GRID COMPUTING - The idea of lashing computers together to tackle computing chores for users who tap in as needed, almost as if a utility, has been around since the 60's. But moving the concept of these computing grids toward practical reality has taken years of continuous improvement in computer processing speeds, data storage, and network capacity. Design of the software has been the greatest challenge - to be able to juggle and link all the computing resources across far-flung sites and deliver them on demand. There has been a flurry of grid projects in the last few years in the United States, Europe, and Japan - like climate modeling, high-energy physics, genetic
research, earthquake simulations, and brain research. This month, grid computing moved further toward the commercial mainstream when the Globus Project released new software tools that blend the grid standards with a programming technology called Web services, developed mainly in corporate labs, for automated computer-to-computer communications. Enthusiasm for grid computing is also broadening among scientists.

The long-term grid vision is that anyone with a desktop machine or hand-held computer can have the power of a supercomputer at his or her fingertips. And small groups with shared interests could find answers to computationally complex problems as never before. The grid is widely regarded as the next stage for the Internet after the World Wide Web. The promise of the grid is to add a problem solving system to the Web. For the full article go to:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/15/science/15GRID.html?th (New York Times, 15 July 03)

TOUCH OVER THE INTERNET - Engineers in the Virtual Reality Laboratory at the University at Buffalo have developed a new technology that transmits the sensation of touch over the Internet. The breakthrough could lead to creation of haptic technologies that convey the sense of touch and would teach users how to master skills and activities - such as surgery, sculpture, playing the drums, or even golf - that require precise application of "touch" and movement. Though the technology is still along way from being able to capture and communicate the complex touch, researchers have successfully used it to transmit from one person to another over the Internet the sensation of touching a soft or hard object, and the ability to feel the contour of particular shapes. The sensation of touch is the brain's most effective learning mechanism - more effective than seeing or hearing - which is why the new technology holds so much promise as a teaching tool.

The researchers call their technology "sympathetic haptics," which means having the ability to feel what another person feels. The technology communicates what another person is feeling through an active-tracking haptics system linked between two personal computers. The system uses a virtual reality data glove to capture the hardness or softness of an object being felt by one person. This feeling is communicated instantaneously to another person. The sensations are transmitted in the form of exerted force and through information about the position of the objects being touched. At present the researchers are interested especially in medical, manufacturing, and future replay applications for the technology. Contact: Professor T.Kesavadas, kesh@eng.buffalo.edu (NewsWise, 28 June 03)

WIRELESS PC CARDS - Internet access, just about everywhere, can easily be
added to PCs using the Verizon Wireless PC card. It has worked for TechLearn Trends in about 95% of the locations tried. Speeds are usually about 90 kps but can go as high as 144 and as low as 36. It has facilitated some very new types of just in time learning while riding in the car (looking for historical and tourism information), obtaining information on an item to purchase (when the salesclerk didn't have the details), and finding followup information on a newscast (while watching CNN in an airport.) Each WiFi provider is coming to market with these products and will also be going up the bandwidth speedchain in the coming months. (TechLearn Trends #257, 18 June 03)

QUANTUM LEAP OR BUBBLE WAITING TO BURST? - Are wireless service
providers throwing far more money into WiFi services than consumer demand will warrent in the near future? The debate is on and the jury is out. Verizon
Communications, the nation's largest phone company has deployed the first 200 of a planned 1,000 hotspots in New York using public pay phone connections. But Verizon is offering WiFi only as a bonus to attract customers for its home digital subscriber line broadband service, not seeing it as a sustainable business in its own right. On the other hand the largest WiFi providers feel that the time is right and that they are on the cusp of a quantum leap. Where to place the "hotspots" is the question all providers are asking. Wayport, focuses on hotels and airports and says that it's all about how many customers pass through a location and how many of them really 'need' the service. Others target coffee shops, cafes, and book stores. For all of the uncertainty, WiFi service has attracted devoted users. Complete story
is at: http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/181/business/_Hotspots_cold_feet+.shtml
(The Boston Globe, 30 June 03)