Magazine

Inside the Spyware Scandal

May 2006

Last year, Sony BMG put antipiracy software on their CDs. In so doing, they spied on their own customers and gave hackers the power to access people’s computers. What were they thinking?

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Letter from the editor

Rootkits Cross the Line

Features

Categorized in 17035
Stem Cells Reborn
In the wake of scientific fraud in South Korea, researchers are renewing their race to clone stem cells.
Categorized in 17035
Tiny Toxins?
Preliminary studies suggest that some types of nanoparticles might pose a health hazard. That’s bad news for nanotechnology.

Also in this issue
- Letters
  Letters from our readers.
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- Beaming Books
  It’s a cheap stopgap for the digital divide: satellite transmission.
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- Smart Cameras
  A new tool can decipher text in video.
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- Implantable Medication
  Programmable drug chips have passed a longevity milestone: six months of drug release.
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- Patent Pileup Worsens
  Want a patent? Get in line.
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- Printing Press for Biosensors
  Making microparticles in a single step.
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- Super Plastic
  GE’s new water-sheding coating could lead to self-washing cars.
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- A Lifesaving Liver Machine
  A dialysis device uses pig liver cells.
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- Cell Phones Say Hi to Wi-Fi
  On a cellular/Wi-Fi network, no more dropped calls inside buildings.
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- Human Joystick
  Sensors turn video games into a workout.
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- A Cell-Phone Tower with Focus
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- RFID: At Risk from Viruses?
  As part of an information system, even the lowly RFID tag is vulnerable.
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- Flexible Displays
  Carbon nanotubes are showing promise in flexible, low-power displays.
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- Technology in the (Ocean) Trenches
  An underwater robot digs for gold.
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- Hydrogen on the Cheap
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- New Ways to Sniff Drugs
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- Information Technology
  New publications, experiments, and breakthroughs in information technology – and what they mean.
  Categorized in 17032
- Nanotechnology
  New publications, experiments, and breakthroughs in nanotechnology – and what they mean.
  Categorized in 17032
- Biotechnology
  New publications, experiments, and breakthroughs in biotechnology – and what they mean.
  Categorized in 17035
- Catching the Flu: A Photo Essay
  As it tests a new way of making vaccines, TechnoVax is targeting the deadly 1918 flu virus.
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- Nanocrystal Displays
  QD Vision’s Seth Coe-Sullivan is using quantum dots to make vibrant, flexible screens.
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- Hacking the Roomba
  A peek at the simple brain and sensors of the autonomous robot phenomenon.
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- Rewriting the Genome
  Sequencing and synthesizing DNA keeps getting faster and cheaper. George Church explains the impacts of these advances.
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- Drug Trials and Error
  Conspiracy theories about big pharma would amuse, if they were not a matter of life and death.
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- Who’s Sorry Now?
  Pip Coburn was a star research analyst during the Internet boom. Today, he thinks the entire industry has to change.
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- The Great Transformation
  Why are the champions of Reagan’s defense buildup arguing for a smaller, more technological military?
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- Stem Cell Hope
  Cellular reprogramming could make moot the ethical debate surrounding stem cells.
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- On the Grid
  Grid computing is becoming an affordable utility for everyone.
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- Nitrogen Fix
  Richard Schrock describes why finding an elusive catalyst could have a surprising impact on energy consumption.
  Categorized in Uncategorized
- The Elusive Nature of Drug Discovery
  Understanding how drugs work has never been easy.
  Categorized in 17035

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