The Newspaper Shop -- Thursday edition

[walktalker]

all the way !

Win XP needs Passport to travel
Windows XP may be Microsoft's passport to trouble. A new feature introduced in the latest test version of Microsoft's Windows XP operating system requires people to establish an account with the software maker's Passport authentication service to use new instant messaging and telephony features. The beta -- one of the last before a widely anticipated preview release -- introduces to Windows XP support for Microsoft's .Net software-as-a-service initiative.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...chkpt=zdnn_tp_

Pong, anyone? Atari comes to cell phones
Mobile users could soon be playing classic arcade games such as Asteroids and Frogger on their phones by the start of next year. UK developer iFone has signed an exclusive deal with Infogrames, which now owns Atari. Its programmers are now reproducing some of the very best video games of twenty years ago in formats that will run on Java and Epoc-enabled devices. The Manchester-based company is also working on mobile versions of modern games, such as Infogrames' Driver, and has also developed a football game for wireless handhelds. IFone plans to release six Java-compatible games this September, with a further half dozen planned for December 2001.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...779026,00.html

States 'troubled' over Windows XP
Two of the state attorneys general who spearheaded the antitrust case against Microsoft say the software giant "may be repeating its efforts to maintain and extend its monopoly" by bundling features into its newest operating system. Attorneys General Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Tom Miller of Iowa issued a terse news release Wednesday afternoon saying they have "serious concerns" about Microsoft's "very troubling" strategy for its Windows XP operating system, which will debut in the fall. However, Blumenthal and Miller dismissed reports that they are preparing to file a second antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...778871,00.html

Intel: Linux has 'no place' on desktop
Intel chief executive Craig Barrett concedes that Linux has its uses, but doesn't see much of a future for it on the desktop until it can compete with Windows in the number of applications available. Barrett's comments, made during a visit to London on Wednesday, reflect a fundamental and deepening division in the Linux world: While Linux is seeing startling success in the server market, it has yet to make much headway when it comes to mass-market desktops. Linux advocates believe the desktop will be conquered in due time, having seen the operating system grow from nothing to its current prominence in just a few years, but skeptics say Linux is destined to remain in its current niche, for which it is well suited.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...778923,00.html

Pitney Bowes sues Apple, other vendors, over patent
Apple Computer Inc. may have pulled the plug on its LaserWriter printer line several years ago, but it's among a new raft of printer vendors Pitney Bowes Inc. is suing for patent infringement. Pitney Bowes on Wednesday announced it has brought suit against Apple, Lexmark International, Matsushita, Panasonic, NEC, Samsung and Xerox Corp. The company has already won a $400 million settlement from Hewlett-Packard Co. over the same issue. Michael Melton, deputy general counsel, Intellectual Property and Technology Law, for Pitney Bowes, in a telephone interview said that the company's "272 patent" describes a method for altering the dot size used to produce characters on a printed page.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...778883,00.html

AOL bent on taking 'AIM'
On the heels of winning the rights to several Aimster-related domain names, AOL Time Warner has notified the creator of a fledgling instant messaging project that his work is unauthorized and may violate company trademarks. In a posting on the Sourceforge.net site, Douglas E. Warner said he received a letter from an attorney representing AOL, who asked him to stop using the letters "AIM" to describe his phpAIM project. PhpAIM is an interface to AOL Instant Messenger written in the open-source PHP language. Trademark holders often send out dozens, if not hundreds, of letters to a wide variety of people they feel are violating their trademarks -- parties ranging from journalists, to competitors, to inventors -- in the hopes of getting them to stop using a particular word.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...pt=zdnn_nbs_hl

Cable/DSL four-port routers
If you want to share a high-speed Internet connection among multiple computers within your home or office, you can't beat a multiport cable/DSL router. While a wireless Internet-sharing solution, such as the 3Com Home Wireless Gateway, may be an attractive option for those who would prefer not to deal with network cables, a wired solution still offers faster performance at a significantly cheaper price. We tested four cable/DSL four-port routers targeted at home- and small-office users: the D-Link DI-704 Cable/DSL Internet Gateway, the Linksys EtherFast four-port cable/DSL router, the Netgear RT314 cable/DSL router and four-port switch, and the SMC Barricade four-port 10/100mbps broadband router (SMC7004BR). All are easy to use and set up, and they offer a wide range of options for a low, low price.
http://computers.cnet.com/hardware/0...-1.html?tag=ld

CIA says it can't keep up with hackers
Despite a major increase in intelligence efforts dedicated to computer security, attackers still develop new tools and techniques faster than the CIA can keep up, a top CIA official told Congress.Often, "we end up detecting (an attack) after it's happened," said Lawrence K. Gershwin, the CIA's top adviser on science and technology issues. "I don't feel very good about our ability to anticipate." Gershwin told the Joint Economic Committee that foreign governments will be the most potent threat to U.S. computers for the next five to 10 years, rather than terrorists or lone troublemakers.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200...html?tag=mn_hd

Ballmer: No contingency plan for breakup
Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said the company had no contingency plans to deal with a potential breakup, according to a report Thursday. "None whatsoever," The Washington Post quoted him as saying. The U.S. Court of Appeals is expected to hand down a decision any day now on whether to uphold a lower court ruling that Microsoft broke antitrust laws and should be split into two companies.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200...html?tag=ch_mh

Schools find Web makes the grades
The days of hiding lousy report cards may soon come to an end for underachievers everywhere. School systems nationwide are uploading student information -- from grades and test scores to class schedules, discipline referrals, homework assignments and attendance records -- to the Internet. Using assigned passwords, parents can access the information anytime, anywhere. Such systems have been around for several years but didn't really take hold until this past school year. For Murphy, president of the PTA at Mount Jordan Middle School, the system has helped her track her eighth-grade son Michael's test scores and grades all year. "That has helped me in feeling good about the things that he's doing," she said in an interview Wednesday.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_mh

RealSystem, real promise
RealNetworks says that its new distribution system for digital content is a win-win proposition for both consumers and copyright holders. The RealSystem Media Commerce Suite certainly seems promising, with an architecture that appears to offer seamless, user-friendly access to content for consumers and fair compensation for copyright holders. The system's architecture is designed to deliver both digital content and a flexible digital rights management (DRM) system in a coherent fashion--and to assure rights holders that when digital content is put up on the Internet, it will not be shared illegally forever. Both the recording and film industries have been looking for this level of trust for a very long time. Some important questions remain, however.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-201...html?tag=cd_mh

Kodak invests in video-to-DVD conversion
A videotape up to two hours in length can be converted to CD and DVD formats in about two weeks, Kodak said. The completed package arrives in a customized case with pictures of the most prominent scenes on the cover. After a DVD conversion, consumers can watch their movies in real-time speed on DVD players. CD transfers are used for viewing and electronically transferring still images. Conversion to DVD will cost $70 to $90 per tape, Kodak said, while conversion to CD will be in the $30 to $40 range.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200...html?tag=ch_mh

The DVD Will Soon Be With You
After much waiting, complaining and begging, Star Wars fans got one-quarter of their wish. The Phantom Menace, the first film in the series but the latest to be released, will come out on DVD in October. Phantom came out in 1999 and hit home video in 2000, but only on VHS, which upset a lot of DVD supporters. Lucasfilm said it wanted time to do the disc right, and thinks DVD aficionados will find the disc worth the wait. If the initial reaction on the Home Theater Forum is any indication, Lucasfilm is correct.
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,44682,00.html

No Harmony on Streaming Standards
Opposition is mounting against both Microsoft and RealNetworks as they race to create and own a standard language for streaming. The Internet Streaming Media Alliance –- a consortium made up of six companies right now –- hopes to challenge both Microsoft and RealNetworks over the creation of a digital standard for streaming. The reason: They don't believe that either one will act in the best interests of streaming companies.
http://www.wired.com/news/mp3/0,1285,44722,00.html

Women Without Businessmen
This year's Women in Technology International Professional Women's Summit in Santa Clara drew a crowd of mostly women attendees from both the new and old economy who came for one reason: to meet other women in technology. Forums like WITI's Silicon Valley summit allow women to access other high-level executives they might not otherwise get a chance to meet.
http://www.wired.com/news/women/0,1540,44624,00.html

NASA Testing Solar Flights
NASA is planning a series of test flights of an unmanned flying wing that's designed to run on solar power and cruise for days at 100,000 feet, more than three times higher than commercial jets. The first of as many as three flights could come this weekend from a Navy airstrip on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. NASA developed the Helios Prototype with AeroVironment Inc. in a bid to build a pilotless aircraft that could replace space satellites for some applications.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,44715,00.html

She's the Sexiest Geek Alive !
Not long ago, Ellen Spertus, a 32-year-old computer science professor at Mills College in Oakland, California, could safely have been labeled "a bit of a geek." She wouldn't have been offended by that taunt; indeed, she'd have probably embraced it and said, as she did on Tuesday, "I'm not just a geek, I'm a geek proselytizer." But that changed Wednesday evening at the convention center here, when Spertus won a title that will forever frustrate all those wisenheimers who dare to call her "kinda geeky." Ellen Spertus is not just a little geeky: She is officially the Sexiest Geek Alive, and she's got a crown to prove it.
http://www.wired.com/news/women/0,1540,44706,00.html

Malaysia Considers Cafe Rules
Early nights and non-violent games will be on the menu at Malaysian cyber cafes if a state government passes new rules that would also bar kids in school uniform from the computer dens. Counselors in Selangor state vote next week on a long list of regulations that if passed would designate the cafes as entertainment outlets in an attempt to curb video gambling, viewing of pornography and other activities deemed undesirable by the authorities.
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,44716,00.html

Birth of a Thinking Machine
Popular culture has long held strong opinions about what the world's smartest machine should look like. There's the unblinking red eye of HAL, the brilliant, homicidal computer of Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey"; the gilded humanoids of pulp sci-fi; and the flashing lights and gleaming boxes of countless doomsday scenarios. But it's a safe bet that nobody has imagined artificial intelligence the way it is taking shape inside a low-slung brown brick building hidden deep within a leafy research park north of town. Yet here beats the heart of the system known as Cyc.
http://www.latimes.com/business/2001...000051293.html

Cell phone tech may blow cover of stealth bombers
America's stealth bombers may be in danger of having their cover blown by a new type of radar that uses cell phone technology, researchers say. The Air Force says it's a limited problem and America's unique stealth fleet is in no danger. Yet U.S. intelligence reports label the radar a serious threat, and several scientists agree. "We're talking about radar technology that can pinpoint almost any disturbance in the atmosphere," said Hugh Brownstone, a physicist at the Intergon Research Center in New York who has worked for the cell phone giant Nokia.
http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/science....ap/index.html

Airwaves Are Full Of Wireless Competition
Last year showed impressive growth in the wireless industry, with $52.5 billion in mobile phone revenues and 23.5 million new U.S. subscribers, according to a new report from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC's sixth annual report on the state of wireless competition also showed a decline in the average price of mobile telephony consumer costs by 12.3 percent. "(In) the year 2000, the wireless industry continued to experience increased competition and innovation," the FCC report said. "This has meant lower prices and an increased diversity in service offerings for many consumers." The report also noted that mergers, acquisitions and license swaps deserve credit for filling in large gaps across the U.S. in coverage service.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/167120.html

More news later on

"i'll take two quick-pics." another fine evening spent hanging around the newsstand. nice job walktalker.