Inside the Stupid Fun
Club
Why Software Still
Stinks
Seven out of 19 software pioneers interviewed by Microsoft
Press editor Susan Lammers 20 years ago for her book
"Programmers at Work" were reunited at a March 16 panel to
discuss the current state of software, and all of them
observed that software is still excessively complicated for
both ...
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The Web: Hacker Turf War
Raging Online
A turf war between three groups of rival hackers is being
waged over the Internet, the prize being the many computer
systems their malware threatens to compromise and zombify
worldwide. In computer worms such as MyDoom, Netsky, and
Bagle, Central Command analysts have uncovered messages ...
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Who Should Govern the
Net?
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
Chairman and Internet pioneer Vint Cerf says his organization
is moving forward on technical innovation, expanding top-level
domains (TLDs), cooperation with other core Internet players,
and international policy adherence. He sees ...
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E-Vote Snafu in California
County
Napa County, Calif., Registrar of Voters John Tuteur
reported Thursday that a glitch caused an optical scan machine
used in the March 2 primary election to miss 6,692 out of
468,001 votes recorded on over 13,000 absentee ballots. An
employee of Sequoia Voting Systems, the machine's ...
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Viruses Lurk as a Threat to
'Smart' Cellphones
The growing power of "smart phones" is increasing their
susceptibility to malware, which Network Associates predicts
could cost North American wireless carriers as much as $2.5
billion in two years. As a result, the wireless industry is
preparing itself for a major virus assault that ...
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Scientists Vying for
Special Funds
Since former Bell Labs research chief Charles McQueary took
the position of undersecretary for science and technology at
the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, his office has been
deluged with over 5,500 security technology proposals. Among
them are "motes"--tiny wireless devices that ...
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Prototype System Developed
by Wright State University Computer Engineer Allows Blind to
'See'
Wright State University (WSU) researchers, in conjunction
with Arizona State University (ASU), have developed a
prototype wearable device dubbed Tyflos" that allows blind
people to perceive their surroundings via audio information.
Tyflos consists of camera-equipped glasses wired to a laptop
...
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The Future of the
GPL
The SCO Group, in launching lawsuits against Linux users,
is arguing against the constitutionality of the GNU General
Public License (GPL), but Columbia University law professor
and Free Software Foundation (FSF) counsel Eben Moglen says
the litigation will have no bearing on any changes ...
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New Hacker Program Prompts
Alert
A new hacker tool has emerged to take advantage of the
peer-to-peer networking abilities that file-sharing networks
use, and computer security experts are watching for it. The
Phatbot tool is thought to have already infected hundreds of
thousands of computers that use the Windows operating ...
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No Outlet? Don't Worry, an
Ethernet Cable May Do
Ethernet cables can conduct both data and electric power
because they do not interfere with each other thanks to
differing frequencies: Electricity travels at about 60 hertz,
while data signaling travels in the 10 million to 100 million
hertz range. This and the inexpensiveness of Ethernet cable
...
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Finally, Apple Speaks to
the Blind
At the 19th annual Technology & Persons with
Disabilities Conference, Apple Computer unveiled its Spoken
Interface, a tool designed to help visually impaired users
navigate a computer desktop and Web pages by vocalizing and
giving sound cues to what is happening on the screen of their
Macs. The ...
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Some Experts Say Offshore
Outcry Masks U.S. Shortage of Technology
Labor
Despite all the uproar about overseas outsourcing of
technology jobs, many industry analysts say the United States
will soon be facing a serious shortage of IT workers:
Increasing computerization, retiring Baby Boomers, and lower
enrollments in technology programs at schools will all
contribute ...
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RFID Chips Watch Grandma
Brush Teeth
A number of companies illustrated how wireless
radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips could simplify and
improve the care of the elderly in a March 16 demonstration
for government officials in Washington, D.C. Such chips,
affixed to everyday objects such as toothbrushes, chairs, ...
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Apple's Ron Okamoto
Previews WWDC 2004
Apple worldwide developer relations vice president Ron
Okamoto says this year's Worldwide Developers Conference
(WWDC) will host a wide range of developers from many
platforms and industries. Last year's conference saw about
3,000 developers, including a greater number of first-time
attendees ...
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Q&A: Quality Software
Means More Secure Software
Cigital CTO and author Gary McGraw posits that software
quality and software security are inexorably linked, and
though he acknowledges that the software industry has started
to take software security more seriously, he cautions that
"they have a long way to go." McGraw says the security, ...
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ST to Lead European
'Ambient Intelligence' Project
STMicroelectronics will head a European research initiative
that focuses on making "ambient intelligence" technology
commercially ready for everyday objects. PolyApply will be a
four-year research project that will involve 20 European
companies, academic and research institutes, including
Philips, ...
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Tough Road to Quality
Code
Because the reliability of automotive software can impact
an automaker's reputation among consumers, manufacturers are
facing increasing pressure to ensure that such software is
free of errors. Automakers are altering their operations to
address the industry's adoption of software by more closely
...
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Technology That Speaks in
Tongues
Military personnel are employing a growing arsenal of
automatic translation devices in an effort to overcome the
language barrier many soldiers face while stationed abroad--a
barrier that is all the more difficult because linguists are
scarce. One such device is VoxTec's Phraselator, a ...
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Inside the Stupid Fun
Club
The Stupid Fun Club founded by robot enthusiasts Will
Wright and Mike Winter is a sort of think tank whose goal is
to determine how people relate to robots by building machines
programmed to exhibit unusual behavior, and filming people's
reactions to them, mainly as a source of entertainment. ...
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