Bruce Allen developed this World Year of Physics 2008 project for the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) Scientific Collaboration to recruit Internet users to help determine whether gravitational wave exists. "Einstein@Home is a program that uses your computer's idle time to search for spinning neutron stars (also called pulsars) using data from the LIGO and GEO gravitational wave detectors." Users need only a computer with a fast connection to the Internet and the Einstein@Home screensaver. After learning about the program's rules and policies, visitors can create an account and download the necessary components. The website offers a user profile zone where visitors can share information and opinions as well as links to news stories about the project.

Discussions of cyborg technology tend to be relegated to science fiction literature and TV programs like Star Trek. This Topic in Depth looks into current issues and developments in the area of cyborg technology. The first website, from the UC Santa Barbara Department of English, Cyborg Resources lists a variety of resources on cyborgs, from philosophical articles and literary criticism to current scientific practices. A related area of research is brain-computer interfacing (BCI), which is described on this website from the Helsinki Institute of Technology - Brain-Computer Interface. Research on neural engineering, which combines work in electrical and computer engineering, tissue engineering, materials science, and nanotechnology, is also described on this website from USC: Neural Engineering Lab. The Discovery School – Future body suggests this lesson on technology for grades six through eight, in which students explore how the human body uses electric signals to send messages to and from the brain, and then how the nervous system uses those signals, with the option for additional discussions regarding the potential for cyborg technology. The next website from National Public Radio: Thinking is doing with Cyborg Technology provides a current look at applications of cyber technology, most of which are in the area of healthcare. For example, this program reports on how "scientists make it possible for quadriplegics to control a television, play simple computer games and check e-mail... by just thinking about it." Another interesting experiment--Project Cyborg--involves the neuro-surgical implantation of a device into the median nerves of this researchers' left arm and is described this website Kevin Warwick: Project Cyborg

Café Scientifique, supported by the independent research-funding charity Wellcome Trust and many local sponsors, "is a forum for the discussion of important and interesting scientific issues that is much more informal and accessible than a public lecture." Visitors can find out the current locations of the meetings throughout the world as well as read newspaper articles featuring a few of these gatherings. At the website, users can find out what to expect when attending Café Scientifique gathering. The CAFÉ-SCI list allows Café Scientifique participants to discuss upcoming events and other pertinent topics. Interested individual can find the tips and support they need to start up their own Café Scientifique.

Once upon a time, nuclear power was going to make electricity "too cheap to meter." Today, the Internet is supposed to do the same thing for telephone calls. This time it may be true. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is one of today's fastest-growing, and most misunderstood, technologies. Confusion, outdated beliefs, and urban mythology reign over such simple issues as how it works, the quality of the calls, and, of course, how much it costs. Want to know more? IEEE Spectrum takes an inside look:

The 'computer-based functional literacy' (CBFL) programme is a new-age solution to an age-old problem, and one that has the potential to lift our country's literacy rate in record time. Born of the Tata Group's ever-enduring commitment to community causes and bred by its expertise in information technology, this is a project as novel in methodology as it is ambitious in scope.

The computer-based functional literacy (CBFL) programme uses animated graphics and a voiceover to explain how individual alphabets combine to give structure and meaning to various words.

Designed from education material developed by the National Literacy Mission, the CBFL method employs puppets as the motif in the teaching process. The lessons, tailored to fit different languages and even dialects, focus on reading, and are based on the theories of cognition, language and communication. With the emphasis on learning words rather than alphabets, the project addresses thought processes with the objective of teaching these words in as short a time span as possible.

The mission of the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center at Georgia Tech is "to promote universal access to mobile wireless technologies and explore their innovative applications in addressing the needs of people with disabilities." Anticipating that wireless devices are likely to become an integral part of daily life, with applications ranging from conducting financial transactions to setting a home thermostat, these researchers are working to ensure that people with disabilities are able to use these devices and actively participate in "the information age." Supported by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research of the U.S. Department of Education, the group's research addresses three inter-related projects: Assessment of User Needs, Evaluation of Emerging Technologies, and Policy Initiatives. The website also describes its work in exploring and developing new applications of wireless technologies to support independent living for people with disabilities, such as wearable computing. Related software applications are posted online to download as well as various publications, such as conference proceedings, journal articles, and technical reports.

The Brookhaven Computational Science Center is a collaborative project among researchers in biology, chemistry, physics, and medicine working with applied mathematicians and computer scientists "to exploit the remarkable opportunities for scientific discovery which have been enabled by modern computers." The Center is filling a need for upgrading the computing infrastructure within the Brookhaven National Laboratory and making "the most advanced systems available to researchers throughout the scientific community." The group's work addresses research in computational biology and nanoscience, as well as other areas of science, including nuclear and high energy physics, astrophysics, materials and chemical science, sustainable energy, environment, and homeland security. Detailed descriptions of each project and some related publications and presentations are posted on this website. Note that the link to the Workshops section of the website was not working at the time of this report.

The current issue of the bimonthly IBM Journal of Research and Development features articles on electrochemical technology in microelectronics. Most of the articles address some of the issues that have arisen in this rapidly expanding field, especially as the dimensions of the features of microelectronic components have decreased. Other articles discuss cache prefetching, logic-based embedded DRAM (eDRAM), and register-renaming mappers for IBM POWER4 processors. Members of the IBM technical community and non-IBM authors are invited to submit papers for future issues of the IBM Journal of Research and Development on topics relevant to the scientific and technical content of the Journal. The next issue will highlight the fastest computer in the world -- IBM's supercomputer called Blue Gene.

Gartner, Inc., which provides research and analysis on the global IT industry for clients worldwide, offers annual predictions for the year ahead in the areas of technology, application, and industry. This section of the website highlights the firm's 2008 predictions for technology. Some of the technologies addressed in this issue include open source software, public network infrastructure, and mobile and wireless technologies. The full document must be purchased, but visitors may browse through the summarized predictions free of charge. An Overview page also reviews some of the "significant technology events and trends" that will challenge or facilitate industry growth goals. Other reports offered by Gartner, such as Hype Cycles, which helps industry differentiate between hype and future technology, are also summarized.

into quantum computing technology. The program summary discusses some of the potential uses for quantum computing and features excerpts from the program in which researchers from IBM's Watson Research Center, MIT and UC Berkeley were interviewed. Visitors can also download video footage of the show and the transcript. Short definitions for key terms such as Tunneling, Superposition, Entanglement, and Quantum Mechanics are also provided.

In this article from the BBC Click Online, Robert Kahn, the Internet's co-inventor, "tells how it all began, when, as an assistant professor of electrical engineering at MIT, he took a leave of absence to brush up on his networking theory." The article gives a sense for the innovative work that went into creating the Internet and also discusses the lack of attention given to security issues early in the development process. He notes that, "we weren't worried about viruses because we were dealing with a very narrow research community that was 'colleagular'. " From this website, visitors will also be able to read about other articles and video footage from Click Online, which focuses on "lifstyle technology."

With support from the National Science Foundation, the Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center (NSEC) brings together researchers from Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California, Santa Barbara and the Museum of Science in Boston with participation by Delft University of Technology (Netherlands), the University of Basel (Switzerland), the University of Tokyo (Japan), and Brookhaven, Oak Ridge and Sandia National Laboratories "to construct novel electronic and magnetic devices with nanoscale sizes and understand their behavior, including quantum phenomena." The Center's main activities include research, education, and public outreach. The website lists the group's overlapping interdisciplinary research areas as Synthesis and Growth of Nanoscale Structures; Imaging Electrons inside Nanostructures; and Spins and Charges in Coherent Electronics. The links section provides information on NCES nanotechnology educational activities as well as other online resources and information on upcoming conferences in nanotechnology. The Highlights section provides just an overview of recently published research, but some of the websites for individual participants include articles and conference papers. The Annual Report also reviews recent activities and research from NSEC.

Susan H. Rodger from the Computer Science Department at Duke University has compiled this website describing research on "designing tools for visualizing and interacting with theoretical computer science concepts." The graphical tools may be used as an aid for learning the basic concepts of Formal Languages and Automata Theory. Most of the tools are available to download or can be obtained by contacting the researchers as noted on the linked websites. References and copies of some recent papers are also posted on this website.

The mission of the Microelectronics Research Center of Georgia Tech is "to facilitate research on a variety of new materials, device structures, and micro-electromechanical systems." The group has established a silicon CMOS processing baseline and a procedure for equipment and processing training, which it calls the Platform. The Center makes the Platform available to the Georgia Tech community and to other research communities worldwide. The components of the Platform, which include baselines, research, people, training and services, are described on this website. The Documents section includes information on the equipment as well as recipes and seminar notes, which are free to download. Some sections of the website are only accessible to group members.

The Modeling and Simulation Information Analysis Center (MSIAC) assists the Department of Defense (DoD) in meeting its M&S needs "by providing scientific, technical, and operational support information and services." Through the Help Desk, MSIAC also answers technical inquiries from non-DoD customers, who agree to pay for their service beyond the first two hours. The group has experience in weapons technology including WMD, information management, modeling and simulation, operations analysis, chemical and explosive sciences, material sciences, spectrum engineering, wireless communication, life sciences, medical informatics and telemedicine, transportation systems, and reliability, availability, and maintainability. A wealth of resources are available from this website, including the Modeling & Simulation Resource Repository (MSRR), which is described as "the first place to go for answers to M&S" and Glossary of Modeling and Simulation (M&S) Terms, information on special topics of interest within M&S, and links to related websites. The MSIAC's M&S Journal Online offers quarterly articles of interest to the M&S community free of charge.

Guido Rößling, who works for the Rechnerbetriebsgruppe (Computer Support Center) of the Department of Computer Science at the Darmstadt University of Technology, has created this website about ANIMAL. ANIMAL is a general-purpose animation tool with a current focus on algorithm animation. Posted on this website are the animations, including screenshots, classification and description, a user guide, other instructions, and research papers. A section with examples provides an overview and screen shots of the animations, such as one that shows how LZW compression (an algorithm created in 1984 by Lempel, Ziv and Welch) works.

The Department of Energy's Building Technologies Program engages in research and regulatory activities aimed at improving the energy efficiency of buildings. This section of the organization's website called the Building Toolbox provides guidelines, tools, success stories, and links "to guide you through the process of designing, constructing, or renovating high-performance buildings." Topics addressed include how to plan and finance a project, how to design, construct, and renovate high-performance buildings using "the whole building approach" and design tools, as well as suggested ways to choose building components and to operate and maintain buildings in order to get the most out of energy dollars. Finally, several software tools are available to help researchers, designers, architects, engineers, builders, code officials, and others evaluate and rank potential energy-efficiency technologies and renewable energy strategies.

The publishers of Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and General are offering free access to articles on Classical and Quantum Field Theory from January 2008 until April 2008. The Classical and Quantum Field Theory section of the journal includes articles on "high quality, innovative and significant new results on mathematical physics in areas including: topological objects (such as vortices, solitons, instantons and monopoles), gauge and conformal field theory, quantum electrodynamics and quantum chromodynamics, integrable models, mathematical and computational methods in quantum field theory, and classical field theory." After April 2008, the articles will only be available to paid subscribers.

With all the web browsing and downloading that goes on during the average day in the life of a computer, this application may prove to be quite useful. CCleaner effectively works to remove unused and temporary files from the user's computer. By doing so, this allows Windows to run more efficiently and faster. CCleaner 1.18.099 is compatible with Windows 95 or newer.

Given the increasing interest in developing personal weblogs and online journals, many users may find the WheatBlog device quite enticing. The application is designed to maintain any number of blog and news pages on personal sites, and will certainly assist users in keeping track of various developments on any variety of such related endeavors. WheatBlog .05b is compatible with all operating systems.