Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the June 26, 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 366 Date: June 26, 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 Wednesday, June 26, 2002: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "A New Twist on Light Speed" "Fastest WLANs on the Planet" "India Tech: What's the Matter U?" "Wearable Wi-Fi--the Wave of the Future?" "Crystals and Light-Speed Computing" "Hot Technologies" "PCs--Pay Now, Recycle Later?" "What's Next?" "Can Computer Chips Take the Heat?" "Chips' Future Cast" "MIT Project Shows Future Interface Technologies" "Microsoft Leaves No Doubt in Blowing Off Judge's Order" "Doom For the NIPC?" "URLs in Urdu?" "Widely Applicable" "Crystal Ball Gazers" "Open Secret" ******************* News Stories *********************** "A New Twist on Light Speed" A group of five researchers from Scotland recently discovered how to pack more data into a light beam. The discovery may lead to faster methods of delivering quantum information used in cryptography and communications, as well as new fiber optic ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0626w.html#item1 "Fastest WLANs on the Planet" Wi-Fi is a popular standard for wireless networking because of its high transmission speed, but depending on distance, speed is likely to be limited to 5 Mbps, says Forrester analyst Charles Golvin. Still, that is faster than DSL's typical 1.5 Mpbs, and ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0626w.html#item2 "India Tech: What's the Matter U?" The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) has a reputation for nurturing highly skilled tech talent that have gone on to find success overseas, but the institution is currently suffering a faculty shortage. Throughout its branches in Delhi, Bombay, ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0626w.html#item3 "Wearable Wi-Fi--the Wave of the Future?" Firms such as Vocera Communications are hoping to combine telephone networks to Wi-Fi's short range networks. The company says it will team up with chip company Intersil to develop a pager system which will serve as an alternative to cell phones. ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0626w.html#item4 "Crystals and Light-Speed Computing" University of Toronto scientists report in the June issue of Advanced Functional Materials that they have discovered a method for fashioning planarized, opal-based microphotonic crystal chips. UT chemistry professor Geoffrey Ozin boasts that "The ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0626w.html#item5 "Hot Technologies" Wireless, calcium fluoride, and digital manikins are three technologies that are significantly impacting inventory management, production, and product design. The increasing use of wireless technology in industrial plants is producing numerous ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0626w.html#item6 "PCs--Pay Now, Recycle Later?" PC and electronics recycling initiatives are gathering steam across the country as industry players try to prevent government-mandated fees and systems, either at the national, state, or local level. The National Electronics Product ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0626w.html#item7 "What's Next?" The scientific community is brimming with ideas about upcoming innovations, as a dozen researchers will attest. AeroVironment Chairman Paul B. MacCready believes the energy crisis could be solved with the emergence of renewable resources and technologies ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0626w.html#item8 "Can Computer Chips Take the Heat?" In keeping pace with Moore's Law, computer chips not only get more powerful, but they generate more heat, making the need for a heat dispersal method all the more critical. Furthermore, Rob Enderle of Giga Information Group estimates that heat factors ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0626w.html#item9 "Chips' Future Cast" With photolithography becoming increasingly limited as computer chips continue to keep pace with Moore's Law, new techniques must be developed so smaller circuit patterns can be traced onto silicon. One possibility is a laser-stamping method developed by ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0626w.html#item10 "MIT Project Shows Future Interface Technologies" MIT's Project Oxygen Alliance is an initiative that aims to produce more advanced computer interfaces that Lab for Computer Science (LCS) researcher Stephen Garland hopes will usher in a new model of human-computer interaction. "Our hope is that ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0626w.html#item11 "Microsoft Leaves No Doubt in Blowing Off Judge's Order" Microsoft last week refused to consider a compromise in its ongoing dispute with the nine states that are suing the company for federal antitrust violations. During the final hearings in the case, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ordered both sides to list ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0626w.html#item12 "Doom For the NIPC?" The future of the National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC) has been in doubt since FBI Director Robert Mueller's appointment of Larry Medford as the newly created Cyber Division's assistant director on April 2. The uncertain nature ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0626w.html#item13 "URLs in Urdu?" In March 2002, 40 percent of 561 million Internet users were native English-speakers, reports Global Reach, which is why many researchers are working to create domain names in non-Latin scripts. VeriSign already claims to have registered 1 million ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0626w.html#item14 "Widely Applicable" Applications that can run on any wireless device are key to the maturation of the market for 2.5G and 3G products, and several firms and organizations are striving to develop standards for such applications. Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0626w.html#item15 "Crystal Ball Gazers" Networking hot spots in the next three years, as predicted by tech heavyweights such as WorldCom's Vinton Cerf, AT&T Labs' Hossein Eslambolchi, and Juniper Networks founder and CTO Pradeep Sindhu, include virtual private networks (VPNs), supply chain ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0626w.html#item16 "Open Secret" Nine panelists familiar with the open-source software model agree that it follows a philosophy of software development and ownership that clashes with the dominant proprietary software model. Some of the panelists agree that the initial price for ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0626w.html#item17 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Monday's issue please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0624m.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.