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Issue no. 5, 2002 Published: Feb 01, 2002
European Commission approves HP/Compaq deal
Consortium releases Linux standards
New domain name '.coop' launched
US and Israel the cyber crime kings
Doctors call for health warnings on computer games
Tiny resonators may help cellphones shrink
Researchers discover a novel way to identify authors of text
New digital video format makes inroad in Hollywood
Digital cameras capture imagination
Virtual world grows real economy
Survey finds most Russians have never used computers
Google inspires new craze

European Commission approves HP/Compaq deal
The European Commission has cleared Hewlett-Packard's $23.8bn takeover of Compaq after concluding that the deal between the two US computer groups would not harm competition in Europe's IT sector. The enlarged HP will have more than 40 per cent of the European market for servers, the gateway to e-commerce and the internet, but the Commission concluded that customers and rivals were strong enough to prevent the new company from acting anti-competitively. The clearance clears the way for a vote by HP and Compaq shareholders' vote likely to be held in March. The two companies are planning to complete the merger in the first half of the year. Compaq shareholders are expected to approve the deal but there is greater uncertainty over the outcome of the HP vote. The US competition authorities have still to decide on the deal but are expected to approve it after requiring the disposal of overlapping businesses.
Financial Times Feb 01, 2002	back to top

Consortium releases Linux standards
Linux users' and developers' lives have just gotten a little easier. The Free Standards Group released two tools on Thursday intended to ensure that all Linux applications can run on any Linux Standard Base-compliant version of the open source operating system: LSB 1.1 and Li18nux 1.0. LSB 1.1 includes a full set of common APIs (application program interface) and a development package, plus full testing capabilities. Li18nux is an internationalisation guide for platform and applications developers that will help them support multiple languages. The standards are supported by 23 organisations and vendors including IBM, Dell, Sun Microsystems, Oracle, Red Hat, TurboLinux, SuSE Linux and Caldera Systems. Some commercial application developers have slammed open source development, saying that it lacks the necessary controls to define the common programming standards that need to be used across different projects to ensure compatibility. Many open source experts also believe that a lack of standards has held back widespread Linux adoption.
Wired News Jan 31, 2002	back to top

New domain name '.coop' launched
Credit unions, farm collectives and other businesses secured their own online-address suffix Wednesday as the '.coop' internet domain opened for registration. Unlike internet suffixes such as .com and .info, which are open to all, only businesses that can certify they are member-owned can reserve a name in the .coop domain. The domain was one of seven selected in November 2000 to ease overcrowding in the .com domain by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which oversees the internet's addressing system.
Wired News Jan 30, 2002	back to top

US and Israel the cyber crime kings
The US is the largest producer of cyber attacks, according to security expert Riptech, with Israel producing the most attacks per capita. Riptech, which investigated over 128,000 cyber attacks in an analysis of 5.5 billion log entries over the six months to December, found that hi-tech, financial, power and media companies were the most likely to suffer. Although most attacks were harmless, some 43 per cent were graded as 'critical' or 'emergency level' events. Israel produced more cyber attacks per head of population than any other nation, at 26 attacks per 10,000 internet users. It was followed closely by Hong Kong, Thailand, South Korea and France. Energy companies in the Middle East are seen as key targets, while in Asia the financial sector received the brunt of the attacks. Public companies reported twice as many attacks as private and non-profit organisations, while businesses with over 500 employees received 50 per cent more attacks than their smaller counterparts.
VNUnet UK Jan 29, 2002	back to top

Doctors call for health warnings on computer games
Computer games with vibrating hand-held control devices should carry health warnings because they can cause damage to hands, British doctors say. The doctors called for the health warnings in a letter to the British Medical Journal after a 15-year-old boy developed symptoms similar to hand-arm vibration syndrome, which is caused by using industrial tools for long periods of time. The boy, who played computer games with a vibrating control device for up to seven hours a day, suffered pain and swelling in his hands.
Yahoo / Reuters Jan 31, 2002	back to top

Tiny resonators may help cellphones shrink
Most of a cellphone's insides are taken up by filters, duplexers and resonators - components that sort radio frequencies so that you get your calls and not someone else's. Made from non-silicon materials these components present a major obstacle to further shrinking of cellphones. Some researchers want to replace these components with tiny machines called microelectro mechanical systems, or MEMS. MEMS proponents say they can reduce common annoyances like dropped calls while creating the potential for phones so tiny that they could look like something else, such as ring that you put on your finger. Currently frequencies are sorted with surface acoustic wave devices, or SAWs. MEMS-based filters are at least five times better than SAWs, because they use tiny internal elements that are tuned to vibrate in response to a very specific frequency. SAW devices are generally measured in centimetre. But a 1-by-1 centimetre square could easily hold 62,500 MEMS resonators, providing enormous savings of space.
New York Times Jan 31, 2002	back to top

Researchers discover a novel way to identify authors of text
Soon computers may be able to automatically identify strings of text with their appropriate authors by using a free software already available on the internet. Researchers at Rome's La Sapienza University have found that a computer file compression program called Gzip provided an unusual means of analysing strings of data. Compression programs shrink large files by searching for repetitive strings of information. The program can reduce the original file to a smaller one that contains just the basic 'building blocks' of data and instructions on how to recreate the original, larger file. But the researchers says that the process can also help identify files of unknown data. They collected 90 texts by 11 Italian authors and in 93 per cent of the cases, the method correctly matched small text samples with the authors. The researchers say it can also be used to compare webpages and thus creating better search engines and they see possibilities for research in the field of biological DNA sequencing.
ABC News Jan 30, 2002	back to top

New digital video format makes inroad in Hollywood
Four Hollywood film studios said on Wednesday they will start selling films in a new digital videotape format, D-VHS, designed for high-end home theatre systems equipped with a player from JVC. The system, called D-theater, is not made to compete with the lower- priced digital video disc (DVD) format. Instead, D-VHS is targeted to a small group of home theatre owners with new high-definition TV sets and the JVC player, who desire crisper and clearer digital pictures. One D-VHS cassette has the capacity to record and playback 4 hours of high definition TV or more than 50 hours of standard definition TV. JVC has equipped its systems with encryption technology to help protect movie copyright owners against piracy, spurring the decision by studios - Universal Studios, Twentieth Century Fox, DreamWorks and Artisan Entertainment - to make videos in the new format.
Yahoo / Reuters Jan 30, 2002	back to top

Digital cameras capture imagination
Digital photography firms in the US have every reason to smile as it emerges that the take-up of digital products is exceeding the growth of net users. While online growth is rising in the US by just 18.6 per cent, use of photo-editing software in the home is up 27 per cent. In October, more than 21m US computer users chose to develop their own prints. Matt Marshall, analyst at research firm IDC, puts this popularity down to the freedom it gives consumers. It gives you the ability to decide what you want to print and the freedom to manipulate images. A digital image can be a lot more rewarding than the faded prints from the developers - sunsets can be enhanced, red-eye syndrome eliminated and even double chins can mysteriously disappear. This is proving irresistible to users, agrees Kodak's director of marketing Steve Raher. Like other photography firms, Kodak has recognised the impact of digital and now has a division devoted to it. Research firm Jupiter MMXI, which collected the US data, believes digital photography is about to become mass market.
BBC News Jan 30, 2002	back to top

Virtual world grows real economy
An online computer game has spawned an economy with a per-capita income comparable to that of a small country, according to new research. EverQuest lets players create and control characters within a fantasy world called Norrath. Characters gain skills and possessions that they can then trade with other players using the game's currency of 'platinum pieces'. However, many of EverQuest's 400,000 players have opted to sell their assets for real money through trading websites such as eBay. Edward Castronova, of the economics department at California State University at Fullerton, studied thousands of EverQuest transactions performed through eBay. He discovered that Norrath's gross national product per-capita is $2,266, making it the 77th most wealthy country in the world, just behind Russia. Castronova also found that Norrath's virtual currency is more valuable in the US than the Yen and that players earn an average of $3.42 for every hour spent playing the game.
New Scientist Jan 28, 2002	back to top

Survey finds most Russians have never used computers
A new survey suggests an overwhelming majority of Russians have never used a computer. The All-Russian Public Opinion Research Centre says only 16 per cent of the population are regular users. Nine per cent use a computer daily, four per cent weekly and one per cent at least once a month. Home computers and internet access are still relative luxuries in Russia - mainly used by the well-off young. But computer access is increasing, shown by the emergence of internet cafes in most large cities. The results come from interviews with 2,046 adults nationwide.
Ananova Jan 30, 2002	back to top

Google inspires new craze
A game based on searching Google is gaining popularity online. 'Googlewhacking' involves searching the engine's massive two billion page database. The goal is to search using two words that return a solitary result. The game rules are detailed on a page created by computer programmer Gary Stock. He will not accept responsibility for inventing it, but does admit to coming up with the name. He explains that all entries, or 'googlefactors', must be verified via the dictionary.com website. A googlewhack is only established if the message 'Results 1 out of 1' appears at the top of the page. Stock says the game's rising popularity is ensuring that it constantly evolves. A googlewhack does not remain one for long because players post the link on Stock's site, ensuring that it will soon return two results.
Ananova Jan 30, 2002	back to top