Just Outta Beta
Sci Eye
In 1955, Robert Schulz drew an illustration for the book Operation Future depicting a lunar excursion module that resembled the vehicle eventually sent to the Moon in 1969. Infinite Worlds, by Vincent di Fate, features Schulz's work and 600 other prescient visions of sci-fi artists.
Release: October. Penguin USA: www.penguin.com/.
COD DOA
When ATMs started spitting out stamps, it was only a matter of time before other machines began to cough up similar services. E-Stamp, hoping to usher in the greatest postal push since Pitney Bowes's meters, sends barcode-like postage over the Net - and prints right to your envelope.
Release: late 1997. E-Stamp: +1 (415) 843 8000.
Bungie Jump
Myth is for real. Crafted by Bungie, the designers behind the famed office time-waster Marathon, this new title raises the bar for real-time combat strategy games. Featuring customizable camera angles, realistic physics, and an intense focus on warfare tactics, Myth promises to be one of the keenest titles of the year.
Release: late 1997. Bungie: +1 (312) 563 6200.
Finger This
Built upon Bell Labs' research, the new fingerprint sensor on a computer chip, combined with networking software and a set of biometric-based cryptographic algorithms, makes your digital imprint the basis for every type of electronic identification.
Release: October. Veridicom: +1 (415) 926 7765.
Public Secrets
Technology and Privacy, edited by EPIC director Marc Rotenberg and professor Philip Agre, calls for a reconceptualization of privacy policy. Chapters - authored by Agre plus the likes of Simon Davies and Robert Gellman - detail the challenge of keeping information personal in the bandwidth-friendly, e-commercial, digital-media world of tomorrow.
Release: October. MIT Press: +1 (617) 253 5643.
Play-It-Buro
What happens when Boris Yeltsin sips his last White Russian? Politika - a new game from Tom Clancy's company Red Storm Entertainment - sucks players into this Kremlin power vacuum. Using IBM's InVerse technology, which allows Java chat to figure prominently in Politika's plot, the Net-based title turns online gaming into collaborative storytelling.
Release: fall. Red Storm Entertainment: www.redstorm.com/.
Distance Learning for the Masses
Higher learning just got more convenient. By exploiting the communications potential of the Net, Western Governors University will offer diplomas to people all over the world, beginning in January. While distance learning is hardly a new concept, WGU is unique in its ambition: it will be the first institution in the US to offer vocational certificates and associate arts degrees - eventually adding bachelor's and graduate degrees - without a physical campus. Often, geographic barriers, scheduling conflicts, and overenrollment prevent students from taking the classes necessary for matriculation or career advancement. But WGU's plan accommodates an individual student's needs, even if the pupil doesn't own a home computer. An extensive network of affiliated public libraries and regional sites offers the wired and unwired alike access to digital tools. WGU's organization mirrors the communications network that its courses proselytize. This Virtual U. has no teaching staff - instead, 20 established colleges and companies lend the school professorial resources. And, an interactive catalog responds to a pupil's profile, helping him or her choose the courses that best accommodate scheduling and technological constraints. In place of what the university derides as "seat-based learning," WGU relies on competency-based evaluation. Instead of midterms or quizzes, the university depends on counselors to determine when a student has achieved proficiency in a subject area.
Western Governors University's approach won't replace conventional teaching anytime soon, but it's part of a trend to give remote students and working stiffs equal access to educational opportunities. Anne Speedie Release: January 1998. Western Governors University: +1 (303) 364 7137.
