Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the August 20, 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 535 Date: August 20, 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, August 20, 2003: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "Next Big Thing in Computing: It's Not About the Technology" "Head of FTC Opposes Bills To Curb Spam" "Skulls Gain Virtual Faces" "Bugging the World" "Geeks Grapple With Virus Invasion" "Are You a Good or a Bad Worm?" "Media Groups Appeal P2P Ruling" "Nanotech Puts Tiny Chips in Reach, Researcher Says" "Classical vs. Quantum Computers: And the Winner Is..." "DNA Sparks a Computer Revolution" "First Game-Playing DNA Computer Revealed" "Patching Becomes a Major Resource Drain for Companies" "Project Searches for Open-Source Niche" "Attack Reveals GNU Project's Vulnerability" "Profile of the Superworm: SoBig.E Exposed" "Real-Time Java Takes Flight" "Demystifying the Digital Divide" "Patching Things Up" ******************* News Stories *********************** "Next Big Thing in Computing: It's Not About the Technology" The next computing revolution will not center around any single technology, but will be about how technology is implemented to better suit business needs. Aberdeen Group CEO Tom Willmott says that, since the dot-com bust, no so-called killer app or radical ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0820w.html#item1 "Head of FTC Opposes Bills To Curb Spam" In a speech to attendees at a yearly technology-policy forum in Colorado, FTC chief Timothy J. Muris sharply criticized a number of anti-spam measures currently being debated in Congress, describing them as "largely ineffective." He placed special ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0820w.html#item2 "Skulls Gain Virtual Faces" Max Planck Institute for Computer Science researcher Kolja Kahler says that the reconstruction of human faces for forensic investigation and anthropological research could be significantly accelerated with a new computerized technique. Manually ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0820w.html#item3 "Bugging the World" Great Duck Island off the coast of Maine represents the next stage of computing. Intel is sponsoring a project on Duck Island involving sensor networks, in which 200 tiny computers are scattered across the island in an effort to track everything ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0820w.html#item4 "Grappling With Virus Invasion" Security experts such as Sophos' Chris Belthoff speculate that the rapid spread of the Blaster worm has inspired other virus authors to wreak havoc on the Internet by unleashing their own malicious code, as evidenced by recent outbreaks. Analysts ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0820w.html#item5 "Are You a Good or a Bad Worm?" Machines affected by the recently released MSBlaster worm are being cured and patched by a variant, AntiMSBlaster, but although many computer users welcome this development, experts warn that there is no reason to think the new worm is benevolent. "Some ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0820w.html#item6 "Media Groups Appeal P2P Ruling" Movie studios and record labels are appealing a federal court ruling in April that supported the legality of certain file-swapping software--the first ruling ever to favor such a viewpoint. Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0820w.html#item7 "Nanotech Puts Tiny Chips in Reach, Researcher Says" Andre DeHon of the California Institute of Technology used Stanford University's Hot Chips conference to forecast that chips with wires 30 times smaller than current chips could emerge in three to five years thanks to progress in nanotechnology. Taken ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0820w.html#item8 "Classical vs. Quantum Computers: And the Winner Is..." The long-running battle between classical and quantum computing may have reached an impasse with a paper indicating that classical computers boast far greater energy efficiency and lower error rates than quantum computers. This is in direct contrast ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0820w.html#item9 "DNA Sparks a Computer Revolution" NASA, the Pentagon, and other federal agencies are funding research projects that seek to tap DNA as the fundamental building block of a new generation of powerful computers. University of Southern California computer scientist Leonard ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0820w.html#item10 "First Game-Playing DNA Computer Revealed" MAYA, a DNA computer that plays unbeatable tic-tac-toe using enzymes, was devised by Columbia University's Milan Stojanovic and the University of New Mexico's Darko Stefanovic. The human player makes a move by depositing one of nine DNA strands into a ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0820w.html#item11 "Patching Becomes a Major Resource Drain for Companies" Keeping computer systems secure against worms and viruses through regular software patching is putting a strain on companies' limited resources. Banner Health System security analyst Dave Jahne warns, "The thing about patching is that it is so darn ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0820w.html#item12 "Project Searches for Open-Source Niche" The Nutch project is developing open-source software for finding documents on the Internet, but the Nutch methodology differs from those of major search providers in that it will not be kept secret, says lead architect Doug Cutting. He insists that ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0820w.html#item13 "Attack Reveals GNU Project's Vulnerability" A hack attack in March compromised the GNU Project's chief FTP download server, but the flaw was not detected until late July, according to a statement from the Free Software Foundation (FSF). The FSF advises anyone who has downloaded from the affected ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0820w.html#item14 "Profile of the Superworm: SoBig.E Exposed" Internet security experts say that the SoBig.E variant poses a serious long-term threat to the Internet because it has opened up so many computers to hackers. SoBig.E, which is primarily spread via shared files on corporate networks and secondarily through ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0820w.html#item15 "Real-Time Java Takes Flight" The Goldengate Project is a joint venture between NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, TimeSys, Sun Microsystems, and Carnegie Mellon University to develop a Java-enabled Mars Rover prototype by leveraging new and pending specifications designed to ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0820w.html#item16 "Demystifying the Digital Divide" A widely-shared view of a "digital divide"--a gaping socioeconomic chasm between those who have access to computers and the Internet and those who do not--fosters technological determinism, which assumes technology's very presence will lead ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0820w.html#item17 "Patching Things Up" The growing number of software patches released every year is threatening to become a costly administrative nightmare for companies, which are turning to automated patch management products to ease the process--but these tools can only work in ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0820w.html#item18 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Monday's issue, please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0818m.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