MULTIMEDIA PRODUCTION TOOL FROM SETON HALL - Software that helps faculty produce multimedia presentations from lectures is available for free from Seton Hall University. Other institutions have developed similar software, but Seton Hall may be the first to make theirs available online. Their tool, called SyncStream, allows users to synchronize an online slide show with a lecture recorded using RealVideo streaming video format. Officials at Seton Hall said that such presentations are more interesting for students, and giving faculty a simple tool for producing multimedia means many more faculty will participate. SyncStream is available online at http://tltc.shu.edu/initiatives/streaming/syncstream.htm (Chronicle of Higher Education, 27 Mar 02 - Edupage 27 Mar 02)

WEBBOARD 5.0 BASIC AT LOWER PRICE - The newest version of WebBoard comes with a lowered price, according to Akiva Ideas Technologies. The company announced that this opens up the software to an entire new category of business and education users. WebBoard Basic includes a threaded discussion style, one conference board and unlimited users. It allows for administrator control and moderation over the WebBoard community and it comes with a rich registration system. WebBoard Basic is tailored for smaller communities with a single administrator/moderator and is part of the WebBoard family of software. WebBoard is available for Windows Servers in Standard and Premium Editions and as a Unix/Linux version (WebBoard/UX). For more information see: http://www.webboard.com

RESEARCH "HOLODECK" LAUNCHED BY U of CALGARY - Remember the"holodeck" from the Star Trek television series? The University of Calgary is using Java 3D to create virtual models of things ranging from a whole landscape to a single cell. Wearing 3D glasses, scientists enter a 10 x 10 foot laboratory to view the models that have been created. While companies such as pharmaceutical firms, oil companies and meteorologists will be able to use the facility, the primary goal is to further medical research, particularly in the area of complex genetic diseases like Alzheimer's or cancer. (Reuters, 28 Feb 02)