Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the July 22, 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 376 Date: July 22, 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 Monday, July 22, 2002: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "Lawmakers Propose Volunteer Corps to Guard Nation's Technology" "Federal Bill Targets E-Waste" "Do We Need a National ID Plan?" "With 'Old' Design, Japanese Supercomputer Beats Top U.S. Machine" "Alloy With Shape Memory May Be Ready For Broad Use" "Raising the Accessibility Bar" "Second Law of Thermodynamics "Broken"" "Higher Learning at Warp Speed" "Scientists Create Smallest Ever Laser-Like Light Beam" "A Conversation With the Inventor of Email" "With False Numbers, Data Crunchers Try to Mine the Truth" "Taking Programming to the Extreme" "Another Dimension" "How Colleges Get More Bang (or Less) From Technology Transfer" "Last Mile by Laser" "Inside the Invention Factory" "Lawrence Lessig: The Thought Leader Interview" ******************* News Stories *********************** "Lawmakers Propose Volunteer Corps to Guard Nation's Technology" On July 19, the U.S. Senate passed the Science and Technology Emergency Mobilization Act, which calls for the formation of a National Emergency Technology Guard. The guard would be composed of scientists and technology experts volunteering to help . . . http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0722m.html#item1 "Federal Bill Targets E-Waste" Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) on Thursday introduced legislation to create a national program for the recycling of computer waste funded by a $10 fee levied on retail sales of desktop and laptop computers, as well as monitors. Thompson's Computer Hazardous . . . http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0722m.html#item2 "Do We Need a National ID Plan?" Free Congress Foundation analyst Brad Jansen, one of the key members of an ad hoc coalition that vehemently opposes the creation of a national ID standard, is advocating a White House proposal submitted last week suggesting federal agencies help set . . . http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0722m.html#item3 "With 'Old' Design, Japanese Supercomputer Beats Top U.S. Machine" NEC's new Earth Simulator, built in Japan, can process 35.9 calculations per second, faster than the combined computational power of the 15 fastest machines based in the United States, according to Jack Dongarra of the University of Tennessee. The . . . http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0722m.html#item4 "Alloy With Shape Memory May Be Ready For Broad Use" Nanomuscle is working to mass-produce small actuators that replace motors in small devices. The Nanomuscle devices use nickel-titanium alloy wires that contain "shape memory" properties in which its molecules change their shape depending on . . . http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0722m.html#item5 "Raising the Accessibility Bar" Stanford University's Archimedes Project is an initiative to develop information interfaces that disabled people as well as the general population can use. Attracting this wide range of users depends on creating a system designed to last decades . . . http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0722m.html#item6 "Second Law of Thermodynamics "Broken"" Chemical physicists at the Australian National University (ANU) have discovered through experimentation that the second law of thermodynamics--which states that a closed system becomes more disorganized as time passes--can be consistently violated on the . . . http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0722m.html#item7 "Higher Learning at Warp Speed" Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland is setting up a $27 million fiber-optic network that will connect 16,000 computers and boast a top data delivery speed of 1 Gbps, which surpasses the speed of the average home broadband link about a thousand . . . http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0722m.html#item8 "Scientists Create Smallest Ever Laser-Like Light Beam" A report in the current issue of Science magazine details how scientists created laser-like light beams emanating extremely small wavelengths that enable the viewing of nanoscale technology. The viewing of nanoscale technology has become a . . . http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0722m.html#item9 "A Conversation With the Inventor of Email" In an interview with Internet.com's Sharon Gaudin, email creator Ray Tomlinson of BBN Technologies says the invention of email was not very complicated, and its impact was not immediately apparent because there were few computers. He acknowledges that email has . . . http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0722m.html#item10 "With False Numbers, Data Crunchers Try to Mine the Truth" Consumers are often reluctant to answer truthfully to personal questions online--such as their age and how much money they earn--and will often substitute false answers, which complicates companies' business. "People are lying, and vendors don't know . . . http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0722m.html#item11 "Taking Programming to the Extreme" So that they can churn out quality software in a market clamoring for fast rollouts of new products and features, software companies are increasingly adopting development tactics that emphasize collaborative engineering. "Agile development" . . . http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0722m.html#item12 "Another Dimension" Chip designers are rapidly running out of space for additional computing power, and many efforts to build a 3D chip solution have been dropped in favor of nanotechnology. However, two chipmakers have continued to pursue a 3D chip, and claim that . . . http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0722m.html#item13 "How Colleges Get More Bang (or Less) From Technology Transfer" Colleges are implementing policies to commercialize the fruits of their research, but measuring the success of this technology transfer is difficult. The University of Michigan has had to retool its technology-transfer effort to shore up a flagging . . . http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0722m.html#item14 "Last Mile by Laser" Nine out of 10 U.S. businesses with more than 100 employees cannot avail themselves of the nation's multibillion-dollar optical-fiber network because they are separated by just one mile, but many experts believe that free-space optics (FSO) . . . http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0722m.html#item15 "Inside the Invention Factory" Bell Labs channels the ingenuity of 1,850 researchers who average four patents each day, and has paved the way for many innovative products--phones, VCRs, televisions, remote controls, CD players, stereos, and computers among them. But this has not made the . . . http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0722m.html#item16 "Lawrence Lessig: The Thought Leader Interview" Stanford University law professor Lawrence Lessig says the Internet's freedom, growth potential, and innovation potential are being threatened by a slew of legislation, technology, and monopolization that would cede control of the medium to a few . . . http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0722m.html#item17 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Friday's issue, please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0719f.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.