Do-It-Yourself Systems
by Mark Toner
Editor's note: Each segment of NAA's 1997 Newspaper Operations SuperConference included a session on "hot new technologies." Below are some of the highlights. You can order audiotapes for any or all sessions from ACTS, 14153 Clayton Road, Town & Country, Mo. 63017. World Wide Web, http://www.iwc.com/acts; e-mail, acts@inlink.com; phone, (800) 642-2287; fax (314) 394-9381.
As new object-based technology becomes prevalent on desktop computers, the notion of writing your own software becomes less far-fetched, or so Chris Gulker, Apple Computer Inc.'s business-development manager, told SuperConference attendees. "Newspapers willing to take responsibility for their systems can tap a vast new resource in component software," he said. "Combined with an intranet, this offers the prospect of low-cost, low-risk, high-performance, do-it-yourself systems." Such object-oriented languages as Sun Microsystems' Java, Apple's OpenDoc and Microsoft's ActiveX allows creation of highly custom software much simpler than today's massive applications.
With object-oriented technology, you "just drag and drop components into a folder," Gulker said. "Do you need trapping, spooling, OPI? Drop them in there, and away you go." Apple's next-generation operating system, Rhapsody, will allow System 7 applications to run simultaneously with OpenDoc and Java applets.
Other new technologies focused largely on the Internet. They included:
HexWeb XT. The Detroit News uses this QuarkXTension, marketed by Managing Editor Inc., Jenkintown, Pa., to convert text and images from 200 QuarkXPress documents to HTML for its Web site each evening. The XTension allows creation of preset header and footer templates and includes a free, standalone indexing program that builds links among documents. Felix Grabowski, interactive-news-department creative director, said, "It's very customizable."
FlashPix, five years in development, aspires to be the first image file format usable across all forms of media, including moving images, high-res documents and slim Internet graphics. In image-editing and page-layout applications, a FlashPix file and accompanying LivePicture software can rapidly resize, crop and otherwise alter large high-res files--all without overwriting original file data. LivePicture Product Manager Michael Haynes noted, "Resolution is set by the outputter, not the file format."
Data Broadcasting technology used by digital-satellite systems could push large amounts of multimedia content to subscribers. Using satellite modems, publishers could "broadcast" the content of online newspapers directly to DSS subscribers at seven-to-35 MB/second, said David Richardson, manager of digital publishing for News Datacom Research.
Mark Toner is operations and new-media writer for Presstime. E-mail, tonem@naa.org; phone, (703) 902-1684; fax, (703) 902-1690.
Related item:
- Photos: Images created by using Live Picture 2.5