Many universities in the world have been moving towards green computing. NUS is doing a great job too with NUSSU SAVE's initiatives to use double sided paper and pay for plastic bags. Yet we have not seen a concrete Green IT plan being doled out by NUS.

NUS prides on its excellent IT infrastructure to serve students, staff and researchers. In today's Energy era, we can take this further by asking our school to start thinking about a Green Computing Campus.

Here are some steps being taken in places. The question for you to ask is: can we (should we) do them as well?

1. Use Power Management
The correct power management settings can save about $60 per computer annually. Multiply with the thousands of campus computers we have and that is up to a $100,000 savings in energy costs per year. Moreover, do our backend data centres, routers and servers use any power management? This also applies to the thousands or so laptops plugged into the walls at any one time: take the initiative to tune your power management settings.

2. Do Away With Paper Altogether
This applies more to the first year students and the arts students who have to print massive amounts of lecture notes and readings. It costs a lot of money and wastes paper. Can NUS take an initiative to supply every one of us with an e-book reader like Amazon Kindle? It might come at a high price but we won't mind paying for it. If it costs about $50 dollars a semester for printing lecture notes, a $200 e-book reader that you can use for your entire life would be incredibly cool.

3. Thin Clients
Seen all those computers with a LCD and Rectangular Black Box (aka the CPU) on campus? What if I told you if there is technology where you can do away with the rectangular black box? This means that you just have to use a LCD, a mouse and a keyboard with a wire trailing out of the LCD to connect to a network called a “cloud”. Welcome to the world of cloud computing where all your hardware and software are stored in massive supercomputers you will never see (It is like putting all the black boxes on campus far away from you). This is one of Silicon Valley's biggest “revolutions” and it has enormous consequences such as the large amount of heat dissipated with singular CPU boxes will be done away with. Moreover, central cooling systems for server farms are far more efficient than those for cooling each CPU alone. Also, energy efficiency for running a server farm is many times better. It’s like instead of running your own power generator, you buy electricity from the grid.

4. Data Center Efficiency Metrics
Data Centers are the core of our IT facilities. Does NUS use any kind of environmental standards in procurement policies? There are many think tanks like The Green Grid which provide guidelines for energy efficiency of data centers. Techniques include virtualization, Energy Star (or other specifications) qualifications and many others. Take a look here.

5. DC Power Supplies
A very amazing paradigm is that of the DC Network. Almost all computers use DC, but power supply comes in at AC and thus we need to convert it to DC (to purify the incoming harmonics) before we feed the DC into our computers. Imagine a DC network. It means you never have to carry that brick of an adaptor around forever! You will just plug in your laptop straight into the wall. More importantly in data centers, without the power supplies generating heat and taking up space, much lesser air conditioning will be needed and servers can be placed nearer each other without fear of overheating. This saves space, saves energy loss inside adaptors and saves ventilation costs. This technique is already being implemented in many Japanese companies like NTT. Click here for more information

All these ideas and technologies are not new. Their implementation is held back by barriers including old failing policies that cannot provide sustainability far into the future. For example, Dell, Microsoft and Cisco have enterprise contracts for many years with institutions like NUS. While the contracts benefit both sides, they limit flexibility even if there are already very advanced technologies in place.

The solution can come in the form of entrepreneurship. The technology can just be bought from small startups that will work in the background to manufacture the end products. These small startups will continue to profit and inject capital into research and development which will create more jobs. Old companies that cannot adapt to better economic and ecological circumstances will eventually transfer jobs towards these greener companies.

The power to demand such green policies lies within you. There is no “cost vs. green” battle here. We must demand that if they want us to buy green products, then it had better be cheaper too!

So take action, speak out by writing letters and asking questions. Go for seminars, bore your friends with information, build interdisciplinary dialogues etc. Together we can move towards a better world for the next generation to inherit.

Assistant Professor Ooi Wei Tsang from School of Computing received his B. Sc. (Hon.) degree from Dept. of Information Systems & Computer Science, NUS (now School of Computing), and Ph. D. from Cornell University. He became fond of computers after his STPM (Malaysia's equivalent of A-levels examination) and since then he has become keenly interested in computer science.

Dr. Ooi Wei Tsang’s research deals with how different types of computer systems can better support multimedia data such as 3D models, images, audio, and video.  In one of his ongoing project, he and his team are recording user traces in a virtual environment. Traces recorded include a user’s location, how much time the user spends there, and what are the different activities the user engages in while he is in that location.  This information is useful in improving the performance of virtual environment systems.  For example, the knowledge of the behavior of the user gives an idea of what data should be cached to make access to the environment faster.

Another project he is working on is how to support better viewing of high definition videos under limited resource (e.g., small screen, low bandwidth).  These high definition videos are often scaled down to fit the resource constraint, causing some useful information to be lost.  In this project, he tries to enable users to zoom into a video by requesting the server to send detailed information when needed. Sending only detailed information of the selected area ensures that the user’s need is met, without increasing the overhead and bandwidth of transmission.

Dr. Ooi Wei Tsang has also taught some undergraduate level modules. One such module is CS4344 – Networked and Mobile Gaming.  This module complements other existing SoC modules on gaming, which focus on design, AI, and rendering aspects.  This module focuses on the networking and distributed systems aspect of multi-player games.  Issues that are dealt with in the course include protocols, architectures, and synchronization of player states.  Students get hands on experience in implementing their own multi-player game as well as investigating the protocols used in popular commercial games.

A newly-emerging trend in facial recognition software uses a 3D model, which claims to provide more accuracy. Capturing a real-time 3D image of a person's facial surface, 3D facial recognition uses distinctive features of the face -- where rigid tissue and bone is most apparent, such as the curves of the eye socket, nose and chin -- to identify the subject. These areas are all unique and don't change over time.

Using depth and an axis of measurement that is not affected by lighting, 3D facial recognition can even be used in darkness and has the ability to recognize a subject at different view angles with the potential to recognize up to 90 degrees (a face in profile).

Using the 3D software, the system goes through a series of steps to verify the identity of an individual.

Detection
Acquiring an image can be accomplished by digitally scanning an existing photograph (2D) or by using a video image to acquire a live picture of a subject (3D).

Alignment
Once it detects a face, the system determines the head's position, size and pose. As stated earlier, the subject has the potential to be recognized up to 90 degrees, while with 2D, the head must be turned at least 35 degrees toward the camera.

Measurement
The system then measures the curves of the face on a sub-millimeter (or microwave) scale and creates a template.

Representation
The system translates the template into a unique code. This coding gives each template a set of numbers to represent the features on a subject's face.

Matching 
If the image is 3D and the database contains 3D images, then matching will take place without any changes being made to the image. However, there is a challenge currently facing databases that are still in 2D images. 3D provides a live, moving variable subject being compared to a flat, stable image. New technology is addressing this challenge. When a 3D image is taken, different points (usually three) are identified. For example, the outside of the eye, the inside of the eye and the tip of the nose will be pulled out and measured. Once those measurements are in place, an algorithm (a step-by-step procedure) will be applied to the image to convert it to a 2D image. After conversion, the software will then compare the image with the 2D images in the database to find a potential match.

Verification or Identification
In verification, an image is matched to only one image in the database (1:1). For example, an image taken of a subject may be matched to an image in the Department of Motor Vehicles database to verify the subject is who he says he is. If identification is the goal, then the image is compared to all images in the database resulting in a score for each potential match (1:N). In this instance, you may take an image and compare it to a database of mug shots to identify who the subject is.

For more information on this topic click here.

In the next issue, we'll look at how skin biometrics can help verify matches.

The just-released Release Candidate 1 (RC1) of Internet Explorer 8 is a fast, stable browser, tweaked for productivity and security, with few obvious changes over the previous Beta 2 release.

RC1 is feature-complete and largely bug-free. It appears nearly ready for widespread release, so don't be surprised if the final version arrives relatively soon.

In this review, I'll look at the changes made between the Beta 2 and RC1 releases of IE8. (Note that IE8 RC1 is available for XP and Windows Vista, but not yet for Windows 7. The version of IE8 in Windows 7 is later than Beta 2, but earlier than RC1.)

Changes in compatibility  
You most likely won't notice one of the most important changes made with RC1: How IE8 handles Web sites designed for IE7 that cause compatibility problems with IE8. Previous to RC1, IE8 introduced its Compatibility View, which tricks a site into believing that you're running IE7. When you run into any compatibility issues on a site, you click the small icon of a broken page at the right of the Address Bar, and you can then view the site properly, as if you were using IE7. IE8 remembers that it needs to use Compatibility View on pages for which you've used the view before, so you won't have to click the icon each time you visit.  

RC1 improves Compatibility View by automating it to a certain extent. Microsoft Corp. apparently found that a fair number of popular sites coded for IE7 were causing some compatibility problems with IE8. So it created a list of those sites and automatically feeds that list to IE8. Now, whenever you browse to any site on the list, IE8 automatically shifts to Compatibility View, without requiring you to take any action.  

You can opt out of the list if you want. Choose Tools-->Compatibility View Settings, and uncheck the box next to the choice that reads Include updated Web site lists from Microsoft. To opt back in, simply check the box. The screen also lets you add sites to your own personal list as well. In addition, Microsoft says it will update the list every several months.

Internet Explorer 8 RC1

You can tweak IE8's Compatibility View.  
In practice, I found that this new feature worked well. In the beta, I had experienced a slight compatibility problem with my personal iGoogle page --- the Google Calendar applet didn't display properly on the page, although the calendar itself worked fine when I clicked through to it. When I visited my iGoogle page in IE8 RC1, the calendar displayed without a problem. In looking at the Address Bar, I noticed that the Compatibility View button wasn't being displayed, which means that I was viewing it in Compatibility View. I hadn't added iGoogle to a list, so it clearly was one that Microsoft included in its list of sites.

Increased performance  
Microsoft claims that it has tweaked RC1 for performance and that IE8 now displays pages more quickly than in Beta 2. According to Microsoft, it has also optimized page-load times for the most popular sites on the Internet. The company says that it studied where IE8 spent its time loading the most popular 25 sites online, and it found that JavaScript accounted for less than 20% of the page load time. Because of that, it tweaked IE8 performance for those top 25 pages, rather than specifically for JavaScript loading.  

I was unable to authoritatively confirm either assertion, although my pages did load quite swiftly.

Tweaks to the Address Bar  
IE8 sports an address bar, similar to those in Firefox and Chrome, that does more than just let you type in a URL. In Beta 2, as you typed text, it displayed results from your history, favorites and RSS feeds, and organized them all by category. 

Microsoft says that in RC1, it made changes to how the address bar behaves, based on telemetry information it received by examining anonymous user behavior data from Beta 2. People tended to click through to sites primarily from their history list, secondarily from their favorites and very rarely from their RSS feeds.

You can change the way your Address Bar behaves.  
As a result, the top of the Address Bar list now displays matching sites from your history and then from your favorites. By default, no matching sites from RSS feeds display, and even when you do choose to display them, the number of matching sites from RSS feeds is fewer than those displayed for history and favorites.  

To tell IE8 to display RSS feeds as you type, you select Tools-->Internet Options-->Content, then click the Settings button next to AutoComplete.  

You then get the AutoComplete Settings window. To tell IE8 to display results from RSS feeds as you type, you're supposed to click the box next to Feeds, then click OK. But that selection was grayed out in my version of RC1, and I was unable to tell the browser to display the RSS feeds.  

Security and privacy  
Microsoft has also tweaked the security and privacy features of IE in RC1 -- notably, its phishing filter and the feature previously called InPrivate Blocking, which has been renamed InPrivate Filtering.  

InPrivate Filtering is designed to prevent Web sites from sharing information about your browsing history without your knowledge. Often, a site will share content with one or more other, third-party sites -- for example, it could include an interactive map or an ad from a partner's site. If the site gathers information about you, such as your IP address and operating system (sites can gather this information even if you have cookies turned off), it could share that information with its partners.

You can now turn on InPrivate Filtering whenever you want.  
This has privacy implications, because if a party provides content or ads on many sites across the Web, that provider will be able to track where you've gone and build a detailed profile about your Web travels and interests. InPrivate Filtering stops that by not allowing the site you're visiting to send information to third-party sites.  

In Beta 2, InPrivate Blocking was available only when you used IE8's so-called porn filter, InPrivate Browsing. Not so with RC1. You can now turn on InPrivate Filtering whenever you want by either pressing Ctrl-Shift-F, or choosing Safety-->InPrivate Filtering. Your can turn it off by using the same method.  

Why not keep InPrivate Filtering on all the time? Because when you use it, you might block important content from third-party sites, such as maps and stock quotes. You do, however, have some control over which sites can share information. Select Safety-->InPrivate Filtering Settings, select Choose content to block or allow, and you'll be able to customize which content you want allowed, and which blocked.  

In addition, the SmartScreen filter, which warns users when they visit a known phishing site, has been strengthened -- it now also warns you when you visit a site known to contain malware.
 
The phishing warning page has also been changed. In Beta 2, you could click through from the warning screen to the phishing site, even though you were warned not to. In RC1, there appears to be no way to click through. However, there is a way, although it's hidden -- click More Information, and at the bottom of that page will be a link labeled Disregard and continue (not recommended). Click it, and you'll be taken to the site.

It's now harder to click through on a phishing site.  
Microsoft also says that IE8 now protects against so-called clickjacking -- where a hacker can place an invisible button underneath or on top of a legitimate button -- with its cross-site scripting filter.

The Bottom line  
IE8 is clearly nearly ready for release. RC1 is stable and fast, and it contains a full feature set, although there is still a bug or two -- for example, the fact that it wasn't able to display RSS feeds in the Address Bar as I typed URLs.  

Although it's generally not a good idea to use release candidates for production machines, I've been using RC1 without any problems on one of mine. The usual caveats apply as with any prerelease software -- it's not yet finished and so should not be counted upon.

I was busy studying at Victoria Junior College when I was advised by a senior to open up an account at www.nineo.com, and look around the website trying to find something I would like to do - I wasn’t too positive it could work. But, after having successfully completed a series of projects for which I was hired by employers through the website and having earned money by doing what I love doing, Nineo has been a huge gift!

Confucius said, “Find work you love, and you will never work a single day in your life”. But how do we know what we really love? And find work that lets us do it? And earn money doing something we are passionate about? These are the questions that inspired the formation of Nineo (web 9.0), a start-up in NUS, School of Computing (SoC).

Even during these troubled financial times, when holding onto jobs is getting difficult and graduates are dreading going out into the industry at this point in time, each of our talents, passions and subject of mastery could be used not only to keep us occupied, but also to reward us with well-earned pocket money.

Indeed, most people don’t realize that their ‘language gift’ is actually a talent for translation and teaching. Or that their knack for taking postcard-quality shots is a skill companies will pay good money for. In an education system where too many students think they should study and get a degree for a well settled, high paying job, Nineo re-packages Confucius’ age-old wisdom with its simple concept: find projects you love. It matches students with projects based on a students skills set. For example, a student with passion in piano will be matched with all piano teaching projects.

While studying in NUS, I do tutoring once a week, and get paid about a $100 for the three-four hours of work I put in. Getting paid by teaching students my favourite subject – Mathematics – has made me enthusiastic supporter of the website and I would strongly recommend my fellow students to sign into Nineo and open themselves up to various opportunities that are on offer.

So, you think you can be paid to do what you love? Find out now at www.nineo.com