19 September 2002

General Magic hangs up The VoiceXML and telematics company is closing today. Press release: "Most of the company's employees will leave immediately.". GM will have to find another partner for Onstar's in-car speech recognition applications. There will be an asset car-boot sale, but Scripting News wouldn't be buying the magicTalk Enterprise Platform 2.0: inclusive platforms live, exclusive platforms die. Sad news for the voice services ecology, though consolidation is inevitable. 10:27:25 PM     comments

BBC: Hirst apologises for 9/11-as-artwork gaffe Unsurprisingly, his "The thing about 9/11 is that it's kind of an artwork in its own right" line was considered insensitive. update: CBS News is reporting on Hirst and 9/11. Meantime, the New York Post is getting the hump about an Eric Fischl sculpture of an "upside-down woman, naked and flailing, at the moment her head hits pavement following her leap from the flaming World Trade Center". 10:17:32 PM     comments

BBC: new video driving test confusing Or the instruction to "identify hazards" was. Better explanation, or even examples, could have helped. 10:16:14 PM     comments