Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the January 3, 2003 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 5, Number 441 Date: January 3, 2003 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 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, January 3, 2003: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "Tech Industry to Take On Hollywood over Digital Rules" "Wi-Fi Spectrum Battle Pits Antiterrorism Efforts Against Commercial Growth" "Could Fear of Terror Muzzle Science?" "For the Gadget Universe, a Common Tongue" "Breakthrough Brings Laser Light to New Regions of the Spectrum" "Composer Harnesses Artificial Intelligence to Create Music" "Getting Smart About Predictive Intelligence" "IT Staffing Crisis Looms in India" "New Strategy in the War on Spammers" "Giving Robots the Gift of Sight" "Happy Birthday, Dear Internet" "Inside the World of Extreme Programming" "Toward a More Secure 2003" "Technology Jobs are Increasingly Going Small Tech" "2002: The Year in Technology" "Realer Than Real" "Who's Winning the Cyberwars?" "Beyond the Information Age" "Robotic Heroes" ******************* News Stories *********************** "Tech Industry to Take On Hollywood over Digital Rules" A new coalition formed from the Business Software Alliance and the Computer Systems Policy Project intends to recruit consumer and business groups to help launch a lobbying campaign that takes aim at copy-protection legislation supported by the entertainment ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item1 "Wi-Fi Spectrum Battle Pits Antiterrorism Efforts Against Commercial Growth" The U.S. Defense Department wants the use of wireless LANs (WLANs) operating in the lower portion of the 5-GHz band to be restricted, on the grounds that they could potentially interfere with military radar systems' ability to identify terrorist ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item2 "Could Fear of Terror Muzzle Science?" As a result of Sept. 11, both the U.S. government and researchers are debating how to strike a balance between the long-held tradition of keeping science research open, and worries that terrorists could exploit such research for nefarious purposes. ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item3 "For the Gadget Universe, a Common Tongue" Vanu, the four-year old company founded by Vanu Bose, son of hi-fi inventor and MIT professor Amar Bose, develops software-defined radio for the purpose of enabling disparate devices--cell phones, handheld computers, laptops, etc.--to ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item4 "Breakthrough Brings Laser Light to New Regions of the Spectrum" University of Colorado researchers report in the Jan. 2 issue of Nature that they have developed an extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) laser beam that generates wavelengths that are 10 to 100 times shorter than visible light waves, an innovation that can be ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item5 "Composer Harnesses Artificial Intelligence to Create Music" Award-winning composer Eduardo Reck Miranda is working on computer programs that can learn to create their own music. Miranda, an expert in artificial intelligence and researcher for Sony Computer Science Laboratories, previously made programs ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item6 "Getting Smart About Predictive Intelligence" Boston Globe columnist Scott Kirsner expects the major technology debate of 2003 to revolve around the use of predictive intelligence, which is being employed in the private sector for marketing purposes, but, more importantly, lies at the heart of ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item7 "IT Staffing Crisis Looms in India" Many multinationals turn to India for their IT-enabled services and business processes so that they can take advantage of cheaper labor and low operations costs, and consulting firm McKinsey reports that Indian outsourcing companies could earn as much as ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item8 "New Strategy in the War on Spammers" AT&T Labs researcher Dr. John Ioannidis will present a paper in February that details a system he has devised to combat spam by creating "single-purpose addresses" that senders can use to recipients they either have no continuing relationship with or ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item9 "Giving Robots the Gift of Sight" Carnegie Mellon University professor Hans Moravec has developed a 3D robotic vision system that includes stereoscopic digital cameras and a 3D grid composed of 32 million digital cells that a machine can use to reliably navigate through homes and offices. ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item10 "Happy Birthday, Dear Internet" When exactly the Internet was born is a matter of debate, but many agree that Jan. 1, 1983, is a significant date because that was when its Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) precursor transitioned from Network Control Protocol (NCP) to ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item11 "Inside the World of Extreme Programming" Extreme Programming (XP), in which coders are paired up so that they can constantly scrutinize and improve each other's work, is seen by corporate IT managers as a way to make software development more efficient. "Extreme Programming Installed" ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item12 "Toward a More Secure 2003" The year 2003 will hold numerous challenges for corporate security managers, but also yield opportunities to boost computer security through technology and software advancements. Message Labs reports that the growth rate of junk email, or spam, will ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item13 "Technology Jobs are Increasingly Going Small Tech" A background in nanotechnology could be very helpful in securing future careers for engineers, and Ardesta recruiting director Marlo Pabst notes that nanotech and microtechnologies are based on similar engineering theory. However, she acknowledges that ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item14 "2002: The Year in Technology" Notable developments in the technology sector this past year included id Quantique's debut of the first commercial quantum encryption device in June, while QinetiQ transmitted a quantum-bit signal over 23 kilometers in October, and Australian ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item15 "Realer Than Real" Head-mounted display (HMD) technologies are an example of "mixed reality" systems that promise to seamlessly integrate computer-generated data and imagery with the real world, and Japan is leading the charge in this area: Japanese hospitals have ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item16 "Who's Winning the Cyberwars?" The Sept. 11 attacks and the Nimda virus outbreak have helped raise the profile of cybersecurity and the need to defend cyberspace from increasingly sophisticated hackers, virus writers, and cyberterrorists who go after specific targets such ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item17 "Beyond the Information Age" Futurist and author Stan Davis writes that the information economy passed its midpoint with the launch of the Internet, and will segue to a biotech economy in the late 2020s. He recommends that CIOs should prepare for this transition by concentrating on ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item18 "Robotic Heroes" Advanced robots that can function in areas or situations too dangerous for humans are finding use in the military, law enforcement, and even the space program. Battlefield robots under development or in use include iRobot's Bloodhound, a ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item19 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Monday's issue (there was no issue on Wednesday [New Year's Day]), please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1230m.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.