Studies done at Microsoft Research are using electroencephalograph (EEG) measurements to read users’ minds in order to help tag online images. The researchers say the mind-reading technique is the first step toward a hybrid human-computer data analysis system. The manual process for tagging images is often tedious and repetitive, but with the new method of EEG tagging, workers may be able to perform other tasks during the tagging process. Computers can recognize shapes and movements very well, but they have a harder time with categorizing objects in human terms, says Microsoft Research’s Desney Tan. During testing, researchers could determine if the subject was looking at a face, an animal, or an inanimate object with good results. The researchers found that no improvement was seen if the viewer was given more than half a second to look at each image. This leads researchers to think images could be displayed at that speed with no loss of accuracy.

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Researchers at the Chinese Institute of Computing Technology (ICT) have built a supercomputer using only home-grown microprocessors. The supercomputer, known as the Dawning 6000, will run Linux and will be completed by mid 2010 at the latest, says ICT’s Weiwu Hu. The Dawning 6000 is part of ICT’s Loongson family of computers, which all will use chips based on the MIPS instruction set. The new supercomputer uses Loongson 3 chips in clusters of up to 16 cores. “This is a very high-performance MIPS architecture where, when it’s run in a cluster configuration, it becomes very powerful,” says MIPS Technologies’ Art Swift. Some analysts estimate this configuration could require as few as 782 16-core chips. The main differences between the Loongson 3 chip and earlier versions is it includes hardware translation of x86 instructions and it uses multiple cores, each capable of processing commands independently. One component not included in the Loongson 3 is multithreading, which allows a single core to execute multiple instructions simultaneously, and is included in some Intel and Sun chips. The Loongson 3 could be used in everything from desktop computers to set-top boxes.

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A team at the University of Southampton is working on a toolbar that promises to make the Web more accessible. The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) TechDis toolbar is designed to read text aloud and check spelling. It also offers a dictionary, text enlargement, color, and font changes. Moreover, users do not need specially installed assistive technologies to use the JISC TechDis toolbar with Web services such as wikis, blogs, social networks, and Twitter. “The toolbar, which is quick and easy to install, will make Web sites a lot easier for people to use,” says toolbar developer Sebastian Skuse. “For example, a visually impaired user can switch any Web page into a high contrast mode, increase the text size, or have the page read to them.” The team will now pursue beta testing of the toolbar, which can be downloaded for free and works with any platform. Skuse says the team also is considering extending the toolbar for use on mobile devices.

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Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) computer scientists have developed V3D, a software suite that features tools for visualizing, analyzing, and measuring complex, three-dimensional (3D) biological and biomedical images. The free software promises to greatly accelerate scientists’ ability to assemble and manipulate extremely detailed images. The digital reconstruction tools are 17 times more reliable than those created using commercially available software, according to HHMI computer scientist Hanchuan Peng. The HHMI team wrote algorithms to accelerate the rendering of the images on the screen. V3D allows the user to drag and drop the images to be analyzed, and to pinpoint a location in a 3D image with a mouse click. “Since we have a very fast renderer for 3D images, we were able to design new approaches to manipulate very large images freely in real time,” Peng says.
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Robotics researchers recently have focused on multiple-robot systems that work together and react to each other, with the goal of one day performing dangerous or menial tasks that machines, in combination, might do better than humans. One way researchers are getting robots to work together is by designing all-robotic soccer teams. “When we started this, the main research question was … how do you get multiple robots to coordinate?” says Carnegie Mellon University professor Manuela Veloso. Researchers also are studying insects, such as ants, bees, and termites, that work together to accomplish complex goals such as building an intricate nest. “These collective behaviors are very powerful and arise from very simple individuals,” says Harvard University professor Radhika Nagpal. Nagpal is part of a project to create robotic bees that mimic those in nature. Rice University’s James McLurkin is developing a swarm of robots that can seek out the boundaries of an area, which could be useful in exploration.
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Peruvian and Belgian researchers have developed an open source mobile learning application that enables health-care workers to connect to the free learning platform Moodle with their iPhone or iPod. The application was tested by health-care workers engaged in 20 clinics throughout Peru. The three-month pilot program used multimedia, three-dimensional animations, group discussions, policy documents, and peer-reviewed literature. The researchers are now finalizing the code before making it available under a Create Commons GNU license. Once the application is completed, the researchers say that institutions, nongovernmental organizations, and companies will be able to use the code to develop their own mobile learning environments.
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IBM China Research Lab scientists have developed Wireless Network Cloud (WNC), a new architecture that shifts the signal-processing requirements of wireless networks from base stations into the cloud. The researchers say moving to the cloud will make it easier and less expensive to upgrade networks, and could lead to wireless networks that can provide better coverage by rapidly adapting to user demand. General-purpose data centers are used to carry out the signal processing entirely in software, which enables the network to be managed in a more centralized way, with the raw signals being relayed to and from multiple antennas, says IBM’s Yonghua Lin. The centralized approach also means operators can manage their networks more efficiently. “IBM’s concept is not totally new but rather a combination of familiar themes, such as software-defined radio, network equipment virtualization, and networks as software,” says Rutgers University professor Dipankar Raychaudhuri.
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Silicon Valley is losing more foreign-born executives, engineers, and scientists due to better opportunities in their native countries, tough U.S. immigration laws, and the high cost of living in California. Meanwhile, the Silicon Valley Index shows that fewer foreign students are pursuing engineering and science degrees in the region. The annual study found that foreign students received 16.6 percent of all degrees awarded in science and engineering programs from local colleges and universities in 2007, down from 18.4 percent in 2003. Harvard Law School senior research associate Vivek Wadhwa says the region is experiencing a massive brain drain. “For the first time, immigrants have better opportunities outside the U.S.,” he says. A lack of work visas also can push foreign talent to leave the United States. Legislation pending in the U.S. Congress would give immigrant entrepreneurs with investment funding a two-year visa.
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers recently released research showing how molecules in chips can self-assemble, potentially reducing manufacturing costs by making it less expensive to etch complex designs on smaller chips. The researchers developed a technique in which polymers automatically fall into place to create an integrated circuit, says MIT professor Caroline Ross. The researchers designed a template to cause polymers to spontaneously arrange themselves into useful patterns. They then created blocks on the pattern around which the polymers lined up to create a circuit. The researchers are looking to extend the technique to denser patterns. “We want to do something that people would want to be able to use,” Ross says.
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Google’s recent disclosure of broad surveillance “originating from China” highlighted a threat that many experts are convinced will continue to grow, writes James Fallows. Purdue University computer scientist Eugene Spafford says that cybercrime has evolved into a well-financed enterprise perpetrated by mature individuals and groups of professionals who have deep financial and technical pockets, as well as the tolerance, if not support, of local governments or other countries. Cybercrime experts generally agree that the primary damage inflicted by cyberwar so far has been business-versus-business spying rather than the stealing of military secrets or electronic sabotage. Fallows says that China has become even more of a potential cyber-adversary due to its ability to rapidly approach parity with the West in terms of advanced information systems, particularly in its focus on being able to cripple foes’ networking infrastructure in times of war.
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