Keep up to date with the progress of technology, here in the POST. Most
weeks we shall collate and report the latest news in this field just for
you. These are not full reports but website links are provided to give you
more information, should you require it.

The wide bandwidth revolution is spreading, and could be available in your
area. Last week we reported the race in the UK to offer this high speed
service. Now we report on an offer made by @ Home in association with Excite, in other countries. This cable company is offering the service for about $39.95-$45.95 to some areas of the USA, Canada, The Netherlands, Australia and Japan.

The high speed modem could be available to purchased in all areas in the
not too distant future and, no matter what telephone service you are using,
(as long as it is a digital connection) you will be able to have this super
connection to the net highway... The Post will keep an eye on future
developments and keep you informed.

This handy little pen size scanner lets you scan text and send the
information to an infa-red port on your PC. It is reported that it can be a
bit fussy about the fonts it reads. It is able to read up to 100 characters
a second from a range of 7 to 20pt printed sizes. It has problems
recognising underlining, and sometimes italic and bold, caused a few
problems. No, it does not recognise handwriting.

With 6mb of flash memory, the pen is able to store about 2000 pages of
text. It aso has PDA facilities, which will store up to 1000 names,
addresses and phone numbers. These, and a memo pad, combine to make this
light 80g unit, quite a useful portable although not a full PDA pen. If
that was not all, it can translate text into 11 different languages, with
all the extra characters that the various languages require. It downloads
the required language into a dictionary and will translate say English to
German and visa versa.

The price of the C-Pen 600 is £239.00 and there are many more features not
outlined here. Three pens are available the 200, 600 and 800 series.

The UK Government-commissioned 'Stewart Inquiry' has declared that
mobile phones do not pose a health risk to users.

The report was to determine whether microwave emissions from handsets are
leading to increased memory loss, as well as brain tumours etc. They
concluded, after a ten-month investigation which includes information from
the National Radiological Protection Board, mobiles only heat the brain by
one-tenth of a degree, whereas the body's natural temperature varies by one
degree on a daily basis.

The report does call for tighter regulation on radioactive emissions; this
is to bring legislation in line with European standards. It will also be
calling for an in-depth research on other effects of mobiles.

The report is due be published on 11 May.

Remember, this will be from a government who declared that beef is safe to
eat... OK, perhaps the other guys were in power then, but would these guys
have handled it any differently... I doubt it! I think I will still cut
down on the use of my mobile phone - Just in Case.

Linux vendor Red Hat has opened an online marketplace to provide users with information and
up-to-date versions of the free operating system.

'Toshiba' has announced an addition to the new reflective screen
display technology. This could extend battery life by up to one third. The
first colour reflective polysilicon screens will be available from October.
They also claim that it will bring down the price of a Laptop.

It has no backlight which will mean; laptops will be cheaper and power
consumption will be reduced by up to a third; machines will be less bulky
and give greater screen colours with brighter displays. Anything that will
bring down the cost of a laptop must be a good thing, especially if it
gives improved performance.

If you have any news of new technology, and feel it worth a mention in the
next article, then email your findings (and any associated website) to
vegiman.

Vegiman

08.05.00. Front Page

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