NewsScan Daily, 6 May 2004 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 6 May 2004 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"
        Microsoft Ponders Second Interface for Media Apps
        Info Technology Is Just Another Utility
        MLB Comes to Sprint PCS
        The Beige Box Goes Scandinavian
        Australia's NICTA Unveils Research Priorities

FEATURES
        Flash Card
        Worth Thinking About: The Cheap Revolution

MICROSOFT PONDERS SECOND INTERFACE FOR MEDIA APPS
      Microsoft says its next-generation Windows operating software, 
code-named Longhorn, will incorporate a number of features aimed at making 
laptops more powerful and at the same time as easy to use as consumer 
devices such as portable DVD players. The company is considering adding a 
separate user interface that would control video, music and other media 
file-playing activities without having to log onto Windows first. "It's 
lighter, in a sense, and allows a more consumer electronics experience," 
says IDC analyst Alan Promisel. Other enhancements include improved support 
for multiple displays and the ability to create ad hoc wireless networks. 
In addition, the software giant has developed a centralized synchronization 
engine designed to keep information current between PCs and other 
electronic devices, as well as an improved graphics engine, dubbed Avalon; 
a new file system called WinFS; and Indigo, an improved Web services-based 
communications subsystem. (CNet News.com 5 May 2004)
http://news.com.com/2100-1016-5206891.html

INFO TECHNOLOGY IS JUST ANOTHER UTILITY
      Nicholas Carr rocked the IT world last year with his article 
published in Harvard Business Review titled, "IT Doesn't Matter." 
Techno-mavens such as Steve Ballmer hollered, "Hogwash!" but Carr has now 
responded to his critics with a full-length book, "Does IT Matter?". 
University of California, Berkeley professor Hal Varian says Carr's point 
is well taken: "At one time information was so expensive and so difficult 
to manage that companies could make large amounts of money simply by being 
able to make systems work. (Think IBM.)" Companies that failed to manage 
their IT assets suffered in comparison. But Carr argues that in today's 
world, IT has become a utility, just like telephone service or electricity. 
That may be true, says Varian, but that doesn't mean that technological 
innovation stops -- "Once products become commodities, they can serve as 
components for further innovation," says Varian. "In the 19th century, 
American manufacturers created standardized designs for wheels, gears, 
pulleys, shafts and screws. As such standardized parts became widely 
available and could be purchased 'off the shelf,' there was an outpouring 
of invention… Perhaps information technology is like those standardized 
parts. Desktop PCs, Web servers, databases and scripting languages have 
become components in larger, more complex systems. As these components have 
become more standardized, the opportunities to create innovations have 
multiplied." Varian ends by noting that companies cannot afford to ignore 
IT, but should be thinking about how to use it to improve operations and 
cut costs, and in the process open up new opportunities for innovation. 
(New York Times 6 May 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/06/business/06scene.html

MLB COMES TO SPRINT PCS
      Sprint PCS cell phone users soon will be able to enjoy a video-like 
baseball highlights channel and 30 game-audio channels -- one for each 
Major League Baseball team. The video clips resemble a quick powerpoint or 
slide show, running about one frame per second on the two-inch-square 
screens available on high-end handsets. Sprint's move reflects wireless 
carriers' strategy of pushing multimedia content in order to raise the 
per-user revenue rates. "We're still very much trying to get people to see 
there's more they can do with their phone than talk on it," says Sprint PCS 
marketing VP Jeff Hallock. MLB Advanced Media, the league's interactive 
media unit, is working with startup Idetic Inc. to produce the video 
package. Meanwhile, the NBA has announced that it will sell video clips of 
games on certain high-end Nokia phones, starting with the league's 
championship games next month. In-Stat/MDR estimates that some 270,000 
Americans will sign up for wireless video content by the end of this year, 
representing $32.8 million in additional revenues. (Wall Street Journal 6 
May 2004)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB108378096007402830,00.html (sub req'd)

THE BEIGE BOX GOES SCANDINAVIAN
      Computer users weary of the beige and black plastic boxes that are 
ubiquitous among PC makers' offerings now can harmonize their PC with their 
more traditional furnishings. Swedx, a maker of computer peripherals, is 
making custom-designed monitors, keyboards and mice in ash, mahogany or 
beech wood, culled from Chinese forests. The monitors range in size from 17 
inches ($675) to 19 inches ($1,175), with keyboards going for about $60 and 
mice for about $40. So far, Swedx has not developed a wooden CPU case, but 
the company is considering it for future production. Swedx says it's sold 
thousands of wooden peripherals worldwide and plans to boost U.S. sales 
following its exhibit at CeBit America, scheduled for later this month in 
New York. (AP/Washington Post 5 May 2004)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5252-2004May5.html

AUSTRALIA'S NICTA UNVEILS RESEARCH PRIORITIES
      The Australian IT industry's peak research body National ICT 
Australia (NICTA) will focus on wireless security and turning raw data into 
useable knowledge as its priority research areas. Announcing the research 
priorities at the CeBIT trade show in Sydney, NICTA chairman Neville Roach 
said the research institution had pulled itself in line with the Howard 
government's overall call for greater emphasis on easily commercialized 
research projects: "The aims of the two priority challenges (areas of 
focus) are to improve the trust in wireless communications and to generate 
knowledge from the gathering and use of the vast amount of data now 
available as a result of the information revolution." (The Australian 5 May 
2004, rec'd from John Lamp, Deakin University)
http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,9476740%5E15306%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html

*****

FLASH CARD
      "Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius and 
power and magic in it." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

WORTH THINKING ABOUT: THE CHEAP REVOLUTION
      Rich Karlgaard, the publisher of Forbes magazine, writes:
      "Poke around Google and you sense a clean break from the past, a 
harbinger of the future. The company's Web site handles about 750 million 
page views a day and has become the third most visited site in the world. 
Google performs its Web search miracle with a backroom technology plant 
consisting of about 100,000 cheap servers -- basically, mail-order PCs 
without monitors -- that cost about $2,000 apiece. When one of these cheap 
crunchers goes on the blink, Google junks it like an old razor blade, and 
slips in a replacement.
      "Pay attention to the money Google does not spend. No fat service 
contracts. No bloated in-house 'fix-it' departments. Google's cheap ways 
save 90 cents on a typical information-technology dollar, according to Mike 
Nevens, a former head of McKinsey's technology practice. This amazing 90% 
savings is the key to understanding Google and much, much more about 
today's economy. I call it the Cheap Revolution, and it's in full swing. 
All around us, it's pushing costs down -- not down a slope, but over a cliff."
                                              *** 
Seehttp://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB108371228271802120,00.html?mod=opinion%5Fmain%5Fcommentaries 
(sub req'd) for Rich Karlgaard's  "The Little Search Engine That Could," in 
the Wall Street Journal 5 May 2004

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