V4 N45 -  17 April 2005

iTHINK ZONE
 

A Peek Into the Near Future of Electronics Technology

How long do you think DVDs have around? 20 years? 10 years? Actually, they have only been around for about seven years, but it seems like they have been around much longer. Many of us can hardly remember life before DVDs. That can be attributed to how rapidly we can become acclimated to some innovations in electronics technology. I believe there are other electronics technologies, either just getting ready to take off, not widely available yet, or just around the corner, that are going to become adopted just as quickly in the near future.

READ ON
http://cyberzone.pacific-tier.com/iThink.htm
[Posted April15 ]
 

CYBERZONE

LIFE'S GREATEST INVENTIONS
Evolution's methods are blind, brutish and aimless, yet it has fashioned some of the most exquisite machines in the known universe. And every now and then, it stumbles across a truly stunning innovation that rewrites the rules of life. From the eye and the brain to language and sex, New Scientist reveals the Top Ten. http://www.newscientist.com/channel/life/mg18624941.700

TEACHING PIANO WIRELESSLY
Mark Miller has a roster of about 40 students and teaches piano, primarily in the students' home or at his Barrington, Ill., studio. They're traditional settings to teach jazz and pops. But he also teaches piano in a nontraditional way: wirelessly. http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/42210.html

INDIA's VSNL PURCHASE OF TYCO UNDERSEAS CABLE CLEARED BY U.S.
The sale of Tyco International's undersea cable to Videsh Sanchar Nigam (VSNL) has been approved by the Committee on Foreign Investment. VSNL is the largest phone and broadband company in India. Three US senators, stating that it would be hazardous for the national security, had earlier challenged the sale. VSNL will purchase 60,000 kilometers of undersea communications cable across three continents. Tyco's undersea cables were last owned by a US company. The Indian government has a 25% stake in VSNL and will allow the U.S. government to install court-authorized wiretaps on the network, conduct checks on VSNL employees in the United States, ensure that illegal eavesdropping on U.S. customers does not occur and ensure that foreign governments do not gain access to sensitive U.S. government data. VSNL will pay US$132 million for cable that cost US$3.2 billion to build-out.
No Click Through [Various press services]

VoIP ZONE

SKYPE SCUTTLES ROAMING FEES
Net-based phone company undermines mobile phone companies with plan that lets users receive calls without roaming charges. The new service will allow its users to receive calls on mobile devices, bypassing roaming fees and threatening an important revenue stream for mobile operators. Subscribers to the new service, called SkypeIn, choose an area code and are assigned regular telephone numbers. Callers can contact the SkypeIn subscriber at that number wherever the user travels, cutting out the steep roaming fees typically added when a cell phone user goes outside the phone's network and another carrier handles the call.
http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=11805&hed=Skype+Scuttles+Roaming+Fees#

BIO/NANO/MEMS ZONE

RESEARCHERS DEVELOP SOYBEAN TAILORED TO PROMOTE HAIR GROWTH
A team of Kyoto University researchers said Wednesday they have developed a soybean containing a substance that promotes hair growth
and helps prevent hair loss caused by chemotherapy. The researchers used genetic engineering technology to incorporate an antihypertensive substance derived from egg whites into the soybean.
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=4&id=334030

NAGASAKI TEAM WORKING ON DEVICE TO INTERPRET BABIES' EMOTION
Researchers at the Nagasaki University School of Medicine have launched a project to develop a device to read babies' emotions from their facial expressions, body temperatures and other physical cues. A research team led by Kazuyuki Shinohara, a neurobiology professor, launched the project with support from the independent Japan Science and Technology Agency to come up with an "expression-translating" device. The team plans to explore how facial expressions, tone of voice, body language, and temperature on babies' faces communicate changes in their emotions. (Kyodo News)

NON-ACOUSTIC SENSORS
DARPA is working on a project known as Advanced Speech Encoding, which aims to replace microphones with non-acoustic sensors that can
detect speech via a person's nerve and muscle activity, rather than sound itself. One system under development relies on a sensor worn around the neck called a tuned electromagnetic resonator collar (TERC). The collar detects changes in capacitance caused by vocal cord movement, and allows speech to be heard above loud background noise. Another approach -- first developed at NASA's Ames Research Center -- involves placing electromyographic sensors on the neck to detect changes in impedance during speech.
http://link.abpi.net/l.php?20050412A6

SOUNDS GUIDE YOUNG FISH TOWARD HOME
The results of a study indicate that young fish, which can float out to sea during their larval stage, use noises emanating from coral reefs to find their way back.
http://cl.exct.net/?ffcd16-fe5215777363037e701d-fe20167073670d7c7c1c79

BIO-BRIEFS ZONE

Birmingham--$450M in industrial growth: $49 million being spent for Birmingham-area development
http://www.bizjournals.com/ct/c/1363687

Denver--Top Biotech Deal: QLT faces challenges following Atrix purchase
http://www.bizjournals.com/ct/c/1363688

Louisville--Biotech company attracts funding from investors in northeast
http://www.bizjournals.com/ct/c/1363689

Nashville--Downtown incubator inks deal to develop Ole Miss research
http://www.bizjournals.com/ct/c/1363690

Philadelphia--Out-of-staters get ready for BIO convention
http://www.bizjournals.com/ct/c/1363691

Philadelphia--Life Sciences: Morphotek to start 1st clinical test of ovarian cancer treatment
http://www.bizjournals.com/ct/c/1363692

Raleigh/Durham--Biotech Center's stakes in biotech suffer losses
http://www.bizjournals.com/ct/c/1363693

Sacramento--Investors start West Sac lab, plan incubator
http://www.bizjournals.com/ct/c/1363694

Sacramento--Bay Area biotech pushes for anti-cancer drug approval
http://www.bizjournals.com/ct/c/1363695

San Francisco--No. 4 - more than 350 employees: Genentech: Developing
a positive workplace is in the genes
http://www.bizjournals.com/ct/c/1363696

San Francisco--End of Bayer partnership will increase revenue for Exelixis
http://www.bizjournals.com/ct/c/1363697

Washington--Goal of 7 biotech, tech incubators by 2007 on track
http://www.bizjournals.com/ct/c/1363698

ASIA ZONE

FOREIGNERS GRANTED "GREEN CARDS" IN SHANGHAI
Eighteen foreigners were granted "green cards" Tuesday by the Shanghai municipal government, becoming permanent residents of the east China industrial and commercial center. The "green card" system is part of China's reform and opening up police, Zhou said. The municipal public security bureau began taking foreigners' application for the permanent residence since Aug. 23, 2004 and granted the "green cards" to 31 foreign people in last November. More than 130 foreigners acquired the residential permits in Shanghai, most of whom are the descendants of the overseas Chinese.
FULL ITEM [Xinhua]

JAPAN TIMES EDITORIAL: JAPAN OPENS IP COURT
Japan's efforts to bolster the legal system for protecting intellectual property (IP) rights reached a major milestone with the recent establishment of the Intellectual Property High Court. The new court, which is housed in the same building as the Tokyo High Court, will handle a broad range of disputes involving IP rights, including patent rights, utility model rights, trademark rights and copyrights.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?ed20050411a1.htm

JAPANESE WOMEN LIVE TO 85
According to WHO, Japanese women have the longest life expectancy in the world -- living to an average 85 years old. Japanese men, in comparison, only last to 78, tying with their counterparts in Switzerland and Sweden. While Japan celebrates an increasing number of centenarians, the country with the shortest life expectancy, of just 35 years, is Swaziland, with people in 26 other African countries not lasting longer than 50 years.
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/050407/kyodo/d89abdq00.html

BEIJING's RESIDENT POPULATION APPROACHES 15 MILLION
The latest statistics from the Beijing Statistic Bureau shows the resident population in Beijing had increased from 1949's 4.201 mln to 14.927 mln in 2004, an increase of 2.6 times in the past 55 years.
http://english.people.com.cn//200504/14/eng20050414_181036.html

CHINA HAS THE MOST FRANCHISED STORES IN THE WORLD
With more than 2,000 franchise stores and over 120,000 outlets, China has seen its franchises growing into the world's largest within the
past decade.
http://english.people.com.cn//200504/14/eng20050414_181082.html

WIRELESS ZONE

MINNEAPOLIS PLANS CITYWIDE WiFi NETWORK
Minneapolis today unveiled a plan to launch a privately-owned municipal WiFi network. The proposed network is estimated to cost between $15 million and $20 million to build. The network will offer data service at speeds between 1 Mbps and 3 Mbps. City officials expect to sign vendor and service contracts later this year, with initial service expected to start 12 months after the contracts area awarded. The network will be fully deployed between 6 to 12 months after initial service is launched. Consumers will be able to buy access for $18 to $24 per month. The network is expected to create economic incentives for businesses to locate to the Minneapolis area.

The success of the inexpensive WiFi network in Chaska, Minnesota, and the proposed citywide WiFi networks in places like Philadelphia reportedly put pressure on Minneapolis leaders to follow suit. In addition to the political pressure, the city also needs an improved broadband network that could speed up data traffic in its main buildings and extend high-speed access to 300 other buildings.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/789/5342733.html

HOTSPOT HITS

INTEL EMPLOYEES PUT HOTSPOT ON THE NORTH POLE
Two Intel employees at Intel Russia have erected what may be the world's most northerly Wi-Fi hotspot 130 kilometers from the North Pole.
http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=CDD539:1F8551F

SITE CITES

HOW CAN THE WEIGHT OF EARTH BE DETERMINED?
Michael Wysession, an associate professor of earth and planetary sciences at Washington University, explains.
http://cl.exct.net/?ffcd16-fe6315767c61067d7115-fe20167073670d7c7c1c79

Marty Plotnick's CyberZone is a weekly review of Hawaii technology and international technology news.  The Hawaii Technology Calendar is available on the front page of this site, with links and descriptions of events relevant to the Hawaii technology and telecommunications community.  CyberZone takes special interest in researching and collecting links to stories from international technology news sources of interest to CyberZone's readers.  If you have any comments or suggestions for improvements to his site and information resource please contact Marty Plotnick at martycri@lava.net