Computerworld - March 26, 2012

Micro
Burst

BETWEEN THE LINES

By John Klossner

GATHERING CLOUDS

Dell says it plans to set up more than 20

data centers in Asia to
meet growing demand for
public and private clouds.

SOURCE: DELL

EMERGING TECH

Marvel Offers Digital Extras for Comic Book Fans

MOBILE & WIRELESS

San Jose Gives Free Wi-Fi Another Try

THE CIT Y OF SAN JOSE intends to ffer high-speed Wi-Fi throughout its downtown area, with the network paying for itself by making city workers more productive.

The California city, which has a population of about 1 million, plans to deploy Wi-Fi across a 1.5-square-mile area by the end of the summer. But the network will look very different from ones envisioned several years ago.

San Jose and other cities once had ambitious plans to blanket outdoor areas with Wi-Fi; they expected the networks to pay for themselves by generating revenue through home broadband subscriptions, browser-based advertising or small-business network use. But those plans faltered because their complicated business models depended on assumptions that often proved unfounded.

San Jose’s current plan is simpler. The
network will cost about $94,000 to buy and
set up, and then about $22,000 per year to run
and maintain, according to the city’s acting
CIO, Vijay Sammeta. The system will offer im-
proved connectivity for municipal employees
and satellite fire stations. It will also provide
better connections for wireless parking
meters, and for signs that guide drivers to
garages using real-time information about the
number of spaces available, Sammeta said.

Marvel Comics next month will release a new application to add content enhanced with augmented reality to some of its comic books.

Augmented reality, or AR, allows computer-generated content to be superimposed over a live camera view of the real world — a street, for instance. There are various ways to do this, but Marvel will use technology from Aurasma that relies on image detection.

The AR app will be available for Apple iPhones and iPads as well as other smartphones and tablets, according to the comic book publisher. By opening the application and holding a device in front of a compatible comic book page, users will be able to unlock free extra content, including new footage and commentary from creators.

Compatible comic book pages will be tagged with an AR logo; they will be featured in titles such as Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, SpiderMan, Wolverine and Hulk.

Last year, 72.1 million comic books were sold in North America. That’s a step up from the 69.2 million copies sold in 2010, but well below the 85.3 million sold in 2007.