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Issue no. 1, 2005 Published: Jan 14, 2005
Cellphones 'should not be given to children'
IBM frees 500 software patents
Researcher faces jail for finding bugs
All-silicon laser makes its debut
Canadian researchers invent new solar cell
Supercomputer to simulate nuclear blast
Voicemail software recognises callers' emotions
Samsung pioneers mobile speech-to-text
Simple snoop-proof email launched
First ever earthquake movie created
New hybrid cellphone-virus discovered
Professor writes world's smallest P2P application

Cellphones 'should not be given to children'
Recent studies suggesting cellphone radiation may pose a health hazard have prompted UK's National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) to call for a 'precautionary approach' to cellphone use. The NRPB report acknowledges that there is no firm evidence that cellphone radiation is harmful but warns that the possibility also cannot be ruled out. The NRPB report repeats concerns first raised in an influential study into cellphone health effects published in 2000 by the Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones. However, the new report adds that scientific research published since 2000 provides fresh evidence that cellphone radiation may be harmful to users. NRPB says parents should not give cellphones to children under nine years old because the radiation can affect a greater part of their brain, and less fully developed nervous systems. Shortly after the report was published, UK company Commun8, which launched a mobile phone service aimed at children, announced that it would suspend operations. Also Dutch retail chain BCC withdrew a mobile phone aimed at children.
New Scientist Jan 11, 2005	back to top

IBM frees 500 software patents
IBM says 500 of its software patents will be released into the open development community. The move means developers will be able to use the technologies without paying for a licence from the company. IBM describes the step as a 'new era' in how it deals with intellectual property and promises further patents would be made freely available. The patents include software for a range of practices, including text recognition and database management. IBM was granted 3,248 patents in 2004, more than any other firm in the US. For each of the past 12 years IBM has been granted more US patents than any other company. IBM has received 25,772 US patents in that period and reportedly has more than 40,000 current patents. IBM will continue to hold the 500 patents but it has pledged to seek no royalties from the patents. The company said it wanted to encourage other firms to release patents into what it called a 'patent commons'.
BBC News Jan 11, 2005	back to top

Researcher faces jail for finding bugs
A researcher who published exploit codes that could take advantage of bugs in an antivirus application could be imprisoned for violation of copyright laws. In 2001, French researcher Guillaume Tena found a number of vulnerabilities in the Viguard antivirus software published by Paris-based Tegam International. Tena, who at the time was known by his pseudonym Guillermito, published his research online in March 2002. Tegam initiated legal action against the researcher, which resulted in a case being brought to trial in Paris. The trial kicked off on January 4. The prosecution claims that Tena violated article 335.2 of the intellectual property code and is asking for a four-month jail term and a fine of €6,000. Additionally, Tegam is proceeding with a civil case against Tena and asking for about $1.2 million in damages. The final ruling is set for March 8.
ZDNet Jan 11, 2005	back to top

All-silicon laser makes its debut
Scientists at Intel have made the first all-silicon laser. The breakthrough could lead to the development of silicon chips that can be used in both electronic and photonic applications. Existing photonic devices are made from expensive compound semiconductor materials such as gallium arsenide or indium phosphide . Silicon dominates the microelectronics industry but it is not used in photonic applications because it does not emit light efficiently. Last year, however, researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles discovered a way to exploit the Raman effect and achieve laser action in silicon, although their device needed an eight metre long optical fibre to work. The Raman effect, which uses vibrations in a material to create optical gain, is routinely used in the telecommunications industry to amplify optical signals. Now, Intel researchers have made a compact all-silicon Raman laser on a single silicon chip.
PhysicsWeb Jan 05, 2005	back to top

Canadian researchers invent new solar cell
Researchers at the University of Toronto have invented a flexible plastic solar cell that is said to be five times more efficient than current methods in converting energy from the sun into electrical energy. The cell harnesses infrared light from the sun and can form a flexible film on the surface of cloth, paper or other materials. And the film can turn 30 per cent of the sun's power into usable electrical energy - a far better performance than the 6 per cent gleaned from the best plastic solar cells now in use. The researchers say the coating could be woven into a shirt or sweater and used to charge an item like a cellphone.
Yahoo! / Reuters / Nature Materials Jan 13, 2005	back to top

Supercomputer to simulate nuclear blast
Leading nuclear scientists with top security clearances will gather next summer at a screening room east of San Francisco and witness the results of the greatest effort ever in supercomputing. Using a computer doing 360 trillion calculations a second, scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Lab will simulate the explosion of an ageing nuclear bomb in three dimensions. The short, highly detailed video produced by the world's fastest computer will attempt to illustrate how missiles dating back to the Nixon administration would perform today. The US stopped real nuclear tests in 1992 and signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996. That ban means that a huge windowless room at Livermore is becoming a prime testing ground to make sure nuclear weapons dating back decades have not developed fatal flaws. Even at its ultimate 360 trillion calculations a second speed, the simulation will take two to four months, lab officials say. This same calculation would have taken 60,000 years if done on technology available a decade ago.
CNN / Reuters Dec 27, 2004	back to top

Voicemail software recognises callers' emotions
A voicemail system that labels messages according to the caller's tone of voice could soon be helping people identify which messages are the most urgent. The software, called Emotive Alert, is designed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US. It might be installed at the phone exchange or in an intelligent answering machine, where it will listen to incoming messages and send the recipient a text message along with an emoticon indicating whether the message is urgent, happy, excited or formal. It works by extracting the distribution of volume, pitch and speech rate - the ratio of words to pauses - in the first 10 seconds of each message, and then comparing them with eight stored 'acoustical fingerprints' that roughly represent eight emotional states: urgent or not urgent; formal or informal; happy or sad; excited or calm.
New Scientist Jan 05, 2005	back to top

Samsung pioneers mobile speech-to-text
South Korean electronics giant Samsung has unveiled two mobiles that translate speech into text, representing the latest attempt to make it easier for cell phones to surf the web or send text messages. Rather than typing, users just speak into the phone, telling it the email address and the content of the message. The phone does the rest. The two Samsung phones also use a VoiceSignal Technologies application called QuickPhrase, which lets you send pre-programmed short messages like 'call me' or 'will call you later' by simply speaking the words.
CNET News.com Jan 10, 2005	back to top

Simple snoop-proof email launched
Software that aims to make encrypted email communications simple enough for even computer novices to use was released this week. Ciphire, developed by Ciphire Labs in Munich, Germany, uses a technique called 'public key cryptography' to sign and encrypt email messages. Once loaded on to a computer hard drive the software performs all of the complex tasks involved behind the scenes. Ciphire also works with almost any email software client without requiring prior configuration. Once installed on a PC, Ciphire runs in the background in conjunction with an email client program. It intercepts email after the 'send' button is pressed but before the email leaves the computer, and intercepts incoming email before it is formally received by the email program, making it virtually invisible to the user. The program is being offered free for non-commercial use and can be used by companies for a licence fee.
New Scientist Jan 11, 2005	back to top

First ever earthquake movie created
A pioneering technique by scientists at the University of Colorado using data from GPS receivers has been used to make the first movie of an earthquake. The animation shows the Earth's surface deforming during a magnitude 8.3 quake in September 2003 off the coast of Hokkaido, Japan. Seismometers monitor quakes by measuring accelerations in the Earth's crust. But the calculations required to turn accelerations into measurements of how the surface moved are tricky. Seismometers are sensitive to small accelerations but they cannot make accurate measurements of huge jolts. GPS receivers are not as sensitive, but they are robust enough to work throughout a major quake. A grid of more than 1000 GPS monitoring stations throughout Japan recorded the Hokkaido quake. Each receiver measured its position once every second to within a few millimetres. This accuracy was made possible using a modified version of normal GPS data analysis. The team used the measurements to build up one of the most detailed pictures ever of seismic waves propagating during a quake. See: http://spot.colorado.edu/~kristine/tokachi_rupture.gif
New Scientist / Geophysical Research Letters Jan 13, 2005	back to top

New hybrid cellphone-virus discovered
A cellphone virus that uses several techniques to spread is the most sophisticated 'mobile malware' yet, but experts say the risk of infection remains remarkably slim. The malicious software, called Lasco.A, spreads via Bluetooth, a short range wireless networking technology, and can infect smartphones running the Symbian operating system. It arrives as an executable file called 'velasco.sis' and, once installed, automatically attempts to send itself to other phones within Bluetooth range. Analysis of the code shows Lasco.A is based on an earlier cellphone worm called Cabir.H. However, like many desktop computer viruses, the program not only spreads automatically, but also infects other .sis files on a host handset. But Lasco.A is unlikely to cause a major outbreak, according to some experts. The virus can only infect sophisticated phones in close range of one another - within 10 metres. Users also have to agree to install the program for it to work.
New Scientist Jan 13, 2005	back to top

Professor writes world's smallest P2P application
A professor of computer science at Princeton University has written the world's smallest peer-to-peer file sharing system to demonstrate the futility of trying to ban the technology. The application, written by Edward Felten in just 15 lines of code in the Python programming language, will not work on a large scale like Kazaa, but can form small P2P networks which can then be interlinked. See: http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/tinyp2p.py In 2001 Felten also hit the headlines when he was threatened with legal action by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The RIAA had designed new watermarking technologies under its Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) and invited hackers to try and break it. Felten proved that the technologies were fundamentally flawed. However, before Felten could present the research he was forced to withdraw after threats were made against him and his employers. SDMI was withdrawn shortly afterwards.
VNUnet UK Jan 07, 2005	back to top