| Quantum cryptography to secure ballots in Swiss election
Still considered an area of advanced research, quantum cryptography uses photons to carry encryption keys to secure communications over fiber-optic lines and can automatically detect if anyone is trying to eavesdrop on a communications stream. For the Swiss ballot-collection process, the quantum cryptography system made by id Quantique will be used to secure the link between the central ballot-counting station in downtown Geneva and a government data center in the suburbs. Read the latest WhitePaper - Proving Control of the Infrastructure "We would like to provide optimal security conditions for the work of counting the ballots," said Robert Hensler, the Geneva State Chancellor, in a statement issued today. "In this context, the value added by quantum cryptography concerns not so much protection from outside attempts to interfere as the ability to verify that the data have not been corrupted in transit between entry and storage." The use of quantum cryptography in the voting process will showcase technology developed in Switzerland.
Startup plans floating data centres
A STARTUP is planning to build floating data centres on knackered cargo ships. San Francisco Bay Area company International Data Security (IDS) envisions it will have up to 50 decommissioned container ships housing data server farms, moored in various ports around the world including 22 in North American cities. IDS believes using cargo ships will give it flexibility and enable expansion limited only by the availability of ships and port space instead of real estate constraints. Its first location will be available at Pier 50 in San Francisco starting in April and it already has, ahem, anchor tenants signed, a source close to the company said. Shipboard cargo spaces will be built out as data center floors and deck space will be used to stack modular data centers in standard shipping containers.
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A video and audio of the Jan. 6 incident in the Strait of Hormuz featured a man in accented English saying "I am coming to you. ... You will explode after ... minutes."
Cmdr. Lydia Robertson, spokeswoman for the Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, said the Navy was still trying to determine the source of the transmission but believed it was related to the Iranian actions.
"The Iranian boats were coming close to the ships, making aggressive maneuvers and objects were being dropped into the water," she told the Associated Press.
However, the Navy Times, a weekly newspaper published by the Gannett company, quoted several veteran sailors as speculating the transmission could have come from a heckler widely known among sailors in the region by the ethnically insulting term "the Filipino Monkey."
The newspaper, which serves the Navy community, said U.S.
July 2006
The U.S. Department of Energy has signed a $27 million contract with GE for this development. The advanced wind system concepts will include innovative foundations, construction techniques, rotor designs and electrical components designed for use in the ocean’s harsh environment [7]. So the question remains. How far in the future will these research and development projects become realistically competitive with shallow water projects? History is replete with promising technologies that have taken decades to commercialize. For example the evolution of the transistor to large scale integrated circuits of today has taken 50 years. Photovoltaic cells have existed since the early 1900s and have yet to evolve into competitive large scale energy sources. It is simply conjecture to answer the question of "how long?" for deep water wind.
Aussie world champ charged with drug offences
The arrests are part of police efforts to dismantle a large criminal syndicate in which the two men are allegedly involved. During the four month covert operation, 28,500 MDMA tablets have allegedly been seized, with a street value of $1.4 million. Police said more than one kg of MDMA powder was also seized, which could potentially be made into tens of thousands of tablets worth about $1.1 million. Police have also charged a third man and are questioning a fourth. A 25-year-old man from Newrybar in NSW will appear at Byron Bay Local Court on December 7 charged with possessing prohibited drugs, possessing equipment for administering prohibited drugs and having goods in custody. A 23-year-old man from Suffolk Park was arrested at his home tonight and is being interviewed at Byron Bay Police Station.
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