Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the April 14, 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 482 Date: April 14, 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 Monday, April 14, 2003: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "Future of Technology Is Hardly Ever What Anyone Has Predicted" "I've Seen the Real Future of Tech--And It Is Virtual" "Master of Innovation?" "Sharpening Our Senses" "Intrusion Prevention Touted Over Detection" "Humanoid Robots: The Face of the Future?" "Itanium Gets Superconducting Software" "Government Urged to Bridge Skills Gap" "Space Net Would Shift Military to Packet Communications" "W3C Advances Semantic Web Drafts" "Andreessen Assesses Browser Prospects" "Honeypots: The Next Intrusion Detection Solution" "GUIs Face Up to the Future" "Smart Tools" "Gathering in Clusters" "UCITA: Blessing or Curse?" ******************* News Stories *********************** "Future of Technology Is Hardly Ever What Anyone Has Predicted" Technology companies are often considered to invent the future, but even as they construct the components for a future killer app, they are not likely to realize what it is until it happens. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison recently predicted that the technology ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0414m.html#item1 "I've Seen the Real Future of Tech--And It Is Virtual" Ten years after entrepreneur Bill Davidow presented the concept of the virtual corporation, virtualization has started to usher in a transformation of corporate infrastructure, writes Stewart Alsop. Widely distributed networks have become easier to ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0414m.html#item2 "Master of Innovation?" China aspires to become a technology standards-maker by leveraging its growing consumer base, national brainpower, low-wage workforce, and central government control. Although many technology products are made in China today, Asian neighbors ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0414m.html#item3 "Sharpening Our Senses" The Department of Homeland Security is expected to create a new Web site fielding solicitations from sensor technology vendors. Although some proposals may give some the feeling that Big Brother is watching, new sensor technology will help law ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0414m.html#item4 "Intrusion Prevention Touted Over Detection" The upcoming RSA Conference 2003 will showcase security technologies that focus more on intrusion prevention than detection, and enforce authorized network activities through the application of behavioral rules, usage models, and correlation ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0414m.html#item5 "Humanoid Robots: The Face of the Future?" Robotics experts such as Dallas University's David Hanson believe the future of human-machine interaction will be robots equipped with human faces that can model a range of expressions. Hanson's K-bot is a case in point: The machine consists of a head with ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0414m.html#item6 "Itanium Gets Superconducting Software" National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure (NPACI) researchers announced on Thursday that version 2.3.2 of the NPACI Rocks software (a.k.a. Annapurna) will fully support Intel's high-end Itanium processor, thus simplifying the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0414m.html#item7 "Government Urged to Bridge Skills Gap" Karen Price, CEO of e-skills UK, has called on the U.K. government to do more to improve the level of computer skills taught in schools. Price made an appeal to Education Secretary Charles Clarke during an event in which e-skills UK, the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0414m.html#item8 "Space Net Would Shift Military to Packet Communications" A next-generation space-communications architecture designed to be shared by American intelligence, defense, and space agencies was revealed by the Defense Department and National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) on March 8. Called the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0414m.html#item9 "W3C Advances Semantic Web Drafts" The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) issued a quintet of Semantic Web revisions last week, describing in more detail several elements of the Web Ontology Language (OWL), including the OWL overview, guide, reference, semantics and abstract syntax, and ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0414m.html#item10 "Andreessen Assesses Browser Prospects" Opsware board chairman Marc Andreessen, who co-developed the Netscape Web browser precursor Mosaic, notes that the browser has not undergone any major changes since its debut a decade ago: "After 10 years, it's still a user sitting in front of a Web ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0414m.html#item11 "Honeypots: The Next Intrusion Detection Solution" Honeynet Project founder Lance Spitzner details the usefulness of honeypots--bogus systems and services designed to lure malicious hackers--and how they can be used to substantially improve intrusion detection. Honeypots are supposed to cost-effectively ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0414m.html#item12 "GUIs Face Up to the Future" A number of U.K.-based companies are working to radically enhance the function and usability of graphical computer interfaces (GUIs). Visual Information (VI) is a family-owned affair whose flagship product is Vi Business Analyst (ViBA), a front-end ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0414m.html#item13 "Smart Tools" Artificial intelligence is being employed in many sectors, both public and private, and has led to significant productivity and efficiency gains across the board. Financial institutions have reduced incidents of credit-card fraud through the application of ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0414m.html#item14 "Gathering in Clusters" More and more enterprises are considering clustering technology as a way to save money and boost the performance of their computer systems, especially for intensive data management chores; among the advantages clustering offers for such companies ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0414m.html#item15 "UCITA: Blessing or Curse?" Almost 10 years ago, the National Conference of Commissioners of Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) proposed a national software licensing law that stirred up resentment from consumer groups, IT business users, and others because it allowed software vendors to ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0414m.html#item16 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Friday's issue, please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0411f.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.