Bits & Bytes

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Bits & Bytes

UP TO OUR EYEBALLS IN INTERNET

Talk about vivid imagery. In announcing an Internet partnership between Stardust Technologies of Campbell, Calif., and the International Webcasting Association, Stardust announced that "250 million eyeballs will be tuned to the Internet by year 2000.''

Such a prediction begs a question: Does that mean 250 million people will be Web surfing by the millennium, or 125 million?

TECHNOLOGY INFLUENCE

Kim Polese, founder and chief executive of Marimba Inc., is one of the most influential people in the country, according to Time magazine's 1997 list of the 25 most influential Americans.

As one of the developers of the Java programming language and one of the few women CEOs in information technology, she is the only high-tech entrepreneur on the list. Polese shares the honor with golf star Tiger Woods, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Scott Adams' cartoon character Dilbert.

Polese's company, based in Palo Alto, Calif., pioneered the delivery of computer applications over the Internet or intranets known as push technology or multicasting.

KEEPING TRACK OF MARATHONERS

It has helped guide tanks in the desert and find sailors lost at sea. And now a global positioning system has aided in tracking runners in the Boston Marathon.

Worldwide Notification Systems, Atlanta, installed tracking technology in chase vehicles that followed the lead male and female runners in the 101st Boston Marathon on April 21. Coaches, runners and spectators, plus viewers of cable sports channel ESPN, could watch real-time speeds and locations of front-runners during the race.