IBM ENVISIONS "AUTOMATIC COMPUTING" - IBM researcher, Paul M. Horn, defined
and expanded on the idea of "automatic computing" in a recent paper. An automatic computing
initiative is planned that would fund 50 university research projects and push the development
of a computer that would need minimal human assistance. According to Horn, there is a need
for a solution to computer systems' increasing complexity. He sees the industry stagnating if it
doesn't discover a way to create computers that can perpetually function without human
programming intervention. Although there is not a specific solution at this point, IBM is
working on several areas that are key to automatic computers; intelligence, self-healing computers
and adaptive algorithms. (New York Times, 15 Oct 01)

COMING SOON-WIRELESS ROAMING - Bell Labs, recently released the news that it has
developed a technology that lets wireless phone users roam to virtually any wireless network. The
technology allows 3G phone users to roam to 2G networks and back. It will work independent
of a particular vendor, allowing inter-carrier access to the database or home location register
(HLR). The HLR keeps track of users' accounts and communicates to HLRs of other networks.
In addition, the technology will allow roaming users to easily access such services as voice mail
rather than having to dial complicated codes. (Newsbytes, 9 Oct 01)

TELEPORTATION TECHNOLOGY BEAMS IN - Teleportation has moved from the realm
of science fiction to theoretical possibility thanks to a breakthrough by Eugene Polzik and
colleagues at the University of Aarhus. Polzik's team has induced two samples of several
trillion atoms to influence each other from a distance using the phenomenon of quantum
entanglement. Their experiment follows a 1998 test by University of California researchers to
teleport a beam of light across a laboratory bench. It is hoped that entanglement will facilitate
the creation of incredibly fast quantum computers and a quantum Internet through the ability
of entanglement to make, store and disseminate quantum data. (VNUNet, 28 Sept 01 -
Edupage 1 Oct 01)