Information Technology

Internet traffic jams may become history if ESA succeeds in developing new technology to see nearby Earth-sized planets. Why? In looking for new ways to detect planets ESA is thinking that, instead of bulky mirrors and lenses in space, one can build miniaturised optical systems that fit onto a microchip. Such ‘integrated optics’ would also allow earthly computer networks to use high-speed routing of data streams as a natural spin-off.

Data moving around the Internet are like road traffic in

Indiana University information technology experts working with others from the state’s leading educational institutions presented several new tools in high-performance computing, networks and visualization this week to colleagues at the international Supercomputing2002 conference. Among the tools demonstrated were a system that can track the physical location of wireless devices and a powerful mapping application.

The contributions of IU and its Research in Indiana (http://www.research-

A Northumbria University lecturer has helped devise a scheme to use music to catch computer bugs.

Dr Paul Vickers from Northumbria and Professor James Alty from Loughborough University’s Department of Computer Science have come up with an idea that would see features of computer programming languages being given short, musical themes. All similar instructions would be given related tunes so that any bug would be easily identified within the system.

“To ensure the musicality

When they make their first public demonstration of tele-immersion at this week’s Super Computing 2002 conference in Baltimore, computer scientists will also attain another first: a “network computer” that processes data at a location far removed from either input or output.

While the tele-immersion system will gather and display information in side-by-side booths at the Baltimore Convention Center, actual data processing will occur some 250 miles away at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing C

It is already possible for PC users to switch off simply by winking their eyes, but it is expected this will soon be possible wirelessly! Now in its start-up phase, the Academy of Finland’s Research Programme on Proactive Information Technology or PROACT includes a project dedicated to the development of wireless technology. One of the applications is a PC interface controlled by eye movement.

All five Academy research programmes launched during 2002 will benefit from international funding.

University of Alberta physicist was part of a Canadian research team which recently set a WORLD RECORD for high-speed disk-to-disk transfer of research data.

Bryan Caron of the University of Alberta’s Centre for Subatomic Research was a leading member of the team, which performed the record-breaking demonstration.

The rates achieved were equivalent to transferring all the data from a full-length DVD movie from one part of the world to another in less than 60 seconds, o