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ACM TechNews - Monday, January 5, 2004



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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ACM TechNews
Volume 6, Number 590
Date: January 5, 2004


Top Stories for Monday, January 5, 2004:
http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html

"Five Giants in Technology Unite to Deter File Sharing"
"'Offshoring' Trend Casting a Wider Net"
"DARPA Ignored Privacy Concerns"
"Security Looks to the Future"
"Tool Eases Grid Monitoring"
"20 Years Ago, World Turned for Tech, Telecom"
"Big Intrusions, Tiny Pictures and Patented Problems"
"Sure-Fire Skills for IT Success in 2004"
"The Return of the Internet"
"Security Predictions for 2004"
"Tech's Top Trends for 2004"
"Asia Looks for Lead on Next-Gen Internet"
"Drip, Drip, Zap: Electrical Current From Flowing Water"
"Sensor Nets Top R&D List for Homeland Security Agency"
"Will Bluetooth Be Bumped?"
"2004 Innovators & Influencers"
"State of the PC"
"The Love Machine"
"Tomorrow's Conflicts: Faster, Safer, Casualty-Free"

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

"Five Giants in Technology Unite to Deter File Sharing"
Intel, Matsushita, Nokia, Samsung, and Toshiba have formed a global
consortium, Project Hudson, that soon plans to announce a new system for
shielding digital music, video, and software from unauthorized file
sharing.  The consortium seeks the support of the film and music industries
...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0105m.html#item1

"'Offshoring' Trend Casting a Wider Net"
The prolonged jobless recovery highlights the effect of offshore
outsourcing, or offshoring, on white-collar service jobs:  Numerous
industries and even some government agencies employ educated workers
overseas to achieve cost savings, though laws are being passed that would
...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0105m.html#item2

"DARPA Ignored Privacy Concerns"
A December report from the Defense Department's Inspector General concludes
that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) ignored privacy
concerns raised by the Terrorism Information Awareness (TIA) program, an
initiative to uncover and thwart possible terrorist activity by mining  ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0105m.html#item3

"Security Looks to the Future"
Biometric security technologies are getting a boost from fears of global
terrorism and illegal immigrants, and the next couple of years should see a
proliferation of these technologies and their inclusion in identity
documents.  The introduction of biometric technologies is expected to  ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0105m.html#item4

"Tool Eases Grid Monitoring"
University of Melbourne researchers have created Gridscape, a simple
toolkit for quickly developing grid computing testbed portals without
programming.  Users can plug in data such as a testbed name, logo,
information about the computers being employed by the testbed, and a  ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0105m.html#item5

"20 Years Ago, World Turned for Tech, Telecom"
Dan Gillmor writes that two events in January 1984--the launch of Apple's
Macintosh PC and the fragmentation of the AT&T monopoly--still resonate
today.  He recalls that AT&T's major creative strength before the breakup
was Bell Labs, which contributed many core technologies that support  ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0105m.html#item6

"Big Intrusions, Tiny Pictures and Patented Problems"
Rob Pegoraro writes that 2003 saw significant technological advancements in
several areas, but the glut of malware and spam generally made the Internet
experience less fun for users.  He reports that Microsoft's long-term
ignorance of security issues finally bore bitter fruit thanks to worms,  ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0105m.html#item7

"Sure-Fire Skills for IT Success in 2004"
Information technology workers will have a better chance of maintaining job
security or finding new jobs if they acquire certain skills and/or
certifications, according to experts.  Foote Partners President David Foote
reports that security certifications experienced the highest value increase
...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0105m.html#item8

"The Return of the Internet"
Among the technology-related highlights of 2003 was the controversy
erupting from electronic touch-screen voting machines, whose ease of use,
convenience, and purported security belied such drawbacks as the lack of an
audit trail; computer experts also declared e-voting software susceptible
...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0105m.html#item9

"Security Predictions for 2004"
Information technology and security consultant Peter H. Gregory makes a
welter of forecasts concerning computer security in 2004, much of them
negative.  He predicts increased creativity among spammers in circumventing
filtering programs through such crafty measures as random punctuation and
...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0105m.html#item10

"Tech's Top Trends for 2004"
Predictions for 2004 include less illicit spam and more spam from large
corporations, booming Asian tech markets dictating standards, desktop
alternatives to Microsoft hitting the market in stride, and PC technology
becoming more functional.  Legislative and technical efforts have made many
...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0105m.html#item11

"Asia Looks for Lead on Next-Gen Internet"
Though the United States still has plenty of Internet Protocol addresses to
go around using IP version 4 (IPv4), Asian nations face a greater urgency
to update to IP version 6 (IPv6) in order to forestall a shortage of IP
addresses due to the proliferation of mobile phones and other devices in
...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0105m.html#item12

"Drip, Drip, Zap: Electrical Current From Flowing Water"
An old concept for electricity generation via water has been given new life
by University of Alberta researchers, who devised an "electrokinetic"
method in which water dripped through about 450,000 microscopic channels in
a ceramic filter causes positive and negative charges to build up, while
...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0105m.html#item13

"Sensor Nets Top R&D List for Homeland Security Agency"
Next-generation sensor networks will be the primary focus for the Homeland
Security Advanced Research Projects Agency's (HSARPA) research and
development efforts, according to HSARPA director David Bolka.  He
estimates that his agency will channel approximately $390 million in its
...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0105m.html#item14

"Will Bluetooth Be Bumped?"
Bluetooth's market penetration through the popularity of mobile phones was
a significant achievement this year, but wireless LAN (WLAN) and Ultra
Wideband (UWB) could gain on Bluetooth and even push it out of its niche
market, according to some experts.  Motorola's Omid Tahernia, whose company
...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0105m.html#item15

"2004 Innovators & Influencers"
Among the people singled out by InformationWeek as significant innovators
or influencers for 2004 is FedEx Institute of Technology Chairman Jim
Phillips, whose goal is to turn the institute into "the technology
epicenter" of the middle southern United States; 250 researchers at the ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0105m.html#item16

"State of the PC"
Analysts and technology journalists debate whether the personal computer is
in its autumn years or has a long and healthy life ahead of it:
International Data analyst Roger Kay foresees continued consolidation and a
leaning toward phones and other devices, while PC Magazine columnist Bill
...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0105m.html#item17

"The Love Machine"
Advocates of affective computing believe computers should be designed from
the beginning to identify, communicate, and have an impact on emotion in
users, a concept that runs counter to the prevailing wisdom of most
artificial intelligence experts, who consider unemotional rule-based  ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0105m.html#item18

"Tomorrow's Conflicts: Faster, Safer, Casualty-Free"
An array of technologies will emerge over the next decade with the purpose
of accelerating military deployment and response, increasing battlefield
safety, and minimizing casualties and damage at home and abroad.  Advances
in the areas of sensors, data routing, data mining, high-speed computing,
...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0105m.html#item19

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