ACM TechNews - Monday, July 30, 2001

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ACM TechNews
Volume 3, Number 233
Date: July 30, 2001
Site Sponsored by Gateway (http://www.gateway.com)

Top Stories for Monday, July 30, 2001:
http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html

"Tech 'Upgrade Fatigue'"
"Tech Firms Fund Open-Source Lab For $24 Million"
"For Now, Rivals See Microsoft as Savior"
"Investor Drought Dries Up Innovation"
"Not Every Tech Firm Is Laying Off--And Some Are Even Hiring"
"Patents"
"With Enemies Like This, Who Needs Friends?"
"From the Trenches: Moore's Law Now Twice as Good"
"Intel Backs Away From RDRAM"
"Reconsidering the Privacy of Office Computers"
"Home Computer Taking on New Meaning"
"Dot-Info: The Race Is On"
"F.B.I. Use of New Technology to Gather Evidence Challenged"
"Ideo Gives Technology a Human Touch"
"IT on Tap"
"Revenge of the Downsized Nerds"
"The Historic Battle of 1394"
"Contractor Fees Drying Up"
"How to Build a Hypercomputer"

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

"Tech 'Upgrade Fatigue'"
Broadband technology, despite winning the business market and
making significant inroads into American homes, has not been the
catalyst to tech spending companies had hoped for.  International
Data says consumer tech spending this year is corresponding with  ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0730m.html#item1

"Tech Firms Fund Open-Source Lab For $24 Million"
Nineteen American and Japanese tech companies--including IBM,
Hewlett-Packard, and Fujitsu--have invested $24 million in the
Open Source Development Lab (OSDL), a nonprofit organization for
the development of Linux software.  Lab director Tim Witham says ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0730m.html#item2

"For Now, Rivals See Microsoft as Savior"
PC manufacturers, software makers, and other tech firms are
relying on Microsoft's Windows XP to boost product sales.
Critics say Windows XP unfairly monopolizes the market; however,
the same firms have been anticipating the product launch for ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0730m.html#item3

"Investor Drought Dries Up Innovation"
The rate of technological innovation in the United States appears
to have dropped off, according to forecasts.  Venture capitalists
(VCs) are investing less money in startups, which are often
hotbeds of innovation.  Last year, VCs invested $103 billion in ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0730m.html#item4

"Not Every Tech Firm Is Laying Off--And Some Are Even Hiring"
Some tech companies in Silicon Valley have avoided laying off
employees despite falling sales figures and pressure to produce
profits.  Sun Microsystems, for example, has retained nearly the
same amount of employees from the third to fourth quarters even ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0730m.html#item5

"Patents"
Many patents concerning widespread business practices have been
secured in the past year, engendering debate over the legitimacy
of such claims.  Alexander Tuzhilin, a information systems
professor at New York University, for example, has won a patent ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0730m.html#item6

"With Enemies Like This, Who Needs Friends?"
Wall Street Journal columnist Karen Swisher observes that America
Online should invest in friendly partnerships, especially as its
battle with Microsoft heats up over issues such as the deployment
of e-commerce and user authentication and identification ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0730m.html#item7

"From the Trenches: Moore's Law Now Twice as Good"
Chipmakers are expected to transition to 0.13-micron
manufacturing by the end of this year, a process that will open
up the amount of space available on which to install transistors.
Chips fashioned from the new process should have around 100 ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0730m.html#item8

"Intel Backs Away From RDRAM"
Intel will phase out a program intended to facilitate the
adoption of RDRAM high-speed memory chips from the firm Rambus.
The program, which began in November 2000, provided subsidies to
PC makers that purchased RDRAM memory along with Intel's Pentium ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0730m.html#item9

"Reconsidering the Privacy of Office Computers"
Federal District Court Judge James M. Rosenbaum has written an
important essay challenging the assumption that employees' use of
company's computers is inherently the company's concern.  As the
use of the Internet increases in the workplace, monitoring of ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0730m.html#item10

"Home Computer Taking on New Meaning"
IBM is developing the next generation of home
computers--networked devices embedded in every conceivable
function in the house.  In IBM's Pervasive Computing Division
labs, engineers are outfitting refrigerators with computer ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0730m.html#item11

"Dot-Info: The Race Is On"
Anyone with a trademark will be able to register .info domain
names between July 25 and Aug. 27.  However, those who are
interested need to act quickly because whoever files over the
next week will have the first chance to make a legal claim to a ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0730m.html#item12

"F.B.I. Use of New Technology to Gather Evidence Challenged"
A federal judge in Newark, N.J., today will hear motions by
defense attorneys for Nicodemo Scarfo Jr., who is charged with
running gambling and loan-sharking operations for the Gambino
crime syndicate, to throw out evidence garnered by the FBI using ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0730m.html#item13

"Ideo Gives Technology a Human Touch"
Silicon Valley design firm Ideo, responsible for such design
innovations as the Palm V and Oral-B Squish Grip toothbrush,
humanizes its products, services, and technology.  The company
seeks input from far-ranging disciplines, including cultural ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0730m.html#item14

"IT on Tap"
Many companies carry far greater server capacity than they
actually need, operating an inefficient system today to guard
against a sudden increase in demand on their units tomorrow.
Now, however, several major server vendors are offering systems ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0730m.html#item15

"Revenge of the Downsized Nerds"
Computer sabotage by former workers is becoming a serious concern
for companies.  Internet Trading Technologies CEO Craig Goldberg
considers computer-related run-ins with laid-off dot-comers and
other tech workers out for revenge to be a major threat.  FBI ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0730m.html#item16

"The Historic Battle of 1394"
The USB and IEEE 1394 standards are battling to control the
digital home of the future, which will feature an in-house data
network.  "The question is whether the devices that you attach to
are going to report to a PC...or whether you will be able to ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0730m.html#item17

"Contractor Fees Drying Up"
Hourly fees of independent IT contractors fell 10 percent to 20
percent over the first half of 2001, according to a survey
conducted by ComputerJobs.com.  IT contractors have to be more
flexible in order to get more work, says contractor Tom Raef.  ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0730m.html#item18

"How to Build a Hypercomputer"
Future breakthroughs in medicine, defense, bioscience, and other
critical fields will depend on the creation of supercomputers
that operate at least 1,000 times faster than current models.
These hypercomputers must also be more energy-efficient and ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0730m.html#item19


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