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walktalker · 24-08-01, 05:51 PM

The Ever-Evolving Science Class
Students stare blankly at the faded periodic table as an old man scribbles on the board. The lights buzz. Lids droop. If you're like most people, that's how you remember high school science class -- which is why you may not remember much at all about science. Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley are trying to change that. Over the past two years, professors, graduate students and undergraduates there have built a Web-based platform designed to make science class a more engaging, and educational, experience.
http://www.wired.com/news/school/0,1383,45901,00.html

XP Invasion Is Imminent: plenty of "ads" ahead
It will take about an hour to install the software on your computer, and it seems to be pretty hassle-free. In three installation attempts (on computers with different configurations), nothing held up the process. There are, however, some reasons to worry. Critics of Microsoft have repeatedly attacked the company for "leveraging" its operating system dominance in a manner that gives it an instant advantage in other areas, and Microsoft has refuted the claim, saying that it has to work as hard as anyone else to compete in the application market. But in fact is it's impossible for any informed computer user to ignore Microsoft's attempts in XP to muscle its way into a greater share of our lives. Almost instantly, the solicitations start...
http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,46283,00.html

New MS Tool: Good and Bad
In response to a summer of increased discontent, Microsoft is now focusing on finding easier ways to help people find and patch the security holes in their computers, Microsoft's chief security officer Howard Schmidt said at a press briefing last week. The first public release of this simpler security project is the Microsoft Personal Security Advisor (MPSA), a free Web-based tool for personal users of Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000 operating systems. The tool scans computers, looking for any security problems in installed Microsoft software. But the results that some users have received after using MPSA may engender yet more ill will against Microsoft. Every system in a test group of eight machines whose users claimed to be extremely conscientious about applying Microsoft security patches were rated by MPSA as high risks for malicious hack attacks.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,46272,00.html

Study: Human Genes Undercounted
The number of genes that humans have has once again been brought into question by a new study. Over the years, Scientists have made estimates ranging from 20,000 to 160,000, although two separate studies in February claimed there were most likely around 30,000. Arguments over the number have been heated, and some people wonder what it means if the human genome has fewer genes than the corn genome -- which is estimated to have 40,000 genes. For those who take pride in the number of genes they possess, good news has been published in Friday's issue of the scientific journal Cell. They have come up with 42,000 predicted genes, although they said this number is likely to change as more studies are done.
http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,46307,00.html

NASA Junks Ozone Satellite
NASA is ending a satellite mission that kept tabs on the hole in earth's ozone layer because the space agency can't afford the $10 million-a-year bill. The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite will cease scientific operations by Sept. 30, 10 years after it was deployed by the space shuttle Discovery. NASA said the 6.5-ton, 35-foot satellite will either be plucked from orbit by the space shuttle or allowed to crash back to Earth sometime between 2016 and 2027.
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,46288,00.html

India Hackers Face More Charges
Two hackers who defaced the website of Mumbai police’s Cyber Crime Cell last month are finding that the cops are becoming very interested in them. After being arrested for the crime of hacking and subsequently released on bail, the hackers found themselves in police custody again, this time for a more serious crime –- credit card theft, with most of the victims being Americans. The police said they have new evidence against the two hackers, but one of the accused, Mahesh Mhatre, said the CCC is just out for vengeance. He had earlier alleged that he had been beaten while in custody, a case that is pending in a magistrate's court. "They have arrested me again because I dared to speak against them," Mhatre said. "They want to teach me a lesson."
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,46230,00.html

E-mail snoopers 'risk legal action'
Bosses who phone staff at home or vet employees' e-mails could face legal action, UK executive representatives have warned.
Ringing staff at home to discuss work matters could, under UK human rights legislation, be construed as an invasion of privacy, the Institute of Management has said. "An employer does not have the right to demand an employee's telephone number, unless it is specified in the contract that the employee has a duty to be available outside normal working hours," the institute said. The institute also warned that unauthorised vetting of e-mails and phone calls, could be considered an invasion of privacy, even if employees are thought to be sending personal messages through company lines.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/bus...00/1507041.stm

Programmers to encode human behaviour
An international set of specifications for writing non-verbal human communications in computer code is being drawn up by a US web standards group. Computer scientists backing the project believe that the language could improve cross-cultural communications and might eventually lend itself to virtual reality and artificial intelligence applications. HumanMarkup Language (HumanML) will allow software engineers to write abstract, non-verbal human communications in computer code. This will give computer users the power to communicate their emotions and gestures to other computer users over the internet. The language is designed to be compatible with eXtensible Markup Language (XML), a highly customisable computer language for designing web pages and internet applications.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991192

Conformity rules in cyberspace
The theory that the anonymity offered by the internet will free its users to behave outside social norms has been shown to be a myth by a study at Murdoch University's school of psychology. Surprising results from the research reveal internet chat-room users replicate social behaviour from the off-line world, such as conforming to authority and peer pressure. Funded by an Australian Research Grant, PhD student Adam Proll and psychology professor Mike Innes ran experiments over three years by accessing chat rooms and testing their theories on participants. "People have a tendency to believe that the internet is a passive communication medium and impersonal," Mr Proll said.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...E12333,00.html

Senator Plans Anti-Piracy Copyright Legislation
Consumer electronics hardware makers, including computer manufacturers, would be required to develop anti-piracy technology to be included in their products under proposed legislation from Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ernest "Fritz" Hollings, D-S.C. "It's something that he's been floating around," said Hollingsspokesman Andrew Davis. Hollings also has not specified what type of technology should be used, whether it be something like encryption or watermarking, and Davis noted that Hollings would take a technology-neutral position.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/169394.html

Record labels begin selling copy-proof CDs
Hoping to crack down on music piracy, five major record labels have quietly begun selling CDs containing technology that foils attempts by customers to copy the songs onto blank discs or computer hard drives.The new strategy is not widespread yet and most of the CDs out so far are being sold in Europe. The labels will not say which artists’ works have been digitally padlocked. The so-called stealth CDs play fine in stereos. But if someone tries to turn the music into MP3 files or copy it onto a blank CD, the copied version will not work or the result will sound so bad it’s not worth sharing.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/618816.asp?0dm=C13NT

More news later on

24-08-01, 05:51 PM	#2
walktalker The local newspaper man Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Montreal Posts: 2,036	The Ever-Evolving Science Class Students stare blankly at the faded periodic table as an old man scribbles on the board. The lights buzz. Lids droop. If you're like most people, that's how you remember high school science class -- which is why you may not remember much at all about science. Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley are trying to change that. Over the past two years, professors, graduate students and undergraduates there have built a Web-based platform designed to make science class a more engaging, and educational, experience. http://www.wired.com/news/school/0,1383,45901,00.html XP Invasion Is Imminent: plenty of "ads" ahead It will take about an hour to install the software on your computer, and it seems to be pretty hassle-free. In three installation attempts (on computers with different configurations), nothing held up the process. There are, however, some reasons to worry. Critics of Microsoft have repeatedly attacked the company for "leveraging" its operating system dominance in a manner that gives it an instant advantage in other areas, and Microsoft has refuted the claim, saying that it has to work as hard as anyone else to compete in the application market. But in fact is it's impossible for any informed computer user to ignore Microsoft's attempts in XP to muscle its way into a greater share of our lives. Almost instantly, the solicitations start... http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,46283,00.html New MS Tool: Good and Bad In response to a summer of increased discontent, Microsoft is now focusing on finding easier ways to help people find and patch the security holes in their computers, Microsoft's chief security officer Howard Schmidt said at a press briefing last week. The first public release of this simpler security project is the Microsoft Personal Security Advisor (MPSA), a free Web-based tool for personal users of Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000 operating systems. The tool scans computers, looking for any security problems in installed Microsoft software. But the results that some users have received after using MPSA may engender yet more ill will against Microsoft. Every system in a test group of eight machines whose users claimed to be extremely conscientious about applying Microsoft security patches were rated by MPSA as high risks for malicious hack attacks. http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,46272,00.html Study: Human Genes Undercounted The number of genes that humans have has once again been brought into question by a new study. Over the years, Scientists have made estimates ranging from 20,000 to 160,000, although two separate studies in February claimed there were most likely around 30,000. Arguments over the number have been heated, and some people wonder what it means if the human genome has fewer genes than the corn genome -- which is estimated to have 40,000 genes. For those who take pride in the number of genes they possess, good news has been published in Friday's issue of the scientific journal Cell. They have come up with 42,000 predicted genes, although they said this number is likely to change as more studies are done. http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,46307,00.html NASA Junks Ozone Satellite NASA is ending a satellite mission that kept tabs on the hole in earth's ozone layer because the space agency can't afford the $10 million-a-year bill. The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite will cease scientific operations by Sept. 30, 10 years after it was deployed by the space shuttle Discovery. NASA said the 6.5-ton, 35-foot satellite will either be plucked from orbit by the space shuttle or allowed to crash back to Earth sometime between 2016 and 2027. http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,46288,00.html India Hackers Face More Charges Two hackers who defaced the website of Mumbai police’s Cyber Crime Cell last month are finding that the cops are becoming very interested in them. After being arrested for the crime of hacking and subsequently released on bail, the hackers found themselves in police custody again, this time for a more serious crime –- credit card theft, with most of the victims being Americans. The police said they have new evidence against the two hackers, but one of the accused, Mahesh Mhatre, said the CCC is just out for vengeance. He had earlier alleged that he had been beaten while in custody, a case that is pending in a magistrate's court. "They have arrested me again because I dared to speak against them," Mhatre said. "They want to teach me a lesson." http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,46230,00.html E-mail snoopers 'risk legal action' Bosses who phone staff at home or vet employees' e-mails could face legal action, UK executive representatives have warned. Ringing staff at home to discuss work matters could, under UK human rights legislation, be construed as an invasion of privacy, the Institute of Management has said. "An employer does not have the right to demand an employee's telephone number, unless it is specified in the contract that the employee has a duty to be available outside normal working hours," the institute said. The institute also warned that unauthorised vetting of e-mails and phone calls, could be considered an invasion of privacy, even if employees are thought to be sending personal messages through company lines. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/bus...00/1507041.stm Programmers to encode human behaviour An international set of specifications for writing non-verbal human communications in computer code is being drawn up by a US web standards group. Computer scientists backing the project believe that the language could improve cross-cultural communications and might eventually lend itself to virtual reality and artificial intelligence applications. HumanMarkup Language (HumanML) will allow software engineers to write abstract, non-verbal human communications in computer code. This will give computer users the power to communicate their emotions and gestures to other computer users over the internet. The language is designed to be compatible with eXtensible Markup Language (XML), a highly customisable computer language for designing web pages and internet applications. http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991192 Conformity rules in cyberspace The theory that the anonymity offered by the internet will free its users to behave outside social norms has been shown to be a myth by a study at Murdoch University's school of psychology. Surprising results from the research reveal internet chat-room users replicate social behaviour from the off-line world, such as conforming to authority and peer pressure. Funded by an Australian Research Grant, PhD student Adam Proll and psychology professor Mike Innes ran experiments over three years by accessing chat rooms and testing their theories on participants. "People have a tendency to believe that the internet is a passive communication medium and impersonal," Mr Proll said. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...E12333,00.html Senator Plans Anti-Piracy Copyright Legislation Consumer electronics hardware makers, including computer manufacturers, would be required to develop anti-piracy technology to be included in their products under proposed legislation from Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ernest "Fritz" Hollings, D-S.C. "It's something that he's been floating around," said Hollingsspokesman Andrew Davis. Hollings also has not specified what type of technology should be used, whether it be something like encryption or watermarking, and Davis noted that Hollings would take a technology-neutral position. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/169394.html Record labels begin selling copy-proof CDs Hoping to crack down on music piracy, five major record labels have quietly begun selling CDs containing technology that foils attempts by customers to copy the songs onto blank discs or computer hard drives.The new strategy is not widespread yet and most of the CDs out so far are being sold in Europe. The labels will not say which artists’ works have been digitally padlocked. The so-called stealth CDs play fine in stereos. But if someone tries to turn the music into MP3 files or copy it onto a blank CD, the copied version will not work or the result will sound so bad it’s not worth sharing. http://www.msnbc.com/news/618816.asp?0dm=C13NT More news later on __________________ This post was sponsored by Netcoco, who wants cookies, cookies, cookies and, you guessed it, more cookies