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Issue no. 2, 2002 Published: Jan 11, 2002
Microsoft rivals lobby EU to extend probe to XP
US government backs research into fuel-cell technology
Western Europe surpasses US in number of online users
Lawmaker promises changes to online copyright law
Kodak forms new wireless technology company
Hidden danger found in Flash animation software
Set-top box steals spotlight at giant electronics show
Mobiles go clockwork
Data 'swarms' could rescue overloaded websites
Company develops 'revolutionary' data compression method
'Alien' message tests human decoders
Computers aim to beat the blues
Euro coin accused of unfair flipping

Microsoft rivals lobby EU to extend probe to XP
The European Commission is coming under increasing pressure from Microsoft's rivals to launch an anti-trust investigation into Windows XP. A number of US computer companies have lobbied the Brussels authorities to add the new operating system to its on-going probe into alleged anti-competitive practices by Microsoft. The move is a sign that some of the groups who have been complaining about Microsoft's practices, which include Sun Microsystems, AOL Time Warner, IBM and Oracle, are stepping up their attacks against the company following a successful launch of XP. The commission is believed to be unlikely to extend its current investigation to XP to avoid delaying a decision on the current case, expected in the next few months. However, it could open a parallel probe or launch a fresh investigation after the end of the current probe.
Financial Times Jan 09, 2002	back to top

US government backs research into fuel-cell technology
This week, the Bush administration has decided that US government support for the development of environmentally friendly vehicles should focus much more on fuel-cell technology. Fuel cells produce electricity by combining hydrogen with oxygen from the air. The hydrogen can come from traditional fossil fuels or from renewable sources such as methane from garbage dumps. The cells have no moving parts, their only emission is water vapour and they are far more efficient than internal-combustion engines, which convert only about 15 per cent of the energy into forward motion. However, fuel-cell cars are still a long way from commercial viability. To compete directly with the internal-combustion engine, their price will have to fall to about $50 per kilowatt. Current systems cost 90 times that amount. Besides, developing a network of refuelling stations for hydrogen-based fuel-cell power units could take a decade or more.
Nando Times / Christian Science Monitor Service Jan 09, 2002	back to top

Western Europe surpasses US in number of online users
By the end of 2001 the number of internet users in Western Europe exceeded that of the US for the first time, while the region has also surpassed Japan as an e-commerce revenue source, becoming second only to the US, according to IDC research. By 2005 internet users should reach 941.8 million worldwide, an increase from the 497.7 million recorded for 2001. Meanwhile, Western Europe itself should see a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of internet users of 16 per cent between 2000 and 2005, in comparison to the US’ expected 11 per cent CAGR. The period between 2000 and 2005 will also see a CAGR in online spending worldwide of 67 per cent. During this same period, e-commerce revenue will reach $4.6 trillion (E5.1 trillion), which includes B2C and B2B revenues, according to the IDC. The $1 trillion (E1.1 trillion) worldwide e-commerce revenue mark should be reached this year.
Europemedia.net Jan 07, 2002	back to top

Lawmaker promises changes to online copyright law
A US congressman said on Monday he intended to change a controversial copyright law to allow consumers to override technologies that prevent them from making digital copies of music, movies, and software. Rep. Rick Boucher said he planned to introduce a bill that would eliminate the 'anti-circumvention' clause of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a 1998 law that updated copyright laws for the digital era. Intended to discourage piracy, the clause has come under increasing fire over the past year by users who say it imposes severe limits on the rights of consumers to make personal backup copies or otherwise control music they have purchased.
CNN / Reuters Jan 07, 2002	back to top

Kodak forms new wireless technology company
Photo giant Eastman Kodak on Wednesday said it would form a new company to develop products based on its research into more efficient wireless transmission of high quality video, photographs and data. Appairent Technologies will use wireless technologies from Kodak's research labs, and is part of the company's goal of commercialising its technologies to expand the info-imaging category - a $225bn industry based on the convergence of images and information technology. The new company follows several years of technology incubation and seed funding by Kodak for development of the products Appairent will launch commercially, Kodak said. The work began in the mid-1990s as part of a laboratory project to solve the problem of getting digital pictures out of the camera and into kiosks and computers without using wires.
Siliconvalley.com / Reuters Jan 09, 2002	back to top

Hidden danger found in Flash animation software
Flash animations, one of the most popular formats on the web, can be used to harbour malicious computer viruses, researchers at UK anti-virus company Sophos have found. The virus they captured is not designed to cause harm to a computer and can only infect a system if the animation is downloaded and run locally. This means the virus is unlikely to spread widely. But experts warn that the virus could be modified to cause far more damage. The virus, known as SWF/LFM-926, takes advantage of functionality in Flash that allows a Flash file to run commands. The authors of the virus discovered that they could add specific parameters to these commands, ultimately making it possible to create, delete and manipulate files on a PC. The virus tries to spread to other Flash files on the same system.
New Scientist Jan 09, 2002	back to top

Set-top box steals spotlight at giant electronics show
Analysts have identified a new home entertainment device as the top innovation at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The Moxi Media Centre is a digital media server with an 80 gigabyte hard drive. Commentators say the technology could help speed the way to fully personalised TV because it has the ability to integrate digital audio, video, television and computer data in a single device. Forrester Research's Josh Bernoff believes the Moxi threatens not just major consumer electronic companies, but also software providers and makers of current digital video recorders. Its system uses Linux, allowing other companies to easily build their own applications into the platform and choose their own hardware and software partners.
Ananova Jan 09, 2002	back to top

Mobiles go clockwork
A wind-up charger for mobile phones was showcased by Freeplay Energy at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The company says the charger could make a big impact in developing countries where power supplies are often erratic. The charger, called FreeCharge, allows phone users to extend their talk time by up to five minutes for every 45 seconds to one minute of cranking. The more you wind, the more you charge the phone. An internal battery can also store extra energy, providing the convenience of an extra battery which can be recharged anywhere, anytime. The charger will be available for most major mobiles brands within the year. It will cost $65, which is out of the reach of many in developing countries. But next year, Freeplay intends to bring out a specific charger for the developing world at half that price.
BBC News Jan 10, 2002	back to top

Data 'swarms' could rescue overloaded websites
Websites overwhelmed by sudden popularity could soon rescue themselves by creating a 'swarm' of data to be shared between users trying to download the desired files. A new technology called Swarmcast spreads the load placed on a website and can also improve the speed of downloads for users. It breaks files into much smaller chunks and lets a user co-operate with other users by passing around chunks of data that they have already downloaded. Another system is Bit Torrent which under very high load it seamlessly shifts to most of the upload burden being borne by downloaders. However, these technology only help when all surfers are requesting the same content. A possible solution, according to IDC analyst James Eibisch, is to host it on more flexible server such as a Linux-powered IBM Z-Series, which contains a number of 'virtual' web servers. Extra memory or storage capacity can rapidly be transferred from one part of the machine to another if it suddenly comes under intense pressure.
New Scientist Jan 09, 2002	back to top

Company develops 'revolutionary' data compression method
US start-up ZeoSync claims to have developed a revolutionary new method for compressing data which can make data many times smaller than existing methods, and can even be used to efficiently compress 'virtually random' data. Compressing truly random data is not possible according the current mathematical understanding of compression. The company has refused to release detailed information about its technique, citing pending patents. The company says its technology will be commercially available in 2003 but says it will demonstrate the idea publicly within the next few weeks, to combat widespread scepticism. Conventional data compression works by finding redundancy within information. Fragments of data that are repeated can be streamlined, and fragments that are unimportant to the final product removed. Data compression is crucial to digital communications and information storage.
New Scientist Jan 10, 2002	back to top

'Alien' message tests human decoders
A message that will be broadcast into space later in 2002 has been released to scientists worldwide, to test that it can be decoded easily. Unlike previous interstellar broadcasts, the new message is designed to withstand significant interference and interruption during transmission. The two-dimensional image was converted into a binary string of ones and zeros that can then easily be transmitted as a radio or laser signal. About 10 per cent meaningless noise has been added to the data and some parts have even been deleted. This degradation of the message is intended to simulate the interference that might be experienced during transmission to distant planets. The new message can be downloaded from the project homepage at http://www3.sympatico.ca/stephane_dumas/CETI/
New Scientist Jan 08, 2002	back to top

Computers aim to beat the blues
The prospect of being stuck in front of a computer screen may be enough to fill some of us with feelings of gloom. But that is exactly what celebrity funny-farm The Priory aims to do in an effort to help its clients beat depression. The psychiatric hospital, which has helped such luminaries as Michael Barrymore, Stan Collymore and Kate Moss to rescue their heads from the bin, is to trial computer-based cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for depressed patients. The system, called Beating the Blues, will run in conjunction with face-to-face counselling. 'It is currently impossible to treat all those patients suffering from anxiety and depression who would benefit from CBT,' said the Institute of Psychiatry's Professor Jeffrey Gray, who developed the software in conjunction with health technology firm Ultrasis. The programme will involve eight 50-minute sessions at a computer terminal, and has been designed so that complete computer novices can use it.
VNUnet UK Jan 10, 2002	back to top

Euro coin accused of unfair flipping
The introduction of the Euro has proceeded with few problems - until now. Polish statisticians say the Belgian one Euro coin does not have an equal chance of landing 'heads' or 'tails'. The observation is not to be taken lightly on a sports-mad continent where important decisions can turn on the flip of a coin. Tomasz Gliszczynski and Waclaw Zawadowski, statistics teachers at the Akademia Podlaska in Siedlce set their students spinning the coins. Of 250 spins, 140, or 56.0 per cent, came up heads. Glyszczynski attributes such asymmetry to a heavier embossed image on one side of the coin. But Howard Grubb, an applied statistician at the University of Reading, notes that, 'with a sample of only 250, anything between 43.8 per cent and 56.2 per cent on one side or the other cannot be said to be biased'. With a larger number of spins the results would approach 50:50, he says. Nevertheless, Gliszczynski plans to continue his experiments with the German Euro, which has an eagle on its heads side.
New Scientist Jan 07, 2002	back to top