The Tech Specialists

THE REBEL WITH FREE CALLS
SKYPE | LUXEMBOURG
Watching Niklas Zennstrom's young company, Skype, grow is like driving past a McDonald's back in the '70s — every time you look, another million have been served. Skype's appeal is even more obvious than a Big Mac's: the firm provides software that lets people make free phone calls over the Internet. Since Skype was launched a year ago, the company has recorded almost 18 million downloads; it says more than 8 million people use the product. "We don't think you should pay for making phone calls anymore," says Zennstrom, a softspoken Swede. What's remarkable is that until recently, he hasn't charged customers for using Skype either.

It's not the first time that Zennstrom has pursued a counterintuitive business model. In 2000 he and Skype co-founder Janus Friis launched Kazaa, a peer-to-peer exchange that allowed users to swap music and videos online. Now Zennstrom is at the vanguard of voice over Internet protocol (VOIP), a technology that lets voice traffic travel over the Internet. Gartner Inc. analyst Katja Ruud estimates that about 100 million people worldwide will use VOIP by 2008. Even telecom giants like AT&T, BT Group and Verizon realize they have to offer VOIP. Zennstrom practices extreme VOIP: free calls and free software. He admits that "we have almost no revenue" and that eventually that will be a problem. Until recently, Skype users could call only other Skype users. So in July Zennstrom started allowing Skype users to connect to non-Skype customers for a fee. He has plans to license the software, especially to cell-phone makers. If the technology works well in cell phones, Skype could start serving billions. --Mark Halper

MR. CLEAN
SAMSUNG | SOUTH KOREA
To find Kim Hyung Gyoon's office in Samsung's R.-and-D. complex, just follow the baskets of dirty clothes. No, Kim is not running the company Laundromat. As chief of Samsung's washing and cleaning technology group, he is the man behind a new washing machine that deposits tiny silver particles — about 11/410,000 the thickness of a human hair — onto clothes to make them bacteria-and odor-free without the use of hot water. The device represents the first mass-produced application of this type of nanotechnology — the science of very small structures — to home appliances. "In the summer of 2002, I asked everyone in the office to take off their socks," says Kim, 48. "I took one sock from each person and placed it in a regular washing machine; the others were washed in a machine with the Ag+ Nano System. The next day I asked everyone to check the odor of their socks after a day's wear. One began to stink, and the other was odorless."

Here's how it works: a grapefruit-size device near the tub uses electric currents to nano-shave two silver plates the size of chewing-gum sticks. The resulting silver particles are sprayed into the tub during the wash cycle. The silver ion inhibits bacterial growth. According to the Korea Testing & Research Institute for the Chemical Industry, Samsung's device kills 99.9% of bacteria and fungi. Kim says garments stay germ-free for up to a month after being laundered. The Ag+ Nano device went on sale in March 2003 (just ahead of other silver-nanotech appliances from competitors LG and Daewoo) and costs around $1,150. The revolutionary technology is also being used in Samsung's refrigerators and air conditioners.

No wonder: consumers seem to like a little silver in their spin cycles. Since Samsung's nano-armed products were first launched, they have brought in an estimated $779 million in revenue. Overall, nanotechnology has been one of science's fastest-growing fields in recent years, with potential applications in fields as diverse as energy production and toothpaste manufacture. The nanotech market is projected to be worth $1 trillion by 2015.

Because this is such a hotly competitive field — Daewoo has introduced air conditioners that spray vitamin C into the environment — Kim isn't about to divulge what other nanotech projects he's working on. But one thing is for sure — from now on, even his dirtiest clothes will have a silver lining. --By Mingi Hyun/Seoul

THE CLONING CRUSADER
UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE | BRITAIN
Miodrag Stojkovic's biggest fear is that "people think we're crazy scientists creating the latest Frankenstein." That's because the Serb, 40, a researcher with the Institute of Human Genetics at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, could become the first person to use cells from a cloned human embryo to treat disease. Last week he got approval from the British government to conduct such an experiment.

Stojkovic, who fled Yugoslavia in 1991 just before the Balkan wars broke out, is on the front lines of the cloning wars. He helped clone mammals at the University of Munich before going to Britain. Now, using a technique similar to one recently demonstrated in South Korea, he plans to create embryos by injecting a patient's DNA into an egg from which the genetic material has been removed. He then hopes to harvest the embryonic stem cells — which can develop into almost any organ — and coax them to produce insulin in diabetics. Stem cells may also hold promise for victims of Parkinson's and heart disease. Controversy has arisen from the fact that he is creating and discarding embryos. For many people, that is morally unacceptable. In the U.S., the Bush Administration has limited funding for stem-cell research for that reason — a decision that is now a campaign issue. "I have a clear conscience," says Stojkovic, who holds that life begins after 14 days, when the nervous system starts to form. London-based Human Genetics Alert warns that the techniques could be used to clone babies, something Stojkovic opposes. "I believe in embryonic stem cells," he says. If he can come up with a cure for diabetes, many people will believe along with him. --M.H.