Communications Media

Seeing really is believing

“Virtual product demonstrations that allow individuals to interact with merchandise create more vivid mental images of the consumer using the products, thereby increasing the likelihood they’ll purchase the item,” said Ann Schlosser, UW Business School assistant professor of marketing.

“We’ve found that the more easily individuals can envision themselves using a product, the more likely they are to buy it.”

Schlosser studied how consumer

Innovative students and professors at the University of Rochester have created a navigational assistant that can help inform a visually impaired person of his whereabouts, or even bring new dimensions to museum navigation or campus tours for sighted individuals. The system, nicknamed “NAVI” for Navigational Assistance for the Visually Impaired, uses radio signals to gauge when someone is near passive transponders that can be as small as a grain of rice and located on the outside of a building, on a s

In a recent study that examined perceptions of gays and lesbians by others, Kansas State University psychology professor Richard Harris asked one group of people to think of a positive gay or lesbian character from a television show or movie and asked another group to think of a negative gay or lesbian character from media. A third group, the control group, was asked to think about an unmarried media character, but sexual orientation was not mentioned. All three groups were then asked to complete a p

Contrary to popular belief, using the Internet may not improve a person’s chances of finding a job.

That surprising finding will be presented Tuesday (Aug. 18) during a session on economic sociology at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in Atlanta by Christine Fountain, a University of Washington doctoral student.

“The punch line is everyone thinks the Internet is a great new way to help people find a job. But it really is not,” said Fountain,

It will never be the same old song again–this was the concept for MS3, a Hungarian musician when he created a software solution he calls „digital improvisation” or DI. The „di” music file format he developed enables the users to listen to one song in endless number of versions. „Imagine Madonna’s new releases were recorded in di format. Whenever you hit the ’’Play’’ button, a different remix of the same song is played back. You never get bored of your cd then” said Mester, now hea

Web Services is currently one of the hottest issues in the software industry. There are good reasons for predicting a success of Web Services. However, there are still a number of open issues. Is Web Services just another technology hype or the beginning of a new era in the evolution of information and communication technology? What will be the role for telcos in the emerging Web Service scenarios?

The new issue of ‘Eurescom mess@ge’, the quarterly magazine for R&D in telecoms, presents answ