Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the August 4, 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 528 Date: August 4, 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, August 4, 2003: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "Wonders Aplenty at ACM's SIGGRAPH" "The Age of Automation" "NCCUSL Pulls Support for Controversial UCITA Law" "More Calls to Vet Voting Machines" "End of the Road For SMTP?" "Supercomputing's New Idea Is Old One" "Senator: ICANN Crucial to 'Net Security" "Inventor Designs Sign Language Glove" "Six Degrees of Exploitation?" "Virtual Reality Conquers Sense of Taste" "Behind the Blockbusters--Special Effects Tool Locks Characters Onto Film" "Thought Leaders Gather to Direct the Reshaping of the Technology Workforce" "Software Vulnerabilities Fade But Never Disappear" "VR Accommodates Reality" "Print a Hologram? Almost, Xerox Says" "Databases Get an XML Infusion" "Computing: Quantum Bits and Silicon Chips" "The End of Handicaps" ******************* News Stories *********************** "Wonders Aplenty at ACM's SIGGRAPH" The Emerging Technologies exhibition at this year's SIGGRAPH is a showcase for 21 state-of-the-art innovations, including a walk-thru fog screen onto which images can be projected, various haptics technologies, and novel musical devices. These ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0804m.html#item1 "The Age of Automation" Automation is a running theme at the annual ACM SIGGRAPH conference, as researchers refocus their energies on developing machines that will take over routine tasks to relieve human beings of everyday burdens, a trend that Michael Kanellos terms "extroverted ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0804m.html#item2 "NCCUSL Pulls Support for Controversial UCITA Law" The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) has withdrawn its advocacy of the Uniform Computer Information Transaction Act (UCITA), attributing the reversal to rampant political resistance to the measure, which would ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0804m.html#item3 "More Calls to Vet Voting Machines" Computerized voting technology is coming under increased scrutiny from decision-makers following a Johns Hopkins University report. The study uncovered serious flaws in the source code of Diebold touch-screen voting machines, more than 40,000 of which are ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0804m.html#item4 "End of the Road For SMTP?" Internet experts are clamoring to change the email backbone protocol, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), or alter some of its aspects in order to stem the flow of spam. Spam volume is estimated to be as much as 50 percent of that of legitimate ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0804m.html#item5 "Supercomputing's New Idea Is Old One" The custom-designed vector supercomputer pioneered by the late Seymour Cray fell out of fashion in favor of machines built from low-cost, mass-produced microprocessors. But Tera founder Burton J. Smith, who acquired Cray Research three years ago, is reviving ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0804m.html#item6 "Senator: ICANN Crucial to 'Net Security" At the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Communications hearing concerning ICANN, the subcommittee's chairman Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) expressed the view that ICANN should increase its responsibility to the public. Burns indicated concern about the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0804m.html#item7 "Inventor Designs Sign Language Glove" George Washington University researcher Jose Hernandez-Rebollar's AcceleGlove is a system in which a glove outfitted with sensors and a wearable computer can convert American Sign Language (ASL) gestures into spoken words or text as an aid to the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0804m.html#item8 "Six Degrees of Exploitation?" Visible Path, Spoke Software, and ZeroDegrees are readying software that can analyze the email correspondence, electronic calendars, address books, and instant-message buddy lists of a company's employees to trace their relationships with outside ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0804m.html#item9 "Virtual Reality Conquers Sense of Taste" Researchers at the University of Tsukuba in Japan have developed a virtual reality device that is able to simulate the taste of food and the way food feels in the mouth. Researchers already have been able to simulate vision, hearing, touch, and smell, but ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0804m.html#item10 "Behind the Blockbusters--Special Effects Tool Locks Characters Onto Film" Computer graphics must be matched precisely with real objects in movie footage, or else the camera's different frame of reference for those objects will ruin the effect. Motion-tracking software called Fastrack from the National Science Foundation's Integrated ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0804m.html#item11 "Thought Leaders Gather to Direct the Reshaping of the Technology Workforce" The Anita Borg Celebration and Technology Summit will take place Sept. 9, 2003, at Stanford University. The event will serve as an opportunity for top executives, visionaries, and technologists to celebrate the life and vision of Borg, who died of brain ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0804m.html#item12 "Software Vulnerabilities Fade But Never Disappear" Qualys CTO Gerhard Eschelbeck presented his "Laws of Vulnerabilities" at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas, detailing various conclusions about the behavior and longevity of software flaws drawn from a study of 1.24 million ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0804m.html#item13 "VR Accommodates Reality" Flight simulators and other virtual reality systems incorporate concrete elements to give artificial environments a ring of authenticity, and University of North Carolina and Disney Corporation researchers have developed a system that mixes real ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0804m.html#item14 "Print a Hologram? Almost, Xerox Says" A new Xerox technology that takes advantage of a common glitch in the laser printing process could be used to certify hard copies of printed documents, much like holographic stickers are used to authenticate drivers licenses and credit cards. Xerox ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0804m.html#item15 "Databases Get an XML Infusion" Databases must store and manage XML documents now that XML is capable of depicting both document data and database data through the deployment of a hybrid SQL/XML relational database management system (RDBMS). OpenLink CEO Kingsley Idehen remarks that "human ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0804m.html#item16 "Computing: Quantum Bits and Silicon Chips" Bridging the gap between quantum and desktop computers is the goal of University College London materials scientist Marshall Stoneham, who has received 3.7 million pounds to flesh out a quantum device that calculates efficiently, functions at higher ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0804m.html#item17 "The End of Handicaps" In an address to the CSUN 18th Annual Conference on "Technology and Persons with Disabilities," futurist and National Medal of Technology recipient Ray Kurzweil presented his vision of the sweeping technological changes he expects to take place over the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0804m.html#item18 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Friday's issue, please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0801f.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