ACM TechNews - Monday, May 21, 2001

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ACM TechNews
Volume 3, Number 205
Date: May 21, 2001
Site Sponsored by Gateway (http://www.gateway.com)

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

"Software Piracy up Last Year, Reversing Trend, Report Says"
"UCITA Opponents Slow Software Licensing Law's Progress"
"New Economy"
"Software Firms Become More Choosy in Hiring"
"Microsoft Rivals Turn Up Political Heat"
"IBM Tells of Data Storage Gain"
"New Group Formed for Unofficial Internet TLD Owners"
"Professor's Battle Exposes Abysmal Copyright Law"
"Welcome Back to the Real World"
"Patents: The Internet as Alarm Clock?"
"Australia to Toughen Computer Crime Laws"
"Brainy Panes"
"Research in Motion Wins Patent on Directing Wireless E-Mail"
"Accessibility Law Creates Confusion"
"Five Technologies You Need to Know"
"Handhelds Nudge PCs"
"Getting to the Root of the Problem"
"Next-Generation Viruses Present New Challenges"
"Visual Basic on the Decline?"

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

"Software Piracy up Last Year, Reversing Trend, Report Says"
An annual study on illegally copied software by the advocacy
group Business Software Alliance found an increase in piracy
after a five-year lull.  The worst offenders were Eastern Europe,
where 63 percent of all software was bootlegged, and the . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0521m.html#item1

"UCITA Opponents Slow Software Licensing Law's Progress"
Those for and against the Uniform Computer Information
Transactions Act (UCITA) are ready for a prolonged fight over the
legislation, which would give software vendors a greater scope
over contract stipulations.  Specifically, UCITA would let . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0521m.html#item2

"New Economy"
The Commerce Department's approval of the revised contract
between VeriSign and ICANN is just the most recent step in an
ongoing process that continues to generate questions about
whether the domain name market is actually open to competition . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0521m.html#item3

"Software Firms Become More Choosy in Hiring"
Hiring has slowed at many tech firms, with few now offering the
high salaries and perks that were a hallmark of the dot-com boom.
Those looking for work in the tech sector will now find increased
competition, with employers able to choose from among many . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0521m.html#item4

"Microsoft Rivals Turn Up Political Heat"
ProComp, a coalition of Microsoft rivals, is accusing the
software giant of using its new, Web-based .Net initiative to
dominate the Internet in the same manner as it has dominated the
desktop software market.  As it already owns the leading . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0521m.html#item5

"IBM Tells of Data Storage Gain"
IBM has revealed a breakthrough in storage technology that could
soon lead to PCs with a storage capacity of 400 GB, compared to
the 40 GB capacity of today's high-end PCs.  The breakthrough is
a new magnetic coating, called "pixie dust," or . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0521m.html#item6

"New Group Formed for Unofficial Internet TLD Owners"
A number of alternative top level domain name operators have come
together to form the Top Level Domain Association (TLDA), a
nonprofit group that will work to keep the Internet from breaking
apart as new TLDs are introduced.  On May 16, TLDA announced that . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0521m.html#item7

"Professor's Battle Exposes Abysmal Copyright Law"
Princeton computer science professor Edward W. Felten has become
a champion for opponents of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
(DMCA), which the entertainment industry uses to combat piracy.
The DMCA prevents the public from creating technology to . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0521m.html#item8

"Welcome Back to the Real World"
Tech workers in the Washington, D.C., area are finding that they
need special skills in order to land new, better paying jobs.
Over 7,000 tech jobs in the region have been cut in the last five
months, according to the Washington Post.  Although these workers . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0521m.html#item9

"Patents: The Internet as Alarm Clock?"
Inventor Mary Smith Dewey of Dallas, Texas, has developed a
"smart" alarm device that relies on information from the Internet
to determine when to wake its user.  The device accesses
information from the Internet on weather and traffic according to . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0521m.html#item10

"Australia to Toughen Computer Crime Laws"
Australia has introduced a cybercrime bill that is similar in
scope to the Council of Europe's draft cybercrime treaty.  The
bill would update the country's laws to include cyberstalking,
computer viruses, denial-of-service and other hacking attacks, . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0521m.html#item11

"Brainy Panes"
New "smart glass" technology from Research Frontiers can change a
pane of glass from clear to dim in an instant, improving upon
existing glass darkening technology by lowering its cost and
boosting its response times.  Robert L. Saxe, founder of Research . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0521m.html#item12

"Research in Motion Wins Patent on Directing Wireless E-Mail"
Research in Motion announced yesterday it has been granted a
patent to protect technology designed for wireless email
transmissions.  Analysts believe the patent could require
companies like Palm and Nokia to license its technology.  RIM has . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0521m.html#item13

"Accessibility Law Creates Confusion"
Both government agencies and computer equipment vendors
anticipate a rash of lawsuits after Jun. 21, when a new IT
accessibility law takes effect.  Government agencies are
concerned about the amendment to Section 508 of the . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0521m.html#item14

"Five Technologies You Need to Know"
While futurists wonder in amazement about the prospects for the
gadgets of tomorrow, scientists are fast at work bringing their
ideas to reality.  Superfast microprocessors that are 100 times
faster than today's counterparts could be in stores by 2005 now
that physicists at California's Lawrence Livermore Lab are using . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0521m.html#item15

"Handhelds Nudge PCs"
Corporations are increasingly turning to handheld computers as a
way to boost the productivity of workers who lose time when they
are at desktop PCs.  For example, Carlson, the hotel operator
behind the Radisson and Country Inns & Suites chains, has given . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0521m.html#item16

"Getting to the Root of the Problem"
With corporate networks becoming more complicated by the day, IT
managers are increasingly aware of the necessity of having
automated network management systems.  However, Enterprise
Management Associates analyst Dennis Drogseth says most IT . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0521m.html#item17

"Next-Generation Viruses Present New Challenges"
Virus writers are busy churning out next-generation viruses for
next-generation technologies.  Today's viruses are better
constructed, which makes it more difficult to find them and fix
problems, and the Internet enables them to reach their . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0521m.html#item18

"Visual Basic on the Decline?"
The biannual North American Developer Survey from Evans Data
reveals that of programmers with multiple-language skill, the
number who know Microsoft Visual Basic has fallen from 62 percent
last March to 46 percent in March 2001.  "Visual Basic seems to . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0521m.html#item19


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