Balance Sheet

Jeff Taylor from the October 2004 issue

Assets

The Classifieds

The 9/11 commission recommends that the federal culture of secrecy be replaced with one of information sharing between agencies and the public. Classification costs at least $6 billion a year, but the exact amount the CIA spends is...classified.

Holding Court

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit finally wraps up the Microsoft antitrust case, rejecting a challenge to the settlement by the state of Massachusetts and others. Microsoft says the decision frees it to go back to just building software.

Fire Bug

Meet the next generation of fire alarms, built on beetle guts and with a range of several miles. The University of Bonn uses the infrared-sensitive sensors of the jewel beetle as a template for a remote fire-sensitive network that could sniff out forest fires very quickly.

Know-Why List

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer tells the Transportation Security Administration that information about the federal "no fly" list cannot be kept secret without justification. Breyer found that newspaper clippings and the names of federal officials were among the things the government wanted to keep "secret."

Water Lite

Researchers at Arizona State University move water molecules with light, a manipulation of basic physical building blocks with big possibilities. Microfluidics deployed in chemical or pharmaceutical research could create new compounds or make existing ones much cheaper.

VoIP Lessons

Another benefit of the Voice over Internet protocol? How about allowing cash-strapped start-ups to avoid Fortune 500-sized phone bills? Virtual offices spring up across times zones or across oceans, and VoIP keeps communication costs low.

Liabilities

Pot Heads