NewsScan Daily, 30 October 2003 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 30 October 2003 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"
        Computing at the Speed of Light
        Nine Out of Ten Kids Use Computers
        Copy-Managed CD Boosts Sales Figures
        Copyright Law Exemptions Nixed
        IBM, Microsoft Spar Over the Future of the Internet
        Calling All Gadgets: RadioShack Seeks Innovative Inventors

FEATURES
        Flash Card
        Worth Thinking About: The Writer's Demon

COMPUTING AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT
Israeli tech firm Lenslet has developed a superfast processor called 
EnLight that uses light rather than electrons to perform calculations at 8 
trillion arithmetic operations per second. EnLight's optical circuits use a 
process called vector matrix-multiplication, which allows calculations to 
be performed on 256 optical inputs. The beams from these lasers are then 
added or multiplied together when shone on a device called a spatial light 
modulator, and the output is read by an array of light detectors. Lenslet 
founder Aviram Sariel notes that EnLight "is not a general purpose 
processor like a Pentium," but his company plans to custom-build the 
processors to perform a specific set of tasks for each client. Prices could 
range in the tens of thousands of dollars for each EnLight processor. (New 
Scientist 30 Oct 2003)
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994331

NINE OUT OF TEN KIDS USE COMPUTERS
About 90% of U.S. children ages 5 to 17 use computers and 59% of them use 
the Internet, according to two new studies released by the U.S. Department 
of Education. The new data also show that 99% of public schools now have 
Internet access, up from 35% eight years ago. "Children are often the first 
adopters of a lot of technology," says John Bailey, who oversees 
educational technology for the federal agency. "… Students, by and large, 
are dominating the Internet population." That's not surprising, given the 
rapid penetration of computer technology among U.S. homes, says educational 
technology expert Peter Grunwald. "The dramatic increase in younger kids' 
use of technology is not disconnected from what's going on with their 
parents and their families. Younger kids are likely to have younger 
parents, and it is those parents, especially mothers, who have a much 
higher comfort level with technology than older parents -- or even younger 
parents of five years ago." Almost 75% use the Net for help in school 
assignments and more than half use it for e-mail, IM-ing or playing games. 
Research shows the digital divide is still evident, however: while almost 
two-thirds of white youth aged 5-17 use the Internet, less than half of 
black youngsters do, and slightly more than a third of Hispanic young 
people log on. (AP 30 Oct 2003)
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20031030/D7UGGVI00.html

COPY-MANAGED CD BOOSTS SALES FIGURES
BMG Entertainment is cautiously optimistic about its latest experiment in 
discouraging music copying. The new Anthony Hamilton album, "Comin' From 
Where I'm From," hit the shelves in late September on a CD with built-in 
"copy management" technology. Buyers were limited to making three copies of 
the CD, and BMG says so far, the Hamilton album has experienced a 
slower-than-average sales drop-off -- 23% vs. the typical 40-60% after the 
first week. "I know my science well enough to know that correlation does 
not mean causation," says Jordan Katz, senior VP of sales at BMG's Arista 
label. "I would not go out on a limb and say this was the only reason 
[sales] were down only 23%. However, I would say it was a contributing 
factor." The CD also allows users to e-mail songs to friends, who can 
download and play them on their computers for 10 days before they expire. A 
lack of buyer backlash against the technology has prompted Katz to put the 
copy management software on at least two more upcoming releases. 
(Washington Post 30 Oct 2003)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38052-2003Oct29.html

COPYRIGHT LAW EXEMPTIONS NIXED
The Librarian of Congress has rejected requests for exemptions to a 
provision in the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act that forbids 
"circumventing" the electronic locks on copyrighted works, including making 
backup copies and other personal uses of digital movies, games and music 
owned by consumers. However, exemptions were granted for software programs 
and video games locked to obsolete media or equipment, and cases of 
electronic books whose digital rights management software would prevent 
them from being translated into audio or other formats for the visually 
impaired. (Los Angeles Times 30 Oct 2003)
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-rup30.1oct30,1,3679135.story?coll=la-headlines-technology

IBM, MICROSOFT SPAR OVER THE FUTURE OF THE INTERNET
IBM chief executive Sam Palmisano has been touting his company's vision of 
the future -- "on-demand computing" -- for the past year, while Microsoft 
chairman Bill Gates is predicting "seamless computing" as the next big 
thing. Behind the marketing catchwords is a war of ideas that pits 
Microsoft's focus on the individual's use of new technology tools against 
IBM's advocacy of "utility-based" computing, where companies outsource 
their technology needs and pay only for what they use. Microsoft executives 
accuse IBM of trying to steer more business its way. "IBM is talking about 
taking all the things we do now and outsourcing it," says Gates. "The 
utility model suggests that it is not about empowerment." But Microsoft's 
Windows-centric strategy is increasingly out of step with the realities of 
technical diversity in an open source environment, says IBM VP Irving 
Wladawsky-Berger. "Microsoft reminds me of IBM in the years from 1988 to 
1990. We were doing lots of things but the No. 1 thing was to protect the 
mainframe franchise. Windows will continue to be a superb legacy business, 
just as the mainframe is for us. It's just that dynamics change." (New York 
Times 27 Oct 2003)
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/27/technology/27neco.html

CALLING ALL GADGETS: RADIOSHACK SEEKS INNOVATIVE INVENTORS
RadioShack recently unveiled its new strategy to carve out a bigger share 
of the consumer electronics market -- it hosted 250 electronics developers 
at its Fort Worth, Texas, headquarters to offer them its retail network of 
7,000 stores, design expertise and access to financing to get new products 
to market more quickly. "There are a lot of entrepreneurs who have patents 
but no manufacturing capability," says RadioShack chairman and CEO Leonard 
H. Roberts. "We want to match entrepreneurs with money, with manufacturing. 
That's how we want to be a force in the marketplace." The company plans to 
devote space in one of its factories in China to developing new ideas and 
will back innovative efforts with its own money. In its first 
joint-development agreement, RadioShack is partnering with Mobility 
Electronics to design a universal system for recharging batteries for cell 
phones, digital cameras, camcorders, MP3 players and other portable 
devices. "We're metamorphosing the company to be more of a leader than a 
follower," says Andy Berman, VP of new business development. "We've got to 
get closer to the technology." (Wall Street Journal 30 Oct 2003)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB106746401981805700,00.html (sub req'd)

*****

FLASH CARD
      "They said it couldn't be done but sometimes it doesn't work out that 
way." (Casey Stengel)

WORTH THINKING ABOUT: THE WRITER'S DEMON
      The great George Orwell once gave these four reasons to explain why 
anyone would write a book -- an act that he described as a horrible, 
exhausting struggle, which one would never undertake unless driven by some 
overpowering demon.
      "1. Sheer egoism. Desire to seem clever, to be talked about, to be 
remembered after death, to get your own back on grownups who snubbed you in 
childhood, etc., etc. It is humbug to pretend that this is not a motive, 
and a strong one. Writers share this characteristic with scientists, 
artists, politicians, lawyers, soldiers, successful businessmen-in short, 
with the whole top crust of humanity. The great mass of human beings are 
not acutely selfish. After the age of about thirty they abandon individual 
ambition and live chiefly for others or are simply smothered under 
drudgery. But there is also the minority of gifted, willful people who are 
determined to live their own lives to the end, and writers belong to this 
class. Serious writers, I should say, are on the whole more vain and 
self-centered than journalists, though less interested in money.
      "2. Esthetic enthusiasm. Perception of beauty in the external world, 
or, on the other hand, in words and their right arrangement. Pleasure in 
the impact of one sound on another, in the firmness of good prose or the 
rhythm of a good story. Desire to share an experience which one feels is 
valuable and ought not to be missed. Above the level of a railway guide, no 
book is quite free from esthetic considerations.
      "3. Historical impulse. Desire to see things as they are, to find out 
true facts and store them up for the use of posterity.
      "4. Political purpose -- using the word "political" in the widest 
possible sense. Desire to push the world in a certain direction, to alter 
other people's idea of the kind of society that they should strive after. 
Once again, no book is genuinely free from political bias. The opinion that 
art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude."
                                  ***
See 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1567921337/newsscancom/ref=nosim 
for a comprehensive collection of George Orwell's essays -- or look for it 
in your favorite library. (We donate all revenue from our book 
recommendations to adult literacy programs.)

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