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News

• IBM's Jeopardy strategy: Divide and conquer

  When it comes tackling a challenge as tough as answering a human question, the best computational approach may be to break the job down into multiple parts and run them all in parallel, IBM is betting.

• Spintronic memory gets a breakthrough

  An international group of researchers has figured out how to encode information within the spin of an electron, a technique that may one day lead to smaller, faster memory for computers.

• Japan's Holographic 3D Soccer Dream Denied

  Earlier this year, we reported on Japan's plans for a <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/196844/japan_proposes_global_holographic_world_cup_broadcast.html">holographic broadcast the 2022 World Cup</a> as part of its bid to hold the soccer tournament. If you were looking forward to this, well, we're sorry to disappoint: Japan's World Cup bid was rejected, and along with it went holographic broadcast plans.

• Microsoft pioneers tactile display technology

  Possibly leapfrogging today's touch-screen technologies, Microsoft has figured out a way to make the computer displays themselves change in shape under a person's touch.

• Intel switches on 'first virtual retail salesperson in Asia'

  Silicon solutions firm Intel Malaysia has launched the Intel Virtual Retail Salesperson (RSP) to enhance consumers' IT shopping experience in a mall.

• Intel: 1,000-core processor possible

  An experimental Intel chip shows the feasibility of building processors with 1,000 cores, an Intel researcher has asserted.

• At IBM's Zurich nanotech laboratory, silence is key

  Inside laboratory No. 2 at IBM's new nanotechnology research facility, no can hear you scream. Once the heavy door is closed, the laboratory is essentially noise-free, insulated from electromagnetic waves and vibrations that can disrupt sensitive nanotech experiments.

• Mainstream media fixated on Apple

  With its seemingly endless parade of shiny new consumer electronic devices, Apple gets more coverage in the mainstream media than any other technology company, more even than larger rivals such as Google and Microsoft, a study released on Sunday by the Pew Research Center states.

• Chemical engineer unveils 'spray-on' wool T-shirt

  Got a hot date? Pop out the spray can and spray on your very own personalized t-shirt. With your polymer-composite t-shirt you'll be hipper (or not) than Lady Gaga with her crazy outfits.

• Time waits for no one: 'leap seconds' may be cut

  Sparking a fresh round of debate over an ongoing issue in time-keeping circles, the International Telecommunications Union is considering eliminating leap seconds from the time scale used by most computer systems, Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

• Materials research needed to make space elevator a reality

  While much of the first day of the Space Elevator Conference was dedicated to the problem of space trash, the concept also faces another significant challenge.

• HP researcher claims to crack compsci complexity conundrum

  While Hewlett-Packard reels from the fallout of its CEO Mark Hurd stepping down, the company can bask in the glory of at least one potentially positive accomplishment: An HP researcher has offered up what he says is a solution to one of the hardest problems in computer science.

• Speech recognition systems must get smarter, professor says

  Those who loathe talking on the phone to automated speech recognition systems may take solace in the fact that scientists are working to make such systems more lifelike and less annoying to use.

• IBM invests in infrastructure sensing and analysis tech

  IBM will develop technology to monitor and analyze the state of buildings, roads, water lines and other urban infrastructure in a new laboratory it is opening with Carnegie Mellon University.

• This year's Defcon badge has a persistent display

  It's one of the best things about the Defcon hacking conference, and one of its most closely guarded secrets: the programmable badge that's handed out to show attendees every year.