These numbers are substantially lower than other studies suggesting the number of U.S. Internet users is roughly 35 million. Federal and industry scientists are building a computer so powerful it has already broken the teraflop barrier, achieving more than a trillion calculations a second, nearly tripling the previous record held by a Hitachi machine. Intel hopes to make computers running the Pentium Pro the basic platform for such heavy-duty applications as airline reservation systems and automatic tellers. The project entails surgically implanting tiny microprocessors and electrode sets on the backs of cockroaches. With a remote control device, researchers send signals to the backpacks, stimulating pulse-emitting electrodes attached to the roach's antennae.
Electric pulses make the bug turn right, left, and scamper forward or back.
Researchers predict that within a few years, electronically controlled insects carrying minicameras or other sensory devices could be used for such missions as crawling through earthquake rubble to search for victims or slipping under doors for espionage surveillance. The left-wing Peruvian rebels who took hundreds of people hostage last December are among the growing number of rebel groups around the world that have taken their causes to the global computer network, reports Newsday. Steffen Schmidt, political science professor at Iowa State University, calls authenticity the double-edged sword of the Internet. Restrictions were imposed on some 100 sites, including those featuring Western news, information on Hong Kong and Taiwan, and pornography. Officials are exercising a selective approach to blocking offensive sites, continuing to bar those featuring news and commentaries from Hong Kong and Taiwan, which Beijing considers a renegade province of China.