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The article is based on the IBM's press release and is misleading because of it. In fact, there are three competing teams - one lead by IBM, one lead by HP and one lead by HRL Laboratories. See also the FBO website for more information about this program.

Well, I dunno if I can say whether or not the lab is "in decline," but as far as I can tell my current employer, HRL Laboratories (yes it's a crappy website, but it's the only one they've got), is still going strong. This is the former Hughes Research Labs, the place where some folks invented things like the laser and mosfet, among other things.

Certainly things aren't booming there but they could certainly be worse. It probably helps a lot, though, that the lab is jointly owned by no fewer than three huge corporations.

Around the same time, HRL demonstrated the first laser. Busy people.

Around the same time, HRL demonstrated the first laser. Busy people.

Around the same time, HRL demonstrated the first laser. Busy people.

The ion engine was invented at HRL Laboratories in California in 1961 funded by NASA. HRL continued to work on the engine into the 70's.

The ion engine was invented at HRL Laboratories in California in 1961 funded by NASA. HRL continued to work on the engine into the 70's.

Who, me?

Kind of slow, old and hard to find.

But its small, has a somewhat usable keyboard, its small and it runs linux. Did i mention how small it is ? :)

take a look here:

http://www.wins.hrl.com/people/ygz/pc110/

P/S is used by research labs all over the world, as well as by several DARPA funded projects in the US. The program manager (an official agent of the Man) has always been extremely cool about the OS nature of the project. He immediately understood that by staying OS we could pool the resources of hundreds of researchers, most of whom were not being paid by DARPA, to solve a pressing need for network-friendly robot interfaces and re-usable code. A good deal for everyone.

HRL Laboratories has developed a unique technology, which we call PackHunter, for identifying cyberspace navigators with similar interests. The novelty comes from the use of "digital scents" left behind as trail markers as users move through the hyperlinked space. The properties and behavior of this scent can be tuned to allow a trail's visibility to decay in time, be reinforced through reuse, and to diffuse in cyberspace. The diffusion in cyberspace occurs through scent being distributed to neighboring links. The overlap between the diffusion-broadened trails can be used to identify people with similar interests without the requirement that they actually visit the same sites.

Feedback results in improved collaborator discovery performance over time.

There are many other potential applications, relating to both public and private hyperlinked systems. Examples are identifying users of large private databases with common interests such as genealogy or history researchers looking at similar sets of records, corporate R&D personnel investigating competitive analysis databases, and patent or litigation counsel researching large document data repositories. There are also opportunities in situations where knowledge of other users' past presence, frequency of presence, or proximity can be used in real time, such as in multiplayer on-line gaming.

HRL Laboratories is actively seeking commercialization partners, primarily with a view to licensing the technology, but also with the option for more active participation. If you are interested in further discussion please contact Dave Payton at payton@hrl.com or Mike Daily at daily@hrl.com.

HRL Laboratories has developed a unique technology, which we call PackHunter, for identifying cyberspace navigators with similar interests. The novelty comes from the use of "digital scents" left behind as trail markers as users move through the hyperlinked space. The properties and behavior of this scent can be tuned to allow a trail's visibility to decay in time, be reinforced through reuse, and to diffuse in cyberspace. The diffusion in cyberspace occurs through scent being distributed to neighboring links. The overlap between the diffusion-broadened trails can be used to identify people with similar interests without the requirement that they actually visit the same sites.

Feedback results in improved collaborator discovery performance over time.

There are many other potential applications, relating to both public and private hyperlinked systems. Examples are identifying users of large private databases with common interests such as genealogy or history researchers looking at similar sets of records, corporate R&D personnel investigating competitive analysis databases, and patent or litigation counsel researching large document data repositories. There are also opportunities in situations where knowledge of other users' past presence, frequency of presence, or proximity can be used in real time, such as in multiplayer on-line gaming.

HRL Laboratories is actively seeking commercialization partners, primarily with a view to licensing the technology, but also with the option for more active participation. If you are interested in further discussion please contact Dave Payton at payton@hrl.com or Mike Daily at daily@hrl.com.

• PDAs/Handhelds and Linux: good summary table.
• LinuxCE: Linux for Handheld Computers.
• ucLinux: Linux on Palm Pilot.
• PC110: Linux on IBM PC110 compact computer.