FBI Warns of 'Skyfall' Attack
In a brief but dramatic statement, the FBI warned Thursday that Americans should expect additional terrorist attacks. A two-sentence press release on FBI.gov said there "may be additional terrorist attacks within the United States and against U.S. interests overseas over the next several days." The content was disturbing enough, but even stranger was the Web address of the press release. Just what did the FBI mean by inserting the word "skyfall" into a description of a press release? Was it a reference to the 1970s-era disaster novel entitled Skyfall, or a hint that the bureau was remembering the children's tale in which Chicken Little warned of calamity -- but was not believed? A harried FBI spokeswoman who had been deluged with calls about "skyfall" said the answer was none of the above -- and the press release soon would be renamed.
http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,47510,00.html
A Senator's Lonely Privacy Fight
Russ Feingold is fighting a lonely battle for privacy in the U.S. Senate. The 48-year-old Wisconsin Democrat is singlehandedly trying to add pro-privacy changes to an eavesdropping bill that would hand police unprecedented surveillance powers. His stand has been causing friction with his own party: This week Feingold refused to bow to a request from Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota) for an immediate vote on the complex, 243-page bill. Daschle had asked senators to agree unanimously that it was time to move onto the anti-terrorism measure that was drafted in response to the Sept. 11 attacks.
http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,47490,00.html
After Bullets Fly: War of Words
High above Afghanistan, flying broadcast centers are reinforcing bombing runs and missile strikes with information assaults. These C-130E Commando Solo planes, airing pro-American radio and television messages, have seen action in almost every U.S. military operation since Vietnam. The aircraft could play an especially vital part in the current conflict, because there's no "Radio Free Afghanistan" to tell the United States' side of the news.
http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,47447,00.html
Fighting Evil Hackers With Bucks
Worried about the threat of terrorists-turned-hackers, members of a House panel spent Wednesday puzzling over how Congress could improve computer security. "What legislative and other steps are needed to increase the focus on computer security?" Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-New York), chairman of the House Science committee, asked at a "cybersecurity" hearing. Boehlert added: "We want to focus on real, concrete problems and develop specific solutions."
http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,47479,00.html
Bush Bounty: $5 Mil Per Terrorist
Reacting to the need for publicity to help thwart terrorism, President Bush on Wednesday announced a new list of 22 "most wanted" terrorists. Joined by Secretary of State Colin Powell, Attorney General John Ashcroft, FBI Director Robert Mueller, and the new Director of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge, Bush referenced the 22 photographs of the indicted terrorists. "The men on the wall here have put themselves on the list because of great acts of evil," Bush said. "They plan, promote and commit murder. They fill the minds of others with hate and lies. And by their cruelty and violence, they betray whatever faith they espouse."
http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,47470,00.html
U.S. Plans New Cellular System
The White House plans to give emergency crews and government officials priority on the nation's cellular telephone system in an effort to ensure service for authorities during a crisis. Cellular phone use overwhelmed wireless networks in the hours after the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington, and prevented some police and officials from making critical calls. Richard Clarke, the president's cybersecurity adviser, said Thursday he does not want that to happen again.
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,47505,00.html
MS, Prosecutors Set for Talks
Under pressure from a judge to settle their antitrust case, Microsoft and the government have made little progress in private talks and face the intervention of a mediator, officials said Thursday. Despite two weeks of nonstop negotiations, the two sides had not moved close enough to a settlement by the Friday deadline set by the new judge in the case, according to government officials familiar with the talks who spoke on condition of anonymity. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly has told both sides she wants the case settled by Nov. 2, and that she would appoint a mediator this Friday if progress had not been made. Both sides have resisted having a mediator in recent weeks.
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,47503,00.html
Circuits That Bug Out Bugs 
That cockroach skittering behind your computer may be after more than your sandwich crumbs: It could be looking for a home inside your PC. Entomologists are warning of the growing risks that insects pose to electronic hardware, but few electronics manufacturers in the United States are aware of the danger. It turns out cockroaches like to nest in the warmth and darkness that electronic equipment provides. And in everything from household appliances to network servers, their waste and rotting carcasses can corrode printed circuit boards and short out electronic components.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,47361,00.html
Anti-Terror Hackers Claim Arab National Bank Breach
Vigilante hackers apparently penetrated the security of a Saudi bank Wednesday, even as the hackers' own Web site was defaced by a notorious computer prankster, Fluffi Bunni. In an effort to locate financial information about terrorists, a member of a group called Yihat claims to have breached the defenses of an Internet-connected server operated by Arab National Bank. As proof, the hacker, who uses the nickname "Splices," provided Newsbytes with three spreadsheet files allegedly gleaned from the server. The files apparently contained records of accounts held by a handful of ANB customers.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/171035.html
U.S. launches spy satellite
Roaring into orbit, an Atlas 2AS rocket illuminated the night sky over Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Wednesday, carrying with it a satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office, an agency that maintains spy satellites for the United States. As is customary for the NRO, no details were released about the satellite, but experts told Reuters news agency that the type of rocket being used for launch and the location of the launch pad indicated it was a relay satellite rather than one used to collect imagery. The rocket was launched by International Launch Services -- a joint venture of U.S.-based Lockheed Martin and Russian companies Khrunichev and Energia.
http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/space/1...hed/index.html
FBI closes 'pro-IRA' website
An American web site accused of supporting the Real IRA has been shut down at the request of the FBI as it cracks down on terrorist groups, it emerged today. The New York-based web site - iraradio.com - contained an archive of weekly radio programmes said to back the dissident republicans. Travis Towle, the owner, today claimed that the FBI asked his internet service provider to stop giving web space to the site or face having its assets seized as a backer of terrorism. "They just yanked us," Mr Towle told the New York Daily News.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/internetne...567864,00.html
High Court Hears Case on Phone Service Fees
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday about the fees powerful regional Bell phone companies can charge rivals to use their equipment to offer new local phone services. Analysts say the case's outcome could encourage greater competition for residential local phone service and cut prices, as well as speed the roll-out of more high-speed Internet service, video on demand, and even consumer-friendly phone bills that clearly explain billing charges.
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la...s%2Dtechnology
Asteroids Named in Memory of Sept. 11 Terrorism Victims
An international group responsible for cataloguing space rocks has named three asteroids to honor victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center's Twin Towers and damaged the Pentagon. The names were chosen "to represent some of the most basic and universal human values," officials said. The names are Compassion, Solidarity and Magnanimity. The decision to name the asteroids was made unilaterally in a unanimous agreement among the 13 members of the International Astronomical Union's Committee for Small Body Nomenclature.
http://www.space.com/news/asteroid_setp11_011010.html
Economic package may thaw tech spending
President Bush's economic-stimulus plan could give a needed boost to the tech sector and information-technology spending, analysts say. Last week, Bush outlined a broad tax stimulus plan to help the economy recover from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. One of the agreed-upon techniques to boost the economy is so-called enhanced expensing, which would allow companies to depreciate assets at a more rapid clip. For the tech sector, beset by layoffs and profit warnings, depreciation -- a reduction of earnings to write off the cost of an asset over its estimated useful life -- is no small matter. Technology executives have long griped that tax rules don't reflect reality in the sector, which is defined by 18-month product cycles.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200...html?tag=mn_hd
iomart cashes in on WTC tragedy
Scottish broadband provider and corporate spyware vendor iomart has joined the rapidly-growing list of tech companies seeking to exploit the World Trade Center atrocity for a fast buck. The company recently leaked some juicy titbits about being "called in" by "US authorities" (no agency named, naturally) to help in the /bin/laden hunt, and about finding Al Qaeda steganographic files on "the dark side of the Web". The publicity stunt was passed to Business A.M. columnist Victoria Masterson, who repeated it without challenge.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/22154.html
Inflatable loudspeakers could blow out roadies
Inflatable loudspeakers light enough for anyone to shift could mean rock stars' roadies have had their day. Loudspeakers come in heavy, cumbersome boxes that provide an air enclosure to absorb unwanted vibration and give a fuller sound. But now two companies, SoundTube Entertainment of Park City, Utah, and Ellula Sounds of Loughborough in Leicestershire, UK, reckon an inflatable box will do the job. Conventional speakers have a "driver", which converts electrical signals to back-and-forth movement and is connected to a cone-shaped diaphragm that vibrates the air. The driver sits on the front of a cabinet. To make loud or deep sounds you need big drivers mounted in giant boxes. So rock groups need roadies to hump and heave them onto the stage.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991415
How pretty faces light up the brain
The romantic saying "their eyes met across a crowded room" could have some scientific basis. It turns out that eye contact with a pretty face is enough to start the brain buzzing within seconds. British researchers have found that when someone sees an attractive face, their brain's "reward centre" lights up. The scientists believe bonding with attractive people has an evolutionary advantage and is hard-wired into the brain. As well as the more obvious rewards of finding a suitable mate, associating with attractive people perhaps enhances someone's social status.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci...00/1590847.stm
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