ACM TechNews - Wednesday, February 21, 2001

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ACM TechNews
Volume 3, Number 167
Date: February 21, 2001
Site Sponsored by Gateway (http://www.gateway.com)

Top Stories for Wednesday, February 21, 2001:
http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html

"E-Business to the Rescue of the Valley"
"Global Tech Spending Seen Rising"
"Intel to Slash Spending, Hiring to Cut Costs"
"The Key Vanishes: Scientist Outlines Unbreakable Code"
"Wired World Raises Security Concerns"
"Discrimination Lawsuits Stacking Up at Microsoft"
"US Urged to Hit 58 Nations For Piracy"
"Employers Fight Workplace Safety Law"
"Discarded Dreams of Dot-Com Rejects"
"Virus Writing Is Now Infectious"
"China Now Home to Over 22.5m Internet Users--Study"
"Time Is Running Out as the Euro Deadline Approaches"
"Web's Major Registrar Turns Phone Numbers Into Net Names"
"Registrars Meet to Discuss Hijacking of Domains"
"A Positive Spin on Problems"
"Prospects Appear Grim For PCs"
"IT's Golden Oldies Keep Businesses in Tune"
"Down on the Server Farm"
"Hauling Talent By the Truckload"

******************* News Stories ***********************

"E-Business to the Rescue of the Valley"
San Mateo, Calif., is the latest hub of technology activity in
the San Francisco region, gathering together a slew of e-business
software companies.  Siebel Systems and Oracle, two big
competitors in the e-business applications market, have provided . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0221w.html#item1

"Global Tech Spending Seen Rising"
A new report from Deutsche Bank concludes that IT spending around
the globe will grow between 5 percent and 10 percent this year.
Deutsche Bank based the report on a survey of 45 businesses in
the United States, Europe, and India.  Among the purchases . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0221w.html#item2

"Intel to Slash Spending, Hiring to Cut Costs"
Intel today announced a reduction in hiring and spending, a move
analysts say adds to the tech industry's dim outlook for 2001.
Needham & Scovel analyst Dan Scovel believes that the
announcement is "incrementally bad news for the overall sector.  . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0221w.html#item3

"The Key Vanishes: Scientist Outlines Unbreakable Code"
Encryption science has discovered the Holy Grail of secret
messaging: an unbreakable code with a disappearing key.  Dr.
Michael Rabin of Harvard says his technique uses a conventional
encrypted message from the sender to recipient that details the . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0221w.html#item4

"Wired World Raises Security Concerns"
A current California court case highlights the problems that many
companies and their former employees face in today's digital age.
Chipmaker Intel won an injunction to stop Ken Hamidi, a former
engineer with the company, from emailing current Intel employees. . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0221w.html#item5

"Discrimination Lawsuits Stacking Up at Microsoft"
Several employees filed suit against Microsoft last week,
alleging that the company has discriminated against
African-American workers.  A suit filed Thursday in Seattle by
famed attorney Johnnie Cochran will be heard simultaneously with . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0221w.html#item6

"US Urged to Hit 58 Nations For Piracy"
The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA), a
coalition of copyrighted-material industries, has filed a request
with the office of the U.S. Trade Representative to take
stringent action against 58 countries that are not enforcing . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0221w.html#item7

"Employers Fight Workplace Safety Law"
Many corporate executives and industry trade associations are
working to stop a new ergonomics standard issued by the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).  The
standard seeks to identify and prevent a series of common . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0221w.html#item8

"Discarded Dreams of Dot-Com Rejects"
As dot-com layoffs continue, recently unemployed workers are left
dazed and disbelieving.  San Francisco employment lawyer Mark
Rudy says there is a lot of anger over how people have been let
go once the initial shock has worn off.  For example, Marlinda . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0221w.html#item9

"Virus Writing Is Now Infectious"
Hackers and their nefarious programs are expected to be
increasingly active this year.  April Goosetree, who, as a
research manager for the antivirus company McAfee, monitors the
numbers of new viruses each month, says last year's numbers were . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0221w.html#item10

"China Now Home to Over 22.5m Internet Users--Study"
More than 22.5 million Internet users were in China at the end of
January 2001, according to a report by the China Internet Network
Information Center.  Line connections were leased by 3.64 million
Chinese, 15.43 million were dial-up users, and the rest utilized . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0221w.html#item11

"Time Is Running Out as the Euro Deadline Approaches"
As of December 31, 2001, companies operating within the European
Monetary Union must pay taxes and run payroll and other internal
financial systems in the new euro currency, which will begin
circulating in eurozone nations on January 1, 2002.  The problem, . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0221w.html#item12

"Web's Major Registrar Turns Phone Numbers Into Net Names"
VeriSign today initiated a beta version of its WebNum service,
thereby staking a claim in the wireless domain name market.
WebNum is intended to make it easier to locate Web sites using a
telephone keypad.  The idea is to offer a numeric string of . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0221w.html#item13

"Registrars Meet to Discuss Hijacking of Domains"
With 66 country domain registrars in attendance, WIPO's Geneva
conference began today.  During the conference, a range of issues
will be discussed, including abusive domain name registration and
policy issues pertaining to country code top level domain . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0221w.html#item14

"A Positive Spin on Problems"
Several companies are giving their help-desk workers a crash
course in help-desk etiquette.  Companies such as Washington,
D.C., utility Pepco believe that the lessons will teach the
help-desk workers to be more polite and to speak in less . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0221w.html#item15

"Prospects Appear Grim For PCs"
PC makers are searching fervently for the next big product, as
revenues from desktops systems dry up.  While other hardware
markets are still expanding, the PC market seems to have matured
and become saturated since its inception in the late 1970s.  . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0221w.html#item16

"IT's Golden Oldies Keep Businesses in Tune"
Since the late 1990s, the nonprofit group Green Thumb has offered
Got/IT, an IT-training program for older professionals.  The
Got/IT program provides courses in email, Web page design,
troubleshooting, Microsoft Word 2000, Excel, and PowerPoint, . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0221w.html#item17

"Down on the Server Farm"
Web hosting companies in Silicon Valley are looking to generate
their own energy or move out of California as a result of the
California energy crisis.  Web hosting companies run data
centers, also known as "server farms," which Jeff Monroe, the . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0221w.html#item18

"Hauling Talent By the Truckload"
Many companies have developed strategies for the rapid
recruitment of IT personnel needed to carry out e-business
projects.  San Francisco-based Toyota Motor Sales, for example,
managed to staff its new Office of the Web project in only one . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0221w.html#item19

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