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Issue no. 4, 2005 Published: Feb 04, 2005
HP makes nanotech breakthrough
EU parliament demands patent restart
EU plans emergency calling for every new vehicle
Microsoft launches internet search engine
Google's search for meaning
Augmented-reality machine works in real time
Mirror that reflects your future self
Moving mobile improves golf swing
Mobile-using drivers 'age 50 years'

HP makes nanotech breakthrough
With a recent breakthrough in making circuits with molecules, HP hopes to change chip history and expand its own role in the process. Researchers from the computing giant have created devices called crossbar latches that can be used to perform calculations in microprocessors, the same function silicon transistors now have. The difference is that crossbar latches - which consist of a grid of microscopic wires linked by molecules at their intersections - are far smaller and, potentially, far cheaper to make because they are produced using processes more akin to inkjet printing rather than the ornate etching processes required for today's chips. Adoption of crossbars across the industry could also lead to royalties for HP, which may try to license it. HP is so confident of its technology that is aiming to get elements of crossbar technology incorporated into 32nm chips, which will hit commercially in 2011 or 2012. The company will try to get its technology ensconced in industry road maps guiding equipment makers and semiconductor designers.
Yahoo! / CNET News Feb 01, 2005	back to top

EU parliament demands patent restart
The battle to prevent software patents being introduced in Europe received a major boost on Wednesday afternoon when the Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) of the European Parliament (EP) demanded for the Computer Implemented Inventions Directive (CIID) to be rewritten. A European Parliament spokesman confirmed that the President of the European Parliament will asked the European Commission (EC) to take the patent directive back to the drawing board. The spokesman said the EC is not obliged to agree to the EP's request for a restart, but is likely to adhere to the will of the parliament. But an EC spokesman said that the Commission has not yet decided anything and will 'keep its options open' and 'see what happens with the EU Council'. Opponents of the directive fear that it will herald the widespread patenting of software in Europe.
Yahoo! / ZDNet UK Feb 03, 2005	back to top

EU plans emergency calling for every new vehicle
All new vehicles in Europe should be equipped to make automatic emergency calls by 2009, according to EU safety plans. The new technology, named eCall, can be triggered manually by a button or automatically by air bag deployment or crash sensors. The car then transmits via GSM wireless technology to indicate its location. The system is expected to reduce emergency response times. Under the plan, agreements are to be made on the technology's standardisation and specifications by the end of 2005. Extensive testing will be completed in 2006, and eCall should be in every new vehicle in 2009. The project still has to overcome problems to ensure it can be used by cars travelling around the continent and work out payment issues. The initiative is part of a drive to use technological advances to cut the 50,000 European deaths on the road every year.
Globe Technology / AP Feb 03, 2005	back to top

Microsoft launches internet search engine
Microsoft on Tuesday officially launched of its own search engine. Some 18 months in development, the project has been one of the most important undertaken by the software giant as it tries to catch up with Google and Yahoo! in the fast-growing search-related online advertising business. Microsoft made available a final test version of the new service last November. Since then, it has been channelling an increasing proportion of search queries it receives on its internet service, MSN, to its proprietary search engine before finally turning on the full service for all users. The service draws on data from Encarta, the Microsoft-owned encyclopaedia, to provide direct answers on 1.5m different topics. It also has a 'near me' option that lets users limit the search results to those relevant to their geographical locations, which the search engine tries to deduce from their IP addresses.
Financial Times Feb 01, 2005	back to top

Google's search for meaning
Trying to get a computer to work out what words mean - distinguish between 'rider' and 'horse' say, and work out how they relate to each other - is a long-standing problem in artificial intelligence research. But researcher at the National Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, realised that a Google search can be used to measure how closely two words relate to each other. The researchers have developed a statistical indicator based on hit counts that gives a measure of a logical distance separating a pair of words. They call this the normalised Google distance, or NGD. The lower the NGD, the more closely the words are related. By repeating this process for lots of pairs of words, it is possible to build a map of their distances, indicating how closely related the meanings of the words are. The technique has managed to distinguish between colours, numbers, different religions and Dutch painters based on the number of hits they return, the researchers report in an online preprint.
New Scientist Jan 28, 2005	back to top

Augmented-reality machine works in real time
Computer-generated scenery can be realistically added to live video footage, using a machine vision system developed by researchers at Oxford University, UK. The augmented-reality system could also in the longer term enable robots to navigate more effectively. Or it could be used to virtually decorate a real house or plan engineering work. It allows a computer to build an accurate three dimensional model of the world using only a video camera feed. It can also keep track of the camera's movement within its environment - all in real time. Previously, it has been necessary to calibrate a computer using several markers added to a scene. The Oxford team's machine only requires an object of known size to be placed in its line of sight to perform a complete calibration. The system then automatically picks out its own visual markers from a scene. By measuring the way these markers move the computer can judge how far away each marker is. It can also rapidly determine how the camera is moving.
New Scientist Feb 03, 2005	back to top

Mirror that reflects your future self
Scientists at Accenture Technology's lab in Sophia Antipolis, France are inventing a 'magic mirror' to predict how you might look in the future. The scientists say showing people the consequences of being unhealthy could shock them into changing their ways. A computer builds up a profile of your lifestyle, using a network of high-resolution cameras dotted around the house. These webcams will feed images of your everyday activities to a computer running software that is able to recognise different patterns of behaviour. Once the computer has built up a profile, a different software package will extrapolate how your behaviour is likely to affect your weight in the long term. If the computer feels you are eating too much, it will calculate how many pounds to add to the image of the person standing in front of the mirror. Another package will work on your face. Too much alcohol? Expect early wrinkles and blotchy skin.
New Scientist Feb 03, 2005	back to top

Moving mobile improves golf swing
A mobile phone that recognises and responds to movements has been launched in Japan. The motion-sensitive phone - the V603SH - was developed by Sharp and launched by Vodafone's Japanese division. Devised mainly for mobile gaming, users can also access other phone functions using a pre-set pattern of arm movements. The phone will allow golf fans to improve their swing via a golfing game. Those who prefer shoot-'em-ups will be able to use the phone like a gun to shoot the zombies in the mobile version of Sega's House of the Dead. The phone comes with a tiny motion-control sensor, a computer chip that responds to movement. Other features include a display screen that allows users to watch TV and can rotate 180 degrees. It also doubles up as an electronic musical instrument. Users have to select a sound from a menu that includes clapping, tambourine and maracas and shake their phone to create a beat.
BBC News Feb 01, 2005	back to top

Mobile-using drivers 'age 50 years'
University of Utah researchers claim that a 20-year-old blabbing on a mobile phone while driving has the reaction times of a 70-year-old. And it does not matter if you are chatting hands-free, because any activity requiring a driver to actively be part of a conversation likely will impair driving abilities. Volunteers were subjected to four 10-mile freeway trips lasting around 10 minutes each in a simulator. They talked with a researcher via a handsfree mobile for half of the trip and maintained a concentrated silence for the other half. The results showed that when talking on the phone, the volunteers were 18 per cent slower in braking, had a 12 per cent greater following distance and took 17 per cent longer to regain the speed they lost when they braked. The team concludes that when 18-to-25-year-olds were placed in a driving simulator and talked on a cellular phone, they reacted to brake lights from a car in front of them as slowly as 65- to 74-year-olds who were not using a cell phone.
The Register Feb 02, 2005	back to top