Thursday, May 16, 2002



Exam results by SMS? E-government goes mobile. Not a runner, we fear, but they may be on the right track... [The Register]
1:09:59 PM    comment   



Dashed hopes for dashboard electronics. Dealers aren't interested, consumers don't understand it, and carmakers' efforts have fizzled. In-vehicle computing: A smooth road ahead or just a dead end? [CNET News.com]
1:03:06 PM    comment   



Pentagon protected by trained bees: "Soon the Pentagon will be using trained bees to help fight terror campaigns. The small insects are at the center of research for TNT, bomb-making facilities, and landmine detection. The bees are fitted with tiny wireless transmitters that can be tracked via a laptop. They have been trained to think that TNT contains sugar and therefore head straight to it. Pentagon researcher Dr. Alan Rudolph has outlined plans to put hives of these trained bees at security checkpoints, alerting the Army if anyone tries to pass carrying a bomb. He went on to explain how the bees outdo dogs, as they can detect odors better than their canine equivalents and can be conditioned using sugar-water as a reward." [From the Desktop of Dane Carlson]
12:28:36 PM    comment   



Restarting Reactor Could Boost Nuclear Power Industry: "The U.S. nuclear power industry, in a holding pattern for years because of concerns about safety and costs, could get a strong boost today when the Tennessee Valley Authority takes up a $1.7 billion proposal to restart a reactor that has been shut down for 17 years." [From the Desktop of Dane Carlson]
12:24:07 PM    comment   



Siemens signs up for Nokia Series 60 on Symbian. The poodlemeister strikes... [The Register]
12:22:01 PM    comment   



Wolfram publishes A New Kind of Science. Stephen Wolfram has finally published his A New Kind of Science.  The culmination of twenty years of private and furtive work by the creator of Mathematica, A New Kind of Science purports to revolutionize science and mathematics through the application of cellular automata.  Normally, claimants with such hubris are laughed off by serious scientists, but Wolfram is arguably one of the brightest minds in science.  With this book, Wolfram begins his attempt to take his science to the mainstream and put his name besides those of Einstein and Newton.  Here are several articles from Forbes, the New Scientist and the New York Times on the book and Wolfram.  [kuro5hin.org]
10:53:54 AM    comment   



Security, insurance, and hard realities. Here are some notes from Bruce Schneier's talk. Hard, cold realities. Microsoft and its peers don't care about security, he argues, because it's not rational for them to do so. As businesses, they shouldn't, because they're not liable for their practices. Schneier is running out of options, he says, and what he's left with is a two-pronged strategy. One, require businesses to use insurance to manage risk, just like businesses use it to manage all other risks. Two, beef up prosecution of computer crime. ... [Jon's Radio]
10:53:40 AM    comment   



Security, immunology, and health. Steven Hofmeyr just gave a fascinating talk on immunological approaches to security. The basic idea is that you generate detectors, which are just bitstrings, starting from random patterns. Throw away the ones that match patterns in the self set. You're left with selectors for non-self. Give them finite lifetimes, and constantly regenerate them, so things stay dynamic. A key point about these detectors: they evolve within, and are specific to, local environments. ... [Jon's Radio]
10:53:02 AM    comment   



Sketching on napkins. Over at Industrie Toulouse, Jeffrey P Shell has a long meditation on agile modeling, which touches on themes he has been exploring for many years. ... [Jon's Radio]
10:52:29 AM    comment   



IBM Web services guru predicts WSDL future. Mix and match alphabet soup [The Register]
10:45:01 AM    comment   



Electronic Arts in Sony Game Deal. Electronic Arts, the world's largest independent video game publisher, said that it had struck a deal to provide its games for Sony's new online gaming effort. By John Markoff and Chris Gaither. [New York Times: Business]
10:43:34 AM    comment   



Wal-Mart Seeks Approval to Buy California Bank. Wal-Mart is seeking regulatory approval to buy a tiny California bank, saying it hopes a banking license will lower its processing costs for certain transactions. By Riva D. Atlas. [New York Times: Business]
10:29:01 AM    comment   



GoAmerica Rolls Out VoiceStream GPRS Services, Devices. Faster services, new converged devices become available. [allNetDevices Wireless News]
10:27:56 AM    comment   



Nextel Makes Data Access Faster, Easier. Introduces data compression and wireless modem for next gen enterprise application access. [allNetDevices Wireless News]
10:20:56 AM    comment   



Socket Brightens Up Bluetooth Connections. Check out the upgraded firmware and increased interoperability. [allNetDevices Wireless News]
10:20:11 AM    comment   

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