Black Sun Interactive brings real-time multi-user interaction to Ziff-Davis' ZD Net Web site; Leading cyberspace technology developer's innovative client/server technology enables visitors to VRML world to communicate with each other.SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 25, 1996--Black Sun Interactive, Inc., an international leader in 3D multi-user interactive technology development, today announced that Ziff Davis Ziff Davis Inc. (ZD) is an American magazine publisher and Internet Information company. It was founded in 1927 in Chicago by William B. Ziff, Sr. and Bernard G. Davis. Throughout most of its history, it was a publisher of hobbyist magazines, often ones devoted to expensive, , a leading source of online computing information, is utilizing Black Sun's CyberHub multi-user server software for its ZD Net Web site and ZD3D VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) A 3D graphics language used on the Web. After downloading a VRML page, its contents can be viewed, rotated and manipulated. Simulated rooms can be "walked into." The VRML viewer is launched from within the Web browser. world, Terminal Reality. Visitors using CyberGate, Black Sun's multi-user interactive client, can browse Terminal Reality in 3D as well as see other users as avatars, with whom they can interact. Interaction includes one- on-one chat, threaded discussion A running commentary of messages between two or more people in a discussion group. See message thread and discussion group. groups and exchanging CyberCards -- identifying informational cards customizable for business or personal use that can be used to document shared experiences. CyberGate is freely available to the Internet public to download from Black Sun's website at http://www.blacksun.com. To demonstrate these capabilities, Black Sun and Ziff-Davis will hold a real-time 3D multi-user press conference addressing this announcement at the Terminal Reality site at 3:00 PM EST EST electroshock therapy. EST abbr. electroshock therapy today. CyberGate users can visit and speak with Black Sun and ZD Net executives at http://www.zdnet.com/zdi/vrml/content/vrmlsite/outside.wrl. "Using CyberHub for the Terminal Reality site is another big step toward bringing 3D social interaction to the Internet mainstream," said Franz Buchenberger, President and Chief Executive Officer of Black Sun Interactive. "PointWorld, our 3D interactive enhancement of the Lycos/Point review service has shown how much more compelling a website can be when you actually meet and socialize so·cial·ize v. so·cial·ized, so·cial·iz·ing, so·cial·iz·es v.tr. 1. To place under government or group ownership or control. 2. To make fit for companionship with others; make sociable. with other visitors to the site. Now Ziff-Davis brings its powerful publishing presence to this new online medium -- CyberGate users at Terminal Reality will have a lot to talk to each other about." "Just as we strive to provide our users with the latest information on technology developments, Ziff-Davis is committed to supporting the latest technology options available at our ZD Net Web site," said Jim Savage For other persons named Jim Savage, see Jim Savage (disambiguation). Jim Savage was born in the Midwest between 1815 and 1820. Around the age of fifteen, his family settled in Princeton, Illinois. , vice president and general manager, ZD Net. "With Black Sun's products, Terminal Reality offers an entirely new experience for our users, reinforcing its example of where the Internet experience is headed through 3D multi-user interaction." Cyberspace Coined by William Gibson in his 1984 novel "Neuromancer," it is a futuristic computer network that people use by plugging their minds into it! The term now refers to the Internet or to the online or digital world in general. See Internet and virtual reality. Contrast with meatspace. Enabling Technology -- Black Sun Interactive's Products Black Sun's CyberHub is multi-user interaction server software that supports the operation, administration and usage tracking of virtual worlds. CyberHub can enable any VRML 1.0 site with interactive capabilities. CyberHub features include: o Real-time tracking of avatar motion and position, with filtered presentation of avatars closest to every user, o Support for multiple conversational threads: open or broadcast to the public, registered groups on specific topics, and one-on-one private talks, o Scalability to support worlds with hundreds or even thousands of simultaneous visitors, o Support for multiple virtual worlds with a single server, or multiple distributed servers, o Logging of avatar location and actions over time, supporting virtual world usage analysis. Black Sun's CyberHub currently enables multi-user interaction of the first 3D review service on the Internet, PointWorld, from Point Communications Corporation, the leading Web review service. Completely rendered in 3D, reviewed site categories appear as buildings that offer visual cues to their content: expansive buildings are sites which offer lots of information content; colorful buildings are sites rich in visuals and experience, making it easy for users to identify their favorite type of site at a glance. Totally free to users, CyberGate users have been visiting the 3D town square of PointWorld to interact with other Internet users Internet user n → internauta m/f Internet user Internet n → internaute m/f , read and discuss the reviews and categories of Web sites in Point since February 1996. CyberGate and CyberHub are two parts of Black Sun's integrated product line based on VRML, the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (virtual reality, language) Virtual Reality Modeling Language - (VRML) A draft specification for the design and implementation of a platform-independent language for virtual reality scene description. VRML 1.0 was released on 1995-05-26. http://vrml.org/. Wired. , the standard for 3D virtual worlds. CyberGate users can interact with each other in any VRML world supported by CyberHub, as well as view any VRML 1.0 world. CyberGate is currently in beta for Windows 95/Windows NT and is slated to be commercially released this summer. CyberHub is also currently beta testing (programming) beta testing - Testing a pre-release (potentially unreliable) version of a piece of software by making it available to selected users. This term derives from early 1960s terminology for product cycle checkpoints, first used at IBM but later standard throughout the for commercial release this summer, for Windows 95/Windows NT, as well as various Unix systems. A third product is the CyberKit builder for designers of virtual worlds. CyberKit will be commercially released in the fall, and is presently available to selected partners. -0- Black Sun Interactive, with offices in San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden and Munich, is an international leader in cyberspace technology. Combining top talent from the US and Europe, Black Sun develops VRML-based client/server systems of unique scope and power: vehicles for shared virtual worlds. Black Sun's vision is of people everywhere, meeting to work and play as naturally in cyberspace as they do in the real world. Black Sun Interactive is a subsidiary of CMG CMG Coastal & Marine Geology (USGS) CMG Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (stock symbol) CMG Companion (of the Order Of) St Michael and St George CMG Computer Measurement Group Information Services See Information Systems. , Inc. (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on : CMGI CMGI Commonly Maintained Grounds Infrastructures CMGI College Marketing Group Information (Services) ). CMGI is a leading provider of direct marketing services and an innovator in the development of Internet, interactive media and database management technologies. The ZD Net brand is the most trusted source of computer news, buying information and services on the World Wide Web (http://www.zdnet.com) and all leading commercial online services. ZD Net products provide a central online hub for the wealth of computer information generated by the renowned editorial staffs at all Ziff-Davis publications. Ziff-Davis is the leading publisher of computer magazines and online computing content. The company was recently acquired by SOFTBANK Corporation of Japan. Black Sun, CyberGate, CyberHub, CyberCards and CyberKit are trademarks of black Sun Interactive. PointWorld is a trademark of Lycos, Inc. ZD Net is a trademark of Ziff-Davis Publishing. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. CONTACT: Christa Degnan, 617/520-9104, degnan@collaborative.com Adam Berkowitz, 617/520-9106, berkowtz@collaborative.com Collaborative Communications, Inc. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion