Computer Science Forum

Imagine my surprise when I learned this morning that an [URL="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10216733-64.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5"]IBM researcher believes[/URL] that Moore's Law-- that the number of transistors on a micro processor would double nearly every two years-- could be nearing the end of its run. Amazingly Moore made this prediction in 1965 and his law has …

[ATTACH=right]16125[/ATTACH]Google has been speaking about their commitment to be a[URL="http://www.google.com/intl/en/corporate/green/index.html"] cleaner, greener company[/URL] since they announced their commitment to become a carbon neutral enterprise back in 2007. Now, they have made a new green energy deal that could help give wind power the boost that it needs not only to …

[ATTACH=RIGHT]19325[/ATTACH]A big part of what makes us human is the way we communicate with each other. We speak words, big deal, machines can do that. But what sets us apart as humans are the flaws, nuances, slang, shorthand and ambiguity we often use when we speak. The famous game show …

It has been one of the great blogging success stories, not to mention literary mysteries. But now the true identity of the Diary of a London Call Girl blogger has been revealed, by Belle de Jour herself. The blog, based upon a secret life covering 14 months as a high …

As if Google Earth wasn't cool and useful enough -- like helping find a new apartment in a faraway city or taking a little tour of a foreign place -- Google's latest version of the program just upped the ante.[ATTACH]16279[/ATTACH]Now you can view live weather patterns of rain and snow. …

[ATTACH=RIGHT]16929[/ATTACH]In a blog posting August 26, Microsoft announced that it is revising the licensing terms of its Security Development Lifecycle, moving parts of it to a Creative Commons license. Security Development Lifecycle is a methodology that Microsoft developed that incorporates best security practices at every level of the development lifecycle …

Textbooks are among the top expenses for college students. Today Barnes and Noble launched its app to eliminate at least some of the production costs for textbooks. The company released NOOKstudy, a Web-based e-Textbook application that can bring students a 50 percent savings, according to an announcement today. [ATTACH]16370[/ATTACH]“We’re thrilled …

Back in 1976, along with Stanford University professor Martin Hellman, Whit Diffie produced quite possibly the most important paper in the history of cryptography. That paper, New Directions in Cryptography, laid the groundwork for solving one of the fundamental problems of cryptography, that of key distribution. Now Diffie himself is …

Ten percent of people working in the electronics and telecom sector have not read a book for pleasure in the last year. During the same 12 month period, 35 percent had not learnt a new activity or indulged in a new hobby either. According to the Department For Business, Innovation …

According to the British government organisation which helps UK-based companies to succeed in the wider global economy, UK Trade & Investment ([URL="http://www.uktradeinvest.gov.uk"]UKTI[/URL]), it is currently helping some 76 UK companies pitch for business with the European particle physics laboratory, CERN. Apparently, CERN spent a massive £110 million ($175.75 million) on …

I can't say I have ever heard of pussy power being used as a driver for advanced chip technology development, but that's precisely what researchers at IBM are claiming. A team of boffins at IBM have been speaking about how they have arrived at something of a milestone breakthrough: a …

Bletchley Park, the top secret code breaking hub that played a pivotal role in the outcome of World War Two, has finally been awarded development funding of some £460,500 ($735,500) from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The money will literally save the place the saved the lives of countless people by …

Mainframe literate IT professionals are becoming as rare as rocking horse crap courtesy of demographics, the economy and the fact that the mainframe came close to death some years back. So what, you might think, but business is starting to embrace the mainframe once more and the dramatic exodus of …

Last week Amazon [URL="http://mashable.com/2009/07/17/amazon-kindle-1984/"]did something despicable[/URL]. They violated the privacy of every Kindle user when without warning they remotely deleted copies of George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm from Kindle Readers. It seems that Amazon had determined these books had been purchased "illegally." (The irony of choosing these particular books …

Now that's what I call a really cool idea, an air-fuelled battery for the [URL="http://www.itpro.co.uk/blogs/daveyw/2009/05/19/confession-i-am-sleeping-with-my-iphone/"]ever popular iPhone[/URL]. Actually, it is more than an idea, this is a development with legs. University researchers in the UK, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council ([URL="http://www.epsrc.ac.uk"]EPSRC[/URL]) have designed something called the …

Following the introduction of the Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive, better known as IPRED, which became law on Wednesday last week, the amount of Internet traffic has plummeted by as much as 40 percent according to the Netnod Internet Exchange which measures such things. Sweden has perhaps been best known, …

It all sounds a little science fiction, but according to scientists at MIT it seems that a virus powered iPhone, laptop and even car are all possibilities stemming from research they have been doing. Although the potential for building batteries from viruses was discovered a few years ago, the MIT …

Us geeks have known it for ever, but the secret is now out: computer science rocks! That would seem to be the conclusion that a panel of international experts, admittedly they are experts in Computer Science and Informatics (CS&I), has arrived at. The [URL="http://www.rae.ac.uk/"]Research Assessment Exercise 2008[/URL] decided that the …

With loan foreclosures up 176% this year, compared to 2007, it’s high time that we took a good look at the software tool – and the company that makes it – that promises to help troubled mortgage holders work out more favorable terms for their mortgages. In doing so, Computer …

Telecommuters are among the luckiest employees out there: we can eat donuts during conference calls (use the mute button, please!), lay our heads on our desks when the mood strikes, and can show up to work in a canary-yellow caftan and no one is the wiser. That is, unless your …

Scientists from the University of Glasgow in Scotland have developed a nanotech switch, the size of a molecule, which could herald the 500,000 GB iPod. [URL="http://www.electropages.com/viewArticle.aspx?intArticle=10607"]The scientists reckon[/URL] that the breakthrough means an iPod could increase its capacity by no less than 150,000 times the current storage capability. Professor Lee …

A rather interesting [URL="http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206903246"]article in the EETimes[/URL] suggests that the holy grail of artificial intelligence, the ability to pass the Turing Test, may become a reality later this year courtesy of a collaboration between IBM and the [URL="http://www.rpi.edu/"]Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute[/URL]. The [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_test"]Turing Test[/URL] was first described by Alan Turing back …

Anyone with an interest in the history of computing will know that the first mechanical computer was invented by one Charles Babbage, British mathematician and visionary. If you happen to be in the vicinity of the Science Museum in London you can even see a working difference engine, something Babbage …

Scientists at IBM have finally managed to get around the problem of electrical interference that prevented signals from working correctly while using the carbon mesh material of grapheme. It means that they can now get on with the job in hand of building nanoscale transistors according to this [URL="http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/62064.html"]report[/URL].

How small can a laser get? Good question, and according to the physicists at the [URL="http://www.nist.gov/"]National Institute of Standards and Technology[/URL] (NIST) the answer is very small indeed, one single quantum dot small perhaps. To put this into some perspective, a typical microdisk laser of the type currently used in …

Some would say blue, given the amount of sex that can be found on the web. Others might go for black, thinking along the lines of increasing online crime. To many the whole idea of Internet technology is a grey area. But, my friends, thanks to researchers at the Chinese …