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Issue no. 2, 2004 Published: Jan 16, 2004
Judge rules Microsoft infringed on Eolas patent
.eu domain names to be launched in November 2004
Experts: No health risk in mobile phones
Cash fund for Linux legal defence
Worsening spam epidemic chokes the net
Windows 98 wins support lifeline
Robot scientist outperforms humans in lab
Web opens up for learning disabled
Crashed cars to text message for help
Multimedia PC with instant start-up launches
Adobe embeds anti-counterfeit software in Photoshop
Japanese toy maker comes up with dream machine
Hackers tell man he's 'too fat' to eat at Burger King

Judge rules Microsoft infringed on Eolas patent
A Chicago federal judge on Wednesday upheld a $521 million patent verdict against Microsoft that could ultimately force major changes in many of the most common internet software products. The judge said he saw no reason to overturn an August jury verdict that said Microsoft's Internet Explorer had infringed on patent rights held jointly by small developer Eolas Technologies and the University of California. As part of his decision, the judge barred Microsoft from distributing versions of its web software that include the potentially infringing technology. However, he immediately put that injunction on hold until an appeal has run its course. Microsoft is expected to appeal immediately. The August ruling set off a mild panic in the Web developer community, which fears it may have to change the way that many basic webpage functions are created or triggered if Eolas is ultimately victorious in its suit. The Eolas patent covers technology used to call up separate applications, such as media player or document viewer, within a webpage.
ZDNet Jan 14, 2004	back to top

.eu domain names to be launched in November 2004
The European Commission has announced that companies and individuals in the European Union will be able to start using .eu domain names with effect from November 2004. A 'sunrise period' will be launched in September 2004 to allow trademark holders to register domain names. From November 2004, the .eu domain names will be offered on a first come, first served basis.
Telecom.paper Jan 15, 2004	back to top

Experts: No health risk in mobile phones
There is no evidence linking mobile phones to cancer or other health problems, but more research needs to be done to be sure, a panel of experts said Wednesday. The scientists, who are advising the British government, said existing research into the health effects of cell phones 'does not give cause for concern'. They said 'biological and epidemiological evidence does not suggest cancer causation ... nor any other adverse health effect from radio frequency exposures at levels below guidelines'. But the panel said knowledge about the effects of exposure to radio waves emitted by the phones 'has limitations, and mobile phones have only been in widespread use for a relatively short time'. The findings of the panel broadly agree with those of an earlier advisory group which issued a report in 2000. Industry group the Mobile Operators Association welcomed the findings of the report and said it encouraged further studies.
CNN / AP Jan 14, 2004	back to top

Cash fund for Linux legal defence
Software giant Novell has become the latest firm to provide cash support for its Linux customers against legal claims of copyright infringements. It said it will defend its customers against potential threats by SCO Group, and other third parties. SCO, early distributors of the Linux operating system, has been threatening to sue Linux users since last year. It said code it owns had been illegally used in Linux by programmers who built the free-to-copy operating system. On Monday, another group called OSDL (Open Source Development Labs), said it had managed to raise $3m for a fund to cover the cost of defending users and distributors of Linux. Intel and IBM said they had contributed to the pot, but OSDL said it wanted to attract $7m more. Novell said it hoped its Linux Indemnification Programme would help its newly-acquired SuSe Linux customers feel more at ease about using the operating system, based on open-source code.
BBC News Jan 14, 2004	back to top

Worsening spam epidemic chokes the net
The scourge of junk email reached new proportions at the end of 2003 with nearly two out of every three messages sent worldwide being an unwanted advertisement. The latest statistics from UK-based email filtering company MessageLabs indicate that 62.7 per cent of all global emails sent during December were spam. The company scanned over 463 million messages. In November the figure was 55.1 per cent and in October 50.5 per cent. In some countries, for example Australia, more than two thirds of all December messages were junk. The majority of spam comes from computers running unsecured mail servers, known as an 'open proxy'. Furthermore, a number of recent computer viruses have been designed to convert infected machines into open proxies. The seemingly inexorable rise in spam suggests recent legislation introduced in the US and Europe aimed at curbing the problem has had little effect.
New Scientist Jan 13, 2004	back to top

Windows 98 wins support lifeline
Microsoft has granted its venerable Windows 98 software a reprieve. The software giant was planning to end support for the product on 16 January but has now changed its mind. The turn off date has now been extended to 30 June 2006 following protests by some developing nations who are keen users of the ageing operating system. Extended support means users must pay for help to solve problems but Microsoft will issue free patches to counter serious security threats. Microsoft's change of heart is also thought to be motivated by a wish to stop developing nations choosing cheaper open source operating systems such as Linux. A survey by AssetMetrix found that 39 per cent of the organisations it questioned had machines running Windows 98 and 95.
BBC News Jan 13, 2004	back to top

Robot scientist outperforms humans in lab
An intelligent robot that could free genomics researchers from routine lab chores has proven as effective as a human scientist. The robot not only performs genetics experiments, it also decides which ones to do, interprets the results and comes up with new hypotheses. Scientist at Imperial College London report how their 'Robot Scientist' fared when set a typical genomics task - to determine the function of a set of genes in brewer's yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Having been programmed with the necessary genetic background information and a model of the type of experiment to be carried out, the robot successfully confirmed the function of a set of well-known genes in yeast. The team compared the performance of the Robot Scientist with that of a graduate student doing the same experiments. Not only were the results just as accurate, but the system did not need to perform as many experiments because its hypothesis generator found solutions more quickly, so its costs were about two-thirds lower.
New Scientist / Nature Jan 14, 2004	back to top

Web opens up for learning disabled
New software that will make websites accessible to people with learning difficulties will go on sale later this year. The system, called Communicate Webwise, automatically turns information on pages into symbols or plain text. The developer, Widgit Software, says it can process most web pages, except those containing complicated java or flash components. Webwise uses Widgit's own Rebus symbol system, but can be made to work with other similar systems. First developed in the 1960s in the USA, Rebus symbols is a support system for language development for people who have moderate or severe learning difficulties. Widgit says the complexity of many sites can be off-putting to people with learning disabilities. This complexity is stripped out by Webwise because it presents information as either symbols, plain text in any font size, or spoken words. Links are all given the same distinctive colour to help with navigation.
BBC News Jan 11, 2004	back to top

Crashed cars to text message for help
Researchers funded by the European Commission are beginning tests in January of a system called E-merge that automatically senses when a car has crashed and sends a text message telling emergency services in the local language that the accident has taken place. The system was developed by ERTICO, a transport research organisation based in Brussels. Cars are fitted with a cellphone-sized device attached to the underside of the dashboard which is activated by the same sensor that triggers the airbag in a crash. It registers the severity of the crash by reading the deceleration data from the airbag's sensor. Using GPS information, it works out which country the car is in, and from this it determines in which language to compose an alert message detailing the precise location of the accident. The device then automatically makes a call to the local emergency services operator. If the car's occupants are conscious, they can communicate with the operator via the speaker and microphone. E-merge also transmits the vehicle's make, model, colour and licence number.
New Scientist Jan 14, 2004	back to top

Multimedia PC with instant start-up launches
'Why can't a PC simply turn on like a TV?' It is the question that has been bugging people who use multimedia PCs as the heart of their home entertainment systems. When they want to watch TV, play a DVD, listen to internet radio or play CDs and MP3s, they have to spend fruitless minutes watching the Windows egg timer while the PC boots up. Not any more. In a direct challenge to PCs running Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center, InterVideo of California last week launched the InstantOn PC. The technology allows all a PC's entertainment functions to be run on a pared-down version of Linux, called LinDVD. Rather than sitting on a hard drive, LinDVD is small enough to be held in a read-only memory chip and boots in 10 seconds flat. InterVideo developed the technology in collaboration with Intel, IBM and Sony. Its system lets LinDVD and Windows coexist in the same computer, running on a Pentium 4 processor and a minimum of 128 megabytes of RAM. But if the user wants to do some work, they use a remote control to switch off the LinDVD software and the PC re-boots to run Windows.
New Scientist Jan 14, 2004	back to top

Adobe embeds anti-counterfeit software in Photoshop
Adobe - better known for its creative software products - also has strong links with law-enforcement agencies, it has emerged. Photoshop CS has software embedded within it to prevent any attempts to copy currency - software added at the request of government and international banks. The currency anti-counterfeit software was created by the Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group, a consortium of 27 central banks in the United States, Japan and various European nations. The software generates a warning message when anybody tries to copy currency. Similar protection is built-in to graphics imaging software from Ulead Systems. The news has generated mass response, with Adobe's creative customers complaining about censorship, voicing their concerns that the move opens the doors to future restrictions on the use of other sorts of images, such as copyrighted or adult material. Photoshop CS offers another feature - History Tracking - which, if enabled, tracks every operation run on an image within the application. Adobe says the feature was inspired by the needs of law enforcement agencies, who wanted to record everything done to an image to protect it as evidence.
Yahoo / MacWorld / AP Jan 15, 2004	back to top

Japanese toy maker comes up with dream machine
A Japanese company has developed a gadget that will enable people to control their dreams. Takara has come up with the Yumemi Kobo, or Dream Workshop, which it claims can put people in charge of their dreams. To work the gadget, the owner has to stare at a photograph of what they would like to dream about and then record, in their own words, how the dream is supposed to pan out. Once users are sleeping, the gadget goes to work by combining the voice recording, lights, music and aromas to stimulate sleepers whenever it detects rapid eye movement - a sign that someone is dreaming. Eight hours later, users are gently awakened by soft lighting and music to ensure that pleasant memories of the night before are not instantly erased. But Takara says it cannot guarantee complete customer satisfaction and says it is still experimenting, mainly with company employees. The gadget will go on sale in the spring.
Ananova / The Guardian Jan 15, 2004	back to top

Hackers tell man he's 'too fat' to eat at Burger King
A junk-food fan was left shocked and upset recently when his order at the Troy, Michigan, Burger King drive-thru was declined on the grounds that he was 'too fat'. The man ordered at the speaker but was told by the voice on the other end of the intercom: 'You don't need a couple of Whoppers. You are too fat.' He was then told to drive on. The source of the abuse is believed to be a group of malicious pranksters who hacked into the wireless frequency of the drive-thru's intercom service. Some consumers were told the restaurant had no food or drink, while others were subjected to profanities. The group are believed to be operating somewhere in the vicinity of the restaurant and have been abusing diners since late last week. Burger King staff are currently trying to change the frequency of the intercom system to avoid further embarrassment. It appears the authorities do not see the funny side of the prank, however. If caught, the tech-savvy miscreants face up to three months in prison under Michigan's misdemeanour laws.
Silicon.com / Click On Detroit Jan 14, 2004	back to top