Boffins build world's tiniest 'laser'

Scientists in the US have developed what they claim is the world's smallest laser, reports The Register.

The device, which is just 44nm in diameter, could pave the way for the development of chips that operate using light rather than electrons.

The device isn't technically a laser, but it works using the same principle. It uses a property of metals in which the density of electrons fluctuates at the edges of their crystal lattices. These fluctuations can be treated as if they are particles. Physicists call them “surface plasmons”.

According to a technical report, Russian cyber attacks against Georgia a year ago were conducted in close connection with Russian criminal gangs, and used US identities and software tools, says Computing.co.uk.

The attacks were co-ordinated closely with Russia's five-day military campaign in August 2008 that drew international condemnation.

The report from the US Cyber Consequences Unit also found Microsoft software tools were used and that hackers communicated through Twitter and Facebook, as well as dozens of other Web forums.

Facebook's vision of becoming a "utility" that offers activities to keep people online for hours could set it on a collision course with the Web's giants, says msnbc.

In recent days, the top social networking company revamped its search engine and bought a start-up that some call a rival to hot micro-blogging service Twitter. It is also testing a stripped-down version of its service to boost growth overseas and is developing an electronic payments system.

These moves mark a new phase in Facebook's evolution as the five-year-old company meshes the viral power of social networks and its huge member base to barge into new markets.

A short-term study of Twitter has found that 40% of the messages sent via it are "pointless babble", reports BBC News.

Carried out by US market research firm Pear Analytics, the study aimed to produce a snapshot of what people do with the service. Almost as prevalent as the babble were "conversational" tweets that used it as a surrogate instant messaging system.

The study found that only 8.7% of messages could be said to have "value" as they passed along news of interest.