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Issue no. 37, 2005 Published: Dec 02, 2005
Free Software Foundation begins overhaul of GPL
Entanglement reaches new levels
Viral cure could 'immunise' the internet
UK scientists drill world's smallest hole
Dutch tech firm wants to rid the web of the .com
Invention: Smarter surveillance
Hitachi points to vein recognition
Save your eyes - don't squint
Scientists develop 'invisible diet'
Microsoft Research tool 'snarfs' up unwanted e-mail
Air guitarists' rock dreams come true
Singapore scientists embrace plan for cyberhugs

Free Software Foundation begins overhaul of GPL
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) plans to revise the license that regulates the use of open-source software. The US-based FSF released the first version of the GNU General Public License in 1991, which was originally intended for free software that was developed by the FSF. But now there are over 50,000 different software developers that use the GPL as a way of getting their software out to users. According to the FSF, the GNU GPL is the most widely used free software license worldwide, with almost three quarters of all free software programs distributed under it. Use of software released under the GPL allows distributors to charge for distributing the software - for example, for the cost of putting it on a CD-ROM - but they cannot make a charge for actual usage. A draft of the new license, called GPLv3, will be released at the International Public Conference for GPLv3 at MIT on January 16-17, 2006. After the draft of the new license has been published, the FSF will invite feedback from software developers and users. The organisation hopes to publish a final discussion document by the autumn of 2006.
Yahoo / Newsfactor Dec 01, 2005	back to top

Entanglement reaches new levels
Two rival teams of physicists in the US and Austria have succeeded in entangling the largest number of particles ever. Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Colorado have entangled six beryllium ions while the team at Innsbruck University has independently entangled eight calcium ions. The results are the latest step to large-scale quantum computers and may also be important for quantum cryptography and ultra-sensitive measurement techniques. Entanglement allows particles to have a much closer relationship than is possible in classical physics: if two particles are entangled, we can know the state of one particle by measuring the state of the other. Besides, a particle can exist in a superposition of both these states at the same time. By taking advantage of such phenomena, a quantum computer could, in principle, outperform a classical computer for certain tasks. The new results break the previous record of five entangled photons achieved last year. Moreover, the entangled states can be produced 'on demand' and made available for further tasks without being destroyed.
PhysicsWeb Dec 01, 2005	back to top

Viral cure could 'immunise' the internet
A cure for computer viruses that spreads in a viral fashion could immunise the internet, according to researchers at Tel-Aviv University, Israel. They propose developing a network of 'honeypot' computers, distributed across the web, dedicated to the task of combating viruses. To a virus, these machines would seem like ordinary vulnerable computers. But the honeypots would attract a virus, analyse it automatically, and then distribute a countermeasure. The honeypots would be linked to one another via a dedicated and secure network. This way, once one has captured a virus, all the others will quickly know about the infection immediately. Each honeypot then acts as a hub of healing code which is disseminated to computers connected to it. The countermeasure then spreads out across the broader network. Simulations show that the larger the network grows, the more efficient the scheme is. If a network has 50,000 computers (nodes) with only 0.4 per cent honeypots, just 5 per cent of the network will be infected before the immune system halts the virus. But, a 200-million-node network should see just 0.001 per cent of machines get infected.
New Scientist / Nature Physics Dec 01, 2005	back to top

UK scientists drill world's smallest hole
A team of scientists from Cardiff University have developed machinery that they claim can drill the smallest holes the world. The group can drill holes as small as 22 microns (0.022 mm) - less than the width of a human hair - in stainless steel and other materials. The process is achieved by creating a minute electrode, with a diameter of only six microns, which was itself produced by manufacturing a highly precise wire electrode discharge grinder. Next year, the scientists expect to acquire new nano-technological equipment which will enable them to make even smaller holes and add surface materials of tiny thicknesses to finish optical, medical and other components. The ability to produce such quality tiny holes in any conductive material will benefit designers in the medical and laboratory sciences, as well as electronic design engineers in creating smaller electronic systems which will cover a wide range of industrial and consumer industries.
VNUnet UK Nov 30, 2005	back to top

Dutch tech firm wants to rid the web of the .com
A Dutch technology company has breathed life into a project to rid the internet of suffixes such as .com, and instead offer single names which can be countries, company names or fantasy words. Such a system, which makes it possible to have a web address consisting of a single name, offers flexibility and is language and character independent. Amsterdam-based UnifiedRoot offers practically unlimited numbers of suffixes. The company has installed 13 internet domain name system (DNS) root servers on four continents. Dutch airport Schiphol is one of the early customers. Registering a name costs $1,000 plus an annual fee of $240. Companies can then invent additional website addresses in front of their top-level domain (TLD) name, such as flights.schiphol or parking.schiphol. To avoid conflicts between TLDs from UnifiedRoot and ICANN, the Dutch company will not register existing ICANN TLDs.
ZDNet News / Reuters Nov 26, 2005	back to top

Invention: Smarter surveillance
Surveillance cameras often capture only a blurred mug shot of a suspect, either because they are moving or because the camera is not focused correctly. But IBM has developed a solution. Instead of using a single camera to monitor a scene, IBM has patented a system that uses several cameras at once. The idea is that a fixed camera takes a series of shots of a person, enabling a computer to then calculate their direction and speed of motion. This information will then be used to make movable cameras follow the target's path, enabling them to focus accurately. The result should be crystal clear pictures, no matter how fast the subject is moving and should also be able to follow more than one target. The system may be good for more than security surveillance too. IBM reckons it could also be used at airports to rapidly identify passengers standing in line, if combined with face recognition software.
New Scientist Nov 29, 2005	back to top

Hitachi points to vein recognition
Hitachi in Japan has unveiled its new Lora SE210 security laptop computer featuring a biometric security device that uses vein recognition. The security device is placed below the keyboard and uses infra red light to scan a finger's tissue for vein patterns. The laptop is the first mobile computer using the technology and targets users handling sensitive or secure information. It is designed to be used as a networked client. It has no hard drive but uses flash memory to store the Windows XP embedded operating system. While vein recognition is a less common form of biometric security, the technology's backers claim that it is easy to perform a vein scan and that it is very hard to damage or change the pattern. The technology also offers an advantage over fingerprint scanners because identical twins have highly similar fingerprints but different vein patterns.
VNUnet UK Nov 30, 2005	back to top

Save your eyes - don't squint
Researchers from Ohio State University found that people who squint at their PC's monitor - looking at complex or detailed information onscreen, for example - are prone to eye strain and a condition known as 'dry eye'. The 'dry eye' which results from a lack of blinking is not debilitating but can be irritating and uncomfortable. Computer users often squint at their monitors to cut the brightness or to bring small details into clearer focus, according to the university's scientists, and people may not be aware they are squinting. Most people who use monitors will squint, which then causes them to blink less. Even low-level squinting causing blink rates to half from 15 blinks a minute to 7.5 per minute, the researchers found. The researchers studied 10 volunteers' blink rates using electrodes attached to an electromymogram and asked them to focus on a black dot on a screen, squinting to varying levels. When volunteers were at their most squinty, blinking reduced to four blinks per minute.
ZDNet / Silicon.com Dec 01, 2005	back to top

Scientists develop 'invisible diet'
Researchers at Utah State University are working a high-tech way to trick people into desiring less fat without dangerous side effects. In an effort to curb obesity, they would inject the body with manufactured nanoparticles designed to fool the brain. The team is engineering molecule-sized nanoparticles made of the same fat molecules that occur naturally in your body. The nanoparticles would be geared to fool specific cells inside you that communicate with the brain about fat intake. The research is in its early stages, but the researcher say they are the preliminary tests are encouraging. The research is now focused on developing fat substitutes that trick specific sites without harming the rest of the body. Nanoparticles, which are small enough to slip through cell membranes, could deliver drugs that would cause certain cells to release and send more 'I've got my fill of fat' hormones to the brain. A person would then presumably seek lower-fat foods.
Yahoo! / LiveScience.com Dec 01, 2005	back to top

Microsoft Research tool 'snarfs' up unwanted e-mail
Microsoft's research arm Thursday released a free tool to help users slog through e-mail messages in their inbox in the order of importance, according to one of the researchers who developed the software. Created within Microsoft Research, the Social Relationship and Network Finder, or SNARF, is an application that uses the same database as a user's e-mail client to count the number of times users send and receive e-mails from people, according to Microsoft Research. The 'social sorting tool' will help e-mail users prioritise the e-mails in their inbox based on how often they send and receive e-mails from contacts. The tool runs simultaneously next to an e-mail client and allows a user to look at unread e-mail in three views: Unread To/CC me, Unread Mail and Unread Lists. The default sort mechanism ranks e-mail messages in those categories based on how many times a user e-mails an address or person on the list. SNARF also provides e-mail notifications.
InfoWorld /IDG Dec 01, 2005	back to top

Air guitarists' rock dreams come true
Aspiring rock gods can at last create their own guitar solos - without ever having to pick up a real instrument, thanks to a group of Finnish computer science students. The Virtual Air Guitar project, developed at the Helsinki University of Technology, adds genuine electric guitar sounds to the passionately played air guitar. Using a computer to monitor the hand movements of a 'player', the system adds riffs and licks to match frantic mid-air finger work. By responding instantly to a wide variety of gestures it promises to turn even the least musically gifted air guitarist to a virtual fret board virtuoso. The system consists of a video camera and a computer hooked up to an appropriately loud set of speakers. A player then needs only to don a pair of brightly coloured gloves in order to rock out. Computer vision software automatically keeps track of their hands and detects different gestures. The team created a library of guitar sounds based around the pentatonic minor scale - a progression commonly used for rock guitar solos - in order to create the right sound for their virtual instrument.
New Scientist Nov 28, 2005	back to top

Singapore scientists embrace plan for cyberhugs
Researchers at Singapore-based Nanyang Technological University (NTU) have discovered a way to 'cybertouch' by transmitting tactile movements over the internet. A project presented at the CyberWorld International Conference held last week at NTU demonstrated sending touch through the internet using a live chicken. The process works by dressing the chicken in a 'sensory jacket' that can record and transmit the animal's movements. Movement data is sent over the internet from a remote computer that is simultaneously monitoring the animal over a web camera. The movement data is synchronised with the remote image of the chicken, so that upon touching the image, the jacket acts as a touch conductor, imitating the heat, pressure, and vibrations of the real touch and passing them onto the chicken. As a result, the chicken 'feels' the contact. The concept of sending 'feeling' through the internet was developed by NTU researchers as a way for pet owners and parents of young children to maintain a degree of physical contact while away from their loved ones. Wireless 'hugs' are the next move forward, according to the researchers.
VNUnet UK Nov 29, 2005	back to top