TIME EUROPE
December 18, 2000 VOL. 156 NO. 25
Tech Watch
DIGITAL ANIMATION
See Yourself in Cyberspace
If you somehow can't identify with those anonymous, serve-one-serve-all computer game heroes and yearn to put yourself, literally, into the picture instead, Digimask is great news. Using two photos of your face — a frontal shot and a profile — the technology first creates a 360° mesh image of the head and then coats it with virtual skin and hair. Since the tool concentrates on skeletal structure and muscle placement, the result is an eerily perfect likeness of the model. That, in turn, can be used as a fully animated, digital 3-D avatar, complete with lip and facial movement. To get your very own free-of-charge Digimask mock-up, all you have to do is register online at the eponymous British software company's website (www.digimask.com), provide a few details about your physical attributes — height, weight and so on — and send the two portraits by e-mail. Within the next 10 minutes or so, you will receive your virtual clone by return mail and can employ it to endow 3-D characters in any compatible game environment with your own unique looks. Digimask avatars may be used not only to personalize anonymous PC, PlayStation and X-Box games, but they can also be inserted into your e-mails, wap messages and website, and feature in videos and movies. And of course, your 3-D simulacrum will also come in handy on e-commerce sites, where it'll allow you to try out those designer sunglasses before you buy them. In short, you can be a star in cyberspace.
SITE SEEING
Your Reputation Is Online
Need more information on a new business partner or potential date? You might want to go to RepCheck.com (www.repcheck.com) for information on how new acquaintances are regarded by others. Members provide information on and evaluate people of whom they have firsthand knowledge, rating such qualities as honesty and compassion. The resulting RepScore and other comments are stored on a database for other members to consult. If you're self-assured enough, you can even check out what others think of you.
Free2give.co.uk (www.free2give.co.uk) is a new U.K.-based website that allows shoppers to do good by, well, shopping. Go to the page, pick a charity and then link to one of the online shops that support the site, including Amazon.co.uk, music retailer HMV and the electronics chain Comet. From .5% to 10% of any amount you spend — depending on the retailer — goes to a good cause. Among the 45 listed charities are the Imperial Cancer Research Fund and the Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity. The retailer pays the donation in hopes of luring new users to its site — and giving them an additional incentive to spend.
WHAT'S NEXT
Board Games: Monopoly.com
Tired of being an Old Economy tycoon? Hasbro, the maker of Monopoly, has introduced a New Economy version in which you travel the board buying up the hottest portals, search engines and isps. Monopoly — The .Com Edition has swapped railroad companies for the likes of AT&T and Nokia; the utilities are replaced by Sun Microsystems and Linux. You may go directly to jail if you lose your Internet connection, but this is still a dice-rolling board game with the aim of bankrupting your opponents. A few zeros have been added, though.
Interactive TV: What's on the Box
A new line of interactive television sets made by France's Thomson Multimedia is expected to spur interest in TV commerce and Internet use in Europe. The souped-up sets will integrate PC-like processing power with Microsoft's TV platform software and feature standard modems. Consumers using the Thomson-Microsoft service, called tak, can send e-mail and surf the Web through their TVs as well as access regional news, sports, travel suggestions and weather forecasts. The sets will be sold in France starting next month, with Germany and other key European markets targeted later in 2001.
Wrist Computer: High Performance
The latest multifunction watch from Finland's Suunto should appeal to rugged outdoor types. The Metron incorporates a heart rate monitor, barometer, altimeter, thermometer, electronic compass, stopwatch and three daily alarms. You can log your progress as you scale the north face of the Eiger or ski down the Matterhorn, checking on your fitness as you go. The device is shockproof as well as waterproof to a depth of 30 m. Oh yeah, it tells the time, too.
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