V4 N29 -  26 December 2004

iTHINK ZONE
 

A HISTORY OF THE "TELEPHONE COMPANY" IN HAWAII

This series will continue in early 2005

OTHERS' THINK ZONE

THE CULTURE OF CREATIVITY

The Fabric of Creativity
innovation is more than skin deep: The culture is as imaginative as the products.
http://trax.fastcompany.com/k/w/mailman/fasttake/20041215/gore

W.L. Gore's new rules of business start with breaking the old rules.
http://trax.fastcompany.com/k/w/mailman/fasttake/20041215/gore-fasttake

Don't Confuse Creativity with Innovation
Can anyone be creative? Companies and consultants alike say the answer is yes.
http://trax.fastcompany.com/k/w/mailman/fasttake/20041215/watson

The Culture of Innovation
Sometimes, leading indicators don't need to live large. Does your organization have what it takes to identify the little idea that
could hit the big time?  http://trax.fastcompany.com/k/w/mailman/fasttake/20041215/tchong

VoIP ZONE

U.S. CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS BARS STATE's REGULATION OF VoIP
A federal appeals court prohibited the state of Minnesota from regulating Internet-based phone calling as if it were a traditional telecommunications service.  http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/29/technology/29phone.html?th

VONAGE OFFERS FREE CALLS FOR TROOPS THROUGH 2005
Vonage will continue to offer military personnel in Afghanistan and Iraq free phone calls to their families in the United States throughout 2005, the Voice over IP (define) provider said.  http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3452351

AT&T INCREASES CallVantage FEATURES, PRICES
Swimming against the current of falling prices and increasing numbers of free features offered by most of its competitors, AT&T Corp. has added new facets to its CallVantage VoIP service, and will be ending its current promotions and raising prices within a few weeks. The incumbent even plans to charge per-month fees for features it appears to think are premium offerings, including options sometimes offered for free by rival consumer-VoIP service providers.  http://www.phoneplusmag.com/hotnews/4ch2791738.html

LOOKING BACKWARD ZONE

SILICON VALLEY TECHNOLOGY HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR
Google, Oracle, Mars, voting: What these otherwise unconnected topics had in common this year was their importance to Silicon Valley and beyond. As 2004 ends, let's look back at the highlights:
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/columnists/dan_gillmor/10520388.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

CYBERZONE

DEADLINE TO CLAIM SHARE OF MICROSOFT SETTLEMENT IS JAN. 8
Consumers and companies may forfeit hundreds of millions of dollars they could be spending on new computer products if they miss a looming deadline to claim part of the $1.1 billion settlement.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/12/29/BUG4IAI7O51.DTL

TIME WARNER CABLE MAY SELL MOBILE SERVICE WITH SPRINT
Time Warner Inc.'s cable-television unit is in talks to offer wireless service with Sprint Corp. to fend off competition from satellite-TV and telephone companies. An agreement with Sprint would allow Time Warner to offer a so-called ``quadruple play'' of four services for one price. Time Warner operates the second-largest U.S. cable company and has been losing basic-cable customers to DirecTV Group Inc., which offers a package of phone, Internet and TV service with Verizon Communications Inc.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=avy008cyNMtw&refer=top_world_news

CATAPULT - MAKING IDEAS HAPPEN--NEW WEBSITE
Meet the inventor of the Orgasmatron; the man who started up Nudie; and the creator of seek.com.au. If you've ever had a great idea for a new business or invention, then this is the site for you! Catapult will inspire you to turn your idea into something big.  http://www.abc.net.au/catapult/

Join Catapult Updates to keep in touch with new content on the Catapult website:
http://www.abc.net.au/catapult/interact/updates.htm

BIO/NANO/MEMS ZONE

JUST HOW OLD CAN HE GO?
Ray Kurzweil, an inventor fascinated with the connection between humans and computers, says that emerging trends in biotechnology are opening a realistic path to immortality.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/27/technology/27kurzweil.html?th

CHINA TO RESTORE ENDANGERED FISHES WITH CLONE TECHNOLOGY
Endangered species of fish such as Chinese Sturgeon are hopeful of being restored through application of clone technology. A project funded by the National Foundation for Natural Sciences - research on cloning endangered fish species with cells preserved in low temperature is progressing smoothly, said professor Yu Laining, a fish cloning expert and dean of Medical and Life Sciences School of Jianghan University.
http://english.people.com.cn//200412/28/eng20041228_168931.html

BIO-BRIEFS ZONE

Birmingham---Biotech wizards try to pull profits out of the lab
http://www.bizjournals.com/ct/c/1193794

Boston--With new CFO, Caliper eyes Asia for sales growth
http://www.bizjournals.com/ct/c/1193795

Memphis--Biotech deals signal future boon for city
http://www.bizjournals.com/ct/c/1193796

Milwaukee--Keeping the competition at bay: Biotech plan important to Madison's economic future, leaders say
http://www.bizjournals.com/ct/c/1193797

Pittsburgh--Program expands focus of Greenhouse: Evergreen System to help create later-stage firms
http://www.bizjournals.com/ct/c/1193798

Raleigh/Durham--Genentech scouted Triangle; pitches being made
http://www.bizjournals.com/ct/c/1193799

San Francisco-- Bay Area's life sciences chiefs raked in serious money in '04
http://www.bizjournals.com/ct/c/1193800

San Francisco--Genentech inks record-setting lease: Rampaging biotech
giant signs on for 780,000 square feet
http://www.bizjournals.com/ct/c/1193801

South Florida--BIOTECHNOLOGY: Promising industry hits legal potholes
http://www.bizjournals.com/ct/c/1193802

ASIA ZONE
 

Hong Kong Tech Park More Than Half Empty, Posts $11.6 Million Loss

China's answer to Silicon Valley hasn't fared well financially, although the government says the operation will soon bounce back.
<http://whatcounts.com/t?ctl=AA8C5B:2EBD7D6> http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/04/12/ap_4122804.asp?trk=nl  

CHINA LAUNCHES NEXT GENERATION INTERNET
China is launching the first backbone next-generation Internet network that will connect 25 universities in 20 cities. The network is called China Education and Research Network (CERNET2). It is the biggest next-generation Internet network in the world. According to the director of the expert committee of CERNET, Wu Jianping, the network will have a speed of 2.5 to 10 gigabits per second with connections between the universities being made available at 1 to 10 gigabits per second. The trial CERNET2 connection between Beijing and Tianjin achieved a speed of 40 gigabits per second, which is the highest yet in real applications. It is the first Internet that is based on pure Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) technology. To
support the next-generation Internet network, a China Next-generation Internet (CNGI) fund worth $169 million has been set up by the National Development Reform Commission. This coverage is expected to be extended to 100 universities.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-12/27/content_403512.htm

CHINA CLOSES 12 KEY NATIONAL LABS
China has shut down 12 key national labs, accounting for 7 percent of the total, Cheng Jipei, vice-minister of Science and Technology said.

"According to the rule of survival of the fittest, key national labs with low efficiency, bad management, few research achievements and heavy brain drain will be closed, " Cheng Jinpei said, "while common labs with strong research ability and qualified research fellows can be promoted to key labs of national level."
http://english.people.com.cn//200412/24/eng20041224_168526.html

25 MILLION PHS CHINESE SUBSCRIBERS
China Telecom and China Netcom, the fixed line carriers have invested about $4 million to develop the personal handyphone system (PHS) network during the last three years. The PHS network registered a fast growth in 2003 and the first half of 2004. The PHS services are for the users who do not travel frequently and do not have a fixed line. The mobile communication services of PHS are priced at only half the rates of mobile phones. The number of new subscribers for PHS was pegged at 25 million in 2004 taking the total number of subscribers to 58 million. According to the industry analysts, the growth of new subscribers for the year 2005 is expected to decline by 50%. The PHS handset manufacturers include UTStarcom, ZTE Corporation and Lucent Technologies.
FULL ITEM [IDG]

WIRELESS ZONE

CHINA ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKING COMMUNITY
KongZhong (KONG) announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to invest $0.5 million in eFriendsNet Entertainment Corporation, an online social networking community in China. eFriendsNet is a privately-held company based in Beijing.

With approximately 1 million registered users as of December 2004, EFN is a fast-growing social networking company in China. According to eFriendsNet, the company's portal, http://www.yeeyoo.com, has over 2 million daily page views.
http://www.chinatechnews.com/index.php?action=show&type=news&id=2253

SITE CITES

HEART RHYTHMS SEEM CIRCADIAN IN NATURE
The chances of suffering heart problems are not equal throughout the day. Heart attacks occur more often around 10 o'clock in the morning than any
other time, a peak that previously was attributed to daily behavior patterns getting underway. The results of a new study reveal that the heartbeats of healthy people, too, exhibit strong circadian rhythms, which could help explain the morning crest of adverse cardiac events.
http://cl.exct.net/?fe6515727d67007e7115-fe20167073670d7c7c1c79

 

Marty Plotnick's CyberZone is a weekly review of Hawaii technology and international technology news.  The Hawaii Technology Calendar is available on the front page of this site, with links and descriptions of events relevant to the Hawaii technology and telecommunications community.  CyberZone takes special interest in researching and collecting links to stories from international technology news sources of interest to CyberZone's readers.  If you have any comments or suggestions for improvements to his site and information resource please contact Marty Plotnick at martycri@lava.net