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IP: Software hidden behind news print in Tokyo paper
From: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
Date: Mon, 03 Jul 2000 09:44:35 -0400
http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/indepth/docs/intact070200.htm Software hidden behind news print in Tokyo paper Scanning paper converts black dots into variety of programs, using Intacta technology. BY JON HEALEY Mercury News Tokyo's Yomiuri Shimbun, the world's best-selling newspaper, has been cramming some extra ink onto its pages this year. It's not for Japanese characters -- it's a series of black dots arrayed in a tight, uneven pattern. From a distance it looks like woven fabric; up close it looks like a snowy TV screen. Feed the page through a scanner, however, and the true nature of the image is revealed: it's software. The file might be a snippet of music one day, a popular chess program the next. The technology behind the Yomiuri project comes from Atlanta-based Intacta Technologies Inc. Based on work done for the Israeli minister of defense, Intacta's encoding technique compresses and encrypts virtually any type of digital file into a pattern of dots. What makes Intacta unique, said Todd Dombrowski, director of business development, is its ability to move data securely from their customary dwelling places to new ones. For example, a spreadsheet could be printed on a postcard instead of a floppy disk. The technology doesn't require the printed image to stay in pristine condition. On the contrary, Dombrowski said, it's designed to put up with the kind of abuse that newspapers undergo in the hands of their readers. Intacta's software reduces any digital file or files to a binary code of tiny black dots on a white background. The dots and blank spaces represent the zeros and ones of computer data, said Marc Nehamkin, an Intacta director, and they can be arrayed in any kind of shape -- a company logo, for example, or a face.
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