P2P-Zone - View Single Post - The Newspaper Shop -- Tuesday edition

walktalker · 04-12-01, 05:48 PM

NASA: Taking Privatization Public
For years, Ed Hudgins was ignored, rebuffed and even mocked for suggesting ideas such as selling off NASA's space shuttle and space station. But after the Bush administration decided to move in that direction, the Cato Institute analyst is starting to look almost prophetic. Hudgins is the laissez-faire think tank's director of regulatory studies, a former economist for Congress' Joint Economic Committee, and the author of the forthcoming book Space: The Free-Market Frontier.
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,48814,00.html

Olympics Net Security Is His Game
At least one of the techies in charge of securing the 2002 Olympic Winter Games' computer network is having a lot of fun. Despite general security concerns and fears of attacks directed at the Olympics computer system, Matt McClung of Salt Lake City security firm Satel is excited about a job that would leave many systems administrators in a catatonic state.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,48665,00.html

Corner of Art Place and Tech Lane
A new book by San Francisco State University professor and digital artist Stephen Wilson examines the ways in which contemporary artists use science and technology to explore their ideas. And while art and science have been intertwined for centuries, it looks like it's going to be a while before artists and scientists collaborate on an equal footing. "When art and technology come together, magical things happen," said Andy Cunningham, founder of ZeroOne, a nonprofit art and technology organization.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,48836,00.html

Snail Mail, or E-Card Go?
Sending holiday greeting cards is a tradition that most people will continue this year despite recent cases of anthrax-tainted envelopes in the mail. "We're looking at a normal holiday mailing this year," said Horace Hinshaw, a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service, which typically handles about 4 billion pieces of mail between Thanksgiving and the end of the year. "We're encouraging people to continue using the mail service."
http://www.wired.com/news/holidays/0,1882,48343,00.html

At an Ashram Near You: His Aura
Meditation is not widely known as a spectator sport. The most introverted and ascetic of activities, it doesn't usually involve tech gadgetry, rave-style visuals or a sizeable audience. But when Ansuman Biswas meditates, people pay attention. Perched in the lotus position for six hours at a time, the Bengali-born, London-based artist is currently using a homemade electrocardiograph (ECG) device, laptop computer, video camera and real-time video imaging software to reveal his internal processes to the outside world.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,48623,00.html

Anything New in New Media Art?
Just when it seemed like new media art is old news, suddenly it's become big news again. At least that's how the organizers of the 2002 Whitney Biennial -- considered a survey of what's hot in American art -- would like the public to consider the works utilizing new technologies selected for its most eclectic Biennial to date. The curators have proudly announced that the exhibition features "the largest representations ever" of new media art, as if bigger means better. The list of artists was just announced this month; the show opens on March 7, 2002, at New York's Whitney Museum of American Art.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,48728,00.html

Cable-Modem Users Can't Turn to FCC
For the hundreds of thousands of cable-modem users who lost their Internet and e-mail services this past weekend, and for the millions who still might, there is a stark reality: No government agency can help. High-speed Internet access is now as important to many small businesses as electric power and telephone service. Yet unlike those utilities, cable-modem service is not regulated by the government, even by those agencies that oversee Internet access provided by telephone lines.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...-2001Dec3.html

Mail irradiating device born in Star Wars plan
Sometime next year, a big chunk of mail going to U.S. government offices in Washington, D.C., will pass by a $5 million device about the size of a short log. The device will zap letters and packages with electron beams designed to kill bacteria — in this case, anthrax. And Titan, a 20-year-old but mostly unknown company, will be largely responsible for safeguarding mail that crosses the desks of the nation's leaders as the U.S. Postal Service installs eight of its systems. If the anthrax threats persist and the Postal Service expands use of the systems, Titan could protect an even bigger share of the 700 million pieces of mail processed daily in the USA.
http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/t...rradiation.htm

Telescope now 'as good as Hubble'
A ground-based telescope has taken pictures of stars that match the quality of those provided by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in orbit. A team of astronomers and engineers at the Paranal Observatory in South America used a new Adaptive Optics (AO) facility to counteract the distorting effects of the Earth's atmosphere that make stars appear to twinkle when viewed from the ground.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci...00/1691590.stm

Men 'stressed in the womb'
Scientists believe men may be naturally more inclined to suffer from stress, even before birth. Research carried out at the University of Cambridge, UK, suggests men may be predisposed to stress because they release more of the stress hormone cortisol than women. Scientists examined levels of the hormone in unborn lambs and found that males released twice as much cortisol as females.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/hea...00/1689445.stm

AT&T Broadband Customers See Switch Glitches
As AT&T Broadband scrambles to get its cable modem Internet customers switched to its own high-speed network, customer emotions range from satisfaction to outrage over service interruptions and confusion in making the transition to the new system, according to postings in a forum room discussion today. Some users complained of slower speeds while others were grateful to have their high-speed Internet service back and that they were not forced to rely on far slower dialup access.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172683.html

Banks Learn To Write Readable Privacy Policies
Unless you're the type of person who prefers to deposit his savings under the mattress, you likely received at least one lengthy and indecipherable notice this summer describing how your bank handles your personal and financial information. And if you're anything like most consumers, you probably took one look at the notice and promptly tossed it into the trash. Financial institutions sent the notices to comply with new federal consumer privacy regulations. But by nearly all accounts, the majority of the mailings were written to satisfy corporate legal departments and did little to inform consumers of their privacy rights.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172682.html

Tauzin Wants To Pass Privacy Bill Early Next Year
Seeking to prevent California and a handful of other states from enacting strict Internet privacy laws, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin, R-La., today said he would seek to introduce and pass a federal electronic privacy package soon after Congress returns from its holiday break. Speaking to reporters following his luncheon keynote at a high-tech conference here, Tauzin said that it was vital for Congress to move on federal privacy language before any state legislatures enact their own rules.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172681.html

Broadband Set To Squeeze Portals In Europe
A new report predicts tough times ahead for Europe's Web portals, as broadband users start to get picky about which sites they use. The Forrester Research study says that, as the broadband industry evolves, the current crop of portals will face heavy competition from a new generation of content providers. To survive this highly competitive market, today's general interest portals must play to their specific strengths, Hellen K. Omwando, an associate Forrester analyst, told Newsbytes.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172680.html

Web Users Pass On Passport-Style ID Services
Most online shoppers prefer the hassle of multiple Web site registrations rather than having one specific identification for every site they visit, according to a new study from Gartner Inc. "The sober truth is that although consumers are bothered by multiple user IDs and passwords, most consumers don't see much relative value in having one credential to navigate the Web," said Avivah Litan, vice president and research director for Gartner, in a statement.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172677.html

Senate Confirms Former Lawmaker As Patent Office Chief
Former California Republican Representative James Rogan received U.S. Senate confirmation to be named Commerce Department. undersecretary and director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Currently a partner at the law firm of Venable, Baetjer, Howard & Civiletti LLP, Rogan lost his bid for reelection in the most recent congressional election cycle.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172676.html

Hard-Coded Into E-Mail Hell By BadTrans
You think the handful of BadTrans.B worm-infected messages you've received are a pain? Imagine what life is like for Linda Anderson, a Florida resident who's been getting over 500 BadTrans-related e-mail daily for the past week. The latest widespread infectious code to hit the Internet, BadTrans.B has been particularly unkind to 15 people whose e-mail addresses were programmed into the worm by its unidentified author.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172673.html

Online Stores Welcome Increased Trade Down Under
As Australia's online stores began decking out their sites with Christmas offers during November, visitors arrived in increased numbers and there are early indications that sites that understand the medium could get their rewards this year. The first two weeks of November saw a 24 percent increase in visits to e-tailers by Australians over the same period in October, according to the just-released Nielsen/NetRatings' Online Shopping Index.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172666.html

More news later on

04-12-01, 05:48 PM	#2
walktalker The local newspaper man Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Montreal Posts: 2,036	NASA: Taking Privatization Public For years, Ed Hudgins was ignored, rebuffed and even mocked for suggesting ideas such as selling off NASA's space shuttle and space station. But after the Bush administration decided to move in that direction, the Cato Institute analyst is starting to look almost prophetic. Hudgins is the laissez-faire think tank's director of regulatory studies, a former economist for Congress' Joint Economic Committee, and the author of the forthcoming book Space: The Free-Market Frontier. http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,48814,00.html Olympics Net Security Is His Game At least one of the techies in charge of securing the 2002 Olympic Winter Games' computer network is having a lot of fun. Despite general security concerns and fears of attacks directed at the Olympics computer system, Matt McClung of Salt Lake City security firm Satel is excited about a job that would leave many systems administrators in a catatonic state. http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,48665,00.html Corner of Art Place and Tech Lane A new book by San Francisco State University professor and digital artist Stephen Wilson examines the ways in which contemporary artists use science and technology to explore their ideas. And while art and science have been intertwined for centuries, it looks like it's going to be a while before artists and scientists collaborate on an equal footing. "When art and technology come together, magical things happen," said Andy Cunningham, founder of ZeroOne, a nonprofit art and technology organization. http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,48836,00.html Snail Mail, or E-Card Go? Sending holiday greeting cards is a tradition that most people will continue this year despite recent cases of anthrax-tainted envelopes in the mail. "We're looking at a normal holiday mailing this year," said Horace Hinshaw, a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service, which typically handles about 4 billion pieces of mail between Thanksgiving and the end of the year. "We're encouraging people to continue using the mail service." http://www.wired.com/news/holidays/0,1882,48343,00.html At an Ashram Near You: His Aura Meditation is not widely known as a spectator sport. The most introverted and ascetic of activities, it doesn't usually involve tech gadgetry, rave-style visuals or a sizeable audience. But when Ansuman Biswas meditates, people pay attention. Perched in the lotus position for six hours at a time, the Bengali-born, London-based artist is currently using a homemade electrocardiograph (ECG) device, laptop computer, video camera and real-time video imaging software to reveal his internal processes to the outside world. http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,48623,00.html Anything New in New Media Art? Just when it seemed like new media art is old news, suddenly it's become big news again. At least that's how the organizers of the 2002 Whitney Biennial -- considered a survey of what's hot in American art -- would like the public to consider the works utilizing new technologies selected for its most eclectic Biennial to date. The curators have proudly announced that the exhibition features "the largest representations ever" of new media art, as if bigger means better. The list of artists was just announced this month; the show opens on March 7, 2002, at New York's Whitney Museum of American Art. http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,48728,00.html Cable-Modem Users Can't Turn to FCC For the hundreds of thousands of cable-modem users who lost their Internet and e-mail services this past weekend, and for the millions who still might, there is a stark reality: No government agency can help. High-speed Internet access is now as important to many small businesses as electric power and telephone service. Yet unlike those utilities, cable-modem service is not regulated by the government, even by those agencies that oversee Internet access provided by telephone lines. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...-2001Dec3.html Mail irradiating device born in Star Wars plan Sometime next year, a big chunk of mail going to U.S. government offices in Washington, D.C., will pass by a $5 million device about the size of a short log. The device will zap letters and packages with electron beams designed to kill bacteria — in this case, anthrax. And Titan, a 20-year-old but mostly unknown company, will be largely responsible for safeguarding mail that crosses the desks of the nation's leaders as the U.S. Postal Service installs eight of its systems. If the anthrax threats persist and the Postal Service expands use of the systems, Titan could protect an even bigger share of the 700 million pieces of mail processed daily in the USA. http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/t...rradiation.htm Telescope now 'as good as Hubble' A ground-based telescope has taken pictures of stars that match the quality of those provided by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in orbit. A team of astronomers and engineers at the Paranal Observatory in South America used a new Adaptive Optics (AO) facility to counteract the distorting effects of the Earth's atmosphere that make stars appear to twinkle when viewed from the ground. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci...00/1691590.stm Men 'stressed in the womb' Scientists believe men may be naturally more inclined to suffer from stress, even before birth. Research carried out at the University of Cambridge, UK, suggests men may be predisposed to stress because they release more of the stress hormone cortisol than women. Scientists examined levels of the hormone in unborn lambs and found that males released twice as much cortisol as females. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/hea...00/1689445.stm AT&T Broadband Customers See Switch Glitches As AT&T Broadband scrambles to get its cable modem Internet customers switched to its own high-speed network, customer emotions range from satisfaction to outrage over service interruptions and confusion in making the transition to the new system, according to postings in a forum room discussion today. Some users complained of slower speeds while others were grateful to have their high-speed Internet service back and that they were not forced to rely on far slower dialup access. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172683.html Banks Learn To Write Readable Privacy Policies Unless you're the type of person who prefers to deposit his savings under the mattress, you likely received at least one lengthy and indecipherable notice this summer describing how your bank handles your personal and financial information. And if you're anything like most consumers, you probably took one look at the notice and promptly tossed it into the trash. Financial institutions sent the notices to comply with new federal consumer privacy regulations. But by nearly all accounts, the majority of the mailings were written to satisfy corporate legal departments and did little to inform consumers of their privacy rights. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172682.html Tauzin Wants To Pass Privacy Bill Early Next Year Seeking to prevent California and a handful of other states from enacting strict Internet privacy laws, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin, R-La., today said he would seek to introduce and pass a federal electronic privacy package soon after Congress returns from its holiday break. Speaking to reporters following his luncheon keynote at a high-tech conference here, Tauzin said that it was vital for Congress to move on federal privacy language before any state legislatures enact their own rules. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172681.html Broadband Set To Squeeze Portals In Europe A new report predicts tough times ahead for Europe's Web portals, as broadband users start to get picky about which sites they use. The Forrester Research study says that, as the broadband industry evolves, the current crop of portals will face heavy competition from a new generation of content providers. To survive this highly competitive market, today's general interest portals must play to their specific strengths, Hellen K. Omwando, an associate Forrester analyst, told Newsbytes. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172680.html Web Users Pass On Passport-Style ID Services Most online shoppers prefer the hassle of multiple Web site registrations rather than having one specific identification for every site they visit, according to a new study from Gartner Inc. "The sober truth is that although consumers are bothered by multiple user IDs and passwords, most consumers don't see much relative value in having one credential to navigate the Web," said Avivah Litan, vice president and research director for Gartner, in a statement. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172677.html Senate Confirms Former Lawmaker As Patent Office Chief Former California Republican Representative James Rogan received U.S. Senate confirmation to be named Commerce Department. undersecretary and director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Currently a partner at the law firm of Venable, Baetjer, Howard & Civiletti LLP, Rogan lost his bid for reelection in the most recent congressional election cycle. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172676.html Hard-Coded Into E-Mail Hell By BadTrans You think the handful of BadTrans.B worm-infected messages you've received are a pain? Imagine what life is like for Linda Anderson, a Florida resident who's been getting over 500 BadTrans-related e-mail daily for the past week. The latest widespread infectious code to hit the Internet, BadTrans.B has been particularly unkind to 15 people whose e-mail addresses were programmed into the worm by its unidentified author. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172673.html Online Stores Welcome Increased Trade Down Under As Australia's online stores began decking out their sites with Christmas offers during November, visitors arrived in increased numbers and there are early indications that sites that understand the medium could get their rewards this year. The first two weeks of November saw a 24 percent increase in visits to e-tailers by Australians over the same period in October, according to the just-released Nielsen/NetRatings' Online Shopping Index. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172666.html More news later on __________________ This post was sponsored by Netcoco, who wants cookies, cookies, cookies and, you guessed it, more cookies