MIT News: Jan/Feb 2012

TR: Jan/Feb 1999 PDF issue

Technology Review: January/February 1999

Programs to the People

Could an insurgent band of programmers, motivated not by profit but by the ideal of "free software," undermine Microsoft´s control of the computer desktop?

Software´s Ultimate Sandbox

It´s put-up time at Microsoft Research. Seven years after its founding, the lab has yet to make any real breakthroughs. Can a company built on others´ creations start innovating?

Missionaries to Mars

They convened in the mountains, formed a new society, and signed their declaration. Meet the folks who want us to go to Mars.

The Tide of Prints

The FBI has struggled for decades to automate its vast and cumbersome collection of fingerprints. A new system is set to come online in July...but it could be obsolete even before it´s introduced.

Displaying a Winning Glow

Plastics that emit light could revolutionize everything from wristwatch displays to TV screens. Armed with patents and scientific prowess, a British startup is leading the charge.

Ideas Are Like Children

They used to call him crazy. Now they call him smart. Chemical engineer Robert Langer crafts cures from plastic.

Columns

The Rich People´s Computer?

Computers threaten to widen the gap between the rich and poor. It´s in everyone´s interest to narrow it.

Science Triumphs, Market Fails

A new vaccine will guard American children agains rotavirus. But much of the world will be unable to afford the protection. What to do?

Avoiding Annihilation

A prolonged economic crisis could wreck the ecology of innovation. Here are five ways to avoid annihilation during a global downturn.

Viewpoint

Ludd´s Choosy Children

Why there are no Luddites with toothaches

Mixed Media

Cloning Around

Glimpse the future of screen simulation

Laws of Childhood Motion
Park It Here
Advertisement