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Net trust Consumers will spend a record $ 14 billion online in the coming third quarter of 2002, the result of an increase in confidence in the Internet, a study reports according to Hindustan Times. The figures point to a growing irony of the Internet marketplace. As many nascent online companies finish their collapse because of early consumer indifference, Internet commerce appears to be finally catching hold with users. The study, conducted by the Yahoo! Internet portal and ACNielsen Internet ratings company, found that there was a strong connection between faith in making online purchases and the rise of online transactions. The study predicts that some 53 per cent of Internet users surveyed plan to shop online in the third quarter of 2002, with an average per shopper expenditure of $199. In the third quarter, 2001, less than half of Internet users - 42 per cent - said they would spend an average of $ 184. New devices Three fleet-footed companies based in Bangalore have unleashed a range of small computing devices to percolate down the benefits of technology, read e-mail, to the rural masses and the middle-income segment, Times of India reports. Though the market is still undefined, the devices are capable of sending and receiving e-mail. Close on the heels of the Simputer, Sasken Communications has come out with a novel e-mail device. Two devices are rolling out of Sasken after three years of hardcore research. One looks like a robust laptop, Aparate, which only facilitates e-mail and can also be used to browse the Net. The other, Penseive, is a slim box where collaborative work can be done - for instance, an orthopaedic surgeon in Mangalore can use this device to e-mail X-rays to consult a paediatrician in Bangalore. If you are not too comfortable with the mouse, buttons are there to simplify things. And, these two devices will be priced around Rs 10,000 each. The e-mailing device, iStation, inaugurated by Karnataka CM SM Krishna in Mandya last year is now reborn with a more realistic look. Airship takes over Huge airships hovering miles above major cities could replace satellites as providers of telephone and Internet services in as little as five years, Britain's Meteorological Office has said according to Reuters. The unmanned balloons would sit in the stratosphere - between 12 km and 60 km above sea level - keeping their position fixed by making use of solar-powered propellers and the vagaries of the weather in inner space. While the telecommunications technology has been tried and tested, the limitations of solar power and a rudimentary understanding of stratospheric weather systems have held back the balloon's launch. The first cities to be served would be those near the tropics, such as Singapore and Los Angeles, where the stratosphere's weather is more predictable and benign. NIIT centre
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