ACM TechNews - Monday, April 7, 2003

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ACM TechNews
Volume 5, Number 479
Date: April 7, 2003

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Top Stories for Monday, April 7, 2003:
http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html

"Untethering From Clunky PC Box, Silicon Valley Hikes Wireless
 Frontier"
"Disconnects on Wi-Fi and Cell Phones"
"Wireless PDA Software Helps Grocery Shoppers Find Items"
"FBI Computers Enter the 21st Century"
"Why We May Never Regain the Liberties That We've Lost"
"U.S. Military Helps Fund Calgary Hacker"
"Experts Assess Bush's 2004 R&D Budget Request"
"Blogs Step Up in Stature as Harvard Begins Study"
"Internet Connected Real-Time Systems Vulnerable to Attack?"
"Four IT Predictions to Watch"
"DNS Pioneer Warns of Internet Security"
"Indiana Spam Bill Passes Legislature"
"Thwarting the Zombies"
"Pictures Only a Computer Could Love"
"Point, Click...Fire"
"Spectrum for All"
"Semantic Applications, or Revenge of the Librarians"

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

"Untethering From Clunky PC Box, Silicon Valley Hikes Wireless
 Frontier"
Computer industry insiders see the center of gravity shifting
from the PC to wireless platforms and say the mobile industry
today resembles the nascent PC market almost 30 years ago.
Still, although money and expertise is now moving to the wireless ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0407m.html#item1

"Disconnects on Wi-Fi and Cell Phones"
Thirty years after he invented the cell phone, Martin Cooper
believes the technology is nearing the end of its life cycle, and
thinks that carriers should redirect their efforts on improving
telecommunications rather than adding new features to cell ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0407m.html#item2

"Wireless PDA Software Helps Grocery Shoppers Find Items"
A prototype wireless personal digital assistant (PDA) system
developed by Georgia Institute of Technology researchers was
field-tested in a Kroger store in Atlanta by five grocery
shoppers.  Prior to the technology's development, extensive ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0407m.html#item3

"FBI Computers Enter the 21st Century"
The FBI is attempting to modernize its computer systems with the
$600 million Trilogy network, while civil liberties proponents
are keeping a close eye on the project to see if it strikes a
balance between privacy and security-related information
gathering.  The network will feature a new database designed to ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0407m.html#item4

"Why We May Never Regain the Liberties That We've Lost"
Although the government has routinely rolled back civil liberties
in times of crisis, they have usually been restored once the
crisis passes; that may not be the case for the liberties
rescinded as a result of the war against terrorism, writes Dan ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0407m.html#item5

"U.S. Military Helps Fund Calgary Hacker"
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has
indirectly allocated $2.3 million to Calgary hacker Theo de Raadt
in the hopes that his OpenBSD operating system could shield U.S.
military networks from cyber-attacks launched by terrorists.  De ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0407m.html#item6

"Experts Assess Bush's 2004 R&D Budget Request"
Accompanying President Bush's proposed $122.5 billion 2004
federal research and development budget is a heavier emphasis on
anti-terrorist and homeland security technologies, compared to
past R&D budgets chiefly focusing on civilian medical research.   ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0407m.html#item7

"Blogs Step Up in Stature as Harvard Begins Study"
Universities will be watching Harvard Law School's Berkman Center
for Internet & Society as it conducts an academic study of blogs,
described as publishing for people by study leader Dave Winer,
former contributing editor to HotWired.  The academic community ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0407m.html#item8

"Internet Connected Real-Time Systems Vulnerable to Attack?"
Connected real-time systems offer many advantages to users,
including a richer interface, resource and information sharing,
and easier upgradeability, but the trade-off is vulnerability to
a variety of assaults; the trick is to adequately protect ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0407m.html#item9

"Four IT Predictions to Watch"
Gartner's Symposium ITxpo 2003 showcased four IT trends that
enterprises can expect to play a significant role over the coming
decade.  Portal software, already widespread, will become even
more important for large firms as it is integrated with content ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0407m.html#item10

"DNS Pioneer Warns of Internet Security"
Paul Mockapetris, co-inventor of the DNS system, says "the
majority of the work to be done still lies ahead of us."
Mockapetris wants DNS security buffeted not only in response to
the October 2002 DDoS attacks, but also in response to the recent ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0407m.html#item11

"Indiana Spam Bill Passes Legislature"
Indiana's House of Representatives has passed an anti-spam bill
on an unanimous vote and the bill is now heading to Indiana Gov.
Frank O'Bannon.  The legislation, HB 1083, includes a provision
that would penalize spam senders for up to $500 per spam message sent; it
...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0407m.html#item12

"Thwarting the Zombies"
Massive numbers of Internet-connected machines acting as a
hacker's zombie army are becoming more common as security experts
work on defenses.  These botnets, or networks of bot-controlled
computers, are used to conduct denial-of-service (DoS) attacks ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0407m.html#item13

"Pictures Only a Computer Could Love"
New lenses keyed to computers' strengths are being engineered for
a variety of purposes.  "Once you break away from thinking that
the optics have to form something [people] recognize as an image,
there are many things that you can do," notes National Defense ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0407m.html#item14

"Point, Click...Fire"
The Iraqi battlefield is serving as the proving ground for
advanced technologies, including networking, IT, and precision
weaponry designed to give American forces a strategic advantage.
The digital war currently being fought uses a computing grid ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0407m.html#item15

"Spectrum for All"
FCC Chairman Michael Powell is preparing the way for a free and
open radio spectrum, writes policy and law expert Lawrence
Lessig.  While on the one hand catering to vested interests that
want radio spectrum as property, Powell is at the same time ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0407m.html#item16

"Semantic Applications, or Revenge of the Librarians"
The supplier-centric IT industry will become customer-centric
when Web services shift to semantic applications that enable
interoperability between computer systems, thus systematizing
data searches and transaction processing, writes David Moschella, ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0407m.html#item17


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