VoIP & IP TELEPHONY ZONE

EVERYONE FINALLY GETTING A GRIP ON VoIP

VoIP -- short for Voice over Internet Protocol -- is a 20-year-old technology that seems poised to become a fixture in the lives of millions of Americans.

http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=0310036CQT6T&nl=2

WARNING ZONE

INDUSTRY CAPTAINS DEMAND ACTION ON GLOBAL WARNING
The leaders of several worldwide corporations called Tuesday for prompt, decisive action on climate change created by the emission of greenhouse gases and carbon dioxide. Nearly 100 companies followed a meeting at Columbia University by endorsing a formal statement to fight for clean energy and against climate change caused by people and businesses.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/55865.html

CYBERZONE

DEAF TO SIGN VIA VIDEO HANDSETS
A US team develops software to help deaf people use video to chat via sign language over mobile networks.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/technology/6366177.stm

GRID COMPUTES 420 YEARS WORTH OF DATA IN FOUR MONTHS
Grid computing project analyses possible malaria cures faster than ever before An international scientific collaboration has managed to whittle down the equivalent of 420 years of work on a single PC to no more than four months, with the use of Grid computing. The project, dubbed WISDOM (World-wide In Silico Docking On Malaria), ran between 1 October 2006 and 31 January 2007. With the use of computers from EGEE (Enabling Grids for E-sciencE), scientists were able to analyse an average of 80,000 drug compounds each hour, in search for a drug that will combat malaria.

Up to 5,000 computers were used at any one time, generating a total of 2,000GB of useful data. More than 140 million compounds were processed by the end of the four months, and results are expected to speed up and reduce the costs involved in searching for an anti-malaria drug.
http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;446136154;fp;16;fpid;1;pf;1

64 DVDs ON A DISC: HOLOGRAPHIC STORAGE TO SHIP IN JULY
InPhase Technologies Inc. announced today that it will start bulk shipments of the industry's first holographic disc drive this July in a format able to store 300GB of uncompressed data on a single platter. That capacity will expand to 1.6TB per disc within three years, the company said.
http://cwflyris.computerworld.com/t/1287355/1176609/52267/2/

CERF: INTERNET IS A REFLECTION OF SOCIETY
The Internet is a mirror of the population that uses it, said Google's vice president and chief Internet evangelist Vinton Cerf said in reference to the proliferation of fraud, social abuse, and other online crimes.
http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=1657ECC:ECCF9AA50A17C8DC1F8D88D97F
2B2C61EFF29049075316B4

THIS IS YOUR [DIGITAL] LIFE
New systems may allow people to record everything they see and hear--and even things they cannot sense--and to store all these data in a personal digital archive __Microsoft Research's Gordon Bell has launched a research project, called MyLifeBits, aimed at creating a digital archive of all his interactions with the world. Bell's digital memories include documents from his long career in the computer industry, all the photographs he takes and conversations he records, every Web site he visits, and every e-mail he sends and receives. __Storage requirements are estimated at 18 GB a year, 1.1 TB over a 60-year span.
http://sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&colID=1&articleID=CC50D7BF-E7F
2-99DF-34DA5FF0B0A22B50

SCIENCE NEEDS ENTREPRENEURS, GOOGLE FOUNDER SAYS
Scientists need more entrepreneurial drive and could benefit by doing more to promote solutions to big human problems, Google co-founder Larry Page told a meeting of academic researchers.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/hlc/1,,104084~3967333a28~,00.html

MILLIONS VULNERABLE TO NEW HACK ATTACK
Symantec and the Indiana University School of Informatics have discovered a new type of security threat that could leave up to 50 percent of home broadband users susceptible to attack.
 http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=103003JUC9U2&nl=2

SCIENCE ZONE

A TOXIC TINGE TO GREEN LIGHT BULBS?
Compact fluorescent light bulbs might help in the fight against climate change but could they cause problems with toxic waste down the track?
http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2007/1853382.htm


BIOTECH SPECIALIST FUND HITS NEAR-RECORD $570 MILLION
SV Life Sciences, the biotechnology specialist venture capital firm, has raised the second-biggest venture fund to date in the sector amid a flurry of venture interest in life sciences.
http://mail2.efnmail.co.uk/r/291057/MjcwNDU2OjEzMzMx/

MOTION, INTEL CREATED MEDICAL TABLET PC
Intel and Motion Computing have developed a new tablet PC specifically for healthcare workers, with built-in protections against harsh chemicals and frequent drops.
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=11100BDGM59C&nl=2

CAPTURING CARBON WITH ENZYMES
A new process turns the greenhouse gas into useful materials. The diagram above, contains an enzyme-bonded packing material that interacts with a water solution pumped in from the top and smokestack emissions that enter and bubble up through the bottom. The carbon dioxide in the emissions stream is captured by the enzymes on the surface of the packing material and converted into bicarbonate ions. Cleaned-up air then escapes from the top while the bicarbonate solution exits the bottom. The bicarbonate, in a separate process, can be extracted from the solution and made into compounds, such as limestone, for use by industry.

A new way to capture carbon dioxide from smokestacks produces a raw material that can be sequestered underground or turned into substances such as baking soda, chalk, or limestone. CO2 Solution, of Quebec City, Canada, has already tested its process on a small municipal incinerator and an Alcoa aluminum smelter. Its scientists are now working with power-plant equipment giant Babcock and Wilcox on ways to adapt the technology to a coal-fired generating station.
http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/18217/

ASIA PACIFIC ZONE

EMOBILE TO LAUNCH WORLD's FIRST FIXED-RATE BROADBAND WIRELESS SERVICE
Emobile Ltd announced it will launch what it says are the world's first fixed-rate broadband wireless services next month in Japan with a keyboard-equipped handset. Emobile, set up in January 2005 as a wholly owned subsidiary of broadband service operator eAccess Ltd, will be the first new company to tap into Japan's increasingly competitive wireless The new handset can download data at a rate up to 3.6 megabits per second. The monthly fixed-rate basic charge is 5,980 yen, while a two-year contract comes to 39,800 yen, which includes the price of the handset.
Full Article from Kyodo News.

WIRELESS ZONE

AUSTRAILIAN COMPANY TO SHIP WRISTPHONE NEXT MONTH
According to Aussie company SMS Technology, that will change next month when it ships the M300, a tri-band GSM/GPRS wristwatch phone, in its native land.
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/02/16/aussies_ready_wristphone/

SITE CITE

--
VACUUM IS NOT EMPTY
Space is not empty - it's FULL of stuff! But the universe is so very, very big that the distances between the bits of stuff can be, well, spacious.
http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/moments/s1837700.htm