Deep Blue, LCDs, and TimBL - from Educom 6/9/96

I Find Karma (adam@cs.caltech.edu)
Sun, 9 Jun 96 17:42:21 PDT


CAREER CHANGE FOR DEEP BLUE
Freshly laid off following its loss to Garry Kasparov as a chess opponent,
IBM's Deep Blue computer has a new job -- as a weather forecaster. Deep
Blue will assume its new post this summer, providing up-to-the-minute
weather updates to Atlanta's Summer Olympics athletes and spectators.
(Information Week 27 May 96 p12)

NEW ANGLE ON LCD TECHNOLOGY
In an effort to make liquid crystal displays readable from more angles and
in a greater variety of lighting situations, scientists at ROLIC Ltd. in
Basel, Switzerland have developed a new method of liquid crystal patterning.
Current technology uses a velvet cloth to rub the polymer material that
encases the magnetic material on either side, thereby aligning the molecular
pattern of the liquid crystals. The new method uses ultraviolet light
instead of velvet, varying the liquid crystals' angle of orientation, making
it easier to see from a wider range of viewpoints and lighting types.
(Science News 1 Jun 96 p348)

BERNERS-LEE ON THE WEB
World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee is gratified that people find the
Web useful, but disappointed that for most people, the Web is a browsing
activity rather than a creative one. He'd like to see Web technology speed
up, and the computers used to access it made easier to use. "The Web has
many ways to grow. It is acquiring richness in interface, with 3-D and
real-time audio and video. I hope that we can finish the process of hiding
the computers and the Net. A challenge is to remove the need for a person
ever to have to think up a file name." (Investor's Business Daily 7 Jun 96 A1)