Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the September 16, 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 399 Date: September 16, 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, September 16, 2002: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "Report: Nations Need Open Source" "Chip Size to Reach Its Next Milestone" "A Battle Over Software Licensing" "Bush Has Plan To Protect U.S. From Cyberattacks" "Speed of Light Broken with Basic Lab Kit" "On Top When It Comes to the Crunch" "Nimble Nanoswitch May Win Info Relay Race" "Computer Whiz Toils to Save Internet's Soul" "Tiny Fire Marshals" "Scientists Discuss the Little Things in Life" "EU Looks to Match US Investment in R&D" "IT to Fight Terror" "One Year Later: Lessons Learned" "Data Security Oath" "Industry Not Jumping Off InfiniBand-Wagon" "One Face in 6 Billion" "Ultrawideband Squeezes In" ******************* News Stories *********************** "Report: Nations Need Open Source" The Commission on Intellectual Property Rights has issued a report recommending that developing nations promote IT education and the use of low-cost software by avoiding restrictive legislation and adopting open-source technology. Specifically, ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0916m.html#item1 "Chip Size to Reach Its Next Milestone" On Sunday, Intel will unveil the details of a new manufacturing process that will be used to mass produce chips with 90-nm-wide transistors by the second half of 2003, a breakthrough in chip size that ushers in the age of nanotechnology. The new ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0916m.html#item2 "A Battle Over Software Licensing" The Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) is still being hotly debated across the country as a variety of opposition groups have joined together to fight the software licensing law. UCITA would standardize software licensing in the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0916m.html#item3 "Bush Has Plan To Protect U.S. From Cyberattacks" The Bush administration this week is expected to unveil a comprehensive plan to protect the United States against cyberattacks that will call for an array of public and private initiatives. However, the plan will not contain enforcement ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0916m.html#item4 "Speed of Light Broken with Basic Lab Kit" Two researchers at Middle Tennessee State University report that they have built a system that transmits light signals at least four times faster than the speed of light using off-the-shelf components that cost just $500. Jeremy Munday and Bill ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0916m.html#item5 "On Top When It Comes to the Crunch" Japan overtook the United States in supercomputer development earlier this year when its unveiled the Earth Simulator, which is now the record-holder for the most powerful supercomputer in the world. The previous record-holder, IBM's ASCI White, is five ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0916m.html#item6 "Nimble Nanoswitch May Win Info Relay Race" Scientists from the Chalmers University of Technology and Goteborg University in Sweden report in a new paper that they have devised a blueprint for a nanoelectromechanical switch fashioned from carbon nanotubes that could potentially be used ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0916m.html#item7 "Computer Whiz Toils to Save Internet's Soul" Ben Edelman, at 22 years old, is a successful computer entrepreneur as well as one of the world's leading advocates of digital rights, and has dedicated himself to academic and legal causes that aim to influence Internet use. He has been an expert ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0916m.html#item8 "Tiny Fire Marshals" Accenture Technology Labs scientists are working with "Smart Dust" technology developed by University of California, Berkeley researchers to develop an early-warning system for forest fires. "Smart dust" is a network of mote-sized sensors that measure ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0916m.html#item9 "Scientists Discuss the Little Things in Life" Some 300 Russian and foreign microelectronics experts have gathered in Moscow the week of Sept. 9 to discuss research in the field and Russia's potential contributions. Dubbed Nano and Giga Challenges in Microelectronics Research and Opportunities in ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0916m.html#item10 "EU Looks to Match US Investment in R&D" The European Commission has unveiled a scheme to boost R&D spending to 3 percent of GDP in comparison to today's 1.9 percent average. EU Research Commission Philippe Busquin said in a report that investment in science and technology is crucial for ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0916m.html#item11 "IT to Fight Terror" Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory are concentrating on multiple projects designed to help the homeland defense initiative and the war on terror. Some of the work involves systems that were developed for a different purpose--for example, ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0916m.html#item12 "One Year Later: Lessons Learned" Communications and continuity have become the chief area of concentration for companies in the year since the Sept. 11 attacks, and this has caused technologies showcased during the emergency to change and become standard business components. The ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0916m.html#item13 "Data Security Oath" As personal data stored in computer databases becomes a more integral part of daily life, privacy policies need to be built into databases, say IBM researchers, who presented their concept at last month's Very Large Data Bases conference in Hong Kong. ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0916m.html#item14 "Industry Not Jumping Off InfiniBand-Wagon" InfiniBand technology, which promises to greatly increase the data-transfer rates between I/O devices, has had a rocky start, but the cutting-edge technology is gradually being adopted by technology vendors despite lukewarm acceptance from some industry ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0916m.html#item15 "One Face in 6 Billion" Face-recognition technology is receiving new focus as a security solution in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but high-profile deployments of such systems in airports have produced more false positives than successful terrorist ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0916m.html#item16 "Ultrawideband Squeezes In" Real-time tracking and collision avoidance systems for vehicles and people, personal-area networks of electronic devices, faster data transmission, and super-sensitive security tools are just some of the applications promised by ultrawideband radio ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0916m.html#item17 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Friday's issue, please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0913f.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.