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Issue no. 3, 2004 Published: Jan 30, 2004
Scientists create new form of matter
Most flexible electronic paper yet revealed
Tech giants back smart shopping
EU's mind 'made up' on Microsoft
Amazon finally flows into profit
Microsoft-UN deal aims to wire poor nations
Nanorings promise large memory
Technique detects quantum state
Device 'quarantines' infected network computers
Mutating software could predict hacker attacks
Virtual dummy to try on clothes

Scientists create new form of matter
Scientists at the University of Colorado say they have created a new form of matter and predict it could help lead to the next generation of superconductors for use in power distribution, more efficient trains and countless other applications. The new matter form is called a fermionic condensate, and it is the sixth known form of matter - after gases, solids, liquids, plasma and Bose-Einstein condensate, created only in 1995. The new material brings researchers one step closer to an everyday, usable superconductor - a material that conducts electricity without losing any of its energy. The researchers cooled potassium gas to a billionth of a degree above absolute zero, which is the point at which matter stops moving. They confined that supercooled gas in a vacuum chamber, then used magnetic fields and laser light to manipulate the potassium atoms into pairing up. The way the potassium atoms acted suggested the behaviour might be translated into a room-temperature solid, according to the researchers.
MSNBC / Reuters Jan 28, 2004	back to top

Most flexible electronic paper yet revealed
The most flexible electronic display yet developed has been revealed by researchers at Philips in the Netherlands. The company says it plans to begin mass producing such displays within a few years. Philips's new display was made possible by the development of a way to print organic electronics onto a thin plastic film - previously, it was only possible to print these components on glass. However, Philips now has a technique that works on polyimide film. The screen can be rolled into a tube just two centimetres in diameter - the most flexible electronic display ever made. The use of organic electronics should also make the device cheap. The square display measures 12 centimetres diagonally and consists of 80,000 pixels. It produces a greyscale image and can be switched up to 75 times per second - faster than a standard television screen. Philips has formed a company called Polymer Vision to turn their approach into an industrial process.
New Scientist / Nature Jan 26, 2004	back to top

Tech giants back smart shopping
The future of barcodes could be in jeopardy after IBM and Philips announced a partnership to make the chips and systems to replace them. The companies said they are to jointly develop RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology for shops. Philips will manufacture the radio chips which can be put on anything from clothes to razor blades, and IBM will develop the computer services and systems to manage the technology. RFID tags send out radio signals so that items can be tracked at all times, cutting out the need for scanning. The chips themselves are thin and small. As well as location, they send information about a product to a receiver that can read the signals, like details of packaging, expiry dates, colour and price. Civil rights groups have voiced concerns about this technology. They worry it means people could, in theory, be tracked by tags in their clothing. But, according to advocates of the technology, the tags could be used in future consumer goods to make life simpler for people.
BBC News Jan 26, 2004	back to top

EU's mind 'made up' on Microsoft
Microsoft could soon be facing heavy fines and other sanctions for breaking European competition law. The European Commission has finished drafting its decision in the case it brought against Microsoft. The Commission is likely to decide that the firm illegally tied audio and video software, as well as server systems, to its Windows operating system. While continuing talks with Microsoft, it is now circulating the decision to the parties involved. Although the draft has yet to be revealed, few observers think Microsoft will come off unscathed. The EU is likely to fine Microsoft heavily, and may demand that it stops forcing suppliers to include its own media software at the expense of competitors. It is also probable that the company will be forced to reveal more information to its competitors about how its operating system interacts with others and with software applications. The decision should be released by 1 May.
BBC News / Financial Times Jan 27, 2004	back to top

Amazon finally flows into profit
Online retailer Amazon has announced its first ever full-year profit. The American giant of internet trading made a net profit of $35.3m in 2003, compared to a loss of $149.1m in 2002. Its fourth quarter figure, including the key festive period, came in even higher, with a net profit of $73.2m for the three months until 31 December. Annual sales for 2003 were $5.264bn, an increase of more than a third on 2002, while fourth quarter sales were again up even more - 36 per cent on 2002 to $1.95bn. Much of this growth was fuelled by the company's operations outside America. Across its international sections - representing its UK, German, French and Japanese websites - Amazon saw sales leap by 74 per cent to $804m in the fourth quarter of 2003, aided by the lower value of the dollar compared to the same period in 2002. Jeff Bezos, Amazon's founder and CEO, thanked lower prices and an increasing product range for the increases in both sales and profits.
BBC News Jan 27, 2004	back to top

Microsoft-UN deal aims to wire poor nations
Microsoft announced a partnership with the United Nations Development Programme last week to back information technology and communications improvement projects in disadvantaged countries. Under the agreement, Microsoft will work alongside the UNDP to build IT-training facilities in developing nations, with a focus on establishing community education centres. The UNDP's goal is to provide IT resources and encourage the use of technology in addressing some of the developing world's largest problems, such as the HIV and AIDS pandemic. The Microsoft-UNDP endeavour is focused on achieving the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals, a set of worldwide living standards that includes the eradication of hunger and poverty, the establishment of universal primary education and the reduction of child mortality, among other objectives.
ZDNet / CNET News Jan 23, 2004	back to top

Nanorings promise large memory
There are many projects aimed at making computer memory that holds more information in smaller spaces, memory that allows data to be retrieved more quickly, and memory that does not have to be refreshed so often. Today's computers use dynamic random access memory, which requires a constant stream of electricity in order to retain information. Researchers from Purdue University and the University of Cambridge in England have found a way to cause magnetic cobalt nanoparticles to spontaneously assemble into rings that are less than 100 nanometres across. Each ring contains a magnetic field that can flow either clockwise or counter-clockwise, which can represent the 1s and 0s of computer information. Because the molecule is small, memory made from it could hold large amounts information. And because the rings work magnetically, they would not need power to retain information. The magnetic fields are stable at room temperature and each ring keeps its magnetic field to itself, which is also a good attribute for stable memory.
Technology Review / TRN Jan 26, 2004	back to top

Technique detects quantum state
Entanglement is a quantum property, which allows properties of particles such as atoms, photons and electrons to remain linked, or synchronised, regardless of the physical distance between the particles. Researchers from the University of Rome in Italy have demonstrated a method for detecting entanglement. The researchers generated entangled photons using a crystal and a pair of laser beams. They showed that it was possible to detect entanglement using three independent local measurements. The method is particularly useful for determining if entanglement survived the transmission of photons over a fibre optic line. The method could be used to measure entanglement in any kind of particles, including cold atoms, trapped ions, and electronic currents in superconducting devices. Entanglement figures prominently in efforts to build quantum computers, which use properties of particles to compute. It also figures in quantum cryptography schemes that offer theoretically perfect security.
Technology Review / TRN Jan 28, 2004	back to top

Device 'quarantines' infected network computers
A new device that quarantines different portions of a computer network could stop worms and viruses infecting an entire company once they have breached its perimeter defences. The InterSpect system, developed by network security company Check Point, monitors network traffic for signs of suspicious activity. It can then automatically isolate a single computer or a group of machines to prevent wider infection. Most companies have numerous defences at the perimeter of a network, such as anti-virus software and firewalls. But once one computer has been infected, there is normally little to prevent it from spreading viral code to every other machine on the network. Check Point says InterSpect can identify previously unseen threats by analysing individual network packets for characteristics associated with a worm or virus. This might include a misleading packet header or use of an unusual communications port. The system can also be configured to look out for more specific behaviour.
New Scientist Jan 21, 2004	back to top

Mutating software could predict hacker attacks
Novel computer viruses and worms can sweep the world within hours, because firewalls and antiviral software work by identifying the telltale signatures of known attacks. They are useless against anything completely new. But now engineers at Icosystem in Cambridge, US, have developed a program that can predict what is coming next by 'evolving' future hacker and virus attacks based on information from known ones. The idea would be to generate these novel attack strategies centrally, then remotely update the intrusion-detection software protecting PCs and networks around the world. This would allow them to recognise attack patterns before hackers have even developed them. The first version of the system is geared to predict hacking - though the technique is equally applicable to viruses. It works by mutating the scripts that hackers use to invade computers or which they plant on them for later activation. The result is artificially created hacking routines that security systems could be taught to recognise, allowing them to defend networks against previously unseen attacks.
New Scientist Jan 25, 2004	back to top

Virtual dummy to try on clothes
Toshiba has teamed up with Japanese software company Digital Fashion to develop a 3D system which will create a virtual you, who can try on clothes and move as you do. Video cameras snap the shopper, then clothes and accessories are selected an displayed immediately. The system is still at an early stage, but it could in use by 2006. It could be a revolutionary concept for men - and many women - who loathe the experience of shopping and trying on clothing. The process of turning the images of the shopper into photo-realistic avatar - or virtual representation - happens in real-time. Instead of choosing clothes from photographs, with little idea of how they would actually look on you, the system could be adapted for home use allowing people to dress their virtual selves online. The developers are aiming to make the results look as real as possible. With improvements in graphics technology, they hope this will be achieved.
BBC News Jan 27, 2004	back to top