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Issue no. 18, 2001 Published: Dec 14, 2001
Breakthrough on reform of EU telecoms laws
Worldwide raids on internet software piracy
Euro changeover vulnerable to hackers
Paving the way for 'uncrackable' codes
Curl aims at replacing HTML and Javascript
Images successfully beamed between satellites
Google offers access to more than 3 billion documents
Changing face of Silicon Valley
Researchers bring quantum computing a step closer
Body scanner lets doctor see through the skin
Prison visits go hi-tech in Singapore
September 11 research claims 'evidence' of global consciousness
IT staff 'less popular than accountants'

Breakthrough on reform of EU telecoms laws
The European parliament on Wednesday agreed to compromise on a ground-breaking legislative package that sets out common rules for Europe's telecommunications and media sector. The measures, which includes four directives that will now become EU law, together form one of the biggest legislative packages pushed through by the current European Commission and represent perhaps the biggest success so far of Belgium's presidency of the EU. The package requires national authorities to consult each other on subjects such as third generation mobile phone auctions and gives companies and consumers greater rights to appeal against decisions. It also enables Brussels to enforce common technical standards for digital TV if the industry does not move towards greater harmonisation.
Financial Times Dec 12, 2001	back to top

Worldwide raids on internet software piracy
Law enforcement officials from six countries on Tuesday launched a crackdown on internet piracy of software programmes, seizing at least 65 computers containing tens of thousands of stolen movies, computer games and applications software. The action, which took place in the US, Britain, Canada, Australia, Finland and Norway, was the biggest yet against internet-related crime, and could help shut down a network that US officials say is responsible for pirating more that $1bn worth of software annually. The investigation, launched in September 2000, succeeded in infiltrating a group known as 'Drink or Die', which officials said was the most successful of a loosely affiliated network of eight to 10 groups known as Warez. The network is thought to have about 1,500 members worldwide who are engaged in illegal copying and distribution of software.
Financial Times /BBC News Dec 11, 2001	back to top

Euro changeover vulnerable to hackers
If the devil is in the details, the great Euro changeover portends a set of computing scenarios which could be more than a little diabolical. The details in question are spread across the distended decimals of national currencies forced to redefine themselves in Euro terms, as the EU stands at the threshold of the change on January 1, 2002. A Wired magazine look at conversion readiness observes that, in addition to the confusion likely to seize the transformation process, industrious hackers are poised to plunder defenceless systems, tweaking conversion rates and perpetrating all manner of cyber-looting. According to a Euro Information Service survey, not one computer/IT firm questioned declared full preparedness for the changeover, adding that less than 20 per cent of the sample asserted 'full confidence' in their respective conversion strategies.
Europemedia.net Dec 12, 2001	back to top

Paving the way for 'uncrackable' codes
A new light-emitting diode (LED) developed in Cambridge, UK, can be controlled so precisely that it emits just one single photon each time it is switched on, without the use of lasers. The device could be a key component in quantum cryptography, a code-making technology which, it is hoped, will be uncrackable. The kind of encoding currently used to protect messages relies on the fact that, without the key, it would take an extremely long time to do all the calculations needed to unscramble a secret message. But there is no guarantee the key has not been stolen, or that computers will not improve to a point where the time factor is less significant. With quantum cryptography, intercepting a single photon on its way down an optical fibre would change the information it was carrying. The interception would then be apparent to the sender and receiver.
BBC News Dec 13, 2001	back to top

Curl aims at replacing HTML and Javascript
Curl, a new web-building technology can replace HTML and JavaScript, according to its creators. They claim that websites built with Curl are 10 times faster, take significantly less development time than conventional sites, and are easier to maintain. Curl lets you insert any functional elements featured on the web today - using a single language, according to its development team, which includes 'father of the Web' Tim Berners-Lee and MIT's Stephen Ward. The Surge plug-in, a free download needed to view Curl pages, uses the client's CPU, rather than distant servers, to process page redraws, graphics, database duties and other tasks.
IFRA Trend Report / Wired News Dec 12, 2001	back to top

Images successfully beamed between satellites
The European Space Agency (ESA), the French space agency CNES and Astrium, announced last week that they successfully beamed images by laser link from one satellite to another. The new technology means that news agencies could request satellite images of war zones or natural disasters and receive near perfect images within an hour. The images were transmitted by optic laser between the SPOT 4 satellite - orbiting 832 km above the Earth - and the geostationary satellite Artemis - resting 31,000 km above the Earth. From there they were relayed to a ground image treatment centre in Toulouse, France. With this satellite-to-satellite technology, theoretically everyone has access to the images within an hour of it being taken. Currently there is up to a 24-hour wait until the satellite can download the image as it passes over a ground station.
Europemedia.net Dec 12, 2001	back to top

Google offers access to more than 3 billion documents
Search engine Google said Tuesday it now offers direct access to more than 3 billion web documents, including newsgroup postings back to 1981. Unlike other search engines, queries on Google return results beyond standard web pages. In addition to newsgroup postings, the engine finds images, Microsoft Office files, images and documents in PDF format. The Usenet archive, available in Google Groups, now contains 700 million messages in 35,000 categories. Usenet is an internet-based bulletin board that predates the World Wide Web.
Nando Times / AP Dec 12, 2001	back to top

Changing face of Silicon Valley
The impact of the dot.com boom and bust of 2000 on the hi-tech heart of the US, Silicon Valley, has been captured in a new book. In Artifacts: An Archaeologist's Year In Silicon Valley, Christine Finn of the University of Oxford, UK, provides a snapshot of this turbulent period during which people's fortunes could change overnight. In her book, Finn tries to capture the fast pace of change in Silicon Valley's material culture. She first arrived in Silicon Valley in January 2000, at a time of optimism and multi-million dollar deals. When she left in December, the atmosphere had changed completely, with companies and people living with the aftershocks of the dot.com crash. Finn believes Silicon Valley could present a challenge for future archaeologists, who may completely misinterpret the piles of computer chips found in this corner of the world. 'Perhaps they would make something into a ritual site which wasn't a ritual site, where people go and leave things to appease the gods of venture capital,' she says.
BBC News Dec 11, 2001	back to top

Researchers bring quantum computing a step closer
Some radically new ways of building computers are starting to take shape as scientists venture ever deeper into the realm of quantum mechanics. A team of researchers at the University of California has taken a key step by suggesting for the first time a practical way to bring the phenomenon known as 'electron spin' under precise control. Experts say this opens up a path toward quantum computing, which is expected to be particularly useful at performing calculations, such as breaking complex codes and searching huge databases at lightning speed. In a spin-based quantum computer each bit of information, known as a 'quantum bit' or 'qubit', is encoded by varying the orientation of electrons as they spin about their axes. The researchers created a blueprint for an electrically controlled 'spin gate' analogous to the charge-based logic gates that make up conventional computer chips. Such a simple control over quantum effects would allow manufacturers to adapt current technology to the quantum-based systems.
San Francisco Chronicle Dec 10, 2001	back to top

Body scanner lets doctor see through the skin
Medical researchers are working on a handheld scanner that lets doctors look inside patients in three dimensions as if they could see through skin. The 'sonic flashlight' promises to reveal organs, muscle tissue and blood vessels at any depth in an illusion of actual space without resorting to monitors, goggles, cameras or tracking devices. The sonic flashlight combines images of the skin surface with a live ultrasound by placing the scanner and a flat-panel display on opposite sides of a half-silvered, translucent mirror. When doctors look through the translucent mirror at the patient, they see the patient's skin merged with the image of an ultrasound scan. The ultrasound image is projected onto the skin in perfect alignment with the patient. The result is an ultrasound image that appears to occupy the same physical space as the part of the body being imaged.
Wired News Dec 11, 2001	back to top

Prison visits go hi-tech in Singapore
Prison authorities in Singapore have begun offering video conferencing as a hi-tech alternative to family visits. The Prisons Department has opened its first in-prison televisiting unit in a suburban facility. Inmates are given access to special cells containing a video camera, microphone and TV screen. The idea is to help relatives who live too far away from the prison or would rather not attend in person. Prison Service director Chua Chin Kiat said the initiative forms part of a wider scheme to improve its services. The televisit scheme is offered as an alternative to the in-person visits allowed every two weeks. Each broadcast automatically switches off after 20 minutes.
Ananova Dec 13, 2001	back to top

September 11 research claims 'evidence' of global consciousness
Researchers say computers set up to generate random numbers produced a mysterious pattern on September 11. They say it may be evidence of a global consciousness which affected the world around us. Every day, as part of the Global Consciousness Project, 37 computers all over the world toss 'virtual coins' and the results are usually around 50 per cent heads and 50 per cent tails. But on September 11 the team claim their results skewed in one direction - something which normally happens maybe once in 15 days. The skewing also remained in place for a number of hours - this had never happened before. Dean Radin, a researcher involved in the project, said: 'We're not dealing with something as simple as thoughts affecting the system. But there is a correlation and it's not clear how it comes about.' The team say they saw similar, but smaller, effects after the funeral of Princess Diana and the sinking of the Kursk submarine.
Ananova Dec 10, 2001	back to top

IT staff 'less popular than accountants'
IT support staff have been voted as the fellow workers most colleagues would least like to sit next to at the office Christmas party, making them even more unpopular than the office accountant, according to a UK survey, sponsored by NETg. The low ranking of IT professionals in the popularity stakes is due to fears that they would 'talk shop' all evening, or be too introverted to hold a conversation with their neighbour. The study highlights the fact that softer skills, such as communication or team building, are still sadly lacking in many IT professionals. NETg is urging them to increase their focus on business and professional skills training. Personal assistants or receptionists were the most popular individuals to sit next to at the office party, securing 42 per cent of votes predominantly because they were seen as the biggest gossips.
VNUnet UK Dec 10, 2001	back to top