The U.S. will suffer at least one devastating attack to its national information network or power grid in the next decade, says a majority of experts responding to a recent survey by Pew Internet & American Life and Elon University. The survey of more than 1,285 experts found 66% believed the U.S. will endure either physical attacks to central parts of the Net’s infrastructure or cyber terrorist attacks on vulnerabilities in key utilities or industries such as banking. Respondents also noted the country’s networks will continue to be vulnerable to more dangerous viruses, worms, and other forms of malicious code. ClickZ News also reports the experts concluded the only way the U.S. government will be able to confront this danger would be to infringe further on the privacy of its citizens.
In the Wrong Hands
“We can build a brain inside a gun,” says Timothy N. Chang, a professor of electrical engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, and member of a research team building a handgun designed to fire only when its circuitry and software recognize the owner’s grip. Sensors in the gun’s grip measure the pressure the hand exerts as it squeezes the trigger; algorithms check the shooter’s grip with stored, secure, authorized patterns, reports the New York Times. Research in smart handgun technology has been ongoing in many labs for over a decade, most focusing on fingerprint scanning. Instead, the NJIT effort concentrates on grip characteristics. The main function of the system is to distinguish the shooter from, say, a child who happens upon a gun in a drawer. However, researchers point out the electronics within the gun could one day include GPS receivers, accelerometers, and other components that could record the time and direction of gunfire to help reconstruct events for crime investigations.
Top 10 Viruses of 2004
China’s Netizens to Soar
The number of Internet users in China is expected to exceed their counterparts in the U.S. by 2008, according to market analysts at Panlogic, Surrey, U.K. China, with a population of 1.3 billion, currently counts 100 million Net users; the U.S. stands at 137 million users. Although the growth opportunities are vast, BBC News reports Net usage in China does not reflect that of other nations. The Chinese use the Net as a communication line, often in lieu of a telephone, to keep in touch with family and friends, as well as to access news from the world around them. Business transactions and e-commerce markets, readily adopted in other cultures, are not yet mainstream in China. Still, the Panlogic report predicts huge opportunities, as 90% of China’s Netizens are under 40, 67% earn or exceed an average “urban wage,” and 96% of those currently online expect to buy online in the near future.
Chess Champs in Check
Chess champions worldwide are finding their game strategies compromised by the latest generation of chess databases and software. The New York Times reports a growing number of elite players are meeting their match in less-skilled players who have studied a virtual history of their chess moves from database archives. While some masters welcome the challenge of finding new innovative ways to best players who come overly prepared, others taste the frustration in having their favorite game strategies widely digested for all to practice. Moreover, computer chess programs are changing the way people play. The newer games and online sources focus more on tactics, making the latest crop of players far more tactical in skill and bolder in defensive moves. Estonian grandmaster Jaan Ehlvest contends computers may never make people better players than they otherwise would have been, but they can help them reach their potential more quickly. “Now you see 14-year-old grandmasters,” says the 42-year-old Ehlvest, “because they accumulate information much faster than in my day.”
Painful Plateau
For the first time in more than three decades of technological innovation, salaries of electrical engineers are beginning to drop, according to a survey released by the IEEE-USA. The median salary for an electrical engineer dropped $1,500 in 2003, the first decrease recorded since the group began charting such data in 1972. Meanwhile, the overall U.S. personal income grew more than 3% during the same period. Reuters reports electrical engineering salaries have tended to rise commensurate with the importance of electronics in society. In 1995, the median salary was $67,000; by 2002 it was up to $101,000; the next year it was down to $99,500. Outsourcing, competition from foreigners on guest worker visas, and rising health insurance costs are culprits in the drop, IEEE reports.
War is No Game
Members of the video game generation have grown up and gone to war, taking along their favorite forms of entertainment. Indeed, U.S. soldiers are reporting to duty in Iraq equipped with Gameboys, Xbox consoles, and laptops loaded with everything from Mario and Luigi to “The Sims,” according to the Associated Press. At Camp Fallujah, video games are as ubiquitous as microwave ovens and televisions. When the power goes out, a Humvee battery and a pair of alligator clips rescue the digital play. Psychologists treating combat stress recommend video games to relieve the anxiety of warfare and the crush of boredom. But Marines are quick to scoff at the idea that games could somehow better prepare them for combat. As one Fallujah-based sergeant notes: “In a video game, you can die and then press `Start’ to play again. [War] is a little bit different.”
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