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

walktalker · 29-05-01, 05:30 PM

Ring Ring: 'How 'Bout a Date?'
To find that perfect someone, you might consider taking out an ad, checking the personals or joining some romance-oriented Internet chat group. But you almost certainly wouldn't turn to your cellular phone. Two Nordic companies are out to change that. Finland's Small Planet and Sweden's Blue Factory have turned the European obsession with sending text messages into services that allow thousands of mostly young people in Europe to flirt and set up a romantic rendezvous wirelessly and anonymously.
http://www.wired.com/news/wireless/0,1382,43900,00.html

Dust Keeping the Lights Off
Here in California, things are bad, energy-wise. You know this, of course -- even if you've never set foot in the Golden State, you've likely heard about how California could suffer a month of rolling blackouts this summer. But don't count out Cally. On Friday, scientists at the University of California at Berkeley showed off a new technology they're calling "smart dust," which -- if it works -- might be the silver lining of California's electricity cloud.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,44101,00.html

Fears of a Website Inquisition

Proposed legislation in Spain to regulate Internet activity has enraged libertarians who say the measure would squelch free speech. The "Law of Information Society Services and Electronic Commerce" (known by its Spanish acronym LSSI) would force websites to register with the government and require Web hosting companies to police content by reporting suspected illicit activity. Failure to obey the rules would generate fines of up to 175,000 Euros ($150,000).
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,44110,00.html

E-mail users warned over spy network
Computer users across Europe should encrypt all their e-mails, to avoid being spied on by a UK-US eavesdropping network, say Euro-MPs. The tentacles of the Echelon network stretch so far that the UK's involvement could constitute a breach of human rights, they say. The Euro-MPs have been studying Echelon for almost a year, after allegations that it has been used by the US to commit industrial espionage against European firms.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/wor...00/1357264.stm

Internet 'numbers racket'
Many recent incidents have been the work of cyberjackers based in Eastern Europe, China and former Soviet republics. Former communist countries have long been a hotbed of hackers, and have been the source of a number of major computer viruses. Some of the most disruptive "denial of service" attacks of the past were committed by hackers in former Soviet-bloc nations.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...9/MN164349.DTL

Living logic
Genetically engineered bugs that do the same job as the components of a microchip have been created by a US team. These smart bugs will crunch on chemical inputs rather than digital bits. They could one day be sent into waste-water plants to hunt out toxic chemicals. Or they could tell doctors what proteins are present in body fluids.
http://www.newscientist.com/dailynew...p?id=ns9999778

It's Siege Week For Litigation-Embattled Aimster
Aimster, whose software turns America Online's instant-messaging application into a file-swapping platform, is fighting legal battles on multiple fronts this week, countering lawsuits - and perhaps launching new ones - in a bid to stave off attacks from some of the world's largest media companies. The file-sharing service, hosted by AbovePeer LLC of Albany, N.Y., is juggling a pair of lawsuits involving the recording industry - one it began itself in April and one filed Thursday by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/166231.html

SourceForge Server Compromised In Attack
Open-source software development site SourceForge.net is warning many of its users to change their passwords following an attack early last week in which intruders compromised one of the site's servers. SourceForge.net Site Director Patrick McGovern said today that SourceForge sent e-mail warnings to site users who accessed the system during the time that the system was exposed to the snooping intruders.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/166227.html

Canadian Copyright Law Review Threatens JumpTV Plans
The federal government appears poised to re-examine Canadian copyright law in light of ongoing dust-ups between television broadcasters and Internet Webcasters. Broadcasters cheered the move, saying Monday that they received notice of the copyright law re-think in a letter from the government ministries of Industry and Heritage. But Montreal-based JumpTV, which is poised to launch a cable-TV-like service to retransmit broadcast television via the Internet, says it sounds like legislators are getting one-sided advice on the issue.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/166224.html

Mystic simulacrum

The truly great games, the ones like Myst and Riven, invoke a potent sense of place -- which to my mind is the imaginal thing that the digital medium is best at creating. Although we sit at our computers alone, we really are communicating with others and building relationships when we send e-mail and participate in lists and discussion boards; digitized social life is real, not virtual. That illusion reaches its most sophisticated form in the nonexistent "spaces" we "move" through in computer games. So while action game fans will no doubt scoff to hear it, I'll go out on a limb and assert that Riven is the greatest computer game of all time because it creates the most persuasive, immersive, alluring sense of place. But Exile, the sequel to Myst and Riven, is beautiful eye candy, but not quite art.
http://www.salon.com/tech/review/200...st3/index.html

$1 billion lawsuit for world's first Jail-cam
The world's first Jail Web cams - installed and hyped by the living embodiment of James Bond sheriff J.W. Pepper, Joe Arpaio - is at the end of a $1.38 billion lawsuit. It was filed on Friday at Maricopa County Superior Court and concerns the various Web cams installed in the local jail available on the Crime.com site. The cams have been a great success - millions have viewed people being booked and locked up and pictures from them have even been used in adverts. Ole Joe reckons the cameras stop people behaving badly. Although, if it did have that effect, Joe would make far less money.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/19262.html

The Garfield comic strip of the day !
The Dilbert strip of the day !
The boondocks strip of the day !

29-05-01, 05:30 PM	#5
walktalker The local newspaper man Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Montreal Posts: 2,036	Ring Ring: 'How 'Bout a Date?' To find that perfect someone, you might consider taking out an ad, checking the personals or joining some romance-oriented Internet chat group. But you almost certainly wouldn't turn to your cellular phone. Two Nordic companies are out to change that. Finland's Small Planet and Sweden's Blue Factory have turned the European obsession with sending text messages into services that allow thousands of mostly young people in Europe to flirt and set up a romantic rendezvous wirelessly and anonymously. http://www.wired.com/news/wireless/0,1382,43900,00.html Dust Keeping the Lights Off Here in California, things are bad, energy-wise. You know this, of course -- even if you've never set foot in the Golden State, you've likely heard about how California could suffer a month of rolling blackouts this summer. But don't count out Cally. On Friday, scientists at the University of California at Berkeley showed off a new technology they're calling "smart dust," which -- if it works -- might be the silver lining of California's electricity cloud. http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,44101,00.html Fears of a Website Inquisition Proposed legislation in Spain to regulate Internet activity has enraged libertarians who say the measure would squelch free speech. The "Law of Information Society Services and Electronic Commerce" (known by its Spanish acronym LSSI) would force websites to register with the government and require Web hosting companies to police content by reporting suspected illicit activity. Failure to obey the rules would generate fines of up to 175,000 Euros ($150,000). http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,44110,00.html E-mail users warned over spy network Computer users across Europe should encrypt all their e-mails, to avoid being spied on by a UK-US eavesdropping network, say Euro-MPs. The tentacles of the Echelon network stretch so far that the UK's involvement could constitute a breach of human rights, they say. The Euro-MPs have been studying Echelon for almost a year, after allegations that it has been used by the US to commit industrial espionage against European firms. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/wor...00/1357264.stm Internet 'numbers racket' Many recent incidents have been the work of cyberjackers based in Eastern Europe, China and former Soviet republics. Former communist countries have long been a hotbed of hackers, and have been the source of a number of major computer viruses. Some of the most disruptive "denial of service" attacks of the past were committed by hackers in former Soviet-bloc nations. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...9/MN164349.DTL Living logic Genetically engineered bugs that do the same job as the components of a microchip have been created by a US team. These smart bugs will crunch on chemical inputs rather than digital bits. They could one day be sent into waste-water plants to hunt out toxic chemicals. Or they could tell doctors what proteins are present in body fluids. http://www.newscientist.com/dailynew...p?id=ns9999778 It's Siege Week For Litigation-Embattled Aimster Aimster, whose software turns America Online's instant-messaging application into a file-swapping platform, is fighting legal battles on multiple fronts this week, countering lawsuits - and perhaps launching new ones - in a bid to stave off attacks from some of the world's largest media companies. The file-sharing service, hosted by AbovePeer LLC of Albany, N.Y., is juggling a pair of lawsuits involving the recording industry - one it began itself in April and one filed Thursday by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/166231.html SourceForge Server Compromised In Attack Open-source software development site SourceForge.net is warning many of its users to change their passwords following an attack early last week in which intruders compromised one of the site's servers. SourceForge.net Site Director Patrick McGovern said today that SourceForge sent e-mail warnings to site users who accessed the system during the time that the system was exposed to the snooping intruders. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/166227.html Canadian Copyright Law Review Threatens JumpTV Plans The federal government appears poised to re-examine Canadian copyright law in light of ongoing dust-ups between television broadcasters and Internet Webcasters. Broadcasters cheered the move, saying Monday that they received notice of the copyright law re-think in a letter from the government ministries of Industry and Heritage. But Montreal-based JumpTV, which is poised to launch a cable-TV-like service to retransmit broadcast television via the Internet, says it sounds like legislators are getting one-sided advice on the issue. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/166224.html Mystic simulacrum The truly great games, the ones like Myst and Riven, invoke a potent sense of place -- which to my mind is the imaginal thing that the digital medium is best at creating. Although we sit at our computers alone, we really are communicating with others and building relationships when we send e-mail and participate in lists and discussion boards; digitized social life is real, not virtual. That illusion reaches its most sophisticated form in the nonexistent "spaces" we "move" through in computer games. So while action game fans will no doubt scoff to hear it, I'll go out on a limb and assert that Riven is the greatest computer game of all time because it creates the most persuasive, immersive, alluring sense of place. But Exile, the sequel to Myst and Riven, is beautiful eye candy, but not quite art. http://www.salon.com/tech/review/200...st3/index.html $1 billion lawsuit for world's first Jail-cam The world's first Jail Web cams - installed and hyped by the living embodiment of James Bond sheriff J.W. Pepper, Joe Arpaio - is at the end of a $1.38 billion lawsuit. It was filed on Friday at Maricopa County Superior Court and concerns the various Web cams installed in the local jail available on the Crime.com site. The cams have been a great success - millions have viewed people being booked and locked up and pictures from them have even been used in adverts. Ole Joe reckons the cameras stop people behaving badly. Although, if it did have that effect, Joe would make far less money. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/19262.html The Garfield comic strip of the day ! The Dilbert strip of the day ! The boondocks strip of the day !