K e n n e t h T u c k e r . C O M

The propulsion of choice for science fiction writers has become the propulsion of choice for scientists and engineers at NASA.

The ultimate goal of this project is to develop a technology for on-chip integration of ultra-compact nanophotonic circuits for manipulating the light signals, similar to the way electrical signals are manipulated in computer chips. Nanoscale silicon photonics circuits are being developed to enable the integration of complete optical systems on a monolithic semiconductor chip that would eventually allow to overcome severe constraints of today's mostly copper I/O interconnects.

Microsoft told Windows XP users not to press the F1 key when prompted by a Web site, as part of its reaction to an unpatched vulnerability that hackers could exploit to hijack PCs running Internet Explorer (IE).

LinuxDevices reports that a group of companies today unveiled — and demonstrated products based on — a tiny new PCI Express expansion standard. Although it's somewhat larger than the PCI Express Mini Card, the tiny new 43mm x 65mm FeaturePak card's high density 230-pin edgecard connector provides twice the number of PCI Express and USB 2.0 channels to the host computer, plus 100 lines dedicated to general purpose I/O, of which 34 signal pairs are implemented with enhanced isolation for use in applications such as gigabit Ethernet or high-precision analog I/O. While FeaturePaks will certainly be used in all sorts of embedded devices (medical instruments, test equipment, etc.), the tiny cards could also be used for developing configurable consumer devices, for example to add an embedded firewall/router or security processor to laptop or notebook computers, or for modular functionality in TV set-top-boxes and Internet edge devices.

The GNU Compiler Collection includes front ends for C, C++, Objective-C, Fortran, Java, and Ada, as well as libraries for these languages (libstdc++, libgcj,...). GCC was originally written as the compiler for the GNU operating system. The GNU system was developed to be 100% free software, free in the sense that it respects the user's freedom.

SQL injection has become perhaps the most widely used technique for compromising Web applications, thanks to both its relative simplicity and high success rate. It's not often that outsiders get a look at the way these attacks work, but a well-known researcher is providing just that.

Today’s electric grid is dated, overburdened, and lacks the ability to readily accommodate revolutionary technologies such as electric vehicles and wind farm installations. Customers are charged one flat rate, even though the actual cost of energy can fluctuate wildly during the day. Excess generation capacity goes idle in one region as other parts of the country suffer shortages and brown-outs. Usage surges at peak periods, stressing capacity, with little opportunity to shift demand to non-peak periods.