Lead Stories:

E-Books Alive & Well, Living Under An Assumed Name!
Converting From PDF To XML & MS Word: Avoiding The Pitfalls

Plus:

Popular Articles From Recent Issues
Books2Bytes Revives Book Backlists

Other News:

Boeing Set To Make U.S. Combat Forces More Lean & Lethal
GPS Backpackers Lose The Way
DOD Panel Identifies Top Concerns On Aging Aircraft
Future Of Education In The "Palms" Of Students' Hands
Webmasters Preserving Sacred Texts In Virtual Museums
E-Paper, Now With Moving Pictures!

Asides:

Steely Dan Guitar Great Also Works On Spy-Satellite Technology

Lead Stories:

E-Books Alive & Well, Living Under An Assumed Name!

Oct 8th, 2003, DCLnews Exclusive

Barnes & Noble shook the electronic book industry when it announced in September that it would stop selling e-books. Commentators sounded the death knell for e-books. But the real scoop is an e-book revolution has happened, only it came by stealth and wasn't reported by the mainstream media. More.

Converting From PDF To XML & MS Word: Avoiding The Pitfalls

Oct 8th, 2003, DCLnews Exclusive

In the first part of a new white paper on Adobe PDF Mike Gross, CTO of Data Conversion Laboratory, discusses the issues surrounding converting from PDF. This month he covers extracting text and analyzing the structure of PDF documents. More

Plus:

Popular Articles From Recent Issues

Oct 8th, 2003, DCLnews Extra

Revealed: Qantas Airlines Mechanics' Wicked Sense Of Humor
http://www.dclab.com/qantas_mechanics_humor.asp

DCL Technical Library
http://www.dclab.com/dcllibrary.asp

What's the difference between Searchable PDF and PDF Normal?
http://www.dclab.com/ask_experts1.asp

Books2Bytes Revives Book Backlists

Oct 8th, 2003, DCLnews Extra

Books2Bytes, Data Conversion Laboratory's new web-based service, converts printed books and typed manuscripts into electronic files (plain text or Microsoft Word). Back catalog or out-of-print titles can then be revived by releasing them as e-books or as new editions. More

Other News:

Boeing To Make U.S. Combat Forces More Lean & Lethal

Sept 18th, 2003, Reuters

Boeing is about to meet with a dozen other military contractors and technology companies to discuss its networked battlefield concept, aimed at revolutionizing the way the U.S. wages war. The company will begin assembling partners for the Future Combat System, a $15-billion U.S. Army contract led by Boeing, and privately held Science Applications International Corp., to develop a set of communications links designed to make U.S. combat forces more lean and lethal.

The FCS project aims to link troops in the field with surveillance satellites, aircraft, artillery, warships and their commanders with wireless Internet-like connections, making military operations more efficient. The system would include hand-held devices, similar to personal digital assistants (PDAs), for troops on the ground. More.

GPS Backpackers Lose The Way

Sept 30th, 2003, Wired News

GPS is a powerful technology that helps both civilians and military personnel to navigate, wherever they are in the world. Not surprisingly, sales of GPS devices have rocketed. But being over-reliant on the technology can lead to losing the way. Search and rescue volunteers say GPS technology is making many hikers and backpackers feel overconfident in their backwoods skills. They leave traditional maps and compasses behind and end up getting lost.

But the backcountry isn't the only place where GPS users are losing the way. Buildings, underpasses, and tunnels tend to confuse or stop GPS devices. "I knew (the system) was off when it showed us driving into the Pacific Ocean," said Dan Faust, who used a navigation system in a rental car. Because GPS satellites are aging and have limits, they don't always work well in urban settings. The U.S. Air Force is considering a new global positioning system, but the earliest the next-generation GPS satellites could be launched would be 2010. More.

DOD Panel Identifies Top Concerns On Aging Aircraft

Oct 10th, 2003, Aviation Now

The Defense Department's Joint Council on Aging Aircraft (JCAA) has identified its top 12 concerns for handling aging aircraft. These range from technical issues such as corrosion to management issues such as changing the way maintainers are trained to deal with older aircraft. "It's not just technology," JCAA Chairman Bob Ernst of Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) said. "If we don't fix our training and other logistics support elements as well, we're not going to be able to really get our hands around the aging issue."

Training for aircraft maintainers is one of the top 12 issues. Most aircraft maintenance courses are developed when an aircraft is new, according to Ernst, which can lead to problems as the aircraft ages. "We need to make a paradigm shift in what we develop for maintenance training, because the way you would train your maintainers for a new aircraft and an old aircraft are slightly different," he said. More.

Future Of Education In The "Palms" Of Students' Hands

Sept 17th, 2003, Waynesboro Record Herald

Students in math and arts classes at Greencastle-Antrim High School, PA, will be given Palm Pilots. The school received a $19,595 school demonstration grant last year from the Pennsylvania Department of Education. That was enough to buy 66 PDAs, 60 miniature keyboards, and testing software. "I think it's the wave of the future," said Jack Appleby, high school principal and director of secondary education. "We're crossing that threshold now and seeing the educational possibilities that it can offer us."

Students will be able to type essays using the miniature keyboards, and teachers will assign web sites they want students to get information from. Students will also be able to follow various Internet links and even get their homework assignments by way of the small computers.

What's more, students will be able to download and read entire novels, which are offered for free on various Internet sites. "If not novels, why not textbooks?" asked computer teacher Gary Ankney, who is running the program. "Textbooks are outdated long before schools have the money to replace them." More.

Webmasters Preserving Sacred Texts In Virtual Museums

Sept, 29th, 2003, Rediff.com India

Webmasters in India are digitizing manuscripts, artifacts and relics for easy access by anyone with an Internet connection. The Rig Veda, prehistoric rock art, the Quran, and many other Indian cultural treasures have been encased in electronic formats and stored on Web sites. If the original manuscripts are damaged or lost, their essence will be preserved in a digitized format. People can effortlessly explore ancient art and texts.

But the process of transposing these relics from the real to the virtual world isn't easy. It took John B Hare, the Webmaster of Sacred-Texts.com, nine months to put up a translation of the Rig Veda. Hare believes that by offering sacred texts online he can "help people understand each other through their scriptures."

Another Indian webmaster, Avinash Sathaye, says: "It is important that people are able to see for themselves what is written. If original texts are available in an electronic form with quick searchable access, this is possible." More

E-Paper, Now With Moving Pictures!

Sept 28th, 2003, HeraldNet

Scientists have created a new type of electronic paper that could one day enable books and newspapers to show full-color movies. Tiny dots packed in columns and rows on the paper can change colors in just one one-hundredth of a second, fast enough that a whole array of these dots could display video images, said Robert A. Hayes, a scientist at Philips Research Laboratories in the Netherlands.

But before the movies can begin, Hayes said researchers need to devise a system to control each dot's rapid changes. He said the first products are three or four years away, and would probably have only one color at first.

"You could see this leading to displays everywhere, the sides of trucks with live displays on them - like Times Square but moving," commented Robert Wisnieff, senior manager of IBM Corp.'s Advanced Display Technology Laboratory in Yorktown Heights, N.Y. "Imagine the traffic accidents." More

Asides:

Steely Dan Guitar Great Also Works On Spy-Satellite Technology

Sept 8th, 2003, Fredericksburg.com

Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan guitar great Jeff "Skunk" Baxter has become a player in the U.S. intelligence community. Not only is he an adviser to Congress on antiballistic missile systems, he's also a consultant to the Missile Defense Agency and to various organizations in the intelligence community. He works with the National Mapping and Imagery Agency (NIMA) on spy-satellite technology in Washington, specializing in technologies for future warfare.

Baxter also works in the Los Angeles Police Department Anti-terrorism Unit as a reserve officer. In his "spare time", he's recording his first solo CD and remains a sought-after studio musician on other artists' albums.

The pairing of two such diverse careers might seem odd to some. But Baxter thinks they're extremely compatible. "There's something really cleansing about working on a record with somebody for five days and flying back to D.C. to work with NIMA," he says. "It keeps your perspective fresh. The bottom line is that I really love my country, I'm extremely lucky to have had success as a musician, and only because I live in a free country was I able to do that." More.