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Old 19-11-01, 07:52 PM   #2
walktalker
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Location: Montreal
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Shippers Wrestle With Box Issues
To environmentalists, sentimentalists and those who enjoy a cliche, good things come in small packages. But in the case of shipping boxes, sometimes good things come in packages that are strikingly large, regardless of the size of the item being shipped. Amazon.com regularly ships two CDs in a box measuring 12 by 9 by 4 inches, roughly the size of a shoebox. A pack of paperclips is delivered in a similar-size box from Office Depot. A box from Gateway looks like it could hold a stack of books; instead, the package contains four software discs barely more than an inch thick.
http://www.wired.com/news/holidays/0,1882,48151,00.html

They'll Ride a Balloon Into Space
Two Englishmen plan to don spacesuits this summer and float to the edge of Earth's atmosphere in a balloon as tall as the Empire State Building. If successful, the ambitious -- some might say nutty -- plan will net Andy Elson and Colin Prescot the world altitude record in a manned balloon. Using a flexible plastic balloon the size of a skyscraper, the pair plans to float to a height of more than 25 miles. "The view should be fantastic," Elson said.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,48436,00.html

Photoshop: It's All the Rage
Have you seen the picture with the "tourist guy" standing atop the World Trade Center with a jetliner heading straight for him? Or the one where Sesame Street's Bert is peeking over Osama bin Laden's shoulder? How about Jennifer Lopez looking really, really fat? There was a time when manipulating photographs was considered mean-spirited trickery aimed at deceiving a gullible, technically challenged public. Certainly, if a respected news agency were caught doing it today, public outrage would ensue.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,48342,00.html

Net Shoppers' Complaints on Rise
Internet shopping and services have become a leading source of consumer complaints, joining grievances about auto repair and telemarketing, a survey finds. Problems with auto sales and household goods shared the top spot in the annual list of consumer complaints released Monday by the National Association of Consumer Agency Administrators and the Consumer Federation of America. Those categories ranked second and third, respectively, in 1999 and have been in the top five since 1997.
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,48520,00.html

Antarctic History Frozen in Time
In the hut from which Robert Falcon Scott and his four companions left on their doomed trek to the South Pole, pony snowshoes are piled up in what were the stables, and seal blubber still oozes in the hallway. Amid the clutter of food stores, a waxed ball of Dutch cheese lies beside a still-intact biscuit. For the privileged visitor, the huts on Ross Island -- the Discovery and Terra Nova used by Scott's expedition, and the Nimrod, built by Ernest Shackleton's team for their attempt to reach the South Pole -- display the most extraordinary detritus from polar exploration that's almost a century old.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,48372,00.html

Smallpox Treatment or Snake Oil?
With bioterrorism threats snowballing in the United States, one biotech company says it may be able to come to the rescue should an attack occur. But skeptics abound. They say the company, Hemispherx Biopharma, and its leading drug candidate are at best questionable and at worst a fraud. Hemispherx CEO William Carter, one of the earliest researchers on interferon therapies -- now widely used to treat some viruses and cancers -- is used to the criticism. He vigorously defends his company and its product.
http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,48444,00.html

Utah Lawman Faces MS Heat
Utah's Republican attorney general is being criticized for rejecting a settlement of the antitrust suit against Microsoft and is bracing for a possible challenge for his party's nomination when he seeks re-election. Attorney General Mark Shurtleff made up his mind just 15 minutes before the 11 a.m. Nov. 6 deadline to join with eight other states in continuing the antitrust litigation. Nine states joined the Department of Justice in a settlement.
http://www.wired.com/news/antitrust/...,48505,00.html

GameCube launches (in US)
Nintendo's GameCube hit US retail shelves yesterday (officially, anyway), just three days after the debut of Microsoft's Xbox console. Some gamers have been thumbing the controller to Rogue Leader: Rogue Squadron 2 and Luigi's Mansion a little earlier though, as various stores leaked consoles before the due date. The arrival makes the competition tougher for the three main players. GameCube (GC) is priced $100 cheaper than its two big rivals: Sony's PlayStation 2 and Microsoft's Xbox, putting pressure on them to drop prices (and sell at an even greater loss than they do already).
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/22914.html

Man allegedly 'encouraged law-breaking on Web'
A man has been remanded at the Institute of Mental Health for psychiatric evaluation after allegedly posting inflammatory articles on the Internet during the General Election last month. Robert Ho Chong, 51, was arrested on Friday and produced in court yesterday morning. He allegedly posted the articles from home on Oct 19. Five days later, the police found out about the articles on the Singaporeans for Democracy website at sfdonline.org and the online newsgroup soc. culture.singapore.
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/sin...120740,00.html

Disney IT official touts 'wireless' Magic Kingdom
On any given day, between 100,000 and 150,000 visitors crowd into Walt Disney World in Florida, largely unaware that the 47-square-mile theme park is almost completely enveloped by an invisible wireless Web. While families and other patrons watch Goofy and Mickey Mouse on parade, seek thrills on rides or head for the nearest hot dog stand, the attraction's 55,000 "cast members," as Disney employees are called, quietly rely on an 802.11b LAN to do everything from authorize credit card purchases, order up shuttle buses and even track visitors as they wander through the park.
http://www.computerworld.com/storyba...O65816,00.html

Vivendi Universal Consolidates Web Entertainment Sites
Vivendi Universal, the French media conglomerate that controls music labels, a European TV company and a major movie studio, today said it is consolidating its U.S. Web entertainment properties into a single Los Angeles-based business unit. The new division will be called Vivendi Universal Net USA Group Inc., and will be fronted by CEO Robin Richards, who currently heads recent Vivendi Universal acquisition MP3.com. Richards served MP3.com as president from 1999 until its formal acquisition by Vivendi Universal in late August.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172293.html

FTC Ups Crusade Against Online Fake Bioterrorism Cures
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has warned more than 40 Web site operators that if they don't stop touting bogus bioterrorism cures they could face stiff legal consequences. In a series of e-mail warnings, the FTC passed along a blunt message to suspected Internet hucksters. In effect, the notes said "we know of no scientific basis for the claims that you are making and you should remove those claims or face possible prosecution," FTC Senior Attorney Rich Cleland told Newsbytes today.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172289.html

Online Sales Drop ... 'Til They Shop For Xmas
Online-shopping revenue appeared to dip in October, according to the results of an ongoing study of connected consumers in the U.S. But on the bright side, a separate survey suggested that some 90 percent of shoppers have yet to finish their holiday-season gift-buying. The drop in online shopping last month was reported today by Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester Research, whose monthly tally showed sales at $3.6 billion, down from $4.0 billion in September.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172286.html

Rep. Baird Introduces Computer Security Legislation
Rep. Brian Baird, D-Wash., Friday introduced legislation to start a research and development program at the National Institute of Standards and Technology to improve computer and network security. The bill, H.R. 3361 - the Computer Security Enhancement and Research Act of 2001 - would support research at higher education institutions for developing better security for networked information systems. The bill awards grants to universities, but also allows collaboration with for-profit companies that develop information security projects, according to a statement from Baird.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172284.html

Consumer Group Reports Hacker Break-Ins
Internet servers operated by the Consumer Project on Technology (CPT), an organization created by consumer advocate Ralph Nader, suffered two security breaches this month. According to CPT director James Love, the non-profit advocacy group's mail server and Web site were "hacked" in the first two weeks of November. Love declined to provide details and said the incidents are still being investigated.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172277.html

Online Companies Draw Fire For Removing 'Offensive' Postings
Yahoo's message boards are erupting with the kind of free-flowing, impassioned discussions the Internet's creators always dreamed of, with postings about practically every aspect of the hunt for terrorists, the capture of Kabul and mysterious plane crashes. But what's also revealing is what is being deleted. Gone are some gloating messages that say America deserved the attacks.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172263.html

Judges Consolidate Aimster Suits, Move Trial To Chicago
In a blow against the music file-swapping service, a multi-jurisdictional panel of judges in San Diego today ordered that a bevy of lawsuits against the fledgling Albany, N.Y.,-based Aimster should be tried in a Chicago federal district court. The order is aimed at splitting the distance that music and movie industry litigants must travel while suing Aimster. Today's decision apparently quashes a ruling by a three-judge panel, filed in mid-October, which ruled that the copyright-infringement cases against Aimster would be held in the Northern District of New York, in company's home base of Albany.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172258.html

Taliban nuclear documents mirror spoof article
Documents found strewn on the floor of a Taliban recruitment centre in Kabul, apparently describing how to build a thermonuclear device, may not be as frightening as they first seem. The papers were picked out by BBC correspondent John Simpson and showed, he said, "how dangerous Bin Laden's Al Qaeda network aspired to be". But the sentences shown in focus by the camera also come from a famous document called "Weekend Scientist: Let's Make a Thermonuclear Device", which was first published in 1979 as a humour piece by The Journal of Irreproducible Results.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991584

Crash jet's flight data turns attention to pilots
The possibility that the flight crew's response to the wake turbulence of another plane contributed to the crash of Flight 587 has been raised by flight recorder data. The American Airlines Airbus A300 crashed on Monday on the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens, New York, with the loss all 260 people on board and five people on the ground. While the cause remains a mystery, investigators have been looking closely at how the tail fin of the plane came off and precisely what effect that had on the plane.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991580

U.S. accuses nations of germ warfare
The United States identified Iraq and five other countries Monday as states that are developing germ warfare programs but refused to say whether any may have assisted Osama bin Laden in his quest for biological weapons. John R. Bolton, undersecretary of state for arms control, said the existence of Iraq's program is "beyond dispute" and that the United States strongly suspects North Korea, Libya, Syria, Iran and Sudan of developing programs.
http://www.salon.com/news/wire/2001/...are/index.html

More news later on
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