After posting record profits in 2009 and projecting revenues of $2.5 million this year, an innovator of information capture solutions has recognized it's now time to graduate from Indiana University's Emerging Technologies Center business incubator and into a larger home. "The name of the game for Optiform is to identify vertical business applications where emerging technologies can provide a strong return on investment, and then deliver," said Optiform managing partner Scott McLaughlin. "Indiana University's Emerging Technologies Center has provided us with the perfect intellectual environment to foster innovative ideas from concept to product." Full Story

Indiana University's School of Informatics will develop a gaming arcade for undergraduate research and experiential learning at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. Referred to as the Media Arts Research and Learning Arcade (MARLA), the facility will provide a creative learning community for students interested in 2D and 3D game design, animation and game strategies. It is expected to open later this year on the fourth floor of the School of Informatics in the Informatics and Communication Technology Complex. Full Story

Engineers at Rutgers University have modified a popular home video game system to help teenagers with cerebral palsy improve their hand functions. In a pilot trial conducted by Indiana University School of Medicine researchers with three participants, the system improved the teens' abilities to perform a range of daily personal and household activities. The modified system combined a Sony PlayStation 3 console and a commercial gaming glove with custom-developed software and games to provide exercise routines aimed at improving hand speed and range of finger motion. Full Story

A new online graduate certificate program in clinical informatics from Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) will be used to instruct local health care professionals on how to effectively apply and interpret emerging information technologies to their practice and career. Full Story

"Twister," a new software tool released by Indiana University, supports faster execution of many data mining applications implemented as MapReduce programs. Developed by researchers from the Pervasive Technology Institute at IU, the tool extends the functionality of MapReduce, a distributed programming technique patented by Google for large-scale data processing in datacenter environments. Full Story

The March 1, 2010, issue of IT Matters @ IU included announcement that Indiana University's Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research (CACR) would host the 2010 Higher Education Cybersecurity Summit geared toward security, law and information assurance professionals in higher education, government and non-profit sectors, and including a keynote address from security guru Bruce Schneier. Also in the issue was an announcement that IU's Research & Technology Corp. had entered into a memorandum of understanding for venture capital firm The University Funds to provide professional services toward increasing opportunities for successfully moving intellectual property created by IU researchers into the marketplace, a story recognizing the accomplishments of Jon Duke and Jeffrey Klann by the American Medical Informatics Association, and an announcement of a 32-week seminar series entitled "Rupture and Flow: The Circulation of Technoscientific Facts and Objects." Full Story