The Newspaper Shop -- Wednesday edition

[walktalker]

Here's my humble contribution...
Hope you will my work

Throwing the book at DeCSS
A federal appeals court panel on Tuesday heard arguments and responded with numerous questions about a far-reaching case over the rights of online publishers to link to controversial material. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is considering whether to overturn a lower court ruling that prevents online hacker magazine 2600 from publishing or linking to code theoretically capable of cracking DVD security.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...082131,00.html

Microsoft sees red over bootleg Media Player
The Redmond, Wash.-based software maker started issuing letters late Monday demanding Web sites pull down a supposed beta, or trial version, of the software. "We first contacted all the Web sites that have the bits up there right now with (warnings) of legal action to remove it immediately," said Dave Fester, Microsoft's general manager for digital media. "We started doing that last night. I'm sure they will be more than eager to comply."
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...082159,00.html

Lawyers slam FBI 'hack'
A sting operation in which FBI agents downloaded data from two Russian-based computers has some high-tech lawyers concerned that the precedent may be used to justify indiscriminate, cross-border hacking. The incident came to light last week after the indictment of two Russians on charges of breaking into the networks of banks, Internet service providers and other companies.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...082126,00.html

Microsoft to reward tattling vendors
Microsoft wants to know if you're using its operating systems, and if you aren't, it's willing to pay your system vendor "valuable" prizes for turning you in. In the new program, outlined in a memo issued by Microsoft's Western Region OEM group, Microsoft trumpets: "You may be eligible to win prizes! Here's how... By submitting bids that request PC systems without an Operating System due to a Microsoft site license, you can earn points and win! ... If you are the first to identify the bid you will be awarded one point for each PC specified on the bid."
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...714441,00.html

CNET reviews 5 midrange digital video editors
Put together your talent, a digital camcorder, and a cheap digital video (DV) editor, and you can turn out some flashy home movies. But once you master the basics, you'll need to invest in meatier software. Midrange DV editors cost much more than their low-end counterparts (for more on beginner software, see part one of our DV series), but for DV professionals and serious amateurs, they're worth every penny.
http://www.cnet.com/software/0-32278...-1.html?tag=ld

Loudeye to offer Sony Music samples
Loudeye Technologies, an online-music infrastructure company, Wednesday said it has struck a licensing agreement to offer samples of Sony Music Entertainment songs over the Internet. The nonexclusive deal allows Seattle-based Loudeye to offer samples of Sony songs and thumbnail pictures of album covers from the major record label's entire catalog. Loudeye will then provide the samples to third-party Web sites for distribution.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=mn_hd

Semiconductor sales continue their slide
Semiconductor sales slipped again in March for the seventh consecutive month, the Semiconductor Industry Association said Wednesday. Sales were down from both the preceding month and the year-ago period, according to the SIA, which represents semiconductor manufacturers based in the United States. In March, worldwide semiconductor sales totaled some $14.4 billion, or 7 percent lower than February's level of $15.5 billion, and 4.5 percent lower than the March 2000 tally of $15.1 billion.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Microsoft says Corel deal won't affect Linux
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said Tuesday that a $135 million investment in competing software developer Corel--the subject of a U.S. antitrust probe -- does nothing to crush Corel's fledgling Linux business. "Nothing in our agreement supports that," Ballmer told reporters after a speech at the University of Toronto's business school. "Corel is free to do whatever it wants with Linux."
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Net radio use falters with ad dispute
Web radio usage dropped last month as radio stations pulled the plug on their Webcasts because of licensing issues, according to a report released Tuesday. Audio measurement company MeasureCast found a slight increase of online radio listeners in the last week of April, but Net radio usage for the four weeks ended April 22 dropped about 18 percent. Net radio usage grew about 13 percent in the four weeks ended March 25 and about 18 percent in the four weeks ended February 25.
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.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Study: Napster use tailing off
The average number of songs shared on Napster took another steep drop in April, according to a study by research firm Webnoize. After the file-swapping company's attempts to screen out trades of copyrighted works through its service, the average number of songs shared per person dropped from 72 to 37 in April, Webnoize said. An average person was making 220 songs available to other Napster users at the start of March before the filters kicked in, the study noted.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...tml?tag=cdshrt

ReplayTV, Motorola record a set-top deal
Motorola will use ReplayTV's digital video-recording technology in cable set-top boxes under a five-year licensing agreement, the companies said Tuesday. Digital video recorders (DVRs) are similar to VCRs, but instead of recording to tape, they store programs on a hard drive. Although the agreement is nonexclusive, it provides ReplayTV with a path to the largest market of television viewers: cable subscribers.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Buy a Shot, Wave to the Camera
The next time you drop by the corner watering hole to grab a drink, mind your manners: The world may be watching. In a new trend, bars across the country are installing webcams that allow patrons to scope out the scene before they leave home. But some bottle clubs are broadcasting images of clients and employees without their knowledge.
http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,43467,00.html

Copyright Clash Shutters Speech
The law enacted to ensure the protection of intellectual property in the Internet age is being called on in several court battles with free speech advocates. While the finer points of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act take center stage in a New York appeal's court, a team of researchers continue to protest the heavy-handed use of the law by the recording industry.
http://www.wired.com/news/mp3/0,1285,43475,00.html

More news later on

[walktalker]

RIAA Head: Napster Is Done
The great Napster migration has begun, as users slowly leave the file-trading service because of the drop in songs available on the network. Meanwhile, the company continues to fight for its life in federal court. To the recording industry that has fought with loaded guns to shut the system down, however, Napster -- and free, indiscriminate digital music sharing -- is already history.
http://www.wired.com/news/mp3/0,1285,43487,00.html

U.S.: DVD Decoder is Terrorware
To the U.S. government, a DVD descrambling utility is akin to terrorware that could crash airplanes, disrupt hospital equipment and imperil human lives. On Tuesday, an assistant U.S. attorney told a federal appeals court hearing arguments in the Universal Studios v. Reimerdes et al case that the DeCSS utility, which the Motion Picture Association of America has sued to take off a website, should be banned.
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,43485,00.html

Separating News From Noise
Addiction to online news -- needing to know what's happening everywhere, and right now -- can consume your life. But there are places you can go to make the sifting easier, and new software streamlines the process.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,43444,00.html

Baseball Fans Shut Out Online
To the chagrin of baseball fans accustomed to hearing games on the Web for free, major league baseball started charging for online audio feeds for the first time this season. But some fans who capitulated and coughed up $9.95 for a season pass and tuned in to hear their team play over the weekend were denied access to the broadcast. It's enough to make a Cub fan commit Harry Carey.
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,43484,00.html

Web piracy crackdown spawns stealth platforms
WITH THE MOVIE INDUSTRY joining the record labels in a bid to police the file-sharing that has proliferated in the wake of Napster, new stealth platforms are emerging that promise to hide communication between Web surfers. “It’s like walking around the street with a cloud around you. Everybody can see the cloud but can’t see what’s inside of it,” said Aram Sinnreich, a Jupiter Media Metrix analyst.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/566587.asp?0nm=C12L

Record makers lock music away
Digital locks are being put on to CDs in a attempt to stop music piracy. Later this month, small independent label Farenheit Entertainment will release the first copy-protected CD, which it hopes will make it easier for artists to control who listens to, and pays for, their music. The system used on the CD is only the latest of many attempts by record makers and publishers to stop people pirating pop.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci...00/1305224.stm

More news later on

[walktalker]

Intel designers feel the heat
High-tech is hot. But that isn't such a good thing, according to Patrick Gelsinger, a vice president at Intel and self-described "chief geek" at the chip company. Heat, he says, represents the biggest obstacle to building personal computers that are a magnitude more powerful than today's PCs.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdhpnews01

Connectix previews virtual Windows, Linux even OS/2 tech.
Emulation specialist Connectix - the company that ran into so much trouble by daring to allow Mac and PC users to run PlayStation games - has released a preview version of its upcoming Virtual PC for Windows software.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/18678.html

Seven million ‘newbies’ go online
Nearly seven million more people worldwide had access to the Internet from their homes in March compared with the previous month, with Asia leading the way in terms of usage, AC Nielsen eRatings.com said on Wednesday.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/567669.asp?0nm=C13N

U.S. railroad regulator hit by hacker
The railroad-regulating U.S. Surface Transportation Board said on Tuesday hackers had knocked out its computer system amid a threatened assault on U.S. Web sites by Chinese activists.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/567402.asp?0nm=B18N

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