W3-design Adds Web Programming Pioneers, Pursues New Model for Sites that Live Beyond the Web; Core of Famed USC Mercury Project Reunited As Web Community-Building Firm Targets Remote-Controlled Sites.LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 27, 1997--Reuniting the team that created the first World Wide Web project to allow users to alter the physical world, W3-design, Inc. has appointed Internet programming pioneers Carl Sutter and Steven Gentner to its development unit. The appointments signal a move by W3-design, a top-tier group of information architects for the Web, away from traditional Web development and autonomous Web sites to the creation of "remote-controlled" sites and tools that will power activities on and off the Web. In a related development, W3 has also added Dr. Gillian Thornhill, a planetary scientist with expertise image processing image processing Set of computational techniques for analyzing, enhancing, compressing, and reconstructing images. Its main components are importing, in which an image is captured through scanning or digital photography; analysis and manipulation of the image, accomplished and mapping, to its programming team. Sutter and Gentner previously worked with W3 co-founders Nick Rothenberg and Dr. Michael Mascha at the University of Southern California's E-Lab, where they participated in the groundbreaking Mercury Project. The project, an Anthropology and Computer Science Department initiative that enabled some 80,000 early Web visitors to remotely control a robotic arm A robotic arm is a robot manipulator, usually programmable, with similar functions to a human arm. The links of such a manipulator are connected by joints allowing either rotational motion (such as in an articulated robot) or translational (linear) displacement. engaged in excavating a radioactive nuclear test site, was hailed by The London Times as "a piece of computer history." The Mercury Project was a finalist in the 1995 National Information Infrastructure Awards competition. "As the Web matures, it's increasingly important for firms like ours to deliver rich sites that include powerful applications within them," said Mascha, W3's President and Creative Director. "In order realize our vision of building communities around our sites -- and generate content through interactions among community members -- users need to experience true, integrated environments. With Carl Sutter and Steve Gertner on board, we can offer high-end application creation and cutting-edge tools and technologies, whether it's custom databases or mobile units that are controlled from the Web. The result is the fully architected site, further extending the mandate of the medium." Sutter and Gentner also participated in developing the Tele-Garden, a "tele-robotic" installation that enables Web users to view and interact with a remote garden filled with plants. The first site to combine robotic technology, organic soil and Web connectivity, the Tele-Garden was a finalist in the 1996 National Information Infrastructure Awards. Originally based at USC An abbreviation for U.S. Code. , the Tele-Garden is now in residence in Linz, Austria. Sutter developed SnapNSend, a Microsoft Windows See Windows. (operating system) Microsoft Windows - Microsoft's proprietary window system and user interface software released in 1985 to run on top of MS-DOS. Widely criticised for being too slow (hence "Windoze", "Microsloth Windows") on the machines available then. program that captures still images and video clips, controls a pan/tilt camera mount, dials an ISP (1) See in-system programmable. (2) (Internet Service Provider) An organization that provides access to the Internet. Connection to the user is provided via dial-up, ISDN, cable, DSL and T1/T3 lines. , and FTPs the files to a Web server. He also created TommyCam, a Web-based camera system that displayed live pictures of the USC campus. A co-author of "Beyond the Web: Manipulating the Real World" and a variety of other articles, Sutter holds an M.S. in electrical engineering electrical engineering: see engineering. electrical engineering Branch of engineering concerned with the practical applications of electricity in all its forms, including those of electronics. from USC and a B.S. in electrical engineering from Cornell University Cornell University, mainly at Ithaca, N.Y.; with land-grant, state, and private support; coeducational; chartered 1865, opened 1868. It was named for Ezra Cornell, who donated $500,000 and a tract of land. With the help of state senator Andrew D. . In addition to his contributions to the Tele-Garden and the Mercury Project, Gertner's Web-related work includes Hypertalk and KnapSack. Hypertalk is a Java applet that enhances a browser by enabling shared browsing and chat capabilities. KnapSack, developed at Hunchback hunchback, abnormal outward curvature of the spine in the thoracic region. It is also known as kyphosis and humpback, and in its severe form a noticeable hump is evident on the back. Software, is a general purpose Web scripting language that supports quick, flexible creation of interactive Web functionality. Gertner holds M.S. and B.S. degrees in computer science from USC. A 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. programmer, Dr. Thornhill has created computer simulations and theoretical models of volcanic eruptions volcanic eruptions discharging of fumes, dust and lava from volcanoes. They have damaging potential in addition to those of being physically overpowering by the lava flow or the ash or dust fallout. and their interaction with the atmosphere, among other research projects. She served as a researcher at Brown University and a Research Fellow in the Department of Earth Sciences, Open University, Milton Keynes, in England. She holds a BSc. in physics and astronomy and a Ph.D. in planetary physics from University College, London. From its offices in Los Angeles and New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , W3-design, Inc. creates and maintains strategic online environments for organizations and major corporations. Centered around a compelling vision of information architecture that fully exploits the medium, W3 has developed Web-based communities for AST (AST Computer, Irvine, CA) A PC manufacturer founded in 1980 by Albert Wong, Safi Quershey and Tom Yuen (A, S and T). It offered a complete line of PCs that sold through its dealer channel. Computer, The Hollywood Reporter, Infiniti, Kaiser Permanente, KCRW/National Public Radio, and Paramount Pictures (including "Mission: Impossible," one of the most heavily-trafficked movie promotional sites ever), among others. W3's Web site is located at http://www.W3-design.com . CONTACT: W3-design, Inc. Nick Rothenberg, 310/815-1177 nick@w3-design.com or Edge Communications, Inc. Ken Greenberg, 818/591-1173 keng@mail.idt.net |
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