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Issue no. 10, 2005 Published: Apr 01, 2005
EU needs more time for biometric passports
Microsoft and EU reach agreement
EU anti-software patent groups merge
Revamp for web navigation system urged
Google removing AFP from Google News
World's most sensitive scales weigh a zeptogram
'Bionic eye' may help reverse blindness
Brain chip reads man's thoughts
Software agents give out PR advice
Charge your battery in a minute

EU needs more time for biometric passports
The EU on Wednesday told the US Congress it needs another year to implement new US rules on secure biometric passports, which include a computer chip with data such as a digital photo of the passport holder. EU justice and interior ministers had said last year they would meet this year's October 26 deadline. But only six of the 25 EU countries Belgium, Finland, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, and Sweden will be ready to issue biometric passports by that date. After October 26, citizens from 27 visa-exempt countries will have to apply for a visa or have a biometric passport. However, the chairman of the congressional committee overseeing US immigration law, Republican James Sensenbrenners, warned on Thursday that Congress was unlikely to extend the October deadline. So-called biometric features can reduce patterns of fingerprints, irises, voices and faces to mathematical algorithms that can be stored on a chip or machine-readable strip. EU countries also want to include a fingerprint on the chip.
ABC News / AP / Financial Times Mar 30, 2005	back to top

Microsoft and EU reach agreement
Microsoft has bowed to pressure from the European Commission to name a new version of its Windows XP software, Windows XP Home Edition N. It is the US software giant's latest step in complying with the EU, following a record anti-trust fine imposed on it last year. The 'N' in the new name stands for 'not with media player'. The EU said Microsoft's first choice, Windows XP Reduced Media Edition, could have put consumers off the new version. Brussels last year fined Microsoft €497m and ordered it to sell a version of its Windows XP software without its Media Player. After rejecting 10 earlier ideas from Microsoft, the Commission proposed Windows XP Home Edition N and Microsoft has agreed. The new edition, already provided to computer makers, could go on sale in Europe within weeks.
BBC News Mar 28, 2005	back to top

EU anti-software patent groups merge
Two of the groups leading the campaign against the EU's controversial technology patent directive have agreed to pool their interests as the directive itself is about to enter another critical phase. The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) is to take over fellow anti-patent campaigner NoSoftwarePatents.com, which was formed in October 2004 with the support of Red Hat, MySQL and web hosting firm 1&1 Internet. Red Hat, MySQL and 1&1 will continue to work with the FFII, while NoSoftwarePatents.com campaign leader, Florian Mueller, is to step out of the political fray to concentrate on his own software development project. FFII said it would continue to use the NoSoftwarePatents.com site as a platform for providing information in its campaign against the adoption of the EU's directive on the patentability of computer implemented inventions.
Computer Business Review Mar 31, 2005	back to top

Revamp for web navigation system urged
The internet's Domain Name System (DNS) needs to be revamped, concludes a report released on Thursday. DNS is a distributed network of servers that contain records mapping each domain name to an IP address. But DNS records are currently susceptible to denial-of- service (DOS) and spoofing attacks, says the report, which was funded by the US National Academies, the Department of Commerce and National Science Foundation. To make DOS attacks harder to mount, the report calls for a large increase in the number of 'copy' DNS servers, distributed throughout the world. Identity thieves also spoof DNS records by 'poisoning' a cache of the records held by internet service providers. Poisoning could make the URL of a banking website, for example, point to a bogus site set up by fraudsters, in order to trick users into giving away their details. To fight this so-called pharming, the report calls for the wide deployment of a security protocol called DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC) that digitally signs and verifies every returned web page using cryptographic keys.
New Scientist Mar 31, 2005	back to top

Google removing AFP from Google News
Google is in the process of removing French news agency Agence France Presse (AFP) from its Google News service, which aggregates links to online articles and accompanying photos from about 4,500 news outlets. Google's decision is a direct reaction to a lawsuit AFP filed against the search engine provider alleging copyright infringement over the inclusion of AFP content in Google News, a Google spokesman said. AFP sued Google in the US District Court for the District of Columbia on Thursday of last week. The news agency is seeking to recover damages of at least US$17.5 million from Google. AFP also asks the court to forbid Google from including its content in Google News.
The Industry Standard Mar 31, 2005	back to top

World's most sensitive scales weigh a zeptogram
The world's most sensitive scales can now detect a cluster of xenon atoms a billion, trillion times lighter than a gram. A zeptogram (10-21)g) is roughly the mass of a single protein molecule and its detection has set a new record. The feat opens up the prospect of future devices that could identify single molecules by weight. The key to the scales is a small blade that vibrates in a magnetic field, generating a voltage in an attached wire. When atoms or molecules are placed on its surface, they weigh it down, lower the vibration frequency and change the voltage. But to identify proteins by weight, the scales will have to become another 1000 times more precise, capable of weighing yoctograms (10-24)g), or individual hydrogen atoms. If this can be achieved, such devices could be used to diagnose diseases very early by detecting single marker molecules found in a drop of blood, or to analyse the inner workings and signalling patterns of a single cell.
New Scientist Mar 30, 2005	back to top

'Bionic eye' may help reverse blindness
A 'bionic eye' may one day help blind people see again. The eye implant could be a dramatic step above currently available technology, says the team at Stanford University, California, US, who has successfully tested the system in rats. A visual acuity of 20/20 is considered normal, while 20/400 is considered blind. The scientists say their device could provide acuity of 20/80, good enough to read large forms and live independently. The microchip would have to be implanted behind the retina of the blind person. The patient would wear goggles mounted with a small video camera, which sends the image to a wireless wallet-sized computer for processing. The computer transmits the data to an infrared LED screen on the goggles. The goggles reflect an infrared image into the eye and on to the retinal chip, converting it into electrical signals, which are then transmitted by cells in the inner retina to the brain.
New Scientist / Journal of Neural Engineering Mar 31, 2005	back to top

Brain chip reads man's thoughts
A paralysed man in the US has become the first person to benefit from a brain chip that reads his mind. Matthew Nagle, 25, was left paralysed from the neck down after a knife attack in 2001. The pioneering surgery at New England Sinai Hospital, Massachusetts, last summer means he can now control everyday objects by thought alone. The brain chip reads his mind and sends the thoughts to a computer. He can think his TV on and off, change channels and alter the volume thanks to the technology and software linked to devices in his home. The device, called BrainGate, consists of nearly 100 hair-thin electrodes implanted a millimetre deep into part of the motor cortex of Nagle's brain that controls movement. Wires feed the information from the electrodes into a computer which analyses the brain signals. The signals are interpreted and translated into cursor movements.
BBC News Mar 31, 2005	back to top

Software agents give out PR advice
Governments and companies like to indulge in media spin, and that means knowing what is being said about them. But finding out is becoming ever more difficult, with thousands of news outlets and blogs to monitor. Now a British company is about to launch a software program that can automatically gauge the tone of any electronic document. Corpora's program, called Sentiment, uses algorithms to tease out grammatical components, such as nouns, verbs and adjectives, and identify the subjects and objects of verbs. It can even analyse pronouns like 'it', 'he' and 'her' to work out what words or concepts they are referring to. Having an understanding of grammatical structure makes it possible to filter out words that are not relevant to the sentiment of the article. So instead of assuming certain words, such as 'rubbish' or 'unpredictable', are positive or negative it allows the structural context to disambiguate them.
New Scientist Mar 30, 2005	back to top

Charge your battery in a minute
Toshiba has developed a new form of Lithium-ion battery that can charge up to 80 per cent capacity in less than a minute. The battery uses specially engineered particles less than 100 nanometres across that store vast amounts of lithium ions, without causing any deterioration in its electrodes. This allows a full recharge to be achieved in less than 10 minutes. The new design has other advantages over conventional battery technologies. It loses permanent charge at a very slow rate, less than one per cent per 1,000 recharges, and operates at between -40 and +45 degrees Celsius.
VNUnet UK Mar 30, 2005	back to top