|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Posted 2/18/2003 8:24 PM
| |
.gif) | |
|
|
Products in pipeline are demonstrably good
Among other eye-catching Demo
demonstrators:
- Active Word Systems. Think auto-text shortcuts. Type a
few customizable keystrokes from anywhere within Windows, and
ActiveWords jumps to an associated page or program. Typing "XL"
might lead you the Excel spreadsheet, "Dukebb" to info about Duke
basketball. You can download a free 60-day trial; a light version
starts at $10.
- Digital Sun. The S. Sense system is a water-saving
wireless garden sensor due this spring. You place the 10-inch
probe in the soil and connect a controller to your sprinkler
system. The probe senses when water is needed and how much to
apply. The $150 battery operated system reaches 200 feet per
"node."
- Full Audio. Its MusicNow service, coming next month,
will be available through partners such as Microsoft, Earthlink
and Clear Channel. A legal alternative to Napster, KaZaA and
Morpheus, MusicNow is built around a 200,000-plus song database
and 36 branded channels from Breezy (adult contemporary) to
Groundswell (independent). Subscribers can listen to premium radio
stations and play content on demand. Final pricing isn't set, but
$5 to $10 a month seems likely, plus an extra fee to "burn"
certain tracks to CD.
- Groxis. Grokker is a clever and powerful visual tool
that sits on top of popular search engines or sites such as
Amazon.com. You enter a search term, and Grokker maps the results
through colorful, clickable shapes. A circle larger than another
means the topic has more results mapped underneath than the
others. Grokker searches can be filtered and customized. A preview
version, available now, costs $99.
- IBM InfoScope. You pull out a PDA or cell phone with a
digital camera, snap a picture of the Chinese symbols on a sign
and send the image to IBM servers. You receive a text message back
with a translation. IBM expects such "on demand" applications to
be available in about two years. The system can also translate
French, German, Italian and Spanish.
- Lifescape Solutions Picasa ($30) is one of the niftiest
programs for managing digital photos on a Windows machine. And at
Demo, Lifescape introduced the Picasa Sharing Network, based on
the "peer-to-peer" architecture that fueled Napster. In a few
months, you'll be able to "push" pictures in real time to anyone
on a buddy list. You also will be able to send pix from Picasa to
certain TiVos.
- ManyOne Networks. A new photo-realistic
three-dimensional browser and advertiser-free "portal" service,
complete with Net access, e-mail and instant messaging. ManyOne is
backed by "socially responsible" groups and individuals including
environmentalist/entrepreneur Paul Hawken and anthropologist Jane
Goodall. A beta version launches next week. Tiered cost: $7 to $23
a month
- Mok3. Arguably the coolest technology at the
conference. Mok3 is kind of like Photoshop for 3-D graphics, or
put another way, digital origami. Though aimed initially at
interior designers, animators and movie makers, the software also
may appeal to "prosumers." Available this fall at about $1,000.
- Socratic Learning. "State the perpendicular bisector
theorem." I wasn't having a dream about high school. The question
was posed by a digital tutor. The real time one-on-one online math
and science tutoring sessions, for fourth- to 12th-graders, are
staffed by live instructors, all with master's degrees, who employ
whiteboards and instant messaging. "Beta" is out now. The answer:
"Any point on the perpendicular bisector
is equidistant from the end points of a given segment."
| |
.gif){kind=spacer}