Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the June 21, 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 364 Date: June 21, 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 21, 2002: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "Tech Firms Bemoan Bush Talk" "Study: Equal Security in All Software" "Fears of Misuse of Encryption System Are Voiced" "Tech Access Law: Slow Progress" "Web Thinkers Warn of Culture Clash" "Hard Lessons in Learning a Common Tongue" "A Chip That Mimics Neurons, Firing Up the Memory" "New Method to Make Faster, Smaller Computer Chips" "Bush Urges Private Sector to Shore up Networks" "Tiny 'Whiskers' May Advance Nanoelectronics" "Silicon Quantum Computer" "Taking Security Concerns Private: U.S. Appeals to IT Firms" "Scientist Studies Robot Conversation Skills" "The End of the Revolution" "Whose Domain Is It Anyway?" "Schools Turn to Slumping Tech Sector to Recruit Teachers" "Why the Future Belongs to the Small-Minded" "Living on the Grid" "Quantum Superbrains" ******************* News Stories *********************** "Tech Firms Bemoan Bush Talk" Leaders in the technology industry are largely disappointed with President Bush's speech on national broadband rollout. Although they welcome the high-level attention paid to the topic, they say the Bush administration is weak on details, shuffling off the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0621f.html#item1 "Study: Equal Security in All Software" At a technical conference in Toulouse, France, Cambridge University researcher Ross Anderson presented a paper concluding that idealized open-source programs have the same level of security as closed-source programs. Anderson says the key ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0621f.html#item2 "Fears of Misuse of Encryption System Are Voiced" A prominent European technologist and University of Cambridge computer scientist has released a paper that points out the possible misuses of the encryption technology supported by the Trusted Computing Platform Alliance, a group which includes tech ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0621f.html#item3 "Tech Access Law: Slow Progress" Significant progress has been made since Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act was signed into law a year ago, but the full impact of the mandate to make government Web sites and major hardware and software products accessible to disabled users has ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0621f.html#item4 "Web Thinkers Warn of Culture Clash" Engineers and policymakers met this week at the annual meeting of the nonprofit Internet Society to discuss how corporate and government initiatives could curtail the Internet's democratic aspects. Government efforts, which are motivated by control, and ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0621f.html#item5 "Hard Lessons in Learning a Common Tongue" Web services, which will allow companies to take full advantage of the Internet, need a standardized way to communicate industry jargon and definitions between computer systems. XML, or extensible markup language, is now the accepted platform for ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0621f.html#item6 "A Chip That Mimics Neurons, Firing Up the Memory" Dr. Theodore W. Berger, director of UCLA's Center for Neural Engineering, envisions a computer chip that can be implanted in people's brains and mirror the functions of neurons. Such a device could be particularly beneficial for persons whose ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0621f.html#item7 "New Method to Make Faster, Smaller Computer Chips" Princeton University researchers led by Stephen Chou have hit upon a technique for printing nanoscale chip patterns faster, which could lead to more efficient production of computer chips with a concentration of transistors that is 100 times denser than ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0621f.html#item8 "Bush Urges Private Sector to Shore up Networks" The federal government is seeking the cooperation of the private sector to safeguard the nation's critical infrastructure. Of key importance are the IT networks that facilitate infrastructure operation, which are managed and protected by business, not the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0621f.html#item9 "Tiny 'Whiskers' May Advance Nanoelectronics" Boron nanowhiskers produced by a collaboration between Washington University in St. Louis, Miss., the Semiconductor Research Corporation, and others may bring the dream of nanoelectronic circuitry one step closer. Washington University graduate ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0621f.html#item10 "Silicon Quantum Computer" The architecture for a silicon-based quantum computer that can be constructed using current methods has been outlined by Thaddeus Ladd and associates at Stanford University. The microelectronics industry has an advantage over other quantum computer efforts ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0621f.html#item11 "Taking Security Concerns Private: U.S. Appeals to IT Firms" Hobbled by a lack of expertise and staff, government administrators believe that the only way to develop technologies to help secure federal IT systems and defend the nation's critical infrastructure is to turn to the private sector. The ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0621f.html#item12 "Scientist Studies Robot Conversation Skills" Several experiments focus on teaching robots language skills, which will be an essential capability of machines designed to function as humanoid aides. SONY Computer Science Laboratory artificial intelligence expert Luc Steels proclaims that ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0621f.html#item13 "The End of the Revolution" In Milton L. Mueller's new book "Ruling the Root," Mueller traces how the DNS and the Internet have evolved from the time when Jon Postal allocated domain names himself while being funded by the Defense Department, to a utopia ideal of decentralized free ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0621f.html#item14 "Whose Domain Is It Anyway?" What is at stake in ICANN reform is who should oversee ICANN: the Internet community, the U.S. government as Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) advocates, or a polyglot of national governments, writes Esther Dyson. Today ICANN provides a crucial role as the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0621f.html#item15 "Schools Turn to Slumping Tech Sector to Recruit Teachers" California is bringing in unemployed technology professionals to fill the void left by a shortage of quality math and science teachers. "What we are trying to do is take a talent pool that has dried up and redirect it," says Larry Rios, director of the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0621f.html#item16 "Why the Future Belongs to the Small-Minded" Nanotechnology research could lead to significant breakthroughs in the next two decades, according to advocates. Recent developments include an Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory project that has yielded a "super-hard" ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0621f.html#item17 "Living on the Grid" Grid computing enables enterprises to harness the raw computing power of many machines to process data, solve complex problems, run simulations, and perform other functions too large for single computers to handle, boosting efficiency and cost savings. For ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0621f.html#item18 "Quantum Superbrains" The speed and performance of a quantum computer would make current supercomputer models seem like pocket calculators in comparison, but the various interests racing to build one face significant hurdles. One challenge involves solving the problem ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0621f.html#item19 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Wednesday's issue, please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0619w.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.