Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the May 17, 2002 edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for IT professionals three times a week. For instructions on how to unsubscribe from this service, please see below. ACM's MemberNet is now online. For discussion (and voting) forums on current industry issues and the latest on ACM activities, visit http://www.acm.org/membernet Remember to check out our hot new online essay and opinion magazine, Ubiquity, at http://www.acm.org/ubiquity ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ACM TechNews Volume 4, Number 350 Date: May 17, 2002 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Site Sponsored by Compaq (http://www.compaq.com/smbcatalog) Compaq is the premier source for computing services, products and solutions. Responding to customers' requirements for quality and reliability at aggressive prices, Compaq offers performance-packed products and comprehensive services. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Top Stories for Friday, May 17, 2002: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "Shoring Up Software Is New Group's Aim" "Breakin' the Law: Without Nano, Moore Is No More, Experts Say" "The DMCA Is the Toast of D.C." "Senator Prevents Action on Online Privacy Bill" "Dell Readies PC Recycling Program" "Teaching a Search Engine" "At MIT, They Can Put Words in Our Mouths" "Net Clearinghouse for Creatives" "Electrochemists are Facing a Battery of New Challenges" "The Technology Behind Napster Is Far from Dead" "'Dork' Duo Finally Get Noticed" "Three Wireless Trends to Watch" "Meta Report: Hit the 'Refresh' Button on Employee Skills" "VOIP: the Latest Word in Networking" "Revival Drives India's Tech Firms to Hunt Chip Skills" "IT Changes Everything" "Coming: Failsafe Software" "The Invention Factory" "Wireless Data Blaster" ******************* News Stories *********************** "Shoring Up Software Is New Group's Aim" In an effort to improve the security and reliability of software, Carnegie Mellon University has joined forces with federal agencies, technology companies, and others to form the Sustainable Computing Consortium (SCC). "We have a broad scope, ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0517f.html#item1 "Breakin' the Law: Without Nano, Moore Is No More, Experts Say" Moore's Law could end in as little as 10 years, and many people believe nanotechnology is the key to extending its life. A key nanotech development that IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and others are working on is self-assembling nanoscale transistors; IBM recently ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0517f.html#item2 "The DMCA Is the Toast of D.C." D.C. politicians and lobbyists toasted the health of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) at a celebration on Thursday, praising its success at curtailing piracy and encouraging innovation. "Creativity--and the economy--thrive when copyrights ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0517f.html#item3 "Senator Prevents Action on Online Privacy Bill" An online privacy bill has been stalled in the Senate Commerce Committee by Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), who has objected strongly to provisions allowing consumers to sue over infringement and releasing offline companies from the rules. Although the solid ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0517f.html#item4 "Dell Readies PC Recycling Program" Dell Computer, the world's No. 2 PC vendor, will release the details of its PC recycling program within a few days, according to spokesman Bryant Hilton. The new program would provide another option for Dell customers. Under the DellExchange ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0517f.html#item5 "Teaching a Search Engine" Teaching search engines to customize their results for users would solve a lot of headaches, according to David Plotnikoff, whose theory was inspired by a special report on the adaptive Web in the May issue of Communications of the ACM. He envisions a ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0517f.html#item6 "At MIT, They Can Put Words in Our Mouths" Using artificial intelligence, MIT scientists are able to convincingly doctor videos of people so that they speak words and sentences they never actually said. MIT team leader Tony F. Ezzat explains that the computer studies between two to four ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0517f.html#item7 "Net Clearinghouse for Creatives" A Stanford University-based online clearinghouse where creative people can contribute selected works will be launched on Thursday; artists could share the donated material without obtaining permission from and paying royalties to copyright ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0517f.html#item8 "Electrochemists are Facing a Battery of New Challenges" The Electrochemical Society of Philadelphia is celebrating its centenary this week, with approximately 2,000 chemists, engineers, physicists, and Silicon Valley innovators convening to discuss the issues and challenges of the day. One such challenge ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0517f.html#item9 "The Technology Behind Napster Is Far from Dead" Napster may be on its last legs, but the peer-to-peer (P2P) technology it popularized is thriving, as evidenced at the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference. For instance, Onion Networks has unveiled a P2P "content-addressable Web" that offers ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0517f.html#item10 "'Dork' Duo Finally Get Noticed" The hacker group known as "The Deceptive Duo" is responsible for defacing many public- and private-sector Web sites in an effort to bring the electronic infrastructure's vulnerability to the attention of the nation, but it may have worked too well. One ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0517f.html#item11 "Three Wireless Trends to Watch" Analysts believe a trio of trends--mobile hard drives, fuel cells, and global roaming--could make a significant impact in the wireless sector. Gartner's Phil Redman forecasts that practically all mobile computing and consumer applications that ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0517f.html#item12 "Meta Report: Hit the 'Refresh' Button on Employee Skills" The convergence of IT strategy and business goals will continue until 25 percent of Global 2000 firms can form virtual project teams on an as-needed basis by 2007, according to the META Group. This dynamic structuring and restructuring in the workforce will ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0517f.html#item13 "VOIP: the Latest Word in Networking" Voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) technology promises to merge data and voice networks, cutting costs for large organizations while increasing functionality by transmitting voice calls in digital packets over converged networks along with emails and Web ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0517f.html#item14 "Revival Drives India's Tech Firms to Hunt Chip Skills" As the global semiconductor sector bounces back from recession, India's major technology companies are seeking out workers with expertise in chip software and hardware development. Among those trolling for such candidates, as evidenced by want-ads in ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0517f.html#item15 "IT Changes Everything" The Sept. 11 attacks and the U.S. government's response highlight the increasingly critical nature of how organizations manage information. What is evident from both the hijackers' standpoint and the military operation in Afghanistan is that the hardware is ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0517f.html#item16 "Coming: Failsafe Software" Sun Microsystems' open source guru, Richard P. Gabriel, also heads the Feyerabend Project, which is dedicated to making computer programming and software more robust and adaptable. When code was being written for the first computers, programming ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0517f.html#item17 "The Invention Factory" Microsoft Research founder and multimillionaire Nathan Myhrvold has embarked on an ambitious undertaking at his Intellectual Ventures firm: The Invention Factory, a collective of inventors recruited to brainstorm projects in numerous fields, including ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0517f.html#item18 "Wireless Data Blaster" Developers of the low-power, short-range ultrawideband (UWB) wireless technology envision many uses for it, including the transmission of wireless data between networks of portable electronic devices, motion detection, and location triangulation. ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0517f.html#item19 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Wednesday's issue, please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0515w.html -- To visit the TechNews home page, point your browser to: http://www.acm.org/technews/ -- To unsubscribe from the ACM TechNews Early Alert Service: Please send a separate email to listserv@listserv2.acm.org with the line signoff technews in the body of your message. -- Please note that replying directly to this message does not automatically unsubscribe you from the TechNews list. -- To submit feedback about ACM TechNews, contact: technews@hq.acm.org -- ACM may have a different email address on file for you, so if you're unable to "unsubscribe" yourself, please direct your request to: technews-request@acm.org We will remove your name from the TechNews list on your behalf. -- For help with technical problems, including problems with leaving the list, please write to: technews-request@acm.org ---- ACM TechNews is sponsored by Compaq.