ACM TechNews - Friday, January 4, 2002

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ACM TechNews
Volume 4, Number 295
Date: January 4, 2002

Top Stories for Friday, January 4, 2002:
http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html

"IDC: Modest IT Growth This Year"
"Plugging In"
"Bush Lifts Speeds Limits on Computer Exports"
"Opportunities in China Entice Overseas Chinese"
"Just Beyond Our Windows"
"Pakistan Pulls Plug on Valley Tech Office"
"W3C in Spat Over Web Patent"
"Toward More Cybersecurity in 2002"
"Killer Gap"
"Ubiquitous Computing Will Mean Multiple Devices"
"As Corporations' Profits Dwindled Through 2001,  IT Budgets
 Also Shrank"
"A Leg With a Mind of Its Own"
"Security Shopping Lists Made for the New Year"
"Industry Comment: The Necessary Demise of UCITA"
"Opportunity: Hot IT Jobs for 2002"
"Lawmakers See Need for Experts on Science, Technology"
"Off With the Lid"
"The Top Ten Trends in the Future of Security"
"May the Source Be With You"

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

"IDC: Modest IT Growth This Year"
A new report from International Data (IDC) forecasts a midyear
recovery for the technology sector.  IDC chief research officer
John Gantz says that this rebound will be partly fueled by rapid
growth and modernization in China, spurred by the country's entry ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0104f.html#item1

"Plugging In"
Web services promise to change the corporate IT paradigm,
allowing companies to realize what the Internet failed to bring.
By tagging information with common codes and mark-up languages
such as XML, SOAP, WSDL, and UDDI, companies using Web services ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0104f.html#item2

"Bush Lifts Speeds Limits on Computer Exports"
President Bush has eased restrictions on selling high-speed
computers to Tier 3 countries such as Pakistan, China, India, and
Vietnam.  U.S. technology firms can now export machines capable
of as many as 195,000 MTOPS (millions of theoretical operations ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0104f.html#item3

"Opportunities in China Entice Overseas Chinese"
Chinese tech workers educated and employed in the United States
are being lured back to their homeland in increasing numbers due
to the double impact of the weakened U.S. economy and China's
strong growth.  Government incentives in China include offers of ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0104f.html#item4

"Just Beyond Our Windows"
As computer data storage capacity increases, the once
state-of-the-art graphical user interface becomes more and more
cumbersome.  Researchers are therefore exploring the
possibilities of breaking through GUI limitations and developing ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0104f.html#item5

"Pakistan Pulls Plug on Valley Tech Office"
Pakistan's Silicon Valley IT office will close because
opportunities in that area had dried up by the time it officially
opened, according to the Pakistani government.  The Consulate
General's Office for Information Technology Development was ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0104f.html#item6

"W3C in Spat Over Web Patent"
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is questioning a Canadian
company's patent claim to the technology underlying the W3C's
Resource Description Framework (RDF).  UFIL Unified Data
Technologies says up to 45 companies may be currently infringing ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0104f.html#item7

"Toward More Cybersecurity in 2002"
New computer security threats in 2002 should elicit tougher
responses from industry, consumers, and the government.
Microsoft alone plays an important part in increasing computer
security, since 2001 saw numerous compromises to its products and ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0104f.html#item8

"Killer Gap"
Although few brand-new technologies on the horizon promise to
rejuvenate the technology sector entirely, 2002 will see many
existing technologies further refined.  Microsoft and the
alliance of competitors arrayed against it are set to hawk their ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0104f.html#item9

"Ubiquitous Computing Will Mean Multiple Devices"
Former Gartner VP Michael Gartenberg predicts that future
knowledge workers could carry up to three devices equipped with
ubiquitous computing technology.  He expects personal-area
networks will come to the fore, while IT departments will play a ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0104f.html#item10

"As Corporations' Profits Dwindled Through 2001,  IT Budgets
 Also Shrank"
IT spending shrank the most last year since 1975, according to
the Commerce Department, while 500,000 tech jobs were cut,
including 98,500 dot-com positions, according to Challenger, Gray
& Christmas.  Government figures show that, by October, IT ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0104f.html#item11

"A Leg With a Mind of Its Own"
Artificial leg manufacturers are using embedded computers to
allow patients to walk more naturally, as well as escape down
stairs, as was necessary for Port Authority worker Curtis
Grimsley on Sept. 11.  Using his C-Leg, made by German firm Otto ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0104f.html#item12

"Security Shopping Lists Made for the New Year"
Computer security analysts expect corporations to look inwards in
2002, focusing on physical and internal access issues rather than
protecting the perimeters of their networks.  Biometrics, smart
cards, USB tokens, and SSL cryptography will all be hot items ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0104f.html#item13

"Industry Comment: The Necessary Demise of UCITA"
The Uniform Computer Information Transaction Act (UCITA)
legislation is being pushed in a state-by-state campaign by an
alliance of software vendors, but, if passed by just a few
states, could drastically skew corporate software contracts.  For ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0104f.html#item14

"Opportunity: Hot IT Jobs for 2002"
Although the economy is in a downturn, some companies continue to
make IT hires as they pursue their e-business initiatives.
However, these companies are searching for certain skills that
may force IT professionals to obtain additional training.  ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0104f.html#item15

"Lawmakers See Need for Experts on Science, Technology"
Science-oriented members of Congress say now is a critical time
to bring back the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), which
was disassembled in 1995 under the Contract with America
legislation.  Issues ranging from cloning, anthrax investigation, ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0104f.html#item16

"Off With the Lid"
More Internet addresses will be needed for pervasive computing to
become a reality, and that is where Internet protocol version 6
(IPv6) comes in.  IPv6, or Next-Generation Internet protocol
(IPng), offers larger address space and plug-and-play using ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0104f.html#item17

"The Top Ten Trends in the Future of Security"
The San Francisco-based Institute for Global Futures recently
unveiled 10 trends to look for in future security technologies.
They include economic information warfare, bioattacks, and
agri-terrorism that will attempt to bring down economies and ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0104f.html#item18

"May the Source Be With You"
Although copyright laws protect software code, the result is the
stifling of creativity and innovation, writes Stanford Law School
professor and Electronic Frontier Foundation board member
Lawrence Lessig.  The copyright system that safeguards software ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0104f.html#item19

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