France said on Tuesday that it was opposed to Google‘s plans to digitise and sell millions of books online because it was a “threat to cultural diversity.”

The project does not conform to either “intellectual property law or to competition law and constitutes a threat to cultural diversity,” the culture ministry said.

The ministry made the comments in a submission to a New York court that is due to rule next month on the legality of Google‘s plans. The submission argued that the deal would undermine French authors’ rights.

Google needs the approval of a US district court judge, who is to hold a “fairness hearing” in New York on October 7, before it can go ahead with its plans to create the world’s largest digital library and online bookstore.

The Internet giant said on Monday it would remove all books still on sale in Europe from a US online market offering millions of titles that are out of print in the United States.

The concession to European publishers came amid the controversial plans that opponents say represent a “big landgrab” of the world’s stock of up to nine million out-of-print and out-of-copyright books.

Google, which counts some three million titles potentially in play outside the United States, must instead negotiate agreements with European publishers and authors.

Scientists have created a “kernel” – the basis of a computer’s operating system – that is proven reliable with mathematics, a milestone which they claim will pave the way for a new generation of software with unprecedented levels of reliability.

According to them, the Secure Embedded L4 microkernel has potential applications in defence and other safety and security industries where the flawless operation of complex embedded systems is of critical importance.

“Formal proofs for specific properties have been conducted for smaller kernels, but what we have done is a general, functional correctness proof which has never before been achieved for real-world, high-performance software of this complexity or size,” said Dr Gerwin Klein of NICTA in Australia, who led an international team.

According to the scientists, the proof also shows that many kinds of common attacks will not work on the seL4 kernel.

For instance, the microkernel is impervious to buffer overflows, a common form of software attack where hackers take control of programs by injecting malicious code. “Our kernel cannot be subverted by this kind of attack,” Klein said.

The scientists have successfully verified 7,500 lines of C code and proved over 10,000 intermediate theorems in over 200 000 lines of formal proof.

The proof is machine-checked using the interactive theorem-proving program Isabelle. It is one of the largest machine-checked proofs ever done.

“This is a remarkable achievement,” said co-scientist Yale University’s Zhong Shao. “It makes a significant advance toward building fully verified system software with meaningful dependability guarantees.”

Added co-scientist Lawrence C Paulson of Cambridge University: “It is hard to comment on this achievement without resorting to clichés.

“Proving the correctness of 7,500 lines of C code in an operating system’s kernel is a unique achievement, which should eventually lead to software that meets currently unimaginable standards of reliability.”

Computer scientists have demonstrated how criminals could hack an electronic voting machine (EVM) and ‘steal’ votes using a malicious programming approach that had not been invented when the voting machine was designed.

The team of scientists from the Universites of California, San Diego, Michigan and Princeton employed “return-oriented programming” to force an electronic voting machine to turn against itself.

“Voting machines must remain secure throughout their entire service lifetime, and this study demonstrates how a relatively new programming technique can be used to take control of a voting machine that was designed to resist takeover, but that did not anticipate this new kind of malicious programming,” said Hovav Shacham.

Shacham is professor of computer science at UC San Diego’s (UC-SD )Jacobs School of Engineering and study co-author. His study demonstrates that return-oriented programming can be used to execute vote-stealing computations by taking control of an EVM designed to prevent code injection.

The computer scientists had no access to the machine’s source code – or any other proprietary information – when designing the demonstration attack.

By using just the information that would be available to anyone who bought or stole a voting machine, the researchers addressed a common criticism made against voting security researchers: that they enjoy unrealistic access to the systems they study.

“Based on our understanding of security and computer technology, it looks like paper-based elections are the way to go. Probably the best approach would involve fast optical scanners reading paper ballots. These kinds of paper-based systems are amenable to statistical audits, which is something the election security research community is shifting to,” said Shacham.

“You can actually run a modern and efficient election on paper,” he said.

“If you are using electronic voting machines, you need to have a separate paper record at the very least,” he added.

There findings were presented at the 2009 Electronic Voting Technology Workshop.

Functional rubber maker Yamamoto Corp has said it has developed a new material that can be used to make ‘the world’s fastest swimsuits’ in compliance with new regulations to be introduced by the International Swimming Federation.

Based on polyester, the material is ‘water-friendly’ and reduces frictional resistance in water to the level of rubber, the Osaka-based company said.

The inside of the material is covered with a titanium-alloy layer so as to keep the wearer’s muscles flexible and prevent a drop in body temperature, it added.

Although the material is rubber free, it is called Biorubber Swim TX because Biorubber Swim is Yamamoto’s established brand for swimsuit materials.

As rubber swimsuits helped swimmers rewrite world records one after another at the recent World Swimming Championships in Rome, the sport’s international governing body decided to introduce new regulations that are expected to restrict the suits to ‘textiles’.

Yamamoto will begin selling the new material in October when the federation is due to decide on the new regulations.Functional rubber maker Yamamoto Corp has said it has developed a new material that can be used to make ‘the world’s fastest swimsuits’ in compliance with new regulations to be introduced by the International Swimming Federation.

Based on polyester, the material is ‘water-friendly’ and reduces frictional resistance in water to the level of rubber, the Osaka-based company said.

The inside of the material is covered with a titanium-alloy layer so as to keep the wearer’s muscles flexible and prevent a drop in body temperature, it added.

Although the material is rubber free, it is called Biorubber Swim TX because Biorubber Swim is Yamamoto’s established brand for swimsuit materials.

As rubber swimsuits helped swimmers rewrite world records one after another at the recent World Swimming Championships in Rome, the sport’s international governing body decided to introduce new regulations that are expected to restrict the suits to ‘textiles’.

Yamamoto will begin selling the new material in October when the federation is due to decide on the new regulations.

CPUID is a new version of PC Wizard delivered. This program not only provides comprehensive information about the hardware, configuration, system files and resources in the PC, it can run a large number of benchmarks and generate clear reports, even if already attached to the e-mail client can be passed. PC Wizard can be downloaded as an installer, but there is also a zip file available, so the program can be used anywhere without first having to be installed. This is to find out what all has changed in this release:

Changes in version 2009.1.90:

* Hard disk temperature on x64 OS support
* Windows Vista and Windows Seven License information support
* Benchmark correction error with some configuration
* Microsoft Surface detection support

Down Load: http://www.cpuid.com/download/pcwizard/pcw2009_v190.zip

World’s first flexible electronic screen is set to be launched by a Cambridge-based company.
Scientists at the University of Cambridge’s Cavendish Laboratory have come up with the roll up A4-sized “intelligent plastic” display, which took a decade of development. But Plastic Logic, the company behind the e-version imagery, said that it would not produce a roll-up screen, made from a microchip of cheap plastic.
“People worry that it will break if they roll up a device and dump it in their bag,” Times Online quoted Martin Jackson, the vice-president of technology, as saying.
The Plastic Logic, created to compete with the growing variety of electronic books from companies like Sony and the US-only Amazon Kindle, will see a US launch at the beginning of next year at a predicted price of around 300 dollars.
A British launch may be seen in late 2010 or early 2011.
John Ridding, the chief executive of the Financial Times, which is also working with Plastic Logic, added: “We’re already beginning to see robust demand for newspapers on the Kindle, and before long we’ll see newspapers on a whole spectrum of devices as well as print. The advantage isof this new device is that it won’t break when I drop it, but getting advertisers involved will be key, and they want to see a colour version.”

Green groups say that humankind’s hankering after technology is one reason for global warming. Now global warming is getting back at technology.
The iPhone, the latest gizmo of techno freaks all over the world, is now withering under the heat wave, reports say.
A devastated owner of a white iPhone 3GS in France found pink ‘scorch marks’ on his handset after he left it in the sunlight for a while.
Apple, which fathered the iPhone and launched the 3GS version last month, has now confessed that it has got several such complaints in recent months.
The IT giant, which cannot stop singing the praises of its own product, warned owners a bit shamefacedly that the iPhone is not some kind of digital superhero which can survive a severe heat wave.
Leaving them in blazing sunshine could cause them to malfunction, the company admitted.
While some iPhones started glowing after being in the sun for a while, others lost their battery power quickly and became faint.
Many iPhone fans who picked up the new stylish white sets found them turning pink in the summer. It could be the digital version of a heat flush.
These complaints even forced a recalcitrant Apple to post a reluctant warning in its website.
The warning says that iPhones should ideally be kept in moderate temperatures. If the iPhone gets too hot, a warning will appear on the screen advising the user to switch it off.
One particular way in which you can harass your iPhone is leaving it in your parked car on a hot day. Some owners who tried to take a call after this treatment found that it was not too pleasant on the ears. “Toasty doesn’t even describe how surprisingly hot it got,” a surprised owner wrote in her blog.
The company spokespersons have not been too forthcoming on the issue. Like iPhones, Apple too turns sour while facing heat

The public’s “right to starlight” is steadily being eroded by urban illumination that is the bane of astronomers everywhere, the International Astronomical Union said on Friday.

The body, which wrapped up an 11-day general assembly in Rio de Janeiro that attracted galaxy-gazers from around the world, argued that authorities should use more unobtrusive lighting in cities and towns.

Such moves would not only free up the night skies to make for easier viewing but also promote environmental protection, energy savings and tourism, it said in a resolution.

“The progressive degradation of the night sky should be regarded as a fundamental loss,” the union said.

It asserted that being able to see the stars “should be considered a fundamental socio-cultural and environmental right.”

One Brazilian astronomer, Augusto Daminelli, told the Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper that in Rio, “it should be possible to see up to 5,000 stars with the naked eye – but because of light pollution we can only see 150.”

He noted that nearly a third of electric lighting is directed to the heavens, and thus wasted.

Possible solutions include putting aluminum covers on street lighting to direct the illumination downwards, and using weaker, more energy-efficient lamps, he said.

“More than two billion people in the world are unable to see the Milky Way. For us, the sky is a heritage site for mankind,” he said.

A US judge has ordered Microsoft to stop selling its popular Word document creation application in the country in 60 days after finding that the software contains technology that violates a patent held by a third party.

Microsoft Office, which includes Word, accounted for more than $3 billion in worldwide sales in Microsoft’s most recent fiscal year and is used by literally millions of businesses and consumers for everyday tasks like word processing and making spreadsheets and presentations.

I4i, a Toronto-based software maker, has been battling Microsoft over an obscure patent related to XML or Extensible Markup Language. XML is a key software component of many websites as well as Word and other programs.

Upholding a a May 20 jury decision on Tuesday, Leonard Davis, a federal district court judge in Tyler, Texas, banned the world’s largest software from selling Word 2003 , Word 2007 and future versions of the software that use i4i’s technology without a licence.

The judge also ordered Microsoft to pay several hefty fines to i4i, including $200 million in damages and $40 million in “enhanced damages”.

“We feel vindicated with this result,” said Michael Vulpe, who co-founded i4i in 1993.

“It is not a question of fear or pride or anything else,” said Loudon Owen, chairman of i4i. “We’re very respectful of Microsoft, but when you’re in the right you have to persevere.”

Microsoft plans to appeal. “We are disappointed by the court’s ruling,” spokesman Kevin Kutz said in a written statement. “We believe the evidence clearly demonstrated that we do not infringe and that the i4i patent is invalid.”

The suit involves a patent i4i’s founders obtained in 1998 that is the basis for a “customised XML” tool the company supplies to drug and defence companies and other large corporations, said Owen.

XML is a specialised alphabet that can capture any kind of computer file as a regular text. It’s designed to make computer data human-readable – and make it easier for one programme to load and process data created by another programme.

Judge Davis found that Microsoft was aware of i4i’s patent and that there was enough evidence of Microsoft “wilfully infringing” on the patent to issue the injunction, pending continuation of the case.

Investors shrugged off the news – perhaps in anticipation of a higher court overturning the ruling, which arose from the plaintiff-friendly Eastern Texas federal jurisdiction, Information Week reported.

Microsoft Corp put its new Zune HD digital music and video player on sale on Thursday, pricing it below comparable Apple Inc iPod devices, in an attempt to claw some market share away from the dominant leader.

The devices, which are available for pre-order but won’t hit shelves until September 15, are priced at $219.99 for the 16 gigabyte version and $289.99 for the 32 gigabyte version. Comparable iPod Touch players are priced at $299 and $399 respectively.

A 16-gigabyte player typically holds about 4,000 songs.

Microsoft’s new Zune HD is slimmer than previous version and has a touch screen for the first time. The range comes in five colors and has a built-in radio receiver, Wi-Fi, and can display high-definition video to a big screen.