Meeting the man behind Moore's Law

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Gordon Moore
Dr Moore has now helped found several companies
In April 1965 a 36-year old electronics buff jotted down his thoughts on the future of the juvenile silicon chip industry.

Writing in a "throw-away" journal, Gordon Moore accurately imagined a future filled with mobile phones, home computers, and even intelligent cars.

But it was a much more prosaic prediction that has come to dominate his life and the industry that he helped found.

"I could see a change coming that the electronics were going to get significantly cheaper," says the co-founder of Intel, the largest maker of computer chips.

In the article in Electronics Magazine, he predicted that the number of transistors on a silicon chip would double every year for ten years.

He later revised the forecast to doubling every two years or so, as the initial breakneck speed of development and shrinkage waned. It was a prediction that became known as Moore's Law and it has helped drive the computer revolution over the last four decades.

Modest growth

At first glance it is not the kind of observation that would catapult a person to fame.

But the day I meet him, a now silver haired Dr Moore has just given a talk to a packed auditorium of people and he is surrounded by crowds of autograph hunters who were not even born when he made his off the cuff observations.

Moore's Law has become shorthand for the pace of technological change. It set a standard for the chip industry's phenomenal growth and has in turn underpinned the world's digital awakening.

"It was an exciting technology in the beginning. It had so much potential, we just had no idea how much potential," he says.

"When Intel was formed [in 1968] the total semiconductor industry was only a couple of billion dollars worldwide - today it is 300 billion."

And as the industry has delivered each successive generation of faster, smaller, cheaper chips, it has opened up rafts of new possibilities for silicon that have ultimately delivered the technologies he predicted more than 40 years ago.

Reflecting on his prophesies today, a retired and quietly-spoken Dr Moore is characteristically modest.

"When I went back and read that I was amazed that I predicted all of those things," he says.

But, as a young engineer, he was at least uniquely placed to make his key observation, having co-founded Fairchild Semiconductors, maker of the first commercial integrated circuit, or chip.

"I was directing a lab where we were trying to advance the technology and from my perspective I could see some of these things coming that weren't generally visible to the rest of the population," he says.

Force for change

At the time, computers were mainly used by the military and PCs were unheard of, he says.

"Computers were in glass rooms tended to by a core of monks that knew how to do the proper incantations."

Moore's Law graph

But as the silicon chip industry took hold and computer makers learnt how to exploit the technology everything changed.

"Shortly after that the commercial market just completely dwarfed anything in the military," he says.

And what had originally been just a prediction by Dr Moore became a self-fulfilling prophesy.

"It has become a driving force for the industry," he says. "Competitors have realised that if they don't move at least that rate they are going to fall behind."

So far silicon producers have managed to keep on or ahead of the curve for more than four decades by continually shrinking the technology and packing more and more components inside a chip.

"It's a peculiar feature of this technology that by making things smaller everything gets better," says Dr Moore. "The transistors get faster, you can put more of a system on a chip."

But more importantly, and perhaps more curiously, the chips also become cheaper.

And this is the key point of his 1965 paper, he says. Moore's Law is an economic law and would probably have driven the industry regardless of whether or not he had made his prediction.

"I am not sure that having Moore's Law held up there as a yardstick increases the pressure [on chip manufacturers] because the need to remain competitive is so strong."

Chip future

As a result, the industry has grown "far beyond" what he could have imagined in 1965, he says.

Moore interview

"It is surprising that any of the things we predicted are still valid."

He is most impressed with the industry's inventiveness, he says, allowing it to overcome a series of seemingly insurmountable technical hurdles as it grew.

"The industry has succeeded in getting around all of the ones that have been thrown in front of it," he says. "It has been much more successful than I probably would have predicted."

But, Dr Moore says, the industry can only go on shrinking transistors for so long.

Eventually, the features will become so small that the atomic structure of the materials will be a limitation, possibly spelling the end of Moore's Law

So what does he think will happen in the next 40 years?

"I'm through with making predictions," he chuckles. "Get it right once and quit."

Under pressure In pictures Human sacrifice

Source from: news.bbc.co.uk

Getting more from Moore's Law

For more than 40 years the silicon industry has delivered ever faster, cheaper chips.

The advances have underpinned everything from the rise of mobile phones to digital photography and portable music players.

Chip-makers have been able to deliver many of these advances by shrinking the components on a chip.

By making these building blocks, such as transistors, smaller they have become faster and firms have been able to pack more of them into the same area.

But according to many industry insiders this miniaturisation cannot continue forever.

"The consensus in the industry is that we can do that shrink for about another ten years and then after that we have to figure out new ways to bring higher capability to our chips," said Professor Stanley Williams of Hewlett Packard.

Even Gordon Moore, the founder of Intel and the man that gave his name to the law that dictates the industry's progression, admits that it can only go on for a few more years.

"Moore's Law should continue for at least another decade," he recently told the BBC News website. "That's about as far as I can see."

Tiny tubes

As a result, researchers around the world are engaged in efforts to allow the industry to continue delivering the advances that computer users have come to expect.

Key areas include advanced fabrication techniques, building new components and finding new materials to augment silicon.

Already new materials are creeping into modern chips.

To overcome this, companies have replaced the gate dielectrics, previously made from silicon dioxide, with an oxide based on the metal hafnium.

The material's development and integration into working components has been described by Dr Moore as "the biggest change in transistor technology" since the late 1960s.

But IBM researchers are working on materials that they believe offer even bigger advances.

"Carbon nanotubes are a step beyond [hafnium]," explained Dr Phaedon Avouris of the company.

'Superior' design

"They are a more drastic change but still preserve the basic architecture of field effect transistors."

Dr Avouris believes they can be used to replace a critical element of the chip, known as the channel.

Today this is commonly made of silicon and is the area of the transistor through which electrons flow.

Chip makers are constantly battling to make the channel length in transistors smaller and smaller, to increase the performance of the devices.

Carbon nanotube's small size and "superior" electrical properties should be able to deliver this, said Dr Avouris.

Crucially, he also believes the molecules can be integrated with traditional silicon manufacturing processes, meaning the technology would more likely be accepted by an industry that has spent billions perfecting manufacturing techniques.

The team have already shown off working transistors and are currently working on optimising their production and integration into working devices.

Tiny improvement

Professor Williams, at Hewlett Packard is also working on technology that could be incorporated into the future generations of chips.

Nano chip developer Multi-core chips Multi-core 'myth'

"Now we have this type of device we have a broader palette with which to paint our circuits," said Professor Williams.

Professor Williams and his team have shown that by putting two of these devices together - a configuration called a crossbar latch - it could do the job of a transistor.

"A cross bar latch has the type of functionality you want from a transistor but it's working with very different physics," he explained.

Crucially, these devices can also be made much smaller than a transistor.

"And as they get smaller they get better," he said.

Professor Williams and his team are currently making prototype hybrid circuits - built of memristors and transistors - in a fabrication plant in North America.

"We want to keep the functional equivalent of Moore's Law going for many decades into the future," said Professor Williams.Under pressure In pictures Human sacrifice

Source from: news.bbc.co.uk

Cleaning up in 'fab world'

Each manufacturing plant, or "fab", may cost billions of dollars and is a triumph of engineering.

But working inside these hi-tech plants can be a surreal experience, says Dr Peter Wilson of the University of Southampton.

Its pristine white walls, secure air locks, sterile air and ethereal yellow lighting makes it seem like you have arrived in the belly of an orbiting space station.

I can still remember the first time I went there.

It was set in classic "tumbleweed" territory - a small town in Arizona with just one road and the factory.

The temperature was over 100 degrees outside, with dust everywhere, but when you crossed the threshold into the plant, the air-conditioning kicked in and you felt like you were in a different world.

This is a common experience to anyone who works in the silicon manufacturing sector. The world outside and the fab world inside are on two different planes.

The boundary can transcend geographic and political boundaries - it can become impossible to tell which country you are in, when everyone is wearing a mask, and is dressed head to foot in shapeless, white hooded-suits.

'Bunny men'

Outside, we worry about dirt on our shoes and wipe our feet, or perhaps wipe some dust off our laptop screen. In fab world, we worry about a few atoms contaminating the environment.

If dust falls on the delicate silicon wafers on which chips are printed it can render them useless.

Modern transistors - the tiny switches at the heart of these devices - are described in terms of the smallest feature sizes that can be made, such as a 45 nanometres, or 45 billionths of a meter.

To put this in perspective, the average human hair will be between 20 and 100 micrometers across - over a thousand times larger - and a typical dust particle will be anything from 1 to 100 micrometres.

Dust and contaminants must be kept out.

The fab is a place for chips, not for people. As a result, only the pure and the clean are given permission to penetrate its' inner chambers.

Anyone that enters must go through a strict set of procedures.

All of the trappings of the outside world must be left behind, whether clothes, jewellery or even make-up.

A series of ante-chambers serve as prep rooms where workers change into a series of gowns and gloves, collectively known as a "bunny suit".

Sticky floors make sure that no one treads in any contaminants and an air shower before entry makes certain that any loose particles are stripped away.

Skin flakes, lint, hair and anything else gets sucked into the grate in the floor.

Pure products

And then it's onwards into the hum of the clean rooms. Stark white walls reflect the yellow sodium lights from above and a constant breeze blows down from the ceiling taking any particles through the gridded floor.

Fab world is an expensive place and, hence, it never stops Sand to silicon chip

Everything taken in either needs to be cleaned with alcohol or specially designed. Even the paper we use to take notes is designed from a special lint-free material.

Inside, humans very rarely come into contact with the rainbow-streaked discs of reflective silicon on which the chips are cut.

Instead, they are there to trouble shoot and monitor that everything goes correctly.

The silicon wafers are handled on monorails that move above the fab floor and the processing is done by complex vacuum sealed robots.

The wafers enter one end of the line costing a couple of hundred dollars and appear at the other - weeks later - patterned with billions of transistors and worth tens of thousands of pounds.

The silicon itself is not made at the fab - the ultra pure ingots (up to 99.99999999% pure) are produced and cut by specialist companies and sold to the chip makers.

The fab world's magic is creating the incredibly complex patterns of wires and circuitry on chips the size of a postage stamp time and time again

That alchemy can cost billions of dollars.

Non-Stop

Each layer of a processor is constructed using a mask which is like a stencil, to highlight the areas to be deposited, etched or doped.

Nano chip designer

Doping involves adding impurities to the silicon to change its electrical characteristics - something which has to be done with astonishing precision.

Each mask used to cost several thousand pounds but as the complexity of chips has increased, and the smallest possible feature size has reduced, the number and intricacy of these masks has increased.

In addition, the size of individual features is now smaller than the wavelength of light that used to be used to pattern them, which means the use of some clever optics is required.

The yellowish lights used inside the fab are to make sure that they do not interfere with this process.

The result of all of this is that an individual silicon integrated circuit may require masks that cost hundreds of thousands of pounds, or perhaps even millions of pounds, to produce and machines that cost a similar amount.

Fab world is an expensive place and, hence, it never stops.

The plants churn out chips every single day of every year. So called giga-fabs may process more than 100,000 wafers every month, each containing hundreds of chips.

Each one of the 10mm by 10mm silicon squares is a triumph of design.

As a chip designer, the impact of the incredible complexity of fab world has led to an amazing transformation in what we can do on a single chip.

The products of this strange and surreal place have burst out of its confines and have pervaded every facet of the outside world from computers and mobile phones to aircraft and microwave ovens.

Yet, incredible as it is to visit, fab world is also a place that is blissful to leave.

At the end of the day there's no better feeling than being able to rip off the itchy bunny suit, step outside into the searing heat and once again get dirty.


Source from: news.bbc.co.uk

Politics 'stifling $100 laptop'

XO Laptop in Nigeria A lack of "big thinking" by politicians has stifled a scheme to distribute laptops to children in the developing world, a spokesman has said.

Walter Bender of One Laptop per Child (OLPC) said politicians were unwilling to commit because "change equals risk".

But, he said, there needed to be a "dramatic change" because education in many countries was "failing" children.

In an interview with the BBC, Nigeria's education minister questioned the need for laptops in poorly equipped schools.

Dr Igwe Aja-Nwachuku said: "What is the sense of introducing One Laptop per Child when they don't have seats to sit down and learn; when they don't have uniforms to go to school in, where they don't have facilities?"

"We are more interested in laying a very solid foundation for quality education which will be efficient, effective, accessible and affordable."

The previous government of Nigeria had committed to buying one million laptops.

Dr Aja-Nwachuku said he was now assessing OLPC alongside other schemes from Microsoft and Intel.

"We are asking whether this is the most critical thing to drive education."

But speaking separately to BBC News, Professor Bender said: "We think that change has to be dramatic."

"You've got to be big, you've got to be bold. And what has happened is that there has been an effort to say 'don't take any risks - just do something small, something incremental'."

"It feels safe but by definition what you are ensuring is that nothing happens."

Winds of change

OLPC was started in 2002 by Nicholas Negroponte, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

It aims to put thousands of low-cost laptops, known as the XO, in the hands of children around the world.

The machines are planned to cost $100 and have been especially designed for use in remote and harsh environments where there is little access to electricity or the internet.

But getting the project off the ground has proved difficult.

Professor Negroponte has had high profile run-ins with major technology firms.

He told an audience at a Linux event: "if I am annoying Microsoft and Intel then I figure I am doing something right."

Microsoft head Bill Gates had questioned the XOs design, particularly the lack of hard drive and its "tiny screen".

But recently, the firm announced that it was working on a version of Windows XP that would run on the pared down machines.

The price will come down as the numbers go up. It will take time but it will happen

"We are spending a non-trivial amount of money," Microsoft's Will Poole told Reuters.

Earlier this year, Professor Negroponte also accused Intel of selling its own cut-price laptop - the Classmate - below cost price to drive him out of markets. He said that Intel "should be ashamed of itself" and said its tactics had hurt his mission "enormously".

Within weeks it was announced that Intel had joined the board of OLPC amid speculation that the firm was unhappy about the XO using a processor from its main rival AMD.

'Small thinking'

Although these episodes now appear to be behind OLPC, Professor Bender said there was still an "aggressive" effort to undermine the charity.

cost breakdown

"There is still a concerted misinformation campaign out there," he said.

Mr Bender said he would not speculate on who was behind the alleged campaign.

"Wherever it is coming from, it exists," he told BBC News.

But he said the main problem for OLPC was dealing with conservative politicians.

"Change equals risk especially for politicians. And we are certainly advocating change because the [education] system is failing these children," he said.

"It has not been that processor versus that processor or that operating system versus that operating system - it's been small thinking versus big thinking. That's really the issue," he said.

Sales target

Originally, the laptops were to be sold to governments in lots of one million for $100 apiece.

Over time, however, the project has dropped the minimum number of machines that can be ordered, leading some to speculate that governments were not buying into the scheme.

The project also recently launched an initiative to allow citizens of North America to buy two machines at a time; one for themselves and one for a child in a developing country.

But Mr Bender said the shift was because of a better understanding of how to distribute smaller numbers cheaply and effectively, rather than a lack of orders.

"Part of it was our understanding of how the supply chain was going to work and having enough flexibility in the supply chain to make it work with a small number," he said.

"The big numbers were really about how you get this thing started not how you make it work in the long term.

"That was always going to be about supporting any good idea that comes along. And we've been able to get it started without the big top down numbers so we are off and running."

Developing tool

Since the scheme was first announced in 2002 there have been reports of several countries signing up to it.

Both Nigeria and Libya were reported to have ordered more than one million laptops.

Boy with XO laptop
Tests of the XO are going on around the world

Other countries including Thailand and Pakistan had also placed orders, according to reports.

But recently, OLPC revealed it had just taken its first order for 100,000 of the machines, placed by the government of Uruguay.

"Uruguay is first then it will be Peru, Mexico, Ethiopia then we are going to be doing stuff in Haiti, Rwanda and Mongolia," said Mr Bender.

In addition, he said, OLPC had done a deal with Birmingham, Alabama, in the US, to provide the laptop for schools in the city.

"The numbers of countries where we have trials set up is also increasing," he said.

Tests were also going on in the Solomon Islands, Nepal and India, a country that had previously shunned the scheme.

The Indian Ministry of Education had previously dismissed the laptop as "pedagogically suspect", whilst the Education Secretary Sudeep Banerjee said the country needed "classrooms and teachers more urgently than fancy tools".

Tipping point

The first machines will cost almost double the $100 originally planned.

The high price has been blamed on the increasing cost of the raw materials for the components inside the XO. Each machine currently costs $188.

Girl with XO laptop
The laptops have been designed to cope with harsh conditions

The manufacturer of the laptop - Quanta - recently revealed it had started mass production of the machines, after a number of delays.

Previously, OLPC had said it needed three million orders to make production feasible.

Professor Negroponte said it was an important milestone that had been reached despite "all the naysayers".

"We're not turning back - we have passed the point of no return," said Mr Bender. "It is happening."Under pressure In pictures Human sacrifice

Source from: news.bbc.co.uk

Content carve up of net begins

Internet law professor Michael Geist looks at the way that cable firms are starting to shackle the net access they offer.

Ethernet cable, Eyewire
Some cable firms are treating net access like they do TV scheduling

Years later, those services are gradually morphing into "the internet as cable" as broadcasters and service providers steadily move toward the delivery of content online that bears a striking resemblance to the conventional cable model.

Cable television has its virtues - some consumer choice, the ability to time shift programs by recording them with a VCR or PVR, and video on-demand - but it is largely built around limiting consumer control.

Cable distributors determine channel choices, geographic distribution, and commercial substitution (typically with input from a broadcast regulator), offer only limited interactivity, and quietly even possess the ability to stop consumers from recording some programs.

Until recently, the internet was precisely the opposite, offering unlimited user choice, continuous interactivity, and technological capabilities to copy and remix content.

That is gradually changing as broadcasters seek to re-assert greater geographic control over their content and service providers experiment with cable-like models for prioritised content delivery.

Some US broadcasters are selling downloads through services such as Apple iTunes or Amazon.com, yet the unmistakable trend is toward free, ad-supported streaming of content mere hours after it first appears on commercial television.

Each major US broadcaster already offers a handful of shows in this manner with ambitious plans to expand their services in the months ahead.

NBC and Fox recently unveiled Hulu.com to some critical acclaim, while Comedy Central created a new site for the popular Daily Show that features a complete archive of eight years of programming.

Non-Americans, alas, are generally locked out of these sites due to licensing restrictions.

Foreign broadcasters have been scrambling to buy the internet rights to US programming, both to protect their local broadcasts and to beef up their online presence.

US broadcasters may eventually decide it is more profitable to stream their content on a worldwide basis and to remove longstanding geographic restrictions, however, for the moment they are parceling up the internet as they would a broadcast destined for multiple cable markets.

Jon Stewart, AP
The Daily Show has proved popular on net video sites

Broadcasters are not alone in working to bring the cable model of control to the internet.

Large net service firms are engaged in similar activities, with a history of blocking access to contentious content, limiting bandwidth for alternative content delivery channels, and raising the prospect of levying fees for priority content delivery.

While these issues had been perceived to be predominantly North American concerns, they are beginning to surface elsewhere.

For example, when earlier this year the BBC launched its internet-based iPlayer, several broadband providers floated the prospect of charging the BBC for delivering its content on their networks.

These issues may ultimately sort themselves out.

Users have many easily-obtainable tools to defeat geographic blocking and net firms may find themselves subject to net neutrality legislation if they continue to abuse the public's trust by failing to maintain their networks in a transparent, neutral fashion.

Yet if broadcasters and service providers are left to their own devices, it appears that they are increasingly ready to redefine the internet on cable to the internet as cable.


Source from: news.bbc.co.uk

The writing is on the wall for ads

People reading newspapers in the park, BBC
Many newspapers have dropped a paywall in favour of adverts

Like it or loathe it, adverts are going to be helping to support the online world for a long time to come, says Bill Thompson.

While most of the licence-fee supported sites provided to the UK population remain free of ads, the BBC has started treating the web in the same way as it does the TV channels it broadcasts around the world by trying to generate revenue from them.

So far it seems to be going well. Speaking at a recent media conference in London John Smith, chief executive of the corporation's commercial arm BBC Worldwide, said that it had underestimated the amount of money they could make online, and its target of getting 10% of total revenue from internet activity was too low.

Although the BBC is thinking about offering a subscription model too, asking people outside the UK to pay for access to an ad-free version of the site, the team at Worldwide seem to believe advertising is the best and simplest approach.

They are not alone.

The Corbis photo library has just announced plans to let bloggers use its photos for free as long as they allow them to carry ads, while YouTube continues to roll out its 'invideo' service, overlaying ads on selected videos.

...we must face up to the irony that our favourite websites may well be being paid for by the poor

In the media world, newspapers such as The New York Times, The Financial Times and probably the Wall Street Journal are bringing down their paywalls and turning to adverts to pay the rent, while Microsoft is experimenting with an ad-supported version of its Works software.

The growth of the internet, and the availability of content, services and even software, would seem to depend on the continuing stream of advertising revenue that flows across the network, much of it passing through Google's rainbow-coloured hands on its way, letting them continue to grow richer 'one nickel at a time', as journalist John Battelle puts it.

This growing reliance on advertising over other forms of income carries with it the same dangers as any other dependency on a single source of revenue in business.

While it is unlikely that Google, Microsoft or Yahoo will vanish, changes to their business models could threaten the deals which currently keep many sites alive.

But the real problem is that the flow of funds into the advertising networks could diminish, especially if there is an economic downturn.

Works pack shot, Microsoft
Microsoft is considering an ad-supported version of Works

Blogger and journalism teacher Jeff Jarvis believes that changes in the advertising model and a move from paid ads to other forms of communication are likely to mean that "there won't be enough to support us in media in the manner to which we've become accustomed".

He goes on to reflect that: "It's hard to imagine what other business models will come along to fund us", especially when charging for content seems to be unacceptable to readers, viewers and users.

There is another, deeper question to ask here, one concerning the audience.

Partly, I suspect, because I grew up in the days before there was any online advertising at all I don't click on ads very often, except occasionally when I'm doing a very specific product search and a relevant ad appears.

Of course clicking isn't the only way for a website to make money out of the adverts that appear, of course. Television adverts have been rather successful without any immediate way of generating a viewer response because they raise awareness of brands, products and services, and this also works online.

The impression generated isn't always positive. I'm certainly aware of the Experian credit agency because it has wallpapered my Facebook profile to the extent that I now resent its mere existence. However, other brands may do better out of the banner ads that fill this and other social-networking sites.

Lottery tickets, BBC
Net ads, like the lottery, help to subsidise the online world

My own blog has generated a whopping $70 of income from Google ads in the last two years, so I'm aware of the importance of this to small businesses.

In a fascinating post on her blog sociologist danah boyd (sic) reflects on some recent research from a study carried out by AOL into US web behaviour that indicated that the few people who do click on ads are far from typical.

The survey found that around 0.2% of web users are 'heavy clickers' and they are older, mostly female and predominantly from the Midwest. They like to click on competitions and sweepstakes.

danah, in her best academic style, suspects that 'heavy ad clickers in social network sites and other social media are more likely to trend lower in both economic and social capital than the average user', which translates into 'poor, isolated working class people click more ads'.

A lot more research is needed here, but we must face up to the irony that our favourite websites may well be being paid for by the poor, rather like the way many of the middle class's favourite cultural institutions are supported by the predominantly working class purchasers of tickets for the National Lottery.

Under pressure In pictures Human sacrifice

Source from: news.bbc.co.uk

Give me rice, but give me a laptop too

XO laptop
The XO laptop is being field tested in Nigeria

Criticism of plans to get technology into the developing world is misplaced, says Bill Thompson.

We often follow stories as they develop, coming back to them from time to time to see if early promises have been kept or bold predictions have been borne out.

It's been nearly three years since Nicholas Negroponte came onto the show to talk about his plan for a low-cost laptop for the developing world.

He wanted to build it for under $100 and sell millions to governments who would then give them away to schoolchildren.

Later he set up the One Laptop Per Child project to do this, and we've come back to the $100 laptop many times, and in December 2005 we saw the prototype launched at the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunisia.

'Radical rethinking'

We have watched as the prototype turned into the XO-1, a radical rethinking of what a laptop should be, with a brand-new user interface, a low-power chip from AMD, the Linux operating system and a low-energy high contrast screen.

And earlier this year we heard schoolchildren in Nigeria tell BBC reporter Jonathan Fildes how excited they were to have their own computers, what they planned to use them for and how good they were.

Perhaps Dvorak's just afraid that a Nigerian schoolchild, empowered by the technology entrusted to them, will take him to task for his patronising attitude, or perhaps even turn out to be a better journalist.

Not every promise was fulfilled, of course.

The computers cost around $180 to make, and instead of millions there are only a few hundred thousand being built in the first year, largely because governments have gone back on the promises they made to buy them in large numbers.

Even the Nigerian government has yet to decide whether to commit funds to the project, and is watching the trial at Abuja's Galadima primary school with interest.

To make things worse Intel and Microsoft seem to have done everything they could to undermine the project, offering cut-price hardware and discount operating systems in an attempt to keep this remarkable machine, with its Linux operating system and AMD processor, at bay.

Now US journalist John Dvorak has weighed into the debate, dismissing the laptop as a 'little green computer' that changes nothing, and arguing that sending food aid to Africa is a better way to solve the continent's problems.

Dvorak is so wrong that it pains me.

He misrepresents both the laptop's capabilities and the plans for how it will be used.

'Demeans people'

And he demeans the people who will receive the computers, asking his readers if they will feel "better about the world's problems, knowing that some poor tribesman's child has a laptop", apparently contrasting a "tribesman" with a real person like himself, safe in his Western affluence.

Dvorak is a controversial, opinionated and immensely influential technology writer, based in the US but read around the world thanks to the same internet that he dismisses as unsuitable for those living in poverty.

His comments matter because he may influence those with the power to change people's lives, especially in governments considering investing in the XO-1, yet he chooses to use his platform to criticise a self-penned parody of the computer and its planned uses.

There are sensible criticisms to be made of OLPC and its work, but Dvorak simply misrepresents their position when he dismisses the whole project as arguing: "let's give these kids these little green computers. That will do it! That will solve the poverty problem and everything else, for that matter."

At WSIS in 2005 I talked to OLPC's chief technology officer, Mary Lou Jepsen. She led innovations in the screen design, energy consumption and user interface that have resulted in a computer to transform the relationship of the world's poorest children to the networked economy.

'Hold back'

The point is not that computers or internet access are as important as clean water, good healthcare, effective education and safe housing.

It is that access to computers and the network can make it simpler and easier to deliver those other things, just as access to electric light can vastly improve the quality of people's lives.

No one starting a business in the rich world would do so without relying on computers and the internet, so why should we hold back those in the poorer countries?

Dvorak seems to have fallen for the Intel and Microsoft line that something they aren't involved with could not possibly be all that good.

The XO-1 is powerful, effective and designed to be used by those with little experience of new technology, and even those who are less than fully literate.

Yes, there will be problems. The computers need to be properly integrated into the educational curriculum; power supplies and stable network connections have to be provided; some will be stolen, some will break, some will not get to the people who need them. But that is not a reason to stop.

A century ago campaigners for a working wage were adamant that just having enough to live on was not enough, that there should be space for culture and enjoyment in life, and in 1912 strikers at a textile factory in Lawrence, Massachusetts are said to have rallied around the slogan "We want bread, but we want roses, too!".

Well, we need to give the poor of today's world rice, and housing, and water, and healthcare, but they need the laptops and all that they symbolise too.

Those who argue otherwise, like John Dvorak, would condemn the poor countries to another century of want and dependency by depriving them of access to the technology that has already transformed life for the rich and privileged.

Perhaps he's just afraid that a Nigerian schoolchild, empowered by the technology entrusted to them, will take him to task for his patronising attitude, or perhaps even turn out to be a better journalist.

It wouldn't be hard.


Source from: news.bbc.co.uk

How next billion will shape net

Internet law professor Michael Geist looks at what doubling the number of users will mean to the net.

Internet cafe in China (ap)
China will add another 250 million users over the next decade

Sponsored by the United Nations, the IGF attracted politicians, business leaders, technologists, and others interested in the global issues facing the internet.

While media coverage of the forum focused primarily on domain name issues, those concerns were overshadowed by a far more important and challenging question - what will the next billion users mean to the internet itself?

With more than a billion internet users worldwide, doubling that number, which should happen within the next decade, will obviously have a profound effect on the network, technology, the computer software industry, access to knowledge, and our environment.

Understanding the effect of another billion internet users starts with considering the origin of those users. Although some will reside in North America, Europe, and other developed countries that close their domestic digital divides, the majority of the growth will undoubtedly come from the developing world.

China is already the second largest internet-using country the world and it will likely surpass the United States, the current leader, within the next year or two, adding 250 million internet users over the next decade.

Countries such as India and Brazil should add another 200 million internet users, while the fastest rate of growth is likely to come from Africa, which is starting from a much smaller base.

The next billion will differ in more ways than just geography. Most new internet users will not speak English as their first language, which should lead to increased pressure to accommodate different languages within the domain name system.

Moreover, many new internet users will have different cultural and societal views on hot-button issues such as online free speech, privacy, and copyright. As they demand a voice in global policy making, those users will help shift the policy debate.

XO laptop
The $100 laptop - new users will use different technology

The next billion may also use different technology to access the internet. The recent introduction of the XO laptop - previously known as the $100 laptop - demonstrates how the developing world has different requirements and how the technology industry will have to adapt to those changing environments.

Indeed, flashy, high-end laptops with large screens, fast DVD players, and enormous hard drivers may give way to devices that are energy efficient, sturdier, and better suited to users with varying levels of literacy.

The operating systems and software installed on those machines may also be different. Microsoft and Apple may have been the preferred choice for most of the first billion, but the next billion is far more likely to use open source software alternatives that are free and offer the chance for local customisation.

Not only will the devices be different, but the next billion will employ alternate modes to access the internet. Widespread broadband may be too expensive to install in some developing communities, leading to greater reliance on wireless and satellite-based connectivity.

Users may use mobile devices as their primary way to connect to the internet, experiencing slower speeds of access and forcing e-commerce companies to adapt to a changing marketplace.

The message of the Internet Governance Forum was that the next billion is an enormously positive story. A tale of improving economic condition that will allow for much broader participation in the communication, culture, and commercial opportunities most Canadians now take for granted.

As we welcome the next billion, we must recognise that they will do more than just use the internet. They will help reshape it in their own image and with their own values, languages, and cultures.


Source from: news.bbc.co.uk

Facing the future Facebook style

Monday, January 21, 2008

Screenshot of Facebook
Facebook has become so influential it is bound to create headlines
Regular commentator Bill Thompson ruminates on the inevitability of Facebook being in the news in 2008

It might just manage to avoid upsetting its users with new services such as Beacon, the misjudged advertising feature that told your friends about your purchases.

It might spot fake profiles of famous people, like the two Bilawal Bhutto entries that fooled both Facebook and some newspapers, and remove them before they get noticed.

And it could even avoid falling victim to one of the frauds that are likely to be perpetrated against users of all social network sites.

But even if Facebook is lucky it will still get a lot of coverage.

Because during 2007 it became the social site of choice for journalists, politicians, bloggers and others who see MySpace as for the kids and LinkedIn as too business-oriented for friends.

Face off with blogger

The spat has helped highlight the issue of data ownership and data portability, and may even lead to more careful consideration of who can do what with the information found around the internet.

It also means that when Facebook is directly involved in a story then it will be bigger than it may otherwise have been.

We saw this recently in the fuss over the site's treatment of Robert Scoble, one of the more significant technology bloggers and a former Microsoft employee and evangelist.

Scoble, who has complained that Facebook limits him to 'only' 5,000 online friends, used a program to read each name, e-mail address and date of birth and import them into another social service, Plaxo Pulse.

When you sign up for Facebook "you agree not to use the Service or the Site to harvest or collect e-mail addresses or other contact information of other users from the Service or the Site by electronic or other means for the purposes of sending unsolicited emails or other unsolicited communications".

Since Scoble was using an automated script to harvest addresses he was clearly breaking this condition, so Facebook suspended his account just as it would for any other user.

Data issues

However Scoble is an A-list blogger so when he wrote about his suspension it generated a storm of comment.

At first people were broadly on his side, criticising Facebook for acting as if it owned his network of contacts.

Others then weighed in, pointing out that the birth dates and e-mail addresses Scoble had taken didn't belong to him but to his Facebook friends, many of whom might not want to be imported into Plaxo without their consent.

Company and blogger have now made up, with Scoble having achieved his goal of enhancing his notoriety and outsider status by standing up for users right to have access to 'their' data - even when that data is personal information about other people.

And Facebook has backed away from another PR embarrassment, although not without some loss of face since it is unlikely that an unknown accountant from Basingstoke would have been allowed to return after such an egregious breach of the site's rules.

Blurring boundaries

The spat has helped highlight the issue of data ownership and data portability, and may even lead to more careful consideration of who can do what with the information found around the internet.

But it also shows how important Facebook has become as the focal point for any discussion of this type. It is our lightning conductor for many of the issues which are emerging as important in the new, online world, and that will ensure that it will be dragged into stories to make a point, even when it is not directly involved.

Of course the chances are that the site will also merit some coverage because of the way it grows.

In his list of technology predictions for 2008 noted computer scientist Ed Felten includes 'a Facebook application will cause a big privacy to-do', and he's not alone in this belief.

One reason for this is that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg comes from the generation that grew up with the network in their lives, for whom the boundaries between offline and online relationships have always been indeterminate and to some extent irrelevant.

Mark Zuckerman, founder of Facebook
Mark Zuckerman, part of a new generation of networkers

Zuckerberg's instincts are those of the children who flock to MySpace, Bebo and YouTube, not those of the older users who are now using the tools his company has developed.

This culture clash is an interesting reversal of the old order, in which teenagers would grow into a world defined by their parents and have to learn how to assert their own desires and demands.

Adults going online for the first time are entering a world that has been shaped by the interests, desires and concerns of the younger generation, a world that does not operate according to the rules they have followed in real life.

It is hardly surprising that there are differences of opinion, or that the practices of the various social sites sometimes cause concern for parents, politicians or teachers.

It will be interesting to see whether some compromise can be achieved in the coming months and years, or whether the rapid rate of network development means that even Mark Zuckerberg will end the year complaining that the youngsters are just not behaving responsibly online.


Source from: news.bbc.co.uk

'Broaderband Britain' video round-up

The BBC News website has gone to meet the select few customers with super-speed broadband and the companies re-cabling Britain.

Gaming contest

He says that British players are languishing with 2Mbps connections while contestants abroad have internet links up to 50 times as fast.

Web video in class

St Joseph's College in Dumfries is part of a Scotland-wide program aimed at bringing high speed broadband to schools.

It hooks up to an 80Mbps service, enabling teachers to rewrite lesson plans to include online video.

Comparison test

The 80Mbps service received at St Joseph's College allows pupils to access online study aids instantaneously.

Higher student Michael Osman demonstrates how the school's speedy service compares with his snail's pace home link.

Cabling up sewers

Laying high-speed fibre optic cables usually involves digging up roads.

Broadband service installer H2O is minimising disruption by laying lines capable of carrying 100Mbps services through the sewer network.

Broadband's future

The first 100Mbps cables being laid through sewers are connecting businesses and education institutes.

H2O's managing Director Elfed Thomas says he hopes to begin providing lines to homes within a year.

Net speed warning

Broadband speeds depend upon the quality of phone cables laid decades ago in many areas of the UK.

BBC Working Lunch's Rachel Horne compares what is on offer from providers relying on copper wire.

In pictures Fighting back Human sacrifice

Source from: news.bbc.co.uk

Providers question 'neutral net'

As broadband speeds get faster and the appetite for video services grows apace, bandwidth becomes an ever more precious commodity.

Labour party on YouTube
More people are watching video online

Already people are seeing the amount of bandwidth they can use limited by monthly caps and, in the US, operators have just won the right to charge more for bandwidth-hungry services.

With next-generation networks likely to cost billions to roll out, the issue of how operators will make money from them becomes even more pertinent.

Network operators in the US, and increasingly also in the UK, believe that rather than pass all of the costs on to the end user, content providers should also put their hands in their pockets in order to guarantee the best delivery of their services.

But others feel that allowing operators to prioritise certain traffic over other is fundamentally at odds with the free principles of the net which has allowed companies to flourish from very humble beginnings.

Pipe-dreams?

Games control in hand
PlusNet offers a service tailored to gamers

"It could be time for a new pricing model," said Simon Gunter, head of strategy at UK ISP Tiscali.

He added: "We have to handle much more video and the question is - how do we square the costs of distributing lots of content? We could look to minimise the costs of distribution and in that the content originators may need to contribute."

Already some operators offer tailored packages.

For example, UK internet service provider PlusNet offers a broadband package aimed just at gamers.

"It offers a better performance. Gamers are assured of a faster gaming service," said Neil Laycock, chief executive of PlusNet.

Going forward he expects more and more consumers to demand a certain quality of service from specific applications such as broadband telephony.

"Net neutrality is an issue no ISP can escape. We're convinced that demand for bandwidth driven by innovative applications will always outstrip the physical and economic supply of network," he said.

"For that reason, net neutrality is a pipe-dream. We believe it is vital to put the customer in control of what takes priority on their line and we're already developing that capability," he said.

Quality of service

The debate to maintain a neutral net has been raging most vehemently across the pond where competition between cable and rival operators is fierce.

In the US network providers such as Verizon and AT&T have effectively already won the right to prioritise the traffic of certain content providers, a power that has horrified net activists.

"The problem with the system in the US is that in order to guarantee one player's content it is prioritised over someone else's" explained Antony Walker, head of the UK's Broadband Stakeholder's Group.

"That is moving away from the basic model of the net that created innovators such as MySpace and YouTube on the basis that all bits of content were equal," he said.

Competition

BT engineer
Could the US learn lessons from the UK broadband market?

The issue in the US is being fought by organisations such as the Open Internet Coalition. Companies with a huge net presence such as Google and Microsoft have also joined the campaign.

The Open Internet Coalition says some companies are employing network management tools to deliberately block file-sharing traffic, irrespective of what files are being shared.

It also accuses companies of blocking content that they feel is too political in nature or is in someway derogatory to them.

For companies such as Operax, which offers the network management tools that allow operators to prioritise traffic, the issue is being blown out of proportion.

"The major arguers for net neutrality say that access to the network will be locked down for commercial advantage but I think that is a myth. There is no evil plan and everyone recognises that a competitive net is a key driver," said Chris Merrick, chief marketing officer with Operax.

The prices that companies such as Verizon - which is investing $18bn in a fibre network to reach huge swathes of the US - are paying to connect people need to be recouped somehow, he argues.

"What people are saying is 'Let's have quality of service for specific services such as voice-over IP and IPTV. Let's allocate resources to make sure they work effectively while still guaranteeing access to the free-for-all internet.'," he said.

Many believe the debate is unlikely to become quite so heated in the UK as it has in the US, largely down to the fact that the UK has a far more competitive market.

"Essentially the issue of net neutrality is about competition. In the US the broadband market operates like a duopoly," said Antony Walker.

Pricier services?

The regulatory landscape in the UK is such that there is far more competition with 60% of homes having a choice of at least four broadband providers.

And Ofcom forces BT to act with so-called "equivalence" so that any services it offers to consumers must also be offered in a wholesale version.

It is a system that the US is looking closely at.

One thing which most commentators agree on is that the cost of rolling out next-generation broadband is unlikely to be passed on to the consumer.

"The question is not whether you can charge more but rather whether you will even be able to charge what you charge today," said Ian Fogg, an analyst with research firm Jupiter.

And whether consumers are going to be accept their content in a series of differently tailored packages is also open to debate, he thinks.

"People are used to the concept that when they pay for broadband they are paying for access to the whole internet, with a choice of websites. Packaging it is going against what the internet is about," he said.In pictures Fighting back Human sacrifice

Source from: news.bbc.co.uk

Gamer jargon becomes word of the year

A word widely used among online gamers has topped an online poll for Word of the Year run by US publishing group Merriam Webster.

The word "W00t" got most votes in the poll looking for the word that best sums up 2007.

It is now included in the Merriam Website open dictionary that exists on the web.

The word, complete with zeroes instead of Os, has become widely used in chat during online games or chatrooms among those celebrating. Merriam Webster defines it as "expressing joy (it could be after a triumph, or for no reason at all)".

In a statement Merriam Webster president John Morse said it was a good choice because it blended "whimsy and technology".

"It's a term that's arrived only because we're now communicating electronically with each other," said Mr Morse.

Although the word has achieved great currency among gamers, opinion is divided over its inspiration.

Screengrab of Twitter homepage, Twitter
A tweet is the name given to a single message on Twitter

Others, in particular Wikipedia, suggest it comes from the tabletop role-playing world of Dungeons and Dragons and is an abbreviation of "Wow, loot!".

A minor faction suggests that it might be short for "Want One Of Those" and is an expression of technological lust for a gadget, toy or other trinket.

Despite its popularity online, Merriam Webster said it would only make it into the regular dictionary if its popularity lasts. If its longevity becomes proven it could join other net-inspired terms such as the verb "to google", "blog" and NSFW.

There are currently no entries for "Woot" or "W00t" in the Oxford English Dictionary.

While W00t has its backers, there are many other potential candidates for words that sum up the technological year.

Among gamers "Ding!" could also be a popular choice as it is widely used when players reveal that one of their avatars has levelled up or got hold of a coveted magical item in a game.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, AP
Keen Facebook users are big users of its "poke" feature

Outside the gaming community, the word "poke" must be high up the list of good candidates for its currency among the growing numbers of Facebook users who use it to prompt people they know to get in touch.

Another possible is "tweet" which also emerges from that other popular networking site Twitter. The site shares short messages among groups of people and a "tweet" is the term for a single message sent over the service. It has become used in preference to "twit" for obvious reasons.

Other widely acknowledged net memes for the year must include "lolcats" - which involves captioning pictures of animals - usually cats - with humorous text typically spelled in a distinctive, if mangled, style.

In terms of technology one word that has been bandied around much more in 2007 than any other is "multi-touch". Apple's much hyped iPhone got the technological world talking about touch screens as a way to interact with a handset.

In 2007 many mobiles, such as the LG Prada, HTC Touch, sport these tangible interfaces.In pictures Fighting back Human sacrifice

Source from: news.bbc.co.uk

Open source search effort starts

Jimmy Wales, Wikimedia Foundation
Wales: "I trust Google but I still think that there's a problem with secrecy..."

For many Google has solved the problem of searching the web. But not everyone is happy with the way it works and the results it gives. Here Jimmy Wales, founder of the Wikipedia encylopedia, talks to the BBC about his new venture - Wikia Search.

Billed as an open source search engine Wikia Search launched on 7 January backed by Wikia, the commercial wiki hosting company started in 2004 by Mr Wales.

Like its older sibling Wikipedia, the new service will be run by a community of users.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's iPM programme, Jimmy Wales said Wikia Search would be, "completely controlled by the community of users. So it's going to be similar to any wiki except people will be able to participate in the creation of search results"

The new service is still in an early or "alpha" stage of development, relying as it does on user participation current results are not comparable to the established services.

An explanation of why not has been put on the Wikia Search site: "Of course, before we start, we have no user feedback data. So the results are pretty bad. But we expect them to improve rapidly in coming weeks."

With Google encroaching on Wikipedia's territory with the announcement of its new, user-generated encyclopaedia service, Knol, this might look like tit-for-tat but that's a view rejected by Mr Wales: "Everybody loves the story line but [...] none of us really think in that way."

But the new service does highlight contrasting approaches to the search business.

Screengrab of Search Wikia homepage, Wikimedia Foundation
Users will help tune Wikia Search results to make them more useful

With Wikia Search, Wales is betting on a very different approach: transparency.

He said: "The proof will be in the pudding I just believe that transparency is an important political issue on the web. One of the things I make an analogy to is openness in a free society, openness in a court system. I love Google, I trust Google but I still think that there's a problem with secrecy in that you never know who you really can trust."

So the way Wikia Search works is to be determined by the community of users, "Wherever there is an editorial decision we want to push that out into the community", said Mr Wales.

The new system will also allow users to rate search results according to their usefulness.

That approach is not without its risks. Because search results can be so important to website traffic, considerable effort is spent trying to manipulate search engine results, artificially moving a web page up the rankings.

Having an open system may make it easier for people to "game" the system, but Mr Wales thinks it also means abuse is dealt with sooner, "Sunlight is the best disinfectant," he said.

Allowing anyone to edit a service can create other ethical problems.

Google logo, AP
Google has long been king of the web search world

For the new service Mr Wales believes this is an issue left to users to resolve. "That will be for the community of editors to decide, I think in general it's going to be very similar to any wiki, if you do something bad people will get mad at you. Most people are good, you don't want to create some elaborate police state before you actually have the problems"

While there are clearly strong parallels between Wikipedia, and the new Wikia Search service, there is an important difference.

Wikia is a for-profit business. "We're planning to have an advertising supported model", said Mr Wales.

Whether the users who help shape Wikia Search will eventually be able to claim a share in the revenue in unclear.

"We have no plans and no ideas about that right now", said Mr Wales.In pictures Fighting back Human sacrifice

Source from: news.bbc.co.uk

Ten techs for the digital living room

The digital living room is finally becoming a reality for millions of people as technologies become cheaper and easier to use.

Here, the BBC News website picks some of the key technologies on offer at the Consumer Electronics Show for grabbing, watching and listening to music, television and films anytime and anywhere in the home.

A TOUR AROUND THE DIGITAL HOME

Digital home

Many of the technologies on show at CES are designed to live alongside people in their homes or make a house easier to manage.

Network control panels, TVs linked throughout the house - is this the digital home of the future?

BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones took a tour of type of house we could soon be living in in the digital age.

Buffalo server
Home servers are now affordable

As the prices of storage has tumbled home server technology has become a practical reality.

The boxes are often designed to be tucked away under the stairs and can hold terabytes of data.

The networked devices can be used to store movie, film and music downloads that can be accessed by any computer on the home network.

On display at CES were boxes from Promise Technology and Buffalo. Some come packaged with media players that can be plugged into the TV to access the content directly.

Microsoft is also pushing its Home Server software at the show. The program allows users to backup and store files from multiple machines on to a home server.

The centrally stored content can then be accessed by any networked machine anywhere in the house or in the world.

Sandisk Sansa TV
The device includes a remote control

For those people baffled by home networking, companies like SanDisk have come up with a solution for moving TV around the home.

The firm's Sansa Take TV looks like a USB memory stick but also includes an infra red remote and media player.

Downloaded files can be dragged and dropped on to the device from a PC.

The 4GB or 8GB gadgets can then be plugged into a cradle that connects directly to the television.

The remote control allows the user to browse and watch files.

Like other hardware manufacturers SanDisk has struck content deals with film and TV studios.

Programmes for the mini media player can be downloaded from the company's website Fanfare.

dlna logo
The alliance aims to make the digital living room a reality

One problem with the digital future is that there are so many different wireless standards and proprietary systems that many devices are incompatible.

But now a consortium of companies hopes to change that.

The Digital Living Network Alliance (DNLA) is made up of more than 250 companies and is trying to standardise wireless and wired networking.

Products that are certified by DLNA will communicate and share content with each other regardless of who made them.

A DLNA certified camera for example will automatically be able to talk to a certified television, printer, picture frame or media player.

Already there are products from the likes of Sony, Nokia and JVC that conform to the standards.

The alliance is also trying to negotiate standards for digital rights management (DRM) systems so that copyrighted content can be moved between different devices.

Sharp TV
The viewer can watch Tv and download real time feeds

Smart televisions that connect directly to the internet were on display at CES.

Sharp for example showed off a range of televisions that have an Ethernet port on the rear.

The televisions connect directly to a service the firm has called AQUOSnet.

The facility allows users to download widgets that appear as small windows at the side of the screen that can display sports scores or weather information, for example.

Sharp says it will also offer customer support over the internet link.

logitech Squeezebox duet
The device plugs into a hi-fi system

For those people who want to listen to music through a stereo but have a large music collection stored on their PC, help is at hand.

The Slim Squeezebox has offered a solution for a number of years.

Now owned by Logitech the firm's latest offering is the Squeezebox Duet, a device that plugs into a standard hi-fi.

The wireless box automatically detects music stored on networked computers and allows it to be played through the stereo.

A remote control with an LCD display allows users to browse their music collection using a scroll wheel. It can be used with multiple receivers.

The box also allows users to tune in to internet radio providers such as Rhapsody and Pandora.

Toshiba printer
Projectors are becoming smarter

For those people that want a big screen experience without splashing out on a large screen television, projectors offer one solution.

At this year's CES, Toshiba showed off its latest wireless projector.

The device is able to create a massive 60in image from less than one metre away for a wall.

It can project a bright 120in image from less than two metres away.

As it is wireless, it can pick up streaming content from a networked PC and also has inputs that allow it to connect to an Xbox 360 or DVD player.

Man watching 3d TV
3D TV can have other uses

With more and more choice of television and films, conflicts over what to watch on the living room TV naturally arise.

But dual screen TVs could offer a solution.

At this year's show, Samsung showed off a 3D plasma television that used polarised glasses.

And, according to the company, the same system could be used to show different images to different people at the same time.

The drawback is that both would have to wear spectacles to watch their favourite show.

logitech diNovo mini
Universal remotes do away with clunky keyboards

As the PC moves into the living room and connects to the TV, manufacturers are looking to do away with the clunky keyboard and mouse normally used to control them.

One product that allows users to do this is the Logitech diNovo Mini, a handheld keyboard and remote.

The palm sized clamshell device has a backlit keyboard, so that it can be used in the dark, and media control keys.

A circular touchpad can also be used as a cursor for navigating through menus.

The device uses Bluetooth to control the action from up to 10m away and comes complete with rechargeable batteries.

Picture frame
Digital picture frames are becoming more affordable

On of the problems with digital photography is that to display them around the home, a person would need to print out the image.

But increasingly the humble picture frame is going digital and becoming smarter.

At this year's CES there were frames with slots for memory cards; wireless frames that would stream pictures from the nearest networked PC and others that contained near field communication (NFC) technologies.

If the user had snapped a picture on their mobile phone it could be instantly uploaded to the frame by putting the two in range of each other.

Panasonic Life Walls
The Life Wall is a prototype

Although probably still many years away from commercial televisions, several companies are starting to talk about facial recognition for the living room,

Panasonic showed off its Life wall - a huge interactive display - which incorporated the technology for what it called "stay-with-me-TV".

The technology would use facial recognition to follow a persons movement around the room and optimise the size of the display depending on their position and distance from the screen.

Other companies, such as Sony, talked about using the technology to automatically switch on parental controls if a child was viewing the set.

In pictures Fighting back Human sacrifice
Source from: news.bbc.co.uk

The personal and global wireless network

Sony NF
Sony is showing off a Near Field technology called Transfer Jet

While the globe may not yet be covered in a seamless wireless network, the building blocks are being put into place.

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, a range of wireless technologies are on display, embedded in devices and products designed to connect our digital lives.

The wireless world is evolving into three types of networks - a Personal Area Network (Pan), which covers your immediate surroundings, a Local Area Network (Lan) for the home or hotspot and a Wide Area Network (Wan), which can cover a large geographic area.

One of the newest technologies on show at CES in the field of personal networks is Transfer Jet from Sony, a system to transfer bursts of data between devices in ultra close proximity.

The system can transfer data at speeds of up to 480 Megabits per second (Mbps), which makes it faster than Bluetooth and equivalent to Wireless USB, a technology which is beginning to get wide support in the electronics industry.

Wimax will be the wi-fi for the 21st century. The same great experience you have at home, we would like to give you anywhere in the world, without having to stay close to the hotspot

It is also much faster than Near Field Communications, a similar technology which is being championed by Nokia.

At CES, Sony was showing a digital camera sending photos to a PC simply by sitting it on top of the computer.

To avoid interference with the growing number of other wireless technologies in use in homes, Sony's Transfer Jet uses electric induction to transmit data, rather than radiation field antennas, which are typically used in wireless devices.

Electric induction is the technology which charges cordless electric toothbrushes.

Stiff competition

Sony is looking for partners to develop the technology and hopes to release products using Transfer Jet next year.

UWB hub
Some of the first Wireless USB solutions are on display

Jeff Ravencraft, president of the Wireless USB association, said: "As consumers get more and more comfortable with the wireless world, they want to be untethered with all of their devices.

The first wireless USB devices hit the market last year - connecting current wired USB devices, using a dongle plugged into a computer, to a wireless USB hub.

"Dell and Lenovo have announced support for the technology in their laptops - and that will help ramp up the technology," said Mr Ravencraft.

More integrated

Long term the technology is looking to become more integrated with digital living room technologies and to increase data speeds to up to 960 Mbps.

It has been called a Bluetooth killer but Mr Ravencraft said that while the two technologies did have some overlap they could complement each other.

He said: "Bluetooth is mainly used for low data rate usage - and that will remain for some time. The types of devices using Bluetooth do not need the speeds offered by Wireless USB."

But he said Wireless USB could eat into wi-fi's marketshare for connected products in the home.

"Consumers don't know how to set up a wi-fi network; it's just not happening. People like the simplicity of wireless USB."

Unsurprisingly, Mike Foley, chairman of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) which oversees development of the technology, believes it has a strong future.

Different applications

Mr Foley said Bluetooth had been implemented into lots of different applications, devices and scenarios.

Intel stand at CES
Intel is pushing mobility and Wimax

The Bluetooth SIG is working on a very low power version of Bluetooth that can be used in sensor equipment and on increasing the speed, for implementation into cameras and media devices.

Bluetooth hopes to push speeds to 100Mbps at a 10-metre range, which could make it a rival to Wireless USB.Mating technologies

But instead of trying to compete, Bluetooth is hoping the two technologies can work together.

"We are looking at utilising Ultra WideBand (Wireless USB) to transmit large amounts of data but using Bluetooth to scan devices and set up the security relationship between them."

The Bluetooth SIG is also looking at using wi-fi to transmit data once devices have paired.

The most personal of Pan technologies is NFC - which is rapidly becoming a simple way to connect devices and make cashless payments.

The contactless technology allows a small amount of data to be transmitted very quickly over a tiny distance.

It is already being used in payment systems, such as public transport in Vienna and London, and in technologies like digital picture frames, in which a camera can send a photo just by touching the frame.

But the technology is also being used to make using other wireless technologies, such as Bluetooth and Wireless USB, easier to use.

'Instantly pair'

"But with NFC, I can simply touch my phone to the speakers and they instantly pair, and I can then start playing music over Bluetooth."

The same sort of pairing system is also being touted for use with Wireless USB devices to make it easier to connect devices, such as printers to computers.

Wi-fi, one of the most ubiquitous wireless technologies, is still growing in use at an impressive speed.

There are now more than 350 million devices in the world with the technology.

But does the technology risk being squeezed out by emerging technologies, like Wireless USB, and one of the next-generation wireless networks, Wimax?

User base

She said: "Wi-fi can blanket your whole home, connect devices in the home or it can be used to make phone calls in hotspots.

"No other technology has the benefits, plus the user base and awareness that wi-fi has."

Bluetooth
CES boasts hundreds of Bluetooth products

On a more global scale, Wimax is receiving a big push from Intel at CES. It is a wireless protocol that can transmit data at high speeds over a distance of kilometres.

'Blanketed globe'

"We need a ubiquitous, wireless broadband infrastructure. Eventually we will blanket the globe in wireless broadband connectivity," said Paul Otellini, Intel chief executive.

He said Intel had embraced Wimax because it was a global technology and offered the upload and download speeds to create a more dynamic online experience.

Intel is building a Wimax radio module into its laptops this year, hoping to give the technology the same boost wi-fi received when it came "as standard" on computers.

Mooly Eden, Intel's global head of mobility, told BBC News: "Wimax will be the wi-fi for the 21st century. The same great experience you have at home, we would like to give you anywhere in the world, without having to stay close to the hotspot."

He said the ultimate goal for all wireless technologies was to live in harmony - becoming invisible to the user because the devices switched seamlessly between them.

"You shouldn't care about Wimax, wi-fi, cellular, or something like Bluetooth.

"The devices need to be smart enough to figure out automatically how to connect you and to roam seamlessly from one system to another."

Once that happens, it will finally be possible to say that the globe is enveloped in in a wireless network - from devices a hair's breadth apart to devices working in the most remote parts of the world.

In pictures Fighting back Human sacrifice

Source from: news.bbc.co.uk

Future television switches on

Everything about the televisions on show at CES is extreme.

Alongside a raft of new high definition LCD displays was the world's largest plasma display - a 150in behemoth from Panasonic - the world's thinnest commercial screen - just 3mm thick - and the world's first laser television.

The latter was debuted by Mitsubishi, a company that has claimed a number of television firsts including the first true high definition sets.

The firm describes its laser technology as a "new category" of screen, in addition to the likes of LCD and plasma displays.

It claims that current high-definition televisions only display 40% of the colour spectrum the eye can see. Lasers, it says, offer double that.

There is a lot to overcome in terms of physics and the materials

"Laser is all about light source," said Frank DeMartin of Mitsubishi. "It's the purest light source on the planet; it's the most intense light source on the planet."

The 65in sets use three lasers - red, green and blue - that project the image from the rear of the television. The result is vivid colour and crisp images.

Third dimension

The firm has not revealed how much the screens will cost but said it will start to ship them to retailers later this year.

Other firms have expressed an interest in the technology.

Mitsubishi laser television
Laser television offer crisp images and rich colours

"We are studying laser technology but still it is far from commercialisation," said Sang Huang Shin of Samsung.

Instead, Samsung has decided to focus its efforts on other television technologies.

The Korean firm has shown off 3D plasma screens, which it says will be available to consumers in 2008 and will be a world's first.

The 42in and 50in screens rely on software, running on a PC connected to the screen, and polarised glasses to create the 3D image.

"We cannot realise the 3D function without glasses," said Mr Shin.

Although technologies do exist to produce a 3D experience without the use of spectacles, according to Mr Shin, they have drawbacks.

"Without glasses, eyes quickly become tired," he said.

Bright lights

Samsung are also showing off their prototype OLED displays.

Organic light emitting diode (OLED) televisions are brighter than LCD displays and are ultra thin.

OLED television
Sony introduced the first commercial OLED screen last year

Sony released the first commercial set in October 2007. The 11in display was just 3mm thick, including the case.

OLED screens are more energy efficient than LCD panels as they do not need a backlight to boost brightness.

"The huge advantage is that it is an emissive material," said Stan Glasgow of Sony. "So we are directly putting the colours on the screen."

But it is difficult and expensive to make large screens using the technology.

Sony is showing off a 27in prototype at CES, whilst Samsung has a 31in screen.

"It's very complex - it's a new technology," said Mr Glasgow. "There is a lot to overcome in terms of physics and the materials."

The diodes emit a brilliant white light when attached to an electricity supply.

We're going to be able to recognise who is watching the set by their eyes and change parental controls automatically

Different organic materials produce different colours and are combined to produce a colour display.

The screens are brighter than LCD panels and also have better contrast ratio - resulting in sharper pictures.

At the moment the televisions are extremely expensive. Sony's first 11in screen costs 850.

As a result, Mr Glasgow believes that it will continue to be a niche product for some time.

"It will be the premium television of the future," he said.

Fun walls

If and when it finally comes to mass market, the ultra thin televisions will be competing with televisions packed with a range of new features.

Panasonic television
Panasonic showed off the world's largest plasma screen

"I think we are going to be able to interact with voice and movement," said Mr Glasgow.

"We're going to be able to recognise who is watching the set by their eyes and change parental controls automatically."

Some firms are already showing off prototypes of the technology at CES.

Panasonic have demonstrated its interactive life wall which features facial recognition to bring up customised displays and information.

The large scale prototype which is envisaged to take up the entire wall of a room also detects the distance from the viewer to the screen and optimises the size of the image accordingly.

"I think we are gong to see a whole bunch of really consumer friendly applications that will make the TV much more automatic for people."In pictures Fighting back Human sacrifice

Source from: news.bbc.co.uk

Ultra-mobile future beckons for PCs

The desktop PC's days of dominance could be numbered as laptops and ultra-mobile PCs begin to reap the benefit of ever greater, and more efficient, computing power.

"We want to be mobile and not tethered to our desks anymore - we can take our computing power with us," said Mooly Eden, general manager of the mobile platform group at Intel.

"Today's laptops have more processing power than all the computers that took the Apollo rocket to the moon," he added.

Laptop sales are expected to overtake desktop sales around the world by 2009 as the shift to an untethered computer experience accelerates.

"Consumers want the performance of a desktop - they are not willing to compromise," said Mr Eden. "They want battery life, they want wi-fi connectivity and good form factor."

Intel is pushing hard into the mobile space. At CES this week the company announced five processors for laptops, using its latest chip designs made up of transistors with features just 45 billionths of a metre in size.

Toshiba UMPC
Today's ultra mobile PCs have the same power as 2005's laptops

It also announced a new dedicated chip set, called Menlow, which will power a new generation of ultra mobile computers.

"Much of our future, in terms of volume, is going to be in this area," Paul Otellini, chief executive of Intel told BBC News.

Sales of so-called Ultra Mobile PCs (UMPC), which were first launched in 2006, have been modest, but Mr Otellini said the market was still evolving.

"Ultra mobility is the ability to access all of your information, get in touch with anyone you want to, collaborate with anyone, and run any application you want from anywhere on the planet," said Dennis Moore, chief executive of OQO, which builds UMPCs.

He added: "It's about getting the same kind of connectivity and performance as sitting at your desktop PC."

Companies such as Samsung, iRiver, Lenovo, LG and Toshiba have committed to building these mobile devices.

At CES Mr Otellini showed off a Toshiba portable computer about the size of a paperback book running Windows Vista.

"The Menlow-powered device from Toshiba has the same performance as the most powerful Centrino laptop two years ago," he told BBC News.

Intel gave the Centrino label to a combination of chipset and wi-fi technologies optimised for mobile computers.

Key issue

"We will have dual and quad-core processors in these devices in just a couple of years," he added.

The relationship between computing power and battery life was the key issue in making portable computers practical, said Mr Eden.

"More performance means more transistors and more transistors means more power and more power is less battery life; that is a problem for laptops," said Mr Eden.

Power efficiency

The crucial development for ultra mobile devices is the power efficiency afforded by the latest chip designs.

Intel's Menlow chip set is five times smaller and consumes 10 times less power than ultra low voltage mobile processors introduced in 2006.

Soon you will be able to have connected experience everywhere you go

Mr Moore said: "Power is not an issue on a desktop, because a giant fan can suck the heat out of the machine; it is in a UMPC.

"You can measure the progress because a typical UMPC is smaller than the fan in a typical desktop computer."

He added: "Today's chips do not overheat, do not drain the battery in an hour."

Lightweight machine

The goal, said Mr Eden, was to build laptops - and UMPCs - which could run off a battery for an entire day.

Companies such as Qualcomm are also building processors to drive a new generation of lightweight computers. It unveiled two designs, called Anchorage and Fairbanks, at CES.

Other firms committed to a new generation of mobile computers include Taiwanese firm Asus, which has enjoyed success with its Eee PC - a lightweight machine, which can run Windows XP, and uses solid state drives instead of hard drives to keep the weight down and improve reliability.

Mr Eden said: "Moving to solid state drives is inevitable. This is a revolution that must happen. They have many advantages compared to rotational drives - they consume less power, they are more reliable because you don't have moving parts.

"This is the optimal solution for notebooks. The only problem today is the pricing. And for that reason economies of scale will play its game."

Solid state drives are more expensive to manufacture than hard drives as they are built from silicon - and lack the higher storage functionality of a hard drive.

However, Bit Micro are expected to announce a 2.5in 832 Gigabyte solid state drive at CES, closing the gap on hard disks.

For maximum mobility, Toshiba and Samsung both unveiled 1.8in solid state drives that can hold 128 GB of data.

Wireless broadband

Drives like this will start to make their way into devices in the coming months, along with other technologies such as Wimax.

The next generation wireless broadband will be introduced into a device from OQO later this year.

Its current flagship UMPC, the e2, can run Windows Vista operating system and can also connect to the net over wi-fi and 3.5G mobile networks.

At CES on Monday Asus also announced it would release a Wimax-enabled version of its Eee PC.

Mr Otellini said Intel too was looking to roll out Wimax in its chips designed for laptops in 2008.

"Soon you will be able to have a connected experience everywhere you go," said Mr Moore.

"You won't need to worry about finding a wireless hotspot and with improvements in battery life and power efficiency you won't need to worry about recharging," he added.

In pictures Fighting back Human sacrifice

Source from: news.bbc.co.uk