Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the July 10, 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 371 Date: July 10, 2002 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Site Sponsored by Hewlett Packard Company ( ) HP is the premier source for computing services, products and solutions. Responding to customers' requirements for quality and reliability at aggressive prices, HP offers performance-packed products and comprehensive services. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Top Stories for Wednesday, July 10, 2002: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "The Clouds of Digital War" "More Life in Moore's Law, Creator Says" "House Favors Funds for Science Study" "Reality Tempers Tech Firms' Dreams for China" "Rep. Boucher Outlines 'Fair Use' Fight" "New Chip Process Fuels 'Fantastic' Products" "Cable Companies Cracking Down on Wi-Fi" "'Random Walkers' May Speed Peer-to-Peer Networks" "Control Freaks Tightening Their Grip on the Internet" "Software is Often Sold, Not Licensed, Despite What License Agreements Say" "Quantum Computing Puts Encrypted Messages at Risk" "Trouble for Telecom Isn't Slowing Down Popularity of Fiber Optics Classes" "IBM Engineer Looks to Brain for New Technology" "Wireless Workhorse" "Waiting, Waiting and Waiting for IPv6" "High-Tech Leaders: America Needs Better Math, Science Education" "Storm Clouds Rise Over H1-B" "Good Intentions" "The Search for Perfect Memory" ******************* News Stories *********************** "The Clouds of Digital War" There is concern among experts that the next major terrorist assault on the United States will take place in cyberspace, and could wreak actual physical damage. Officials have disclosed that many critical infrastructure systems are being probed ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0710w.html#item1 "More Life in Moore's Law, Creator Says" The chip industry will continue to follow Moore's Law, which states that a computer chip's transistor density doubles every two years, although its creator Gordon Moore says that the rate of this doubling will decelerate slightly as it comes up against ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0710w.html#item2 "House Favors Funds for Science Study" A five-year grant to improve math and science programs at colleges and universities has been approved by the U.S. House of Representatives; almost $400 million in funding will go toward the program, which will be administered by the National Science ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0710w.html#item3 "Reality Tempers Tech Firms' Dreams for China" For all its promise, tech investment in China poses serious risks, according to experts. Many companies that have set up shop in China with plans to sell their products domestically have not turned a profit, while manufacturing operations that export ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0710w.html#item4 "Rep. Boucher Outlines 'Fair Use' Fight" Rep. Rich Boucher (D-Va.) says he plans to introduce new legislation that would modify existing copyright law to ensure consumers' "fair use" rights and give more leeway to Webcasters. If his bill passes unaltered, it would also prohibit the music ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0710w.html#item5 "New Chip Process Fuels 'Fantastic' Products" Oregon State University (OSU) scientists report that they have hit upon a water-based chemical process for manufacturing crystalline oxide films at room temperature, a breakthrough that could lead to "fantastic products" such as credit card-sized MP3 ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0710w.html#item6 "Cable Companies Cracking Down on Wi-Fi" Cable Internet providers AT&T Broadband and Time Warner Cable have begun a crackdown on subscribers that let others tap into their Wi-Fi networks. Time Warner sent letters to 10 people in New York City telling them their accounts would be cancelled ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0710w.html#item7 "'Random Walkers' May Speed Peer-to-Peer Networks" Computing and networking researchers at Princeton University and the University of California, Berkeley have discovered a more effective search algorithm for peer-to-peer networks. Currently, peer-to-peer networks send out broad-ranging searches for files, ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0710w.html#item8 "Control Freaks Tightening Their Grip on the Internet" Speakers at the recent "Internet Law Program" at Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet & Society offered differing opinions on the situation regarding the control of information and creativity on the Internet. Stanford law professor Lawrence ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0710w.html#item9 "Software is Often Sold, Not Licensed, Despite What License Agreements Say" To control their intellectual property, software vendors are requiring customers and distributors to sign licensing agreements that limit buyers' rights to do what they please with the products, yet this runs counter to the basic fact that customers ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0710w.html#item10 "Quantum Computing Puts Encrypted Messages at Risk" The advent of quantum computing will render many current encryption measures obsolete, because the dramatic increase in computing power will be able to easily cut through the standards' computational complexity. Security systems installed by the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0710w.html#item11 "Trouble for Telecom Isn't Slowing Down Popularity of Fiber Optics Classes" Although the telecommunications sector has fallen on hard times, academic interest in fiber optics is still going strong. The International Society for Optical Engineering's Eugene Arthurs notes that "Telecom may be on the ropes, but there's many new ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0710w.html#item12 "IBM Engineer Looks to Brain for New Technology" A discussion with a neurosurgeon prompted IBM senior technologist Kerry Berstein to realize that the operations of computers and the human brain rely on the same fundamental physics, but the brain is a much more efficient device: It runs at approximately ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0710w.html#item13 "Wireless Workhorse" Ultra-wideband (UWB) is being touted as a high-speed radio technology that will enable wireless connections between a wide variety of appliances; potential applications include collision avoidance systems for vehicles and detection of objects behind ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0710w.html#item14 "Waiting, Waiting and Waiting for IPv6" The proliferation of Internet-enabled mobile devices has led to a paucity of IPv4 address space in the European and Asian sectors, but the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has delayed migration to the more expansive IPv6 standard in order to ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0710w.html#item15 "High-Tech Leaders: America Needs Better Math, Science Education" Science and math education were among the top concerns voiced at a recent White House forum on the future of technology held by President Bush that included over 100 IT executives. Consensus from the participants--which included luminaries such as Intel ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0710w.html#item16 "Storm Clouds Rise Over H1-B" There has been little activity from proponents of the H1-B visa program lately, but experts say a battle between supporters and opponents is likely to erupt before the annual H1-B cap reverts back to 65,000 visa holders in 2004. The opposition, in the form ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0710w.html#item17 "Good Intentions" Some IT workers are choosing to take a hiatus from the corporate world and work on volunteer IT projects in response to corporate downsizing, long-term dreams, and the urge to try something beyond the office. However, while working in the non-profit ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0710w.html#item18 "The Search for Perfect Memory" It has long been a dream of the semiconductor industry to have inexpensive, fast, and dense memory chips that retain their information whether the machine is on or off and can record and erase data without wearing out. But no current chip ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0710w.html#item19 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Monday's issue please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0708m.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 Hewlett Packard Company.