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Issue no. 31, 2005 Published: Oct 21, 2005
Open-source software seen gaining in Europe
IT 'rethink' needed in face of bird flu
Heavyweights call for patent reform
Also publishers sue Google over scanning plans
Balloon beams broadband internet from stratosphere
Microsoft creates virtual Wi-Fi
Nano-electronics boosted atom by atom
Surfing through the power grid
Invention: Eyeball electronics
Laser printer dot code revealed
Moving print adverts coming soon

Open-source software seen gaining in Europe
Open-source software is gaining ground in Europe, with users attracted by lower costs and accessibility, according to a recent study. The study of 12 European countries conducted by the Maastricht Economic Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT) in the Netherlands found that nearly 49 per cent of local government authorities are using Free/Libre/Open Source Software (FLOSS) and those using it would like to increase its use. The survey netted 955 respondents in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the UK. Around 70 per cent of FLOSS users wanted to increase its use, said program leader Rishab Aiyer Ghosh. But the survey also found that some 29 per cent of respondents who said they did not use FLOSS did in fact use open source software such as GNU/Linux, MySQL, or Apache. The average number of computers serviced by an IT administrator was 66, 13 more than administrators who were not using open-source software, Ghosh said. The statistic implies that fewer administrators are needed for open-source software, he said. See also: http://www.flosspols.org
InfoWorld / IDG Oct 20, 2005	back to top

IT 'rethink' needed in face of bird flu
Gartner has warned IT managers to update their business continuity plans in light of a possible outbreak of bird flu. The analyst firm's report stated that IT managers should make plans to keep the business running in the event of an outbreak. A pandemic is likely to cause considerable economic disruption through its impact on the workforce and on business activity. IT managers can plan for such threats because many contingency strategies use IT to keep businesses running even during travel restrictions, quarantines or problems due to illness or fear, according to the report. Using the 2003 Sars outbreak as an example, Gartner said that companies may face restrictions on travel, a breakdown of the healthcare system and shortages of essential staff due to illness. The authors advise companies to inform staff about preparation, and to assign managers to track the spread of bird flu and establish or expand home working facilities. Gartner also recommends moving more transactional services online and preparing with partners to avoid disruption.
VNUnet UK Oct 19, 2005	back to top

Heavyweights call for patent reform
Governments and academics have launched a campaign to reform a patent system which they say is strangling innovation and creativity. The Adelphi Charter on Creativity, Innovation and Intellectual Property describes the current patent system as 'out of touch with reality', and has called on governments to take more account of the public good when granting patents. The group has also called for much shorter intellectual property ownership periods, and for developing nations to receive more attention over controlling patent information. The group is backed by some heavyweight names, including Gilberto Gil, the Brazilian minister of culture; Sir John Sulston, winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine; and Professor Lawrence Lessig, chairman of the Creative Commons and professor of law at Stanford Law School. The group is particularly keen for governments to adopt the proposals and has called for an automatic presumption against any extension of patent periods or extension of rights. The patenting of data and business models should also be halted.
VNUnet UK Oct 17, 2005	back to top

Also publishers sue Google over scanning plans
Just weeks after the Authors Guild sued Google for copyright infringement, the Association of American Publishers has also filed suit against the search engine giant's plans to scan and index books for the internet. Under the Google Print Library Project, millions of copyrighted books from three major university libraries Harvard, Stanford and Michigan will be indexed on the internet unless the copyright holder notifies the company by November 1 about which volumes should be excluded. Google has called the project an invaluable chance for books to receive increased exposure. But in papers filed Wednesday in the US District Court in Manhattan, the publishers association sought a ruling that would support an injunction against illegal scanning and cited the 'continuing, irreparable and imminent harm publishers are suffering … due to Google's willful (copyright) infringement to further its own commercial purposes.'
ABC News Oct 19, 2005	back to top

Balloon beams broadband internet from stratosphere
A blisteringly fast data downlink provided by a stratospheric balloon floating 24,000 metres above the Earth has been tested for the first time. The helium balloon was tested on 31 August for several hours. Analysis now shows the test was a success and sent data to the ground at 1.25 gigabits per second, thousands of times the capacity of a home broadband internet connection. The test craft was developed by the Capanina Consortium – 14 European academic and industry partners funded mainly by the European Union. They hope the craft may be able to provide communications in disaster zones or low-cost internet access in the developing world. The stratospheric craft was equipped with two communication systems: a high power radio antenna and an ultra-high-speed optical communications system. The balloon's radio link was based on the 802.11b protocol. For the balloon test, powerful millimetre-frequency radio antennas were used, to send the signal up to 60 km. This link was used to transmit data rates of up to 11Mbits/sec.
New Scientist Oct 19, 2005	back to top

Microsoft creates virtual Wi-Fi
Microsoft has developed a technique that allows people to access multiple Wi-Fi networks with a single Wi-Fi card. Virtual Wi-Fi is designed to improve multitasking, save money on hardware and reduce the power needed for Wi-Fi communications. The software is designed to run with Windows XP. The current version of Virtual Wi-Fi allows a user to connect a wireless network card to multiple wireless networks. It dynamically adapts to the switching delay incurred by a wireless card, independent of the manufacturer. It also does not require manual intervention for assigning IP addresses on individual networks. Uses for the technology include linking with a Wi-Fi gaming device such as the Xbox while simultaneously connecting to the internet. So far there is no support in the software for WEP and 802.1X security standards, but Microsoft said that the code is being developed.
VNUnet UK Oct 19, 2005	back to top

Nano-electronics boosted atom by atom
Nanoscale microprocessors could get a big performance boost from a technique that enables semiconducting materials to be doped with useful impurities one atom at a time. The impurities – or dopants – are added to semiconductors to fine-tune their electronic properties. Normally, a less conductive material is introduced to a semiconductor through diffusion or another chemical technique. The process is random on a molecular scale but uniform enough at the scale of current semiconductor components to produce a regular and predictable change in properties. However, as electronic components shrink ever smaller, variations in the concentration of dopants can cause problematic variations in the material's conductivity. Now, researchers at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan, have found a solution by adding individual ions to semiconductors with nanoscale accuracy. They used single ion implantation (SII) to place a wide range of ions into semiconducting materials. Tests confirmed that, following targeted doping, the materials had more uniform electronic properties.
New Scientist / Nature Oct 20, 2005	back to top

Surfing through the power grid
After years of hype in the mid- to late-'90s, connecting to the internet over electrical power lines may finally be coming true. In Cincinnati and surrounding areas in the US, more than 50,000 homes are connecting to the web through power lines. And recently, Manassas, a suburb of Washington DC became the first city in the US to offer all its citizens the option of broadband over power line or BPL. Customers plug a BPL modem into any electrical wall socket, and send data over the city's electrical wires to substations. The substations are connected to the net by city-owned fibre-optic cables. Because the data travels at higher frequencies than electrical current, the two do not interfere with each other. However, BPL still faces criticism that transmitting data over power lines can interfere with both ham radio broadcasts and police and fire radios, and analysts say that is one of the issues that has slowed BPL adoption. But BPL is currently enjoying a big wave of renewed interest with companies such as IBM and Google investing in the technology.
Wired News Oct 20, 2005	back to top

Invention: Eyeball electronics
Second Sight of California has come up with a novel way to operate retinal implants, one that could restore the vision of those with damaged eyes more effectively. As with other systems, a camera fixed to a pair of glasses captures video images, and a small computer converts this into electrical impulses that can be fed to electrodes attached to the patient's retina. But Second Sight thinks it has a better way to link the electronics to the retinal implant. An electronic unit is attached to the white of the eyeball, the sclera, which is pierced to let a flexible line pass through to the retinal electrodes behind. Unlike standard designs that require physical links between elements of the equipment, the video camera connects to the electronics wirelessly and receives its power wirelessly too, from an inductive coil on the glasses.
New Scientist Oct 18, 2005	back to top

Laser printer dot code revealed
You may want to think twice about printing this article. Many colour laser printers mark the pages they produce with tiny yellow dots that, according to technology watchdogs, can reveal information about you and your computer. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), based in San Francisco, California, announced this week that it had cracked the code of dots on documents made by Xerox DocuColor printers. EFF researchers collected pages from various copy centres in California this summer and analysed them, using blue light to highlight the dots, which are barely visible under normal light. The researchers say the dots contains information about the date and time that a page was made, as well as the serial number of the printer used. These are encoded in a simple grid, in which the eight rows represent different values that are added up to reveal 5 kinds of information held in 15 columns. The final column, which is often blank, codes for something that is still a mystery to EFF researchers. They think the information is probably used in police inquiries about counterfeiting and to track down the source of printed documents in crime cases.
Nature Oct 19, 2005	back to top

Moving print adverts coming soon
Concert tickets, magazine adverts and cereal packets could feature interactive moving graphics by 2007, according to German electronics giant Siemens. Researchers at the firm have developed a printable interactive display with a similar thickness to paper. The prototype screen is monochrome and can switch between its two colours in less than half a second. It is possible to print several different monochrome patches onto the same display to create a more vivid moving picture. Eventually it should be feasible to create a multicoloured display. The display consists of a layer of electrochromic material sandwiched between two electrode layers. The material changes from one colour to another when stimulated by an electric current. The top electrode layer is made from transparent plastic, so the display can be seen clearly through it. The display is controlled by a printed circuit and can be powered by a very thin printable battery or a photovoltaic cell.
New Scientist Oct 14, 2005	back to top