BiotechMashup

(University of Washington) A group of computer scientists have found a way to tame multiprocessor computers, which behave in wildly unpredictable ways even as the systems become widespread in the industry.

(Springer) Television commercials advertise sleek new tablet computers and tout these devices as close to computer nirvanas. While these tablet computers receive extensive media coverage, Derek Partridge's new book, "The Seductive Computer -- Why IT Systems Always Fail," chronicles myriad extensive IT projects that promised amazing results yet ended in confusing failure.

List helps computers understand expressions with more than one meaning Computers might well be 'with it', but 'they haven't got a clue' about expressions. Dutch researcher Nicole has come up with a solution to this problem: she has prepared a list of unpredictable word combinations that might, for instance, have a literal as well as a metaphorical meaning. The structuring of this list is such that it can be used by many different computer systems.

Quantum computers are computers that exploit the weird properties of matter at extremely small scales. Many experts believe that a full-blown quantum computer could perform calculations that would be hopelessly time consuming on classical computers, but so far, quantum computers have proven hard to build. Researchers have planned an experiment that, if it worked, would offer strong evidence that quantum computers can do things that classical computers can't.

(Carnegie Mellon University) Computers may be a common part of modern life and work, but the languages and methods used to program those computers continue to confound most people. Researchers who are developing ways to make computer programs easier to write and use will be sharing their ideas at the IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing (VL/HCC), Sept. 18-22, in Pittsburgh.

(Binghamton University) Lijun Yin wants computers to understand inputs from humans that go beyond the traditional keyboard and mouse. "Our research in computer graphics and computer vision tries to make using computers easier," says the Binghamton University computer scientist.

When your email program or word processor "hangs" it is annoying, you lose messages or have to reboot your computer and start that writing project again if you hadn't saved the text. But, we depending increasingly on computers in almost all walks of life, not least critical systems such as air-traffic control, in which the computer "hanging" can be life threatening.

We see, hear and feel, and make sense of countless diverse, quickly changing stimuli in our environment seemingly without effort. However, doing what our brains do with ease is often an impossible task for computers.

(Inderscience Publishers) Armies of networked computers that have been compromised by malicious software are commonly known as Botnets. Such Botnets are usually used to carry out fraudulent and criminal activity on the Internet. Now, writing in the International Journal of Information and Computer Security, US computer scientists reveal that the honeypot trap designed to protect computers from Botnets are now vulnerable to attack because of advances in Botnet malware.