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Issue no. 42, 2002 Published: Nov 15, 2002
ISPs hail tough EU stance on broadband price cuts
Intel breaks 3GHz speed barrier
Dell reclaims top spot
Rebuilt, faster Opera browser debuts
Fastest supercomputer to date unveiled
SGI developes compact supercomputer
Optical antenna boosts wireless security
Polymers could push internet speed
Circuit gets more power from shakes
Start-up brings PC movies to TV
Don't be too clever, says web guru
Robot guard-dragon unveiled in Japan

ISPs hail tough EU stance on broadband price cuts
Europe's Internet service providers (ISPs) are cheering a tough new European Commission proposal that would prod national telecom operators to cut wholesale charges for high-speed internet access. Even since the so-called 'local loop', or last mile of network leading into homes and businesses, was unbundled to a host of potential competitors two years ago, Europe's broadband penetration remains low compared to South Korea, Canada and the US. It has been a bit of an embarrassment for the EU too, which had billed itself as one of the most digitally advanced regions in the world. It is hoped that a new tougher stance in which the EU could ask national regulators to enforce economical wholesale rates for digital subscriber line (DSL) broadband services, will trigger change. According to EU documents, the Commission would also ask national regulators to give ISPs more access to telecom networks with the ultimate aim of opening up the market to more resellers and lowering costs for the end user.
Yahoo / Reuters Nov 12, 2002	back to top

Intel breaks 3GHz speed barrier
Intel this week unveiled a 3.06GHz version of its Pentium 4 chip, which will also bring the firm's HyperThreading technology to its mainstream desktop processors. HyperThreading makes each processor appear to software as two virtual processors, speeding up some applications. The 3GHz operating speed is a milestone for the industry, and will reduce the advantage of Intel's 64bit Itanium 2 processors compared with the 32bit Pentiums. Intel says HyperThreading can boost performance by up to 30 per cent. However, tests showed the performance of some applications drops by half when HyperThreading is enabled, partly because each virtual processor has access to only half the chip's resources, such as cache memory and bandwidth-to-memory. Besides, operating systems and applications must support HyperThreading to benefit from it. Linux and Windows XP are compatible with the feature, but Windows 95, 98 and ME are not.
VNUnet UK Nov 12, 2002	back to top

Dell reclaims top spot
The US computer giant Dell has said its growth in market share has allowed it to regain its position as the largest personal computer maker. Dell lost the title briefly to Hewlett-Packard earlier this year after HP bought Compaq Computer. Dell made the announcement as it reported a 31 per cent rise in profits for the three months to the end of October. It added that shipments in the current quarter were set to rise by 23 per cent, and forecast higher earnings and revenues. Dell has pursued an aggressive price strategy which has allowed it to win market share from rivals despite the slump in IT spending. The company is planning to start making printers and handhelds for the first time, in a move which will see it challenging products made by HP.
BBC News Nov 14, 2002	back to top

Rebuilt, faster Opera browser debuts
Opera Software, which has long-claimed that its browser loads pages substantially faster than Internet Explorer, has released a stripped- down, rebuilt version of its browser software in order to speed page loads even more and to support a wider variety of web standards. The release has been eagerly awaited by the Opera's small user base but is unlikely to make much of a ripple in the wider web market. While Opera has picked away only a tiny market share from Microsoft, its programming experience has let it write what analysts view as a very promising browser for small-screen devices such as mobile phones. One of the complaints from Opera users has typically been that it cannot read all pages well. Many software developers write their code to conform to Internet Explorer, rather than broader web standards. The new version addressed some of these problems, but the company acknowledged that there could be pages that will continue to have difficulties as the company does not want to support exclusionary coding.
CNET News.com Nov 12, 2002	back to top

Fastest supercomputer to date unveiled
US manufacturer of supercomputers, Cray, has announced a new supercomputer that will leave its fastest counterparts in the dust. Cray’s X1 will offer up to 52.4 teraflops, or trillion mathematical calculations per second. Reaching that level requires 4,098 custom- designed 800MHz Cray processors. Supercomputers harness the collective power of a large number of processors. Scientists apply this power to predict the weather, conduct experiments or simulate nuclear explosions, while companies use it to design and test products. The fastest supercomputer currently in use is NEC’s Earth Simulator, which delivers 35.6 teraflops. Ultimately, manufacturers would like to reach a petaflop, or 1,000 trillion mathematical calculations per second. Cray said its X1 systems will be able to reach the petaflop mark by 2010.
MSNBC / CNET Nov 14, 2002	back to top

SGI developes compact supercomputer
A new supercomputer from SGI packs far more computing power per square inch than do competing machines, a breakthrough the company hopes will help it flourish in what it sees as a renaissance in supercomputing. The Origin 3900 can hold up to 128 processors and fit into a single rack, according to SGI. Current Origin computers can hold only 32 processors in a rack. Floor space in computing rooms is valuable, so reducing the size of computers saves money and expands the places where these systems can be installed. Versions of the Origin 3900, for example, could be fit onto an oil exploration ship or a plane. The density of the Origin 3900 is largely accomplished through the low-energy characteristics of the company's MIPS processor, which consumes about 17 watts, about the same as a notebook chip. Density also increases performance by reducing the distance that signals have to travel between the processors, memory and other subsystems.
ZDNet Nov 11, 2002	back to top

Optical antenna boosts wireless security
An optical antenna that uses a geometrically shaped lens promises to bring greater security to wireless networks for businesses, according to British scientists at the University of Warwick. Optical antennas are already available. But this new antenna is so precise that it can detect a signal on a single wavelength of light. The scientists assert that the device is 100 times more efficient at gathering in a signal than any previous optical sensor of this kind. The new antenna may have a favourable impact on the use of wireless networks in corporate settings or for business transactions. Compared with radio frequencies, used by wireless standards such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, infrared beams can be more tightly controlled. One of the first ideas under development is for credit card payment systems. The antenna will be embedded in a credit card, allowing card owners to pay by simply holding their card in an infra-red beam.
ZDNet / New Scientist Nov 11, 2002	back to top

Polymers could push internet speed
Researchers at Bell Labs have cleared the first hurdle to potentially increasing internet speeds to well above today’s fastest rates. The scientists have demonstrated in a controlled laboratory setting that certain polymer materials have physical properties to channel data signals at speeds approaching 145GHz - much faster than widely used optical networks that typically clock in at about 10GHz. Although bandwidth speeds can approach 40GHz, today’s materials cannot be pushed to much faster data rates. Over the past five years, however, polymers have shown great promise in overcoming that obstacle. Polymers are chemicals made of large molecules in repeated structural units. However, the advances are unlikely to make their way into the market for another five years at least.
MSNBC / CNET Nov 14, 2002	back to top

Circuit gets more power from shakes
Researchers at Pennsylvania State University have boosted the efficiency of piezoelectric circuits, which transfer the mechanical energy of vibrations into electric power. Piezoelectric circuits are commonly used to convert a watch-wearer's motion into energy to power the watch. The new piezoelectric circuit harvests four times more power from vibrational energy than the circuits currently in use, according to its inventors. Key to the increased efficiency is an adaptive control technique that optimises the actions of a converter that transfers the harvested energy to a battery for storage. The researchers prototype generates 50 milliwatts of energy, and should be efficient enough to convert the motion of a runner into the power needed to run an electronic music device. The circuitry could also be used to power wireless networks of tiny sensors, and to power devices that dampen vibrations. Devices that require more than 50 milliwatts could be powered using an array of several piezoelectric circuits, or they could be powered periodically, according to the researchers.
TRN News Nov 13, 2002	back to top

Start-up brings PC movies to TV
The explosion in the popularity of internet file-sharing has led to thousands of PC users enjoying downloaded movies. So far, most have had to watch them on a PC with software necessary to decode the files. But from January next year, such movies can be watched on TV, with the release of a DVD player that can also play movies encoded in one of the most popular computer formats, DivX. Movies in DivX format are small enough to download, without sacrificing too much image quality. The device, dubbed Maestro DVX-1201, will operate like a standard home entertainment DVD player, except that it can also play computer file formats such as DivX and MPEG-4 for movies, MP3 and WMA (Windows Media Audio) for music and JPEG for images. It will be the first product from start-up Neuston, a Singapore-based firm, and will be among the first DivX/MPEG-4-compatible players available anywhere.
Yahoo / ZDNet UK Nov 13, 2002	back to top

Don't be too clever, says web guru
A badly designed intranet can cost a 10,000-employee company $15m a year in lost productivity, according to a new study from web usability guru Jakob Nielsen. Poor search facilities, inconsistent navigation and using bulky PDF files instead of navigational web pages are the major causes of reduced usability, the study found. Staff in 14 companies were asked to perform a number of common tasks, including finding information about a co-worker and details of a specific employee benefit using the corporate intranet. Those completing the same tasks on a poorly designed intranet took up to seven times as long to complete them. Jakob Nielsen said that companies should be spending at least 10 per cent of their web and intranet budgets on analysing usability, and the rest on putting that into action. 'People should spend their creative forces trying to make things work well,' Nielsen said. 'The average person is mystified, intimidated and bewildered by computers.'
VNUnet UK Nov 13, 2002	back to top

Robot guard-dragon unveiled in Japan
A home 'guard dragon' robot has been unveiled in Japan. The four-legged robot can sense smoke and alert its owners to a smouldering fire - via a howl or a mobile phone text message. The Banryu was jointly developed by Sanyo and Tmsuk. It is one metre long, 80 centimetres high, 70 centimetres wide and weighs 40 kilogrammes. It can move at a top speed of 15 metres per minute. The guard dragon can 'confidently' walk over 10-centimetre gaps or climb a 15-centimetre high step using sensors located on its legs. Owners will be able to switch the Banyru into any of three operating modes. The remote control mode allows users to send commands and receive information via mobile phone. In care-taking mode, the robot will patrol the house and report back if it senses someone walking close by, or the scent of smoke. In pet mode, Banryu will act like a pet dog, obeying commands such as 'sit' or 'paw', Sanyo says.
New Scientist Nov 14, 2002	back to top