Web Round-Up W/E 07/11/97

Although many may dispute it (and with good reason), the PC is essentially designed to be a labour-saving device. It is reasonable to assume that in general such equipment would be used to save time doing jobs which aren’t particularly enjoyable, ie. labour, thus freeing up more spare leisure time. It is a strange turn of events, undoubtedly, when computers are used to save time on supposedly entertaining, leisure activities. Like watching television, for instance. You wouldn’t want your computer to watch television for you, would you? Apparently, you would. In a development stemming from TV cards (which allow users to watch tele through their PCs), software has now been created which enables your computer to watch the television for you and compile a personalised magazine from what it sees. ATI Technologies has developed a system which uses the on-screen text (transmitted with the TV signal for the deaf) to search for ‘hot-words’ which the user requests. The system then compiles a magazine of text, stills and full-motion pictures which contain the hot-words. It is just a matter of time before the computer will read Shakespeare for you and inbox all the ‘best bits’. Information on The All-In-Wonder Pro add-in board can be found at http://www.atitech.com.

So, as computers indulge in your leisure time, the PC’s take-over of human roles further deepens with the advent of the cyber-salesman. With more than a passing similarity to Red Dwarf‘s Holly the NetHead Red is a fully interactive salesperson (well, saleshead). The US NetHead Red currently resides in an experimental kiosk in a Massachusetts Internet café and is intended, ultimately, to interact with customers making video calls to firms. A similar ‘head’ has been developed in Japan: a fellow called Takishi, with slicked back hair, bow-tie and braces. Each of these cyberstaff is designed to respond to verbal queries and even understand human gestures. The creations can see users approach, follow their movement and initiate verbal communication. Saturn 3 here we come. For some more info and a peek at NetHead Red visit http:///www.digital.com.

Girls going on dates increasingly have to be concerned about their safety, following a number of date rapes and disappearances, particularly in the US. A new method of increasing your safety on a date is to let the world know where you’re going. A service called Smart Date has been set up on the Net whereby anyone going for a date is able to post on a secure server their destination and who they are going with. A casual mention of this to their partner that night would presumably deter any potential attacker from acting. The creator believes that incidents of date rapes will be radically reduced under this system. If you’re off out tonight visit http://www.smartdate.com before you go.

A couple of NetBites:

• Cricinfo, “the home of cricket on the Internet”, has been awarded Internet magazine’s UK Website of the Year award.
• As finding information you want on the Internet becomes more and more difficult (search engines invariably return a load of old cobblers), Britannica has introduced the Britannica Internet Guide (BIG). The BIG service combines the best of a search engine with the selective judgment of some very well-qualified editors. The result is that a search will return the best of the best sites in your chosen field rather than anything which just happens to match. Also, each site is reviewed by Britannica to allow the user to make a better judgment of its suitability. Check http://ebig.com.