THE INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION for Standardization has approved a standardization of the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML), in a move that the language's backers hope leads to the stabilization and spread of 3-D content on the Net.

"The publication of VRML97 by ISO and IEC completes the process of making VRML the standard for interactive 3-D on the Web," said Ralph Rogers, a principal analyst at Dataquest Inc.

Major browsers Navigator and Internet Explorer already support VRML 2.0, a programming language for creating dimensional-looking objects on the Web.

The ISO standard is based on the VRML Consortium's VRML 2.0 specification, an open spec that defines the encapsulation, delivery and playback of Web-based 3-D content. The consortium is an industry group set up to promote VRML and provide technical expertise .

EE TIMES' recently launched column on intellectual property, called "Core Competency," focuses on design reuse, and also features related news.

"WHEN I STARTED to get involved, a lot of people gave me advice: 'Apple has become irrelevant,' and 'Apple can't execute anything.'

"But Apple is still the dominant leader for creative professionals. It's like, 80 percent of the computers used in advertising, graphic-arts design and pre-press are all Macintoshes. And 64 percent of all Web sites are created using a Mac. It's amazing.

"We're going to think differently and serve the people that have been buying our products since the beginning. People think they're crazy. But in that craziness, we see genius."

-Steve Jobs, interim chief executive, Apple Computer Inc.

DATA TRANSLATION (Marlbor ough, Mass.), a designer and manufacturer of high-performance data-acquisition, digital signal processing, imaging and multimedia computer boards and software, has a site. Find info on the company's products, which consist of plug-in I/O boards and frame grabbers.

TODD PRODUCTS CORP. (Brentwood, N.Y.), a designer and manufacturer of standard, custom and value-added switching power supplies, has a new site. Get info on the firm's 30-year history.

TEMPO INSTRUMENT (Commack, N.Y.), a developer and manufacturer of power-network utilities control, test instrumentation and military-specified circuits, has a site. Find info on how the firm has been designing control components for 40 years.

FEB. 8-10: The IP Multicast Summit will be held in San Jose, Calif., and the accompanying Web site has info on IPv6, audio/video streaming, multipoint conferencing, interdomain routing and quality of service at.

LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES' Bell Labs computer scientists have developed a method for preventing security attacks in Web browser scripting languages, allowing programmers to create secure versions of JavaScript and VBScript.

JACK GANSSLE is on a mission: to help embedded-systems developers get better products out faster. And this leading consultant in the arena has a vital Web site to aid his ch arge.

Jack has started and sold three electronics companies, including emulator firm Softaid, but now as head of the Ganssle Group (Columbia, Md.) he is an integral and popular resource of information on embedded. He offers monthly columns in related publications, a weekly e-mailer, "The Embedded Muse," and his seminal book, The Art of Programming Embedded Systems .

Jack has archived many of his articles on site, in three categories: philosophical, embedded systems and business. His wry sense of humor shines in "When the thrill is gone-will you be an engineer forever?" but his technical prowess is evident in articles on prototyping and using Java in embedded.

Also find out about Jack's firmware seminars and his upcoming keynote speech at the Spring Embedded Systems Conference.

compiled by larry lange, internet editor

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