NewsScan Daily, 13 April 2004 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 13 April 2004 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"  
       Chip Implanted in Brain to Aid Computer Use by Disabled
       Dot-Com Mania: It's Retro and It's Baaack!
       New Internet Tracking Poll From Pew American Life Project
       Wireless Hacking
       Intel Chips Will Include Hard-Wired Security
       Outies, Inies, and Globalization

FEATURES        
       Flash Card
       Worth Thinking About: Scientists, Prospectors, and Treasure Hunters

CHIP IMPLANTED IN BRAIN TO AID COMPUTER USE BY DISABLED
     With approval from the Food and Drug Administration, a company called
Cyberkinetics Inc. is planning a clinical trial of a system in which a tiny
microchip will be implanted in the brains of five paralyzed people so they
can operate a computer by thought alone. (Several research groups have
already implanted devices in monkeys, allowing them to control cursors on
computer screens or move robot arms using their brainpower alone.) CalTech
neuroscientist Richard A. Andersen says, "Among many people in the field,
there's a feeling now that the time is here for moving the technology to
test in humans." To implant the chip, a small hole will be cut in the
patient's skull, and the chip will be placed on the surface of the brain at
the motor cortex, which controls movement. (New York Times 13 Apr 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/13/health/13BRAI.html

DOT-COM MANIA: IT'S RETRO AND IT'S BAAACK!
     Several "dot-com" companies have filed to go public, including
salesforce.com, Shopping.com, and Advertising.com. Tom Taulli, a hedge fund
manager, explains: "It's kind of hip to be dot-com again. It's back in
style. It's retro." The wave of dot-com IPOs comes as other Internet
offerings have performed well and as dot-com companies seem less risky to
investors than they did after the collapse of the Internet bubble. Still,
those same investors may keep some of their wits about them about them this
time. Taulli says: "I'm not sure there will be that phenomenon where you see
companies slapping on a dot-com and expecting to get a premium for it."
(AP/Washington Post 13 Apr 2004)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6964-2004Apr13.html

NEW INTERNET TRACKING POLL FROM PEW AMERICAN LIFE PROJECT
     The latest Internet tracking survey by the Pew Internet American Life
Project recorded the highest readings ever on the number of Internet users
who are e-shoppers, the number who participate in online auctions, and the
number of Americans who use computers. It also identified the following
facts on wireless connectivity: 17% of Internet users have logged on using a
wireless device, with  Gen Y members (ages 18-27) far and away the most
likely to have used wireless devices (28% have done so). The full report is
available for downloading.
http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/pdfs/PIP_April2004_Data_Memo.pdf

WIRELESS HACKING
     Pointing to a rise in wireless hacking, security expert Joshua Wright
of the SANS Institute warns: "All the money you've spent to protect your
corporate network is moot if someone hacks your laptop at a wireless access
point." And Don LeBeau of security firm Aruba Wireless Networks says that at
least one Silicon Valley company suspected it was the target of corporate
espionage when it found an unauthorized device surrpetiously establishing a
hot spot from a conference room. Shai Guday, group program manager for
wireless at Microsoft, urges companies to take the wireless hacking threat
seriously: "Wireless is happening. They can't bury their heads in the sand.
Wireless is great, but security is more important." (USA Today 13 Apr 2004)
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/data/2004-04-13-hackers-wireless_x.htm

INTEL CHIPS WILL INCLUDE HARD-WIRED SECURITY
     Intel's PXA27x processors -- that company's next generation of chips
for cell phones and handheld computers -- will include hard-wired security
by means of a security "engine" placed on the same piece of silicon but
separated from the area where general processing takes place. Intel wireless
security manager Dave Rogers says, "Carriers want to be able to identify the
handset on the network. They want to make sure nobody is doing anything
malicious with that handset." Some industry-watchers remain skeptical.
Gartner research analyst Michael King says of Intel's wireless plans:
"They're at an early place in this marketplace. Being able to dictate
standards requires that you have a commanding position and I don't think
they're there yet." (AP/Los Angeles Times 12 Apr 2004)
http://www.latimes.com/technology/ats-ap_technology12apr12,1,5135096.story?c
oll=sns-ap-toptechnology

OUTIES, INIES, AND GLOBALIZATION
     The chattering classes are spending a lot of time chattering about
outsourcing and offshoring (i.e., offshore outsourcing), but do they
actually know what they're talking about? And are they sure they can really
tell the difference between outsourcing and insourcing and outies and inies?
Do they truly know who's on first and who's on second? Here's an example of
just how complex the issue is: last year the German semiconductor company
Infineon Technologies decided to eliminate 40 high-paying engineering jobs
at its research facility in San Jose, California, and move them to India,
and at the same time started adding 150 engineers and white-collar workers
to its operations in North Carolina and Vermont, but then the company's
chief executive had to step down after clashing with unions and board
members over plans to shuffle even more jobs around the globe. In other
words, he's out. Economist Joseph Carson of Alliance Capital Management says
that job loss is a global phenomenon related largely to improved
productivity, and points out that Japan lost more manufacturing jobs than
the U.S. during the eight-year period 1995-2003.  "The bigger story is
improved productivity rather than outsourcing."  So outsourcing is actually
in. But then so is insourcing. It's all good in the global economy.  (Wall
Street Journal 12 Mar 2004) http://online.wsj.com/search

*****  

FLASH CARD 
     "A scientist will never show any kindness for a theory which he did not
start himself." (Mark Twain, in 'A Tramp Abroad')

WORTH THINKING ABOUT: SCIENTISTS, PROSPECTORS, AND TREASURE HUNTERS
     Scientist Edwin O. Wilson once shared this insight into the everyday
realities faced by a working scientist:
     "Scientists do not discover in order to know, they know in order to
discover. That inversion of purpose is more than just a trait, it is the
essence of the matter. Humanists are the shamans of the intellectual tribe,
wise men who interpret knowledge and transmit the folklore, rituals, and
sacred texts. Scientists are the scouts and hunters. No one rewards a
scientist for what he knows. Nobel Prizes and other trophies arc bestowed
for the new facts and theories he brings home to the tribe. One great
discovery and the scientist himself is great forever, no matter how foolish
the rest of his deeds and pronouncements. No discovery, and he will probably
be forgotten, even if he is learned and wise in matters scientific. The
humanist grows in stature as he grows in wisdom. He can gain immortality as
a critic, and justly so. But this vocational opportunity is not open -- not
yet -- to the scientist. The most memorable critics among scientists are
those who served as foils for the great discoverers, helping them to clear
error from the path.
     "Scientists therefore spend their productive lives struggling to reach
the edge of knowledge in order to make discoveries. The scientist is not a
very romantic figure. Each day he goes into the laboratory or field
energized by the hope of a great score. He is brother to the prospector and
treasure hunter. Every little discovery is like a gold coin on the ocean
floor. The professional's real business, the bone and muscle of the
scientific endeavors amounts to a sort of puttering: trying to find a good
problem, thinking up experiments, mulling over data, arguing in the corridor
with colleagues, and making guesses with the aid of coffee and chewed
pencils until finally something -- usually small -- is uncovered. Then comes
a flurry of letters and telephone calls, followed by the writing of a short
paper in an acceptable jargon. The great majority of scientists are
hard-working, pleasant journeymen, not excessively bright, making their way
through a congenial occupation."
                               ***
See 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0674074424/newsscancom/ref=nos
im for Edward O. Wilson's "Biophilia: the Human Bond with other Species" --
or look for it in your favorite library. (We donate all revenue from our
book recommendations to adult literacy programs.)

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