NEW DISPLAY TECHNOLOGIES TO MAKE LCDS OBSOLETE

LCD displays were hailed the best technology in displays, however they have their own inherent problems. One is it is bulky ofcourse. Second is it is expensive and thirdly after a long use, the displays get permanently marked. However a new technology promises to lessen this problem. A new generation of super-thin, power saving displays are making their debut in the market that not only save battery lives, but also makes images sharper and crisper.

LCDs are commonly used in mobilephones, games, and MP3 players, however they require backlighting that consumes a lot of battery power. New technologies such as OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) and bi-stable are now being developed that glow on their own, consuming less power as well as making displays thinner.

However displays based on OLED and bi-stable technologies are still years away.

NTC plans to auction new 3G wireless licences in October

KOMSAN TORTERMVASANA

New third-generation wireless licences will be auctioned starting in October, according to Gen Choochart Promprasit, the chairman of the National Telecommunications Commission.
A final framework on the new licences, which include frequency allocations in the five-gigahertz band, would be completed by September, he said.

Telecom and IT network providers have been pressing the regulatory body to clarify its position on third-generation mobile and wireless technologies such as WiMax. Analysts said Thailand has been slow to implement new technologies offering broadband transmission speeds direct to mobile handsets

Gen Choochart said four 3G licences could be offered, but declined to comment on the method of allocation.

Existing mobile operators, who use 2.5G technologies such as Edge, have argued that they should be given priority in bidding for new licences. Authorities could choose to hold a straight auction, with the winning licences offered to the highest bidder, or hold a ''beauty contest'' in which the bidders' qualifications, experience and technological platforms are also used to evaluate winners.

Gen Choochart said the Council of State has already ruled the NTC could award new telecommunications licences without waiting for the creation of the National Broadcasting Commission.

The process of awarding new 3G licences has been stalled for years over legal questions on whether the NBC, which has been delayed due to political infighting, was required before new frequency spectrum was awarded for use. ''We will try to have all the issues finalised by September, to allow the industry to move forward starting this October. We see four 3G licences being awarded altogether,'' Gen Choochart said.

TotalView Technologies Announces Totalview 8.2

DRESDEN, Germany, june. 2007 -- TotalView Technologies, the world's leading provider of scaleable debugging and analysis software solutions for the multi-core age, today announced the availability of TotalView Debugger 8.2. This updated version of TotalView provides new features and support for important new platforms, allowing a greater range of users to benefit from the product's capabilities.

TotalView is a comprehensive source code and optional memory debugging solution that dramatically enhances developer productivity by simplifying the process of debugging data-intensive, multi-process, multi-threaded, or network-distributed applications.

Built to handle the complexities of the world's most demanding applications, TotalView is capable of scaling from one to thousands of processes or threads with applications distributed over multiple machines or processors.

TotalView Debugger is the only product on the market that supports mixed environments including mixed parallel paradigms (Open MP and MPI) and mixed languages (Fortran 90 and C++, for example) in one debugging session, and mixed versions of compilers in one session.

TotalView supports over 2,500 compiler variations and countless combinations of parallel programming paradigms and compilers. TotalView is robust and easy to use, with an intuitive GUI that enables users to quickly isolate and identify the root cause of problems.

SAMSUNG Showcases The Latest Mobile Technologies At CommunicAsia 2007

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a leading provider of mobile phones and telecom systems, today showcased a total of 53 mobile phones and its latest mobile technologies at CommunicAsia 2007.

Key highlights were the Ultra Edition II 12.1 (U700), the slimmest and elegantly designed HSDPA slider, the Ultra Edition II 10.9 (U600) 2.5G slider, and an exciting fashion phone lineup including the SGH-E950, E840, and J600. Samsung also introduced the Mobile WiMAX U-RAS Hub System (HS) and Convergence System (CS) for the first time in the world today.

Samsung’s diverse, innovative and market-leading handsets and technologies, including its brand new Ultra Edition II range and Mobile WiMAX technology, reinforces Samsung’s position as a design-led, forward-thinking company that heavily invests in research and development to advance the market and fuel consumer demand for innovative new technologies.

Mr. Geesung Choi, President of Samsung’s Telecommunications Network Business, said :

“The introduction of Samsung’s new Ultra Edition II range is testament to our strategic focus on the premium segment. In addition, Samsung’s vision for the future of mobile technology is increasingly becoming a reality with our successful Mobile WiMAX demonstration, underlining the converged mobile device as the future hub of all communications. With our increased focus on the Southeast Asian market, we will continue to provide a wide variety of mobile phones customized for local needs.”

Key highlights from Samsung at CommunicAsia 2007 include :



ULTRA EDITION II



Building on the runway success of Samsung’s Ultra Edition range, launched in July 2006, the Samsung Ultra Edition II embodies the best of advanced technology, revolutionary mobile designs and must-have business and consumer multimedia functions with four of the slimmest, most powerful and best looking handsets in each form factor. The Ultra Edition II range consists of two stylish and functional sliders, the Ultra Edition 10.9 (U600) and the Ultra Edition 12.1 (U700), a metallic clamshell, the Ultra Edition 9.6 (U300), and a candy bar handset, the Ultra Edition 5.9 (U100). Each of these designs offer advanced features such as a 3-megapixel camera and camcorder, high-speed internet connectivity, as well as extensive multimedia and audio capabilities.

Proving that Samsung truly is at the heart of the consumer’s needs, each of these handsets incorporates innovative consumer-driven design elements to improve the user experience, including external multimedia navigation keys for ease of use and a jewel-inspired casing.



FASHION PHONE LINE UP



For design- and style-focused customers, Samsung unveiled three fashion phones reflecting the latest design trends and cutting-edge multimedia features. The SGH-E950 is a powerful 3-megapixel camera phone equipped with an improved, unique touch navigation user interface, while the SGH-E840, with its minimalist and futuristic design, boasts a super slim frame at just 10.6mm and a glossy, mirror-like surface. The SGH-J600 comes with an affordable 1.3-megapixel camera in a variety of vivid, lively colours.

Secure Computing Enhances URL Filtering Solution with Next-Gen Reputation System

Enterprise gateway security company Secure Computing Corporation announced Friday a newly enhanced version of its URL filtering solution, SmartFilter 4.2 with TrustedSource.

The new version is set to provide granular protection against today's Web 2.0 threats, allowing companies to leverage Web 2.0 technologies without compromising corporate policy.

TrustedSource is the company's global reputation system and SmartFilter 4.2 marks the fourth Secure Computing product integrated with this technology. More Asian organizations today are embracing Web 2.0 technologies, such as wikis, tagging and social networks to increased corporate efficiency through digital collaboration.

While these new technologies provide organizations with new means to improve stakeholder relationships with user driven content, Web 2.0 technologies also present a different set of security issues such as data leakages, phishing, malware and spam.

"With Internet use a requirement in today's world, organizations -- from financial institutions to education systems -- must implement sound strategies to protect their networks against Web 2.0 threats," said Benjamin Low, Managing Director for Southeast Asia and India, Secure Computing.

"SmartFilter 4.2 provides the security protection needed in the Web 2.0 world while allowing users to access information on the web safely.

"As part of Secure Computing's vision to provide companies of all sizes with comprehensive security at the web gateway, SmartFilter now incorporates global intelligence from the company's industry-leading reputation system, TrustedSource.

Like a credit agency provides credit scores to enable reliable commerce, TrustedSource provides source-based reputation scores for URLs, domains and IP addresses as well as content-based reputation scores for web page content, messages, attachments and images.

Using this real-time scoring, SmartFilter 4.2 allows organizations to detect and prevent web security threats such as spyware, phishing and other malware.

SAMSUNG Showcases The Latest Mobile Technologies At CommunicAsia 2007

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a leading provider of mobile phones and telecom systems, today showcased a total of 53 mobile phones and its latest mobile technologies at CommunicAsia 2007. Key highlights were the Ultra Edition II 12.1 (U700), the slimmest and elegantly designed HSDPA slider, the Ultra Edition II 10.9 (U600) 2.5G slider, and an exciting fashion phone lineup including the SGH-E950, E840, and J600. Samsung also introduced the Mobile WiMAX U-RAS Hub System (HS) and Convergence System (CS) for the first time in the world today.

Samsung’s diverse, innovative and market-leading handsets and technologies, including its brand new Ultra Edition II range and Mobile WiMAX technology, reinforces Samsung’s position as a design-led, forward-thinking company that heavily invests in research and development to advance the market and fuel consumer demand for innovative new technologies.

Mr. Geesung Choi, President of Samsung’s Telecommunications Network Business, said :
“The introduction of Samsung’s new Ultra Edition II range is testament to our strategic focus on the premium segment. In addition, Samsung’s vision for the future of mobile technology is increasingly becoming a reality with our successful Mobile WiMAX demonstration, underlining the converged mobile device as the future hub of all communications. With our increased focus on the Southeast Asian market, we will continue to provide a wide variety of mobile phones customized for local needs.”

Key highlights from Samsung at CommunicAsia 2007 include :

ULTRA EDITION II

Building on the runway success of Samsung’s Ultra Edition range, launched in July 2006, the Samsung Ultra Edition II embodies the best of advanced technology, revolutionary mobile designs and must-have business and consumer multimedia functions with four of the slimmest, most powerful and best looking handsets in each form factor. The Ultra Edition II range consists of two stylish and functional sliders, the Ultra Edition 10.9 (U600) and the Ultra Edition 12.1 (U700), a metallic clamshell, the Ultra Edition 9.6 (U300), and a candy bar handset, the Ultra Edition 5.9 (U100). Each of these designs offer advanced features such as a 3-megapixel camera and camcorder, high-speed internet connectivity, as well as extensive multimedia and audio capabilities.

Proving that Samsung truly is at the heart of the consumer’s needs, each of these handsets incorporates innovative consumer-driven design elements to improve the user experience, including external multimedia navigation keys for ease of use and a jewel-inspired casing.

FASHION PHONE LINE UP

For design- and style-focused customers, Samsung unveiled three fashion phones reflecting the latest design trends and cutting-edge multimedia features. The SGH-E950 is a powerful 3-megapixel camera phone equipped with an improved, unique touch navigation user interface, while the SGH-E840, with its minimalist and futuristic design, boasts a super slim frame at just 10.6mm and a glossy, mirror-like surface. The SGH-J600 comes with an affordable 1.3-megapixel camera in a variety of vivid, lively colours.

MOBILE WIMAX

Samsung today also unveiled the latest mobile convergence devices ready for Mobile WiMAX technology. Samsung conducted live demonstrations of Mobile WiMAX, including various applications such as push-to-all, IP TV, and more. At this year’s CommunicAsia, Samsung proudly showcased the newly developed U-RAS Hybrid System (HS) and Converged System (CS), which offer more cost-effective system installation and maintenance by reducing the size of Mobile WiMAX Base Stations (U-RAS) and enlarging the coverage of Base Stations (U-RAS).

New Digital Screens Transform Outdoor Ads

by Erik Sass, Wednesday, May 30, 2007 7:45 AM ET

SOMETIMES IT'S GOOD TO BE two-dimensional. Take the new generation of technologies that are shrinking video screens to the width of a vinyl poster--or even thinner. In the coming decades, these new displays promise to revolutionize a variety of media beyond television, including outdoor advertising.

The newest entrants to the field came from rivals Sony and LG Philips, which both demonstrated flexible, paper-thin video screens at the Society for Information Display industry expo in California last week. Although the companies only gave attendees a glimpse of the technology in operation, their new video screens appear to function even while being bent into non-linear shapes--far exceeding the current capabilities of both liquid crystal and plasma screen displays.

Of course, the new technologies are also attracting the interest of outdoor advertisers. In general, digital displays offer the possibility of multiple message displays, allowing billboard owners to charge more for high-traffic day-parts--and to modify or remove ad copy quickly and cheaply, as required for client objectives.

According to Stephen Freitas, the chief marketing officer of the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, the industry is keen on new display possibilities--but is also taking its time in considering all available options. "Right now, the most mature technology is still the LED displays," Freitas said, "but we're looking at all the new technologies currently in development."
Indeed, the new technologies may cut the legs out from under LED displays. In a 2006 interview, Clear Channel Outdoor boss Paul Meyer said the company was experimenting with a new kind of digital sign technology called MagInk that could drastically reduce the cost of digital billboards.

MagInk billboards use plastic tiles coated with helix-shaped molecules one micron long to produce ultra-thin images, which can be changed up to 70 times a second, holding out the possibility of video-like animation. Once it appears, each new image does not require a continuous power supply to be visible; it will remain until another electrical charge substitutes a new image.

A 10-foot by 20-foot MagInk display currently costs around $50,000 to install--about five times the cost of a conventional display, but far less than the $500,000 price tag of an equivalent LED screen. And once the display is up, it obviates further expenditure on paper, printing and labor costs--yielding huge savings for advertisers and the proprietors of signage infrastructure. Because their power consumption is low, the MagInk billboards also save costs on cooling systems.

The new OLED technologies from Sony and Philips, the electroluminescent displays, emit their own light without the need for extra power. Most of their power consumption goes to animating the displays. Japanese cell phone manufacturers have incorporated ultra-thin, flexible video displays into a new generation of mobile handsets. It's not hard to imagine potential applications for consumer electronics, including televisions that double as wallpaper or pull down from the ceiling like movie screens. Sony's first ultra-thin TVs are said to be ready for commercialization in Japan. In Taiwan, researchers may use the technology in personal-identification cards.

The OLED also has some things in common with MagInk, including ultra-thin displays and relatively low power consumption. However, MagInk probably has a leg up for outdoor advertising, as it has already been commercialized for use in billboards in Europe. What's more, the OLED displays are also still quite small--measuring just a few inches on a side, although it's not clear how long it will take to scale them up enough in size (and down in cost) to make them viable for use in poster or billboard-sized displays.

But what if the outdoor advertising category grew to include, say... clothing? Sony's reps at the California expo speculated about incorporating OLED video displays into clothing, which would effectively make wearers into walking video platforms. It's not farfetched in a world where consumers gladly advertise brands on clothing already. Here, the flexibility of the new OLED technology would be crucial for the comfort of the displays, er, people.

New technologies may help in the early detection of glaucoma

PARIS — New functional and structural tests can allow an earlier and more accurate diagnosis of glaucoma, helping prevent the silent progression of undetected glaucomatous damage, according to a specialist speaking here at the French Society of Ophthalmology annual meeting.

"We can now go beyond the limitations of standard automated perimetry and use more sensitive, sophisticated technologies," said E. Bluwol, MD, of the Hôpital Saint-Antoine, Paris.

Dr. Bluwol and colleagues conducted a prospective study including 84 patients with ocular hypertension and 51 patients with preperimetric glaucoma. In all cases, investigators performed Humphrey Matrix frequency doubling technology perimetry (Carl Zeiss Meditec), blue-yellow perimetry and retinal nerve fibers analysis with GDx VCC scanning laser perimetry (Carl Zeiss Meditec).

"Blue-yellow perimetry and FDT Matrix allowed an early differentiation between ocular hypertension and preperimetric glaucoma. The association with GDx VCC increased their diagnostic sensitivity. On the other hand, the association of FDT Matrix and GDx seemed to be the most effective in the early diagnosis of ocular hypertension," Dr. Bluwol said.

Measuring corneal hysteresis using the Reichert Ocular Response Analyzer can also provide useful diagnostic data for the early detection of glaucoma, according to a study presented by N. Fayol, MD, of the Fondation Rothschild, Paris.

"We have compared the corneal hysteresis and corneal pachymetry data of 192 normal eyes, 43 ocular hypertension eyes and 119 glaucoma eyes," he said. "We have found that corneal hysteresis was significantly different in the three groups. It was lower in the eyes with ocular hypertension and even [lower] in glaucomatous eyes than in normal eyes. Pachymetry data were not equally significant in discriminating between the three groups."

Motorola Showcases New Technologies At The Cable Show

In addition to the technology displays, five Motorola executives will join four panel sessions to share insights on how to deliver a more engaging, interactive and enjoyable experience.

Monday, May 07, 2007: Motorola, Inc. is demonstrating new technologies that enable media mobility for cable customers at the National Cable and Telecommunications Association’s The Cable Show in Las Vegas this week. The company will showcase solutions that enable cable operators to maximise bandwidth, resolve network issues and extend unique and innovation services to the customer’s living room.

In an on-demand world, ubiquitous, immediate access to entertainment is an essential component of any consumer service offering,” said Dan Moloney, president, connected home solutions, Motorola Inc. “Motorola’s strong heritage in innovation and industry-leading expertise in home entertainment and mobile communications enables us to bring media mobility solutions to the broadband cable operator.”

Motorola will also demonstrate the DCH series of digital cable receivers. Introduced earlier this year, Motorola’s set-tops deliver high-definition video, surround-sound audio, a hard drive for time-shifting of TV shows and storage of customer-created media, and advanced processing.

The DCH receivers also enable the Motorola Follow Me TV experience, which lets consumers place-shift video, pictures, music and more throughout the home and to compatible mobile devices.

The products support CableCARD technology, Motorola’s Linux-Java software platform and the Open Cable Application Platform (OCAP) initiative.Another attraction will be the first application on its Seamless Mobility Applications Server (SMAS) – Caller ID, which allows users to view incoming caller ID notifications and call logs on their television screens.

The Motorola SMAS enables seamless delivery of applications and services regardless of access type, network or device through a modular, scalable architecture.

Tech’s Black Hole

Pew report shows almost half of Americans are slow to the web.

May 7, 2007
By Leah Messinger

A Pew Internet & American Life Project report released today said 49 percent of American adults never or only occasionally use computers, gadgets, and cell phones, a sobering assessment that suggests many technology industry forecasts pointing to huge revenue growth may be far too rosy.

The report comes at a time when it seems almost everyone is connecting to the Internet or carrying around a cell phone. But it suggests that technology developers and marketers have yet to break through to a huge swathe of Amercian adults, who remain light users or are simply not interested in experimenting with new systems and devices.

About 30 percent of American adults interviewed for the survey were characterized as “light but satisfied” users or “off the network” adults. This group includes many women over 50 who are not likely to go online each day and are among the most likely to watch TV. Some in this group have neither cell phones nor Internet connectivity.

The study described 20 percent of those surveyed as “middle-of-the-road tech users” who are avid cell phone users, but infrequent Internet surfers. Many in this group find themselves overwhelmed by the huge quantity of information available online.

As many as 31 percent of Americans belong in the “elite tech user” category, which means they are rabid Internet users and carry feature-packed cell phones. These people likely form the bulk of the estimated 19 million people that research group IDC says go online each day to research products.

Analysts recognize that time alone will eventually bring many late adopters online, but they say that engineers and product designers still have a lot of work to do to overcome the poor design and functionality common in the industry. Designers need to “think about it from the user out, rather from the device in,” said Outsell analyst Ken Doctor.

In other words, product developers must consider how a user will approach a new technology from the moment he sits down at a desk or picks up a new gadget. “I don’t want to read a 400-page manual,” said Mr. Doctor. He added that Americans, in general, “want the simplicity of a radio and a television: when you turn it on, it works.”

Bill Moggridge, co-founder of Palo Alto, California design firm IDEO said designers can take a lesson from game developers who have mastered the art of making their products easy and fast to learn. “If it’s not five seconds, don’t bother with it,” Mr. Moggridge said.

The art of creating simple interfaces is especially important to attract the “light but satisfied” and “off the network” consumers. But the ubiquity of high-speed Internet connections will likely force marginal users to adapt to more sophisticated technologies. “Over time, it’s going to be difficult to get dial-up,” said John Horrigan, Pew Internet project associate director and the report’s lead author.

Mr. Horrigan added that there is not always a direct relationship between those who adopt high-level technologies and those who have good experiences with it. He said high-tech users aren’t always excited about fast connections, business social networking requirements, and having Internet access both at work and at home. For many hi-tech users, “It just kind of bugs them to be so available to people,” said Mr. Horrigan.

Dundee joins £9.5M stem cell research collaboration programme

News release from ITI Life Sciences

ITI Life Sciences is very pleased to announce that it has reached its first technical milestone in its Stem Cell Technologies (SCT) R&D programme, and as a result Dundee University has joined the £9.5 million programme, which started in January 2007.

Dundee University will join the programme’s other research providers, Swedish biotech firm Cellartis AB and the University of Glasgow, in a collaborative effort to develop technologies that will enable automated processes to produce high volumes of high quality human stem cells. This capability does not exist anywhere in the world and its development will put Scotland at the forefront of stem cell research as well as bringing closer the use of stem cells as therapeutics.

The initial phase of the programme has focused on developing optimal conditions under which human embryonic stem (hES) cells can be tested (screened) for their ability to differentiate into specific cells. Having achieved this crucial step, ITI Life Sciences is now in a position to bring in Dundee University’s complementary screening expertise, which will be instrumental in developing additional technologies towards the programme’s ultimate objectives.

Dr Eleanor Mitchell, ITI Life Sciences’ acting CEO, said: “We are extremely pleased to have reached this milestone in our Stem Cell Technologies programme so quickly. This technical advance allows us to progress our programme quicker than expected and to bring in an additional excellent research provider in the form of Dundee University.

“Stem cell research offers huge potential for the life sciences sector in Scotland. Scottish academic studies in this field, as well as the location of a growing number of international stem cell players here means it is viewed as one of the country’s major strengths. The ITI programme aims to accelerate Scottish research and reinforce its prominence and reputation in this important area.”

Professor Julie Frearson, University of Dundee, said: “Novel technologies, such as these under development within the ITI programme, require expertise across a range of disciplines. The ITI programme provides a great opportunity for groups with such complementary skills to collaborate effectively in a situation that otherwise could not exist in any single emerging company or university.”

Professor Graeme Milligan from Glasgow University said: “We are delighted that progress on the Stem Cell Technologies programme has been rapid. This new phase means we can now begin detailed interactions with our new partner university in what is a very exciting project.”

Mr Mats Lundwall, CEO Cellartis AB, said: “We are delighted that the programme is proceeding to plan and welcome the addition of Dundee University to what is a very exciting programme.”
ITI programme
The ITI programme will use pre-existing hES cell lines (meaning that no new hES cells will need to be collected). This phase of the programme will be deemed a success if it results in a robust and standardised procedure for generating multiple human cell lines of interest to the pharmaceutical industry from undifferentiated hES cells.

Such cells will be extremely valuable tools for pharmaceutical companies, enabling them to test new drug candidates for activity (efficacy) and toxicity in biologically and disease-relevant human cells. For example, human heart cells may be used to test drug candidates designed for treating heart diseases, or human liver cells may be used to assess drug toxicity. ITI Life Sciences will own all intellectual property generated by the programme.

The market for cell-based tools within the pharmaceutical industry is large and rapidly growing: according to ITI Life Sciences’ foresighting analysis, it was worth US$1.4 billion in 2001 and has grown at a considerable rate ever since. Rapid growth is expected to continue in the future and stem cell based tools are forecast to capture a significant share of this market.

ITI Life Sciences

ITI Life Sciences is a unique and entrepreneurial organisation contributing to Scotland’s economic growth in life sciences; it aims to leverage Scotland's research excellence to develop new technologies targeting future market needs.

Publicly funded, but commercially driven, ITI Life Sciences funds and manages early stage technology research and development programmes in the life sciences arena. It selects programmes based on assessing future market needs, identifying technology opportunities, and responding to ideas, initiatives and proposals from the research and business communities. ITI Life Sciences works in collaboration with partners from industry, academia and the financial community.

ITI Life Sciences is one of three Intermediary Technology Institutes (ITIs) focused on important areas where Scotland has strong economic and business potential; the other areas are Techmedia and Energy.

ITI Life Sciences commenced full operations in April 2004. It plays a key part of Smart Successful Scotland, the Scottish Executive’s strategy for economic growth. ITI Life Sciences is based in Dundee, Scotland.

Dundee University

The University of Dundee has powered its way to an internationally recognised position of excellence in life sciences and medical research with particular expertise in cancer, diabetes and tropical diseases. The University has both a 5* rated medical school and School of Life Sciences, with research expanding from “the cell to the clinic to the community”. It was voted in 2004 and 2005 as the best scientific workplace in Europe in an international poll by Scientist magazine, and is home to 1% of the world's most cited scientists. Since the completion of the £21m Centre for Inter-Disicplinary Research, the University has a larger medical research complex than the National Institute for Medical Research in London.

Cellartis

Cellartis AB is a Swedish biotechnology company focused on human embryonic stem (hES) cells for drug discovery, toxicity testing and regenerative medicine with the main objective to develop hepatocytes and cardiomyocytes from these cells. The company is the world’s largest single source of defined hES cell lines, and has developed more than 30 well documented cell lines. Two cell lines are listed on the NIH Stem Cell Registry and 20 in the UK Stem Cell Bank. In addition, Cellartis has successfully established and characterised the first truly xeno-free hES cell line, an important step towards the clinical use of hES cells. The company’s strategy is to accelerate product development by working in partnership with academia and industry. Cellartis focuses on quality and scale-up cell production, which are crucial factors for future growth. The company was founded in 2001, has 41 employees and is headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden.

University of Glasgow

The University of Glasgow is one of the UK's leading universities with an international reputation for its research and teaching and an important role in the cultural and commercial life of the country. The Institute of Biomedical & Life Sciences (IBLS) is an internationally recognised centre for research and teaching in the biological sciences. With 140 permanent academic staff, 200 contract workers and almost 300 research students, IBLS is one of the largest centres for biological research in Europe.

With almost 800 staff, the Faculty of Medicine is among the largest in the UK and is at the forefront of leading-edge clinical interventions and discovery.

Sandia Computer Simulation Monitors Traffic In Contraband Nuclear Material

Science Daily — A Sandia National Laboratories researcher has developed a new technology, a simulation program designed to track the illicit trade in fissile and nonfissile radiological material well enough to predict who is building the next nuclear weapon and where they are doing it.

By using a cluster analysis algorithm coded into a program, this new technology," says Sandia researcher David York. "I evaluated those traffic patterns and routes in which thefts, seizures, and destinations of materials were reported. Data from these examinations were enough to allow me to retrospectively depict the A. Q. Kahn network before it was uncovered."

Kahn is a Pakistani scientist linked to the illicit proliferation of nuclear technical knowledge. Cluster analyses link data of common place, time, or material. Testing a computer simulation on a known past event is one accepted means of establishing the program's validity.
Sandia is a National Nuclear Security Administration laboratory.

In the Kahn analysis, York generated an analysis of networked routes indicative of a nuclear trafficking scheme between countries. In several verified incidents, inspectors seized uranium enriched to 80 percent, as well as dual-use items indicative of small-scale development of crude nuclear devices.

In the study, York collected and collated data from 800 open-source incidents from 1992 to the present, along with the movement of dual-use items like beryllium and zirconium. He plotted the incidents on a global information system (GIS) software platform. He came up with a network of countries and routes between countries indicative of an illicit nuclear and radiological trafficking scheme.

"The number of incidents and the quantity and quality of material seized is disturbing," York says, "particularly because this may represent a small percentage of the actual amount of material being trafficked."

The situation may be worse than it appears because much information about nuclear material traffic is classified, York says, to prevent embarrassment to countries through which a nuclear weapon or the materials to fabricate a weapon may have passed.

York presented his results in October at the International Safeguards Conference sponsored by the United Nation's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, Austria. He has also been invited to present his methods and conclusions to the European Union's Illicit Trafficking Working Group at the June meeting of the IAEA.

How does the method work? "One begins by conducting cluster analyses on the GIS platform for material or activity similar to the incident in question. This gives the analyst an idea of corridors used by potential smugglers. It also indicates where the material might have come from and where it is," says York. "If the trafficker has only a certain amount of time to reach a destination and you have that information, one can ask what is the shortest route from point A to point B, or find major highways needed to accommodate a large shipment."

For the tool to be effective, "Enough information must be collected under a cooperative international framework," York says. "Then info must be analyzed to separate patterns from noise, essentially creating intelligence."

Nation-states that reuse nuclear fuel through reprocessing can create and ship dangerous materials that previously were confined to the more industrialized world.

"We're trying to develop a market niche for this kind of tracking program," says Sandia manager Gary Rochau, "and I think we're ahead of everyone's headlights."

The method can be used to track other materials, such as drugs. "We have a lot of interest from a lot of agencies," says Rochau.

Trafficking may be engaged in by amateur smugglers trying to feed their families in a post-Soviet era. It may also be practiced by those involved in organized crime who find a lucrative market in moving illicit materials, and by terrorists interested in the potential devastation and psychological effects of the use of nuclear materials.

York developed the program as part of his master's thesis while a student intern at Sandia.

Electric Car Pioneer ZAP Prepares to Move to Next Level with Lotus Engineering

SANTA ROSA, Calif., April 30 PRNewswire-FirstCall — Alternative transportation pioneer ZAP (OTC Bulletin Board: ZAAP) held automotive talks over the weekend at its headquarters in Santa Rosa with the management team of Lotus Engineering, including CEO Albert Lam, Project Manager Steven Woolley, and West Coast Operations Manager Rexford Park.

Lotus Engineering came to Santa Rosa to explore the next steps in the development of a new generation of electric vehicles with ZAP. The team of ZAP and Lotus Engineering has targeted new technologies and technology suppliers with the goal to create the most advanced electric cars in history. Representatives from these other companies were invited to the meeting and ZAP CEO Steve Schneider expects to announce more developments soon.

"This was an important meeting because ZAP and Lotus Engineering are working to bring new technologies to bear that could change the auto industry forever," said Schneider. "With Lotus Engineering's capabilities, and ZAP's vision and entrepreneurship, we are building a world-class team to tackle this important endeavor."

Lotus Engineering has been behind the design and construction of some of the most successful cars in history and is one of the world's premier automotive consultancies with engineering centers in Asia, North America and Europe. CEO Albert Lam said the venture with ZAP is a "fantastic" opportunity for Lotus Engineering to be a leader for green automotive technologies.
"The venture with ZAP is a dream come true because we are creating the most advanced electric vehicles in history," said Lam. "Lotus Engineering is very happy to be associated with ZAP in bringing this vehicle to market. The technology is ready for electric vehicles so they don't have to be slow, they can have a long range, and they can be exciting to look at."

ZAP automotive dealers, who were in Santa Rosa on Friday for electric car service training, received an exclusive presentation from Lotus Engineering on ZAP's future projects. Lotus Engineering also toured ZAP's manufacturing and distribution facilities for the XEBRA electric car and truck.

Earlier this year, ZAP and Lotus Engineering entered into a feasibility study to explore the development of innovative electric vehicle designs, including a crossover electric SUV called ZAP-X, based on Lotus Engineering's award-winning APX aluminum chassis technology. In the past few months, officials from ZAP and Lotus Engineering have held meetings in Norwich, England and Santa Rosa, California, "to take the venture to the next level," said Schneider.

About ZAP

ZAP has been a leader in advanced transportation technologies since 1994, delivering over 90,000 vehicles to consumers in more than 75 countries. At the forefront of fuel-efficient transportation with new technologies including energy efficient gas systems, hydrogen, electric, fuel cell, ethanol, hybrid and other innovative power systems, ZAP is developing a high-performance crossover SUV electric car concept called ZAP-X engineered by Lotus Engineering. The Company recently launched a new portable energy technology that manages power for mobile electronics, like cell phones and laptops. For more product, dealer and investor information, visit http://www.zapworld.com.

Forward-looking statements in this release are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, continued acceptance of the Company's products, increased levels of competition for the Company, new products and technological changes, the Company's dependence upon third-party suppliers, intellectual property rights, and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE ZAP

New technologies bringing persons with disabilities into mainstream, UN forum told

2007 – A “dazzling array” of technologies is bringing persons with disabilities into the workforce and integrating them further into society, an expert on assistive technologies said today at a forum at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

Technology helps employers to bring work to persons with disabilities, said the expert, Irene Morris-Sambur, Chief Executive Officer of Coraworks. “Assistive technologies currently exist,” she said. “They have to be brought to workers with disabilities, instead of trying to bring these workers to the workplace.”

At the first Global Forum of the UN Global Initiative for Inclusive Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), accessibility experts and executives of corporations such as IBM, Yahoo, Internet Speech, Deque Systems, NiiT Ventures and e-ISOTIS showcased new products – from video-descriptions to screen readers – and mapped out a field that is seeing a “significant beginning of venture capital investment,” according to to Barry Fingerhut of Synconium.

Government regulations are helping to fuel this development, said Larry Goldberg of the National Center for Accessible Media. Canada now requires that 90 per cent of TV programmes be captioned, and in the United Kingdom up to 5 per cent of TV programmes show a sign language translator. Japan, Mexico and Australia are preparing similar legislation to make TV more accessible.
However, industry vendors should incorporate accessibility features from the start of the product development, said Alex Leblois, Executive Director of the Global Initiative for Inclusive ICT. “A number of ICT vendors are well-intended, but tackle the issue of accessibility too late in the product life cycle,” at a higher cost.

Legislations and regulations should aim at creating unified markets for accessible products, he said, so as to encourage mass production at low cost. “The reason why people can make calls through a cell phone that costs very little is because the same telephone is being used in the United States, Kenya and Latin America. The same dynamics of mass production, standardization and harmonization can be achieved for assistive technologies, and for inclusive ICT products in general.”

Accessibility had multiple business values, said K. Anne-River Forcke of the IBM Worldwide Human Ability and Accessibility Center, such as “the value businesses organizations can realize as employers by adopting accessibility, and the value that organizations can realize when they address their constituents and their customers”.

“We have learned a tremendous amount from employing people with disabilities,” she said, “and we incorporate that into the software, the hardware and the business systems that we use internally at IBM today. We have learned that there are a number of best practices for the development of software, for hardware, and as we are learning more about the services science, we are learning how to ensure accessibility in the delivery of services.”

“The Web has the ability to be even more accessible than other parts of society,” said Judy Brewer, Director of the Web Accessibility Initiative at the World Wide Web Consortium, the leading technology standard organization for Web technology. Adaptable policy frameworks should be developed, she said, “because the technology continues to advance all the time, and it is important to keep the policy frameworks up to date with the technology.”

Solutions that were developed in a particular industry or standards organization should not be automatically made available in a country. “It is very important to partner with disability organizations within every country and try to make sure that those solutions are relevant locally,” she said. “That really yields the best solutions in the end.”

Hendrietta Ipeleng Bogopane-Zulu, a Member of South Africa's Parliament, recalled the “digital divide that still exists between people with disabilities and those who are non-disabled”, and said that beyond access to the Web, the problem for many developing countries was basically affordability. “Everything is imported,” she said, “and getting the technical assistance when a computer breaks or something happens is a nightmare. The problem is not only the access, it is also affordability, support systems and training.”

Some 200 representatives of industry, government, academia and civil society attended the Forum, which was organized by the UN Global Alliance for ICT and Development and the Boston-based Wireless Internet Institute in cooperation with the Secretariat of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Yoga, new technologies offer hope to Parkinson’s patients

Deepa Suryanarayan

Andheri resident Anubhav Mehta (name changed), 65, an engineer, was on the verge of retirement when the first symptom struck. “It was my son who first observed that I was having trouble with my right hand,” said Mehta. A battery of tests later, the neurologist gave the diagnosis. It was Parkinson’s disease (PD), a degenerative disease that affects the central nervous system.

Now, four years later, Mehta leads a relatively normal life. “The disease has not been crippling, as it has only affected my right hand and made my reflexes slower. But it was a blow as I have been a sportsperson all my life,” he said.

Today, Mehta continues to drive his car, goes swimming and even practices yoga. “Though it is difficult to accept the fact that you don’t have complete control over your movement, being diagnosed with PD doesn’t mean the end of one’s life,” he explained.

Mehta will be of 350 members of the Parkinson Disease and Movement Disorder Society (PMDS) who will participate in a yoga session on Wednesday, to observe World Parkinson’s Day on Wednesday.

The session will be conducted by Yogacharya BKS Iyengar, whose institute has carried out a scientific study to determine the efficacy of yoga in influencing the quality of life in patients with PD. The results showed that there was a significant improvement in patients’ movements and quality of life.

“PMDS, founded in 2002, aims at spreading awareness about the ailment and improving the quality of life,” said Dr Maria Barretto, coordinator of PMDS, adding that, “PD requires a multi-disciplinary approach. The focus right now is too much on medical treatment.”

On the medical front, Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is a new technique that offers hope to PD patients, say neurologists. A surgically-implanted, battery-operated medical device called a neurostimulator, similar to a pacemaker, delivers electrical stimulation to areas in the brain that control movement, blocking abnormal nerve signals that cause tremors.

The functional neurological centre at Jaslok Hospital, headed by Dr Paresh Doshi, has completed over 100 DBS surgeries — the highest in Asia. And Hinduja Hospital, has acquired new technology that enables this procedure to be performed with no risks whatsoever to the patient.

“We are the only hospital here with Stealth Neuronavigation system — a new software which allows the procedure to be done flawlessly,” said Dr Milind Sankhe of Hinduja Hospital.

Better Than X-Ray Vision

New technologies provide brain and heart surgeons with a much clearer view
By Josh Fischman

There are some worries surgeons don't share with patients before an operation. That they are going in blind, while carrying a sharp knife, is one of them. "It's kind of like a labyrinth. You can only see right in front of you, but not around the next bend," says Alexandra Golby, a neurosurgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. Adds Christopher Moir, a pediatric surgeon at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., "You hope the structures look like what you've seen before, but you really don't know."

How can this be, in an era when technologies like computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging give unprecedented views of the inner body? Because, surgeons say, the scans omit crucial information. MRI and CT images that show the shape of body parts, for instance, don't capture electrical activity there; the section of a heart causing a dangerous rhythm can look just like normal muscle. And because most scans are done before surgery, they don't provide the real-time detail that would allow Golby, say, to shift an incision left or right by a millimeter or two-and safely remove a brain tumor without stealing a patient's speech.

Now, however, imaging is rapidly gaining new powers. Muscular computer programs meld images of anatomy with vibrant views of the structures in action, making "a lot of impossible things possible," says Richard Robb, head of Mayo's biomedical imaging lab. Robb has developed scans that reveal abnormal spots of electrical activity in the brain causing epileptic seizures, allowing surgeons to remove them from patients for whom, previously, surgery would have posed too great a risk. In experiments, combining multiple scans into one image has pinpointed deadly, rapid heart rhythms, too-and may turn a dangerous six-hour repair procedure, much of it spent poking around, into a relatively simple one-to-two-hour job.

Doctors have also moved magnetic resonance imaging to the surgical table, where scanning during the operation is already making brain surgery and prostate cancer surgery more precise. "This really is the dawn of a new surgical era," says Michael Schulder, a neurosurgeon at New Jersey Medical School University Hospital in Newark, who uses MRI during tumor surgery. "We're taking a lot of the guesswork away."

AN EPILEPTIC'S STORY

Michael Hutton certainly hoped for better than guesswork when his surgeons began cutting in 2004. "I told the doctors that I didn't have a lot of extra brain," says the insulation installer from Chippewa Falls, Wis. "So I couldn't afford for them to take out the wrong spot." He couldn't afford to skip surgery, either. Hutton, 45, was having 70 epileptic seizures a year, sometimes four in a day, and medications weren't helping.

But finding the exact spot to cut out was a challenge. A scalp electroencephalogram often isn't powerful enough to pinpoint misfires deep in the brain, says Elson So, a neurologist and epilepsy specialist at Mayo. Instead, Hutton benefited from an imaging technique pioneered by So and Robb in which an injected radioactive ink gloms on to blood flowing to an active seizure region. A scan sensitive to this ink, called SPECT for "single photon emission computed tomography,"
showed a big clump in Hutton's right temporal lobe. Once a computer program laid this image over an MRI of Hutton's brain anatomy, the surgeons were able to open a small hole in his skull and remove an area "smaller than the tip of my thumb," Hutton recalls. Today, he is seizure free on a low dose of medication. "I even got back into my favorite hobby," he says. "Sky diving."

Visual-cortex simulator sees animals as humans do

April 2007
NewScientist.com news service
Celeste Biever

The human brain can tell the difference between a tiger and a moving branch in less than 20 milliseconds, an ability that can be crucial to survival. Now, a software model of the visual cortex is shining light on how we do it.

As well as offering an explanation for how we make such snap decisions, the software may also provide new ways to build intelligent vision software for robots and security cameras.

The human brain shows evidence of distinguishing between animals and non-animals and faces and non-faces even before a person is are aware of having seen anything. In 1989, Simon Thorpe, now at CNRS in Toulouse, France, first suggested that this extraordinary ability might be the result of an initial "sweep" of neuronal activity occurring before "feedback loops" inside the brain have time to kick in.

Now Tomaso Poggio and colleagues at MIT in the US have built a computer model that appears to support this description of how humans achieve rapid visual recognition. "I am very excited about this," says Thorpe, who was not involved with the work. "It confirms the hypothesis that I made in 1989."

The model contains a simulation of groups of neurons found in the human visual cortex and mimics the response of these neurons to visual features. Signals are passed from one group of neuron to the next in the same hierarchical fashion as in the brain.

Lines and edges

The process starts with neurons associated with basic feature recognition and moves up to ones that perform more sophisticated recognition tasks. The first set of neurons identifies lines and edges, while the next identifies different ways in which lines and edges intersect. This escalation in complexity continues through to neurons that fire when a particular category of objects – such as animals – is recognised.

Crucially, unlike the human brain, the model does not have the ability to do "back projections", where a signal higher up the neuronal chain is fed backwards to an earlier neuron group for more detailed analysis.

Nonetheless, when shown 150 animal images, and 150 non-animal pictures, the software classified them with the similar accuracy as human subjects. While the human brain performs this task in just 20 milliseconds, according to brainscans, the software takes much longer.

The fact that the software can assign the images without performing "back projections" suggests that humans rely on the same trick, as Thorpe originally suggested. "It confirms the conjecture that these very rapid categorisation tasks are done without the need for feedback," says Poggio.

Similar mistakes

The software even incorrectly classified the same images as human participants, strengthening evidence that the computer model is doing rapid visual recognition in the same way, says team member Thomas Serre: "It's not proof, but it's very strong evidence."

The next stage of the project is to teach the software how to perform back projections, to probe how humans recognise objects over longer periods.

"Poggio's work is really outstanding," says Luis von Ahn, a computer vision expert at Carnegie Mellon University in the UK, "both in terms of advancing our understanding how our brains work, and attempting to write a computer program that can see as well as we can."

The model may have practical applications. In a separate study published in February 2007 (IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (vol 20, p 411), the team showed that such a model can efficiently recognise objects in street scenes.

Other computer vision systems do not closely mimic the neurons in the brain, so this offers a new direction for vision software. "This is the first time I have seen neuroscience able to teach something to computer science," Poggio says.

Electric Cars(where did they go?)

In 1900, most drivers preferred electric cars to gas or steam engines. After all, gasoline cars were noisy, smelly and, most critically, difficult to start. This changed radically with the invention of the self-starter for internal combustion cars in 1913. Within a few years, the electric car was almost completely wiped out, not to resurface for about sixty years.

The last few drivers of GM's EV1 bid farewell to their electric cars at a funeral held in Los Angeles in July 2003.

Largely spurred by the oil embargo of 1973 and a burgeoning environmental movement, backyard tinkerers started to test the limits of golf-cart batteries and plastic car bodies. These entrepreneurs picked up the challenge of increasing the speed and driving range that was left off six decades earlier, and as a result, learned a lot about batteries and electric vehicle technology.

ZEV Standards in California

In 1990, the auto industry was forced into the electric car business when California’s Air Resources Board (CARB) took the audacious step of establishing a Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) program:

2% of the vehicles produced for sale in California had to be ZEVs, increasing to 5% in 2001 and 10 percent in 2003

The carmakers immediately stepped up their anemic alternative fuel programs, while teaming up with oil companies to wage a multi-million dollar lobbying and advocacy campaign to fight the CARB mandates. They stirred up public fears of increased taxes and lack of automotive choice. By 1996, CARB backed down on the 1998 deadline. In 2001, the program relaxed its standards to include “partial” zero emission vehicles.

Based on further changes agreed upon in 2003, the ZEV program is now scheduled to restart in 2005 with a set of complicated rules and tables which allow carmakers to use low-speed, low-range electric cars, hybrids, full function electric cars and ultimately fuel cells to pass prescribed standards and quantities up through 2017. These ZEV mandates could significantly increase the number of hybrids on the road.

Fate of Existing Electric Cars

So what happened to the 4,000 battery-powered ZEVs placed in California by major automakers between 1998 and 2003? (Most of the cars were leased rather than sold.) Despite the overwhelming enthusiasm and advocacy of electric car drivers, Ford, GM, Honda, and Toyota have all scrapped their electric vehicle (EV) programs, saying there's just no market for the cars. At a mock funeral for their electric cars, a group of EV drivers expressed their condolences. One participant said, "Unfortunately, very few Americans had a chance to drive an electric car before it was canceled."

"Some of us still believe in electric drive and pure battery power," said Robert C. Stempel, the former GM chairman and chief executive who helped start the EV1 program. Forced out in the early 1990s, Stempel now runs a company that develops batteries and alternative automotive technology. Improvements in battery technology, especially with lithium ion batteries, may one day resurrect EVs by extending their driving range.

Many of the strongest EV advocates and engineers are now looking at gas-electric hybrids that, unlike the current commercial hybrid offerings, could be plugged in (so-called "plug-in hybrids") to provide much greater capacity for running purely on electricity.

Tireless, reliable physio-robots take on stroke paralysis

April 2007
Emma Young
Magazine issue 2598


TWO days before his 40th birthday, Michael Marin of New York suffered a stroke that left him paralysed on one side of his body. After three years of physiotherapy, he had regained control of his left leg, but not the use of his arm.

In an attempt to recover some arm movement, last August Marin began three months of therapy with two trial robotic rehabilitation devices. He is now able to do push-ups. "They're not perfect gym push-ups, but I'm getting there," he says.

Each year 700,000 people in the US and 130,000 in the UK suffer a stroke, making it the biggest cause of severe disability in both countries. Standard physiotherapy can work well for some people, but it is expensive so patients often spend only a short time with a therapist. The standard of therapy can also vary hugely between practitioners, producing variable results. Improving stroke rehabilitation could ...

The complete article is 1389 words long.

New Bar Codes Can Talk To Your Cellphone

It sounds like something straight out of a futuristic film: House hunters, driving past a for-sale sign, stop and point their cellphone at the sign. With a click, their cellphone screen displays the asking price, the number of bedrooms and baths and lots of other details about the house.

Media experts say that cellphones, the Swiss Army knives of technology, are quickly heading in this direction. New technology, already in use in parts of Asia but still in development in the United States, allows the phones to connect everyday objects with the Internet.

In their new incarnation, cellphones become a sort of digital remote control, as one CBS executive put it. With a wave, the phone can read encoded information on everyday objects and translate that into videos, pictures or text files on its screen.

“The cellphone is the natural tool to combine the physical world with the digital world,” that executive, Cyriac Roeding, the head of mobile-phone applications for CBS, said the other day.

In Japan, McDonald's customers can already point their cellphones at the wrapping on their hamburgers and get nutrition information on their screens. Users there can also point their phones at magazine ads to receive insurance quotes, and board airplanes using their phones rather than paper tickets. And film promoters can send their movie trailers from billboards.

Advertisers say they are interested in offering similar capabilities in the United States, but cellphones in the States do not come with the necessary software. For now, consumers have to download the technology themselves.

Still, big advertising and technology companies like Hewlett-Packard and the Publicis Groupe, an advertising conglomerate, are pushing to popularize the technology here.

Until now, in most parts of the world, Web surfing has been separate from everyday activities like riding the train, watching television and driving. But the new technology may erode that distinction.

“You’ve picked up this product, and you don’t want to go back to your PC,” said Tim Kindberg, a senior research at the Bristol, England, lab of Hewlett-Packard. “Or you’re outside this building, and you want more information. We call it the ‘physical hyperlink’.”

In much the same way that Web publishing took off because of the ability to link to other people’s sites, cellphone technologies linking everyday objects with the Web would reveal the digitally encoded attributes of tangible things on grocery shelves or newsstands.

“Everything in the physical world has information related to it somewhere electronically, including yourself and the desk you’re sitting in,” said Chas Fritz, chief executive of NeoMedia Technologies, a company developing these cellphone capacities.

The most promising way to link cellphones with physical objects is a new generation of bar codes: square-shaped mosaics of black and white boxes that can hold much more information than traditional bar codes. The cameras on cellphones scan the codes, and then the codes are translated into videos, music or text on the phone screens.

American universities and technology companies have been experimenting with the codes in their labs for several years. Now, as more cellphones come equipped with cameras and the ability to run small computer programs, the codes are beginning to appear on some state drivers’ licenses and on some mailing labels, mostly for commercial use.

There are other technologies being developed for consumers to scan objects, including radio waves, computer chips or satellite location systems, but the bar code technology is the most developed - and simple and cheap enough even for individuals to publish them on printed materials or on Web sites.

But Hewlett-Packard and the Publicis Groupe are meeting for the second time with cellphone companies in May to advocate for the technology. Technology companies like Motorola and Microsoft have also been researching uses for the codes.

In Japan, the codes did not become mainstream until the largest cellphone companies started loading the code readers on all new phones a few years ago. Now, millions of people have the capability built into their phones, and businesses, in turn, are using them all over - on billboards, street signs, published materials and even food packaging.

In the late 1990s, several dozen start-up companies tried to create devices that would scan print content and ads and then reveal extra information to the reader. But consumers balked at using a special device only to interact with publications.

But now the time seems right for cellphones, ubiquitous and increasingly sold with cameras, to be pressed into service as the scanners.

“There are three things you tend to carry - your keys, your wallet and your phone,” said Rishad Tobaccowala, chief executive of Denuo, a unit of the Publicis Groupe that focuses on emerging and future technologies. “I can see something in advertising in one place, scan it with my phone and recall it later when I am shopping. Or, imagine, I can buy it using my phone.”

About a third of the 84 million households with cellphones in the United States have phones that have cameras on them, according to Forrester Research, and that number is expected to grow as consumers replace their phones. But few people with those phones have downloaded the software to read the codes.

In Japan, some highway billboards have codes large enough for passing motorists to read them with their phones. Hospitals put them on prescriptions, allowing pharmacies to instantly scan the medical information rather than read it. Supermarkets stick them on meat and egg packaging to give expiration dates and even the names of the farmers who produced them.

One of the most popular uses in Japan has been paperless airline tickets. About 10 percent of the people who take domestic flights of All Nippon Airways now use the codes on their cellphones instead of printed tickets.

Yasuko Nishigai, 22, used her cellphone recently to buy a ticket from Tokyo to the Japanese tropical island of Okinawa. To board her flight, she waved the code on her cellphone screen over a scanner.

“I didn’t use a single piece of paper, just my phone,” she said.

The codes are “a natural extension of print,” said Nina Link, the president of the Magazine Publishers Association. “How many times have you engaged with a magazine and you’ve seen something and you’ve said, ‘Boy, I’d really like to remember to get that information.’ And you have to remember to write down the URL.”

The new technology would allow phones to read the codes from computer screens, too. Commuters rushing out the door could scan Web sites on their computer screens with their phones to take the content with them. MySpace users could put a code on their personal pages, so that their friends can quickly transfer the profiles to their phones.

The technology would also allow advertisers to do something they could never effectively do before: monitor the impact of their ads in old media like magazines and billboards by measuring how often their codes are clicked.

In the Philippines, the Daily Philippines newspaper has run ads with the codes. In Britain, News Group Newspapers, the division of the News Corporation that includes newspapers like The Sun, is testing the codes along with some of its sports articles. Readers can scan the code in the newspaper and then see videos relating to the article. Similarly, Economie Matin, a magazine in France, is testing the codes.

In the United States last fall, the Canadian alternative rock band Barenaked Ladies placed the codes on concert posters. The publisher Prentice Hall is including the codes in a new marketing textbook for undergraduates so that they can get updates on case studies using the codes.

Executives at Verizon, AT&T and Sprint declined to say whether they were in discussions with the companies that make the code reading technology. Bar code companies said the carriers stood to benefit from the codes because they might encourage consumers to add Internet service plans to their accounts and spend more time on their phones.

The wireless companies have other options to help cellphones interact with the physical world. They could, for instance, adopt image recognition software, which would allow phones to recognize anything - a Coca-Cola can, for example - and deliver related messages. Or, text messaging, currently the most common way that advertisers interact with consumers on their phones, has many advertiser applications.

Advertisers have also experimented with Bluetooth wireless devices and radio frequency identification to beam messages from billboards to consumers’ cellphones, but those technologies are more expensive than the codes.

Even if the wireless companies adopt the bar codes, they will have several formats to choose from. The most widely used ones have names like Semacode, QR Code and Qode.

Getting consumers to use new technologies like these codes takes a lot of marketing by the carriers, said David Oberholzer, associate director of content programming at Verizon Wireless.

He said Verizon is just starting to profit from the work it did to create interest in text messaging.

“The consumer needs a reason to do it,” said Jim Levinger, chief executive of Nextcode, a bar code company. “They don’t just wake up and say, ‘Hey, let’s go scan some bar codes.’ ”