IN AN EFFORT to promote compatibility between the virtual-reality modeling language (VRML) widely used for Internet sites and its Java 3D application-programming interface, Sun Microsystems (Mountain View, Calif.) has become a voting member of the VRML Consortium, a non-profit group promoting VRML as a 3-D graphic s standard.

The move followed news earlier last week that Sun had purchased patent rights to core virtual-reality technologies-some from VR pioneer Jaron Lanier. Sun said a working group will be established at the consortium to tighten integration between Java 3D and the VRML 97 standard.

A new VRML specification could emerge from the effort, subject to approval by the consortium, which includes members from Microsoft, Sony, IBM, SGI, Intel and others .

JACK GANSSLE, a leading embedded consultant, offers his unique "Embedded History" on his site, which celebrates the 4,000th subscriber to his related e-mailer.

"WE'RE DOING WELL in Europe because the Internet is not the Holy Grail. In the U.S., the Internet is the sacred ground.

"In Europe, Asia and the Middle East, they're more open to other ideas. In the U.S., it's much more of different factions-satellite, cable, telcos.

"We're the missing piece of the whole pie. We're not just about taking fast Internet. We're taking Internet content and making it faster."

-John Yapaola, vice president of Fantastic Corp., a Swiss developer of applications enabled for digital satellite over TV and PC, which just received investment funds from Intel.

HEWLETT-PACKARD has added a site for engineering educators and students-Educator's Corner-which offers hundreds of Web pages filled with useful content as interactive lab experiments, free software, tutorials and access to online publications.

CERTICOM CORP. (Redwood City, Calif.), a provider of cryptographic security, has a site. Get information on the company's next-generation elliptic-curve cryptography (ECC) product, which it has been de-veloping for 12 years.

NETSCREEN TECHNOLOGIES (Santa Clara, Calif.), a network-security startup, has info on its hardware firewall technology, which enables fast Ethernet wireline performance.

IBM has posted alpha code of its Extensible Markup Language (XML) tool for Java via the alphaWorks site and is offering information on
the benefits of the language.

OPEN PORT TECHNOLOGY INC. (Chicago), an Internet telephony software provider, has a site on the Web. Get info on the company's global IP messaging services for Motorola Inc.

SUPPLYBASE (San Francisco), an Internet sourcing directory developer and founder of DeveloPages, has added a new Web-based request-for-quote (RFQ) feature, which initially will focus on the plastics industry.

THE INSTITUTE FOR INTERCONNECTING AND PACKAGING ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS(IPC) and the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) have developed a new Internet-based regulatory compliance and pollution-prevention tool for the pc-board industry.

The center is designed specifically to help printed-wiring-board facilities comply with federal environmental regulations and implement innovative pollution-prevention strategies that will save them money.

The site has a comprehensive technical database, which contains abstracted and full-text articl es from industry journals and other publications-in PDF format or HTML. There are also member, vendor, facility directories-all searchable. And you'll find useful links to printed-wiring-board and compliance-assistance sites.

There's also a printed-wiring-board manufacturers stock index. Finally, you'll find the recent Printed Wiring Board Resource Center survey results, which gave users input into the site's design.

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