USM develops Android-based imaging software

Friday April 29, 2011

By CHRISTINA CHIN 

sgchris@thestar.com.my

GEORGE TOWN: Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) has developed what is believed to be the world’s first Android-based tele-radiology collaboration platform allowing doctors to download medical images while discussing it in real time.

The ENDEAVOUR-Mobile software system allows images stored in the “ENDEAVOUR server” to be viewed clearly on Android-based smartphones, tablet devices and any personal computer.

This is unlike a similar software system released on April 19 that requires high bandwidth and is only available to iPad users.

USM School of Computer Sciences dean Prof Rosni Abdullah said the system allows medical professionals to quickly source for expert opinions any time and anywhere.

She said tele-radiology, a branch of tele-medicine, is often costly and other mobile applications only allow users to access and view images on mobile devices minus the live chat feature.

“ENDEAVOUR-Mobile software system enables users to access medical images such as CT, PET, MRI scans and X-rays; and mark, draw and measure specific areas on the images, while simultaneously speaking to each other on the phone.

“We hope the software system will be used in government hospitals as we expect it to reduce medical costs while benefiting patients,” she told reporters here yesterday.

The patent-pending ENDEAVOUR-Mobile was judged the national champion (E-Health category) at the 11th MSC Malaysia Asia Pacific ICT Alliance Awards last year.

It was developed by USM under the RM1mil ENDEAVOUR (Extensi­ble Medical Image Analysis, Visualisation and Annotation Plat­form) Project, which also covered the development of other inventions.

The software can be used in emergency situations where specialists are not present or when a doctor needs to consult his colleague who is on holiday.

Project leader Assoc Prof Dr Mandava Rajeswari said in the medical field, consultations were crucial and to fly specialists in would be costly and time consuming.

The software would be available soon as USM are already in negotiations with local partners to market the product.

Two more varsities join EPP programme

Wednesday September 15, 2010

PETALING JAYA: Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and Universiti Malaya (UM) joined the Education Partner Programme (EPP) spearheaded by YTL Communications.

Under the programme, students and academic staff at the universities will enjoy the company's 4G Mobile Internet services on campus.

The students will receive free converged data and voice services of up to 300 megabytes per user, on a monthly basis over a period of three years, and will be able to top up their accounts at special student rates.

UPM and UM are the third and fourth universities respectively to join the EPP programme in the last two months, following Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and University Tunku Abdul Rahman.

More of Malaysia's public institutes of higher learning and private universities are expected to join the programme by year end.

YTL Comms is pleased to be a partner with UPM and UM in their vision to create a superior academic environment, said Yasmin Mahmood, executive director of YTL Comms, in a press statement.

The universities announced that the service will come in handy for students and academic staff, especially when conducting R&D work.

Associate Prof Dr Suhaimi Napis, chief technology officer and director of the UPM InfoComm Development Centre, said the service will encourage the university's model of ubiquitous learning, where students learn whether they are in lecture halls or not.

"We call this 'www-learning,' " he added.

The Ubiquitous Learning Environment at UPM, a brainchild of Dr Suhaimi, relies on the Malaysian Research and Education Network (Myren) - a high-capacity broadband network that connects universities, colleges, research organisations and scientific laboratories.

UPM also has a number of cloud services that can support blended learning, i.e. a mixture of remote and on-premises education.

For example, video collaboration services such as 1VideoBridge make live virtual-classes possible. Up to 160 laptops, desktops and other compatible devices can be connected to the service at one time.

"The power of 4G Mobile Internet will create new ways for education to be delivered and we are already working with YTL Comms to enable interoperability between our learning and research cloud-services and all other platforms, including new Android-based devices which we are eager to explore." Suhaimi said.

Meanwhile, Dr David Asirvatham, director at the UM Centre for Information Technology, said the data packages specially tailored for students is the perfect tool to enhance student lives on campus.

"4G Broadband & Voice services under a single account is a great value proposition to our students. When every ringgit needs to be stretched, it helps that our students can use their 300 megabytes of free broadband to make free phone calls, too," he said.

As Malaysia's oldest public university and a recognised research university, UM actively spearheads a number of research-intensive projects in ICT (information and communications technology) and Computational Sciences; Biotechnology and Bioproducts; and Health and Translational Medicine with the help of grid computing.

"With the superior performance of 4G, that delivers connectivity in megabits instead of the kilobits we get with 3G now, the power of grid computing can easily extend all the way to desktops and devices, significantly improving our research process," he said.

Workshops encourage creativity

Thursday November 25, 2010

NUSAJAYA: Some secondary schools students here were given an opportunity to share creative and innovative ICT ideas in a Microchip Controller Project held recently.

Dr Hafizah Husain who led the project, said the workshop was a joint initiative by UEM Land Holdings Berhad and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM).

“The workshop was held for 40 secondary school students from Taman Nusa Jaya and SMK Kompleks Sultan Abu Bakar to gauge their creativity and innovative thoughts,” she said.

Hafizah said throughout the workshop, it was apparent many of these students had an abundance of ideas to simplify their daily chores.

“Some of the ingenious inventions that were installed and showcased included an automated duck feeding system, a portable BMI system and a smart clothes line system,” she said.

The programme was designed to encourage secondary school kids to come up with unorthodox ideas and inventions.

“After watching the students’ creative inventions, UKM has decided to showcase these designs and present the inventors with awards early next year,” she said.

Hafizah hoped to conduct more programmes, as she believed it had taught children important values including responsibility, teamwork and confidence.

UEM Land corporate communications chief Karimah Tan Abdullah said the project was a part of their strategic efforts to develop innovative minds in technology.

“It is also aimed at promoting a sustainable ICT community to benefit the Malaysian community and industry at large,” she said.

All 40 students selected for the programme were required to travel and attend several workshops held at UKM to learn, develop and finally complete their prototype using the microchips provided by UKM.

Samsung nurtures young Bada technopreneurs

Friday December 3, 2010

BRAVO: Deputy Minister of higher education, Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah (second from left) presenting the mock cheque to the Bada Developer Varsity Challenge 2010 winners, team G-Polaris of Universiti Sains Malaysia. With them on the far right is Lee Jui Siang, head of marketing- mobile phone, Samsung Malaysia Electronics.

KUALA LUMPUR: Teams from four local universties were the winners in a competition to showcase the most innovative applications based on Bada - Samsung's new, open smartphone platform.

In the finale of the Bada Developer Varsity Challenge 2010, Team G-Polaris from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) presented an application called Green Polaris, which provides location-based services, news briefs, greening tips, and links to environmentally-friendly companies.

Team Doa Nazihah (which means "An Honest Prayer") from Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) developed an application it called Doa Recital for Muslim Pilgrims to help those performing the Haj pilgrimage.

The Management and Science University (MSU) team, named Rois et Reine, developed The Pianist app that teaches users how to play the piano. And Team Smart from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) unveiled a location-based mobile friend-finder application called Tell Me.

Team G-Polaris was the 1st place winner, followed by Team Doa Nazihah and Team Rois et Reine in 2nd and 3rd place, respectively. The Most Innovative Team Name and Logo prize went to Team Rois et Reine.

G-Polaris comprised Chai Jian Wei, Khoo Han Ni, and Peter Lau Yi Zhong, all 22, with their supervisor Azlan Osman. The three students are pursuing a degree in Computer Science.

They received RM15,000 cash while the second and third teams received RM10,000 and RM5,000, respectively.

The winning teams also received four units of the Samsung Wave smartphone each.

The challenge is supported by the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), which is guardian of the country's MSC Malaysia initiative, and industry regulator the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission.

It is to encourage university students to use their creativity and ingenuity to develop Bada applications for social networking and location-based services, as well as educational and religious activities.

"Samsung is actively constructing a total eco-system around the Bada platform ... making our platform vision a reality for consumers, developers and operators to experience the freedom of choice that Bada enables," said Yu Jai Sul, managing director of Samsung Malaysia Electronics.

Saifol Bahri Shamlan, MDeC vice-president, said it is committed to the continued development of the ICT (information and communications technology) industry that will help the nation reach its goal of becoming a developed country by 2020.

"With that in mind, we support the initiative by Samsung to deliver cutting-edge technologies to Malaysia's ICT industry and the public," he said.

The entire challenge took three months of intense brainstorming and work. It received a total of 22 registrations from 18 varsities across Malaysia. Each team consisted of one advisor and three students to inculcate team work and synergy among lecturers and students.

UTM spent RM500,000 to fight virus attacks

Sunday June 4, 2006

BY MEERA VIJAYAN

JOHOR BARU: The war against computer viruses does not come cheap. Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) has spent close to RM500,000 on cyber security protection.

The university also conducted a month long campaign on anti-virus awareness among its administration staff in April.

UTM Centre for ICT director Prof Zamri Mohamad said the campaign included the installation of hardware and software protection as well as updating the operating systems (OS).

“We also arranged for talks on healthy ICT lifestyle for our staff so that they realise it may not be safe to visit sites that are not secure,” he said, adding that the university currently had 10 servers alone for anti-virus protection which were updated daily.

The Star had reported on Thursday that the university had been facing a spate of virus attacks that targeted around 6,000 computers belonging to both the university and students.

Prof Zamri said the university also conducted demonstrations on how computers should be maintained and created a website,www.antivirus.utm.my, through the intranet system.

Students with their own personal computers have also been encouraged to obtain the anti-virus protection from the university free of charge.

UTM was also looking towards moving its entire software system from Windows to Open Source as there were fewer viruses created for it.

Prof Zamri said that with viruses and hackers getting increasingly sophisticated, the idea of owning a computer was not the same as owning a radio.

“It is more like owning a car as you need to learn how to operate it. You also need to constantly service and upgrade it,” he said.

According to him, UTM was considering the possibility of making its students and staff obtain a “licence” before they are allowed to use the computers on campus.

The company is suing Apple and HTC

Wednesday January 11, 2012

ROCHESTER (New York): The struggling Eastman Kodak Co is suing Apple Inc, whose market value is more than 2,400 times greater, accusing it of infringing four patents related to digital camera images.Kodak also suing Taiwan's HTC Corp, alleging violations of the four patents as well as a fifth. It said it filed a related complaint against both companies with the US International Trade Commission.Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment. An HTC spokesman said it is premature to comment until that company can review Kodak's complaints.Kodak is trying to preserve value as the money-losing company, which had been left behind by rivals that embraced digital camera technology faster, tries to raise cash by selling a large patent portfolio.It also has patent litigation against Research in Motion Ltd, which makes the BlackBerry.The Wall Street Journal has said Kodak may file for bankruptcy, a prospect the company has declined to discuss. Kodak on Tuesday unveiled a revamped business structure, and its shares, which trade below US$1 (RM3), rose 50%.In its lawsuits, Kodak said it obtained its patents after concluding it would be desirable for people to easily share pictures from their digital cameras without first transferring them to personal computers.It said Apple and HTC are infringing the patents by selling and importing mobile camera phones, Tablets and other devices, among them Apple's iPad 2, the iPod touch and various iPhones.Kodak wants to stop Apple and HTC from selling these products, and seeks compensatory and triple damages. It filed the federal lawsuits in its hometown of Rochester, New York. - Reuters

Internet leader defends coming changes in URLs

Wednesday January 11, 2012

UP FOR GRABS: The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers begins accepting applications on Thursday for a hugely expanded number of web domains. - Relaxnews

WASHINGTON: Companies and law enforcement agencies nervous about a huge expansion in Internet domains - adding to .com, .net and others - will have many ways to protect trademarks and identify website owners, the head of the organisation that organises the Internet said.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) begins accepting applications on Thursday for a hugely expanded number of web domains. Verisign, which runs the .com registry, has estimated there will be up to 1,500 applications, which cost US$185,000 (RM555,000).

Many corporations view the proliferation of top level domains as a giant problem. Companies already hire lawyers to defend their trademarks online and most were forced to spend money recently to ensure trademarks were not on the sexually oriented .xxx domain when it was introduced.

Following complaints from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and others that registries of website owners were sometimes poorly maintained, making it difficult to shut down scams, ICANN chief executive Rod Beckstrom pledged that the top executives of all new registrars would undergo criminal background checks.

But Beckstrom argued that privacy groups and others pushed back against calls for detailed registries of website owners, called the WHOIS database.

"WHOIS is a really tough problem," he said.

Warren Adelman, CEO of Go Daddy which sells website names, said he had supported the go-slow approach urged by law enforcement and some members of Congress.

"We strongly recommended that there be a small pilot programme and then expand that as sort of a measured way," he said.

In general, those who work with ICANN closely say privately the organisation does a fairly good job of the very tough task of organising the Internet internationally. The main criticism is that it sometimes fails to explain the reasoning behind its decisions, making it look high-handed.

In response to companies' concerns about trademarks, Beckstrom said that, in early May, ICANN would publish who had applied for what top level domain and allow protests.

Trademark violators would be shut down quickly, he said in a presentation at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies think tank.

Sixty-one domain registrars have been stripped of their registrations or not renewed since 2003 because of violations such as failing to maintain proper documentation of who ran websites, failure to pay fees, or other problems, says Stacy Burnette, director for contractual compliance at ICANN.

To market, to market

Beckstrom argued the expansion gave new opportunities for companies. "Not everybody has the domain name they want today," he said. He also argued the expansion would create a more international Internet by allowing top level domains in Chinese, Hindi and other languages that do not use the Latin alphabet.

Just in English, there could well be hundreds of applications for city names such as .Berlin or .Paris and many others for generic words such as .music or .food.

Theo Hnarakis, CEO of Melbourne IT Group which counts 3,500 companies among its clients, said about 100 of his clients were registering top level domains, some to prevent cybersquatting and others as a branding opportunity.

"We are seeing some companies with a sense that this is a wonderful marketing opportunity," he said. "Overstock applied for O.CO (following the last round of expansions). Why? Because ... the shorter the name, the more memorable it is."

If customers do not use search engines to find businesses but URLs instead, companies could save millions on paid click advertising, Hnarakis added. - Reuters