The Newspaper Shop -- Wednesday edition

[walktalker]

AIM hole could let worms wriggle in
AOL Time Warner on Wednesday pledged to close a security hole in its instant messenger application that experts say could provide wiggle room for a widespread and destructive worm. AOL Time Warner said it would implement a server-side fix -- meaning people will not have to download the patch -- by week's end. The security bug affects AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) version 4.7 and the 4.8 beta, or test version. Only AIM users running Microsoft's Windows operating system are vulnerable.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Judge sets date for Microsoft hearing
A federal judge on Wednesday ordered Microsoft and nine states to appear at a hearing next week to discuss a delay to the next phase of the landmark antitrust trial. On Dec. 21, Microsoft asked U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly to extend by four months the date for holding a remedy hearing to decide what sanctions would be imposed for the company's antitrust violations.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

ZaCker worm attacks safeguards
A destructive new worm that destroys antivirus software on infected computers was slowly spreading Wednesday. The Maldal.D worm, also known as ZaCker, was written and distributed Dec. 29, according to antivirus software maker Symantec, prompting fears the worm could sneak past security software that wasn't updated over the holiday break.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Is it time for Linux on the desktop?
Another year has gone by--an eternity in software-development terms--and it's time once again for PC users to ask themselves: Is Linux ready for the desktop? A few recent factors may set off this line of thinking, including the hostile reaction to restrictive new software licence terms from Microsoft and new developments in the Linux world. But experts say there are a number of factors aside from the quality of the software itself that can affect the practicality of making the switch.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Next-gen phones hit North America
Wireless Internet surfing using Code Division Multiple Access technology is about to get easier and faster, according to Qualcomm, which announced Wednesday that a new fleet of products based on its CDMA technology has just arrived in North America. Internet-enabled handsets, data cards and data modules based on Qualcomm's MSM5105 Mobile Station Modem chipset and software will be faster, more lightweight and easier to use, the company said.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Analysts see slight IT spending gains
Corporate spending on technology is expected to inch ahead 3 percent in 2002, Merrill Lynch said, as companies refocus their priorities amid ever-tightening budgets and a heightened emphasis on security. Technology spending will continue to be shaped by the effects of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and will be limited to a more select cadre of vendors this year, according to Merrill's survey of 75 chief information officers in the United States and 35 in Europe.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Ten uses for an old PC
Got an old PC gathering dust somewhere? Here are ten ways to reuse it - and maybe even make some cheeky cash in the meantime. We've all got an old clunker in our lives -- some ancient piece of noisy, dust-ridden, grubby stuff that was quite attractive when you first met but now seems an embarrassing reminder of what you used to think was cool. You may also have an old PC. While we can't help with many of your lifestyle mistakes, we're on hand for this one. Here are ten ideas to keep geriatric technology useful for just that little bit longer.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...835455,00.html

Internet shrinks to fit
The number of sites on the Internet has slipped along with a recent decline in registrations of addresses ending in domains such as .com, according to a study released this week. The Web Server Survey from Internet consultancy Netcraft found that the number of Web sites dropped by 182,142 from November to December last year. That decline marks only the second time the company's survey, first released in 1995, has found fewer sites online in a monthly period.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=mn_hd

AT&T, MCI boost long-distance fees
Long-distance giants AT&T and MCI rang in the new year with higher phone bills for customers, and Sprint plans to do the same. AT&T raised its universal services fund (USF) fee from 9.9 percent of the customer's monthly long-distance charges to 11.5 percent, a fee increase of 16 percent, according to a company representative. The fund subsidizes Internet access in schools, libraries and underserved populations.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1004-200...html?tag=mn_hd

AOL members set shopping record
America Online members headed to the Web to do their holiday shopping: In 2001, they spent more than $33 billion online, with a third of it coming in the fourth quarter. The total figure is up 67 percent from the preceding year, parent company AOL Time Warner said Wednesday. The $11 billion spent online during the fourth quarter -- a record for AOL -- accounted for a 72 percent increase from the same period a year earlier.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200...html?tag=mn_hd

WebTV founder's next act unfolding
Consumer demand for interactive TV has yet to meet industry expectations, but that isn't stopping another hopeful from gambling on the ill-defined and elusive market. Steve Perlman, who founded WebTV, will show off the technology behind his 2-year-old company, Rearden Steel, at next week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. According to sources, the Palo Alto, Calif.-based start-up is developing software and hardware specifications that could turn set-top cable boxes into multimedia entertainment devices capable of recording and storing digital content.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200...html?tag=mn_hd

Pakistan drops tech support in U.S.
Pakistan has decided to close its recently opened "technology consulate" in Silicon Valley after both business and funding dried up in the wake of the high-tech slump. Toheed Ahmad, who headed the Consulate General's Office for Information Technology Development, said Wednesday he had been told to close shop after seven months in operation. "We don't have a firm date yet as there are some formalities to be done, but I am going to close down and go back," Ahmad said. Ahmad attributed the decision to close the office to both budget constraints in Pakistan -- which has seen pressures rise with neighboring India while serving as a key player in the U.S.-led war on terrorism -- and the worsening business climate in California.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=mn_hd

India becoming world's back office
The chattering young adults, many dressed in Western-style casual clothes, exit a train station in a northern Bombay suburb and look like they should be heading for a college campus. But it is late at night, and they are making their way to a plush office complex nearby. There, in a huge, brightly painted "shop floor'' whose walls and pillars are adorned with colorful posters, they settle down behind computers, pull on headphones and spend several hours speaking English with an American accent.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200...html?tag=ch_mh

Swedish bank customers turning to Internet
Infuriated by deteriorating service and rising charges, many Swedes have grown tired of big banks and are taking their business to financial start-ups, some on the Internet, others at the grocery store. Having dominated the sector for decades, the big four -- Nordea, Handelsbanken, SEB and Swedbank -- must now compete for a new breed of customers less loyal than older generations, for whom, as the saying goes, it is easier to divorce than to change banks.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Report: Women outshop men online
More women than men now shop online, according to a report released Tuesday that found the average consumer was spending more money on electronic commerce sites. For years, men have been more likely to shop over the Internet than women, but in the 2001 holiday season 58 percent of those making online purchases were women, according to a report by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200...html?tag=cd_mh

File-sharing programs carry Trojan horse
A pair of popular file-sharing programs have become privacy time bombs, according to computer experts. Antivirus company Symantec last week reported the presence of "spyware" bundled with Grokster and Limewire, two popular file-swapping downloads. The code evidently does not damage computers, but it surreptitiously sends personal information such as user ID names and the Internet address of computers to another Web address. Advertising software called "Clicktilluwin" that comes bundled with the file-swapping programs carries a program called "W32.DIDer," which Symantec has classified as a Trojan horse--a piece of code that takes over parts of a person's computer unseen in order to carry out its own instructions.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Commentary: P2P has three heads
Peer-to-peer is an enabling technology that is finding its way to market in at least three distinct forms. In other words, don't expect a single, coherent peer-to-peer market. Like many technologies, peer-to-peer has fallen victim to what Gartner calls "the hype cycle." After rocketing skyward on overblown expectations, it has plummeted into the hype cycle's "trough of disillusionment" because it didn't immediately deliver what it promised. However, the progress of peer-to-peer will be more difficult to track in the future because this one technology will develop in three different directions, each with its own trajectory.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-201...html?tag=cd_mh

Interest rates boost computer orders
Demand for computers and electronic products rose 2 percent in November over the previous month as companies seized on low interest rates to place orders. The tech sector has been bloodied by recession and a brutal downturn this year, and a number of large tech companies have warned of a drawn-out crunch in capital spending next year. Amid those concerns, the tech sector received a slight boost from the November durable goods report Friday, economists said.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200...html?tag=cd_mh

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