Sampling rate = The frequency with which samples are taken and converted in digitizing operations.
This is measured in kilohertz (KHz). The MPC standard
requires a sound card with a recording sampling
rate of at least 11 KHz and an output rate of 11
and 22 KHz.
SAP = (Acronym for a long
German name) SAP is a company from Germany
that sells the leading suite of large-scale client-server
business software. The US
branch is called SAP America. The web site is at
http://www.sap.com
. SAP is powerful but very slow and expensive
to implement. The following message appears in InformationWeek
Online for November 13, 1997:
General
Motors has chosen SAP's R/3 software as its global
financial application. The decision is part of the
automaker's "common platform strategy,"
a program that aims to reduce costs and complexity
by standardizing GM's many businesses on several
core IT products. GM says it plans to implement
the financial apps in a "phased rollout,"
beginning with its automotive assembly and components
operations in Europe and the Asia-Pacific, and later
in North and South America.
GM's goal is for full deployment by 2002. The R/3
software will replace a mix of applications GM has
running in hundred of locations, a GM spokesman
said. SAP software isn't new to GM: The automaker
already has SAP human resources modules in a handful
of places, including its Opel manufacturing operations
in Germany
and Delphi parts operations in France.
The GM spokesman noted, however, that the new deal
with SAP doesn't include HR modules. GM will take
the lead in managing the R/3 rollout, while former
GM unit EDS will "have some role," probably
alongside other third-party service providers, the
spokesman said. Financials terms of the deal weren't
disclosed.
Major ERP providers include
the following:
I worry some about business
schools that are jumping on the huge commitment
to bring SAP or other ERP software to students.
SAP is one of the various alternatives for Enterprise
Resource Planning (ERP). First SAP
is a major commitment of resources, faculty, and
students. Second, there is a legal liability
risk that should be carefully cleared through any
university's legal department since it is possible
for users to find themselves in lawsuits brought
against developers of SAP.
More importantly, I worry
about the future of ERPs. In this context
I call your attention to an article by Tom Stein
entitled "ERP's Fight
for Life," in Information Week, April
12, 1999, 59-66. The online version is at
http://www.informationweek.com/729/erp.htm
On May 5, 1999 InformationWeek
Online reported the following:
J.D.
Edwards has hit hard times as the demand for ERP software
remains stagnant. The company said yesterday it
expects an operating loss of more than $25 million for its second quarter, ended
April 30. Company officials blame the anticipated shortfall on lower-than-expected license fee revenue, the impact
of headcount additions made in the first fiscal
quarter, investments in product development, and a $2.1 million write-off as
a result of the acquisition of the Premisys Corp.
According to preliminary results, J.D. Edwards expects to report total second-quarter
revenue in the range of $215 million to $235 million, which represents approximately a 3% to 12% increase over revenue
of $209 million in the same period last year. License
fee revenue is projected to be in the range of $60
million to $65 million. The company says revenue was
adversely impacted by a general slowdown in demand
for enterprise software as companies focus on year
2000 readiness. Final results for the quarter will
be released on May 26. Brent Thill, a financial analyst with Credit Suisse First Boston Corp., says the shortfall in license revenue is attributable to a slippage of new customer orders in the United States. He adds that J.D. Edwards' win rate against market leaders SAP and Oracle fell to 30% from 50% six months ago.
From InformationWeek Online May 6, 1999
SpeechWorks
International Inc. yesterday introduced the first
speech-recognition applications that will let employees
and customers access SAP applications by speaking
over the phone. SpeechWorks unveiled software building
blocks that let developers add speech-recognition
capability to SAP's Sales & Distribution, HR
Employee Self-Service, and Customer
Interaction Center
modules.
Demand for
speech-enabling SAP applications is strongest among
customers already implementing other speech-recognition
applications, according to SpeechWorks. The sales
module lets sales representatives and customers
determine the status of customer accounts, product
availability and pricing, and sales-order placement.
People can also speak to the applications to place
and confirm orders. The HR module lets employees
speak to access information about benefits, salaries,
paychecks, travel expenses, time reporting, and
personal information.
SpeechWorks
for SAP will be available from SpeechWorks early
in the third quarter. SpeechWorks will deliver similar
software for PeopleSoft Inc. and other enterprise
resource planning vendors around year's end.
Various schools of business
have moved heavily into SAP. One example is
California State University
at Chico. It would be interesting to hear from some accounting faculty
who are using SAP to give some advice to faculty
who are contemplating recommending SAP to their
administrators.
Information Week on May 10, 1999, Page 26 elaborates its notices that SpeechWorks International has speech recognition
modules for ERP systems. For example, these
modules can now be deployed in SAP. See http://www.speechworks.com/
.
From InformationWeek
Online on March 16, 2000
ERP vendors are adapting
to the new IT environment in which businesses are
betting on online exchanges, not enterprise resource
planning solutions. Both SAP and J.D. Edwards &
Co. made significant moves this week to host and
develop online marketplace technology.
SAP on Wednesday revealed
the formation of SAPMarkets, a subsidiary that,
starting in May, will develop, market, and operate
marketplaces using SAP technology. Hasso Plattner,
co-chairman and CEO of SAP, will act as interim
CEO until a permanent one is found.
The vendor's mySAP.com
Marketplace efforts will be consolidated into the
new company. One goal is to clear up the confusion
the mySAP.com moniker created by encompassing the
vendor's Internet strategy, software applications,
and hosted applications under one name. "I
applaud that SAP is finally resolving the confusion
'mySAP.com' brings to customers," says Byron
Miller, VP at Giga Information Group. "But
before they compete head-on with other companies
in a new market, they need to resolve some functionality
problems."
J.D. Edwards on Tuesday
created a unit to focus on business- to-business
solutions and expand development of its online-
exchange technology. Michael Schmidt, former VP
of worldwide sales and marketing, will head up the
unit. - Elisabeth Goodridge with Alorie Gilbert
"Spotlight on Midlevel
ERP Software," by Roberta Ann Jones, Journal
of Accountancy, May 2002 --- http://www.aicpa.org/pubs/jofa/may2002/jones.htm
Years ago,
when the personal computer was just coming into
its own, accounting software was relatively simple:
Its single function was to automate the task of
double-entry accounting and produce a straightforward
balance sheet. As computers became more robust and
integrated databases standardized, accounting software
developers added more functions-including cost accounting,
manufacturing resource planning (MRP), customer
resource management (CRM), human resources (HR)
and payroll. To differentiate these superproducts
from the simple accounting programs, marketing-minded
vendors christened the new packages enterprise resource
planning (ERP) software.
Exhibit 1: Software Vendors |
Product |
Vendor |
Web address |
Address |
Carillon |
Pettit & Co. |
www.carillonfinancials.com |
100 N. Central Expressway, Suite
1300
Richardson,
TX 75080 |
eEnterprise |
Microsoft
Great
Plains |
www.greatplains.com |
One Lone Tree Rd.
Fargo, ND
58104 |
E by Epicor |
Epicor
Software |
www.epicor.com |
195 Technology Dr.
Irvine, CA 92618 |
MK Manufact'g |
Computer
Associates'
InterBiz |
www.interbiz.com |
One Computer Associates Plaza
Islandia,
NY 11749 |
Enterprise IQ |
IQMS |
www.iqms.com |
4250 Aerotech Center
Way, Suite A
Paso Robles, CA 93446 |
Progression |
Macola |
www.macola.com |
333 E. Center St.
P.O. Box 1824
Marion, OH
43301 |
ERP Plus |
PowerCerv |
www.powercerv.com |
400 North Ashley
Dr.,
Suite 2700
Tampa, FL
33602 |
Scala 5.1 |
Scala
Business
Solutions |
www.scalaworld.com |
300 International
Parkway, Suite 300
Heathrow, FL
32746 |
Solomon |
Microsoft
Great
Plains |
www.solomon.com |
200 East Hardin
St.
P.O. Box 414
Findlay, OH
45840 |
Traverse |
Open
Systems
Inc. |
www.osas.com |
1157 Valley Park
Dr.,
Suite 105
Shakopee, MN
55379 |
|
Exhibit 2: Service, Support, Price,
Implementation
Exhibit 3: Manufacturing Process
Exhibit 4: Core Financials
Exhibit 5: Purchasing and Sales Processes
Exhibit 6: Human Resources Process
Exhibit 7: Tax and International Processes
Many accounting
software vendors, while eager to jump on the ERP
bandwagon but unwilling or unable to develop their
own complete ERP functionality, choose instead to
license the very best special modules developed
by other software companies. This option has gained
popularity as advances in Windows and compatibility
tools have made it easier to seamlessly link new
modules to existing software packages.
Using such
best-of-breed, third-party products was a boon to
ERP vendors: It saved them money and made their
products more powerful and more competitive. Further,
it meant that the customer was getting an already
proven (read that debugged) product.
Not all
customers agree that plugging in third-party products
is a good idea. If the licensed product malfunctioned
(and what software product is perfect?), the customer
now had to deal with two vendors-the ERP vendor
and the third-party vendor. More often than not,
when such a problem arose, each vendor tended to
blame the other, leaving the customer uncertain
where to turn for help. In our reviews, we have
not provided separate evaluations of any third-party
products.
From The Wall Street
Journal Accounting Educators' Reviews on January
14, 2004
TITLE: Large Software
Customers Refuse to Get With the Program
REPORTERS: Kevin J. Delaney and David Bank
DATE: Jan 02, 2004
PAGE: A1,6
LINK: http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB107300003323708100,00.html
TOPICS: Accounting Information Systems
SUMMARY: Delaney and
Bank report that business software giant SAP blinked
in its confrontation when one of its customers refused
to upgrade to a newer version of their software.
During the economic downturn, SAP, as well as other
application software providers, had increased their
revenues not so much through new sales, rather they
insisted their current customers upgrade their previously
purchased software packages. The related article
from one year ago reflects that trend.
QUESTIONS:
1.) How does an ERP impact the relationships in
the financing, manufacturing, and other business
processes?
2.) Briefly outline how
a customer relationship module (CRM) is expected
to influence performance for a purchasing firm.
Do the same for a supply chain management (SCM)
module.
3.) Given the conclusion
from Delaney's related article about SAP's return
to dominance one year ago, what do you think this
bodes for the future of SAP?
Reviewed By: Judy Beckman,
University of Rhode Island
Reviewed By: Benson Wier, Virginia
Commonwealth University
Reviewed By: Kimberly Dunn, Florida
Atlantic University
--- RELATED ARTICLES
---
TITLE: Germany's
SAP Regains Edge in U.S.
REPORTER: Kevin Delaney
PAGE: B5
ISSUE: Jan 31, 2003
LINK: http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1043914959248254464,00.html
See Database
and CRM.
Scalability = how well a system performs as it grows. For example, a central server of
some kind with ten clients may perform efficiently.
It has a scalability problem if it fails with an
increasing number of clients. If the average response
time probably scales linearly with the number of
clients, it has a complexity of O(N) ("order
N"). The October 1997 issue of Application
Development Trends (ISSN 1073-9564) on
Page 13 describes the IBM DB2 "Web-enabled
database which potentially lets customers scale
from desktop or laptop systems to massively parallel
processors." See Database
.
Scan converter = A hardware device for converting the digitized monitor signals of a computer
into analog signals that can be played on a television
set. For a detailed review of options and comparison
of products see Waring
(1994c). Some projection devices such as three-beam
projectors for computers in classrooms have built
in scan converters. (See also Analog
and Video)
Scanner = Both hand-held and
flatbed hardware and software for copying graphics
images and text into computer files. Both color
and black and white options are available. We have
never had much luck with hand-held versions, but
flatbed scanners do a terrific job. Text scanned
as graphics must be converted into computer text
via specialized software such as Omni Page Pro from
Caere (800-GO-CAERE). (See also OCR)
Leveraging ScanSoft's
world-leading optical character recognition (OCR)
and PDF conversion technology, the OmniPage Search
Indexer creates index data from your document images,
without changing the original. The ScanSoft OmniPage
Search Indexer includes an OCR engine that is very
fast and accurate, as well as a lightning fast PDF
indexing engine - both tuned for search applications.
ScanSoft is the OCR behind
the world's largest book scanning projects, and
has been selected by nearly 100% of commercial vendors
delivering imaging solutions, including AnyDocs,
Autodesk, Avision, Brother, Canon, Captiva, CardScan,
Dell, HP, Hummingbird, FileNET, Kofax, Verity, Visioneer
and Xerox --- http://www.scansoft.com/OmniPage/Search/
SCMS = Serial Copy
ManagementSystem circuitry in digital
recorders that allows copying from a source program
but blocks making copies of copies.
SCO Open Desktop = Santa Cruiz Operations' GUI operating system that is
compared with other 32-bit operating system alternatives
in PC/Computing Special Report (1994). This is a
UNIX-based system that runs on Intel and MIPS hardware.
(See also Operating
system)
Scopeware = File arranging softare
invented by David Galernter from Yale University.
"The Next Computer
Interface," by Claire Tristram, Technology
Review, December 2001 --- http://www.techreview.com/magazine/dec01/tristram.asp
The desktop
metaphor was a brilliant innovation-30 years ago.
Now it's an unmanageable mess, and the search is
on for a better way to handle information.
Game, set,
match: Chief scientist David Gelernter of Mirror
Worlds Technologies says the desktop metaphor is
over. (Photos by Timothy Archibald and Jonathan
Worth)
"The
desktop is dead," declares David Gelernter.
Gelernter is referring to the "desktop metaphor"-the
term frequently used for the hierarchical system
of files, folders and icons that we use to manage
information stored on our home or office computers.
At the annual gathering of technophiles at TechXNY/PC
Expo 2001
in New
York last June, he told the rapt crowd attending
his keynote speech that the desktop metaphor is
nothing more than virtual Tupperware. "Our
electronic documents are scattered by the thousands
in all sorts of little containers all over the place,"
he said. "The more information and the more
computers in our lives, the more of a nuisance this
system becomes."
For the
past decade or so Gelernter has been campaigning
for a new metaphor to overthrow the desktop-first
in research he carried out at Yale University, where
he is a professor of computer science, and now as
chief scientist of his new company, Mirror Worlds
Technologies, with offices in New Haven, CT, and
New York City. In March, Mirror Worlds announced
a novel metaphor called Scopeware, software that
automatically arranges your computer files in chronological
order and displays them on your monitor with the
most recent files featured prominently in the foreground.
Scopeware is far more sweeping than a simple rearrangement
of icons, however: in effect, it transfers the role
of file clerk from you to the computer, seamlessly
ordering documents of all sorts into convenient,
time-stamped files.
Score = A sequence, either time-based
or frame-based, that determines the timing of a
presentation and the synchronization of its objects.
Screen capturing = The "capturing" of images on a computer screen onto a clipboard
or into a graphics file so that they can be imported
into other software. Screen captures are analogous
to photographs of screen images. Captured text is
normally in graphics mode such that it must be run
through a text converter (e.g., OmniPage text conversion
software) that translates graphics text back into
word processor text. In PC World, February 1994,
p. 224 it is shown how Windows screen capturing
can be accomplished using the Windows Recorder utility
in the Program Manager. Doyle (1994a)
provides useful tips for QuickTime video capturing.
Screen capturing software options are reviewed in
the NewMedia 1995 Tool Guide (p. 34). (See also
OCR)
It is important to also go to Video.
Screencasting = (See Resource Descriptive
Formating )
Scripting = (See Authoring,
HTML,
and RDF)
ScriptX = A somewhat revolutionary
and failed authoring and scripting hypertext and
hypermedia language. ScriptX from the defunct Kaleida
Labs (in a joint venture with Apple and IBM corporations)
was and early option designed to cross between various
operating systems (e.g., Unix, Windows, DOS, Apple/Mac,
OS/2, and PowerOpen). ScriptX was intended compliment
the failed Taligent (Pink) multi-platform operating
system. (See also GainMomentum,
Kaleida,
Taligent,
Cross-platform,
and Authoring)
SCSI = Small Computer
System Interface, is a set of interfaces
that allow personal computers to communicate with
peripheral hardware such as disk drives, tape drives,
CD-ROM drives, CD-RW drives, printers, and scanners
faster and more flexibly than previous interfaces.
SCSI interfaces often cost a bit more than IDE controllers,
but there are some advantages to SCSI interfaces.
See IDE.
Search engine = WWW sites that allow users to type in a word or phrase and then search for
other WWW sites linked to that word or phrase. Bob
Jensen' search engine helpers are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/searchh.htm
Thank you Curtis Brown
Chances are many of you know about this already,
but I thought I'd mention that the search engine
I now go to first for most purposes is Google (https://www.google.com/).
This search engine rates a site higher the more
links there are to it from other highly rated sites.
Don't know exactly how they manage that, but in
my experience the results are remarkable-if I'm
looking for one particular site, it's usually the
number one-ranked result.
I suppose
it wouldn't be so effective for very new or very
esoteric sites that no one (yet) knows about. But
for sites that have been around long enough for
word to get out, it's very effective. It may not
find things that Alta Vista or HotBot or whatever
wouldn't find, but it does a much better job of
putting what I'm looking for at the top of the list.
The web site describes it as a "Beta"
version, but it looks ready for prime time to me.
(example:
type "thomas" into Google and the number
one result is the library of congress site with
information about the US Congress. This site isn't
in the top 50 results for HotBot, Alta Vista, or
Lycos (though it is #1 on HotBot's top ten most
visited sites for that search string). Similarly,
a search for "Phil Gramm" on Google turned
up his Senate homepage as the number one link. This
wasn't in the top 20 on HotBot or Alta Vista; a
subpage of his Senate site was around number 10
on Lycos.)
Another
nice feature of Google is that they cache the pages:
if your search results include a broken link, you
can still bring up Google's cached copy of the page
to see what used to be there. The cached pages are
text only, but they use the URL for the original
page as the base for relative links so that if images
are still there they will load properly.
Thank you Neil Hannon
For people
who search the Web frequently and want to use it
more efficiently, Infoseek Express is a next-generation
desktop search product which brings multiple search
and information sources together in one place. With
Express you can find, explore, and do anything on
the Internet faster and easier than before.
Express
is different from other search engines because it
runs within your Web browser, searches multiple
search engines simultaneously, and provides an easier
to use, faster interface. In addition, Express has
an open architecture that allows for mass distribution,
easy updates, and extensive personal customization.
http://www.tiac.net/users/nhannon/news.html
Probably the most interesting
of the "search engines" are those that
use natural language and artificial intelligence.
The best known illustration is the "Ask Jeeves"
web site at http://www.ask.com/
. The software commenced with David Warthen
in Berkeley in 1996. The following is a quotation from "Ask
Jeeves," NewMedia, June 1999, p. 54:
Warthen
tapped into artificial intelligence research at
Berkeley and Stanford, hired "computational linguistics"
experts, and brought in editors to link standardized
question templates to Web sites with the right answers.
The editors are critical to Ask Jeeves' power. "Humans
are very good at cognitive decision making,"
says Warthen. "When we designed our system
we were very conscious of how to get human value
added."
They created
software that can examine a question for its semantics
(word meaning) and syntax (grammar and sentence
structure). Their system parses it, rearranges it
into a template, and searches for a "best-match"
template tied to a collection of Web sites, or scroll-down
menus that give the user a chance to further refine
his query.
Over time
the site has expanded its "knowledge base"
to more than seven million question/answer connections.
On Page 55, the above
article states the following:
Ask Jeeves
now licenses its technology for corporate online
tech support. Dell Computer's Ask Dudley site (using
the name and likeness of their head tech-support
guru) "took off like wildfire," according
to Manish Mehta, Dell's senior online support manager.
It already accurately answers more than 60 percent
of all questions, and provides valuable feedback.
"It's a nifty mechanism to learn exactly what
customers are asking as soon as a new system launches."
Toshiba
America
receives 380,000 tech-support calls a month. It
launched its Ask IRIS (Instant Response Information
Service) in mid-March and hopes to see a 20 to 30
percent reduction in calls by year's end. "We're
hoping IRIS will be as smart as our very smartest
technician," says Dan Ludwick, Toshiba's director
of service marketing.
Ask Jeeves
customizes its corporate clients' existing tech
support database to match the question/answer template
format. In addition, Ask Jeeves maintains and monitors
the system software and knowledge base, plus handles
data mining and analysis. Initial costs range from
$400,000 to more than $1 million, depending on the
depth of the data. Licensees pay a fraction of a
penny to Ask Jeeves for each good question/answer
match.
Yahoo is still my choice if you
have a particular category. However, my first
choice in general is now Ask Jeeves because of the neat way I can merely
type a natural language query. I suggest that
you ask Jeeves a question just for kicks and then
see how fast you will get hooked on Jeeves. http://www.ask.com/ .
(See also Smart
agent, XML Resource
Description Framework (RDF), Webcasting,
Knowledge
Management, and World Wide Web)
Search Extractor and
Wrapper = (See Wrapper.)
SECAM = SEquential
Couleu AvecMemoire sequential
color and memory television standard adopted by
France
and the USSR
in 1967. This has some phase and amplitude integrity
(skew-symmetry) advantages over NTSC and some line
flicker (Hanover
bars) disadvantages. Having France
and some parts of Eastern Europe on a different
standard than PAL for the rest of Europe and NTSC
for North America and Japan is somewhat frustrating for manufacturers
of hardware and developers of videotapes. (See also
NTSC and PAL)
Security = Protection against
error and fraud. In computing and networking this
includes firewall protections (e.g., passwords)
for entry and encryptions for messages that contain
protected data such as credit card numbers. A
computer virus is one of the most serious problems.
A virus hardware/software infection designed intentionally
to corrupt a computer, computer files, and/or networks.
For virus updates and news, two good web sites are
Network Associates at http://www.nai.com/vinfo/
and Mcafee at http://www.mcafee.com/
. (Also see ActiveX.)
The main computer security
site is probably CERT --- http://www.cert.org/
One of the main systems
and security sites is at http://www.isworld.org/
The U.S.
Department of Justice Cybercrime Website --- http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/
Bob Jensen's threads
on security --- http://www.trinity.edu/
Nearly the entire April
2004 issue of Syllabus Magazine is devoted to computer
and network security. This is a useful reference
with lots of links --- http://www.syllabus.com/mag.asp
You should also know
about this site when you have a computer security
question --- http://www.alw.nih.gov/Security/security.html
Bob Jensen's computer
security bookmarks are at --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob4.htm#200503Security
An Innovative Cookie
Jar
The big question is whether
Microsoft will adapt to StealthSurfer or introduce
a competitive product for Internet Explorer.
My guess is no! We may have to install Netscape
once again just to keep pesky cookies off the main
hard drive.
"Furtive Surfers
Find a Way to Keep Their Travels Secret," by
Howard Millman, The New York Times, March
4, 2004 --- http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/04/technology/circuits/04quie.html
A new thumb-size
U.S.B. drive from a company called StealthSurfer
aims to guard your privacy by keeping the records
of your Web activity close to the vest. When you
plug in the StealthSurfer and use its customized
version of the Netscape browser, the device stores
the cookies, U.R.L. history, cache files and other
traces of your Web browsing that would ordinarily
accumulate on your computer's hard drive. When you're
done surfing, you unplug the drive and take the
records of your travels with you.
StealthSurfer's
name is a bit of an overstatement. It does keep
your Web-hopping and file-sharing activities away
from prying eyes after the fact. But since it uses
your computer's Internet connection, the Web sites
you visit can still track your Internet protocol
address as you move around online.
The StealthSurfer
comes in four capacities, ranging from 64 megabytes
($70) to 512 megabytes ($299). You may experience
a slight reduction in performance when you use the
device because its flash memory writes data at slower
speeds than a full-size hard drive does.
On the other
hand, installation is a breeze - computers running
Windows Me, 2000 and XP recognize the StealthSurfer
as a drive when it is plugged in. (If you're running
Windows 98, you must download a driver
The StealthSurfer home
page is at http://www.stealthsurfer.biz/
Don't you hate it now that some businesses now use
biz instead of com in their URLs?
You can read more about
cookies at "Cookies."
Examples of available
(or possible) IW weapons
From a document entitled "An Introduction to
Information Warfare" by Reto Haeni at
http://www.seas.gwu.edu/student/reto/infowar/info-war.html
Computer Viruses
A virus is a code fragment
that copies itself into a larger program, modifying
that program. A virus executes only when its host
program begins to run. The virus then replicates
itself, infecting other programs as it reproduces.
Viruses are well known in every computer based environment,
so that it is not astonishing that this type of
rough program is used in the Information Warfare.
We could imagine that the CIA (or Army, Air Force
....) inserts computer viruses into the switching
networks of the enemy's phone system. As today's
telephone systems are switched by computers, you
can shut them down, or at least causing massive
failure, with a virus as easy that you can shut
down a "normal" computer. An example what
the damage a virus could cause exists. We can compare
it with the system crash of AT&T long distance
switching system on January 15, 1990 [10].
Worms (Also see Worm)
A worm is an independent
program. It reproduces by copying itself in full-blown
fashion from one computer to another, usually over
a network. Unlike a virus, it usually doesn't modify
other programs. Also if worms don't destroy
data (like the Internet Worm, they can cause
the loss of communication with only eating up resources
and spreading through the networks. A worm can also
easily be modified so that data deletion or worse
occurs. With a "wildlife" like this, I
could imagine breaking down a networked environment
like a ATM and banking network.
Trojan horses
A Trojan horse is a code
fragment that hides inside a program and performs
a disguised function. It's a popular mechanism for
disguising a virus or a worm. A trojan horse
could be camouflaged as a security related tool
for example like SATAN (Security Administrating
Tool for Analyzing Networks). SATAN checks UNIX
system for security holes and is freely available
on the Internet. If someone edits this program so
that it sends discovered security holes in an e-mail
message back to him (lets also include the password
file? No problem), the Cracker learns much information
about vulnerable hosts and servers. A clever written
trojan horse does not leave traces of its presence
and because it does not cause detectable damage,
it is hard to detect.
Logic bombs
A bomb is a type of Trojan
horse, used to release a virus, a worm or some other
system attack. It's either an independent program
or a piece of code that's been planted by a system
developer or programmer." With the overwhelming
existence of US based software (e.g. MS Windows
or UNIX systems), the US Government, or whomever
you would like to imagine, could decide that no
software would be allowed to be exported from that
country without a Trojan horse. This hidden function
could become active when a document with "war
against the USA"
exists on the computer. Its activation could also
be triggered from the outside. An effect could be
to format the computers harddisks or to mail the
document to the CIA.
Trap doors
A trap door, or a back
door, is a mechanism that's built into a system
by its designer. The function of a trap door is
to give the designer a way to sneak back into the
system, circumventing normal system protection."
As I mentioned in the last section, all US software could be equipped with a trap door
that would allow IW agencies to explore systems
and the stored data on foreign countries. This could
be most useful in cases of military strategic simulations
and plans and would provide the DoD's intelligence
with vital information.
Chipping
Just as software can
contain unexpected functions, it is also possible
to implement similar functions in hardware. Today's
chips contain millions of integrated circuits that
can easily be configured by the manufacturer so
that they also contain some unexpected functions.
They could be built so that they fail after a certain
time, blow up after they receive a signal on a specific
frequency, or send radio signals that allow identification
of their exact location - the number of possible
scenarios exceeds, by far, the scope of this paper.
The main problem with chipping is that the specific
(adapted) chip be installed in the place that is
useful for the Information Warrior. The easiest
solution is to built the additional features into
all the chips manufactured in the country that is
interested in this type of IW.
Nano machines and Microbes
Nano machines and Microbes
provide the possibility to cause serious harm to
a system. Unlike viruses, we can use these to attack
not the software but the hardware of a computer
system. Nano machines are tiny robots (smaller than
ants) that could be spread at an information center
of the enemy. They crawl through the halls and offices
until they find a computer. They are so small that
they enter the computer through slots and shut down
electronic circuits. Another way to damage
the hardware is a special breed of microbes. We
know that they can eat oil, what about if they were
bred for eating silizium? They would destroy all
integrated circuits in a computer lab, a site, a
building, a town.......
Electronic jamming
In the old days (and
even today) electronic jamming was used to block
communications channels at the enemy's equipment
so that they can't receive any information. The
next step is not to block their traffic, but instead
overwhelm them with incorrect information. This
type of disinformation can also be combined with
the possibilities described in the section "soft
war"
HERF Guns - EMP Bombs
HERF stands for High
Energy Radio Frequency. HERF guns are able to shoot
a high power radio signal at an electronic target
and put it out of function. The damage can be moderate
(e.g. that a system shuts down, but can be restarted)
or severe (e.g. the system hardware has been physically
damaged). Electronic circuits are more vulnerable
to overload that most people would suspect.
This mechanism uses HERF guns with big success.
In essence, HERF guns are nothing but radio transmitters.
They send a concentrated radio signal to the target.
The target can be a mainframe inside a business
building, an entire network in a building, or as
today's planes and cars are stuffed with electronic
equipment, the target can even be a moving vehicle
with all the inherent dangers for the people who
are inside. EMP stands for electromagnetic pulse.
The source can be a nuclear or a non-nuclear detonation.
It can be used by special forces teams who infiltrate
the enemy's and detonate a device near their electronic
devices. It destroys the electronics of all computer
and communication systems in a quite large area.
The EMP bomb can be smaller than a HERF gun to cause
a similar amount of damage and is typically used
to damage not a single target (not aiming in one
direction) but to damage all equipment near the
bomb.
Also see Authenticated
Payment Program (SET), Clipper
Chip, Cookies,
Cryptolope,
Data
Encryption Standard (DES), Encryption, Firewall,
Kerberos,
Secure
Socket Layer (SSL), and WebLedger.
Bob Jensen's
main documents on e-Commerce e-Business (including
security) are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ecommerce.htm
I added a Special
Section to the document entitled "Opportunities
of E-Business Assurance: Risks in Assuring
Risk" at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ecommerce/assurance.htm
For more information
about fraud, information warfare, and security,
go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud.htm
Sega = (See Games)
Senses = Bob Jensen's threads
on computing technologies for sight, sound, touch,
smell, and taste are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/senses.htm
Sequence = A combination of events
executed in a predetermined order.
Server = A computer that shares
its resources, such as printers and files, with
other computers on the network. An example of this
is a Network File System (NFS) server which shares
its disk space with other computers. Especially
see the concept of a shell.
Set-top box = A digital device that will sit on top of or inside a television set and provide
the digital processing necessary to support interactive
network services (video-on-demand, network placing
of purchase orders, database access, etc.) in the
early phases of the information highway. Eventually
PCTVs will probably replace set-top box processors.
(See also CD-Stand
Alone and Information
highway)
SGI = Silicon Graphics,
Inc., 2011 North Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View, CA,
94039-7311. This company
manufactures high-end graphics work stations such
as its Indy line for hypermedia, video, and 3-D
graphics rendering. Some software vendors such as
Information International write software for SGI
workstations. These are among the best of the professional
options for generating videographics and virtual
realities, but they come at a high price for hardware,
software, and technical help to obtain and maintain
an SGI workstation. Software for SGI and other Unix-based
workstations costs much more, "often 10 times
the price of equivalent software for high-volume
platforms like MPC---and much of it is extremely
vertical in nature" says Spanbauer
(1993b), p. 42. SGI now has a low-end multimedia
workstation starting at under $5,000, The Sun Microsystems
SPARClassic M (under $5,000) and 10SX (over $15,000)
are designed to compete with the SGI Indago line
for multimedia computing. Beware that buying an
SGI computer such as the Indy for less than $5,000
is analogous to buying an automobile without a transmission,
wheels, and other essential components. For example,
the hard drive and monitor are not included at the
$5,000 price. Lindy (1994)
says the price of a complete Indy system rises to
$27,600. He compares features of the Quadra 840AV
with the more expensive and faster SGI Indy and
finds that the Quadra 840AV performs as well or
better in most instances for a lot less money for
hardware and software. The SGI Indy competes with
NewTek's Video Toaster and Apple AV competitors,
but should not be confused with the more extensive
concept of network video server. (See also Video server,
Amiga,
Apple
AV, PowerPC,
SUN
and Unix)
SGML = The abbreviation for
Standard Generalized Markup
Language, SGML is an international standard
for the publication and delivery of electronic information.
Shared Memory =
"Before Going to Buy High-Tech Devices, Learn the New
Terms," by Walter S. Mossberg, The Wall Street
Journal, November 16, 2006; Page B1 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/personal_technology.html
Shared Memory: A computer configuration in which the video
circuitry lacks its own dedicated memory and must
share, or drain off, a portion of the computer's
main memory. This is common in lower-price computers.
It's fine, but it reduces the amount of memory available
to the nonvideo functions of the computer, so you
may want to add extra memory to a PC of this type.
Shareware = This term refers to software that is available on public networks and BBSs.
Users are asked to remit a small amount to the software
developer, but it's on the honor system.
Shel = web server/client software focused on storage, delivery,
and course management. This software facilitates
server/client networking that allows for student
record keeping, test grading, etc. Unlike
high-end authoring software, courseware shells have
utilities for creating network listservs, bulletin
boards, chat rooms, electronic forums, telephony,
etc. These shells also facilitate lesson authoring
in virtually all of the high-end authoring software
listed above. Some courseware shells
have more authoring capabilities than others, although
none have the full authoring capabilties of the
high-end authoring systems.
Silent Meeting = (See Virtual.)
SIMM = Single In-line
Memory Module plug-in memory module
containing all the chips needed to add blocks of
RAM to a computer. At the present time, it is not
uncommon to pay in the neighborhood of $200 for
each 16mb of RAM added to computers. (See also RAM)
Simulation = Computer generated or enhanced emulation of real world happenings. In the
early days of computing simulation was largely a
numerical modeling of factory operations, weather
systems, planetary movements, etc. The advent of
flight simulation ushered in physical reproductions
of reality that gave the look and feel of being
in a real world happening such as landing an aircraft
at night in simulated airports around the world
or simulated combat situations. Modern day multimedia
computing has ushered in countless applications
of visual as well as numerical modeling simulations.
The high end technology for simulation today is
virtual reality. (See also Virtual
Reality)
Single-session recording = The older CD-ROM standard, where all data you intend to put on a disk must
be recorded in one session rather than in several
different sessions over time. (See also CD-R)
Skype --- see Instant Messaging
SLIP = Serial Line Internet Protocol
that allows users in selected parts of the world
to access the Internet via modems and phone lines
if they are not directly connected to the Internet
system of worldwide networks. There are specialized
SLIP firms plus some of the more general firms such
as Delphi and CompuServe. Unlike
direct connections, however, SLIP interfacings normally
have usage fees based upon timing and extent of
usage. (See also ISP, PIP, and Modem)
Smart agent = A utility for scanning Internet resources and collecting files pertinent
to selected interests. This also includes screen
savers that collect information (e.g., news is downloaded
at assigned intervals on the Pointcast screen saver
at <http://www.pointcast.com/>). (See also
XML and
Search
engine)
Smart card = a credit card with an embedded microchip that contains extensive information.
Smart cards are presently used for telephone cards,
health cards, pay TV, banking, GSM Global System
for Mobile communications,
and other cellular/satellite telephones. Smart cards
can hold encrypted secure data transferred in from
a personal computer. The future appears to be unlimited
for secure smart cards.
SMIL = (See HTML)
S/MIME = (See Internet
Messaging).
SMS = (See Below)
Question
What are the meanings of the terms SMS and Zlango
The newest
language for mobile text messaging looks like hieroglyphics
and sounds like a caveman. The language is Zlango,
and its creators aim to inject whimsy and emotion
into text messaging while reducing the number of
keystrokes needed to get the point across. "SMS
is the driest of all forms of communication,"
Zlango founder and Chief Executive Officer Yoav
Lorch told UPI. "SMS," short for "short
messaging service," is how much of the rest
of the world refers to text messaging.
"Me little late meeting sorry sorry,"
PhysOrg, June 28, 2006 --- http://www.physorg.com/news70640782.html
SMITS = Self-Monitoring Intelligent Tutoring
System for computer-aided instruction of
accounting information systems. SMITS was developed
with an NCAIR grant by Professors Glen L. Gray and
L. Richard Ye at California
State University
at Northridge. See Gray (1994).
SMTP = (See Internet
Messaging).
Socket = This is a communication
mechanism originally implemented on the BSD version
of the UNIX operating system. Sockets are used as
endpoints for sending and receiving data between
computers. A SSL (secure socket layer) is a secured
security socket that controls data flows into and
out of a socket for security purposes. (Also see
Security
and Internet
Messaging).
Solaris = (See Unix)
Sonet = Synchronized
Optical Network that is now operational
on 155 Mb per second fiber optic cable between major
cities in the United States. This forms
the AT&T Corporation backbone for asynchronous
transfer mode (ATM) switching and transmission of
voice, video, graphics, and data. (See also Information
highway, Fiber optic,
and Networks)
Sound Blaster compatible = (See MCI)
Sound board = A hardware insert for computers that allows mono or stereo audio (e.g., from
cassette players, microphones, and television audio
tracks) to be sent to computer speakers "on
the fly" and/or to be captured as computer
files such aswav and voc files for
PC computers. The wav file extensions run on Microsoft
MCI standards and the voc files run on Soundblaster
sound boards from Creative Labs. Hardware options
are reviewed in the NewMedia
1996 Tool Guide. Software (audio editing) options
are reviewed in the NewMedia 1996 Tool Guide. When available,
it is often better to have audio hardware on the
motherboard rather than as a board added to a computer's
expansion slot. (See also DSP)
Sound recording = (See Sound board)
Sparc = A class of Unix-based
workstations from Sun Microsystems, Inc., 2550 Garcia Ave., Mountain
View, CA 94305.
These are common in Unix-based networks. (See also
SUN)
Speech recognition = The ability of the
computer to interpret speech or other audio commands
along with keyboard, mouse, and joystick commands.
Bob
Jensen's Threads on Speech Recognition and Conversations
With Computers (Audio Portals) --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/speech.htm
Mac Voice Recognition
"Talking to Macs,"
Walter Mossbert, The Wall Street Journal,
January 13, 2005; Page B4 --- http://online.wsj.com/
Q: I have been a longtime user of voice-recognition software on my
Windows PC and would like to use this type of program
if I switch to a Mac. Does anyone make a worthwhile
speech-recognition product for Mac?
A: Every Mac comes with built-in speech-recognition features that
allow users to issue certain commands to the computer
verbally. In addition, there are speech-recognition
programs for the Mac that allow users to dictate
text to the computer as well as issue verbal commands.
For instance, there is a Mac version of the IBM
ViaVoice speech-recognition program, familiar to
Windows users. More information is at scansoft.com/viavoice/mac/.
And a small software company, MacSpeech, makes a
speech-recognition program called iListen. More
information is at www.macspeech.com. There may be others as well. However, I
haven't tested any of these, so I can't say how
well they work or which is best.
How good are cell phones
that automatically convert speech into text?
Phone makers
have tried to solve this (cell phone
text entry) problem
by squeezing little keyboards into the bodies of
some phones. But these keyboards usually make phones
bigger and bulkier than normal, and often show up
only on costlier models, like the Treo or BlackBerry.
This week, my assistant Katie Boehret and I tested
a new phone that attempts to solve the text-entry
problem in a novel way that doesn't involve typing,
and can be used on a small, inexpensive phone with
just a numerical keypad. This new phone lets you
dictate your text messages by just speaking into
the phone. The Samsung p207, $79.99 with a two-year
contract from Cingular Wireless, has built-in "speech-to-text"
technology: It turns what you say into text on the
screen. This technology, called VoiceMode, was created
by a small Massachusetts company called VoiceSignal Technologies
Inc. If it works properly, VoiceMode should make
composing a text message as simple as dictating
a voice-mail message. Unfortunately, it doesn't
work very well. In our tests, the system made so
many errors requiring tedious corrections that it
might have been faster for us to peck out our messages
the old-fashioned way -- especially if we used the
abbreviations and shorthand phrases so common among
text-messaging fans.
Walter Mossberg, "A Phone That Takes
Dictation: Testing Voice-to-Text Function,"
The Wall Street Journal, April 27, 2005;
Page D4 --- http://online.wsj.com/
"Just talk to me,"
The Economist, December 6, 2001 --- http://www.economist.com/
Speech recognition:
At long last, speech is becoming an important interface
between man and machine. In the process, it is helping
to slash costs in business, create new services
on the Internet, and make cars a lot safer and easier
to drive
In the early
days of computing, information was put into computers
by flipping switches. After this came the relative
sophistication of loading programs and data by means
of punched cards or punched paper-tape. These were
followed in their turn by such devices as the keyboard,
the mouse, the trackball, the joystick, the touchpad
and the touch-sensitive screen. Throughout all this,
speech-the most natural, and perhaps the most effective,
interface between people and computers-has remained
largely neglected. Apart from some modest developments
in software for desktop dictation in the 1990s,
the only time most people have talked to their computers
has been when cursing them.
All this
is changing. Already, speech recognition is a not-uncommon
feature at the call-centres of telephone companies,
financial-service providers and airlines in the
United
States. In Japan
and Europe, meanwhile, speech
recognition is being adapted for use as a hands-free
input device for motor cars.
Technologies
such as automatic speech recognition (ASR), speaker
verification and text-to-speech generators (see
article) are catching on fast. They promise to deliver access
to information and services anytime and anywhere
that there is telephone. With more than 1 billion
phones in the world and new subscribers being added
to the global networks at double-digit rates, the
enthusiasm is understandable. What is really driving
the enthusiasm for the technology is not just that
people are used to talking over telephones and so
need little encouragement or training. They have
also proved themselves willing to pay a premium
for such services.
Continued at http://www.economist.com/
From SyllabusNews
on August 16, 2002
DePaul Develops
Sign Language Translator
A team of
faculty and students at DePaul
University's School of Computer Science has created a computer-generated
synthetic interpreter capable of translating spoken
English into American Sign Language (ASL). The program,
dubbed "Paula," uses speech recognition
and sophisticated animation. Using the system, a
hearing person speaks through a headset connected
to the computer. The animated figure of Paula then
translates intoASL through hand gestures and facial
expressions on the computer screen. The project
required four years and more than 25,000 hours worth
of work by the project team. "Most people are
not aware that ASL is not simply a signed form of
English," said Rosalee Wolfe, professor of
computer science at DePaul and one of the leaders
of the research team. "It is a series of hand
configurations, hand positions, body positions and
movement and facial expressions that are used in
certain specific combinations. Hence, creating an
animated translator is a very intricate and detailed
process."
For more information,
visit: http://asl.cs.depaul.edu
To date, vocabulary limitations
and other problems make this a less than perfect
option for authoring at the moment. However, technology
seems to be adequate for major companies like American
Express, UPS, Schwab & Co., and other companies
to move from "curious novelty to strategic
technology" according to Mary Thyfault in "Voice
Recognition Enters the Mainstream" in Information
Week, July 14, 1997, p. 20. These companies
intend to have computers respond to customer voices.
For example, using technology developed by Nuance,
Scwab & Co. introduced the "Voice Broker"
that responds to telephone requests for market price
quotations and other investment information. American
Express uses voice recognition for travel services.
The ability to talk directly with a computer was
anticipated years ago in Star Trek television shows
and with the supercomputer named HAL in the popular
film "2001 Space Odyssey". Eventually
speech recognition will be commonplace when using
both large and small computers. Apple Corporation
led the way in speech recognition, but the gap has
been closed between Mac and PC users. The latest
excitement in software that will recognize normal
(continuous) speaking speeds is Dragon's Naturally
Speaking fromhttp://www.dragonsys.com/.
Other options such as Voice Assist from Creative
Labs (800-998-1000) are available for PCs. However,
the leading and most reliable PC software at the
time of this writing are Naturally Speaking
from Dragon and VoicePlus ViaVoice Simply Speaking
Software from IBM Corporation.
VoiceType sells for less than $100 and had 94% accuracy
rate in tests reported in Consumer Reports,
July 1997, p. 6. Another competitor (Kurzweil VoiceCommands)
only had a 72% accuracy in the same tests, although
VoicePad did receive the Software Publishers Association's
Award for the "Best New Software Program of
the Year" in 1997. Older links for discrete
(non-continuous) speaking recognition include IBM's VoiceType and
AVRI's
SpeechCommander. Microsoft has Speech
Dictation software. Siemens
Business Communication also has products on
speech recognition. One product from Siemens is
ComManager telephony and call accounting software.
Microsoft Agent can be downloaded
free from http://www.microsoft.com/workshop/imedia/agent/agentdl.asp
(See also Text reading
and Disabilities
products)
For applications of speech
recognition see TRACI Talk: The Mystery
and Let's
go Read! An Island Adventure. Islip Media
Inc. in Pittsburgh offers a speech recognition search engine for video libraries.
It is costly, howver, at $50,000 for a 50 user license.
The Islip
web site is at http://www.islip.com/
Probably the most exciting
thing this week is the featured speech recognition
software on the PBS television show called Computer
Chronicles. This show was a summer re-run
of the Computers Without Keyboards show summarized
at http://www.cmptv.com
There were various demonstrations,
including almost flawless letter dictation using
Dragon's Naturally Speaking. You simply say
"new paragraph," "comma," or
other accepted commands, including correction comments
such as a command to change "two" to "too."
The Dragon Naturally Speaking software and other
leading speech recognition websites are given at
http://www.trinity.edu/~rjensen/245glosf.htm#Speech1
But everything else on
the show paled in comparison to the BeVocal demonstration
of how you can call a free long distance number
and interact by phone with a virtual woman at http://www.bevocal.com/index.html
It's the
only way to get FREE driving directions, traffic
reports, weather forecasts, business locations,
flight information, stock quotes, and more by phone.
Just call 1-800-4-BVOCAL, speak up, and get what
you need.
What is impressive is
the fact that you can interrupt the virtual woman
and ask her to repeat herself or spell words like
names of city streets. You can also ask for
current delays due to construction or traffic at
the moment.
- You can "barge
in" by saying commands anytime; you don't
have to wait until the end to speak.
- Some BeVocal commands
can be said anytime. That is, they can be used
in any BeVocal service. Voice commands you can
say anytime are: BeVocal Home, BeVocal
Tips, BeVocal Driving Directions, BeVocal
Traffic, BeVocal Flight Information,
BeVocal Weather, BeVocal Stock Quotes,
Pause, Repeat, What Are My Choices?,
and Goodbye.
- Other commands
are specific to individual BeVocal services.
What is important
to educators and librarians is not this particular
virtual woman and this particular application with
a knowledge base on the above topics. What
is important is that this demonstrates the future
of education and training of the 21st Century.
Suppose you really do not know how to account for
a cross-currency swap using a EURIBOR index.
Someday it will be possible to dial up (from a hand-held
phone which will also be a wireless computer) and
listen to a detailed interactive tutorial that walks
you through your particular problem (where you feed
in your own particular parameters). You will
be able to "barge in" when you don't understand
something, ask for definitions, ask for diagrams,
ask for history, ask for examples, ask for current
index levels, etc. One day in the future you
will also be able to do the same thing when trying
to understand passages from Hamlet or Bob Jensen's
muddled up theory paper at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/315wp/315wp.htm
As educators, we have
a responsibility to begin to organize the academy
to design speech-recognition knowledge bases for
BeVocal types of education and training.
The flip side of "speech
recognition" is "text reading" conversion
of written text into audio. The pioneer in this
technology is Bell Labs at http://www.islip.com/.
That Bell Labs web site has some wonderful demonstrations
of this technology. (See Text reading.)
Information Week on May 10, 1999, Page 26 elaborates its notices that SpeechWorks International has speech recognition
modules for ERP systems. For example, these
modules can now be deployed in SAP. See http://www.speechworks.com/
.
Added on March 5, 2001
Send voice messages.
Impress and freak out
your friends, family, or business associates by
sending mass robotic phone messages (you choose
the voice, male or female!) to up to fifty people
via email, your PDA, or your WAP-enabled phone --
courtesy of ImBot, "your Internet messaging
robot." Just sign up for the demo, and send
up to three messages, free. --- http://www.imbot.com/
Added June 27, 1999 ---
The June 27 broadcast of the Dynamic Duo had some
helpful information to pass on to the world.
I like the way the Duo is willing to tell it like
it is from the standpoint of user friendliness and
reliability. The web site for the Duo is at
http://www.digitalduo.com/ .
The lead segment was
on the state of speech recognition. Speech
recognition has come a long way in a short time.
It is especially wonderful for persons who cannot
use keyboards for one reason or another. Dragon
Systems Naturally Speaking Mobile is an award winning
pocket-size recorder --- see http://www.dragonsys.com/products/naturallyspeaking/mobile/index.html
.
A major advantage of
speech recognition is that audio files are recorded
on the fly. This would be great product for
me since I usually videotape conference presentations
and student presentations. My beleaguered
secretary spends over half her time transcribing
the audio into text. It would be wonderful
if I could bypass her by recording directly into
my Dragon Mobile. The Dynamic Duo, however,
reports that this will probably not be possible
until speech recognition gets much better.
Although the time it takes to "train the system"
on a particular voice such as my own voice has been
reduced from two hours to 30 minutes, it is not
likely that each speaker at a conference will want
to speak into my recorder for 30 minutes prior to
his or her presentation. Even when the Dragon
Mobile is properly trained, the Dynamic Duo found
an average of one error in 20 words --- and
that is an average number. When there is ambient
noise the error rate explodes. Recording from
a distance such as 15 feet greatly increases error rates. I think
I will wait for a while before going Dragon Mobile.
You can find links to other speech recognition vendors
at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/245glosf.htm#Speech1
L&H Voice Xpress
Professional has some key advantages over leading
voice recognition software according to Jeff Angus
in "Balanced Skills Make Voice Xpress a Winner,"
in Information Week, August 23, 1999, pp.
56-59. The online version is at http://www.informationweek.com/749/voice.htm.
One of the advantages is that voice training is
only takes about a third as much time as the training
required for Dragon Systems. Another advantage
is integration with Office 2000 products, especially
Internet Explorer 5.0. You can dictate Office
2000 instructions by voice. Jeff Angus states
the following
With about
eight hours of use, Voice Xpress worked well enough
for me to prefer it to typing. With 12 hours of
use (work and training) it's a hands-down winner.
Voice Xpress
still requires more help from me than I'd like recognizing
Windows and application commands. Even going to
the Voice Xpress toolbar and clicking the button
that tells the utility to expect a command doesn't
guarantee it will recognize my command every time.
In terms
of desktop applications, Voice Xpress works best
with Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, both text-intensive
processes. I struggled a little bit to have it work
with my spreadsheet, and while it occasionally pulled
the correct set of format and numbers ($1,287, for
example) out of a string of spoken input, this complex
task requires more training. Users who work extensively
with spreadsheets may find the payback time quick
enough.
The web site for Voice
Xpress is at http://wemark.com/oivl.html.
The base price is $149. Beware that you should
not even think about this product without 96 Mb
of RAM with Windows 98 and 128 Mb of Ram with Windows
NT. I think I will wait for this product to
be a bit more user friendly. When there's
a Voice Xpress for Dummies I will be the first in
line.
December 1999 Update
Update on speech technologies --- http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,2409293,00.html
Dragon
Systems Inc. has begun previewing its new AudioMining
speech technology, which will enable users to search
and retrieve audio and streaming media content on
the Web.
The AudioMining
technology converts audio data into text, which
can then be accessed by keyword searches, company
officials said. That saves time and helps users
be more productive because they don't need to listen
to entire recordings to find information, they added.
Dragon demonstrated
the technology for the first time at the Giga Showcase
for Innovative IT Solutions earlier this month (December
1999) in Palm
Desert, Calif., and conference participants voted it Best Overall Winner, Most
Innovative Product, Best Business Application Potential
and Highest-Quality Demonstration.
From New Media on July 19, 2001
SpeechGenie --- http://www.voicegenie.com
Gateway
Platform Allows VoiceXML Based Access To Web Info
SpeechGenie
is a turnkey deployment platform that allows corporations
or service providers to enable their customers to
access their applications and Web data via phone;
i.e., customers can dial phone numbers, and by speaking
commands into their phones, can access Web information
and perform transactions, or manage their e-mail
or personal information.
SpeechGenie
is composed of a combination of hardware and software
technology from both VoiceGenie and SpeechWorks.
The product provides for the corporation and its
developers a VoiceXML-based platform allowing them
to create voice-activated (both speech recognition
and TTS - Text-To-Speech - responses) interfaces
to their Web applications or information.
VoiceGenie
provides the VoiceGenie VoiceXML Interpreter (a
100% VoiceXML compliant tool that allows for the
processing of VoiceXML scripts), and the VoiceGenie
Telephony Software, which manages the ASR/TTS call
channels.
SpeechWorks,
on the other hand, provides the SpeechWorks OpenSpeech
DialogModules, which provide developers with a collection
of common reusable components for the creation of
speech recognition interfaces; the SpeechWorks SMARTRecognizer
ASR Version 7 for speech recognition chores; and
the SpeechWorks Speechify TTS engine.
A key feature
of SpeechGenie noted by the vendor is "...extensive
OA&M (operations, administration and maintenance)..."
capabilities through support for SNMP, Web and console
interfaces, etc., allowing admins to monitor the
status of the system and identify and diagnose faults
or performance problems.
SpeechGenie
is available now, with introductory pricing (through
September 15, 2001) of $20,000.
"Software Called
Capable of Copying Any Human Voice," by Lisa
Guernsey, The New York Times, July 31, 2001
--- http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/31/technology/31VOIC.html
AT&T
(news/quote) Labs will start selling speech software
that it says is so good at reproducing the sounds,
inflections and intonations of a human voice that
it can recreate voices and even bring the voices
of long-dead celebrities back to life. The software,
which turns printed text into synthesized speech,
makes it possible for a company to use recordings
of a person's voice to utter things that the person
never actually said.
The software,
called Natural Voices, is not flawless - its utterances
still contain a few robotic tones and unnatural
inflections - and competitors question whether the
software is a substantial step up from existing
products. But some of those who have tested the
technology say it is the first text-to-speech software
to raise the specter of voice cloning, replicating
a person's voice so perfectly that the human ear
cannot tell the difference.
"If
ABC wanted to use Regis Philbin's voice for all
of its automated customer-service calls, it could,"
said Lawrence R. Rabiner, vice president for AT&T
Labs Research.
Potential
customers for the software, which is priced in the
thousands of dollars, include telephone call centers,
companies that make software that reads digital
files aloud, and makers of automated voice devices.
From Syllabus e-News
on October 9, 2001:
U. Texas
Med Center Institutes Speech Recognition
The University
of Texas's Southwestern Medical
Center is offering a speech
recognition service enabling callers to say the
name of the employee, physician, department, clinic,
or study they are trying to reach and connect to
an appropriate number. The service uses SpeechSite
speech recognition technology from SpeechWorks International,
Inc., and helps university operators, who field
calls for about 75,000 patients annually, work with
callers with more complex needs. The Center said
more than 60 percent of all calls are now automated
using the system, which resides on server in the
data center and uses employee information from its
human resources management system. In the near future,
the system will be expanded to recognize Spanish-speaking
callers.
For more
information, visit: http://www.speechworks.com
See Also Text Reading
that translates written text into
voice audio.
Semantic Interpretation
for Speech Recognition http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/WD-semantic-interpretation-20011116/
This document
defines the process of Semantic Interpretation for
Speech Recognition and the syntax and semantics
of semantic interpretation tags that can be added
to speech recognition grammars to compute information
to return to an application on the basis of rules
and tokens that were matched by the speech recognizer.
In particular, it defines the syntax and semantics
of the contents of Tags
in the Speech Recognition Grammar Specification.
Semantic
Interpretation may be useful in combination with
other specifications, such as the Stochastic
Language Models (N-Gram) Specification, but
their use with N-grams has not yet been studied.
Although
the results of semantic interpretation are describing
the meaning of a natural language utterance, the
current specification does not specifically generate
such information in the Natural Language Semantics Markup Language
for the Speech Interface Framework. It is believed
that semantic interpretation can produce information
that can be encoded in the NL Semantics Markup Language,
but this is not ensured or enforced.
"The Last Word in
Dictation. Period," by David Pogue, The New
York Times, January 24. 2002 --- http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/24/technology/circuits/24STAT.html
Copytalk
is a glorified dictation service. From any phone,
you dial Copytalk's toll-free number. At the tone,
you dictate, for example, an e-mail message. Between
3 and 20 minutes later, the message you dictated
is sent on its merry way across the Internet (with
or without your review, at your option), looking
exactly as if it came from your desktop PC.
The system
relies on the world's most sophisticated speech-recognition
system: a person wearing headphones. Because you're
simply leaving a message for a transcriptionist,
the results are far more accurate, and the system
far more flexible, than you would get using speech-recognition
software like NaturallySpeaking.
You might
say, for example: "O.K., this e-mail's going
out to Bill G., that's B-I-L-L G, at Microsoft.com.
The subject is Windows XP, and the body is, let's
see: `Dear Bill, Thanks for Windows XP.' No wait,
make that, `Thanks a bunch for Windows XP.' Then,
going on: `It's incompatible with my virus software,
my printer and my wife. Can you fix it? Sincerely,
Frank.' Oh, and also CC it to Steve B. at Microsoft.com.
And I'd like to review it before you send it."
In other
words, you dictate precisely as you would to a personal
assistant. Copytalk says that its transcriptionists
even try to correct spelling, grammar and muddled
ZIP codes, which they check against the city information
in addresses that you dictate.
If you have
a Palm-based organizer, Copytalk gets even more
interesting. You can dictate anything you can store
on your organizer: datebook appointments, to-do
items, memos, expense-report items, addresses and
phone numbers and so on. In the process you can
exploit the full range of Palm software features.
You might say, for example, "I want a new appointment,
called `Gadget-obsession therapy,' repeating every
Monday, Wednesday and Thursday at 2:30 p.m., through
May 30. Give me an alarm 20 minutes in advance.
Oh, and attach a note to this appointment that has
the phone number: Technophiles Anonymous, (212)
555-4433."
A Palm-savvy
transcriptionist at Copytalk takes all of this down.
The next time you sync your organizer with your
Windows PC, the Copytalk software connects to the
Internet and downloads the freshly transcribed material.
A minute later the new appointment appears on the
appropriate days, as though you had scratched it
in yourself.
If your
cellphone is your organizer (because it's a hybrid
from Samsung, Handspring or Kyocera), or if you
have equipped your organizer with some kind of modem
and Palm's Mobile Internet Kit, life is even better:
the new entries are entered into its calendar, address
book, to-do list and so on, computerlessly.
If you're
calling from a number that the service doesn't recognize
or from an office whose phone system uses extension
numbers, you have to plug in your phone number and
password to prove that you're you.
But when
you dial the service from your cellphone or home,
the service immediately recognizes you and prompts
you to begin dictating. That's when Copytalk begins
to take on a life of its own, turning your phone
into something like a magic voice recorder. You
press Copytalk's speed-dial number on your phone,
the call is answered before even one ring, and you're
ready to dictate - all within five seconds.
On your
cab ride back from a conference, for example, you
can rattle off the contact info from the business
cards that rained on you - and then throw them away.
Recording business-travel expenses is another big
payoff: it's hard to forget to bill your boss for
some expenditure if you record it by voice while
you're still expending.
The Copytalk Website
is at http://www.copytalk.com/index.htm
A new breed of customer
service agents will be so attentive to your needs
that you'll never guess you're talking to software.
"Are You Being Served?"
by Joe Nickell, MIT's Technology Review,
March 15, 2002 --- http://www.techreview.com/articles/nickell031502.asp
Somehow
it seems the more businesses cater to customers
through the use of new technologies, the harder
it is to get good service. It's hard to find a company
of any size today that answers its phone or e-mail
without first sending customers through a maze of
touch-tone menus or voice prompts-"voice hell"
always a 1-800 number away. Then there are online
customer support centers: soulless lists of frequently
asked questions, hyperlinked conceptual puzzles
and unintuitive search engines that never quite
answer the question at hand. "What customers
very often end up wanting is an F-U button,"
jokes Dr. Rosalind Picard, an associate professor
at MIT whose research examines the role of emotions
in human-computer interactions.
Undaunted,
technology providers and their corporate clients
are pushing toward a future in which an increasing
percentage of customer inquiries can be handled
automatically and, hopefully, with better results.
They aim to build so-called "service bots"-software-hardware
hybrid systems that understand spoken or written
English (or any other dialect or language preferred
by the customer), interpret vague or broad queries,
possess a thorough understanding of both the company's
products and the customer's past interactions, and
speak or write answers in an intelligible, context-
and emotion-sensitive fashion. The necessary skill
set for the perfect service bot demands several
interdependent layers of technology: voice recognition
modules, natural language understanding engines,
artificial intelligence for data extraction and
text-to-speech synthesizers.
Customers
should like these new bots because they would be
faster, more accurate and more consistent than live
service agents, providing personalized interactions
managed across any medium, available any time of
the day. Companies will line up for the new technology
in order to fend off ever-rising customer service
costs and catastrophic call-center employee turn-over
rates.
That's the
premise, anyway. It may all sound pie-in-the-sky,
but numerous technology companies, as well as research
centers at leading academic institutions, are hammering
away at the challenges of building a better service
bot. The first generation is already here. Ford
Motor Company employs a chatty online bot named
Ernie, built by San Francisco-based NativeMinds,
who helps technicians at its network of dealerships
diagnose car problems and order parts. IBM's Lotus
software division employs a service bot from Support.com
that can examine a user's software, diagnose problems
and fix them by uploading patches to the user's
computer-without any necessary intervention by human
tech support personnel.
And in an
odd twist, Electronic Arts has built an entire game,
called Majestic, around service bot technology built
by San Francisco-based developer eGain. Majestic
carries players through a complex, multi-media episodic
mystery. Players receive clues and information via
pager, fax, e-mail, Web sites and even telephone
calls. eGain's service bot keeps track of player
information such as what clues they've collected
and how they have reacted. The software can handle
100,000 simultaneous player interactions.
But given
the lousy track record of automated customer service
so far, consumers have reason to be skeptical of
this new generation of talking machines. Confusing
or insufficient menu choices, lack of personalization,
outdated or insufficient responses and failure to
carry over punched-in account information to conversations
with live reps rank at the top of consumer complaints
about automated customer service systems today.
Almost 40 percent of Americans press zero whenever
they encounter an automated answering system, rather
than waiting to hear the menu options, according
to a study conducted in 1998 by the Center for Client
Retention.
So will
service bots truly give us better service, or will
they simply allow companies to reinforce the walls
between themselves and customers? Can we really
hope for a better-than-human service bot? And, is
it realistic to expect companies to deploy tomorrow's
automated systems any better than they deploy today's?
"I
don't think it's possible to even imagine a generic
customer service [bot] that can handle any kind
of question in any industry," says Joe Bigus,
leader of the Agent Building and Learning Environment
(ABLE) project at IBM Research. Bigus' research
group has recently produced a toolkit that allows
developers to build small software agents-programs
that gather information and perform duties automatically-in
Java. The toolkit consists of software code that
provides baked-in machine learning capabilities
and a set of instructions for customizing the software
agents with specific domain knowledge. This allows
developers to design any number of discreet agents
that possess specialized knowledge and problem-solving
capabilities; the agents can even interact with
one another when faced with a complex problem.
By facilitating
the deployment of a number of small, specialized
software agents-rather than one massively complex
agent-this approach mimicks the way human resources
are managed: customer service agents at Sony aren't
all trained to understand every product from audio
cassettes to digital video cameras. Instead, small
groups of service agents are given specific products
to understand thoroughly.
Continued at http://www.techreview.com/articles/nickell031502.asp
See Also Text Reading
that translates written text into
voice audio.
Sprite = An independent graphic
object that moves freely across the screen.
SSA = Serial Storage Architecture,
along with its FC-AL Fibre Channel alterative, that
offer huge bandwidth networking schemes that operate
within an Eithernet network. Shared discs in SSA
or FC-AL systems can be operated over networks as
fast as hard drives on a local computer. Furthermore,
the connecting cables are "thin" relative
to traditional SCSI connection cables. Whjile Ultra-Wide
SCSI has a 40Mbps maximum bandwidth, SSA offers
80 MBps and FC-AL goes up to 100 MBps. SSA is fully
duplex with two cables to devices. One advantage
of SSA is that if a connected device fails, the
entire loop does not fail since SSA does not require
a hub. Over time, SSA systems and FC-AL will probably
replace SCSI systems. See also SCSI.
SSL = (See Socket.
Also see Internet
Messaging.)
Stand-alone = (See CD-Stand
Alone)
Star topology = A network configuration
where each node is connected by a single cable link
to a central location, called the hub.
Still video camera = (See Dry camera)
Streaming = (See Web Streaming)
Structured = This adjective describes how data are stored and used at companies. Travel
agents, for example, type information into designated
spaces on electronic forms on their computer screens
that are connected to database programs. That structures,
or categorizes, the information so it can be searched
and sorted using such criteria as a customer's name
or destination. The Web, in contrast, stores data
in an unstructured way that limits the kinds of
searches that can be performed.
Structured Query Language
= (See Relational
database management.)
Student response pads = Hand-held wireless audience response pads which allow
individual answers or group frequency responses
to be immediately displayed in front of the class.
The pads themselves must be separately purchased.
HyperGraphics is the only CMS vendor that sells
response pads with built in CMS software utilities.
Barry Rice at Loyola College in Maryland performs
Multimedia ToolBook authoring with student response
pads for accounting applications in a Windows environment.
See also Remote control
and Electronic
classroom)
Studio classroom = An application of computer technology pioneered by Jack M. Wilson at Rensselaer
Polytechnical Institute for replacing large lecture
courses with students working in pairs in front
of computer screens where they interactively tackle
problems and issues rather than listen to or passively
watch lectures in front of a mass lecture section.
The only lecture comes at the beginning and end
of class where the instructor commences or wraps
up the learning session. The "studio"
is a combination lab and electronic classroom.
Dr. Wilson serves as
the President of the University of Massachusetts
system. He had been serving as the Vice President
for Academic Affairs of the University of Massachusetts
System and is the founding Chief Executive Officer
(CEO) of UMassOnline,
the University of Massachusetts Virtual University.
As Vice president he was responsible for the coordination
of the academic programs in research and teaching
throughout the five campus system. As CEO of UMassOnline
he worked with the five physical campuses, Amherst,
Lowell, Boston, Worcester, and Dartmouth to provide
online access to the programs of the University
of Massachusetts.
Jack Wilson was one of
the early pioneers in education technologies and
learning. He is now CEO and founder of UMass
Online .
Dr. Wilson,
also known as an entrepreneur, was the Founder (along
with Degerhan Usluel and Mark Bernstein), first
President, and only Chairman of LearnLinc Corporation (now Mentergy), a supplier of software systems
for corporate training to Fortune 1000 Corporations.
In early 2000. LearnLinc merged
with Gilat Communications,
(GICOF) which also acquired
Allen Communication
from the Times Mirror group. The Gilat-Allen-LearnLinc
combination forms a powerful "one stop shopping"
resource for E*Learning that is now the Mentergy
unit of Gilat Communications. (The LearnLinc Story).
Dr Wilson
was the J. Erik Jonsson '22 Distinguished Professor
of Physics, Engineering Science, Information Technology,
and Management and the Co-director of the Severino
Center for Technological Entrepreneurship at Rensselaer.
After coming to Rensselaer in 1990, he served as
the
· Dean of
Undergraduate Education,
· Dean of
Professional and Continuing Education,
· Interim
Provost,
· Interim
Dean of Faculty, and as the
· Founding
Director of the Anderson Center for Innovation in
Undergraduate Education.
In these
roles, Wilson led a campus wide process of interactive
learning and restructuring of the educational program,
known for the design of the Studio Classrooms, the
growth of the Distributed Learning Program, the
creation of the Faculty of Information Technology,
and the initiation of the student mobile computing
(universal networked laptop) initiative
The Studio Classrooms
at Rensselaer replaced large sized core courses
taught by traditional lecture pedagogy with student
teams responsible largely for teaching themselves
using computer-aided and interactive course materials
--- http://www.rpi.edu/dept/NewsComm/WNCTW/ad7.html
Welcome
To Interactive Learning
Roll up your sleeves and take a seat in the Rensselaer
studio classroom. Classes of about 60 students are
engaged at wired workstations - utilizing cutting
edge tools like Web-based technologies, full-motion
video, computer simulation, and other laboratory
resources. An instructor and teaching assistant
move from workstation to workstation observing and
coaching. Notes are taken with a simple mouse click,
as students download files and class materials onto
their required laptops. It's an innovative blend
of discussion and skill-building, high-tech inquiry
and problem-solving - preparing scholars to succeed
in the new business world. It's all part of Interactive
Learning at Rensselaer.
More Studios
Than Hollywood
Interactive Learning is more than just a concept
at Rensselaer; it's a working reality. The approach
has been infused throughout all of our undergraduate
disciplines in more than 25 studio classrooms with
more being built all the time. In the LITEC studio
classroom, students build remote-controlled cars
in a project-based, team environment. In the Circuits
Studio, students develop and test their own circuits.
The Collaborative
Classroom, funded by the National Science Foundation,
serves as a testbed for using computer technology
to collaborate on design projects. At Rensselaer,
knowledge and application are seamlessly intertwined.
Teaching
How We Teach
Rensselaer's revolutionary model for education has
been talked about, honored, and emulated. We earned
the first Pew Charitable Trust Award for the Renewal
of Undergraduate Education and the first Boeing
Outstanding Educator Award, among others. Last year,
we were named to administer an $8.8 million Pew-funded
program to bring educational innovation to other
universities in this country: The Center for Academic Transformation. Literally
hundreds of institutions have visited Rensselaer
to learn how we teach.
No Stopping
Now
Of course, the very thinking that enabled Rensselaer
to initiate Interactive Learning is the same mindset
that keeps us pressing forward. Rensselaer's Anderson Center for Innovation in Undergraduate
Education was founded 11 years ago with the
continuing mission of making Rensselaer a leader
in innovative pedagogy. More recently, the Rensselaer
Academy of Electronic Media has become
the spawning ground for highly creative visualization
software that enables students to learn scientific
and engineering principles in ways never before
possible. We continue to look for new and better
methods to evolve education - meeting the present
and future needs of our students, professors, and
global businesses. Because solving real-world challenges
is our mission and our passion.
For a summary short summary
see http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/soe/cihe/newsletter/News15/text4.html
. (See also Electronic
classroom)
SUN = Sun Microsystem computers,
most of which are network workstations using Unix
operating systems. The Sun Microsystems SPARClassic
M (under $5,000) and 10SX (over $15,000) are designed
to compete with the SGI Indago line for multimedia
computing. (See also SGI, Sparc, and
Unix)
Surfing = (See Web
surfing)
Surfing backwards = (See Web surfing backwards)
SVG = open-standard vector
graphics format that lets you add high-quality graphics
and animation to Web pages using plain text commands.
It's the powerful combination of dynamic two-dimensional
vector graphics and Extensible Markup Language (XML).
Simply put, SVG creates small file sizes for faster
Web page downloads, offers unlimited color and font
choices, and that's just the beginning. Find out
more about SVG at http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/Overview.htm8
S-VHS = (See VHS)
Switched network = Is the opposite of dedicated bandwidth on the information highway. It is
analogous to having a bridge that opens certain
lanes in one direction to accommodate traffic flows
in the morning rush hours and then changes the directions
to accommodate evening rush traffic. In the case
of switched networks, the bandwidth dedicated to
flows of data, voice, video, and audio can be changed
as needed. For example, video may require a temporary
widening that limits data and audio flows. (See
also Bandwidth,
Information
highway, and Video server)
Synchronous = A method of communication
using a time interval to distinguish between transmitted
blocks of data.
Synchronous connection = An analog to analog or digital to digital connection that is able to perform
two or more processes at the same time by means
of a mutual timing signal or clock.
Syntax = The rules of construction
and terminology of a computer programming language.
These rules are analogous to rules of spelling and
grammar in a language, except that syntax rules
are usually less forgiving. We can read a thousand-page
book that has one error in spelling or grammar.
Such is not the case with a computer program because
it will not usually run if there is a syntax error.