Dr. Dobb's Journal August 1997
In one of last year's issues of Journal of Systems Management, Leon Kappelman of the University of North Texas and James Cappel of Western Michigan University proposed that storing years in a two-digit format saved the typical organization over $1 million per gigabyte between 1963 and 1992. Properly invested, argue Kappelman and Cappel, these savings would more than make up for the current cost of fixing the problem.
-- Eugene Eric Kim
In an effort to detect pollution traces following toxic waste spills, researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory are adhering live bacteria onto the surface of computer chips. When the microorganisms come in contact with a toxic substance (in this case, naphthalene, which is used in jet fuels), they begin to glow and the microcontroller activates an alarm. Different microorganisms can be used to detect different substances.
-- Jonathan Erickson
According to The London Daily Telegraph, Microsoft is planning to set up its first electronics research operations outside the U.S. -- a multimillion-dollar electronics research campus at Britain's Cambridge University. Reportedly working behind the scenes to put the deal together was Stephen Hawking, Cambridge's Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, and author of A Brief History of Time. (Incidentally, Microsoft chief technology officer Nathan Myrhvol, who did post-graduate work at Cambridge, is a former student of Hawking.) According to the Telegraph, research would focus on "long-term strategic research intended to generate a radical new approach to computers for the next millennium."
-- Jonathan Erickson
Ada's 22-year run as the Department of Defense's mandated language of choice has ended. Outgoing Pentagon C3I chief Emmett Paige stated in a memo last April, that future "programming language selections should be made in the context of the system and software engineering factors that influence overall life-cycle costs, risks, and potential for interoperability."
Translated to civilian-speak, Ada's not an outdated language -- it just doesn't have the development tools that other languages (like C and C++) have. While Ada was designed from the ground-up to be a readable, reliable, and efficient language, other languages' code generators, testing and debugging tools, and wide usage (hence, low training costs) make them just as functional yet more cost-effective than Ada. The imminent demise of Ada and rise of Java prove that when it comes to language acceptance, the market rules.
-- Eugene Eric Kim
In mid-May, Digital Equipment Corp. filed suit against Intel Corp. in a Massachusetts U.S. District Court, alleging "willful infringement of ten Digital patents in making, using, and selling microprocessor products, including its Pentium, Pentium Pro, and Pentium II microprocessor families." Digital (a major original-equipment manufacturer for Intel) is seeking both an injunction and monetary damages over the disputed technologies, which involve cache management, branch prediction, and instruction processing.
-- Deirdre Blake
Two weeks after DEC filed its suit against Intel for patent infringement, Intel countersued for violation of intellectual property rights. The countersuit stems from DEC's failure to return confidential documents pertaining to Intel products (reportedly including design specifications for future microprocessors), which had been transferred to DEC over the course of the two companies' association.
-- Deirdre Blake
ioNet (http://www.iocom.net/adsl), an Oklahoma-based ISP, is in a race to become the first company in the U.S. to announce launch of multimegabit ADSL (asynchronous digital subscriber line) Internet access services. ADSL is a high-speed data service that provides download at up to 7 Mbits/sec over a standard telephone wire -- about 250 times faster than 28.8-Kbits/sec modems.
To provide ioNET ADSL, ioNET works with Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECs) to lease "dry lines" (telephone lines without voice or data services) from local telephone companies, so that ioNET can add ADSL equipment at both ends. Single-user, unlimited time accounts start at $95.00 per month.
ADSL may be poised to leapfrog ISDN in the high-speed data communication race. Foremost among ISPs and RBOCs considering ADSL is Southwestern Bell (which recently acquired Pacific Bell and which is rumored to be acquiring AT&T). Although Southwestern Bell currently provides 128 Kbits/sec ISDN service, a company engineer recently told DDJ that the RBOC would not be upgrading ISDN to speeds of 256 or 512 Kbits/sec. Instead, Southwestern Bell would be moving to ADSL for greater bandwidth requirements. Pacific Bell, a SWBT subsidiary, has announced that 384 Kbits/sec ADSL Internet access will be available in the fall for about $200.
-- Jonathan Erickson
Electronic Frontier Canada (EFC), an organization founded to protect Canadian citizens' rights as new information technologies emerge, took issue with media restrictions surrounding the country's June 2 federal elections. Particularly offensive to EFC were some election coverage dos and don'ts under the Canada Elections Act. Among the restrictions: Web pages and other partisan political advertising material had to identify its sponsor or source. No polls or opinion surveys could be published or posted from midnight on May 30 until the polls closed on June 2. Results or purported results from any electoral district could not be reported until after all the polls had closed.
At election time, EFC lawyers were preparing a challenge to the Elections Act (specifically, that section of the Act banning anonymous political speech). Additionally, links to election information web sites hosted outside of Canada -- as well as a couple of Canadian sites that continued publishing election polls and opinion surveys in defiance of the restrictions -- were posted on EFC's home page at http://www.efc.ca/.
-- Deirdre Blake