In addition to the Cutter Consortium Summit in Cambridge, Mass., Oct. 25-27, there will be a similar event in London around Dec. 1. Both events will feature a half-day workshop on the challenges and opportunities presented by cloud computing. Contact Cutter or Claude Baudoin for additional information.

Interactivetools has replaced its Article Manager software, which we used at Schlumberger to manage multiple newsletters, with a new and broader version called CMS Builder. It does a bit more (such as adding other content sections to the same Web site, adding more customization capabilities, or generating pages that can be inserted into a pre-existing Web site) but retains the same simple structure and low pricing ($200 per installation).

While this tool is far from a full-function CMS (you get what you pay for) it can serve as a "starter kit," a stopgap solution for a tech watch team, or to evaluate the space and better understand  the requirements for a complete system.

No, we're not talking about Avatar, as appropriate as it might be. The Parallel Tracking and Mapping (PTAM) program from Oxford University augments a camera video stream in real time, without requiring information on the location of known objects that serve as markers.

At the last virtual meeting of the BPM/SOA Consortium's Integration Working Group, Dr. Alexander Samarin gave a good presentation on the synergy between BPM and SOA, and on his pragmatic approach to leveraging both in the enterprise. Several of his prior slide sets are available on Slideshare. This set ("Examples of SOA+BPM Joint Work") should be posted there soon, but you can also ask Claude Baudoin for a copy.

The European Grid Initiative (EGI.eu) will coordinate clusters of computers in more than 50 countries through the National Grid Initiatives (NGI) to enable scientists to carry out collaborative research projects.

Researchers from Saarland University (you will be pardoned if you didn't know that it existed and, especially if you're from the US, if you have no clue where Saarland is located) have demonstrated a 3D-capable version of Firefox. This could create new demand for XML3D images on the Web. A 3D version of Google Earth cannot be far behind...

The HaptiMap project (from "haptic," related to the sense of touch) aims at making location information and services easy to access from mobile devices by allowing more ways to interact with a map, including touch. The project is coordinated by a Swedish university. Let's hope they're considering the question of whether you will have to take your gloves off while cycling in winter to find directions on your smart phone...

"Most Service Level Agreements in the market are uninteresting because they lack consequences and are not aligned with the real business issues."

--Jeff Whitehead, Zetta Enterprises