Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the October 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 560 Date: October 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 Monday, October 20, 2003: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "Researchers Take Debugging to the Masses" "Tech Layoffs Fading, But No Hiring Boom" "Scientists Explain and Improve Upon 'Enigmatic' Probability Formula" "Trouble Grows at the Internet's Root" "E-Vote Firms Seek Voter Approval" "The Future of Data Storage" "New Internet Speed Record Set by Euro-U.S. Labs" "Magnetic Memory Makes Logic" "Juniper Spearheads Effort to Fortify Internet" "Progress, Innovation Coming to Cell Phones" "A Connection in Every Spot" "Parsing Hype From Hope: Will ENUM Spark Changes in Telecom?" "University Students in Mexico Promote Free Software" "Feds Take Up Arms as Computer Crime Becomes Multibillion-Dollar Problem" "Let the Games Converge!" "Aiming for Fast, Universal Access, Researchers Will Rethink the Architecture of the Internet" "Rebel Network" "Thwarting Piracy" "Ready to Ware" ******************* News Stories *********************** "Researchers Take Debugging to the Masses" The Cooperative Bug Isolation Project is a joint effort between Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley designed to improve the tracking down and correction of software glitches by developing and releasing modified open-source ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1020m.html#item1 "Tech Layoffs Fading, But No Hiring Boom" The technology employment landscape in the United States is looking different as numbers begin to flatten out and some sectors are actually adding workers: Notably, IBM announced plans to hire up to 10,000 new employees next year in "key skill ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1020m.html#item2 "Scientists Explain and Improve Upon 'Enigmatic' Probability Formula" Researchers at the University of California, San Diego's Jacobs School of Engineering report in the Oct. 17 issue of the journal Science that automatic speech recognition, natural language processing, and other machine learning software could be enhanced ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1020m.html#item3 "Trouble Grows at the Internet's Root" VeriSign and other organizations responsible for the 13 DNS root servers are voicing increasingly divergent views of how the Internet system should be managed: VeriSign CEO Stratton Sclavos recently said to the media that the system needed to be ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1020m.html#item4 "E-Vote Firms Seek Voter Approval" Electronic voting machine makers are working to quiet criticism from computer scientists and security specialists by acknowledging the need for a paper trail to verify results. Meanwhile, the Information Technology Association of America ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1020m.html#item5 "The Future of Data Storage" Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA) drive technology is taking off thanks to the emergence of serial ATA (SATA), which Meta Group program manager Rob Schafer describes as "the wave of the future" in data storage. Although solid-state and fibre-channel ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1020m.html#item6 "New Internet Speed Record Set by Euro-U.S. Labs" Olivier Martin of the European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN, touts its transmission of data across the Internet to the California Institute of Technology in early October as a milestone. CERN reports that it sent 1.1 TB of data at 5.44 Gbps ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1020m.html#item7 "Magnetic Memory Makes Logic" Harnessing the logic capabilities of magnetic random access memory (MRAM) technology, researchers at the Paul Drude Institute for Solid-State Electronics in Germany have created a new reconfigurable processor scheme. The proposed device would have ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1020m.html#item8 "Juniper Spearheads Effort to Fortify 'Net" Juniper Networks last week revealed its Infranet Initiative, a project that aims to devise a user-to-network interface for client/service provider interaction and an inter-carrier interface between service providers that will enable customers ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1020m.html#item9 "Progress, Innovation Coming to Cell Phones" Signs that smarter, more intuitive cell phones are staring to move out of theory and into practice were in evidence at the European Technology Roundtable in Berlin, where several products were unveiled by Orange CEO Solomon Trujillo. The phones ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1020m.html#item10 "A Connection in Every Spot" The UbiComp 2003 ubiquitous-computing conference played host to engineers who advocate that technology should be used to establish real-world links between human beings rather than separating people within virtual environments. The UbiComp ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1020m.html#item11 "Parsing Hype From Hope: Will ENUM Spark Changes in Telecom?" Rod Dixon writes that ENUM may be the next large development in communications technology, following the development of the Internet. With ENUM, any person could use his or her telephone number to represent one contact point, as the ENUM protocol would ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1020m.html#item12 "University Students in Mexico Promote Free Software" A recent free software conference was held in Mexico's Southern oil town of Villahermosa, organized by university students who are also members of the local Linux Users Group, which claims a membership of about 400 people. The gathering, while disrupted ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1020m.html#item13 "Feds Take Up Arms as Computer Crime Becomes Multibillion-Dollar Problem" Fighting computer crime is the FBI's third-highest priority, following terrorism prevention and counter-espionage. The Minnesota Cyber Crimes Task Force--the first of its kind in the United States--will pool the resources of the FBI, the Secret ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1020m.html#item14 "Let the Games Converge!" Sweden's Zero-Game Studio and Nokia are pursuing the integration of two major computer gaming trends--massively multiplayer games and portability--to develop new gaming paradigms. Nokia's N-Gage device combines a high-end mobile phone with a game deck boasting ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1020m.html#item15 "Aiming for Fast, Universal Access, Researchers Will Rethink the Architecture of the Internet" Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University will lead a group of universities and research laboratories across the country in studying the feasibility of using a glass-fiber telecommunications network for the Internet. As part of the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1020m.html#item16 "Rebel Network" By combining mesh networking and Wi-Fi, British programmer John Anderson envisions a wireless network with practically no boundaries that provides people with cheap broadband Internet access on demand. Mesh networks are comprised of nodes, with ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1020m.html#item17 "Thwarting Piracy" Owners of commercial databases expect to secure copyright protection for databases with the proposed Database and Collections of Information Misappropriation Act. Advocates of extending copyright protection to databases have been in a battle ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1020m.html#item18 "Ready to Ware" E-textiles--electronics woven into apparel--promise to enhance the performance of battlefield commanders, firefighters, and athletes, as well as boost functionality and stylishness for average consumers. A SmartShirt or Wearable Motherboard is a ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1020m.html#item19 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review the Friday's issue, please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1017f.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