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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The Motion Picture Association of America figures studios lose more than $3 billion per year from piracy. But as often as industry finds new ways to stop pirates from copying its goods, the pirates find ways around them. No sooner were metal detectors placed outside screening rooms and theaters protected by security guards wearing night-vision […]
The CEO of a firm founded by the CIA warns against amassing a huge, unified database that would be available to U.S. government investigators as a way to fight terrorism. Gilman Louie of In-Q-Tel contends it’s "very dangerous to give the government total access" to such data, claiming individual freedom and privacy hang in the […]
The Technical Support Working Group (TSWG), a humble U.S. agency that until recently was little known even within Washington circles, is growing in size and stature as a seeker of antiterrorism gizmos. The Wall Street Journal calls the group the U.S.’s talent scouts for finding and funding novel devices to combat terrorism on behalf of […]
While war might hurt the overall U.S. economy, homeland security could help boost the beleaguered U.S. tech industry in the form of million-, indeed, billion-dollar contracts in defense spending over the next two years. The Bush Administration plans to increase government spending on computers, software, and services to over $58 billion in FY03, up 17% […]
The Rise and Fall of an E-Commerce Program
E-commerce may be here to stay, but how to teach it is still up for debate at many institutions.
Several major U.S. universities have refused federal contracts due to government caveats they feel restrict the integrity of their research programs. Some universities have walked away from federal contracts because the government has insisted on advance approval before research can be published, reports the Associated Press. MIT, for instance, recently turned down a $404,000 study […]
Creating a Knowledge-Sharing Community: If You Build It, Will They Come?
Technology may support a knowledge-sharing environment, but getting users to participate in effective ways is key.
The U.S. government is calling for volunteers from the science and technology arena to serve in the National Emergency Technology (NET) Guard. The task force is expected to mobilize at a moment’s notice to repair disruptions to the nation’s communications and technology infrastructure caused by terrorist attacks or other emergencies, according to Internetnews.com. The NET […]
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 world’s smallest logic circuit ever created has been developed by IBM scientists at the Almaden Research Center in San Jose, CA. The entire circuit is less than a trillionth of a square inch; the equivalent circuit made from state-of-the-art silicon transistors takes up 260,000 times as much space. Instead of using the transistors and […]
Teaching Reviewing to Graduate Students
Incorporating the principles and practices of formal review into a Ph.D. education, smoothly and inexpensively, as part of the existing coursework.
A simulation computer program designed to prevent terrorist attacks was shown at the White House to demonstrate the program’s homeland defense applications. Two professors at Purdue University’s e-Business Research Center improved on the technology, which was originally built for telecommunications and business, by incorporating two IBM supercomputers to build a "synthetic" model of the U.S. […]
A $9 million, three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research will enable researchers to create 1,000 points of light through tiny microelectromechanical systems (MEMs) electrodes to be positioned on the retinas of individuals blinded by diseases such as macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa. These diseases damage rods and […]
In Memoriam: Edsger W. Dijkstra 1930--2002
Edsger Wybe Dijkstra, a noted pioneer of the science and
industry of computing, died August 6 at his home in Nuenen,
The Netherlands.
Remote Automatic Doorman via the Internet
Using a low-end PC and a Web browser to operate a door two
buildings away.
What responsibilities do those in the computing profession
have for the moral integrity of what they do?
A compact supercomputer that proponents say could provide the model for high-performance computing systems in the years ahead has been built by the Research and Development in Advanced Network Technology (RADIANT) group at Los Alamos National Laboratory. A Beowulf cluster, the minisupercomputer—Green Destiny—was built from hundreds of “blade servers,” or compact servers stripped to their […]
Additional Methods When Using Email For Teaching
Providing additional functionality and limiting problems by combining a server-side and client-side approach when teaching with email applications.
A U.S. government panel has been formed to check foreign student visa applications for possible terrorist risks, reports the Washington Post. The Interagency Panel on Advanced Science Security, consisting of representatives from the FBI, CIA, State Department, and INS, among others, expects to evaluate 2,000 applications a year submitted by researchers and students seeking to […]
A Post-Baccalaureate Undergraduate-Level Program in Computer Science
A one-year pilot education, tuition-free, that could be shared under an open-source license with the rest of the world.
Helium-filled airships will provide a cost-effective way of bringing mobile phone networks and Internet connections to remote parts of the world, reports BBC News Online. Engineers at Britain’s Advanced Technologies Group (ATG) have designed an autonomous vehicle powered by solar cells and a backup diesel engine that will carry state-of-the-art technology such as transponders for […]
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