Should the Postal Service expand into e-business?
Plan aims to stem mounting losses
A controversy — some are saying a battle for survival — has been set off by the U.S. Postal Service’s plans to expand its electronic bill paying, funds transfer, and other services in cyberspace.
A formal “transformation plan,” prepared for submission to Congress, discusses USPS’ eBill Pay and other programs that compete with private businesses. The plan is opposed by the CCIA (Computer and Communications Industry Association) and other groups.
The General Accounting Office recently released a report showing that USPS lost $1.7 billion last year. The GAO also noted that the mail-handler had originally predicted it would gross $104 million on its e-commerce ventures in fiscal 2001, but had only generated 1 percent of that amount within the first three quarters of the period.
Despite USPS’ seeming inability to roll out e-services as projected, the CCIA says new businesses won’t enter the market if a large, government-backed entity has decided to work the territory. We’ll see if USPS becomes a big threat or not, I guess.
GROUPS PROTEST PLANS FOR USPS TO EXPAND E-SERVICES:
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E-BIZ TECH REVIEW: FIRST MEGAPIXEL 3-CCD CAMCORDER
Sony will ship in June the first digital video camcorder that supports more than one million pixels on each of three CCDs (charge-coupled devices). Each of the three imaging layers resolves one of the component colors of light for higher accuracy than is possible with a single CCD.
The $2,500 DCR-TRV950 is designed to interest the “prosumer” market of video professionals and others who previously wouldn’t accept the quality of DV devices. Other vendors will surely jump into this market soon.
SONY DCR-TRV950 MEGAPIXEL MINIDV CAMCORDER:
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LIVINGSTON’S TOP 10 NEWS PICKS O’ THE WEEK
1. Lastminute buys rival travel site, sees June profit
2. Your company might be more efficient with this robot
3. Sales analysis shows data for online auction sites
4. “Drive-by download” is latest ad fad that looks bad
5. Weak encryption casts a shadow over e-commerce
6. Hot new features your e-mail program doesn’t have
7. Google will offer a programmatic interface via SOAP
8. Manny Lehman reveals secrets of how software evolves
9. PHP tips: Entry-level site launched on Feb. 22
10. Man builds two-person monorail in his own backyard
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WACKY WEB WEEK: ROTATING 3D OBJECTS WITH LOTS OF FLASH
Whether you use Macromedia Flash on your site or you abhor it, what a tiny company has done with it is great enough that you just have to see it.
Globz.net (pronounced “globes dot-net”) has recently released 3D Flash Box, software that makes it possible to create small, fast, three-dimensional objects that rotate on your Web site, under user control or not.
Click the link below, then click the 3D Flash Box icon within the spacey user interface that appears. (The interface does take some time to load, so be patient.)
When I first saw the resulting 3D object rotating within its own little environment, its movements seemed random — until I realized it was responding to my mouse as it rolled over the display. (Hint: the part of the object that your mouse is hovering over rotates toward you. See if you can make the rotation come to a full stop …)
You can download a freebie to do this kind of effect yourself, or register it for $150. Globz is a French company that mainly produces games, but this time they’ve made a tool that’s lots of fun just to watch.
GLOBZ.NET 3D FLASH BOX MAKES SWIRLING OBJECTS FUN:
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