview/1014/1/24/
The May 2003 issue of "I3 Update/Entovation International News" has been published, providing the usual perceptive insights into issues surrounding the knowledge management domain. This months issue includes two essays: the first provides and update on developments in global innovation for development; and the second sets out some common opinions about various aspects on knowledge management and asks whether they are mainstream or myths.
The email newsletter also includes news clips and a list of events. It is available free via the URL below.
MUSICNETWORK Thematic Network Workshop
Paolo Nesi, coordinator of the MUSICNETWORK (Thematic Network of the European Commission) is planning to organise the Second Open Workshop. The principle aim of the Thematic Network is to provide a focus to bring together the industrial and research communities. The Workshop will be partially overlapped with the WEDELMUSIC conference which is mainly focussed on research aspects and multimedia, DRM technologies. The Workshop, which takes place at the University of Leeds in the UK from 17-18 September, 2003 focuses on the emerging applications for music: on the web, multimedia integration and mobile. It will feature tutorials, products, best practices, case studies and innovative applications.
Attendance at the workshop is free of charge, though pre-registration is required. A call for tutorial proposals, and presentations is open until July 1, 2003.
URL: MUSICNETWORK http://www.interactivemusicnetwork.org
URL: WEDELMUSIC http://www.wedelmusic.org/wedelmusic2003/index.html
A group of the leading advocates of Electronic Business XML (ebXML) have formed the ebXML Forum which is described as "the independent voice of the ebXML community". The group have launched a web site and plan to publish a bi-monthly electronic newsletter, the first issue of which was posted on May 23, 2003. Issue 1 included links to the articles:
• Developing Web Services with ebXML and SOAP
• Report from ebXML Showcase at XML Europe 2003
• Getting Web Services Ready for BusinessAlan Kotok one of the prime movers behind establishing the Forum, and editor of the newsletter is looking for contributors - suggestions via the email below.
URL: ebXML Forum http://www.ebxmlforum.org/
Email: Alan Kotok mailto:alankotok@cs.com
Apache HTTP Server
The Apache Software Foundation and the Apache HTTP Server Project the ninth public release of the Apache 2.0 HTTP Server. Apache 2.0.46, whilst a significant update to the previous version, is is principally a security and bug fix release. Due to the potential compromise to servers exposed by the security flaws all Apache 2.0 users are being encouraged to upgrade this latest version now.
Apache Lenya
The first stable release of Apache Lenya, a Java Open-Source Content Management System based on XML and XSLT and the Apache Software Stack, has been announced.
URL: Apache 2.0.46 download http://httpd.apache.org/download.cgi
URL: Apache home http://httpd.apache.org/ABOUT_APACHE.html
URL: Apache Lenya http://cocoon.apache.org/lenya/
Demands of multimedia scholarship
"New-Model Scholarship: How Will it Survive?" is a report (in .pdf format) originating from a meeting held in 2002 by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) that brought together scholars, librarians, archivists, publishers, and other concerned parties to discuss the preservation of digital scholarly resources. The report identifies the challenges that libraries face as they attempt to ensure long-term access to the "new-model scholarship" that will be based on access to digital archives and projects. The paper primarily explores these new types of emerging scholarship, including those that are open-ended, experimental, software-intensive, and multimedia in nature.
The Council on Library and Information Resources is an independent, non-profit organisation that, in partnership with other organisations, "helps create services that expand the concept of 'library' and supports the providers and preservers of information."
URL: report http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub114/pub114.pdf
URL: CLIR http://www.clir.org/
Research publishing - new models
"There is significant evidence that traditional university presses are continuing to face financial crises. Outlets for research monographs are drying up, print runs are being reduced and monograph costs are increasing." In "Phoenix Rising: New Models for the Research Monograph", published in Learned Publishing, the author outlines how these problems could be mitigated by adopting new networked models of access and distribution while keeping established editing and refereeing practices.
Learned Publishing (ISSN 0953-1513) is a quarterly publication of the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP). Articles from volume 10 (1997) to volume 15 (2002) are freely available online. ALPSP "represents the interests of all those involved in the publication of academic and professional information in all media. It was formed in 1972, as an association of learned and professional organisations involved in publishing."
URL: article preprint http://eprints.anu.edu.au/archive/00001032/index.html
URL: Learned Publishing http://www.alpsp.org.uk/journal.htm
URL: ALPSP http://www.alpsp.org/
A BBC article on fighting spam with Bayesian filtering provides some possible solutions for addressing the burgeoning problem of unwanted spam.
History of RDF & much more ...
The prime mover behind the development of XML, Tim Bray, describes the history of RDF and offers a challenge. Browse the site more widely though, for some fascinating insights, history, comment, sensible debate on all things connected with what is now widely termed: "content".
URL: http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2003/05/21/RDFNet
Web - info retrieval & extraction
This site is a collection of online resources for research in the field of information retrieval (IR) and information extraction (IE) from the web. The pages contain materials that are related to the state of the art IR and IE techniques used for and on the web. Such techniques use, as well as traditional techniques, hypertext structure and meta-data, the structure and nature of the web, observed human behaviour on the web, other search engines, and more.
Siemens invests in Realeyes 3D
Siemens Mobile Acceleration has announced its investment in the French start-up company Realeyes 3D S.A. which designs, develops and markets advanced image processing software products for mobile communication devices. Realeyes3D develops a new technology that allows users to capture any sort of textual or graphical content with their camera phone. The captured content is processed automatically and may be used by a variety of mobile applications, such as messaging or imaging applications.
URL: Realeyes 3D http://www.realeyes3d.com
URL: Siemens Mobile Acceleration http://www.siemens.com/mobile-acceleration
URL: Siemens Mobile http://www.siemens-mobile.com
Journal on Wireless Communications
"EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking" (EURASIP JWCN) focuses on wireless communications and networking technologies with emphasis on signal processing techniques and tools. It is directed at both practicing engineers and academic researchers. EURASIP JWCN aims to highlight the growth and new challenges in wireless technology, both for application development and basic research. The Journal welcomes submissions of original manuscripts. Further information, including more detailed notes on coverage, via the link below.
MeetingWizard for design teams
The Appliance Studio, a UK-based company, is planning to launch a new product called MeetingWizard. The company claim that MeetingWizard "creates a new medium of team interaction based on everyone working together with pens and tablets around a common display or projector, that can be shared over the Web, challenging the traditional ways of team working using white boards, flip charts and video conferencing suites".
MeetingWizard has been evaluated by design teams at Arup, the engineering consultancy, and Airbus UK the multi-national team designing the flagship Airbus A380 double-decker 555-seat aircraft. It has been licensed to a collaborative tools company that will be offering a fully commercial product in the second half of 2003.
URL: The Appliance Studio http://www.appliancestudio.com/
Cognitive Modeling proceedings
Some post-conference material from the 5th International Conference on Cognitive Modeling (ICCM 2003) has been published on the event web site. Resources available include abstracts, papers and posters presented at the conference, symposia and tutorials.
Sony has unveiled its solid creation systems for three-dimensional modeling. Based on advanced stereolithography, Sony claims that its solid creation systems will enable manufacturers to quickly verify three-dimensional product concepts, prototypes and molds for fast design verification and testing. "The Solid Creation Systems combine Sony's original laser lithography system with a special UV-curable resin to set an industry standard for high- definition modeling," said Koh Nakata, vice president of the Sony Manufacturing Systems of America division of SPTA. The Solid Creation Systems will be available in three models that integrate the hardware, software and materials necessary to meet the requirements of various modeling and prototyping applications. All systems will include Magics RP software and will be compatible with a wide range of UV-curable resin grades with properties close to ABS polypropylene or polyethylene.
Stereolithography is the process used to convert three-dimensional CAD design images into solid objects. With Sony's Solid Creation System, a CAD designed 3-D model is divided into many thin cross-sectional slices and converted to contour data. An ultraviolet laser employs the contour data as a basis for scanning the surface of UV-curable resin contained in the tank, and a cross-sectioned form is drawn. The laser-scanned surfaces are hardened, and cross-section layers are formed on an elevator, which descends a layer at a time until a 3-D solid model is completed.
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