Search

The article discusses the computer company Apple Inc. and its reported discovery of a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) vulnerability involving the firm's iOS 6.0 computer operating system in 2014, focusing on man-in-the-middle computer attacks and various computer bugs (viruses). An apparent short circuit involving an SSL/TLS (Transport Layer Security) handshake algorithm is mentioned, along with the U.S. National Vulnerability Database and the C computer programming language. Computer coding standards and duplications of "goto" statements are examined.

The article refers to intellectual property law in the United States and focuses on the computer industry where software is protected by patent and copyright. The issues of a network effect impacting innovation in software development, of the outlook for using intellectual property rights to protect software, of the "commons-based creativity" argument for allowing access to open source software, of a perception that the U.S. court system's view of computers is related to unpatentable ideas and multiple patentable machines, and of the rationale for wanting to patent business methods.

Discusses perceptive networks made up of pillbox-size computers with sensors that run on an operating system called TinyOS. How the devices can be used to monitor factories and stores and read radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags; Linking of the computers to radio transceivers and sensors, by research groups at the University of California, Berkeley and Intel, to form autonomous nodes called "motes"; Use of the wireless gadget as a "macroscope" to record environmental data; Idea that motes are not miniaturized personal computers; Challenge of designing perceptive networks to be economical; Details of a pilot project doing research on petrels on Great Duck Island off the coast of Maine; The mote system's design and power source; Percentage of time a mote spends in a standby mode; How the mote compares to the handheld PDA; The self-organizing aspect of perceptive networks; The challenge of iMotes; The constraints on power use and processing speed; Purpose of software called TinyDB; Outlook for wireless sensor nodes and perceptive networks. INSETS: Overview/Perceptive Networks;MORE TO EXPLORE.

Focuses on the research laboratory started by Microsoft in 1991 in Redmond, Washington. The recruiting of computer scientists by theoretical physicist and corporate executive, Nathan Myhrvold, during the start-up phase; Problems with Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC); How bureaucracy was kept to a minimum at Microsoft Research; Comments of first-hire, Richard F. Rashid; Example of new products incorporating programming code or engineering designs that were developed at Microsoft; Skepticism of John Seely Brown, former director of Xerox PARC, about Microsoft's software technology; Microsoft's status on the "science linkage" index; Work of Jim Blinn, a MacArthur "genius award" winner at Microsoft. INSET: WORK ON ANYTHING (BUT NO JETÉS).

Considers the proposition, as advanced in an article by "Harvard Business Review" editor and writer Nicholas Carr, that the glory of the personal computer era is fading. Highlights of Carr's comments, including his opinion that the big computer innovations are over; Reactions of disbelief from industry insiders; Actual signs of trouble in the computer industry, such as decreased spending on new technology, security issues, and the significance of increased productivity; Reasons for optimism, despite the dire predictions; Role of the unexpected innovation; Impact of innovations like radio-frequency identification, and improved search technology. INSETS: A Brief History of PCs;Tracking the Trends.

This article presents the annual report of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). ACM is an international scientific and educational organization dedicated to advancing the arts, sciences, and applications of information technology. The U.S. Public Policy Committee of ACM continues to assist policymakers and courts in understanding the broad implications of information technology policies and laws that concern the computing community. The committee played an instrumental role in educating legislators, the judiciary and the public at large as to the damaging impact of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. ACM's Career Resource Centre (CRC), a unique career site for professionals and students debuted this year. The CRC features a Job Centre where academic and corporate employers can post jobs online and job seekers can view lists of postings and post their curriculum vitae. In the coming fiscal year ACM will make a major initiative to take a fundamental look at ACM'S models of membership with the objective to test and implement real change.

Surveying the wreckage of the dot-com marketplace meltdown of 2001, it is easy to overlook the persistence and rapid growth of e-business throughout the U.S. economy. While many high-flying dot-corn firms, including Beyond.com, Boo.com, DrKoop.com, Kozmo.com and Webvan vanished, use of the Internet as an essential business tool continued to grow dramatically. At the peak of the e-business hype in 2000, most pundits ignored the nascent effort of large legacy firms, or those that existed before the advent of e-business and had yet to embrace the Net. A common misperception about e-business was and still is that one either has it or didn't get it. By definition, flashy e-business pure-plays, or the dot-corns, got it and except for a few visionaries, legacy firms didn't. Today, legacy firms represent the future of e-business and understanding e-business from their perspective gives a clearer picture of how e-business will develop in the future. The online grocers represent a clear example. The pure-plays Homegrocer and Webvan received enormous media attention and heavy investment from venture capitalists. Today, both are out of business, while traditional British grocer Tesco has emerged as the most successful grocer online. INSET: Emerging Role of CeCO..

The article focuses on the need of encouraging research on universal usability of computers to empower every citizen. Universal usability can be defined as having more than 90% of all households as successful users of information and communications services at least once a week. A 1998 survey of U.S. households shows that 42% have computers and 26% use Internet-based email or other services. A research agenda based on three challenges in attaining universal usability for web-based and other services include the first challenge to cope with the technology variety by supporting the 100-to-1 range of hardware, software and network access speeds. The other two challenges include the accommodation of enormous diversity of users and bridging the gap between what users know and need to know. Attaining benefits of universal access to web-based and other information, communications, entertainment, and government services will require a more intense commitment to lowering costs, coupled with human-computer interaction research and usability engineering. As a concluding note, the article points out the success of the U.S. in making their services usable by many on recognition of centrality of usability by it. INSET: Web Resources for Universal Usability..

The article presents information on various events and happenings related to the computer industry, as of March 1, 2000. The International Symposium on Physical Design 2000 is being held at San Diego, California, in 2000. American Association for Artificial Intelligence 2000 Spring Symposium on "Smart Graphics" is being held in Palo Alto, California. The Simulation Solutions 2000 conference is being held in March 2000. The International Business Forum on Mobile Systems, The 5th Business Forum, is being held in March 2000. The 12th ITC Specialist Seminar on Teletraffic Issues Related to Mobile Systems and Mobility is being held in Norway. The International Symposium on Telemedicine and Teleeducation in Practice ISTEP 2000 will be held in Slovakia. The 6th International Conference on Auditory Display will be held in April 2000. The 10th Conference on Computers, Freedom and Privavcy, will take place in April 2000.

Examines the business practices and future of Microsoft. Views of Bill Gates; Problems with complacency, bureaucracy and customer dissatisfaction; The antitrust suit against the company; Life cycles of successful companies; The company's slowed growth; Stock value; Impact of overseas instability; Relations with industrial customers; The NT 5.0 operating system; Obstacle of market saturation; Need to focus on simplicity; Problem of the company's size. INSETS: Finally, the trial is about to begin;Chairman Gates, up close and personal.

Focuses the computer industry, highlighting the impending crises experienced by the microchip makers in Silicon Valley, California. Details on the crises; Combination of experts in the field of laser fusion, astronomical interferometry and spy-satellite imaging; Reference to the fashioning of each layer of a microchip's components; Comments from Bill Siegle, chief scientist at AMD in Sunnyvale, California.

Focuses on the computer industry in Silicon Valley, California, highlighting the three-dimensional (3D) sound system developed by Beth Wenzel and colleagues at the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center. Identification of the main ability which Wenzel wants to exploit; Details on the 3D sound systems; Comments from Richard Duda, professor of electrical engineering at San Jose State University. INSET: Spaced-out sounds.

Focuses on Microsoft Corp. Fall 1998 events that suggest Bill Gates' empire might not rule forever; The company's position as a highly valued world company; Profitability; Legal attacks and marketplace pressure; The United States Justice Department's antitrust suit as the most serious threat to the company. INSETS: The Threats to Gates...;...Go Coast-to-Coast;Let's Go to the Videotape.

Discusses the philanthropic activities of computer industry moguls in the United States in 1996. How the generosity of these computer executives compares to that of past philanthropists like Andrew Carnegie; The assertion that the attitude of the computer moguls does not indicate a sense of social responsibility; Harry Saal's generosity compared to that of Bill Gates and Scott McNealy; 1996 donations that went to educational institutions.

Comments on the impact of economic sanctions on the production of bipartisan behavior in the U.S. Political and economic success of Arab oil embargo; Evaluation of the foreign policy; Sanction against the Western Europe allies; Effectiveness of economic pressure on the valuation of the sales of computer industry.

The article discusses the problems of test case revalidation, test execution, failure identification, fault identification, modification dependency and fault mitigation in applying regression testing and presents both management and technical techniques to address them. Some of these solutions are already being used by software developers, even though they may not be widely known. This article proposes a multilevel regression testing framework that can be easily adapted into a software development and maintenance process in which regression testing can play a key role in improving and ensuring consistent software quality. Observations are based on accumulated experience in software development and maintenance in the U.S. and Japan, including Hitachi Software Engineering Co. Regression testing has been extensively studied by researchers from a theoretical point of view. However, there has been little discussion on applying regression testing in industrial environments. While researchers are mostly concerned with reducing the number of test cases for retesting, there are other important issues in using regression testing in an industrial environment.

For a number of years, the Computer Research Association's Taulbee Survey has done an excellent job surveying department chairs to determine faculty characteristics and the employment destinations of doctorates where known. What has been missing to date is data on recent graduates for whom faculty had no knowledge. Moreover, more detailed information was needed from the recent doctoral graduates themselves. These and other questions were addressed in a recent pilot study funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation with a grant to the Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology. Of the 123 respondents, who answered the question on where they were employed, 103 were working in the U.S., 11 in Canada, and 9 outside the U.S./Canada. Some 96% of recent doctorates reported that they were working during the week of October 14, 1996. Of the 4% who were not working, two were not seeking employment, so three respondents were actively looking for employment. The finding of low unemployment among doctorates is consistent with national data on the sciences and the engineering (S&E) that finds of all doctorates in S&E, about 1.5%, were unemployed in 1995.

National Industrial Information Infrastructure Protocols (NIIIP) was developed by a consortium of 15 organizations in a multiyear project that began in September 1994. NIIIP's technical vision is to integrate the technology from four communities to enable the proliferation of virtual enterprises (VEs) all across the U.S. The protocols provide an infrastructure for the inter-operation of commercial-off-the-shelf products in the industrial domain. VEs impose previously unencountered constraints upon a computing infrastructure. The VE member organizations must pool resources, such as word processors, computer aided design tools, local processes and procedures, and local knowledge and terminologies in support of common VE goals, which must be computable and amenable to global optimization. VE member resources must be treated with confidentiality in a shared environment, both inside and outside local "firewalls," implying authentication, authorization, certification, and logging controls. In the NIIIP domain, secure transactions are more complicated. Negotiation between VE agents over resource cost, time of delivery, and quality may employ cover strategies designed to gain a business advantage for the use of a locally owned resource.

The U.S. remains a place where companies produce and consumers consume in an economic relationship which is still as asymmetrical as that of bomber to bombed. The cable companies have a model for developing the next phase of telecom infrastructure which, were it applied to the design of physical superhighways. Institutions are building titanic video servers, the mothers of all mainframes. From these great repositories of digtised dreck one will get huge gigabits. One popular design model would initially offer a gigabit and about 200kbps of back channel, presumably to support the ste-top box. In this model, the telecommunication runs a fiber into a neighborhood of about 500 homes, connecting subscribers to that point with coax and modems. Downstream from the distribution point there would be about 200MHz available, from which the modems can derive about 5 bits per hertz, giving one gigabits. Upstream is a different story altogether. There you've only about 30 mega hertz available in whole neighbourhood router, and the modems only derives about 2 bits per hertz.

Telecommunications policy is a confusing patchwork of federal and state regulation, mixed with a federal judge enforcing an antitrust judgment over the telephone companies. Predictably, the death of the reform effort provoked an intense debate over who was to blame for the failure. Some of the U.S. senators claimed the regional phone companies had backed out of their agreement. Others pointed the finger at Republican senator of Kansas leader Robert Dole, while others blamed the White House. Those who worry about a growing policy gridlock in Washington had one more scapegoat. But the most serious concerns were about the impacts of the initiative and about the prospects for moving a reform bill through the next U.S. Congress. The last time a major communications regulation reform effort failed in the early 1980s, it took nearly 12 years for Congress to follow-up on the issue. The prospects for legislation have to be evaluated in light, not only of previous failure, but of the wholesale ideological changes that took place in Congress.

The 300-fold difference in purchase cost can be used to infer a 300-fold difference in operating cost, by reasoning along the following lines. Both workstations and supercomputers are functionally obsolete within five years, so that yearly depreciation and finance charges alone are 20% to 30% of the purchase cost. Yearly budgets for operating personnel, software, and hardware maintenance each add another 5% to 20% of the hardware purchase cost to the yearly operating expense, depending on the level of service provided. As a rough estimate, then, yearly com- puter costs are 35- to 90% of the purchase price. An hour of CPU time on a supercomputer, then, costs between $120 and $350. An hour of workstation time costs about 300 times less, or $10 to $30 per day. Our economic argument is irrelevant for certain users, who for one reason or another have "free" or, rather, subsidized access to workstations. Some organizations have excess computing capacity in workstations or supercomputers or both. Furthermore, some researchers and supercomputer centers are subsidized by current U.S. R&D policy. One rationale for this policy is that uneconomical use of supercomputers today may lead to greater economies in the future. INSETS: Speedups on a "Dusty Deck".;Further Adventures with a "Dusty Deck".;Speedups on CPlex.;Vectorizable Code.

As part of its mission to profile the people and economy of the U.S.,the Census Bureau collects industry and occupation data for individuals in the labor force. For the 1990 Decennial Census, each of an estimated 22 million natural language responses to questions on the census long form had to be classified into one of 232 industry categories and 504 occupation categories. If done fully by hand the cost of this task would be on the order of $15 million. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the contribution of women in the computer industry in the United States. Decline in the number in masters and bachelors degree in computer science; Rate of masters degree earned by women in 1987; Comparison between performance of women professionals in computer sciences and engineering department.

The article presents information on several recent developments related to the computer industry in the U.S. Jack Moshman has been elected president of the American Federation of Information Processing Societies (AFIPS). Moshman, whose term as AFIPS president runs for one year, has since 1970 been president of Moshman Associates, an analytical consulting firm. The Charles Babbage Institute has published a guide to its oral history collection, which contains more than 140 interviews focused on computer and communications technology and their business and institutional contexts in the period since 1935. The computer, business equipment, and telecommunications industry has reported a positive trade balance of $1,424 billion for the first six months of 1986, according to the Computer and Business Equipment Manufacturers Association. The Boston Museum of Science has announced a $2 million commitment from Digital Equipment Corporation to sponsor the creation of a major artificial intelligence and robotics exhibition.

The article offers updates on the computer industry in the U.S. San Diego State University will be opening its Remote User Access Center (RUAC) which will give researchers the capability to access high-speed super-computing power and a national scientific communications network. The National Bureau of Standards has issued Password Usage as a Federal Information Processing Standard that describes basic security criteria for using passwords in computer systems. The Technical Achievement Award was received by Irwin W. Sandberg from the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society.

Reports developments related to computer industry as of April 1986. Registration of the Applied Information Technologies in the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission; Highlights of the National Science Week; Details on the global initiatives suggested by the National Science Foundation.

The article presents news briefs related to the computer industry in the U.S. The American Federation of Information Processing Societies has received a grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation to develop an expanded taxonomy of occupations in the computer science work force. National Bureau of Standards Director Ernest Ambler has recently told the House Subcommittee on Science, Research, and Technology that the private sector, not the federal government, should take the initiative for reviewing and translating significant Japanese electronics and electrical engineering literature to help the U.S. stay in a competitive position in engineering fields. Reports of interest to information processing professionals have been released by the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the House Science and Technology Committee, and the joint Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy. The NTIA has released two reports focusing on the competitiveness of U.S. high technology firms in international information trade.

Presents several letters concerning the computer industry in the United States as of August 1985. Initiative of Association for Computing Machinery on responsible computer use; Examination on computer-technical issues; Benefits of software maintenance.

Several letters to the editor are presented in response to the article "Price and Performance Patterns of U.S. Computer Systems," by E. G. Cale, L. L. Gremillion and G. L. McKenney.

The article offers a calendar of events related to the Association of Computing Machinery. The Conference on Word Processing will be held from September 20 to 22, 1981 in Andover, Massachusetts. The International Conference on Cybernetics and Society will be held from October 25 to 28, 1981 in Atlanta, Georgia. The 14th Annual Workshop on Microprogramming will be held from October 12 to 15, 1981 in Chatham, Massachusetts.

Offers a look at some of the cutting-edge software programs that will change the way Americans live and work. Groupware, such as Lotus Notes, which allow groups of workers to collaborate on documents and projects; Personal productivity programs such as Microsoft's Bob; Small business programs; Personal banking offerings including Quicken; Multimedia; Online. INSET: Microsoft's next big winner (Windows 95), by Mary Kathleen Flynn.

This article presents a list of various upcoming events and conventions related to the filed of computer sciences. Most of the events, listed here, are sponsored or cooperated by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). The Working Conference on Formal Models and Practical Tools for Information Systems Design will, reportedly, be held in Oxford, England, during April 18-20, 1979. The Eleventh Power Industry Computer Application Conference is reported to be held during May 15-18, 1979, in Cleveland, Ohio. The 4th European Congress on Information, Systems and Networks will,reportedly, be held in Luxembourg, Austria, during May 15-18, 1979. The Twelfth Annual Association of Small College Computer Users in Education Conference is scheduled to be held at the Denison University in Granville, Ohio, during June 6-8, 1979. The Fourth Berkeley Workshop on Distributed Databases and Computer Networks will,reportedly, be organized during August 28-30, 1979, in San Francisco, California.

The article presents news related to the computer industry. The Conference on Data Systems Languages' Data Description Language Committee has updated and republished its "Journal of Development" to include changes in the Schema Data Description Language specifications till January 1978. U.S. House and Senate conferees have approved an $827 million budget for the National Science Foundation. In September 1978, the Postal Service Board of Governors announced a filing for an advanced electronic message system for large volume mailers, called Electronic Computer Originated Mail.

The article offers news briefs on the computing field. A grant of $48,200 has been awarded by the National Science Foundation to Washington State University to support a Conference on Computers in the Undergraduate Curriculum. Ruth Davis was one of five recipients of the 1973 Rockefeller Public Service Awards. A new edition of the brochure booklet "Facts on Computer Careers" is available from the American Federation of Information Processing Societies Inc.

The article presents a calendar of events in the computer industry. The Association for Computing Machinery/National Bureau of Standards Conference on Simulation of Computer Systems will be held from June 19 to 20, 1973 in Gaithersburg, Maryland. The Programming Language Festival will be held on March 6 to 8, 1973 in Amherst, Massachusetts. The 5th Annual Meeting of the Information Industry Association will be held on April 1 to 4, 1973 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

This article presents a list of Association of Computing Machinery chapters and chairmen in the U.S. They include the Central Pennsylvania Chapter with chairman Charles E. Hughes, the Delaware Valley Chapter with chairman Thomas Angell, the American University Student Chapter with chairman David E. Redman, and the University of Maryland Student Chapter with chairman Ira Gold.

The article presents news briefs concerning computer science and computer industry. The availability of the Graduate Assistantship Directory in the Computer Sciences 1970-71 is reported. The election of John Dorosk as chairman of the Joint Users Group is mentioned. The addition of new coverage as part of the expansion of the Group Insurance Program for individual Association for Computing Machinery members is revealed.

The article discusses the role of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the development of the computer industry in the country. It is stated that the FCC is paying special attention to the development of various communication carrier facilities as they are the source of imparting computer knowledge on a massive scale. The FCC will also introduce amendments in the Communication Act. Surveys and inquiries will also be conducted by the FCC to get feedback on the computer industry and implement various measures.

This article presents information on new products introduced in the computer industry in the U.S., as of June 1, 1966. Clary Corp. has added a new computer, the DE-GOO, to its line of desk sized machines. The computer is the successor to Clary's DE-60, providing three times the speed of the older unit. It uses solid-state arithmetic unit and programmer, plug-in program panels, requires no special cooling and plugs into a standard electrical outlet. Control Data Corp. has announced the development of the Digigraphic 270 series developed for use with the CDC 3300 computer system. The 270 series was demonstrated at the company's Digigraphic Laboratories in Burlington, Massachusetts, in conjunction with the SJCC. Digital Equipment Corp. has demonstrated its Type 338 Display System for the first time. Built for the PDP-8 computer, the display was first announced at the FJCC in Las Vegas. The Type 338 can be used online as a satellite to a large computer system and offline as self-contained, self-generating display.

The article discusses the information technology industry's efforts to promote green technology. The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has been funding research into component power management that could reduce climate damage and save energy without negatively impacting performance. Krishna Kant, a program director in the Computer Systems Research division of NSF, is quoted discussing how this approach is part of the NSF’s Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability (SEES) initiative.

The article discusses the manner in which primary and secondary school U.S. students might develop computational thinking (CT) skills as an element of improving computer science education. The computer science industry has had difficulty attracting students since the collapse of the dot-com bubble, the authors state. Topics include the systematic and efficient processing of information and tasks, whether computer programing can be separated from teaching basic computer science, and to what degree should programming be required for CT proficiency.

As scientists and educators, we are privileged to have our lives infused with the miraculous. Discovery, learning, and innovation are paths we travel daily. Many of us have seen our work transformed in unimagined ways by the power and breadth of the information and communications revolution. The National Science Foundation has long partnered with the science and engineering community to support frontier research in computing and network science and educate the next generation of scientists and engineers. There was support for campus computing centers in the 1960's and computational science in the 1970's. The first supercomputer centers and networks linking researchers came on the scene in the 1980's. They were followed by the Partnerships for Advanced Computational Infrastructure (PACT) in the 1990's. This decade has brought the Terascale and Grid initiatives, and we have set our sights on distributed resources united as the most advanced computing facility available for all types of research by scientists in the U.S.

The article presents events and happenings related to computers and computing machinery, as of July 1, 2002. The Consortium for Computing in Small Colleges Midwest Conference is being held in September 2002. The Collaborative Virtual Environments is being held from September 30, 2002 to October 2, 2002. The 5th International Conference on the Unified Modeling Language is being held from September 30, 2002 to October 4, 2002, in Germany. The conference on Semantics, Applications and Implementation of Program generation is being held in October 2002 at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The conference on Principles and Practice of Declarative Programming is being held in October 2002. From October 2002, the Damage Mechanics 2002 Sixth International Conference on Computer Aided Assessment and Control is being held at Maui, Hawaii. Brazilian Symposium on Software Engineering is going to be held in October 2002. The 20th International Conference on Systems Documentation is being held in October 2002.

Discusses how the slowdown in the United States economy has resulted in low prices for consumers. Factors that contributed to an oversupply of computers and reduced prices in the industry; How retailers opened too many new stores in an effort to gain market share; Role of Wal-Mart in creating competition among retailers; Reasons for discounts in the automobile industry; Outlook for an improved economy in 2002.

The article presents various news related to technology, computer industry and recent development in these areas. The transfer of space technology of the U.S. to China is under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department. A preliminary Defense Department report found that Hughes Electronics Corp. gave China potentially damaging information after a Chinese rocket carrying a Hughes-built satellite crashed in 1995. In order to benefit from the job-creating capacity of e-commerce, Europe must improve skills and technical literacy of its population. A pen-like device designed to move files from one computer to another without touching a mouse or keyboard is in the development stage at Sony Computer Laboratories in Tokyo, Japan. In 1998, network professionals salaries rose more than 10% from 1997. Intel Corp. and Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico have developed a radiation-proof chip. Intel provided the government with existing technology that then allowed it to build a radiation-hardened product, said a source close to the deal. INSET: Y2K COUNTDOWN..