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walktalker · 22-01-02, 05:14 PM

Mendocino, CA: Microwave Hot
Arthur Firstenberg moved from New York City to Mendocino, a quaint Victorian village on California's rugged Northern Coast, to escape the radio frequencies he believes were making him sick. The 51-year-old says he is "electrically sensitive," meaning he believes he can detect, and is harmed by, the electromagnetic fields emitted by everything from hair dryers to power lines. Firstenberg is one of a growing number of people around the globe who claim they suffer from the same condition. And since wireless technology burst onto the scene in the mid '90s, they say, there are fewer and fewer places to hide from radio frequency pollution.
http://www.wired.com/news/wireless/0,1382,49841,00.html

MS Refocuses on Software Pirates
Software pirates, long ignored by everyone but the software industry and those in search of cheap or free software, are increasingly coming under the scrutiny of government and law enforcement officials. Software pirates are now being arrested en masse. Pirates are also accused of using the proceeds of their software sales to fund terrorist organizations and organized crime, and of impairing their home countries' ability to participate in foreign trade and investment markets.
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,49856,00.html

Data Firm Exposes Records Online
Choicepoint, a database firm that sells information about individuals and companies to clients, including the FBI and insurance firms, left an internal corporate database viewable to anyone with a Web browser, the company confirmed. A Choicepoint spokesman characterized the exposed databases as "administrative" and said that data gathered on behalf of Choicepoint's clients -- such as background screens, pre-employment drug tests, military history checks and insurance fraud investigations -- were never exposed during the security gaffe.
http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,49893,00.html

Is Bush's Fuel Cell Plan Hot Air?
Earlier this month, Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham said the Bush administration is junking the existing plan to improve fuel efficiencies, and would instead focus on developing "hydrogen as a primary fuel for cars and trucks." But while experts laud the positives in zero-emission fuel-cell vehicles, some of those same critics argue that the administration's plan bets heavily on technology of the future while paying little attention to the urgent need to reduce oil consumption now. Some predict that the Bush plan would do nothing to stop America's increasing dependence on foreign oil for at least a decade, probably more.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,49834,00.html

1-900 Numbers Going AT&T-away
AT&T is bailing out of a major part of the pay-for-service telephone business, dealing a serious blow to psychics, sex lines and other companies that use 900 numbers. "This could be the final death knell for the 900 business," said Ed Lavergne, a Washington lawyer who has worked with the telecommunications industry. AT&T stopped providing billing services for new 900 customers as of Jan. 1, and will discontinue billing for all such numbers on Dec. 31. The decision was primarily a financial one, said AT&T spokeswoman Jean Hurt. "The market has kind of changed," she said.
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,49927,00.html

How to Translate 'Free' to 'Fee'
Informing your freeware users they have to pay sounds like a test to see how fast they can disappear. Not so, found point-and-click translation startup Babylon, which saw a 20 percent "user conversion rate" to payware. Babylon's story is a familiar one, as software companies continue to move from free to fee. And while the lessons may be specific to this particular company, Babylon's story is an interesting peek into today's Internet environment.
http://www.wired.com/news/ebiz/0,1272,49646,00.html

FTC Moving To Restrict Telemarketers
The Federal Trade Commission today plans to propose new rules for reducing the annoyance of unwanted telephone solicitations as it begins to push for the establishment of a national "do-not-call" registry. With a registry, people could make a single call to get their names removed from many telemarketing lists. The agency is also expected to propose that telemarketers be barred from blocking any identifying information from caller-ID equipment so people would be able to know who is calling.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173813.html

‘Sucks’ sites to be doled out for free
Cyber-gripers, take heart. You and your “ThisCompanySucks.com” Web site have a patron. Free speech lawyer Ed Harvilla is worried that too many “sucks” domains have been taken away from owners and given to their target companies. So he and some silent partners have developed a system to dole out “sucks” Web sites — and he’s given them away for free.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/691648.asp?0si=-&cp1=1

Software can spot digital deceivers
Careful when composing your CV and sending it off to potential employers, they could be using software to spot if you are stretching the truth about your achievements. A US company has developed a program that is said to be able to sift through text to spot when people are lying or confused about facts. The software works by spotting the changes in writing style that emerge when someone is concealing the truth.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci...00/1775020.stm

Hitting the Natural-Gas Jackpot
Compared to oil, natural gas is so abundant it’s staggering. Proven petroleum reserves are good for another one trillion barrels or so. At today’s rate of consumption, they will last about 40 years. Add in oil reserves thought to exist but still undiscovered, and the timeline stretches out some 160 years. Known reserves of natural gas, which is composed mainly of the simple hydrocarbon methane, will last for about 50 years at today’s consumption rate.
http://www.techreview.com/articles/voss0102.asp

Canadian Authority Tries Again To Release Expired Domains
Canadian companies and individuals will be able to make a second attempt Thursday to snap up likely looking Internet addresses from among the first-ever batch of monikers to expire under the regime now responsible for the country's ".ca" domains. Many would-be domain name registrants had been jostling late Jan. 17 for some 20,000 ".ca" domains that previous owners had decided not to renew. However, the release of the expired domains - marking a little more than a year since the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) began managing the ".ca" databases - was cut short by a technical glitch.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173838.html

27% Of U.S., Canadian Banking Databases Breached
Twelve percent of online corporate databases suffered security breaches in 2001, and those of banking and financial institutions were most commonly targeted, a survey of database developers has found. More than one fourth - 27 percent - of banking and financial services databases were breached, according to an Evans Data Corp. survey of 750 database developers in the U.S. and Canada conducted in December. Such problems were reported by 18 percent of those working in the medical/healthcare field and the telecommunications industry.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173832.html

German Federal Employees Must Use Digital Signatures
In an effort to encourage use of e-signatures in industry, the German federal government said it will require 200,000 of its workers to use digital signatures when signing government contracts. The measure will include government contracts that can be carried out online, according to a regulation passed into law by the Bundeskabinett on Jan. 18. The move is the first step in a program called "BundOnline 2005," named after the year in which the German government intends, as much as possible, to make its operations "transparent and accessible."
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173827.html

More news later on

22-01-02, 05:14 PM	#3
walktalker The local newspaper man Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Montreal Posts: 2,036	Mendocino, CA: Microwave Hot Arthur Firstenberg moved from New York City to Mendocino, a quaint Victorian village on California's rugged Northern Coast, to escape the radio frequencies he believes were making him sick. The 51-year-old says he is "electrically sensitive," meaning he believes he can detect, and is harmed by, the electromagnetic fields emitted by everything from hair dryers to power lines. Firstenberg is one of a growing number of people around the globe who claim they suffer from the same condition. And since wireless technology burst onto the scene in the mid '90s, they say, there are fewer and fewer places to hide from radio frequency pollution. http://www.wired.com/news/wireless/0,1382,49841,00.html MS Refocuses on Software Pirates Software pirates, long ignored by everyone but the software industry and those in search of cheap or free software, are increasingly coming under the scrutiny of government and law enforcement officials. Software pirates are now being arrested en masse. Pirates are also accused of using the proceeds of their software sales to fund terrorist organizations and organized crime, and of impairing their home countries' ability to participate in foreign trade and investment markets. http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,49856,00.html Data Firm Exposes Records Online Choicepoint, a database firm that sells information about individuals and companies to clients, including the FBI and insurance firms, left an internal corporate database viewable to anyone with a Web browser, the company confirmed. A Choicepoint spokesman characterized the exposed databases as "administrative" and said that data gathered on behalf of Choicepoint's clients -- such as background screens, pre-employment drug tests, military history checks and insurance fraud investigations -- were never exposed during the security gaffe. http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,49893,00.html Is Bush's Fuel Cell Plan Hot Air? Earlier this month, Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham said the Bush administration is junking the existing plan to improve fuel efficiencies, and would instead focus on developing "hydrogen as a primary fuel for cars and trucks." But while experts laud the positives in zero-emission fuel-cell vehicles, some of those same critics argue that the administration's plan bets heavily on technology of the future while paying little attention to the urgent need to reduce oil consumption now. Some predict that the Bush plan would do nothing to stop America's increasing dependence on foreign oil for at least a decade, probably more. http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,49834,00.html 1-900 Numbers Going AT&T-away AT&T is bailing out of a major part of the pay-for-service telephone business, dealing a serious blow to psychics, sex lines and other companies that use 900 numbers. "This could be the final death knell for the 900 business," said Ed Lavergne, a Washington lawyer who has worked with the telecommunications industry. AT&T stopped providing billing services for new 900 customers as of Jan. 1, and will discontinue billing for all such numbers on Dec. 31. The decision was primarily a financial one, said AT&T spokeswoman Jean Hurt. "The market has kind of changed," she said. http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,49927,00.html How to Translate 'Free' to 'Fee' Informing your freeware users they have to pay sounds like a test to see how fast they can disappear. Not so, found point-and-click translation startup Babylon, which saw a 20 percent "user conversion rate" to payware. Babylon's story is a familiar one, as software companies continue to move from free to fee. And while the lessons may be specific to this particular company, Babylon's story is an interesting peek into today's Internet environment. http://www.wired.com/news/ebiz/0,1272,49646,00.html FTC Moving To Restrict Telemarketers The Federal Trade Commission today plans to propose new rules for reducing the annoyance of unwanted telephone solicitations as it begins to push for the establishment of a national "do-not-call" registry. With a registry, people could make a single call to get their names removed from many telemarketing lists. The agency is also expected to propose that telemarketers be barred from blocking any identifying information from caller-ID equipment so people would be able to know who is calling. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173813.html ‘Sucks’ sites to be doled out for free Cyber-gripers, take heart. You and your “ThisCompanySucks.com” Web site have a patron. Free speech lawyer Ed Harvilla is worried that too many “sucks” domains have been taken away from owners and given to their target companies. So he and some silent partners have developed a system to dole out “sucks” Web sites — and he’s given them away for free. http://www.msnbc.com/news/691648.asp?0si=-&cp1=1 Software can spot digital deceivers Careful when composing your CV and sending it off to potential employers, they could be using software to spot if you are stretching the truth about your achievements. A US company has developed a program that is said to be able to sift through text to spot when people are lying or confused about facts. The software works by spotting the changes in writing style that emerge when someone is concealing the truth. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci...00/1775020.stm Hitting the Natural-Gas Jackpot Compared to oil, natural gas is so abundant it’s staggering. Proven petroleum reserves are good for another one trillion barrels or so. At today’s rate of consumption, they will last about 40 years. Add in oil reserves thought to exist but still undiscovered, and the timeline stretches out some 160 years. Known reserves of natural gas, which is composed mainly of the simple hydrocarbon methane, will last for about 50 years at today’s consumption rate. http://www.techreview.com/articles/voss0102.asp Canadian Authority Tries Again To Release Expired Domains Canadian companies and individuals will be able to make a second attempt Thursday to snap up likely looking Internet addresses from among the first-ever batch of monikers to expire under the regime now responsible for the country's ".ca" domains. Many would-be domain name registrants had been jostling late Jan. 17 for some 20,000 ".ca" domains that previous owners had decided not to renew. However, the release of the expired domains - marking a little more than a year since the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) began managing the ".ca" databases - was cut short by a technical glitch. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173838.html 27% Of U.S., Canadian Banking Databases Breached Twelve percent of online corporate databases suffered security breaches in 2001, and those of banking and financial institutions were most commonly targeted, a survey of database developers has found. More than one fourth - 27 percent - of banking and financial services databases were breached, according to an Evans Data Corp. survey of 750 database developers in the U.S. and Canada conducted in December. Such problems were reported by 18 percent of those working in the medical/healthcare field and the telecommunications industry. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173832.html German Federal Employees Must Use Digital Signatures In an effort to encourage use of e-signatures in industry, the German federal government said it will require 200,000 of its workers to use digital signatures when signing government contracts. The measure will include government contracts that can be carried out online, according to a regulation passed into law by the Bundeskabinett on Jan. 18. The move is the first step in a program called "BundOnline 2005," named after the year in which the German government intends, as much as possible, to make its operations "transparent and accessible." http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173827.html More news later on __________________ This post was sponsored by Netcoco, who wants cookies, cookies, cookies and, you guessed it, more cookies