The World Wide Web Consortium Voice Browser working group is developing revolutionary markup languages similar to HTML that, instead of focusing on a visual interface, will cover dialog, speech synthesis, speech recognition, call control and other aspects of interactive voice response applications. "This will allow any telephone to be used to access appropriately designed Web-based services, and will be a boon to people with visual impairments or needing Web access while keeping theirs hands & eyes free for other things. " (via: Internet Scout Report)
posted by peacay on Apr 13, 2002 - 3 comments

The W3C's RAND Patent Policy commenting deadline has been extended. At first glance, the new policies seem to encourage software patents, but after reading the whole thing and the W3C's response to current comments, it looks, to my admittedly naive eyes, as though the W3C is trying to make it so that companies using proprietary software are going to have to make it available to other people for licensing. Why is this new structure potentially a bad thing?
posted by cCranium on Oct 2, 2001 - 8 comments

The web is ten years old today! So how has it impacted our lives over the past decade? I'll point out that I am not working in a coffee shop to pay for my failing acting career. So there is one benefit right there (I make a lousy waiter than I do an actor). How has the web changed you life over the last decade? How has it changed society? Or just post your birthday wishes.
posted by captaincursor on May 17, 2001 - 32 comments