The Newspaper Shop -- Thursday edition

[walktalker]

My loyal readers

Worms evolving into complex beasts
The next generation of computer worms will be stealthier, more targeted and harder to defend against, a security expert predicted at the Black Hat Security Briefings Wednesday. "They are adaptive; they are evolving," Jose Nazario, a researcher for computer-security group Crimelabs, said of worms, malicious, self-replicating programs that have become a favorite tool of online vandals. Nazario, who is doing doctoral work in biochemistry at Case Western University, called today's viral code the equivalent of "primordial ooze." While malicious code -- such as the Love Bug, Hybris, Ramen and 1i0n -- has successfully spread widely, such programs are essentially less evolved than single-celled organisms.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...094015,00.html

Wireless networks lure hackers
A new way to attack wireless networks underscores the lack of security for PC owners using the airwaves to connect their computers, said security experts speaking at the Black Hat Briefings conference. On Thursday, Tim Newsham, a researcher for security firm @Stake, presented the details of weaknesses in the password system of wireless networks that could lead to a break in security in less than 30 seconds. The flaw is the third to be uncovered in the so-called Wired Equivalent Privacy, or WEP, protocol that supposedly secures wireless networks. "WEP is inherently insecure," said Newsham. "So using WEP is essentially just throwing another barrier -- and a small one -- in front of the attacker." That barrier can be overcome in 5 to 30 seconds in certain cases, he said.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...094057,00.html

A Linux desktop is on the way
Is it hype or fiction that the Linux desktop is already dead? Some believe that because Eazel, Corel and a few other Linux companies couldn't make it that the desktop Linux is simply dead. Wouldn't this be like saying that the automobile is dead because American Motors couldn't cut it? Do you see Ford or Chevy closing up shop? Companies come and go. These companies simply had poor business plans that didn't pay off. And in this harsh financial environment, it isn't always the best companies that will survive. So what of the Gnome, KDE and hundreds of other developers out there? Should they start packing up their bags and go home? Did they all miss something while they were happily using their computers that never seem to crash and work the way they want? No, instead we should look at the desktop Linux like a fine wine, if you uncork it too early it will be bitter and unformed and hard to swallow. Similarly, desktop Linux will take time to mature.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/co...769502,00.html

Microsoft gives itself lots of wiggle room
Microsoft may have loosened its Windows licensing requirements with PC makers, but some legal experts contend the company has made a hollow concession. Microsoft on Wednesday said it will allow PC makers to remove Internet Explorer icons from the Windows Start menu and to block access to Internet Explorer in the new Windows XP operating system. The company also will extend this to Windows 98, Windows Me and Windows 2000. Though the more lax licensing requirements may seem a monumental shift from previous restrictions, Microsoft has left plenty of room to retract the changes through other arrangements, such as co-marketing deals for promoting Windows XP.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...094074,00.html
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-201...html?tag=cd_mh

Librarians targeted in latest copyright battles
Gone are the days when a librarian's worst offense was hushing patrons one too many times. In this digital age, the custodians of published works are at the center of a global copyright controversy that casts them as villains simply for doing their job: letting people borrow books for free. Their leading opponents are the very people who supply the books that fill their shelves--the publishers. And now that the high-stakes battle over copyrights has moved beyond music and movies to books, librarians are finding themselves the subject of rhetoric usually reserved for terrorists or revolutionaries.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...784614,00.html

Intel considers boosting handheld memory
Intel is betting that consumers want handheld computers stuffed with 500MB of memory. On Wednesday, the chipmaker described the search for what it calls the "Holy Grail" of mobile memory, with a new technology that will pack hundreds of megabytes of storage into mobile devices at a low cost. A typical handheld, for example, now has 2MB to 64MB of flash memory. In Intel's vision, the next-generation memory should combine high density -- which translates into greater storage capacity -- with high performance and the ability to be easily integrated with other types of memory. The new memory must also be non-volatile like a PC hard drive, meaning that data stored inside is not erased once the power on the device is turned off.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...094037,00.html

Judge orders Napster to stay offline
Letting even one copyrighted song slip through Napster's file-sharing system is unacceptable, according to a federal judge on the landmark copyright case. U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel during a closed-door session Wednesday ordered Napster to remain offline until it can show that it is able to effectively block access to all copyrighted works on its network. According to a transcript of the session between Napster and the record industry, Patel also said the company would have to get authorization from the court before it resumes service. Napster said it would appeal the ruling.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...094039,00.html

Microsoft to offer online music service
Microsoft jumped into the online music fray Thursday with a deal to offer Pressplay, an online service formed by music giants Vivendi Universal and Sony, on its MSN network. The deal caps months of negotiations between the three giants, making content from two of the world's largest music companies, Vivendi Universal and Sony, available to MSN's approximately 5 million subscribers. Terms were not disclosed. Company officials said the deal with Microsoft is similar to its affiliate deal with Yahoo that will enable users to stream music and eventually download it. Pressplay is expected to launch its music subscription joint venture later this summer.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=mn_hd

Online Advertising: It's Just the Beginning
Welcome to the new world of Internet advertising. It's cutting-edge. It's sexy. And despite countless rumors to the contrary, it's anything but dead. BMW spent tens of millions of dollars to develop its five-minute gems -- and Nielsen Net Ratings reports that BMW Films.com had 1.1 million visitors in June. Moreover, it isn't only funky films that marketers are experimenting with. In 2000, U.S. advertisers spent $8.2 billion online, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, up from zero as recently as 1994. While spending is expected to stagnate or even slip this year, $8.2 billion is serious money even by traditional standards.
http://www.businessweek.com/technolo...010712_790.htm

The Do-It-Yourself Supercomputer
Cooperation can produce significant achievements, even from meager, seemingly insignificant contributions. Researchers are now using a similar cooperative strategy to build supercomputers, the powerful machines that can perform billions of calculations in a second. Most conventional supercomputers employ parallel processing: they contain arrays of ultrafast microprocessors that work in tandem to solve complex problems such as forecasting the weather or simulating a nuclear explosion. Made by IBM, Cray and other computer vendors, the machines typically cost tens of millions of dollars -- far too much for a research team with a modest budget. So over the past few years, scientists at national laboratories and universities have learned how to construct their own supercomputers by linking inexpensive PCs and writing software that allows these ordinary computers to tackle extraordinary problems.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/20...1hargrove.html

Oracle behind the wheel of wired cars
Oracle is going on a road trip. Chief Executive Larry Ellison on Thursday announced Oracle has formed an alliance with telematics company Wingcast, which is expected to outfit the 2003-model Fords with wireless communication devices and services including the ability to access e-mail or the Internet. Wingcast is a joint venture between Ford Motor and Qualcomm. The two companies will establish a research facility in San Diego to develop the applications that some believe will make telematics a $42 billion industry by 2010, Ellison said. The announcement is Oracle's jump into the field of telematics, or wiring automobiles to receive wireless communications.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1004-200...html?tag=mn_hd

Counting wireless Web surfers a hard call
The struggling wireless Web has a new worry: Nobody really knows how many people are using it. Whether for bragging rights, ways to entice advertisers, ways to attract the best content, or a combination of all three, wireless industry players want to know who is using the budding medium. One way to find this out is to use traffic reports, through which the number of visitors to a Web site is measured. Although these reports are a regular part of the wired Internet, the same type of research is proving difficult, and unreliable, when it comes to the wireless Web.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1004-200...html?tag=ch_mh

Standards group ignites common-code war
Web standards advocates are declaring victory in their battle over browsers, but as they turn up the heat on their next adversary it's clear that their longstanding crusade on behalf of elegant design principles is far from over. After years spent goading Netscape Communications and Microsoft into complying with guidelines recommended by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), standards proponents say they are turning their attention to companies that make Web authoring tools. Topping the hit list now are the likes of Macromedia and its popular Dreamweaver authoring tool; Adobe Systems and its GoLive product; and Microsoft again, for its low-end but widely used FrontPage software.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_pr

Tech words redefine Oxford dictionary
The technology bubble may have burst on the world's trading floors, but the industry's stock is still rising in the "Concise Oxford Dictionary." The latest revision of the dictionary, launched Thursday by Oxford University Press, has such high-tech words as "MP3" for the music file, "e-book," for a paperless book and "i-Mode" for Japan's wireless Internet service. If those additions look like alphabet soup, you may want to look up "digital divide," a new entry defined as "the gulf between those who have ready access to computers and the Internet and those who do not."
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Senate weighs Net privacy proposals
A Senate committee waded into the online privacy debate Wednesday, leaving little doubt that it intends to establish stronger privacy protections for Internet users. In a marked contrast to the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, members of the Senate Commerce Committee hardly questioned whether an Internet privacy bill was necessary, instead focusing on what shape that bill should take. "I remain convinced, Mr. Chairman, that a federal law is needed," former committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., told Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C., the new head since Democrats assumed control of the Senate in June.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=ch_mh

Bertelsmann works on new Napster venture
BeMusic, the music services group owned by Germany's Bertelsmann, unveiled a new structure and management team on Tuesday that will oversee the group's joint venture with Napster. Bertelsmann's e-commerce arm, which agreed to an alliance last year to help build a legitimate version of online rebel Napster, said its chief executive officer, Andreas Schmidt, would take the top post at BeMusic, home to the world's largest music club and online CD retailer. Bertelsmann is developing BeMusic as a one-stop music shop, bringing together its online music store CDNow, music club division BMG Direct, recently acquired online song-storage company Myplay and its alliance with Napster.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=ch_mh

Sony to tap European hunger for DVD
Sony is the latest Japanese electronics manufacturer to try to capitalize on the growing popularity of DVD players in Europe, opening a production line in Hungary. Sony said the plant was set to begin operation Wednesday as part of an already existing audio-equipment plant and has a target of 50,000 units per month. "We are aiming for about a 25 percent share in the global DVD market," a Sony spokesman said. The global DVD market is expected to grow by 65 percent to 28 million units in the 2001 to 2002 fiscal year, industry sources say.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200...html?tag=cd_mh

More news later on

[walktalker]

Ashcroft Terrified by Terrorism
It's been just one month since Timothy McVeigh was executed for the Oklahoma City bombing, and U.S. officials are trying to prevent similar disasters. At a government summit on Wednesday, Attorney General John Ashcroft said that thwarting terrorist attacks was his "number-one priority" and that the Feds were stepping up efforts to guard against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats. Ashcroft said the Justice Department was already planning for 2003 an exercise called "TOPOFF2" -- which stands for "top officials" -- involving simulated attacks carried out with no notice against American cities.
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,45159,00.html

Huge Genetic Variation Found
The notion of a uniform genetic blueprint for human beings took a tumble on Thursday, as the most detailed examination yet of variations in the genetic makeup of people detected unexpectedly large individual differences. Researchers with Genaissance Pharmaceuticals of New Haven, Connecticut, found astonishing variance at the genetic level in 82 unrelated people primarily from four racial backgrounds -- white, black, Asian and Hispanic.
http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,45214,00.html

IBM's Eliza Is Here to Serve You
IBM announced on Thursday the release of software that intends to replace humans on perennially understaffed computer help desks. The software, called Virtual Help Desk, incorporates an artificial intelligence component that can understand complaints in normal prose -- typed, not spoken -- and fix the problem, said John Richards of IBM's eBusiness support division. IBM bills the program as a "self-help, self-healing and self-diagnostic" tool, released as part of its ongoing "autonomic" computing technology billed under the name Project eLiza.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,45210,00.html

Judge Grants E-Books Status
In a victory for authors and electronic publishers, a federal judge on Wednesday denied a request for a preliminary injunction by Random House to stop e-publisher RosettaBooks from releasing e-books of eight titles on Random's backlist. U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein ruled that contracts for the titles were signed prior to the advent of electronic publishing, and therefore didn't stipulate e-rights to the publisher. Stein found "that the right to 'print, publish and sell the works(s) in book form' in the contracts at issue does not include the right to publish the works in the format that has come to be known as the e-book."
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,45193,00.html

Searching: 'Little Green Men'
Seven years after members of Congress rejected research into extraterrestrial life as a search for "little green men," lawmakers encouraged scientists in their efforts to find life beyond the Earth. "The discovery of life in the universe would be one of the most astounding discoveries in human history," Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) said Thursday at a hearing of the House space science subcommittee. "Funding should match public interest and I don't believe it does."
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,45203,00.html

Stem Cell Furor Heats Up
Researchers in the field weren't surprised at the news that reproduction scientists created hundreds of embryos solely to derive stem cells. Many assumed it was done fairly often, even though -- researchers have long maintained -- plenty of embryos are left over and frozen every day as a result of in vitro fertilization. But no one had solid proof that embryos were created for utilitarian purposes until researchers at the Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine published a paper Wednesday stating they had done just that.
http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,45179,00.html

What's the Time? Ask a Scientist
Using sophisticated laser technology and a lone atom of mercury, U.S. government scientists have created the world's most precise clock -- a device that tick-tocks circles around the best previous timepieces, according to research published on Thursday. Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado, developed a new type of atomic clock that produces about 1 quadrillion "ticks" per second and promises to be far more accurate than the current top standard in time measurement -- cesium-based microwave atomic clocks.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,45200,00.html

Harley Unveils a Real Fast One
Harley-Davidson has a radically new horse in its stable for the first time in almost half a century. It's not your father's hog -- this Harley focuses on performance and speed and its faster engine doesn't have that signature Harley "potato, potato, potato" rumble. The new bike, the V-Rod, moves faster because it has a liquid-cooled engine instead of an air-cooled version. Unlike Harley's other families of bikes, whose top horsepower is 101, the V-Rod features a 115 horsepower engine and boasts a top speed of 140 miles per hour.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,45213,00.html

Pick a Song, Any Song
Digital music has grown from a small pizza party in San Diego into a worldwide PC phenomenon in just four years. The next step is to make the party mobile. The fourth MP3 Summit -– a yearly conference that examines the coming trends in digital music –- will examine new technologies that mobilize music stores on PCs. The concept of moving music away from the computer is the next front in the digital music revolution. But talk of such high ideas as beaming songs to consumers often brings up an industry joke about how one day music will be mobilized and digitized. The punch line, of course, is that radio and CDs already take care of that.
http://www.wired.com/news/mp3/0,1285,45094,00.html

Congressional hearings focus on Whois
The launch of seven new top-level domains is again highlighting concerns about the thoroughness and privacy of publicly searchable databases. Whois, a database that contains personal contact information of people who register Web sites, is the subject of an oversight hearing before a House Judiciary subcommittee on Thursday. People representing privacy groups, trademark holders, copyright owners and software makers will testify before the committee, which is using the event as a fact-finding mission. There is no specific Whois-related legislation planned. Copyright and trademark holders say a thorough, accurate database is necessary to pursue people who pirate their works and post them for free on the Web. But privacy advocates worry that a single, centralized system makes it easier for everyone from marketers to stalkers to abuse people's privacy rights.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...094032,00.html

Dick Armey and ACLU team to protest video surveillance
House Majority Leader Dick Armey teamed up with a prominent civil-rights group Wednesday to protest surveillance systems that match faces of people on the street with a database of known criminals. The Texas republican and the American Civil Liberties Union urged local governments to avoid such systems, saying they failed to curb crime and invaded privacy. Tampa, Florida, currently uses such a “biometric” system, and Virginia Beach plans to install one as well. The state of Colorado is to begin issuing driver’s licenses only after sorting through a photographic database of existing licenses.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/599251.asp

Through the Looking Glass, to Holographic Data Storage
Storage space is tight these days, and not just in cramped New York apartments. Home dwellers anywhere might be delighted to stow the 10 years' worth of receipts, canceled checks and tax records clogging their files in a space no bigger than an ice cube. Hospitals, insurance companies, banks and department stores might also appreciate storage that compact for their vast databases. Now two researchers from Canada and Spain have devised a glass-based material that they say may one day safely store huge amounts of data in just such small spaces.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/12/te...ts/12NEXT.html

UK manufacturer launches stool-sampling cyberjohn
UK toilet manufacturer Twyford yesterday placed the humble bog at the cutting edge of 21st century crappercraft with the world's first e-enabled health-monitoring cyberloo. The company describes the Versatile Interactive Pan (VIP) as a "major breakthrough" in toilet technology. The designer dunny incorporates a voice-activated seat and autoflush, but also boasts the abilty to monitor stools and urine for potential health problems. Should the VIP detect that your motions are not all they should be, it will contact your GP via the Internet. Or, if you're simply getting a bit loose down there, it will order extra roughage from your supermarket.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/28/20340.html

Tackling Puzzles PC by PCInside a country inn at the base of the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania, a handful of home computers belonging to innkeeper Michael Kelly are whirring away on one of the gargantuan problems of modern medicine. Kelly's five PCs are using their excess computing power to analyze hundreds of millions of genes to understand their role in diseases such as AIDS and cancer. On a good day, he can plod through eight or nine genes -- a rate that would allow him to finish in a few eons. But joining Kelly's humble computers are 10,000 other PCs scattered around the globe that have been woven together over the Internet into a makeshift supercomputer.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedi...076jul12.story

More news later on

[Periwinkle Shadow]

man sweety, i just wanna say how much u rock and how much i appreciate ur effort for ur paper

i love u wt!

[walktalker]

A possible successor to Napster
A new online file-sharing program created by a Dutch company is poised to become the next Napster and could be much harder for the music industry to stop, a Web research firm said yesterday. The program, known in different versions as Morpheus and KaZaa, attracted about 225,000 simultaneous users who downloaded 370 million files in June, according to a study by Webnoize Inc. of Cambridge, Mass.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl....DTL&type=tech
http://www.openp2p.com/pub/a/p2p/200.../morpheus.html

New Mexico Settles With Microsoft
New Mexico Attorney General Patricia Madrid has announced a settlement with Microsoft to end her state's participation in the government's historic antitrust case against the software company. "To my mind, this matter is now ripe for a speedy resolution," Madrid said in a statement. "It is time to settle this case and move forward." Madrid's announcement Thursday comes a day after Microsoft said it will allow computer makers to modify Windows XP to remove end-user access to the Internet Explorer Web browser because of the appeals court ruling.
http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,27896,00.html

Napster Makes Its Peace With Metallica and Dr. Dre
Digital music's highest-profile legal dispute has come to an end. Napster announced Thursday that it has settled its copyright infringement suit with heavy metal band Metallica. The high-profile suit brought the first mainstream media attention to the Napster issue last summer and resulted in dozens of televised debates between Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich and Napster interim CEO Hank Barry. Also Thursday, Napster showed that it did not forget about Dr. Dre, settling a similar suit with the rap star and former member of the group N.W.A.
http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,27883,00.html

Sad Songs Sung at MP3.com Summit
The digital music services the major record labels plan to launch this summer will fall on deaf ears, and once-hyped wireless music services won't be taking off anytime soon. The muted forecasts, a stark contrast to expectations for online music just a year ago, were among the opinions offered by speakers at the fourth-annual MP3.com Summit at the University of California at San Diego on Thursday. Lower attendance, in addition to the more subdued tone, marked a major change from last year, when the Napster controversy was coming to a boil and a host of online music firms jockeyed for position.
http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,27894,00.html

MS to Netscape: Get Well Soon
Pinch us. Is one over-argued Microsoft antitrust issue finally, truly settled? MS announced that computer manufacturers will be allowed to remove Internet Explorer icons and add icons for the competition, such as AOL, to the Windows XP desktop. There's no way to tell whether Microsoft "is willing to accept the court decision, modify its behavior and take significant further steps to settle the suit," said the New York Times. Most media reports seemed to lean toward "no." The sources du jour were Iowa's attorney general, analyst Chris Le Tocq and AOL spokeswoman Kathy McKiernan, who all appeared to have busy Wednesday afternoons on the phone with reporters.
http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,27857,00.html

CNN's Convergence Pitch: Still A Bit Of A Reach
Claiming that it is a glimpse of how media planners will evaluate the impact of buys made across TV and the Internet, CNN this week released the first wave of data intended to measure the combined reach of the two media. The data, from Nielsen Media Research's so-called ''Convergence Lab,'' were derived from a panel of 500 people who recorded both their TV and Web usage. Not surprisingly, CNN is touting the results because they show impressive reach across its TV and Web news properties. The combination of CNN's and Headline News' TV and Web outlets reached a monthly average of 52.8% of respondents between December 2000 and May 2001.
http://www.inside.com/jcs/Story?arti...4596&pod_id=13

Ads Become Content On Streaming Media Sites
In the heady early days of the Internet, many pioneers saw the new medium as a noncommercial source of information and entertainment, an alternative to the traditional advertising-dominated media, particularly television. What a difference a decade makes. The demands of the marketplace have accelerated the Web's evolution from a noncommercial public service into a business. So much so that the Internet is now boldly going where broadcast and cable TV tread gingerly-producing programming that is virtually nothing but advertising, but looks like information and entertainment.
http://www.inside.com/jcs/Story?arti...4400&pod_id=13

Microsoft to schools: Give us your lunch money!
The conflict between educational priorities and intellectual property protection is, on one level, a moral question -- what do we as a society think is more important? But there's also a practical aspect to the struggle that may ultimately make the moral question moot. By ratcheting up pressure on schools and imposing financial penalties, Microsoft is inviting educators to search for other, cheaper alternatives. And in today's software industry, there actually may be another choice, or at the very least, the potential for another choice. Impelled in part by fiscal realities and in part by intellectual curiosity, educators are beginning to take a hard look at free and open-source software programs -- products that are created by volunteers and can be distributed without restriction.
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/20...ool/index.html

Can WinXP Product Activation be reverse engineered?
When Fully Licensed GmbH published details of its analysis of Microsoft's Windows Product Activation (WPA) system earlier this week, it had deliberately removed a small piece of the picture. The company made a fully-working executable of its XPDec utility available for download along with the XPDec source code, but it removed the encryption key from the source. It seems, however, that this is only a minor obstacle for anyone wishing to have the complete source; The Register has been passed an explanation of how it can be restored, and it really sounds quite simple.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/20337.html

A major leap in CD jewel case technology
If you're finding that regular sized CD cases are too fat, and those slimmer style ones are too flimsy, then have we got news for you. Designers and boffins seem to be tackling the important issues, which means the manufacturer Stomp can sell DiscSavers. These are made of polypropylene plastic [as used in very cheap 1970s skateboards] which makes 'the cases durable and impact-resistant, and available in bright red, blue, green and yellow, as well as clear'. And they're half the width of a regular case, so you don't have to spend a DIY weekend putting up new shelves to hold your collection.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/20342.html

Phew... that's all for now