General
1. EE Times: Chiariglione launches Digital Media Project
http://www.eet.com/sys/news/OEG20030707S0015
2. Riding the Media Bits
http://www.chiariglione.org/ride/
The founder of the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) is beginning a new initiative called the Digital Media Project (DMP), which is focused on "helping the digital media revolution take hold." Since the project's homepage does not give a good overview of its purpose, a July 2003 news article from the EE Times effectively conveys the reasons for creating the DMP. The article points to the current controversy over digital music as a major factor in the project's development. Riding the Media Bits is a section of the project's website that is intended to contribute to the education and development direction necessary for the execution of the DMP. With over 60 short chapters, Riding the Media Bits explores aspects of digital television, open source software, and The World After MP3. [CL]
http://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-current.html
Crypto-Gram is a "free monthly newsletter providing summaries, analyses, insights, and commentaries on security: computer and otherwise." It is published on the fifteenth of every month by the founder of a network security company. Several recent issues have focused on cyber-terrorism, the risks it poses, and possible defenses from it. The articles also provide perspective -- for example, the author points to the fact that cyber-terrorism is often described as a serious threat to lives, when in fact only one known case in history caused environmental damage and human discomfort. Back issues of the newsletter dating back to 1998 are available in an online archive. [CL]
http://solstice.crest.org/articles/static/1/binaries/wind%20issue%20brief_FINAL.pdf
This 29-page paper "focuses on utility-scale electricity generation from wind and provides an overview of the history, technologies, economics, environmental impacts, regulations and policies related to this use of wind power." Published by the Renewable Energy Policy Project and updated in November 2003, the document outlines recent trends in turbine technology that have made wind energy more reliable and cost effective. Design issues for towers and turbines are briefly touched upon. The paper also addresses environmental concerns. Finally, the benefits of existing wind farms and future wind energy developments are considered. [CL]
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/bown/
Each year Popular Science selects new and emerging technologies that have profound implications in several different categories. The Best of What's New for 2003 explores innovations in aviation and space, computing, home technology, and engineering. A particularly interesting item is the SpaceShipOne rocket plane, which is one of the leading contenders to successfully demonstrate a cheap, reliable method of escaping Earth's atmosphere. Another featured technology is the newest standard for wireless communications. Each category includes descriptions of several products or technologies, but only one is selected as the winner. [CL]
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/facts/index.php
This webpage is much more than its name implies. It provides a series of articles about using search engines efficiently, as well as about the dynamics and operation of search engines. One particularly intriguing article describes how search engines actually perform searches, which is a remarkable task considering the vast amount of data that is indexed. Another article, current as of September 2003, compares some of the most popular search engines in terms of the number of textual documents covered by each service. The process of ranking webpages is also discussed. [CL]
http://www.dcs.napier.ac.uk/~bill/essay_current.htm
Written by a senior lecturer at Napier University's School of Computing, these essays vary widely in topic but all are related to some kind of technology. A recent essay considers the continuing shrinking trend in computers and looks at how mobile devices are becoming more prevalent every day. This future-facing theme recurs in other articles, such as the evolution of the Internet and the advancement of computers in relation to human abilities. Networking and communications are also frequently addressed. The author's homepage includes Web site design tips, educational modules, and information about his research. [CL]
Speex is an audio codec used to compress speech-based audio, and is an open source product that can be freely downloaded at this site. "The Speex Project aims to lower the barrier of entry for voice applications by providing a free alternative to expensive proprietary speech codecs." Extensive documentation and the codec's source code are also available. In addition to the download, this site includes information for developers to contribute to the project. Several audio samples that are compressed at various bit-rates are provided to show how the quality of the audio recording diminishes or, conversely, how the Speex codec reduces losses with greater compression. [CL]
