On the Net

with Chris Goh

A little bit of IT news

With this post-Easter edition of The Echo a bit smaller than usual, we'll wait until next week for the next installment of IT in business. For now, here's some tit bits to keep you in the know until next week.

Hotnews

The Science community is abuzz with discovery of the first ever soft tissue samples of a dinosaur that seems to contain both blood vessels and cells. A tyrannosaurus rex being studied by Mary Schweitzer from North Carolina State University has excited the paleontology world, which is re-assessing the belief that organic molecules cannot last more than a million years. If the test results come up positive it will mean old bones will be re-investigated, and the Jurassic Park ideal may not be to far fetched.

The world of networking and computers has just become a little blurred. Luxtera is launching a new chip that has both traditional electronic circuits and new micro thin conduits that transmit light. Mix this with Intel's new light wave silicon and your computer will just be an extension of your network, and visa versa.

Forced to relinquish the iTunes domain he was squatting on, Benjamin Cohen is taking Apple through the high courts to overrule the request by UK internet registry Nominet to return the trademarked name to Apple.

Microsoft complying with EU requirements is creating a newly named version of Windows without Windows Media Player. This operating system will be called Edition N and will be available in the XP home and professional range.

Australian Base Cybersource is about to launch a CD that will be bootable to launch banking applications. The operating system will be Linux and Cybersource hopes that they will break into the lucrative market of internet banking.

Approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, a new technology that treats chronic back problems has been released. The SCS Spinal Cord Stimulation Device is a small rechargeable unit that sends tiny electrical signals through the spinal cord and masks the pain signals that would otherwise go to the brain.