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Issue no. 35, 2003 Published: Sep 26, 2003
EU software patent plan gets thumbs up
Europe looks at radio spectrum trading
China to help Europe develop GPS rival
Microsoft shuts down chat rooms
Microsoft monoculture allows virus spread - report
W3C to study patent's threat to HTML
ICANN asks VeriSign to pull '404' redirect service
Electronic paper prepares for video
Patchwork design may give speedier chips
Tuner chip turns mobiles into television
Radio tags provide guidance
Mobiles make you senile - study
Intel helps fingers type faster

EU software patent plan gets thumbs up
The European Parliament this week voted to approve highly controversial legislation that governs patents for computer-related inventions. The 'Directive on the Patentability of Computer-Implemented Inventions' was presented as a technical adjustment to harmonise the way patents are treated by national governments across the EU. The directive was passed with several amendments that had been supported by critics. One amendment, its advocates said, more clearly defines what can be patented and what cannot. Another allows a patented technique to be used without authorisation or royalty payments if it is needed solely to ensure interoperability. However, on Tuesday, in a debate ahead of the vote, Commissioner Frits Bolkestein criticised the amendments, telling the Parliament that 'the majority of those amendments will be unacceptable to the commission'. He said if the 'unacceptable' amendments were passed, the commission could withdraw the directive entirely and seek to achieve patent harmonisation through a renegotiation of the European Patent Convention.
CNET / ZDNet UK Sep 24, 2003	back to top

Europe looks at radio spectrum trading
The European Commission has initiated a study to examine the possible trading of radio spectrum within the EU. Allowing secondary trading of radio spectrum for electronic communications services such as mobile phones and broadcasting could create much needed flexibility in the trading of a limited resource. Experts believe that the continued growth of new mobile and broadcasting services would benefit from granting spectrum licence holders the power to sell on or sell off part or all of their rights to frequencies. But there are many challenges associated with the practical introduction of spectrum trading, and the options available for resolving each of these are varied. The Commission is concerned that this array of options will lead to individual EU member states adopting sufficiently disparate approaches so as to prevent spectrum trading being realised at a European level. The Study is expected to be completed in May 2004.
VNUnet UK Sep 25, 2003	back to top

China to help Europe develop GPS rival
China is to contribute to a new global satellite navigation system being developed by European nations. The Galileo satellite system will offer a more accurate civilian alternative to the Global Positioning System (GPS), operated by the US military. China will provide €230m in funding and will cooperate with technical, manufacturing and market development. A new centre that will coordinate co-operation was also announced by the European Commission, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology. The China-Europe Global Navigation Satellite System Technical Training and Cooperation Center will be located at Beijing University. China has a substantial satellite launch industry and could potentially help launch the Galileo satellites. But the project had already drawn heavy criticism from the US Department of Defense, and the involvement of China is unlikely to improve the situation. The US has claimed that Galileo could interfere with the US ability to downgrade the GPS service during military conflicts.
New Scientist Sep 19, 2003	back to top

Microsoft shuts down chat rooms
Microsoft is shutting its internet chat rooms in 28 countries because of concerns over the safety of children using them. MSN, Microsoft's internet division, said the threat that paedophiles could use its chat rooms to locate vulnerable children who they might go on to abuse had forced it to close them down. MSN chat rooms in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America will be shut down on 14 October. Subscription only chat services will then be introduced in the US, Canada and Japan only. Microsoft says these will be more secure because users must provide identification in order to pay. Microsoft will also continue to provide its MSN Messenger chat client, which links up individual computers for conversation. But some experts argue that shutting the chat rooms will only shift the problem to less regulated online chat systems. Some observers have suggested that MSN's decision might be partly motivated by economic factors, in particular the cost of running a free service.
New Scientist Sep 24, 2003	back to top

Microsoft monoculture allows virus spread - report
A report published on Wednesday by the Computer and Communications Industry Association says that Microsoft’s dominance in PC operating systems has created a 'monoculture' that allows viruses to spread like wildfire over the internet. The security problems are a direct result of the Microsoft's business practices, who's systems are designed to keep out competitors rather than intruders, claims the report. The authors argue that governments should use their buying power to force Microsoft to open up the Windows source code. This would allow security vulnerabilities to be spotted and closed far quicker and allow security software to interact more effectively with the operating system and reduce the opportunities for virus writers to produce malicious code, the authors say. Flaws in a product would normally mean it would lose its dominance but, this cannot happen in operating systems because Microsoft controls at least 90 per cent of the operating system market, the report says.
New Scientist Sep 25, 2003	back to top

W3C to study patent's threat to HTML
With a patent threat looming over the web's de facto standard browser, the Worldwide Web Consortium launched a strategy group to evaluate the implications for the web's standard markup language. The W3C conceived the patent advisory group to study the threat posed by the Eolas plug-in patent to HTML and related W3C recommendations. The Eolas patent has roiled the Web since a federal district court jury slapped Microsoft and its Internet Explorer browser with a $521 million patent infringement judgment, one of the largest in history. Fear of the patent has quickly spread to other browser makers, which also provide the patented ability to launch plug-in applications within their browsers' windows. It has also hit makers of those plug-ins, such as Macromedia, along with the W3C itself. The W3C's plug-in patent advisory group will have legal as well as technical questions to answer. The advisory group has posted its charter, which sets a 90-day deadline for completing its work.
New York Times / CNET News Sep 25, 2003	back to top

ICANN asks VeriSign to pull '404' redirect service
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has asked VeriSign to voluntarily suspend a new service that redirects web surfers to its own site when they seek to access unassigned web addresses, rather than return an error message. ICANN last Friday posted a notice on its website discussing its response to the so-called wildcard service, which launched on 15 September and sends users to a VeriSign page with search results including links to paid advertisements. VeriSign runs the registry for the .com and .net domains, which are the domains affected by the wildcard service. ICANN said it is investigating complaints over the wildcard service and asked VeriSign to pull it pending further study. The service effectively replaces the common '404 page not found error' that until now has been the default for absent web addresses.
Silicon.com / CNET News Sep 22, 2003	back to top

Electronic paper prepares for video
Flexible paper-like colour computer displays that can show moving video are under development by the Dutch electronics giant Philips. Philips and others have already succeeded in making prototype flexible displays, but their refresh rates - the speed at which they can turn a single dot on or off - have been slow. The new technology can significantly improve the refresh rate using a faster effect called electrowetting. The technology works on the old premise that oil and water do not mix. In each unit, or pixel, of the device, water and coloured oil is naturally separated into layers above a white backing sheet. When an electric field is applied across the paper, the oil is quickly deflected to one side, revealing the white underlayer. This rapid switching gives the paper the potential ability to display moving images. Moreover, the pictures are four times brighter than reflective LCDs and twice as bright as other emerging technologies. The system works at low voltages, making it usable in a wide range of electro-optic devices.
BBC News / Ananova / Nature Sep 24, 2003	back to top

Patchwork design may give speedier chips
Future microprocessors could exchange data hundreds of times more efficiently than today's processors according to researchers at Sun Microsystems. The researchers have developed a simple prototype capable of transferring 21.6bn bits of data per second. 'Capacitive coupling' could eventually be used to transfer a trillion bits of data per second. The fastest desktop PC can transfer data at about 50bn bits per second. At the moment, a signal has to pass from one chip to another through a circuit board - which slows it down significantly. But an effect which couples the storage capacity of two adjacent electrical components could make it possible to transfer data hundreds of time faster. Changing the electrical properties of one component has a corresponding effect on another a few millionths of a metre away - a phenomenon that could be used to transfer bits of information extremely quickly. The Sun prototype proposes harnessing this effect for many chips at once. The system consists of a 'checkerboard' of chips facing up or down and overlapping at the edges.
New Scientist Sep 23, 2003	back to top

Tuner chip turns mobiles into television
Consumer electronics maker Sony said on Wednesday it planned to ship in December samples of a mini digital broadcast tuner module that would enable mobile phones to act as televisions. The tuner module, which is smaller than a postage stamp, can be used in mobile applications such as cell phones or PDAs. Sony says the module is the smallest of its kind and has the lowest power consumption. Japan plans to roll out terrestrial digital broadcasting in certain regions by the end of 2003 and launch a signal specifically designed for mobile applications in 2005. The sample module will sell for 50,000 yen (€390) with strong demand expected from manufacturers looking to develop new products using the tiny chip, Sony said.
Reuters Sep 24, 2003	back to top

Radio tags provide guidance
University of Rochester researchers have found a new use for the radio frequency identification tags that manufacturers are aiming to use to track products. These radio ID tags contain small radio transponders that broadcast unique identification numbers, allowing radio receivers in retail stores and warehouses to track inventories in real time. The Rochester team has reversed the standard setup by making the receivers mobile and the transponders fixed. The system, dubbed Navigational Assistance for the Visually Impaired (NAVI), includes a set of permanently mounted passive transponders and a reader/playback device carried by the user. A transponder trips a particular CD track when a playback device comes within range. The system could be a low-cost alternative to GPS-based schemes for providing location-specific information and pedestrian navigational assistance. The system could eventually be used in self-guided tours in museums.
Technology Review / TRN Sep 24, 2003	back to top

Mobiles make you senile - study
A new study has re-ignited the controversial question of whether mobile phones are harmful to users. The US government research concentrates on whether radiation can affect the blood supply to the brain. Its findings contradict previously inconclusive research, which has focused solely on whether mobile phones can cause cancer in the human brain. The study found that exposure to microwave radiation emitted by GSM phones and other wireless home and office technology is capable of breaking down the 'blood-brain' barrier, a permeable network of capillaries that allows essential substances such as glucose to permeate the brain and fuel its metabolism. This breakdown releases a protein called albumin that can trigger the destruction of cells, resulting in reduced brain capacity and possibly inducing premature senility. And although the research is still in its infancy, it is thought that the effects of the release of albumin are irreversible and may even promote other brain diseases.
VNUnet UK Sep 19, 2003	back to top

Intel helps fingers type faster
Intel is backing a novel way to make it easier to input text on mobile handsets. At its autumn developer event, Intel showed off a concept universal communicator using the Fastap keypad that fits 26 letters alongside the numbers on a handset. The Fastap keypad does away with the need to press keys several times to scroll through the letters associated with each number. Intel's prototype device rolls together mobile phone technology with wi-fi, video and audio streaming and improved security. Fastap was developed by former Apple ergonomic design boss David Levy as a way to make it easier to enter text using the tiny keypad on a handset. The design puts letters of the alphabet on raised buttons that fit between the keys. Words can be typed by pressing the raised keys, and numbers by pressing the four keys that surround a particular number.
BBC News Sep 20, 2003	back to top