BRADENTON, Fla. Mary C. Funnell, 69, formerly of Malta Avenue, Ballston Spa, died Sunday at her residence.
She lived in Ballston Spa most of her life before moving to Bradenton, Fla., in 1974.
Mrs. Funnell worked as a telephone operator for New York Telephone in Saratoga Springs for many years, and for the Manatee Memorial Hospital in Bradenton, Fla. She retired in 1984.
…
FOOD NETWORK in March will debut limited series What America Eats With …
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The Fiji government has released part of a grant to its national rugby union to fund the country's participation at the World Cup in New Zealand later this year.
Education minister Filipe Bole confirmed on Monday that the Cabinet had approved the payment of 400,000 Fiji dollars ($226,000). He said the release of the full grant of 3 million Fiji dollars ($1.7 million) depends on whether the new union board meets the demands outlined by the government earlier this year.
The newly elected chairman of the rugby union, Col. Mosese Tikoitoga, said it would take any steps necessary to satisfy the government's demands.
Payment of the grant was …
A new book about the Kennet and Avon Canal provides anastonishing visual history of one of the country's best lovedwaterways, writes Christopher Hansford Partly because of its passagethrough Bath and the beautiful surrounding countryside, the Kennetand Avon Canal is one of the best loved and most spectacular ofEngland's waterways.
As the canal celebrates its 200th anniversary several new booksabout the waterway are being published and today we look at one ofthem.
Clive and Helen Hackford have gathered together a wonderful arrayof old photographs which they have used to tell the story of thisamazing waterway first proposed in 1788 as a less hazardous way ofgetting …
According to recent research published in the journal Annals of Clinical Psychiatry, "Anxiety disorders are associated with significant disability. There is growing interest in the question of whether pharmacotherapy that effectively reduces symptoms can also restore function."
"Recovery could potentially be defined as a lack of disability, with an associated reduction in symptom severity. Conversely, relapse could potentially be defined in terms of either increased disability or increased symptoms. We analyzed a database of randomized controlled trials of escitalopram in generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and social anxiety disorder (SAD), focusing on the relationship between …
Byline: JEAN DerGURAHIAN Staff writer
The woman charged Tuesday with stealing more than $30,000 from the Glens Falls Civic Center only recently finished a probation period following a prior felony conviction for stealing, according to court reports.
Then she lied about the prior conviction on her job application at the civic center, a civic center official said.
Karen Atwood, the former box office manager who was arrested and charged with grand larceny, falsifying business records and defrauding the government, appeared Thursday before a Glens Falls City Court judge to hear the charges against her. She is scheduled to return March 7.
A …
Byline: California Pacific Medical Center
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Sept. 9 (AScribe Newswire) -- California Pacific Medical Center wishes to set the record straight in response to SEIU-UHW's recent public statements regarding recommendations from a Federal Mediator about the ongoing labor dispute. The Federal Mediator presented the two parties, SEIU-UHW and CPMC, with a document that, in his words, "represents [his] analysis of what might be acceptable to both sides to avert such a strike." Unfortunately, SEIU-UHW has circulated a document without the Mediator's introductory comments, thus grievously misrepresenting the purpose of the document.
For background, …
PARIS (AP) — Interpol has issued an international alert for Moammar Gadhafi and 15 other family members and close associates to help enforce international sanctions against the Libyan strongman and his regime.
The international police organization said Friday that Gadhafi, his relatives and allies "have been identified as being involved in or complicit in planning attacks, including aerial bombardments, on civilian populations."
Interpol issues the orange notice when an act or event poses a risk to public safety. The alert is sent to Interpol's 188 members around the world, give law enforcement and border police information on the targeted individuals that can be used to block …
Tony Reed Named President, C.O.O. of Grand Image Ltd.
SEATTLE--Tony Reed has joined Grand Image Ltd. as the new company president and chief operating officer. According to company officials, she brings more than 20 years of sales, strategic planning and management experience to the role.
"I'm looking forward to working with the Grand Image team as we continue to forge new relationships with some of the most talented artists in the marketplace and to build upon our existing strategic marketing and distribution alliances," Reed said."The business is about finding the kind of imagery a particular niche market needs ... and we are committed to that end."
…
Byline: John Caher Staff writer
A former Voorheesville woman, rendered mentally retarded and physically disabled as a result of an automobile accident when her mother was pregnant with her 25 years ago, has won $3.5 million in a claim against New York state.
Court of Claims Judge Condon A. Lyons, in a decision released Friday, found that the March 14, 1963, accident on Route 9W in Ulster County was the indirect cause of physical and mental disabilities suffered by Deborah Lynn Welsh. Welsh's mother was about 10 weeks pregnant with her when the one- car accident occurred on an icy patch of road near Kingston.
The attorneys arguing the case said it …
2004 - Chilberg v. Chilberg: Leasing company required to pay $1 million to a child whose father ran over her in one of its vehicles, even though the leasing
company had nothing to do with the accident.
2004 - Tikhonova v. Ford Motor Co.: A passenger in a Ford leased vehicle
filed suit against Ford and the driver of the vehicle for personal injuries experienced in an accident. Both suits dropped because the driver was a Russian diplomat with immunity …
DETROIT Many U.S. auto workers will receive record profit-sharingpayments for 1998, thanks to a strong market and intense cost cuttingby major automakers.
"It's going to be a great year for profit-sharing," predictedThomas Stallkamp, president of DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler unit,where U.S. sales rose 9 percent last year to a record 2.5 millionvehicles. Chrysler's profit-sharing checks averaged $4,600 lastyear.
DaimlerChrysler's Mercedes-Benz unit paid a record $4,500 in "teamshare payments" to workers at its Alabama plant in December. That'son top of $2,000 each Mercedes employee received in other one-timepayouts last year for "special efforts" to increase output …
Byline: LONNIE PALMER Superintendent of Schools SCOTT WEXLER President Board of Education Albany -
Recently, a letter writer suggested that the Albany city school district should hold a vote on its proposed building project in November on Election Day. We have seriously investigated this idea and have found it would present numerous legal problems.
For example, an individual can be legally registered to vote in school district elections but not be registered for city elections. Thus, the city would have to place the school building project on a separate ballot in a separate voting machine at each polling site to prevent any illegal voting.
The …
Honolulu office vacancies increase
Honolulu's office vacancy rates continued to rise and reached 12.1 percent at midyear compared with 11.8 percent at the start of 2011.
The sixth consecutive quarter of lost occupancy reflects the lackluster economic conditions and weakened tenant demand that have dampened the market's recovery, according to a report issued Thursday by Colliers Monroe Friedlander.
There was a negative 26,043 square feet of net absorption as the available space in the market exceeded the space being taken off the market. However, that was better than the first half of 2010 when there was negative net absorption of 167,379 square feet.
"There remains optimism that this market is in transition and that the office market will strengthen over the next few quarters," Colliers wrote.
The average islandwide full-service gross asking rent for all classes of buildings was $2.80 per square feet per month at midyear compared with $2.79 at the start of 2011.
Despite the gain in full-service gross asking rent from the beginning of the year, Colliers said most landlords are not likely to benefit as the base rent actually fell while operating expenses increased.
"The volatility in fuel oil costs likely contributed to the increase in tenant occupancy costs as electricity prices jumped," Colliers wrote.
Oceanic debuts faster broadband
Oceanic Time Warner Cable has launched a new broadband Internet service with download speeds of up to 30 megabits per second for customers on Oahu and Kauai.
The new Road Runner Extreme service is an improvement over Road Runner Turbo Plus, Oceanic's previous top-of-the-line broadband service with a maximum download speed of up to 20 megabits per second. Road Runner Extreme's top upload speed of 5 megabits per second is also faster than the 1 megabit per second offered by Turbo Plus.
The new service will be priced at $35 per month over the Standard Road Runner service, which has a maximum download speed of 10 megabits per second. Oceanic is currently offering a promotional rate of $38.95 a month for the Standard Road Runner service.
Oceanic said it plans to offer the new service on Hawaii Island in August and on Maui in September. The service is aimed at gamers and other customers who regularly download music or movies, said Bob Barlow, president of Oceanic Time Warner. It also should appeal to people who work from home and need the extra bandwidth, he said.
"Road Runner Broadband Extreme is the area's fastest residential service and with today's announcement Oceanic Time Warner Cable continues to lead the way as the most popular broadband provider in Hawaii," Barlow said.
Fixed mortgage rates hold steady
WASHINGTON � Fixed mortgage rates were mostly unchanged this week, hovering near their annual lows.
The average rate on the 30-year loan rose slightly to 4.51 percent, Freddie Mac said Thursday. It hit its lowest level of the year three weeks ago, at 4.49 percent.
The average rate on the 15-year fixed mortgage, a popular refinancing option, stayed at 3.69 percent. It reached its low point of the year two weeks ago, at 3.67 percent.
Rates typically track the yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which has been rising in the past week. That could change this week when the Federal Reserve's $600 billion bond-buying program ends.
The Fed has purchased around $75 billion worth of bonds each month since November. That drove the yield on the 10-year Treasury note lower than 3 percent this spring. As a result, rates on mortgages and other loans also fell.
ON THE MOVE
Hawaii State Federal Credit Union has announced the following promotions:
� Betsy Weatherford as card services manager of Hawaii State FCU's card services department. She has more than 10 years of experience in the financial industry in Hawaii, including electronic banking product manager at City Bank.
� Sheryl Higa as business systems manager of Hawaii State FCU's business systems department. She has 28 years of financial industry and business systems experience.
Kaiser Permanente Hawaii has named the following leaders to sales and account services:
� Allison Galdeira was previously a case manager and community development employee with Women in Need and has 14 years of sales and account service experience.
� Chandler Pearson was previously a sales representative for First Data Corp. in Sacramento, Calif.
� Patrick Price was previously director of operations for Franklin Advantage and has 15 years of sales and marketing management experience.
� Kenneth Sloan served as a sales representative in the primary care division with Warner Chilcott as well as sales representative for Hawaii Newspaper Agency.
� Karen Watanabe was previously a financial associate/federal employee benefits specialist for Pacific Wealth Strategies in Honolulu. She has 20 years of sales experience, including ownership of Avellan Corp. Initiatives in Honolulu.
ON THE WEB
FTTH: Good results, but penetration still limited
Sponsored by Papa John's Hawaii. Order Now!
Credit: Star-Advertiser Staff and News Services
(This is not a legal transcript. Bloomberg LP cannot guarantee its accuracy.)
SCOTT BROWN & DILEEP GEORGE, CO-FOUNDERS, VICARIOUS SYSTEMS, TALK ABOUT ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AT BLOOMBERG TV
FEBRUARY 14, 2011
SPEAKERS: BETTY LIU, BLOOMBERG NEWS ANCHOR
SCOTT BROWN, CO-FOUNDER, VICARIOUS SYSTEMS
DILEEP GEORGE, CO-FOUNDER, VICARIOUS SYSTEMS
09:46
BETTY LIU, BLOOMBERG NEWS ANCHOR: Silicon Valley bigwigs like Facebook backers Peter Thiel and Sean Parker are now backing a new venture, an artificial intelligence startup that is building software to think and learn like humans. It is called Vicarious Systems and for more we are joined by the Vicarious Systems' co-founders, Scott Brown and also Dileep George. Gentlemen, thank you so much for making the time to be with us. And -
SCOTT BROWN, CO-FOUNDER, VICARIOUS SYSTEMS: Thanks for having us, Betty.
LIU: Very briefly I just want to explain to our viewers, and you correct me if I am wrong, this is essentially sort of like a chip, right, that is within computers that help these machines or that make these machines think more like human beings learn and that sort of thing. Where do you see this most applicable? Scott, you want to take that?
BROWN: It is actually software for right now. I am sure there will be opportunities to turn it into chips in the future, but right now it is just software.
LIU: Okay.
BROWN: And it is the very first step towards building what is true artificial intelligence as you describe it that we are taking is to just focus on building a vision system that can recognize objects in photographs and videos. And we think that that component of that larger goal to build intelligence software will have broad applications in many industries from everything from healthcare, to manufacturing to retail.
LIU: And, Dileep, give me the potential here. Give me some numbers here.
DILEEP GEORGE, CO-FOUNDER, VICARIOUS SYSTEMS: Okay. In terms of potential I think this will be, going to be bigger than the Internet. It is very hard to predict the future. A famous computer scientist once said that the best way to predict the future is to invent it, so I can tell you in terms of how it will unfold from what we are building.
So, as Scott mentioned, we are building a vision system first, and this will understand medias and videos just like the way humans do and it will have wide-ranging implications in the field of medicine, for example, to understand a slide and say what it is in it and whether that tumor is cancerous or not. So it will have wide-ranging implications in many fields.
LIU: Okay.
GEORGE: And once we have done that we will let this system impact with the environment and learn cause and effect, kind of playing being coupled with the environment.
LIU: Okay.
GEORGE: And everything that we call high level intelligence build on top of this knowledge about interactions with the world, so this can be revolutionary for fields like robotics and we will see that happening maybe in about ten years.
LIU: Okay. So -
GEORGE: And if -
LIU: No. Go ahead.
GEORGE: If everything goes well we should have real human-like intelligence within about 15 years.
LIU: In about 15 years, all right. And, Dileep, that is a tall order. Bigger than the Internet is what you are saying. Scott, I know we were saying that some Facebook investors like Peter Thiel have invested in your company, and also some Facebook employees, or executives as well. First off, how much did they invest in your company? Can you say?
BROWN: I don't think we are talking about that right now, but we can say that it's - it was less than $10 million. It doesn't take a lot to start an artificial intelligence company. Your primary cost drivers are researchers who can study the problem, and run experiments and develop the software, so it is not a high capital expenditure kind of investment.
LIU: Okay. And the fact that there are so many Facebook people, I guess you would call them, interested in this, does this mean that it has some application then to social networking, to Facebook?
BROWN: I think so. You - we have seen a media explosion with Facebook in terms of the number of pictures and videos that people post every day and Facebook, you may not realize this, but Facebook is actually the world's largest photo sharing website by far. And having software that can automatically understand what is in an image, what kinds of things you like to take pictures of, where you have been, who your friends are, -
LIU: Right.
BROWN: - and help make your social world richer I think would be very valuable, but I am not sure that is the reason why these investors and these, the Facebook co-founder was interested in us. I think it is more to do with being passionate about technology that has the potential to create transformative change.
LIU: Right. And quickly, I know you mentioned that it is less than $10 million that they invested in your company. Do you think though, Scott of Dileep, that let's say five years ago, six years ago you would have gotten the doors open to people like that? Has it changed here for you? Has the game changed in Silicon Valley?
GEORGE: Well, so for this particular company probably five or ten years back we would not have been able to open the door. The game hasn't changed much in Silicon Valley in a sense that companies have been getting funded all the time and it is waiting until the right time for the right technology.
So I think now is the time for getting companies going in the field of artificial intelligence and in the field of building machines that mimic human capabilities. So now is the right time for that kind of investment, but probably not five or ten years back.
LIU: Scott, Dileep, thank you very much for joining us. I appreciate it, the co-founders of Vicarious Systems, an artificial intelligence company, very interesting.
09:52
***END OF TRANSCRIPT***
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New, upcoming multimedia markets are setting a demanding service agenda that could make or break telcos.
For carriers, the future is bright; and the future is multimedia. That is the gospel that the industry is swearing by. The myriad trials of broadband access systems, gigabit switches and high-spec terminal equipment over the past two years seem to be teasing previews of the grand spectacle to come.
But what can markets realistically expect of the multimedia future? Given the build-up and technology trials, multimedia is a hugely attractive prospect for telecoms operators and it seems to provide a number of opportunities to create new revenue and markets.
Capitalising on opportunities is, however, another matter; in many ways the multimedia market will be an entirely novel hunting ground for many telcos. The infrastructure and service platforms that are being put in place will push telecoms operators ever closer to broadcast service operators and content providers. As a consequence, the multimedia content and telecoms service markets will themselves tend to become seamless and to succeed in such a marketplace operators will have to resort to greater and more careful segmentation than they have been used to.
For instance, a broadband multimedia service could feature end-user terminals that are personal computers (PCs), network computers or devices, including a telephone and a television, connected to set-top boxes. Each of these access devices leads to potentially huge markets, but each has several service aspects that are alien to telecoms operators. Faced with such a scenario, operators - and before them, carriers - have a cultural and service shift waiting for them.
CARRYING THE PACKET
Telecommunications International asked leading carriers and operators to define their service strategies and reveal how they would focus on the multimedia market. Needless to say, the specifics of the strategies vary greatly from operator to operator as does the perception of what multimedia is. Some commonalities that do emerge in the various definitions: a multimedia service that conveys several types of information into one pipe, and more significantly, it is information with which users can interact and manipulate. This definition brings together the three industries of entertainment (content providers), telecoms operators (providing a medium for delivery) and IT professionals (who facilitate the creation, manipulation and storage of content). According to the UK-based consulting firm, Analysys, the estimated value of these converged markets in Western Europe alone is more than US$ 800 million.*
In the telco world, providing a medium of delivery is more than just laying down infrastructure; it also involves describing the technology used to distribute the content. Jos Gerrese, director of Internet-based services at AT&T / Unisource said: "If we take multimedia services to be Internet/intranet IP services, then this is clearly an important focus for our market at the moment."
Until about one year ago, telcos were expected to lead the deployment of multimedia services using their conventional wireline networks. Multimedia, it was thought, was an opportunity for telcos to offset large investments in digital infrastructure. Furthermore, it was felt that technologies like ADSL (asynchronous digital subscriber line) would allow monopoly operators to prolong the life of their widespread copper access networks. But the explosion of the market for Internet services has offered a radically different and versatile platform for multimedia applications and altered the way multimedia services have been perceived.
As Gerrese said, the IP-based service market is one of growing interest for telcos. But the presence of telcos in the Internet arena presents a dilemma: on the one hand, it represents an opportunity to deliver multimedia services over their networks; but services such as voiceover-IP represent a perceived threat to their revenues. So far, Internet distribution has not required any major technical improvement to the existing PSTNs and therefore, telcos have not been able to demand new revenues. Technologies, such as ADSL, are meant to exploit this weakness and provide high-speed Internet access services, but telcos have been slow in testing and deploying such services - the first ADSL-based Internet services are slated to become available over the next six weeks. Meanwhile, Internet service providers and content owners, who appreciate the significance of the market better, are seizing the initiative. Therefore, in promoting the Internet, monopoly operators could, in fact, be hastening a radically different multimedia market model. "Voice over the Internet, for instance, is mostly all hype and expectation at the moment," Gerrese said, "but it will grow."
Concurrently, there is also a strong interest from large corporations - of which there are 370,000 in the northern hemisphere alone, and which have their own networks accounting for about 30 per cent or more of telco revenues - in multimedia services. "What we're seeing at the moment is a careful start to multimedia applications within large corporates," Gerrese said. Voice and data integration and collaborative working applications are expected to grow.
"From the carrier perspective, the primary challenge is the deployment of the network to assure access and global availability for both voice and data services," said Bill Comerford, director of product development at Global One. "As user demand for value-added multimedia services grows along with the maturity of the networks, these services will play an increasingly important role in the production portfolio and revenue streams. Unisource and Global One, which addresses the business, operator and consumer market place, are among the largest carriers of Internet traffic in the world.
THE PLAYING FIELD
The market focus, even within the Internet, varies from carrier to carrier and is defined in the first instance by the carrier's own strengths and weaknesses and secondly by the process of market segmentation. Selling multimedia successfully demands a clear understanding of what benefits it offers to users, and this in turn requires careful segmentation of both consumers and applications. Users in the business and consumer markets, for instance, display unequal willingness to adopt new services. Whereas business users are able to evaluate a service on the basis of its affects on productivity, benefits of multimedia services to residential customers are mostly intangible and include lifestyle improvements. Early growth, therefore, will be confined to the large corporate sector, suggesting that content of services will have, or need to have a higher role than telcos have planned for Telcos have traditionally earned their profits by providing connectivity. The anticipated nature of the new multimedia structure means that just carrying traffic from users to service and content providers and back again will only be a part of a possible telco function. Maximising revenues will require some way of tapping the value of content -- either by participation in the creation itself or by adding value. But perceptions in the operator world vary, "Generally, the challenge to accommodate the demand for multimedia services internationally has more to do with guaranteeing the network, quality of service parameters and capabilities, security and reliability (particularly of Internet-based multimedia services), than with carriers creating multimedia products that might find commercial audience," said Global One's Comerford.
So what are carriers and operators doing to ensure network resilience? Hardware platforms will be the main expenditure in the early stages of the multimedia revolution, accounting for in excess of 70 per cent of the expected revenue. Two problems could dog international telcos in this initial phase:
congestion resulting from booming traffic and the consequent problems in switching, routing and transmitting an unpredictable mixture of voice, data, audio and video in real time;
unacceptable time-lag as a result of carrying timecritical voice, video and other data across several network architectures, not all of which have the same levels of QoS and resilience.
New, ATM-equipped networks may be the answer. "As far as the core backbone is concerned, we are focused on ATM as the way forward. If you are going to have a decent mix of traffic involving different protocol types, ATM does pay off," said Gerrese. "Our partner company, Unisource Carrier Services, has a divergent mix of traffic passing across the backbone - the biggest in Europe at the moment - and they find that ATM is the viable technology."
Part of AT&T-Unisource's IP services will run over an ATM platform. But the service scenario is a little complicated when it comes to delivering IP services. The goal is to be able to deliver premium access services at a time when there is a consensus that public Internet services will remain unable to support high-bandwidth applications and acceptable QoS levels. "We are very interested in evaluating the various IP switching technologies, such as Ipsilon's IP Switching and Cisco's tag switching solutions, as these may well give us a better way of delivering our IPbased services," Gerrese said. The reality is that IP traffic has become much more important than the industry thought originally. "If we all started from scratch we may well look at a different sort of solution not involving ATM - perhaps some sort of IP over SDH," Gerrese conjectured.
Global One is also currently deploying ATM in its backbone architecture. "The purpose of this is two-fold," said Comerford. "Firstly, to take advantage of ATM technology to carry data and voice traffic internationally in a more efficient and cost-effective manner and secondly, to provide the basis for our next generation of ATM services which will be made available commercially in 1998. This infrastructure will be used to support a wide variety of international multimedia services and ultimately this will be the core network for all Global One services.
THE ACCESS CONUNDRUM
There is, however, considerable debate on how multimedia will be accessed and which standards or technology will dominate (Figure 1). The most pressing task for telcos is to upgrade their local access networks to make it suitable for a wide range of services in order to maximise connectivity. The Internet offers a good service paradigm: one of the main reasons behind its success is the way in which available technology and networks have been used to maximise its reach. Choice of such open service platforms will help telcos; in contrast, broadcast operators, even though they are collectively moving towards digital formats, still seem to prefer proprietary methods of access. The number of options and the lack of de facto standards for many components of the infrastructure mean that, increasingly, some operators are facing a choice of committing themselves to a particular solution, or spreading their investment across several solutions in the expectation that one of them will prove successful.
Until recently, the choice of an operator would have been strongly weighted by its current infrastructure, as in the case of ADSL, which is tending to become the default choice of those that have extensive copper-based access networks. In the residential and SOHO markets today, it is likely that the `default choice' would be one among a mix of access technologies that would be available. For instance, cable operators are expected to provide both cable modem and ISDN access. In the business services market, access services and technologies are likely to be tailored to the user.
"If you look at multinationals, it depends on the sort of traffic they have, in which case the access solution could be either leased lines, frame relay or ISDN," said Gerrese. "We do not have a standard approach." Access via satellite is an area that seems to be changing quite fast. Six months ago, nobody would mention satellites for Internet access - now they do.
Hughes-Olivetti Telecom (HOT), launched in 1994 as a joint venture between Hughes Network Systems Inc. and Olivetti Telemedia, is already providing Internet access providing about 4000 European customers with download datarates of 400 kbps or more via satellite. The company is predicting rapid growth and expects to double its size in 1997. HOT's turnover was more than US$ 24 million and has seen an increase in its orders on hand with a range of contracts from the automotive and government sectors. The VSAT market, long a popular option among corporates that handle large volumes of data daily, is also one sector that HOT is active in. It is now the largest player in the interactive VSAT market in Europe, having achieved a 35 per cent market share.
In the residential market, most major operators launched ambitious ADSL trials hoping to extend the life of their copper for many more years. But a number of issues, such as the adaptability of existing copper to high datarates, which have caused telcos to treat ADSL with some caution are at last being addressed. Internet access has also breathed new life into ISDN, a 10-year-old technology. The standardisation of ISDN-PRI now provides 30 multiplexed channels resulting in a 2 Mbps bandwidth, making it a promising access technology for the future as well. This has already made ISDN the preferred technology in the audio, data and videoconferencing markets. The widespread standardisation of ISDN - unlike in the case of either ADSL or cable modems - is expected to ensure that ISDN will be an active technology for several years to come carrying a variety of multimedia services.
While residential markets are a must-have for most operators, carriers are likely to concentrate on serving the corporate sector. Global One recently conducted an international multimedia service trial which has been developed and integrated by Sprint and other Global One partners into a value-added multimedia service for the entertainment sector and for pre- and post-production of content. This allows real-time collaboration on editing and design of films, commercial advertisements, print media and so on. "This utilisation of multimedia services, combined with domestic and international transport, is a model for how corporate communities can use electronic collaboration and multimedia to `work with the sun' and produce goods and services around the world," predicted Comerford of Global One.
"The main chunk of our revenues at present are in the ISP market," said Gerrese. "For the future, intranet services will be where the action is, both for our 'upstream' service provider customers and our corporate users." There is now a large-scale move from the so-called 'legacy' services -- which currently make up about 90 per cent of current revenues of carriers such as AT&T-Unisource to IP and Web-based technologies, and the service demand will reflect that shift. Service integration and a host of new multimedia applications will stem from this shift.
As the whole world moves into the IP arena, competition among small ISPs, who merely provide dial-up access and have little or no control over content, will be fierce. The larger ISPs of the world who host a significant amount of Internet content are expected to have the upper hand. "If you are big you're beautiful and we are the biggest Internet access provider in Europe at the moment and that makes us attractive to partners in the US," Gerrese claimed. "From their point of view we can provide the best peering arrangement because a high proportion of the content their end-users will be accessing will be on servers attached to our customers networks." In comparison, operators who are merely passing most traffic off to other networks and do not store or control content, will be at a disadvantage. The biggest challenge for the industry as a whole will be to match the network capability with the current growth of the Internet and its content. In the converged multimedia marketplace, success will depend on two factors: owning content and owning customers.
During Hurricane Preparedness Week and the days leading up to the2011 Atlantic Hurricane season, Sprint and the Sprint EmergencyResponse Team (ERT) are ensuring customers of their dedicatedpreparedness for the 12 to 18 tropical storm systems the NationalOceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently projected forthe 2011 Atlantic Hurricane season, the company said.
According to a release, Spring said that in 2010 and the firstquarter of 2011, it invested close to $36 million to enhance andprepare its wireless networks in the state of Louisiana, includingapproximately $30 million in the New Orleans market.
Additionally, since 2005, Sprint said it has made significantstrides in making clean energy efficiency a priority in its networkmanagement and resiliency during hurricane season. To date, Sprinthas installed 60 hydrogen fuel cell generators at cell sitelocations across Louisiana as a much cleaner alternative to diesel-powered backup generators; are activated when service from the localelectric utility is disrupted during severe weather or other naturaldisasters; and provide extended hours of backup power before needingrefueling versus traditional generators.
For any potentially impactful storm event, Sprint ERT, along withthe company's network and business continuity teams will be pre-staged in hurricane-prone areas of the state with:
-Hundreds of portable generators to provide power to Sprintnetwork assets when local power is unavailable.
-Satellite Cell on Light Trucks (SatCOLTS) and Cell Sites onWheels (COWs) to provide immediate restoration of service and tohelp facilitate wireless and IP communications among disaster reliefand emergency response agencies.
-Experienced and well-trained technicians and engineers who canreadily access and maintain the resiliency of Sprint network assets.
Sprint also has permanent generators - automatic cutover switchesto immediately neutralize any loss of commercial power - installedat:
-All of its wireless and wireline switches - the networkcomponents where wireless data and calls are routed to their finaldestination.
-The company's network Points of Presence (POP) - the facilitieswhere traffic enters and leaves the company's global IP network,which facilitates dedicated data services for Sprint's corporate andgovernment customers, as well as other critical communications.
Since 2001, Sprint said it has worked with Wilmington-basedweather data and hurricane awareness expert, Mark Sudduth ofHurricaneTrack.com on his team's efforts to provide live, immediatereporting during every hurricane season. Over the last 10 years,Sprint has supplied Sudduth and his team with Sprint 3G and 4Gmobile phones and broadband devices to give them mobile Internetconnectivity during their field data collection efforts and onlinevideo reporting. Sudduth is based in Wilmington, N.C., and hasreported on close to 40 named tropical storms and hurricanes alongthe Atlantic Coast since 1998.
"The wireless resources and support from Sprint has been trulyinvaluable to our efforts and HurricaneTrack.com's supporters andfans," said Sudduth. "No matter the storm condition - it can be aCategory 1 or Category 5 hurricane - Sprint's 3G and 4G service hasbeen reliable and always available when we need it."
Sprint Nextel offers a range of wireless and wirelinecommunications services.
More information:
www.sprint.com/hurricaneinformation
www.sprint.com
((Comments on this story may be sent tonewsdesk@closeupmedia.com))
Are you SAD? Or are you just plain sad?
This time of year, I'm always a little of both. The days areshort and dark, which also describes my temper and mood.
SAD stands for Seasonal Affective Disorder, but it might as wellstand for Surly, Apathetic and Depressed. I'm not the only onearound here who starts feeling lousy in the weeks surrounding thewinter solstice. We live at the right latitude for it. We're notexactly in Alaska's latitude league, but we are farther north thanMinneapolis. We are farther north than Bangor, Maine. We are farthernorth than Montreal, Toronto, Quebec City and Ottawa, for crying outloud.
So our winter days are shorter in Spokane than in just about anyother major city in the continental U.S. And our December-Januaryweather can be decidedly dreary. Nothing like a bracing day offreezing fog to brighten the old mood.
So I have resigned myself to a few weeks of funk and havediscovered several good ways to combat it. The No. 1 solution is togo outside and go skiing. I have tried to tell my bosses that skiingis actually medical therapy and that I should be allowed to practiceit every day, all week, but they short-sightedly call it "beingabsent."
Taking long walks, especially when the sun is out, can also beexcellent therapy. Unfortunately, this becomes more difficult onweekends like this, when you're likely to step out onto thesidewalk, slip on an ice patch and dislocate your shoulder.
Now, however, I have come up with a new idea: hibernation.
Why not just hunker down on Thanksgiving and stay torpid untilValentine's Day? Actually, this isn't too different from my normalway of coping. There are winter mornings when I just lie in bed andlisten to my alarm-clock radio for, I don't know, two hours, beforeI decide to greet the dreary day. (Kind of defeats the purpose ofthe "alarm" part of the device.)
This hibernation idea stems from some research I did on theIndian tribes of the region. Haven't you ever wondered how theyweathered the Inland Northwest's particularly bad winters? Somebands, I discovered, dug pits along the banks of the Columbia River,covered them with skins or reed mats, crawled in and stayed putuntil the days lengthened and warmed.
This is not hibernation in the strict biological sense, but itcertainly appeals to me. I'm tempted to gather family and friendstogether, crawl into a big old pile of furs and blankets, and waituntil the green grass pokes through the snow. It sounds like aperfect way to deal with December and January.
I'm probably romanticizing it. After about a half-day of livingin a pit - one without even the most rudimentary Internet connection- I would probably go stir-crazy. In fact, I learned through myresearch that depression was a common problem among tribes duringthe dark and dreary days of winter.
In other words, SAD has a long and storied history in the InlandNorthwest.
However, I'm already feeling better. The solstice was 11 days agoand the days already are getting longer. And today, we are greetinga new year, 2011, with its promise of a fresh start and better daysahead. It follows that 2011 has to be brighter than 2010, doesn'tit?
Sure, it does, until about Dec. 1, 2011. Then it'll become darkand dreary for a while. Then 2012 will arrive and brighten our worldonce again.
Reach Jim Kershner at jimk@spokesman.com or (509) 459-5493.
Mr Adams said he was not in a position to comment in detail on the suspected backgroundof the people police had received an alert about, saying that was subject to ongoing investigation.
The assistant commissioner also declined to reveal how police were notified, but saidrelevant state and national authorities had all been alerted.
"I want to make it quite clear this is not a terrorist alert, there is no actual threatto the rail network or to any other persons," Mr Adams told reporters in Sydney.
"And there have been no demands made by anyone."
Mr Adams said police had decided to publicly release this information to avoid potentialcriticism that the community was not alerted and could not make their own informed decisionsabout train travel.
"I don't want anyone to panic out there. I want to reassure you that the rail network,in our opinion, is safe," Mr Adams said.
"In these times of heightened alert, we alerted all the authorities, we carried outa number of risk assessments and it is our considered opinion that there is no cause forconcern.
"We've discussed these issues with government and the rail system is operating."
Mr Adams confirmed police were carrying out bag searches across the Sydney rail networkand specialist resources had also been deployed.
"If this information was received two or three years ago it would not have got thesame amount of attention it has now," he said.
"I want to make sure, without playing down the fact that this information could begenuine or not, I want to make sure people understand that the rail system in our opinionis safe."
Mr Adams said increased security would remain on the train system until police weresatisfied the issue had been dealt with.
"We have increased our security at railway stations; we are looking to make sure thatno-one gets on the rail system that shouldn't be there, that people aren't leaving anypackages on any rail property or on the rail system today."
AAP jo/jnb/jlw
KEYWORD: TRAINS 2 SYDNEY
MELBOURNE, April 3 AAP - The Victorian government was today asked to justify the introductionof 35 new fixed speed cameras on the state's roads.
The state government has ordered 27 combined speed and red light cameras to be placedat various intersections, while another eight fixed speed cameras will be placed on theWestgate Bridge.
Opposition Leader Robert Doyle said the government had to justify the placement ofthe cameras on grounds of road safety.
"Until they do that, they stand accused of just raising revenue rather than being concernedwith road safety," Mr Doyle told reporters.
Mr Doyle said he was particularly concerned about the placement of cameras on the WestgateBridge.
"I don't know that speeding is a problem on the Westgate, but if it is so, let thegovernment come out and show us the research that demonstrates that," he said.
But Premier Steve Bracks said there was no doubt speeding was a problem on the Westgate.
"There has been significant casualties there over a period of time," he told reporters.
Mr Bracks said there had been "no change whatsoever" in the protocols for placementof speed cameras, and he accused the opposition of undermining the government's road safetymessage.
"The opposition have been consistently advocating speeding now for almost a year, andI think that is the wrong message to get out to the community," he said.
AAP bp/ce/gl/de
KEYWORD: CAMERAS VIC
BEIJING, Dec 30, 2002 (SinoCast via COMTEX) -- According to China Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC), as of next January, China will implement a brand-new import & export license management system, under which enterprises will be able to apply for import & export licenses directly on the internet.
The new system has two distinctive features.
First, the license issuing agencies will no longer undertake the input of quota data of imports and exports. The quota administrative departments will undertake this task. The license issuing agencies will only obtain the quota data from the internet and base their issues of licenses on the obtained quota data.
Second, license issuing agencies will not have to maintain the issuing programs and data. This will reduce their maintenance of programs. What they should do is only to access the interface of the license system via internet browsers and then to issue licenses in line with the operation procedures.
From China Construction Project Net, Page 1, Friday, December 27, 2002 info@SinoCast.Com
KEYWORD: BEIJING INDUSTRY KEYWORD: Conferences Trade Shows SUBJECT CODE: General News and News in Other Industries
Aborigines and Green Party supporters are protesting against a legal requirement ofthe Murri Court on the first day of its operation in Brisbane.
The specially convened court sees Aboriginal elders advise magistrates on sentencingof aborigines before the court.
The protest focuses on the requirement that Aborigines plead guilty to crimes beforethey can access the Murri court.
Greens Queensland spokesman DREW HUTTON says the Murri Court presently constitutesan inducement for Aboriginal people to plead guilty.
Mr HUTTON says by encouraging guilty pleas, the Murri court will give some innocentdefendants criminal records.
AAP RTV smk/sc/smb/rcg d
KEYWORD: MURRI (BRISBANE)
By Selina Day
PERTH, April 16 AAP - An Irish backpacker has fought off a man who tried to abducther from a Perth street.
The 19-year-old woman had been walking alone to a backpackers hostel in inner-cityNorthbridge on Friday morning when a man leapt out at her from a parked car, police said.
The woman had been returning to her accommodation shortly before 1am (WST) after anight out at The Bog nightclub when the man leapt out of the passenger side of car andpunched her in the stomach.
He picked her up and dragged her back to the car.
The woman grabbed the man's ponytail and punched him in the face before managing toescape and run back to the hostel.
She and her boyfriend then went to police.
The woman, from Wexford in Ireland, had been in Perth for six weeks.
It was her first stop on an Australian backpacking holiday, police said.
Friday night was the first time she had been out without her boyfriend.
The couple is due to leave Australia on Saturday for New Zealand.
The woman told the West Australian newspaper the incident had shattered her idea ofPerth being a safe city.
MORE sd/las/bwl
KEYWORD: BOG
North Shore MP Jillian Skinner said the government's approval of the 389 space carparkwas a "betrayal of local residents".
She said the residents had signed a Plan of Management, which stated the undergroundfacility would cater for only 100 cars.
Ms Skinner accused Dr Refshauge of ignoring the plan, which was released by the governmentin 1998 with strong support from the local community.
"This is typical of the arrogance of the NSW government, which espouses community consultationbut ignores it if it does not fit in with its master plan," she said in a statement.
Ms Skinner said the government had not adequately consulted with the community, despiteDr Refshauge's claims the development plans received wide support.
There had been no advertisements in local papers, no public meetings and no draft planson display, she said.
"I have stated before that everyone expects that Luna Park is an icon which must befully operational again," she said.
"But the minister has missed the opportunity to make Luna Park an icon for public transport.
"It has its own ferry wharf, Milsons Point train station is only a few minutes walkaway and buses run right to the doorstep."
"A 389-space car park will create an unmanageable burden on local roads."
AAP rhp/jjs/las/sb j
KEYWORD: LUNA PARK 2 SYDNEY
