IP: ACM TechNews - Monday, April 9, 2001

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber:

Welcome to the April 9, 2001 edition of ACM TechNews,
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ACM TechNews
Volume 3, Number 187
Date: April 9, 2001
Site Sponsored by Gateway (http://www.gateway.com)

Top Stories for Monday, April 9, 2001:
http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html

"Tech Industry's Job Loss Expected to Get Worse"
"Tears in the Valley Send Shiver Through the Street"
"Democrats Counter Bush on Tech"
"IT Shines in March Job Picture"
"Rivals Say VeriSign Still Has Advantage"
"Counting the Human Toll Among the Internet Carnage"
"An Internet Critic Who Is Not Shy About Ruffling the Big Names
  in High Technology"
"META Group Ranks States by IT-Friendliness"
"Fine Print Not Necessarily in Ink"
"Hired Hands Corral Corrupters of Company Data"
"U.S.: E-Commerce Is Key to Free Trade in Latin America"
"Tech Employers Look Beyond Stock Options to Lure Workers"
"IBM and Detroit's Compuware See Rebound in Demand for Mainframe
  Computers"
"Spam Under Attack"
"Linux Web Hosting Market Set to Boom"
"Hiring Gets Sane"
"Is the World Finally Ready for Tablets?"
"Patent Reform Pending"
"Paradise Lost?"

******************* News Stories ***********************

"Tech Industry's Job Loss Expected to Get Worse"
Job layoffs in the tech sector will get worse in the future, say
many analysts, signaling trouble for the overall U.S. economy.
The tech sector has cut 38,000 jobs from January through March,
according to new statistics from the Department of Labor.  . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0409m.html#item1

"Tears in the Valley Send Shiver Through the Street"
The downturn of the tech economy, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq
market having fallen 66 percent in the past year, has had a
devastating impact on the Silicon Valley area.  The once booming
property market in the Valley and in San Francisco has crashed, . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0409m.html#item2

"Democrats Counter Bush on Tech"
Broadband access will be the focus of the Democrats' technology
agenda, the party's leaders said on Thursday.  Democratic leaders
on the Hill held an online news conference in which House
Democratic Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.) said the . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0409m.html#item3

"IT Shines in March Job Picture"
Although layoffs in the overall economy reached a 10-year high
last month, hiring remains strong in the IT sector, according to
new statistics from the Labor Department.  Hirings by computer
and data-services firms increased by 11,000 from February to . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0409m.html#item4

"Rivals Say VeriSign Still Has Advantage"
ICANN's decision to extend VeriSign's monopoly control of the
.com database through 2007 is coming under increased criticism as
VeriSign's selling and reselling practices have blocked domain
name buyers from a predictable purchase of expired domain names. . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0409m.html#item5

"Counting the Human Toll Among the Internet Carnage"
Tech experts at last week's World Economic Forum expressed dismay
at the impact the current tech downturn is having on some of the
sector's brightest talent but displayed some optimism that the
sector will turn around--and sooner rather than later.  Although . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0409m.html#item6

"An Internet Critic Who Is Not Shy About Ruffling the Big Names
  in High Technology"
Software pioneer David Winer says Microsoft is abusing its
industry dominance in creating standards and protocols that give
the company an unfair advantage.  On his DaveNet Web site, widely
read in high-tech circles, Winer contends that Microsoft's . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0409m.html#item7

"META Group Ranks States by IT-Friendliness"
A new report from META Group ranks Massachusetts, California,
Maryland, Colorado, and Washington as the most IT-friendly and
digitally competent of all 50 states.  Howard Rubin, executive
vice president of META Group, says traditional standards used to . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0409m.html#item8

"Fine Print Not Necessarily in Ink"
Legal experts say many of the "terms-of-service" agreements that
Web sites post may not prove sturdy enough to pass a stormy
lawsuit.  Businesses, lawyers, and the public are starting to pay
more attention to exactly what is entailed in terms-of-service . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0409m.html#item9

"Hired Hands Corral Corrupters of Company Data"
Kris Haworth, manager of Deloitte & Touche's computer forensic
office in San Francisco, recently had to rummage through a
company's computers in search of deleted emails to find if the
business had illegally inflated its revenues.  Using software so . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0409m.html#item10

"U.S.: E-Commerce Is Key to Free Trade in Latin America"
U.S. Commerce Secretary Don Evans, addressing members of the Free
Trade Areas of the Americans (FTAA) in Argentina, urged that
smaller Latin American companies and economies must be allowed to
benefit from e-commerce if free trade is to prosper in that part . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0409m.html#item11

"Tech Employers Look Beyond Stock Options to Lure Workers"
Tech companies that offered employees stock options as an
incentive when the market was skyrocketing are searching for new
methods to motivate and retain workers now that stocks are
foundering.  Dave Pace, I2 Technologies senior vice president for . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0409m.html#item12

"IBM and Detroit's Compuware See Rebound in Demand for Mainframe
Computers"
Increasing levels of e-commerce, consistently high performance
standards, new units capable of running on multiple languages,
and greater access among consumers will lead to a resurgence for
larger mainframe systems by mid-2001, according to analysts.  . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0409m.html#item13

"Spam Under Attack"
Regulatory attempts meant to halt the progress of spam have thus
far proved unsuccessful.  Experts point out that even if one
country passes a specifically anti-spam law, junk emailers will
send spam from offshore locations.  "We're going to find people . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0409m.html#item14

"Linux Web Hosting Market Set to Boom"
Software firm Idaya says that the Linux platform is poised to
take over the Web hosting market by mid 2002.  Idaya conducted a
survey of 1,000 ISPs and found that two-thirds believed Linux
robust enough for enterprise-level applications and 45 percent . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0409m.html#item15

"Hiring Gets Sane"
IT hiring managers say the employment market has definitely
turned to their advantage in recent months, with dot-com layoffs
and other factors having added more qualified applicants to the
labor pool and prompting many prospective workers to seek stable . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0409m.html#item16

"Is the World Finally Ready for Tablets?"
After failing miserably a decade ago, the tablet PC may have new
life.  Last week, Microsoft said it is bringing back the
full-size writing tablet, a device that market researchers saw as
holding such promise years ago that Dataquest Gartner once . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0409m.html#item17

"Patent Reform Pending"
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has come under severe
criticism in recent years for giving business-method patents to
high-tech companies for such "pedestrian" techniques as pop-up
advertising and one-click shopping systems.  However, the office . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0409m.html#item18

"Paradise Lost?"
NEC Research Institute (NECI), located in Princeton, N.J, is
shifting its focus in accordance with the wishes of corporate
headquarters back in Japan.  NECI President David Waltz is taking
steps to speed the development of technological discoveries with . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0409m.html#item19


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