ACM TechNews - Wednesday, April 17, 2002

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ACM TechNews
Volume 4, Number 337
Date: April 17, 2002

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Top Stories for Wednesday, April 17, 2002:
http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html

"Tech Visionaries Push the Semantic Web"
"Perplexing Argentine Hack Law"
"Bill to Revive Political Battle Over Net Privacy"
"Privacy Worries, Net Activism Top Privacy Show Agenda"
"In the Digital Age, 'All Thumbs' Is Term Of Highest Praise"
"Cooking With Leftovers"
"Tech Recession Worst in Silicon Valley's History"
"Quantum Computer Data Readable, Even as Cooper Pair"
"Software Industry Touts Value of Web Services at Annual Trade Show"
"Dismal Numbers Still Leave Room for Optimism"
"Microtechnology Road Maps Point in Different Directions"
"More Power in a Shrinking World"
"'Woz' Goes Back to Work"
"Federal Judge Puts Off Ruling in E-Book Case--Update"
"A Deal Against Digital Piracy"
"Making Sense of Mobile Data"
"Guessing Secrets"
"EGov Challenges Tech"
"The Island of the Wireless Guerrillas"

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

"Tech Visionaries Push the Semantic Web"
The Semantic Web will be the focus of discussion at a Stanford
University forum sponsored by the nonprofit MIT-Stanford Venture
Laboratory.  The goal of the Semantic Web, as envisioned by
Internet pioneer Tim Berners-Lee, is to give computer programs ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0417w.html#item1

"Perplexing Argentine Hack Law"
Argentine federal judge Sergio Torres' ruling that Web site
defacement is not prosecutable because it does not harm material
objects does not give the country's hackers license to commit
cybercrimes, according to sources close to the matter.  However, ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0417w.html#item2

"Bill to Revive Political Battle Over Net Privacy"
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Sen. Ernest F. Hollings
(D-S.C.) could introduce his Online Personal Privacy Act as early
as Thursday, while privacy boosters and business groups are
gearing up to square off over the legislation.  The importance of ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0417w.html#item3

"Privacy Worries, Net Activism Top Privacy Show Agenda"
The Computers, Freedom, and Privacy (CFP) 2002 conference
sponsored by ACM and underway in San Francisco will host
debates on the changes in online privacy since Sept. 11 as
well as the limits of online activism.  There is concern that ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0417w.html#item4

"In the Digital Age, 'All Thumbs' Is Term Of Highest Praise"
Using one's thumbs in certain capacities is becoming vogue among
teenagers, young adults, and businesspeople thanks to handheld
devices with miniaturized keyboards.  British culture and
technology researcher Sadie Plant notes in a cross-cultural study ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0417w.html#item5

"Cooking With Leftovers"
IT vendors selling to corporations are adjusting their rhetoric
and offerings to meet new buying strategies; namely, making more
of less, writes Louise Kehoe, who says an information technology
depression has forced tech vendors to back off promoting the ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0417w.html#item6

"Tech Recession Worst in Silicon Valley's History"
The San Jose Mercury News annual survey of the top 150 public
companies in Silicon Valley shows that they lost a collective
$89.8 billion during the last year, a figure that is larger than
the companies' total profits for the last eight years.  Revenue ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0417w.html#item7

"Quantum Computer Data Readable, Even as Cooper Pair"
Swedish researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have
proven that superconductor quantum computer readouts can be
produced even though only two present or absent electrons, better
known as a Cooper pair, comprise the signal.  Reading the data ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0417w.html#item8

"Software Industry Touts Value of Web Services at Annual Trade Show"
Web services were highlighted at the annual Software &
Information Industry Association conference for their value in
facilitating application integration, which Borland Software's
Ted Shelton described as the first phase of adoption.  In the ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0417w.html#item9

"Dismal Numbers Still Leave Room for Optimism"
Despite the bleak estimates of the Silicon Valley 150 report,
SiliconValley.com columnist Dan Gillmor is positive that
technological development and the creation of wealth in the Bay
Area will continue to grow.  He notes that the incorporation of ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0417w.html#item10

"Microtechnology Road Maps Point in Different Directions"
About 350 companies developing microelectromechanical systems
(MEMS) gathered this week at the Hannover Fair 2002 in Germany to
discuss the direction of the industry.  Although experts
generally agree that MEMS are poised to make a big impact on all ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0417w.html#item11

"More Power in a Shrinking World"
Chip producers invest billions of dollars annually toward finding
ways to miniaturize microprocessors so they can keep pace with
and eventually surpass Moore's Law.  Research and development
falls into generally three fields of focus:  New chip building ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0417w.html#item12

"'Woz' Goes Back to Work"
Apple Computer inventor Steve Wozniak recently announced that he
is starting a new company and will create wireless products
appealing to the average consumer.  The devices will use global
positioning system technology and antennas, and be affordable.  ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0417w.html#item13

"Federal Judge Puts Off Ruling in E-Book Case--Update"
U.S. District Court Judge Ronald M. Whyte was expected to issue a
ruling on several motions to dismiss a government case against
the Russian software company Elcomsoft, but instead postponed the
hearing until May 6.  Elcomsoft has been charged with violating ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0417w.html#item14

"A Deal Against Digital Piracy"
Fox and Universal studios, along with satellite TV providers
DirecTV and EchoStar and electronic makers Hitachi, Matsushita,
Philips, Sony, Thomson, and Toshiba, have reached a tentative
agreement concerning anti-piracy efforts for high-definition ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0417w.html#item15

"Making Sense of Mobile Data"
Despite the steady advance of mobile data applications, a number
of barriers are preventing widespread adoption of the
next-generation network services now being rolled out by U.S.
mobile carriers.  Although mobile enterprise employees like ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0417w.html#item16

"Guessing Secrets"
Akamai Technologies boasts a computer network that can resolve
Internet traffic jams by using mathematical models to manage and
redistribute information, and there are several research efforts
to boost its performance by analyzing the rules of Internet ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0417w.html#item17

"EGov Challenges Tech"
The federal government is pursuing an enormous task in making all
relevant resources available electronically to citizens.
However, the ultimate goal of electronic government will prove to
be problematic for the federal government if technology companies ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0417w.html#item18

"The Island of the Wireless Guerrillas"
Technology enthusiasts are out to prove that broadband access is
a reachable and affordable goal by setting up wireless networks
using the 802.11 standard, both in the United States and
overseas.  Some are entrepreneurs, while others do it for ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0417w.html#item19


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