ACM TechNews - Wednesday, September 18, 2002

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ACM TechNews
Volume 4, Number 340
Date: September 18, 2002

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Top Stories for Wednesday, September 18, 2002:
http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html

"Czar of Cyber Security Defends Easing of Rules"
"Who's Running the Digital Show?"
"Nanotech Bill: Big Money for Tiny Tech"
"State Lags in High-Tech Education"
"Intel Unfurls Experimental 3D Transistors"
"Neutron Beam Reveals New Spin on Magnetism"
"The Supercomputing Speed Barrier"
"MIPS: Measuring Environmental Impact of IT"
"Linux Worm Hits the Network"
"Big Trouble in the World of "Big Physics""
"Dan Gillmor: Issues That Will Shape the Internet"
"U.S. Will Renew ICANN's Authority"
"When Software Patents Go Bad"
"Radio ID Locks Lost Laptops"
"Accessibility Breakthroughs Broaden Web Horizons"
"A New Way to Compute"
"Real Time"
"They Might Be Giants"
"ACM Professional Development Centre Offers Free Courses"
"Printing Meets Lithography"

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

"Czar of Cyber Security Defends Easing of Rules"
White House cybersecurity adviser Richard Clarke answered critics
of his national cybersecurity plan yesterday by declaring that
federal regulation would only exacerbate the situation--instead,
the report recommends that industries voluntarily help secure ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0918w.html#item1

"Who's Running the Digital Show?"
Consumers are losing more and more ground in terms of what they
can do with electronic devices as hardware vendors and even the
government espouse the media and software industries' vision of a
controlled digital media environment.  A draft report from the ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0918w.html#item2

"Nanotech Bill: Big Money for Tiny Tech"
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) intends to propose a bill today calling
for a National Nanotechnology Research Program that would involve
further government funding for early-stage nanotech research.
"This is a field with almost unlimited potential, and America ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0918w.html#item3

"State Lags in High-Tech Education"
A study from the Milken Institute indicates that California is
producing less home-grown high-tech employees and investing less
venture capital than many other states, and its educational
system is identified as the primary culprit.  California ranked ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0918w.html#item4

"Intel Unfurls Experimental 3D Transistors"
Intel intends to disclose more details about its experimental
Tri-Gate transistor this week at the International Solid State
Device and Materials Conference in Japan.  By featuring two
additional gates, the transistor exhibits more three-dimensional ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0918w.html#item5

"Neutron Beam Reveals New Spin on Magnetism"
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and
Technology's (NIST) Center for Neutron Research, working in
conjunction with physicists from Rutgers University and Johns
Hopkins University, have discovered a new form of magnetism in ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0918w.html#item6

"The Supercomputing Speed Barrier"
Joel Tendler of IBM's technology assessment and server group says
that the limits of supercomputing speed will be bypassed in the
short term, but this will only set up thresholds that will have
to be dealt with later on.  He adds that economic barriers such ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0918w.html#item7

"MIPS: Measuring Environmental Impact of IT"
Hewlett-Packard, EMI, and other major companies are trying to
measure the environmental impact of their products and services
by studying Material Input Per Service (MIPS) ratings.  When
interpreted as a measurement of computing power, MIPS means the ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0918w.html#item8

"Linux Worm Hits the Network"
A new worm called Linux.Slapper is targeting Linux Web servers
and creating a network of tens of thousands of drone machines
that can be used in a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS)
attack.  The worm can be used to remotely scan for and recover ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0918w.html#item9

"Big Trouble in the World of "Big Physics""
Reports from Bell Labs physicist Jan Hendrik Schon claiming that
nonconducting molecules can be converted into semiconductors,
lasers, and light-absorbing devices were questioned when
Princeton researchers noticed that the published outcomes of ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0918w.html#item10

"Dan Gillmor: Issues That Will Shape the Internet"
SiliconValley.com technology columnist Dan Gillmor writes that
legislation currently under consideration threatens the freedom
and openness of the Internet.  For instance, Congress has already
passed copyright laws that grant the entertainment industry ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0918w.html#item11

"U.S. Will Renew ICANN's Authority"
Commerce Department undersecretary Nancy Victory says that she is
pleased with the progress of ICANN reform and that "at this point
we do anticipate that there will be an extension" of ICANN's
contract for managing the DNS.  Victory adds that the extension ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0918w.html#item12

"When Software Patents Go Bad"
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has come
under fire for approving bad software patents.  "People who are
spending a lot of time and money innovating need to know they are
not going to be copied as soon as they get into the marketplace," ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0918w.html#item13

"Radio ID Locks Lost Laptops"
Researchers from the University of Michigan have developed a
laptop security system that does not even require the user to be
aware of it.  The system involves users wearing a hardware
token--such as a watch or piece of jewelry--that communicates to ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0918w.html#item14

"Accessibility Breakthroughs Broaden Web Horizons"
Web sites are supposed to be accessible to users with
disabilities per federal and international regulations, but
accessibility consultant Mike Paciello says that this quality
offers advantages for both handicapped and non-handicapped users. ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0918w.html#item15

"A New Way to Compute"
The evolution of the Internet into the grid--an architecture in
which computer tasks are distributed over a network of servers,
enabling computing power to be tapped like electricity--will mark
the beginning of "the post-technology era," according to Tom Hawk ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0918w.html#item16

"Real Time"
Many businesses have only just begun to take full advantage of
the speed offered by cutting-edge computer systems, and success
in this area involves a dramatic restructuring of business
processes and corporate culture so that they can support a ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0918w.html#item17

"They Might Be Giants"
High-tech companies are investing heavily in research and
development as a matter of survival, and five technologies in
particular are seen as essential to the growth of
well-established markets and the development of new ones within ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0918w.html#item18

"ACM Professional Development Centre Offers Free Courses"
ACM has introduced an education program to help professionals
advance their technical knowledge in their current specialties or
learn new skills in related fields. The association's new
Professional Development Centre offers professional members ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0918w.html#item19

"Printing Meets Lithography"
An IBM team has developed a new soft lithography method based on
classic flexography printing that could serve as a low-cost,
high-resolution alternative to optical lithography.  Almost every
classical printing scheme--relief, gravure, screen/stencil, ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0918w.html#item20


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