Translation in the Age of Terror
Short-Lived PCs Have Hidden Costs
A new book from Tokyo's United Nations University, "Computers and the Environment," argues that increasing computers' usability lifetime will reduce their environmental impact, which is much larger than previously postulated. The book estimates that an average desktop PC devours about as ...
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Science Tries to Woo Women
Addressing the underrepresentation of women in IT, engineering, and other scientific careers is essential to the modern economy, according to a March 8 report from the Institute of Physics, and Elizabeth Cannon at the University of Calgary contends that the lack of women pursuing science ...
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What's Good About Computer Viruses
The growing threat of computer viruses and other forms of malware has inspired security researchers to turn to the human immune system as a model for more bug-resistant computing. University of Virginia computer science professor David Evans, who has several projects funded by the National ...
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Competing Technologies Shake Up E-Mail
Experts anticipate a shakeout of competing antispam technologies supported by Microsoft, Yahoo!, America Online, and others in the next few months. Microsoft announced Caller ID, a new email authentication architecture, at the recent RSA Conference: Caller ID requires email senders to publish the ...
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E-Voting Field Test
The Super Tuesday vote gave both e-voting critics and supporters more circumstantial evidence to bolster their respective cases: Nationwide, the media reported on potential problems, complaints, and positive feedback from voters. Many of the failures in electronic voting systems, which were ...
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No Riders: Desert Crossing Is for the Robots Only
Impatient with military contractors' lack of progress in creating automated combat vehicles to be deployed in battlefield operations by 2015, the Pentagon has enlisted the help of computer scientists, artificial intelligence experts, and robot enthusiasts by inviting them to build ...
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Dissolving the Limits of Linux: The Breakneck Evolution Continues
Linux is evolving faster than any previous operating system, leaping from an alternative platform for non-core components to an increasingly viable candidate for even the most challenging scientific applications. Attendees at this year's LinuxWorld Conference & Expo no doubt were surprised by the ...
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E-mail's Past Could Point to Future of Instant Messaging
The future of instant messaging could lie in the past history of email, noted panelists at the Instant Messaging Planet Conference on March 3. Kieran McCorry of Hewlett-Packard's technology leadership group called IM's situation close to that of email 10 years ago, which was characterized by ...
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New Research Field Focuses on Video Games
Video games are increasingly becoming a subject of research at colleges and universities across the country. The list of schools offering classes and programs on video games includes MIT, Purdue University, Ohio State University, and Princeton University. At the University of Michigan, ...
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Scientists Debate Success of Los Alamos Supercomputer
Officials at Los Alamos National Laboratory believe the decision to not pursue the final phase of the Q machine was rooted in politics and congressional budgetary concerns, rather than on the performance of the supercomputer. The Department of Energy has decided not to expand Q, which ...
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Where Computer Display Technology Is Headed
The way we regard computing could change significantly with a quintet of emerging display technologies. Organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) are not backlit and boast a microsecond response time to avoid image smearing, giving them an image quality and contrast superior to liquid crystal ...
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More Work Needed for Biometrics
Officials say that there is still work needed on standards, interoperability, and testing before biometrics can be used as a mature government security solution. Commercial solutions vary in accuracy and reliability, and Martin Herman, chief of the National Institute of ...
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States Join Spyware Battle
State legislatures are beginning to regulate spyware and other advertising software--a trend that may please consumers but worries some Internet businesses. "Our concerns are [about] regulating a technology rather than regulating the use of a technology," says Internet Alliance executive ...
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Winning Ways to Stop Spam
Even with the rapidly increasing amount of spam email, some IT managers have successfully reclaimed email for their company using various methods. Wyndham International manually updated a content filter to keep out unwanted messages, but found its efforts overwhelmed in late 2002, says ...
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MEMS Reliability Key to Acceptance
Increasing the acceptance of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology is a tough challenge: Despite evidence that MEMS devices are reliable, their long gestation period for achieving dependable mass production has discouraged users, according to many attendees of last ...
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Smart-Label Revolution
Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology has the potential to dramatically increase consumers' level of control over business transactions. Affixed to objects, RFID tags consist of small, inexpensive chips and antennas that broadcast data about the objects to a receiver; the ...
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Rethinking Network Security
Overcoming the problems of network security and lowering the dangers presented by worms, trojans, and other kinds of malware that so plagued Internet users last year will require a coordinated multi-pronged approach that involves everyone. "Perimeter defense as the sole or primary means of ...
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Translation in the Age of Terror
The 9/11 tragedy has spurred intelligence agencies to overhaul their efforts to translate the massive amounts of information they collect in order to anticipate and thwart future terrorist attacks. The National Virtual Translation Center will serve as the nexus of a secure network of ...
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