Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the September 27, 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 the latest on ACM activities, member benefits, and industry issues, 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 404 Date: September 27, 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 27, 2002: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "U.S. Workers Taking H-1B Issues to Court" "National Science Foundation Announces Grant Winners" "Prominent Physicist Fired for Faking Data" "Lawmaker Defends Online Piracy Bill" "Inventor Foresees Implanted Sensors Aiding Brain Functions" "A Crushing Burden on Industry" "Building a Better Internet" "Open-Source Tug of War Heats Up" "Industry Insiders Hail a New Age of Convergence" "Software Security Group Launches" "Computer Pings May Measure Light Speed" "A New Way to Read, Not See, Maps" "Bob Wallace, Software Pioneer, Dies at 53" "Neglected Wireless Tech: The User Interface" "China's Software Exports Only Four Years Behind India: Gartner" "Offshore Upstarts" "Better-Built Diamonds: Fast Growth, Purity May Multiply Uses" "Computers That Run Themselves" "Display Technology Worth Watching" ******************* News Stories *********************** "U.S. Workers Taking H-1B Issues to Court" American technology workers formally complaining that their employers are biased toward foreign workers with H-1B visas have spurred the General Accounting Office to study the H-1B program's impact on the U.S. workforce, while the Justice Department ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0927f.html#item1 "National Science Foundation Announces Grant Winners" The National Science Foundation on Wednesday announced that it plans to award a total of $144 million in grants this year to seven major academic programs and 340 smaller initiatives as part of its information technology research (ITR) program to advance ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0927f.html#item2 "Prominent Physicist Fired for Faking Data" Reported discoveries of single-molecule transistors from Bell Labs have been discredited as a scientific panel found Dr. J. Hendrik Schon, who authored much of the work, to be guilty of fraud. Schon was found to have faked data 16 times in papers ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0927f.html#item3 "Lawmaker Defends Online Piracy Bill" Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Calif.) on Thursday said he may rework part of his bill sanctioning hacking activities by copyright owners. His proposed bill would lift criminal penalties normally prescribed for hacking. Berman's home district includes ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0927f.html#item4 "Inventor Foresees Implanted Sensors Aiding Brain Functions" In a keynote address at the Fall Sensors Expo conference in Boston, famed inventor Ray Kurzweil declared that the increasing frequency of paradigm shifts caused by accelerated technological advancements could one day lead to interactive technologies that ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0927f.html#item5 "A Crushing Burden on Industry" European Union officials later this month are expected to start finalizing details of the waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) directive, which lawmakers likely will pass later this year. The directive mandates electronics recycling in ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0927f.html#item6 "Building a Better Internet" The Infrastructure for Resilient Internet Systems (IRIS) project is a five-year, $12 million initiative to produce a robust, decentralized, and secure Internet infrastructure with the help of the computer science departments of five U.S. universities. ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0927f.html#item7 "Open-Source Tug of War Heats Up" The Initiative for Software Choice (ISC) vehemently opposes government use of open-source software (OSS), and is planning to accelerate its attempts to hamper the passage of open-source laws in South America and Europe over the next several weeks. The ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0927f.html#item8 "Industry Insiders Hail a New Age of Convergence" Industry observers believe that the portable device sector is poised for a major breakthrough, marked by a convergence of multimedia applications. Intel's Ron Smith predicts that mobile consumer devices with Web connections that offer anytime, ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0927f.html#item9 "Software Security Group Launches" The OIS is an organization composed of 11 software manufacturers and security companies dedicated to establishing guidelines on responsibly disclosing software vulnerabilities. The goal of the group, which was formally launched on Thursday, is to satisfy ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0927f.html#item10 "Computer Pings May Measure Light Speed" In a recent paper, Youngstown State University physics professor Michael Crescimano proposed a method to measure the speed of light by reflecting ping signals, or small data packets, between a pair of computers linked by Ethernet cards and cables, and then ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0927f.html#item11 "A New Way to Read, Not See, Maps" Software developed by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill offers visually impaired users a way to navigate maps, thus opening up their participation in geographic research. The Blind Audio Tactile Mapping System (BATS) is set up so that a sightless ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0927f.html#item12 "Bob Wallace, Software Pioneer, Dies at 53" Bob Wallace, a software innovator and one of Microsoft's earliest employees, died on Sept. 20 at the age of 53. He studied computing at Brown University and the University of Washington, where he joined a community of microcomputer hobbyists. While a ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0927f.html#item13 "Neglected Wireless Tech: The User Interface" The development of the wireless user interface has fallen by the wayside because the mobile communications industry is devoting most of its efforts to building killer apps, said Datacomm Research President Ira Brodsky; a new report from his company ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0927f.html#item14 "China's Software Exports Only Four Years Behind India: Gartner" China will catch up with India in software exports by 2006, generating $27 billion in exports, compared to $850 million in 2001, predicts Gartner researcher Dion Wiggins. That represents an average annual growth rate of 620 percent, he says. Wiggins ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0927f.html#item15 "Offshore Upstarts" India retains the top spot in international software development outsourcing with 85 percent of the market, but other countries such as Russia and China are working to catch up. Gartner analyst Ian Marriott says that Russia should capture 5 percent of ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0927f.html#item16 "Better-Built Diamonds: Fast Growth, Purity May Multiply Uses" Two separate groups report that they have produced artificial diamonds more amenable for use as electronic components by combining the heat-and-press method with chemical-vapor deposition. Both groups claim that they were able to precisely ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0927f.html#item17 "Computers That Run Themselves" More powerful computing leads to increasing system complexity, and autonomic computing aims to remove systems' dependency on live maintenance crews. The importance of reliability and availability has grown as a result of rapid advancements in ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0927f.html#item18 "Display Technology Worth Watching" Organic light emitting displays (OLEDs) show enormous potential--they require less voltage to operate than liquid-crystal displays (LCDs), while their ability to be printed could significantly lower manufacturing costs and lead to lighter ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0927f.html#item19 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Wednesday's issue, please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0925w.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.