Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the October 11, 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 410 Date: October 11, 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, October 11, 2002: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "Justices Hear Challenge to Copyright Law" "Light May be Key to Safeguarding Secrets" "U.K. Rule Restricts Hiring of Foreign Engineers" "Guerrilla Warfare, Waged With Code" "No Moore's Law" "What to Wear: Why Not a Computer?" "Human Handshake Opens Data Stream" "Billions of Blinks From a Laser to Keep Computers in Time" "University of Delaware Researchers Develop Revolutionary Computer Interface Technology" "PopTech: Jaron Lanier" "$3.2 Million Grant Trains College Students to Design School Software" "Nanocylinders Open Way to Polymer Electronics" "Tech Execs of Europe in a State of Bafflement" "The Robots Are Coming" "IT Jobs Outlook" "Pushing Hard for Hard Science" "Fed Plan Exposes 'Net's Weak Links" "The Inventor's Playground" "Small Earth Society" ******************* News Stories *********************** "Justices Hear Challenge to Copyright Law" Supreme Court justices on Wednesday heard challenges to the 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, which opponents say violates the Constitution. Leading the opposition is online archivist Eric Eldred, who argues that the mandate is unfair to ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1011f.html#item1 "Light May be Key to Safeguarding Secrets" Researchers say that single-photon communications via fiber-optic cable could keep sensitive data hacker-proof, as indicated by experimentation. Because such single-photon pulses cannot be reliably produced by conventional light sources, scientists are ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1011f.html#item2 "U.K. Rule Restricts Hiring of Foreign Engineers" Indian software engineers looking to get employment overseas usually try to find jobs in the United States, with England being their second choice. However, new British work permit rules in effect since September could limit their options. The rules do ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1011f.html#item3 "Guerrilla Warfare, Waged With Code" A number of grass-roots groups are emerging to battle repressive government Internet filtering in countries such as China and Saudi Arabia. These "hacktivists," or hackers with political motivations, want to enable Web users in those countries to be ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1011f.html#item4 "No Moore's Law" Research has shown that carbon molecules and carbon-based polymers have unique electronic properties that could outclass silicon and lead to better displays, batteries, and computer memory once certain technical challenges have been resolved. ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1011f.html#item5 "What to Wear: Why Not a Computer?" Various projects are underway to develop wearable computing devices that could be beneficial for both ordinary and not-so-ordinary users. Georgia Institute of Technology researcher Thad Starner says that wearable computers would be ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1011f.html#item6 "Human Handshake Opens Data Stream" Japanese telecoms firm NTT and its subsidiary NTT DoCoMo have developed a system that allows two PDA-equipped people to transfer electronic data by shaking hands, according to the Japanese daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun. The system relies on the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1011f.html#item7 "Billions of Blinks From a Laser to Keep Computers in Time" An optical clock developed by Peter J. Delfyett Jr. of the University of Central Florida could allow computer chip manufacturers to build future generations of products that do not suffer from potential timing problems. In his research, Delfyett ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1011f.html#item8 "University of Delaware Researchers Develop Revolutionary Computer Interface Technology" The iGesture device developed by University of Delaware researchers John Elias and Wayne Westerman allows users to control computers and execute commands by finger gestures. Elias explains that the system offers "thousands of times" more ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1011f.html#item9 "PopTech: Jaron Lanier" Jaron Lanier, lead scientist for the Internet2 project's National Tele-immersion Initiative, is planning a presentation at this month's PopTech! technology conference in Camden, Maine. Lanier incorporates music and other creative functions with virtual ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1011f.html#item10 "$3.2 Million Grant Trains College Students to Design School Software" In an effort to produce better-quality educational software for K-12 students, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has allocated $3.2 million for nonprofit SRI International to develop such software with the help of University of Colorado and ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1011f.html#item11 "Nanocylinders Open Way to Polymer Electronics" German researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, in conjunction with American scientists, have successfully developed clusters of fluorine-containing dendritic polymers, which combine conductive polymers and organic molecules ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1011f.html#item12 "Tech Execs of Europe in a State of Bafflement" This year's European Technology Roundtable showed the situation in the European IT sector is similarly grim, with many venture capitalists saying their portfolio companies were falling short of business plans. Hermann Hauser, the Briton who started ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1011f.html#item13 "The Robots Are Coming" IRobot's chief customers are the military and industry, but the company plans to penetrate the consumer market with a slew of robots it has developed, such as the Roomba automated vacuum cleaner, designed to lift the burden of menial chores. CEO Colin ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1011f.html#item14 "IT Jobs Outlook" A group of CIOs, IT workforce specialists, and educators discussed the origin of the current IT market slump, strategies that employers and IT workers can follow to deal with the current situation, and predictions about when the downturn will end. ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1011f.html#item15 "Pushing Hard for Hard Science" Legislators contend that the doubling of the National Institutes of Health's budget has created a funding imbalance between the physical and the life sciences, and they are hoping to resolve it by doubling the National Science Foundation's (NSF) budget over ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1011f.html#item16 "Fed Plan Exposes 'Net's Weak Links" Three major areas of the Internet's infrastructure have been labeled as highly vulnerable to cyberattack, according to the White House's cybersecurity strategy: Internet Protocol (IP), DNS, and Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), all of which lack ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1011f.html#item17 "The Inventor's Playground" Segway transporter inventor Dean Kamen has spent more than $10 million to turn an old textile mill into a complete inventor's workshop for his company, Deka Research and Development. He follows an unconventional philosophy--rather than focusing on ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1011f.html#item18 "Small Earth Society" The world's nanotechnology effort is led by the United States, the European Union, and Japan, but while the United States is currently maintaining its leadership position, its two chief rivals are adopting new strategies to improve their standing. ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1011f.html#item19 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Wednesday's issue, please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1009w.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.