Other items of interest:

• An example of the importance of artificial intelligence to medicine is the
  use of a neural network to identify genetic
  switches in harmful bacteria, so they can be turned off. 

   

• Having missed LANs and the Internet, Microsoft has also admitted to missing
  the significance of search
  engines. 

   

• Computer chips have always been expected to be extremely accurate. It turns
  out that reducing our
  expectations of accuracy reduces the drain on device batteries and speeds up
  processing. 

   

• Scientists working outside Nature’s box have found a way to increase the storage of optical disks
  by a factor of nine. 

   

• Hospitals take note: Voice over IP
  could be the norm in the US in three years. 

Verizon has a US$1 billion plan to bring fiber optics to one million homes
and businesses in nine US states by the end of the year. Some analysts doubt it
can be done or that it makes business sense, in part because ubiquitous,
low-cost wireless broadband seems to be just around the corner.

Reference: Hyde, Justin (2004). “AI and Medicine 

An Irish electronic and computer engineering graduate has won an award for
developing a neural network to identify functional patterns in DNA sequences.
The neural net examines gene predictions in disease-causing bacteria to identify
the fragments of DNA code — the “switches” — that turn genes on and off.
Finding a disease switch should lead to a way to turn the switch off.

Reference: Unknown (2004). “Neural
networks researcher scoops Embark award.” SiliconRepublic.com, May 27.

Microsoft Preemptive Strike

Microsoft will “soon” unveil a search engine that will look not just at
websites but also e-mails, local disk drives, and massive databases — in other
words, it will look inwards at the user’s desktop and not just outwards to the
Internet. Since Microsoft has a monopoly on the desktop, and since Google’s
plans for similar functionality could threaten that monopoly, “Microsoft is
scrambling to protect its turf,” said an analyst.

Chief executive Steve Ballmer has previously conceded that one of Microsoft’s
big missteps was that it didn’t originally invest in building its own Internet
search technology, writes Allison Linn for the Associated Press.

Reference: Linn, Allison (2004). “Microsoft
Technology Will Widen Searches.” Associated Press via Yahoo News, May 26.

Probability Chips

Computer chips always calculate to the nth degree, but often that’s
overkill, and expensive in terms of power drain and processing speed. A Georgia
Tech team funded by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has
built a prototype chip that makes approximate rather than precise calculations;
that “satisfices”
even though it is not perfect. The chip processes “Probabilistic Bits,” or
PBits, that can be “on” with a high degree — but not with 100 percent — of
certainty.

The researchers have confirmed that PBits save energy. They ran simulations
using a spoken-alphabet voice-recognition application used in many cell-phone
applications, and compressed power usage by as much as an astounding factor of
1,000. (The simulation is available for free download to Linux users.)

An IBM executive called the findings “remarkable,” and said that while “There
are many challenges in the way, . . . the potential rewards . . . are immense.”

Reference: Delio, Michelle (2004). “How to Save
Energy: Just Guess.” Wired News, May 4.

Storage Up by Factor of Nine

It turns out that when two or more photons become entangled (which they never
do in Nature, but we can make them do it in the lab) they become in effect a
smaller unit, able to etch smaller elements on microchips and optical disks.

“Looking some years ahead,” said one of the scientists involved in the
research, “it doesn’t seem unrealistic to expect commercial applications of
entangled photons.” For example, entangling the photons from the red lasers used
in CD players would instantly increase the amount of data that could be stored
on the discs. If the photons were put into groups of three, the pits and grooves
that encode the data could be made three times shorter and narrower, increasing
the CD’s capacity by a factor of nine.

Reference: Hogan, Jenny (2004). “Quantum trick may
multiply CD capacity.” New Scientist, May 12.

VoIP the Norm in Three Years

Gartner Research predicts that within three years Internet phones are likely
to account for the vast majority of business phone systems in the US. VoIP is
now as reliable as, but far less expensive than, traditional phone systems, and
is also perfectly suited to video and data calls. Many of Cisco’s Internet
phones already feature data and image transmission and some feature
videoconferencing.

VoIP’s ability to integrate voice, video, and data over one secure network is
extra beneficial for disabled users. By law, traditional telcos in the US
provide teletype phones which have a keyboard enabling a deaf caller to type
messages to a telco operator, who then speaks the text out loud to the non-deaf
called party. But VoIP providers don’t want to be regulated as telcos, and if
they are not, then they would not have to cater to the needs of disabled users.
However, the technology is such that regulation would not be needed. There are
already devices such as T-Mobile’s Sidekick, a color PDA that offers
e-mail, text messaging, Web browsing, and phone service for a monthly rate of
around $35. Around 10 percent of Sidekick‘s users are hearing-impaired.

IBM and Cisco Systems have engaged in a joint project both see as “a very big
opportunity” in voice over IP (VoIP), routing phone calls over the Internet
instead of through regular phone lines and switches.

Reference: Flynn, Laurie J. (2004). “I.B.M. and
Cisco Planning Joint Internet Phone Venture.” New York Times, May 18.

Reference: Robitaille, Suzanne (2004). “Innovation
That Leaves No One Behind.” BusinessWeek, May 17.