Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the October 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 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 411 Date: October 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 Wednesday, October 16, 2002: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "In the High-Tech Sector, Optimism Is Just a Faded Memory" "Stress Tests Go Atomic at MIT" "Media Seek to Limit Digital Copying" "Net Security Chief Leaves Too Many Questions Unanswered" "Asia Marches on Technology Frontier" "University of Florida Researchers Make Progress on Tiny Battery" "Thanks for the (Digital) Memories" "Tech-Crash Threatens to Take Down SETI@home" "Before Instant Messaging--Awareness" "Wearables: More Than Sci-Fi Stuff" "Vint Cerf Talks About Internet Changes" "Drowning in a Deluge of Data, Data, Data..." "New Telecom Connections for the Deaf" "Nanoelectronics Run Deep in the Heart of Texas" "Will Big Business Dictate Public Interest?" "Designed For Life" "Slight Bump in 2003 IT R&D Spending Expected" "The Next Web" "Controlling Robots With the Mind" ******************* News Stories *********************** "In the High-Tech Sector, Optimism Is Just a Faded Memory" Pessimism has replaced optimism in Silicon Valley, as reflected by the prevailing mood at this year's Agenda conference; speakers foresaw little economic growth in the technology sector, and a few leading technologists implied that the United States' global ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1016w.html#item1 "Stress Tests Go Atomic at MIT" Scientists hope that a predictive model developed by MIT researchers could be used to anticipate the earliest manifestation of defects in materials that range from the sub-microscopic to the super-macroscopic. Subra Suresh, head of ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1016w.html#item2 "Media Seek to Limit Digital Copying" Speaking at an Associated Press conference, Electronic Frontier Foundation attorney Fred von Lohmann protested legislation from Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.) that would require consumer electronics manufacturers to install "copyright chips" that would ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1016w.html#item3 "Net Security Chief Leaves Too Many Questions Unanswered" Boston Globe technology columnist Hiawatha Bray agrees with critics of the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace that the policy does not appear to take the issue of cybersecurity as seriously as it should, given the many critical systems that ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1016w.html#item4 "Asia Marches on Technology Frontier" Shahid Yusuf, co-author of the World Bank report "Can East Asia Compete?," says the region has made progress in the technology arena: Some countries such as Japan, Korea, and China are doing well, while Southeast Asian nations such as the Philippines, ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1016w.html#item5 "University of Florida Researchers Make Progress on Tiny Battery" Batteries used in portable electronics could be improved while power packs for microelectromechanical (MEMS) devices could become a reality thanks to research being conducted by University of Florida scientists. A team led by chemistry professor Charles ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1016w.html#item6 "Thanks for the (Digital) Memories" Digital memory development has managed to keep pace with the evolution of computation, despite predictions that its growth would be severely limited 20 years ago--in fact, it has outpaced Moore's Law. For example, there are few major differences ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1016w.html#item7 "Tech-Crash Threatens to Take Down SETI@home" The SETI@home project needs more funding if it is to continue, and chief scientist Dan Werthimer told SETI Australia Chairman Dr. Frank Stootman that the installation of radio data recording gear at the Parkes telescope observatory would be postponed until ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1016w.html#item8 "Before Instant Messaging--Awareness" AT&T Laboratories' "Hubbub" instant messaging experiment shows how presence technology makes co-workers more effective through collaboration. The study compared collaboration enabled by Hubbub with the way office workers would normally communicate at ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1016w.html#item9 "Wearables: More Than Sci-Fi Stuff" Students from MIT and Georgia Tech attending last week's Sixth Annual International Wearable Computer Symposium tried out new technologies at the University of Washington campus. One technology, augmented reality (AR), involves a see-through ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1016w.html#item10 "Vint Cerf Talks About Internet Changes" ICANN Chairman Vint Cerf addresses how the Internet is changing during an online question-and-answer session. In his opinion, anonymity is an important topic for discussion, because it carries both good and bad uses; he is also concerned about ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1016w.html#item11 "Drowning in a Deluge of Data, Data, Data..." Data storage requirements have grown at a compound annual rate of 90 percent for the last two years, leaving companies struggling to figure out what to do with all their information, according to a recent Meta Group survey of 328 IT executives in the U.S. The ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1016w.html#item12 "New Telecom Connections for the Deaf" A number of new Internet-enabled technologies for phone conversation are making deaf and hard-of-hearing people more effective and mobile in the workplace and enabling them to more easily communicate with the hearing world. Whereas previously, ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1016w.html#item13 "Nanoelectronics Run Deep in the Heart of Texas" The University of Texas at Austin is working on commercializing its nanotechnology research, and Renee A. Mallett of The Office of Technology Licensing and Intellectual Property says both the local community and investors have an interest in nanotech. The ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1016w.html#item14 "Will Big Business Dictate Public Interest?" The Internet Society (ISOC), despite promising to manage the .org domain for the public benefit, can be viewed as an organization representing major technology companies, because top ISOC members include WorldCom, IBM, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, and the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1016w.html#item15 "Designed For Life" Northwestern University computer science professor and author Donald Norman, who wrote "The Design of Everyday Things," believes it is taking designers too long to create more usable computing products, which he attributes to a lack of business ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1016w.html#item16 "Slight Bump in 2003 IT R&D Spending Expected" A slight increase is expected for government spending on information technology research and development in the next fiscal year. The Networking and IT research and development (NITRD) program's proposed budget for fiscal 2003 is $1.9 ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1016w.html#item17 "The Next Web" Search engines are very limited when it comes to sifting through a mountain of data that is increasing steadily, but the Semantic Web could make finding information easier; such a development would make employees more productive and companies easier for ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1016w.html#item18 "Controlling Robots With the Mind" Researchers are hard at work developing technology that could enable people to control machines by thought; potential applications include more responsive prosthetics for paralysis victims, while further advancements carry the promise of ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1016w.html#item19 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Friday's issue (there was no issue on Monday, October 14 [Columbus Day holiday observed]), please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1011f.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.