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

walktalker · 27-12-01, 07:16 PM

Why Worm Writers Stay Free
Virus writers often act as if the Internet, the most public forum in the world, is their very own private playground. Law enforcement officials are amused and amazed by the many virus writers who carefully include identifying comments or credits in their code, and who often are found bragging about their skills and latest creations in newsgroups or on Internet Relay Chat channels.
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,49313,00.html

A Nano Fan for Nano Gadgets
The trend toward smaller gadgets and the demand for more and more functions means electronic gadgets may look really cool, but they may also be too hot to handle. Cramming an increasing amount of circuitry into smaller and smaller spaces makes electronic portables hotter and hotter. Desktops and laptops already have cooling fans in them, but smaller devices make lots of heat, too.
http://www.wired.com/news/gizmos/0,1452,49193,00.html

Amazon.com's Virtual Register Rings 37.9 Million Times
E-commerce giant Amazon.com today said consumers ordered 37.9 million items during its holiday shopping season - which the company defines as Nov. 9 through Dec. 21. The sales figure includes all five Amazon sites, including the main site, plus those specially designed for France, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom. Last year, Amazon registered over 31 million items ordered, but a company spokesperson cautioned against making direct year-over-year comparisons. He said last year Amazon did not count marketplace items, auctions and outside merchant sales on the site.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/173256.html

Tumbleweed Turns Patent-Defending Guns On eUniverse
Fresh from two financial victories in patent disputes over technology to link electronic greeting cards with their intended recipients, secure e-mail company Tumbleweed Communications Corp. says it is now turning its sights on eUniverse, an Internet-content hatchery with several Web sites serving up e-cards. Among the patents held by Redwood City, Calif.-based Tumbleweed is a pair it says describe the techniques some Web sites use to alert the lucky recipients of e-cards and then direct them to their customized greetings.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/173252.html

Live Human Chat Across Different Languages Due In Europe
Within six months or so, Web users should be able to converse and interact across the Internet with live human operators, and the Web will automatically translate their spoken words to each others' language. Under the European Commission (EC)-administered NESPOLE project, Internet users will be able to call up a set of Web pages for information in the European country they require. They will then be able to interact with each other, both verbally and using their mouse to point to on-screen items, such as maps.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/173251.html

Trade Group Gives Break To Pirated Software Users
A trade group is launching another round of its campaign to stem the use of pirated software by giving violators a month to fess up and get legal without having to pay penalties of as much as $150,000. The Business Software Alliance (BSA), which estimates annual software piracy losses of $12 billion worldwide, said a grace period from Jan. 1 to Jan. 31 gives businesses a chance to comply. The alliance said such infringement in the United States last year cost more than $5.6 billion in lost wages and resulted in a tax loss of close to $1.6 billion.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/173244.html

Failed Dot-Coms Got Too Much Money Too Soon
Some people say you can never be too rich or too thin. But the dot-com watchers at Webmergers.com say piling massive amounts of venture-capital cash on a fundamentally scrawny business idea has broken many Internet companies and helped make 2001 a banner year for shutdowns and bankruptcies. San Francisco-based Webmergers, which provides matchmaking services for buyers and sellers of technology companies, said the plugs were pulled on at least 537 Internet outfits this year, more than double the number logged in 2000.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/173239.html

War Command Center In U.S., Thanks To IT Advances
One of the most unconventional aspects of the U.S. war in Afghanistan is that its commander usually has been on the other side of the planet. There is some disquiet in the military, especially in the Air Force and Army, about Army Gen. Tommy R. Franks's decision to keep his headquarters at the boxy Central Command building in Tampa, overlooking the languid waters of Hillsborough Bay. Critics say Franks should have followed the example of his predecessor at Central Command, Army Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, who moved to Saudi Arabia to direct the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/173237.html

New Tech Boom For Federal Contractors
Uncle Sam may have been overshadowed by the dot-com mania of the late 1990s, but the recession and the war on terrorism have raised his profile. Government contracting is fashionable again. "Patriotism is in," said Lockheed Martin Corp. executive Linda Gooden. "And in addition to being in, there is talk that [federal information technology] budgets will be going up as much as 20 percent."
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/173232.html

IT Spending Forecast Changes Following Terrorist Attacks
Spending on information technology (IT) in the United States is down 5 percent this year compared to 2000. But according to a new study, IT spending is expected to rebound with a 4 percent increase from 2001 to 2002. The study, released Wednesday by technology advisory firm Giga Information Group, is a change from the company's August forecast. Previously, Giga predicted IT spending would drop 3 percent from 2000 to 2001, followed by a 7 percent increase from this year to next.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/173255.html

Hong Kong Identity Cards To Include Digital IDs
All Hong Kong's 6.8 million residents will be offered free digital IDs for use in secure online transactions when a new "smart" national identity card is introduced in mid-2003. Hong Kong's Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting, Carrie Yau, announced the optional inclusion of a digital certificate on the national ID card last week. At the same time Yau was proposing amendments to Hong Kong law to prepare for the introduction of the electronic ID card.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/173233.html

CD-R prices to rise in Europe after dumping levy?
CD-R prices in Europe are set to rise following the European Union's imposition of anti-dumping penalties on Taiwanese manufacturers. Price rises, however, are unlikely to be as high as the penalties themselves, which range from 18.8-39.5 per cent, owing to a combination of localisation of manufacturing and some intriguing political shananigans, according to a Commercial Times report detailed here by AisaBiztech.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/23503.html

2600.com wins dismissal in f**k- generalmotors.com lawsuit
A suit brought by Ford Motor Company against 2600.com founder Eric Corley aka Emmanuel Goldstein for setting up the Web site fuckgeneralmotors.com to re-direct surfers to the Ford home page has been dismissed. The decision came in two parts: denying Ford's request for an injunction, and a ruling that without grounds sufficient for injunctive relief, nothing remains of its case.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/23499.html

"Secret" sound archive revealed
For some innocent online fun this Christmas, try eavesdropping on the semi-secret pages of the UK's National Sound Archive web site. They are part of a largely unpublicised trial, hidden from casual prying eyes by the lack of signposts on the British Library's host site. Paper publishers automatically deposit a copy of each new book with the BL, but the sound archive relies on voluntary donations. Even so, the vaults hold 2.5 million CDs, vinyl LPs, shellac 78s, wax cylinders and tapes, with the largest collection of wildlife recordings in the world.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991728

NASA budget fiasco reaches new depths
NASA's budgetary fiasco has reached the stage where researchers are squabbling over amounts that are "not even peanuts, but the salt on one peanut" compared to the multi-billion dollar overruns on the International Space Station. The flash point was a NASA decision to stop spending $550,000 a year to run a deep-space radar system at the 305-metre Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico. That radar discovered ice at the poles of Mercury and revealed the first double asteroid, but its funding comes from NASA's program to survey potentially hazardous objects approaching the Earth.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991727

Christmas dinners boost stomachs - and global warming
The cranberries Britons eat with their Christmas dinners were probably flown to the UK from Los Angeles, clocking up 9000 kilometres and spewing out carbon dioxide all the way. The carrots could come from South Africa and the potatoes from Italy, all of them contributing to the planet's burden of greenhouse gases. But the consequences of long-haul food are felt all year, as the habit of eating foreign foods is on the rise, according to a report released in December. It comes from the UK public interest group Sustain and the Elm Farm Research Centre in Berkshire and details the hidden costs behind producing, packaging and shipping our food.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991722

More news later on

27-12-01, 07:16 PM	#2
walktalker The local newspaper man Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Montreal Posts: 2,036	Why Worm Writers Stay Free Virus writers often act as if the Internet, the most public forum in the world, is their very own private playground. Law enforcement officials are amused and amazed by the many virus writers who carefully include identifying comments or credits in their code, and who often are found bragging about their skills and latest creations in newsgroups or on Internet Relay Chat channels. http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,49313,00.html A Nano Fan for Nano Gadgets The trend toward smaller gadgets and the demand for more and more functions means electronic gadgets may look really cool, but they may also be too hot to handle. Cramming an increasing amount of circuitry into smaller and smaller spaces makes electronic portables hotter and hotter. Desktops and laptops already have cooling fans in them, but smaller devices make lots of heat, too. http://www.wired.com/news/gizmos/0,1452,49193,00.html Amazon.com's Virtual Register Rings 37.9 Million Times E-commerce giant Amazon.com today said consumers ordered 37.9 million items during its holiday shopping season - which the company defines as Nov. 9 through Dec. 21. The sales figure includes all five Amazon sites, including the main site, plus those specially designed for France, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom. Last year, Amazon registered over 31 million items ordered, but a company spokesperson cautioned against making direct year-over-year comparisons. He said last year Amazon did not count marketplace items, auctions and outside merchant sales on the site. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/173256.html Tumbleweed Turns Patent-Defending Guns On eUniverse Fresh from two financial victories in patent disputes over technology to link electronic greeting cards with their intended recipients, secure e-mail company Tumbleweed Communications Corp. says it is now turning its sights on eUniverse, an Internet-content hatchery with several Web sites serving up e-cards. Among the patents held by Redwood City, Calif.-based Tumbleweed is a pair it says describe the techniques some Web sites use to alert the lucky recipients of e-cards and then direct them to their customized greetings. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/173252.html Live Human Chat Across Different Languages Due In Europe Within six months or so, Web users should be able to converse and interact across the Internet with live human operators, and the Web will automatically translate their spoken words to each others' language. Under the European Commission (EC)-administered NESPOLE project, Internet users will be able to call up a set of Web pages for information in the European country they require. They will then be able to interact with each other, both verbally and using their mouse to point to on-screen items, such as maps. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/173251.html Trade Group Gives Break To Pirated Software Users A trade group is launching another round of its campaign to stem the use of pirated software by giving violators a month to fess up and get legal without having to pay penalties of as much as $150,000. The Business Software Alliance (BSA), which estimates annual software piracy losses of $12 billion worldwide, said a grace period from Jan. 1 to Jan. 31 gives businesses a chance to comply. The alliance said such infringement in the United States last year cost more than $5.6 billion in lost wages and resulted in a tax loss of close to $1.6 billion. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/173244.html Failed Dot-Coms Got Too Much Money Too Soon Some people say you can never be too rich or too thin. But the dot-com watchers at Webmergers.com say piling massive amounts of venture-capital cash on a fundamentally scrawny business idea has broken many Internet companies and helped make 2001 a banner year for shutdowns and bankruptcies. San Francisco-based Webmergers, which provides matchmaking services for buyers and sellers of technology companies, said the plugs were pulled on at least 537 Internet outfits this year, more than double the number logged in 2000. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/173239.html War Command Center In U.S., Thanks To IT Advances One of the most unconventional aspects of the U.S. war in Afghanistan is that its commander usually has been on the other side of the planet. There is some disquiet in the military, especially in the Air Force and Army, about Army Gen. Tommy R. Franks's decision to keep his headquarters at the boxy Central Command building in Tampa, overlooking the languid waters of Hillsborough Bay. Critics say Franks should have followed the example of his predecessor at Central Command, Army Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, who moved to Saudi Arabia to direct the 1991 Persian Gulf War. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/173237.html New Tech Boom For Federal Contractors Uncle Sam may have been overshadowed by the dot-com mania of the late 1990s, but the recession and the war on terrorism have raised his profile. Government contracting is fashionable again. "Patriotism is in," said Lockheed Martin Corp. executive Linda Gooden. "And in addition to being in, there is talk that [federal information technology] budgets will be going up as much as 20 percent." http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/173232.html IT Spending Forecast Changes Following Terrorist Attacks Spending on information technology (IT) in the United States is down 5 percent this year compared to 2000. But according to a new study, IT spending is expected to rebound with a 4 percent increase from 2001 to 2002. The study, released Wednesday by technology advisory firm Giga Information Group, is a change from the company's August forecast. Previously, Giga predicted IT spending would drop 3 percent from 2000 to 2001, followed by a 7 percent increase from this year to next. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/173255.html Hong Kong Identity Cards To Include Digital IDs All Hong Kong's 6.8 million residents will be offered free digital IDs for use in secure online transactions when a new "smart" national identity card is introduced in mid-2003. Hong Kong's Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting, Carrie Yau, announced the optional inclusion of a digital certificate on the national ID card last week. At the same time Yau was proposing amendments to Hong Kong law to prepare for the introduction of the electronic ID card. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/173233.html CD-R prices to rise in Europe after dumping levy? CD-R prices in Europe are set to rise following the European Union's imposition of anti-dumping penalties on Taiwanese manufacturers. Price rises, however, are unlikely to be as high as the penalties themselves, which range from 18.8-39.5 per cent, owing to a combination of localisation of manufacturing and some intriguing political shananigans, according to a Commercial Times report detailed here by AisaBiztech. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/23503.html 2600.com wins dismissal in fk- generalmotors.com lawsuit A suit brought by Ford Motor Company against 2600.com founder Eric Corley aka Emmanuel Goldstein for setting up the Web site fuckgeneralmotors.com to re-direct surfers to the Ford home page has been dismissed. The decision came in two parts: denying Ford's request for an injunction, and a ruling that without grounds sufficient for injunctive relief, nothing remains of its case. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/23499.html "Secret" sound archive revealed For some innocent online fun this Christmas, try eavesdropping on the semi-secret pages of the UK's National Sound Archive web site. They are part of a largely unpublicised trial, hidden from casual prying eyes by the lack of signposts on the British Library's host site. Paper publishers automatically deposit a copy of each new book with the BL, but the sound archive relies on voluntary donations. Even so, the vaults hold 2.5 million CDs, vinyl LPs, shellac 78s, wax cylinders and tapes, with the largest collection of wildlife recordings in the world. http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991728 NASA budget fiasco reaches new depths NASA's budgetary fiasco has reached the stage where researchers are squabbling over amounts that are "not even peanuts, but the salt on one peanut" compared to the multi-billion dollar overruns on the International Space Station. The flash point was a NASA decision to stop spending $550,000 a year to run a deep-space radar system at the 305-metre Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico. That radar discovered ice at the poles of Mercury and revealed the first double asteroid, but its funding comes from NASA's program to survey potentially hazardous objects approaching the Earth. http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991727 Christmas dinners boost stomachs - and global warming** The cranberries Britons eat with their Christmas dinners were probably flown to the UK from Los Angeles, clocking up 9000 kilometres and spewing out carbon dioxide all the way. The carrots could come from South Africa and the potatoes from Italy, all of them contributing to the planet's burden of greenhouse gases. But the consequences of long-haul food are felt all year, as the habit of eating foreign foods is on the rise, according to a report released in December. It comes from the UK public interest group Sustain and the Elm Farm Research Centre in Berkshire and details the hidden costs behind producing, packaging and shipping our food. http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991722 More news later on __________________ This post was sponsored by Netcoco, who wants cookies, cookies, cookies and, you guessed it, more cookies