A new open-source software toolkit is available Tuesday to improve remote online scientific collaboration via grid computing. The Access Grid Toolkit from the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory enables development of programs to share video, audio, data and text for real-time collaboration between people at different locations around the world. . The technology makes it possible for doctors to diagnose a patient thousands of miles away, students to learn a lesson from an instructor or researchers to collaborate on a project remotely. This is the third version of the toolkit, supporting wall-sized display technology, detailed visualization of simulations, a streamlined user interface and other improvements. Since first being offered, the toolkit has been downloaded more than 20,000 times in 56 countries. Access Grid is written in the Python programming language and features more "robust middleware" than the previous version, making it easier for software developers to write applications to run on Access Grid, said Thomas Uram, technical lead for the Access Grid effort with the Futures Laboratory at Argonne. The link for this article located at InfoWorld is no longer available. . The Collaboration Framework enhances global scientific cooperation and supports diverse interaction technologies across the globe.. Access Grid Toolkit, Remote Collaboration, Open Source Development. . Brittany Day
597 computers get stuck into a feat of number crunching madness. Will Knight reports A group of French scientists joined forces with open source enthusiasts this week and claim to have broken a public encryption key of unprecedented strength (108-bit), . . .. 597 computers get stuck into a feat of number crunching madness. Will Knight reports A group of French scientists joined forces with open source enthusiasts this week and claim to have broken a public encryption key of unprecedented strength (108-bit), snatching a world's first in code-breaking. It took 597 different computers, 6 months of number crunching to crack the encryption. The code breaking stunt is part of a challenge set by cryptographic technology firm Certicom which offered a cash prize of $10,000 (£6,200) for the successful code smasher. The encryption is based on a one way maths problem with just two answers. The two lucky individuals who managed to find the these will receive $1,000 each, but $8,000 of the prize money is to be donated to the Free Software Foundation. The link for this article located at ZDNet UK -- is no longer available. . A collective of researchers and hobbyists successfully decrypted a robust public encryption algorithm utilizing a powerful fleet of 597 devices. Learn about their innovative techniques!. code breaking, open source encryption, encryption methods, distributed analysis. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
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