Global Contest for New Tech Ideas Launched
Networking giant Cisco Systems has created an international competition to find the most innovative technology business ideas. The competition, called I-Prize, provides the opportunity for the winning team to join Cisco as a new emerging-technology business unit, share a $250,000 signing bonus, and receive up to $10 million in investment capital. Winning entries should be IP-based and capable of earning Cisco at least $1 billion over a five- to seven-year period. Teams who make it to the later rounds will have the chance to use Cisco’s collaboration tools to help with their project. Registration for the contest is currently open and semi-finalists will be chosen 1 February 2008. Learn more
Analyst Stresses Need for Alternative IT Delivery Methods
Information technology leaders who continue to use traditional methods of obtaining and delivering IT are in danger of becoming obsolete within the competitive IT market, according to IT analyst company Gartner. To avoid this failure, alternative delivery and acquisition techniques such as developing new channels for obtainment, use, and payment should be implemented. These models can include web platforms, grid computing, software streaming, and utility computing. Read more
 BACK TO TOP
Personal Robot Earns Top Prize in iRobot Competition
A personal robot that can perform many human functions, created by 35-year-old Danh Trinh of Towson, Maryland, USA, has earned first place and the $5,000 prize in the iRobot Create contest. The winning robot can move around, play music, and do household tasks with the use of video cameras and sensors attached to the robot. Some of the tasks the robot can perform include the ability to turn lights on and off, remind owners to take their medication, and operate appliances. Read more
BACK TO TOP
Computer Worm Continues to Grow
A novel computer worm called Storm has been increasing in power by quietly infiltrating computers in India, posing a potentially wide-scale threat. More than 25 percent of the e-mail traffic in India’s computers carries the Storm worm, which paves a path into computer systems and allows for the theft of data or the flooding of e-mail accounts with large amounts of spam. Once users open an attachment with the virus, their computers become part of a Botnet, a group of systems infected by the virus. According to experts, the Storm virus is particularly deadly because the content of the message keeps altering and so far, roughly 1-20 million computers have been infected around the globe. Read more
BACK TO TOP
European Design, Automation, and Test Conference
Design, Automation, and Test in Europe (DATE) is the main European event bringing together designers, researchers, design automation users, specialists in hardware and software design, as well as leaders in the testing and manufacturing of electronic circuits and systems. The five-day event, scheduled for 14-18 March 2008 in Munich, Germany, consists of a conference with plenary invited papers and regular papers; panels and hot-topic sessions; tutorials and workshops; two special focus days; and a track for executives. The organization of user group meetings, fringe meetings, a university booth, a Ph.D. forum, vendor presentations, and social events offers a wide variety of opportunities to meet and exchange information on relevant issues for the design and test community. DATE is also accompanied by a commercial exhibition showing state-of-the-art design and test tools, methodologies, IP and design services, reconfigurable and other hardware platforms, embedded software, and industrial design experiences from different application domains like automotive, wireless, telecom, and multimedia applications. Learn more
BACK TO TOP
New Technologies to Speed R&D Efforts Announced
Hewlett-Packard (HP) recently announced the development of new high-performance computing (HPC) technologies that will help users quickly analyze large amounts of data and perform increasingly complex simulations. The new technologies were created to provide customers greater insight on their technology endeavors, helping them make better business decisions. The new HPC Accelerator and enhanced Multi-Core Optimization Programs are the first releases in a line of programs that will address the most critical challenges facing customers with intensive computing requirements. The newly released programs are ideal for customers in fields that require massive computational capacity like oil and gas, financial services, government and defense, life and material science, digital content creation, electronic design automation, and computer-aided design. Learn more
BACK TO TOP
IEEE Transactions on Robotics is Top-Rated Robotics Journal in Re-Issued 2006 Journal Citation Reports
IEEE Transactions on Robotics (T-RO) is the top ranking journal in the robotics category in the 2006 Journal Citation Reports (JCR) with an impact factor of 1.763, the highest in this category. The impact factor is a calculated figure indicating the average number of times articles published in the previous two years are cited in the current year.
When the JCR was originally published in June, T-RO appeared to have slipped to third place in this category. After the data was analyzed by Editor-in-Chief Alessandro De Luca, it was determined that a number of 2006 citations were missing. The JCR publisher, Thomson Scientific, confirmed the error and corrected it in the recently re-issued version of the 2006 JCR. JCR includes data for nearly 6,200 highly cited titles in a wide variety of disciplines.
The IEEE Transactions on Robotics has ranked number one in the Robotics category for several years and specifically for the five year period 2002 - 2006.
For more information, visit
BACK TO TOP
Expert: Robots Geared to Evolve into Companions, Spouses for Humans
According to an artificial intelligence researcher, robots are expected to evolve to become actual spouses for humans by the year 2050. In his book, Love and Sex with Robots, British researcher David Levy says robots will develop a heightened ability to respond to human emotions, engage in intelligent conversations, and show emotions much like humans do. Pointing to recent advancements in robotics and software over the last 50 years and the expected development of more powerful computers and computational-heavy applications in the coming decades, Levy predicts robots will increasingly become integrated into the human family unit. Read more
BACK TO TOP
Itanium Processors to Meet User Needs in Growing Ecosystem Introduced
Intel Corporation has introduced a novel series of Itanium 9100 computer processors, designed for controlling high-end applications. These processors include upgraded features that strive to improve reliability and decrease power use. One of the new features is a Core Level Lock-Step that advances the integrity of data and reliability of applications by erasing unseen errors in the core. According to Intel, this feature goes along with their Socket Level Lock-Step technology to bring stronger reliability and better availability by ensuring calculation results are consistent among the cores and sockets. The advanced scalability and resilience of these systems will aid customers in global industries that depend on real-time decision-making situations based on massive amounts of data. Read more
BACK TO TOP
Free Software Offered to Student Members
All IEEE Student Members who join the IEEE Computer Society will automatically be eligible to download development software from Microsoft, including Vista Business Edition, Visual Studio Team System, Expression Web Designer, Project 2007, Visio 2007, and Windows Server 2003. Students will be emailed an MSDN user account with login information after completing an IEEE Computer Society application. Apply for membership
BACK TO TOP
Read Past What's
New @ IEEE Newsletters 
Search
Issues Prior to May 2007
|
