[math-fun] new error correcting codes

I recently came across an article, perhaps in Science News, praising recent developments in error-correcting codes, particularly Turbo Codes and Asymmetric Low Density Parity Check Codes. Supposedly, these come close to the Shannon bound on maximum achievable data rate (through an error-prone channel with known error probability), while also being practically decodable with reasonable resources. The hype included statements that all of the 20th century work on ECCs was now obsolete, etc. Question for the ECC folks among us: How much of this is real? Is there a true breakthrough? Rich rcs@cs.arizona.edu