The research, being undertaken at the Department of Architecture and Computing Technology at the University of Granada, is part of a wider European project dubbed Sensopac.
The end-game of the two-year project is to implant the man-made cerebellum in a robot to make movements and interaction with humans more natural.
Google has been told that it may be breaking European privacy laws by keeping people’s search information on its servers for up to two years. A data protection group that advises the European Union has written to the search giant to express concerns. The Article 29 group, made up of data protection commissioners around the EU, has asked Google to clarify its policy.
Wi-Fi systems are now in 70 per cent of secondary schools. Britain is in the grip of a Wi-Fi revolution with offices, homes and classrooms going wireless - but there is concern the technology could carry health risks. The Government insists Wi-Fi is safe, but a Panorama investigation shows that radio frequency radiation levels in some schools are up to three times the level found in the main beam of intensity from mobile phone masts.
Microsoft’s decision to splash out $6 billion for online ad firm Aquantive is by far the firm’s biggest acquisition yet and could mark a change in its attitude towards acquisitions. The conventional wisdom regarding Microsoft has always said that it is a company culturally or philosophically averse to big deals and, until now, the evidence has backed that up. Even its biggest deals such as Navision, Great Plains and Visio all came in at around $1.4 billion, suggesting that Microsoft had placed an embargo on acquisitions beyond that size.
Linus Torvalds, the lead developer of Linux, has reacted angrily to claims by Microsoft that his software violates its patents. Torvalds said that the Volish claims should be tested in court to prevent the Vole from undermining confidence in the operating system. According to Information Week, Torvalds says that Vole should name the patents it alleges have been violated so the claims can be tested in court.
By Nick Farrell
MICROSOFT’S top lawyer seems to be hinting that Vole is planning to do a SCO and sue Linux out of the market for nicking its patents. In an interview with Fortune magazine, Brad Smith claims that free and open-source software violates more than 230 of Microsoft’s patents. The Linux kernel violates 42 Microsoft patents, while its user interface and other design elements infringe on a further 65.
A British climber is in the closing stages of an attempt to set a world record for the highest mobile call.
Rod Baber is making final preparations to scale Mount Everest and make the call from its north ridge. Following weeks of acclimatisation, Mr Baber is now at base camp recuperating and checking equipment prior to beginning the actual ascent. The expedition will begin its final push on 15 May and aims to reach the summit about eight days later.
