Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the June 30, 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 514 Date: June 30, 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, June 30, 2003: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "A Safer System for Home PC's Feels Like Jail to Some Critics" "Technology Transmits Sensation of Touch Over Internet" "New Agency to Ensure Internet Security in Europe" "Nuala: Tech Not a Complete Fix" "A Push From Homeland Security" "The Google Backlash" "Building Thinking Robots" "Mobile-Phone Technology Moves Toward Nirvana" "Exec: No Shortage of Net Addresses" "Hairy Truth About Computer Images" "Prefab Key to Molecular Memory" "Innovators Harness the Power of Touch" "Impatient Web Searchers Measure Web Sites' Appeal in Seconds" "ICANN Introduces New Framework" "Wearing Wires" "When to Shed Light" "Self-Repairing Computers: Striving for Dependability" "All Present and Accounted For?" ******************* News Stories *********************** "A Safer System for Home PC's Feels Like Jail to Some Critics" IBM and Hewlett-Packard have introduced new computers for corporate customers that feature built-in hardware and software encryption designed to protect corporate data, personal privacy, and the illegal use of digital content. The new machines are ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0630m.html#item1 "Technology Transmits Sensation of Touch Over Internet" Researchers at the University of Buffalo's Virtual Reality Laboratory have developed a technology that conveys tactile sensations over the Internet, a breakthrough known as "sympathetic haptics." One person feels an object wearing a ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0630m.html#item2 "New Agency to Ensure Internet Security in Europe" The European Commission recently introduced the European Network and Information Security Agency, whose mission is to boost IT security levels throughout European Union member nations and enable information-sharing between those nations' individual IT ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0630m.html#item3 "Nuala: Tech Not a Complete Fix" Department of Homeland Security chief privacy officer Nuala O'Connor Kelly states that technology alone cannot be relied upon to strike a balance between privacy and security: Technology, policy, people, and practices must work together in order to ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0630m.html#item4 "A Push From Homeland Security" Silicon Valley executives were heartened at a June 25 conference in Washington, D.C., by indications that the U.S. government would call upon the private sector to furnish software and hardware for cybersecurity and anti-terrorism surveillance, data ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0630m.html#item5 "The Google Backlash" Google, the world's biggest search engine, has long boasted a reputation for fair-mindedness, but people are starting to question that reputation in light of events such as Robert Massa's lawsuit against Google for reducing the ranking of his ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0630m.html#item6 "Building Thinking Robots" Michigan State University (MSU) researchers are developing artificial intelligence systems that are taught rather than programmed in order to build robots capable of learning from experience. "Instead of programming a computer how to solve some ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0630m.html#item7 "Mobile-Phone Technology Moves Toward Nirvana" Dan Gillmor has a specific vision of an ideal handheld device, one that runs on General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) or similar networks and includes a phone, a personal organizer, a camera, a Web browser, and a flexible operating system compatible with ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0630m.html#item8 "Exec: No Shortage of Net Addresses" Asia Pacific Network Information Center (APNIC) director Paul Wilson says there is no Internet address shortage in Asia and there will not be one for at least another 10 years, even if today's IPv4 system remains in place. Wilson says that for the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0630m.html#item9 "Hairy Truth About Computer Images" University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill professor Ming C. Lin's research has helped advance computer graphics technology and facilitate more lifelike computer-generated images that appear in animated films, computer games, and other media. One ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0630m.html#item10 "Prefab Key to Molecular Memory" Researchers at the University of Southern California, Rice University, and NASA Ames Research Center have assembled molecular memory by gently applying electrical contacts to a small array of electrodes coated with molecules, a breakthrough ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0630m.html#item11 "Innovators Harness the Power of Touch" Sony's Tokyo-based Interactive Laboratories are straddling the cutting edge of haptics technology with the development of the Touch Engine, a prototype touchscreen interface that is bendable and offers users "feelable" graphics. The device, designed by a ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0630m.html#item12 "Impatient Web Searchers Measure Web Sites' Appeal in Seconds" Developers of Web sites and search engines would do well to continue improving their sites and engines, concludes a study by Penn State researchers. The paper, which was presented at this week's 2003 International Conference on Internet Computing in Las ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0630m.html#item13 "ICANN Introduces New Framework" ICANN has been criticized in the past for excluding the input of individual Internet users, and ICANN's decision to create a user-level participant structure under an so-called At-Large framework addresses this issue. The At-Large framework will ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0630m.html#item14 "Wearing Wires" Perhaps the biggest barrier to the adoption of electronic clothing is its fashion value, but that may change thanks to the work of Georgia Institute of Technology engineer Sundaresan Jayaraman. Jayaraman's breakthrough electronic fabric, which ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0630m.html#item15 "When to Shed Light" In the past, software security flaws were typically announced to the public on a limited basis through bulletin boards or seminars. But many more people today are involved in finding flaws and alerting others to them, creating such tools as the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0630m.html#item16 "Self-Repairing Computers: Striving for Dependability" The computer industry is concerned about how the growing complexity and power of their products have impacted their dependability, and is now spending more time looking for ways to reduce the downtime of computer systems. Microsoft recently ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0630m.html#item17 "All Present and Accounted For?" Research from AT&T Labs and elsewhere indicates that workers could be significantly more productive and efficient through the deployment of instant messaging (IM) and other presence applications, which would reduce costs by scaling back an ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0630m.html#item18 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Friday's issue, please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0627f.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