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ACM TechNews - Wednesday, June 29, 2005



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ACM TechNews
June 29, 2005

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HEADLINES AT A GLANCE:

  • File-Sharing Firms Can Be Held Liable
  • U.S.-Style Labor Pains From Mumbai to Bangalore
  • By and for the Masses
  • County Moves Ahead With New E-Voting System
  • Paint Program Renders Ink Physics
  • UF, Nine Other Universities Complete Ultra High-Speed Data Network
  • Vint Cerf: Next Stop, Mars
  • Space Station Gets HAL-Like Computer
  • A Quantum Leap in Cryptography
  • Tracking Trends in the Top Supercomputers
  • Microsoft Gets Hip to AJAX
  • Exporting Technology
  • IT Field Now Faces Worker Shortage
  • Cybersecurity Group Looks to Europe for Help
  • Prof Bemoans Loss of the Long View
  • University Researchers Make Device That Turns Drivers Into Musicians
  • Keeping an Eye on You
  • The Innovation Arms Race
  • The Net Effect

     

    File-Sharing Firms Can Be Held Liable

    In two Supreme Court decisions this week, the entertainment industry scored significant proprietary victories. The first, decided unanimously, held that online distributors of file-sharing software can be found liable if it is demonstrated that they encourage users to illegally share copyrighted ...

    [read more]      to the top


    U.S.-Style Labor Pains From Mumbai to Bangalore

    As India's technology industry has been flourishing, it is experiencing the attendant labor problems of recruiting and retaining workers. The average turnover among India's software companies is 15 percent, with some reporting rates as high as 30 percent. Part of the genesis of India's boom ...

    [read more]      to the top


    By and for the Masses

    The Internet is playing host to a growing number of sharing sites that many believe will be the defining aspect of the next phase of the Web. Advances in software have lowered the operating cost and broadened the scope of sites offering user-created content, going beyond the celebrated ...

    [read more]      to the top


    County Moves Ahead With New E-Voting System

    On Tuesday, Alameda County supervisors approved the continued use of Diebold's touch-screen electronic voting machines. The county will negotiate a $5.4 million contract for Diebold's TSx machines, which come with printers attached to create paper verification, for the next ...

    [read more]      to the top


    Paint Program Renders Ink Physics

    A Hong Kong University of Science and Technology team of researchers has developed Moxi, technology designed to make computer paint and animation programs more realistic. Moxi simulates the properties of pigment at a very basic level, such as its tendency to clump at the edge of ink while it ...

    [read more]      to the top


    UF, Nine Other Universities Complete Ultra High-Speed Data Network

    The University of Florida is set to unveil Florida Lambda Rail (FLR) next week, a new computer network that will link that school with nine others in Florida and transmit data at speeds of 10 Gbps, or roughly 100 times the capacity of the old network. Two and a half years in the works, FLR ...

    [read more]      to the top


    Vint Cerf: Next Stop, Mars

    Vinton Cerf, who along with Robert Kahn came up with the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol that gave computers standard addresses by which they could exchange bundles of data, a precursor to today's Internet, is at it again, this time shooting for the moon and beyond. Now ...

    [read more]      to the top


    Space Station Gets HAL-Like Computer

    Voice-operated computer software will soon be used on the International Space Station to help astronauts test station water for bacteria. Developed with assistance from astronauts at NASA's Ames Research Center in California, Clarissa will be run on a laptop and will query astronauts ...

    [read more]      to the top


    A Quantum Leap in Cryptography

    Quantum encryption, heretofore an abstraction confined to laboratories, may soon be available to the average network administrator, as id Quantique and MagiQ Technologies have been preparing second-generation products for public release. Developers also envision broader applications for the ...

    [read more]      to the top


    Tracking Trends in the Top Supercomputers

    While IBM's BlueGene/L System held its position atop the list of the world's 500 most powerful supercomputers, there has been significant fluctuation in the high performance computing field, as five of the top 10 from last November's list were new additions. IBM holds six of the top 10 ...

    [read more]      to the top


    Microsoft Gets Hip to AJAX

    Microsoft is making it easier for developers to build AJAX applications-- Web applications that have rich graphics. The software giant is developing software, code-named Atlas, designed to provide developers with an enhanced environment for building applications, and will include services such as an ...

    [read more]      to the top


    Exporting Technology

    After failed initiatives in India and Ireland, the MIT Media Lab has joined forces with Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) to establish a Media Lab collaboration in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Members of the NEXT consortium, comprised of an assortment of Taiwanese companies, will ...

    [read more]      to the top


    IT Field Now Faces Worker Shortage

    In a dramatic reversal of the dismal job scene that followed the dot-com collapse, many students graduating with computer science degrees are finding jobs right out of college. While the demand for computer scientists has cooled, the level of interest among students in a field ...

    [read more]      to the top


    Cybersecurity Group Looks to Europe for Help

    Former White House security director and current Cyber Security Industry Alliance (CSIA) executive director Paul Kurtz on Friday called the global information systems security threat "high risk," and warned that federal agencies are "taking information security for granted." Kurtz left his ...

    [read more]      to the top


    Prof Bemoans Loss of the Long View

    The computer skills of U.S. students continue to improve, says Virginia Polytechnic Institute engineering professor Jeff Reed, but their math skills trail those of international students. Reed, a wireless communications expert, believes that too much of a focus on "'get the A, ...

    [read more]      to the top


    University Researchers Make Device That Turns Drivers Into Musicians

    Playing a piece of classical music can be as simple as driving a car. The _expression_ Synthesis Project, developed by researchers at the University of Southern California, generates Brahms' Hungarian Dance No. 5 in G minor through driving on a virtual road. The program incorporates a MIDI ...

    [read more]      to the top


    Keeping an Eye on You

    Social scientists such as cultural anthropologist Genevieve Bell are helping Intel to think more about the end users of its products, and consider that people around the world may be using its products in different ways. Bell, who has a Ph.D. in anthropology from Stanford ...

    [read more]      to the top


    The Innovation Arms Race

    Innovation has consistently kept the U.S. at the forefront of the global economy, but when it falls victim to outsourcing the U.S. could be left in a tenuous position. Fears of U.S. displacement escalate amid a cut in the NSF's research and development budget and Bill Gates' charge that our ...

    [read more]      to the top


    The Net Effect

    China is planning a major Internet upgrade to bring its infrastructure into line with those of other developed nations, but China's traditions of online censorship and intrusiveness are a cause for concern. Experts warn that the upgrade will largely remove the technological constraints that ...

    [read more]      to the top


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