The following smaller news items come from assorted sources.....

Scientists at IBM Corp's Alamaden Research Center in San Jose, CA have
developed a unique design for CDs that reliles on a new multilevel
approach. The design increases the overall number of recording surfaces
that comprise a disk rather than trying to increase the areal density. An
increased data-storage capacity of as much as ten-fold or more is
anticipated while maintaining the same high-quality images, sound and
video -- if not better -- than currently available with conventional CDs.
The design is simple - each layer must be virtually transparent -- so the
aluminum coating typically found in conventional CDs isn't on the
recording surfaces in a multilevel disk. With minor adjustments to the
optical-disk drive, the absence of this coating becomes negligible and
data can be stored on any one of the surfaces in the stack. To read or
write data, the lens in the optical-disk drive moves up and down to focus
the laser light on an individual surface. With the sharp focusing
mechanisms found in today's optical-disk drives the interference from
adjacent disk surfaces is virtually non-existent. Read-only disks require
only minor disk-drive modifications while a disk with write capabilities
requirese substantially more complex modifications. How would you like 30
Gbytes or more on a single CD?

A new specification is being generated that would standardize a form factor
for add-in cards, making those cards usable in both notebook and desktop
computers. The Small Form Factor (SFF) specification calls for boards to
measure 54mm wide by 85.6mm long by 3.3 to 10.5mm high. It supports 32-bit
operations with a migration path to 64 bits. The SFF boards can be built
more cost-effectively than PCMCIA cars with similar functionality because
some of the strict packaging and connector restrictions are removed. The
SFF specification is being touted by IBM, Western Digital and others; plut
it has already been adopted by the PCI committee.

Canadian researchers recently showed a prototype device that could help the
blind use Windows and icon-based software. Their Pantograph uses force
feedback as well as sound in a mouse-like device, allowing users to "feel"
and hear where bars, window boundaries, and other screen graphics appear.
Robosoft Inc. is developign a commercial version with help from McGill
University.

Hauppauge Computer Works has a new Win/TV card that tunes 122 cable
channels plus 2 external video sources, captures stills and video clips,
plus lots more. The new Win/TV Cinema card retails for $349 and needs VGA
with a feature connector to do its economy-priced magic. Hauppauge
Computer Works - 516-434-1600

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