ACM TechNews - Wednesday, October 9, 2002

[technews <technews@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber:

Welcome to the October 9, 2002 edition of ACM TechNews,
providing timely information for IT professionals three times a
week.  For instructions on how to unsubscribe from this
service, please see below.

ACM's MemberNet is now online. For the latest on ACM
activities, member benefits, and industry issues,
visit http://www.acm.org/membernet

Remember to check out our hot new online essay and opinion
magazine, Ubiquity, at http://www.acm.org/ubiquity

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ACM TechNews
Volume 4, Number 409
Date: October 9, 2002

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Site Sponsored by Hewlett Packard Company ( <http://www.hp.com> )
     HP is the premier source for computing services,
     products and solutions. Responding to customers' requirements
     for quality and reliability at aggressive prices, HP offers
     performance-packed products and comprehensive services.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Top Stories for Wednesday, October 9, 2002:
http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html

"Tech Panel Recommends Better Data Sharing, Analysis in War
 Against Terror"
"More Students High-Tail it Out of High-Tech Classes"
"Cutting-Edge Tech Grabs Federal Grants"
"Better PCs with Plastic Magnets"
"Are Tech Jobs Paying Less?"
"Quantum Leaps May Solve Impossible Problems"
"Beware of the Internet Toll Booth"
"CMU Taking a Leading Role in War Against Cyberterror"
"IT Advances to Drive Lots of Job Cuts, Gartner Predicts"
"Chicago Researchers Move Toward Molecular Transistor"
"Computer-Human Conversation Closer to Reality"
"InfiniBand Finds Favor in Testing"
"Most IT Not Ready for Cars, Says GM"
"Studying Evolution with Digital Organisms"
"ACM Conference to Spotlight the Strengthens, Apps of Object Technology"
"Stolen Code"
"PCAST Aims to Expand Offerings to Stir Broadband Growth"
"What Does the Internet Look Like?"
"Nowhere to Run"
"Being Wireless"

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

"Tech Panel Recommends Better Data Sharing, Analysis in War
 Against Terror"
Federal officials need to think more critically about how to
share and analyze data, and build a decentralized IT network in
order to collaborate with local and state officials, according to
the Markle Foundation Task Force on National Security in the ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1009w.html#item1

"More Students High-Tail it Out of High-Tech Classes"
U.S. colleges say fewer and fewer students are registering for
computer science and engineering classes, and experts say the
trend could lead to a severe shortage of workers once the economy
revitalizes.  Enrollment in a key computer science course at Ohio ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1009w.html#item2

"Cutting-Edge Tech Grabs Federal Grants"
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) awarded
$92 million in federal grants to 40 advanced-technology
initiatives on Tuesday.  Over $12 million went toward
nanotechnology projects, including a proposal from General Motors ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1009w.html#item3

"Better PCs with Plastic Magnets"
Ohio State University researchers are designing a computer that
could boast crash-proof data, high-speed processing, and instant
boot-ups by exploiting electron spin using magnets.  Electrons
normally spin randomly, but the application of a magnetic field ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1009w.html#item4

"Are Tech Jobs Paying Less?"
There has been a noticeable decline in both the number of
technology jobs available as well as salary growth since the tech
boom ended.  Challenger, Gray & Christmas CEO John A. Challenger
says that employers "are in no rush to hire, and apparently they ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1009w.html#item5

"Quantum Leaps May Solve Impossible Problems"
Australian mathematician Tien Kieu is challenging long-cherished
notions of mathematics and computability as outlined by Alan
Turing and Alonzo Church, whose Turing-Church Thesis states that
problems are insoluble if a computer is unable to solve them, and ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1009w.html#item6

"Beware of the Internet Toll Booth"
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recently rejected patented
software for use in open standards in what is likely the first in
a series of battles to keep software fees away from open
technology standards.  Had patented software been allowed into ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1009w.html#item7

"CMU Taking a Leading Role in War Against Cyberterror"
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and CERT Coordination Center
staff have been working for two years to set up CMU's new Center
for Computer and Communications Security, and a five-year, $35.5
million grant from the Department of Defense could further their ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1009w.html#item8

"IT Advances to Drive Lots of Job Cuts, Gartner Predicts"
Gartner released a top 10 list of IT forecasts at its
Symposium/ITxpo 2002 conference on Monday, and among them was a
prediction that continued technology advances will lead to
millions of layoffs starting within the next two years.  Such ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1009w.html#item9

"Chicago Researchers Move Toward Molecular Transistor"
University of Chicago chemists have created a diode from a single
molecule, and report their findings in the Sept. 12 issue of the
Journal of the American Chemical Society and the Oct. 2 issue of
Angewandte Chemie.  "Essentially, [chemistry professor Lupin Yu] ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1009w.html#item10

"Computer-Human Conversation Closer to Reality"
A truly intelligent computer can carry out conversations with
people without them realizing they are talking to a machine,
according to the Turing Test.  Brainhat has developed a natural
language operating system that can technically pass the Turing ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1009w.html#item11

"InfiniBand Finds Favor in Testing"
The emerging InfiniBand standard promises to speed data transfer
and ease input/output burdens on CPUs and could eventually
replace the PC's ubiquitous PCI bus, although its first use
likely will be to boost data center performance.  In ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1009w.html#item12

"Most IT Not Ready for Cars, Says GM"
Tony Scott, GM's CTO of information systems and services, says
the IT industry has not succeeded in providing the software and
hardware necessary for in-car systems.  The IT industry is "not
ready yet," he said at Internet World Fall 2002 in New York.  He ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1009w.html#item13

"Studying Evolution with Digital Organisms"
Researchers at Caltech's Digital Life Laboratory and Michigan
State University's Center for Biological Modeling believe that
observing self-replicating digital organisms will shed new light
on Darwinian evolution.  Using such organisms, Caltech's Chris ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1009w.html#item14

"ACM Conference to Spotlight the Strengthens, Apps of Object Technology"
An upcoming conference on object-oriented technology will focus
on the latest practices of reuse, enterprise components, programming
challenges, Web services, new computing models, and much more.
The 17th Annual ACM Conference on Object-Oriented Programming, ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1009w.html#item15

"Stolen Code"
Europe appears to be taking a cue from the United States to make
software patents allowable, a move that has split the European
software community into supporters who claim it will spur
innovation, and opponents who argue it will have the opposite ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1009w.html#item16

"PCAST Aims to Expand Offerings to Stir Broadband Growth"
The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology
(PCAST) last week issued a draft of a report to be released later
this month that argues that more pervasive broadband adoption
will help rejuvenate the economy.  The council said direct ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1009w.html#item17

"What Does the Internet Look Like?"
The Internet's structure has been the source of much argument:
Understanding it is difficult, given its unplanned expansion, but
simultaneously vital, because comprehending the interconnection
of its hundreds of thousands of routing computers is necessary ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1009w.html#item18

"Nowhere to Run"
The American, British, and Australian governments are bringing in
less foreign technology help to shore up their domestic IT
workforce, but Canada is taking the opposite approach.  Although
there was a 4.3 percent increase in professional, scientific, and ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1009w.html#item19

"Being Wireless"
MIT Media Lab founder Nicholas Negroponte predicts wireless
802.11 systems will transform telecommunications from a
centralized, proprietary mesh of networks to one that is open and
free to most users.  Although phone companies are pursuing 3G ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1009w.html#item20


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-- To review Monday's issue, please visit
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1007m.html

-- To visit the TechNews home page, point your browser to:
http://www.acm.org/technews/

-- To unsubscribe from the ACM TechNews Early Alert Service:
Please send a separate email to listserv@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
with the line

signoff technews

in the body of your message.

-- Please note that replying directly to this message does not
automatically unsubscribe you from the TechNews list.

-- To submit feedback about ACM TechNews, contact:
technews@xxxxxxxxxx

-- ACM may have a different email address on file for you,
so if you're unable to "unsubscribe" yourself, please direct
your request to: technews-request@xxxxxxx

We will remove your name from the TechNews list on
your behalf.

-- For help with technical problems, including problems with
leaving the list, please write to:  technews-request@xxxxxxx

----
ACM TechNews is sponsored by Hewlett Packard Company.