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Vol. 3, Issue 11

December 3rd 2001

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

COVER STORY
Slingshots & Microchips

SPECIAL REPORT
Potterism & Cyberisms

OTHER NEWS
Army Intranet - World's Largest
Children's Book Publisher Uses E-Books As Marketing Tool
Dilbert Creator's E-Book Hogs The No 1 Slot
Instant Messaging - Next Killer App?
Better E-Reader On The Way

INFO-BYTES
DCL Whizzes Past 500 Scholarly Titles Mark

ASIDES ;-)
Virtual Exercises Beef Up Your Biceps (Really!)
City Council Seat Decided By Cards

BEST OF DCL-NEWS
Check Out The Best Stories From Previous Issues

COVER STORY:

SLINGSHOTS & MICROCHIPS
Modern Warfare combines high and low technology
to counter terrorist threat
Date: 12/3/2001, DCLnews Exclusive

A blend of high and low tech is becoming increasingly important in modern warfare. The United States may have developed the most sophisticated military in the world. But after September 11th everything changed. Terrorists using low tech tactics scored a terrible "victory" against the greatest super-power on earth. Many military commentators believe that the best way to combat the terrorist threat is to play them at their own game with fast-moving guerrilla-like units - in other words, Special Forces.

Although operating like guerrillas - surviving off rations and living close to nature (which is harsh, not idyllic) - Special Forces also make good use of technology. In the hunt for bin Laden, for example, some units are carrying ground sensors that employ cameras, infrared and seismic detectors. Such a blend of high and low tech could well be the key to successfully dealing with the type of conflicts the 21st century could throw at us.

Read more, go to: www.dclab.com/wartech.asp

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 SPECIAL REPORT:

POTTERISMS AND CYBERISMS
Harry Potter-speak and Internet slang have become ingrained in the English language...
Date: 12/3/2001, DCLnews Special Report

Muggles, dementors, and invisability cloaks from the magical world of Harry Potter have become part of our culture - at least, for the time being. But it isn't just kids who've taken on-board the terminology. The characters and all things "Hogwartian" are now standard fare at corporations around the world - including Microsoft...

But it isn't just popular culture that injects slang into the language, technology does too - particularly the Internet. Everywhere you look, "cyberisms" have become part of the language. But when media people use such terms as "mouse potato" or "snail mail" not only do they perpetuate cliches, they also run the risk of looking dated...

Wanna read more? Pounce on the mouse an' surf over to:
www.dclab.com/potterisms.asp

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OTHER NEWS:

ARMY INTRANET - WORLD'S LARGEST
Giant computer network to connect 1 million soldiers, support personnel and veterans all over the globe
Date: 11/15/.2001, Wired News

Dubbed the Army Knowledge Online Portal (AKO), the U.S. Army's new Intranet acts as a portal to hundreds of the Army's internal websites, servers and information sources. The network will have 70 terabytes of storage at its disposal which, according to figures compiled by the Internet Archive, is three times the size of the Library of Congress, the world's largest library. And when all personnel have signed up, it's estimated there will be between 1 and 3 million users...

Click here to find out more

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CHILDREN'S BOOKS PUBLISHER TREATS E-BOOKS AS MARKETING TOOL
Sales are secondary as Scholastic uses e-books
to promote print titles
Date: 11/7/2001, Direct Marketers News

Children's books publisher Scholastic has released its third e-book title in a program that treats e-books as promotional tools rather than as products in themselves. What Scholastic has done is cleverly reframed the notion that, to be successful, e-books need to win a percentage of the market share from their print counterparts. The great strength of this approach is there is no pressure. Scholastic isn't aiming to make a profit, or even break even with its e-books. They're just a part of the marketing budget.

However, Scholastic could be nicely surprised. An earlier title released initially as an e-book, The Mayflower Project, recorded more than 35,000 downloads. So what began as a marketing tool could turn into a product in its own right.

Check out the story at:
http://www.dmnews.com/cgi-bin/artprevbot.cgi?article_id=17771

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DILBERT CREATOR'S E-BOOK HOGS THE NO.1 SPOT
Scott Adams e-book "God's Debris" is the best-selling e-book in the world this year - but that doesn't mean a lot...
Date: 11/5/2001, New York Times

Scott Adams' e-book "God's Debris" is the No 1 best-selling e-book in the world this year - even though it sold only 4,500 copies. If any e-book sold more this year, he wants to know. "No one has doubted my claim yet," says Adams "I have been making the same boast since I hit the 2,000 mark. It's rare for any e-book to crack a thousand. By comparison, my first book on paper, 'The Dilbert Principle,' sold about two million copies."

Adams doesn't believe e-books will capture more than 5 percent of the market for pleasure reading until someone invents a way to read them without a computer screen. Based on feedback from people who bought his e-book, and some who didn't, Adams predicts that the biggest market opportunity for e-books will be technical and reference books. "If you want information fast and cheap and it's in book form, you can't beat an e-book," he says.

To read the article in full, go to:
http://nytimes.com/2001/11/05/technology/ebusiness/05ADAM.html

NOTE: The NY Times archives articles pretty quickly, so you might have to pay a small sum to access the piece (but it's well worth it, in this case).

A previous issue of DCLnews ran a feature highlighting the fact that the real eBook revolution is not in the bestseller market, but in technical reference manuals and educational materials. Click here to read it.

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INSTANT MESSAGING NEXT KILLER APP?
Time spent instant messaging at work doubles, research reveals
Date: 11/14/2001, Yahoo News

A study conducted by Internet research firm Jupiter Media Metrix reveals that office workers are doubling their time swapping real-time messages - with the number of minutes spent instant messaging at work in the U.S. climbing to 4.9 billion.

While instant messaging is mainly used for chat, it has profound applications in other fields. In business you can save time and money (and wearisome travel) conducting meetings or conferences via instant messaging; and in education you can teach classes or conduct discussions. And when you've finished you can save the instant messaging file in Word, so you have a record of the proceedings you were involved in - which, in our book at least, makes it the next killer app after e-mail.

To read more, click here

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BETTER E-READER ON THE WAY
New lightweight high-resolution e-book reader
to hit market in 2003
Date: 11/6/2001, Seybold E-Book Zone

E-Ink, one of the two companies developing "electronic paper," is developing a lightweight (nine ounce) e-reader, set for commercial release in 2003. With a projected price of $300, it will be only a centimeter thick, with a seven inch diagonal screen, and run on two AA batteries.

The most exciting feature of the new e-reader will be its display, which should have a very high resolution, and will make use of E-Ink's proprietary technology that prints microcapsules on a sheet of plastic film.

Developments such as this can only serve to bring the e-book revolution (arguably is waiting in the wings) another step closer. Or will it?

Judge for yourself, go to:
http://www.seyboldreports.com/ebooks/news/011106-eink.html

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PERSISTENT PRINT
Still no paperless office - despite the proliferation of IT
Date: 11/1/2001, CIO.com

Paper persists. The e-book revolution hasn't happened (although it might yet). People still print out material from their favorite websites. And most offices keep hard copy back-ups of all files and documents. The list goes on. We obviously prefer paper and find it the most comfortable medium to read from.

In a very informative article published on CIO.com, writer Fred Hapgood goes into the many complex reasons why there is still no paperless office - despite the incredible proliferation of information technology.

Read Hapgood's article at:
http://members.ebusinessca.com/ic_723992_6514_1-2750.html

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INFO-BYTES:

DCL PASS 500 SCHOLARLY JOURNAL MARK
Data Conversion Laboratory now converts over 500 titles a month
Date: 12/3/2001, DCLnews

DCL converts and prepares journals for some of the largest publishers in the U.S. and Europe. And, as of last month, the company is producing electronic versions of over 500 titles, most on a monthly basis. These journals are available online within days to scientists, medical practitioners, students, often before the print publication even hits the mails.

Pleased with the progress Mark Gross, president of DCL (pictured), said: "While the premature death of e-books is being discussed, it's alive and well in technical and scholarly areas, where the lack of wiz-bang viewing technology and the lack of advanced encryption techniques don't seem to be holding things up. The fact is, medical & scientific journals on-line are gaining increasing numbers of adherents - and this is evidenced by us passing the 500 titles a month mark."

Click here to see a list of the publishers and other industries served by DCL.

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ASIDES ;-)
A Lighter Look at the News>>>

VIRTUAL EXERCISES BEEF UP YOUR BICEPS
Study shows visualizing exercising has a measurable effect on muscle strength
Date: 12/3/2001, DCLnews

Great news for couch potatoes everywhere. And it's official. Scientists have discovered that simply imagining exercising can significantly increase muscle strength. Apparently ten volunteers who took part in mental work outs five times a week, imagining lifting heavy weights with their arms, increased their bicep strength by 13.5 percent on average...

Get in shape, go to: www.dclab.com/aside_biceps.asp

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CITY COUNCIL SEAT DECIDED BY CARDS
Let's face it, the only fair way to settle an election draw is by gambling... (Pity Bush and Gore didn't settle things this way)
Date: 11/14/2001, CNews.ca

In Cripple Creek, Colorado, it didn't take the Supreme Court to settle a dispute over an election tie. Edward Libby won a seat on the City Council in the casino gambling town by drawing a ten of clubs. While Noel Perran, who like Libby had received 47 votes in last month's election, drew a seven of hearts.

A recount had left the tally at 47 all, and Libby and Perran agreed to draw cards to determine the winner.

"Ah, well, worse things have happened," Perran said of his loss. "It was all fair and square."

Shuffle the deck, check out the story at:
http://www.canoe.ca/CNEWSWeirdNews0111/14_one-ap.html

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Best of DCLnews:
Sit back, relax, and read through a selection of the best articles from previous issues of DCLnews. You'll find articles on e-books, technology, Internet, data conversion, and digital publishing, as well as humorous looks at the news.

Go to: www.dclab.com/bestof.asp

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