NewsScan Daily, 7 September 2004 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 7 September 2004 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"
        Next-Gen Games -- More Money, More Fun
        Organic Solar Technology Flexes Its Muscle
        Netflix, TiVo Team Up on Movie Delivery
        Micropayments Morphing Into a Megabusiness
        Mobile Phone Sales Surge at Record Pace

FEATURES
        Flash Card
        Honorary Subscriber: Anne Morrow Lindbergh
        Mailbag: The World As We Find It

NEXT-GEN GAMES -- MORE MONEY, MORE FUN
      The increased amount of time and money it will require to create 
games for the next generation of videogame consoles mean there will be 
fewer titles, but the good news is that those titles will include a lot 
more bells and whistles. "The expectations of players and publishers are 
rocketing. With every new generation, people want more realism," says 
independent game developer Tameen Antoniades. "… We have the opportunity to 
elevate games to be the tenth art." At Antoniades' Just Add Monsters 
company, a team of 22 developers has spent nine months working on a 
prototype for a next-gen samurai revenge epic called "Heavenly Sword." 
Antoniades says game makers must be prepared to spend up to two years 
working on a new title before putting it into production -- almost three 
times as long as for games designed for today's Xbox or Playstation2. "The 
problem is, I don't see the retail price increasing as games are already 
expensive. In the past, sales of 500,000 units would be a hit. Now you need 
to sell millions." The upshot will be fewer independent game developers, 
says Antoniades, who predicts most "will disappear, either through going 
bust or due to merger or acquisition." (BBC News 6 Sep 2004)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3630726.stm

ORGANIC SOLAR TECHNOLOGY FLEXES ITS MUSCLE
      Massachusetts-based Konarka Technologies has acquired from Siemens 
so-called organic solar technology that will enable it print solar power 
cells on flexible sheets of plastic. Such solar cells, in theory, would be 
cheaper to manufacture and more versatile than today's most widely used 
solar power systems, which use rigid sheets of crystallized silicon to 
convert sunlight to electricity. Siemens predicts that organic solar 
technology could be marketed as early as next year in portable devices to 
recharge cellphones. (New York Times 7 Sep 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/07/business/07solar.html

NETFLIX, TIVO TEAM UP ON MOVIE DELIVERY
      Newsweek is reporting that Netflix, the DVD rental-by-mail service, 
and TiVo, the personal video recording service, are joining forces to offer 
subscribers the ability to download Netflix DVDs from the Internet directly 
into their TiVo boxes. Although spokespeople at both companies refused to 
comment, one insider said the deal could be clinched this week, following 
the TiVo board's approval: "You don't need a lot of creativity to figure 
out the details." TiVo has been laying the groundwork for such a move since 
last January, when it snapped up Strangeberry, a startup whose software 
enables users to download digital content off the Internet via DSL or cable 
modem hookup (currently, TiVo boxes receive programming only from TV 
broadcasts). Netflix CEO Reed Hastings says his company has been moving 
toward Internet delivery for some time, also: "We named the company 
Netflix, we didn't name it DVD by Mail." The new service will present a 
challenge to Hollywood, which will be watching closely to ensure its 
copyright protections aren't hacked, and cable companies and video rental 
giants like Blockbuster, which likely will move quickly to strike their own 
deals for copycat services. (Newsweek 13 Sep 2004)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5915470/site/newsweek/

MICROPAYMENTS MORPHING INTO A MEGABUSINESS
      The news that micropayment firm BitPass has just raised $11.75 
million in venture capital and attracted former American Express Chairman 
James Robinson III to its board is signaling a resurgence in interest in 
micropayment systems that facilitate payment for digital content. 
Jumpstarting the move -- following a series of crash-and-burn dot-coms like 
Flooz and DigiCash -- is the notable success of Apple's iTunes, which last 
week announced it had sold 125 million music downloads at 99 cents each. A 
recent study by TowerGroup indicates that the total market for Internet and 
wireless micropayments -- fueled by demand for digital content -- will 
increase by 23% annually over the next five years to $11.5 billion by 2009. 
"What it comes down to is that there simply must be a viable transaction 
model for smaller-cost products to make a dollar off e-commerce sales, but 
I think with what we've seen already in digital media, it's clear that 
people are figuring out how to make it work," says a Jupiter Research 
analyst. (CNet News.com 7 Sep 2004)
http://news.com.com/2100-1030-5347513.html

MOBILE PHONE SALES SURGE AT RECORD PACE
      Global sales of mobile telephones surged a record 35% to 156 million 
units in the second quarter from the same period in 2003, the U.S. research 
group Gartner says. According to the group's study, more than 300 million 
handsets were sold between January and June, leading to a full-year sales 
forecast of at least 620 million units, compared with 520 million in 2003. 
But if the current red-hot sales pace continues, global handset sales would 
reach 650 million units in the full year, Gartner analyst Ben Wood said. 
(The Age 3 Sep 2004) rec'd from John Lamp, Deakin U.
http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/09/03/1093939111014.html

*****

FLASH CARD
      "The most exhausting thing in life is being insincere." (Anne Morrow 
Lindbergh)

HONORARY SUBSCRIBER: ANNE MORROW LINDBERGH
      Today's Honorary Subscriber is the noted writer and aviation pioneer 
Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1906-2001), who was married to famed aviator Charles 
A. Lindbergh.
      Although her life was fully entwined with that of her famous husband, 
Anne Morrow Lindbergh did not live merely in the shadow of her husband but 
is rightly honored for her own accomplishments. She was the first licensed 
woman glider pilot in the United States, and in 1931 she qualified to fly 
private aircraft. Beyond that, she became a publishable writer of some 
importance. Besides books like "North to the Orient" and "Listen! The 
Wind," in which she chronicled the exploratory flights she made with her 
husband, she wrote nine other books, including "Earth Shine" about the 
Apollo 8 space flight and "Steep Ascent," a novel about a perilous flight 
made by a husband and wife team.
      Her best known book perhaps is the widely read "Gift from the Sea," 
an inspirational work matched only by her five volumes of diaries and 
letters covering the years 1922 to 1944.
      Anne Morrow Lindbergh was born in Englewood, New Jersey, the daughter 
of two distinguished parents: businessman, ambassador, and U.S. Senator 
Dwight Morrow and Elizabeth Cutter Morrow, poet and women's education 
advocate. She attended Miss Chapin's School in New York City and in 1928 
graduated from Smith College. She first met Charles Lindbergh at her 
father's embassy in Mexico City in December 1927. They married in May 1929 
in a private ceremony.
      The newly wed couple spent much time in their early years together 
making long flights to chart potential air routes for commercial airlines. 
Taught to fly by her husband, Anne served as co-pilot, navigator and radio 
operator on these air surveys across the continent and in the Caribbean. In 
1931, they flew a single-engine airplane, the Lockheed "Sirius," over 
uncharted routes from Canada and Alaska to Japan and China, and then in 
1933 completed a five-and-one-half-month, 30,000-mile survey of North and 
South Atlantic air routes, described by Charles Lindbergh as more difficult 
and hazardous than his epic New York-to-Paris flight.
      The Lindberghs had six children, one of whom was tragically kidnapped 
and murdered in March 1932. The event was so sensationalized and newspaper 
coverage so incessant that after the capture and conviction of Bruno 
Richard Hauptmann in 1935, the Lindberghs sought refuge in England and 
France, before returning to the United States in 1939. By then Anne had 
established herself as a writer, and would enjoy a productive literary 
career for the remaining years of her long life. She died in 2001 at her 
second home in Vermont.

See 
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0385720076/newsscancom/ref=nosim>for 
a biography of Anne Morrow Lindbergh by Susan Hertog -- or look for it in 
your favorite library. [Note: We donate all revenue from our book and media 
recommendations to adult literacy programs.]

MAILBAG: THE WORLD AS WE FIND IT

MUSIC RUNS DOWNHILL
Re: <http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=11303>
      For another Stravinsky-related gem, it was reported that something 
along the lines of this dialog occurred between a New York reporter on the 
culture beat and Igor: Reporter:  Mr. Stravinsky, what do you feel about 
recent trends in modern music? Igor: I hate modern music. Reporter:  But... 
Maestro...(?) Igor: I don't write "modern music"! I write *good* music! 
(Ron A. Zajac, Dongshih, Taiwan)

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
Re:  <http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=11271>
      Rick Lanser hit the nail on the head with two of his points:
      a) "The overriding characteristic of our culture today is a 
disproportionate elevation of individual liberty over the good of the 
whole…" The people in my part of the world believe in the reverse and feel 
that they are much better off. When the society gets priority over the 
individual, the negative tendencies remain under control. When Ishfaq 
Ahmad, the greatest Urdu writer of modern times, in his early years told 
his mother that he would write "truth and only truth," the illiterate woman 
advised her son, "If you want to do that, write truth only about your own 
self, not about others." Nobody in this region cares about the so-called 
rights of the criminal once he is convicted. In Saudi Arabia, they chop off 
the left hand of a thief on first crime, the right one also if he does it 
again. It may look barbarous to Western minds but doing it only to a dozen 
or so times in a year (and that too after the due process of law) is not a 
heavy price for protecting the entire society from theft. In busy markets 
of Saudi Arabia, people leave their stores open when going to the mosque 
for prayers. Nobody thinks of even shoplifting.
      b) "If it makes a buck, it's all good!" When a society decides about 
values through vote or opinion surveys, it goes for the lowest common 
denominator. When people decide about what is right and wrong by watching 
others, you cannot expect them to adopt high morals. Some time ago, a 
Pakistani taxi driver in New York found $10,000 in cash that some passenger 
had left. He took the money to the nearest police station as if it was 
something quite normal to do. According to a news report, the mayor took 
him to a school to present him as an example of good behavior. After 
telling the whole story, he asked the students what they would do in a 
similar situation. The whole class said that they would keep the money.
      (Muhammad Abd al-Hameed, Lahore, Pakistan Email: [email protected] Web 
site: http://mahameed.4mg.com)

UNIVERSITIES SHOULD ACT RESPONSIBLY
Re: < http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=11307>
      Comments on "California Schools Warn of Possible Identity Thefts" -- 
As one who has been notified by the California University I attended that 
my identity information may have been compromised. Once the school has 
notified me that through their carelessness my personal information has 
been compromised and leaves me vulnerable to credit and identity theft or 
fraud, they no longer have legal responsibility. In their letter they 
indicate that it is my responsibility to notify all three credit bureaus of 
this event and not the University's. Why do I have to shoulder this burden, 
and why doesn't the university notify the credit bureaus directly? I'm the 
one who has additional phone calls and letters to make, because the 
university has shirked its duty to protect the information I've supplied 
them with. Additionally, the university has no legal requirement to correct 
the ongoing security breech, as evidenced by the long duration of continued 
security leaks with limited or ineffective containment results. If my 
identity happens to be stolen prior to my notifying the credit bureaus it 
is my fault, not the university's, because the school has notified me of 
the problem.  Thanks, but don't just tell me there's a problem... take 
responsibility to fix it effectively on all fronts. (Greg Chapelle)

BABYLON REVISITED
Re: <http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=11293>
      Your Flash Card from Helen Keller prompts me to tell you about Sands 
Point, which is where the Helen Keller Institute is. At the entrance to the 
former estate of one of the Goulds on Long Island (J. Gould, one of 
America's "railroad barons," donated much of his property to the Catholic 
Church after his wife's passing), NY's former "Gold Coast" (Emperor Zog of 
Albania, etc.) was written about by F. Scott Fitzgerald in "The Great 
Gatsby" and is now held and maintained by Nassau County. Small bus tours 
leave from there. (George Myers)

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