ACM TechNews - Friday, December 21, 2001

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ACM TechNews
Volume 3, Number 291
Date: December 21, 2001

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


"U.S. Mulls New Curbs on Computer Exports"
"Efforts to Transform Computers Reach Milestone"
"Buffer Overflows Computer Security"
"Companies Infringed on Xerox Patent, Judge Says"
"FBI Raids Cripple Software Pirates"
"Panel: Government Info Sharing Is Key to Fighting Terrorism"
"Russian Programmer Stands by Boss in DMCA Case"
"H-1B Workers Getting the Cold Shoulder in Weak Economy"
"Tiny Computers Stand Out from Scientific Works"
"Nanoresearchers' Little Helpers Come Equipped with Tiny Tool Belt"
"Destructive Reeezak Worm Wishes Happy New Year"
"Hackers Show Light in a New Art"
"Java Allies Brew Wireless Retort to MS"
"Report: IT/IS Spending Bottoms Out"
"Intelligent Space Suits on the Horizon"
"The Great Application Amalgamation"
"Overrated, Underrated"
"Networking the Infrastructure"
"Browsing the Mobile Internet"

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


"U.S. Mulls New Curbs on Computer Exports"
The Bush administration is reversing its stance on exports of
high-powered computers, supporting stricter controls and limiting
international partners selling similar systems.  Despite campaign
promises to erase export restrictions on the supercomputers, new . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1221f.html#item1


"Efforts to Transform Computers Reach Milestone"
Quantum computing experts at IBM succeeded in factoring the
number 15 by flipping the polarity of seven atoms.  The
breakthrough is proof of the quantum computing concept, which
would allow many millions of calculations to be performed . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1221f.html#item2


"Buffer Overflows Computer Security"
Even the new Microsoft XP, touted as the company's most secure
operating system ever, is prone to buffer overflow
vulnerabilities, as was demonstrated this week.  EEye Digital
Security consultants reported a vulnerability that could leave . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1221f.html#item3


"Companies Infringed on Xerox Patent, Judge Says"
Xerox has won a patent infringement case against Palm and 3Com,
which spun off Palm last year.  The ruling will allow Xerox to
seek damages for illegal use of its Unistrokes patent, which the
ruling said covered Palm and 3Com's Graffiti technology that . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1221f.html#item4


"FBI Raids Cripple Software Pirates"
A series of raids coordinated by the FBI, the U.S. Customs
Service, and the U.S. Department of Defense's Defense Criminal
Investigative Service have effectively hobbled the international
community of Internet software pirates.  The raids were conducted . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1221f.html#item5


"Panel: Government Info Sharing Is Key to Fighting Terrorism"
Information sharing among the different levels of government and
various intelligence and law-enforcement agencies is vital in
preventing future terrorist attacks, whether they be against
physical targets or computer networks, said panelists at e-Gov's . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1221f.html#item6


"Russian Programmer Stands by Boss in DMCA Case"
Russian programmer Dmitry Sklyarov, who was charged with
violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), insists
that he is loyal to his employer, ElcomSoft, which was also
indicted and is awaiting trial.  The charges against Sklyarov . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1221f.html#item7


"H-1B Workers Getting the Cold Shoulder in Weak Economy"
As the economy remains weak, there is discontent over the number
of H-1B visa holders who some say could be taking jobs that
should go to Americans.  The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says
that 147,000 IT workers were unemployed in October, nearly the . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1221f.html#item8


"Tiny Computers Stand Out from Scientific Works"
The journal Science has released a list of the year's most
notable scientific breakthroughs, and senior editor Phil Szuromi
gave special mention to the work done on nanocomputers.  These
minute devices could be used as monitors or drug delivery systems . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1221f.html#item9


"Nanoresearchers' Little Helpers Come Equipped with Tiny Tool Belt"
Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher Sylvain Martel
has created a nanoassembly system that uses small robots that
could fit in a small child's hand.  The NanoWalker robots would
come equipped with a range of tools necessary for nanoassembly, . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1221f.html#item10


"Destructive Reeezak Worm Wishes Happy New Year"
A malicious virus writer known as ZaCker, believed responsible
for the WTC Worm several months ago, has unleashed a new worm
delivered in an email message with "Happy New Year" in the
subject line.  The worm, known as Reeezak.A@mm, is hidden in an . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1221f.html#item11


"Hackers Show Light in a New Art"
Chaos Computer Club, a feisty hacker community in Berlin, has
made an unusual artistic statement at the city's Alexanderplatz.
They have set up a Web site that lets people compose fancy
patterns out of the windows of a large office building by . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1221f.html#item12


"Java Allies Brew Wireless Retort to MS"
A coalition of major software firms has signed on to a new Java
effort to keep Microsoft from controlling the confluence of
Internet servers and Internet-enabled mobile devices.  Nokia, the
world's largest cell phone maker, is leading the effort, which . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1221f.html#item13


"Report: IT/IS Spending Bottoms Out"
IT/IS spending reached its lowest point in the United States and
Europe in 2001 and will bounce back in 2002, predicts a study by
CyberAtlas Research.  Judging from the current situation, U.S.
and European IT/IS capital spending will increase by . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1221f.html#item14


"Intelligent Space Suits on the Horizon"
MIT researchers are working on a method to send astronauts data
as a visual display within the helmets of their space suits.
"What we're doing essentially is using the small amount of unused
space within the suit to build a body conformable computer and . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1221f.html#item15


"The Great Application Amalgamation"
Companies that built separate back-end systems for customer
relationship management, manufacturing, accounting, enterprise
resource planning (ERP), and marketing are realizing the
importance of integrating all these components if they are to . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1221f.html#item16


"Overrated, Underrated"
The year 2001 was a year of heavily promoted technologies and
business trends that flamed out because returns were not realized
as promised or implementation problems were downplayed;
conversely, many other technologies and skills that were . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1221f.html#item17


"Networking the Infrastructure"
The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have engineers, security
consultants, and authorities on counterterrorism rethinking ways
of securing American cities and infrastructure from further
attacks.  Such experts believe the key is to develop and deploy . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1221f.html#item18


"Browsing the Mobile Internet"
Microbrowser technology must advance along with wireless
networking and the growing demand for Web-enabled handhelds.
Some industry insiders say that NTT DoCoMo's i-mode is the most
popular microbrowser because it supports protocols other than . . .
<http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1221f.html#item19

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