Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the June 7, 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 358 Date: June 7, 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, June 7, 2002: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "As We Lose Engineers, Who Will Take Us Into the Future?" "Mozilla.org Unleashes Mozilla 1.0" "Copyfight Renewal" "Security Hole Found in KaZaA File-Sharing Service" "Tauzin's 'Ultrawide' Blast on FCC" "Computers Can Learn From Ants" "New E-Waste Solution a Mine Idea" "Could Broadband Become the Law?" "Don't Lose Your Legacy" "India Success in Software Is Set Back by War Talk" "Networked Computer Sensors Infiltrate Everything" "USC Closing Technology Business Incubator" "Vendors Deride Mandatory Copy Controls" "High-Tech Firms Tell Workers to Take Off" "A New Teenage Wasteland?" "Workers Blast ITAA Study Claims" "Set Goals and Meet Objectives, The Mentoring Way" "Who Needs Supercomputers?" "It's Not Science Fiction" ******************* News Stories *********************** "As We Lose Engineers, Who Will Take Us Into the Future?" Engineering and technology companies are worried about the prospect of fewer engineers in the future. The number of engineering bachelor's degrees peaked at 77,572 in 1985 but plummeted to 60,914 in 1998. Qualcomm VP Daniel Sullivan says ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0607f.html#item1 "Mozilla.org Unleashes Mozilla 1.0" Mozilla.org has released the first major-version of its browser and developer software to the public, Mozilla 1.0. O'Reilly & Associates CEO Tim O'Reilly says, "The Mozilla project has quietly become a key building block in the open source ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0607f.html#item2 "Copyfight Renewal" The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has filed a lawsuit against a number of entertainment companies, saying five owners of ReplayTV devices have the legal right to skip commercials and play recorded shows on other platforms. The EFF has also sued to ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0607f.html#item3 "Security Hole Found in KaZaA File-Sharing Service" A study by two researchers at Hewlett-Packard Labs reveals that the KaZaA file sharing service often exposes users' personal files on their PCs. When users of the peer-to-peer service incorrectly configure the program, private files such as email ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0607f.html#item4 "Tauzin's 'Ultrawide' Blast on FCC" Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-Miss.) during a hearing Wednesday criticized the FCC for seeking to limit the use of ultra-wideband (UWB) devices, mainly due to worries of disrupted military systems such as GPS satellites. Tauzin said, "This technology has too many ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0607f.html#item5 "Computers Can Learn From Ants" Computer systems using biological organization models can heal themselves when part of the network is damaged, and can maximize performance as the environment changes. Cap Gemini Ernst & Young's Geoff Cohen, who works in the group's Center for Business ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0607f.html#item6 "New E-Waste Solution a Mine Idea" Mark Small, Sony's vice president of corporate environment, safety, and health, proposes that the industry turn toward open-pit mining techniques to make use of discarded electronics. Instead of seeking ways to safely throw away old computers, Small ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0607f.html#item7 "Could Broadband Become the Law?" Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) has introduced a new bill that calls on the federal government to devise a national broadband access strategy within the next six months and offer tax incentives for companies developing broadband content, but ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0607f.html#item8 "Don't Lose Your Legacy" Contrary to popular thought following Y2K, complex and custom-written code, much of it written in Cobol, is an asset rather than a liability, according to a few new innovative firms that seek to help corporate customers make the most of their ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0607f.html#item9 "India Success in Software Is Set Back by War Talk" India's software industry is bracing for the impact of war as tensions run high between India and Pakistan in the Kashmir region. Representatives of software firms say visiting teams from foreign buyers have ceased, though confidence remains that ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0607f.html#item10 "Networked Computer Sensors Infiltrate Everything" The new Center for Embedded Networked Sensing at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) was created to build a solid foundation for future embedded sensor networks. These networks will put computers in the world all around us and do such things ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0607f.html#item11 "USC Closing Technology Business Incubator" The University of Southern California will shut down EC2, the university's incubator for high-tech businesses, on June 30. School officials say the incubator will close due to declining investment yields and the dot-com bust. EC2 (Egg Company 2) ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0607f.html#item12 "Vendors Deride Mandatory Copy Controls" Technology vendors speaking before a House Judiciary subcommittee on Wednesday said that imposed digital rights management technology would not stop piracy of copyrighted works on the Internet. Microsoft's new media platforms president, Will Poole, ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0607f.html#item13 "High-Tech Firms Tell Workers to Take Off" Silicon Valley companies are asking workers to take more and more unpaid and paid leave in order to reduce operating costs, and many employees are happy to oblige. Company closures reduce operating expenses, cut energy costs, remove liabilities of ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0607f.html#item14 "A New Teenage Wasteland?" Today's miscreant youth use computers to cause trouble, but this should be no surprise given that computers pervade every aspect of our present society. Dan Verton's "The Hacker Diaries: Confessions of Teenage Hackers" offers a glimpse into the lives ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0607f.html#item15 "Workers Blast ITAA Study Claims" Many IT professionals are blasting a recent Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) report that said that less than half of the 1.1 million IT jobs expected to be created during 2002 will be filled due to problems with applicant ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0607f.html#item16 "Set Goals and Meet Objectives, The Mentoring Way" Mentoring is becoming more important to IT, especially with the shakeups and low morale stemming from the economic slump. Furthermore, IT experts have a better chance at promotion if they can combine their technical knowledge with a savvy business ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0607f.html#item17 "Who Needs Supercomputers?" Grid computing, in which software harnesses the processing power of idle machines on the Internet or private networks, is moving out of the academic sector and into the corporate arena as a cheaper alternative to supercomputers. Whereas a ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0607f.html#item18 "It's Not Science Fiction" Creating independent robots is a goal of research projects worldwide. Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories have built an untethered mini-robot that measures one quarter of a cubic inch and moves around on tank-like tracks; potential uses include ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0607f.html#item19 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Wednesday's issue, please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0605w.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.