This month’s special section uncovers some of the most amazing technologies you’ll never see. That’s because they’ll be embedded everywhere and in pretty much everything. "Embedding the Internet" presents a kaleidoscope of ubiquitous devices and appliances with sensing and communications capabilities to distribute computational power beyond its current borders. Guest editors Deborah Estrin, Ramesh Govindan, […]
May 2000 - Vol. 43 No. 5
Features
Engineers in Japan are developing trains that can “fly,” reports New Scientist. Using the “wing-in-ground” (WIG) effect, in which a high-pressure cushion of air forms beneath flying objects as they approach the ground, they believe they can create trains that use only a quarter of the power required for magnetically levitated (maglev) trains. The WIG […]
The front portion of "Forum" features responses to the "Viewpoint," "Not Now Not Like This" (Feb. 2000, p. 29), regarding the ACM Council’s decision to not endorse the licensing of software engineers. I think it is unfortunate that the Council concluded that ACM’s involvement in licensing efforts would be viewed as an endorsement of such […]
Personal Computing: from P-Books to E-Books
As better technology becomes available, books in the electronic age are taking on a whole new look and feel.
Digital Village: Predatory Disintermediation
When cutting out the middleman means stifling the competition.
From the President: to DVD or Not to DVD
The current legal DVD battle between the movie industry and the free/open software communities over DVD is a microcosm of an ongoing intellectual property war.
Viewpoint: Existential Education in the Era of Personal Cybernetics
I remember very clearly the morning of Tuesday, January 19, 2038 at 3:14:07 a.m., which, very strangely, one second later, was also the afternoon of Friday, December 13, 1901, at 20:45:52. I say “very strangely,” because Unix (and its variants such as the GNUX of the GNU cult) was forbidden due to ITAR export regulations. […]
Embedding the Internet: Introduction
Add reliable wireless communications and sensing functions to the billions of physically embedded computing devices around the world for a new universe of ubiquitous networked computing.
Human-in-the-loop computing has its limits. What must we do differently to prepare for the networking of thousands of embedded processors per person? And how do we move from human-centered to human-supervised computing?
Wireless Integrated Network Sensors
For pervasive computing performance, exploit the physical limits of these densely distributed networks of embedded sensors, controls, and processors.
Embedded Computation Meets the World Wide Web
An infinitely accessible Web-linked physical environment united by a multitude of tiny servers could mean a life of information ease.
For coherent behavior from vast numbers of unreliable microsensors, actuators, and communication devices interconnected in unknown ways, apply the lessons of cellular cooperation in biological organisms.
Pushing human-computer interaction research to empower every citizen.
Web-Based E-Catalog Systems in B2B Procurement
Web-based catalogs provide the main entry point for B2B e-commerce and will fundamentally transform supply-chain relationships.
System adaptability is critical in today's rapidly changing business culture. Now, new approaches offer ways to specify, design, and implement adaptable apps.
All I Really Need to Know About Pair Programming I Learned in Kindergarten
When it comes to programming practices, studies show two heads are almost always better than one.
Technical Opinion: Designing Cryptography For the New Century
Cryptography was once the domain of generals and curious children, but the advent of the Information Age changed that. In the early 1970s the National Security Agency (NSA) and the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) realized that non-combatant adults needed to protect their sensitive, but unclassified, information. Though NSA is the usual government agency for […]
The Internet is expanding at an unprecedented rate. However, along with the enormous potential benefits, almost all of the risks discussed here in past columns are relevant, in many cases made worse by the Internet, due to widespread remote-access capabilities, ever-increasing communication speeds, the Net’s exponential growth, and weak infrastructure. This month we summarize some […]
