Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the June 13, 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 507 Date: June 13, 2003 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Get more. Save more. Outfitting your business with the latest, award-winning IBM technology has several benefits, not least of which is the money you can save when buying in volume. As you can see, it doesn't take much to maximize your discount. This offer is valid on phone orders only on select PC products, so call today and give your business, and your budget and IBM edge. Savings referenced off regular IBM Web price. Not in addition to standard affinity program discount. Buy Up to 5 systems --> 10% everyday discount Buy 6 - 10 systems --> 10% + additional 2% = 12% discount Buy 10+ systems --> 10% + additional 4% = 14% discount Call today 800-426-7235, ext 3559 Offer valid on phone orders only. Discount is available directly from IBM on select PC products, excludes PC options and third party options. Savings referenced off regular IBM Web price. Not in addition to standard affinity program discount. Shipping and handling not included. This offer cannot be combined with other discounts, rebates or special offers. Offer subject to product availability. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Top Stories for Friday, June 13, 2003: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "Virus Writers vs. Virus Fighters: Share Vulnerabilities or Not?" "Internet Providers Say Users' Privacy Is Eroding Fast" "New Rules Expected Today on Faster Wi-Fi Equipment" "Senators Push FTC Spam Proposal" "College Courses Foreshadow a Tech Comeback" "Staying Up All Night on Java" "Will 'Waste' Push File-Sharing Further Underground?" "Reality Check: How Safe Is Linux?" "Harnessing the Power of Wireless Devices" "Breakthrough "Interface Tuning" Is Macro Step for Microelectronics" "These Guys Just Look for a Point" "Enough Already: Curbing Info Glut" "Smart Bricks Could Monitor Buildings, Save Lives" "Smart Cellphone Would Spend Your Money" "IBM, Infineon Claim Memory Breakthrough" "State of the Technology Union" "Is Handheld Convergence on the Horizon?" "Nanotechnology: The Next Revolution to Redefine Electronics" "You Bought It. Who Controls It?" ******************* News Stories *********************** "Virus Writers vs. Virus Fighters: Share Vulnerabilities or Not?" Critics of the computer security industry say more needs to be done to train system administrators about how viruses work and propagate. The University of Calgary, for instance, has opened a virus-writing course to fourth-year students with the intent of ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0613f.html#item1 "Internet Providers Say Users' Privacy Is Eroding Fast" The right to online privacy has been worn down by a raft of legislation and lawsuits, ostensibly to ensure security and protect the livelihoods of copyright holders. A sore point among ISPs and consumer advocates is the Digital Millennium Copyright ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0613f.html#item2 "New Rules Expected Today on Faster Wi-Fi Equipment" The IEEE give final approval to the 802.11g Wi-Fi standard, which is backwards compatible with and up to four times faster than the previous 802.11b standard. Experts say the new protocol will spur more investment in wireless technologies by both equipment ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0613f.html#item3 "Senators Push FTC Spam Proposal" Lawmakers argued at a June 11 hearing of a Senate Commerce subcommittee that more aggressive measures are needed to pursue the most prolific purveyors of unsolicited commercial email, such as an FTC-drafted proposal calling for a broadening of the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0613f.html#item4 "College Courses Foreshadow a Tech Comeback" Colleges in the Washington, D.C.-Maryland area have started offering courses, degrees, and projects that aim to produce future members of the IT workforce, in anticipation of an expected resurgence in demand for technical skills. George Mason ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0613f.html#item5 "Staying Up All Night on Java" Some analysts claim that enthusiasm toward Sun Microsystems' Java programming language approaches the status of a cult or religion. Programmers appreciate Java's versatility: The language is compatible with all operating systems and works across mobile ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0613f.html#item6 "Will 'Waste' Push File-Sharing Further Underground?" Nullsoft programmer Justin Frankel's Waste program is already courting controversy: Mere hours after Frankel published the program on the Nullsoft Web site, parent company America Online removed it and posted a bulletin warning people that downloading ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0613f.html#item7 "Reality Check: How Safe Is Linux?" The debate over how secure the Linux open-source operating system is compared to closed operating systems such as Windows still remains unresolved. K.S. Shankar of IBM's Linux Technology Center says a case can be made that Linux boasts more security ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0613f.html#item8 "Harnessing the Power of Wireless Devices" Mesh networking is an emerging technology that turns each wireless Internet-connected device within a limited area into a small router for other devices nearby. The military developed mesh networking in the 1990s as a way to extend the abilities of ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0613f.html#item9 "Breakthrough "Interface Tuning" Is Macro Step for Microelectronics" A team of physicists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the University of Tennessee, and North Carolina State University report a breakthrough in the June 13 edition of Science that could boost the productivity and efficiency of semiconductors and ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0613f.html#item10 "These Guys Just Look for a Point" Armed with Global Positioning System (GPS) devices, some 3,000 high-tech "explorers" worldwide are documenting the exact confluences of latitude and longitude with pictures and stories and then publishing the information on the Web. The Degree Confluence ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0613f.html#item11 "Enough Already: Curbing Info Glut" So that military and emergency personnel will be able to make critical decisions faster and respond to threats with greater efficacy, researchers from Texas A&M University, Penn State's School of Information Sciences, and Wright State University have ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0613f.html#item12 "Smart Bricks Could Monitor Buildings, Save Lives" Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a prototype "smart brick" that can monitor vibrations, temperature, and movements throughout a building and transmit those readings wirelessly. Electrical and computer ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0613f.html#item13 "Smart Cellphone Would Spend Your Money" Researchers at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom are developing software agent programs that will allow cell phones to determine certain routines and habits of users and make purchases for them. Funded by consumer electronic companies ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0613f.html#item14 "IBM, Infineon Claim Memory Breakthrough" IBM and Infineon Technologies claim to have built the smallest, most sophisticated magnetic random access memory (MRAM) chip to date, one that integrates the non-volatility of flash memory, the high speed of static RAM, and the storage space and ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0613f.html#item15 "State of the Technology Union" Cisco's Mario Mazzola notes that his company followed a clear research and development route in the past, and today is focusing on innovations that support easier application integration, multiple types of traffic and media, and technological evolution ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0613f.html#item16 "Is Handheld Convergence on the Horizon?" Three classes of handhelds--smart phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and BlackBerries--offer many advantages, but have yet to meet the elusive goal of successfully integrating wireless computing and communications. The handheld with ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0613f.html#item17 "Nanotechnology: The Next Revolution to Redefine Electronics" The field of nanotechnology is burgeoning: Large and small companies are pursuing nanotech research, as is nearly every university in the world; and the U.S. Defense Department is investigating the science's military applications, such as robust ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0613f.html#item18 "You Bought It. Who Controls It?" Edward Tenner, author of "Why Things Bite Back: Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences," writes that manufacturers of computer hardware and software are eroding the promise of user-centric computer control by building devices with ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0613f.html#item19 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Wednesday's issue, please please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0611w.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