Review and Comment Articles

· Amputee-athlete gets his C-Legs - Cameron Clapp competes at the 2005 Endeavor Games with the help of C-Leg prosthetic devices. Microprocessors in the knee guide a hydraulic system that influences each step.
· ChoicePoint overhaul falls behind - ChoicePoint, the data broker that leaked the personal information of 145,000 Americans, has gone off schedule in its efforts to prevent such a breach happening again.
· Hackers probe Outlook Express flaw - The risk of an attack related to a flaw in Microsoft Outlook Express climbed this week, after underground hacking sites began circulating sample code for exploiting it.
· Smart goggles easy on the eyes - When swimmers want to improve their speed in the pool, checking a wristwatch can take up precious time. A Welsh design graduate has come up with a solution -- by creating a device that displays race time and laps completed inside a pair of goggles.
· Technology finding new ways to pay - Quicker. More secure. More fun. Stores, credit card companies and banks are giving consumers new ways to pay in the latest evolution of cashless payments.
· Japan cardholders 'hit' by theft - The hacker who was behind the biggest data theft seen in the US may also have compromised the data of Japanese cardholders, the government has said.
· Computer passwords 'up for grabs' - That is the warning of a survey by IT security firm Cyber-Ark. It said that 10% of firms never changed their central administrative passwords. A further 5% did not even bother altering the manufacturer's default password that came with the system.
· Flaw Is Found in Software Used to Accredit Hospitals - A powerful national organization that enforces quality standards for hospitals said yesterday that it had found a flaw in software that it had sold to more than 1,000 hospitals, which use the program to help them qualify for accreditation and payments from Medicare.
· Almost All Libraries Offer Free Web Access - Nearly all libraries around the country have free public Internet access and an increasing number are offering wireless connections, according to a study released Thursday by the American Library Association here.
· An Army of Soulless 1's and 0's - On the instructions of a remote master, the software could deploy an army of commandeered computers - known as zombies - that simultaneously bombarded a target Web site with so many requests for pages that it would be impossible for others to gain access to the site.
· A Broadband Beat-Down - IT looked for a while as if the United States was firmly entrenched as the world's leader in Internet innovation. President Bill Clinton and Al Gore, his vice president, did much to encourage development of the country's technology infrastructure, writes Thomas Bleha in an article accessible on the Foreign Affairs magazine Web site (www.foreignaffairs.org).
· To Catch a Thief - Over the last eight months, there seemed to be at least 140 different men and women living in the same apartment at 2978 Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn. Every one of them appeared to have a credit card and an insatiable appetite for jewelry from the glittering collections hawked on ShopNBC, a shopping network based in this suburb of Minneapolis.
· Appliances Wipe Out Blackouts - The Department of Energy is developing technologies to avert electrical grid failures such as the blackout of August 2003, including household appliances that temporarily reduce their power consumption. The devices switch off when they detect a power disruption on the electricity grid. Energy officials say the devices could save consumers billions of dollars by reducing the need to build new power stations.
· No Wings? No Chutes? No Problem - At least three space tourism startups are building spacecraft that forgo the wing-and-parachute landing systems used by space shuttles and space capsules in favor of retrorockets. These rockets will slow down the new spacecraft enough to land gently on their feet, UFO-style.
· CardSystems' Data Left Unsecured - CardSystems Solutions -- the credit-card processing company that recently exposed 40 million debit and credit-card accounts in a cyber break-in -- failed to secure its network, even though the network had been certified secure to a data security standard, according to Visa.
· Wine Scanner Has Perfect Palette - There is no greater anguish for a wine collector than to spend thousands of dollars on a 50-year-old bottle of Bordeaux, only to have it taste like vinegar when it's opened. But now a New Jersey real estate developer and wine enthusiast says he has found a way to guarantee wine drinkers will never taste sour grapes again.