Blog: Honeycombs of Magnets Could Lead to New Type of Computer Processing

Honeycombs of Magnets Could Lead to New Type of Computer Processing
Imperial College London (03/30/12) Simon Levey

Imperial College London researchers say they have developed a new material using nano-sized magnets that could lead to unique types of electronic devices with much greater processing capacity than current technologies. The researchers have shown that a honeycomb pattern of nano-sized magnets introduces competition between neighboring magnets and reduces the problems caused by these interactions by 66 percent. The researchers also found that large arrays of these nano-magnets can be used to store computable information. The research suggests that a cluster of many magnetic domains could be able to solve a complex computational problem in a single calculation. "Our philosophy is to harness the magnetic interactions, making them work in our favor," says Imperial College London researcher Will Branford. Previous studies have shown that external magnetic fields can cause the magnetic domain of each bar to ichange state, which affects the interaction between that bar and its two neighboring bars in the honeycomb. It is this pattern of magnetic states that could be computer data, according to Branford. "This is something we can take advantage of to compute complex problems because many different outcomes are possible, and we can differentiate between them electronically," he says.

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Blog: Engineers Rebuild HTTP as a Faster Web Foundation

Engineers Rebuild HTTP as a Faster Web Foundation
CNet (03/30/12) Stephen Shankland

At the recent meeting of the Internet Engineering Task Force, the working group overseeing the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) formally opened a discussion about how to make the technology faster. The discussion included Google's SPDY technology and Microsoft's HTTP Speed+Mobility technology. Google's system prefers a required encryption, while Microsoft's preference is for it to be optional. Despite this and other subtle differences, there are many similarities between the two systems. "There's a lot of overlap [because] there's a lot of agreement about what needs to be fixed," says Greenbytes' Julian Reschke. SPDY already is built into Google Chrome and Amazon Silk, and Firefox is planning on adopting it soon. In addition, Google, Amazon, and Twitter are using SPDY on their servers. "If we do choose SPDY as a starting point, that doesn't mean it won't change," says HTTP Working Group chairman Mark Nottingham. SPDY's technology is based on sending multiple streams of data over a single network connection. SPDY also can assign high or low priorities to Web page resources being requested from a server. One difference between the Google and Microsoft proposals is in syntax, but SPDY developers are flexible on the choice of compression technology, says SPDY co-creator Mike Belshe.

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Blog: Sanjeev Arora Named Winner of 2011 ACM-Infosys Award

Sanjeev Arora Named Winner of 2011 ACM-Infosys Award
CCC Blog (03/30/12) Erwin Gianchandani

Princeton University professor Sanjeev Arora has received the 2011 ACM-Infosys Foundation Award in Computing Sciences for his contributions to computational complexity, algorithms, and optimization. "Arora’s research revolutionized the approach to essentially unsolvable problems that have long bedeviled the computing field, the so-called NP-complete problems," according to an ACM-Infosys press release. Arora is an ACM Fellow and won the Gödel Prize in 2001 and 2010, as well as the ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award in 1995. Arora also is the founding director of Princeton's Center for Computational Intractability, which addresses the phenomenon that many problems seem inherently impossible to solve on currently computational models. "With his new tools and techniques, Arora has developed a fundamentally new way of thinking about how to solve problems,” says ACM President Alain Chesnais. “In particular, his work on the PCP theorem is considered the most important development in computational complexity theory in the last 30 years. He also perceived the practical applications of his work, which has moved computational theory into the realm of real world uses.” The ACM-Infosys Foundation Award recognizes personal contributions by young scientists and system developers to a contemporary innovation and includes a $175,000 prize.

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Blog: Google Launches Go Programming Language 1.0

Google Launches Go Programming Language 1.0
eWeek (03/28/12) Darryl K. Taft

Google has released version 1.0 of its Go programming language, which was initially introduced as an experimental language in 2009. Google has described Go as an attempt to combine the development speed of working in a dynamic language such as Python with the performance and safety of a compiled language such as C or C++. "We're announcing Go version 1, or Go 1 for short, which defines a language and a set of core libraries to provide a stable foundation for creating reliable products, projects, and publications," says Google's Andrew Gerrand. He notes that Go 1 is the first release of Go that is available in supported binary distribution, identifying Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, and Windows. Stability for users was the driving motivation for Go 1, and much of the work needed to bring programs up to the Go 1 standard can be automated with the go fix tool. A complete list of changes to the language and the standard library, documented in the Go 1 release notes, will be an essential reference for programmers who are migrating code from earlier versions of Go. There also is a new release of the Google App Engine SDK.

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Blog: Algorithm Spells the End for Professional Musical Instrument Tuners

Algorithm Spells the End for Professional Musical Instrument Tuners
Technology Review (03/27/12)

University of Wurzburg researcher Hay Hinrichsen says he has developed an algorithm that makes it possible for electronic tuners to match the performance of the best human tuners. Hinrichsen's algorithm involves a process known as entropy minimization. First, Hinrichsen uses the equal temperament method and then divides the audio spectrum with a resolution that matches the human ear. The method then measures the entropy in the system and applies a small random change to the frequency of a note and measures the entropy again. Hinrichsen says the algorithm is comparable to the work of a professional tuner. He notes that the software can be added to the features of relatively inexpensive electronic tuners. "The implementation of the method is very easy," Hinrichsen says.

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Blog: Google Working on Advanced Web Engineering

Google Working on Advanced Web Engineering
InfoWorld (03/27/12) Joab Jackson

Google is developing several advanced programming technologies to ease complex Web application development. "We're getting to the place where the Web is turning into a runtime integration platform for real components," says Google researcher Alex Russell. He says one major shortcoming of the Web is that technologies do not have a common component model, which slows code testing and reuse. Google wants to introduce low-level control elements without making the Web stack more confusing for novices. Google's efforts include creating a unified component model, adding classes to JavaScript, and creating a new language for Web applications. By developing a unified component model for Web technologies, Google is setting the stage for developers to "create new instances of an element and do things with it," Russell says. Google engineers also are developing a proposal to add classes to the next version of JavaScript. "We're getting to the place where we're adding shared language for things we're already doing in the platform itself," Russell says. Google also is developing a new language called Dart, which aims to provide an easy way to create small Web applications while providing the support for large, complex applications as well, says Google's Dan Rubel.

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Blog: Robots to Organise Themselves Like a Swarm of Insects

Robots to Organise Themselves Like a Swarm of Insects
The Engineer (United Kingdom) (03/26/12)

A swarm of insects is the inspiration for a warehouse transport system that makes use of autonomous robotic vehicles. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics (IML) have developed autonomous Multishuttle Moves vehicles to organize themselves like insects. The team is testing 50 shuttles at a replica warehouse. When an order is received, the shuttles communicate with one another via a wireless Internet connection and the closest free vehicle takes over and completes the task. "We rely on agent-based software and use ant algorithms based on the work of [swarm robotics expert] Marco Dorigo," says IML's Thomas Albrecht. The vehicles move around using a hybrid sensor concept based on radio signals, distance and acceleration sensors, and laser sensors to calculate the shortest route to any destination and avoid collisions. Albrecht says the system is more flexible and scalable because it can be easily adapted for smaller or larger areas based on changes in demand. "In the future, transport systems should be able to perform all of these tasks autonomously, from removal from storage at the shelf to delivery to a picking station," says IML professor Michael ten Hompel.

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