AOL Expands Mobile Service Options
AOL has expanded its AOL Mobile service options. The more than 29 million AOL members will be able to take advantage of agreements between AOL and several popular websites. The new version of the AOL Mobile service--available immediately from the Main Menu of the Sprint PCS Wireless Web
TM and from the AT&T Digital PocketNet Premium service, as well as from any other Internet-ready phone at mobile.aol.com--features a new Shopping Channel that includes content from new partners eBay, Travelocity, Qsent, and Ngame. In addition to the new Web partners AOL Mobile offers new email and address options, AOL Instant Messengers, AIM service, finance, news, sports, shopping, travel, entertainment and a search option.
Web Seminar Gives Free Advice on XLM
Actuate is offering a free one-hour, Web-based XML code and protocol "weminar." Bringing Business Data to Life: Emerging Trends in e.Reporting with XML will be held May 10, 9-10 a.m. PST. Those who take part in the Web seminar will learn how to leverage XML-enabled e.Reporting for delivery of personalized information to customers, partners, suppliers and employees over the Web to maximize business performance and gain competitive advantage. Those interested in registering should go to: http://www.actuate.com/info/wsemxml.asp?58qpke.
New Mouse Helps Blind 'See'
An Israeli high-tech company has created a mouse that acts as the eyes of the blind and partially sighted by helping them view computer graphics through touch. Manufacturers tout the Virtual Touch System, which lets the blind experience the delicate strokes of a Picasso sketch or the outline of countries on a map, as a "quantum leap" toward integration into the world of the sighted. The product allows blind people to recognize shapes and pictures and to read text in normal letters or Braille by placing fingers on three pads that respond when a cursor on the computer screen touches a graphic or letter. Thirty-two pins on each pad move up in a black area, down in a white area, and somewhere in the middle for gray zones. The different heights enable the blind person to feel the curvature of lines and shading of computer graphics, or of Braille symbols or standard alphabet letters when reading text.
Betasphere Offers Free White Paper on Customer Input
Companies spend on average $4 million dollars developing and launching new products. Industry research indicates that lack of customer involvement in the development process is a significant factor of product failure. Companies are encouraged to seek out the feedback of their target market before they launch a new product or service instead of waiting until after a launch. Betasphere is offering a white paper on how companies such as Cisco, FedEx, iPlanet, Palm, Motorola and Sun Microsystems generate huge ROI through effective beta tests, product validations, and early field trials. To register for the free white paper, go to: http://betasphere.netline.com/whitepaper/?d=roi&k=103-a
Ariba Kicks Off B2B Tour with Stop in Vegas
Ariba’s first U.S. stop in the Live 2001 B2B World Tour will be Las Vegas.
The event, formerly known as the Ariba User Group and Advisory Council, will bring together high-level executives from all over the world to share their ideas and insights on B2B eCommerce as it continues to expand worldwide. The event is scheduled for early May and for more information go to: www.aribalive2001.com.
Vodafone Launches Wireless Web Portal
Clickmarks, a provider of software infrastructure for wireless carrier and enterprise clients, announced that the Vodafone Global Platform and Internet Services (VGP), a division within the Vodafone Group Plc., has launched a wireless Web portal based on Clickmarks' software platform. Vizzavi is the new portal that uses Clickmarks' proprietary technology. VGP has created a feature rich portal for Vodafone wireless subscribers worldwide that allows them to access specific, user-defined content and then select the exact information they want delivered to their Vodafone wireless phone. Vizzavi offers dozens of information categories including news; e-mail; alerts; local traffic and weather; stocks and financial information; surf and ski reports; lotteries; humor; classifieds; recipes; and greeting cards.
Asian Conference Speakers Announced
The list of speakers for the Mobile Commerce World Asia 2001 conference has been released and it reads like a who’s who of the global business community. Companies represented by their CEOs at the event include SingTel Mobile, MobileOne, KG Telecom, SmarTone Telecom, Development Bank of Singapore, and e-Visa just to name a few.
Fujitsu Investing in .10 Micron Process
In a bid to quickly boost chip production on advanced process technologies, Fujitsu Ltd. will spend $813 million over five years to build a pilot plant that will run a 0.10-micron process and begin production this fall at a rate of one thousand eight-inch-equivalent wafers per month. The new plant, located in the Akiruno section of Tokyo, will eventually ramp production to 10,000 eight-inch wafer equivalents before 2005 and is part of a strategic effort to push Fujitsu's integrated logic capabilities, according to a spokeswoman. The Akiruno Technology Center opened last summer, when Fujitsu moved some 2,000 research personnel from the company's LSI research center in Kawasaki. While the Akiruno Technology Center's purpose has been to research low-power, deep-submicron technology, Fujitsu confirmed that it will now focus that research on the 0.1-micron node.
Sprint, Lucent Conclude 3G Tests
This week, Sprint and Lucent Technologies completed what they called the "fastest ever" third generation (or 3G) over-the-air data call for a United States wireless carrier. The 3G networks promise to change the way people use wireless devices, giving users an opportunity to get pictures and information much more quickly. The test took place at Sprint's test site in Lenexa, Kan., and used the technology protocol CDMA2000 (or Code Division Multiple Access). That technology makes it possible to transmit data up to 165 times faster than what is now available. The companies plan to continue working together to bring this new technology to consumers in the near future.
Companies Present Streaming Ad Standard
iM Networks, a provider of Internet solutions for consumer electronics companies, has formed a strategic alliance with streaming ad-insertion company Lightningcast to partner for ad-insertion technology integration and advertising sales representation. Through the joint effort, the two companies hope to give terrestrial radio and Internet-only stations a single unified and standardized method of setting up their ad-insertion systems and for reporting tracking data to ad agencies.