The European Commission has launched a new programme to make scientific information more readily available to EU policy makers. The Scientific Information for Policy Support in Europe (SINAPSE) system aims to provide an “interactive library” of opinions and advice from scientists. Launched on 9 March 2005, the system will play a fundamental role in the EU’s Science and Society Action Plan; it already features a ‘yellow pages’ of more than 150 academic organisations and will be used as a means of warning policy makers of potential crises.

Since the mid-1990s, steps have been taken to improve the quality of science used in decision-making by way of independent scientific committees and independent risk assessment agencies. This new scheme hopes to simplify the process considerly by connecting scientists with policy makers directly. EU Science and Research Commissioner, Janez Potocnik commented on the scheme: “I believe we can bring science and society a bit closer together.”

Internet Protocol TV is once again the subject of debate as Microsoft reveals intentions to start expanding their service globally in 2006, joining the list of companies who currently operate or have attempted to launch similar systems.

There have been a number of previous attempts at online television services but they were usually thwarted by lack of bandwidth. Now broadband networks are more established telecommunications companies are keen to take advantage of the situation and start transmitting video.

Ed Graczyk, director of marketing for Microsoft IPTV, discussed the prospects with BBC News Online. “Compression technology was not efficient enough, the net was not good enough,” but an “IPTV ecosystem” has started to take shape over the past year and “2006 is where it starts ramping up and expanding to other geographies - over time as broadband becomes more prevalent in South America, and other parts of Asia, it will expand.”

With TV programmes being transmitted via the same channels as web data there will be more scope for interactivity, limitless storage and tailoring of schedule content to viewers’ needs. It will potentially let operators target programmes to smaller, niche or localised audiences.

Seven major telecom companies have already taken up Microsoft’s IPTV Edition software, including US company SBC, and smaller companies Myrio and C-Cor have started to provide similar services of their own. IPTV is also being looked at as a potential distributor for companies who have unique types of content that they cannot cost effectively offer through cable and satellite operators - History Channel archives being the example cited.

It seems likely that, after a long period of false starts and speculation, IPTV could soon become the phenomenon the telecom companies have hoped for.

An adapter has been developed that helps people with hand tremors control a computer mouse. The device uses “steady cam” technology found in camcorders to filter out shaking hand movements, reports BBC Online.

“Using a computer mouse is well known for being extremely hard for people with tremors, so we’re delighted to hear that a technology has been developed to address this problem,” said Karen Walsh, from the UK National Tremor Foundation.

IBM researcher Jim Levine developed the prototype for the Assistive Mouse Adapter (AMA) after seeing his uncle, who has Parkinson’s disease, struggle with mouse control.

“My uncle had a pretty bad tremor in his early 80s. One time he tried to use the computer in my house and he simply couldn’t do it. He simply couldn’t use the mouse,” said Levine.

About three million Britons have some sort of hand tremor condition. Although people over 40 years old are more commonly affected, conditions like Essential Tremor (ET) are genetic and can hit all ages. Parkinson’s disease is the leading cause of tremors.

As the population ages, the number of elderly computer users will increase. For the first time last year, the Office of National Statistics reported that more than half of all households in Britain had a home computer. AMA could allow people who begin to suffer from tremors to continue using a computer.

AMA is an adapter box that a PC mouse plugs into. It manipulates data from the mouse before sending it to the computer’s operating system. A knob can control the degree of tremor tuned out depending on the severity of a user’s condition. In addition to steadying erratic movements of the cursor on the screen, AMA is able to recognise erroneous multiple clicking on a mouse button.

IBM said it would partner up with a small UK-based electronics firm, Montrose Secam, to produce the devices, which will cost about £70. Jim Cosgrave, one of Montrose Secam’s directors, said a prototype of the device has transformed his life.

“I’m a pilot and my tremor condition has not limited my ability to fly a plane,” he said. “But using a PC has proven almost impossible simply because everything revolves around using the mouse to accurately manipulate the tiny cursor on the screen.”

Israeli foot soldiers are field testing a wrist-mounted device that receives video images from unmanned aircrafts. Target information that used to be beamed to a control centre is now transmitted direct to military personnel.

As reported on CNN, the video screen is about 3 inches wide and very lightweight; code-named V-Rambo, it’s attached to the wrist by a Velcro strap. The screens display color video that is beamed directly from military drones in real time at 30 frames per second. A larger version of the device has already been introduced in Israeli attack helicopters.

Itzhak Beni, a chief executive with the Elisra Group talked about how the new communications system would “shorten tremendously” the time needed to identify and strike a target. “Before, it was minutes - 10 to 12 minutes. Now it’s a matter of seconds.” Palestinian lawmaker and human rights advocate Hanan Ashrawi called the system “a case of overkill.” The Israeli army declined to comment about the new technology.

Beni also commented that his company is planning to use the technology in the tactical unmanned ground vehicles they are developing with the US Marines, currently code-named “Gladiator.”

Biscuit testers across the UK may soon find themselves out of a job. Staff at the Mcvitie’s laboratory has invented a mannequin that tests the amount of crumbs biscuits produce when eaten.

The motorised Crumb Test Dummy has plastic teeth and is designed to replicate human eating, reports BBC Online. The amount of crumbs produced by a biscuit determines whether it has been cooked to perfection, said a Mcvitie’s spokeswoman.

“Eating lots of biscuits is obviously an enjoyable prospect for most people, but we haven’t yet found a human who can test on this scale,” Mcvitie’s brand manager Liz Ashdown added. “The Crumb Test Dummy has a never-ending appetite and doesn’t need to stop for breath.”

Lewisham council are encouraging residents to report incidents of graffiti and other anti-social behaviour by sending picture evidence via their camera phones. This new service has been developed by the council in parallel with their work with ENCORE the Environment and Community Online Residents E-Services, part of the ODPM’s National Project.

Residents can also use the system to report fly-tipping, abandoned cars and other environmental issues that require council follow-up. The images supplied by the public are catalogued on the council’s LoveLewisham website alongside updates about any resulting clean-ups. If this sceme is successful it will be interesting to see if expands into other London boroughs.

Elderly and vulnerable residents of the South Tyneside area are being offered a text alert service to warn them about rogue traders and doorstep cons. Operated by the council’s Trading Standards team, over 100 vulnerable residents and their carers have already signed up to the scheme. Age Concern has commended the project as it acknowledges the fact that, though a large percentage of elderly people are mobile phone users, their needs are not often catered to via this medium.

To join up all residents need do is text the word ‘doorstep’ to a given number and they will receive regular warnings. Iain Malcolm, Deputy Leader of the Council and Chair of the Customer Services and E-Government Steering Group, said of the pilot scheme: “This is yet another way that we are increasing our services to crack-down on cowboy traders and make South Tyneside a safer place for people to live.”

Recently, the area has suffered a spate of doorstep scams, which have included people posing as social workers. In addition to the text service, residents with internet access can use the council’s website to report such incidents and check if rogue traders are operating in their area, while those without internet access or a mobile can still telephone the council’s contact centre for the relevant information.

Africa’s biggest mobile phone operator MTN will attempt to bring internet services to South Africa in June. The launch of third generation technology (3G) will make internet access available via mobile phones to millions of the world’s poorest people, reports CNN.com. The new service aims to deliver football scores, weather forecasts, video, and music to parts of Africa where nearly half the population has never used a phone.

“This is an opportunity to bring Africa into the information age,” said Karel Pienaar, chief technology officer at MTN.

Plans to bring third generation technology to Africa were nearly put on hold due to the high prices European operators were spending to secure government licences to start 3G services. In the UK alone, Vodafone spent almost £6 billion acquiring its 20-year 3G license. South Africa is one of the few countries in Africa where introducing 3G could make commercial sense.

Approximately 40 per cent of South Africa’s population own mobile phones, compared with an average level of 6 per cent across the rest of the continent. Although sceptics argue that high prices for bulky handsets (more than £200) and poor infrastructure mean it will be a long time before much of Africa is on the web, wireless provides the quickest means of getting there. The fact that few fixed-line operators can afford to roll out telephone lines across the continent’s rough terrain makes wireless connection the best way to deliver access.

“Given the demand for internet access, wireless technologies could provide the solution to Africa’s internet future,” said the International Telecommunication Union.

But should the internet be a top priority for Africa? Experts argue that Africans already use available technology to tackle the continent’s problems; rural HIV/AIDS sufferers in South Africa are currently monitored by SMS, and fishermen in Senegal get tip-offs on which local market is offering the best price for a haul. With the internet, more could be done, including attracting foreign direct investment. With only 1.4 per cent of Africa’s 800 million people on the web, internet access is crucial in helping it catch up with the rest of the world.

While third generation technology may improve the lives of many Africans, widespread use is predicted to be at least 5-10 years away. 3G has been slow to take off in parts of Europe and the United States, and MTN forecasts only 10-15 per cent of Africans will own 3G phones by 2010.

“In the short term it will remain a nice toy for the affluent,” said Arthur Goldstuck, head of the South African technology research company World Wide Worx.

Mobile phone security has taken a page from a James Bond script. A Japanese software company has recently developed a phone containing an anti-theft camera that recognises the face of its owner.

Omron Corportation’s system enables phone owners to save a photograph of themselves on their handset. To activate the phone, owners must take a new photograph of themselves that matches the original, preventing the phone from being used by a thief.

The Metropolitan Police state that half of all street robberies contain the theft of a mobile phone. Given current concerns over identity theft, people who use mobiles for secure transactions could find Omron’s technology useful.

“Mobile devices are carrying increasingly personal information, including address books, schedules and payment information,” said Masato Kawade, senior manager of Omron’s sensing technology laboratory in Kyoto, in Tuesday’s Guardian. “This technology has been designed to protect this information even when the phone is lost or stolen.”

The process works by measuring the distances between key points on the face, such as the eyes, nose, and mouth. The software takes one second to work and only uses 370 Kb of a mobile’s memory. Omron says that in tests the security device worked 99% of the time. However, some experts doubt that mobiles will be able to handle such a complex system.

“If the face is turned through a few degrees compared with their stored face, then the measurements will change,” Alan Robinson, a research scientist at Sheffield Hallam University, UK, told the New Scientist. “Although it is possible to deal with this pose problem, the better solution is to use 3D methods, which will record the surface of the face irrespective of pose.”

Garrett Graff, the editor of FishbowlDC, a blog on the Media Bistro website, became the first online diarist to be granted a pass to a White House press briefing.

Graff spent a week trying to obtain entry before the White House Press Office persuaded Bush’s spokesman Scott McClellan to grant him a day press pass.

Graff filed his first report yesterday from the Brady briefing room, following McCellan’s initial morning briefing, a camera-free session referred to as ‘the gaggle’ where the topics covered included an official visit by the King and Queen and Norway, and Mrs Bush’s trip to Pittsburgh. Graff was also able to attend the main press briefing later in the day where McCellan answered questions on Lebanon and the war on terror.

His report gave a balanced acount of daily media activities in the West Wing, touching on the tedium and the sardonic banter between experienced White House correspondants, as well as the official press activities. Graff wasn’t impressed with the conditions in the press briefing room calling it “dilapidated” and “dreary.”

The White House’s decision to grant him entry recognises the growing influence of online commentators.