Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the December 6, 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 431 Date: December 6, 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, December 6, 2002: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "Feds Label Wi-Fi a Terrorist Tool" "Tech Giants Plan Wireless Net Venture" "Bold Estimate of Web's Thirst For Electricity Seems All Wet" "National IT Guard Idea Will Take Time" "Smart Email Addresses Could Slice Spam" "Developing Chip Muscle Through Strain" "Security Still Lagging in Computer Systems" "New Software Creates Dictionary for Retrieving Images" "E-Fabrics Still Too Stiff to Wear" "Escape From Boring Beige: 'Modders' Soup Up the Box" "Motifs Distinguish Networks" "How China Is Making the Pen as Mighty as the PC" "Bell Labs Struggles to Guard Its Legacy" "Segway Aims To Keep Rolling After San Francisco Setback" "Pile 'Em High" "Dancing With Peer-to-Peer" "Attack of the Killer Dust" "Ultrawideband Wireless: Not-So-New Technology Comes Into Its Own" ******************* News Stories *********************** "Feds Label Wi-Fi a Terrorist Tool" Panelists at this week's 802.11 Planet conference warned that users and manufacturers of Wi-Fi technology will face federal regulation unless they can secure their systems. This is because the Department of Homeland Security considers Wi-Fi to be a tool ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1206f.html#item1 "Tech Giants Plan Wireless Net Venture" AT&T, IBM, and Intel have joined forces to form Cometa Networks, an ambitious effort that will act as a national Wi-Fi wholesaler to telecoms, ISPs, wireless carriers, cable operators, and other resellers. Cometa Networks, formerly known as "Project Rainbow," ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1206f.html#item2 "Bold Estimate of Web's Thirst For Electricity Seems All Wet" Author Mark P. Mills reported in 1999 that the Internet's percentage of total U.S. electricity consumption had climbed from practically nil 10 years ago to 8 percent, with another 5 percent consumed by all other types of computer use; he and co-author ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1206f.html#item3 "National IT Guard Idea Will Take Time" The Science and Technology Emergency Mobilization Act (NET Guard Act) included in the recently passed Department of Homeland Security legislation calls for the creation of a National IT Guard made up of volunteer staff--from federal, state, and local ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1206f.html#item4 "Smart Email Addresses Could Slice Spam" AT&T researcher John Ioannidis thinks that Single Purpose address software will significantly reduce unsolicited email, or spam, by creating a unique email address for each message sent. Reply conditions--permitted respondents, how many replies can be sent, ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1206f.html#item5 "Developing Chip Muscle Through Strain" Next week's International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) will feature presentations from IBM and Intel researchers concerning their work with strained silicon, a 30-year-old concept that promises to raise chip performance by as much as 20 percent and ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1206f.html#item6 "Security Still Lagging in Computer Systems" Computer security consultant and Vigilinx CEO Bruce Murphy strongly agrees with the CIA warning in October that terrorists would likely conduct computer-based attacks in conjunction with physical ones. Murphy says terrorists might try to knock out ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1206f.html#item7 "New Software Creates Dictionary for Retrieving Images" Penn State researchers have developed software that can organize a dictionary of digital images and retrieve them in response to written inquiries. "This system has the potential to change how we handle images in our daily life by giving us better and more ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1206f.html#item8 "E-Fabrics Still Too Stiff to Wear" Researchers gathering at this week's Materials Research Society conference have acknowledged that e-textile development has yet to produce viable wearable electronics. Wearable circuits require flexible conductive fibers, but the materials currently ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1206f.html#item9 "Escape From Boring Beige: 'Modders' Soup Up the Box" Modding, which could be called the PC equivalent of hot-rodding, is a hobby in which computer owners jazz up their machines' appearance as well as performance. Some "modders" perform a cosmetic touch-up, such as painting flames or jungle vines on the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1206f.html#item10 "Motifs Distinguish Networks" Israeli researchers studying network connections have found they can be classified into many different types of motifs based on their function and design. The Weizmann Institute of Science team found similarities between social networks and the Internet, ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1206f.html#item11 "How China Is Making the Pen as Mighty as the PC" Digital ink, a technology that allows handheld computers to translate words written by pen on a screen into text, is just one of many breakthroughs coming out of China that are raising the country's stock and influence in the global high-tech sector. ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1206f.html#item12 "Bell Labs Struggles to Guard Its Legacy" Lucent Technologies' Bell Labs unit has been pared down considerably as its corporate parent languishes in the telecommunications meltdown. In years past, Bell Labs was much larger than most other industrial research labs and cash-rich due ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1206f.html#item13 "Segway Aims To Keep Rolling After San Francisco Setback" Segway's plans to distribute the long-touted Segway Human Transporter to consumers hit a roadblock when San Francisco city supervisors last week voted 8-2 to prohibit the two-wheeled vehicle from sidewalks. Although California Gov. Gray Davis ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1206f.html#item14 "Pile 'Em High" IBM scientists this month said they are working on a method of building stacks of chips on top of one another in order to cut power use, speed connections, and free up valuable electronics real estate. While previous attempts have been made to create 3D ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1206f.html#item15 "Dancing With Peer-to-Peer" Peer-to-peer (p-to-p) technology is maturing, extending its enterprise functionality beyond file sharing and collaboration, and becoming a core component of IT infrastructure. John Parkinson of Cap Gemini's Ernst & Young explains that p-to-p's ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1206f.html#item16 "Attack of the Killer Dust" In Michael Crichton's latest novel, "Prey," slated for release Nov. 25, Silicon Valley scientist-entrepreneurs create the latest in battlefield technology--a swarm of micro-robots the size of dust particles. However, things go wrong when the robots morph ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1206f.html#item17 "Ultrawideband Wireless: Not-So-New Technology Comes Into Its Own" Ultrawideband (UWB) wireless technology has started to inch out of the military and government sectors and into the commercial arena thanks to FCC approval of a UWB standard in the 3.1- to 10.6-GHz range. These limits were set in order to avoid the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1206f.html#item18 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Wednesday's issue, please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1204w.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.