Toward Interoperable First
Response
ACM Awards Honor
Distinguished Contributions to Computing
The ACM has announced the recipients of the 2004
Distinguished Service Award and the 2004 Outstanding
Contribution to ACM Award for their role in advancing the
field of computing. The University of Arizona's Richard
Snodgrass, ACM Fellow ...
[read more]
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Senate Spotlight Turns to
Data Security
Security breaches at personal data vendors ChoicePoint and
LexisNexis have enlivened congressional debate about how to
strengthen privacy regulations in a market where the
government currently has an unclear role. In testimony before
the Senate Banking Committee, FTC Chairwoman Deborah Platt ...
[read more]
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Why Women Leave
IT
Women's share of the IT workforce fell from 41% to 35%
between 1996 and 2002, and University of Arkansas professor
Deb Armstrong says this decline is gaining traction. This
trend could seriously impair employers facing a scarcity of
technical workers, and also hurt the career ...
[read more]
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Next Big Step for the
Web--or a Detour?
Enterprise applications for the Semantic Web is the theme
of this week's Semantic Technology Conference, where advocates
will address doubts that World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
director Tim Berners-Lee's vision of a next-generation
Internet is practical, much less achievable. Among the ...
[read more]
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World's Most Powerful
Computer Is Doubled in Size
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers report
that the 32,000-processor Blue Gene/L supercomputer--the
fastest machine on Earth, according to the Top500 ranking--has
increased its size by a factor of two, and its processing
power is expected to double as well. Lawrence Livermore ...
[read more]
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Revised Spyware Bill Moves
Ahead
An amended version of the Securely Protect Yourself Against
Cyber Trespass Act, or Spy Act, was unanimously passed by the
House Commerce Committee on March 9. The act is designed to
inhibit the hijacking of home pages or the capture of users'
keystrokes by purveyors of spyware and deny the ...
[read more]
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Europe Lacks Vision on
Innovation
Despite the recent breakthrough on limited software patents
among European Union industry ministers this week, the issue
of intellectual property protection is still confused in the
EU. The European Parliament will review the software patent
legislation and either approve, reject, or offer ...
[read more]
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Humanoids With
Attitude
Analysts call Japan a world leader in the application of
artificial intelligence to everyday life, a reputation that is
being cemented by the many sophisticated robots employed in
the country as security guards, receptionists, guides, pets,
and hospital workers, among other things. ...
[read more]
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Search Engines Build a
Better Mousetrap
Spurred by the success of Google, competing search engines
such as MSN Search and Ask Jeeves are rolling out new tools
that offer more intuitive search capabilities. Ask Jeeves'
"Smart Search" feature directly answers definitive queries in
addition to providing Web links, and this spring Ask ...
[read more]
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Computing
Success
UCLA's Department of Education and School of Engineering
and Applied Science and the Los Angeles Unified School
District (LAUSD) are engaged in a collaborative program to
boost the percentage of female and underrepresented minority
students taking Advanced Placement (AP) computer ...
[read more]
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Open-Source Leader
Highlights Technologies for Developers to
Watch
Open source advocate and Spring application framework
founder Rod Johnson said the J2EE platform has gained strength
over the last two years and encouraged Java developers to use
framework-oriented development at TheServerSide Java Symposium
in Las Vegas. Johnson criticized J2EE at ...
[read more]
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H-1Bs Now Open to the
Less-Educated?
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) has
come under fire for its interpretation of a new law exempting
foreigners with advanced degrees from an H-1B visa cap. The
agency says it could broaden the category for 20,000
exemptions by including all qualified foreigners, not ...
[read more]
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Hackers Target U.S. Power
Grid
The electric industry claims it is getting serious about
cybersecurity, but government officials, including Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Patrick Wood, are
skeptical of the industry's efforts, claiming that terrorists
or hackers could cause serious damage to power plants and ...
[read more]
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New System Enhances Images
in Crime Investigation
Software originally developed by MacDonald, Dettwiler &
Associates (MDA) to help Mars rovers get around obstacles has
been refined into a prototype system that can convert a few
seconds of video from a handheld stereo camera into a 3D model
of a location, which is being tested by Canadian and ...
[read more]
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Novel, Computer-Assisted
Method for Colorization
Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Benin
School of Computer Science and Engineering have developed an
effective tool for adding color to black and white images and
movies. Dani Lischinski, Yair Weiss, and graduate student Anat
Levin have developed new software ...
[read more]
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TCP/IP Pioneer's Past Is
Prologue
Packet Design and Precision I/O chief scientist Van
Jacobson, creator of the TCP Protocol for Header Compression
and a recipient of ACM's SIGCOMM Award in 2001, recalls that
his interest in networked control began in the mid 1970s when
he faced the challenge of finding a way to minimize the ...
[read more]
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Eclipse Chief Talks Up
Projects, Awaits Sun and Microsoft
In an interview with InfoWorld Editor at Large Paul Krill,
Eclipse Foundation executive director Mike Milinkovich
attributes the enormous popularity of Eclipse open-source
software to its excellent architecture, and notes that the
enterprise IT space is a major user of Eclipse tools. ...
[read more]
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A Head in the Clouds or
Hopes on Solid Ground?
In his keynote address at the SpeechTEK 2004 conference,
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) director Tim Berners-Lee
discusses the general state of speech technology, the
standards it is based on, and their relationship to the Web.
"What's difficult for all the people out there who are
wondering ...
[read more]
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Toward Interoperable First
Response
Interoperable wireless communications among U.S.
public-safety organizations is a necessity all too clearly
demonstrated by tragedies such as the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist
attacks. Integrating the many federal and non-federal
first-responder services in the United States requires a ...
[read more]
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