Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the September 6, 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 395 Date: September 6, 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, September 6, 2002: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "Tech Firms Urged to Aid Security Efforts" "Web May Hold the Key to Achieving Artificial Intelligence" "A Theory of Evolution, for Robots" "Give and Take" "Britain's Curb on Hiring Overseas Techies Slammed" "What Can Nanotech Do for You?" "Staking Out Space in a Handheld for Higher Fidelity Sound" "Viral Nanoassemblers for Electronics" "Musical Approach Helps Programmers Catch Bugs" "Fast Forward to the Future of Games" "Hooray for Today's OSs" "Feds Plan Cybersecurity Center" "Feeling the Heat" "The Brain as User Interface" "The Vision Thing" ******************* News Stories *********************** "Tech Firms Urged to Aid Security Efforts" Speaking to attendees of the InfoWarCon conference on Thursday, Phyllis Schneck of the FBI's InfraGard program declared that technology companies will be better protected from cyberattacks if they have closer relationships with federal agents. Most of ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0906f.html#item1 "Web May Hold the Key to Achieving Artificial Intelligence" The controversy over artificial intelligence and how the Internet could shape it has been re-ignited by the advent of "chatterbots" such as Active Buddy's SmarterChild, a marketing tool that can "talk" to people via real-time text messages and answer questions ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0906f.html#item2 "A Theory of Evolution, for Robots" Chalmers Institute of Technology researchers Krister Wolff and Peter Nordin have conceived of a winged robot that can learn how to fly on its own; such a design circumvents scientists' own lack of knowledge about the mechanics of flight. The robot's creators ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0906f.html#item3 "Give and Take" A government-funded IT training program at San Jose's Evergreen Valley College has been targeted for dissolution by President Bush's budget team, which describes it as "ineffective." Funding for the program is provided by the fees American companies pay so ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0906f.html#item4 "Britain's Curb on Hiring Overseas Techies Slammed" Indian experts are worried about restrictions Britain recently imposed on the hiring of foreign IT workers. Since Sept. 2, all British firms have been required to advertise IT job openings to the domestic work force before considering overseas candidates, ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0906f.html#item5 "What Can Nanotech Do for You?" Experts expect nanotechnology to yield a wide array of applications across many industries, such as medicine, computing, and sensory technology. Potential medical applications include gains in health care and diagnosis through ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0906f.html#item6 "Staking Out Space in a Handheld for Higher Fidelity Sound" As mobile devices proliferate, so does the need for developing speaker technology to give these devices better sound reproduction capabilities. One option comes from Matsushita Electric engineers, who have created a speaker device that uses ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0906f.html#item7 "Viral Nanoassemblers for Electronics" Researchers from Montana State University in Bozeman have discovered that virus protein coats or capsids can be genetically tweaked to form nanoscale electronics. Mark Young and Trevor Douglas learned that new molecules can be formed via the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0906f.html#item8 "Musical Approach Helps Programmers Catch Bugs" Paul Vickers of the University of Northumbria and James Alty of Loughborough University have devised a system that "auralizes" computer code into musical patterns to see if the method is helpful in detecting programming errors. Pascal language ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0906f.html#item9 "Fast Forward to the Future of Games" At the Game Designers Europe Conference in London, game experts discussed the changes gaming technology is likely to undergo over the next five years, and what problems will crop up as a result. Some participants noted that as game environments become more ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0906f.html#item10 "Hooray for Today's OSs" Current operating systems are a vast improvement over those in use just five years ago, and the trend is toward even better computing environments to come, writes Henry Norr. For example, Sun Microsystems recently pledged to pioneer work on a ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0906f.html#item11 "Feds Plan Cybersecurity Center" An aide to presidential cybersecurity adviser Richard Clarke acknowledged that the White House's long-awaited National Plan for Protecting Cyberspace includes a provision for constructing a cybersecurity network operations center (NOC), but denied that ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0906f.html#item12 "Feeling the Heat" Scientists at IBM, Intel, and Hewlett-Packard believe that fan-based cooling systems will no longer be adequate to manage the heat generated by high-speed microprocessors within three to five years, and recommend that computer manufacturers turn to ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0906f.html#item13 "The Brain as User Interface" Recent breakthroughs have demonstrated that the brain can control prosthetic devices. Research by neuroscientist John Chapin, Miguel Nicolelis, and others showed that electrodes implanted within a monkey's motor cortex enabled it to control a robotic ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0906f.html#item14 "The Vision Thing" The introduction and acceptance of display technology has followed a parallel track to that of new electronic products and applications, and iSuppli/Stanford Resources estimates the global liquid crystal display (LCD) market will generate revenues ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0906f.html#item15 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Wednesday's issue, please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0904w.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.