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Issue no. 43, 2004 Published: Dec 24, 2004
Mobile-phone radiation damages lab DNA
Microsoft loses EU appeal
EU software patent law delayed again
RFID standard escapes royalties
Pliable solar cells are on a roll
Flexible scanner works on curved surfaces
Speech takes on search engines

Mobile-phone radiation damages lab DNA
Radiation from mobile or cellular phones harms the DNA in human cells, according to an extensive, pan-European laboratory study. The research does not provide definitive proof that equivalent radiation harms people who use mobile phones. But the researchers emphasise that more extensive studies to test this link should be done, and that, until then, phone users should be cautious. T The REFLEX study, a four-year project performed by twelve research groups in seven European countries, was published online this month, although they have not yet appeared in a peer-reviewed journal. The team found that levels of radiation equivalent to those from a phone prompted breaks in individual strands of DNA in a variety of human cells. These types of damage have been linked with cancer. The level of injury increased with the intensity of radiation and the length of exposure. The researchers also saw hints, but not conclusive evidence, of other cell changes, including damage to chromosomes, alterations in the activity of certain genes and a boosted rate of cell division.
Nature Dec 21, 2004	back to top

Microsoft loses EU appeal
Landmark antitrust sanctions imposed by the European Commission against Microsoft were upheld by a senior European judge on Wednesday. The decision followed a Commission ruling in March that Microsoft had violated EU competition rules by abusing its dominant position in the market for PC operating systems. As part of the March decision, the company was fined a record €497m and told to change its business practices. It was ordered to offer a version of Windows without the MediaPlayer software to PC makers and consumers. It will also have to license information to rivals making it easier for them to design servers that can inter-operate with Windows-driven PCs. Microsoft had asked the judge to suspend the sanctions until its appeal against the Commission's March ruling is decided probably two or three years from now. But the president of the European Court of First Instance ordered their immediate implementation, saying Microsoft had failed to show the sanctions would cause 'serious and irreparable damage'.
Financial Times Dec 22, 2004	back to top

EU software patent law delayed again
Controversial new EU rules for the patenting of computer-based inventions have been put on hold due to a last minute intervention from Poland, which has requested more time to consider the issue, especially as it relates to the patenting of software. Polish ministers want to see the phrasing of the text of the Directive on the Patentability of Computer-Implemented Inventions changed so that it excludes the patenting of software. The planned law has ignited angry debate about whether the EU should allow the patenting of computer programs and internet business methods as currently happens in the US. Critics say the law would favour large companies over small, innovative ones. They say it could have massive ramifications for developments such as open source software. The directive has been subject to several previous delays.
BBC News Dec 22, 2004	back to top

RFID standard escapes royalties
A cloud hanging over the future of radio frequency identification technology disappeared last Thursday with the news that a key technical standard will not entail royalty fees. Some in the fledgling industry feared that the new standard - called the Electronic Product Code Generation 2 standard - would incorporate patented technology from RFID equipment maker Intermec Technologies. The standard, which was finalised last week, is designed to improve the reliability of RFID equipment, a wireless tracking technology that may someday replace bar codes. The standard is supposed to work better across international borders, addressing the fact that the ultra-high-frequency spectrum on which RFID operates varies in range from country to country. It is also designed to be less vulnerable to signal interference, as well as supporting larger-scale projects that involve millions of RFID tags. It should also replace several previous standards that have made hardware interoperability a problem.
Silicon.com Dec 17, 2004	back to top

Pliable solar cells are on a roll
Imagine wearing a jacket or rucksack that charges up your mobile phone while you take a walk. Or a tent whose flysheet charges batteries all day so campers can have light all night. Such applications could soon become a reality thanks to a light, flexible solar panel that is a little thicker than photographic film and can easily be applied to everyday fabrics. The new solar panels will be cheap, too, because they can be mass-produced in rolls that can be cut as required. The thin, bendy solar panels, which could be on the market within three years, are the fruit of a three-nation EU research project called H-Alpha Solar (H-AS). The team, led by the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, has made its solar cells bendy simply by making them thin. However, while the best solar cells are now working at efficiencies above 20 per cent, the H-AS cells are only about 7 per cent efficient. The researchers think efficiency is worth sacrificing for a cell that is going to be more generally useful, though they still hope eventually to reach 10 per cent efficiency.
New Scientist Dec 18, 2004	back to top

Flexible scanner works on curved surfaces
An image scanner built into a piece of flexible plastic little bigger than a credit card has been developed in Japan. The scanner can be plugged into a mobile phone which will both provide power for it and act as its display and storage medium. And because it is flexible, it will let you copy just about anything, even if it is on a curved surface. The device, developed at the University of Tokyo, comprises a polymer matrix in which thousands of light-sensitive plastic photodiodes have been deposited beneath a grid of plastic transistors. Each photodiode produces a current in response to light input, which its accompanying transistor stores as a charge. This can then be read into the memory of a mobile phone and converted into an image. The plastic is transparent, so ambient light can pass through it to reach the object being scanned. Because the transistors sit on top of the diodes, shielding them from ambient light, only the light that reflects off bright areas strikes the photodiodes, which generate a current proportional to the greyscale light intensity. The resulting charges are then read out to construct an image.
New Scientist Dec 23, 2004	back to top

Speech takes on search engines
A Scottish firm is looking to attract web surfers with a search engine that reads out results. 'Speegle' has the look and feel of a normal search engine, with the added feature of being able to read out the results. People visiting http://speegle.co.uk can select one of three voices to read the results of a query or summarise news stories. The site uses a technology dubbed PanaVox, which takes web text and converts it into synthesised speech. Users may notice that the look and feel of the site bears more than a passing resemblance to the better known, if silent, search engine Google. Google has no connection with Speegle and the use of bright colours is simply to make the site more visible for those with visual impairments, says Speegle founder Gordon Renton. Speegle is proving popular with those learning English in countries such as Japan and China. 'The site is bombarded by people just listening to the words. The repetition could be useful although they may all end up talking like robots,' said Renton.
BBC News Dec 21, 2004	back to top