The Newspaper Shop -- Tuesday edition

[walktalker]

May the good stories be with you !
Linux jumps into handheld battle
The giants in handheld computer software, Palm Inc. and Microsoft Corp., will soon get a new competitor: Linux, the free operating system. The cult software, developed by a global network of developers overseen by Finnish programmer Linus Torvalds, has long been targeted at PCs and corporate-server computers. It's positioned as an inexpensive, reliable alternative to Microsoft's Windows and to versions of the Unix operating system sold by Sun Microsystems Inc. and others.

http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...714210,00.html

That's all, folks !

[walktalker]

No Windows XP till 2002?
Microsoft is aiming to get the final version of Windows XP out in the summer, but if it misses its target, the sofware company may delay the operating system's launch until next year, several PC makers and analysts say. Much depends on whether the company can meet its target date for releasing the Windows XP final, or gold, code to computer makers.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...082076,00.html

Easy target for gaudy graphics
Like the horror and science-fiction programming it creates for Sony Digital Entertainment, DistantCorners.com's Web site is out there. Visitors to the company's home page are greeted by a grinning lunatic sprouting mechanical arms from an open cranium, framed by a brain in a vat and a disembodied green hand; animations leap to life, while howls and other sound effects play in the background. Impressive visuals, but is the site any good ? Just the opposite.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...082032,00.html

Chinese hackers declare 'May Day War'
Tensions between Washington and Beijing spread to the Internet after Chinese "hackers'' warned of a blitz starting Tuesday of U.S. Web sites in an anti-American protest and in response to reported attacks on Chinese Web sites. Chinese hackers, who illegally enter computer networks, said on Monday their American counterparts had launched attacks on Web sites in China and vowed to strike back in a blitz dubbed the "May Day War."
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...714179,00.html

Dell, Compaq war begins to shake loyalties
Once reluctant to change PC horses in midstream for lower prices alone, large companies faced with stringent cost-cutting policies are finding it increasingly difficult to ignore the temptation of dramatic price cuts. In particular, the race for market leadership between the two leading PC makers, Compaq Computer Corp. and Dell Computer Corp., is causing the two PC stalwarts to devise creative savings opportunities for corporate buyers — in some cases resulting in 50 percent discounts.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...713688,00.html

Do the Napster math
By my calculations, the record companies can make as much or more money by abandoning their old business model and going with Napster's. They should look at the numbers, do the math, and then form a massive joint venture with Napster. Then again, why do that when they can have both business models and make twice as much money?
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/co...714182,00.html

Sony tries again with Clie handheld
Sony is getting its second wind in the race for the handheld market. The consumer electronics giant announced Tuesday it will begin shipping its second-generation Clie device, the PEG N710C, early next month. The $499 device will be able to play digital audio and video files and will have a 320-by-320-pixel color screen. As reported by CNET News.com, details and photographs of the new model were inadvertently posted on Sony's Web site before the official launch.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200...html?tag=mn_hd

Cell phone music on tour in Japan
The first service that lets people download music files to a cell phone has hit Japan, but will people pay for it? On Monday, Japanese telephone giant NTT DoCoMo started selling a handset in Japan that is capable of receiving music files for $245 (30,275 yen). Consumers will also have to pay a monthly fee to NTT DoCoMo of $1.60 and then another $2.83 for every title loaded onto their phones, according to the company.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1004-200...html?tag=ch_mh

EMI, Bertelsmann scrap merger talks
EMI Group and Bertelsmann on Tuesday called off their long-running talks over a music merger after failing to crack regulatory problems. Facing its second failed merger attempt in a year, EMI said that six months of talks had failed to produce a deal both sides were confident would gain regulatory approval, and that the two companies had decided to go their separate ways.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Video games to dwarf film industry?
Computer and video games now represent a $10.5 billion industry that eventually could rival the market for movies, according to a trade-organization study. Game sales have grown 15 percent per year from 1997 to 2000, according to a state-of-the-industry report released Tuesday by the Interactive Digital Software Association, a group that represents video game makers. The industry's total value was based on game publishing, transportation, wholesale and retail sales and other related areas.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200...html?tag=cd_mh

MS May Have File-Trading Answer
Microsoft has developed a prototype system that limits unauthorized playback of music by embedding a watermark that remains permanently attached to audio files. During a security workshop on Friday, a Microsoft Research scientist demonstrated how the hidden copyright fingerprint is so securely affixed to the audio that it remains intact even if a jazz song is played aloud on speakers in a noisy room and then re-recorded.
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,43389,00.html

Hackers v. Hollywood, the Sequel
Music industry lawyers plan to tell a federal appeals court that a DVD-descrambling program is primarily useful to hackers and should be outlawed. On Tuesday, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in this high-profile lawsuit, which has pitted Hollywood against open-source proponents and represents the first legal challenge to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,43450,00.html

Attorneys general: Law lagging behind technology
For Arizona's top law enforcement officer, protecting consumer privacy online is as hard as combating machine gunfire with a lance-wielding knight on horseback. States have fraud-protection laws they could use to pursue egregious offenders, but little for run-of-the-mill Web sites. Attorney General Janet Napolitano thinks having an Internet-specific privacy law would offer consumers basic protections and make prosecutions easier.
http://www.nandotimes.com/technology...1932-0,00.html

Boffins create thought-controlled computer
Boffins at the EC's Joint Research Centre have created a computer that can "read" peoples' minds and enable disabled people to write message using nothing but thoughts. The system has been tried out on a 40-year-old severely disabled man in London, the Sunday Times reports and he was ecstatic. Cathal O'Philbin, who has spinal muscular atrophy, said: "This is something really special. It would make a big difference to me."
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/2/18604.html

More news later on

[walktalker]

FBI's Cyber-cops Warn Of 'Significant Rise' In Unix Exploits
Malicious hackers have scanned literally millions of Unix-based computer networks of late in search of a particular printer program and network protocol that can be exploited to gain complete control over affected systems, federal computer security experts warned Monday.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/165157.html

Group To White House: Do You Care About Privacy?
An Internet privacy group has filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests at five executive branch agencies in a bid to gauge the Bush administration's commitment on a range of privacy protection issues during its first 100 days in office.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/165117.html

Broadband's Bright Future
Broadband, it's fair to say, has been something of a bust. Despite all the hype, only 10 percent of American households currently have high-speed Internet access. And it's a big reason why broadband service providers like Covad, NorthPoint and Rhythms are in serious financial trouble. Given these realities, why should you care about broadband? That's the question we set out to answer in this month's Build.
http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,23972,00.html

Web Radio Shutdowns Impact Few
Some of the nation's biggest broadcasting companies have stopped simulcasting over the Internet because of a dispute with recording artists, but the growing online radio audience still has plenty of programming to choose from. "As with your car stereo, if you get static on one station, or if you can't tune it in at all, you simply turn the dial until you find another station you like. The same holds true for Internet radio,'' said Seven Harhoff, spokesman for MeasureCast Inc., a company that monitors online radio.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/2001...e_radio_3.html

Pirated Office XP sells for peanuts
Illegal copies of Microsoft Office XP have been selling like hot cakes in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur for a mere RM10 (US$2.60). The pirated software is readily available at night markets around the city as well as open-air food stalls and walkways in suburbs such as Petaling Jaya and Bangsar. In an interview today, a Kuala Lumpur-based IT consultant, who requested anonymity, said that he paid RM10 for a single Office XP Professional CD, which comes with Word 2002, Excel 2002, PowerPoint 2002, Outlook 2002 and FrontPage 2002 for Web authoring.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/566724.asp

InFind Found No More
In the Internet shakedown, jobs aren’t the only things that hang in the balance. Web sites with unique technologies and approaches are also falling by the wayside — despite cadres of loyal users. One of the latest: InFind.com. Find was one of many meta-search Web sites — search engines that explore other search engines, such as Excite, Lycos, and Yahoo!, and group the results in one easy-to-read list. Many favored InFind’s technique because it saved the time and effort of doing multiple searches. And usually, users found just what they were looking for.
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scite...ind010501.html

Standalone Windows Media Player 8 hits the web
Software surgeons as yet unknown have made a nonsense of Microsoft's requirement that Windows' Media Player 8 will only work with its forthcoming Windows XP operating system. A standalone version, which can be installed on Windows 2000, was popping up all over the web today.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/18658.html

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

[fblaguy]

Whoa! An AZ politician actually did something smart!

I think that it will eb interesting to see the fate of these linux handhelds. I hope that there will be a day when Lunux takes a big bite out of microsofts monopoly on the home pc market.

Linux is already getting the business market........

[Dawn]

Thanks once again newsman!!