The Newspaper Shop -- Friday edition

[walktalker]

I'll keep them coming
IE 6 beta clamps down on privacy
As Microsoft puts the finishing touches on an upgrade to its popular browser, Internet advertising companies are racing to ensure that their ads and cookies are compatible with it. Internet Explorer 6, scheduled to be released in August, will be the first browser to support a new privacy standard called Platform Privacy Preferences, or P3P. With P3P, Web surfers can configure their browsers to automatically determine whether a Web site collects personally identifiable information, uses that information to create user profiles, or allows visitors to opt out of the data collection.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...chkpt=zdnn_tp_

New virus tools raise concerns
Security consultants have warned of two new varieties of virus, and said IT managers should ensure their antivirus measures are kept up to date. Last week Jonathon Mynott, a technical consultant at security specialist Cryptic Software, said hacker interest was growing in a virus tool called GodMessage. It will be easy to fall victim once the method becomes popular, Mynott warned. "You only have to browse a Web page to be infected," he said.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...775804,00.html

MP3 fans find a new star
Disappointed with Napster's decision to filter popular songs from its file-swapping network, Jonathan Lemon recently turned to Audiogalaxy, a relatively new alternative for free music downloads that is winning a lot of converts. Like Napster, Audiogalaxy filters copyrighted music from its system. In a twist, however, the company helps search off the network for music it refuses to host itself, guiding people to free copies of almost any popular song. People say they are impressed by features such as "resume," which saves time by allowing them to seamlessly pick up where they left off if a download gets cut off midstream.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...092732,00.html

Angelina Jolie brings Lara Croft to life
Sometimes, actors go to extremes for their craft. Just ask Angelina Jolie, the 26-year-old actress who did anything she could in order to appear as the flesh-and-blood doppelganger of cyberheroine Lara Croft. "I mean, just having that hair braid--I can't tell you how many times I got hit in the face with it," she explained, referring to the Croft coiffure she wore for the five-month shoot of the Tomb Raider movie, helmed by action director Simon West (Con Air, The General's Daughter). Of course, the braid was just one item on a lengthy list of things Jolie needed to keep in mind if she wanted to truly become Miss Croft.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...775464,00.html

Ads better trafficked than major Web sites
Online advertising is invading Internet traffic statistics, creating fresh doubts about the relevance of reports that seek to measure the most popular sites on the Web. Although the importance of monthly traffic statistics has deflated along with the dot-com bubble, the lists still command the attention of investors, competitors and employees--if only for bragging rights. Nevertheless, the rankings have long been criticized for producing vague and conflicting data.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=tp_pr

Will record labels carry Microsoft's tune?
As the major record labels try to remake online music in their own image, Microsoft's presence is looming powerfully enough to influence the biggest alliances in the business--even if the software giant hasn't struck the big deals itself. Microsoft ultimately hopes to offer music subscription services on its MSN site, charging customers a monthly fee. But the record labels have been wary of handing it too much power over their online plans, and the software giant has yet to broker the alliances that would let it offer access to the labels' full catalogs, as have Yahoo, Napster and archrival RealNetworks.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=mn_hd

Big Music fights back
Thanks to the Internet, a bunch of pimply teenagers with a computer would be able to post their music online, and turn themselves into rock stars. With no need for marketing, and nothing to make or distribute, what would be left for the record companies? A year on, matters look rather different. Most of the defiant little upstarts that so shook the labels have either collapsed or been bought or shut down.
http://www.economist.com/business/di...tory_ID=656204

Castro scoffs at U.S. cyberattack concerns
An irritated Fidel Castro on Thursday dismissed concerns about Cuban cyberterrorism against the United States as "craziness," saying his country doesn't have the technology to launch such attacks even if it wanted to. U.S. officials who believe Cuba could and would attack the country's computer networks are "orphans, and bereft of ideas," Castro said in a speech shown on state television. He called the United States "an empire that only knows lies."
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Hack raises fears of unsafe energy networks
A recent attack on the heart of California's power distribution center underscores the danger of connecting critical resources to networks that may never be truly secure from malicious hackers. An intruder who cracked the security of two Web servers at the California Independent System Operator (ISO) -- the nonprofit corporation that controls the distribution of 75 percent of the state's power -- was inexperienced and benefited from human error and sheer luck, sources close to an investigation into the attack said this week.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200...html?tag=ch_mh

Volkswagen test-drives Net-enabled auto
Volkswagen will launch a new Golf model that is its first mass-produced car with an Internet connection, the German auto giant said Friday. Fittingly, the high-tech multimedia auto will only be sold online. The Golf eGeneration will come equipped with a mini computer, mobile telephone and MP3 player to get maximum use out of its Internet connection, the Wolfsburg-based company said in a statement.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Malicious mobile e-mail warning in Japan
Japanese wireless phone giant NTT DoCoMo warned the company's 24 million mobile Internet service subscribers Thursday that a malicious e-mail could be making its way to their phones. The e-mail, if opened, will dial an emergency number, make calls to a "large number" of people or crash the consumer's cell phone, NTT said in a statement posted on its Web site. Although all DoCoMo Internet-ready handsets are susceptible, so far there have been no reports of damage, the company said.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1004-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Liberty Media forms voice-over-Internet pact
Liberty Media Group and IDT, which sells telephone calling cards and long-distance services, on Thursday agreed to form a joint venture offering telephone service over broadband cable networks to Liberty's international cable affiliates. Liberty Media will license Net2Phone's voice-over-Internet-Protocal technology, which transmits voice calls between computers, telephones, and broadband devices using high-speed networks.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1004-200...html?tag=ch_mh

Poll: Music downloads pre-empt purchases
A study released Thursday showed that 5.5 percent of Americans aged 16 to 40 have not purchased a single music CD or cassette in the past year but have been actively downloading songs from the Internet. The survey, conducted by Edison Media Research for radio and music trade publication Radio & Records, attempts to quantify the effect Internet-based music services such as Napster have had on sales of recorded music and, more generally, to show how the Internet is changing music-listening habits.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Study: Web fails to impress most people
The Internet may seem all-pervasive, but billions of people around the world are not surfing the Web because of a lack of interest, need, money and equipment, according to a survey released Thursday. The No. 1 reason for not being on the Internet--given by 40 percent of respondents--is that they have no need to. Lack of a computer keeps 33 percent away, and a lack of interest was cited by 25 percent, according to the survey, done in 30 countries by research firm Ipsos-Reid. The survey estimates that only 6 percent of the world's 6 billion people are on the Internet, based on projections from a string of research groups.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=ch_mh

New high-quality MP3 format debuts
The online world will get its first glimpse of the new MP3 format Thursday, with the first major update to a technology that has become synonymous with both digital music and online piracy. Thomson Multimedia and the Fraunhofer Institute, the companies behind the MP3 digital music format, are releasing an upgraded version of their music format Thursday called MP3Pro. The companies hope to attract software and hardware developers to the new technology but are also providing a version for consumers to play with.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=ch_mh

Radio industry tackles digital changes
Old problems such as the decades-long illegal practice of payola and new challenges such as the digital convergence of entertainment are expected to be the hot topics this week at an annual meeting of radio and music executives here. The three-day gathering, known as the Radio & Records Convention, boasts a lineup of marquee entertainers like Stevie Nicks and high-profile speakers, such as former U.S. President Bill Clinton.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=ch_mh

Finally, DSL Service That Rocks
DSL providers aren't just bringing big pipes into the home anymore. They're beginning to bring content in as well. Seattle's DSL provider Speakeasy.net just launched a music subscription service -- the first step in the company's plan to develop a viable ISP business model for music distribution. Speakeasy will begin offering its users access to the Emusic catalog for three months at $35.98. Emusic has 175,000 songs from 700 independent labels available both as individual downloads or as part of the subscription service.
http://www.wired.com/news/mp3/0,1285,44546,00.html

More news stuff incoming

[Dawn]

Thank you newsman

[walktalker]

E-mail Rolling Blackout Alert Program Detailed
The California Independent System Operator today unveiled its plan to warn the public of a high probability of rotating power outages via e-mail and pagers. In addition, at a news conference today Kari Dohn, chair of the California Electricity Oversight Board, said the major utility companies serving the state are developing maps showing which areas potentially will be affected by power interruptions.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/166921.html

Microsoft reaches deal over 'Xbox' name
Get-rich tip: Pick a name Microsoft likes. The software behemoth from Redmond reached a deal Friday with a small technology company to keep the rights to the name "Xbox." While neither side is talking about the terms of the deal, Microsoft is apparently paying XBOX Technologies to change its name so Microsoft can keep using it for its new video game console.
http://www.upside.com/Executive_Briefing/3b2a860c5.html

Salon: Last One Standing
Just last week, David Talbot, the founder and chairman of Salon, was describing the world of online media in terms so bleak you would have thought the whole thing couldn't possibly get any worse. "In the early days we thought that there'd be literally hundreds of sites like Salon," he said, reflecting on how the dot-com blight dried up his dreams of an online media that could rival -- or even bring down -- the traditional news establishment.
http://www.wired.com/news/exec/0,1370,44464,00.html

Houston company wants to sail DNA into space
California businessman Dennis Tito paid about $20 million for an eight-day trip to space. Now, a Houston-based company can send you to space for $50. Well, part of you anyway. Encounter 2001 is working to build an unmanned spacecraft, fill it with DNA samples and messages from up to 4.5 million people, then blast it beyond the solar system. The company hopes to launch its spacecraft in late 2003.
http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/space/0....ap/index.html

Digital Renaissance: Convergence? I Diverge.
What's all this talk about "media convergence," this dumb industry idea that all media will meld into one, and we'll get all of our news and entertainment through one box? Few contemporary terms generate more buzz—and less honey. Consider this column a primer on the real media convergence, because it's on the verge of transforming our culture as profoundly as the Renaissance did.
http://www.techreview.com/magazine/jun01/jenkins.asp

Coming to an Imax Theater Near You: The Same Blockbusters Playing Everywhere Else
Move over Dolphins; in an effort to accommodate throngs of summer moviegoers and studios desperate for more opening weekend oomph, theater owners are booking 'enhanced 35mm' versions of first-run movies into their large-format auditoriums.
http://www.inside.com/jcs/Story?arti...3076&pod_id=10

Send In the Clones: Digital Dupes of Print Pubs Set to Debut, But Copyright Lawyers Could Crash the Party
The much-anticipated ''print clone'' -- an electronic duplicate of an ink-and-paper publication -- will begin to appear on computer screens this summer, delivered over the Internet. But even though consumer demand for the product seems promising, digital copyright battles may spoil its debut. Print clones -- for which NewsStand and Qiosk.com's qMags are the leading distributors -- provide publishers with a downloadable, non-interactive electronic format.
http://www.inside.com/jcs/Story?arti...33057&pod_id=7

Tobacklash !
Last week, a Los Angeles jury awarded a cancer-stricken smoker, 58-year-old Richard Boeken, more than $3 billion from cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris. It was the largest judgment ever made in an individual smoker's suit against Big Tobacco. Public health advocates applauded the verdict, saying it is high time that the industry be held accountable for decades of deception about the dangers of smoking. But this anti-tobacco verdict seems to have triggered a major backlash against anti-tobacco causes -- and against litigation against tobacco companies in particular.
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/20...ent/index.html

Meet Lara Croft: Culture raider
"My love of video games stopped with the arcade versions of Joust, Asteroids and PacMan, back in the days when you went to the mall and put quarters in the slot. God knows that at this point, if I had another screen to stare into all day, I’d mummify. And even so, the phenomenon of Lara Croft was never really directed at me, a woman in her late 30s. I don’t need guns or an action figure with guns to get a tutorial on powerful women."
http://www.msnbc.com/news/588050.asp?0dm=C11NT

Diverting Old PCs from the Dumpster
The lightning-fast pace of computer innovation also means a lightning-fast pace of obsolescence. Every year, Americans replace about 50 million computers in their quest for faster and more powerful technology. But where do all those computers go to die? HMR Group, a privately held San Francisco company, recycles the entire computer. Every month, it company takes in more than 10 tons of cast-off computers from the BFI recycling center in San Carlos and from Hewlett-Packard, which turns over its leased computers when the leases run out.About 70 percent of them still work and are resold, especially overseas, like the Philippines, where consumers are happy with slower and less powerful machines.
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scite...dge010615.html

Type Me Your Password
Wireless keyboards are insecure and hackers can sniff-out every password you type on them. This is the verdict of a warning posted on Bugtraq by German security outfit Daten-Treuhand. The company has tested Logitech's Cordless Desktop product and outlined how a hacker could intercept a users' keystrokes.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/8/19736.html

It's all for now... enjoy !

[relic]

Originally posted by walktalker

Type Me Your Password
Wireless keyboards are insecure and hackers can sniff-out every password you type on them. This is the verdict of a warning posted on Bugtraq by German security outfit Daten-Treuhand. The company has tested Logitech's Cordless Desktop product and outlined how a hacker could intercept a users' keystrokes.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/8/19736.html

I was thinking of getting one of those wireless/balless mice from Logitech but learned of the 'dangers' of owning one...therefore I've decided to just stick with what I have.

Thanks for the news!

[nanook]

good stuff walktalker, thanks!!!!!


i heard it here first......

[Catbert13]

Originally posted by aaacbada


I was thinking of getting one of those wireless/balless mice from Logitech but learned of the 'dangers' of owning one...therefore I've decided to just stick with what I have.

Thanks for the news!

I would've gotten one too, but I already payed too much for this one:


Thanks Walk

[TankGirl]

Cheers for our ever-vigilant newsman!

- tg