Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the October 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 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 406 Date: October 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 Wednesday, October 2, 2002: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "Legislation Would Advance Consumers' Media Rights" "Tech's Big Thinkers Admit Mistakes" "Building a Better Computer Mouse" "Despite Fraud At Bell Labs, Chip Research Barrels Ahead" "List of Top 20 Software Flaws Due" "Davis Vetoes Bill Requiring PC Recycling Fee" "China Needs Software Not Hardware" "Cybersecurity Regulations Imminent, Industry and Government Warn" "Sally Ride Toys With Engineering" "What's New on the Open Source Front?" "Studios' Copyright Goal Is Total Control" "E-Beam Welding Eyed for Dense Nanoscale Circuits" "Hopes Placed on Sectors With Greatest Promise" "New P2P Network Funded by U.S. Government" "Honeymoon Over for Linux Users" "Intel's Huge Bet Turns Iffy" "HAL on Earth" "Linux Ready for Prime Time?" "Lighting Rods for Nanoelectronics" ******************* News Stories *********************** "Legislation Would Advance Consumers' Media Rights" Several bills designed to fortify the technology industry's stance on the controversial issue of digital copyrights will be introduced this week. On Tuesday, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose) will propose the Digital Choice and Freedom Act, which would ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1002w.html#item1 "Tech's Big Thinkers Admit Mistakes" A handful of major technology experts reflected on the best and worst predictions they made, and their forecasts on the next big breakthroughs, at International Data's (IDC) annual IT conference in Monte Carlo. MIT Media Lab director Nicholas Negroponte and ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1002w.html#item2 "Building a Better Computer Mouse" A number of open-source developers are working on new user interface capabilities incorporating mouse movement. So-called "mouse gestures" functions register specific movements, such as left-up-right or a wide back movement while holding a mouse ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1002w.html#item3 "Despite Fraud At Bell Labs, Chip Research Barrels Ahead" Molecular electronics research continues apace, despite the recent scandal in which an independent panel found former Bell Labs researcher Dr. J. Hendrik Schon guilty of fabricating data. Harvard and Cornell researchers recently reported in Nature that ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1002w.html#item4 "List of Top 20 Software Flaws Due" On Wednesday, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) will release a list of the 20 most pressing Internet security vulnerabilities at a conference of government CIOs and IT professionals. This year's gathering will include ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1002w.html#item5 "Davis Vetoes Bill Requiring PC Recycling Fee" Gov. Gray Davis' (D-Calif.) veto of a law that would have imposed a $10 recycling fee on every electronic product sold to California residents is seen as a blow to environmentalists and local government officials and a triumph for Silicon Valley's ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1002w.html#item6 "China Needs Software Not Hardware" Despite the progress China has made toward becoming a global leader in science and technology, there are still stumbling blocks to overcome, such as low levels of industrial production, even with the injection of foreign technology; most high-tech ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1002w.html#item7 "Cybersecurity Regulations Imminent, Industry and Government Warn" Industry and government officials are declaring that cybersecurity regulations will be implemented even though most participants in the debate are against them. This is partly because of the high-tech industry's reluctance to invest in ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1002w.html#item8 "Sally Ride Toys With Engineering" Astronaut Sally Ride's participation in the ToyChallenge competition is designed to give middle-school students the opportunity to explore their interest in engineering and encourage girls to pursue science careers. Ride notes that women ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1002w.html#item9 "What's New on the Open Source Front?" A plethora of open source programs has been developed and distributed since the open source movement began, but analysts are hesitant to predict that upcoming products could change or dominate the market, as did early applications such as Apache and ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1002w.html#item10 "Studios' Copyright Goal Is Total Control" Siliconvalley.com columnist Dan Gillmor writes that MPAA President Jack Valenti's assertion that movie studios are willing to compromise over the distribution of their intellectual property is not supported by their actions. "Instead of ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1002w.html#item11 "E-Beam Welding Eyed for Dense Nanoscale Circuits" A team of international researchers has succeeded in welding together nanotubes in a way that could form the key junctions needed in future nanoscale circuitry. The technique involves using a transmission electron microscope to knock out atoms at ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1002w.html#item12 "Hopes Placed on Sectors With Greatest Promise" The Japanese government is moving to create new growth industries through regulatory revision, increased research and development spending, and boosting cooperation between academia and the private sector. Although manufacturing has largely been farmed ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1002w.html#item13 "New P2P Network Funded by U.S. Government" The National Science Foundation has allocated $12 million so that researchers from five U.S. institutions can develop the Infrastructure for Resilient Internet Systems (IRIS) over the next five years. IRIS is a peer-to-peer (P2P) network designed ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1002w.html#item14 "Honeymoon Over for Linux Users" Open source software's increasing popularity has made it a target for virus writers, who exploit the software's weaknesses to wreak havoc. Network Associate's Avert (Antivirus Emergency Response Team) laboratory has identified more that 170 viruses and Trojans ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1002w.html#item15 "Intel's Huge Bet Turns Iffy" Intel and Hewlett-Packard have a lot riding on the adoption of their Itanium chip technology, which promises high-speed 64-bit processing. The development and commercialization of Itanium has taken 10 years and cost an estimated $5 billion; its failure ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1002w.html#item16 "HAL on Earth" Evolution Robotics founder Bill Gross says that interest in robots is growing now that PC development has plateaued, and various projects are underway to develop and sell robots that are more than just highly sophisticated toys. For instance, ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1002w.html#item17 "Linux Ready for Prime Time?" The open-source Linux operating system has made inroads into businesses, often sneaking in through the back door; this trend demonstrates that companies are incapable of selling Linux to executives directly. Linux distributors are focusing on selling ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1002w.html#item18 "Lighting Rods for Nanoelectronics" As circuits approach the nanoscale realm in order to uphold Moore's Law, they will become increasingly susceptible to electrostatic discharge (ESD) to the point where traditional ESD safeguards will no longer work. Such a danger is inevitable, as ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1002w.html#item19 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Monday's issue, please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0930m.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.