The Cutting Edge: COMPUTING / TECHNOLOGY / INNOVATION : Some Sharp New Images on the Internet
For some time now, users of CompuServe and America Online have been able to come together for meetings or large-scale public events at which everyone can see what is being typed by an individual or two, or by anyone else present. Software executives, athletes, politicians and movie stars have appeared in such live conferences. On the Internet, users can have similar meetings using Internet Relay Chat.
Now imagine adding video.
That’s the purpose of some fascinating software called CU-SeeMe, created at Cornell University and distributed for free across the Internet. CU-SeeMe makes it possible to see and hear (or at least type at) users on the other side of the world, live, at no cost beyond that of your Internet connection.
CU-SeeMe running on your garden-variety personal computer won’t knock anyone dead. It requires some horsepower on the desktop, and in order to send images you also need a video camera and video card. Almost anyone can receive images, but they tend to be about five inches square, jerky, and in black and white. You can get sound from the Mac version, but not the Windows edition. Moreover, at modem speeds of less than 28,800 b.p.s. CU-SeeMe can’t even be called functional.
On the other hand, if you have the right equipment CU-SeeMe does function, it is free, and the cost of using it is certainly vastly less than flying to, say, Switzerland, which is where I observed somebody recently when I tested the program. The images were quite sharp too.
CU-SeeMe is still in the testing stages, and like so many other computer products--remember 300 b.p.s. modems?--is bound to get better. Meanwhile, think of what the technology implies: In the short term, it suggests the Internet as a way to conduct video conferences anywhere in the world. Individuals in several far-flung cities could convene for meetings at which they would see and hear one another. You could visit with friends or relatives on the other side of the country.
Already, CU-SeeMe has enabled Internet users to view live footage of the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, and live space shuttle footage courtesy of NASA. Down the road, CU-SeeMe suggests the Internet as a network delivering live, low-cost and--this is crucial--interactive video on demand.
To continue progress in this direction, the Cornell CU-SeeMe Consortium was formed. This organization of nonprofit institutions and businesses aims to “support the rapid deployment and use of affordable, real-time conferencing technology to stimulate creative experimentation among the Internet community,” according to the outfit’s Web material.
Cornell has designated White Pine Software (https://www.wpine.com/) as its master licensee to develop a “commercially enhanced” version of CU-SeeMe that includes color and other improvements, but the parties say the free version will continue to be available over the Internet.
To my mind, CU-SeeMe is one of the three most intriguing new technologies in cyberspace lately. The others are RealAudio, which we covered last week, and Internet telephone, which we’ll cover next. Taken together, they give a pretty good idea of where the Internet is going, and how, amid all the talk of an information highway, the Internet is already out there, moving an awful lot of traffic.
*
To try CU-SeeMe for yourself, you’ll need the right kind of Internet connection. CompuServe subscribers who use that service’s Web browser have the right connection, as do individuals who dial into SLIP (Serial Line Internet Protocol) accounts, or those who are networked at a company, university or other institution. Users of Prodigy, America Online or the Internet Adaptor can visit the CU-SeeMe World Wide Web page but can’t use the software.
The program is pretty easy to install. Download the right flavor (Windows or Macintosh) either from the CU-SeeMe Web site or by ftp from CU-SeeMe.cornell.edu. The Windows version, which I used, needs to be unzipped (if you don’t have pkunzip, this is a great time to get this essential tool, available on every on-line service and the Internet).
Once you’ve logged on to your Internet account, run CU-SeeMe and pull down the Conference menu item. Click Connect; you’ll get a dialogue box that contains a pull-down list of “reflectors”--places to which you can connect in order to view CU-SeeMe video. If you have a video card and video camera attached to it, you can pretty easily configure the program for sending as well as receiving.
BTW: In a recent column, I omitted the final N in the name of PGP creator Phil Zimmermann. Also, I said PGP keys are prime numbers; they’re actually factors of prime numbers. In another column, I mentioned the morning radio team of Ken & Bob, not realizing that for quite a while now it’s been Ken & Barkley. Thanks to my alert readers, and apologies to all.
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)
Seeing CU-SeeMe
To investigate CU-SeeMe, use your World Wide Web browser to visit the CU-SeeMe home page at https://cu-seeme.cornell.edu/. Also from this page, you can access a list of CU-SeeMe “reflector” addresses where you can go to view CU-SeeMe video once you’ve downloaded and installed the program. Remember, CU-SeeMe is still in the testing stages, so don’t be surprised by any strange error messages. And don’t expect much of anything at 14,400 b.p.s.
*
Daniel Akst welcomes messages at akstd@news.latimes.com but regrets that he cannot always reply.
