Hewlett-Packard reports advance in molecular-scale device

Hewlett-Packard researchers are set to report that they have created a molecular-scale alternative to the transistor. The device could increase the viability of a new generation of ultrasmall electronics that would one day be smaller than what is possible with today's silicon-based technology.

The New York Times reports (1 Feb.) that in an article to be published in The Journal of Applied Physics, three researchers at the quantum science research group of Hewlett-Packard Labs describe how they have designed a "crossbar latch," making it possible to perform a type of logic operation that is essential to the functions of a modern computer.

The advance is significant, according to scientists, because for the first time it provides molecular computer designers with a complete array of logic devices to develop the new technology.

The paper says that the new device consists of a wire that is crossed by two other wires. The resulting junctions serve as switches that are only a few atoms across and can be programmed by a repeatable set of electrical pulses. Standard electronic devices require conventional transistors to perform the same operation.

Thje report says that after a burst of progress in molecular electronics in the late 1990's, there has been some industry skepticism about whether the field might ever be refined to the point that it could replace conventional microelectronics.

The NYT says that while the technology is not ready for commercialisation, the Hewlett-Packard announcement is certain to re-energise the field. The researchers said they believed that their technology could be available after the end of this decade.

Currently, the semiconductor industry's most advanced manufacturing process is based on a 90-nanometer minimum feature size: about 1,000 transistors made using this process would fit in the width of a human hair.

The Hewlett-Packard researchers said they began to focus on molecular electronics a number of years ago because they realised that existing semiconductor manufacturing techniques would eventually limit how small the transistors could be.

The Hewlett-Packard team said that their circuits still switch far more slowly than modern computer circuits, but that they believed that obstacle could be overcome in the future.

Effort to help free-software developers avoid litigation

In the US, a nonprofit legal centre opening today, backed by US$4 million in initial financing from a corporate consortium, will provide advice from specialists that is intended to minimise the risk that developers and users of free software will be sued.

The New York Times reports (1 Feb.) that freely distributed open-source software like the Linux operating system has become increasingly popular, but one cloud over its future has been legal risk. So far, most of the lawsuits have involved claims that software code owned by someone else found its way into a cooperative programming project.

The paper says that the Software Freedom Law Center, according to its founders, will focus on helping the leaders of open-source software projects organise and manage their work in ways that anticipate and avoid potential legal pitfalls.

A suit against IBM, seeking US$1 billion, is largely responsible for the legal worries surrounding open-source software, says the NYT, and adds that the SCO Group, a small Utah company, has accused IBM of contributing code to Linux that SCO legally controlled. IBM has denied the accusations.

The new centre, based in New York, will offer free advice to nonprofit open-source software projects and developers. Private companies use open-source software and their programmers contribute code, but nonprofit groups typically organise projects like Linux, Apache and Debian.

The initial funding for the centre comes from the Open Source Development Labs, a consortium that seeks to accelerate the adoption of Linux. Its members include IBM, Intel and Hewlett-Packard. Linus Torvalds, who wrote the core of the Linux operating system, is employed by the group.

The paper says that the corporate champions of Linux say that legal support is needed for the further growth of Linux and the open-source software that will run on it.

Law barring junk e-mail allows a flood instead

A year after a sweeping federal antispam law went into effect in the United States, there is more junk e-mail on the internet than ever, and Levon Gillespie, according to Microsoft, is one reason.

The New York Times reports (1 Feb.) that lawyers for the company seemed well on the way to shutting down Gillespie last September after he agreed to meet them at a Starbucks in Los Angeles near the University of Southern California. There they served him a court summons and a lawsuit accusing him, his web site and 50 unnamed customers of violating state and federal law - including the year-old US Federal Can Spam Act - by flooding Microsoft's internal and customer e-mail networks with illegal spam, among other charges.

Gillespie, who operated a service that gives bulk advertisers off-shore shelter from the antispam crusade, did not show up last month for a court hearing and a judge issued a default judgment against him in the amount of US$1.4 million.

The paper says that in a telephone interview yesterday from his home in Los Angeles, Gillespie, 21, said he was unaware of the judgment and that no one from Microsoft or the court had yet followed up. But he insisted that he had done nothing wrong and vowed that lawsuits would not stop him - nor any of the other players in the lucrative spam chain.

Since the Can Spam Act went into effect in January 2004, unsolicited junk e-mail on the internet has come to total perhaps 80 percent or more of all e-mail sent, according to most measures. That is up from 50 percent to 60 percent of all e-mail before the law went into effect.

And, according to the NYT, a growing number of so-called bulletproof web host services like Gillespie's offer spam-friendly merchants access to stable offshore computer servers - most of them in China - where they can park their web sites, with the promise that they will not be shut down because of spam complaints. Some bulk e-mailers have also teamed with writers of viruses to steal lists of working e-mail addresses and quietly hijack the personal computers of millions of unwitting internet users, creating the "zombie networks" that now serve, according to some specialists, as the de facto circulatory system for spam.

Million dollar incentives for Google employees

Google has begun giving out an award that could be worth millions of dollars to employees who work on outstanding projects, the company has announced.

According to a New York Times report (1 Feb.) the first two Founders' Awards consisted of restricted stock that was worth US$million in stock when it was awarded last November to two teams of a dozen or so employees each.

One of the awards was given to a technology team that devised a means of linking users to the advertisements most likely to interest them.

The stock vests in monthly increments over four years. Google said the the shares were not divided evenly, but were distributed according to each individual's contribution. Some employees received millions of dollars in stock.

Sun to offer remote computing

Sun Microsystems has just announced that it will offer remote computing resources to business customers, allowing them to purchase computer time over a network as easily as they buy electricity and water through wires and pipes.

The Sun Grid will cost clients $US1 an hour for each microprocessor used and $US1 a month for each gigabyte of storage. Customers will pay only for what they use when they use it.

The New York Times/Reuters report (1 Feb) that grid computing is not new, but faster networks and new standards are making it easier for companies to outsource certain computing-intensive tasks to data centers owned by others and not worry about the cost of the computers or paying for electricity and other support costs.

The paper says that Sun has said its grid has 10,000 microprocessors in data centers in Texas, New Jersey, Virginia and Scotland, with more coming online this year. The company is working with pilot customers in the financial and oil industries, and it plans to make the service more widely available this spring.

US public TV, cable reach pact on digital

United State cable operators have reached a tentative accord to carry up to four digital channels of non-commercial programming offered by each public television station in a market.

The New York Times/Reuters report that the National Cable & Telecommunications Association and Association of Public Television Stations (APTS) in the US have negotiated a 10-year deal that most of their members must ratify within 60 days. It would take effect within six months after ratification.

About 24 million US homes subscribed to higher-quality digital television through the third quarter of 2004, from companies like Comcast and Time Warner.Regulators are pushing the transition to digital that allows television stations to multicast several channels of programming, but so far the Federal Communications Commission has not required cable to carry the extra digital channels, says The Register.

The paper says that initially, while public stations are broadcasting both analog and digital signals in a market, cable systems would pick at least up to four channels of one public television station to carry there, most likely the station with the greatest viewership. Once all stations in a market are airing digital, then up to four channels from each local public television station could be carried. The agreement does not supercede existing agreements between cable operators and public stations.

New mobile responds to shakes, jiggles

Japanese mobile phone handsets slated to hit stores this month are designed to solve the problem of pushing buttons on the phone - they respond to shakes, tilts and jiggles, report The New York Times/AP.

The paper says the mobile phones manufactured by Japanese electronics maker Sharp for Vodafone K.K., the Japan unit of the British mobile giant, come equipped with a tiny motion-control-sensor, a computer chip that recognises and responds to movement.

According to the NYT, a user just jerks their cell phone in the air in a variety of patterns made of up of two simple moves -- combining left, right or top, down movements -- to program the phone in nine different ways to scroll or jump to e-mail or other features.

The sensor, made by Aichi Steel, not only detects the direction toward which the cell phone is moving but also the speed and force with which it's being jerked around.

AMD market share hits two-year peak

AMD's share of the x86 processor market reached the highest point it has attained in the last two years - and a year after it fell to its lowest point in the same period, reports The Register in the UK (1 Feb.).

The Register reports that Intel's arch-rival took 16.6 per cent of the market in Q4 2004, well up on the 14.7 per cent it took in Q4 2003, according to market watcher Mercury Research (MR).

Intel took 82.2 per cent of the market in Q4, down from 83.7 per cent in the year-ago quarter.

According to The Register, both chip makers increased their share sequentially, though MR did not provide figures. Their gains came at the expense of the likes of VIA and Transmeta, with both winning ground in the server market, while Intel did particularly well in the mobile arena. By contrast, AMD experienced some success in the low-end desktop space with its Sempron product line.

A number of analysts have suggested that AMD will grow its share further through 2005, in both the desktop and low-end server segments, while Intel recovers from the mistakes made in 2004.

World chip sales down in December

Worldwide chip sales will fall 4-6 per cent this month, compared to December 2004's total, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) has forecast.

The prediction, according to The Register, followed the announcement of the organisation's latest global sales figures, for the final month of last year. Then, sales totalled $US18.37bn, down 3.5 per cent on the previous month's figure, $US19.02bn, but still 14.6 per cent up on December 2003's sales.

The Register says sales were down in all regions during December. In the Americas they were down 6.2 per cent sequentially to $US3.24bn, followed by Asia-Pacific, which sales fall 3.6 per cent to $US7.75bn. The Japanese market shrank 2.2 per cent to $US3.86bn and European sales fell 2.1 per cent to $US3.53bn.

Q4's total came to $US55.1bn, down on the $US55.5bn the SIA recorded for Q3.

Skype launches on Mac and Linux

Skype has just launched versions of its VoIP software for Mac and Linux users. Skype claims more than 23 million users and 130,000 new users signing up every day. The Voice over Internet Protocol firm launched in August 2003.

The Register reports (1 Feb.) that users download Skype software which enables them to make phone calls over the internet, and calls to other Skype users are free, while international calls to ordinary or mobile phones are charged at local rates. Skype also allows conference calls and file transfers.

The beta version of the Mac software has been on offer since August 2004, reports The Register.