Monday, December 18, 2000		Lens on IT

Microsoft President and CEO Steve Ballmer gestures during his keynote address to kick off the Streaming Media West 2000 exhibition at the San Jose Convention Center . Ballmer announced that Microsoft Windows Media Player 7 was now available for Pocket PC's and also unveiled the first NP3 digital music player which can store over 22 hours of quality music on a single CD.

French middle school students Ayse (C) and Thu-Vin (R) get acquainted with the new "electronic school satchel" at the Stockfeld school in Strasbourg eastern France. French publishing company Havas created the electronic school bag which includes history and life science texts in a book-sized format using a sensitive screen and stylus to navigate without using a keyboard.

Casio Computer Co. President Kazuo Kashio shows off the company's new pocket personal computer CASSIOPEIA E-707, a next-generation mobile network terminal that incorporates data communications functions in a Pocket PC, at an unveiling at a Tokyo hotel. The low-power consumption, high-resolution Hyper Amorphous Silicon TFT (HAST) color LCD displays 65,536 colors for precise reproduction of text and images, and is to go on sale in January 2001. The price has not yet been set, but will be around 100,000 yen (around $900), the company said.

Bill Gates, Chairman and Chief Software Architect of Microsoft, and New York Senator-elect Hillary Clinton talk to Jason Flores (C) in a computer lab at the Dunlevy Milbank Children's Center in New York City. Gates announced at the center that Microsoft is donating $100 million cash and software to "technology enable" every Boy's and Girls Club in the United States. Mrs. Clinton along with several other Senators voiced their support for the Microsoft donation. The donation is designed to bring technology access and programs to more than 3.3 million children and teens through Boy's and Girls Clubs across the country.