Computer

Since the Internet's early days, engineers and researchers have built the "network of networks" largely with open standards, which many argue has let the technology become as popular as it is today. However, that popularity may also discourage companies that develop promising new Internet technologies from making them available for use in open standards in the future. The Web offers many potential... View full abstract»

In our search for transgressive models of distance education, we found inspiration in the "Web-back" performance pieces of Guillermo Gomez-Penia (1997), the production of virtual favelas in Brazil, and rural education models from the Philippines and Malaysia. As we thought in particular about our desire to reach Native American reservations and Mexican-American border towns in the US Southwest, we... View full abstract»

The author describes the present status of computer graphics hardware. While console games flourished, PC game sales have plummeted. The plans of Nvidia and ATI, the 3D graphics world's two dominant players are described. View full abstract»

Current efforts to secure the PCs traditionally open architecture will give consumers two unattractive choices: They will either have to pay a huge premium for an unwieldy system that employs impenetrable membranes, encrypted buses, and tamper-resistant memory, or they will have to settle for an inferior solution that fails to thwart dishonest users and limits the ability to backup data and intero... View full abstract»

he Web, databases, and other digitized information storehouses contain a growing volume of audio content. Sources include newscasts, sporting events, telephone conversations, recordings of meetings, Webcasts, documentary archives such as the Visual History Foundation's interviews with Holocaust survivors (http://www.vhf. org), and media files in libraries. Users want to make the most of this mater... View full abstract»

Internet-enabled cell phones typically accommodate only three to 12 text lines, and their design emphasizes portability. Web interaction has, so far, been a secondary concern. For the most part, automated techniques to address the feature gap between the desktop and these phonetops rely on the notion of transducing-translating HTML and images into formats compatible with small devices, which typic... View full abstract»

The promise of ubiquitous computing is a future in which highly specialized, embedded computing devices operate seamlessly within the everyday environment and are transparent to users. Realizing this vision will require next-generation networks to support mobile multimedia devices with capabilities well beyond those of today's handsets. These networks will exploit wideband radio access technologie... View full abstract»

All the components necessary for realizing location-aware computing are available in the marketplace today. What has hindered the widespread deployment of location-based systems is the lack of an integration architecture that scales with user populations. The authors have completed the initial implementation of Rover, a system designed to achieve this sort of integration and to automatically tailo... View full abstract»

Despite a growing demand for highspeed Internet and network access in the US broadband market, many digital-subscriber-line companies are downsizing, scaling back service, or closing their doors altogether. More importantly, upstart independent DSL providers have gone to war with the Baby Bells, alleging that they have purposely accelerated the shakeout of start-up companies by exploiting all DSL ... View full abstract»

Sensor networks hold the promise of facilitating large-scale, real-time data processing in complex environments, helping to protect and monitor military, environmental, safety-critical, or domestic infrastructures and resources, Denial-of-service attacks against such networks, however, may permit real world damage to public health and safety. Without proper security mechanisms, networks will be co... View full abstract»

Two factors primarily drive the soaring cost of semiconductor test: the number of test patterns applied to each chip and the time it takes to run each pattern. Typical semiconductor testing for each chip involves a set of 1,000 to 5,000 test patterns. These tests are applied through scan chains that operate at about 25 MHz. Depending on the size of the scan chains on the chip, a set of test patter... View full abstract»