The U.S. State Department is ready to roll out new passports using embedded digital photos against the advice of federal researchers, industry experts, and privacy proponents, who warn face recognition technology has shown an unacceptable error rate. The Washington Post reports the department chose face recognition to comply with the U.N.-affiliated International Civil Aviation Organization, […]
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A group of 4,000 scientists, including 48 Nobel Laureates, has called for the "restoration of scientific integrity in federal policymaking," charging the U.S. government with imposing strict controls on researchers who want to share ideas with colleagues in other countries. The Union of Concerned Scientists issued a report in July claiming current government policies could […]
Technology creates many legal quandaries in life, and now it appears, in death, too. While there is currently no case law involving legal access to a person’s data after that person dies, experts contend this situation must change as baby boomers—the first generation of widespread and regular computer users—grow older. The New York Times reports […]
2004 ACM Awards Banquet: a Night to Celebrate
ACM played host to over 200 industry luminaries at its 2004 Awards Banquet held June 5 at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. The event recognizes technical excellence and outstanding service to the computing field. The 2003 award winners and newly inducted ACM Fellows represent a diverse group of leaders in the computing field and the IT community. The following images capture those honored:
Computer Science Education in Japan
Firsthand observations trace the current state, future potential, and obstacles ahead for Japanese academia.
The National Science Foundation and the National Science Board (which oversees the NSF) issued their strongest warnings yet regarding the loss of U.S. dominance in critical areas of science and innovation and the shortage of U.S. scientists entering technical fields. In two New York Times reports, federal and industry experts traced the steady decline of […]
Is Telemedicine the Panacea For Sub-Saharan Africa’s Medical Nightmare?
"Ever since my eye swelled up, I've gone to church to pray for a cure...I always knew He would send a way to make me better---I just didn't know it was going to be from London," says Anna Mobutsu, a 23-year-old farm laborer, who cannot imagine journeying farther than a bus ride from her home in the small African town of Nelspruit. An illiterate single parent with a 7-year-old and an elderly mother to support on about $56 a month, Anna does not even own a TV to introduce her to a world beyond her own. "But this afternoon I went to London" [2].
Growing a Participatory Programming Environment
A leading pharmaceutical company discovers how programming issues are resolved more effectively when a team approach is employed.
The U.S. government, despite denials to the contrary, is making its first moves toward a military-style draft of citizens with special skills in computers and foreign languages, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. The Selective Service System, an independent federal agency, has begun creating the procedures and policies to conduct such a targeted draft in the […]
April 8, 2004 PLEASE TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO VOTE VIA POSTAL MAIL OR ELECTRONICALLY Dear ACM Member: The ACM Constitution provides that our Association hold a general election in even-numbered years for the positions of President, Vice President, Secretary/Treasurer, and Members-at-Large. Biographical information and statements of the candidates appear on the following pages. Enclosed with […]
Great concerts will soon produce more lasting memories when clubs and concert halls are equipped with digital kiosks enabling concertgoers to download a recording of the show to a small USB drive almost immediately after the performance. San Diego-based eMusic Live, one of a growing number of music distributors pioneering instant digital recordings, has opened […]
The offshoring of IT jobs has become such a political tinderbox in the U.S. that India’s outsourcing specialists fear its repercussions. The chairman of a leading Indian software firm recently told the New York Times: “The dramatic buildup of opposition before the U.S. elections is disturbing,” pointing out political reaction against outsourcing has already culminated […]
Acm’s Professional Development Centre Expands Learning Opportunities
One of ACM’s goals is to continually provide our members with meaningful professional development opportunities, supporting life-long career growth. In accordance with this goal, we are proud to announce the expansion of the ACM Professional Development Centre (PDC). The PDC was originally created in response to member feedback emphasizing a need for greater professional development […]
The ACM Fellows Program was established by Council in 1993 to recognize and honor outstanding ACM members for their achievements in computer science and information technology and for their significant contributions to the mission of the ACM. The ACM Fellows serve as distinguished colleagues to whom the ACM and its members look for guidance and […]
The U.S. Government, bowing to repeated Secret Service requests, is now deliberately obscuring its highest-quality aerial photographs over Washington in an effort to hide visible objects on the roofs of the White House, Capitol, and Treasury departments. The Associated Press reports this blurring policy also includes views of the Naval Observatory where the Vice President […]
White-light scanning technology used to map the human body as thousands of data points is helping create a sizing database of vital statistics for not only apparel manufacturers, but for the automotive, airline, and health care industries as well. Textile/Clothing Technology Corp. developed the size-extracting 3D body measuring system used on 11,000 volunteers in the […]
An increasing number of users are listening to anti-piracy campaigns instead of music, according to survey results from the New York-based research firm, NPD Group. When it first began tracking music deletions last May, NPD found 606,000 U.S. households eliminated music stored on their PCs. Three months later, 1.4 million households deleted all music files […]
We ushered in FY03 with a series of priorities and projects in place and a determination to set ACM on a course to expand and enhance member satisfaction and improve its financial outlook. Now, as we usher in this new calendar year, I am most pleased to announce the Association not only realized many of […]
South Korea’s three leading telecom firms, major credit card companies, and several banks have combined efforts to enable Koreans to pay for goods and services by cell phone in a method similar to operating a TV remote control. In what has been reported as a mass effort to establish itself as a technology trendsetter, South […]
Nominees For Elections and Report of the ACM Nominating Committee
In accordance with the Constitution and Bylaws of the ACM, the Nominating Committee hereby submits the following slate of nominees for ACM’s officers. In addition to the officers of the ACM, five Members at Large will be elected. The names of the candidates for each office are presented in random order below: Back to Top […]
Fast on the heels of a U.S. Federal Trade Commission report indicating the incidence of identity theft is far greater than the government previously believed, comes a report from the General Accounting Office offering clear evidence how easy it is to obtain fake driver’s licenses throughout the U.S. Congressional investigators readily convinced DMV employees to […]
Knowledge acquisition—a topic discussed frequently in this magazine in terms of the most effective ways for colleagues to share expertise and experience—is now being applied with a painful twist. A growing number of U.S. firms moving to outsourcing options expect their soon-to-be-pink-slipped tech employees to train their overseas replacements before they get the ax. The […]
On the same day India’s National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) came out in defense of its recent claim that IT outsourcing to India has improved U.S. employment figures, the Associated Press reported a dramatic drop in U.S tech jobs migrating to India, Russia, and China. "U.S. banks, financial services, and insurance companies […]
It’s official. The very video games that make parents squirm are in fact beneficial for at least building visual attention skills in children. Researchers from the Center for Visual Science at the University of Rochester have found that first-person shooter games—the ones that require players to kill or maim virtual enemies and destroy screen-based surroundings—significantly […]
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