Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the May 20, 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 351 Date: May 20, 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 Monday, May 20, 2002: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "Companies Squander Billions on Tech" "IT Staff Don't Stay Put" "Nano Breakthrough Charges Science World" "Embedded Linux Crying Out for Standards" "Lots of 'Brains,' Efficiency Add Up" "Senate Panel OKs More Cybercrime Dollars" "Help Build the Web of Knowledge" "Dell Partners for PC Recycling" "Big Blue's Building a Nano Think Tank" "Key Trends in Computer Attacks Cited" "Dashed Hopes for Dashboard Electronics" "DTI Seeks Help on ICANN Reform" "Filling In Blanks" "Fair Trade on Jobs?" "IT Lab Brings Spy Novel Research to Life" "Portal Power" "Europe Cracks Down on E-Waste" "Automatic Networks" "The New Mobile Infantry" ******************* News Stories *********************** "Companies Squander Billions on Tech" New research from Morgan Stanley says the technology buying mistakes of the past two years equal $130 billion, while Gartner estimates businesses worldwide waste up to 20 percent of all their IT budgets on unnecessary or poorly implemented technology. ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0520m.html#item1 "IT Staff Don't Stay Put" Technology company voluntary departure rates are high despite the economic downturn, according to a META Group survey of 600 medium and large American corporations. Report author Maria Schafer estimates the average turnover rate is 10 percent, a mere 1 ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0520m.html#item2 "Nano Breakthrough Charges Science World" In the May 20 issue of Applied Physics Letters, IBM researchers will disclose how transistors fashioned from carbon nanotubes produce more than double the amount of electrical current of their silicon-based counterparts. In theory, engineers could ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0520m.html#item3 "Embedded Linux Crying Out for Standards" Embedded Linux is rapidly growing as the operating system of choice for developers who want a capable platform without the constraints of proprietary technology, says Embedded Linux Consortium (ELC) Chairman Inder Singh. But he adds that the lack ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0520m.html#item4 "Lots of 'Brains,' Efficiency Add Up" Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is developing a supercomputer that will feature a unique filing system called Lustre. Lustre-enabled machines will boast more efficient data storage and retrieval than current file systems. Cluster File ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0520m.html#item5 "Senate Panel OKs More Cybercrime Dollars" The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee has approved several bills related to cybercrimes, perhaps the most significant being Sen. Ron Wyden's (D-Ore.) Cyber Security Research and Development Act, which would provide $970 million to the National Science ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0520m.html#item6 "Help Build the Web of Knowledge" Some 100 people are volunteering their time and programming skills to build Knowledge Web (K-Web), historian James Burke's nonprofit Web site that aims to be the online extension of his nearly 30-year effort to detail the historical relationships ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0520m.html#item7 "Dell Partners for PC Recycling" Dell Computer has announced a program in which users will pay a fee to have their obsolete computers recycled. The program is another attempt to attack the problem of "e-waste;" the EPA says 220 million tons of electronics goods are thrown away each year ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0520m.html#item8 "Big Blue's Building a Nano Think Tank" IBM's physical sciences director, Thomas Thies, announced a new unit within IBM Microelectronics dedicated to helping nanotechnology startups mature their works-in-progress. He said the group would allow IBM to get a broader view of the industry, ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0520m.html#item9 "Key Trends in Computer Attacks Cited" The CERT Coordination Center (CERT-CC) at Carnegie Mellon University has categorized computer attacks into four categories in a new report: distributed denial of service, worms, DNS attacks, and router attacks. Computer attacks are increasing in ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0520m.html#item10 "Dashed Hopes for Dashboard Electronics" The recent Telematics Detroit 2002 show reflects the pessimism gripping the industry, as automakers realize they will have to create partnerships with pure-technology companies in order to roll out new systems. Whereas automakers once had plans to ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0520m.html#item11 "DTI Seeks Help on ICANN Reform" The U.K. Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is soliciting views about ICANN reform from U.K. companies, domain name users, and online firms. DTI has yet to take a position on ICANN reform, according to government minister Douglas Alexander. ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0520m.html#item12 "Filling In Blanks" Scientists are attempting to end the tedious, time-consuming process of inpainting--in which missing or damaged areas of an image are restored or retouched--by automating it with computers. Such a system could not only restore images, but sharpen their ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0520m.html#item13 "Fair Trade on Jobs?" U.S. companies are increasingly exporting their IT jobs offshore, which should serve as a clear indication that information technology is the latest sector to become industrialized. And like workers in sectors such as agriculture, textiles, and auto ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0520m.html#item14 "IT Lab Brings Spy Novel Research to Life" Sept. 11 has given research and development projects at the National Institute for Standards and Testing's Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) a boost, and the lab's eight divisions are all focusing on homeland security. ITL is ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0520m.html#item15 "Portal Power" Employee performance can be significantly improved by enterprise portals, provided they are properly deployed. An organization's customers, suppliers, and employees can avail themselves of information and applications from a single location through an ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0520m.html#item16 "Europe Cracks Down on E-Waste" Waste from computers and other electronics in Europe measured about 6 million tons in 1998 and could double between 1998 and 2010, According to data from the European Union (EU). In an effort to reduce such e-waste, which contains toxic chemicals ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0520m.html#item17 "Automatic Networks" Several companies are pioneering decentralized, self-configuring networks that promise an abundance of creative applications. Motorola, for example, says that wireless transmitters that connect to one another in a farm field could turn on the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0520m.html#item18 "The New Mobile Infantry" Tactical mobile robots (TMRs) are being developed to operate under battlefield conditions, and their potential applications range from surveillance to rescue operations to live combat--tasks that Michael Toscano of the Pentagon's Joint ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0520m.html#item19 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Friday's issue, please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0517f.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.