Monday, July 2, 2001		Latest in IT world

Smallest IC chip by Hitachi

JAPAN'S largest comprehensive electrical machinery maker, Hitachi Ltd, has developed the world's smallest integrated circuit (IC) that is thin enough to be embedded in paper, a company spokesman said. The 0.4 x 0.4 x 0.06mm chip can be placed in currency, checks and securities certificates to prevent counterfeiting. "The chip is almost the size of a fleck of powder and is a potential successor to the current bar code labelling system. It can help in the authentication of products," the spokesman said. Hitachi will aim to sell 18 billion yen ($144.9 million) of the powder-sized chips in the year to March 2006.

New York Gov. George Pataki signed Thursday the nation's first state-wide ban on using hand-held cell phones while driving, saying the practice of driving with one hand on the wheel and the other on the phone posed "an enormous threat to public safety." Sitting next to family members of people who died in traffic accidents caused by drivers who were talking on cell phones, Pataki signed the bill that the state Legislature had passed overwhelmingly last week. The measure, which goes into effect on December 1, slaps drivers with a $100 fine and a traffic ticket if they are caught using a hand-held cell phone will driving.

Men still dominate the Internet use in Singapore but women are catching up, according to a survey by NetValue, a measurement company, released last week. NetValue's April survey found that in Singapore there were 4,62,000 male and 3,80,000 female Internet users. Each male surfer spent an average of 9.4 hours on the Internet, while female users were connected for about nine hours. But Singapore women are spending more hours online than before. Women were connected to the net for an extra 1.4 hours in April as compared to January this year. Men on the other hand showed a 8 per cent decline in Internet use over the same period. Singapore users spent about 60 per cent of their time on non-Web browser activities such as chat, instant messaging, e-mail and games, and audio/video downloads.

Iran regulates Net use

Iran's state telecoms monopoly has ordered tough new restrictions on the Internet use, requiring service providers to block some sites and barring access to the Web for under-18s, newspapers said last week. Regulations issued by the Iran Telecommunications Company order Internet service providers (ISPs) to filter all materials presumed immoral or contrary to state security, including the Web sites of opposition groups, the Hambastegi newspaper said. The new rules say ISPs who do not strictly comply risk losing their licences and facing court action.

China will put on trial a dissident charged with subversion for posting information about the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre on his Web site, a Hong Kong human rights group said last week. The group said the fact Chinese authorities were putting the dissident, Huang Qi, on trial just before the International Olympic Committee rules on Beijing's bid to host the 2008 Games, illustrated the government's tough stand on dissent. "At this most critical time of its Olympic bid, China is holding a trial on a case of such international concern," the Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said. "This shows that the Chinese Communists' stubborn stance regarding human rights," the group said in a statement.

— Reuters