Dr. Dobb's Journal April 1997
At the close of 1996, the United Nations' World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) adopted two treaties addressing digital technology and the Internet. The WIPO Copyright Treaty and the Performances and Phonograms Treaty contain resolutions concerning the protection and management of electronic information and images, including the extension of existing international reproduction rights and copyright protections to apply in the digital environment. (The treaties steer clear of any "new" resolutions regarding the "temporary, transient, or incidental reproductions" issues raised by United States interests.) Interestingly, the conference failed to reach agreement on the particular rights of performers in the "audiovisual fixations" of their performances. Instead of coming to any accord in this arena, WIPO adopted a resolution calling for a meeting of a special session of WIPO Governing Bodies to decide about a schedule for preparatory work toward the adoption of a protocol to the Performances and Phonograms Treaty on such rights. And you thought your company meetings were exercises in futility.
-- Deirdre Blake
Throughout the Spring '97 semester at the University of California at Berkeley, engineers, scientists, artists, musicians, social scientists, historians, and archaeologists will examine computers and consider their effects on society in what's being billed as "Cybersemester '97." Cybersemester will include demonstrations, conferences, workshops, and lectures -- many open to the public. Students can accrue credits for attending the Cybersemester Speaker Series and sign up for courses such as "From Wagner to Virtual Reality: A History of MultiMedia." All nine campuses of the University of California system will meet at UCLA in late March for a conference on teaching and learning technology. For more information, see http://socrates .berkeley.edu/~cybersem/.
-- Jonathan Erickson
In response to the news that high-powered Intel/Windows NT-based PCs are eating away at graphics, special-effects, and animation markets traditionally owned by high-priced workstations like those from Silicon Graphics, MSH Entertainment creative director Christopher Haigh recently said that "the PC is the cockroach of the computing world. When all the other big computers are gone, it's going to rule the earth." It should be noted, of course, that Intel has warrants to buy 1 million shares of MSH stock. Silicon Graphics' sales growth has slowed to the mid-20 percent range, from 35 to 50 percent. Still, analysts predict SGI will keep the $150,000+ high-end market, but within the next year or two, Intel-based machines will have more than a 50 percent market share.
-- Monica Berg
For years, humans have tried to rid this world of cockroaches. A group of researchers in Japan, however, is taking a different approach by putting these hardy critters to honest labor. By surgically embedding chips on the back of these bugs, researchers are able to control and direct the movement of these cockroaches via remote control. Tokyo University professor Isao Shimoyama suggests that these remote-controlled cockroaches can be used to search disaster areas for victims or for espionage.
-- Eugene Eric Kim
In an attempt to link investors with entrepreneurs and small companies looking for investors, the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy has launched the Angel Capital Electronic Network (ACE-Net). Program operators, which are experienced in mentoring entrepreneurs, include the Technology Capital Network at MIT, the Capital Network (Austin, Texas), the Accelerate Technology Small Business Development Center at the University of California at Irvine, the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation, and the Advanced Technology Development Center at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Participating "angels" and entrepreneurs gain access to the password-controlled ACE-Net by contacting an operator. For more information, see http:// www.sbaonline.sba.gov or http:// ace-net .unh.edu.
-- Jonathan Erickson
IBM, 3Com, and Cascade Communications have agreed to an Internet Protocol (IP) switching standard for higher network throughput and will begin selling the switches later this year. IP switches are faster than current-generation routers. Cisco Systems has also announced plans for building IP switches that are based on different specifications. Industry analysts predict market confusion until one standard or the other becomes the "standard."
-- Kevin Carlson
Visionary Networks (Portland, Oregon) has launched http://www.iching.com -- an electronic I Ching consultation service. To confer with the cybersoothsayer, dubbed the "Emperor's Oracle," you need a browser, the Macromedia Shockwave plug in, and a CyberCash Wallet plug in (for passing CyberCoin over your fortune-teller's virtual palm). This computerized version of the Book of Changes includes original art for each of the 64 "hexagrams" -- patterns of chance that deliver prophecies. Also available are background materials and historic information about the I Ching, and interviews with famous scientists discussing the relevance of the oracle. The first reading is free; subsequent consultations cost 50 cents each.
-- Deirdre Blake
In a recent meeting of Federal Reserve Bank leaders, officials predicted that big changes are coming in the United States' banking system. As Jerry Jordan, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Ohio, put it, "The word 'bank' could become a verb, rather than a noun," adding, "My guess is that when I ask my granddaughters where their bank is, the address will end with dot-com. When I ask where they keep their money, they will say, 'Why, on my hard drive'." Jordan also suggested that nonbanking services ranging from the Postal Service to Internet providers may, in the future, take on some of the functions of banks.
-- Jonathan Erickson