Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the March 19, 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 471 Date: March 19, 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 Wednesday, March 19, 2003: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "U.S. Heightens Cybersecurity Monitoring" "236,000 Tech Jobs Were Cut in 2002" "Senate Wants Oversight of CAPPS II Program" "Computer Virus Writers Mostly Obsessed Males--Expert" "NASA Launches New IT R&D Programs" "Redesigning the Net to Save It From Spam" "Apple Dips Toes Into Clustering" "PARC Cedes AspectJ Technology to Eclipse" "Setting a Course for Shipshape Software" "Chip Device Gets to the Point" "Open Source Gets Booster Program" "Privacy Advocate Warns of Microchip Invasion" "Software Issues Hinder Bluetooth Interoperability" "Virtual Reality Training and Terrorist Attack Preparation" "Real World Robots" "Flu Shots for Computers" "Microprocessors March On" "Harnessing Quantum Bits" ******************* News Stories *********************** "U.S. Heightens Cybersecurity Monitoring" The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today announced that it is stepping up its Internet monitoring efforts as the U.S. prepares for war with Iraq. The department will work with other government agencies to "monitor the Internet for signs of a ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0319w.html#item1 "236,000 Tech Jobs Were Cut in 2002" The U.S. technology industry lost 236,000 jobs last year, according to the American Electronics Association's Tech Employment Update, and has lost 10 percent of its workforce in the last two years. Many of the jobs were lost in the high-tech ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0319w.html#item2 "Senate Wants Oversight of CAPPS II Program" Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has called for congressional oversight of the Transportation Security Administration's proposed Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS II). Wyden also led the legislation that cancelled funding for the Total ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0319w.html#item3 "Computer Virus Writers Mostly Obsessed Males--Expert" Virus writers are mostly socially inadequate males, between 14- and 34-years-old, who are obsessed with computers and creating self-replicating code. This generalization was offered by Jan Hruska, CEO of U.K.-based Sophos, the world's fourth-largest ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0319w.html#item4 "NASA Launches New IT R&D Programs" NASA's Advanced Information Systems Technology program has selected 20 IT projects for funding, with the goal of building more efficient, less costly systems for in-flight use and on the ground. Altogether, the selected projects will receive $19.4 ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0319w.html#item5 "Redesigning the Net to Save It From Spam" The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) on Thursday is convening for the first time a physical meeting where anti-spam experts and Internet engineers will discuss radical solutions to solving the problem of unwanted email. Companies such as ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0319w.html#item6 "Apple Dips Toes Into Clustering" Apple Computer has tailored its Xserve machine for clustered settings, joining the popular trend toward networking server computers for greater processing power. So-called Beowulf clusters are commonly built using cheap Intel-based servers ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0319w.html#item7 "PARC Cedes AspectJ Technology to Eclipse" Developers dealing with large software systems will soon have open-source access, through the Eclipse project, to the AspectJ Java language extension. Created at the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) with funding from the Department of Defense, ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0319w.html#item8 "Setting a Course for Shipshape Software" Economic belt-tightening means companies must better utilize resources, and this traditional concept is carrying over into the IT department in the form of more efficient software that is focused on business performance. Whereas free-wheeling IT ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0319w.html#item9 "Chip Device Gets to the Point" University of Wisconsin at Madison researchers have built a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) positioner that is able to move individual atoms, a development that could give rise to ultra-high capacity data storage and molecule-size machines. ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0319w.html#item10 "Open Source Gets Booster Program" A new hybrid software licensing program promises to let vendors reap profits from their product while reassuring buyers their purchases do not lead to proprietary lock-in. Former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer Tony Stanco is ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0319w.html#item11 "Privacy Advocate Warns of Microchip Invasion" Radio-frequency identification (RFID) holds tremendous promise for manufacturers and retailers in being able to control their inventory and product, but also market to individuals based on databased personal information. This information could be ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0319w.html#item12 "Software Issues Hinder Bluetooth Interoperability" Bluetooth devices may or may not interoperate, depending on which software profiles they have installed, warned a panel at the CTIA Wireless 2003 showcase in New Orleans. Although hardware interoperability was pretty much "watertight," CSR's Eric Janson ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0319w.html#item13 "Virtual Reality Training and Terrorist Attack Preparation" The University of Missouri-Rolla (UMR) plans to develop a virtual reality system to train police officers, firefighters, and hazardous material personnel, especially in regard to possible terrorist acts, says Dr. Ming Leu, a professor in the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0319w.html#item14 "Real World Robots" Real world applications for robots, or machines that make decisions by themselves, are on the rise. At the hospital at the University of California, San Francisco, for example, a 600-pound, five-foot robotic cabinet called Elvis carries blood ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0319w.html#item15 "Flu Shots for Computers" Researchers have applied computing to biology to map the human genome, but now biology is being applied to computing to fight electronic viruses and worms. Sana Security has borrowed the concept of the human immune system in its effort to create ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0319w.html#item16 "Microprocessors March On" Chipmakers expect to get another 10 years or so of progress out of the silicon semiconductor before it may be necessary to switch to another technology, but even now as the number of transistors per chip proceeds toward a billion, the cost of designing and ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0319w.html#item17 "Harnessing Quantum Bits" Quantum computers designed to exploit the unique nature of quantum physics to carry out calculations far beyond the capacity of conventional computers have begun to move out of the conceptual phase, thanks to pioneering work by researchers such ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0319w.html#item18 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Monday's issue, please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0317m.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.