Information Retrieval
Source: PC World
Talk To The Database: Ask A Question, Get An Answer
Sharp demos a new piece of software. Cool! From the article, “How is the weather in Tokyo?” A demonstrator is questioning “Maico,” a cute, three-dimensional, 26-year-old female on a display screen. “Yes? The weather in Tokyo? Let me check,” nods and answers Maico, looking straight at the demonstrator. The computer then sarches weather information for the Tokyo area via the Internet. The demonstration was part of Sharp’s unveiling, at the Real World Computing project’s final exhibition and symposium last week in Tokyo, of a new type of interface that communicates with users. The technology underlying what Sharp calls its “multimodal agent interface” can be adopted as part of an easy-to-use, communicative Internet search engine, and expanded as an interface for home networking appliances, company officials says. The company will able to provide commercially available systems that use this type of interface in four to five years, officials says.
See Also: Learn About ActiveBuddy. Use Instant Messaging To Deliver Real-Time Answers.
See Also: Sign-Up to be an ActiveBuddy Beta Tester
See Also: Additional Info via the ActiveBuddy Home Page

Scholarly Publishing
Source: Library Journal (registration required)
“Forum Finds Hope Beyond the Journals Crisis”
From the article, “From 1986 to 1999, the number of journals grew from 103,700 to 161,000 (55 percent). While the Consumer Price Index increased 49 percent in that period and the price of healthcare went up 111 percent, the cost of scholarly journals increased 175 percent.”

Web Portals–FirstGov.Gov
Source: Government Computer News
“FirstGov Handles Millions of Web Hits After Attacks”
From the article, “Like a seismograph needle during an earthquake, the activity on FirstGov, the General Services Administration�s portal to government Web sites, posted a sharp spike during last month�s terrorist attacks.” It’s worked well as a portal, here’s hoping to an inprovement with search functionality and relevancy.

New, Updated, & Newly Discovered Resources (5 Entries)
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Employment–Women–United States–Lists & Rankings
Source: Working Mother
New List: “100 Best Companies for Working Mothers”, 2001
This site contains the complete list but some of the surrounding text is not available online.
See Also: A Bit More Info via this WM Press Release.
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Automotive Safety–Rollovers–Ratings
Source: NHTSA
Updated: NHTSA Places A New Set of Rollover Ratings, Crash Results Online
This media advisory contains a link to the page and complete details.
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Public Libraries–United States–Directories
Source: National Center for Education Statistics
Updated Database: Public Library Locator and the Public Library Outlet Locator
From the site, “The Public Library Locator and the Public Library Outlet Locator will help you find information about a public library or a library service outlet, when you know some information about it. The information in this locator comes from the NCES Public Libraries Survey.
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Government Employees–United States–Statistics
Source: U.S. Census
Retirement Assets of State and Local Government Employees
Summary ||| Direct to Database
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Health
Biological Terrorism–Anthrax
Source: Walter Reed Army Medical Center
Anthrax: Chapter from Textbook of Military Medicine
12 pages .pdf

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