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Issue no. 17, 2002 Published: Apr 26, 2002
European Commission adopts cybercrime penalties proposal
Intel tests potential chip breakthrough
AMD's Hammer chips get Microsoft nod
PC networks inspired by gossip
Spin may be the key to molecular computing
3D images in your hand
Squishy cellphones add a buzz to calls
China's net usage leaps to second in world
Microsoft launches e-book association
Volunteers move into HomeLab to test latest technology

European Commission adopts cybercrime penalties proposal
The European Commission (EC) has approved a proposal that would harmonise definitions and penalties for a range of computer crimes across all EU member states. A European Council Framework Decision on 'attacks against information systems' will address cybercrimes such as hacking, denial-of-service attacks and the release of destructive computer viruses. The proposal is for all EU member states to have consistent definitions and criminal penalties for cybercrimes, rather than the hodgepodge of different national laws or lack of laws altogether that exists today. The commission says the implementation of the proposal will give European law enforcement authorities additional legal means to act in their fight against cybercrimes. The proposal encompasses laws criminalising 'illegal access to computer systems (hacking)' and 'illegal interference with information systems (denial-of-service attacks or the distribution of viruses).'
Newsbytes Apr 24, 2002	back to top

Intel tests potential chip breakthrough
Intel is experimenting with Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography (EUV) techniques that will enable chip makers to place more transistors on a semiconductor. As more transistors means better performance, this overcomes barriers to faster processors that have been concerning chip manufacturers. It opens up possibilities for chip speeds of up to 10GHz which are impossible with today's techniques. Current photolithography techniques used to create chips are based on photographic principles. Machines shrink and print images of circuits onto silicon wafers, but EUV differs from current photolithographic methods by using a shorter light wavelength to create the image. Intel has bought a machine to create chips in this way, and is the first manufacturer to do so. The machine itself is still at a beta stage of development, and Intel does not expect commercial production of EUV chips to start for around five years.
VNUnet UK Apr 23, 2002	back to top

AMD's Hammer chips get Microsoft nod
AMD confirmed Wednesday that it will collaborate with Microsoft to tune Windows to run on its upcoming family of Hammer chips. AMD also unveiled the official names for Hammer chips. The desktop versions of the chip, slated for release at the end of the year, will be sold under the Athlon name. The multiprocessor versions of the chip for servers, due in the first half of 2003, will be sold under the name Opteron. Hammer chips differ from existing chips in that they can read 32-bit code, the basis for nearly all software for PCs today, and 64-bit code, used by high-end servers. Among their other advantages, 64-bit computers can manage more than 4GB of memory, the physical limit for 32-bit machines. Although Microsoft's endorsement is significant, AMD will still have to convince hardware manufacturers, software developers and corporate customers to invest time and energy into using Hammer as a 64-bit chip.
Yahoo / Reuters Apr 24, 2002	back to top

PC networks inspired by gossip
Scientists at Microsoft are looking at ways to help networks form and manage themselves spontaneously, as well as reliably pass on information to all members as they join and leave it. At the moment, most peer-to-peer networks are made up of people swapping music, programs, movies and images. But as the web becomes more about doing business, machines are expected to form peer-to-peer networks automatically. The researchers are working on software called Pastry, which uses a peer-to-peer addressing scheme inspired by the way that rumours and gossip spread through human communities. The members of a Pastry network only connect to a few nodes in the entire system. Typically they link to machines that have addresses close to theirs, as well as at least one in the other numerical domains of the addressing scheme. Experiments have shown that Pastry can reliably send information to network members, even though they may regularly join and leave the system. It also reduces the burden of passing information around because one node does not have to send its data to all the nodes requesting it.
BBC News Apr 24, 2002	back to top

Spin may be the key to molecular computing
Scientists are developing a new kind of computer technology known as spintronics. The system uses the way individual molecules spin as a way of carrying information. Molecules can spin in an upward or downward direction so the system can be used to carry the binary code which computers use. It could lead to computers which remember everything when the power is turned off, and superfast quantum computers. A new spin valve, developed by scientists at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey, uses magnetism to control which type of spinning molecules pass through it. Because of the way it uses individual molecules to carry information it could revolutionise hand-held devices. Its small size means circuits made from the devices could be more densely packed and therefore be more powerful.
Ananova Apr 20, 2002	back to top

3D images in your hand
Researchers at Microsoft are putting sensing devices used to trigger airbags into handheld computers to help create virtual 3D images on the devices' screens. When a handheld fitted with the sensor is angled, its screen shows different parts of an image giving a pseudo-3D effect. The micro-machined tilt sensors are typically used to trigger airbags in cars by measuring sudden changes in acceleration or deceleration. On a PDA, the sensor triggers the device to show a different part of an image depending on how it is being held. The sensor makes the screen act like a square hole in a piece of paper being slid over a larger document or image underneath. Moving the device around allows the palmtop computer to display pictures and documents far larger than would otherwise fit on the small screen, often only 240 by 320 pixels in size.
BBC News Apr 23, 2002	back to top

Squishy cellphones add a buzz to calls
Vibrating rubber cellphones could be the next big thing in mobile communications, allowing people to communicate by squishing the phone to transmit vibrations along with their spoken words. According to a research team at the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the idea will make phoning more fun. When you grip the team's prototype latex cellphone, your fingers and thumb wrap around five tiny speakers which vibrate against your skin around 250 times per second. Beneath these speakers sit pressure sensors, so you can transmit vibration as well as receiving it. When you squeeze with a finger, a vibration signal is transmitted to your caller's corresponding finger, its strength dependent on how hard you squeeze.
New Scientist Apr 24, 2002	back to top

China's net usage leaps to second in world
Interviews with Chinese householders conducted by internet analysis firm Nielsen//NetRatings suggests that 56.6 million Chinese people now use the internet at home. This promotes China to second place in the world rankings, ahead of Japan, which has 51.3m users, Germany (32.2m) and the UK (29.0m). The US still leads the pack with 166m users. But the survey also concludes that Chinese surfers could outnumber those in the US by two to one within the next three to four years. The Chinese Ministry of Information reports that internet subscriptions are increasing at a rate of five to six per cent each month. If this rate is sustained, home internet use could reach 257m by 2005. Some say that such an explosion in internet use could have profound implications on the Chinese government's programme of censoring online content. Government-controlled ISPs screen out some Western news services. But there are online projects that allow banned content to be reached by routing it through seemingly innocent internet servers.
New Scientist Apr 23, 2002	back to top

Microsoft launches e-book association
Only days after the Frankfurt eBook Awards announced it would have to shut down because it had lost its funding from Microsoft, the US software giant announced it would start its own e-book association to promote 'policy and industry progress, not prizes'. Microsoft said it is launching the Europe-based International eBook Association (IeBA), which is to include an e-book award, but plans to focus on reducing the barriers facing the e-book industry. The new association plans to be a 'neutral representative of the electronic publishing industry and its issues,' Microsoft said. It expects to work with the EU and member states to overcome widely varying taxation and regulatory policies that are harming the e-book industry. It would also try to address technological issues, like readability and display quality, hoping to increase the popularity over e-books by improving the electronic reading experience.
Europemedia.net Apr 22, 2002	back to top

Volunteers move into HomeLab to test latest technology
Philips has opened a 'laboratory house' to test technology on people in an everyday environment. HomeLab in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, is linked through hidden cameras, microphones and one-way mirrors to observations rooms. Researchers will be able to follow the occupants 24 hours-a-day to get a better idea of their needs and motivations. HomeLab features home entertainment systems that can respond to human voice commands, or create digital fantasy environments for virtual reality games. TV pictures can be projected on to blank walls. Music will come from MP3s stored on the HomeLab computer jukebox, which can even recognise and play a hummed tune. Most connections are wireless, with systems controlled by handheld devices and flat-panel displays. A wireless LAN provides access to broadband internet.
Ananova Apr 23, 2002	back to top