Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the August 28, 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 392 Date: August 28, 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, August 28, 2002: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "Tech's Major Decline" "EU Copyright Directive 'All Bad News'" "What Are the Real Risks of Cyberterrorism?" "Cells Light Way for Flat-Panel Displays" "Buggy Software Still Takes a Toll" "Technical Degrees Still Command Highest Salaries" "Hoping for Very Big, Yet Extremely Small, Discoveries" "Battling the Bugs" "Blue-Laser Storage Moves Closer to Reality" "Nano Research Challenges Storage Unit" "Bluetooth Rolls Toward Deployment in Cars" "Selling the Connected Home" "The NSF Looks Toward the Future" "Purdue Retools Nanotech Research to Benefit University and Region" "The Seven Deadly Security Sins" "Compu-camp" "P2P Getting Down to Some Serious Work" "The Programmable Building" "Homeland Insecurity" ******************* News Stories *********************** "Tech's Major Decline" The implosion in the U.S. technology industry is impacting the number of computer science majors that U.S. universities are churning out. The Computing Research Association reports that computer science undergraduates declined by 1 percent last year, ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0828w.html#item1 "EU Copyright Directive 'All Bad News'" The Britain-based Campaign for Digital Rights sharply criticizes the proposed European Union Copyright Directive (EUCD) in a detailed study released last week. The EUCD is similar to America's Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), in that it ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0828w.html#item2 "What Are the Real Risks of Cyberterrorism?" Cyberterrorism warnings tend to exaggerate: They imply massive losses to human life and property, when in fact government and security experts note that bombing a target is still far more damaging--and easier--than hacking into a computer. An ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0828w.html#item3 "Cells Light Way for Flat-Panel Displays" Flat-panel, color displays of the future could be based on light-emitting electrochemical cells (LEC), according to Penn State University researchers, who disclosed their findings this week at the 224th annual meeting of the American Chemical Society ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0828w.html#item4 "Buggy Software Still Takes a Toll" Although software quality is showing improvement, business customers continue to blame faulty software for lost productivity and finances. A federal report estimates an annual loss of almost $60 billion due to buggy software. Sometimes the problem ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0828w.html#item5 "Technical Degrees Still Command Highest Salaries" Students that possess undergraduate and graduate technical degrees usually earn the highest starting salaries, compared to those with degrees in other fields, according to the most recent New York Times Job Market (NYTJM) survey. The poll finds that ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0828w.html#item6 "Hoping for Very Big, Yet Extremely Small, Discoveries" Five new U.S. nanoscience centers are being built under the aegis of the Department of Energy. One facility, the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, will be run by Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories in New Mexico; the other centers will be ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0828w.html#item7 "Battling the Bugs" The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently reported that software bugs cost American companies approximately $60 billion in 2001, while Bill Guttman of Carnegie-Mellon University's Sustainable Computing Consortium ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0828w.html#item8 "Blue-Laser Storage Moves Closer to Reality" A new blue-laser optical disc format developed by NEC and Toshiba is expected to be announced either this week or next week, and the companies plan to present the product to the DVD Forum as a next-generation successor to DVD. The technology could end up in ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0828w.html#item9 "Nano Research Challenges Storage Unit" New research shows that magnetic storage technology may be viable for several more years than previously thought thanks to advances in nanotechnology. Scientists had worried that, as magnetic storage bits are squeezed into tighter spaces, they would become ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0828w.html#item10 "Bluetooth Rolls Toward Deployment in Cars" Chipmakers are working on Bluetooth technology that can withstand the extreme conditions often found inside an automobile as well as provide the processing power needed to run a variety of applications. Bluetooth in cars and trucks would enable a number ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0828w.html#item11 "Selling the Connected Home" The Internet Home Alliance (IHA) and the Zanthus research firm recently issued a report detailing what kinds of households are most amenable to the concept of the connected home, why many consumers resist the notion, and what consumer requirements are ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0828w.html#item12 "The NSF Looks Toward the Future" National Science Foundation (NSF) assistant director Peter Freeman says that his agency has organized an initiative to bolster the country's high-end computer and supercomputing efforts. He adds that by investing in improved supercomputing ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0828w.html#item13 "Purdue Retools Nanotech Research to Benefit University and Region" Purdue University's Schools of Engineering plan to spruce up and increase their engineering space by 60 percent via a $400 million renovation that will include a $56.4 million core facility for nanotechnology research. The initiative's guiding force,... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0828w.html#item14 "The Seven Deadly Security Sins" Most network security holes are attributed to basic failings, such as poor password management, misconfigured servers, and inadequate or nonexistent patching. But security experts also point to lesser-known dangers such as network sharing between ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0828w.html#item15 "Compu-camp" The TIC summer camp in Washington, D.C., has been teaching schoolchildren computer skills for 20 years now, including programming, animation, Web design, and digital music creation. Camp director Karen Rosenbaum says the TIC camp offers a unique ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0828w.html#item16 "P2P Getting Down to Some Serious Work" Peer-to-peer (P2P) technology is gaining ground in the corporate IT environment, helping make networks more robust and assisting applications. In addition, P2P is joining with other network technologies--most notably grid computing--that are also making ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0828w.html#item17 "The Programmable Building" Director of the MIT Media Lab's Center for Bits and Atoms Neil Gershenfeld believes that buildings will be much more efficient and flexible if their myriad systems are connected to the Internet, and his team is devising small, inexpensive networking ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0828w.html#item18 "Homeland Insecurity" Bruce Schneier, author of "Applied Cryptography," says that most of the computer security measures being planned and developed in the wake of Sept. 11 will be ineffective, and in some cases could make Americans even more vulnerable. Schneier says people ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0828w.html#item19 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Monday's issue please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0826m.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.