Microsoft Portrait is very low bit rate video conferencing software supporting MSN Messenger on PCs, Pocket PCs, and Handheld PCs. It runs on local area networks, dial-up networks, and even wireless networks with bandwidths as low as 9.6 kilobits/second. Microsoft Portrait delivers portraitlike black/white video which can work in bandwidths so low that full color video could never work. The portrait video is so small that it can even be transmitted through an HTTP proxy as text. Microsoft Portrait provides basic chat/voice/video function almost anytime, anywhere, and on any device.

This document provides all the information you need to read and write programs in the Standard C programming language. It describes all aspects of Standard C that are the same on all implementations that conform to the standard for C. Whenever your goal is to produce code that is as portable as possible, this document tells you what you can count on. And by omission, it lets you know what you cannot count on -- nothing in this document is peculiar to any nonstandard dialect of C.

This document is intended as a comprehensive reference for the Standard C programming language, including its support library. In many ways, this material is best described by what it is not. It is not a history of the development of the language, nor is it a rationale for the current state of the language. Equally, this document is not a tutorial on Standard C, nor is it a lesson on how to write computer programs. It does not describe how to use any particular implementation of Standard C. Consult the documentation that comes with the particular translator (compiler or interpreter) that you are using for specific instructions on translating and executing programs.

A few last-minute details, then -- CityDesk is shipping! People can buy it! It's a great feeling after a lot of work.

Hmm! Looks interesting. But it only works on Windoze it seems.

"I can't remember if I included this in my report or not, but Mac laptops (mostly iBooks) and OS X were very popular at the Think Conference I attended. Part of this is probably because a non-trivial number of attendees were Early Hackers and participated in the microcomputer home hobbyist period that lead directly into Wozniak and Jobs starting Apple. Wozniak is still god-like to many folks."

Former Beatle George Harrison, the singer, songwriter and guitarist for one of the world's most famous pop groups, has died after losing his battle against cancer.

The provisional results of the latest survey of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in publicly funded schools are published today by the Scottish Executive Education Department.

Far from being friendless "nerds", internet users lead more sociable lives than non-surfers, according to new research in the UK.

A survey of 2500 randomly selected Britons revealed that internet users are more likely to belong to a community group, voluntary organisation or to go to church regularly. They also tend to be better paid and more educated than non-users.

I knew it! The chic shall inherit the earth ;-)

Thanks for the link Gordon

PS The story is based on the Internet use: the digital divide [PDF - 73KB] research paper.

In June 2001 the EPSRC, in association with the IEE, the British Computer Society and the Royal Society, sponsored an international review of UK research in Computer Science. Under the Chairmanship of Professor Fred B Schneider (Cornell University, USA), the Panel, made up of some of the world's leading computer scientists from both industry and academia, undertook a week long study to effectively evaluate the standing and potential of computer science research in the UK.

The report [PDF - 600KB] concludes:

Although nominally about academic computer science research, this report is really about opportunities—understanding them, and then leveraging existing strengths in order to best exploit the opportunities. The message is simple, and it involves three themes.

First, computer science is a new kind of discipline. It differs in both character and culture from the pure and applied sciences, engineering, and mathematics. Traditional methods of supporting and evaluating research are not always appropriate for this new field.

Second, not only does computer science offer deep intellectual challenges, but research and expertise in this field will almost certainly translate into competitive advantage and economic well-being for nations, as it has in the past. Strength in computer science will be imperative for the UK in the 21st century.

And third, the UK must change the environment in which academic computer science research is being conducted. It must increase salaries and the level of support for research in computer science, change the vehicles used to fund that research, allow computer scientists to play a more active role in defining and managing the nation’s computer science research programmes, and encourage growth and strength in two specific areas of study (algorithms and experimental systems).The UK has been a world leader in computer science research, but this position is currently being allowed to erode and will continue to do so unless changes are made.