The Newspaper Shop -- Thursday edition

[walktalker]

The Newspaper is out !!
Microsoft to argue against free code
Until recently, Microsoft closely guarded its source code, the underlying instructions used to create valuable products like its flagship Windows operating system. But the company has started to let computer makers and software developers see more code, particularly for its Windows 2000 product. Its moves have been partly in response to the Linux operating system and other "open source" software, which is studied and improved by programmers around the world. That's the way plain people can change the world, Bill...
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...714979,00.html

Open source's black hole
In the computing world we come across countless exaggerations, and lists of promises we know can never be kept. Rarely, but still too often, we come across an instance of what can only be called the Big Lie. It's an assertion that is utterly obvious in its falsehood but that somehow encourages hope through frequent repetition. The year's Big Lie is the assertion that Apple has embraced open source software.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/co...714722,00.html

Gimme shelter: Aimster seeks court protection
File-swapping and instant messaging company Aimster has opened a new front in the online music wars, asking for court protection as legal troubles threaten to send it down a path similar to Napster's. Aimster, one of the most high-profile file-trading services to launch in Napster's wake, on Monday asked a New York federal court for a "declaratory judgment" stating that its service doesn't violate U.S. copyright law.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...082230,00.html

Wanted: Loveable hero for copyright battle
In a world where cops warn that programmers are set to unleash a "Pearl Harbor" of Internet attacks, crackers don monikers such as "Mafiaboy," and malicious pranksters unleash viruses named "I Love You" and "Melissa," it's becoming difficult to paint hackers as sympathetic characters. No one knows that better than the defendants in the DeCSS case, who are fighting the movie industry for the right to link to computer code that theoretically can be used to break anti-copying features on DVDs.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...082221,00.html

You are the weakest link in network security
The single biggest cause of network security breaches is not software bugs and unknown network vulnerabilities but dumb moves by PC users, according to a survey published by computer consultant @Stake. The security research company, which is best known for uncovering bugs in operating systems and network software, said that despite the risk of computer fraud, many corporate computer users leave passwords on paper notes, fail to change passwords from the default, and incorrectly configure hardware.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200...html?tag=ch_mh

Digimarc wins digital copy-protection patents
Digimarc said Wednesday that it received approval from the U.S. Patent Office on 28 claims related to audio watermarking. Digital security has become a hot-button issue for film producers, musicians, artists and writers who are increasingly publishing original works online or in other digital formats. So-called watermarking places a unique code into a file that theoretically is difficult to remove without damaging the quality of the sound or image.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Liquid Audio to cut staff by 40 percent
Online music software and services company Liquid Audio said Tuesday that it will lay off 40 percent of its work force in an effort to stay afloat through a stormy market. The Redwood City, Calif.-based company said it will reduce its staff across all departments and merge its three offices into one location. A representative said the company will lay off 78 employees out of its staff of 195. Liquid Audio joins the growing list of companies that have scaled back staff and taken other cost-cutting measures to ride out the dot-com slowdown.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=ch_mh

3-D Patent a World of Trouble?
A small developer of 3-D chat technology has been issued a patent that could lead to a slew of legal battles. Patent 6,219,045 is for technology used to create 3-D multiuser online virtual worlds. Worlds.com first applied for the patent in 1996 when it was part of educational game developer Knowledge Adventure.
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,43490,00.html

Out of Print, But Into Digital
Most college English majors have probably seen a copy of Shakespeare's Poems. But how many have actually been close enough to leaf through the pages of an original edition? Octavo's advanced digital imaging technology allows average readers to access 500 years of religious, artistic and scientific works that have been essentially inaccessible.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,43330,00.html

High-speed Net access fees rise
As a fleet of high-speed Internet access providers run out of cash, the survivors are beginning to boost their prices. AT&T, the Bay Area's dominant cable television operator, notified its 1.3 million customers yesterday that it plans to raise the fee for its speedy cable modem service by $6 to $46 per month starting June 1.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...2/BU181645.DTL

Space tourists queue up
The US company which brokered Dennis Tito's flight into space has two more tourists ready to make the trip as early as October, Russian reports say. The Russian news agency Itar-Tass quoted Space Adventures vice-president Larry Ortega as saying his company had two more people ready to fly, one from Europe and one from south-east Asia.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci...00/1308378.stm

The ultimate no-brainer
John Cage's composition 4' 33" is a piano piece that is performed by not performing. The pianist goes through all the preliminary motions, but sits in silence for 4 minutes and 33 seconds — after which, one assumes, the audience applauds. Two scientists are now aiming to produce a computer that works in the same spirit — to give the answer without ever being switched on.
http://www.nature.com/nsu/010503/010503-6.html

More news later on

[DAFORC3]

Originally posted by walktalker
...bthe company has started to let computer makers and software developers see more code, particularly for its Windows 2000 product. Its moves have been partly in response to the Linux operating system and other "open source" software, which is studied and improved by programmers around the world..

the point being that microshit is only releasing source code when it could not lie no more and it seems that linux is damaging the windows monopoly market. so the bottom line is profit not improvement. windows sucks and that's a fact. nothing will make it better as the product had been clearly stolen from the mac system.

same goes for other "news" - artificially created then relased into society to seem geniuine FAR more often then it may seem. that's the way the system had been designed to keep people at bay. do not be fooled. and do not contribute by limiting people's choices at what news they are receiveing. tnx.

[DAFORC3]

http://www.napsterites.net/undergrou...&threadid=1342