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Issue no. 5, 2006 Published: Feb 03, 2006
Microsoft cannot charge fees for source code: EU
IT giants launch EUR 60m training initiative
Malaria and weather come under same umbrella
Robot set loose to film your insides
Self-improving software
Mapping veins as a human 'bar code'
Pigeons to get mobile-phone backpacks
US researchers crack mystery of metallic glass

Microsoft cannot charge fees for source code: EU
The European Commission said Tuesday that Microsoft cannot charge licensing fees for its source code unless it proves the programming is 'innovative'. Last week, Microsoft said it would license the source code to some portions of its Windows Server Workgroup software to competitors as a way of meeting the EU's demand for more and clearer documentation on the protocols covered by the EU's 2004 antitrust decision. However, not only did the body's European Commission not request source code, but it had expressly warned Microsoft in December that access to the source code would not solve its problems. 'It is up to Microsoft to explain how, and why, this new idea addresses the Objection submitted in December,' a European Commission spokesman said. The Objection filed by the Commission charged Microsoft with not properly documenting the protocols, and said it would start fining Microsoft up to EUR 2m a day, backdated to December 15. Microsoft is contesting the fine, and hopes that the source code licensing idea will meet the EU's approval. Microsoft faces a February 15 deadline for replying to the December Objection.
Information Week Feb 01, 2006	back to top

IT giants launch EUR 60m training initiative
A group of industry heavyweights has joined forces in a bid to help provide IT skills training for 'under-served' communities in Europe. The formation of the European Alliance on Skills for Employability was announced by Microsoft, along with other members of the European e-Skills Certification Consortium. These include Cisco Systems, the European Computer Driving Licence Foundation and the Examination Institute for Information Science. The consortium has the support of State Street and Randstad. The group aims to better co-ordinate industry and community efforts to improve the prospects of young unemployed people, those with disabilities and older workers. It will provide technology access and ICT training to 20 million people in the next five years, and is committed to investing more than EUR 60m to achieve these goals.
VNUnet UK Jan 31, 2006	back to top

Malaria and weather come under same umbrella
Today's forecast predicts heavy showers and ... a chance of mosquitoes? That is the hope of scientists who have unveiled a weather forecasting computer model that can provide up to five months warning of malaria epidemics in the most vulnerable countries, allowing governments and aid agencies to take measures against the spreading of the disease. Malaria kills more than 1 million people each year, and infects 500 million people worldwide. Africa is home to about 90 per cent of people affected by malaria. Because climate drives both the development of the malaria parasite, and the behaviour of the mosquitoes that carry it, weather forecasting can help to predict the likelihood of an outbreak. Previous climate models have been able to predict malaria epidemics up to one month in advance by analysing rainfall and sea surface temperatures. The new malaria forecast model relies on a technique known as ensemble forecasting, which combines several different climate models into one system to provide a more accurate prediction.
Nature Feb 01, 2006	back to top

Robot set loose to film your insides
Next time you go under the knife, it may not be just the surgeon poking about inside you. A radio-controlled robot could be roaming round in there too, providing an extra eye for surgeons performing minimally invasive 'keyhole' procedures. The robot, developed by researchers at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, can move around inside the stomach or abdomen to give surgeons a new perspective on the area being operated on. It also has a retractable needle, allowing it to perform biopsies. The device is made up of two rotating aluminium cylinders connected by a thick axle, which carries the camera. The spiral pattern on the surface of the cylinders allows them to grip the walls of the abdominal cavity and move around. The robot is only 15 millimetres in diameter, allowing it to be inserted through the small incisions in the abdomen used for keyhole surgery. It is controlled from a console equipped with a joystick.
New Scientist Jan 26, 2006	back to top

Self-improving software
Although some kinds of software are capable of learning, it is more difficult to design software that learns as it works without requiring a separate training process. But now Princeton University researchers have designed algorithms that learn from data that they do not know anything about ahead of time and then tune themselves to better handle those types of data. The key is that the algorithms learn from how the pieces of data fit within the range of possibilities, rather than having to learn the data's details. It turns out that even though any given piece of data is random, individual pieces fall into relatively narrow ranges that an algorithm can learn from. An algorithm can also improve after learning from a relatively small number of samples. The researchers built two self-improving algorithms, a sorting algorithm and a clustering algorithm. Sorting algorithms put pieces of data into some type of order and clustering algorithms group like pieces of data. The algorithms promise to be forerunners of software that alters its default configuration on its own as it learns how it is used.
Technology Research News Jan 30, 2006	back to top

Mapping veins as a human 'bar code'
A US medical supply company called Luminetx has developed a new method of palm-reading that it hopes will rival fingerprinting or retinal scans as a way to perfectly identify individuals. The technology is based on an infrared scan of the blood cells running through veins, which is then analysed by a computer. Luminetx originally developed the technique as a way to help doctors and nurses find veins in patients needing injections. But now, the company is marketing it to banks, credit card companies and homeland-security officials as a high-tech biometric identification tool. Some of the older tools to uniquely identify individuals have been found to be relatively easily bypassed. Researchers have found that fingerprint scanners could be fooled with images lifted from Play-Doh, for example, or a model of a finger made with dental plaster. Reproducing a three-dimensional model of a human vein system, complete with blood, could be more difficult, however.
CNET News Feb 01, 2006	back to top

Pigeons to get mobile-phone backpacks
A flock of pigeons wearing mobile phone-style backpacks are to be used as air-pollution monitors. The 20 pigeons will each carry a GPS satellite tracking receiver, air pollution sensors and a basic mobile phone transmitter. Text messages on air quality will be beamed back in real time to a special pigeon 'blog', while miniature cameras slung around the birds' necks will post aerial pictures. The pigeons are to be released in August into the smog-filled skies over San Jose in California. Researcher from the University of California at Irvine built a prototype of the pigeons' equipment, containing a mobile phone circuit board with SIM card and communication chips, a GPS receiver and sensors capable of detecting monoxide and nitrogen dioxide.
The Scotsman Feb 02, 2006	back to top

US researchers crack mystery of metallic glass
US researchers from Johns Hopkins University have discovered how atoms pack themselves in unusual materials known as 'metallic glasses'. But science fiction fans may be disappointed to learn that the research will not lead to the recreation of the transparent aluminium which came in so handy for the crew of the Starship Enterprise in Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home. The discovery should, however, help scientists better understand the atomic structure of this material, which could be used in the manufacture of sports equipment, mobile phone cases, armour piercing projectiles and other products. The outcome of the two-year research project is described as a major step forward because the tools used to study traditional crystalline metals do not work well with metallic glass, and a better understanding of the material has been sorely needed.
VNUnet UK / Nature Feb 01, 2006	back to top