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Issue no. 23, 2004 Published: Jun 25, 2004
US and Europe end Galileo dispute
French threaten Windows to Linux switch
US warns of large-scale virus attack
Internet speed record broken
Swiss researchers take 3D TV a step forward
Mobile operators plan easier user interfaces
Toshiba develops tiny fuel cell
Universal Music to launch pocket CD format
Norwegians try out TV on mobiles
Microsoft patents human skin

US and Europe end Galileo dispute
The US and the EU have agreed on how the EU's new satellite navigation system Galileo will provide its signal. Political representatives from both sides will sign the first formal agreement at the EU-US summit in Ireland on Saturday. The two sides have also agreed to mesh Galileo with the US's Global Positioning System (GPS), providing a seamless network of almost 60 satellites that will improve the accuracy of both systems. The agreement ends a five-year transatlantic dispute. The US feared that the signal modulation originally proposed for Galileo would interfere with its military operations because it was similar to an encrypted GPS military signal planned for 2012, known as M-code. The US also claimed that the similarity would impede the its ability to jam all signals except M-code during armed conflicts, for example. Now the two sides have agreed that the fleet of 30 Galileo satellites, intended to be fully implemented by 2008, will use the signal modulation known as Binary Offset Carrier (BOC) 1.1. The US has also agreed to adopt this signal in its next generation GPS, which consists of about 28 satellites.
New Scientist Jun 24, 2004	back to top

French threaten Windows to Linux switch
France's cash-strapped government is giving alternative software companies the chance to win state business from Microsoft, in a pioneering drive to challenge the US software giant in the public sector. Civil service minister Renaud Dutreil says France wants to use open-source software providers to resupply some of its almost one million state computers, under a government cost-cutting drive designed to trim a bulging public deficit. At stake, in the case of office suite software alone, is around €300m worth of software to be introduced to state computers over three years. Savings on operating systems could be of a similar order, officials said.
Silicon.com / Reuters Jun 21, 2004	back to top

US warns of large-scale virus attack
US government and industry experts warned on Thursday of a mysterious, large-scale internet attack against thousands of popular websites. The virus-like infection tries to implant hacker software onto the computers of all website visitors. The infection appears to target Microsoft's Internet Information Server, popular among businesses and organisations. The infected websites attempt to implant on visitors' computers hacker software that allows others to use their computers to surreptitiously route spam e-mails. Experts said the attack's effects were unusually broad but were not substantially interfering with internet traffic. They urgently recommended users update antivirus software on their computers, since the latest versions can immunise visitors to infected websites.
GlobeTechnology / AP Jun 24, 2004	back to top

Internet speed record broken
The world record for the transfer of data across the internet has reportedly been broken by telecoms operator Sprint and the Swedish National Research and Education Network (SUNET). The two organisations announced last week that they had managed to send nearly 840 gigabytes of data across a distance of 16,346km in less than 27 minutes, at an average speed of 4.23 gigabits per second. This was equal to 69,073 terabit metres per second (a product of the speed of the transmission and its distance), which exceeded the previous record set by Caltech and CERN earlier this year. During the test, the 840GbB of data was sent from a 2GHz Xeon-based server in San Jose, California to a second identical machine in Northern Sweden across SprintLink (Sprint's Internet backbone network) and GigaSUNET (Sweden's 10GBps research and education network). A total of 40 routers were involved in the trip. Sprint and SUNET say that their networks were also carrying traffic from other users during the test.
ZDNet Jun 21, 2004	back to top

Swiss researchers take 3D TV a step forward
Researchers from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zürich have devised a way to process three-dimensional video in real-time by reducing the amount of data contained in the stream of video information to the manageable level of 3 megabits per second. The method promises to accelerate the development of 3D-television, 3D-tele-immersion systems, and programming that allows viewers to change viewpoints in real-time while watching televised events. The method cuts down on needed bandwidth by inserting, deleting and updating just the changed portions of a video frame. These changes from multiple cameras are processed and merged into a single video stream so that 3D-geometry of the image does not have to be recalculated for every frame. The researchers used the technique in their prototype videoconferencing system Blue-c. The system could allow images to be rendered on different types of devices, including handhelds, smart phones or TV screens, according to the researchers.
Technology Research News Jun 23, 2004	back to top

Mobile operators plan easier user interfaces
A group of mobile operators, including Vodafone, O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Japan's NTT DoCoMo, have agreed to develop systems to offer a more consistent and improved user experience for different mobile devices. The group will define requirements for an open mobile terminal platform (OMTP) to deliver standardised application interfaces. This will offer customers a more consistent user experience across different devices and allow operators and manufacturers to customise and differentiate their offerings. The OMTP group will use existing standards wherever possible, and will further encourage the development of standards through its requirements. The group said the OMTP would be a technology-neutral organisation, with membership or participation available to organisations that want to adopt OMTP requirements, to assist the process of achieving the OMTP group's goals or simply to follow its latest efforts and results.
VNUnet UK Jun 23, 2004	back to top

Toshiba develops tiny fuel cell
A tiny prototype fuel cell the size of a thumb has been developed by Toshiba. The company hopes that by 2005, the fuel cells could be used in handheld electronic devices instead of lithium-ion batteries. Fuel cells generate electrical power by catalysing substances such as hydrogen and methanol. Fuel cells have been touted as a green power source for the future as they produce electricity by converting hydrogen and oxygen into water. Many companies are working on developing the technology that could replace conventional batteries. The main obstacle has been making the cells small and inexpensive. The prototype developed by Toshiba measures 22 millimetres by 45 millimetres and weighs 8.5 grams. It works by mixing methanol with air and water to produce 100 milliwatts of electricity, which the company says is enough to power a MP3 player for about 20 hours on a single charge of methanol fuel.
BBC News Jun 24, 2004	back to top

Universal Music to launch pocket CD format
Although online music is finally looking like it might be taking over the mainstream, Universal Music is hoping to win over pop pickers to a new physical format: pocket CDs. It is smaller than the traditional compact disc, comes with a mobile ringtone thrown in, and the tiny disc has got the record labels hoping to revive the flagging sales of hard copies of music. The mini-CDs will be half the size of the traditional variety and are thought to be due for release later this month by a variety of pop artists. The CD will not need any new hardware and will contain a code to let buyers download a mobile phone ringtone.
Silicon.com / Financial Times Jun 21, 2004	back to top

Norwegians try out TV on mobiles
Mobile users in Norway can now watch TV on their phones. The service from the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) allows people to watch television on their mobiles 24 hours a day. Alongside the live streaming, people can pick more specialised content such as a news bulletin every hour and a Top Gear style motoring show. NRK expects the content to become more tailored as the market picks up. For the moment it is simply testing whether consumers will want and use TV on their phones. So far the feedback has been encouraging. The technology behind the video content has been developed by Norwegian firm RubberDuck Media Lab. The service supports 3GP, which is the standard for mobile TV. This means that users do not have to download a media player on to their phones and it will also work on all networks. At the moment the TV company is offering its content free to operators but plans to start charging for at least some of the content in the autumn. Users, however, do have to pay a traffic download fee.
BBC News Jun 24, 2004	back to top

Microsoft patents human skin
Microsoft has succeeded in patenting human skin as a new kind of network. US Patent No. 6,754, 472 is a 'method and apparatus for transmitting power and data using the human body'. The patent is part of a new plan to link together several devices using skin as a connector. As an example, Microsoft says it would be possible to have just one speaker for a person's watch, PDA, and portable radio, if they were all connected to that speaker through skin. It adds that different devices could be powered from a single power source strapped to the skin. Each would be driven by multiple power supply signals working at different frequencies, and data and audio signals could also be transmitted over that same power signal. The power source and devices would be connected to the body via electrodes.
InSourced Jun 24, 2004	back to top