Phil Agre writes:

"Technologies often come wrapped in stories about politics. In the case of peer-to-peer technologies on the Internet, the standard story goes like this:

Once the world was centralized under the control of a top-down hierarchy. Then came the Internet ... Peer-to-peer (P2P) technologies deliver on the Internet's promise ...

I propose to analyze this story ...

Architectures and institutions are often shaped to fit another another, but they are still different sorts of things. As a means of evaluating the prospects for P2P, therefore, I will briefly present four theories of the relation between architectures and institutions."

Peer-to-Peer and the Promise of Internet Equality

"Cyclone is a programming language that is as C-like as possible while preventing unsafe behavior (buffer overflows, dangling pointers, format string attacks, and so on)."

Cyclone: A Safe Dialect of C

Authors from Stanford's Physics department and MITRE's Nanosystems group survey the latest progress in nanoelectronics in a brief 2-page article in the November 9 issue of _Science_. A subscription is required for access to the full text. Topics discussed include: nanowires, carbon nanotubes, small organic molecules, and biomolecules.

Abstract: "Nanoelectronics is the next frontier after microelectronics, and research in this field is advancing at a breathtaking rate. In their Perspective, Tseng and Ellenbogen highlight four recent papers, including the reports by Huang et al. and Bachtold et al., which show that logic circuits can be made with molecular-scale components. Many challenges remain to be overcome until a nanocomputer can be realized, but these studies move this ambitious goal one important step closer."

Toward Nanocomputers | Science, Nov 9 2001

On the road to single-molecule transistors, researchers at Lucent Bell Labs publish their latest work in the journal _Science_. A subscription is required for access to full text.

Abstract: "Field-effect transistors based on two-component self-assembled monolayers of conjugated and insulating molecules have been prepared, the conductance through which can be varied by more than three orders of magnitude by changing the applied gate bias. Using very small ratios of conjugated to insulating molecules in the two-component monolayer, devices with only a few "electrically active" molecules can be achieved. At low temperatures the peak channel-conductance is quantized in units of 2e2/h. This behavior is indicative of transistor action in single molecules. Based on such single-molecule transistors inverter circuits with gain are demonstrated."

Field-Effect Modulation of the Conductance of Single Molecules

[Sony has shipped] about 11 million equipped with on-card memory [...] used for Hong Kong?s public transport systems.

MemeStreamers: Have you seen/used these cards when in HK? I'm also curious to know if the Cambridge [UK] crew has experimented with these devices.

Infineon, Sony To Jointly Develop Contactless Chip Card ICs

If you buy electrical, mechanical, and optical components, this site is a handy way to find the parts you need. The form-based search interface is customized for each kind of part (accelerometers, opamps, EDFAs, FETs, pressure sensors, etc.), results are tabulated for easy comparison, and links to vendor documents are provided. Some features require free registration.

"Built for engineers, GlobalSpec.com provides instant access to over 590,000 electrical, mechanical and optical components. Forget that time-consuming catalog process. Our engineers standardize parts data across suppliers so your online search results are thorough, up-to-date, accurate - and immediate."

GlobalSpec: integrated, searchable components catalog

The new issue of MIT Technology Review is now online. There are special features on bioterrorism and other homeland security problems, including Simson Garfinkel's column. Also, articles on post-desktop GUIs, digital cash, R&D, optical interconnects, patents, displays, nanotech, DRM/IPR, and more.

Technology Review - December 2001

Officially, the title is "Final Report for the 10 to 100 Gigabit/Second Networking Laboratory Directed Research and Development Project". Published in April 2001 and authored by Sandia employees from various groups: advanced networking, RF and opto microsystems, networked systems survivability and assurance.

From the abstract: next major plateau is 10 Gbps. Distributed processing applications already require 10-100 Gbps. Visualization apps already require 1-10 Gbps. This project examined building blocks for a 10-100 Gbps network architecture: OS bypass, DWDM, IP switching and routing, optical amps, encryption, compression, ATM and OI forums, prototypes, ...

Along the way, this 84-page report also highlights the current state of the art in high-performance long-haul networking for distributed applications.

Roadmap to 100 Gbps

NCBI is part of the National Library of Medicine. The site offers research publications, unique software, access to "raw" data, news, and more. Several recent books on genetic analysis and cell biology are available in full-text. PubMed Central also provides access to electronic archives of several journals in the life sciences.

National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)

This book (published earlier in 2001) was recently recommended by Phil Agre of UCLA. Worth a look. Only $16 at Amazon.

Overview: "Networks are fastest-growing components in most industries. Network industries include the Internet, e-mail, telephony, computer hardware and software, music and video players, and service operations in businesses overseas, banking, law, and airlines. Author Oz Shy conveys the essential features of how strategic interactions among firms are affected by network activity, and how social interaction influences consumers' choices of products and services."

Hal Varian of UCB says, "At last: a definitive textbook on the economic theory of high technology! Up until now the literature on network economics has only been available in advanced journals. Oz Shy has managed to package it beautifully so that it is accessible to advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students."

For a snapshot of the book, take a look at the 42 pages of lecture notes for the author's graduate-level course (for which this book is the course text). They are online in PDF at

http://econ.haifa.ac.il/~ozshy/gradnet6.pdf

The Economics of Network Industries