Prof. Philip Bucksbaum at UMichigan claims to have found a way to phase-encode ones and zeros within an electron's oscillating waveform. Bucksbaum claims to have successfully stored and retrieved 8-bit data. Theoretically, this quantum-phase data storage could store any amount of data in just one electron (much as a voltage level can encode any number of bits, in theory). [EE Times , 31Aug00. RCFoC, 18Sep00.]

Carver Mead's microchip company, Foveon (Santa Clara), has developed a CMOS image-sensing chip with 70M transistors and about twice the linear resolution of 35mm film. Its 4,096 x 4,096 pixels per square inch (16.8 megapixels) matches a recently announced Kodak CCD chip, but the process is so cheap that consumer video cameras might sell for less than $100. From such developments, industry analyst Alexis Gerard foresees "a shift from a text-based communication model to an image-based model." [NY Times , 11Sep00. NewsScan; also RCFoC, 18Sep00.]

Iowa State U. has a new 3D virtual reality theater where visitors interact with scenes projected on the walls, floor, and ceiling. Special goggles allow the system to track head position. One demo is a virtual tornado that can be examined from all sides. [BW, 03Jul00. Edupage.]

Distributed Virtual Environments (DVEs) are discussed in an IEEE Spectrum article at . [Don Smith , 27Jun00.]

Automated design (as opposed to computer-aided design) has advanced, with Brandeis researchers Jordan Pollack and Hod Lipson programming a computer to design and build simple robots. The computer understood the basics of gravity, friction, and simple mechanical motions. It was told to evolve a mechanism capable of moving on a flat surface, along with a control program that would direct that motion. Designs were sent to a prototyping machine to actually build the mechanism, with human help installing a motor and a microchip carrying downloaded instructions. One device moved like an accordion, another like a crab. Better models will likely emerge when there is feedback to tell the design program how successful it has been. or . [NY Times , 31Aug00. RCFoC, 18Sep00.]

If you're looking for technologies to bet on -- financially or with your career -- check out ZDNet's "Your Digital Future." It discusses emerging trends in e-business, Internet technologies, IT infrastructure, computing, and advanced scientific technologies. . [, RCFoC, 21Aug00.]

----- "All movies are binary. They either are or they aren't." -- George Lucas. -----