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In this issue:

  * Chips in Cars
  * Retirement in the Twenty-First Century
  * Web Services from the Ground Up
  * Debate about AI Approaches
  * The Homeland-Security Research Agenda
  * Signals of Change
  * Genomics in the Food Industry
  * Challenges for Microbatteries
  * Clues to Consumers' Future Purchase Decisions
  * Neural Networks in eLearning
  * News at SRIC-BI


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(Full text of SRIC-BI publications is available to
sponsoring clients only.  To find out if your company is a
sponsor, please visit http://www.sric-bi.com/info.shtml.)
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---------------------
 Recent Publications
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Chips in Cars

Today, some 2% of the value of the average vehicle 
comes from semiconductors. Thus, predictions that 
vehicle production will rise from 58 million vehicles 
in 2001 to 73 million by 2010 are good news for 
leading suppliers of automotive semiconductors. 
Chip builders currently perceive the automotive 
market to be less volatile than, say, the PC market, 
so a steady increase in the amount of software and 
electronics components in future vehicles spells a 
reliable (if less lucrative) business opportunity. 
(June 2003 Advanced Silicon Microelectronics/ULSI Viewpoints)
http://www.sric-bi.com/Explorer/ULSI.shtml


Retirement in the Twenty-First Century

Recognizing that traditional definitions of retirement 
are no longer helpful, SRIC-BI's Consumer Financial 
Decisions group has defined several groups of retirees 
by life stage rather than age. One key segment is the 
so-called Revolving Retired, who are either partially 
retired or have gone back to work after retirement. 
This generally affluent group is a potentially 
profitable customer segment for financial-services 
providers because of its changing needs and general 
trust in financial intermediaries. (Twenty-First-
Century Retirement: The Revolving-Retired Life Stage)
http://www.sric-bi.com/CFD/MRsummaries/MR.VI-03.shtml


Web Services from the Ground Up

As prime players in the future of Web services, IBM, 
Microsoft, and other major information-technology 
vendors are struggling to define the standards, 
architecture, and software necessary to provide 
stable, secure services. Meanwhile, developers, who 
are leery of vendors' grand visions, are downloading 
publicly available Web-services interfaces to Google 
and Amazon software and creating Web services from 
the ground up. (June 2003 Component-Based Software 
Engineering Viewpoints)
http://www.sric-bi.com/Explorer/CBSE.shtml


Debate about AI Approaches

Today, bottom-up approaches prevail in artificial-
intelligence (AI) research. These approaches program 
large numbers of entities with relatively simple 
sets of rules and create a form of swarm intelligence 
when the entities operate in concert. In contrast, 
Marvin Minsky, founder of the MIT Artificial 
Intelligence Laboratory, favors a top-down approach 
that calls for coding thousands of logic rules and 
relations into a central intelligence repository to 
create a form of common sense typical of humans. 
(Bottom-Up versus Top-Down Artificial Intelligence)
http://www.sric-bi.com/Scan/ScanMonthly/SM004.shtml#D03-2431


The Homeland-Security Research Agenda

The new U.S. Department of Homeland Security is 
resetting the biotechnology research agenda, prompting 
U.S. national laboratories to focus on biodefense 
agents such as vaccines and sensors for detecting 
biological threats. In the realm of information 
technology (IT), anticipation of department spending 
on R&D is giving rise to considerable hype, but the 
real opportunity will be to apply existing IT 
technology to link the 22 federal agencies that 
constitute the department. (Homeland Security: High-
Tech on the Defensive)
http://www.sric-bi.com/Scan/ScanMonthly/SM004.shtml#D03-2433


Signals of Change

Thanks to emerging radio-frequency-identification 
technology, every product on store shelves could have 
its own Web locator--a prospect that could transform 
supply chains and extend value chains. This topic is 
one of several signals of change in the June 2003 issue 
of Scan Monthly. Other topics include use of brands as 
valuable access networks, geocaching, and prospects to 
use cooking oil to create biodiesel fuel. (Scan Monthly, 
June 2003)
http://www.sric-bi.com/Scan/ScanMonthly/SM004.shtml


Genomics in the Food Industry

To date, most commercial applications of genomics 
technologies have been in the pharmaceutical industry, 
but the technologies have good prospects in food 
production as well. Genomics will help food producers 
improve crop resistance and reproduction, increase the 
growth rates of fish-farm stocks, defend against 
biological weapons that threaten the food supply, 
develop methods of testing for genetically modified 
material in food samples, and detect food pathogens in 
food-processing facilities. (June 2003 Genomics 
Viewpoints)
http://www.sric-bi.com/Explorer/GEN.shtml


Challenges for Microbatteries

Thin-film lithium microbatteries are ideal candidates 
for powering a range of microelectromechanical systems, 
microrobots, microsensors, and integrated circuits. 
However, to realize commercial success, developers need 
to tackle issues of packaging, power density, stand-
alone battery thickness, and production efficiency. In 
the short term, radio-frequency-identification tags, 
smart cards, and medical implantables are the most 
promising applications for the batteries. (Solid-State 
Thin-Film Microbattery Developments)
http://www.sric-bi.com/Scan/ScanMonthly/SM004.shtml#D03-2432


Clues to Consumers' Future Purchase Decisions

Marketers know that consumers' past purchase behavior 
influences their future purchase decisions. Now, new 
technologies for collecting consumer information are 
opening the door to more sophisticated analyses of this 
connection. For example, companies can gain insights by 
looking at the way that consumers move from one product 
category to another. (Influences of Past Purchases on 
Future Purchase Decisions)
http://www.sric-bi.com/Scan/ScanMonthly/SM004.shtml#D03-2430


Neural Networks in eLearning

Despite years of research, intelligent tutoring 
systems (ITSs) have found only a few niche applications 
so far. However, advances in eLearning may soon lead to 
their resurgence. Neural networks have a role to play 
in these systems, allowing ITSs to react to a variety 
of student behaviors. (June 2003 Neural Networks 
Viewpoints)
http://www.sric-bi.com/Explorer/NN.shtml



-----------------
 News at SRIC-BI
-----------------

Press Release: New Applications of Speech Technology

According to a recent SRIC-BI press release, technology 
analysts in SRIC-BI's Explorer service foresee promising 
market opportunities for speech-technology products and 
services for small and home offices. For example, 
speech-enabled software will allow online businesses and 
wireless carriers to check customers' credit. Other 
applications include a low-cost turnkey interactive-
voice-response system, speech-enabled solutions for 
recording the attendance of mobile or home-office 
workers, and an information tool for real-estate 
professionals. (June 2003 Speech Interfaces Viewpoints)
http://www.sric-bi.com/press/2003-07-07.shtml
http://www.sric-bi.com/Explorer/SI.shtml

 
Two Service Options in Digital Futures

SRIC-BI's Digital Futures program now offers two 
service options for clients. Businesses can sponsor 
one or both of the options, which focus on two industry 
sectors: Mobile Communications covers cellular networks, 
devices, and peripherals, as well as PDAs, automotive 
telematics products and services, and other digital 
innovations for mobile environments. Digital Homes and 
Offices covers broadband Internet, digital TV, home 
networks, voice over Internet, and other digital 
innovations for fixed sites. 
http://www.sric-bi.com/DF/


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