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ACM TechNews - Wednesday, July 17, 2002
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ACM TechNews
Volume 4, Number 374
Date: July 17, 2002
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Top Stories for Wednesday, July 17, 2002:
http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html
"Computer Security Standards Ready"
"Talks Weigh Big Project On Wireless Internet Link"
"House OKs Life Sentences for Hackers"
"Layoffs Shrink in Some Sectors"
"Race Bias Suits Are Few at Tech Firms"
"Undergrad Brain Drain Imperils U.S. Industry, Educators Say"
"New Specs Released for Wireless Speech, Text Delivery"
"Getting a Pixel Fix on the Enemy"
"It Slices! It Dices! Nanotube Struts Its Stuff"
"FCC News Isn't All Bad on Telecom"
"Marcelo Tosatti: The Future Is Linux"
"Holograms Grounded By Reality"
"Q&A: The Science Behind 'Friendly Fridges'"
"Robots Are Cute, But Can You Put Them to Work?"
"IT Training Funds Dry Up"
"Fortune Telling"
"Real-World Bluetooth Applications"
"Have Your Objects Call My Objects"
"Computer Games and Scientific Visualization"
******************* News Stories ***********************
"Computer Security Standards Ready"
Government agencies such as the Pentagon and the National
Institute of Standards and Technology have joined forces with
private-sector firms such as Intel, Visa, and Pacific Gas &
Electric to establish a set of anti-hacking guidelines, which are . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0717w.html#item1
"Talks Weigh Big Project On Wireless Internet Link"
Intel, IBM, AT&T Wireless, and several wireless carriers are
discussing the possibility of a nationwide 802.11, or WiFi,
network dubbed Project Rainbow. Intel's newly established
communications division is one of the most vociferous proponents . . .
<http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0717w.html#item2>
"House OKs Life Sentences for Hackers"
The House of Representatives approved by almost unanimous vote
the Cyber Security Enhancement Act (CSEA), under which computer
hackers can draw a life sentence for carrying out intrusions that
"recklessly" endanger the lives of others. Such a penalty is . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0717w.html#item3
"Layoffs Shrink in Some Sectors"
There has been a huge climb in staff cutbacks in the telecom
sector this year, while layoffs in other high-tech sectors have
fallen compared to last year, according to a new study from
Challenger, Gray & Christmas. CEO John Challenger says the . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0717w.html#item4
"Race Bias Suits Are Few at Tech Firms"
Despite suspicions of Silicon Valley companies exhibiting a
racial preference for Caucasian and Asian employees, the U.S.
Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC) has yet to find a
definitive test case in the three years since its investigation . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0717w.html#item5
"Undergrad Brain Drain Imperils U.S. Industry, Educators Say"
Educators say that if the United States does not increase the
number of engineering school graduates soon, it will lose out in
the global marketplace. In 2000, America brought in 90,000
foreign engineers and computer scientists, compared to the 65,000 . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0717w.html#item6
"New Specs Released for Wireless Speech, Text Delivery"
The SALT Forum announced today that it has released its first
specifications for Speech Application Language Tags (SALT) to an
undisclosed standards group. The specifications are designed to
promote the further development of text-to-speech capabilities . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0717w.html#item7
"Getting a Pixel Fix on the Enemy"
With backing from the Office of Naval Research, the University of
Minnesota's Guillermo Sapiro and Duke University's Andrea
Bertozzi have developed an algorithm that can restore corrupted
data of digital images and video. The Navy hopes this inpainting . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0717w.html#item8
"It Slices! It Dices! Nanotube Struts Its Stuff"
The ultra-thin, super-strong carbon nanotube is being touted as a
do-all material. Nanotubes are already being used to create
cheap displays: SI Diamond Technology exploits them to make
lighted billboards, while Samsung is applying the technology to . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0717w.html#item9
"FCC News Isn't All Bad on Telecom"
Recent rulings by the FCC that favor the phone industry's
monopolization and control of customers' information have left a
bad aftertaste, but there may be a glimmer of hope on the horizon
in terms of the commission's position on airwaves allocation, . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0717w.html#item10
"Marcelo Tosatti: The Future Is Linux"
Brazilian developer Marcelo Tosatti took over the maintenance of
the 2.4 Linux kernel, the current stable one, from renowned Linux
guru Alan Cox late last year. He says the biggest problems with
his Linux version are with virtual memory on high-end computers . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0717w.html#item11
"Holograms Grounded By Reality"
Three-dimensional light-generated images or holograms that float
in midair are not currently possible because of fundamental
scientific restrictions. "There's no law of physics that lets
light travel in space and come back in midair without striking an . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0717w.html#item12
"Q&A: The Science Behind 'Friendly Fridges'"
The psychological research behind the revolutionary artificial
intelligence system EMIR (Emotional Model for Intelligent
Response) enables scientists to imbue devices with emotions
similar to those exhibited by humans, such as "angry robots" or . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0717w.html#item13
"Robots Are Cute, But Can You Put Them to Work?"
Robots that can perform household duties are the focus of
research efforts of several Japanese companies. PaPeRo from
NEC's Central Research Laboratory can view its environment and
identify up to 10 people with CCD cameras, receive audio input . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0717w.html#item14
"IT Training Funds Dry Up"
A slowdown in corporate spending on IT training spurred by the
economic downturn has forced many professionals to pay for their
certification maintenance without reimbursement, but there are
other options. Workers can elect to invest in CD- and . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0717w.html#item15
"Fortune Telling"
Predictive intelligence applications are being used by many large
enterprises in numerous capacities: With it, sports teams can
anticipate player injuries, financial institutions can uncover
insider trading and money laundering, manufacturers can design . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0717w.html#item16
"Real-World Bluetooth Applications"
The Bluetooth wireless communication standard has many potential
applications, and the hundreds of companies that comprise its
Special Interest Group are developing new products that use the
standard. Japan's Murata Manufacturing and Kitano Symbiotic . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0717w.html#item17
"Have Your Objects Call My Objects"
Object-to-object communication via radio frequency identification
(RFID) chips, or smart tags, has the potential to radically
change businesses, vastly improving the tracking of inventory and
work in progress. Most companies already using RFID systems are . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0717w.html#item18
"Computer Games and Scientific Visualization"
Computer gaming technologies could prove very useful to
scientific visualization, but the game industry's emphasis on
rapid product development and the sacrifice of data accuracy and
reliability for the sake of entertainment is anathema to . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0717w.html#item19
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