A global fund designed to shrink the technology gap between rich and poor nations is to be launched in November, said one of its key advocates. Technology is seen by many as a way of helping developing nations educate their people, make them healthier and escape poverty.
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By MEGAN LEACH
If you think of how DVDs have transformed the movie-watching experience over the past few years, it’s little wonder that other media are turning to technology to breathe new life into existing products. Take books as an example – more specifically, audio books. Audio recordings of books on cassette or CD are hardly new, but new technologies are hoping to transform the reading experience by combining audio and text. With today’s portable MP3 players that can hold hours of music, a new breed of high-tech printing houses are finding new storage solutions.
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Books on Computers: format combines text and audio narrationRead More »
By Pat Sherman
RANCHO BERNARDO – Members of ACES may be advanced in age, but they’re hip to the latest innovations in computer technology. The Advanced Computer Engineers Society meets for camaraderie and computer-related discussion monthly at the Remington Club I in Rancho Bernardo. The group of mostly retired men decide upon a particular topic for each meeting. A member will volunteer to research the topic for a month and come back to the group with a presentation.
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By Ong Soh Chin
Trying to make sense of one’s gadgets can be exasperating. Still, technology is a good thing, but not for the reasons you think. Show me a lot of cables and wires and my eyes start to cross. Swamp me with geek talk on RAMs and bits and bytes and watch me bolt out of the room faster than you can say Winzip. But, like most people, I have come to a kind of happy truce with the devices I own. Apart from my TV and my DVD player, these include my mobile phone, my PDA, my iPod and my two computers – the office laptop and my own iBook at home.
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The Wrist Net watch with MSN Direct receives information wirelessly, so you’re in the know while on the go. Find everything from stock quotes to the latest news, all at a glance. Along with a glanceable, seamless connection to your world, there are tons of watch faces to choose from, for just the look you want. Set-up is easy: simply charge up, activate your watch online, and set up the content channels you want. A subscription to MSN Direct–available in top cities across the U.S. and Canada–is required to take full advantage of all watch features.
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By HARRY JACKSON JR., Knight Ridder Newspapers
High-tech has caught up with the physical fitness crowd. Even the purists are adding devices that require a battery or were designed by a smart guy who went to engineering school. The silence of a run in the park has been displaced by some yellow box that straps to your arm and plays loud music in your ears. Instead of checking your watch, you can speak with a satellite that’s tracking your movements. The key to purchasing gadgets seems to be a search for versatility, mobility and something to take your mind off what you’re doing…
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By Jonathan Sidener, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
I recently bought an inexpensive digital camera and did what any red-blooded American would do: I ignored the manual and went straight for the gadget. Chances are you do the same thing. It’s ingrained in our when-all-else-fails-read-the-manual culture.
We don’t need no stinking manuals – and sometimes we can get away with it. In this case, I needed mine in about 30 seconds.
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by Dan Shea, Planet PDF Associate Editor
PDFlib GmbH founder and head Thomas Merz is a long time expert in the areas of PostScript, cryptography and of course PDF. His thorough knowledge of PDF internals ultimately allowed him to create PDFlib — a programming library which allows developers to manipulate PDF files and build this functionality into their applications or server environments. Before starting PDFlib GmbH in 2000, Merz worked with various aspects of the computer and publishing industry, including stints as a software developer, book author, desktop publisher, technical translator, University lecturer, software trainer and IT consultant.
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By Rob Pegoraro, The Washington Post
About this time last year, I wrote a column following up on some pieces I’d written earlier to see what if anything new had happened to those topics. The reaction I heard afterwards convinced me that revisiting old news was a worthwhile exercise — in general, it’s too easy for tech reporters to lose sight of how a product works over time in the real world, as opposed to a brief trial in a reviewer’s hands. Price cuts, bug fixes, maintenance upgrades and better or worse marketing all change how a piece of hardware or software fares in the market. How did those factors affect the things I’ve covered in the past year?
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It Takes Time to Judge the True Impact of New TechnologyRead More »
from /PRNewswire/
High school student Latoya Nesmith of Albany, N.Y., dreams of becoming a translator at the United Nations as she completes her classroom assignments using a keyboard that mitigates her limited dexterity. Floyd Stewart, paralyzed in mid-life by a car accident, uses assistive technologies to run Middle Tennessee’s Center for Independent Living. Blind physicist Dr. Kent Cullers taught computers to “hear,” and now leads the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute in Palo Alto, Calif. Susanna Sweeney-Martini is completing her college education in Seattle with the aid of a power wheelchair and voice-input software.
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Freedom Machines: A Look at Disability Through the Lens of TechnologyRead More »
