On the 31st December, just before midnight, the countdown to the new year will ring out around the world: '3, 2, 1, Happy New Year!'. Suddenly we will plunged into 2003, wishing everyone the very best for the coming year and hoping that all our desires will be met. [>>]

'Down! Sit!' That's how the modern child talks to their robot dog. These little robots are equipped with a voice recognition system that identifies their master's voice. An 'intelligent', even 'sensitive' toy, because if you don't take its education seriously, it will become lazy! Representative of the new generation, these 'intelligent' and interactive toy robots bring great pleasure to both their big and small owners! [>>]

Which one of us has never complained because they couldn't find the information they want on the Net? It seems so easy at first, just type in a keyword and read through the retrieved documents. But what do you do when there are many hundreds of results? It quickly becomes apparent that a grounding in Boolean operators and a good knowledge of each search tools' syntax (that are all subtly different) is useful if you want to find relevant documents. To find documents that talk about 'horses' but not 'races', a complex query is necessary. Wouldn't it be more natural to formulate your query in common, everyday language? [>>]

Peer-to-peer has been seen by some as a new Internet revolution. That every individual should be able to share video, music, text and software files with the whole world is a considerable source of freedom on the network. A freedom that was rapidly reined in by the legal implications of freely sharing this type of material. Napster was the first to pay the price. Others have since followed, and many observers predicted the death of this means of exchange in the near future. [>>]

Biometrics is a very reliable security technique. It is based on the recognition of a number of physiological features that are unique to each of us. A recent study by Frost & Sullivan predicts that the biometrics market could grow to $900 million in 2006, compared to $66 million in 2000. [>>]

Winter is approaching rapidly. The temperature is dropping. The sky is becoming gray. For a lot of people, it's the time to rediscover the comfort of their cozy home. What better way to escape the dullness of the outside world than in the warmth of one's own house? [>>]

Faced with the exponential growth in the number of Web sites, it is becoming harder and harder to find your way in the labyrinth. What happens if, as part of your work, you have to monitor hundreds of sites and keep up to date with all their new information and modifications? Visiting lots of different sites, only to find that nothing has changed, would be a pure waste of time. Perhaps you don't see any other solution? Don't despair, the monitoring agents will do this job for you. [>>]

After cookies, which provide information about your browsing habits on the Internet, new forms of spy software that go much further are starting to appear on the network. The new spyware programs collect and share, via the Internet, information about what is done on a particular computer. [>>]

The Internet can easily become a source of frustration. Seeing all the information that is available, but never being able to read it all, can lead to a growing sense irritation. How is it possible to receive the information you want on your desktop every day, without getting lost in the meanders of the Web? [>>]