5 Patents to Watch, Technology Review, May 2001

TR selects five patents issued in 2000 that have the potential to transform existing businesses or create entire new industries.

• Distributed Computing, IBM
• Edible Vaccines, ProdiGene
• Raman Amplification, Lucent Technologies
• Tissue Engineering, University of Massachusetts Medical Center and the Children's Medical Center Corporation
• Nanowire Chip, Hewlett-Packard

http://www.technologyreview.com/magazine/may01/patents.asp

Keywords: IP, technology, patent

2,500 Economists Agree that Combating Global Warming Need Not Necessarily Harm the U.S. Economy nor Living Standards, Lycos Network, March 29, 2001

"Recent Bush Administration announcements, including President Bush's press conference statement today that curbing carbon dioxide emissions would "harm our economy and hurt our American workers" ignore a declaration - endorsed in 1997 by 2,500 economists, including eight Nobel Laureates - stating that policies to slow climate change can be enacted without harming either the United States economy or living standards."

http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Mar01/29Mar0107.html

Keywords: upsidedown economics, climate change, environment

Architect Reaches for the Clouds, Richard Taylor, Nature, March 1, 2001, pg. 18

"How fractals may figure in our appreciation of proposed new building."

"We're all familiar with the Manhattan skyline of New York, with its many skyscrapers reaching into the clouds. Imagine the effect if one of these skyscrapers were shaped like the clouds."

http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v410/n6824/full/410018a0_fs.html (subscription required - see note)

Keywords: biomimicry, design, architecture

The Artistry of Nature, Eshel Ben-Jacob and Herbert Levine, Nature, February 22, 2001, pg. 985

A "Concepts" essay discussing patterns, the power of cooperation,complexity, and more.

http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v409/n6823/full/409985a0_fs.html (subscription required - see note)

Keywords: biomimicry, complexity, chaos, patterns

Asking for Trouble, Anil Ananthaswamy, New Scientist, April 21, 2001

"Superbug genes are getting into soil and water. Will we be next?"

"Farmers should stop using antibiotics as growth promoters, say researchers in the US. They have uncovered evidence of a new route by which dangerous antibiotic resistance genes can spread."

http://www.newscientist.com/newsletter/news.jsp?id=ns228732

Keywords: health, antibiotics

Battle for the Unseen Computer, Claire Tristram, Technology Review, May 2001

Windows won the war for the desktop. But there's a new struggle over operating systems embedded in everyday objects, and this time free software has the inside track.

http://www.technologyreview.com/magazine/may01/tristram.asp

Keywords: open source, ubiquitous computing, distributed computing

Douglas Engelbart: Computer Visionary Seeks to Boost People's Collective Ability to Confront Complex Problems Coming at a Faster Pace, Marion Softky, The Almanac, February 21, 2001

A biographical sketch discussing a variety of interesting aspects and milestones in Englebart's long and innovative life and career.

www.almanacnews.com/thisweek/2001_02_21.cover21.html

Keywords: innovation, Internet, Web

Future Space: A New Blueprint for Business Architecture, Jeffrey Huang, Harvard Business Review, April 2001

"Although the Internet is an essential conduit for many business activities, it isn't rendering the physical world any less important, as the failures of many Web merchants demonstrate. People need social and sensual contact. The companies that succeed will be those best able to integrate the physical and the virtual. But that requires a new kind of business architectureÑa new approach to designing stores, offices, factories, and other spaces where business is conducted."

http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/products/hbr/apr01/R0104L.html

Keywords: design, collaboration, architecture

For a more detailed and impassioned discussion of a number of issues that Huang only hints at, see "ReWorking the Workplace - A Manifesto" on Matt Taylor's website (enter your KnetWeb login and password when prompted).

Getting More from Moore's, Gary Stix, Scientific American, April 2001

"Marshaling financial clout and technical astuteness, Intel has pushed its choice for the key technology that will extend silicon chips to their limits."

An interesting discussion of Intel's approach to R&D, which is much different from the centralized laboratories of AT&T, IBM and Xerox.

http://www.sciam.com/2001/0401issue/0401innovations.html

Keywords: ValueWeb, computing, EUV lithography

Global Cyberspace and Personal Memespace, Bruce Damer, KurtzweilAI.net, April 2001

"Virtual worlds populated by avatars of real people interacting with bots, agents, and exotic life forms: is this the future face of cyberspace?"

http://www.kurzweilai.net/meme6/frame.html?main=/articles/art0096.html

Keywords: virtual, avatars, communities, Web, Metaverse

IM Poised to Become Instant Information Tool, John Borland and Stafanie Olsen, Cnet.com, April 25, 2001

"In a few weeks, a new "buddy" will appear on instant messaging lists that could substantially change the way information is distributed and retrieved on the Net. The new buddy won't be real. It will be a "bot" created by New York company ActiveBuddy, which is developing technology that lets popular software for trading short text messages be used to grab information stored on Web sites and computer databases."

http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-5726313.html

Keywords: Internet, Web, agents, bots

Life in the Fourth Millennium, Steve Pinker, Technology Review, May/June 2000

"Science and technology could transform our world - if it weren't for human nature."

"Third-millennium futurologists should realize that their fantasies are scaring people to death. The preposterous world in which we interact only in cyberspace, choose the endings of our novels, merge with our computers and design our children from a catalogue gives people the creeps and turns them off to the genuine promise of technological progress. The constancy of human nature is our reassurance that the world we leave to our descendants will be one in which scientific progress leads to delight rather than boredom, in which our best art and literature continues to be appreciated, and in which technology will enrich rather than dominate human lives."

http://www.technologyreview.com/magazine/may00/viewpoint.asp

Keywords: technology, psychology

Life's Lessons In Design, Philip Ball, Nature, January 18, 2001, pg. 413

"So long as it avoids a Panglossian view of nature, the science of biomimetics has the potential to enrich many areas of technology. But accurate mimicry will require greater understanding of natural mechanisms at the molecular scale. As this continues to unfold, emulation may increasingly give way to assimilation of biological machinery. "

http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v409/n6818/full/409413a0_fs.html (subscription required - see note)

Keywords: biomimicry, design, engineering

This article was part of an interesting Nature Insight series on "Vision Things"

"Science's unpredictability has not prevented a group of invited scientists from being farsighted about future possibilities in fundamental research and its applications."

http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v409/n6818/full/409385a0_fs.html (subscription required - see note)

Liver on a Plate, by Michael Le Page, New Scientist, April 7, 2001

"Artificial organs could be built layer by layer using a non-stick dish"

"Tissues that mimic the complex cellular structure of organs such as the liver have been made by researchers in Japan. With the help of an "intelligent surface", they can build up layer after layer of different cells. They claim the technique could revolutionise tissue engineering."

http://www.newscientist.com/newsletter/news.jsp?id=ns228545

Keywords: health, bioengineering

The Metropolitan New Economy Index, Robert D. Atkinson and Paul D. Gottlieb, April 2001

"Benchmarking economic transformation in the nation's metropolitan areas."

"The Metropolitan New Economy Index builds on work we began in The New Economy Index and the The State New Economy Index, in which we used a new set of economic indicators to illustrate the structural foundations of what we and others have called the "New Economy." In the first report, we tracked the transformation of the US economy along four main lines: the industrial and occupational mix, globalization, entrepreneurial dynamism and competition, and the IT revolution. In the second report, we applied a similar set of indicators to the 50 states. Here, we look at the nation's top 50 metropolitan regions."

http://www.neweconomyindex.org/metro/index.html

Keywords: economics, innovation

The New Money, Scott Kirsner, Darwin, April 1, 2001

"The electronic payment systems of the future will focus on customer loyalty and convenience."

An essay on some of the complexities around developing a viable form of digital payment, including a discussion of Boggs.

http://www.darwinmag.com/read/040101/ecosystem_content.html

Keywords: economy, e-commerce, barter

Owning the Future: PB&J Patent Punch-up, Seth Shulman, Technology Review, May 2001

"Owning the peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Overreaching IP legal teams kick the firm they supposedly represent."

"Forget the hubbub over Napster, or even that inane "one-click" lawsuit between Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. We need to talk about the IP food fight over US Patent 6,004,596."

"Hold on to your lunchboxes, Technology Review readers. This legal squabble pits J. M. Smucker, beloved maker of jam, against tiny, Gaylord, MI-based Albie's Foods. For reasons that elude me, Smucker's lawyers decided to try to enforce the firm's exclusive rights to - I'm not making this up - its patented version of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich."

http://www.technologyreview.com/magazine/may01/shulman.asp

Keywords: IP, patents

Print a Pizza, New Scientist, April 14, 2001

"Browsing takeaway pizza websites will never be the same again: you'll soon be able to download and print the pizza's aroma and taste."

Combining this with some of the other similar technologies that have been in the news lately (i.e., the printable PC and 3-D printers) and will definitely lead to some interesting possibilities!

http://www.newscientist.com/newsletter/news.jsp?id=ns228643

Keywords: Internet, Web, prototyping, technology

A Science Publishing Revolution, Eugene Russo, The Scientist, April 1, 2001

"Grassroots initiative demands free, searchable content from publishers."

"Scientists and publishers generally agree that the Internet is sparking a science publishing revolution. They have yet to agree, however, on how to cultivate that revolution without alienating one another. The latest effort to push the online publishing envelope has a sizable group of scientists threatening to boycott journals whose content is not freely available in a public database six months after publication. This call for a "public library of science" (PLOS) has already caused quite a stir among both scientists and publishers."

http://www.the-scientist.com/yr2001/apr/russo_p1_010416.html

Keywords: publishing, science, databases

The Semantic Web, Tim Berners-Lee, James Hendler and Ora Lassila, Scientific American, May 2001

"A new form of Web content that is meaningful to computers will unleash a revolution of new possibilities."

http://www.scientificamerican.com/2001/0501issue/0501berners-lee.html

Keywords: Web, Internet, XML, ontologies, agents

Solar Cells Suck It Up, Environment News Service, WIRED News, April 25, 2001

"A longstanding efficiency record for electricity produced by solar cells made from cadmium telluride has been broken by researchers at the US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)."

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,43297,00.html

Keywords: energy

The Internet is Only Getting Started on Huge Innovations, Dan Gillmor, San Jose Mercury News, March 10, 2001

"Now that the Internet bubble has deflated, we can get on with what makes the technology world so fascinating and its prospects so limitless. Smart people are getting back to the basics -- coming up with great new ideas that may, just may, change the world."

http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/opinion/dgillmor/dg031101.htm

Keywords: Internet, Web

Think Like a Bee, by Jim Giles, Nature, March 29, 2001, pg. 510

"Are silicon circuits that mimic the nervous systems of insects and other animals the future of computing? Jim Giles considers the merits of neuromorphic engineering."

http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v410/n6828/full/410510a0_fs.html (subscription required - see note)

Keywords: biomimicry, metaphors, neural networks, neuromorphics engineers

Transcopyright: Pre-Permission for Virtual Republishing, Theodor Holm Nelson, October 1998

"The on-line copyright problem may be resolvable by a simple, sweeping permission method.Ê This proposed system, which anyone may use, allows broad re-use of materials in exchange for automatic tracking of ownership.Ê Payment goes to the original publisher and credit to the original author.Ê Nothing is misquoted, nothing is out of context (since the original context is immediately available), and users are not spied upon. A wording and an abbreviation for this permission system are proposed here."

http://www.sfc.keio.ac.jp/~ted/transcopyright/transcopy.html

Keywords: copyright, IP, Xanadu

Virtually There, Jaron Lanier, Scientific American, April 2001

"Three-dimensional tele-immersion may eventually bring the world to your desk."

http://www.scientificamerican.com/2001/0401issue/0401lanier.html

Keywords: tele-immersion, virtual reality, remote presence, interaction

Your Wish is My Machine Code, Duncan Graham-Rowe, New Scientist, April 7, 2001

"Who needs software engineers? Soon we'll all be programmers... "

"Bob Brennan, a software engineer at Cambridge-based start-up Synapse Solutions, has developed a piece of software that allows you to write a program by keying in what you want it to do in everyday language."

http://www.newscientist.com/newsletter/news.jsp?id=ns228539

Keywords: computers, programing, code, language