ACM TechNews - Friday, September 19, 2003

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ACM TechNews
Volume 5, Number 547
Date: September 19, 2003

Top Stories for Friday, September 19, 2003:
http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html

"Study: IT Worker Unemployment at 'Unprecedented' Levels"
"New Findings Shake Up Open-Source Debate"
"H-1B Hearing: Companies Say Foreign Workers Needed"
"Data Privacy, Emergency Response, Weather Prediction to Benefit
 From IT Advances"
"Self-Policing Added to Spam Bill"
"Government, Industry Debate the Value of Common Criteria"
"Disputes Erupt Over Service for Poor Internet Typists"
"Embedded Guru Advocates 'Bug-Free' Software"
"E-Voting Audit Ready for Public"
"Breaking the Speed Barrier: The Frontside Bus Bottleneck"
"A Sugar Cube, Please: I Need to Charge My Cellphone"
"Information Technology Field Loses Diversity, Research Finds"
"At Rate Tech Is Going, No One Will Need Talent for Singing or
 Housework"
"Testing Information Systems During Development Will Prevent Problems"
"Security Standards Could Make Anti-Piracy Easier"
"Supercomputer-Based Neural Net to Mimic the Brain Planned"
"What's in a Cybername? Plenty"
"WhereWare"

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

"Study: IT Worker Unemployment at 'Unprecedented' Levels"
A new report from the nonprofit Commission on Professionals in
Science and Technology (CPST) concludes that IT worker
unemployment reached an all-time high of 6 percent this year, a
percentage that aligns with the applications IT managers have ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0919f.html#item1

"New Findings Shake Up Open-Source Debate"
A study by Oxford University theoretical physicists Damien
Challet and Yann Le Du analyzes a "microscopic model of
software-bug dynamics" in cathedral, bazaar, and closed-source
software initiatives, and finds that such projects can arrive at ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0919f.html#item2

"H-1B Hearing: Companies Say Foreign Workers Needed"
The H-1B visa cap will fall from its current limit of 195,000 to
its pre-dotcom-boom level of 65,000 on Oct. 1, and industry
representatives testified before Congress on Sept. 16 to argue
against such a reversion.  Intel and Ingersoll-Rand officials ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0919f.html#item3

"Data Privacy, Emergency Response, Weather Prediction to Benefit
 From IT Advances"
The National Science Foundation's Information Technology Research
awards this year doled out over $169 million to eight major
projects and hundreds of smaller projects, to be carried out over
the next several years; the projects focus on collaborative, ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0919f.html#item4

"Self-Policing Added to Spam Bill"
A provision recently inserted into antispam legislation sponsored
by Reps. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), W.J. Tauzin (R-La.), and F. James
Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) would make bulk emailers exempt from
penalties if they agree to regulate themselves.  The requirement ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0919f.html#item5

"Government, Industry Debate the Value of Common Criteria"
Although the Common Criteria security software evaluation
standards are useful, they cannot ensure that such software will
be trouble-free, according to government and industry
representatives at a Sept. 17 hearing of the House Government ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0919f.html#item6

"Disputes Erupt Over Service for Poor Internet Typists"
Critics are coming down hard on VeriSign, which just unveiled its
Site Finder service--designed to send users to an
advertising-supported site when they make errors in typing domain
names into their browsers.  The nonprofit Internet Software ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0919f.html#item7

"Embedded Guru Advocates 'Bug-Free' Software"
Embedded system designer Jack Ganssle delivered a keynote address
at this week's Embedded System Conference in Boston in which he
blamed "benign negligence" for system failures attributed to
shoddy software.  He said three factors contribute to these ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0919f.html#item8

"E-Voting Audit Ready for Public"
Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich called for an audit of touch-screen
voting systems from Diebold Election Systems by Science
Applications International (SAIC) in response to a disclosure of
major software security holes, and the audit is now complete and ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0919f.html#item9

"Breaking the Speed Barrier: The Frontside Bus Bottleneck"
Computer processor makers Intel, AMD, Motorola, and others
continue to find innovative ways to shuttle data from between the
main processor and other components via the frontside bus (FSB).
Though the flow of data between these different pieces of ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0919f.html#item10

"A Sugar Cube, Please: I Need to Charge My Cellphone"
University of Massachusetts researchers have developed a
microbial fuel cell that feeds on sugar and releases electrons
that can be converted into an electrical current.  The biological
component is Rhodoferax ferrireducens, an "iron-breathing" ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0919f.html#item11

"Information Technology Field Loses Diversity, Research Finds"
The Information Technology Association of America reports that
between 1996 and 2002 the number of women and African-Americans
working in the information technology industry has declined.  The
association's Blue Ribbon Panel on IT Diversity report reveals ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0919f.html#item12

"At Rate Tech Is Going, No One Will Need Talent for Singing or
 Housework"
Technological developments that have the potential to transform
everyday life include new labor-saving devices from iRobot, a car
that can park without human intervention, and software that can
dramatically enhance a person's singing voice.  IRobot has ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0919f.html#item13

"Testing Information Systems During Development Will Prevent Problems"
Penn State researcher Dr. Sandeep Purao has taken a systematic
approach to applying the more than 350 existing metrics to
object-oriented systems.  Purao, associate professor of
information sciences and technology, and co-researcher Vijay ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0919f.html#item14

"Security Standards Could Make Anti-Piracy Easier"
New programming standards from the Trusted Computing Group (TCG)
designed to boost PC security could also support the development
of stronger anti-copying software.  The standards, which will be
issued on Sept. 16, will connect software to tamper-proof ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0919f.html#item15

"Supercomputer-Based Neural Net to Mimic the Brain Planned"
Artificial Development CEO Marcos Guillen announced at the
Accelerating Change Conference on Sept. 14 that his firm will
build CCortex, a "massive spiking neuron network emulation"
designed to mimic the human cerebral cortex.  The network will ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0919f.html#item16

"What's in a Cybername? Plenty"
Many interests have been encouraging the U.S. Department of
Commerce (DOC) to push for a clean-up of the Whois database, as
the department faces the expiration of its memorandum of
understanding (MOU) with ICANN.  However, Commerce General ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0919f.html#item17

"WhereWare"
Location-based computing, in which wireless mobile devices can
keep track of their owners' whereabouts, could offer an array of
applications and services that promise to fatten providers'
coffers and enhance travel, safety, shopping, and convenience for ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0919f.html#item18


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