[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

ACM TechNews - Wednesday, June 1, 2005



Title: ACM TechNews (HTML)
Read the TechNews Online at: http://www.acm.org/technews/
Current Issue: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html
ACM TechNews
June 1, 2005

Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber:

Welcome to the June 1, 2005 edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for IT professionals three times a week. (Please note that there was no issue on Monday, May 30 [Memorial Day holiday observed]).
For instructions on how to unsubscribe from this service, please see below.

ACM's MemberNet newsletter offers the latest information on ACM activities, member benefits, and industry issues.

The The ACM Professional Development Centre offers ACM members free access to hundreds of courses and books, and the optional ITPro Collection.

Become a

TechNews Sponsor Today


HEADLINES AT A GLANCE:

  • EU Studies Impact of Software Patents on Open Source
  • Domain System Creator Honoured
  • Federal ID Act May Be Flawed
  • Linux Powers Airborne Bots
  • Camera Sees Behind Objects
  • EU Highlights Grid Computing as 'Pay-as-You-Use Solution' for Europe
  • Maryland Adopts Computer-Recycling Fee
  • Java Sets Sail for the Final Frontier
  • Setting the Stage for China's Tech Future
  • 'Patient Zero' Pinpointed in PC-Worm Outbreak
  • LinuxWorld Summit: Professor Predicts Open Source Revolution
  • Machines' Way With Words
  • AI Draws Stanford Students
  • Standardizing Middleware: More Than Meets the Eye
  • NASA Looks Beyond Wheels for Rover Locomotion
  • Privacy Matters
  • Embedded-System Programmers Must Learn the Fundamentals
  • Hacker Hunters
  • Designing for the Virtual Interactive Classroom

     

    EU Studies Impact of Software Patents on Open Source

    University of Maastricht researchers have been enlisted by the European Commission to study the economic, technical, and legal ramifications of software patents on innovation, although the results of the analysis may ultimately have little sway on the Commission's plans to introduce ...

    [read more]      to the top


    Domain System Creator Honoured

    Nominum chief scientist Dr. Paul Mockapetris has received the a lifetime Achievement award from ACM's Special Interest Group on Data Communication (SIGCOMM) for developing the Domain Name System (DNS) over 20 years ago. The DNS plays a critical role in the operation of the Internet ...

    [read more]      to the top


    Federal ID Act May Be Flawed

    The Real ID Act President Bush signed on May 11 as part of an omnibus spending bill is supposedly designed to make it harder for impersonators to acquire driver's licenses, but critics say the act will allow both authorized and unauthorized people to access considerably more personal ...

    [read more]      to the top


    Linux Powers Airborne Bots

    University of Essex researchers are building a fleet of miniature robotic helicopters that exhibit swarm intelligence and cooperative function by running the Linux 2.6 kernel and communicating wirelessly with each another via Bluetooth. Researcher Owen Holland expects the UltraSwarm project to ...

    [read more]      to the top


    Camera Sees Behind Objects

    A digital camera that can see from the point of view of a light source has been developed by Stanford University and Cornell University researchers. The system includes a digital projector that beams a series of black and white pixels at a scene, while the camera captures how the light bounces ...

    [read more]      to the top


    EU Highlights Grid Computing as 'Pay-as-You-Use Solution' for Europe

    Grid technology adoption in European commercial and public sectors will boost that region's competitiveness and quality of life by the end of the decade, says European Commission Information Society head Viviane Reding. European researchers at CERN and other institutions are leading grid ...

    [read more]      to the top


    Maryland Adopts Computer-Recycling Fee

    Several U.S. states are attempting to deal with the mounting problem of electronic waste by implementing computer-recycling programs, and Maryland is the latest participant with Gov. Robert Ehrlich Jr.'s (R) recent signing of a bill requiring computer makers producing over 1,000 computers annually ...

    [read more]      to the top


    Java Sets Sail for the Final Frontier

    Java creator and Sun Microsystems vice president James Gosling says the programming language will enable radical new applications as it becomes more widely deployed on the edge of the network. Java-coded sensors at the bottom of San Francisco Bay could be used to build predictive models, or ...

    [read more]      to the top


    Setting the Stage for China's Tech Future

    Major technology vendors are stepping up research collaborations with Chinese universities in order to curry favor with government policymakers, tailor products for the local market, develop the local technology base, and tap local talent. IBM China Research Laboratory director James Yeh ...

    [read more]      to the top


    'Patient Zero' Pinpointed in PC-Worm Outbreak

    University of California, Berkeley, researchers Vern Paxson and Nicholas Weaver and Georgia Institute of Technology researcher Abhishek Kumar detail in a paper how they applied a "telescope analysis" method to reconstruct the propagation trail of the "Witty worm" epidemic of March 2004 and find ...

    [read more]      to the top


    LinuxWorld Summit: Professor Predicts Open Source Revolution

    In the final keynote panel at this year's LinuxWorld Summit, Free Software Foundation general counsel and Columbia University professor Eben Moglen told attendees that the SourceForge.net open source software development Web site is an outstanding resource for free computer-science research and ...

    [read more]      to the top


    Machines' Way With Words

    Customer support and other services that employ voice recognition systems are benefiting from research to determine the most effective kinds of voices that automated agents should possess. Stanford University professor Clifford Nass of the Laboratory for Communication Between Humans and ...

    [read more]      to the top


    AI Draws Stanford Students

    Student test subjects at Stanford University's Virtual Human Interaction Lab responded favorably to digital avatars that mimicked the subjects as they pitched a notional university security policy. Half of the sessions, which were conducted in a 3D virtual- reality environment, involved avatars ...

    [read more]      to the top


    Standardizing Middleware: More Than Meets the Eye

    Standardizing middleware could simplify the creation of mobile business products for wireless systems developers and enable business owners to more easily adopt mobile applications, but not all wireless systems providers agree that such an approach is viable. Opponents claim a uniform ...

    [read more]      to the top


    NASA Looks Beyond Wheels for Rover Locomotion

    NASA engineers are working on small robotic vehicles for planetary exploration whose capabilities should surpass those of wheeled rovers. Under development is the prototype of a tetrahedral rover that uses a system of telescoping struts in a pyramid configuration to shift its ...

    [read more]      to the top


    Privacy Matters

    Privacy proponents' increased emphasis on enhancing the collection, storage, and sharing of personal information with more protective measures has sparked expectations of a legislative mandate for more rigorous controls over personal information. However, it remains uncertain as to ...

    [read more]      to the top


    Embedded-System Programmers Must Learn the Fundamentals

    Software programmers need to start taking code optimization seriously as Moore's Law produces less performance gains, writes consultant Randall Hyde, author of "Write Great Code: Understanding the Machine." Though Moore's Law is likely to continue increasing transistor density, those ...

    [read more]      to the top


    Hacker Hunters

    To counter the growing threat of professional, profit-driven cyber-criminals, enforcement agents or "hacker hunters" are combining the latest cybercrime deterrents with traditional tactics such as infiltration and the Internet equivalent of wire-tapping to topple and successfully ...

    [read more]      to the top


    Designing for the Virtual Interactive Classroom

    Online learning offers flexibility and convenience, but synchronous online collaboration tools can support richer and more spontaneous, natural, and efficient interaction. Designing for Learning founder Judith Boettcher recommends that educators choose at least two to three synchronous ...

    [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@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 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 2005 Information, Inc.


  • © 2005 ACM, Inc. All rights reserved. ACM Privacy Policy.