V4 N48 -  8 May 2005

iTHINK ZONE
 

Envisioneering

It never ceases to amaze me. Almost everyone peers into the future through a rear-view mirror. The future is imagined as a continuation of the past. I suppose there is a certain security in that; much like a padded cell. Hardly anyone practices creative envisioneering.

READ ON
http://cyberzone.pacific-tier.com/iThink.htm
[Posted April 27 ]
 

OTHERS' THINK ZONE

THE IT TALENT "CRISIS"
If recent empirical and anecdotal evidence is any indication, computer science is about as trendy with college students today as phone-booth stuffing and pet rocks. According to a recent survey from the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, the number of freshmen indicating that they plan to major in computer science declined by more than 60 percent between 2000 and 2004. Industry luminaries such as Bill Gates are pushing the U.S.  government to lift limits on H1-B visas to meet the perceived shortage of IT talent in the United States. Is the IT talent sky falling? I don't think so, because I feel the importance of a computer-science degree is overstated.
http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=D47A11:1F8551F

CYBERZONE

EVALUATING A PATENT SYSTEM GONE AWRY
While brawls over Social Security and lobbying high jinks dominate the news on Capitol Hill, Congress is quietly moving on one of the technology industry's top priorities: revamping the patent system.  As unsexy as that sounds, at stake is who gets to benefit most from innovation.
http://letters.washingtonpost.com/W4RT04DBD75B709A7C77F3CE661BD1

REPORT SAYS CHILDREN NEED NET-SAVVY PARENTS Parents who remain baffled by the internet may be potentially harming their children's education and job prospects. That's according to a new UK study carried out by academics at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). The research project, which was carried out by Professor Sonia Livingstone and Dr Magdalena Bober over a two-year period, surveyed 1,511 young people from the ages of nine to 19. It also sent a written questionnaire to 906 parents. The findings indicate that many parents lacked the skills to guide and support their children's internet use and because of this they could be placing them on the wrong side of a digital divide. It also reveals that internet-literate parents usually have internet-literate children.
http://www.electricnews.net/news.html?code=9603948

VoIP ZONE

TELEPHONES FOR VoIP
For those with high-speed online connections, Internet calling and videoconferencing are finally taking off. So is the selection of tools.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/05/technology/circuits/05basics.html?8cir&emc=cir

TEXAS STATE COURT FREES VoIP
In the bankruptcy court of the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division, judge Harlin D. Hale has issued a ruling that could have national implications. In case No. 05-31929-HDH-11, the court ruled that one company's VoIP service that supported a variety of features including calls from one phone to another is clearly an information service, not a telecommunication service, and is therefore not subject to access fees from the RBOC.
http://www.isp-planet.com/politics/2005/transcom.html

VoIP SUCCESSFUL IN JAPAN
Owing to the high charges for the fixed line telephony and the promotional activities of Softbank Corp, Japan has the highest percentage of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) users in the world.

Out of the total users worldwide about 80% are in Japan. Softbank had started by making Internet telephony the key constituent in its Yahoo BB broadband service package. The company is ahead of the major competitors and has about 4.5 million subscribers. One of the major reasons of its success is that the calls between two BB phones are not charged. Similarly international charges are also much lower than those of NTT. The package prices range extends from $28.49 to $37.99 per month. The consumers can continue to use the same phones and phone numbers. Also the emergency numbers are transferred to the NTT service automatically. The BB phone users have to retain their NTT connections at a basic monthly charge of $16.14.

TAIWAN CABLECOS DEFY GOVERNMENT & LAUNCH VoIP The Taiwanese cable service providers have decided to introduce the voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) service for their customers apparently paying no heed to the restrictions imposed by the government. The companies are in various stages to launch VoIP services. While Eastern Multimedia was one of the earlier companies to launch the service, China Network Systems has just introduced it.  Taiwan Broadband Communications is conducting trials on the VoIP service. The Government Information Office (GIO), which oversees regulations related to cable services, has still not come out with the regulations and guidelines for VoIP services.

iBASIS REPORTS PROFIT ON VoIP
The VoIP carrier iBasis that caters to the wholesale market the company reported profit for Q1 FY 2005. The company stated an increase of about 72% in the minutes of use for the period ended March 31, 2005 at 1.8 billion minutes of use, as against Q1 FY 2004 and a 17% increase compared to Q4 FY 2004. The average revenue per minute was reported to be 5 cents in 1Q FY 2005. The company had a net income of $200,000 during the quarter. Some of the customers of the company are AT&T, Cable & Wireless, China Mobile, China Unicom, MCI, Skype, Sprint, Telefonica, Telenor and Telstra.

BIO/NANO/MEMS ZONE

ZOO POO TO POWER THE LIGHTS
The Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, NY, is looking to become the first zoo in the nation to be powered by its own animal waste - particularly the prodigious piles produced by its pachyderms. The zoo - world prominent for its Asian elephant breeding program - is studying how feasible it would be to switch to animal waste as an alternative energy source to reduce its $400,000 annual heating and electricity bill. The zoo's six elephants produce more than 1,000 pounds of dung per day, said Zoo Director Anne Baker.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/11549554.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

HIS BRAIN, HER BRAIN
It turns out that male and female brains differ quite a bit in architecture and activity. Research into these variations could lead to sex-specific treatments for disorders such as depression and schizophrenia On a gray day in mid-January, Lawrence Summers, the president of Harvard University, suggested that innate differences in the build of the male and female brain might be one factor underlying the relative scarcity of women in science. His remarks reignited a debate that has been smoldering for a century, ever since some scientists sizing up the brains of both sexes began using their main finding--that female brains tend to be smaller--to bolster the view that women are intellectually inferior to men.
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&colID=1&articleID=000363E3-1806-1264-980683414B7F0000

ARTIFICIAL RETINA
People suffering from blindness due to the degeneration of retinal cells may one day regain partial eyesight thanks to a new system.The 4x5-mm microelectronic retinal-stimulator chip, consisting of silicone and platinum studded with 16 electrodes, gets implanted into the back of the eye on the retina. A small, lightweight video camera mounted on a pair of glasses takes images, converts them into tiny electrical pulses, and wirelessly transmits them to a receiver located behind the ear. When the electrodes stimulate the retina, that information is sent to the brain. This "Model 1" chip has been implanted in six patientSs Researchers are working on improving the implants to accommodate 60 electrodes and 1,000 electrodes, which might offer the ability to read or recognize faces.
http://link.abpi.net/l.php?20050503A2

BIO-BRIEFS ZONE

Atlanta--Tech, Emory get $11.5M for nanotech http://www.bizjournals.com/ct/c/1405560

Charlotte--Effort to boost biotech industry part of symposium: UNC Charlotte teams with institute to build awareness of resources
http://www.bizjournals.com/ct/c/1405561

East Bay--From Prop. 71 to cure, revenue is a long trek
http://www.bizjournals.com/ct/c/1405562

East Bay--Chiron remains upbeat despite flu-ridden earnings
http://www.bizjournals.com/ct/c/1405563

Minneapolis/St. Paul--In Private: $2M will bring Intradyn Inc. into Iowa
http://www.bizjournals.com/ct/c/1405564

Philadelphia--RheoGene deal sets stage for commercial use of technology
http://www.bizjournals.com/ct/c/1405565

San Francisco--Genentech beats Amgen's market cap to become biggest biotech
http://www.bizjournals.com/ct/c/1405566

San Francisco--Biotech buyer gives new life to cancer unit
http://www.bizjournals.com/ct/c/1405567

ASIA ZONE

MICKEY MOUSE's OWN CELL PHONE COMPANY IN CHINA The US Company Walt Disney has decided to enter the Chinese cell phone market. According to the Walt Disney Company (China) it has selected the local partner and will launch the products later this year. The company also has a partnership with Sony Ericsson in the country. Walt Disney will envisage and design various accessories for the cell phones manufactured by Sony Ericsson and according to sources this time also the company is likely to choose the joint venture company Sony Ericsson. However the managing director of the Walt Disney China, Stanley Cheung, it is likely to offer licenses for the manufacturing of its products to more companies so that its products reach more than 100 cities in the country.

JAPAN AIRLINES LAUCHES IN-FLIGHT BROADBAND ACROSS PACIFIC An airplane of Japan Airlines between Tokyo and New York, Boeing 747-400, will become the first to have an in-flight broadband facility over the Pacific Ocean. The airplane will offer Connexion-based broadband service. The services have been made available only to the transatlantic flights and those between Asia and Europe for almost a year now. The connection will be charged at $29.95 per flight or $9.95 for the first 30 minutes and 25 cents per minute after that for those who do not plan to utilize the service. The introductory offer allows for a $10 discount.

SingTel MOBILE USERS INCREASE
SingTel and its subsidiaries in various countries have 65 million subscribers to its cell phone services. According to the company on 31st March 2005 the total number of subscribers was 37% higher than at the same time last year. The regions, which showed a 34% growth from last year (26 million) in the number of subscribers, were India, Indonesia, Australia, Singapore, Thailand and Philippines. In Singapore the company recorded 20,000 subscribers in the first quarter of this year, which increased the number of subscribers to
1.6 million.

$1M BID TO TACKLE IT SKILLS SHORTAGE IN NEW ZEALAND An ambitious $1 million effort is under way to tackle skills shortages in the ICT industry that is likely to result in a technology curriculum for schoolchildren in years 11-13 and a new national training organisation.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/hlc/1,,77463~3265785a28~,00.html

WIRELESS ZONE

SPEAKEASY LAUNCHES WiMAX NETWORK IN SEATTLE Broadband provider Speakeasy today launched a WiMAX network that blankets a five-square-mile area of central Seattle. The company will market the service to businesses and will charge $800 per month for a connection that's twice as fast as a T1 line.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/222823_wimax04.html

SAN FRANCISCO GETTING TWO MORE HOT ZONES AnchorFree to offer wireless service to neighborhoods for free Connecting to the Internet from wherever you are, whether at a cafe table on the sidewalk or at a street corner, is getting a lot easier in the Bay Area. Several new Wi-Fi hot zones have been installed.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/05/02/BUG54CI0KM1.DTL


iPass hits 20,000 hotspots; JiWire on the Tiger; Verizon to shut down NYC payphone Wi-Fi; and more.
http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,1kvc,1,l0p5,ecft,jcj3,9ffi

LIFE, LIBERTY & FREE WiFI
The Founding Fathers declared "the pursuit of happiness"t; to be a fundamental human right. Some cities are making sure citizens can pursue happiness online, anywhere, for free.
http://letters.washingtonpost.com/W4RT0425738B909A7C77F3CEBD4C11

SITE CITES

ARE WE NEARLY THERE YET? *
Ok, so nobody expects it to actually explain everything. No genius is going to slap their forehead one day and say, "Oh yes, P equals Q squared minus Z. Now it's all so clear - how the mind works, what happened to the dinosaurs, where socks disappear to..." The "theory of everything" is only meant to explain all the particles and forces of nature. It should reveal, for example, why nuclear forces are strong enough to clamp protons and neutrons together, and why there are exactly three kinds of electron. It should set the constants of nature in stone, and explain the origin of time and space. That's all. So what's taking so long? Well, it has become clear that the theory of everything is not going to look like anything we imagined...
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/fundamentals/mg18624971.500

ERP: The Engine Room Of Capitalism
http://www.erpdaily.com/

Natural Disasters News Updated Every 30 minutes http://www.terradaily.com/disasterwire.html

Global Epidemic News Tracker
http://www.terradaily.com/index-plague.html

Nuclear Proliferation: Policy and Doctrine http://www.spacewar.com/nukewars.html

The GPS and RFID Industry Tracker
http://www.gpsdaily.com/

Portal to China and the Next Hyperpower
http://www.sinodaily.com/

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