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Issue no. 33, 2004 Published: Oct 01, 2004
Microsoft FAT patent falls flat
Microsoft is ready to remove media player for EU
Industry veterans bet on open-source model
E-voting a bad idea, say computer scientists
New quantum cryptography key generation rate record set
Toshiba develops new type of flat display
DVDs could hold '100 times more'
Sound converted to electricity for spacecraft
Microchip imperfections could cut cloning
Clever cars can read road signs
Robot uses whiskers to get around

Microsoft FAT patent falls flat
As part of a re-examination, the US Patent Office has issued a preliminary rejection for a patent previously granted to Microsoft for a Windows file format. The agency ruled that, based on existing inventions at the time, the ideas behind the FAT (File Allocation Table) patent would have been obvious and are therefore not subject to patent. The Patent Office's ruling is not final, since Microsoft has further opportunities to respond before an ultimate decision is made. The little-known Public Patent Foundation had been leading the push for a re-examination. There had been concern that Microsoft could use the patent to seek royalties from open-source software vendors. The FAT file format is a common means of storing files not just on computers, but also on removable flash memory cards that are used in digital cameras and other devices. It is also used by the open-source Samba software that lets Linux and Unix computers exchange data with Windows computers, and by Linux to read and write files on Windows hard drives. Microsoft now has 90 days to respond to the filing.
ZDNet Sep 30, 2004	back to top

Microsoft is ready to remove media player for EU
Microsoft will be ready to comply with the European Commission's demands for changes to its Windows operating systems if a European court rejects its request for the measures to be suspended. The European Commission ruled in March that Microsoft should offer a version of Windows without Windows Media Player (WMP) software, grant access to documentation for network server software, and pay a fine of €497 million because the company had abused its market dominance. Microsoft has challenged the Commission's decision in the EU's Court of First Instance, and has asked for the Commission's demands to be suspended pending the outcome of the appeal, which is expected to take between two and five years. The court will hold hearings on Thursday and Friday this week at which the company, the Commission and more than 10 interested parties will present evidence. The judgement by the court on suspending the measures is expected in around two months' time.
Infoworld / IDG Sep 27, 2004	back to top

Industry veterans bet on open-source model
A team of computer industry veterans, including a former Microsoft executive, are launching an open-source company that aims to be the Dell of the software industry. The company, called SourceLabs, will provide certification, testing and ongoing support services for open-source software components. The company said it has received $3.5m in initial funding from Ignition Partners and Index Ventures. The idea behind SourceLabs is that corporate customers need a reliable partner to procure and maintain open-source products, much as they rely on Dell to provide computing gear, said Brad Silverberg, lead investor at Ignition and a former Microsoft senior vice president who helped expand the software giant's Windows business. SourceLabs is the first open-source start-up he has been involved in. SourceLabs will distribute existing open-source software, including server software and enterprise applications, and provide associated services based on a subscription model.
ZDNet UK Sep 28, 2004	back to top

E-voting a bad idea, say computer scientists
The world's oldest professional society of computer scientists on Monday took aim at electronic voting machines, recommending they not be used in elections unless they provide a physical paper trail. The Association for Computing Machinery said in a statement: 'Voting systems should enable each voter to inspect a physical record to verify that his or her vote has been accurately cast and to serve as an independent check on the result produced and stored by the system.' Accidental bugs or intentional malicious code in e-voting machines could theoretically alter an election's results. ACM said that a paper trail will provide a way to double-check what's happening inside machines from companies such as Diebold Election Systems and Sequoia Voting System - a feat that would not otherwise be possible. Such systems are expected to be used by tens of millions of voters in the 2 November US election.
Silicon.com / CNET News.com Sep 28, 2004	back to top

New quantum cryptography key generation rate record set
Researchers in Japan succeeded in realising the world's fastest 100 kbps 40-km-long quantum cryptography key generation, surpassing previous records. Achieved through a newly developed quantum cryptography system adopting a novel method, this key generation enables secure network communication supported by the principles of quantum mechanical physics. The technology could be used for quantum cryptography transmissions in optical networks in metropolitan areas. The research was conducted by NEC, the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NiCT), and the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST).
ConvergeDigest Sep 28, 2004	back to top

Toshiba develops new type of flat display
Toshiba on Tuesday unveiled a flat-panel TV that uses a new technology jointly developed by Toshiba and the Japanese camera company Canon. The new TV uses SED — surface-conduction electron-emitter display — which uses beam-emitting technology similar to the old-style cathode-ray tube televisions, and delivers similar clear imagery but onto a flat panel. Unlike liquid-crystal displays and plasma displays popular in today's flat-panel TVs, images on SED panels do not get jagged even when displaying sports and other fast-moving objects. Toshiba plans to market SED TVs that are compatible with next-generation DVDs called HD DVDs before April 2006. SED panels use one-third the electric power of plasma displays, or PDPs, and two-thirds that of LCDs, according to Toshiba. Toshiba hopes to use SED technology for large TVs such as 40-inch and bigger models.
Globetechnology / AP Sep 29, 2004	back to top

DVDs could hold '100 times more'
Future DVDs could hold 100 times more information than current discs. Imperial College London researchers are developing a new way of storing data that could lead to discs capable of holding 1,000 gigabytes. The technique called Multiplexed Optical Data Storage (Mods) is part of a collaboration with researchers at the University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, and Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. The researchers believe their technique could be used to create a disc with four layers, each with 250GBs - the equivalent of 118 hours of video per layer. The Mods technique is laser-based like existing DVD and CD technology. A disc is made up of tiny grooves filled with pits that reflect the laser as a series of ones and zeroes. Current discs carry one bit of data per pit. But the researchers say that by using angled ridges in the pits, they can alter the way light behaves. The end result is a way of encoding and detecting up to 10 times more information from one pit.
BBC News Sep 28, 2004	back to top

Sound converted to electricity for spacecraft
Researchers from Los Alamos National Laboratory and Northrop Grumman Space Technology in the US have built a compact generator that converts heat to electricity with the relatively high efficiency of 18 per cent. The generator is simple, making it potentially long-lived and easy to maintain. This makes it especially appropriate for generating electricity aboard spacecraft, according to the researchers. The generator uses a small version of a thermoacoustic sterling engine developed at Los Alamos in 1999. That engine converted heat to acoustic energy using no moving parts. Compressed helium cycles between heat exchangers, and the movement of the gas generated sound waves. In the generator, the sound waves from the engine drive a piston, which moves a coiled copper wire. As the wire moves through a magnetic field produced by a permanent magnet it produces electricity. Existing spaceship thermoelectric power converters are about seven per cent efficient, and produce 5.2 watts per kilogram. The researchers' thermoacoustic sterling heat engine could eventually produce 8.1 one watts per kilogram, according to the researchers.
Technology Review / TRN Sep 30, 2004	back to top

Microchip imperfections could cut cloning
Imperfections unique to every microchip can be used to make them impossible to clone. The technique’s inventor claims that this will make banking or ID smart cards impossible to copy, and perhaps halt the illicit global trade in counterfeit computer games consoles. Counterfeiters copy smart cards or games consoles by 'reverse engineering' the electronic circuitry within them – working out what a circuit does and making another one that does exactly the same. If this is done properly, any software that uses the chip, whether it is in an ATM or a PlayStation, will run as normal. MIT researcher Srini Devadas idea is to design software that interrogates the hardware to see if the chips inside it are genuine. Slight variations in the make-up of silicon chips mean that no two are identical. Devada’s thinks these variations can be used to construct a unique ID code for it that the software will verify. It would be impossible for a counterfeiter to mimic the precise 'physiology' of the chip to reproduce its ID code.
New Scientist Sep 29, 2004	back to top

Clever cars can read road signs
A new electronic driver’s assistant CAN detect road signs and warn drivers not to ignore them. The Australian driver assistance system (DAS) was developed at the National Information and Communications Technology Australia (NICTA) lab in Canberra. DAS uses three cameras: one to scan the road ahead and a pair to monitor where the driver is looking. The road camera is mounted on the rear view mirror and a 'gaze monitoring' pair are set on either side of the instrument panel on the dashboard. Images from the cameras are fed to a computer system. Software on the PC detects road signs and works out where the driver is looking. The speedometer is also connected to the computer, so the system always knows how fast the car is travelling. The software scans the video pictures and detects road signs by recognising their symmetrical shapes and images. If the driver appears not to have seen a sign, and the car’s speed does not change, an alert is issued.
New Scientist Sep 30, 2004	back to top

Robot uses whiskers to get around
A robot with real mouse whiskers could represent an important step towards developing simple robots that navigate by mimicking rodents. Such machines could eventually be used to perform repairs in pipes. The bristly bot, known as AMouse (Artificial Mouse) was built by researchers from the University of Tokyo in Japan and the University of Zurich in Switzerland. It uses real mouse whiskers because simulations have shown these to be the perfect size and shape for the task, but artificial whiskers will also be developed eventually. Each AMouse whisker is plugged directly into a capacitor microphone at the front of the robot. This capacitor can detect vibrations with acute sensitivity - up to 3 vibrations per second (3 kiloHertz). The process imitates the way a real mouse uses its whiskers to sense, via the nerves in its nose. Moving on a set of caterpillar tracks, AMouse is programmed to proceed until it senses an obstacle, then alters direction until it finds its way around it. But the robot can also sense acceleration and ground vibrations using its whiskers.
New Scientist Sep 30, 2004	back to top