UNU-MERIT: I&T Weekly

	Search \| Sitemap \| Intranet \| PhD Intranet

Subscribe to I&T Weekly A free e-zine about Innovation & Technology developments

text html Please type the above code:
	RSS feed

Previous Issues I&T Weekly

>> back to archive

Previous issues of I&T Weekly:

2013: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17]

2012: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37]

2011: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41] [42] [43] [44]

2010: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41] [42]

2009: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41] [42]

2008: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41]

2007: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40]

2006: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41] [42] [43] [44]

2005: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40]

2004: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41] [42] [43]

2003: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41] [42] [43] [44] [45] [46] [47]

2002: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41] [42] [43] [44] [45] [46] [47]

2001: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19]

Issue no. 32, 2004 Published: Sep 24, 2004
Microsoft opens up code program
Mobile users 'want cheaper calls'
India launches world's first education satellite
Web tool may banish broken links
Eavesdropping call centre computers cut talk time
Researchers study real viruses to thwart virtual
Spinach could power better solar cells
Rats' brain waves could find trapped people
Rumours surround Google browser
Survey finds 'web withdrawal'

Microsoft opens up code program
Microsoft is expanding a program to give government organisations access to some of its tightly guarded software blueprints amid growing competition from rivals who make such source code freely available. Microsoft will offer more than 60 governments and international organisations the option of viewing the proprietary source code for the latest version of its ubiquitous Office software, including the Outlook e-mail program, Microsoft Word and Excel spreadsheet application. The company already gives the same government groups the opportunity to view the source code for its dominant Windows operating system. Microsoft has launched a number of efforts in recent years to give governments and certain private groups access to some source code. The moves come as an increasing number of governments and companies are looking at switching to 'open source' alternatives such as Linux.
CNN / AP Sep 19, 2004	back to top

Mobile users 'want cheaper calls'
New mobile technology is cutting no ice with consumers who want better coverage and value for money, a study shows. More than half of consumers are unhappy with the price they pay for mobile calls, says a report into the European mobile market by consultancy Capgemini. It found that many people would be happy to forego their fixed phone line entirely if prices fell. Operators need to stop trying to out-compete each other on technology and get back to basics, the report said. Capgemini surveyed 27 operators across Europe and spoke to 1,216 consumers, in conjunction with the business school Insead. Getting back to basics could increase voice revenue for mobile operators but that does not mean that consumers are completely turned off by more advanced services. The report found that there was a healthy level of interest in other services and different age groups focused on different things. Older people were interested in the idea of monitoring health from mobile phones while young parents were interested in mobile services that would enable them to keep track of children.
BBC News Sep 22, 2004	back to top

India launches world's first education satellite
Millions of illiterate people in remote, rural India could soon have access to an education, as a satellite devoted exclusively to long distance learning was launched on Monday. India launched the $20m, 2-tonne EDUSAT from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota. To date, India has used both of its multi-purpose INSAT satellites to provide long-distance education information alongside their telecommunications, broadcasting and weather-forecasting functions. But EDUSAT's dedicated function will substantially improve the service provided. It will use the virtual classroom concept to offer education to children in remote villages, quality higher education to students in areas without access to good technical institutes, adult literacy programmes and training modules for teachers. The satellite can broadcast in relevant local languages. The educational programmes can be viewed on any television set through a simple low-cost receiver costing about $65. Once EDUSAT is fully operational, 25 to 30 satellite links will broadcast to about 5,000 remote terminals.
New Scientist Sep 20, 2004	back to top

Web tool may banish broken links
Students at IBM have developed a tool which could mean broken weblinks are history. Peridot scans company weblinks and replaces outdated information with other relevant documents and links. Peridot works by automatically mapping and storing key features of webpages, so it can detect significant content changes. Peridot can protect companies by spotting links to sites that have been removed, or which point to wholly unsuitable content. It alerts administrators not only which links are broken, but also where the original page has gone and tells which links have changed and the degree of change in content. The web-based Peridot tool registers webpages and follows link targets to compare them to webpages it has previously seen. It generates a report on a website and it can automatically e-mail admin staff with appropriate information. Staff can either review the changes and accept or ignore, or they can rely on its apparent accuracy and choose to be alerted after the tool automatically updates a link.
BBC News Sep 24, 2004	back to top

Eavesdropping call centre computers cut talk time
Phone a call centre and you are likely to spend ages on hold listening to canned music - and then find the operator cannot find the information you need. But an artificial intelligence system that hunts down the required information is aiming to slash the time people waste this way. Using a mixture of speech recognition and search engine technology, the system, being developed by IBM, will trawl a call centre's databanks for the information a customer wants and present it to the operator before the caller has finished explaining what they want. By giving operators rapid access to the right information, calls will be dealt with faster. The system works by listening in to the conversation and identifying keywords spoken by the customer. It then flashes up the most relevant information it can find onto the operator's screen. An early version of the system allowed calls to be handled about 20 per cent faster than normal.
New Scientist Sep 22, 2004	back to top

Researchers study real viruses to thwart virtual
US university researchers will soon begin a $13m study of the spread of internet viruses using methods pioneered in tracking the outbreak of human epidemics. The goal is to create a computer network so robust that it can fend off attacks as they happen, much as the body's immune system reacts to infection. The National Science Foundation, which is distributing the grants, says the funds are aimed at identifying internet worms and viruses quicker and building global defences. Stefan Savage, a computer science professor at the University of California San Diego, likened the study of the movement of internet viruses to studying the spread of viruses such as West Nile. 'We'll be focused on what vectors are used, just like in assessing West Nile, to spread computer viruses and ultimately try to develop defences to prevent them from spreading,' he said. The university is expected to receive about $6.2m over five years from the NSF. Carnegie Mellon University will also receive around $6.4m to examine, among other things, how cyberattackers can combine attacks to reach their goals.
Reuters Sep 22, 2004	back to top

Spinach could power better solar cells
An electronic device that uses spinach to convert light into electrical charge has been developed by MIT researchers. They integrated a protein complex derived from spinach chloroplasts with organic semiconductors to make a solar cell that could be combined with solid state electronics. The resulting cells are much thinner and lighter than existing solar panels and could eventually be used to make much more efficient panels. The researchers managed to artificially stabilise the protein complex at the heart of their system - comprised of 14 protein subunits and hundreds of chlorophyll molecules - using synthetic peptides to bind small amounts of water to it, within a sealed unit. The system is far from perfect, however. The peptides used only keep the protein complex stable for about three weeks and the cells convert only 12 per cent of light to electrical charge. But the researchers say efficiency could be boosted dramatically by layering numerous cells on top of one another, as they will still let some light through.
New Scientist Sep 21, 2004	back to top

Rats' brain waves could find trapped people
Rats have an exquisitely sensitive sense of smell and can crawl just about anywhere, making them ideal candidates for sniffing out buried survivors. Researchers of the University of Florida have identified the neural signals rats generate when they have found a scent that they are looking for. Each rat has electrodes implanted in three areas of the brain: the olfactory cortex, where the brain processes odour signals; the motor cortex, where the brain plans its next move; and the reward centre, which when stimulated gives the rat a pleasurable sensation. The researchers trained the rats to search for human odour by stimulating the reward centre when it found its target smell. Once the rats were trained, they were set to forage for the target smell, while electrodes recorded their neural activity patterns. This allowed researchers to identify the brainwave patterns associated with finding that smell. Signals from the rat's brain will be relayed to a radio transmitter pack strapped to the animal's back. Rescuers will be able to follow the rat's position by tracking these signals.
New Scientist Sep 22, 2004	back to top

Rumours surround Google browser
The net is buzzing with rumours that Google is working on a web browser. Online journals, or weblogs, have put together a series of developments which suggest that the search engine is developing new web tools. Speculation about the Google browser has intensified following a news story in the New York Post that said that four people who worked on Microsoft's web browser have recently been recruited to work at Google. Industry watchers say the fact that the 2004 Mozilla Developer Day was held on the Google campus is also significant. But perhaps the most persuasive evidence comes from the fact that in April Google registered the gbrowser.com domain. Industry watchers speculate that the Gbrowser could refer to web browsing software or be a program that searches for music or images. It could even be the public name for the personal search system, codenamed Puffin, that Google is known to be working on. Google said that the company had a policy of not commenting on rumour and speculation.
BBC News Sep 23, 2004	back to top

Survey finds 'web withdrawal'
Nearly half of US internet users say they could not go without the web for more than two weeks, with many suffering 'withdrawal' symptoms while offline, according to a recent survey. The 'Internet Deprivation Study' released Wednesday by Yahoo and media group OMD found many experienced life offline more difficult than they expected, because tools and services the internet offers were firmly ingrained in their daily lives. The survey found many web users felt impaired in daily activities such as booking travel, checking sports scores, communicating with friends and family, and paying bills when they could not access the internet. Participants "often forgot or lost the desire to use 'old fashioned tools' like the phone book, newspapers and telephone-based customer service," the report said. "Despite the fact that they may need to call friends to make arrangements or read the daily newspaper to find out news, participants expressed that they looked unproductive and lazy to their colleagues when engaged in these activities using traditional means."
The Australian / AFP Sep 24, 2004	back to top