2008 March: Computing

2008 March: Computing

Anchor: Base Index
Other months: February April
Other areas: Business climate education health international Internet science social technology Others
Topics: Companies data storage embedded predictions 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

Graeme Philipson, When standards ain't standards, The Age, 2008 Mar. 11 (I am a big fan of the latest version of Microsoft Office, called Office 2007)

Embedded Computers and Robots

up down top back on

Reuters, Mobile phone inventor dreams of human embeds, The Age, 2008 Mar. 28 (in about 15 to 20 years, Martin Cooper expects people to have embedded wireless devices in their bodies to help diagnose and cure illness)
Simon Ings, Learning to love robots, Guardian, 2008 Mar. 25 (the human tendency to anthropomorphise will allow automatons to become part of society)
Ian Sample, 'Sugar-cube' robots could team up and change shape, Guardian, 2008 Mar. 13 (scientists are building tiny robots able to join forces and repair themselves when damaged)
Graham Phillips, Robots that love too much: the perils of the silicone spouse, The Age, 2008 Mar. 9 (doting androids may spell disaster for human relationships)

History and Prediction

up down top back on

Darren Waters, Spam blights e-mail 15 years on, BBC, 2008 Mar. 31 (spam continues to blight e-mail exactly 15 years after the term was first coined and almost 30 years since the first spam message was sent)
AFP, Listen up: world's oldest recording gets airplay, The Age, 2008 Mar. 28 (Thomas Edison's 1877 phonograph established him as the father of recorded sound, but US researchers have now played back a French inventor's recording made 17 years earlier)
Graeme Philipson, Too many memories to lose, The Age, 2008 Mar. 26 (a white knight is needed to rescue Australia's most valuable trove of ancient technology)
BBC Micro ignites memories of revolution, BBC, 2008 Mar. 21 (more than 26 years after Cambridge company Acorn and the BBC united to produce a computer to help educate the UK about the IT revolution some of the principal creators of the machine have gathered to remember its legacy)
Darren Waters, 'Beeb' creators reunite at museum, BBC, 2008 Mar. 20 (the creators of the BBC Micro are reuniting at the Science Museum to discuss the legacy of the computer)
David Braben, Looking back at a computing icon, BBC, 2008 Mar. 20 (in 1981 the iconic BBC Micro computer was unleashed on the public; as a new exhibition at the London Science Museum that explores its legacy is announced, games developer Braben looks back at its role in UK computing)
Cynthia Karena, Wisdom from the way-out edge, The Age, 2008 Mar. 18 (as the principal creator of the Java programming language, James Gosling is one of the few original hard-core IT geeks left)
Brad Howarth, Well down the road to dystopia, The Age, 2008 Mar. 11 (in The Big Switch—Rewiring the world, from Edison to Google, Nicholas Carr foresees the web evolving into the World Wide Computer)
Graeme Philipson, Party like it's 1969, The Age, 2008 Mar. 4 (a lot happened that year, including the birth of the computer age)

Machinery and Data Storage

(see also in Technology)

up down top back on

Jonathan Fildes, Silicon chips stretch into shape, BBC, 2008 Mar. 27 (normally fragile and brittle silicon microchips are made to bend and fold, paving the way for a new generation of flexible electronic devices)
Jack Schofield, Are subnotebooks stepping out of the shadows at last?, Guardian, 2008 Mar. 27 (is the Eee PC a one-off, or is it ushering in a new era of subnotebook use?; more than a dozen companies are hoping this is a new era)
Chris Vallance, Beyond the keyboard and mouse, BBC, 2008 Mar. 14 (interfaces that move beyond the mouse and keyboard were a talking point at the SXSW Interactive festival)
Asher Moses, Work out while you play, The Age, 2008 Mar. 12 (if you don't have time to go to the gym, Nintendo claims its upcoming Wii Fit title - a "health and lifestyle product" - is a worthy substitute)
Materials: The new shape of circuitry, Economist, 2008 Mar. 8 (making circuits that are stretchable could open up a host of new applications, from medical sensors to video-game controllers; part of a Technology Quarterly)
Kate Connolly, Bamboo laptop is star of computer show, Guardian, 2008 Mar. 5 (Eco Book claimed to be the answer to growing concern about the use of plastics)
Geoff Maslen, Blu-ray's here, but blues beckon, The Age, 2008 Mar. 3 (Professor Min Gu, the director of the centre for micro-photonics at Swinburne University says demand for increased optical disc storage is expected to grow exponentially and, within five to 10 years discs of a one-petabyte capacity - more than 50,000 times what current DVDs can hold - will be required)

Operating Systems

(see also Software)

up down top back on

Charles Arthur, Escape from the Technological Maze, Guardian, 2008 Mar. 28 (will technology ever find its way out of the complex maze that it's trapped in?)
Charles Arthur, Oh no! The net has just 30 years to live!, Guardian, 2008 Mar. 13 (in 30 years' time, the internet will stop working; or at least, the bits of it that run on Unix)

Projects and Systems

(see also in Business)

up down top back on

Esther Addley, 'People are helpful, even if the computers are not', Guardian, 2008 Mar. 29 (Lord Rogers' Terminal 5 building been both a catastrophic curse and something of a blessing)
Aviation: How to fix Heathrow, Economist, 2008 Mar. 29 (do not pay a fortune to make Heathrow bigger, when it can first be made so much better)
Dan Milmo, Passengers fume in the chaos of Terminal 5's first day, Guardian, 2008 Mar. 28 (flights cancelled and baggage system collapses at BA's £4.3bn showpiece)
Marc Moncrief and Clay Lucas, Ticket system runs three years late, The Age, 2008 Mar. 26 (Victoria's troubled $1 billion smartcard ticket system will be at least three years late, Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky has admitted)
Leo Shanahan, Database to link patients and doctors, The Age, 2008 Mar. 24 (patients could find out about the performance of hospitals and doctors under the Labor Government's plan for a national health database)
Jason Dowling, Passengers face $500m ticket chaos, The Age, 2008 Mar. 2 (Melbourne is facing a public transport ticketing disaster, with the ageing Metcard system close to collapse and the state's transport officials considering abandoning the troubled $500 million myki smartcard system)

Security

(see also in Internet and Technology)

up down top back on

Gavin Knight, Cybercrime is in a state of flux, Guardian, 2008 Mar. 27 (sophisticated 'fast flux' techniques are making internet scams such as phishing more difficult to detect)
Frank Walker, High-tech thieves steal PINs, The Age, 2008 Mar. 9 (an international gang of fraudsters is ripping off customers at ATMs across Sydney using high-tech devices)
Computing: Making a total hash of it, Economist, 2008 Mar. 8 (a supposedly cast-iron way of identifying digital documents, known as a hash function, is looking a bit rusty; part of a Technology Quarterly)
Asher Moses, Hack into a Windows PC - no password needed, The Age, 2008 Mar. 4 (a security consultant based in New Zealand has released a tool that can unlock Windows computers in seconds without the need for a password)

Simulation and Modelling

(see also Video Gaming)

up down top back on

Skills

up down top back on

Software

(see also Operating Systems)

up down top back on

Jon Blyth, A passion for pausing, Guardian, 2008 Mar. 29 (in this world of online irritations, there is one utility that gives this nerd a genuine thrill)
AP, Free web version of Photoshop launched, The Age, 2008 Mar. 28 (Photoshop Express will be completely Web-based so consumers can use it with any type of computer, operating system and browser; and, once they register, users can get to their accounts from different computers)
Call for clarity on code patents, BBC, 2008 Mar. 21 (the government is appealing against a High Court decision that granted Symbian a patent on a computer program)
Reuters, Microsoft, Intel to research parallel computing, The Age, 2008 Mar. 20 (Intel and Microsoft committed $US20 million over the next five years to create research centers focused on parallel computing at two U.S. universities)
Beverley Head, Logica emissions tool no Excel carbon copy, The Age, 2008 Mar. 18 (about 700 Australian businesses are under the gun to have systems for tracking their carbon emissions from July)
Graeme Philipson, When standards ain't standards, The Age, 2008 Mar. 11 (I am a big fan of the latest version of Microsoft Office, called Office 2007)
Brain scan: From palmtops to brain cells, Economist, 2008 Mar. 8 (Jeff Hawkins, best known as the creator of the Palm Pilot, hopes his new theory will lead to more brain-like computer software; part of a Technology Quarterly)
Software bugtrap: Software that makes software better, Economist, 2008 Mar. 8 (programmers are using a variety of software tools to help them produce better code and keep bugs at bay; part of a Technology Quarterly)
Call centres: Your call is important to us, Economist, 2008 Mar. 8 (making call centres run smoothly involves an ever-greater dependency on technological trickery behind the scenes; part of a Technology Quarterly)
Reuters, Who needs IT experts? Workers take control, The Age, 2008 Mar. 7 (industry observers use the term "consumerization" to describe the phenomenon whereby office workers are less likely to wait for the IT folks to equip them)

Speech Processing and Translation

(see also in Social)

up down top back on

Call centres: Your call is important to us, Economist, 2008 Mar. 8 (making call centres run smoothly involves an ever-greater dependency on technological trickery behind the scenes; part of a Technology Quarterly)

Video Gaming

up first top back on

Owen Gibson, Child internet safety plans under fire over game censors, Guardian, 2008 Mar. 28 (the Government backs an ambitious blueprint by TV psychologist but faces backlash over cinema-style ratings)
Asher Moses, WoW declares war against automated play, The Age, 2008 Mar. 28 (the creators of World of Warcraft are suing the developer of a tool that makes it possible to play the game unattended)
Darren Waters, Game ratings under more scrutiny, BBC, 2008 Mar. 18 (the classification of games is coming under increased scrutiny following the decision to release Manhunt 2)
Asher Moses, R18+ for games? Not a chance, The Age, 2008 Mar. 9 (in the gaming community at least, South Australian Attorney-General Michael Atkinson has become the Darth Vader of politics with his opposition to R18+ ratings for games)
Video games: Attempted carjack, Economist, 2008 Mar. 1 (Electronic Arts bids for the bad boy of video gaming)