papa@pollux.usc.edu (Marco Papa) (01/21/88)
In article <9513@ccicpg.UUCP> harald@ccicpg.UUCP ( Harald Milne) writes: > > Once again, it's so strange Marco. I waited for a posting for >AmiExpo, and just when I posted, guess what cropped up. > > And once again, I missed you. Good to hear from you! > In article <6322@oberon.USC.EDU> I say: > >> That's it, for now. Thanks to all who stopped by at the OXXI's booth a said >> hello. We hope you'll soon see Digi-Weather at a TV station near you. > > I have been reading about this a way back. Could you elaborate on >Digi-Weather for all us terribly uninformed? > Sure. Digi-Weather is a special customized version of the Tek 4014 emulator which is included with A-Talk Plus. With it one can access the Accu-Weather (tm) database of meterological and ready-for-air data. Meteorological data is data provided by the National Weather Service to a number of commercial companies that then plot it in Tek format or modify it with in-house artists for boardcast. Accu-Weather's Accu-Data gives you all the possible weather data superimposed to maps of the US, invividual states, and any other states in the world. All NWT data can be plotted, from temperatures, jet streams, etc... This is the data used to make the forecasts or to get up-to-the-minute data. This can be accessed today with just the Tek 4014 emulator included in A-Talk Plus. Accu-Weather also provides ready-for-TV-broadcast images that include temperatures, forecasts, notices of the day, and GOES satellite images. The images come in 2 formats: low-res (384x240) and hi-res (768x480), both in 16 colors, and with each image containing its own colormap. These images are sent out over the telephone line at 1200 or 2400 bauds or through a satellite dish. The Digi-Weather software, currently an unreleased product, recognizes the beginning of one of thes images, decodes the image by scanlines, and saves the image in IFF overscan format at the end of the transmission. This images can then later be modified with Deluxe Paint II or any other IFF-compatible paint program, and included in a slideshow (I guess Deluxe Productions, Aegis VideoTitler, Station Manager, or any other slideshow program will do). The GOES satellite images can be obtained at a distance of 1 hour to produce the known satellite-loop-animation that is now very popular on the local 5-6PM news. Note that there are currently about 1000 TV stations using Accu-Weather graphics (you might have seen their images without knowing it), using custom hardware and software provided by ColorGraphics Corporation, with prices ranging from $20,000 to $60,000 depending on the configuration. Digi-Weather runs just fine on an Amiga 500. Digi-Weather has been used by 2 stations in the Chicago area. The weather man there was one of our beta testers. Digi-Weather has been ready since last August. We just decided not to release it, considering the amout of red tape involved with just one product, A-Talk Plus, until we could find another company that would publish it. With OXXI picking up all of our product line, Digi-Weather will finally be released. Originally the thought was to produce only a high-end product for the TV station market. Pricing of this would have been in the thousands of dollars. After showing it at the Commodore Show LA and now at AmiExpo, it seems that OXXI will publish a low-end version for the hobbyist with a price around $100. (dont't quote me, I won't decide the price). One of the reasons is that Accu-Weather has low-hobbyist rates, between 70 cents and $ 1 depending on the image, and individuals do not have to download a minimum per month (though TV stations do). Some more information is included in the A-Talk Plus review included in Vol. 2, issue 12 of Amazing Computing (including a color satellite), and the last issue of INFO magazine, in the reports from the Commodore LA Show. It looks that Commodore itself is interested. We just had to federal-express our demo to Commodore WestChester for Max Toy to take a look at. If you have any interest in the consumer low-end version being released, feel free to call John Houston, President of OXXI, at (213)427-1227. Information on Accu-Weather and its services can be obtained by calling Accu-Weather, Inc. at (814)237-0309. As I reported late last year, some of the images have already being ripped off by Aegis Development, and displayed on a Mac II. If you need more specific information, please e-mail directly to me. -- Marco Papa Felsina Software Accu-Weather, Accu-Data and everything that starts with Accu is a trademark of Accu-Weather, Inc.
papa@pollux.usc.edu (Marco Papa) (03/27/88)
In article <37282R38@PSUVM> R38@PSUVM.BITNET (aka Marc Rifkin) writes: |I believe it is a specialized version of A-Talk (plus, II, ...) for |communication with weather computers like Accu-Weather for digitized |and sometimes animated satellite photos. True. Actually it just shares the "serial communications" portion of the old A-Talk Plus. The current beta version also provides support for WSI satellite and weather images, besides Accu-Weather. One reason we decided to provide WSI support is that WSI can be accessed also from Europe (UK and Holland, for example), and the images will be saved in PAL IFF in that case. We are still contracting for the distribution rights, and I hope things will be cleared up by the time of the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) Conference in Las Vegas, April 9-12. -- Marco Papa -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= uucp:...!pollux!papa BIX:papa ARPAnet:pollux!papa@oberon.usc.edu "There's Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Diga!" -- Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=