Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the January 13, 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 445 Date: January 13, 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, January 13, 2003: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "At Big Consumer Electronics Show, the Buzz Is All About Connections" "Telecom Is Betting Big on 2 Tech Advances" "Spam? No Thanks, We're Full" "Mega-Data Stored in Mini-Spaces" "Digital Experts Swap Talk" "Can the URL Be Improved?" "Report: Internet Security Threats Will Get Worse" "Dollars, Sense and the Cyber Security Act" "Expert: Alleged Wi-Fi Risks Are Nonsense" "Redefining the PC" "Handhelds Go Multimedia" "'Malaysian' Virus-Writer Vows Global Outbreak if US Attacks Iraq" "Browsers Go Back to the Future" "White House Tech Officials Race to Build Security System" "'Gadget Printer' Promises Industrial Revolution" "Grid-dy Determination" "A Tech Rebirth?" "Immobots Take Control" ******************* News Stories *********************** "At Big Consumer Electronics Show, the Buzz Is All About Connections" An array of technologies showcased at last week's Consumer Electronics Association trade show focused on products that can connect digital devices so that music, photographs, video, and other digital content can be omnipresent. Vying for attention on ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0113m.html#item1 "Telecom Is Betting Big on 2 Tech Advances" The telecommunications industry is evolving to better service customers using Internet technologies. The convergence of the wireless Internet and voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) means people in the future will have much more services available than ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0113m.html#item2 "Spam? No Thanks, We're Full" Increasing numbers of people going online is triggering astronomical growth in unwanted commercial email, to the point that spam will overwhelm regular email sent to corporate addresses by July, according to a MessageLabs report. Jupiter ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0113m.html#item3 "Mega-Data Stored in Mini-Spaces" IBM is developing new technology that allows smaller devices to store much more data. Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, a collaborative Hitachi-IBM venture, plans to debut a new version of the Microdrive that can store more than 4 GB on quarter-sized ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0113m.html#item4 "Digital Experts Swap Talk" Notable speakers at last week's Consumer Electronics tradeshow said the debate over digital content ownership and limitations on its download and distribution over the Internet is unlikely to be settled in 2003. StreamCast Networks CEO Steve Griffin, whose ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0113m.html#item5 "Can the URL Be Improved?" The Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) has formed a committee to create a means for data and Web services to be located online without a URL. The OASIS XRI Technical Committee plans to develop an OASIS ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0113m.html#item6 "Report: Internet Security Threats Will Get Worse" Internet security problems will worsen in the new year, with the biggest threats coming from new mass-mailing worms and rising hactivism, according to a recent study by Internet Security Systems (ISS). More incidents targeting consumer broadband and ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0113m.html#item7 "Dollars, Sense and the Cyber Security Act" The Cyber Security Research and Development Act (CSRDA) approved by both Congress and President Bush last year earmarks almost $1 billion for research and education, but Eugene Spafford of Purdue University's Center for Education and Research in ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0113m.html#item8 "Expert: Alleged Wi-Fi Risks Are Nonsense" Cory Doctorow, Electronic Frontier Foundation outreach coordinator and co-author of the popular blog Boing Boing, says fears surrounding open Wi-Fi connections are largely unfounded. Many people associate open Wi-Fi connections with spammers, ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0113m.html#item9 "Redefining the PC" Former Xerox Palo Alto Research Center researcher Gary Starkweather, now at Microsoft, is convinced that an information display revolution is on the horizon, and he wants to help usher in that revolution with a computer featuring an enlarged and ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0113m.html#item10 "Handhelds Go Multimedia" Mobile computing and cell phone functions are already merging, with each device-type taking on some of the features previously reserved for the other. Such cross-functional devices include the Treo, any Pocket PC-operated phone, the Nokia 3650, or ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0113m.html#item11 "'Malaysian' Virus-Writer Vows Global Outbreak if US Attacks Iraq" Virus writer Vladimor Chamlkovic has threatened to unleash a "megavirus" if the United States attacks Iraq. Experts, however, say they consider him a low threat due to his weak track record in creating viruses. Experts are also skeptical of his Malaysian ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0113m.html#item12 "Browsers Go Back to the Future" Researchers at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand have altered the functionality of the Internet back button, which accounts for 40 percent of all online clicks. The current back button logs only index pages, while the new version records every ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0113m.html#item13 "White House Tech Officials Race to Build Security System" Technology planners in the Bush administration are working fast to integrate systems for the new Department of Homeland Security. White House Office of Homeland Security director of information infrastructure Lee Holcomb said IT administrators had to navigate ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0113m.html#item14 "'Gadget Printer' Promises Industrial Revolution" Industrial assembly lines could become a thing of the past thanks to ink-jet printing technology that prints completely assembled electric and electronic equipment. Such technology is the goal of a research project at the University of California in ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0113m.html#item15 "Grid-dy Determination" Grid computing systems are computers or clusters of computers linked via job scheduling or management software in order to enable the sharing, selection, and aggregation of computing resources. The advantages of the grid computing model include ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0113m.html#item16 "A Tech Rebirth?" Skyrocketing data consumption is boosting demand for storage technologies from both consumers and businesses, and the falling costs of those technologies will drive up demand even further. A survey of 700 analysts by International Data (IDC) finds that IT ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0113m.html#item17 "Immobots Take Control" Immobile robots, or "immobots," use model-based reasoning to obtain a clear picture of their internal operations and the interaction of their myriad components so that they can reconfigure themselves for optimal performance and avoidance of ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0113m.html#item18 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Friday's issue, please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0110f.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 ---- ACM TechNews is sponsored by Hewlett Packard Company.