ACM TechNews - Friday, January 16, 2004

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ACM TechNews
Volume 6, Number 595
Date: January 16, 2004

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Top Stories for Friday, January 16, 2004:
http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html

"Seeds of Destruction"
"Silicon, Not Just Software, Key to Pervasive Media"
"'Robot Scientist' Said to Equal Humans at Some Tasks"
"Lines Blurring Between Handhelds and Wearables"
"'Signs of Life' Expected in 2004 IT Salaries"
"World Wide Web Consortium Publishes CC/PP 1.0 as a W3C Recommendation"
"Java Guru Speaks Out on Interoperable Tools Efforts"
"Can We Conquer Nanotech Fear?"
"Swiss Expert Leads Fights Against Computer Viruses"
"Lab Starts on Next-Generation Supercomputers"
"We Can Trap More Crooks With a Net Full of Honey"
"Latest in Gizmos, Cars Share Stage"
"Transforming Thoughts Into Deeds"
"Offshoring--A Hot 2004 Campaign Issue?"
"Evolution Inspires IT Development"
"System, Cure Thyself"
"Wireless for the Disabled"
"Distributed Development: Lessons Learned"
"Covering the Intangibles in a KM Initiative"

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

"Seeds of Destruction"
Some computer security specialists believe effective deterrents against
viruses and worms could be developed by studying outbreaks of agricultural
epidemics, which have significant parallels.  The spread of worms such as
MSBlast shares similarities to the Dutch Elm blight, which was a foreign ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0116f.html#item1

"Silicon, Not Just Software, Key to Pervasive Media"
The tech industry is focusing more on media than on computing, and silicon
technology is enabling the transition:  Evidence of silicon's importance in
pervasive media was everywhere at the 2004 Computer Electronics Show, even
though software claimed most of the limelight.  MIT Media Laboratory ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0116f.html#item2

"'Robot Scientist' Said to Equal Humans at Some Tasks"
A group of British scientists have built a "robot scientist" capable of
composing hypotheses, designing experiments, and delineating results as
well as the best people.  Ross King of the University of Wales and Stephen
Oliver of the University of Manchester report that the robot scientist ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0116f.html#item3

"Lines Blurring Between Handhelds and Wearables"
Though there is a clear boundary between portable and wearable
computers--wearables allow for entirely hands-free operations, for
instance--experts such as Gartner's Jackie Fenn expect that boundary to
erode as wearable technology moves out of niche markets such as the ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0116f.html#item4

"'Signs of Life' Expected in 2004 IT Salaries"
A pair of studies from Janco Associates and Foote Partners indicate that
after several years of stagnation, IT compensation is finally gaining
momentum, even with increasing offshore outsourcing of IT positions.
Industry analysts estimate that upper-level IT managers will receive a 3 ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0116f.html#item5

"World Wide Web Consortium Publishes CC/PP 1.0 as a W3C Recommendation"
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) announced on Jan. 15 the publication of
the CC/PP (Composite Capability/Preference Profiles) Structure and
Vocabularies 1.0 Recommendation, a profiling language designed to help
deliver Web content across a wide spectrum of devices by describing device
...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0116f.html#item6

"Java Guru Speaks Out on Interoperable Tools Efforts"
Java pioneer James Gosling, who recently returned to Sun Microsystems as
CTO for the Java development platform, says competition among Java
development platforms is healthy and that several options would likely be
available in the future, just as they are now.  Sun's NetBeans standard ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0116f.html#item7

"Can We Conquer Nanotech Fear?"
The biggest alleged threat of nanotechnology is the "grey goo" scenario, in
which billions of microscopic, self-replicating machines or "nano-robots"
run amuck, deconstructing every atomic structure into a shapeless mush.
Experts such as Ken Donaldson at the University of Edinburgh dismiss such
...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0116f.html#item8

"Swiss Expert Leads Fights Against Computer Viruses"
Swiss Internet security expert Urs Gattiker, a professor of management and
information science at the International School of New Media at Germany's
University of Lubeck, says he is involved with Cyberworld Awareness and
Security Enhancement Structure (CASES), a publicly funded, pan-European ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0116f.html#item9

"Lab Starts on Next-Generation Supercomputers"
Los Alamos National Laboratory's computer and computational sciences
division has been awarded a three-year, $4.2 million grant from the Defense
Department's research division to help develop the next generation of
supercomputers by 2008.  Los Alamos researchers will work on performance ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0116f.html#item10

"We Can Trap More Crooks With a Net Full of Honey"
Michael Schrage, co-director of the MIT Media Lab's eMarkets Initiative,
writes that public institutions and private enterprise will shield their
networks, data, and other valued assets with tools that purposefully
mislead and entrap those who would hope to exploit, steal, or damage those
...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0116f.html#item11

"Latest in Gizmos, Cars Share Stage"
Auto makers are trying to introduce new technologies at a pace and in a way
that consumers can accept, as evidenced at the Motor Trend International
Auto Show in Baltimore.  Center of Automotive Research Chairman David Cole
says no company knows exactly what technology consumers consider a value ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0116f.html#item12

"Transforming Thoughts Into Deeds"
Companies such as Cyberkinetics in Foxboro, Mass., are working on
brain-computer interfaces that allow people to control devices by thought.
Cyberkinetics' effort, BrainGate, involves a computer chip outfitted with
electrodes surgically plugged into neurons in the user's motor cortex; ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0116f.html#item13

"Offshoring--A Hot 2004 Campaign Issue?"
Offshore IT outsourcing could be a major campaign issue in the months
leading up to November, if IT labor activists can effectively promote the
woes of jobless white-collar workers.  Democratic presidential candidates
have rallied against job losses in the manufacturing industry due to ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0116f.html#item14

"Evolution Inspires IT Development"
The keys to managing IT system complexity may lie in the evolutionary
process.  "Evolution itself is a fantastic search engine--it goes through
millions and millions and millions of things, and comes up with extremely
creative designs," points out Icosystem Chairman Eric Bonabeau, who adds ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0116f.html#item15

"System, Cure Thyself"
Analysts and researchers believe the next two to five years will witness
the development of systems and networks that can repair themselves across
blended applications, storage, and computing resources.  There are various
definitions for self-healing, ranging from Alan Ganek of IBM's description
...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0116f.html#item16

"Wireless for the Disabled"
A team led by Georgia Institute of Technology computer scientist John
Peifer wants to enhance the lives of disabled people by designing wireless
assistive technologies out of affordable off-the-shelf components.  The
prototype system devised by Georgia Tech researcher Jack Wood is a wearable
...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0116f.html#item17

"Distributed Development: Lessons Learned"
Cisco Systems director of engineering Michael Turnlund writes that the most
successful technology projects stem from close team interaction, and
distributing teams physically adds complexities to project development that
must be resolved through more coordinated management in order to meet the
...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0116f.html#item18

"Covering the Intangibles in a KM Initiative"
The success of an organization's knowledge management (KM) initiative is
measured by how widely a knowledge-sharing system or process is accepted
and used, and maximizing its use hinges on people and processes, or
"intangible" issues, that KM designers often overlook in favor of the ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0116f.html#item19


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