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
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.
