Advance in self-destructing data

A group of computer scientists at the University of Washington has developed a way to make electronic messages “self destruct” after a certain period of time, like messages in sand lost to the surf, writes the New York Times.

The researchers said they think the new software, called Vanish, which requires encrypting messages, will be needed more and more as personal and business information is stored not on personal computers, but on centralised machines, or servers.

In the term of the moment this is called cloud computing, and the cloud consists of the data - including e-mail and Web-based documents and calendars - stored on numerous servers.

Digital Utilities Ventures, a provider of over-the-Web video transport systems, says it has successfully tested and is introducing its direct Internet to TV broadcasting system, according to

Reuters.

Called 'The New Last Mile', it uses an Internet-based platform to deliver its TV programming. All the viewer needs is a broadband connection, either fibre or WiFi, to the Internet to tap into the Digital Utilities Network.

Then, acting as a virtual cable company, it piggybacks on the existing broadband connection to stream live programs of broadcast quality from anywhere in the world over the Internet directly to TV audiences and cellphone subscribers without having to build out proprietary fibre optic lines to homes.

Light Blue Optics (LBO) has received an injection of funds to further its development of, among other things, a holographic laser projection technology, reports Gizmag.

The big news is that this technology can be touch-enabled, meaning any flat surface, such as a table, can be instantly transformed into a touch-sensitive display, eliminating the need for a touch-screen and allowing users to directly interact with multimedia content.

Companies such as LBO have been promising mini-projectors that can be incorporated into mobile devices for a while now. Over the last couple of years there have been a number of standalone pico, or mini-projectors and even a mobile phone incorporating a pico-projector. But so far none have boasted touch screen capabilities like that LBO is touting.