The
Convergence Commencement?
by
Rohit Shukla, Larta CEO
With more digital content available online, is convergence renewing
or is it long dead? Maybe it's time to retire the word itself.
full
article >
Irreconcilable
Differences - The AOL-Time Warner Marriage
by
Elliot Borin, Larta VOX contributing writer
Approved
by the FCC in January 2001, the $165 billion mega-merger between
AOL and Time Warner was the largest media merger in history. It
was also one of the most hyped, trumpeted to be the convergence
win-win of the new century. Yet with plunging stocks, soaring
debt and several CEO shifts under the bridge, what is becoming
clear now is not how well matched the country's largest ISP and
the media conglomerate were, but how incompatible.
full
article >
Digital
Evolution
by Wendy Hall, Staff Writer & Reporter
Movielink, the joint-studio VoD Internet venture that has been
in development for over a year, finally unveiled last week. Meanwhile,
Microsoft's Xbox Live online gaming service launched on Friday
to compete with rival Sony. The long-term success of these anticipated
services could ultimately prove whether or not a broader selection
of desirable digital content will convert more broadband users,
and jumpstart the long-awaited high speed dream.
full
article >
U.S.
Removes Sanctions on India Boosting Technology Trade Between the
Two Countries
by Ketaki Sood, Research Economist
The U.S. was quick to react when India conducted nuclear-bomb
tests in 1998, provoking retaliatory blasts from Pakistan, with
post-test economic and military sanctions against the two countries.
The sanctions included a ban on the sale of military equipment
and restricted trade in goods with potential military uses. The
first signs of the sanctions being removed came after the September
11 attacks, with George Bush pressing to remove the sanctions
imposed on India and Pakistan.
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article >
~Larta Announcements
Digital
Media:
Online
Movie Service Launches (Los Angeles Times)
Five major movie studios plan to begin offering films via the
Internet today through Movielink, Hollywood's most aggressive
move yet onto the Web. Analysts say Santa Monica-based Movielink
faces several hurdles that could take years to overcome, most
notably the fact that the vast majority of consumers aren't equipped
to watch the service's films on their TVs.
full
article >
Online
Gaming Thinks Inside Xbox (Wired)
Gamers go wild in Net forums comparing Microsoft's Xbox Live,
launching Friday, with Sony's online offering for PlayStation
2. The online console gaming war is far from won, but it appears
Xbox has an edge.
full
article >
Business,
Investment, and Entrepreneurship:
Up
Against the Firewall (The Red Herring)
Why are American corporations, which have labored hard to present
positive global images, providing censorship and surveillance
technologies to what many see as China's Big Brother Internet?
The short answer: money. Building China's Internet means making
lots of it, and companies that want access to this new market
often must give the Chinese leadership what it demands.
full
article >
Tech
Futures: Where workers and investors will find opportunities in
the years ahead (San Francisco Chronicle)
As the holidays approach, Silicon Valley is brimming with jobless
workers and tapped-out investors. As a result, the big question
left on everyone's minds is, what's going to happen next? It's
something the social scientists--economists, mostly--have taken
to calling the "technology gap." Put simply, the technology
gap is the distance between how the best, smartest-led companies
use new technologies and how average companies use them.
full
article >
Women
Entrepreneurs Usher in the Next Generation (HBS Working Knowledge)
American society throws women entrepreneurs plenty of roadblocks.
But at the recent Women, Money, and Power conference, a new generation
of businesswomen offered advice and ideas for change. Harvard
Business School professor Linda A. Hill led the discussion.
full
article >
Information
Technology:
Technology
after the bubble (McKinsey Quarterly)
If
buyers are glad to end their spendthrift ways, IT providers of
course have a different perspective: After years of heady sales
growth, they are now engaged in bare-knuckle competition as the
industry confronts sated customers and overcapacity.
full
article >
Why
PC Makers Are Saying "Next Year" (Business Week)
While 2003 isn't likely to see a boom, here's why it should offer
a marked improvement in sales for this beleaguered tech sector
full
article >
Nanotech
and Bioscience:
Small
Times Magazine Announces Best of Small Tech Award Winners
Small Times magazine announced its 2002 Small Times Magazine Best
of Small Tech Awards, recognizing the best people, products and
companies in nanotechnology, MEMS and microsystems. “Small
tech will make our lives easier by making products smaller, faster,
cheaper and more efficient,” said Steve Crosby, vice president
and managing editor of Small Times Media. “We expect this
year’s Small Times Best of Small Tech Award winners and finalists
to have a tremendous impact on the future.”
full
article >
Biotech
early bird flies pharma coop (Silicon Valley News)
Larry Bock is not a household name in Silicon Valley, but
perhaps he should be. During the past 17 years, he has been one
of the most prolific and successful entrepreneurs in biotechnology.
Last year, though, Bock flew the biotech coop. A consolidation
in the industry had made it too hard to sell products to the big
pharmaceutical companies, he said. Instead, he has incubated a
Palo Alto start-up, Nanosys, which plays in the emerging field
of nanotechnology.
full
article >
Security:
Weapons
inspectors count on new technology (Mercury News)
Some of the world's best scientific detectives soon will be shipped
off to one of the planet's harshest environments, with the prospect
of war hanging over every move they make. Armed with some of the
latest sleuthing technologies, international inspectors will be
searching through Iraq, looking for weapons that may or may not
exist.
full
article >
JFK
Airport Begins Using Iris Scans to Prevent Security Breaches (Associated
Press)
John
F. Kennedy International Airport has become the first airport
in the nation to use iris scanning technology to prevent employee
security breaches. Kennedy has been testing the technology on
about 300 employees working at Terminal 4 for two months, although
the program is not mandatory for now.
full
article >
November
21: Doing Business In India: Opportunities in the World's Largest
Free Market
India is the world's largest free market, with a population of
more than one billion people, and a middle class of more than
250 million people who can afford American products and services.
Business in India is widely conducted in English and there is
a well-structured legal system based on Western law. With the
tremendous opportunities available in India, US organizations
need to know how they can benefit from one of the most dynamic
and vital markets in the world. This conference is recommended
for Top Executives of companies from all sectors, Importers/Exporters,
Investors and Entrepreneurs interested in exploring opportunities
offered by the huge Indian market.
more
information >
November
21: Homeland Security Symposium, Terrorism: Impact
on Our Lives, Jobs, and Communities
This one-day symposium will present helpful strategies for countering
and responding to acts of terrorism.
Featuring Keynote Speaker Dr. Fadi Essmaeel, "Terrorist Motives
and Intents.” Luncheon Speaker: Dr. Dave Banks. Center for
Asymmetric Warfare: An Interagency Test, Training and Experimentation
Asset. Presented by the Society of American Military Engineers,
Oxnard-Ventura Post.
more
information >
December
3: PricewaterhouseCoopers' Shaking the MoneyTree
Please join the industry experts of PricewaterhouseCoopers and
a distinguished panel of local VCs for their comments on the results
of the 3rd Quarter 2002 PricewaterhouseCoopers/ Venture Economics/National
Venture Capital Association MoneyTree Survey. To RSVP or for more
information, please send an email.
December
3-4: FY2004 Air Force DUS&T Industry Workshop in San Diego
The Goodrich Corporation Aviation and Technical Services Group
and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) are co-hosting an
Industry Workshop. The event will provide an opportunity to dialog
with AFRL personnel on technologies of mutual interest in both
the military and commercial sectors. These discussions will provide
a basis for conducting risk-shared projects with AFRL. More importantly,
this workshop provides an opportunity to provide direct input
into the final Technology Topics that will be solicited to industry
in the up coming USAF Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) scheduled
for publication in late March 2003.
more
information >
