NewsScan Daily, 4 November 2003 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 4 November 2003 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"
       IBM Chips to Power Next-Generation Xbox
       New System for Managing Intellectual Property
       Voice Control for Mobile Devices
       FCC Fines AT&T for Violating Do-Not-Call Requests
       High-Tech Slump May Be Ending

FEATURES
       Flash Card
       Honorary Subscriber: Swami Vivekananda

IBM CHIPS TO POWER NEXT-GENERATION XBOX
Microsoft has licensed IBM microchip technology for use in its
next-generation Xbox game consoles. The decision represents a setback for
Intel, whose chips have been used in Xbox consoles up till now, and it
strengthens IBM's overall position in the game technology market. (The
company already supplies processors for Nintendo's GameCube machines, and is
co-designing with Sony the processor technology for Sony's next-generation
PlayStation 2 console.) Industry analyst Richard Doherty predicts, "By the
middle or end of this decade, IBM could have as much influence and market
power in the console market as Intel does in the personal computer
industry." (New York Times 4 Oct 2003)
http://partners.nytimes.com/2003/11/04/technology/04blue.html

NEW SYSTEM FOR MANAGING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
French-born Silicon Valley entrepreneur Alain Rossmann is creating his fifth
high-tech start-up, PSS Systems, to develop a product that will help
companies keep their documents compliant with government and industry
regulations. Rossman's past start-ups have included Phone.com (now Openwave
Systems), C-Cube Microsystems, Radius, and EO; the first three went public
and the fourth was sold to AT&T. The new PSS system will allow a company to
manage its intellectual property by tracking even those documents that are
used for R&D outsourcing. It will also help government agencies collaborate
in the fight against terrorism. (San Jose Mercury News 24 Nov 2003)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/7170110.htm

VOICE CONTROL FOR MOBILE DEVICES
Microsoft is now selling new voice recognition and control software for
controlling mobile phones and handheld computers. The system will be sold as
a $40 add-on for the Windows Mobile Pocket PC software for personal digital
assistants and the Pocket PC version for mobile phones. Dick Brass,
Microsoft vice president of automotive technologies, says: "One of the more
useful places to have voice command is in a mobile environment where
distraction is dangerous and where keyboards are impossible." (Reuters/USA
Today 3 Nov 2003) 
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2003-11-03-ms-mobile-voice_x.htm

FCC FINES AT&T FOR VIOLATING DO-NOT-CALL REQUESTS
The Federal Communications Commission is planning to fine AT&T $780,000 for
continuing to make telemarketing calls to consumers who had placed their
numbers on AT&T's own do-not-call list. (This is separate from the national
list, and is maintained by individual companies told by consumers: "Take
this number off your calling list.") FCC Chairman Michael Powell said,
"Today's enforcement action demonstrates our resolve in the fight to protect
consumers from unwanted and intrusive telephone calls. This puts
telemarketers on notice that we will take all measures necessary to protect
consumers who chose to be left alone in their homes." AT&T doesn't believe
there have been as many violations as have been alleged, and says it has
"been cooperating with the FCC over the past several months in investigating
claims that date well back into 2002." (Wall Street Journal 4 Nov 2003)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB106788078474158700,00.html?mod=technology
%5Fmain%5Fwhats%5Fnews (sub req'd)

HIGH-TECH SLUMP MAY BE ENDING
A new report from the research firm IDC indicates that the high-tech
industry's extended slump may be coming to an end. The research group
predicts that next year will see the first significant increase in
technology and telecom spending since 2000, and that worldwide spending on
information technology will grow 5% to $916 billion next year, and purchases
of telecom services will rise 4% to $1 trillion. (AP/Washington Post 3 Nov
2003) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58873-2003Nov3.html

*****

FLASH CARD
     "The words "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang," which I saw on an Italian movie
poster, are perhaps the briefest statement imaginable of the basic appeal of
movies." (Pauline Kael)

HONORARY SUBSCRIBER: SWAMI VIVEKANANDA
     Today's Honorary Subscriber is Hindu monk Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902)
who became a well-known personality both in India and in America during the
last decade of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th. Fame came
suddenly to him at the Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in 1893,
where his knowledge of Eastern and Western culture, as well as his handsome
figure and striking personality, appealed to the many classes of Americans
attending the Parliament.
     Vivekananda, whose birth name was Narendranath Datta, was born into an
upper-middle-class Kayastha family in Bengal, India. He was educated at a
Western-style university where he was exposed to Western philosophy,
Christianity, and science. Social reform occupied a prominent place in
Vivekananda's thought, and he joined the Society of Brahma, which was
dedicated to eliminating child marriage and illiteracy and to spreading
education among women and the lower castes. He later became the most notable
disciple of Ramakrishna, who taught the essential unity of all religions.
     Stressing the universal and humanistic side of the Vedas and believing
more in service than dogma, Vivekananda engaged in a missionary effort to
spread Hindu thought and spirituality in the United States and England. In
1893 he appeared in Chicago as a spokesman for Hinduism at the World's
Parliament of Religions and so captivated the assembly that a newspaper
account described him as "an orator by divine right and undoubtedly the
greatest figure at the Parliament." Thereafter he lectured throughout the
United States and England, making converts to the Vedanta movement.
     In America Vivekananda became India's spiritual ambassador and pleaded
eloquently for better understanding between India and the New World in order
to create a healthy synthesis of East and West, of religion and science. In
India he was regarded as the patriot saint of modern India and an inspirer
of her dormant national consciousness.
     Many political leaders of India have publicly acknowledged their
indebtedness to Vivekananda as a promoter of peace and human brotherhood. In
the course of a short life of 39 years, ten of which were devoted to public
activities, he succeeded in producing four classic treatises on Hindu
philosophy. In addition, he delivered innumerable lectures, wrote inspired
letters in his own hand to his many friends and disciples, composed numerous
poems, and acted as spiritual guide to the many seekers, who came to him for
instruction. He also organized the Ramakrishna Order of monks, which ranks
among modern India's outstanding religious organizations.
     William James, the Harvard philosopher, called him the "paragon of
Vedantists," and Romain Rolland has written: "His words are great music,
phrases in the style of Beethoven, stirring rhythms like the march of Handel
choruses.'' 

See 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/8185301468/newsscancom/ref=nos
im for the works of Vivekananda -- or look for it in your favorite library.
(We donate all revenue from our book recommendations to adult literacy
programs.)

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