Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the October 21, 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 413 Date: October 21, 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, October 21, 2002: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "Feds Planning Early-Warning System for Internet" "Global Organization Seeks Voice in Internet Addressing System" "Little Gain Seen in Patent Filings" "Slowdown Sending Tech Jobs Overseas" "Nanotechnology Takes Off" "Voiceprints Make Crypto Keys" "Tiny Atomic Battery Developed at Cornell Could Run for Decades Unattended, Powering Sensors or Machines" "Council and Parliament Agree on Electronic Waste Directive" "A Boon for Nonprofits With Software Needs" "The New Software Controversy" "Scientists Build Musical Search Engine" "Challenges: Speed Bumps Ahead For Semantic Web" "Work Force Summit Could Miss Key Labor Issues, Critics Say" "They'll Be Registering .Org Names in Horsham" "Technology Needs to Change Us" "Enterprise Play" "Unplugged U." "Super Soldiers" ******************* News Stories *********************** "Feds Planning Early-Warning System for Internet" The Global Early Warning Information System (GEWIS) that the U.S. National Communications System (NCS) plans to create will be designed to monitor the Internet's performance and alert federal and industrial users of any threats. Such a system "will provide ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1021m.html#item1 "Global Organization Seeks Voice in Internet Addressing System" Last week at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) organizational conference, ITU member representatives voted for a resolution calling on the ITU to take an active role in all "discussions and initiatives" involving domain names and the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1021m.html#item2 "Little Gain Seen in Patent Filings" The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office logged only 350,000 new patent applications for fiscal year 2002, which ended in September, compared to the 345,000 patent applications submitted the year before. Some say this relatively anemic growth in ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1021m.html#item3 "Slowdown Sending Tech Jobs Overseas" Experts note that more technology jobs are being shifted overseas as a result of the economic slump. Giga Information Group's Stephanie Moore reports that roughly two-fifths of Fortune 500 companies ship software operations overseas, and reckons that ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1021m.html#item4 "Nanotechnology Takes Off" U.S. researchers believe the next three to five years will witness nanotechnology breakthroughs that will revolutionize medicine, environmental controls, and manufacturing. However, such advancements can only be achieved by thoroughly ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1021m.html#item5 "Voiceprints Make Crypto Keys" So that users can upgrade computer password security without making it more difficult to access computing resources, Bell Labs researchers are developing cryptographic keys by merging passwords and voiceprint technology. Prototype software ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1021m.html#item6 "Tiny Atomic Battery Developed at Cornell Could Run for Decades Unattended, Powering Sensors or Machines" Speaking at a meeting of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) investigators, Amil Lal and Hui Li of Cornell University described a prototype microscopic battery that taps energy from a radioactive isotope that could last for decades and ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1021m.html#item7 "Council and Parliament Agree on Electronic Waste Directive" The European Parliament and the European Council reached agreements on Oct. 11 regarding two environmental directives--the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) and the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS). Under ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1021m.html#item8 "A Boon for Nonprofits With Software Needs" Although major software companies have been smarting from the technology downturn, especially in Silicon Valley, they can still maintain visibility and keep their products widely distributed by donating them to nonprofits. Microsoft, for example, contributed ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1021m.html#item9 "The New Software Controversy" Washington, D.C., attorney Joel Wolfson and Carnegie Mellon University professor Stephen Cross have different opinions on the effect of the proposed Uniform Computer Information Transaction Act (UCITA), which seeks to amend the rules regarding the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1021m.html#item10 "Scientists Build Musical Search Engine" Scientists at Queen Mary, University of London say they have created an online search engine for musical pieces that could one day be as popular as the Google search engine. Users may soon be able to locate songs just by singing tunes into their PCs, the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1021m.html#item11 "Challenges: Speed Bumps Ahead For Semantic Web" Architects of the Semantic Web are now occupied with developing an XML-based computing environment even though XML is still an emerging business tool. Developers have largely accepted XML as the lowest-level language for recognizing such concepts as cost ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1021m.html#item12 "Work Force Summit Could Miss Key Labor Issues, Critics Say" The National Academies conference in November is designed as a forum where electronics industry organizations, academia, and professional associations can talk about critical American science and technology workforce issues and recommend government ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1021m.html#item13 "They'll Be Registering .Org Names in Horsham" ICANNWatch.org editor and University of Miami Professor Michael Froomkin believes that Afilias will do a good job of making the .org domain work, but he says that ICANN's process for selecting the .org registry to succeed VeriSign was "a lost opportunity to ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1021m.html#item14 "Technology Needs to Change Us" Technology futurist Esther Dyson says the hallmark of long-lasting technologies is that they change society in some way. In contrast to many dot-com technologies, which simply glossed over existing business processes or products, ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1021m.html#item15 "Enterprise Play" The gaming industry is rapidly rolling out advancements in data speed, graphics, and interactive computing that have attracted the attention of corporate computer users. Video cards that game developers use to deliver 3D graphics have been adopted by ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1021m.html#item16 "Unplugged U." Dartmouth College's campus-wide wireless network, which consists of over 500 Wi-Fi antennas distributed over about 200 acres, is significantly influencing education, study habits, social interaction, and security. The importance of knowledge sharing ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1021m.html#item17 "Super Soldiers" The U.S. military is investing $50 million in a project that seeks to enhance the performance and capabilities of soldiers through nanotechnology. MIT earned this contract after demonstrating actual products, such as an "artificial muscle" ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1021m.html#item18 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Friday's issue, please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1018f.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.