Computing Leaders Praise House Appropriators for
Innovation Funding
Computing Research News (06/15/06)
ACM and the Computing Research Association (CRA) praised Rep. Frank Wolf
(R-Va.) and his House colleagues for passing legislation supporting
President Bush's American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI). The bill would
increase NSF research funding by 8 percent, or $439 million more than last
year's allotment, and provide an additional $104 million to the research
activities at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
Eugene Spafford, who chairs the ACM's U.S. Public Policy Committee,
commended the lawmakers for their commitment to preserving the U.S. culture
of innovation and boosting the economy. "The computing research field is a
crucial example of how federal investment in fundamental research drives
economic growth. These increases would reverse a lengthy trend of flat or
declining budgets in computing research that threaten to put future
innovation at risk," Spafford said. "Chairman Wolf and his committee have
created a historic opportunity to secure the Nation's leadership in
research in information technology and other physical sciences," said CRA
Chair Daniel Reed. "By acting to fulfill the promise of ACI, the
subcommittee has made a down payment on America's future competitiveness."
While the committee's move is an encouraging sign for those calling for
greater federal commitment to scientific research, the ACI still faces
numerous hurdles, such as potential opposition from Gulf Coast
representatives who are likely to protest the cuts to the funding of the
National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, which could steal
away some of the increases to the NSF and NIST.
Click Here to View Full Article
to the top
Politicos Mull Action Against Patent System
Abusers
CNet (06/15/06) Broache, Anne
U.S. politicians gave technology representatives seeking legislative
protection against patent trolls a sympathetic reception this week. While
it may prove difficult to work in legislation dealing with the issue in a
legislative season shortened by midterm elections, Reps. Lamar Smith
(R-Texas) and Howard Berman (D-Calif.), who have both introduced
patent-reform proposals, would like to see new laws passed this year. The
Supreme Court decision eBay v. MercExchange earlier this year settled the
issue of when it is appropriate to issue an injunction in a patent case,
which committee members agreed had been one of the more complicated
questions under consideration. The court determined that courts must
consider numerous factors before granting patent holders injunctions
against infringers, such as the possibility of monetary compensation or
other remedies. The legislators were especially receptive to the
corruptive effect the patent system can have on innovation, noting a
concurring opinion written by Justice Anthony Kennedy criticizing the
emergence of an industry based on exorbitant licensing fees. "Is that an
activity that is essential to innovation in America, that should be
rewarded and that the process should accept and legitimate?" Berman asked.
He is also concerned with the quality of patents issued and the way that
compensation is awarded to patent holders. Both Berman's and Smith's bills
would establish a "post-grant opposition system" that would allow the
public to dispute the validity of a patent for a certain amount of time
without having to file a lawsuit. Amazon.com's Paul Misener urged
lawmakers to focus on the manner by which damages are awarded, specifically
the practice of calculating damages owed to a patent holder by estimating
lost profits.
Click Here to View Full Article
to the top
Professors Make Presentations at IT Conference
Pennsylvania College of Technology (06/14/06)
The Third International Conference on Information Technology: New
Generations featured a keynote address delivered by Jacob R. Miller, and a
paper presented by Sandra Gorka, both charter members of the ACM's Special
Interest Group for Information Technology Education. In a speech titled
"Experiential Learning: Bringing Practical Experiences Into the
Classroom," Miller, an associate professor of computer science at the
Pennsylvania College of Technology's School of Business and Computer
Technologies, discussed his efforts to develop and incorporate real-life
scenarios into his Network Design and Management course. He based his
simulations on the real problems that companies face, and explained that a
course may serve as an alternative to a lab or an internship depending on
its scope. Gorka, an assistant professor of computer science at Penn
College, presented the paper, "Hiring the IT Graduate: What's In the Box,"
which discussed and recommended a model IT curriculum, and described how
the industry can evaluate students and offer input to designers of the
curriculum. SIGITE is focused on developing model curriculum and
accreditation standards for IT. The conference on digital information and
communication technologies took place in April in Las Vegas. For more
information on SIGITE, visit
http://www.sigite.org/content/index.maml
Click Here to View Full Article
to the top
EC
Computational Complexity (06/15/06) Fortnow, Lance
At this week's ACM Conference on Electronic Commerce in Ann Arbor,
Michigan, technologists gathered to discuss the economic dimension of
computer science, such as Internet auctions and economic factors that can
resolve algorithmic problems, writes Lance Fortnow in his blog. The
conference mainly attracted computer scientists from large companies, with
relatively few representatives from the economic and business communities
in attendance. Much of the discussion at the conference focused on
sponsored search auctions where companies like Google and Yahoo! receive
bids for keywords. Developing the right economic model and bidding
mechanisms for these auctions continues to challenge computer scientists.
With 172 participants, this year's EC broke its attendance record.
Click Here to View Full Article
to the top
Carnegie Mellon Researchers Teach Computers to Perceive
Three Dimensions in 2-D Images
Carnegie Mellon News (06/13/06)
A team of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University has developed a
computer-imaging technology that enables computers to discern the geometric
context of objects, leading to a more thorough understanding of the images
that they view. Using machine learning techniques, the researchers created
an application that trains computers to distinguish between vertical and
horizontal surfaces in pictures of outdoor settings, and then create a 3D
reconstruction of the image. "The technique provides an approximate sense
of the scene, a qualitative grasp of the structure of a scene," said Alexei
Efros, assistant professor of computer science and robotics. Discerning
vertical and horizontal surfaces is critical for understanding an image's
broader geometric context, as just 3 percent of photographs are taken at an
angle. A machine learning program formulated statistical associations
between shapes after it was fed 300 images containing examples of vertical
and horizontal surfaces. The researchers created a graphics program that
can cut and fold images along their vertical and horizontal surfaces to
create 3D images. Object-recognition has long been impeded by computers'
inability to comprehend a scene's geometric context. While researchers had
previously been able to describe an object's geometry with relative ease,
matching actual pixels up to the description proved to be much more
difficult. The ability to recognize objects is key to understanding an
image's geometric context, said Martial Hebert, professor of robotics. "If
you find a car," Hebert said, "you know it is on a flat surface."
Click Here to View Full Article
to the top
Government Increasingly Turning to Data Mining
Washington Post (06/15/06) P. D3; Mohammed, Arshad; Goo, Sara Kehaulani
The federal government is increasingly looking to private industry to
furnish it with personal data that would otherwise be beyond its reach,
such as purchasing histories and financial records. Industry observers say
the government has increased the amount that it spends purchasing data from
private companies since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and that it will most
likely continue to rise. Critics claim that the program intrudes on
personal privacy and exceeds government authority, while also questioning
the utility of data mining software to sift through millions of records to
detect suspicious activity. While most government data mining initiatives
are designed to improve services or customer relations, agencies are
increasingly enlisting the private sector to aid in the search for
terrorists. The Defense Department mines data from Internet searches and
the intelligence community to search for individuals linked to terrorist
activity, and a Navy program harvests data to help locate weapons of mass
destruction and narcotics. Cogito sells the National Security Agency
software to sift through phone records and other data. Selling software to
government agencies is a booming business, according to Cogito's William
Donahoo, who adds that the NSA could determine patterns of terrorist
activity from call records without knowing the contents of the
conversation. Critics claim that the data mining initiatives are a waste
of time, and that they are more likely to generate false positive than they
are to actually catch terrorists.
Click Here to View Full Article
to the top
Mobile Data Retrieval Improved With New Algorithm
Developed by Penn State Research
Penn State Live (06/15/06)
Researchers at Pennsylvania State University have devised an algorithm
that could enable cell phone users to retrieve data from television
programs without having to frequently switch channels, keeping energy
consumption to a minimum. "Currently, mobile devices retrieve broadcast
data similar to how TV viewers watch TV shows simultaneously broadcast--by
switching channels," said Prasenjit Mitra, assistant professor in Penn
State's College of Information Sciences and Technology. "But with our
algorithm, cell phone users don't have to wait for fewer broadcast cycles
to retrieve the data as the mobile device can pick up objects broadcast
across parallel air channels." Disseminating data for mobile devices now
occurs through either broadcast, which sends data to multiple people
through parallel air channels, or unicast, which sends data to one person.
The current algorithm only captures data in accordance with the broadcast
schedule, wasting both time and energy. "If you can retrieve all the data
you want in fewer broadcast cycles, then the user saves on time and battery
power," Mitra said. "The power-consumption reduction is achieved because
the technique fetches all the objects requested by a client while
minimizing the number of channel switches required."
Click Here to View Full Article
to the top
Tech Jobs Mixed Bag, Studies Say
Investor's Business Daily (06/15/06) P. A4; Howell, Donna
Trackers of employment trends appear to be mixed on the outlook for the
U.S. technology market. On Wednesday, the Washington Alliance of
Technology Workers (WashTech) released a study that indicates new jobs have
not been a large factor in the rebound of the tech market. The report
notes that 76,300 tech jobs were added from April 2003 to February 2006,
which is less than a quarter of the number of jobs lost from March 2001 to
March 2004, a period in which the economy went into recession for eight
months then recovered over the course of two years. "Employment levels
have been very volatile over the last couple years and remain so," says Nik
Theodore, a professor at the University of Illinois who co-authored the
study. Though the WashTech study says Washington, D.C., Seattle, and San
Francisco have had solid growth in tech jobs, the Monster Employment Index
says there is high demand for tech workers in Cincinnati, Phoenix, and
Kansas City, Mo., and that growth was strong from March 2005 to March 2006.
Meanwhile, IDC economist Anna Toncheva says tech has been stronger than
the overall market, with IT-related employment rising 1.83 percent since
last March compared with 1.5 percent for all jobs. Also Wednesday,
staffing firm Robert Half Technology released a survey of over 1,400 hiring
managers that shows that 13 percent plan to make IT hires in the third
quarter, 3 percent plan to cut back, and the rest do not intend to make any
changes.
Click Here to View Full Article
- Web Link to Publication Homepage
to the top
Protecting Sensitive Data: Researchers Develop Fail-Safe
Techniques for Erasing Magnetic Storage Media
Georgia Institute of Technology (06/12/06)
Researchers at the Georgia Tech Research Institute have developed a
technique for quickly erasing magnetic storage media by using powerful
magnets. The project was inspired by the mid-air collision that forced the
crew of an intelligence-gathering aircraft to land in Chinese territory
four years ago. The crew's inability to erase sensitive data prompted the
initiative to develop rapid-erase technologies. "This is a very
challenging problem," said Georgia Tech's Michael Knotts. "We had to
verify that the data would be beyond all possible recovery even with
unlimited budget and unlimited time. Commercial devices on the market for
data erasure just couldn't fill the bill, because they were magnetically
too weak, they were physically too large and heavy, or they didn't meet
stringent air-safety standards." The researchers used a magnetic force
microscope to monitor data patterns and determine how effectively they had
been destroyed. In the search for a data-destruction method that would be
suitable for an aircraft crew, the researchers explored many possible
techniques, such as burning diskettes, crushing data drives, and destroying
media chemically. The first year of testing proved that none of those
procedures was viable, leaving the researchers with just magnetic
techniques to explore. They first had to figure out how different magnetic
storage devices function in order to determine how to erase all of their
data. They used neodymium iron-boron magnets that can each weigh up to 125
pounds to break through the metallic housings that encase some drives. The
end product of their research would enable members of an aircraft crew to
simply insert removable media into a motorized device to erase the data.
The different techniques for destroying data include numerous safeguards to
protect against accidental erasure.
Click Here to View Full Article
to the top
Error-Check Breakthrough in Quantum Computing
New Scientist (06/08/06) Simonite, Tom
Scientists at the University of California in Santa Barbara have developed
a new method for determining the level of information decay within a
quantum computer. Their accomplishment is significant because previous
attempts to measure the status of a qubit--the unit of information in a
quantum computer that can simultaneously represent two states--have
corrupted its quantum properties. Though there is already an
error-checking method for quantum computing based on ion traps, many
scientists are skeptical about its ability to scale to the extent required
for practical use. The California researchers developed an alternative
method for checking errors that could potentially scale to a much greater
extent. They created a qubit using two superconducting materials with an
insulating barrier in between, achieving superposition by passing an
electrical current through the component. The scientists obtain a partial
measurement of the qubit by lowering the energy barrier that supports the
qubit's state of superposition and collapsing its quantum waveform into one
of the two positions. The researchers discovered how to reveal the qubit's
state of superposition without making it collapse, inviting the possibility
that a real quantum computer could determine when a qubit is still
available to perform quantum computations. "It's the dark horse of the
quantum computing race," says researcher Nadav Katz. "It suggests we will
be able to use systems based on it to do computations." Also, conventional
production techniques can be used to manufacture the hardware for the
system.
Click Here to View Full Article
to the top
U.S. Joins Industry in Piracy War
Washington Post (06/15/06) P. A1; Ahrens, Frank
The U.S. government is actively supporting the entertainment industry's
push to curb the global trade of pirated music and movies. The United
States has made enforcement of anti-piracy provisions a top requirement for
Russia's admittance to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Intellectual
property experts and law enforcement officials have estimated that Internet
piracy costs U.S. companies up to $250 billion a year. With U.S. exports
of copyrighted entertainment reaching $626 billion a year, the government
is now asking the industry what it can do to help curb piracy. Despite
some notable successes in the fight to safeguard copyrights, the number of
peer-to-peer users has increased in the past year. China and Russia top
the U.S. trade representative office's list of the worst intellectual
property offenders. The U.S. government clashed with Sweden over Pirate
Bay, a prolific and illegal file-sharing site that uses the BitTorrent
file-swapping technology. Under heavy U.S. influence, Swedish authorities
shut down the site, sparking widespread criticism in Sweden of the United
States for meddling in Swedish affairs. Since Pirate Bay was shut down on
May 31, protesters have agitated for Swedish authorities to return its
confiscated servers; meanwhile, the site's administrators have relocated to
the Netherlands and resumed service. In assessing Russia's bid to join the
WTO, the United States is cautious to avoid the mistake of China. "We let
China in and China has not fully complied with the WTO requirements" for
safeguarding intellectual property, said Motion Picture Association of
America President Dan Glickman.
Click Here to View Full Article
to the top
An Adaptive Interface for Controlling the Computer by
Thought
Basque Research (06/13/06)
A researcher from Pamplona, Spain, has developed an adaptive interface
that enables users to operate a computer with their thoughts. Public
University of Navarre PhD candidate Carmen Vidaurre Arbizu recently
defended her doctoral research on a brain-computer interface (BCI)
technology that takes instructions from the brain's electroencephalograms.
Previous BCI applications did not give users feedback, and subsequent
technologies, while able to display brain patterns on a screen, could only
be used by a limited number of users. Arbizu's system provides experienced
users with feedback upon the first use. The user and the system adapt to
each other to the point that initial trial sessions can provide feedback
without corrupting the experiment. Experiments with the technology have
shown that most people are capable of learning how to direct an adaptive
BCI. The interface has four components that, respectively, acquire and
process the brain signal, extract its characteristics, classify it, and
issue feedback.
Click Here to View Full Article
to the top
Of Device and Men: Android Research Helps Explain Human
Behavior
Indiana University (06/12/06)
The Fifth International Conference on Cognitive Science will give
scientists the opportunity to learn more about the latest research being
conducted by android expert Karl MacDorman. The associate professor in the
human-computer interaction design program at the Indiana University-Purdue
University Indianapolis School of Informatics is organizing a symposium on
android science for the July 26, 2006, conference in Vancouver, B.C.
Android science offers a cross-disciplinary strategy for testing and
potentially verifying hypotheses about the behavior of humans. "Very
humanlike robots provide an experimental apparatus and test bed that has
great potential to help neuroscientists, psychiatrists, social and
cognitive scientists and others understand how and why we act the way we
do," MacDorman says. He has a positive outlook of the view that humans
will react positively to more humanlike robots, but only to a certain
point. "If very humanlike robots are capable of eliciting human-directed
expectations, human participants can be used to evaluate the human likeness
of their behavior to an extent that would be impossible if
mechanical-looking robots were used instead," says MacDorman. Hiroshi
Ishiguro, director of the robotics laboratories at Osaka University in
Japan, is helping to organize the symposium. MacDorman worked with
Ishiguro before joining IUPUI last year, and he helped develop the android
that was presented at the 2005 World Exposition in Japan.
Click Here to View Full Article
to the top
Rewriting the Net Address Books
BBC News (06/14/06) Ward, Mark
Domain Name System (DNS) inventor Dr. Paul Mockapetris anticipates the
DNS' eventual replacement. "The Internet is all perishable technology that
is going to get replaced or extended," he says. Aspects of the DNS are
already starting to be concealed from users, such as addresses that are now
replaced with a shortcut or nickname, according to Mockapetris. When
people use search engines such as Google, they do not even have to type in
the full domain. Mockapetris initially designed the DNS system to
accommodate some 50 million Net names, but those numbers have swelled. A
January 2006 survey found that there were at least 394 million registered
domains. The DNS' underlying technology still exists, but less people are
confronting it directly, according to Mockapetris. He also notes that a
new uniform addressing system requires a much larger population than is
supported by the current DNS. The process of unifying the big databases
held by cable firms, telephone operators, and Internet service firms are
starting to transpire. "I think, long-term, it's going to change hugely,"
Mockapetris predicts. "I really believe the future of the Internet is
ahead of it."
Click Here to View Full Article
to the top
Internet2 Chooses Company to Build Its New National
Fiber-Optic Network
Chronicle of Higher Education (06/15/06) Kiernan, Vincent
The Internet2 high-speed-networking consortium will announce that its new
national fiber-optic network, NewNet, will be constructed by Level 3
Communications, following the 2007 expiration of its contract with Qwest to
lease high-speed lines for Internet2's Abilene collegiate network. NewNet
will compete with National LambdaRail and offer services in every part of
the country with the exception of the upper Midwest and a great deal of the
Northwest. National LambdaRail has the advantage because it runs its own
fiber-optic lines, while NewNet's lines will be controlled by Level 3, says
National LambdaRail President Thomas West. Internet2 President Douglas Van
Houweling says NewNet's ability to make speedy connections for special
purposes will separate it from its competition, despite West's claim that
his network can also supply optical links on demand. On-demand
availability will change the way researches view the network, according to
California Institute of Technology professor Harvey Newman. "Right now,
the users as a community don't have any sense of the network as an entity,"
he explains. "But that will change when researchers can tinker with the
network themselves. It would spark creativity in the way we exploit
networks."
Click Here to View Full Article
- Web Link to Publication Homepage
to the top
The Best-Laid Plan?
Federal Computer Week (06/12/06) Vol. 20, No. 19, P. 20; McAdams, Jennifer
Opinion is divided on the relevance of the National Strategy to Secure
Cyberspace (NSSC), with some experts dismissing it as a public relations
maneuver whose generalized approach to cybersecurity policy renders it
ineffective, while others argue that its guidelines are essential for
cybersecurity preparation and response initiatives. "The national strategy
strikes the right balance between overarching priorities and specific
implementation strategies," says Andy Purdy with the Department of Homeland
Security's National Cyber Security Division. Director of DHS' Cyber
Security Research and Development Center Marcus Sachs reports that the NSSC
originally had many specific guidelines that were removed in response to
industry feedback, and he makes a case for retaining the strategy because
it serves as "an anchor point from which ideas begin." Critics such as
James Lewis of the Center for Strategic and International Studies refer to
the NSSC as a "fossil" that needs a DHS-developed deployment schedule,
without which there is no framework to mobilize industry around
cybersecurity. Specific implementation strategies are desired by most
information security departments because they have limited resources, notes
Forrester Research analyst Khalid Kark. NSSC supporters cite the creation
of Staysafe.org, an NSSC-inspired consumer site designed to increase public
awareness of cybersecurity and safety issues, as an example of the
strategy's relevance to industry recognition of the need for strong
cybersecurity. Government Insights research director Thom Rubel says the
most significant aspect of the NSSC is its role in the deployment of the
Federal Information Security Management Act. But he points out that the
document "does not address unique private-sector economic and privacy
considerations and seems to undervalue contributions that the identified
partners--private, state and local governments--can contribute to an
effective national cybersecurity effort."
Click Here to View Full Article
to the top
No Escaping H-1B
InformationWeek (06/12/06)No. 1093, P. 40; McGee, Marianne Kolbasuk
The H-1B visa program is touted as essential for the United States'
continued global technological leadership, and current proposals under
serious consideration suggest leaving the visa cap at its current level or
raising it by 50,000 jobs. Critics claim an excessively high H-1B cap will
trigger a decline in salaries and dissuade young Americans from pursuing
tech careers, while proponents of a raising of the visa cap argue that too
low a cap will lead to shortages of top talent in the U.S. workforce, and
thus to offshore outsourcing. Advocates of a cap raise also believe more
brainy foreigners allowed to work and stay in the country could fuel
technological creativity and generate more jobs by introducing new ideas
and expertise. The H-1B program requires visa holders to be paid the
prevailing wage, but though such workers can apply to switch employers,
they have to find another employer willing to accommodate the H-1B
requirements; critics such as WashTech/CWA President Marcus Courtney say
this rule is being flagrantly abused by employers seeking only cheap labor
because of a lack of enforcement. On the other hand, H-1B visa holders
with highly sought-after skills can command salaries above the market
average. IT professionals must often update their skills and get
additional training out of their own pocket, and companies' reluctance to
train their personnel would be reinforced by an increase in H-1B visas, one
argument goes. The biggest danger is the nation becoming overreliant on
imported tech talent while not nurturing domestic talent. At the same
time, restrictive immigration policies and growing competition from other
countries are discouraging foreign-born talent from applying for jobs in
the United States.
Click Here to View Full Article
to the top
InfoWorld 2006 Compensation Survey: Looking Up
InfoWorld (06/12/06) Vol. 28, No. 24, P. 22; Snyder, Jason
The results of the InfoWorld 2006 Compensation Survey show that salaries
are on the rise, but this upward movement does not allay anxiety about job
security due to outsourcing, long hours, and contract jobs. The poll of
789 IT professionals indicates a salary upgrade of 4.8 percent--a five-year
high--while around 75 percent of senior managers reported a pay raise this
year. Middle managers were 28 percent less likely to attribute higher
wages to added responsibilities; still, their commitment to company
performance is not being overlooked, as evidenced by an increase in profit
sharing, milestone incentives, project completion, and professional
certifications. The likelihood of hiring freezes has dropped from 42
percent in 2004 to 29 percent in 2006, while the probability of layoffs has
declined from 37 percent to 29 percent over the same period. Unstaffed
positions were reported by 30 percent of tech executives this year, which
some respondents attributed to senior-level turnover. For the second
consecutive year, more than 50 percent of all IT workers felt they were not
receiving the compensation owed them, while the survey's pay satisfaction
mark hit an all-time low of 45 percent. "All the opportunities seem to be
four- to eight-month contracts in distant locations," noted a document
repository manager. Ten percent of midlevel IT professionals and IT staff
harbored concerns that their jobs may be offshored, while 49 percent of
senior IT managers believe executive management is accurately estimating
IT's value, down from 62 percent in 2004.
Click Here to View Full Article
to the top
Capturing Experiences Anytime, Anywhere
IEEE Pervasive Computing (06/06) Vol. 5, No. 2, P. 8; Ashbrook, Daniel;
Lyons, Kent; Clawson, James
Daniel Ashbrook, Kent Lyons, and James Clawson of the Georgia Institute of
Technology's College of Computing speculate on the future path that mobile
experience-capture technology may take as it becomes easier and more
affordable. The authors study three technologies: The currently available
LifeBlog software from Nokia, which integrates media the user has collected
into a timeline; Microsoft's in-development SenseCam, a wearable
multi-sensor camera that could facilitate on-the-go experience capture and
semiautomatic blogging in combination with wireless data transfer
capabilities and technology already embedded in several present-day cell
phones; and Advanced Soldier Sensor Information System and Technology
(Assist), a currently speculative system that can record audio, video,
location, photographic, and other information using wearable sensors to
help users furnish reports. Ashbrook, Lyons, and Clawson envision an
always-on mobile capture system dubbed the iTourist that is wearable,
compact, lightweight, and equipped with a high-resolution camera, an LCD
screen, light sensors, tilt sensors, a GPS receiver, a digital compass, and
the ability to wirelessly communicate with a wristband outfitted with an
accelerometer and biometric sensors. "The ability to capture experience
automatically using a hands-free system would let users enjoy [a special
occasion], no longer worrying about recording it for posterity," the
authors write. An iTourist-like device is expected in the near future,
once issues such as technology miniaturization, privacy, and legality are
addressed. Providing easy mobile access to captured data is also a major
challenge for designers. The iTourist's "what have other people called
this" functionality was inspired by Marc Davis' Mobile Media Metadata
project.
Click Here to View Full Article
to the top