PHOTO-REALISTIC 3D IS HERE - Matrox Graphics Inc. recently announced the new
Millennium G550 graphics card. This card will allow computer users to create realistic 3D
versions of their own heads and communicate to family and friends over the Internet via
their digital clone. Matrox, with its HeadCasting technology is partnering with LIPSinc
and Digimask to enable visual online communication for any Internet user with a 56K
modem or higher. G550 comes bundled with LIPSinc's HeadFone for real-time online
communication; Digimask, which creates a 3D replica of a person's head from two photos
and the Matrox Virtual Presenter for Microsoft PowerPoint, which lets the user to create a
PowerPoint slide show, along with his/her 3D head. For more information, visit the Web site
at: http://www.matrox.com/mga.

OXYGEN PROJECT...EASY AS BREATHING - MIT's Artificial Intelligence and Computer
Science Laboratories are partnering to develop new hardware and software that they assert
will increase computing productivity by up to 300%. The name, Oxygen Project, is based on
the premise that future computing should be as pervasive as oxygen and as easy to use as
breathing. The Handy 21 and the Enviro 21 are the first components that will be developed.
They feature easily reprogrammable hardware that will allow for switching functions so that
the devices can serve in a variety of ways: as TVs, cell phones, radios or network computers.
The MIT Computer Science Laboratory is in the process of publishing a book about the
project and sees new advances, such as limited natural speech recognition and response, as
the early beginning of a revolution in which computers and humans will work together.
(Chronicle of Higher Education, 22 Aug 01. For the Chronicle Web site go to:
http://www.chronicle.com/)

NATURAL LANGUAGE SPEECH RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY - Avaya Inc. and
the University of Colorado at Boulder recently announced a joint research initiative to speed
development of natural language speech recognition technology for self-paced training
programs and other business applications. To fund this research, Avaya has donated
$250,000 to the university's Center for Spoken Language Research (CSLR) and Alliance
for Technology, Learning and Society (ATLAS) initiative. The two university entities will
work with local Avaya research and development experts in developing and testing new
speech recognition technologies. The joint project is expected to create a new generation of
voice recognition tools that intelligently engage users with greater levels of verbal and
visual perception. CU-Boulder students enrolled in the ATLAS Technology, Arts and
Media program will assist in developing test strategies for the interactive training tools. In
addition, CSLR will use a portion of the donation to create a tool kit that simplifies speech
recognition application development and integration. For more information, visit:
http://www.avaya.com ( Syllabus e-News, Resources, and Trends, 7 Aug 01. For the
Syllabus Web site see: http://www.syllabus.com/)

EASIER VIDEO SEARCHING - Researchers at Columbia University recently developed
software that will allow users to select a still image from a lineup of video clips and then
retrieve close matches from video data. An even more comprehensive project involving
natural-language processing, speech recognition and image analysis is in process at
Carnegie Mellon University. The Informedia Digital Video Library Project has created a
digital library of news broadcasts and a system that responds to a voice request for images
with frame icons of news clips. The system also uses face recognition to deliver video of an
individual. These advances will be helpful in conducting more efficient searches of video
footage without having to use keywords, a process that is often difficult due to a lack of
indices in video archives. (Technology Review, 1 Aug 01. For the Technology Review
Web site go to: http://www.technologyreview.com)