Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the November 4, 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 419 Date: November 4, 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, November 4, 2002: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "Judge Accepts Settlement in Microsoft Case" "Tech Firms Push for Less Regulation of Broadband" "Trying to Shift Shape of PC Screens" "New PCs Likely to Cede Some Control" "Future Gear: Tiny Chips, Everywhere" "Is a Larger Net Attack on the Way?" "'Middleware' Advances Collaborative Research and Education" "A New Cryptography Uses Photon Streams" "Professor's Fame Draws Minority Students to Science, Tech" "Commerce Department Unveils Security Guidelines for U.S. Agencies" "Nanoscale LED Debuts" "Paper View TV" "Q&A: Kevin Mitnick" "Daniel Burrus: On 50 Years From Now" "Feeling Flat" "A Spatial Web Is Being Spun" "New Links for Learning in a Changing Profession" "The Big Picture" ******************* News Stories *********************** "Judge Accepts Settlement in Microsoft Case" U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly has allowed Microsoft's settlement with the federal government to go through largely unscathed, despite harsh criticism from nine dissenting states and competitors in the computer industry. The settlement ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1104m.html#item1 "Tech Firms Push for Less Regulation of Broadband" A coalition of 15,000 technology firms has ramped up efforts to lift federal regulations limiting local phone companies from investing in broadband infrastructure. Local phone monopolies are required to lease their infrastructure, including new ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1104m.html#item2 "Trying to Shift Shape of PC Screens" E-commerce companies and online media firms are hoping to get a big boost in business with the advent of thin and highly flexible computer screens, which are currently under development. Such displays, offering portability and speed comparable to printed ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1104m.html#item3 "New PCs Likely to Cede Some Control" Whether it goes by the name "Palladium," "LaGrande," or "trusted computing," the initiative to make digital copyrighted content secure is seen by some as a threat to consumers' freedom. The goal of these efforts is to create an environment where all ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1104m.html#item4 "Future Gear: Tiny Chips, Everywhere" Radio-networked smart chips will be embedded in everything in the future, in what AccentureTechnology Labs researcher Paul Mackinaw calls Reality Online. In that scenario, people could identify products they see on the street, even clothing worn by other ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1104m.html#item5 "Is a Larger Net Attack on the Way?" Last week's denial of service attack against the Internet's core domain name servers, despite its failure, has security experts and government officials worried that it was a preview of stronger, more sophisticated attacks that aim to take the Net out ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1104m.html#item6 "'Middleware' Advances Collaborative Research and Education" The National Science Foundation (NSF) released a new suite of software this week via its National Middleware Initiative (NMI), which aims to serve a variety of educational and corporate needs, including the management of physics datasets, earthquake ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1104m.html#item7 "A New Cryptography Uses Photon Streams" MagiQ Technologies will announce a quantum cryptography scheme on Monday in which code keys are transmitted as a photonic stream via fiber-optic cable. Quantum physics dictates that any attempt to observe such encrypted transmissions would change the photons ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1104m.html#item8 "Professor's Fame Draws Minority Students to Science, Tech" Arizona State University electrical engineering professor Armando A. Rodriguez has drawn upon his experience as an underprivileged youth and the support he received from mentors during his education to organize a mentoring program of his own, Mosart Fame ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1104m.html#item9 "Commerce Department Unveils Security Guidelines for U.S. Agencies" National and economic security could be at risk because of the flawed certification and accreditation processes used to secure federal IT systems, according to a new National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) report. Released by the Commerce ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1104m.html#item10 "Nanoscale LED Debuts" Government-funded research in Switzerland has yielded a nanoscale-size light-emitting diode (LED) that could be used in high-speed Internet cable, as well as to produce the single photons needed for quantum cryptography. Andrea Fiore of the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1104m.html#item11 "Paper View TV" Peter Andersson and colleagues write in Advanced Materials that an active matrix display based on organic semiconductors can be printed on paper. These semiconductors, unlike the liquid crystal pixel components used by most current flat-screen ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1104m.html#item12 "Q&A: Kevin Mitnick" Former computer hacker Kevin Mitnick, who is now a computer security consultant and co-author of the new book, "The Art of Deception," attributes many instances of hacking to social engineers who trick people to revealing sensitive passwords, ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1104m.html#item13 "Daniel Burrus: On 50 Years From Now" Futurist Daniel Burrus has authored several books about the use of technology and helps companies such as Microsoft, IBM, Toshiba, and AT&T forecast future tech trends. When asked how technology will be used in the next 50 years, he says that many ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1104m.html#item14 "Feeling Flat" The integration of both photons and electrons in computer chips would allow for better ways of handling data. However, engineers are having a difficult time building "optoelectronic" chips for general use because photons are much more wayward and bigger than ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1104m.html#item15 "A Spatial Web Is Being Spun" OpenGIS Consortium President David Schell writes that the growth of spatial content, services, and applications on the Internet is forming a "Spatial Web" that should be looked upon "as one of humanity's critical infrastructure elements and cultural ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1104m.html#item16 "New Links for Learning in a Changing Profession" NASA is supporting a consortium of universities to create an advanced learning network for future engineers, using the latest in networking, e-learning, and collaborative technologies. The Hierarchical Learning Network (HLN) will also enlist assistance ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1104m.html#item17 "The Big Picture" Yale University professor and Mirror Worlds Technologies co-founder David Gelernter has developed a software program that aims to arrange all information into a chronological stream of files that can be instantly rearranged by topic; such a product ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1104m.html#item18 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Friday's issue, please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1101f.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.