25 July 2002

What if Wood Blocks Mobile Phone Signals? SANTRY, Ireland -- Some county planning officials express concern over the inexpensive and easily installed Japanese technology that blocks mobile phone signals as the components could also block radio communications that police, fire and other emergency services use. Japanese scientists are developing wood paneling containing magnetic metal particles that absorb radio signals. Rescuers responding to emergencies in buildings where the paneling is installed would not be able to communicate using their radios. The ODTR does not regulate such passive radio blocking devices.

Cambridge Display Technology REUTERS -- Televisions are going floppy . Roll-up, flexible televisions, have become possible thanks to a glowing plastic compound perfected in the laboratories of Britain's Cambridge Display Technology (CDT). They can be printed onto thin plastic almost like paper.

The Subtext of Gates Email Roland Piquepaille -- There is a message in the subtext of Bill Gates email to millions of Internet users last week. Piquepaille coined the phrase TCP/MS and his interpretation of trust differs from Microsoft.

Can the Internet Survive Filtering? Jonathan Zittrain -- Can the Internet survive filtering? The digital chain connecting one's laptop to a Web site thousands of miles away can be traversed by a single click--so long as no link within the chain refuses to carry the signal. Like Zittrain, I'm noticing how organisations are trying to block links. We have to remember how the Internet was built on principles of "end-to-end neutrality," an engineering rule of thumb calling for smarts at edges of the network rather than in the middle. There is good value (and grat reasons) to let the periphery of the Internet do its thing. It's also important to know where filtering is happening within the network cloud, and who is doing it.