Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the September 10, 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 543 Date: September 10, 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 Wednesday, September 10, 2003: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "Copyright Directive 'Could Be Europe's DMCA'" "Security Executive Stresses Trade-Offs" "New Chemistry Software Automatically Generates Computer Code" "The Future of Force-Feedback Technology" "Making a Video Screen Out of Thin Air" "In Computer Security, a Bigger Reason to Squirm" "IT Jobs That Belong Overseas" "Senator Questions RIAA Crusade" "Wi-Fi and 3G May Come Together" "Chic Gear to Suit Net Generation" "Brave New Skies" "Hard Drive Industry Gets More Respect" "Paper Trail Not Dead Yet" "Passwords Multiply as Users' Rage Rises" "Software Patents: A Clicking Bomb" "The Once and Future IT" "Is Small the Next Big Thing?" "Morphing the Mold" "What's Next for Technology Policy??" ******************* News Stories *********************** "Copyright Directive 'Could Be Europe's DMCA'" A Sept. 8 report from England's Foundation for Information Policy Research (FIPR) warns that the European Union Copyright Directive (EUCD), whose wording and goals are similar to the United States' Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), has the potential to ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0910w.html#item1 "Security Executive Stresses Trade-Offs" In his book, "Beyond Security," Counterpane Internet Security CTO Bruce Schneier emphasizes the need to deeply understand security and acknowledge the associated trade-offs. He implies that the U.S. frittered away the international good will that ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0910w.html#item2 "New Chemistry Software Automatically Generates Computer Code" The Tensor Contraction Engine (TCE) promises to relieve chemists, physicists, and materials scientists of a significant burden by automatically generating computer code needed to simulate the structure and interaction of intricate molecules; the tool could ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0910w.html#item3 "The Future of Force-Feedback Technology" The penetration of force-feedback, or haptics, technology into the mass market will require a significantly larger corporate/consumer marketing effort than the industry can support at its current size, but U.S. universities are making ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0910w.html#item4 "Making a Video Screen Out of Thin Air" Military training centers, product showrooms, and museums could be augmented with the advent of walk-through displays that generate video imagery without requiring a solid surface. The Tampere University of Technology's FogScreen, which was showcased ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0910w.html#item5 "In Computer Security, a Bigger Reason to Squirm" The recent SoBig.F worm outbreak indicates that computer systems are no more secure than they were three and a half years ago, when the I Love You worm ran rampant throughout the Internet. "The whole problem here is not just having antiviral products and ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0910w.html#item6 "IT Jobs That Belong Overseas" With offshore IT outsourcing having become a fact of life, experts such as Challenger, Gray & Christmas executive VP Rick Cobb and Deloitte & Touche's Maria Grant observe that some jobs are well suited for overseas migration while others are not. ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0910w.html#item7 "Senator Questions RIAA Crusade" Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said he agreed with many arguments presented by a Verizon lawyer during a committee hearing on Tuesday, especially that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) dangerously allows ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0910w.html#item8 "Wi-Fi and 3G May Come Together" New 802.11b Wi-Fi chips from Broadcom and Royal Philips Electronics signal a likely complementary convergence of Wi-Fi and 3G cellular technologies. Analysts previously forecast the two technologies would be used together in handheld devices once ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0910w.html#item9 "Chic Gear to Suit Net Generation" Designers are readying the next generation of wearable computing fashions, integrating fashion and electronics. Glasses with computer displays embedded in the lenses and Bluetooth headsets that allow people to use their cell phone hands-free are already ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0910w.html#item10 "Brave New Skies" The Transport Security Administration's (TSA) second-generation computer-assisted passenger prescreening system (CAPPS II) promises to protect air travelers from terrorists and reduce the scrutiny passengers face at airports, but critics charge that it ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0910w.html#item11 "Hard Drive Industry Gets More Respect" Hard disk drives have long taken a back seat to speedy processors, memory, and software, but both consumers and manufacturers of consumer electronics have developed a new respect for the technology, as evidenced by significantly ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0910w.html#item12 "Paper Trail Not Dead Yet" Rochester Institute of Technology professor Frank J. Romano told Seybold conference attendees on Sept. 8 that although today's office is not paperless, contrary to what outfits such as Wang Labs predicted long ago, there is a noticeable decline in the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0910w.html#item13 "Passwords Multiply as Users' Rage Rises" As more online services and digital products require passwords for security, users are beginning to balk. Password policies often stipulate the complexity of a password--a minimum number of characters interspersed with numbers and special symbols, and no ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0910w.html#item14 "Software Patents: A Clicking Bomb" Controversy is brewing in Europe over a proposed pan-European directive that covers the issue of software and Internet business methods patents. Supporters of such patents claim that they set up an incentive system that fosters innovation, while opponents ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0910w.html#item15 "The Once and Future IT" Autonomic software promises to significantly boost labor efficiency and save users money by automating and speeding up routine IT tasks such as remedial operations. Forrester Research analyst Laura Koetzle projects that average server utilization ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0910w.html#item16 "Is Small the Next Big Thing?" Tying a company or product to nanotechnology may raise its esteem, but the sensible approach for investors, government officials, and venture capitalists is to look beyond the hype and carefully study the technology's actual value. Current ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0910w.html#item17 "Morphing the Mold" The iterative concurrent development approach that has worked so well for Japanese auto makers can be extended to software development, in which design decisions are held back as long as possible in order to maximize the design's robustness and ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0910w.html#item18 "What's Next for Technology Policy??" Lewis Branscomb of Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government writes that the formulation of the U.S. Technology Policy suggested a clear understanding by the White House of the importance of commercially promising research into high-tech ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0910w.html#item19 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Monday's issue, please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0908m.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