Toward Interoperable First Response
ACM Awards Honor Distinguished Contributions to Computing
The ACM has announced the recipients of the 2004 Distinguished Service Award and the 2004 Outstanding Contribution to ACM Award for their role in advancing the field of computing. The University of Arizona's Richard Snodgrass, ACM Fellow ...
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Senate Spotlight Turns to Data Security
Security breaches at personal data vendors ChoicePoint and LexisNexis have enlivened congressional debate about how to strengthen privacy regulations in a market where the government currently has an unclear role. In testimony before the Senate Banking Committee, FTC Chairwoman Deborah Platt ...
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Why Women Leave IT
Women's share of the IT workforce fell from 41% to 35% between 1996 and 2002, and University of Arkansas professor Deb Armstrong says this decline is gaining traction. This trend could seriously impair employers facing a scarcity of technical workers, and also hurt the career ...
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Next Big Step for the Web--or a Detour?
Enterprise applications for the Semantic Web is the theme of this week's Semantic Technology Conference, where advocates will address doubts that World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) director Tim Berners-Lee's vision of a next-generation Internet is practical, much less achievable. Among the ...
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World's Most Powerful Computer Is Doubled in Size
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers report that the 32,000-processor Blue Gene/L supercomputer--the fastest machine on Earth, according to the Top500 ranking--has increased its size by a factor of two, and its processing power is expected to double as well. Lawrence Livermore ...
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Revised Spyware Bill Moves Ahead
An amended version of the Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber Trespass Act, or Spy Act, was unanimously passed by the House Commerce Committee on March 9. The act is designed to inhibit the hijacking of home pages or the capture of users' keystrokes by purveyors of spyware and deny the ...
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Europe Lacks Vision on Innovation
Despite the recent breakthrough on limited software patents among European Union industry ministers this week, the issue of intellectual property protection is still confused in the EU. The European Parliament will review the software patent legislation and either approve, reject, or offer ...
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Humanoids With Attitude
Analysts call Japan a world leader in the application of artificial intelligence to everyday life, a reputation that is being cemented by the many sophisticated robots employed in the country as security guards, receptionists, guides, pets, and hospital workers, among other things. ...
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Search Engines Build a Better Mousetrap
Spurred by the success of Google, competing search engines such as MSN Search and Ask Jeeves are rolling out new tools that offer more intuitive search capabilities. Ask Jeeves' "Smart Search" feature directly answers definitive queries in addition to providing Web links, and this spring Ask ...
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Computing Success
UCLA's Department of Education and School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) are engaged in a collaborative program to boost the percentage of female and underrepresented minority students taking Advanced Placement (AP) computer ...
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Open-Source Leader Highlights Technologies for Developers to Watch
Open source advocate and Spring application framework founder Rod Johnson said the J2EE platform has gained strength over the last two years and encouraged Java developers to use framework-oriented development at TheServerSide Java Symposium in Las Vegas. Johnson criticized J2EE at ...
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H-1Bs Now Open to the Less-Educated?
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) has come under fire for its interpretation of a new law exempting foreigners with advanced degrees from an H-1B visa cap. The agency says it could broaden the category for 20,000 exemptions by including all qualified foreigners, not ...
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Hackers Target U.S. Power Grid
The electric industry claims it is getting serious about cybersecurity, but government officials, including Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Patrick Wood, are skeptical of the industry's efforts, claiming that terrorists or hackers could cause serious damage to power plants and ...
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New System Enhances Images in Crime Investigation
Software originally developed by MacDonald, Dettwiler & Associates (MDA) to help Mars rovers get around obstacles has been refined into a prototype system that can convert a few seconds of video from a handheld stereo camera into a 3D model of a location, which is being tested by Canadian and ...
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Novel, Computer-Assisted Method for Colorization
Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Benin School of Computer Science and Engineering have developed an effective tool for adding color to black and white images and movies. Dani Lischinski, Yair Weiss, and graduate student Anat Levin have developed new software ...
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TCP/IP Pioneer's Past Is Prologue
Packet Design and Precision I/O chief scientist Van Jacobson, creator of the TCP Protocol for Header Compression and a recipient of ACM's SIGCOMM Award in 2001, recalls that his interest in networked control began in the mid 1970s when he faced the challenge of finding a way to minimize the ...
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Eclipse Chief Talks Up Projects, Awaits Sun and Microsoft
In an interview with InfoWorld Editor at Large Paul Krill, Eclipse Foundation executive director Mike Milinkovich attributes the enormous popularity of Eclipse open-source software to its excellent architecture, and notes that the enterprise IT space is a major user of Eclipse tools. ...
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A Head in the Clouds or Hopes on Solid Ground?
In his keynote address at the SpeechTEK 2004 conference, World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) director Tim Berners-Lee discusses the general state of speech technology, the standards it is based on, and their relationship to the Web. "What's difficult for all the people out there who are wondering ...
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Toward Interoperable First Response
Interoperable wireless communications among U.S. public-safety organizations is a necessity all too clearly demonstrated by tragedies such as the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Integrating the many federal and non-federal first-responder services in the United States requires a ...
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