Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the November 8, 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 421 Date: November 8, 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, November 8, 2002: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "In Search of Broad Technological Compatibility" "Trust or Treachery?" "Senate Shift Could Mean New Tack on Tech Issues" "Valley Execs, Politicians Launch Women's Networking Group" "Holograms in Motion" "The Noah's Ark of the Web, 7,000 Characters at a Time" "Engineering Researchers are Designing the Ultimate Fabrics" "Internet2 Pumps Streaming Media" "Data Transfer Demo Sets Speed Mark" "Kofi Annan's IT Challenge to Silicon Valley" "New Chips for Keeping Up with the Joneses" "Wi-Fi, Heading for Air Supremacy" "Thanks to IBM, We May Soon Say: 'Computer, Heal Thyself'" "Will We, Should We E-Vote?" "Quantum Encryption Secures High-Speed Data Stream" "MIT to Create Digital Library" "Search for a Powerful Shared Connection" "The Reverse Brain Drain" "Rules for a Complex Quantum World" ******************* News Stories *********************** "In Search of Broad Technological Compatibility" Technology industry observers anticipate regulatory reform soon, and the FCC is meeting this month to consider what many say will be a first draft to a more flexible way of using radio spectrum. Unlike Asia and Europe, the United States supports four cellular ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1108f.html#item1 "Trust or Treachery?" The "trusted computing" push into the consumer market has been met with opposition and uncertainty, given the general level of distrust consumers feel toward the companies making the technology. For instance, Microsoft is touting its upcoming ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1108f.html#item2 "Senate Shift Could Mean New Tack on Tech Issues" A Republican-controlled Senate with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) replacing Sen. Ernest "Fritz" Hollings (D-N.C.) as Senate Commerce Committee Chairman is seen by many technology advocates as a positive development, because McCain is thought to be more ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1108f.html#item3 "Valley Execs, Politicians Launch Women's Networking Group" The West Coast chapter of the Women's High-Tech Coalition was inaugurated Thursday at a gathering of top female Silicon Valley technology executives such as Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and Autodesk CEO Carol Bartz, as well as such California ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1108f.html#item4 "Holograms in Motion" Scientists, doctors, military planners, product designers, and others who use flat 2D displays will have their work transformed with the advent of 3D holographic video displays that allow them to interact with computer-generated images without needing to ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1108f.html#item5 "The Noah's Ark of the Web, 7,000 Characters at a Time" The Scientific and Technical Information Exchange (STIX) is a project that aims to relieve scientists and mathematicians of the headache of being unable to precisely reproduce symbol-laden equations on the Web because not all computers are capable of ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1108f.html#item6 "Engineering Researchers are Designing the Ultimate Fabrics" E-textiles--fabrics that feature interwoven electronic components--are being designed by engineers at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University through several federally funded projects. Mark Jones and Tom Martin of Virginia ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1108f.html#item7 "Internet2 Pumps Streaming Media" Attendees at the recent Internet2 Member Meeting at the University of Southern California (USC) experienced the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Fla., perform Aaron Copland's Symphony No. 3. They watched the performance on a 30-by-17-foot screen as ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1108f.html#item8 "Data Transfer Demo Sets Speed Mark" At the iGRID 2002 conference in Amsterdam, researchers from Northwestern University and the University of Illinois at Chicago transmitted data between Amsterdam and Chicago at 2.8 Gbps, thus setting a new speed record. They were able to achieve this by ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1108f.html#item9 "Kofi Annan's IT Challenge to Silicon Valley" Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Annan wants Silicon Valley to become more proactive in the forging of public-private partnerships that will allow developing countries to bridge the digital divide and make the latest information and communication ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1108f.html#item10 "New Chips for Keeping Up with the Joneses" Gartner research director Alexander Linden believes the proliferation and convergence of broadband and wireless networking could lead to devices that will revolutionize everyday life by 2010. One possibility is mobile phones that can make ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1108f.html#item11 "Wi-Fi, Heading for Air Supremacy" The Wi-Fi standard, also known as Wireless Fidelity or 802.11, is on its way to becoming the primary way devices connect to the Internet wirelessly. Equipment is cheap, transmission speeds are reasonably fast, and it is based on an unlicensed portion of ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1108f.html#item12 "Thanks to IBM, We May Soon Say: 'Computer, Heal Thyself'" IBM is pursuing autonomic computing, a project to make computers capable of self-maintenance, such as being able to detect and fix internal flaws and defend themselves from crashes, viruses, and software bugs. This goal is an important part of the company's ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1108f.html#item13 "Will We, Should We E-Vote?" Electronic voting systems, whose value was recently demonstrated in Brazil, still remain a hard sell in North America. Brazil pronounced its national election, in which over 406,000 touch-screen machines were employed to cast votes, a triumph, but ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1108f.html#item14 "Quantum Encryption Secures High-Speed Data Stream" Professors at Northwestern University in Illinois are researching encryption techniques that can encrypt streaming data at 250 Mbps using unbreakable quantum encryption. Professors Prem Kumar and Horace Yuen expect their technology to be made commercially ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1108f.html#item15 "MIT to Create Digital Library" Monday marks the official launch of DSpace, a joint MIT/Hewlett-Packard project to archive virtually all the intellectual material produced by MIT scholars and researchers in a "digital library." The goal of the archive is to relieve ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1108f.html#item16 "Search for a Powerful Shared Connection" Digital powerline communications could make a comeback now that many of the technical issues are resolved, according to proponents of such systems. Nortel and energy firm Norweb launched a joint venture in 1997 to bring the technology to the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1108f.html#item17 "The Reverse Brain Drain" Many foreign-born technology personnel who moved to the United States to take advantage of the tech boom are returning to their homelands, either because they were laid off and no longer have visas, or are so disheartened by the economic downturn that going ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1108f.html#item18 "Rules for a Complex Quantum World" True quantum information science research is often masked by a focus on technological applications; it is far more useful to understand the laws of quantum mechanics, which could shed more light on quantum system complexity and lead to a better ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1108f.html#item19 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Wednesday's issue, please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1106w.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.