ISL is an ancient language unrelated to spoken English or Irish, with its own grammar and syntax, and even slang. The CDs, published with help from the AIB, were made by an all-deaf team who compiled the dictionary of 3,800 signs. It can be searched by word, alphabetically or by hand-shapes. Learners can zoom and freeze the moving images - entries are bilingual in English and ISL, and learners can test themselves with quizzes. The National Association of the Deaf's chairperson Doris Nelson called at the launch for Transition Year students to learn ISL.
Not Trusted: Transplanting multinationals' brands to the Web presents a major marketing challenge because of public suspicion of them, a major seminar in London on "The Internet and Crisis Management" heard last week. "Only 15 per cent of the public consider multinationals to be trustworthy," Christofer Solheim, managing director of Hill & Knowlton's Net Communications unit, said.
Net Worth: Burglars in England are using bogus online questionnaires to pick their victims, according to the Internet Content Register. The consumer protection group says once potential victims are identified via the Net, the thieves then phone them with offers of free software if they complete a questionnaire. This questionnaire only happens to pinpoint your working hours, your nightlife, your computer equipment and your net worth to a burglar.
More Scams: More than 38,000 Internet users whose computer modems were "hijacked" when they tried to connect to sex-related sites will get refunds in a $2.74-million settlement. The US Federal Trade Commission said in the scam, Internet users who tried to enter the Web sites promoting free images first had to download a special viewer program. During this process, their modems were disconnected from local service providers and rerouted to expensive international calls. The customers got bills of hundreds of dollars for calling Moldova.
What Might Have Been: Apple and Novell software engineers worked together five years ago on a secret project called "Star Trek" to develop a Mac operating system to run on Intel-based computers, according to the San Jose Mercury News. The project - which would have pre-empted Microsoft's Windows 95 - was killed off by internal politics.
Lotus Goes Java: IBM's Lotus division is introducing Java-based software to run on diskless "network computers" that allow users to download word processing, spreadsheets and other applications software from a "server" computer. The Lotus software will be made available to customers of IBM, Sun, Oracle, Novell, Netscape and AOL.
Meanwhile IBM has recognised that it has underestimated the demand for sub-$1,000 PCs, and is to compete with rivals such as Compaq by selling a $999 Aptiva €16 assembled for IBM by Acer in Taiwan. It doesn't have a monitor but is based on a 166 MHz processor.
Ruling By Email: Legal history of sorts will be made this week when the Massachusetts judge considering the fate of British au pair Louise Woodward emails his decision to 10 news organisations for them to post on the Net. Judge Hiller Zobel is not expected to make written copies of his ruling available, except to the lawyers in the murder case who may need them for appeals.
Digital Dance: Hand-drawn Spaces, Merce Cunningham's collaboration with Paul Kaiser to produce the first dance for computer by a major choreographer, opened at Belfast's Ormeau Baths Gallery on Saturday.
Set-Tops Tender: Digital TV company British Digital Broadcasting (BDB) has opened tenders for manufacture of its set-top boxes. It plans to launch about a dozen digital terrestrial channels some time next year.
Young Spinners: Over 600 secondary school students received an introduction to the Web in TCD's Computer Science Department on Saturday. The sessions were part of the annual Spin a Web competition, now in its third year.
Game Over: Australia's Office of Film and Literature Classification has banned its first computer game - for excessive violence. Postal's main character is a mass murderer who stalks and kills his neighbours and children at a school.
Cheats Case: Boston University reckons the explosion of online ready-made term papers and academic cheat sheets has gone too far. It has taken a federal district court case against eight online term-paper companies in the US, seeking to stop the practice.
In Brief... The National Gallery is publishing a CD-Rom giving a "virtual tour" of 100 of its paintings. . . The Industrial Design Corporation (IDC) opened its European HQ in Tallaght on Friday. . . the Police Department in St Paul, Minneapolis, has posted pictures onto the Web of alleged prostitutes and their customers. . . Overseas military and civilian voters from Florida will be able to vote in the 1998 elections via the Internet. . . Saudi Arabia plans to introduce a "censored version of the Internet" within months, according to the Saudi Gazette. . . .
Year 2000
Computers used by the Federal Reserve to move trillions of dollars among US banks will not suffer from the "millennium bug", its chief told the House Banking Committee in Washington last week. It would be spending $75-100 million to get its own systems ready.
Microfile
Annual forecast of the Semiconductor Industry AssociationBO]: The worldwide semiconductor industry will end 1997 with sluggish growth of 5.5%, reaching $131.9 billion in sales By the end of 2001, it is predicted that the following four manufac- turers will control half the total PC markets2]: Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Compaq, and Dell
The most popular search terms used by people consulting Yahoo!'s Web index are3: 1. "sex"; 2. "chat"; 3. "XXX"; 4. "Playboy"; 5. "Netscape"; 6. "nude"; 7. "porno"; 8. "games"; 9. "weather"; 10. "Penthouse"
Sources: 1 SIA; 2 Credit Suisse First Boston; 3 British magazine [ IT]Web.
Modem world
www.forfas.ie/s&t/s&tap.htm
Details of National Science Week activities around the country.
www.useit.com.
Jakob Neilsen's new study on how Web users actually read a page of text on screen.
www.ruc.police.uk
The RUC's site has a Java virtual police station.
www.pbs.org/wnet/hawking/html/home.html
A PBS television site about Stephen Hawking.
www.darktowerIV.com
Chapters one and two of Stephen King's forthcoming book.
www.ispo.cec.be/esis
www.iol.ie/nexus
Resources for those interested in the Euro Commission's initiatives on the "Information Society" in Ireland and across Europe, including updates on ESIS (European Survey of Information Society) projects.
Textbites
"Little of the world's storehouse of knowledge has been available in alternative formats such as braille. The information age that is rapidly enveloping us with its fascinating new technologies has the potential to change that. But only if the designers of the user interface remember the variability of human functioning."
- Judy Brewer of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), on a new initiative to provide funds to improve accessibility and to educate Web site designers.
"The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect. The IPO will ensure the Web can be accessed through different combinations of senses and physical capabilities, just as other W3C activities ensure its operation across different hardware and software platforms, media, cultures, and countries."
- Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the Web and director of the consortium, talking at the same launch. Among the sponsors of the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative's new International Program Office are the US National Science Foundation and the European Commission's TIDE programmme.
Computimes is edited by Michael Cunningham. Email only (no faxes please) to computimes@irish-times.ie (private correspondence should be marked NOT FOR PUBLICATION)