|
|
|
|
Netscape 6 browser launches In hopes of retrieving a share of the market lost to Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer (IE) browser, America Online released Netscape 6 on Nov. 14, touting the company's latest browser as a "new choice" for consumers. Powered by the Gecko browser engine, Netscape 6 operates on a wide range of platforms, from personal computers (PCs) to the latest in Internet appliances, including the new Instant AOL-Gateway home Internet appliance introduced last week. The final version of Netscape 6 is available today for the first time on Windows, Macintosh and Linux operating systems. Last Monday, tech book author David Flanagan posted an article on http://www.oreilly.com , his publisher's Web site, saying Netscape 6 falls short in support for open-standards compliance. He suggested, among other things, that Netscape was so determined to meet the new version's release date that it declined to carry out "extraordinarily simple" fixes on some standards-compliance bugs uncovered by Mozilla engineers. Detractors, some expressing anger and frustration, joined Flanagan in his
call for Netscape to delay the release of version 6.0. The avalanche of
responses prompted Flanagan to post a follow-up message two days later. Regionally, 39 percent of US-based VoIP calls went to Latin American nations; 35 percent to the Asia Pacific region; 16 percent to Europe; 7 percent to Canada; and 3 percent to African countries. The report predicts the percentage of VoIP calls made to countries such as China, Brazil and India will skyrocket over the next several years as those countries upgrade their IP infrastructures. According to the report, more traditional carriers are starting to send their
phone calls over IP-based networks. Because of falling prices for wholesale
international long distance calls, traditional carriers see VoIP as a way of
increasing profit margins. As allegations of voting irregularities surface amid the recount of federal election returns in Florida, proponents of Internet voting say the time has come to replace outdated and confusing voting machines with more intuitive and standardized PC-based systems. Pure online elections which voters could participate in from work or from the comfort of their own living room may never materialize, in part because of the inherent instability and insecurity of personal computers, said Lorrie Cranor, a researcher with AT&T Labs-Research in New Jersey. Cranor said the nearly insurmountable security issues threaten to keep true Internet voting at bay for many years to come. While she acknowledged that a PC-based system would speed up recounts like the ones currently underway in Florida, New Mexico and Wisconsin, the situation in Florida was in fact a very good argument against online elections. Harris Miller, president of the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), said elections will be better served by using technology that removes doubt by capturing and recording voter choices automatically.
Industry Canada has approved proposals from Telesat, ExpressVu, and Star
Choice for new Direct Broadcast Satellites, and has announced plans to license
another satellite with the ability to provide telecom services throughout
Canada. The company, which is installing high-speed Internet equipment in many large office buildings and other multitenant units, offers Net access at speeds of 100 megabits per second (mbps) for a flat-rate fee of $1,000. Cogent's 100-mbps service is about 65 times faster than a T1 line, at roughly the same price. T1 connections, which can cost as much as $1,500 in some markets, offer speeds of about 1.5 mbps. Cogent is one of several companies offering ultrafast Internet access for big businesses by targeting and pre-wiring major office parks or connecting directly to customers via gigabit Ethernet technology. The corporate Net access and data networking markets are expected to explode over the next several years, and dozens of companies are scrambling to offer faster service at cheaper prices than incumbent phone companies and competitive upstarts. Privately held Washington, D.C.-based Cogent plans to introduce its service
in nine more cities by the first quarter of 2001. Universal's move comes as industry watchers have questioned whether four
other major record labels would share the $20 million each received in
settlements with MP3.com this past summer. So far the labels -- Time Warner
Inc.'s Warner Music, Sony, Bertelsmann AG's BMG and EMI Group -- have remained
mum on the issue. Intel remains the leader in the worldwide value PC market segment, and its Celeron processors are the second-highest selling PC processors in the world behind the PentiumŪ III processor family. PC manufacturers are now announcing systems based on today's new Celeron 766 and 733 MHz processors, with more system introductions expected within the next 30 days. The Celeron processor 733 MHz also will be offered with extended life-cycle
support as the latest addition to Intel's line of embedded processors and
chipsets. In addition, Intel provides hardware and software support, design
tools and development platforms for the applied computing market segment.
Broadening support for the processor makes it a practical solution for applied
computing developers, which utilize high-performance computer technology in
products such as communications equipment, transaction terminals and industrial
devices. The new processor is validated with several chipsets for maximum
scalability, including the IntelŪ 815, 815E, 810 and 440BX chipsets. There's always room for Cisco Although the size of this contract is small in comparison to some of deals made by more established optical competitors such as Nortel Networks Corp., it's significant because it marks the first time Cisco has supplied equipment for an IP and optical network from end to end. Cambrian will build its first metropolitan-area networks (MANs) along the route of its redundant fiber backbone, stretching from Washington, D.C. to New York City. The year-old telecom wholesaler will be the first to use Cisco's Wavelength Router, a product based on technology acquired last year from Cisco's $500 million purchase of Monterey Networks. Cisco will also supply the startup with optical gear it picked up in its acquisition of Pirelli Optical Systems and MAN products from its Cerent Corp. purchase. Cambrian, which plans to break ground on the network in January 2001 and begin delivering bandwidth services later next year, will sell bandwidth to service providers and large corporations in underserved and potentially very lucrative suburban areas in the mid-Atlantic
Ericsson's
all-in-one phone coming to U.S. Telecoms equipment supplier LM Ericsson will launch in the United States this year a mobile phone which combines an international telephone with personal organizer and Internet services, it said on Nov. 14. The R380, which has international roaming in over 120 countries, looks like a mobile phone but opens to reveal a screen with a wide range of communications and personal organizer tools. With one touch the user has access to email, the mobile Internet via WAP technology, and an electronic organizer. Ericsson said its R380 is the first fully integrated device that offers the convenience of all the best features of a mobile phone and personal digital assistant, as well as Mobile Internet Services. Users will be able to securely dial in to their corporate network to access and send emails, visit favorite Web sites and program the R380 to receive updates on information such as traffic reports, news or sports scores. The R380 also gives secure access to on-line banking, is compatible to applications such as Microsoft Outlook and Lotus, and keeps all stored data, even if power is lost, unlike some other devices. Some of the new mobile phone features include voice control allowing calls to be placed or answered by using a voice command, and a silent vibrate alert which can be used in situations like meetings or at a concert.
When companies implement learning-management systems--platforms that manage
Web-based and classroom training--the experience can be as costly and
complicated as an enterprise resource planning rollout. To avoid installation
and maintenance headaches, some companies opt for a fully hosted
learning-management system.
Oracle is banking on that model. The company unveiled a hosted learning-management system, called Oracle iLearning, on Nov. 13. Designed to assemble, deploy, and track learning content, iLearning includes self-service capabilities for enrollment and catalog development, as well as online discussion groups for informal learning. Each user receives 2 Mbytes of free storage space, and each additional gigabyte of storage is priced at $350 per month. The learning-management system, which has 20 beta users, has a monthly subscription fee of $4 per user, with a minimum of 1,250 users. Oracle is using iLearning to train its employees, customers, and partners--and that appeals to Miller. She points out that the system won't necessarily work for everyone just because it works for Oracle, but says it does give the company more credibility. Oracle's learning-management system played a major role in its E-learning shift during the past 18 months. From June to August 1999, Oracle's internal training had 32,000 classroom enrollments and zero online. This year, those figures changed to 12,700 classroom enrollments and 43,500 online.
|
|
| |||
