TIME EUROPE
June 19, 2000 VOL. 155 NO. 24
Techwatch
THE INFORMATION SUPER-RAILWAY
All Aboard for the World Wide Web
Made in 1956 and starring Ava Gardner, Bhowani Junction is a love story set against India's independence, complete with steam trains, crowds and chaos. Filmed today, it would feature commuters and villagers tapping away on their laptops while waiting for the 8.30 to Hyderabad. As part of a pilot project funded by Internet service provider Satyam Infoway, engineers have linked five railway stations along the 40-km route between Vijayawada and Guntur in south India to the Internet. Led by Ashok Jhunjhunwala, a professor of electrical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras, the team used the spare capacity on the railway's electrical cables to bring telecom services — like Net access and telephony — to rural areas. They are piping the phone signal through existing signaling cables, at present unused due to changes in signaling technology, which run along the tracks. The plan's next step is to open cybercafés at the stations and provide wireless Internet access within a 10-km radius. Ultimately, the team would like to use India's 65,000 km of rail electrical cabling to link the countryside surrounding India's 8,000 stations to the Internet.
WINTER OLYMPICS
Get Your Tickets Now
Fans of the Winter Olympics can register now at Tickets.com for the 2002 Games. The Salt Lake Organizing Committee's Virtual Wristband makes ticket allocation fair by randomly allotting tickets for oversubscribed events. Only one request per household is permitted. Some tickets to popular events, like the opening ceremony, will be auctioned over the Web, with proceeds going to Salt Lake Olympic programs such as the planting of 100,000 trees before the Games. Those who miss the Dec. 12 cut-off date must wait in line.
MOBILE TECH
It's Always On
Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson has unveiled the R520, the first gprs mobile phone with Bluetooth technology that offers fast wireless connections to the Web, PCs and other appliances. As well as speed, gprs (General Packet Radio Service) allows mobile devices to maintain a permanent connection to the Internet. The R520, which also responds to voice commands, will be available in 2001.
WAP PHONES
Hyperactive
nokia spares its customers the often tedious manual set-up process needed when registering a new wap service. When users click on a website's Nokia Activ button and type in their mobile number, the settings for the service are sent as a sms message that automatically configures the phone.
SITE SEEING
Need an expert? Themutual.net is a community of volunteer experts on everything from cats to tattooing to law or psychology where members can go for articles, links, forums and advice. The www.themutual.net site plans to host banking, job recruitment and shopping services as well. Registration is free — and also gets you shares in the company.
Paraguay has its first search engine: www.yagua.com. Yaguá is the Guaraní word for dog, and this Spanish-language engine fetches daily updates on Paraguayan news and the economy, hosts local chatrooms and gives access to photos of top models.
WHAT'S NEXT
Fancy a flutter on Euro 2000? Now all that's needed to make a wager is a WAP mobile phone and access to www.wap.eurobet.com. Gamblers who have registered on the Eurobet.com website employ their user ID and password to place an online bet. After dialing in to their Eurobet.com account, callers are offered a menu of gambling options — then the only thing left to do is pick a winner.
NASA has joined newly created U.S.-based multimedia company Dreamtime to give the public access to its 80-year-old archive of still and moving pictures of flight and space exploration. As well as digitizing NASA's archive for Web viewing, Dreamtime will provide a high-definition television link to the International Space Station and Space Shuttle. For previews go to www.dreamtime.com.
Just say no to celluloid. Last week the first movie to be broadcast over the Internet and then digitally projected was screened at a cinema in Atlanta, Ga. The Twentieth Century Fox animated feature Titan A.E. took two hours to transmit from a Hollywood studio using Cisco Systems' Digital Cinema network.
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June 19, 2000
SPECIAL REPORT
e-Europe
TIME chronicles how the Old World is helping to shape the new economy
EUROPE
Voting under the Gun
Municipal elections in Montenegro turn into a mini-referendum on the Yugoslav republic's future
Goal Rush
Football fever grips Europe as the game's itinerant stars return home to shine on the national stage
Just Arrived
Alongside the familiar faces, members of football's next generation will also display their skills at Euro 2000
The Empire Strikes Back
Soccer violence continues to be England's ugliest export
BUSINESS
Turbulence Ahead
The continuing controversy over Milan's Malpensa Airport clips the wings of state-run carrier Alitalia
Brussels Decrees An E-VAT
The European Commission wants to tax content sold by foreign firms on the Web — but can it?
THE ARTS
Shock of the Nouveau
Streams of visitors to a new exhibition of sensual decorative art indicate that the form may be making one of its regular comebacks
DEPARTMENTS
Olympic Monitor
Techwatch
To Our Readers
World Watch
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