Stories about: Adaptive Technology

The release of an esoteric plug-in for a twenty-year-old piece of software normally doesn't merit much attention... except when the software is the ubiquitous Microsoft Word, and the add-on could have a major positive effect on the 1.5 million blind or visually impaired Americans who use computers, millions more like them around the globe, and, potentially, tens or hundreds of millions of people worldwide with developmental disabilities or reading problems.

While universities don't tend to shout as loudly about their latest tech innovations as do Google, Cisco and other big vendors, their results are no less impressive in what they could mean for faster, more secure and more useful networking. Here's a roundup, in no particular order, of some of the most amazing and colorful projects in the works.

Put your graphical user interface to this test: Adjust the contrast on your display until the screen is completely black.

Sydney Internet developer and systems integrator Adaptive Technology has played a leading role in the design and development of an online order system for Barclays Global Investors -- a first for the US investment community.

Every morning Marlaina Lieberg, who's been blind from birth, reads her local paper, the Seattle Times, on the Web, with her guide dog, Madeline, at her feet. Lieberg also taps into Web sites to research corporations she'll pitch her consulting company's services to and trades e-mail with clients. In her spare moments, she trades stocks online and shops for groceries. Last year she bought all her gifts on the Web.

While stereotypes of whingeing critics abound in Australian culture, resellers are generally more stoic and prefer to find solutions rather than complain, as Jeanne-Vida Douglas recently discovered

Adaptive Technology has experienced a meteoric rise since its Sydney office was established in January 1998. Riding on the back of the e-commerce boom, the company has gone from a five-person team to a staff of 50 in just two and a half years.

Tivoli Systems Inc. strengthened its storage management arsenal on Tuesday at its Planet Tivoli user conference here with new products and partnerships designed to take advantage of the growing market segment and its importance to emerging e-businesses.

BEATING THE ODDS Now that the millennium date change has happened, you may think there's no more fun to be had with dates for a long time to come.