Robots and Sensors May Help Make Seniors Mobile
Pioneer Who Kept the Web Free Honored With a Technology Prize
The Finnish Technology Award Foundation will honor World Wide Web Consortium director Tim Berners-Lee with the $1.2 million Millennium Technology Prize--the biggest tech award in the world--on June 15 for conceiving of the World Wide Web and insisting that it employ a ...
[read more] to the top
Undergrad Helps Make Engineering More Congenial for Women
University of California, Santa Cruz computer engineering major Angela Schmid attributes her success to her involvement in student organizations, networking with other women, and finding supportive faculty members. The 2004 Dean's Award honoree was elected co-president of the UCSC chapter of ...
[read more] to the top
Power to the People
Czech scientists are building up their country's grid computing capabilities, and contributing to larger European efforts, such as CERN's European Data Grid. The potential of grid computing is becoming apparent with the recent data-transfer record set between CERN and the California ...
[read more] to the top
Robotic Rock-Climber Takes Its First Steps
Engineers at Stanford University and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have developed a spidery prototype robot called Lemur that is designed to scale the sides of irregular surfaces. Other climbing robots employ suction cups or magnets to get a foothold, and are designed for flat surfaces; Lemur ...
[read more] to the top
To Judge Recent Attack on Linux's Origins, Consider the Source
Lee Gomes punches holes in a recent report from the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution insinuating that open-source Linux software commits copyright infringement on the basis that its creator, Linux Torvalds, has displayed nothing but contempt for intellectual-property laws from the start. The ...
[read more] to the top
Beyond Proprietary Databases: Helen Borrie on the Future of Firebird
Version 2.0 of the open-source database server Firebird is almost ready as is an official road map that project team leader Helen Borrie says will make the software more appealing to large enterprises. Firebird's aim is to replace Oracle and SQL Server in commercial applications, and Borrie ...
[read more] to the top
Digital Pen Takes on Mouse
A team led by Dr. Jun Rekimoto at the Sony Interaction Laboratory has devised a "pick and drop" method for transferring notes and files between computers by selecting the information with a special pen and dropping it onto the display of another machine simply by touching the screen. The pen ...
[read more] to the top
Pay or Go Away: What Would Spammers Do?
Researchers at the University of Michigan believe that charging spammers for every message they send would solve the spam problem within two to three years. Marshall Van Alstyne, an assistant professor in the School of Information, computer science doctoral students Thede Loder and Rick Wash, ...
[read more] to the top
A Computer That Has an Eye for Van Gogh
Researchers at the University of Masstricht in the Netherlands have developed Authentic, a computer system designed to enhance the authentication of paintings by distinguishing patterns of consistency in works of art attributed to specific artists. The system is currently ...
[read more] to the top
UN Favors Change in Internet Governance
A new working group that is still being formed by the United Nations (UN) is in the early stages of developing plans for changing and improving worldwide Internet governance, according to the group's secretary, Markus Kummer. In a presentation delivered to attendees of the International ...
[read more] to the top
Green Light for Bluetooth: Faster Speed Debuts
Bluetooth has a new Enhanced Data Rate (EDR) that advocates say will enable more Bluetooth applications, such as wireless speaker connections and cell phones that operate as cordless landline phones. The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) says the new 2.1 Mbps data rate is three times faster ...
[read more] to the top
Tech on the Back Burner
Congress has prioritized the war with Iraq and homeland security over technology initiatives for 2004, and most experts contend that these issues are being emphasized out of congressional members' desire to elevate their public image in an election season. "It's going to be a short legislative ...
[read more] to the top
Experts Warn of VOIP Security Flaws
Telecommunications experts speaking at the recent VON Europe Voice over IP (VoIP) conference warned that Internet Protocol-based (IP) voice networks will need a new approach to security. VoIP provides cost and value-added advantages over traditional phone networks, but also comes with new threats ...
[read more] to the top
Hack Out the Useless Extras
MIT Media Lab founding chairman Nicholas Negroponte says the speed and performance of software worsens with each succeeding release because of
featuritis," the tendency to bloat new releases with features and options that monopolize the hardware's improved speed and memory. He argues that ...
[read more] to the top
E-Voting Debate: Paper or No Paper
Whether electronic voting machines are reliable enough to be used without voter-verified paper ballots is a subject of intense debate among Congress and state legislatures as the November general election approaches. Legislative support for paper trails is gaining: In 2003, Rep. Rush Holt ...
[read more] to the top
IT on the Campaign Trail
How well the Democrats and Republicans take advantage of IT could determine the winner of the 2004 presidential election. IT has become a critical marketing tool for campaigners and a major force in the mobilization of voters and supporters. The transition from grass-roots to ...
[read more] to the top
The Future of Interoperability
Current geographic information systems (GIS) technology does not support data sharing and integration very well because of its inability to accommodate multiple, proprietary data formats, nor was it designed for the Internet or distributed information architectures; networked data ...
[read more] to the top
Robots and Sensors May Help Make Seniors Mobile
A variety of assistive technologies are being developed to give elderly people more independence and mobility via unique communication interfaces between the users and their environment, according to Rodolphe Gelin of the Robotics and Interactive Systems Department at France's Atomic Energy ...
[read more] to the top
To submit feedback about ACM TechNews, contact:
technews@xxxxxxxxxx
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.
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
to the top
© Copyright 2004 Information, Inc.
