KIC E-News -- -Volume 2 Issue 3

April 23, 1998

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KIC E-News Summary

IN THE NEWS:

Internet Telephony

Both IBM and Northern Telecom (Nortel) have recently announced new products, which allow web site visitors to link directly into the corporate phone system. For years, web surfers were forced to write down/printout web pages to obtain telephone numbers of companies, then disconnect from the Internet before making the call.

With both IBM’s and Nortel’s systems, the user simply needs to click on a hyperlink and after answering a few question regarding the type of connection desired, the user is connected live to customer support personnel. The web site visitor only requires a sound card and microphone (standard equipment with most of today’s computers).

The potential of this technology is unlimited. Not only does this reduce demand on toll free numbers, but it also allows the web user to get information while remaining on-line thereby completing the service cycle.

Other features of both systems include the ability to have the call redirected to an available telephone or to receive a call once the Internet connection is broken. These options allow users to take advantage of this service without having the necessary sound card and microphone.

For more information on this technology and how it can be used to improve your web image, contact K'nechtology Inc..

COMMENTARY:

C|NET’s Web Builder Conference – San Francisco

Once again c|net and it’s staff have organized the most beneficial conference for the web builder community. Common themes through this Springs’ Web Builder conference include: future enhancements to web sites using XML (which will be supported in Netscape 5), the benefits of open standards and designing better web sites.

In reference to designing better web sites, Alan K’necht conducted a small breakout session called “Birds of a Feather”. The topic, “Building web sites for international markets” drew web designers and managers from 10 different countries. The discussion covered the impact of language, culture, available technology and costs. The general consensus was that organizations wanting to market beyond their borders need to pay more attention to these issues.

Also during the conference KIC was on the look-out for the latest technology. Items that caught our attention included:

All of these products were either announced during the Web Builder conference or within the past month. KIC is now in the process of arranging product reviews of these products.

PRODUCT REVIEW

GEO through its suite of Emblaze multimedia programs is out to revolutionize the web. Their goal is to eliminate the need for users to download plug-ins before viewing multimedia enhanced web sites. Anyone who has ever visited a web site in search of information only to discover that they need to download a plug-in before they can view it will appreciate Emblaze. Emblaze uses Java Applets to deliver their multimedia content. This makes it available to any browser, which supports Java.

Emblaze multimedia programs consists of three products Audio, Video and Creator. This is the third and final installment of the Emblaze multimedia product reviews and covers Emblaze Creator. The previous reviews can be found by visiting KIC’s web site.

  • Emblaze Creator by GEO (www.emblaze.com)
  • Suggest Retail Price: $995 USD
  • Audience: Multimedia Developers
  • Operating Systems: Windows 95, NT 4.0, Mac System 7
  • Rating: 3.0 out of 5
  • Version 2.5 0

    The Emblaze manual clearly states that learning this program isn’t a simple thing. Learning to feel comfortable in even doing the simplest of tasks take times. Making this learning curve more difficult, are unnecessary humourous passages and innuendoes within the manual that obscure the essential information. Once you get the hang of it, Emblaze Creator provides a dynamic tool to create your own multimedia presentation.

    Users can create text and original graphics directly in Creator or simply import any bmp or gif file. Creator’s MediaBank helps users keep track of the different elements. Simply by dragging and dropping images onto either the timeline or frame screen window the user adds elements to the sequence. Creator also provides a preview function, thereby avoiding the need to generate an Applet everytime a preview is required.

    When it comes time to generating the Applet, Creator like the other Emblaze products generates the HTML code automatically. Be warned however, for some unexplained reason, Creator adds an unnecessary “Java Script” which generates a temporary “Magic Cookie”. Given the general publics’ (unwarranted) misgivings to “Cookies” one is left wondering why Emblaze bothers with “cookies” at all? Don’t get alarmed, the Creator applets run perfectly even after the “Java Script” is deleted from the HTML code. This applet works perfectly on all Windows and Mac based servers, but there is currently a bug when it runs on a Unix web server. GEO is currently investigating this problem and a patch should be available soon.

    Creator performance like many other multimedia packages, is a let-down when it comes to performance. According to Emblaze the minimum system requirements are a 486DX 100Mhz with 16MB of RAM. When tested on a Pentium 100 with 64MB of RAM performance was sluggish and made simple function awkward. Performance was still slow, but acceptable on a Pentium 150 MMX with 32 MB. Significant improvement needs to be made to Creators performance, before this product can gain wide acceptance.

    At a suggested retail price of $995 USD (slightly higher then other multimedia development tools), Emblaze Creator is a premium product and should be used on a premium system. If you don’t have the hardware, you may want to think twice before purchasing this product, but if you do, get ready for a very exciting product.

    UNDER REVIEW

    K'nechtology Inc. has completed or is currently reviewing the following software products, be sure to look for the next issue of KIC E-News for more reviews.
    • INET Developer by Pictorius – Overall rating 4.0 out of 5
    • Installation – 5 out 5
    • Documentation 2.5 out 5
    • Features – 4.0 out of 5
    • Emblaze Web Charger by GEO – Final marks 3.5 out 5
    • Emblaze Hot Spots by GEO – Final marks 2.5 out 5
    For more information on any topic covered in KIC E-News or if you have a product you would like to see reviewed, please e-mail us at answers@knechtology.com or by telephone at 416.855.6351.

    Please feel free to circulate KIC E-News to your friends and colleagues. Commentary is always welcomed and should be directed to answers@knechtology.com.

    If you would like to find out more about K'nechtology Inc. please visit our web site at www.knechtology.com.