Internet
ASTRON and IBM collaborate to explore origins of the universe
April 2, 2012 5:19 am | News | CommentsThe international Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will be the world’s largest and most sensitive radio telescope when it is built, and will require the processing power of several million of today’s fastest computers to collect the exabytes of data it will generate. IBM and the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON) are embarking on a five-year project to solve this data collection problem.
Einstein's archive now available online
March 29, 2012 7:05 am | by Marcus Woo, California Institute of Technology | News | CommentsIf you ever wanted to glimpse into Albert Einstein's thoughts, now you can. Last week, the complete catalog of about 80,000 documents written by or addressed to Einstein—letters, postcards, notebooks, and other papers—was made available online by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Einstein Papers Project at the California Institute of Technology.
New company hopes to replace Wi-Fi with Li-Fi
February 29, 2012 3:06 am | News | CommentsVisible Light Communications (VLC), a University of Edinburgh spin-out, will soon launch its first prototype light-emitting diode communications technology. “Li-Fi” relies on optical spatial modulation and an Internet protocol technology to allow LED light to carry optical wireless communications streams.
Interactive 3D graphical objects may soon be common on the web
February 23, 2012 3:35 am | News | CommentsUntil now, web developers have been dealing with multiple third-party programs to display images in a complex way, such as in 3D. The new HTML extension XML3D, to be demonstrated at the Cebit show in Germany in March, will soon allow developers to embed 3D content in an easy way without having to resort of videos or innumerable photographs of various angles.
Astronomers brace for data deluge
February 13, 2012 7:08 am | News | CommentsAccording to the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, the world’s most powerful telescope—the Square Kilometre Array—will produce on exabyte of data every day when it begins operation. Though still awaiting construction, scientists involved in SKA are already planning on how to deal with such a tremendous influx of information.
Report: Electronic health records still need work
January 27, 2012 10:41 am | by Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press | News | CommentsAccording to a report developed by medical professionals and technology experts and released by the Bipartisan Policy Center last Friday, the effort by hospitals and doctors’ office to go increasingly digital is being hampered by the lack of progress in allowing computer systems to exchange data the way financial companies do.
UN sets stage for blazing fast mobile devices
January 19, 2012 4:51 am | by John Heilprin, Associated Press | News | CommentsAlthough still two years away for consumers, the next generation of mobile technology will be up to 500 times faster than 3G smartphones. Approved this week at a United Nations radio communications meeting, the technology standard is called IMT-Advanced and will use the radio-frequency spectrum much more efficiently.
Georgia Tech receives $1.5 M to create collaborative vehicle design capability
January 17, 2012 8:14 am | News | CommentsThe Georgia Tech Research Institute has received a $1.5 million contract to produce an online environment that would let multiple design teams work together to develop new military vehicles. The VehicleForge project's goal is to create a secure central Website and other Web-based tools and methods that would facilitate such collaborative development.
Sandia helps IT pros visualize complex network vulnerabilities
January 11, 2012 5:14 am | News | CommentsAddressing the complexity of Domain Name System Security (DNSSEC), Sandia National Laboratories computer scientist Casey Deccio has developed a new visualization tool known as DNSViz. DNSSEC is a standard security feature at high-level government offices, but it is extremely complex and Deccio’s tool helps simplify implementation.
U.K. spy agency asks hackers to crack code
December 2, 2011 3:56 am | by Cassandra Vinograd, Associated Press | News | CommentsBritain's electronic listening agency, GCHQ, quietly launched a cryptic Website last month featuring a box of code made up of numbers and letters. There is no branding on the site, only the phrase "Can you crack it?" and a box to type in an answer.
Report sees safety risks in computerized medical records
November 9, 2011 8:12 am | by Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press | News | CommentsComputerized medical records have been sold as a powerful tool to improve patient safety, for example by automatically alerting a doctor to potential allergic reactions to a medication prescribed to a patient. But a report by a panel from the Institute of Medicine said such benefits shouldn't be taken for granted.
Security firm: Hackers hit chemical companies
November 1, 2011 11:06 am | by Joe McDonald, AP Business Writer | News | CommentsAccording to Internet security software vendor Symantec, cyber attacks traced to China recently targeted at least 48 chemical and military-related companies in an effort to steal technical secrets. The victims included multiple Fortune 100 companies.
Arctic chill brings Facebook data center to Sweden
October 27, 2011 7:13 am | by Karl Ritter, Associated Press | News | CommentsThe high cost of keeping large data centers cool—and a need to expand its international presence—has prompted the social networking giant to launch plans to build a giant server farm in Sweden just 60 miles south of the Arctic Circle. Hydropower will supply the 120 MW needed to power the farm.
Time zone database has new home after lawsuit
October 16, 2011 9:41 am | by Anick Jesdanun, AP Technology Writer | News | CommentsThe organization in charge of the Internet's address system is taking over a database widely used by computers and websites to keep track of time zones around the world. The transition comes a week after the database was abruptly removed from a U.S. government server because of a federal lawsuit claiming copyright infringement.
Georgia Tech releases Cyber Threats Forecast for 2012
October 11, 2011 1:37 pm | News | CommentsAt the Georgia Tech Cyber Security Summit this week, researchers at the university released its latest report on the threats facing an interconnected world. Specific cyber threats include search poisoning, mobile web-based attacks, and stolen data used for marketing.
New clinical trial online game series for teenagers
October 11, 2011 6:04 am | News | CommentsEducational game designers from Rice University's Center for Technology in Teaching and Learning (CTTL) are preparing to create their first online game series about clinical trials. The new series, called "Virtual Clinical Trials," will be the sixth in CTTL's popular Web Adventures series for young teens.
Steve Jobs told us what we needed before we knew
October 6, 2011 9:23 am | by Jordan Robertson, AP Technology Writer | News | CommentsFrom the moment he saw Steve Wozniak’s homebuilt computer a pattern was set for Steve Jobs’ career. He moved technology from garages to pockets, took entertainment from discs to bytes and turned gadgets into extensions of the people who use them.
Gamers crack enzyme puzzle, make AIDS breakthrough
September 19, 2011 9:02 am | News | CommentsPlayers of the video game Foldit, a protein modeling program, have unlocked the structure of CASP9, which is involved in the virus that cause simian AIDS. The breakthrough has eluded laboratory scientists for more than a decade.
Tiny wires a step towards photonic chip
September 19, 2011 6:44 am | News | CommentsAustralian researchers have engineered one of the world's smallest ever nanowires for the next generation of telecommunication technology, bringing them one step closer to the creation of a 'photonic chip' which would lead to a faster, more sustainable Internet.
Report shows more U.S. farmers relying on Internet
August 26, 2011 5:34 am | by Gosia Wozniacka, Associated Press | News | CommentsThe number of farmers with Internet access on a variety of digital gadgets has dramatically increased, changing the way farms do business. Farmers say they're increasingly using the Net to speed up their work flow, improve their farming techniques, market their crops, connect with customers and retailers, and fulfill a variety of regulatory requirements.
Google's patent play: $12.5B for Motorola Mobility
August 16, 2011 6:31 am | by Michael Liedtke and Peter Svensson, AP Technology Writers | News | CommentsThe big prize for Google’s latest purchase isn’t Motorola’s lineup of electronics devices, it’s the 17,000 patents the company holds. This intellectual property could protect the company against legal action. If approved by federal regulators, the deal could spark other billion-dollar acquisitions.
Join the hunt for the Higgs boson
August 11, 2011 9:26 am | News | CommentsCERN is looking few good FLOPS it can leverage to run more simulations of high-energy particle physics. These simulations, which are submitted to a central database from the user’s home computers, will provide scientists with theoretical references for measurements obtained at accelerators like the Large Hadron Collider.
Indonesian tech frenzy tantalizes venture capital
August 10, 2011 5:54 am | by Robin McDowell, Associated Press | News | CommentsA few years ago, Internet connections were so slow in Indonesia that a YouTube clip took 20 minutes to download. Now, the nation of 240 million people is a leader in social networking use, attracting investors and prompting an explosion of start-ups. Experts wonder: Will this growth last?
In the future, data may travel by visible light
August 5, 2011 6:20 am | News | CommentsAccording to researchers with the Heinrich Hertz Institute in Berlin, Germany, regular light-emitting diodes, such as those lighting a room, can be transformed into a functional optical communications network with only a few additional components. When the lights go on, they can also transmit information.
Internet archivist seeks one of every book written
August 1, 2011 12:58 pm | by Marcus Wohlsen, Associated Press | News | CommentsBrewster Kahle founded the nonprofit Internet Archive in 1996 to save a copy of every Web page ever posted. Now the MIT-trained computer scientist and entrepreneur is expanding his effort to safeguard and share knowledge by trying to preserve a physical copy of every book ever published.
