2007 November:   Computing
Anchor:   Base Index
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Topics:    Companies  embedded  history  machinery  modelling  operating systems  patents  projects  robots  security  simulation  skills  software  speech  systems  translation  video gaming
Companies(see also in Internet) last  down  top   back  on

Motorola boss Zander to quit job, BBC, 2007 Nov. 30 (Motorola announces that chief executive Ed Zander will step down as chief executive on 1 January)
Graeme Philipson, Hardball with the giants, The Age, 2007 Nov. 27 (HP and IBM have battled it out for years but only one can win)
AMD v Intel: Oil money and hafnium, Economist, 2007 Nov. 24 (new twists in the long-running battle between the two biggest chipmakers)
Matt Richtel, Hewlett-Packard weathers slackening in U.S. demand, IHT, 2007 Nov. 20 (on Monday, Hewlett-Packard, the world's largest technology company, not only reported strong fourth quarter net profit and sales but also predicted further growth in the months ahead)
Reuters, Microsoft's 10, 20, 30, 40 web strategy, The Age, 2007 Nov. 17 (Microsoft aims to be one of the top two players in the online advertising market in three to five years, according to a senior company executive)
Steve Lohr, IBM prepares to take corporate data to Web, IHT, 2007 Nov. 15 (the IBM strategy, to be announced Thursday, seeks to exploit the technical work and commercial interest in large data centers that can be run more efficiently and less expensively, as well as searched for information and programmed remotely over the Internet)
Japanese electronics firms: Chopped chips, Economist, 2007 Nov. 3 (Japan's technology giants are shedding their semiconductor units, sort of)
John Sterlicchi, Sexist attitudes prevail in Silicon Valley, Guardian, 2007 Nov. 1 (Silicon Valley's male techies have lambasted a report that reveals Apple and many other leading hi-tech companies have no women in senior management roles or on the board)
Embedded Computers and Robots up  down  top   back  on

Reuters, Robot with soft touch chats, serves meal, The Age, 2007 Nov. 29 (scientists demonstrate a new Japanese robot that looks a little like E.T. that can pick up a loaf of bread without crushing it, serve toast and help lift people out of bed)
Yuri Kageyama, Hitachi presents smaller robot, but glitches persist, IHT, 2007 Nov. 21 (the new toddler-like robot from Hitachi rolled around and waved in a demonstration Wednesday before crashing into a desk, highlighting the hurdles robots must overcome to become real-life partners)
AFP, Robotic roaches to change insect behaviour, The Age, 2007 Nov. 16 (roach-sized robots that scientists introduced into real roach colonies were able to change the bugs' group behaviour)
AFP, Korea's koala robo pet, The Age, 2007 Nov. 12 (advanced robotic pet based on tree-hugging marsupial)
Hubertus Breuer, Meet your new driver, the robot, Guardian, 2007 Nov. 8 (in the California desert, a competition that was more about the software and algorithms of robot-controlled cars than their speed)
Alexandra Topping, Children bond with their robot playmates, Guardian, 2007 Nov. 6 (robot 'playmates' are being developed after researchers found that toddlers learn to regard them as human)
Robot cars: A challenge, eh?, Economist, 2007 Nov. 3 (the competition to make a working robot vehicle has moved from the desert to the mean city streets)
Robots: Rise of the machines, Economist, 2007 Nov. 3 (robots are great, but what happens when they start spying on you?)
History up  down  top   back  on

Beverley Head, The transistor at 60, The Age, 2007 Nov. 27 (are we starting to hit the limits of this extraordinary breakthrough?)
Jack Schofield, Cracking the case for a museum of computing, Guardian, 2007 Nov. 22 (Bletchley Park, the birthplace of the wartime code-breaking computer Colossus, should become a National Museum of Computing)
Maev Kennedy, Code-breaker clatters back to life, Guardian, 2007 Nov. 16 (moderate success in attempts to salvage second world war cryptography machine)
Reuters, Can the WWII codebreaking Colossus still hack it?, The Age, 2007 Nov. 16 (a rebuilt version of the 1940s computer that cracked Nazi war-time codes is being put though its paces once again)
Graeme Philipson, Better than rocket science, The Age, 2007 Nov. 7 (a brilliant German invented the digital computer but the Nazis never realised its potential)
Machinery up  down  top   back  on

Dumb terminals provide smart solution, BBC, 2007 Nov. 30 (computing power may be getting cheaper in the West but for developing countries and many educational authorities worldwide they remain prohibitively expensive when buying in large numbers)
Japan PlayStation sales beat Wii, BBC, 2007 Nov. 30 (monthly sales of Sony's PlayStation 3 console in Japan overtake rival Nintendo Wii for the first time)
Tom Stuart, Complex proof of a very simple computer, Guardian, 2007 Nov. 29 (a 20-year-old student has just won a $25,000 prize for a proof of how to design a computer; it sounds absurd but his work could actually redefine computing)
Kate Bevan, Are One Laptop Per Child sales living up to expectations?, Guardian, 2007 Nov. 29 (the programme to supply children in the developing world with cheap, robust computers is not going as well as hoped)
Jonathan Fildes, Politics 'stifling $100 laptop', BBC, 2007 Nov. 27 (plan to distribute laptops to the developing world is being held back by cautious politicians, a spokesman says)
Patrick Gray, PlayStation a hacker's dream, The Age, 2007 Nov. 27 (the powerful processors in Sony's PlayStation 3 gaming console now have another use: cracking passwords)
Jeff Bailey, Travelers' odds decline on U.S. airline baggage, IHT, 2007 Nov. 21 (workers at American found that printers that produce adhesive tags for bags were often dirty; that made bar codes hard to read, leading to misdirected bags)
Jonathan Fildes, Getting more from Moore's Law, BBC, 2007 Nov. 14 (a look at some of the technologies that could allow the silicon industry to deliver faster, cheaper chips)
Graeme Philipson, Not just about the laptop when it comes to profits, The Age, 2007 Nov. 12 (the One Laptop Per Child project sounded like a good idea in 2005, but two years is a long time in the IT industry when the big boys want a piece of the action)
Shrinking chips use novel recipe, BBC, 2007 Nov. 11 (Intel launches a new range of processors - known as Penryn - based on a new material to power PCs; the tiny chips contain a novel material and have features just 45 nanometres wide)
Mark Ward, Graphics chips rev up research results, BBC, 2007 Nov. 9 (every serious PC gamer knows what a difference a good graphics card can make to the fun they have)
'$100 laptop' begins production, BBC, 2007 Nov. 7 (mass production of the so-called $100 laptop has begun, five years after the concept was first proposed)
AP, PCs on the way out in Japan, The Age, 2007 Nov. 6 (mobiles, game consoles and DVRs diminish the role of the PC in Japan, a trend analysts say could spread worldwide)
Keith Stuart, A handy guide to the confusing consoles, Guardian, 2007 Nov. 1 (if you're thinking of buying a next-generation games console this weekend, you'd better take a notebook and calculator - it's a complicated business)
Operating Systems(see also Software) up  down  top   back  on

Patrick Gray, Flaw leaves Microsoft looking like a turkey, The Age, 2007 Nov. 26 (Microsoft engineers worked frantically over the US Thanksgiving holiday to fix a design flaw in Windows that has exposed millions of computers to hijacking by computer criminals)
Brad Howarth, Hype is just a virtualised belief system, The Age, 2007 Nov. 20 (as it matures, many wake to the reality that virtualisation can introduce costs and complexities and is no panacea)
Beverley Head, Android drops Microsoft into Google's pocket, The Age, 2007 Nov. 12 (Senior Microsoft executive dismisses the iPhone, gPhone threat to Windows Mobile platform: "there is only so much you can do with thin-ness," he says)
Charles Arthur and Andrew Brown, How to turn one computer into many, Guardian, 2007 Nov. 8 (virtualisation software, used to make hardware more efficient, is catching the eye of big business)
AP, Google gatecrashes the mobile market, The Age, 2007 Nov. 6 (Google says it is developing a free mobile phone software package so it can more easily peddle ads and services to people who aren't in front of a PC)
Nick Miller, GPhone hits the spot, The Age, 2007 Nov. 6 (the GPhone is tipped to be a free "platform" for mobile phone applications developed by anyone; it will be an operating system that runs on a variety of handsets from makers such as Samsung, LG and SonyEricsson)
Projects and Systems up  down  top   back  on

John Carvel, Family doctors to shun national database of patients' records, Guardian, 2007 Nov. 20 (GPs are poised to boycott scheme to put the medical records of 50m NHS patients on database)
Jeff Bailey, U.S. airlines tackle long airport delays with technology, IHT, 2007 Nov. 14 (pen and paper have been replaced by computer programs that display flight information in ways that are supposed to help prevent long waits on tarmacs and other service disruptions that most infuriate passengers)
James Randerson, Soaring bills for £860m projects alarm MPs, Guardian, 2007 Nov. 13 (lack of transparency and poor management blamed; some costs up to 80% higher than estimated)
PS3 network enters record books, BBC, 2007 Nov. 2 (a project that harnesses the spare processing power of Sony's PlayStation 3 to help understand the cause of diseases has entered the record books)
Richard Wray, BT loses 'e-borders' contract to US defence group, Guardian, 2007 Nov. 1 (BT is believed to have lost out in the race for the government's £500m contract to connect airports and ports to a central IT infrastructure as part of the Home Office's 'e-borders' scheme)
Security(see also in Internet and Technology) up  down  top   back  on

Mark Ward, Do you know what they know about you?, BBC, 2007 Nov. 23 (you could be on 700 databases—who keeps your details and why)
Charles Arthur, Schools should teach data security, Guardian, 2007 Nov. 22 (schools teach computing in the dreariest way imaginable, failing to prepare children for the electronic world)
Patrick Wintour, Lost in the post—25 million at risk after data discs go missing, Guardian, 2007 Nov. 21 (mass fraud fear as personal details of 7m families mislaid; Inland Revenue chief resigns following 'substantial failure'; Tories claim blunder is 'nail in coffin' of ID cards scheme)
New York Times, Maths error exposes 'millions of PCs' to simultaneous attack, The Age, 2007 Nov. 19 (one of the world's most prominent cryptographers has issued a warning about a hypothetical incident in which a maths error in a widely used computing chip places the security of the global electronic commerce system at risk)
Mark Ward, Fears over online banking checks, BBC, 2007 Nov. 13 (complicated security checks could be undermining confidence in online banking, warn experts)
Simulation and Modelling(see also Video Gaming) up  down  top   back  on

Fran Molloy, Shoot to thrill, The Age, 2007 Nov. 22 (the disturbing link between gaming and the military in its efforts to lure Generation Y)
Cynthia Karena, Medical tests for new technology, The Age, 2007 Nov. 21 (opened this year, the purpose-built centre tests and evaluates health-care applications in a simulated clinical environment)
Victor Keegan, Screen grabbers—crime hits the digital frontier, Guardian, 2007 Nov. 17 (a teenager is arrested for stealing pixels; the rise of the 3-D 'virtual worlds' that could transform the way we work, play, shop and communicate)
Asher Moses, Virtual crack houses aid rehab, The Age, 2007 Nov. 12 (medical researchers are bringing the war on drugs into cyber space by escorting struggling addicts through virtual crack houses as part of their treatment)
John M Broder, Role playing a nightmare scenario for U.S. energy policy, IHT, 2007 Nov. 2 (two bipartisan business-supported groups sponsored an elaborately staged role-playing game called Oil ShockWave that tried to dramatize the effect of American dependence on oil imported from unstable and unfriendly parts of the world)
Skills(see also Video gaming and in Education) up  down  top   back  on

Asher Moses, Brain game trains the grey matter, The Age, 2007 Nov. 28 (it's time to ditch crossword puzzles, bridge and sudoku and pick up brain training computer software instead if you want to have a better shot at warding off Alzheimer's, Dr Penny Adams says)
AAP, Exercising in a virtual world, The Age, 2007 Nov. 22 (researchers from the Queensland University of Technology have designed an IT gaming program which coupled with a stationary exercise bike takes the boredom out of getting fit)
Christopher Shea, Why the human brain is bad at screening baggage, and how video games might help, IHT, 2007 Nov. 18 (though baggage screening might seem on the surface like a repetitive and uncomplicated job, it turns out to be devilishly hard)
Sandra Aamodt and Sam Wang, Exercise on the brain, IHT, 2007 Nov. 8 (computer programs to improve brain performance are a booming business)
Alexandra Topping, Children bond with their robot playmates, Guardian, 2007 Nov. 6 (robot 'playmates' are being developed after researchers found that toddlers learn to regard them as human)
Software(see also Operating Systems) up  down  top   back  on

Adam Turner, No more furrowed browsers, The Age, 2007 Nov. 27 (the browser might be king of Web 2.0, but there's still a place on your desktop for an old-school FTP client such as FileZilla)
Asher Moses, Warning: your next poker partner may be a bot, The Age, 2007 Nov. 14 (the lucrative world of online poker has been put on notice as researchers edge closer to developing software that can outplay even the most skilful humans)
Rory Cellan Jones, MySpace in Google software deal, BBC, 2007 Nov. 1 (Google and MySpace are collaborating in a software deal which could shake up the social networking industry)
Speech Processing and Translation(see also in Social) up  down  top   back  on

Jon Henley, How Babel Fish almost caused a diplomatic incident, Guardian, 2007 Nov. 7 (amazing, the internet; you can feed a phrase in one of the major world languages into a translation site like Babel Fish (babelfish.yahoo.com), and out it will come another)
Video Gaming(see also Simulation and Skills, and in Social) up   first    top   back  on

Alexander Gambotto-Burke, Comment: How to put the sense of mystery back into games, Guardian, 2007 Nov. 29 (developers need to move away from linear, proscriptive gameworlds—and randomisation could be the answer)
Darren Waters, The golden age of videogames, BBC, 2007 Nov. 23 (Edge magazine is notoriously parsimonious when it comes to handing out 10 out of 10 review scores for video games but in the past three issues there have been three of them)
Alastair Harper, Pay-per-kill shooters combine online gambling with gaming, Guardian, 2007 Nov. 22 (videogamers are now being paid to kill; at least, virtually; over the past 12 months a series of over-18s servers have launched that pay a player for every kill they make, while putting a price on every death)
Nick Miller, The science of playability, The Age, 2007 Nov. 20 (one of the pioneers of lab-based playability testing for video games is in the process of setting up two Australian facilities)
Steve Polak, The big money in mobile gaming, The Age, 2007 Nov. 20 (with most mobile phones now running flash, a massive new platform has emerged for videogame developers; and as mobile gaming catches on, the industry is cashing in)
AFP, Google eyes new ad frontier in computer games, The Age, 2007 Nov. 9 (Google says it is testing ways to deliver ads in computer games)
Kate Bevan, Empire of Sports takes a 'web 3D' approach to online gaming, Guardian, 2007 Nov. 8 (a new MMO format may have found a way to create multiple revenue streams)
Alexander Gambotto-Burke, 'The FPS genre has never had more vitality', Guardian, 2007 Nov. 8 (titles such as BioShock and Halo3 show that developers are coming up with new takes on the classic shooter game)
Paul McIntyre, Embedded messages target games-mad under-35s, The Age, 2007 Nov. 1 (Australia has become the eighth market for Microsoft to launch a real-time "in-game" advertising network using console and PC games linked to the internet to reach an estimated 200 million "active" gamers - mostly men aged under 35)