Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the July 28, 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 525 Date: July 28, 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, July 28, 2003: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "Totaling Up the Bill for Spam" "Scientists Say 'Nay' to Computerized Voting" "Are Military Computers Safe?" "ACM's SIGGRAPH Addresses Immersive Technology" "Signs of Life in Silicon Valley" "Everything Is Watching You" "A Gadget Geek's Dream Come True: Punch 'Print' for Anything You Want" "Computer Language Translation System Romances the Rosetta Stone" "Tech Giants Team on Secure-Computing Standards" "WiFi Is Open, Free, and Vulnerable to Hackers" "Privacy: For Every Attack, a Defense" "The Tortoise, the Hare and the Internet" "US Passports to Carry Digitally Signed Images" "State Laws Fail to Suppress Spam" "Engineers' Forecasts for Technology" "Sensitive Sensors" "The Sky's the Limit" "Antennas Get Smart" ******************* News Stories *********************** "Totaling Up the Bill for Spam" Measuring the cost of spam, which takes into account such factors as lost productivity and wasted time, is an imprecise science, and estimates on its total toll vary: Ferris Research reckons that spam cost the United States $10 billion in 2003, while ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0728m.html#item1 "Scientists Say 'Nay' to Computerized Voting" Computerized voting machines continue their onward march in the face of growing dissent from computer experts, who warn that any computer system used to collect and count ballots needs to be backed up by a paper trail. Most recently, a study from Johns ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0728m.html#item2 "Are Military Computers Safe?" At a hearing to gauge the Department of Defense's cybersecurity plans, witnesses such as Purdue University's Eugene Spafford warned the House Armed Services Committee's Subcommittee on Terrorism, Unconventional Threats, and Capabilities that the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0728m.html#item3 "ACM's SIGGRAPH Addresses Immersive Technology" SIGGRAPH conference chairman Alyn Rockwood of the Colorado School of Mines reports that this year's event taking place this week in San Diego features new sessions on immersive technology, which "expands the experience beyond the standard visual in one direction, such ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0728m.html#item4 "Signs of Life in Silicon Valley" Silicon Valley-based job recruiters and search firms are experiencing a rise in business, indicative of growing confidence among regional employers that the economy may be starting to bounce back. Technology Search recruiter Alan Hattman reports ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0728m.html#item5 "Everything Is Watching You" Robotics scientists have come full circle on the best way to get a computer to understand the physical world around it, from giving a robot "eyes" to direct rays of light into a "mental image" of its surroundings, to having objects in a room identify ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0728m.html#item6 "A Gadget Geek's Dream Come True: Punch 'Print' for Anything You Want" Desktop manufacturing could allow people to construct new devices on-demand, using 3D printers that build mechanic and electronic parts out of organic polymers. If someone's blender broke, for instance, they could simply look up the design for a blender on ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0728m.html#item7 "Computer Language Translation System Romances the Rosetta Stone" University of Southern California computer researcher Franz Josef Och has created a computer language translation system that uses statistical models to find the most probable translation for given inputs. "Instead of telling the computer how to translate, ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0728m.html#item8 "Tech Giants Team on Secure-Computing Standards" IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Sun Microsystems have announced a joint effort with smaller security companies such as RSA Security, Tripwire, and InstallShield to develop non-proprietary secure-computing standards that are easier to integrate than ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0728m.html#item9 "WiFi Is Open, Free, and Vulnerable to Hackers" Unprotected Wi-Fi access is epidemic, leaves the door open to data thieves, and could serve as an anonymous launching pad for hack attacks, according to experts. The problem will only grow with Wi-Fi, especially as hardware vendors continue to refuse to ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0728m.html#item10 "Privacy: For Every Attack, a Defense" Americans' privacy is under threat from government and corporate abuse of technology, but at the same time is being protected by groups savvy to the danger. E-Loan CEO Chris Larsen is one of those protecting privacy, and has bankrolled a California ballot ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0728m.html#item11 "The Tortoise, the Hare and the Internet" As the Internet developed rapidly in the mid 1990s, governments around the world generally agreed to leave Internet regulation to the private sector in the belief that would allow rapid adjustment and accommodation of changing needs. However, the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0728m.html#item12 "US Passports to Carry Digitally Signed Images" The U.S. governments plans to issue "smart" passports, featuring embedded microchips that store a compressed image of the owner's face, to U.S. citizens in October 2004. Designed to prevent tampering, the digital passports will include cryptographically ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0728m.html#item13 "State Laws Fail to Suppress Spam" State laws have not been able to rein in spam, which continues to grow at astronomical rates. Of the 35 states that have laws regulating spam, Delaware may have the toughest statute, in that residents are required to sign up to receive unsolicited ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0728m.html#item14 "Engineers' Forecasts for Technology" The 2003 technology survey of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) fellows asked participants about what would be significant technology issues over the next 10 years. Two-thirds predicted that open-source computing would have a large impact on ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0728m.html#item15 "Sensitive Sensors" A pair of scientists at the State University of New York at Buffalo's mechanical and aerospace engineering department has developed a powerful new magnetic sensor for PC hard drives. The nanoscale sensor creates large electrical resistance changes, ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0728m.html#item16 "The Sky's the Limit" Global positioning system (GPS) technology, which is the basis of "location-aware" products, has progressed far beyond the precise military targeting applications it was originally developed for, and is finding use in both commercial and non-commercial sectors. ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0728m.html#item17 "Antennas Get Smart" Adaptive antenna arrays aim to lower the cost and upgrade the quality of wireless communications by transmitting their signals directly to mobile users and enhancing connections with individual cell phones via signal manipulation, while keeping ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0728m.html#item18 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Friday's issue, please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0725f.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