PRODUCT NEWS
Kodak takes on some interesting partners.
First the one we have been waiting for: Kodak gives Durst Dice of
America rights to market and develop Kodak's Photo CD system. It lives!
As we left it last month, the Photo CD system included a workstation
which was no longer available and had not be migrated to another platform.
Dice promises to have a system on the market by June of this year
which utilizes current technology.
A constant source of information, Howard Brainen, President & CEO,
Custom Process,
reports that he saw a demo of the new system at the PMA conference
and the software was good.
In a less earnest mode Kodak has gained rights to market LifeFX,
a developer of virtual Internet people, software. Kodak will use LifeFX's
technology on their site to process two-dimensional photographs into
virtual people. The press release mentions emotional multimedia email.
Oh my.
More Help in managing your colors.
Vivid Details
has improved their product, Test Strip Test strip makes "exposures"
in strips of color modifications. It is capable of much more subtle
variations then currently available in Photoshop and makes a good
supplemental tool for those who must correct their colors to just
perfect renditions. The new upgrade has some additional features,
including calibrating your monitor and attaching that information
to the file, so you printer knows what you think you are seeing.
Storage grows smaller and greater.
The PowerFile
C200 Jukebox stores, searches and retrieves data from up to 200
discs for under $2000 -- and no additional software is needed!
The
Peerless by Iomega delivers 15 MB/ sec from a small ( and cute ) removable
storage device which can hold up to 20 gigs. The drive will sell for
$250 and the 20 gig disk for $200,
BUT
the big news is Iomega's Predator. A CD burner which looks like an
audio CD player. There is no tray flying out at you, instead you lift
the lid and place the CD in its place. Why did it take them so long
to discover this?
HEARD IN THE ALLEY
Interesting Biz Plans for the Digital World.
Macromedia, producers of Dreamweaver (web authoring) and Flash (
web animation) software is acquiring Allaire, creator of ColdFusion
a web application server. This makes Macromedia a strong force on
the web.
Also a force to be reckoned with on the web is Google, a search engine
growing in popularity and girth. Not only have they acquired the Deja
archives, which contain most of the early news groups postings, but
now they are also adding Acrobat file search capability to their repertoire.
Acrobat files, or as many refer to them using their file signifier
- PDFs, are becoming the standard form for universities and government
posting of documents for electronic distribution on the web. Start
looking for them to pop up in your Internet government searches.
Speaking of government, Congress made a $100 million special appropriation
at the end of last term to enable the Library of Congress to develop
a national program to preserve the burgeoning amounts of digital information,
especially materials that are created only in digital formats, to
ensure their accessibility for current and future generations. Not
that the Library has been waiting for Congress. They have been doing
a good job of finding other funding. The Library's American Memory
Project has raised funds from Ameritech to enable 30 other American
institutions to add some of their materials to those that the Library
has digitized. During the Library's Bicentennial in 2000, this project
reached its goal of making freely available online more than 5 million
American historical items. At the same time, www.americaslibrary.gov,
is the first library program ever to be supported by the Advertising
Council through a multi-year pro bono advertising campaign. Check
them out.
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