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Technology Stocks : COMS & the Ghost of USRX w/ other STUFF -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Scrapps who wrote (10545)	12/11/1997 4:00:00 PM
From: Moonray	Respond to of 22053

More Netcam: 3Com, cable start-up join forces Expo brainstorm: video version of talk radio Published: Dec. 11, 1997 BY JON HEALEY Mercury News Staff Writer ANAHEIM -- Once again, technology is about to provide something you may not have realized you wanted: a video version of talk radio. Ziff-Davis' ZDTV, a start-up cable TV network dedicated to computer topics, and 3Com Corp., a Santa Clara networking products company, have joined forces to bring live commentary from television viewers onto the air. It's Dick and Jane Smith's chance to enjoy their 15 minutes of fame right there in their cluttered den, as filmed by pint-sized cameras attached to their home computer. ZDTV's plan -- announced Wednesday -- epitomizes the spirit of the cable industry's 30th annual Western Show, where visions of the future are made out of silicon. The computer industry turned out in force to demonstrate ways to enhance TV programs with data or bring the Internet to television sets at high speed over cable networks. The ZDTV/3Com display stood out among the gadgetry in the Anaheim Convention Center because it was high technology with a low-tech, grass-roots appeal. Other presenters talked about using computer tools to enhance and personalize the TV, but ZDTV and 3Com took it one step further: letting viewers train the camera on themselves. 3Com will contribute 10,000 of its purse-sized Bigpicture cameras to help get the project off the ground. The camera sends video signals over the phone lines or cable modem, which ZDTV will patch into the signal it broadcasts over cable. Other networks have people standing outside their studios, waving at the camera, said Candice Meyers, a ZDTV vice president. ''We're going to have 10,000 people who can stand and wave from their own homes.'' Before the idea goes any further, though, ZDTV must win a spot on cable-TV lineups -- not an easy task, given the competition among cable networks. By the start of the Western Show on Tuesday, Ziff-Davis had announced only four cable operators that had agreed to carry ZDTV, none farther west than Las Vegas. Rob Hudson, 3Com's product line manager for Bigpicture, said that the free cameras will be sent to selected business executives, cable operators, industry analysts, journalists and ordinary citizens. The idea is to build up a roster of people who can patch themselves in to ZDTV, although anyone with a Bigpicture or similar ''videophone'' product can connect via the phone or the Internet, Hudson and Jim Louderback of ZDTV said. It's not TV The picture isn't up to usual TV standards -- it's jerky, smaller and not as sharp when transmitted through ordinary phone lines, although the quality improves dramatically when high-speed cable modems are used. But Meyers said that the public won't be put off by the appearance. ''It's live,'' she said. ''There's always a tolerance for new technology.'' What makes the home-video approach more interesting is that it can be used for much more than just showing amateur talking heads. For example, ZDTV could have call-in programs where viewers could show an expert a problem -- a plug-in card that wouldn't fit their computer, for example -- and have the expert walk them through the solution. The Bigpicture costs about $200 and requires a computer with an Intel Pentium processor. Similar products exist for both the Macintosh family of computers and other PCs. Hudson estimated that there were at least 100,000 such computer cameras already in use. In addition to the 10,000 Bigpictures that 3Com is contributing to the ZDTV project, it also has donated cameras to ''cybercafes'' across the country. The goal is to make computer- and phone-based cameras a mainstream product by building a community of users through ZDTV and other efforts. ''Our hope is that people start buying this like crazy,'' Hudson said. o~~~ O