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Scan™ Monthly No. 037 March 2006   Download this Scan™ Monthly  (PDF)   • Signals of Change     – Search-and-Select Advertising – The Next Gender Gap – Machine-Usable Personal Profiling – Nanotechnology Concerns: Real or Imagined? – Selective Search – Up-and-Coming Intermediaries   • Insights     – Machine-to-Machine Communication on a Roll – Geodata for Everyone   • Calendar Signals of Change Search-and-Select Advertising SoC159 As technology makes easier the process of tuning out many forms of advertisements, advertisers and service providers are experimenting with an approach that promises to generate a highly interested and engaged advertising audience: Enable consumers to search for advertising proactively and select what they want to receive. The Next Gender Gap SoC160 Scan™ is surfacing data points indicating a strong gender component in educational failure in the United States, with males on average performing more poorly than females. Male failure and female success are two sides of the same coin and are largely the result of a gender-role revolution spreading across most developed nations and a number of underdeveloped ones as well. Machine-Usable Personal Profiling SoC161 Developers of personal-entertainment, communications, and computing devices have been trying for quite some time to capture information about the behavior of individual users. The developers want to improve user interfaces, automate repetitive processes wherever possible, and create new applications. Nanotechnology Concerns: Real or Imagined? SoC162 The commercialization of nanomaterials across a broad spectrum of applications has already rapidly overtaken the ability to test engineered nanomaterials for unintended environmental, health, and safety effects. Various stakeholders worldwide are now calling for increased government funding and public-private partnerships to study the potential adverse effects of nanotechnology. Such initiatives can result in business opportunities in nanotoxicology and the testing of nanomaterials. Selective Search SoC163 Businesspeople, researchers, and scientists, are all realizing that what they need is not always a search engine that returns hundreds of thousands of hits on a particular search request. Vertical search engines that index only portions of the Web and personalized-answer engines are just two of the alternatives that people are exploring. Up-and-Coming Intermediaries SoC164 Experts frequently tout the disintermediating influence of the Internet and the World Wide Web as online transactions eliminate the intermediary. But the Net and the Web also contribute to a proliferation of choices and to infoglut. New intermediaries are emerging to help consumers navigate the confusion. Insights Machine-to-Machine Communication on a Roll View full summary D06-2524   Download this Insight Machine-to-machine– (M2M-) communication applications enable communication between and among computing and mechanical devices and systems. Such communications contribute significantly to the development of automated solutions that eliminate the need for human intervention in accomplishing a variety of tasks. Effective M2M systems can also facilitate machine-to- human interfaces by allowing several machines to preprocess data or information into formats or forms that are easy for people to understand on an intuitive level. Proponents' vision for M2M applications is to automate repetitive and mundane tasks, allowing personnel to concentrate on high-value tasks such as providing services. In other words, the more benefits that M2M provides, the more a traditional device manufacturer can move toward becoming a service provider. This study examines some of the most recent developments and initiatives in the rapidly expanding application of M2M techniques and technologies. Author: Martin Schwirn. 14 pages. Geodata for Everyone View full summary D06-2525   Download this Insight The development and execution of maps has always been an expensive and arduous process, but Internet-enabled mapping technologies now facilitate the creation of both traditional maps and new cartographic applications such as geographic information systems (GIS). Beyond mapping itself, the acquisition and manipulation of geographic-based data has also become much easier as the result of new software tools. New online Earth-visualization services from Google, NASA, and Microsoft are making virtual globe viewing and data visualization easier and more accessible than ever before. New mapping and visualization applications will likely open a wide range of opportunities for new services and products and link with other information tools and services in ways that people have yet to imagine. Combining innovative mapping applications with real-time data feeds from automated sensors, field researchers, or surveillance systems of various kinds is a particularly interesting means of providing tremendous value. Author: Thomas M. McKenna. 5 pages. Calendar Scan™ Abstract Meetings Scan abstract meetings (in which SRIC-BI staff participate in a free-form discussion of current Scan abstracts) are open for client obseration/participation on: 17 May 2006 at 9:00 am 19 July 2006 at 9:00 am 20 September 2006 at 9:00 am 18 October 2006 at 9:00 am 24 January 2007 at 9:00 am 21 March 2007 at 9:00 am. Please contact your SRIC-BI marketing representative to schedule participation in any of the Scan Abstract Meetings.

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