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The visiting Thai IT companies include Adasoft, AI Soft, Arunawad Dot Com, Comance International, Computer Telephony Asia, Dynamic IT SP, IT Works, and specialize in software and solutions in restaurant, travel business, Internet booking, airline solution, hospitality software, warehouse management, mobile application and finance, among others.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said the breach probably will lead the Pentagon to limit the distribution of such material. Although that could help prevent future leaks, it could also restrict the flow of potentially lifesaving information to soldiers.

Prior to the release of the documents, access to the network for classified information, known as the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet), was quite loose. Soldiers would need a security clearance to log in. But once logged in, they might not have met any further controls-such as a brake on how many documents any individual could download. "Technical safeguards that are in place stateside were not necessarily implemented downrange," says John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a defense and security think-tank.

What's more, the dedicated SIPRNet terminals used by soldiers in the field were not necessarily available only to people with credentials. Brian Slaughter, who was a lieutenant and platoon leader in Iraq, says soldiers might log in but not log out, which meant other soldiers could go in and view data. "So who knows who is really accessing it at this point?" he says. "There is a certain level of trust at the lower tactical echelons that users accessing data via SIPRNet have the best interests of their fellow soldiers at heart."

He added: "The nature of the environment we operate in forces leaders to place a certain amount of trust in their soldiers. With that trust comes a small amount of risk. In this case a soldier may have taken advantage of that."

Data is subject to different classification levels. SIPRNet carries data labeled "secret" but not more sensitive "top secret" data. One application built on SIPRNet is called TIGR, or "tactical ground reporting system." In Iraq, it is used as a mapping and visualization application that lets soldiers see the latest intelligence and incidents on a planned patrol route. A soldier can click icons to read reports, see photos, and even watch short videos or hear transcripts of interviews.

TIGR requires its own log-in system, atop the SIPRNet one, so it's not likely that TIGR itself will be curtailed, Slaughter says. But other access points to SIPRNet are far looser, he adds. "There are numerous sites on SIPRNet that are `free' sites that you can access without any permissions required," adds Slaughter. "Unfortunately some of those sites might have value to someone looking to harm our efforts."

Pike notes that information systems can either be ultra-secure or ultra-usable, but not both. "By definition there is a trade-off between security and operability. It's just a question of where you want to make the trade," he says.

It's likely that inside the war zone, if not back in Pentagon offices, the bar on SIPRNet is set in favor of giving soldiers information that might save their lives, Pike says. "That would go to the question of why they took off technical protections of computers that are downrange. They are getting shot at, they are in the wire. `There's nobody in here but us chickens, so we're going to move the margin and move it in the direction of less secure and more operable.' "

Bradley Manning, an Army private who served in Iraq, is a "person of interest" for investigators examining the release of the latest documents, according to the Army. Even before this episode, Manning had been arrested by military authorities and charged with releasing other classified information, including a video of a 2007 Apache helicopter attack that killed 12 people in Iraq.

Source: http://www.technologyreview.com/web/25929/

Services like Google Street View and Bing Streetside instantly teleport Web surfers to any street corner from Tucson to Tokyo. However, the panoramic photos these services offer provide only a limited perspective. You can't travel smoothly down a street. Instead, you have to jump from one panoramic "bubble" to the next-not the ideal way to identify a specific address or explore a new neighborhood.

According to a post written by Sundar Pichai, a vice president of product management at Google, and Linus Upson, the company's engineering director, the open-source Chrome OS will consist of a Linux kernel with the Google Chrome browser running on top inside an entirely new desktop environment.

The Chrome browser was released nine months ago and is Google's effort to reinvent the browser completely: it's designed from scratch with Web applications in mind and is meant to be the only application that a Web-savvy user needs on her computer.

The agreement was signed by Mr. Sengsomphone Vilavout General Director of Planning and Cooperation Department and Mr. Bunrak Saraggananda Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Magic Software (Thailand) Corp.

The Asian-Oceanian Computing Industry Organization (ASOCIO) members of Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Singapore and India witnessed at the event.

Kanissorn Navanugraha, director-general of the Business Development Department, said the ministry's `Trustmark' program was designed to support Thai E-Commerce players and help them earn recognition from consumers.

To join the program is free of charge. Any E-commerce trader whose qualifications meet the Commerce Ministry requirements will be awarded a `Verified' symbol to be shown on their website.

Seeing the `Verified' symbol, would-be consumers were assured of a quality product from the seller, said Mr. Kanissorn.

A recent survey found the total value of trade via the E-Commerce system in 2006 totaled around Bt305.16 billion. Of the total, trade through the government's e-auction dealings was as much as Bt176.68 billion and business to business (B to B) was Bt79.73 billion, while business to consumer (B to C) was only Bt47.50 billion.

Mr. Kanissorn added B to C trade could expand further if consumers had enough confidence to buy goods through the internet.

Out of more than 60 million Thais, less than 8.5 million used the internet, according to Mr. Kanissorn. (TNA) - E111

They have described their model, the first to simulate every step of the process of photosynthesis, in the journal Plant Physiology. They will also present their work at the BIO-Asia 2007 Conference in Bangkok, Thailand.

A cluster platform at Pune's Computational Research Laboratories (CRL), a Tata subsidiary, has been ranked fourth in the widely anticipated Top 500 list released at an international conference on high performance computing in Reno, Nevada.

Just as they do with the old-fashioned cathode ray tube monitors, users should be sure to sit at least 50-80 cm from the monitor. Sitting closer means users run the risk of wearing out their eye muscles.

Older monitors, work just like older televisions, took up so much desk space that workers were often left with no choice but to sit close to the monitor, says Windel. But that's not a problem with the newer liquid crystal display (LCD) monitors.

The researchers used a computer model, which mimics the process of evolution, for the purpose.

Peter Neupert, Corporate Vice President for the Health Solutions Group at Microsoft remarked, ''We were impressed by Global Care Solutions' state-of-the-art health information system, which has enabled a hugely complex facility like Bumrungrad International hospital to achieve amazing outcomes related to improved workflow and patient safety. The international, fully integrated nature of the GCS technology, and the fact that it is built from the ground up on scalable Microsoft technology, makes this a great addition to our portfolio of health enterprise products as we look to power developing and emerging hospital systems around the globe.''

A day before Gambari's arrival, the ruling generals announced Friday that they would not renew the mandate of the UN's top man in Rangoon, a UN spokesman said.

The junta's grip on power was again evident Friday when Burma's Internet links were largely cut.

Access to international websites has been restricted since Thursday morning, said an official from the state-owned Myanmar Teleport, who added that it was not known when full service would be restored.

Burmese dissident websites and blogs have been particularly active in the lead-up to Gambari's visit, condemning the junta for its suppression of demonstrators and urging the international community to ramp up pressure on the regime.

Dissident websites are also frequently the quickest means of relaying information from within the isolated country.

They were a key source of information on a march on Wednesday by Buddhist monks in Pakokku in central Burma, the first such demonstration since the September crackdown.

Charles Petrie, the United Nations' country chief, was summoned to the new capital Naypyidaw for a meeting with junta officials, said Aye Win, a UN information officer in Rangoon.