Intel paves way for 'Terahertz'
Transistors, the microscopic circuits that animate semiconductors, are going to be flipping off and on a trillion times a second in a few years, a prospect that is forcing Intel back to the drawing board. In a presentation at the International Electron Devices meeting next week in Washington, D.C., the Santa Clara, Calif.-based chip giant will shed light on a series of major changes coming to the design of its transistors -- culminating in the "Terahertz" transistor in the second half of the decade -- that ideally will keep a lid on the growing problem of power consumption.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp01
Is Microsoft playing Santa or Grinch?
Is Microsoft a do-gooder, or up to no good? That's the question a federal judge in Baltimore will consider on Tuesday at a hearing on the company's billion-dollar antitrust settlement of private, class-action lawsuits. U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz will have to decide whether the settlement proposed by the company is a creative solution that will put computers in the hands of poor school children or a legal ruse that will further the company's dominant position in the computer business.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02
DoCoMo recalls videophone due to glitch
NTT DoCoMo issued a recall and halted sales of its new videophone on Monday after discovering a software glitch that wipes out most of the data stored inside the handset. The company recalled about 1,500 of its FOMA N2002 handsets made by the NEC Corporation. The phone went on sale last week in Japan to coincide with the launch of NTT DoCoMo's I-motion service, which lets subscribers view 10- to 15-second videos supplied by companies such as Sony Music Entertainment and Fuji Television. The recalled phone is the only one NTT DoCoMo sold that was capable of getting the videos.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02
Britain invaded by worm
A new variant of a mass-mailing Internet worm has been spreading rapidly over the weekend and is reported to be reaching the epidemic levels of SirCam, according to British antivirus companies. The "B" variant of the W32/Badtrans@MM virus has been attacking home and corporate PCs installed with Microsoft Outlook. It has initially been categorized as a medium risk, but is expected to reach high-risk levels by the end of Monday.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02
Supreme Court may revive kid porn law
As the Supreme Court considers the fate of Congress's latest attempt to shield youngsters from Internet smut, one question looms large: Do "community standards" exist in the far-reaching, freewheeling realm of cyberspace? The justices will ponder that First Amendment yardstick Wednesday, when they hear a Bush administration bid to revive the 1999 Child Online Protection Act. A federal appeals court in Philadelphia, siding with the American Civil Liberties Union and several Web sites last year, said the statute seemed to trample constitutionally protected speech and upheld a preliminary injunction blocking it.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02
E-tailers: Let the shopping begin!
After a brutal year for Internet retailers that saw many of the biggest names like eToys and Webvan close up shop, a handful of survivors say they are stronger than ever and looking forward to their best holiday season yet. By midafternoon Friday, the day that officially marked the start of the holiday shopping season, Amazon.com said it was selling about 12,000 more items per hour than at the same time last year. Online stores like Amazon and Kmart's BlueLight.com seem to be benefiting this year from sharply reduced competition, growing consumer comfort with shopping over the Internet as well as the wisdom that comes with a few past holiday seasons of experience.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02
Hot players out of tune with music sites
By all rights, it should be a banner few months for digital music. A high-powered new generation of digital music players is heading for Christmas stockings. Almost simultaneously, the major record labels are releasing their catalogs online after years of stalling. Unfortunately, the two campaigns might as well be happening on different planets. People using hot new music devices such as Apple Computer's iPod or Compaq Computer's iPaq will not be able to play music from the Pressplay and MusicNet subscription services, which for the first time will make songs legally available online.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02
Google, others dig deep -- maybe too deep 
Search-engine spiders crawling the Web are increasingly stumbling upon passwords, credit card numbers, classified documents and even computer vulnerabilities that can be exploited by hackers. The problem is not new, security analysts say: Ever since search robots began indexing the Web years ago, Web site administrators have found pages not meant for public consumption exposed in search results. But a new tool built into the Google search engine to find a variety of file types in addition to traditional Web documents is highlighting and in some cases exacerbating the problem.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=tp_pr
AT&T bumps Web surfers to pricier ISP
AT&T said Monday that it will shutter its low-cost Internet service provider, saying it was unable to subsidize access costs with advertising dollars. Launched in July 2000, the i495 service was AT&T's contribution to the assortment of free and low-cost Internet services. The ISP offered 150 hours of Internet access a month for $4.95 but required subscribers to accept a persistent advertising banner while using the service. Beginning Jan. 4, 2002, i495 members will be switched automatically to a plan that provides 50 hours of Internet access a month for $10.95. The ad bar will be removed.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=mn_hd
Microsoft to offer peek at eHome plans
Microsoft is starting to open the doors to its eHome division, a unit whose goal is to mesh the PC with home entertainment. The eHome unit was formed earlier this year, but the software giant has been mum about its goals and status. On Monday, Microsoft will begin what could be an effort to make eHome more visible. The Redmond, Wash.-based company recently announced a pact to work with Samsung on a "new breed" of consumer electronics products that will use Samsung hardware and Windows software. Mike Toutonghi, 39, vice president of eHome, will speak at 12 p.m. PT at Microsoft's Mountain View, Calif., campus.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200...html?tag=mn_hd
eBay readies print catalog for U.S. papers
eBay will send millions of catalogs to U.S. doorsteps this weekend in an attempt to encourage shoppers to do their holiday buying online this year. The San Jose, Calif.-based online auction company on Sunday will begin distributing 23 million eight-page color inserts inside 55 U.S. newspapers. The catalog is part of a newly launched marketing campaign by the company. Other Internet companies, including Amazon.com and Yahoo, both sent out glossy inserts with some Sunday newspapers this past weekend, mimicking an advertising strategy long used by traditional retailers. The catalogs list some of the more popular items on the companies' Web sites, hoping to lure shoppers in a season analysts had expected could be grim because of the economic downturn and effects of Sept. 11.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200...html?tag=mn_hd
Bounty of DVD-recording PCs hit market
Amateur moviemakers are suddenly faced with too much of a good thing. A year ago, no computer manufacturer offered drives for recording home DVDs. Now there are plenty of DVD-recording PCs to choose from -- though many use formats that are incompatible with one another. However, analysts say that unlike the Beta and VHS tape wars of the 1970s and 1980s, when choosing the wrong recording format could mean owning a collection of useless cartridges, consumers can safely buy whichever DVD recording drive or PC they find most appealing. The drives produce discs that can be played in the majority -- but not all -- of consumers DVD players on the market, regardless of recording format.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200...html?tag=tp_pr
E-tailers invade Sunday newspapers
For decades, retailers have depended on the fat newspaper ads that appear just after Thanksgiving to jump-start shopping. Consumers are well trained to read them, too. Advertising in a Sunday newspaper is decidedly low tech, but e-commerce giants find themselves in a hotly competitive battle with "brick-and-mortar" retailers to lure fickle shoppers this holiday season. The dot-com ads in print also are a sign that Internet shopping has come of age for many consumers. Amazon's print supplement, for example, doesn't explain how to shop online -- it merely makes a vague reference to "1-Click ordering."
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200...html?tag=cd_mh
More news later on
