NewsScan Daily, 23 July 2004 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 23 July 2004 ("Above The Fold")
***********************************************************
NewsScan Daily is underwritten by RLG, a world-class organization making
significant and sustained contributions to the effective management and
appropriate use of information technology. NSD is written by John Gehl and
Suzanne Douglas, [email protected].
***********************************************************

"ABOVE THE FOLD"  
       Fadeout: The Incredible Shrinking AT&T
       Nobel Laureate Ed Lewis Dies
       Danger and Sharp in Manufacturing Deal
       Verizon, Cingular, Sprint Enter Disclosure Deal
       Duke Experiments With iPod as Learning Device

FEATURES           
       Flash Card
       Honorary Subscribers: Sidney and Beatrice Webb

FADEOUT: THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING AT&T
     Fading out of the business for which it is best known, AT&T will no
longer market long-distance service to consumers; the company will focus
instead on business customers, which accounts for 70% of its revenue. It
will continue serving its existing residential customers, but not market to
new ones. Gene Kimmelman of the Consumers Union says, "This is devastating.
This takes the most revered name in quality long-distance service and the
most aggressive competitor to the Bell monopolies out of play."
Telecommunications industry analyst Drake Johnstone thinks AT&T's was
inevitable: "AT&T has come to realize that the consumer franchise is
indefensible and, over time, it will disappear." (Washington Post 22 Jul
2004) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7239-2004Jul22.html

NOBEL LAUREATE ED LEWIS DIES
     Ed Lewis, a 1995 Nobel Prize winner for his studies into how genes
regulate development of specific regions of the body, has died of cancer at
the age 86. A specialist in the fundamental ways genes relate to embryonic
development, his research had profound implications for a basic
understanding of the genetic regulation of development in humans. The Nobel
committee cited him for identifying and classifying "a small number of genes
that are of key importance in determining the body plan and the formation of
body segments," and for his discovery of "how genes were arranged in the
same order on the chromosomes as the body segments they controlled." As an
adolescent Lewis became interested in the genetics of the fruit fly and
performed genetics experiments on the fly while a high school freshman.
Caltech President David Baltimore said of his career, "Ed saw that even a
lowly fruit fly could be a key to understanding the mysterious process of
how a fertilized egg turns into a fully developed organism." (USA Today 23
Jul 2004) http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-07-23-edlewis-obit_x.htm

DANGER AND SHARP IN MANUFACTURING DEAL
     Danger, a company that makes an all-in-one wireless phone and e-mail
device, has entered into an agreement with Sharp of Japan in which Sharp
will produce a new Danger device in time for the Christmas shopping season.
Danger's pocket-sized "hiptop" device comes with easy-to use software,
offers a Web browser, instant messaging, e-mail, phone, camera and games.
Danger Chief Executive Hank Nothhaft says the deal will give manufacturing
responsibilities to Sharp and leave Danger free to pursue its main business,
which is developing wireless software: "The device hardware business is a
large company game, This immensely advances our credibility." (Reuters/USA
Today 23 Jul 2004) 
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/data/2004-07-23-danger-partners_x.htm

VERIZON, CINGULAR, AND SPRINT ENTER DISCLOSURE DEAL
     In an agreement with the attorneys general of 32 states, Verizon
Wireless, Cingular, and Sprint PCS have committed to be more transparent in
their advertising and to give full disclosure of service contract rates and
conditions, more detailed coverage maps to consumers, and a two-week grace
period for new customers to terminate service without penalty. Tennessee
Attorney General Paul Summers explains: "Under the agreement, consumers will
have a trial period to find out if they have wireless service where they
live, work and play." (AP/Los Angeles Times 21 Jul 2004)
http://www.latimes.com/technology/ats-ap_technology14jul21,1,1067273.story?c
oll=sns-ap-toptechnology

DUKE EXPERIMENTS WITH iPOD AS LEARNING DEVICE
     Freshmen at Duke University this fall will receive their own iPods in
an experiment to see whether the Apple's portable music player can also
serve as a learning tool. The university will distribute 1,650 iPods for the
pilot program, as part of Duke's plan to use more technology in teaching.
The university also will create a Web site modeled on the Apple iTunes
online music site from which students can download songs and course content
from faculty, including language lessons, lectures and audio books. Will
students listen in class to music rather than to the lecturer? Duke teacher
Sally Schauman isn't worried: "If you're in a class so boring you need to do
that, then I encourage you to do so. Or if your need to learn is so low, you
shouldn't be here in the first place." (AP 23 Jul 2004)
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20040721/D83V62EG0.html

*****

FLASH CARD
     "Now here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the
same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice
as fast as that!" (Lewis Carroll)

HONORARY SUBSCRIBERS: SIDNEY AND BEATRICE WEBB
     Today's Honorary Subscribers are the English economists Beatrice Potter
Webb (1858-1943) and her husband Sidney James Webb (1859-1947) who, as
prominent leaders of the Fabian Socialists, played a major role in building
Britain's Labor Party. They also worked together to help create the London
School of Economics and Political Science.
     The Webbs had a hand in most of the political and social reforms of
their time, their activities leading to reforms that aided the poor,
strengthened the labor movement, and improved public education. In 1913 they
founded the New Statesman, a weekly periodical to promote their socialist
views. They also co-authored a number of important books, including "The
History of Trade Unionism" (1894), "Industrial Democracy" (1897), and
"Soviet Communism" (1935).
     Sidney James Webb was born in London, where his father was a
bookkeeper. In 1885 he was befriended by George Bernard Shaw, who brought
him into the Fabian Society. This organization of British socialists became
his philosophical home base for the rest of his life, and it was largely due
to his leadership that social research became the society's chief interest.
     Webb entered politics as a member of the London County Council in 1892.
In the council, he helped reshape education programs in London. During World
War I be became active in the Labor Party and was elected to its executive
committee. In 1918 he prepared the statement that first committed the party
to socialism. In 1922, he was elected to Parliament, and after that he held
Cabinet posts in several Labor governments. In 1929 he became Baron
Passfield, but his wife, true to her socialists beliefs, refused to be
called Lady Passfield.
     Beatrice Webb was born Martha Beatrice Potter and came from a wealthy
and socially prominent Gloucester family. The philosopher Herbert Spencer
was a family friend, and under his influence Beatrice became a social
worker. In trying to understand the roots of poverty, she found she had a
talent for social research. Her small 1891 study on the Co-operative
Movement in Great Britain has become a classic. Her research interests
brought her into contact with Sidney Webb, and they were married in 1892.
Her wealth allowed the couple to devote themselves to the interests of the
British labor movement. From 1906 to 1909, she served on the Royal
Commission on the Poor Law, which investigated poverty in Britain. Together
with her husband, she wrote a minority report for the commission that called
for passage of legislation that would guarantee a minimum standard of living
for all citizens. During the 1920's and 1930's, she revised and edited the
detailed diary she had kept since 1872. The resulting books, "My
Apprenticeship" (1926) and "Our Partnership" (1948), form an eloquent record
of the Webbs' productive careers.
     In 1928 the Webbs retired to their home in Hampshire. They both died
there, Beatrice in 1943 and Sidney in 1947.

[See 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0312226411/newsscancom/ref=nos
im for a biography of the Webbs by Royden J. Harrison -- or look for it in
your favorite library. Note: We donate all revenue from our book
recommendations to adult literacy programs.]

SUBSCRIPTION INFO FOR NEWSSCAN DAILY:
      To subscribe or unsubscribe to the text, html, or handheld versions of
NewsScan Daily, send the appropriate subscribe or unsubscribe messages
(i.e., with the word 'subscribe' or 'unsubscribe' in the subject line) to
the addresses shown below:
      Text version: Send message to [email protected]
      HTML version: Send mail to [email protected]
      NewsScan-To-Go: http://www.newsscan.com/handheld/current.html

TELL YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT NEWSSCAN DAILY! Send them our little frog:
http://www.newsscan.com/newsscan/newscup.html

***********************************************************
Please visit the site of RLG, the great organization that makes NewsScan
Daily possible. (RLG has no influence over, nor any responsibility for, our
editorial content.) Created in 1974 as the Research Libraries Group, RLG is
a not-for-profit membership corporation of more than 160 universities,
national libraries, archives, museums -- and other institutions with
remarkable collections for research and learning. Its major initiatives are
long-term retention of digital materials, resource sharing among member
institutions, and improvement of researcher access to primary source
material. RLG supplies online research resources worldwide. Visit RLG at
http://www.rlg.org.

*********

To subscribe or unsubscribe to the TEXT version of NewsScan Daily, send an
e-mail message to [email protected] with 'subscribe' or 'unsubscribe' in
the subject line. To subscribe or unsubscribe to the HTML version of
NewsScan Daily, send mail to [email protected], with the word
'subscribe' or 'unsubscribe' as the subject. (Subscribing to the HTML
version won't automatically unsubscribe you from the text version; please
unsubscribe yourself as explained above.) PLEASE NOTE: To unsubscribe from
an account to which you no longer have access, send mail to at
[email protected].

*********

We call our news section "Above The Fold" to honor the tradition of the
great "broadsheet" newspapers in which editors must decide which news
stories are of such importance that they should be placed "above the fold"
on the front page. The NewsScan Credo: Be informative, have fun, and get to
the point! See http://www.newsscan.com/, and send us mail: John Gehl
<[email protected]> and Suzanne Douglas <[email protected]>, or call
770-704-7517.

*********

Get a free 6-week trial subscription to Innovation Weekly, an executive
summary of trends, strategies and innovations in business and technology.
Send mail to [email protected] with the word 'subscribe' in the
subject line.

What customized news and information services do you need for your company?
Get in touch with us at [email protected] or call 770-704-7517 to talk
over the possibilities.

Copyright 2004. NewsScan Daily (R) is a publication of NewsScan Inc.
***********************************************************