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ACM TechNews - Wednesday, July 24, 2002
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ACM TechNews
Volume 4, Number 377
Date: July 24, 2002
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Top Stories for Wednesday, July 24, 2002:
http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html
"Executives Advised to Take Role in Internet Security"
"Economy's Slump Hits Foreign Tech Workers Particularly Hard"
"Critics Rap Web Group, Call for Changes"
"Report: Cyberattack Could Harm U.S. Infrastructure"
"Hollywood, Tech Make Suspicious Pairing"
"Plan Would Swell Wireless Spectrum"
"China Plans Software to Rival Windows"
"Scientist Step Toward Next-Gen Internet"
"Forgent Claims JPEG Patent; Others Cry Foul"
"Helix Must Not Leave Open Sourcers Stranded"
"MEMS Cut from a Different Cloth; Firm Finds New Polymer Process"
"Battling Wi-Fi Specs Come Together"
"Internet Extends Legal Reach of National Governments"
"MIT Prof Critiques Europe's Wireless Efforts"
"Is Anti-Virus Software Obsolete?"
"The Instant-Mess Age"
"Breakthrough Technologies"
"Putting Content in Context"
"Making the Grid"
******************* News Stories ***********************
"Executives Advised to Take Role in Internet Security"
Executives should pitch in to develop an effective Internet
security system, according to a new guide to be released today by
an industry organization. The Electronics Industry Alliance,
together with Carnegie Mellon University's Software Engineering . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0724w.html#item1
"Economy's Slump Hits Foreign Tech Workers Particularly Hard"
Being a foreign technology professional with an H1-B visa no
longer guarantees that one will be able to find work in the
United States. "If your employer lays you off, you are in an
employment no-man's land," says laid-off Canadian H1-B worker . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0724w.html#item2
"Critics Rap Web Group, Call for Changes"
A Washington, D.C.-based forum was the setting for arguments
between critics and proponents of the government-created Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) on Tuesday.
The latter group consisted of people such as Syracuse . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0724w.html#item3
"Report: Cyberattack Could Harm U.S. Infrastructure"
A report from the General Accounting Office (GAO) released on
Monday says that the United States' "cyber critical
infrastructure"--the essential systems given over to computer
control--is still vulnerable; in fact, Sen. Joseph Lieberman . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0724w.html#item4
"Hollywood, Tech Make Suspicious Pairing"
Microsoft's proposed Palladium computing architecture could
significantly improve the security of computer systems, but
Mercury News technology columnist Dan Gillmor warns that it could
also allow the entertainment and software industry to choke off . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0724w.html#item5
"Plan Would Swell Wireless Spectrum"
The U.S. government has agreed to release 90 MHz of spectrum for
commercial use, which will enable wireless companies to build and
create 3G networks that would provide handheld devices and
next-generation wireless phones with high-speed data access and . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0724w.html#item6
"China Plans Software to Rival Windows"
The Chinese newspaper People's Daily reports that a consortium of
Chinese companies and universities have embarked on a project to
build a computer desktop operating system that could compete with
Microsoft's Windows 98 platform. The project, unveiled on July . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0724w.html#item7
"Scientist Step Toward Next-Gen Internet"
On Monday, scientists from Britain's E-Science Centers announced
that they had completed the building blocks for grid computing at
the fifth Global Grid Forum. The blocks are used to construct
the Data Access and Integration (DAI) program, which is based on . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0724w.html#item8
"Forgent Claims JPEG Patent; Others Cry Foul"
Last week, Forgent Networks issued a statement that it owns the
patent to JPEG image compression technology, and plans to license
the technology to manufacturers of devices that compress, store,
transmit, manipulate, and print digital pictures in color and . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0724w.html#item9
"Helix Must Not Leave Open Sourcers Stranded"
Analysts say that RealNetworks' decision to release the source
code for its new Helix media player software will help partner
companies develop compatible products, but does not allow access
to their still-proprietary encoding and coding software. Helix . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0724w.html#item10
"MEMS Cut from a Different Cloth; Firm Finds New Polymer Process"
MCNC of North Carolina has collaborated with Florida-based Hills
Inc. to produce micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) devices.
The microactuators, or integrated force arrays (IFAs), are formed
from the combination of three synthetic polymers that contract in . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0724w.html#item11
"Battling Wi-Fi Specs Come Together"
Wireless Internet device manufacturers are moving the Wi-Fi
industry toward a multi-mode scenario, where end users will be
able to log on no matter what 802.11 standard is used. The
upcoming 802.11g standard--which operates at 54 Mbps like . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0724w.html#item12
"Internet Extends Legal Reach of National Governments"
Earlier this month Italian police shut down several possibly
blasphemous Web sites hosted in the United States, demonstrating
again the effect of national law on the Internet. Free speech
advocates and others say that increased legal prosecution by . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0724w.html#item13
"MIT Prof Critiques Europe's Wireless Efforts"
Delivering a keynote speech at Motorola's Smart Network
Developers Forum in New Orleans, MIT Media Labs founder and
chairman Nicholas Negroponte sharply criticized European
regulators' strategy to deploy third-generation (3G) wireless . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0724w.html#item14
"Is Anti-Virus Software Obsolete?"
Many experts believe that the effectiveness of desktop anti-virus
software is being undercut by the increasing sophistication of
computer viruses, the Klez.H email virus being a recent example.
MessageLabs' Angela Hauge notes that anti-virus programs can be . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0724w.html#item15
"The Instant-Mess Age"
Instant messaging (IM) is helping connect workers and make them
more productive--when they are not misusing it by leaking
proprietary information or chatting idly with personal friends
online. ComScore Media Metrix says approximately 16.9 million . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0724w.html#item16
"Breakthrough Technologies"
A quartet of breakthrough technologies currently being assessed
by integrators and agencies are poised to make their mark on
government IT infrastructures and open up new markets. The
Semantic Web, which has received research funding from the . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0724w.html#item17
"Putting Content in Context"
Digital objects such as video, audio, and images can be stored
and arranged through digital asset management (DAM) software,
which simplifies their location, modification, and reuse. Many
enterprises are using DAM to provide a fast, centralized method . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0724w.html#item18
"Making the Grid"
The Grid is a flexible infrastructure linking together a vast
network of geographically distributed computers, storage, data,
and software that people will be able to tap into to solve
complex problems. It is an evolutionary step up from the Web, . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0724w.html#item19
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