MERGERS
Senator Concerned About Viacom/CBS(USA)
ED TECH
School Technology Report Released (USA)
HEALTH ONLINE
AMA Hopes Web Site Is Healthy Choice (Chicago Tribune)
INFO TECH
The Blind Lead the Sighted (NYT)
Speeding Up the Fiber-Optic Highway (NYT)
DIGITAL DIVIDE
UK to Lease Cheap Computers to Poor Britons (SJM)
MERGERS
SENATOR CONCERNED ABOUT VIACOM/CBS
Issue: Merger
Senator Mike DeWine (R-OH), chairman of the Senate antitrust subcommittee
says he's concerned that the proposed $35.89 billion merger of CBS and
Viacom could limit competition and diversity in the media industry. "The
idea of another media conglomerate, with holdings in so many related
market segments, seems, somehow, a little bit ominous," Sen. DeWine said.
Viacom and CBS announced last month their intention to merge. If the merger
is approved, the combined company would have television, publishing,
production, distribution and advertising entities all under one roof. CBS
President Mel Karmazin and Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone are scheduled to
testify before the Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee Thursday.
[SOURCE: USA Today; AUTHOR: Associated Press)
(http://www.usatoday.com/money/digest/md1.htm#concerned)
ED TECH
SCHOOL TECHNOLOGY REPORT RELEASED
Issue: Ed-tech
While the number of school computers has doubled since 1993 to 8 million
nationwide, many states lag in providing access to students, according
to an annual report on school technology from Dun & Bradstreet's research
subsidiary. The sixth annual "Technology in Education" utilizes
state-by-state comparisons of student-to-computer ratios. Despite a national
average of 5.7 pupils per computer, down from 10.8 in 1993, this year's
results continue to show varying degrees of computer access nationwide.
Teachers training still remains a major hurdle and new teachers are no more
likely than veterans to know how to teach with computers. Less than
one-fifth of the dollars schools spent on technology goes towards training
teachers. Pupils have computer access above the national average in
Midwestern states such as Iowa, Ohio and Minnesota, where there is
relatively little computer-related industry. However, California, home of
Silicon Valley, lags behind providing the fewest computer terminals for its
students -- 8.1 students per computer. The District of Columbia, in a region
in which 65% of global Internet traffic flows, offers schoolchildren
the worst access to computers connected to the Internet.
[SOURCE: USA Today, AUTHOR: Monua Janah]
(http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/ctg528.htm)
HEALTH ONLINE
AMA HOPES WEB SITE IS HEALTHY CHOICE
Issue: Health Info Online
The American Medical Association and six other national medical groups will
announce today the launch of a Web site for consumer health information.
Known as Medem Inc., the Internet company will differ from other health
information providers such as Drkoop.com and WebMD.com in that it is backed
by the American Medical Association. The Web site will let patients
communicate confidentially with their own doctors should they be members
from the societies involved in the venture. Initially, approximately 500,000
doctors will be able to sign up with Medem and customize their own
practice's information online with links to national databases from the
participating medical associations. Medem is expected to be fully
operational in the first quarter of next year. The site will be free to
consumers. The backers of the deal plan to make money by charging practices
a $70 monthly fee to participate, and through advertising on the site. The
other medical associations involved in the venture are the American Academy
of Pediatrics, American Academy of Ophthalmology, American Psychiatric
Association, American Society of Plastic Surgeons, American College of
Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American College of Allergy, Asthma
and Immunology.
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec 3, p.1), AUTHOR: Bruce Japsen]
(http://chicagotribune.com/business/printedition/article/0,2669,SAV-99102803
71,FF.html)
INFO TECH
THE BLIND LEAD THE SIGHTED
Issue: Disability Access
A look at how devices created to remove barriers can gain wider appeal. Some
of life's more mundane innovations have come about as solutions for the
disabled. But the usefulness of high-tech solutions for the rest of society
have been realized as well. Closed-captioned television, for example,
created to help the deaf, has become ubiquitous in health clubs (and bars).
Descriptive audio tracks -- secondary audio programs that provide summaries
of a television show to help the blind follow the action -- are popular with
home workers who want to keep abreast of a show's developments but cannot
always stare at the screen. Text-to-speech software gives the blind access
to text on Web sites and in e-mail, but the popularity of graphically-rich
Web sites actually reduces access for the disabled. Marti McCuller created a
Web search engine (http://www.seti-search.com) with the blind in mind and
the site
has become popular with the sighted as well. Text-to-speech and
speech-to-text technologies, staple tools of the blind, have become integral
parts of a new generation of software that allows consumers to retrieve
their e-mail by phone, program household devices and speak to business
colleagues around the world even though they speak different languages.
[SOURCE: New York Times (D1), AUTHOR: Eric Taub]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/10/circuits/articles/28blin.html)
SPEEDING UP THE FIBER-OPTIC HIGHWAY
Issue: Infrastructure
Because data traveling down fiber-optic lines must be converted from photons
to electronic signals (and then back to photonic signals) at every switch
along the route, electronic bottlenecks occur. "Every time you convert
backward and forward, you lose information, and it costs money," said
Lawrence Gasman, president of Communications Industry Research, which
follows fiber optics trends. "The goal of everyone now is the all-optical
network." A number of companies are working on solutions and are optimistic
that a low-cost, all-optical network can be achieved running straight into
homes and onto desktops.
[SOURCE: New York Times (D13), AUTHOR: Lisa Guernsey]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/10/circuits/articles/28next.html)
DIGITAL DIVIDE
UK TO LEASE CHEAP COMPUTERS TO POOR BRITONS
Issue: Digital Divide
The United Kingdom has unveiled details of a plan that will allow 100,000
low-income families to lease computers for five pounds ($8 U.S.) a month.
British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown announced the three-year
plan, part of a larger effort of the British government to close
the digital divide in Britain.
"We could have a society divided between information haves and have nots,
a society with a wired up superclass and an information underclass,"
Brown said. "I want Britain to lead the world in getting people on line."
The plan is financed by the government's IT fund and proposed tax changes.
While the Conservative party welcomed the proposals, the members disagreed
on tactics - favoring cheaper phone calls to increase Internet use.
"There is no point in giving people a cheap bit of kit if they find
themselves
with an enormous phone bill at the end of the month," said Shadow Minister
for Technology Alan Duncan. Brown's announcement did not include plans for
telephone price cuts as increased competition is expected to drive down
the cost of Internet access.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury, AUTHOR: Reuters]
(http://www.sjmercury.com/svtech/news/breaking/internet/docs/1016361l.htm)
--------------------------------------------------------------