Monday, September 25, 2000		Latest in IT world

NASA hacker sentenced

A 15-year-old boy, known as "comrade", caused a 21-day shutdown of the NASA computers that support the international space station. He was a hacker and stole the passwords and cruised like an employee. The boy pleaded guilty to juvenile delinquency in a scaled federal case. He will serve 6 months’ in a state detention facility. He admitted accessing 13 computers for two days in 1999 and downloading $ 1.7 million worth NASA proprietary software. The shutdown was taken as an essential measure for determining if the intruder had left anything behind that could harm the system.

President Clinton has given a boost to the disabled by pledging $ 10 million for the Net-accessibility research. At a presentation held recently, the White House announced the funding for research into alternative devices to replace standard computer monitors, keyboards and mouse used for surfing the Web and also towards loan to make these devices affordable for the disabled persons. An eye—gaze system, for example, for persons who are not able to move or speak to operate a system can send e-mail by simply looking at different parts of the computer scresnly help the disabled find employment but also help them by imparting loans and ‘e-scholarships’.

Analysts are pessimistic about the years’ sale in the PC market. The USA and Europe markets seem to be saturated, as there is a PC for virtually every person who needs it. Demand is fueled largely in Asia and Latin America. Yet, some are still optimistic about its future. According to them, the growth of e-commerce and the Internet will attribute to an increase in the demand for servers, based on PC technology. Thus, PC industry will survive and escape from the predictions of doom.

Windows-based notebooks, which can be moved from cubicle to conference room without any cables and wires, are becoming the fastest growing market. Always connected, be it on an airplane or around the world is the requirement for the workers of today’s corporate markets. Along with apple computer that has offered integrated wireless networking for more than a year, Dell and IBM are in a tight race to bring the technology to Window-based notebooks. These portables are gaining acceptance not only among the corporates but also government and educational institutions.