An Ethiopian scientist residing in the United States is involved in a hi-tech research development that could revolutionise the way computers communicate and significantly reduce the energy they use, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Solomon Assefa, a doctoral graduate of the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is one of the three researchers working at the International Business Machines (IBM) Corp, whose work will soon be published in the scientific journal Nature, according to the newspaper.

The three scientists are claiming an important advance that could change the way computer chips communicate, sharply boosting speed while lowering energy consumption.

The goal is to use pulses of light rather than copper wires to exchange information between chips and to build the needed components out of silicon rather than costly, esoteric materials. IBM’s advance involves a key component called an avalanche photo detector, which converts light into electricity. The researchers say they used silicon and the element germanium to create a photo detector that is among the fastest and least power-hungry of its kind.

IBM is not alone in the pursuit. Researchers at universities and companies including Intel Corp and start-up Luxtera Inc have also been working on improving chip performance using siliconbased optical components.

“This is the next wave of computing,” said Richard Doherty, an analyst at market research firm Envisioneering Group and a patent holder in optical communications. “By 2020, it may be the dominant way Google, governments, banks and other large users are doing their computing.”

Optical communications involve encoding information on streams of light particles generated by lasers. The technology uses thin glass fibres rather than bulky cables, yet creates connections that allow more data to flow at higher speeds.

Such benefits are the reason long-distance telephone wires were replaced with fibre-optic cables, a technology developed in the 1970s. Companies like Luxtera already sell silicon based optical devices for linking computers. Researchers are racing to miniaturise optical components so they can be built into microprocessors.

Intel has built a series of optical components from silicon and related materials, including a prototype avalanche photo detector it announced in December 2008. IBM says its version can detect 40 gigabits of data a second – four times the speed of Intel’s – and operates at 1.5V rather than 30V.

“That can save a huge amount of power,” said Yurii Vlasov, the lead scientist of the IBM research.

IBM’s photo detector can detect weak pulses and amplify them without adding unwanted noise, a previous problem with the technology, he said. The company, which used germanium in a different way than Intel, says it reduces noise by 50pc to 70pc compared to existing avalanche photo detectors.

Mario Paniccia, director of Intel’s photonics technology lab, called IBM’s advance another sign of progress in the field.

“As a scientist, I think this is all great,” he said. “It just drives more competition.”

Vlasov said it could be five years before the technology makes its way into chips for high-end server systems. It could take another five years before it is used in consumer products such as cell phones or videogame players, he said.

(Story compiled by Fortune)

Ethiopia famine aid of 1985 'spent on weapons' - BBC Investigation

Millions of dollars in Western aid for victims of the Ethiopian famine of 1984-85 was siphoned off by rebels to buy weapons, a BBC investigation finds.

Former rebel leaders told the BBC that they posed as merchants in meetings with charity workers to get aid money.

They used the cash to fund attempts to overthrow the government of the time.

One rebel leader estimated $95m (£63m) - from Western governments and charities including Band Aid - was channelled into the rebel fight.

The CIA, in a 1985 assessment entitled Ethiopia: Political and Security Impact of the Drought, also alleged aid money was being misused.

Its report concluded: "Some funds that insurgent organisations are raising for relief operations, as a result of increased world publicity, are almost certainly being diverted for military purposes."

Exhibition entitled “Empty Rooms” is being shown at Alliance Ethio-Française

An exhibition entitled “Empty Rooms” is being shown at Alliance Ethio-Française through March 1.The exhibit organized jointly with the Goethe Institut comprises of more than 30 oil paintings by a Berlin-based Ethiopian artist Engedaget Legesse.

Ethiopian Opposition Parliamentary Candidate murdered

March 2 (Bloomberg) -- An Ethiopian opposition candidate was stabbed to death by six unidentified men in an attack described by government opponents as part of an intimidation campaign by the ruling party ahead of elections in May.

Aregawi Gebre-Yohannes was killed this morning at a restaurant he operates near his home in the northern region of Tigray, Gebru Asrat, chairman of the Arena party, said in a phone interview today from Addis Ababa, the capital. Communications Minister Bereket Simon, a member of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, said the killing wasn’t politically motivated.

Read more » Comments (0) »

Boeing sued over Ethiopian Air crash in Lebanon

Published: Mar 2, 2010 by Helly Filed under: Ethiopian News

Relatives of passengers killed in an Ethiopian Airlines crash in Lebanon earlier this year have filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit in a U.S. court against plane-maker Boeing, their attorney said Tuesday.

"We have filed a lawsuit in Chicago, Illinois, against the Boeing company," Manuel von Ribbeck, of the U.S. firm Ribbeck law, told AFP.

An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-800 went down minutes after taking off from Beirut in bad weather on January 25, killing 83 passengers and seven crew. The cause of the crash has not been announced.

Read more » Comments (0) »

Page 1 of 30

« prev12345...2930next »