Inside the Stupid Fun Club
Why Software Still Stinks
Seven out of 19 software pioneers interviewed by Microsoft Press editor Susan Lammers 20 years ago for her book "Programmers at Work" were reunited at a March 16 panel to discuss the current state of software, and all of them observed that software is still excessively complicated for both ...
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The Web: Hacker Turf War Raging Online
A turf war between three groups of rival hackers is being waged over the Internet, the prize being the many computer systems their malware threatens to compromise and zombify worldwide. In computer worms such as MyDoom, Netsky, and Bagle, Central Command analysts have uncovered messages ...
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Who Should Govern the Net?
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Chairman and Internet pioneer Vint Cerf says his organization is moving forward on technical innovation, expanding top-level domains (TLDs), cooperation with other core Internet players, and international policy adherence. He sees ...
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E-Vote Snafu in California County
Napa County, Calif., Registrar of Voters John Tuteur reported Thursday that a glitch caused an optical scan machine used in the March 2 primary election to miss 6,692 out of 468,001 votes recorded on over 13,000 absentee ballots. An employee of Sequoia Voting Systems, the machine's ...
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Viruses Lurk as a Threat to 'Smart' Cellphones
The growing power of "smart phones" is increasing their susceptibility to malware, which Network Associates predicts could cost North American wireless carriers as much as $2.5 billion in two years. As a result, the wireless industry is preparing itself for a major virus assault that ...
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Scientists Vying for Special Funds
Since former Bell Labs research chief Charles McQueary took the position of undersecretary for science and technology at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, his office has been deluged with over 5,500 security technology proposals. Among them are "motes"--tiny wireless devices that ...
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Prototype System Developed by Wright State University Computer Engineer Allows Blind to 'See'
Wright State University (WSU) researchers, in conjunction with Arizona State University (ASU), have developed a prototype wearable device dubbed Tyflos" that allows blind people to perceive their surroundings via audio information. Tyflos consists of camera-equipped glasses wired to a laptop ...
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The Future of the GPL
The SCO Group, in launching lawsuits against Linux users, is arguing against the constitutionality of the GNU General Public License (GPL), but Columbia University law professor and Free Software Foundation (FSF) counsel Eben Moglen says the litigation will have no bearing on any changes ...
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New Hacker Program Prompts Alert
A new hacker tool has emerged to take advantage of the peer-to-peer networking abilities that file-sharing networks use, and computer security experts are watching for it. The Phatbot tool is thought to have already infected hundreds of thousands of computers that use the Windows operating ...
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No Outlet? Don't Worry, an Ethernet Cable May Do
Ethernet cables can conduct both data and electric power because they do not interfere with each other thanks to differing frequencies: Electricity travels at about 60 hertz, while data signaling travels in the 10 million to 100 million hertz range. This and the inexpensiveness of Ethernet cable ...
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Finally, Apple Speaks to the Blind
At the 19th annual Technology & Persons with Disabilities Conference, Apple Computer unveiled its Spoken Interface, a tool designed to help visually impaired users navigate a computer desktop and Web pages by vocalizing and giving sound cues to what is happening on the screen of their Macs. The ...
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Some Experts Say Offshore Outcry Masks U.S. Shortage of Technology Labor
Despite all the uproar about overseas outsourcing of technology jobs, many industry analysts say the United States will soon be facing a serious shortage of IT workers: Increasing computerization, retiring Baby Boomers, and lower enrollments in technology programs at schools will all contribute ...
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RFID Chips Watch Grandma Brush Teeth
A number of companies illustrated how wireless radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips could simplify and improve the care of the elderly in a March 16 demonstration for government officials in Washington, D.C. Such chips, affixed to everyday objects such as toothbrushes, chairs, ...
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Apple's Ron Okamoto Previews WWDC 2004
Apple worldwide developer relations vice president Ron Okamoto says this year's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) will host a wide range of developers from many platforms and industries. Last year's conference saw about 3,000 developers, including a greater number of first-time attendees ...
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Q&A: Quality Software Means More Secure Software
Cigital CTO and author Gary McGraw posits that software quality and software security are inexorably linked, and though he acknowledges that the software industry has started to take software security more seriously, he cautions that "they have a long way to go." McGraw says the security, ...
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ST to Lead European 'Ambient Intelligence' Project
STMicroelectronics will head a European research initiative that focuses on making "ambient intelligence" technology commercially ready for everyday objects. PolyApply will be a four-year research project that will involve 20 European companies, academic and research institutes, including Philips, ...
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Tough Road to Quality Code
Because the reliability of automotive software can impact an automaker's reputation among consumers, manufacturers are facing increasing pressure to ensure that such software is free of errors. Automakers are altering their operations to address the industry's adoption of software by more closely ...
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Technology That Speaks in Tongues
Military personnel are employing a growing arsenal of automatic translation devices in an effort to overcome the language barrier many soldiers face while stationed abroad--a barrier that is all the more difficult because linguists are scarce. One such device is VoxTec's Phraselator, a ...
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Inside the Stupid Fun Club
The Stupid Fun Club founded by robot enthusiasts Will Wright and Mike Winter is a sort of think tank whose goal is to determine how people relate to robots by building machines programmed to exhibit unusual behavior, and filming people's reactions to them, mainly as a source of entertainment. ...
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