Recently, the Securities & Exchange Commission announced plans for a successor to its EDGAR database. The new Interactive Data Electronic Applications (IDEA) will "give investors faster and easier access to key financial information about public companies and mutual funds," said `SEC Chairman Christopher Cox at a recent press conference (see video here). "The SEC has formally proposed requiring U.S. companies to provide financial information using interactive data beginning as early as next year, and separately has proposed requiring mutual funds to submit their public filings using interactive data," says the release.