NewsScan Daily, 26 July 2004 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 26 July 2004 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"  
       44 Million Telecommuters
       Google In Its Youth
       Vietnam Steps Up Control of Internet
       Wireless Cybercontrol
       China Goes It Alone on High-Tech Standards
       Fiorina Sees 4-6% Growth Ahead
       Computer Kids: How Young Is Too Young?

FEATURES           
       Flash Card
       Honorary Subscriber: Theodore Roosevelt

44 MILLION TELECOMMUTERS
     A study by In-Stat/MDR predicts that 44 million US workers will be
telecommuting this year, either full-time or working from home on a
part-time basis. The number of telecommuters is expected to grow by 2008 to
51 million, with 14 million working full-time at home. The report notes that
the rise in telecommuting has fuelled growth in high-speed Internet by home
users: "Companies too are supporting this movement, with some firms going so
far as to subsidizing the equipment and service expense to allow their
employees to work from home." (The Age 21 Jul 2004) Rec'd from John Lamp
http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/07/21/1090089195849.html

GOOGLE IN ITS YOUTH
     Google is being sued for age discrimination by a 54-year-old terminated
manager who says he was told that he didn't fit in with Google's culture of
"youth and energy." The company prides itself on being an enlightened
employer, but the lawsuit alleges that Google purposely avoids hiring older
workers. Google denies the accusations. (San Jose Mercury News 24 Jul 2004)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/9229359.htm

VIETNAM STEPS UP CONTROL OF INTERNET
     Vietnam has stepped up efforts to control the Internet, instructing
Internet service providers to terminate contracts with cyber-cafes that
allow customers to access pornographic or anti-government sites. The
directive, issued by Minister of Post and Telecommunications Do Trung Ta, is
the latest in a string of measures unveiled in recent months to prevent "bad
and poisonous information" being circulated online. This latest regulation
requires the communist nation's seven state-owned Internet service providers
to disconnect cyber-cafes if they allow clients to access forbidden sites.
Cafe owners are also instructed to monitor their customers' use of the Web
for any violations of government regulations, such as distributing viruses
and accessing pornographic sites or those that "threaten national security."
(The Age 21 Jul 2004) Rec'd from John Lamp
http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/07/21/1090089201081.html

WIRELESS CYBERCONTROL
     The use of wireless networks of sensors and machinery has been
expanding rapidly in such applications as the management of lighting systems
and the detection of construction defects. Recent examples include a
wireless communications system to tell precisely when to irrigate and
harvest grapes to produce premium wine and a system to monitor stresses on
aging bridges to help states decide maintenance priorities. Hans Mulder,
associate director for research at Intel, says that systems such as these
"will be pervasive in 20 years." Tom Reidel of Millenial Net comments: "The
range of potential market applications is a function of how many beers
you've had," but adds: "There's a whole ecosystem of hardware, software and
service guys springing up." (New York Times 26 Jul 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/26/business/26sensor.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=10
90841246-SB1UWqxacwSvPY/GEWIydA

CHINA GOES IT ALONE ON HIGH-TECH STANDARDS
     DVD? China's trying to do it one better -- with a technology called
EVD. CDMA? The digital cell phone standard is so 2003, the Chinese say. Give
TD-SCDMA a try instead. Intel's Centrino and Microsoft's Windows? If you're
doing business with Beijing, better bone up on WAPI and Red Flag Linux, too.
These days, China's dominant message is this: We'll embrace the world -- but
on our terms. And nowhere is this more evident than in the realm of high
technology, where behind the acronyms is a battle of standards that could
have global repercussions. Pushed by their government, Chinese firms are
shunning technological protocols invented abroad and developing their own.
They want Chinese-made video discs to run on Chinese-invented players, and
they want Chinese consumers linking up with China-developed mobile gadgets.
(The Age 23 Jul 2004) Rec'd from John Lamp.
http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/07/22/1090464788166.html

FIORINA SEES 4-6% GROWTH AHEAD
     Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina is predicting that
technology spending growth will speed up both in the U.S. and in developing
and post-communist countries, with U.S. information technology spending
rising to 4 to 6% next year, assuming a general economic growth of 4%.
(Reuters/USA Today 26 Jul 2004)
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/techcorporatenews/2004-07-26-fiori
na-forecast-it_x.htm

COMPUTER KIDS: HOW YOUNG IS TOO YOUNG?
     There's a growing debate about whether children should be exposed to
technology when they are still infants. Author Jane M. Healy opposes the
practice and says, "Mental ability is gained from manipulating the
three-dimensional world at that age and managing your own mind and not
having it managed by an electronic machine"; she recommends that kids stay
off computers until age 7. David Elkind, professor of child development at
Tufts University, has similar concerns: "Children miss out on all these
basic learning experiences if they are so attuned to the virtual world." But
other scholars hold the opposite view: Yong Zhao, a professor of educational
psychology at Michigan State University, bought his daughter an iMac before
she turned 1 and allowed her to simply bang on the keyboard to learn how the
banging led to changes on the screen. And still other technology experts say
the right answer lies somewhere in the middle of those two positions. Peter
Grunwald, whose consulting firm specializes in kids and technology, says:
"Kids need a good balance in their lives and a mix of experiences"; his
position is that computers  can help kids develop hand-eye coordination and
other skills, but shouldn't be used as robotic baby-sitters that shield a
child from the real world. (AP 25 Jul 2004)
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20040725/D841P6L00.html

*****

FLASH CARD
     "I have a perfect horror of words that are not backed up by deeds."
(Theodore Roosevelt)

HONORARY SUBSCRIBER: THEODORE ROOSEVELT
     Today's Honorary Subscriber is the 26th president of the United States,
Theodore ("Teddy") Roosevelt, who became president upon the death by
assassination of William McKinley on September 14, 1901. He was elected
president in his own right in 1904, serving until 1909.
     Roosevelt was an articulate spokesman for the aspirations and values of
progressivism, the reform movement that flourished in the United States from
1900 to World War I. As president and political leader, Roosevelt dominated
that era in the nation's history.
     He was born into a prosperous New York Dutch family, and was educated
at Harvard, where he graduated in 1880. That same year he married Alice Lee,
who died four years later, only hours after his mother also died. Three
years later he married Edith Kermit Carow, a strong woman in her own right,
who provided him with the children and home life that despite his many
outside involvements was the abiding center of his life.
     As a child Roosevelt was frail and asthmatic, but he overcame these
physical limitations by following a rigorous regimen of exercise and outdoor
living. He also pursued an active mental life of reading and writing,
compulsively consuming books on a daily basis. During the 1880s, he served
three one-year terms in the New York Assembly, where he supported civil
service reform, legislation to benefit working people, and bills designed to
improve the government of New York City. Then he spent two years as a
rancher in the Dakota Territory, returning east in 1886 to run a failed race
for mayor of New York City. Undaunted, he focused on his literary endeavors,
writing among other works, biographies of Thomas Hart Benton and Gouverneur
Morris, and the first two volumes of his 10-volume classic, "Winning of the
West."
     In the next ten years, Roosevelt became a well-known political figure.
He became a civil service commissioner in 1889 and worked to increase the
number of government's merit-based positions. Beginning in 1895 he served
two years as New York City's reformist Police Commissioner, after which he
went to Washington as Assistant Secretary of the Navy under President
McKinley. When the Spanish-American War broke out, he saw action in Cuba
with the Rough Riders, returning home as a colonel hailed for his bravery in
the attack on San Juan Hill. He was elected governor of New York, and
following that McKinley's vice- president. Then in a few short months, he
was catapulted into the presidency after the assassination of President
McKinley by an anarchist.
     Teddy Roosevelt's presidency was noteworthy for initiating the
construction of the Panama Canal, for launching a "trust-busting" crusade
against business conglomerates, and for encouraging the conservation of
natural resources. In 1905 he won the Nobel Peace Prize for mediating the
Russo-Japanese War. His post-presidential years included a failed attempt to
regain the presidency as the nominee of the Bull Moose Party formed to
unseat his successor, President Taft, and a final failed attempt in 1912 to
secure the Republican nomination to run against Woodrow Wilson. He lived out
his final years at his Oyster Bay, New York home, Sagamore Hill, where he
died in 1919.

[See http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0375756787/newsscancom/ref=nosim
for a recent biography of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris -- or look for
it in your favorite library. Note: We donate all revenue from our book
recommendations to adult literacy programs.]

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