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

ACM TechNews - Friday, April 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
April 1, 2005

Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber:

Welcome to the April 1, 2005 edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for IT professionals three times a week. 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.

Sponsored by
Learn more about Texis, the text-oriented database providing high-performance search engine features combined with SQL operations and a development toolkit, that powers many diverse applications, including Webinator and the Thunderstone Search Appliance.

Learn more about Texis, the text-oriented database providing high-performance search engine features combined with SQL operations and a development toolkit, that powers many diverse applications, including Webinator and the Thunderstone Search Appliance.


HEADLINES AT A GLANCE:

  • Father of Palm Handhelds Focuses on Making Computers Even Brainier
  • A Miss Hit
  • Cybersecurity Regs Would Be Tricky
  • Kevin Mitnick and the Art of Intrusion--Part 1
  • On the Trail of the Zombie PCs
  • One-on-One
  • Retirement Having Little Effect on IT Skills, Survey Finds
  • Study Seeks Hi-Tech Mountaineers
  • Gadgets Rule on College Campuses
  • NFC: Nearly There
  • The Brain Behind the Big, Bad Burger and Other Tales of Business Intelligence
  • The Changing Landscape of Networks
  • Will .Mp and .Mobi Make Life Easier for Mobile Users
  • Hack License
  • If Smallpox Strikes Portland...
  • Location-Aware Networking: We Know Where You Are
  • Visual Modeling's New Look
  • Where Do System Standards Go From Here?

     

    Father of Palm Handhelds Focuses on Making Computers Even Brainier

    Palm handheld creator and Redwood Neuroscience Institute founder Jeff Hawkins recently unveiled a for-profit company, Numenta, that will concentrate on expanding computer intelligence through the application of his brain research. Hawkins theorizes that the human brain's ability to ...

    [read more]      to the top


    A Miss Hit

    Wired magazine editor-in-chief Chris Anderson wrote an article last year titled "The Long Tail" that said Internet firms such as Amazon.com, eBay, and Google based their businesses on obscure information and products rather than popular items; the meme gathered currency among bloggers, who ...

    [read more]      to the top


    Cybersecurity Regs Would Be Tricky

    Although the federal government believes establishing a broad regulatory framework for cybersecurity would prevent counterterrorism, a 57-page report from the Congressional Research Service suggests the Internet is too vast to control, especially since cooperation and coordination among ...

    [read more]      to the top


    Kevin Mitnick and the Art of Intrusion--Part 1

    Hacker-turned-security-consultant Kevin Mitnick, who has compiled stories of exploits in his book "The Art of Intrusion" as a guide to hackers' goals and attack strategies, notes that the companies he offers his services to are too concerned with regulation compliance and making money to fortify ...

    [read more]      to the top


    On the Trail of the Zombie PCs

    Programmers participating in The German Honeynet Project are detailing their attempts to track down and monitor malicious "bots" used to turn vulnerable PCs into "zombie" computers that hackers use to coordinate exploits ranging from identity theft to spamming to disruption of online ...

    [read more]      to the top


    One-on-One

    Department of Homeland Security (DHS) top cybersecurity official Andy Purdy says the most worrisome threat to national cybersecurity is the growing black market of tools that spread spyware or launch denial-of-service attacks. These networks of hijacked computers are currently being used by ...

    [read more]      to the top


    Retirement Having Little Effect on IT Skills, Survey Finds

    The federal IT workforce is aging, but its IT skills remain strong, according to a new study by the CIO Council and the Office of Personnel Management. The CIO Council and the OPM surveyed 22,104 IT workers in 12 General Schedule or Foreign Service categories involved in IT or that have ...

    [read more]      to the top


    Study Seeks Hi-Tech Mountaineers

    Researchers at the University of Aberdeen and the Macaulay Institute are recruiting mountain climbers and hillwalkers to participate in a year-long study to evaluate the ability of geovisualization software to evaluate terrain. Geovisualization can be used to create, inspect, and manipulate ...

    [read more]      to the top


    Gadgets Rule on College Campuses

    U.S. college campuses have been invaded by an army of laptops, cell phones, and other wireless technologies students use to maintain constant connections between their classwork, their peers, and their professors. Critics such as college consultant Warren Arbogast warn that the push to ...

    [read more]      to the top


    NFC: Nearly There

    Philips and Nokia continue to make progress on near-field communications (NFC), but advocates of the technology must narrow the scope of its potential uses, convince manufacturers to include it in their electronic devices, and find big customers, like RFID and contactless payment have in ...

    [read more]      to the top


    The Brain Behind the Big, Bad Burger and Other Tales of Business Intelligence

    The restaurant industry is the exception to the rule when it comes to effectively using business intelligence (BI) software to extract useful insights that can be exploited to boost the bottom line. CKE Restaurants, parent company of the Hardee's fast food chain, employed a BI system to ...

    [read more]      to the top


    The Changing Landscape of Networks

    The time has come to build a Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS)- and IP-based "infranet" that blends the reliability and functionality of private networks with the pervasiveness of the Internet, writes Juniper Networks founder and CTO Pradeep Sindhu. This will eliminate the barriers ...

    [read more]      to the top


    Will .Mp and .Mobi Make Life Easier for Mobile Users

    Two new top-level domains--.mp and .mobi--designed to accommodate the viewing constraints of mobile Internet devices are expected to be available by mid 2005, despite opposition from some who say the domains violate the device independence of the Internet. The .mp domain is already in the ...

    [read more]      to the top


    Hack License

    In reviewing McKenzie Wark's book, "A Hacker Manifesto," Simson Garfinkel outlines Wark's central argument and notes flaws that, in the reviewer's opinion, make the title of the book misleading. Wark, a professor at New School University, sees recent skirmishes over copyrights, trademarks, and ...

    [read more]      to the top


    If Smallpox Strikes Portland...

    A group of Los Alamos National Laboratory researchers has developed EpiSims, software that can run computerized simulations of disease epidemics in order to determine the best ways health officials can respond. A disease's trajectory throughout the social network as well as the points ...

    [read more]      to the top


    Location-Aware Networking: We Know Where You Are

    The deployment of enhanced 911 (E911), which is already required in several states, calls for the implementation of a location-aware infrastructure that supports VoIP over Wi-Fi and similar technologies, but enterprises should examine the opportunities--and drawbacks--location-aware networks ...

    [read more]      to the top


    Visual Modeling's New Look

    Visual modeling, when properly executed, can enhance software application development by reducing manual coding, incorporating reusability into whole segments of application design, making maintenance less of a headache for IT organizations, and ensuring that business and development teams are ...

    [read more]      to the top


    Where Do System Standards Go From Here?

    Cisco Systems' John G. Waclawsky writes that successful standards expand the general market because they focus on creating end-user value by reducing product or product components' complexity and cost, and making businesses capable of developing new products or services. Despite the ...

    [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.