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In this issue:

  * Wireless Wild Cards
  * Biomaterials to Improve Vision
  * Social-Networking Services
  * Beauty Medicine and Other Signals of Change
  * eLearning in China
  * Consumer-Driven Health Care
  * Advances in Teleoperation
  * Digital Futures Scan
  * Crisis in Mutual Funds
  * New Prospects for Speech Technology
  * The War against Spam


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(Full text of SRIC-BI publications is available to
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---------------------
 Recent Publications
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Wireless Wild Cards

Advanced developments in the wireless domain could have 
dramatic effects on the digital future. Some of these 
technologies, like smart antennae and ultrawideband 
communications, are far more likely to have an impact than 
are others, such as airborne wireless platforms and smart 
dust. (Wireless Wild Cards)
http://www.sric-bi.com/DF/summaries/WirelessWildCards1003.shtml


Biomaterials to Improve Vision

Many patients with loss of vision have defects in only 
part of the visual system, allowing researchers to develop 
devices that can substitute for the defective tissue. 
Researchers are now making progress with retinal-implant 
devices that deliver a visual signal to the brain. The 
long-term challenge is to replicate the complexities of 
the body's sensory-neural systems and create devices that 
restore vision. (September 2003 Biomaterials Viewpoints)
http://www.sric-bi.com/Explorer/BM.shtml


Social-Networking Services

A flurry of popular new social-software tools--software 
that supports group interaction--have prompted renewed 
interest in the category. In particular, social-networking 
services have emerged that enable people to meet on the 
Internet and then arrange face-to-face get-togethers in 
the real world. Recent services have focused on bringing 
singles together and organizing meetings about local 
issues. (September 2003 Internet Commerce Viewpoints)
http://www.sric-bi.com/Explorer/IC.shtml


Beauty Medicine and Other Signals of Change

Beauty medicine--a field that lies somewhere between 
therapeutics and cosmetics--and the "worried well"--
people who are relatively healthy and eager to stay that 
way--both represent markets that will grow dramatically 
as Boomers age. The September issue of Scan Monthly 
discusses these and other signs of things to come, 
including the long-term effects of shipping high-tech jobs 
off to cheaper labor markets and consumers' growing role 
in their own health care. (Scan Monthly, September 2003)
http://www.sric-bi.com/Scan/ScanMonthly/SM007.shtml#SoCs


eLearning in China

The July 2003 eLearnChina conference in Edinburgh, 
Scotland, explored China's move toward eLearning and the 
resulting opportunities for organizations to participate 
in the country's eLearning market. Near-term opportunities 
exist for collaborative projects in China's universities 
and schools, with longer-term opportunities in the 
country's corporate and government eLearning markets. 
Small, niche eLearning companies will likely need to 
partner with larger firms that have the deep pockets and 
patience necessary to succeed in China. (LoD Travel Report: 
Future Opportunities in China's eLearning Market)
http://www.sric-bi.com/LoD/summaries/TravelRptChina2003-08.shtml


Consumer-Driven Health Care

Rising health-care costs, the inability of current 
health-insurance models to bear the brunt of these 
increases, and the looming prospect of aging Boomers' 
health needs are giving rise to many proposals for 
reform. Among these proposals are consumer-driven models 
of health care that give consumers more choice in return 
for assuming more responsibility for cost containment. 
Better-informed consumers could in turn drive changes in 
providers' offerings and present a business opportunity 
in the marketplace. (Consumer-Driven Health Care)
http://www.sric-bi.com/Scan/ScanMonthly/SM007.shtml#D03-2442


Advances in Teleoperation

Commercial and academic robotics players are continuing 
to use the Internet for remote operation, or 
teleoperation, of both real and virtual robots and 
environments. Medical applications, such as remote 
operation of robots by surgeons, are driving commercial 
developments, but teleoperation of domestic and 
business robots is not far behind. (September 2003 
Robotics Viewpoints)
http://www.sric-bi.com/Explorer/ROBO.shtml


Digital Futures Scan

News-reading software has the potential to popularize 
newsfeeds the way that Blogger popularized Web logs. 
The latest Digital Futures Scan highlights this and 
other signals of change in the digital domain, including 
Internet service providers' use of customers as sales 
channels, a hardware start-up's hardware strategy for 
free phone calls, and Pan-Asian cooperation on open-
source operating systems. (Digital Futures Scan #3)
http://www.sric-bi.com/DF/DFscanSums/DFscanSum03.shtml


Crisis in Mutual Funds

Recent revelations of improprieties among hedge funds 
have awakened investors' concerns about their financial 
investments, intermediaries, and institutions. 
Subscribers to the 2004-05 MacroMonitor can analyze the 
demographics, financials, and attitudes of mutual fund 
customers as well as their level of trust in financial 
institutions and intermediaries. MacroMonitor data and 
analyses will also provide insight into the likely future 
behaviors of mutual fund customers. For more information, 
contact Larry Cohen; telephone: +1 609 734 2048, or 
e-mail: lcohen@sric-bi.com.


New Prospects for Speech Technology

After years of falling short of expectations, speech 
technology has come of age and is now a viable user 
interface for a wide range of products and services. The 
technology is expanding beyond call centers and cell phones, 
with improvements enabling proactive applications, 
recognition of intent in people's speech, and use by 
small-office/home-office users who couldn't afford speech 
applications in the past. (Business Implications of New 
Directions in Speech Technology)
http://www.sric-bi.com/Scan/ScanMonthly/SM007.shtml#D03-2443


The War against Spam

Given e-mail's key role in e-commerce and business 
communications, the current epidemic of spam in people's 
in-boxes is a growing concern for consumers and retailers 
alike. Spam fighters are battling spam on multiple fronts, 
pursuing technological solutions such as filters, social 
solutions such as the publication of white lists and 
blacklists, and legal solutions, which are proving to be 
difficult to enforce. Pay-per-message proposals have some 
promise but must overcome many practical hurdles. (New 
Tools and Challenges in the War against Spam)
http://www.sric-bi.com/Scan/ScanMonthly/SM007.shtml#D03-2444


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