Technology

SUPERFAST computers could be

on the way now that we have the

ideal “multiferroic” material to

build them with.

“Spintronic” computers

calculate using four logical states

and so should be far faster than

today’s binary computers, which

use two. Multiferroics can create

these states because they produce

both electric and magnetic fields,

and each can be switched between

two directions.

Most multiferroics only work

below -230 °C, but now researchers

at Bell Labs in New Jersey and

Osaka University in Japan have

found some superconducting

copper oxides that are multiferroic

at -50 °C, which is well within

reach of simple electric coolers

(Nature Materials, DOI: 10.1038/

nmat2125). They now hope to

find materials that work at even

warmer temperatures.

REPLACING dry multiple-choice

tests with quizzes akin to the hit

TV show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire could help boost

comprehension levels in children.

Tzu-Hua Wang at the National

Hsinchu University of Education

in Taiwan has devised a web-based

multiple choice testing system

with some fun elements

influenced by the TV quiz. The

1.2billion dollars: cost of the radar-invisible B-2 stealth bomber that crashed on Guam in the Pacific Ocean on 23 February.

Poker players try to read the faces of

their opponents – now software is

about to do something similar in a bid

to stem fraud against poker websites.

Like online banks, web-based

casinos suffer phishing attacks: players’

identities are stolen through emails

purporting to be from the casino but

actually from fraudsters trying to obtain

account details. If successful, they then

empty the account by losing the victim’s

money gambling against themselves or

accomplices. Other crooks use software

agents, or bots, which play automatically,

often beating all but the best players.

To ensure a human, and the correct

human at that, is playing, Roman

Yampolskiy of the University at Buffalo

in New York and his colleague Venu

Govindaraju have written software that

monitors how you play. It catalogues

how often and how much a player

tends to bet, increases the bet, bets

everything, or folds – giving up

altogether. This information is bundled

up into a personalised measure – the

player’s “gambling DNA” – that can then

be used to confirm their identity. Any

deviation from that behaviour is flagged

up as suspicious. After just an hour of

play, Yampolskiy says, the software can

authenticate players with 80 per cent

accuracy – and that gets better the

longer they play.

While such a scheme could protect

rank-and-file players, Jonathan Schaeffer

of the University of Alberta Computer

Poker Research Group in Edmonton,

Canada, doubts it would work with the

best ones. “If you are predictable, you

can be exploited,” he says. “Strong

players try not to be predictable.”

‘GAMBLING DNA’ FIGHTS FRAUD

system gives pupils the chance

to “prune” away two incorrect

answers from four – or, in a nod

to “phone a friend”, they may ask

the class for help.

Unsurprisingly, children were

more willing to be tested using

Wang’s system. But he also found

kids had higher comprehension

levels after using it, suggesting

the system could be used for

educational purposes , he says

in a paper to be published in

Computers and Education (DOI:

10.1016/j.compedu.2007.11.011).

It brings a whole new meaning to computer accessories: a PC-in-a-necklace that

records the most exhilarating or scary moments of your life. One of the more bizarre

entrants in Microsoft’s next-generation PC design competition (tinyurl.com/3d8fh3),

the Momenta necklace features a PC that monitors your heart rate to identify exciting

moments as they happen. It then records what’s going on using a small camera.

Apple angered gadget developers last week by filing patents on the use of gestures

to control touch-sensitive displays, such as those in its iPhone. As the patents cover

movements such as pinching two fingers together and separating them to enlarge an

image, some commentators fear that if granted, Apple may corner the market in

touch-interface technology before other innovators get a chance to try their hands.

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TECH’S BELLWETHER

Employment in Silicon Valley is picking up

again after the dotcom bubble burst in 2001,

though more jobs are now lower paid

Boeing boasts about the “virtual border fence” it has built along a 45-kilometre stretch of the US border with Mexico. Comprising nine 30-metre-high towers brimming with ground radar, infrared cameras and sound sensors, the system is now set for wider use along US borders (Boeing statement, 22 February)

“2000 illegal immigrants were apprehended in five months”

–Who’s playing your cards?–

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Two states good,

four states better

‘Millionaire’ tests

help kids learn

www.newscientist.com 1 March 2008 | NewScientist | 27

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