Week of Sun, 2007-04-22 00:00 to Sat, 2007-04-28 23:59

The eighth successful intercept of a ballistic missile target by the Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) and the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) Weapon System has been completed.

The test, Flight Test Maritime-11 Event 4 (FTM-11), further validated efforts by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and the U.S. Navy to provide a sea-based defense against short- to intermediate-range ballistic missile threats. FTM-11 Event 4 was the second test of the Block IA version of the SM-3 and the first test of the Block IA with a full-capability solid divert and attitude control system (SDACS). The SDACS maneuvers the kinetic warhead (KW) to the target using multiple pulses of gas generated by the SDACS propellant. Boeing builds several components of the KW, including the guidance electronics, which it integrates with the Raytheon infrared seeker.

NEC Corporation has licensed its U.S. digital microwave radio ("DMR") patents and counterpart patents covering fundamental telecommunication techniques such as quadrature amplitude modulation ("QAM") to the American DMR manufacturer Microwave Networks, Inc. ("MNI"). NEC and MNI also made a cross- agreement not to assert their DMR patents in the future.

NEC has previously licensed its DMR patents to a telecommunications manufacturer in North America and is in the process of negotiating similar patent licenses with other telecommunications manufacturers around the world, recognizing its intellectual property as an extremely important and highly-valued company asset.

A Sarasota, Fla., man has been sentenced to five years in prison and two years of supervised release for conspiring to commit both securities fraud and email fraud stemming from stock manipulation scheme involving four publicly-traded companies – Masslick Inc., eDollars Inc., Emerging Holdings Inc., and China Score Inc. – Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg for the Eastern District of Virginia announced today.

Windows Server®, code-named “Longhorn”
The release, from Microsoft Corp., allows people to evaluate the increased control, flexibility and protection built into Microsoft® Windows Server “Longhorn” Beta 3, available for download at http://www.microsoft.com/getbeta3. The final version of Windows Server “Longhorn” is on track for release to manufacturing in the second half of 2007.

UC engineering researchers have developed a novel composite catalyst and optimal synthesis conditions for oriented growth of multi-wall CNT arrays. And right now they lead the world in synthesis of extremely long aligned carbon nanotube arrays.

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are of great interest because of their outstanding mechanical, electrical and optical properties. Intense research has been undertaken to synthesize long aligned CNTs because of their potential applications in nanomedicine, aerospace, electronics and many other areas.

Hynix Semiconductor Inc. (‘Hynix’, ‘the Company’, www.hynix.com) has announced the earnings results for its first quarter 2007, ended March 31, 2007. The Company recorded the consolidated (which is the consolidation of the Company and its overseas subsidiaries) revenues of 2.45 trillion won which is a 6% decrease compared to previous quarter’s 2.61 trillion won, but an increase by 69% from 1.44 trillion won in the same period last year.

NASA's Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) spacecraft, the first mission dedicated to the exploration of mysterious ice clouds that dot the edge of space in Earth's polar regions, successfully launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., at 1:26 p.m. PDT on Wednesday, April 25.

The mission will study clouds that are noctilucent, meaning they can be seen from the ground only at night, when they are illuminated by sunlight no longer visible from the Earth's surface.

Microsoft Corp. announced revenue of $14.40 billion for the quarter ended March 31, 2007, a 32% increase over the same period of the prior year. This revenue drove record profits with operating income of $6.59 billion and net income of $4.93 billion. Diluted earnings per share for the quarter grew 72% to $0.50, and included $0.02 in tax benefits and $0.01 in legal charges.

Trolltech released the final Qt® Jambi™ beta – its cross-platform, rich client application development framework for Java™ – to its commercial customers and the open source community for testing and feedback. The final release of Qt Jambi is scheduled for early June.

The second beta release incorporates feedback from three technical preview releases, one beta and over 7300 downloads of Qt Jambi to date. This feedback has resulted in a range of performance optimizations and improvements in the second beta release, including:

The Network Enterprise Technology Commang/9th Signal Command (Army) hosted a groundbreaking ceremony Apr. 19, for the Army's newest computer network defense facility, the Army Global Information Center Network Operations Facility, a multi-million dollar facility that will be responsible for all continental United States Army computer systems and networks.

This construction project for a new, and more technology efficient, computer network defense facility was made possible through the efforts of Arizona state legislators, to include help from Senator Kyl, Senator John McCain, Congresswoman Giffords, former Congressman Jim Kolbe, and the NETCOM G-4, Col. Joseph L. Garnes and his staff, said Col. William J. Scott, NETCOM/9th SC(A) chief of staff.

Four more defendants pleaded guilty in Milwaukee to selling copyrighted software, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Steven M. Biskupic for the Eastern District of Wiscon­sin announced today.

Eric Neil Barber of Manila, Ark.; Phillip Buchanan of Hampton, Ga.; Wendell Jay Davis of Las Vegas; and Craig J. Svetska, of West Chicago, Ill., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge J.P. Stadtmueller, to selling counterfeit Rockwell Automation computer software over the Internet in violation of criminal copyright infringement laws. The software sold by the four defendants had a combined retail value of $19,122,357. All four defendants face up to five years in prison, a fine of $250,000, and three years of supervised release. Sentencing has been set for July 24, 2007.

IBM disclosed a cross-company project to integrate the Cell Broadband Engine™ (Cell/B.E.) with the IBM mainframe for the purpose of creating a hybrid that is blazingly fast and powerful, with security features designed to handle a new generation of "virtual world" applications, such as the 3D Internet.

The project capitalizes on the mainframe's ability to accelerate work via "specialty processors," as well as its unique networking architecture, which enables the kind of ultra-fast communication needed to create virtual worlds with large numbers of simultaneous users sharing a single environment.

The project is being undertaken in cooperation with with Hoplon Infotainment, a Brazilian online game company whose software is a key component of testing the capabilities of the new environment.

At its heart, the project intends to create an environment that can seamlessly run demanding simulations -- such as massive online virtual reality environments; 3D applications for mapping, enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management; 3D virtual stores and meeting rooms; collaboration environments; and new types of data repositories. It plans to achieve this goal by parceling the workload between the mainframe and the Cell/B.E.

Cell/B.E. and Mainframe:

In the relationship between the mainframe and Cell/B.E. capabilities, Cell/B.E. will handle the complex simulation associated with operating in virtual worlds -- for example, a ball thrown in a virtual reality world must obey the laws of gravity.

IBM and Hoplon are porting Hoplon software to the Cell/B.E. to handle message passing and physics simulation. The companies have already created a programming model and messaging architecture that separates the application running on the system.

The mainframe will run Hoplon's industry-specific middleware for virtual worlds, called bitVerse, currently under development using WebSphere XD as the underlying runtime environment, along with DB2.

In addition, the mainframe will run the administrative tasks for middleware and applications. It will also handle logistics (billing, etc.), and connectivity to third parties as well as to multiple clients, which might include PCs, game systems, mobile phones, music players, TVs, and other devices.

The Cell/B.E. -- jointly developed by IBM, Sony Corporation, Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) and Toshiba -- is a breakthrough design featuring a central processing core based on IBM's industry-leading Power Architecture™ technology and eight synergistic processing elements (SPE). Cell/B.E. "supercharges" compute-intensive applications, offering fast performance for computer entertainment and handhelds, virtual reality, wireless downloads, real-time video chat, interactive TV shows and other "image-hungry" computing environments. The groundbreaking Cell/B.E. processor appears in products such as SCE's PLAYSTATION®3 and Toshiba's Cell/B.E. Reference Set, a development tool for Cell/B.E. applications, as well as the IBM BladeCenter QS20. It is also embedded in custom Cell/B.E. based offerings from IBM Global Engineering Solutions.

The Cell Processor, developed by IBM, Toshiba and Sony Group, is a breakthrough architectural design featuring eight synergistic processing elements plus a Power Architectureâ„¢-based core that provides unmatched performance levels in many computationally intense applications.

A new technique for creating films of barium titanate (BaTiO3) nanoparticles in a polymer matrix could allow fabrication of improved capacitors able to store twice as much energy as existing devices. The improved capacitors could be used in consumer devices such as cellular telephones – and in defense applications requiring both high energy storage and rapid current discharge.

ABI Research forecasts that in 2007, worldwide Wi-Fi hotspots will grow by nearly 25%, to 179,500. While almost three-quarters of these sites (72%) are still found in North America and Europe, the Asia Pacific region is growing very rapidly.

Growth in China has been much slower than originally thought. Still, the Asia Pacific region will come close to matching the number of North American hotspots by 2012.

A critical Global Positioning System (GPS) Space Segment III System Design Review has been completed, supporting the U.S. Air Force's requirement for a low-risk, high-confidence acquisition solution.

During the review, Boeing demonstrated the technical readiness of its GPS III payload design that will allow the Air Force to field and upgrade GPS satellites quickly and cost effectively. This solution, combined with signal power improvements, provides a more capable GPS service for civilian and military users.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of North America's largest solar photovoltaic power system took place here April 23. The Nellis solar energy system, once operational, will generate 25 million kilowatt-hours of "clean" electricity for the base. The project is scheduled for completion in early 2008.

Rated at about 15 megawatts, the array will supply the base with more than 25 percent of its energy during peak summer months. The 70,000 solar panels that makeup the array are expected to save the Air Force more than $1 million in annual energy costs.

Volume production officially kicked-off today at Ford Motor Company's new joint venture engine production facility, Changan Ford Mazda Engine Company Ltd. (CFME), in Nanjing, China. The first BZ series engines rolled off the production line at CFME, representing the latest strategic deployment by Ford Motor Company to enhance its competitiveness and continue its rapid expansion in the world's fastest growing major automotive market.

The geometry of semiconducting nanowires makes them uniquely suited for light detection, according to a new UC San Diego study that highlights the possibility of nanowire light detectors with single-photon sensitivity.

Nanowires are crystalline fibers about one thousandth the width of a human hair, and their inherent properties are expected to enable new photodetector architectures for sensing, imaging, memory storage, intrachip optical communications and other nanoscale applications, according to a new study in an upcoming issue of the journal Nano Letters. The UCSD engineers illustrate why the large surface areas, small volumes and short lengths of nanowires make them extremely sensitive photodetectors – much more sensitive than larger photodetectors made from the same materials.

Fixed WiMAX IC vendors have recently re-directed their energies towards Mobile WiMAX, particularly in the second half of 2006 and into 2007, reports In-Stat (http://www.in-stat.com). This represents a dramatic change, as the overwhelming majority of 2005 and 2006 WiMAX chipsets were Fixed WiMAX (802.16d)-compliant, with a very small percentage in 2006 representing chipsets used in early WiBro (mobile WiMAX-based) devices, the high-tech market research firm says.

comScore released a study from its World Metrix database analyzing the behavior of New Zealand’s online population. The study is based on data collected from comScore’s research panel of New Zealanders who have given comScore explicit permission to monitor their online activities us ing comScore’s patented monitoring technology. comScore’s technology is able to measure users’ behavior at all Internet sites.

Adobe Systems Incorporated plans to release the source code for Adobe® Flex™ as open source. This initiative will let developers worldwide participate in the growth of the industry's most advanced framework for building cross-operating system rich Internet applications (RIAs) for the Web and enabling new Apollo applications for the desktop. The open source Flex SDK and documentation will be available under the Mozilla Public License (MPL).

Two chips designed for combination (contact and non-contact) smart cards, in 72KB and 144KB capacities with embedded EEPROM, have been given Common Criteria (CC) certification and an Evaluation Assurance Level (EAL) 4+ rating. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., now satisfies the product standards used in such smart card applications as electronic passports and electronic identification, which require an extremely high level of data security.

IBM has entered into an agreement to acquire the IBM hardware maintenance services business of Serbian Business Systems (SBS), a privately held IT hardware, software and services company headquartered in Belgrade, Serbia. Financial terms were not disclosed. The acquisition is subject to regulatory and client approvals and is anticipated to close later this year. Upon completion of the agreement, SBS's IBM hardware maintenance unit will become part of IBM's Global Technology Services maintenance and technical support business.

An interdisciplinary group of scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory has devised methods to make a new class of electronic devices based on a property of electrons known as “spin,” rather than merely their electric charge. This approach, dubbed spintronics, could open the way to increasing dramatically the productivity of electronic devices operating at the nanoscale — on the order of billionths of a meter. The Brookhaven scientists have filed a U.S. provisional patent application for their invention, which is now available for licensing.

If conservation of soil organic matter is taken into account, the United States at best has to cut in half the amount of cornstalks that can be harvested to produce ethanol, according to an Agricultural Research Service (ARS) study.

Jane Johnson, a soil scientist with the ARS North Central Soil Conservation Research Laboratory in Morris, Minn., found that twice as many cornstalks have to be left in the field to maintain soil organic matter levels, compared to the amount of stalks needed only to prevent erosion.

GM's OnStar and MapQuest will be collaborating to allow OnStar subscribers to plan their driving route on MapQuest.com and send their destination right to OnStar's Turn-by-Turn Navigation service. This new Turn-by-Turn service enhancement, OnStar Web Destination Entry, will allow subscribers to use MapQuest.com to research and plan their driving destinations with more than 15 million points-of-interest available through the number one mapping Web site.

Motorola Ventures has made an equity investment in Vocera Communications. Vocera Communications, developers of the Vocera Communications System, allows mobile workers to connect and communicate information over a facility’s wireless network through a hands-free, wearable badge. Financial terms of the investment were not disclosed.

The Vocera Communications System, which is comprised of the Vocera System Software and a wearable, hands-free, lightweight voice controlled badge, allows mobile workers within Wi-Fi networked buildings to instantly communicate with colleagues. By merging Wi-Fi, Voice over IP (VoIP), and speech recognition technologies, Vocera has become a voice communication solution in hospitals, hotels, libraries and retail establishments.

The 18th anniversary of the activation of the first Global Positioning System Block II satellite was on April 14. The GPS Block II/IIA constellation went on to achieve 100 percent mission success, with 28 flawless launches aboard Delta II launch vehicles.

The GPS Block II constellation has shown remarkable on-orbit durability. Each satellite launched between 1989 and 1997 had a six-year mean mission duration. Half of them remain functional today, exceeding their life expectancy by an average of more than 12 years. The U.S. Air Force and Boeing have produced 40 Block I, II and IIA GPS satellites after more than 30 years of teamwork.

Intel Corporation and Micron Technology, Inc., today announced they are sampling industry-leading 50 nanometer (nm) multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory manufactured by their NAND flash memory joint venture, IM Flash Technologies.

The new MLC NAND flash memory components feature a world-class die and cell size ideally suited for use in today's computing and consumer electronics devices that are increasingly smaller and more efficient themselves. The 50nm MLC technology, sampling at a 16 gigabit (Gb) die density, complements the previously announced 50nm single-level cell (SLC) products that the companies are shipping today at a 4 Gb die density.

Carnegie Mellon University researchers have developed a new series of robots that are simple enough for almost anyone to build with off-the-shelf parts, but are sophisticated machines that wirelessly connect to the Internet.

The robots can take many forms, from a three-wheeled model with a mounted camera to a flower loaded with infrared sensors. They can be easily customized and their ability to wirelessly link to the Internet allows users to control and monitor their robots’ actions from any Internet-connected computer in the world.

Astronomers have discovered the most Earth-like planet outside our Solar System to date, an exoplanet with a radius only 50% larger than the Earth and capable of having liquid water. Using the ESO 3.6-m telescope, a team of Swiss, French and Portuguese scientists discovered a super-Earth about 5 times the mass of the Earth that orbits a red dwarf, already known to harbour a Neptune-mass planet. The astronomers have also strong evidence for the presence of a third planet with a mass about 8 Earth masses.

The results of a wind power siting study, which was commissioned by Governor Donald L. Carcieri, demonstrate that Rhode Island enjoys sufficient wind capacity to meet the goal of achieving 15 percent of the state’s electricity generation from wind power. The Governor today announced plans to create a community stakeholder group to determine where wind power facilities could be located.

The study shows that Rhode Island contains almost one hundred square miles of areas in which wind power is feasible within the set criteria, with 87 square miles under state control. About 75 percent of Rhode Island’s power needs could come from this source if all of it were exploited. Much of the area is in water off the Rhode Island coastline.

A Georgia Tech research team has discovered that water exhibits very different properties when it is confined to channels less than two nanometers wide – behaving much like a viscous fluid with a viscosity approaching that of molasses. Determining the properties of water on the nanoscale may prove important for biological and pharmaceutical research as well as nanotechnology. The research appears in the March 15 issue of the journal Physical Review B.

NASA-sponsored plant experiments prove that you don't need soil and lots of water to grow a beanstalk that would make Jack proud.

Plants have been to space since 1960, but NASA's plant growth experiments began in earnest during the 1990s. Experiments aboard the space shuttle and International Space Station have exposed plants to the effects of microgravity. These experiments use the principles of aeroponics: growing plants in an air/mist environment with no soil and very little water.

Nokia today announced that over 100 million S60 devices have cumulatively been shipped by S60 licensees to date. S60 software built on Symbian OS is the world's leading smartphone software, developed by Nokia and licensed by some of the industry's top mobile device manufacturers.

The S60 Summit was held in April in Madrid and hosted a comprehensive expo that showcased over 60 demonstrations of the latest and most innovative features and solutions for S60.

Eighteen schools have been named as finalists for the Intel® Schools of Distinction Awards. The annual program honors schools for implementing innovative and replicable math and science programs that produce positive educational results. Schools compete for $1 million in grants and awards from the Intel Foundation and sponsoring companies. The winners are announced in May 2007.

The 18 finalists were chosen from public and private, as well as urban and suburban, schools that participated in the application and judging process. The finalists, representing a wide range of successful programs, in each category are:

Termites and fungi already know how to digest cellulose, but the human process of producing ethanol from cellulose remains slow and expensive. The central bottleneck is the sluggish rate at which the cellulose enzyme complex breaks down tightly bound cellulose into sugars, which are then fermented into ethanol.

To help unlock the cellulose bottleneck, a team of scientists has conducted molecular simulations at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC), based at UC San Diego. By using “virtual molecules,” they have discovered key steps in the intricate dance in which the enzyme acts as a molecular machine -- attaching to bundles of cellulose, pulling up a single strand of sugar, and putting it onto a molecular conveyor belt where it is chopped into smaller sugar pieces.

JupiterResearch has found that despite renewed efforts on the part of financial institutions, overall interest in mobile banking services is limited. Just eight percent of online consumers who own a cell phone are interested in using mobile browsing to check account balances. In a new report, "Mobile Banking: Assessing Servicing Opportunities via Cell Phones," JupiterResearch advises that major US banks, which are working to expand mobile banking offerings, should experiment with services that leverage the mobile channel's characteristics to respond to the needs of three key consumers segments.

The prototype for a revolutionary new general-purpose computer processor, which has the potential of reaching trillions of calculations per second, has been designed and built by a team of computer scientists at The University of Texas at Austin.

The first course of a five-course, space certificate pilot program initiated by Air Force Space Command and the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs concludes this month for 20 space professionals.

The goal of this "first-of-its-kind" program is to increase the technical foundation of space pros and encourage them to pursue advanced academic degrees relevant to the space professional career path.

Parents-to-be might soon don 3-D glasses in the ultrasound lab to see their developing fetuses in the womb "in living 3-D, just like at the IMAX movies," according to researchers at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering.

The same Duke team that first developed real-time, three-dimensional ultrasound imaging says it has now modified the commercial version of the scanner to produce an even more realistic perception of depth. Paired images seem to pop out of the screen when viewed with the special glasses.

The noise of aircraft taking off, road traffic or a booming discotheque often drive inhabitants of the neighborhood to a nervous frenzy. The first-ever windows with active sound insulation offer much-needed relief to local residents in their homes and offices.

When an aircraft takes off over your roof every five minutes, the noise makes it impossible to hold a conversation. Windows can’t provide adequate protection against this type of noise pollution. A double or triple layer of glass will absorb the high frequencies, but can do nothing against low-frequency noise such as that produced by aircrafts or thrumming bass tones of disco music. This would normally call for panes of glass so thick and heavy that their use would be almost prohibitive in lightweight constructions or extensive curtain-wall facades.

A new anti-counterfeiting technology based on research at Imperial College London has received the prestigious 100,000 Euro Hermes Award at this year's Hannover Messe technology fair.

The annual award was given to Ingenia Technology Ltd, a company commercialising Imperial research, and their partners Bayer Technology Services, for their Laser Surface Authentication (LSA) device. The LSA is a small laser scanner which allows unique identity codes to be read on the surfaces of everything from pharmaceutical packages to valuable documents. Unlike most security technologies in which a marker or chip is added to the item which needs protecting, LSA works by identifying naturally occurring features present in virtually all surfaces.

Responding to Viacom's willingness to take steps to protect the free speech rights of those who post videos to YouTube and similar video sharing sites, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Stanford Law School's Fair Use Project (FUP) today dismissed a lawsuit filed on behalf of MoveOn.org Civic Action and Brave New Films (BNF).

The lawsuit was filed in federal court last month, after a parody of "The Colbert Report" was removed from YouTube following a meritless copyright complaint by Viacom. The humorous video, called "Stop the Falsiness," was created by MoveOn and BNF using clips from the Comedy Central television series. It was a tongue-in-cheek commentary on Colbert's portrayal of the right-wing media and parodied MoveOn's own reputation for earnest political activism.

Of the two luminaries that dominate our sky, it is the moon that is of particular interest to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) project. The LRO will travel to the moon in late fall 2008, mapping the surface to help pave the way for humans to return. It will help prepare us for extended surface exploration on the moon and for subsequent missions to Mars and other distant destinations. Lunar surface exploration will help us to practice living, working, and gathering science data before we venture into riskier territory.

Soldiers from Task Force Fury are the first in a combat zone to receive a new sniper rifle, the XM110 semi-automatic sniper system.

The new rifle has several new features, the most prominent being an improved rate of fire.

"It's semi-automatic, so it allows for rapid re-engagement of targets," said Staff Sgt. Jason R. Terry, a sniper instructor with the U.S. Army Sniper School.

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and Federal Trade Commission Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras today announced the completion of the President’s Identity Theft Task Force strategic plan to combat identity theft.

The strategic plan is the result of an unprecedented federal effort to formulate a comprehensive and fully coordinated plan to attack this widespread and destructive crime. The plan focuses on ways to improve the effectiveness of criminal prosecutions of identity theft; enhance data protection for sensitive consumer information maintained by the public sector, private sector, and consumers; provide more comprehensive and effective guidance for consumers and the business community; and improve recovery and assistance for consumers.

The all-new 2008 LS 600h L will be powered by the Lexus Hybrid Drive system, an advanced gas-electric hybrid system that features the world's first full V8, all-wheel-drive (AWD) hybrid drivetrain. The system combines a new 5.0-liter V8 gasoline engine with two powerful electric motors and a newly designed large-capacity battery pack that is lighter and extremely quiet.

Hitachi Plasma Patent Licensing Co., Ltd. ("HPPL"), one of the subsidiaries of Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501 / NYSE: HIT) today announced that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against LG Electronics, Inc. of Seoul, Korea and its subsidiary LG Electronics USA, Inc. (collectively "LGE") in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The complaint alleges that LGE?s plasma display panel ("PDP") products infringe seven patents owned by HPPL. Through the lawsuit, HPPL seeks not only compensation for money damages, but also a permanent injunction, prohibiting LGE from using the asserted patents, and from importing into or selling LGE?s PDP products in the U.S.

Renesas Technology Corp. has developed a multi-core technology using the SuperH™*1 Family oriented SH2A-FPU CPU core. A total of five SH7205 and SH7265 models incorporating two SH2A-FPU CPU cores and featuring a 200 MHz maximum operating frequency are to be released. Sample shipments will begin in Japan in July 2007.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office recently issued two broad patents for fundamental fuel cell technology to PolyFuel, Inc. The patents, with the titles of “Ion Conductive Block Copolymers” and “Sulfonated Copolymer”, cover some of the sophisticated chemistry and breakthroughs behind PolyFuel’s broadening family of high performance, hydrocarbon-based polymer fuel cell membranes.

In its eleventh flight, conducted from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota, this afternoon (April 23, 2007), ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C8, successfully launched the 352 kg Italian astronomical satellite, AGILE, into a 550 km circular orbit, inclined at an angle of 2.5 deg to the equator.

The first full-rate production Combat Survivor Evader Locator (CSEL) radios, 5,053 units, from the Boeing Company, have been delivered to the U.S. Department of Defense, bringing the total number of CSEL radios delivered to the warfighter to 11,436.

CSEL is the U.S. Department of Defense's program of record for Combat Search and Rescue communications. To date, the Joint Services have ordered 16,272 CSEL radios and support equipment, including a second $36 million full rate production order. Boeing's CSEL communications system has been authorized for use in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom since December 2005.

Microsoft confirmed that it has submitted today its response to the European Commission’s Statement of Objections (SO) of March 1, 2007 concerning the pricing of licenses for the Workgroup Server Protocol Program (WSPP).

The WSPP was created to comply with the Commission’s March 2004 decision. The decision ordered Microsoft to make its Windows Server protocol technologies available on “reasonable and non-discriminatory” terms. The current issue focuses on what Microsoft’s prices must be in order to qualify as “reasonable”.

Streaming media capability support on a Convergent Linux Platform (CLP), from a la Mobile, Inc. With a la Mobile's CLP 3G Streaming Media Solution, Linux smartphones can now support a host of rich media applications on high-speed 3G networks such as video conferencing, video telephony, 3G interactive gaming and mobile IPTV.

Two defendants pleaded guilty to conspiracy to unlawfully reproduce and distribute copyrighted music over the Internet, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg of the Eastern District of Virginia announced today.

Arthur Gomez, 25, of La Habra, Calif., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema. His sentencing has been scheduled for July 13, 2007, at 9:00 a.m. Sergey Ribiakost, 21, of Bardonia, N.Y., pleaded guilty on April 17, 2007, before U.S. District Judge James C. Cacheris. His sentencing is scheduled for July 10, 2007, at 1:00 p.m. Both defendants pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit copyright infringement and face up to five years in prison, a fine of $250,000, and three years of supervised release.

Motorola, Inc. and Terayon Communication Systems, Inc. have announced that the two companies have signed a definitive merger agreement, under which Motorola will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Terayon’s common stock for $1.80 per share in cash. The transaction will have a total equity value of approximately $140 million on a fully-diluted basis.

Scientists explore the prospect of galactic black holes as sources of widespread magnetic fields

Combining the world's largest radio telescope at Arecibo, Puerto Rico with a precision imaging, seven-antenna synthesis radio telescope at the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory (DRAO), a team of researchers led by Los Alamos scientist Philipp Kronberg have discovered a new giant in the heavens, a giant in the form of a previously undetected cloud of intergalactic plasma that stretches more than 6 million light years across. The diffuse, magnetized intergalactic zone of high energy electrons may be evidence for galaxy-sized black holes as sources for the mysterious cosmic rays that continuously zip though the Universe.

Expanded training in combat life-saving procedures has enabled a greater than 98 percent survival rate for U.S. troops injured in Iraq, a coalition surgeon said yesterday.

These skills, combined with improved communications technology and a robust air evacuation support network, mean Soldiers are surviving traumatic injuries at an unprecedented rate, Army Lt. Col. Jason Wiemann told online journalists.

A human body has more than 10 to the power of 27 molecules with about one hundred thousand different shapes and functions. Interactions between molecules determine our structure and keep us alive. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart in collaboration with scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute in Freiburg and the King’s Collage London have followed the interaction of only two individual molecules to show the basic mechanism underlying recognition of dipeptides. By means of scanning tunnelling microscopy movies and theoretical simulations they have shown how dynamic interactions induce the molecular fit needed for the transfer of structural information to higher levels of complexity. This dynamic picture illustrates how recognition works at the very first steps, tracking back the path in the evolution of complex matter. (Angewandte Chemie international April 20th 2007)

Squeezing more ethanol from cellulose—the basic material from which all plants are made—is still a lofty goal for scientists. The process uses expensive enzymes that are limited in their ability to convert stubbornly rigid plant cells walls into fuels.

Now, an Agricultural Research Service (ARS) microbiologist has discovered a way to boost cellulosic ethanol production, with the help of some unusually hardy bacteria.

Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology has proven to be the key market enabler for cable telephony services and subscriber growth, reports In-Stat (http://www.in-stat.com). Generally less expensive to provision than more traditional circuit-switched telephony, the increasing availability of VoIP services in North America was directly responsible for an almost two-fold increase in the number of North American subscribers during 2006, the high-tech market research firm says.

The leader of one of the oldest and most renowned Internet software piracy groups has pleaded guilty to criminal copyright infringement charges, in one of the first ever extraditions for an intellectual property offense, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg for the Eastern District of Virginia announced today.

AMD today announced widespread availability and pricing for the AMD Opteron Model 2222 and 8222 SE x86 dual-core server processors. The new processor, which is available in several platform configurations today from tier one OEMs.

AMD also disclosed updated performance projections for its upcoming native Quad-Core AMD Opteron™ processors, code-named ‘Barcelona.’ The new Barcelona projections are based on the latest SPECcpu2006 benchmarks and show that AMD expects to have up to a 50 percent advantage in floating point performance and 20 percent in integer performance over the competition’s highest-performing quad-core processor at the same frequency. These results, as well as the latest benchmark tests, based on AMD Opteron Model 2222 and 8222 SE processors can be found at www.amd.com/opteronperformance.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. has developed the first all-DRAM stacked memory package using ‘through silicon via’ (TSV) technology, which will soon result in memory packages that are faster, smaller and consume less power.

The new wafer-level-processed stacked package (WSP) consists of four 512 megabit (Mb) DDR2 (second generation, double data rate) DRAM (dynamic random access memory) chips that offer a combined 2 gigabits (Gb) of high density memory. Using the TSV-processed 2Gb DRAMs, Samsung can create a 4 GB (gigabyte) DIMM (dual in-line memory module) based on advanced WSP technology for the first time. Samsung’s proprietary WSP technology not only reduces the overall package size, but also permits the chips to operate faster and use less power.

Driven by continuing demand for portable systems across the region, PC sales in Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) outpaced expectations in the first quarter of the year, according to preliminary data released today by IDC. Total PC shipments rose 13.2% compared with the first quarter last year, reaching 19.4 million units, with notebook sales recording a solid 34.3% year on year.

Desktop shipments remained flat compared with last year, but unabated demand for Portables, particularly in the Consumer segment and in CEMA, boosted overall growth. Market leaders HP and Acer continued to gain share with Toshiba, Packard Bell, and Asus also registering strong growth. Dell continued to suffer from slower corporate demand and retail competition in the consumer space while Fujitsu Siemens and Lenovo shipments increased but trailed the market.

Maintaining superiority in space will go a long way toward protecting U.S. national interests, the commander of the Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center said here.

"If adversaries are using space in ways that would threaten America or our forces on the battlefield, we have to be able to disrupt or deny their use of those capabilities," Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael A. Hamel told American Forces Press Service during the center's Industry Days held here April 17-19. "Space capabilities will become increasingly critical to our national well-being."

Electric car pioneer ZAP has received an order for $79 Million from a Chicago-based start-up, The Electric Vehicle Company.

The Electric Vehicle Company (EVC) was founded with the goal of promoting economical non-polluting electric transportation. EVC is being funded by two hedge funds, Diversified Equity Funding, L.P. and Diversified Strategies Fund, LLC, which both have an investment interest in ZAP. EVC will focus on sales of electric vehicles to municipalities, distributors, university campuses, auto and recreational dealers, foreign countries and the military.

Controlling the properties and behavior of matter at the smallest scale—in effect, "domesticating atoms"—can help to overcome some of the world’s biggest challenges, concludes a new report on how diverse experts view the future of nanotechnology. Released today, NanoFrontiers: Visions for the Future of Nanotechnology, summarizes discussions among over 50 scientists, engineers, ethicists, policymakers, and other experts, as well as information gathered in follow-up interviews and from specially prepared background papers, about the long-term potential of nanotechnology.

Group Lotus plc has joined forces with green energy company Ecotricity in its drive to minimise its carbon emissions and become genuinely green in its energy supply. Innovative engineering will now be partnered by wind energy to be the power behind the Lotus manufacturing plant in the UK.

Under their Merchant Wind Power (MWP) scheme Ecotricity, the UK’s largest independent green energy supplier, has submitted a request for a Scoping Opinion to South Norfolk District Council for their views on potential plans for a wind park at the Lotus Manufacturing Plant and Test Track, at Hethel near Wymondham.

IBM researchers at Almaden Research Center have demonstrated magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques to visualize nanoscale objects. This technique brings MRI capability to the nanoscale level for the first time and represents a major milestone in the quest to build a microscope that could "see" individual atoms in three dimensions.

A continued rapid pace of wind power development in Texas has firmed up its claim to the title as the state with the most wind power capacity. California has long been the U.S. leader in terms of wind power, but with its much greater wind resource, Texas gained a thin lead in mid-2006 and greatly extended that lead later in the year. Although both states have policies favorable to wind power, California added 211 megawatts (MW) of wind power capacity in 2006, while Texas added 773 MW, boosting its total to 2,768 MW. The wind power rankings, released by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) last week, place Texas wind power capacity a full 17 percent greater than the wind power capacity in California. A key to the rise in status for the Lone Star State is FPL Energy's expansion of the Horse Hollow wind energy center to 736 MW, making it the largest wind power facility in the world, and the expansion of the Sweetwater wind facility to 264 MW, making it the fifth largest wind plant in the United States. According to AWEA, another 1,000 MW of wind power are currently under construction in Texas.