Information Technology

Hackers who try to use or copy software illegally may soon find a sticky web waiting to trap them.

It’s not the World Wide Web. Instead, it’s a new approach under development at Purdue University designed to protect software. By placing a linked brigade of hundreds of tiny “guards” at different points within software code, computer scientists have made it far more difficult for hackers to use software without permission from the vendor.

“Merely cracking a single p

Digital images that have been tampered with could now be spotted – thanks to a digital ‘watermark’ developed by UK scientists

Digital images such as CCTV footage are increasingly being used as evidence in high profile court cases. However, it is easy to tamper with an image and very difficult to tell if any manipulation has taken place.

Researchers have created a digital version of a watermark to tackle this problem and validate digital evidence. The team is led by Profes

Researchers at the University of Toronto have discovered a new technique to form tiny perfect crystals that have high optical quality, a finding that could usher in a new era of ultra-fast computing and communication using photons instead of electrons.

These crystals, called photonic crystals, could greatly improve both speed and bandwidth in communications systems, says University Professor Geoffrey Ozin of the Department of Chemistry.

“All of the promises of what photonic crysta

In a discovery that could greatly reduce the size and cost of computer chips, Princeton researchers have found a fast method for printing ultrasmall patterns in silicon wafers.

The method, described in the June 20 issue of Nature, could allow electronics manufacturers to increase the density of transistors on silicon chips by 100-fold while dramatically streamlining the production process. Packing more transistors onto chips is the key to making more powerful computer processors and memory c

Philips has demonstrated the world’s first fully functional miniature optical disc drive using blue laser technology. Up to 1 Gbyte of data can be stored on a single-sided optical disc of just 3 cm in diameter, matching the size constraints of portable devices such as digital cameras, mobile phones, PDAs and portable Internet devices. This prototype illustrates Philips’ leadership in optical storage technology, which is driven by superb media robustness and the low cost per Mbyte of the storage me

Durham University scientists have successfully carried out a basic computer operation using a magnetic microchip – a major step along the way to establishing a new generation of electronics and computer technology.

They are working in the rapidly growing field of nanotechnology, harnessing the magnetic properties of electrons, rather than their electrical charge on which conventional electronics is based. Magnetic microchips could, in the future, offer a range of benefits over standard chips