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In this issue:

  * Search Technologies and Corporate Learning
  * Bad News for Plasma TVs?
  * New Applications Using Ultrawideband Technology
  * A Framework for Handling Uncertainty
  * RFID and Security
  * Consumer Attitudes toward Risk
  * The Semantic Web in Health Care and the Life Sciences
  * Signals of Change
  * Corporate Learning Architectures
  * Presentations by SRIC-BI Staff

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---------------------
 Recent Publications
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Search Technologies and Corporate Learning

Every day, millions of workers use search technologies to 
look for information that can help them with their jobs. 
Future search technologies will improve on today's 
less-than-optimal, and largely informal, options, 
integrating structured and unstructured information as 
well as external and internal resources. New approaches, 
including visualization, could also change the way that 
learners experience Internet searches. 
(April 2005 LoD Viewpoints: Search Technologies and Learning)
http://www.sric-bi.com/LoD/viewpoints.shtml



Bad News for Plasma TVs?

Though plasma-display-panel (PDP) TVs still represent the 
ultimate in visual entertainment to many consumers, many 
analysts believe that PDP has had its day and will soon 
succumb to competing technologies. PDPs have dominated 
retail space for large-screen TVs in the past four or 
five years, but recent bad press has pointed out the 
technology's poor image quality, short product lifetime, 
and high energy consumption.  Meanwhile, manufacturers of 
liquid-crystal displays can now produce screens large 
enough to compete with PDP TVs.  As a result, 
SRI Consulting Business Intelligence (SRIC-BI) analysts 
expect PDP TVs to lose market share quickly this year. 
(April 2005 Flat-Panel Displays Viewpoints)
http://www.sric-bi.com/Explorer/FPD.shtml



New Applications Using Ultrawideband Technology

By offering fast data rates and enabling a wireless 
universal serial bus (USB), ultrawideband (UWB) 
technology will allow people to site entertainment and 
computing devices in convenient locations and transfer 
data and video quickly and effortlessly between PCs and 
portable devices. Wireless USB will be in products by 
2006. Moreover, UWB's superior ability to penetrate walls 
and human tissue opens the door to new asset-location 
and medical-monitoring approaches. 
(Wireless Applications: Ultrawideband Technology)
http://www.sric-bi.com/WF/summaries/WA/2005-03UWBtechnology.shtml



A Framework for Handling Uncertainty

Constant change in the business environment complicates 
organizations' efforts to identify opportunities and 
threats and to select issues that require instant 
attention or monitoring. An SRIC-BI impact/uncertainty 
framework helps companies avoid unpleasant surprises by 
creating a proactive corporate culture that seeks to shape 
the business environment rather than fall victim to it. 
(Impact/Uncertainty Dynamics in Corporate Decision Making)
http://www.sric-bi.com/Scan/ScanMonthly/SM025.shtml#D05-2502



RFID and Security

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology has 
tremendous potential in security applications, finding use 
in RFID-enabled passports or enhancing ship-container and 
port security. At the same time, as use of RFID technology 
increases, so does the potential for criminal activities 
such as information theft, alteration of data, and illegal 
access to RFID-secured objects and spaces.  Consideration 
of these opposing forces will be critical for successful 
commercialization of the technology. 
(April 2005 RFID Technologies Viewpoints)
http://www.sric-bi.com/Explorer/RFID.shtml



Consumer Attitudes toward Risk

Before the 2000 stock-market correction and subsequent 
economic downturn, many consumers did not realize how much 
risk they were taking with their investments. Four years 
later, 2004 MacroMonitor data reveal that consumers are 
more aware of the risks of their investments than they 
were before or during the bubble. Financial providers can 
help consumers manage the inevitability of risk by 
providing incentives for their customers to take 
responsible action. 
(How Much Risk Are Consumers Willing to Take?)
http://www.sric-bi.com/CFD/MRsummaries/MR-VII-03.shtml



The Semantic Web in Health Care and the Life Sciences

Life-sciences researchers must digest vast volumes of raw 
data that are often incompatible because of use of 
different computers or data formats. In turn, health-care 
professionals grapple with patient records that are 
unrecognizable to computers outside the hospitals or 
clinics that originated the data. Both groups are prime 
candidates to benefit from the Semantic Web, which can 
help researchers and professionals optimize data 
structures and standards to improve data sharing. 
(Health Care and Life Sciences: Prime Candidates for the 
Semantic Web)
http://www.sric-bi.com/Scan/ScanMonthly/SM025.shtml#D05-2503



Signals of Change

IBM is championing service science as an academic 
discipline, much as the company did with computer science 
in the 1950s. The latest issue of Scan(TM) Monthly 
discusses this and other signals of change, including 
potential use of blogging as a corporate public-relations 
tool, plans to create robots that can learn, and interest 
in developing environmentally sustainable design and 
manufacturing processes. 
(Scan Monthly[TM], April 2005)
http://www.sric-bi.com/Scan/ScanMonthly/SM026.shtml#SoCs



Corporate Learning Architectures

Learning and training executives must deal with a wide 
range of platforms, technologies, application services, 
content-production tools, and learning and training 
products. In this chaotic environment, a learning 
architecture can provide a communications and planning 
tool that evolves with learning and organizational needs. 
The best architectures start with a comprehensive learning 
audit, consider the role of informal learning, and allow 
for enterprise-wide coordination. 
(Learning Architectures to Enable Strategy, Performance, 
and Learning)
http://www.sric-bi.com/LoD/summaries/2005-04lrnarchitectures.shtml



--------------------------------
 Presentations by SRIC-BI Staff
--------------------------------

* Barbara Heydorn, senior consultant, recently spoke at 
a meeting of the Silicon Valley Energy & Transportation 
Technology Interest Group, exploring frequently asked 
questions about hydrogen, fuel cells, and the hydrogen 
economy.  (http://www.sric-bi.com/news.shtml)


* Eilif Trondsen, director of the Learning-on-Demand 
Program, provided a perspective on mobile learning at 
Macromedia's Higher Education Leadership Forum.
(http://www.sric-bi.com/news.shtml)



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Copyright 2005 by SRI Consulting Business Intelligence.

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