http://www7.nationalacademies.org/cstb/pub_supercomp_int.html

This report from the National Academies' Computer Science and Telecommunications Board looks ahead to future challenges and trends in the realm of supercomputing in the US. Published in August 2003 and freely available as an online OpenBook, it delves into the current movement toward parallel computation and distributed environments. Changes in the uses and general perception of supercomputers are noted, mainly stemming from the divergence from single machines to vast networks. The report recommends continued government funding for research to maintain a reasonable rate of supercomputer advancement. [CL]

Researchers Ape Nature With Flapping-Wing Aircraft
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8852-2003Aug31.html
Project Ornithopter [pdf, mpg]
http://www.ornithopter.net/

A Washington Post article from September 1, 2003 looks back at a significant moment in aviation when, in spring 2002, researchers successfully demonstrated an ornithopter capable of hovering. An ornithopter is a kind of aircraft that mimics flying creatures by using flapping wings instead of conventional propulsion systems. Many potential applications exist for future ornithopters, including Mars missions and military reconnaissance. One of the researchers that led the development efforts maintains an excellent Web site of background material and image and video galleries. Several publications about ornithopter design can be downloaded from the Research section. [CL]

http://www.gocsi.com/forms/fbi/pdf.jhtml

The eighth annual Computer Crime and Security Survey, published on May 29, 2003, can be downloaded from this site after a brief, free registration. Developed jointly by the Computer Security Institute and the San Francisco branch of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the 21-page report documents what kinds of computer crimes are being committed, the frequency of their occurrence, and the costs that can result. Many of the statistics presented show yearly changes in practices and incidents from 1999 to 2003. The survey was developed based upon respondents from a wide range of companies and government agencies; no personal or home use was included. [CL]

http://www.nobel.se/nobel/nobel-foundation/symposia/interdisciplinary/ns120/about.html

This Web page offers a retrospective of a symposium held in May 2002 by The Nobel Foundation. "The purpose of the symposium was to explore how scientific and cultural institutions can use Internet and the new information technology to promote public understanding of science and culture." A brief recap of the event and a transcript of the panel discussion are provided online. Additionally, nearly twenty presentations and articles from keynote speakers can be downloaded. The presentations addressed many different topics, including basic justification for virtual museums, discipline-specific online exhibit design, and interactive virtual laboratories. [CL]

http://innovation.swmed.edu/HolographicTV/

Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center are working on a "project to generate dynamic three dimensional views from two dimensional holograms." Essentially a system for 3-D holographic video, the equipment setup is described in detail on the project's homepage. A general overview of holograms and the processes used to create them is provided. Visitors who are interested in a more technical explanation of how the system works can download a March 2003 research paper, which offers further details about the use of the digital micro-mirror and other issues. Two videos are presented that show the system in operation. While it is still somewhat crude, the work has applications in military, aerospace, and many other industries. [CL]

http://jodi.ecs.soton.ac.uk/

The Journal of Digital Information is an online-only publication that focuses on "the management, presentation and uses of information in digital environments." Papers included in each issue and even entire issues within volumes are categorized into specialized themes, including digital libraries, hypermedia systems, digital information usability, and several others. The compilation of journal issues is an ongoing process, with new papers added to the most recent issues roughly every month. Full text of papers dating back to the journal's inception can be accessed from an archive. [CL]

http://www.eei.org/industry_issues/energy_infrastructure/transmission/transmission_series.htm

A series of four papers exploring critical transmission infrastructure issues are presented on this site. Ironically, the papers which point out weaknesses in the electric grid and argue for expanding the transmission system, were published before the blackout of August 14, 2003 that affected millions of people in the northeastern United States and Canada. Their messages are now quite clear; one suggests that the US power grid is overburdened, while another "examines the impact of transmission congestion on electricity consumers, as well as how transmission constraints jeopardize system reliability." The papers were published for the Edison Electric Institute, which maintains many other resources on its Web site. [CL]

http://www.hpl.hp.com/techreports/2003/HPL-2003-8.pdf

Individuals' music collections that are stored on a computer, whether legal or not, are often quite large and consist of many different artists. This unique research paper from Hewlett-Packard outlines a system that can automatically identify the singer of a song based upon digital samples of that song, allowing for hassle-free sorting of many titles. The system is first trained by exposing it to a representative sample of songs from a wide range of artists. Then, by extracting sound features from different songs and analyzing them, the software can make a best guess as to which artist is singing. The system is shown to have an accuracy of 80 percent when trained with a single song for eight singers and tested on 45 other songs by the same singers. [CL]