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Issue no. 18, 2005 Published: Jun 03, 2005
Microsoft submits antitrust proposal to EU
EC official says Europe is falling behind on open source
Israeli technology sector buffeted by illegal-surveillance scandal
Porn-friendly '.xxx' domains approved
Developing nations losing spam battle, report says
Self-wiring supercomputer is cool and compact
Lasers built into fibre-optics
Scientists utilise molecule as basic transistor
Scientists Fret over nanotech breakthrough
Text messages double young smokers' quit rates

Microsoft submits antitrust proposal to EU
Microsoft has filed its latest attempt to comply with Europe's antitrust ruling, getting its proposal in mere hours before Tuesday's deadline set by authorities who now need to examine the proposal to see whether Microsoft has complied fully with the conditions laid out in the original antitrust ruling. The original antitrust ruling, issued on March 24, 2004, demanded that Microsoft disclose information to rival makers of server software to enable their products to be interoperable with the Windows operating system and that it offer a version of Windows without Media Player. The Commission rejected Microsoft's proposed server interoperability license in March of this year. Microsoft said in April that it had addressed the majority of the Commission's concerns in this area, but the Commission said a few weeks ago that there were still issues to be resolved regarding both the server interoperability remedy and the version of Windows without Media Player.
ZDNet UK Jun 01, 2005	back to top

EC official says Europe is falling behind on open source
An European Commission official has called on Europe to take a more proactive approach to open source or risk missing out. 'We have the impression that Europe is moving very, very slowly and our competitors are moving very fast,' Jesus Villasante, head of the software development unit at the European Commission's Information Society and Media Directorate General, told visitors to the Holland Open Software Conference in Amsterdam. 'In the US most of the large companies have clear strategies to increase open source in their product lines. In Asia and Latin America, we see that there are many national and regional projects to develop and to work on open source,' he said. Villasante said that barriers to open source adoption included the strong political lobbies of traditional businesses, weak political interest in open source, and the fragmented nature of open source communities, and criticised the involvement of big business in open source development. Villasante raised the potential of policy measures that could be taken to encourage the use of open source software.
Computer Business Review Jun 02, 2005	back to top

Israeli technology sector buffeted by illegal-surveillance scandal
Top Israeli blue-chip companies are suspected of using illicit surveillance software to steal information from their rivals and enemies. The investigation has shed an unflattering light on the Israeli business world, where cutthroat competition in a small market, high-tech sophistication and the secretive army traditions form a volatile mix. The list of victims is equally impressive, ranging from a cigarette importer to the local operations of the Ace hardware chain and Hewlett-Packard. Even a well-known TV entertainment reporter is caught up in the affair, claiming hackers invaded his computer to get phone numbers of celebrities. The 'Trojan horse' scandal has been front-page news since police lifted a gag order this week. Police say 22 people have been arrested, and more arrests are expected. Police stumbled upon the case after author Amnon Jackont discovered excerpts of a book he was still writing on the internet. The discovery snowballed into an international investigation involving British, German and US authorities.
SiliconValley / AP Jun 02, 2005	back to top

Porn-friendly '.xxx' domains approved
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) on Wednesday approved ".xxx" domains, a move that reverses the group's earlier position and heads off a potential political spat with conservative US politicians. ICANN said it is working with the ICM Registry to finalise remaining details, meaning the porn-friendly set of .xxx domains should be available by the end of the year. The ICM Registry plans to handle the technical aspects of running the master database of .xxx sex sites. A second, nonprofit organisation called the International Foundation For Online Responsibility will be in charge of setting the rules for .xxx. ICANN's vote represents an abrupt turnabout from the group's earlier stance. In November 2000, the ICANN staff objected to the .xxx domain and rejected ICM Registry's first application. US politicians quickly lambasted the 2000 decision and wondered why ICANN did not approve .xxx as a means of protecting children from adult content.
CNET News Jun 01, 2005	back to top

Developing nations losing spam battle, report says
Developing countries are being overwhelmed with spam - a situation that threatens to widen the global digital divide, according to a new report. Countries like Malaysia, Nepal and Nigeria lack the bandwidth, technical know-how and financial resources to effectively combat junk e-mail, says the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. As a result, webusers in those nations endure more outages and less reliable overall service than people in more developed countries. In addition, more spammers are setting up shop in less-developed countries as authorities and ISPs in the US and Europe crack down on them. As ISPs in developing nations harbour more spammers, those providers increasingly land on international 'block lists'. The OECD report urges ISPs in those countries to invest in spam-filter technology or in third-party filtering, and to adopt strong antispam policies. The group also recommended that countries set up computer emergency response teams. It also calls on ISPs around the globe to assist each other in the fight against spam.
ZDNet May 27, 2005	back to top

Self-wiring supercomputer is cool and compact
An experimental supercomputer made from hardware that can reconfigure itself to tackle different software problems is being built by researchers at the Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre in Scotland. The system will use Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) chips. FPGAs can be reconfigured using software to mimic computer processing equipment that is physically designed to take on specialised tasks. In contrast, conventional microprocessors are designed to act as fixed, general purpose processing devices. Each FPGA chip consists of a block of programmable logic gates that can be electronically organised into different types of circuit. The FPGA supercomputer will be more powerful and efficient than a conventional system of similar physical size. If it can be made easy enough to program, the researchers behind the machine say it could usher in a new generation of compact and energy-saving supercomputers over the coming decade.
New Scientist May 31, 2005	back to top

Lasers built into fibre-optics
Researchers from the University of Bath in England have crossed a gas-filled fibre optic laser with ordinary fibre optics to make a Raman laser and a frequency stabiliser - devices that provide precise control of laser beams. The devices, which could eventually be made the size of credit cards and laser pointers, could improve telecommunications and global positioning systems. They also could provide tiny laser sources for use with fibre-optic-based phase modulators, power attenuators, and beam splitters - the tools that steer and tune light beams. Lasers emit strong beams of single-colour light by stimulating energised atoms to emit photons. Gas is more efficient at stimulating such emission than solid materials, but it has been difficult to produce gas-filled devices that are small and easy to connect to optical fibres. The researchers' devices use photonic crystal fibres, which contain a lengthwise pattern of holes that can be filled with gas. The fibres are compact, flexible, and can easily be integrated into existing optical fibre networks, according to the researchers.
Technology Research News / Nature Jun 01, 2005	back to top

Scientists utilise molecule as basic transistor
Researchers at the University of Alberta are reporting a breakthrough in the development of molecular transistors. The team says it has demonstrated that a molecule can be controllably charged by a single atom while all adjacent atoms remained neutral. The molecule thus becomes a nanotech version of a common transistor - the device used to control the flow of electricity in virtually all electronic equipment. Basically, the transistor works like this: The natural electrostatic field from a single silicon atom is permitted to flow through a hydrocarbon molecule bonded to a silicon crystal substrate. One end of the molecule is the 'in' electrode, and the other is the 'out' electrode; the electricity is then conducted through the hydrocarbon molecule to the tip of a hovering electron tunnelling microscope. The microscope tip is the 'controlling' electrode - the on/off switch. The switch can be manipulated by moving the microscope tip, changing the voltage of the silicon substrate or through the use of chemicals.
San Francisco Chronicle Jun 02, 2005	back to top

Scientists Fret over nanotech breakthrough
A breakthrough in nanotechnology has enabled doctors accurately to measure the levels of crucial chemicals in living brain cells in real time and at the level of a single cell. Scientists at Stanford University and the Carnegie Institution's Department of Plant Biology claim to be the first successfully to apply genetic nanotechnology using molecular sensors to view changes in brain chemical levels. The sensors alter their three-dimensional form on binding with the chemical, which is then visible via a process known as fluorescence resonance energy transfer, or Fret. A newly published study from the scientists reveals how the nanosensors were introduced into nerve cells to measure the release of the neurotransmitter glutamate, the major brain chemical that increases nerve-cell activity in mammalian brains. It is involved in everything from learning and memory to mood and perception.
VNUnet UK May 31, 2005	back to top

Text messages double young smokers' quit rates
Smoking cessation programmes that use text messaging can double the quit rate in young smokers, according to a clinical trial at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. In the study, over 850 young smokers who wanted to quit received five supportive text messages a day for a week before their 'quit day', and for the following four weeks. Then they received three messages a week for a further five months. They were also given one month of free personal texting, starting on their quit day, as an incentive. A similar group of young smokers received one month free texting six months after their designated quit day, but no supportive text messages. Six weeks after quit day, 28 per cent of the group that received the texts claimed to have quit, compared with 13 per cent of the control group. After checking these self-reported results, the team found that in both groups about half of those were actually still smoking. Quit rates appeared to remain high after six months, although the results are less certain because many of the participants were lost to follow up.
New Scientist / Tobacco Control Jun 01, 2005	back to top