Dataware Technologies, Inc. recently announced a new version of its leading CD-ROM authoring and retrieval software, CD Author/CD Answer, offering Chinese (simplified and traditional) language support. The software is already available in 13 European languages, in addition to American English, Japanese and Canadian French.
The first public demonstration of the new Chinese language version took place at Intermedia Asia in Singapore in May.
CD Author/CD Answer is designed for publishers, corporations, government agencies and other major information providers who wish to create cost-effective CD-ROM titles in-house. The software allows customers to create single CD-ROM discs accessible across multiple platforms, including MS-Windows, MS-DOS, Macintosh, UNIX, Sony Multimedia CD-ROM, and DOS/V (Kanji), enabling organizations to reduce manufacturing costs while maximizing use of their end-user hardware systems. The Chinese-language version is currently available for the MS-Windows and MS-DOS platforms, with future support planned for Macintosh and UNIX.
For more information, the company may be contacted at Cambridge, MA, United States; tel: (617) 621-0802, Fax: (617) 621-0307.
(Source: Information Today, July/August 1995)
SilverPlatter seeks WWW feedback
SilverPlatter is asking the Internet community for feedback on accessing its databases over the World Wide Web. It is also offering trials of a "working draft" of its new WebSPIRS client.
Thousand-record subsets of 63 databases will be available free of cost across the Internet until November, and anyone may test them out and send comments back by e-mail. Results from this Worldwide Library Sampler Project will influence the shape of the company's future Internet service.
"It's an open trial", said SilverPlatter's Liam Chambers. "We have no preconceptions of what the final service will look like. We are seeking feedback from users about the overall system, the idea, particular databases, pricing structures, and anything else they find relevan".
Files can be searched using either existing client software, or SilverPlatter's new WebSPIRS, which provides access to any database mounted on an Electronic Reference Library server, whether held locally or on the Internet. It is being developed in conjunction with Ghent University in Belgium and Lund University in Sweden and will enter beta testing later this year.
"Once we deliver a http-compatible client," said Mr. Chambers, "the Internet will be a much more attractive option for people who want to search our databases occasionally".
The Sampler project allows SilverPlatter to gather feedback on work to date on WebSPIRS, plus suggested enhancements. The sampler can be found on the home page at http://www. silverplatter.com/sampler.
(Source: Information World Review, July/August 1995)
Hewlett-Packard delivers new generation lasers
Hewlett-Packard has introduced two new laser printers, HP Laserjet 5P and 5MP, which offer wireless printing and low prices.
These printers will replace the 4P and 4MP printers and offer 6 ppm print speeds, flexible paper-handling and 600 x 600 dpi output. Both printers offer HP's Resolution Enhancement technology along with microfine toner which makes possible up to 120 shades of gray.
Of interest are the built-in IrDA-compliant ports which will enable users of notebooks, palmtops, and PDAs with appropriate software and IR ports to print their documents without needing to transfer them to PCs with printer access.
The 5P and 5MP come with 2 Mb and 3 Mb of memory respectively and HP's Memory Enhancement technology to double memory space. Both printers have a total input capacity of 350 sheets including a 100-sheet multipurpose tray for special media. The printers also sport high speed, bi-directional parallel ports for direct network integration when used with HP's JetDirect EX external print servers.
(Source: Asia Computer Weekly, 3-9 April 1995)
From POPLINE CD-ROM to Micro CDS/ISIS
A software utility designed for POPLINE CD-ROM users who want to import POPLINE records into a Micro CDS/ISIS database is now available. This free utility, funded by the Interregional Branch of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), automates the conversion of POPLINE data into the Micro CDS/ISIS format. Micro CDS/ISIS is a database program distributed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Micro CDS/ISIS accepts data in a standardized format called ISO 2709. The POPLINE/ISO Conversion Utility accepts downloaded records from POPLINE CD-ROM and produces a file in the ISO 2709 format. This file can then be imported into a Micro CDS/ISIS database.
The POPLINE/ISO Conversion Utility makes the process of converting POPLINE records much easier by automatically creating the correct tags for each field in the POPLINE record. Users must already have a copy of Micro CDS/ISIS and know how it works, since the conversion utility does not create the Micro CDS/ISIS database. Users must also be downloading from the NISC version of POPLINE CD-ROM.
For a free copy of the POPLINE/ISO Conversion Utility, write or send fax to: Center for Communication Programs, The Johns Hopkins University, 111 Market Place - Suite 310, Baltimore, Maryland 21202-4012, United States (fax: (410) 659-6266). Please send information on preferred size of disk along with the request.
To apply for a free copy of Micro CDS/ISIS, contact: General Information Programme, UNESCO, 7, Place de Fontenoy, 75015 Paris, France.
(Source: POPLINE on Disc, Vol. 3, No. 3, September 1995)
CD-ROM provides offline Internet searching
Internet users can now conduct offline searches of a popular index of its resources.
Frontier Technologies, a United States-based supplier of TCP/IP and Internet software products, has signed a non-exclusive agreement with Lycos Inc., to license its Lycos Catalogue and incorporate it into a new CD-ROM-based product.
"We developed SuperHighway Access CyberSearch because there's whole pool of Internet users out there, both experienced and amateur users, who are suffering from information overload", explained Frontier Technologies' Product Manager, Kia LaBracke. "And although there are a number of online indexes and catalogues available they are often too busy to connect to."
Available since July, the CD-ROM contains a 608MB subset of the Large Lycos Catalog. As an added attraction, it comes packaged with Frontier Technology's own Web browser, SuperHighway Access. This has a number of features not available in browsers like Netscape and Mosaic, including a subject-based organiser for indexing and managing bookmarks and the ability to connect to up to 30 sites at one time.
"Our browser is the only one that allows you to conduct multiple sessions at once", said Ms. LaBracke, "so unlike other browsers you don't have to wait for one site to download before conducting another search".
Users of the CD-ROM can run any number of offline searches. For each site listed they can read a short descriptive abstract and highlight any sites of interest. The next time they go online, the browser automatically connects to the highlighted sites one by one and displays them in separate Windows. The user is then able to switch between sites by simply opening and closing each Window.
The Lycos Catalog, which lists 5.6 million Internet resources, contains an intelligent agent that continuously searches the World Wide Web, cataloguing any new and changed documents it finds. For each document it builds an abstract consisting of the title, heading, subheadings, the 100 most significant words and the first 20 lines of text. Currently SuperHighway Access CyberSearch contains details of the 500,000 most popular sites catalogued by Lycos, including the abstracts.
"While we designed it primarily for dial-up users we believe the ability to conduct multiple sessions and to avoid the frustration of busy servers will make the CD-ROM attractive to any user looking for productivity gains," added Ms. LaBracke.
Currently available bi-monthly the CD-ROM is due to move to monthly updating in 1996.
(Source: Information World Review, September 1995)
New INTERNET Connection for the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs
(JHU/CCP)
What is the newest way to find family planning and related health information on the Internet? Through the CCP gopher at JHUniverse, Johns Hopkins University's gateway to the Internet. The CCP gopher has direct connections to other relevant gophers maintained by USAID, UNFPA, WHO, UNICEF, CDC and others. The JHU/CCP gopher also enables one to:
For more information about JHU/CCP on the Internet contact Stephen Goldstein at sgoldste@welchlink.welch. jhu.edu.
CCP also recently created its own World Wide Web home page at: http://www.charm. net/~ccp. Users may obtain a wide range of population information from CCP using their Internet connections.
Pacific Internet's new Web-in-a-Box for online commerce and Web publishing
Pacific Internet, a supplier of online products and services, has introduced a low-cost, PC-based turnkey Internet server solution that enables users to immediately configure a complete online corporate-wide communications server or establish a site on the Internet's World Wide Web (www).
Named Web-in-a-Box, the open architecture, Intel Pentium-driven, UNIX-based Web-server system comes complete with all necessary hardware and software to establish one or more Web sites and set up home pages that can be accessed by the millions of Internet users world-wide.
Introduced as the first product sold under the "Pacific Internet" brand name, Web-in-a-Box includes industry-standard Web- server software and comes with leading Internet utilities--including TCP/IP, e-mail, ftp, gopher and new services--as standard software features.
Fully-configured, the Pacific Internet Web-in-a-Box server product can easily handle up to 250,000 hits per day and 500 hits per minute, allowing users to effectively "broadcast" information to the burgeoning Internet population. It comes equipped with Web statistics software that regularly tallies and logs the number of "hits"--or Web-site accesses--an organization's home page is delivering, enabling instantaneous feedback and content adjustment.
To make content development and changes effortless, Web-in-a-Box includes a complete set of WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) HyperText Markup Language (HTML) authoring tools for use in the creation, editing and hyperlinking of Web pages.
Web-in-a-Box represents the first low-cost PC-based Web server. According to Garry S. Hipsher, founder of Pacific Internet: "Budget-conscious organizations can now easily install and manage in-house servers, eliminating the need for specialized third-party vendors. Our decision to standardize upon the mainstream PC platform coupled with the open UNIX operating system delivers the best of all worlds in price, performance and expandability".
In addition to being a complete plug-and-play solution, Web-in-a-Box is based on industry-standard modular UNIX and Pentium architectures, allowing for upgrading of RAM, disk space and network bandwidth as users' Web sites grow in demand and complexity. These same features allow for the use of extensive off-the-shelf, third-party software tools alongside the server's integrated systems software.
System configuration for the entry-level Model W1000 Web-in-a-Box solution includes a 90Mhz Pentium central processing unit, 16 Mbytes of expandable RAM, 16-bit Ethernet card, 1 Gbyte hard disk drive, internal CD-ROM, floppy and 350 Mbyte tape drives and pre-configured UNIX Internet software.
As an added benefit for Web-in-a-Box users, Pacific Internet has negotiated third-party T1 and 56 Kbps high-speed Internet connections--considered essential to users expecting heavy-volume traffic over the Internet's Web. To facilitate the use of these high-speed Internet connections, users can opt to have T1 and 56 Kbps wide area network (WAN) routers built into their Web-in-a-Box systems, completely eliminating the need for external peripherals.
For more information, contact: Pacific Internet, Culver City, CA, United States (310) 410-9700.
(Source: Information Today, September 1995)
Carolina Population Center's Home Page on the Web
The Carolina Population Center (CPC) recently announced the availability of its new server on the Internet's World Wide Web. The URL for the CPC home page is: http://www.cpc.unc.edu.
The CPC home page contains links to information about the Center's faculty fellows, staff, and trainees, including research interests and current research projects. In addition, information about the center's administrative, computer, information, spatial analysis and statistical services are accessible from the home page. Details on the application process for trainees are also available.
Information on data sets collected by CPC researchers will also be available through the WWW. Following links from the CPC home page the user will be able to learn about these data sets and how to access them. Information on accessing and ordering these data and accompanying documentation will be available from the Web site. The first four data sets expected to be available are:
Announcing Population Index On-line
Two volumes of the widely respected quarterly demographic bibliography Population Index are now available on the World Wide Web. The full contents of all 1993 and 1994 issues (volumes 59 and 60) are available from a new Web site. Each issue is indexed geographically and by author. A comprehensive author index to all 1993-1994 issues is also provided. Point the Web browser to the following URL: http://opr.princeton.edu/pi/pindex.htm
All of our records from 1986 onwards will eventually be available in the same format, accompanied by more sophisticated indexes and search capabilities, at reasonable individual and/or institutional rates. The editors welcome comments on this service. Send mail to popindex@princeton.edu.