NewsScan Daily, 2 February 2005 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 2 February 2005 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"
        HP Says 'Metal and Molecules' May Replace Silicon
        Sun Aims at Pay-As-You-Go Computing
        Database Documents Diploma Mills
        Adults' Web Savvy Beats Teens'
        J.K. Rowling Denounces Internet Fraudsters

FEATURES
        Flash Card
        Honorary Subscriber: Akira Kurosawa

HP SAYS 'METAL AND MOLECULES' MAY REPLACE SILICON
      Hewlett-Packard has come up with a new approach toward computing that 
could make the transistor obsolete while extending Moore's Law. According 
to a paper published in the Journal of Applied Physics, the HP technology 
involves a series of platinum wires crossed in opposite directions called 
crossbar latches. At the junction of each crossbar are molecules of steric 
acid. The latches are formed through a specialized stamping process for 
nano-sized imprints and are so small that thousands of them could fit 
across the diameter of a human hair. "It's metal and molecules. Nothing 
else. We're getting away from the physics of silicon," says HP researcher 
and co-author Phil Kuekes. Just like in a transistor, an electrical signal 
that passes through the crossbar latch is manipulated to perform logic 
functions. "The power of this device is not when it's by itself. It's when 
it glues together other pieces of logic," says HP co-author Duncan Stewart. 
"As soon as you're able to do that, we call that a computer." The 
scientists envision computers based on the crossbar latches becoming 
commercially available as early as 2012, although they hasten to add that 
transistors will continue to play an important role in the computing 
process. "Transistors will continue to be used for years to come with 
conventional silicon circuits," says Kuekes, "but this could someday 
replace transistors in computers, just as transistors replaced vacuum tubes 
and vacuum tubes replaced electromagnet relays before them." (AP 1 Feb 2005)
<http://apnews.excite.com/article/20050201/D87VNOE80.html>

SUN AIMS AT PAY-AS-YOU-GO COMPUTING
      Sun Microsystems has launched its Sun Grid -- a large, pay-as-you-go 
computing grid that the company hopes will change the way consumers think 
about computing power. Using the Sun Grid, customers will pay $1 for each 
CPU-hour -- an hour's worth of work by a computer's central processing unit 
-- with multiple CPUs available for solving complex problems. In a 
demonstration, Sun COO Jonathan Schwartz used the system to graphically 
render data from a protein folding experiment. It took just a few seconds, 
but used 12 hours' worth of CPU time, based on hundreds of machines 
simultaneously crunching away for several seconds each. Schwartz compared 
the concept to that of an electrical grid. "There are a lot of grids out 
there," added Sun CEO Scott McNealy. "The water grid, the power grid, and 
my favorite, the sewer grid." (CNet News.com 1 Feb 2005)
<http://news.com.com/Sun+aims+to+sell+computing+like+books%2C+tickets/2100-7784_3-5559559.html>

DATABASE DOCUMENTS DIPLOMA MILLS
      The U.S. Department of Education has launched a searchable database 
that prospective online students may browse to determine whether a 
particular distance learning institution is accredited by organizations 
sanctioned by the government. The white-list enables students and 
prospective employers to distinguish between Hamilton College, a small, 
distinguished (and accredited) New York college, and Hamilton University, a 
diploma mill in Wyoming. And while Hamilton University is licensed by the 
state of Wyoming, using a degree from that school for employment in other 
states, such as Oregon or New Jersey, could lead to jail time for fraud. 
The database was created following calls for action from Congress last 
year, after some high-level government officials were discovered to have 
purchased questionable degrees to beef up their resumes. (Wired.com 2 Feb 2005)
<http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,66476,00.html>

ADULTS' WEB SAVVY BEATS TEENS'
      According to a new study by the Nielsen Norman Group, teenagers 
aren't as adept at performing tasks on the Web as adults, with teens 
completing the assigned tasks only 55% of the time, compared with 66% for 
adults. Teens' biggest handicap was their poor reading and research skills, 
and their tendency to give up quickly when frustrated. "If things aren't 
immediately apparent, they go away," says Jakob Nielsen. "Their distaste 
for reading was a big surprise. It has to be very short, brief text and big 
pictures." The study, which involved a group of 38 teenagers between the 
ages of 13 and 17, found that they were drawn to sites that provided 
opportunities for interaction, whether it be filling in an online 
questionnaire or adding their two cents to a public forum. The teens 
steered clear of sites that attempted to include children in their focus -- 
putting the word "kid" on the Web site was the kiss of death, the study 
found. And while teens paid close attention to Web sites' appearance, they 
were put off by "glitzy sites with heavy, blinking graphics," preferring 
clean, "cool" designs such as Apple Computer's site. (San Jose Mercury News 
1 Feb 2005)
<http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/10787236.htm>

J.K. ROWLING DENOUNCES INTERNET FRAUDSTERS
      J.K. Rowling, author of the mega-popular Harry Potter series, is 
warning fans to beware of Internet "phishing" scams claiming to sell 
electronic copies of her latest book, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood 
Prince." "The only genuine copies of Harry Potter remain the authorized 
traditional book or audio tapes/CDs distributed through my publishers," 
says Rowling, and her copyright lawyer, Neil Blair, notes that Rowling has 
never granted licenses for electronic versions of her books. "Please, 
please protect yourselves, your computers and your credit cards and do not 
fall for these scams," says Rowling. Police say they suspect organized 
crime gangs in Eastern Europe are behind the fraudulent e-mail offers. 
(Reuters/Washington Post 2 Feb 2005)
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56379-2005Feb2.html>

*****

FLASH CARD
      "In films murders are always very clean. I show how difficult it is 
and what a messy thing it is to kill a man. " (Alfred Hitchcock)

HONORARY SUBSCRIBER: AKIRA KUROSAWA
      Today's Honorary Subscriber is the Japanese film director Akira 
Kurosawa (1910-1998), who by the close of his career was hailed as a 
cinematic "giant" and one of the most influential directors in the history 
of the industry.
      Kurosawa's breakthrough film "Rashomon" won the Academy Award for 
Best Foreign Film in 1951 and launched a decade of landmark films that 
included "Seven Samurai" (1954) and "Throne of Blood" (1957). He also 
earned an Oscar for "Dersu Uzala" (1975), and was given an honorary Academy 
Award for lifetime achievement in 1990. His films employed an impressive 
use of widescreen cinematography and displayed a unique blend of 
traditional Japanese theatrical forms with Western styles of filmmaking.
      Born the youngest of eight children in Tokyo in 1910, Kurosawa turned 
to the cinema after failing to get into art school as a painter. He began 
his filmmaking career as an assistant director and by 1941 was writing 
scripts and directing major film sequences for other directors films. At 
age 33, he directed his first film, and then in 1950 came the Oscar-winning 
"Rashomon," in which a single violent event was retold in completely 
different versions from the point of view of the individual participants.
      There then followed a dry period in Kurosawa's creativity, during 
which he attempted suicide when he suffered a box-office failure in 1971.
      Because his films required big budgets, he was often refused funding 
by Japanese studios and forced to look elsewhere for support. Fortunately 
for movie-lovers worldwide he succeeded in finding the backing needed for 
leaving them a legacy of  30 major cinematic works of art. Kurosawa was 
married to actress Yoko Yaguchi, who died in 1985 after 35 years of 
marriage. Besides son Hisao, they had a daughter, Kazuko.

[To find a library copy of Donald Richie's "The Films or Akira Kurosawa," 
visit RLG's RedLightGreen service at 
<http://www.redlightgreen.com/ucwprod/servlet/ucw.servlets.UCWController?ACTION=EDITION&WORKID=22158488&> 
-- or to purchase a DVD of "Rashomon" go to: 
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00003CXC6/newsscancom/ref=nosim> 
Note: We donate all revenue from our book recommendations to adult literacy 
programs.]

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