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Tuesday, 30 July, 2002, 06:52 GMT 07:52 UK Hypersonic jet launch raises hopes A perfect launch at Woomera A jet designed to fly at more than seven times the speed of sound has been tested in the Australian desert. Researchers believe the scramjet could revolutionise long-haul air travel - cutting the trip from London to Sydney to just two hours - and substantially cut the cost of putting small payloads into space. We've just got to analyse the data now but it all seemed to basically work The hypersonic engine was strapped on to a rocket and blasted more than...

Emoticons are ASCII glyphs originally designed to show an emotional state in plain text messages. Over time they have turned into an art form as well. In most cases, emoticons are constructed to be viewed by tilting your head left so the right side of the emoticon is at the bottom of the "picture." Near as any research can pinpoint, the emoticon was invented by Scott Fahlman circa 1980 in a messages posted on CMU bulletin board systems. As you can see from the list below (which is likely only a small percentage of the totality of emoticons) there are...

Linus Torvalds prays Intel will adopt Yamhill And so adopt AMD's X86-64 By INQUIRER staff: Monday 29 July 2002, 11:26 A POSTING BY Linus Torvalds on the LINUX KERNEL newsgroup yesterday has him praying that Intel will adopt its secret "Yamhill" project and turn to the ways of X86-64 righteousness. Torvalds, who had a key part to play in Transmeta's fortunes at startup, says in the post that Linux developers are "generally praying that AMD's X86-64 succeeds in the market." That, he says, would force Intel to make Yamhill its standard 64-bit platform and allow for improvements in the Linux...

News ReleaseNASA Marshall Space Flight CenterHypersonics, In-Space Propulsion technologies on display in Oshkosh Experimental flight vehicles and high-flying aerial performances take center stage at the Experimental Aircraft Association's annual AirVenture Air Show, which is expected to draw more than 800,000 visitors to Oshkosh, Wis., July 23-29. At this year's 50th anniversary event, NASA's space transportation and propulsion teams will show off some experimental models and hardware of their own. And while they may not steal the show, in time they may steal the skies themselves.Marshall Center representatives will team with Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio; Langley Research Center in...

Welcome to theNASA Breakthrough Propulsion Physics (BPP) ProjectPublic Information Site NEWS June 28, 2002: *** Funding in jeopardy for Breakthrough Propulsion Physics (BPP) *** This posting is to alert those researchers who were planning to submit a proposal to the Fall 2002 call for BPP proposals, that this solicitation must now be put on hold, pending resolution of future budgets.The budget for the Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project is being cut.  Not only are all future years’ budgets in question, but also 21% of the funds already allocated for this year have been requested to be withdrawn for transfer to...

Upcoming legislation in the US would give copyright holders free rein to use hacking methods to disrupt peer-to-peer networks, and would protect them if they accidentally damage the PCs of law-abiding users Congress is about to consider an entertainment industry proposal that would authorise copyright holders to disable PCs used for illicit file trading. A draft bill seen by CNET News.com marks the boldest political effort to date by record labels and movie studios to disrupt peer-to-peer networks that they view as an increasingly dire threat to their bottom line.Sponsored by Representatives Howard Berman, a California Democrat, and Howard Coble,...

SYDNEY: Here is a new discovery that could make you go goggle-eyed with wonder that the simplest of solutions could cure such a huge problem. High tech glasses have been developed by researchers, which could hold the key to avoiding jetlag after long-haul flights. Scientists say these glowing glasses prevent the mental and physical fatigue associated with flying across different time zones. A couple of hours before the flight, if these glasses are worn, they could help the human body clock adjust to travel more easily. The report in the Daily Mail newspaper said that the spectacles use lights to...

Desktop Roadmaps 1066 validation, price cuts, Springdale, and more By Mike Magee: Tuesday 23 July 2002, 10:57 THE LATEST INTEL ROADMAPS show the Prescott 90 nanometer processor appearing in the second half of 2003. Prescott will be introduced at 3.20GHz in the second half of next year. And Intel will introduce hyperthreading in desktop CPUs at speeds of 3.06GHz and bove. While Intel will also introduce a 3.20GHz Pentium 4 in Q2 of next year. As we said earlier, Intel will introduce its Pentium 4 2.80GHz processor this quarter – it will cost $508 at launch, the 2.6/2.66 Pentium 4s...

Why the Buzz on Hammer Just Won't QuitJust in case you haven't been paying attention, AMD's upcoming 8th generation processor has been generating a steady buzz of discussion almost since the first of the year.  This has led to an occasional outburst of exasperation from editors at various websites, some of whom have complained the web community in general is too focused upon Hammer.  Hammer is, their argument goes, an unproven product with a distant and uncertain launch date, and should not be focused on so heavily.  It's also been suggested by some that much of the Hammer hype itself...

QUANTUM COMPUTERS ADVANCING University of Wisconsin researchers have designed a semiconductor-based device that can trap individual electrons and line them up, an advance that brings the enormous potential of quantum computing one step closer. The "quantum dot" device, as it is called, holds electrons in a way that can be scaled up to build a working quantum computer. Made from tiny amounts of the same semiconductor materials used in today's computer chips, each quantum dot device contains just one electron. When many of the devices are aligned, the electrons they house become usable quantum bits, or "qubits," for computing. Unlike...

Jul 25th 2002 | FARNBOROUGH From The Economist print edition Boeing's Sonic Cruiser is struggling to take off. But even more fantastic models are on the company's drawing-board AT FIRST sight, it looks like all systems go. Boeing, one of the world's largest aerospace companies, has started wind-tunnel tests at the laboratories of QinetiQ, a privatised defence-research establishment in Britain, of a model of its proposed “Sonic Cruiser”. This aircraft, if it is ever built, would be a 200-250-seater jet that would fly just below the speed of sound. Boeing's bosses expect QinetiQ's tests to confirm promising numbers that emerged...

Advanced Micro Devices is building a 64-bit field of dreams. As Intel accelerates the launch date of its 3GHz Pentium 4 chip, arch rival AMD continues to build the foundation for "ClawHammer." The 64-bit Athlon processor is expected to come out early next year, giving desktop PCs a performance similar to that of workstations used in research labs at DaimlerChrysler or NASA. To make sure ClawHammer arrives on solid footing, AMD is working with a long list of partners who will build that hardware and software that can take advantage of such a chip. The company has already sent tens...

Among the many new, high-tech words included in the most recent edition of the New Oxford Dictionary of English is a listing for "mouse potato." While this sounds like an exotic dish (perhaps one they enjoy in England), this term actually refers to someone who spends too much time sitting zoned in front of a computer, akin to the TV addicts known as "couch potatoes" or "sofa spuds." (Which also sounds like something they'd eat in England.) It's easy to make light of mouse potatoes, but the levity disguises a serious social ill. Recent studies show that mouse potatoes generally...

Wed Jul 24, 3:27 PM ET SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft has discovered that some users of its MSN TV service have downloaded a program that makes their set-tops dial the 911 emergency number instead of regular dial-up numbers, a spokeswoman said. Microsoft issued a patch Tuesday night for the program, which arrives in an attachment to an e-mail. When opened, it shuts down the computer, changes the dial-up setting and then dials 911. The program, which has affected at least 18 customers, is not a virus since it does not propagate, the spokeswoman said on Wednesday. Several people reported...

Filed at 7:12 p.m. ET PITTSBURGH (AP) -- A 6-foot-tall robot that courteously steps aside for people, smiles during conversation and politely asks directions shouldn't be blamed for being too eager to please. After all, it's programmed to act that way. The robot, named GRACE (short for Graduate Robot Attending Conference), will wander a symposium on artificial intelligence that begins this weekend, where it will demonstrate basic human social skills. It will try to sign in at the registration desk, find a conference room, give a speech and answer questions. GRACE, a drum-shaped contraption with a digitally animated face that...

“OUR RESEARCHERS have mapped the genome of a strange bug that lives quite happily in an environment that has 1 million times the radiation that a human could withstand,” Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham told a ceremony awarding the grants. “Now that we have sequenced the bug, we are ready to turn it to our own advantage,” he added. Abraham hopes scientists can find a way to use the bacterium to clean up nuclear waste. “We can make bugs that eat carbon dioxide, we can make trees grow in climates that are barren today,” he added. UNDERSTANDING THE DNA Genomics studies...

Could Hollywood hack your PC? By Declan McCullagh Staff Writer, CNET News.com July 23, 2002, 4:45 PM PT http://news.com.com/2100-1023-945923.html WASHINGTON--Congress is about to consider an entertainment industry proposal that would authorize copyright holders to disable PCs used for illicit file trading. A draft bill seen by CNET News.com marks the boldest political effort to date by record labels and movie studios to disrupt peer-to-peer networks that they view as an increasingly dire threat to their bottom line. Sponsored by Reps. Howard Berman, D-Calif., and Howard Coble, R-N.C., the measure would permit copyright holders to perform nearly unchecked electronic hacking if...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Intel Corp. is moving up the introduction of its Pentium 4 processor running at 3.0 gigahertz, an industry source said on Monday, as the world's largest chipmaker looks to tap the benefits of efficiencies in its chip manufacturing. Santa Clara, California-based Intel, the world's No. 1 chip maker, now plans to have the processor to PC makers in time for the year-end holiday shopping season, the source said. Intel had planned to introduce the 3.0 gigahertz Pentium 4 processor, the brains of a personal computer, by the end of the year. In additional, Intel also...

My mother wants to get on the internet (she might even become a freeper) but wants a high speed connection. Problem is, she lives on a farm in Southeast Nebraska 5+ miles from any 'town' so cable modems, DSL, ISDN are out. She has satellite TV and some satellite companies do offer internet connections. Can anyone recommend a satellite provider with high quality. I understand weather can yet be a problem and I don't know who has reliable equipment, service, etc. She lives in Richardson county, about 30 miles equidistant from Kansas-Missouri borders. I appreciate any descriptions of experience with...

osOpinion®Tech Opinion Commentary For the People, By the People. The x86 OS X Success StrategyContributed by Kelly McNeillosOpinion.comApril 10, 2002http://www.osopinion.com/perl/story/17176.html If one were to ask the computing masses how Microsoft achieved its operating system success, they likely would answer, 'By providing a superior product.' For those of you who have been wishing for a copy of Apple's Mac OS X to run on your x86 PC, your wish may soon be granted if recent reports regarding graphics accelerator companies ATI and Nvidia are to be believed. According to the reports, the two companies apparently have set up teams to investigate...