Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the September 19, 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 547 Date: September 19, 2003 Top Stories for Friday, September 19, 2003: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "Study: IT Worker Unemployment at 'Unprecedented' Levels" "New Findings Shake Up Open-Source Debate" "H-1B Hearing: Companies Say Foreign Workers Needed" "Data Privacy, Emergency Response, Weather Prediction to Benefit From IT Advances" "Self-Policing Added to Spam Bill" "Government, Industry Debate the Value of Common Criteria" "Disputes Erupt Over Service for Poor Internet Typists" "Embedded Guru Advocates 'Bug-Free' Software" "E-Voting Audit Ready for Public" "Breaking the Speed Barrier: The Frontside Bus Bottleneck" "A Sugar Cube, Please: I Need to Charge My Cellphone" "Information Technology Field Loses Diversity, Research Finds" "At Rate Tech Is Going, No One Will Need Talent for Singing or Housework" "Testing Information Systems During Development Will Prevent Problems" "Security Standards Could Make Anti-Piracy Easier" "Supercomputer-Based Neural Net to Mimic the Brain Planned" "What's in a Cybername? Plenty" "WhereWare" ******************* News Stories *********************** "Study: IT Worker Unemployment at 'Unprecedented' Levels" A new report from the nonprofit Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology (CPST) concludes that IT worker unemployment reached an all-time high of 6 percent this year, a percentage that aligns with the applications IT managers have ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0919f.html#item1 "New Findings Shake Up Open-Source Debate" A study by Oxford University theoretical physicists Damien Challet and Yann Le Du analyzes a "microscopic model of software-bug dynamics" in cathedral, bazaar, and closed-source software initiatives, and finds that such projects can arrive at ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0919f.html#item2 "H-1B Hearing: Companies Say Foreign Workers Needed" The H-1B visa cap will fall from its current limit of 195,000 to its pre-dotcom-boom level of 65,000 on Oct. 1, and industry representatives testified before Congress on Sept. 16 to argue against such a reversion. Intel and Ingersoll-Rand officials ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0919f.html#item3 "Data Privacy, Emergency Response, Weather Prediction to Benefit From IT Advances" The National Science Foundation's Information Technology Research awards this year doled out over $169 million to eight major projects and hundreds of smaller projects, to be carried out over the next several years; the projects focus on collaborative, ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0919f.html#item4 "Self-Policing Added to Spam Bill" A provision recently inserted into antispam legislation sponsored by Reps. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), W.J. Tauzin (R-La.), and F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) would make bulk emailers exempt from penalties if they agree to regulate themselves. The requirement ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0919f.html#item5 "Government, Industry Debate the Value of Common Criteria" Although the Common Criteria security software evaluation standards are useful, they cannot ensure that such software will be trouble-free, according to government and industry representatives at a Sept. 17 hearing of the House Government ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0919f.html#item6 "Disputes Erupt Over Service for Poor Internet Typists" Critics are coming down hard on VeriSign, which just unveiled its Site Finder service--designed to send users to an advertising-supported site when they make errors in typing domain names into their browsers. The nonprofit Internet Software ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0919f.html#item7 "Embedded Guru Advocates 'Bug-Free' Software" Embedded system designer Jack Ganssle delivered a keynote address at this week's Embedded System Conference in Boston in which he blamed "benign negligence" for system failures attributed to shoddy software. He said three factors contribute to these ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0919f.html#item8 "E-Voting Audit Ready for Public" Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich called for an audit of touch-screen voting systems from Diebold Election Systems by Science Applications International (SAIC) in response to a disclosure of major software security holes, and the audit is now complete and ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0919f.html#item9 "Breaking the Speed Barrier: The Frontside Bus Bottleneck" Computer processor makers Intel, AMD, Motorola, and others continue to find innovative ways to shuttle data from between the main processor and other components via the frontside bus (FSB). Though the flow of data between these different pieces of ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0919f.html#item10 "A Sugar Cube, Please: I Need to Charge My Cellphone" University of Massachusetts researchers have developed a microbial fuel cell that feeds on sugar and releases electrons that can be converted into an electrical current. The biological component is Rhodoferax ferrireducens, an "iron-breathing" ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0919f.html#item11 "Information Technology Field Loses Diversity, Research Finds" The Information Technology Association of America reports that between 1996 and 2002 the number of women and African-Americans working in the information technology industry has declined. The association's Blue Ribbon Panel on IT Diversity report reveals ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0919f.html#item12 "At Rate Tech Is Going, No One Will Need Talent for Singing or Housework" Technological developments that have the potential to transform everyday life include new labor-saving devices from iRobot, a car that can park without human intervention, and software that can dramatically enhance a person's singing voice. IRobot has ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0919f.html#item13 "Testing Information Systems During Development Will Prevent Problems" Penn State researcher Dr. Sandeep Purao has taken a systematic approach to applying the more than 350 existing metrics to object-oriented systems. Purao, associate professor of information sciences and technology, and co-researcher Vijay ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0919f.html#item14 "Security Standards Could Make Anti-Piracy Easier" New programming standards from the Trusted Computing Group (TCG) designed to boost PC security could also support the development of stronger anti-copying software. The standards, which will be issued on Sept. 16, will connect software to tamper-proof ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0919f.html#item15 "Supercomputer-Based Neural Net to Mimic the Brain Planned" Artificial Development CEO Marcos Guillen announced at the Accelerating Change Conference on Sept. 14 that his firm will build CCortex, a "massive spiking neuron network emulation" designed to mimic the human cerebral cortex. The network will ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0919f.html#item16 "What's in a Cybername? Plenty" Many interests have been encouraging the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) to push for a clean-up of the Whois database, as the department faces the expiration of its memorandum of understanding (MOU) with ICANN. However, Commerce General ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0919f.html#item17 "WhereWare" Location-based computing, in which wireless mobile devices can keep track of their owners' whereabouts, could offer an array of applications and services that promise to fatten providers' coffers and enhance travel, safety, shopping, and convenience for ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0919f.html#item18 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Wednesday's issue, please please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0917w.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