Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the November 5, 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 567 Date: November 5, 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, November 5, 2003: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "FCC Approves First Digital Anti-Piracy Measure" "Intel to Report a Breakthrough in Chip Design" "Technology Gets in Its Own Way" "'DDoS' Attacks Still Pose Threat to Internet" "Building a Crash-Test Internet" "Burgeoning Russia IT Blasts Government Policies" "The Computer Mouse Trajectory" "Charity Challenges Programmers to Code for Society" "Computer-Enabled Democracy?" "Smart Software Helps Robots Dodge Collisions" "IBM, Corning Look Into Supercomputer Optics" "Adding Style to Substance" "An Unsanctioned Whois Database" "MIT Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation Celebrates One Year Anniversary of Promoting Innovation and Entrepreneurship" "Time for UN Intervention?" "The Animation Game" "It Only Looks Like Child's Play" "Labor Pains" ******************* News Stories *********************** "FCC Approves First Digital Anti-Piracy Measure" The entertainment industry scored a victory with the FCC's Nov. 4 approval of technological safeguards to be built into some personal computers and consumer electronic devices designed to prevent digital content from being pirated and replayed over the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1105w.html#item1 "Intel to Report a Breakthrough in Chip Design" Intel says it has found new chip materials that will help solve the problem of excessive current leakage as chip features get smaller and could lead to computers with hundreds of times the calculating power of today's machines. Intel says it has ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1105w.html#item2 "Technology Gets in Its Own Way" A hodgepodge of wireless gadgets that emit radio signals can give rise to inconvenient and potentially dangerous interference, also known as signal leakage. This phenomenon is responsible for mundane incidents such as the appearance of static on a TV screen ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1105w.html#item3 "'DDoS' Attacks Still Pose Threat to Internet" The successful repulsion of last October's distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on the Internet's 13 root servers has done nothing to assuage concerns that another siege could cause even more damage, despite experts' attempts to shore up Net ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1105w.html#item4 "Building a Crash-Test Internet" A team of researchers at UCLA and the University of California at Berkeley expects to determine the effects of wide-scale coordinated cyberattacks on the Internet and how such assaults could be repelled by building an Internet simulation they will ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1105w.html#item5 "Burgeoning Russia IT Blasts Government Policies" The Russian government's investment to develop the nation's IT industry, especially when it comes to landing lucrative offshore outsourcing contracts, has fallen woefully short of initiatives undertaken by India and China, bemoan Russian corporate leaders. ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1105w.html#item6 "The Computer Mouse Trajectory" The computer mouse is aging and is long overdue for replacement, according to some involved in the desktop industry. Analyst Rob Enderle says it is now the eve of the mechanical mouse, and he predicts optical and wireless mouse formats will become standard ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1105w.html#item7 "Charity Challenges Programmers to Code for Society" The nonprofit mySociety.org recently launched an initiative to fund low-cost, socially beneficial IT projects that operate over electronic networks. The organization has encouraged the online submission of proposals for the first two projects, and ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1105w.html#item8 "Computer-Enabled Democracy?" Futurist Jason Tester is floating radical ideas about how democracy can incorporate technology: A self-proclaimed "interaction designer" and graduate of the Interaction Design Institute in Italy, Tester says his aim is to spur public ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1105w.html#item9 "Smart Software Helps Robots Dodge Collisions" French researcher Thierry Fraichard and Japanese scientist Hajime Asama have developed smart software designed to help robots evade collisions by calculating an exclusion zone based on their movements and the movements of surrounding objects. The ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1105w.html#item10 "IBM, Corning Look Into Supercomputer Optics" A Nov. 4 announcement from IBM is expected to cover a $20 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy for IBM and Corning to jointly develop high-speed, optically switched interconnects for next-generation supercomputers as a replacement technology for ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1105w.html#item11 "Adding Style to Substance" Technology companies are designing more aesthetically pleasing products to satisfy consumer demand and differentiate their wares from those of competitors. "As the rate of technological change levels off, design becomes even more important," remarks Ideo CEO ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1105w.html#item12 "An Unsanctioned Whois Database" Karl Auerbach critiques a proposal that Mark Jeftovic of easyDNS Technologies placed on the ICANN GNSO registrars' mailing list concerning control and publication of domain contact data. Jeftovic proposes the placement of control and actual publication ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1105w.html#item13 "MIT Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation Celebrates One Year Anniversary of Promoting Innovation and Entrepreneurship" Nearly one year after its launch, the MIT Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation announced its largest grant round to date on Oct. 27, approving proof-of-concept funding for 13 out of 45 proposed projects for a total of $1.3 million. Grant ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1105w.html#item14 "Time for UN Intervention?" ICANN, which recently held public board meetings in Tunisia, is confronting difficult issues of change due to shifts in the Internet sector in the five years since ICANN's establishment. These changes include the crumbling of the domain name selling ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1105w.html#item15 "The Animation Game" Machinima is a term used to describe computer-animated movies that take place in video game environments, an art form that is gaining in popularity despite its limitations. Machinimists take advantage of games such as Doom and Quake, whose code is released ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1105w.html#item16 "It Only Looks Like Child's Play" MIT researcher Hiroshi Ishii has long explored alternate ways for people to view and manipulate data that offer more flexibility and simplicity than keyboards, monitors, and mice. The "tangible" interfaces Ishii's team has developed, which ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1105w.html#item17 "Labor Pains" The total U.S. IT workforce declined from 10.4 million workers in 2000 to 9.9 million workers in 2002, according to a recent survey; the outlook for IT employment is grim, as more and more mundane programming and business processes are outsourced to ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1105w.html#item18 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Monday's issue, please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1103m.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