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In this issue. . .

 * Another Conquest for Microsoft?
 * E-Business: New Rules of the Road
 * The Marvelous Magnetic Microchip
 * Radio on the Move
 * Not in Kansas Anymore
 * Europe Scan
 * Biochips for Genetic Fingerprinting
 * The Competent Employee
 * Napster and Friends: Innovation with an Edge
 * Insights into Internet Access
 * Wild Cards
 * The Networked Household


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Another Conquest for Microsoft?

Is Microsoft plotting to rule the new world of integrated
Internet-mediated access? A quick-response analysis of the
firm's June 2000 announcement suggests that no company will
dominate in cross-platform networking, but users' behavior
and purchase activities will certainly change.
(Microsoft.Net)
http://www.sric-bi.com/DF/oldMFsummaries/MicrosoftToC.shtml


E-Business: New Rules of the Road

Companies are hopping onto the Internet to boost
productivity in supply-chain management, procurement, human
resources, and a host of other business activities. A recent
report is among the first to analyze early adopters'
e-business experiences in a range of industries, including
banking, insurance, health care, manufacturing, retail, and
transportation. (E-Business 2000)


The Marvelous Magnetic Microchip

Ten years from now, watch-size batteries will power people's
laptops, using magnetism instead of electricity to process
data. British researchers just surmounted an important
hurdle by creating magnetic microchips that operate
successfully at room temperature. (June Portable Batteries
Viewpoints)
http://www.sric-bi.com/Explorer/PB.shtml


Radio on the Move

Travelers may no longer have to lose their favorite radio
stations when they move out of range. In a few years,
satellites will deliver 100 channels or more of digital
stereo-quality audio to mobile listeners eager to control
their own programming. Competitors are jockeying to offer a
winning technology, with satellite digital-audio-radio
services in the lead. (Digital Satellite Radio: Prospects
for a New Medium)
http://www.sric-bi.com/BIP/Bulletin/B285.shtml#2274


Not in Kansas Anymore

"Where am I?" will soon be an unacceptable question in
technosavvy circles. The type of pinpoint accuracy once
available only in military technology is moving into the
mass market. Location-based consumer services will provide
instant maps on cell-phone displays, offer connections to
roadside assistance, allow mobile yellow pages, and offer
real-time traffic information. (Location-Specific E-Commerce
Applications)
http://www.sric-bi.com/BIP/Bulletin/B285.shtml#2275


Europe Scan

Is a "workforce precipice" looming as the populations of
industrialized nations decline? What are the implications of
companies' efforts to pool purchasing power along the value
chain? How can marketers and designers feed consumers'
desire for authenticity in products? Analysts in B-I-C's
Croydon, England, office discussed these and other pithy
questions at a recent Scan meeting. (Europe Scan: May 2000)
http://www.sric-bi.com/BIP/Bulletin/B285.shtml#2276


Biochips for Genetic Fingerprinting

Biochips are a boon in the search for new drugs, automating
analytical processes and allowing scientists to compare an
unknown genetic sample with a known template. Already, the
chips can reveal defects in tumor cells and spot
drug-resistant strains of HIV. (June Advanced Silicon
Microelectronics/ULSI Viewpoints)
http://www.sric-bi.com/Explorer/ULSI.shtml


The Competent Employee

Today's competent employees can be tomorrow's has-beens in
fast-changing businesses, and classroom-based methods are
not keeping pace with companies' learning and training
needs. Early-adopter companies like Cisco Systems and Dell
Computer have made eLearning a fixture in their
organizations, but many other companies are feeling their
way in the new world of technology-enabled learning.
(Building Employee Competence through eLearning)
http://www.sric-bi.com/BIP/Bulletin/B285.shtml#2277


Napster and Friends: Innovation with an Edge

Napster, Gnutella, and Pointera: Are they new car designs,
law-firm partners, or purveyors of dramatic new models for
distributing content on the Internet? People in the know are
watching these renegade enterprises closely to see how their
decentralized, file-sharing approaches affect access to all
kinds of data. (Napster, Gnutella, and Pointera: Redefining
Information Access)
http://www.sric-bi.com/BIP/Bulletin/B285.shtml#scan


Insights into Internet Access

Some 40% of U.S. consumers have access to the Internet--at
home, at work, at school, or in several of these locations.
These Internet users claim they do not fool around on the
Web at work, and most spend less than an hour a day in
recreational Internet use. (Internet Access by U.S.
Consumers: Highlights of the 1999 VALS™ LeadingEdge Survey)


Wild Cards

The digital divide may eventually separate the people who
monitor other people's behavior from the "monitorees,"
according to attendees at a recent Scan meeting. In another
discussion, analysts wondered how today's new
Internet-enabled market forces might affect educational
institutions in the future. (Wild Cards, May 2000)
http://www.sric-bi.com/BIP/Bulletin/B285.shtml#2278


The Networked Household

The do-it-yourselfer of the new millennium will have all the
tools to link household gadgets into a home network. From
cell phones that open garage doors to connected pen-input
devices, a range of electronic gizmos will allow people to
network their daily activities, largely without today's
tangles of wires and cables. (Home Networks: A Move to
Wireless)
http://www.sric-bi.com/DF/oldMFsummaries/HomeNetToC.shtml


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