Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the August 2, 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 381 Date: August 2, 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 Friday, August 2, 2002: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "Grey Matter More Prevalent in Silicon Valley" "DMCA Defenders in Enemy Territory" "Senate Approves Trade Bill Vital to Valley" "In an Ancient Game, Computing's Future" "Forgery Bill Could Criminalize Copying" "Honey, Who Shrank the Circuits?" "Security Czar Points Finger of Blame" "Technology Innovation: The Key to Recovery" "Same Job. Different Cubicle." "Grid Computing Aims To Harness 'Clusters'" "PC, Mac OS Updates May Spark Bluetooth" "Teaching Machines to Hear Your Prose and Your Pain" "Nanotechnology Backers See Trillion-Dollar Industry" "Arguing the Case for a Smarter Disk Drive" "China in Giant Software Push" "Copyright as Cudgel" "Fun & Games--and Business Insight" "Going Hybrid" "Silicon-Germanium Gives Semiconductors the Edge" ******************* News Stories *********************** "Grey Matter More Prevalent in Silicon Valley" A rise in the average age of technology workers over the last two years is becoming more and more apparent, especially now that Silicon Valley's dot-com boom is over. Corporate executives are approaching middle age, while the lower-level employees are also ... "DMCA Defenders in Enemy Territory" The debate between copyright holders, consumer advocates, and consumer electronics vendors was illustrated at a panel discussion in Silicon Valley on Thursday. Ronald Wheeler of Fox Entertainment Group and Mitch Glazier of the Recording Industry ... "Senate Approves Trade Bill Vital to Valley" The U.S. Senate on Thursday passed a bill granting the president the authority to negotiate international trade agreements that cannot be revised by Congress, a move that high-tech companies in Silicon Valley have fervently lobbied for. More and more ... "In an Ancient Game, Computing's Future" The ancient board game Go has generated tremendous interest in artificial intelligence, at least for people who are trying to develop capable computer Go programs. A recent tournament for such programs was held in Edmonton, Alberta, and showed the ... "Forgery Bill Could Criminalize Copying" A bill proposed by Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) originally outlawed the counterfeiting of any "physical feature" used to authenticate software, music, and movies, but a recent revision that removes the word "physical" from the proposal has critics and consumer ... "Honey, Who Shrank the Circuits?" Various nanotechnology research teams presented their breakthroughs this week at the 26th International Conference on the Physics of Semiconductors in Edinburgh. Three teams reported that they were able to fabricate nanowires that integrate layers ... "Security Czar Points Finger of Blame" Speaking at the Black Hat Security conference is Las Vegas, White House cyber security advisor Richard Clarke cited five groups responsible for the vulnerability of the Internet: ISPs, software makers, wireless network makers and users, the ... "Technology Innovation: The Key to Recovery" The technology sector's research and development efforts are suffering due to the slump in corporate technology spending. Customers are focused on making their current IT investments work better and are not interested in implementing the absolute latest ... "Same Job. Different Cubicle." Former employees of VA Linux Systems say the company was doomed by its hugely successful IPO, which saw the company's stock shoot up 800 percent on the first day of trading. The stock market success was short-lived as the intense scrutiny and investor ... "Grid Computing Aims To Harness 'Clusters'" Grid computing--in which PCs, servers, or other machines are connected in clusters--offers a low-cost way for companies to solve complex problems by tapping into a shared resource of unused computing power. In addition to cutting costs, grid ... "PC, Mac OS Updates May Spark Bluetooth" The adoption of Bluetooth support in upcoming Microsoft and Macintosh operating system updates should help the fledgling technology. Apple says its Macintosh OS X 10.2 operating system, due out Aug. 24, will feature native Bluetooth support, while ... "Teaching Machines to Hear Your Prose and Your Pain" Speech recognition software's ability to detect prosody in human speech is severely limited, and researchers around the world are working to make programs more capable of interpreting pauses, timing, pitch, volume, and other cues that can be translated into ... "Nanotechnology Backers See Trillion-Dollar Industry" The establishment of the New Jersey Nanotechnology Laboratory was announced on Wednesday by government, industry, and academic leaders. The not-for-profit lab, formed by a consortium of private and state interests, will initially receive $4 million in ... "Arguing the Case for a Smarter Disk Drive" Gordon Hughes, associate director of the University of California, San Diego's Center for Magnetic Recording Research, believes that computer and disk drive manufacturers could realize significant cost savings by building smarter drives capable of ... "China in Giant Software Push" China Software Industry Association President Chen Chong says that China plans to capture about 3 percent of the world software market by 2005, which would allow software companies to control over 60 percent of the domestic market while earning $3 billion ... "Copyright as Cudgel" The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a serious threat to fair use rights, but few academics have raised their voices in protest, even when the law was still being deliberated. The law essentially allows ISPs, content hosts, and search engine owners ... "Fun & Games--and Business Insight" IT workers are using business simulation tools to help them better understand companies and their place in them; executives say that employees can follow corporate goals better, think more cost-effectively, and be encouraged to pursue potentially ... "Going Hybrid" The open-source software movement is starting to reveal its limitations and opportunities as it becomes more pervasive. Although many startup firms and Linux-only businesses have gone bankrupt trying to make money off open-source, a number of ... "Silicon-Germanium Gives Semiconductors the Edge" Silicon-germanium (SiGe) technology is fueling the current expansion of optical networking and cheap, lightweight personal communications devices because of its many advantages, which include reduced electronic noise and power consumption, faster ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0802f.html#item19 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Wednesday's issue, please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0731w.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.