It's Communicator 4.5, and it's more than a browser. It's a front end for a Web site.
Netscape (NSCP) today posted a preview version of its new browser and enterprise software. Many of the latest tweaks enhance the newest branch of Netscape's business strategy, the Netcenter Web portal (which is also where the new software can be downloaded). Prominent among the 4.5's features in the beta version is Smart Browsing, designed to make addressing and finding sites quicker and more intuitive.
Roaming Access, another feature not previously announced, lets users store their bookmarks, address books, and other preferences on Netcenter for access from any browser (though Navigator works best), on any PC.
Smart Browsing taps into a back-end, 1.5 million-keyword database at Netcenter to identify Web addresses by plain words and phrases instead of URLs. It also provides a pop-down menu of related sites -- dubbed "What's Related" -- which are culled from the 12 million sites tracked by the Alexa Internet service. If the browser can't guess which Web site is being sought, it will deliver users to the Excite-branded Netcenter search page. All this, of course, helps direct the company's 70 million-plus browser users to its new Netcenter portal.
Improved emailing is also part of the package, as is support for mobile and PalmPilot users, who can swap their email and addresses with Communicator.
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I t'awt I thaw a hand thignal: If new technology from Toshiba can deliver what's been promised, PCs could one day recognize hand gestures. The company said today it's come up with a computer system that can recognize 3-D images -- even if they're moving. Software detects moving images via infrared light-emitting diodes and an image sensor. This combination, Toshiba says, could be used to build a computer-user interface that's easier to use than a keyboard, and applications that serve the disabled, the elderly, or children.
Reuters contributed to this report.
