NewsScan Daily, 7 April 2004 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 7 April 2004 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"
        Intel Plans 'Green' Chip
        Plagiarism Software Detects New Market in Corporate World
        Mobile Phones Cleared for Takeoff?
        Pope Reaches Out Through Wireless Connection
        Telstra Blocks Port 25
        Australian Junk E-Mail Laws Take Effect
        Videogames Hone Surgical Skills

FEATURES
        Flash Card
        Honorary Subscriber: Ellen Ochoa

INTEL PLANS 'GREEN' CHIP
      Intel plans to launch a new line of microprocessors and chipsets that 
contain only 5% of the lead used in its current products by the third 
quarter of 2004. "Lead-free is required for the future. This is the right 
time for this launch of the technology," says Intel materials technology 
operation director Michael Garner. Environmental groups have been 
pressuring electronics manufacturers to use less hazardous materials and 
components, and Japanese electronics conglomerate NEC says it will switch 
over to lead-free component procurement by March 2005. (Reuters 7 April 2004)
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=RYR0HA5D2I2SWCRBAEKSFEY?type=technologyNews&storyID=4774384&section=news

PLAGIARISM SOFTWARE DETECTS NEW MARKET IN CORPORATE WORLD
      Software designed to detect plagiarism is moving from academia, where 
it's been used for years to flag phony term papers, to the corporate world. 
Newspapers, law firms and even the U.N. Security Council are using the 
data-sifting tools to ensure their documents are original works, and 
companies such as iParadigm, Glatt Plagiarism Services, MyDropBox and CFL 
Software Development have moved quickly to meet the new demand. And while 
some businesses have been reluctant to deploy such software, iParadigm 
president John Barrie predicts that soon the number of corporate clients 
will outstrip academics. "The stakes are 100 times greater. We're not 
talking about grades anymore," he says. (AP/Washington Post 6 Apr 2004)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54144-2004Apr6.html

MOBILE PHONES CLEARED FOR TAKEOFF?
      Contrary to popular airline lore, mobile phones don't really 
interfere with airline navigation systems. The real reason phones are 
banned during flight is that they disrupt mobile networks on the ground as 
they zoom from one base-station to the next at 500 miles an hour. But that 
problem is about to be solved, thanks to new technology that will prevent 
cell phone signals from leaving the airplane cabin. Instead, a laptop-sized 
base station, called a "picocell," will emit a network signal that will 
enable onboard cell phones to "roam" -- eliminating any interference with 
avionics and terrestrial networks. The new technology is the creation of 
WirelessCabin, a consortium led by the German Aerospace Center and 
including members such as Airbus, Siemens and Ericsson. It is designed for 
cell phones using the European-dominant GSM standard and also supports the 
popular Wi-Fi protocol. A similar system targeting business jets will be 
flight-tested this year, and European and U.S. regulatory bodies are 
developing rules to address the use of wireless devices in flight. Airlines 
likely will team with wireless carriers or satellite operators to 
administer the in-flight mobile calling systems, and may try tying the 
service to their frequent flyer programs, offering members lower rates or 
flyer miles when they make calls. (The Economist 1 Apr 2004)
http://www.economist.com

POPE REACHES OUT THROUGH WIRELESS CONNECTION
      A new service launched by Verizon Wireless will allow subscribers to 
receive daily missives from Pope John Paul II for 30 cents apiece. The 
"nondenominational… inspirational message of prayers and guidance" can by 
accessed by addressing a text message to "24444." Within a few seconds, the 
message of the day appears on the user's cell phone. Cell phone carriers 
hope the new service will appeal to a busy populace interested in 
religion-on-the-go. "Religion has the classic ingredients of any popular 
content service: a large and passionate community of interest. For this to 
extend to the mobile environment is only natural," says an analyst at 
Strategy Analytics. The Vatican is partnering with Italian wireless service 
provider Acotel to provide the service, which will also be available to 
cell phone subscribers in Italy, Ireland and the U.K. (CNet News.com 6 Apr 
2004)
http://news.com.com/2100-1039-5185965.html

TELSTRA BLOCKS PORT 25
      Telstra's BigPond service will start closing access to port 25, used 
by outgoing SMTP e-mail, on April 13. "Although some businesses use Port 25 
to run their own e-mail systems, spammers also use it to send spam 
disguised as normal e-mails," Telstra told BigPond subscribers in an 
e-mail. The move to block port 25, which has been under consideration for 
six months, is just one of a number of anti-spam measures that will be 
unveiled "over the next few weeks," according to a Telstra spokesman, who 
adds that the measures will include "taking some steps with Telstra 
Webmail." Telstra has been criticized for allowing sign-up for its Webmail 
service to remain too easy for spammers to abuse with automated sign-up 
programs. (The Australian 6 Apr 2004)
http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,9205613%5E15306%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html

AUSTRALIAN JUNK E-MAIL LAWS TAKE EFFECT
      Hard-core spammers will be the main target when Australia's 
communications watchdog begins to enforce anti-spam legislation beginning 
this Saturday. While penalties of $1.1 million a day will be reserved for 
prolific spammers, most complaints about spamming will be treated with a 
simple phone call, according to the Australian Communications Authority. 
The ACA's focus will be on compliance, says Anti-Spam team manager Anthony 
Wing. "We are really targeting, in the first instance, the hard-core 
spammers. As long as people are trying to comply in the first instance, if 
we get a complaint it will result in a phone call." Wing says reducing the 
amount of spam that hits Australia's borders is a "longer program" that 
requires international co-operation. (The Age 6 Apr 2004)
http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/04/05/1081017085876.html

VIDEOGAMES HONE SURGICAL SKILLS
      Who would ever have thought? All those hours on the couch playing 
virtual characters in videogames have actually produced a real-life 
benefit. Researcher Dr. James Rosser says that doctors who spend at least 
three hours a week playing games make about 37% fewer errors in 
laparoscopic surgery and manage to finish up 27% faster than their 
non-game-playing colleagues. The minimally-intrusive laparoscopic technique 
involves making tiny incisions and manipulating the surgical tools by 
remote control while viewing the procedure on a video screen. It's sort of 
"like tying your shoelaces with 3-foot-long chopsticks," says Rosser, who 
says he uses the same skills he has perfected playing Super Monkey Ball to 
"go into a body and sew two pieces of intestine together." The study was 
performed by researchers at Beth Israel Hospital and the National Institute 
on Media and the Family at Iowa State University. It "landmarks the arrival 
of Generation X into medicine," says study co-author Dr. Paul J. Lynch. (AP 
7 Apr 2004)
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20040407/D81PUN100.html

*****

FLASH CARD
      "The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend." 
(Robertson Davies)

HONORARY SUBSCRIBER: ELLEN OCHOA
      Today's Honorary Subscriber is research scientist, inventor and 
astronaut Ellen Ochoa (b. 1958) who, in addition to being a veteran of four 
space flights, is the holder of three patents for important optical devices.
      Ochoa received her first patent in 1987 for an optical scanning 
device she developed while a pre-doctoral student at Stanford University. 
The device is used for detecting imperfections in a variety of intricate 
manufactured products. Later Ochoa obtained patents for optical systems 
suited to robotic manufacturing processes and for use in robotic guidance 
systems.
      In 1990 NASA selected Ochoa for astronaut training which she 
completed successfully in July 1991. Her subsequent NASA assignments 
included: flight software verification; crew representative for flight 
software and computer hardware development; crew representative for 
robotics development, testing and training; Assistant for Space Station to 
the Chief of the Astronaut Office, directing crew involvement in the 
development and operation of the Station; lead spacecraft communicator 
(CAPCOM) in Mission Control; and Acting Deputy Chief of the Astronaut 
Office. She has logged over 978 hours in space, as a mission specialist on 
STS-56 (1993), the Payload Commander on STS-66 (1994), a mission specialist 
and flight engineer on STS-96 (1999) and STS-110 (2002).
      Ochoa was born in 1958 in Los Angeles, California, but grew up in La 
Mesa, California, where she attended Grossmont High School. In 1980 she 
received a bachelor of science degree in physics from San Diego State 
University, and then went on to earn a master of science degree and 
doctorate in electrical engineering from Stanford University, completing 
her program in 1985.As a doctoral student at Stanford, and later as a 
researcher at Sandia National Laboratories and NASA Ames Research Center, 
Ochoa investigated optical systems for performing information processing.
      As Chief of the Intelligent Systems Technology Branch at Ames, she 
supervised 35 engineers and scientists in the research and development of 
computational systems for aerospace missions. During her space flights, 
Ochoa used the Remote Manipulator System (RMS) to deploy and capture the 
Spartan satellite, which studied the solar corona, and to retrieve the 
CRISTA-SPAS atmospheric research satellite at the end of its 8-day free 
flight. Ochoa was also the first to use the robotic arm to maneuver 
spacewalkers around the space station
      Ochoa holds memberships in the Optical Society of America (OSA), the 
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), Phi Beta Kappa 
and Sigma Xi honor societies. Her NASA awards include the Exceptional 
Service Medal (1997), Outstanding Leadership Medal (1995), Space Flight 
Medals (2002, 1999, 1994, 1993), and two Space Act Tech Brief Awards 
(1992). She is also the recipient of numerous other awards, including the 
Women in Aerospace Outstanding Achievement Award, The Hispanic Engineer 
Albert Baez Award for Outstanding Technical Contribution to Humanity, the 
Hispanic Heritage Leadership Award, and San Diego State University Alumna 
of the Year.
      Despite the heavy demands of her professional life, Ochoa has found 
time to become an accomplished classical flutist and a licensed pilot.

See 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0823950875/newsscancom/ref=nosim 
for the biography "Ellen Ochoa: The First Hispanic Woman Astronaut" by 
Maritza Romero -- or look for it in the multimedia section of your favorite 
library. (We donate all revenue from our book recommendations to adult 
literacy programs.)

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