USAINS allocates RM10mil to centre of excellence

By DAVID TAN

GEORGE TOWN: USAINS Holdings Sdn Bhd is allocating RM10mil to acquire equipment, software, and machinery for its Centre of Excellence for Electrical & Electronics (COE-E&E) over the next two years.

Dr Gan Ee Kiang (left) receiving the end user licence from Adrian Ng Siong Teck.

 

USAINS managing director Datuk Dr Gan Ee Kiang told a press conference that the purchase of new hardware and software would strengthen the COE-E&E centre’s core expertise, which was in the area of designing physical layout of chips and logic design.

Gan spoke after receiving the end user licence for the electronic design automation (EDA) software from Synopsys (Singapore) Pte Ltd senior executive account manager Adrian Ng Siong Teck.

USAINS had utilised a portion of the RM10mil from North Corridor Implementation Authority (NCIA) to purchase the Synopsys EDA software, Gan added.

”We are now involved in doing designing work outsourced to us by five Penang-based multinational corporations (MNCs).

”We hope to get three more MNCs here to outsource their chip designing work to us.

”Our work for MNCs generates some 70% of the centre’s revenue.

”We will also be going for jobs from small and medium enterprises in the electronics industry,” he said.

Gan said that for the 2010 financial year, COE-E&E was targeting to generate RM1.5mil in profit on the back of RM3mil in revenue.

”The centre will also be launching its master of science programme, in collaboration with Universiti Sains Malaysia’s school of electrical and electronic engineering soon, in micro-electronics soon at USM.

”In 2011, we will be producing the first batch of graduates,” he added.

Penang WiFi hotspots ‘sabotaged, vandalised’

 We will no longer reveal their locations, says Ooi

BY MANJIT KAUR

THE exact location of the WiFi hotspots will no longer be revealed publicly as there have been cases of vandalism where people have cut off the supply.

Jeff Ooi, the chairman of the state-appointed special task force to handle telecommunications infrastructure issues, said this was rampant especially in George Town, but did not provide figures.

One of the ways to overcome the problem, he said, was to fix WiFi hotspots at 24-hour restaurants so that restaurant owners could keep a watch over them.

“We will also not give details on the locations to avoid further sabotage and vandalism,” he said but did not provide the number of cases.

Speaking at a press conference to update the media on theWireless@Penang project and telecommunications infrastructure in Komtar yesterday, he however said that “as at end-December, there were 355 hotspots and we hope to reach the target of 750 hotspots by end of the year”.

Ooi said there was also network congestion due to peer-to-peer (P2P) download at the WiFi hotspots.
He said there were over 20,000 subscribers who were “maximising” the 355 hotspots.

“To avoid excessive download problems, we are looking at implementing auto-log off every 15 minutes,” he added.

On telecommunications towers, he said there were 849 rooftop and free-standing structures in the state.
“Those that don’t appear on the master list will be demolished, while those on the list must comply with the rationalisation process by the June 30 deadline,” he said.

He said out of the 849 structures, 285 had been approved.

On structures placed at several drains by PenangFon to offer faster connectivity using Fiber optic broadband connection unlike the conventional copper cable, Ooi said the management was adamant that the concept was approved by the previous state government and that the strategy was being used worldwide.

“We have complaints that the drains get clogged and rubbish get stuck in the fibres.

“We want to make Penang a world-class city, and using fibre optic in drains is not the right way. We are giving them time to comply with the guidelines, otherwise we cut off their lines,” he said.

PenangFon chief executive officer Robin Wong, when contacted, said the company was willing to cooperate with the state government and other agencies.

“If anyone googles and search for fibre optic, you will see that the strategy to place the structures in drains is widely used.

“Fibre is not hazardous, and the method has been used in many developed countries for better broadband service,” he added.

Huawei E5 3G modem and Wi-Fi hotspot Better known as the 3 MiFi

Huawei E5 3G modem and Wi-Fi hotspot

Better known as the 3 MiFi

By Tony Smith • Get more from this author

4th February 2010 08:02 GMT

Huawei E5 / 3 MiFi

A 3G dongle you don't need to connect by cable. And handy if you want to share your 3G connection among multiple devices.

Suggested Price:

£180 (Sim free) £0-50 (Contract)

More info:

Huawei's E5 page 3's MiFi page

Rating

Review Huawei's E5 is one of a growing line of compact, standalone HSDPA 3G modems that double-up as impromptu Wi-Fi hotspots. You may have heard of it as 3's MiFi.

Rather than hook the E5 up to a single device - your laptop, typically - the built-in access point means you can share its 3G link among all your gadgets: phones, tablets and so on. That said, the E5 can also connect directly to a computer and operate as a typical 3G dongle.

Huawei's E5: no bigger than an old-style 3G dongle, but with a Wi-Fi router on board

Don't have any other Wi-Fi devices? Then just treat the E5 as a dongle you don't need to plug in. Or even take out of your bag.

The Wi-Fi support is limited to 802.11b/g, but then most small mobile devices don't have 802.11n either, so this is perhaps no great loss. The E5's 3G radio operates in both the 900MHz and 2100MHz UMTS bands, and it has quad-band GSM/GPRS/Edge support too should find yourself too far from a 3G basestation.

When you are in range, the device will support upload speeds to 5.76Mb/s and download speeds of up to 7.2Mb/s. These are theoretical maxima, so you won't get them in the real world, even if the network you're using supports them.

And, of course, you don't mind paying inflated data-roaming rates when you're traveling beyond your national borders.

USB or battery powered

The E5 is powered by its own, removable lithium-ion battery, charged over USB. A computer's USB port will do, as will any suitable AC adaptor, though you don't get one in the box, just a short cable.

Flipping out the battery - which, Huawei claims, is good for four hours' continuous usage; that's about right - reveals the modem's Sim card slot. On the side of the device is a separate bay, for Micro SDHC cards should you need to use the modem as USB Flash drive too - it isn't shared over Wi-Fi, though.

The web UI presents the same controls any other router has

You'll need to remove the battery not only to slip in the Sim card but also to find out the unit's pre-loaded WPA password and the WLAN SSID. Our review sample had a different SSID to the one printed inside the battery compartment, though the WPA key proved to be correct.

Not that it made much difference. Huawei states that the E5 is compatible with Windows and Mac OS X. That may the case with the dial-up software you use when you want the E5 to operate as a dongle, but we couldn't get Mac OS X 10.6 to accept the WPA key, even with a '0x' in front to indicate it's a hexadecimal one.

A handy Windows XP machine would relay the key correctly, but modem and PC refused to communicate sufficiently well for the Huawei to provide the computer with an IP address. So to change the WPA key into something more sensible, we had to resort to connecting the E5 with a cable so we could access the device's admin web page.

This despite restoring the E5's settings to factory defaults.

The UI is crude, but functional

Once in the management console, you have full access to the E5 and all the settings you'd expect from any standard Wi-Fi router. It isn't the best laid-out console we've seen - the options could be more logically organised, for example - but with a little exploration time you can find all the you need to enter your carrier's network login details and to set up your ad hoc WLAN the way you like it.

You can set the E5 to instigate a 3G connection when your computer is sending a request for internet data, or have it simply connect when it's powered up. You can also tell it only to connect when you push the tiny Dial button on the side of the modem, but 'auto' is so much easier and saves the inevitable pauses between browser requesting page and modem dialling in to deliver it. They always feel longer than they are.

3 calls the E5 the MiFi

Huawei is a past master in the art of 3G modem creation, so we weren't surpised at the E5's ability to establish a mobile broadband connection. The device's Wi-Fi abilities aren't bad either. As long as you don't expect expect the house-filling coverage a regular, mains-powered router can provide, you won't be disappointed. This is an on-the-go product for meeting places, hotel rooms and the like, and the coverage it provides is enough for that.

Our only beef with the unit is its display. Brightly coloured LED icons are great for photographs. But to conserve power, they have to be switched off, so you have to press a button on the E5 every time you want to check the battery status, 3G signal strength or even if there's a 3G connection present. We'd rather have a low-power LCD readout, please, even though it wouldn't look as good.

The E5 will set you back around £180 for an unlocked, Sim-less unit, or less if you buy it with an airtime contract. 3's prices vary from nothing to £50 for the E5, plus £7.50-23 a month for 18 or 24 months. Data allowances range from 1GB to 5GB.

Verdict

The E5 is a great gadget, but how often are you likely to need it? There's no shortage of Wi-Fi hotspots, and many hotels rooms have it too. Those that don't often have wired links instead, and these you can set your notebook to share through its own Wi-Fi adaptor. Its utility depends on how often you need Wi-Fi coverage when there's only 3G to be had. It's a pricey device to buy on the off-chance. ®

Blogging declines among teens, young adults

 According to the new survey, Facebook is now the social network of choice among teens and young adults.

(Credit: Screenshot by Dong Ngo/CNET)
 
As social-media sites like Facebook grow in popularity among teenagers and young adults, good ol' blogging has declined sharply over the past three years for this set, a new report shows.

In 2006, 28 percent of teens ages 12 to 17 and young adults ages 18 to 29 were bloggers, according to survey results released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center. By the fall of 2009, however, these numbers dropped to 14 percent of teens and 15 percent of young adults. During the same period, the percentage of online adults over 30 who are blogging rose from 7 percent in 2006 to 11 percent in 2009.

The survey attributed the decline in blogging among younger Internet users to changes in social network use. About three quarters (73 percent) of online teens and an equal number (72 percent) of young adults use social-networking sites such as Facebook or MySpace. As they get older, people seem to use social-networking sites less. The survey shows that only 40 percent of adults ages 30 and older were using social-networking sites in the fall of 2009.

Among major social sites, the new survey results show that Facebook has taken over as the social network of choice among adults ages 18 and older with 73 percent of adult profiles. MySpace is second with 48 percent and LinkedIn follows with 14 percent.

The survey results also note that young adults ages 18 to 29 have embraced mobile gadgets and connectivity with 66 percent of them being laptop users. Some 81 percent of those 18 to 29 go online wirelessly compared to 63 percent of 30- to 49-year-olds, and 34 percent of those ages 50 and older. More than half of young adults have accessed the Internet wirelessly on a laptop (55 percent) or a cell phone (53 percent).

The quantitative results in this report are based on data from telephone interviews conducted by Princeton Survey Research International between June 26 and September 24, 2009, among a sample of 800 teens ages 12 to 17 and a parent or guardian.

The survey is part of a Pew Research Center series of studies that explore the behaviors, values, and opinions of the teens and Twentysomethings that make up the Millennial Generation. You can learn more about this here.

Dong Ngo is a CNET editor who covers networking and network storage, and writes about anything else he finds interesting. You can also listen to his podcast at insidecnetlabs.cnet.com. E-mail Dong.

Brand Malaysia reeling from a thousand cuts

DIPLOMATICALLY SPEAKING
By DENNIS IGNATIUS

duta.thestar@gmail.com

Over the years, scandal corruption and mismanagement, as well as misguided policies have tarnished our country's name.

LIKE it or not, every country has a brand name. When a country comes to mind, people often think of it in a certain way, much like Coca-Cola or Mercedes-Benz. A brand name is more than an image; it is the essence of what a brand represents.

Needless to say, a brand name is a valuable commodity and both countries and companies jealously protect their brand name. What takes years to build can be tarnished almost overnight.

Sometimes a single incident can set back a country’s image by many years. At other times, a country’s image can suffer death by a thousand cuts - a series of unfortunate events or incidents over a period of time that, taken together, paints an unhappy picture.

What of brand Malaysia? For years Malaysia promoted itself as a sensible and stable democracy characterised, above all else, by religious and racial tolerance.

Indeed, we often sold ourselves as a model of inter-faith and interracial harmony and went around inviting others to learn from us.

To many in the Third World, we were the template for successful economic development based on political stability, sound economic strategy and respect for the rule of law.

On the business side, we were considered a safe and exciting place to do business with and invest in.
Investors were assured of strong government support, an efficient bureaucracy and a business environment free of corruption, red tape and political interference. Our English-educated workforce was a decided advantage.

Regrettably, we have not been zealous in protecting our brand name.

Over the years, scandal, corruption and mismanagement, as well as misguided policies, have seriously left brand Malaysia reeling from a thousand cuts.

The Kugan case, the death in custody of Teoh Beng Hock and other high profile cases brought us a great deal of unsavoury international attention. This, together with equally sensational scandals involving our judiciary, seems to convey the view that our whole justice system is in crisis.

As well, the massive PKFZ fiasco, the brazen theft of RMAF jet engines and other outrageous public sector corruption scandals have convinced many foreign observers and businessmen that corruption is now out of hand in Malaysia.

It is not for no reason that Transparency International recently gave Malay­sia its worst corruption ranking ever.

Increasingly, visitors to Malaysia (as well as many Malaysians themselves) routinely complain of demands for bribes and kickbacks at many levels. Are we now destined to become a chronically corrupt state?

Though we tend to play down the extent of corruption in Malaysia, it is negatively impacting our image in more ways than one and may well be related to the declining levels of foreign direct investment.

On the political front, the continued use of detention without trial and limitations on fundamental freedoms have undoubtedly diminished our democratic credentials in the eyes of the world.

At the same time, the attentiongrabbing headlines concerning the caning sentence imposed on Kartika Dewi by the Syariah court, high profile Jakim raids on popular nightspots, the controversy over the use of the word “Allah,” the recent attacks on churches and the desecration of mosques have left many foreigners wondering whether we are heading down the slippery road towards intolerance and extremism.

Of course there are those who will argue that some of these actions are religious imperatives and must not be questioned. The point is we cannot have it both ways: we cannot act in this manner and still hope to cling to the “moderate” label we are so proud of.

Cases of unfair treatment of migrants and foreign workers in Malaysia have not helped either. The United States Senate issued a damning report last year that even implicated some government officials in human trafficking!

This, together with the abuse of migrant workers by their Malaysian employers, has brought shame to our nation and invoked the ire of some of our neighbours.

And then there is the exodus of Malaysians, more than 300,000 in 2008/09, in search of a better life abroad. What does it say to the rest of the world about brand Malaysia when many, including some of our best and brightest, are leaving?

It is clear to those of us who closely monitor Malaysia’s image abroad that brand Malaysia is in trouble. One commentator even went so far as to call us a “failed rich state!” It is nonsense of course, but it is a sign of the shifting perception of Malaysia.

Unfortunately, there are no Band-Aid solutions. Mere slogans or clever publicity campaigns won’t cut it. The scandals, the worsening corruption, the political dysfunction, the decay of national institutions, etc., are symptomatic of a much deeper malaise affecting our nation.

At the end of the day, we need to ask ourselves some hard questions about where we, as a nation, are headed. Foreign observers are certainly asking the question and reaching their own less than flattering conclusions about brand Malaysia.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak issued a clarion call last week for Malaysia to do “something extraordinary.” The most extraordinary thing we can do is to halt the sad decline of our nation and somehow find a way to spark a national renewal.

China tests warming waters for North African role

Midweek
By BUNN NAGARA

Western powers gradually welcome Beijing’s growing contribution to regional maritime security.

AFTER some reflection, US and EU states are now coming round to China’s proposal for clearer national roles in securing international shipping between North Africa and South Asia.

Last November at the UN, Beijing floated the prospect of individual countries policing clearly identified zones through area allotments. A month before a Chinese ship had been hijacked in the pirate-infested region.

The US was cool to Beijing’s proposal at first but now appears to welcome it. The Internationally Recognised Transit Corridor (IRTC) is supposedly a safer stretch of water between the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, but pirate attacks have lately extended outwards.

With some 40 national navies involved there is no shortage of national interests, but better coordination had always been lacking. China pushed for streamlining operations and has found a positive response from the West.

Some countries are grouped into the US-led Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), the European Union or Nato. Others like Malaysia, India, Russia and China run their operations separately.

Meanwhile, China would now also head the rotating chair of the so-called Shared Awareness and Deconfliction (SHADE) group that has been dominated by the US and EU.

Top CMF and EU naval officials have in recent days warmly welcomed China’s growing role.
This comes as open confirmation of operations already underway. Since its founding in 2008 and through monthly multinational meetings, SHADE has seen the Chinese and other national navies exchanging information in useful and productive ways.

A Hong Kong news report last week said Beijing would now have to increase its naval presence in the Arabian Sea or Indian Ocean region, but this was swiftly denied.

China is careful about its mounting international responsibilities, and even more about foreign perceptions of its intent and conduct.

Chinese officials see the present moment as a double-edged sword. As a time of opportunity it offers China a rare chance to introduce itself agreeably to the world at large, but with turns of anxiety its intentions might also be misread.

Hawks and conservatives abroad were already irked by the prospect last month of Beijing taking over the Indian Ocean refuelling role from Tokyo.

In Japan, ending that function of serving US-led forces in Afghanistan has been blamed on Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, but moves in that direction had already been announced in 2007 by then premier Yasuo Fukuda.

The right-wing in Japanese politics in particular has been vocal in seeing a “net loss” for Japan and a “net gain” for China. However, more reasonable and neutral observers draw quite different conclusions.
From each nation whose imports and exports rely on the safety of international shipping, a comparable degree of responsibility in contributing to security is expected. No country is entitled to benefit more from an international security regime than it is prepared to provide for.

Furthermore, by working together, the navies of the various countries tend to develop a better understanding of one another that can help reduce tension and misperception. A mutual confidence-building mechanism comes into play to benefit all parties, replacing suspicion with greater trust.

This trust is particularly pertinent with a rising major power like China. Not only will it help others understand China better, it will also help China understand the rest of the world better as well.

The alternative is a build-down in mutual confidence, to which no party will seriously subscribe. Reason and pragmatism have helped sustain the general welcome for China taking up its due responsibilities.

Beijing’s interests are clear enough: securing the sea lanes for its vital energy imports, and its exports of manufactured goods. Beyond that, it seeks to cultivate a positive international image in its global dealings.

It has thus sought to play down its new central role in SHADE, describing it as a mere coordinating function. It has also repeatedly emphasised the need for the United Nations rather than any particular country to lead in initiatives.

China is aware that the spotlight on it can reveal its willingness to contribute in international concerns, as well as its conduct in multilateral efforts. It is also hoping to avoid allegations of hitching a free ride in international maritime security, while not making too many waves in sailing forth.

Get Paid to Install Malware

Get Paid to Install Malware

Botnets are using affiliate programs to infect PCs.

By Erica Naone

Sites like Amazon offer affiliate programs that pay users for sending them new customers. And now, malware authors, always quick to adopt tactics that work elsewhere, have developed their own affiliate program, which was described in a talk given today at the Black Hat DC computer security conference in Washington, DC.

Kevin Stevens, an analyst at Atlanta-based security consulting company SecureWorks, says sites with names like "Earnings4U" offer to pay users for each file they can install on someone else's PC; the practice is called "pay per install." Stevens found sites offering rates ranging from $180 per 1,000 installs on PCs based in the U.S. to $6 per 1,000 installs on PCs based in Asian countries.

As he researched the practice, Stevens says he discovered a number of companies engaged in pay per install. These companies periodically change their names to dodge the authorities. He also found forums where users shared tips for making more money, and a variety of sophisticated tools developed to make it easier for them to install malware. "It's almost like a real, legitimate business," he said.

People who sign up for the affiliate programs often download "malware cocktails" that they then try to distribute as widely as possible. One common technique is to combine the malware with a video and offer it for download on a peer-to-peer file sharing site. Another is to host the malware somewhere on the Web, and use search engine optimization techniques to attract traffic to it.

Stevens outlined several types of software that a malware affiliate can use. "Crypters," for example, are programs that mask malware from antivirus programs. One popular crypter costs about $75 initially, and then $25 to buy fresh pieces of code that keep the malware masked once antivirus programs have begun to recognize the original. Stevens estimates that it's possible to get by for two to three weeks on each such update.

For about $225, a malware affiliate can multiply his earnings by obtaining a Trojan download manager. This program allows him to pump multiple malware cocktails into each infected PC, getting paid for each one on each compromised computer. One Trojan download manager comes with add-ons that allow a user to harvest e-mail addresses from an infected system, which could then be used to send spam or phishing messages.

Stevens estimates that some of the larger companies offering pay-per-install programs are responsible for about 2.8 million malware installs each month.

Engineering the Computer of the Future, One Atom at a Time

By Charles Q. Choi, TechNewsDaily Contributor, posted: 01 February 2010 06:19 pm ET

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Using computers based on the mind-boggling physics of the quantum world, researchers now hope to simulate reality on the molecular scale better than ever before.

Scientists want to simulate molecules on computers to better understand and improve how they might react – for instance, how a drug might behave in the human body. But attempts to simulate complex molecules using modern supercomputers fall short because increasing the number of atoms they have to analyze leads to an exponential spike in computation time.

"If you simulate anything larger than four or five atoms – for example, a chemical reaction, or even a moderately complex molecule – it becomes an intractable problem very quickly," said researcher James Whitfield, a quantum information chemist at Harvard University. At best, he explained, regular computers only can get a rough approximation of how these systems work.

Quantum computers
 
That is why scientists are now turning to quantum computers, which rely on the bizarre properties of atoms and the other construction blocks of the universe. The world becomes a fuzzy, surreal place at its very smallest levels – things can seemingly exist in two places at once or spin in opposite directions at the same time.

While normal computers represent data as ones and zeroes – binary digits known as bits that they express by flicking tiny switch-like transistors either on or off – quantum computers use quantum bits, or qubits (pronouced "cue-bits") that are both on and off at the same time. This enables them to carry out two calculations simultaneously. In theory, quantum computers could prove incredibly faster than regular calculators for certain problems because they can run through every possible combination at once.
The particles and molecules that scientists want to investigate are quantum objects.

"If it is computationally too complex to simulate a quantum system using a classical computer, why not simulate quantum systems with another quantum system?" said researcher Alán Aspuru-Guzik, a quantum information chemist at Harvard.

Calculating with light
 
The quantum computer the researchers conducted their molecular simulations with relied on photons, or packets of light, as its qubits. While Aspuru-Guzik, Whitfield and their colleagues provided the software and performed key calculations, their collaborators in Australia assembled the hardware and ran the experiments.

Using this two-qubit computer, they simulated the smallest molecular system, the hydrogen molecule, and calculated its energy in terms of how it might react with other molecules. They ran their simulation process 20 times in a row, with each cycle working off the data from the last one, to achieve very precise values. "That's enough precision to simulate experiments with," Aspuru-Guzik told TechNewsDaily.

The great challenge that lies ahead is creating quantum computers with more qubits, which are needed to simulate molecules with more atoms. Although a 2,000-qubit computer would be roughly enough to, say, simulate cholesterol binding with a protein, the most qubits anyone has uncontestably made a quantum computer with so far is roughly a dozen, Aspuru-Guzik said.


"We are now working to make larger experiments to continue our successes with larger and larger systems," said he said.

The research was detailed online in a recent issue of the journal Nature Chemistry.