As the Nobel prizes – first awarded in 1901 – enter their centennial celebrations, the Nobel Foundation has used the Internet to bring the accomplishments of the Nobel laureates to students around the world. The Nobel Web site, founded in 1995, has been upgraded into a virtual museum of science and culture, the Nobel e-Museum (NeM).
By adding new, interactive content to digital archives covering 100 years of scientific and cultural development, Nobel is using the Internet as a resource and medium for learning. The content ranges from games and animation, virtual laboratories, lectures and demonstrations to portraits using text, image, video and audio. The number of hits to Nobel’s site from schools and colleges worldwide has increased dramatically and this program has been initiated to make NeM more useful and accessible to students. Users can visit a virtual laboratory to practice experimental techniques such as protein sequencing with the help of “Virtual Eva,” the lab technician.
Bandwidth.com accelerates bandwidth procurement
Bandwidth.com has announced the nationwide launch of three new enterprise services for customers procuring connectivity from one of Bandwidth.com’s 25 top-tier carrier partners: The Provisioning Advantage, Trouble Ticket Accelerator, and SLA Compliance Review.
Bandwidth.com’s new Provisioning Advantage shortens the time it takes to get business Internet data lines installed and operating. The Bandwidth.com Trouble Ticket Accelerator keeps business customers online longer by ensuring that any network outages are kept to a minimum. Knowledge of carrier contracts allows Bandwidth.com to assist its customers in obtaining the financial adjustments that are owed to a customer. The Bandwidth team reviews, interprets and provides the customer with guidance on next steps to take with the proper carrier contact to secure the remedies that are due for any outage.
Prodigy raises monthly fee
A monthly subscription to Prodigy Communications LP’s Internet service will soon cost US$2 more: The Internet service provider has raised its fee to $21.95. That’s still less than America Online Inc., which saw domestic subscriber growth slow after announcing a price increase in July.
Prodigy’s new price, which has already gone into effect for new subscribers and will become effective on Nov. 1 for subscription holders, now matches monthly rates charged by EarthLink Inc. and the Microsoft Corp. Network. A recent research report from Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. shows AOL with 23.4 million U.S. subscribers at the end of the second quarter. That reflects an increase of three per cent, or 699,000 subscribers, from 22.7 million in the first quarter when domestic subscriptions rose five per cent, or nearly 1.2 million customers. Steven Harris, senior research analyst at International Data Corp, says AOL reported in the second quarter it had 6.6 million non-U.S. subscribers out of 30.1 million subscribers worldwide.
