The Newspaper Shop -- Friday edition

[walktalker]

There is a flame war going on here... and Netcoco took this opportunity and the heat to cook a lot of cookies

Time to give yourself a treat by reading the news

Court to Microsoft: No delay
A federal appeals court on Friday delivered Microsoft a blow in its antitrust battle with the government, denying a request that could have indefinitely delayed further proceedings in the case. The order, issued by the U.S Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, means that the government can resume proceedings before a federal district judge while the Supreme Court decides whether to take Microsoft's request for appeal. The mandate returning the case to the trial court will be issued seven days from Friday, the order states. "We are pleased with the court's decision, and we look forward to proceedings in the district court," said Justice Department spokeswoman Gina Talamona. Microsoft also responded to the order with a look to the future.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp01

Gator chomps on innocent banner ads
Already contending with a weak advertising market, Web publishers have another beast to worry about: Gator. The software company, known for hawking pop-up ads that let companies advertise on rival sites, is working a new variation on the theme--selling ads designed to block banners on sites such as Yahoo with pop-ups of the exact same dimensions, completely obscuring the original ad. The pop-ups hover over the banners even when the Web visitor scrolls down the page, making it even more difficult to discern that the visible ad is a substitute. "It's like getting Time magazine in the mailbox and somebody has pulled it out and pasted their own ad over the ones inside," said John Keck, media director for Foote Cone & Belding's interactive division.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

One Code Red winner -- Pepsi
When two Orange County, Calif., computer programmers last month named a computer virus they had discovered "Code Red," after the cherry soda they had been chugging, they gave PepsiCo's new soft drink global brand recognition money can't buy. The supersweet, cherry-flavored brand extension of Mountain Dew, which hit shelves in May, became the fifth-most-popular soft drink sold at convenience stores and gas stations in July. That's a feat, considering Code Red is only available in single-serve sizes and has yet to be advertised on television. Ryan Permeh, a programmer at eEye Digital Security, Aliso Viejo, Calif., says he and his colleague were "inches away" from calling the new virus they discovered the "tequila worm." But Code Red, which he had bought "like six bottles of" to keep awake through the night, seemed appropriate given what the virus did: wipe out Web pages.http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Sale of AT&T Broadband could rock industry
As AT&T's cable network sits quietly for sale, the scramble of potential buyers is shaping into a critical point in the battle for digital media supremacy. In the last several years, AT&T Chief Executive C. Michael Armstrong cobbled together what is the largest cable network in the United States, able to reach more than 24 million households with TV programming or high-speed Internet connections. Now, as Armstrong prepares to split that network off from AT&T, it has temporarily become a screen on which others in the industry can project their futures. For major cable players, led by Comcast, acquisition of the network would be a way to solidify a position in the industry's lucrative infrastructure business.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1004-201...html?tag=tp_pr

Labels move toward adding software to CDs
Since the appearance of Napster and its many clones, a constant refrain has been leveled at the recording industry: Give consumers more than just music, and they might keep buying CDs. Some early tangible signs of that idea are now beginning to come to market, as the record companies start exploring ways to revitalize and protect their flagging CD business. For some time, occasional CDs have shown up with digital goodies like screensavers or links to secret Web sites included. Next month, taking the idea a little farther, Universal Music Group will release a handful of compact discs that include MP3 files specifically coded to let people play DJ on their computer, remixing and making digital playlists of songs. This type of interactivity has been a feature on Web sites for some time. On Universal's GetMusic site, for example, one of the most popular features has been an area where fans can create their own music videos from a pre-filmed set of scenes. Little of this has found its way onto mainstream CDs, however.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=mn_hd

EU drops CD price-fixing probe
The European Commission said Friday that it is ending an investigation into whether the world's five biggest music companies were colluding with retailers over the price of CDs sold in the European Union. However, it said it would leave it up to national competition authorities in Germany and Italy to decide whether to start their own investigations. The European Union's competition watchdog had announced the investigation in January, naming the companies at the center of the probe as EMI Recorded Music, BMG Entertainment, Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=mn_hd

FBI: Early efforts nip Code Red worm
Following a concerted effort to make computer users aware of the viruslike Code Red worm, the FBI said Thursday that the worm's damage will be far less than originally feared when it enters its scheduled "attack mode" this weekend. At its peak, Code Red affected hundreds of thousands of computers, and was predicted to have catastrophic effects on the Internet. But enough computer users downloaded a program to protect them from the worm that the potential harm was limited. "Because of the rapid response from the public, industry and infrastructure providers to mitigate the potential for damage from this worm, the threat posed by the upcoming attack is significantly reduced," FBI officials said in a statement.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200...html?tag=mn_hd

Where the Mona Lisa Meets the Motherboard
Usually pronounced "see graph" and short for Special Interest Group on Graphics and Interactive Techniques, the hard-to-define SIGGRAPH draws a hot mix of about 40,000 Hollywood techies, ambitious eggheads, artists, futurists and the just plain curious. "Everybody comes here," says Harry Mott, head of the digital media department at L.A.'s Otis College of Art and Design, leading a breakneck tour of SIGGRAPH's main exhibit hall, geared more toward graphic arts pros than playful professors and their robot avatars. The room looks, at first, like any big computer conference, with huge signs for Intel and Pixar and slogans telling us to "focus on the new."
http://www.latimes.com/technology/co...ogy%5Fcolum n

China tries Webmaster
A court in southwestern China has completed the trial of an Internet entrepreneur charged with subversion after articles promoting democracy and human rights appeared on his Web site, his family said Friday. No verdict or sentencing date was announced for Huang Qi, who was tried in a closed-door two-hour session at the Chengdu Intermediate Court on Tuesday, said his father-in-law, who identified himself only by his surname, Zeng. Huang is the first known Webmaster in China to be prosecuted for publishing political materials, and the case illustrates the government's determination to suppress free debate on the Internet while still harnessing its economic potential. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists condemned his trial as a violation of China's own criminal code and international human rights standards.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Research could lead to skinnier CRTs
Researchers say they've developed an electronic display that is half as deep as current models, an advance that addresses the chief complaint about conventional computer monitors and televisions: their girth. Sarnoff, the former RCA Laboratories and inventor of the color television, said Friday the technology is a fundamental advance on cathode-ray tube monitors, also known as CRTs, which were invented more than 100 years ago. The depth and weight of CRT displays has spurred the growth of flat-panel displays, which are much skinnier but can cost significantly more. The thinner monitors may help take some of the spotlight away from flat-panel displays, which have seen dramatic price drops but can still cost more than $1,000.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200...html?tag=cd_mh

More news later on

[walktalker]

Pentagon Hides Behind Onion Wraps
Onions may be the secret ingredient in protecting the Pentagon's classified information. During an afternoon presentation at the Usenix Security conference on Thursday, a researcher at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory described a technology known as "Onion Routing," which preserves anonymity by wrapping the identity of users in onion-like layers. "Public networks are vulnerable to traffic analysis. Packet headers identify recipients, and packet routes can be tracked," said Paul Syverson, who works at the NRL's Center for High Assurance Computer Systems. "Even encrypted data exposes the identity of the communicating parties."
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,46126,00.html

Does XP Have Firewall or Not?
A promotional website for Microsoft's soon-to-be-released Windows XP operating system said it would offer the same protection from viruses and hackers that major corporations use. Not so, said a Microsoft executive who had the reference removed from the website after the Associated Press questioned it. "I'm sure that was an unintentional overexuberance there," said Mark Croft, manager for the new Windows product due in stores in October. Croft said Microsoft's plan to add firewall software, designed to protect Internet surfers from hackers, "is a good step from having nothing" but it is not the full-fledged protection found in firewall products sold separately.
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,46144,00.html

Wireless App Helps Putt Around
The official golf rules clearly state that a player is not allowed to "use any artificial device or unusual equipment, which might assist him in making a stroke or in his play; or for the purpose of gauging or measuring distance or conditions, which might affect his play." If a player breaks the rule, he is disqualified from the match, the rule states. But not everyone is a stickler for rules. Approximately 600 of the 17,108 golf courses in the United States have implemented GPS technology to "enhance" the golfing experience of their visitors, while several other courses are considering following suit. There are currently about 26.7 million recreational golf players in the United States, according to the National Golf Foundation. So, there are thousands, if not millions, of serious rule breakers.
http://www.wired.com/news/wireless/0,1382,46037,00.html

Staking Claim to Your DNA
For anyone who has ever paid to name a star, the DNA Copyright Institute has an offer that could be hard to refuse. For $1,500, the company will take a sample of your DNA, create a genetic profile, enter the results into a database and send you a "very, very, very nice plaque," said the company's president and CEO Andre Crump. Customers don't actually get a copyright from the U.S. Copyright Office. Rather, Crump said what they'll receive is ammunition for a lawsuit should they suspect they've been cloned against their will.
http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,46125,00.html

South Africa Weighs Police Spy Law
South Africa is about to approve a wiretapping law that bans private citizens from eavesdropping but hands police broad surveillance powers. Last month, South Africa's cabinet quietly agreed to the Interception and Monitoring Bill, which orders Internet providers and telephone companies to create "monitoring centers" for police, and forwarded it to the parliament for ratification. The legislation, which has prompted an outcry among the country's Internet users, also restricts privacy-protecting encryption products, bans anonymous Internet access, and allows law enforcement to conduct surveillance with minimal oversight.
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,46124,00.html

Relevant Info on Search Engines
Google, Lycos, Yahoo, HotBot and AltaVista are the first five sites you get back if you type "search engine" into Google. Now, that's a rather predictable result: These are the engines that everyone has heard of. They're old, established, mostly pretty good, and they're very popular. But that's not the whole story of search. Scan down the Google results and you'll notice that mixed in with search engines that are popular -- such as Excite or AskJeeves -- there are a few that have funny names and are less than well-known. There's one called Dogpile that promises "all results, no mess." Another is Ah-Ha, which only returns "the good stuff." Ordinarily, this might not sound like a big deal -- there are unheard-of companies all over the Web. But what's weird is that here at the Search Engine Strategies Conference, everybody seems to be talking about these obscure engines.
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,46127,00.html

Emap's email promo backfires
The publishing giant, Emap, has been rapped by the Advertising Standards Authority over a promotional email that appeared to accuse its recipients of accessing internet porn. The email was designed to promote MaxPower, a car show organised by Emap. It accused its unwitting targets of accessing "material of a violent, sexually explicit or immoral nature" and went on to warn that full details of the supposed crime had been passed to the police. "If criminal proceedings result, you will shortly be informed of this in writing," it continued, before explaining the recipient could appeal against the charges by clicking on an internet link. When accessed, the link showed an advert for the Maxpower car show. The recipients of the email complained it had caused undue fear and distress because it had been presented as an official document.
http://media.guardian.co.uk/advertis...536977,00.html

Cell phone radiation -- safer than a tan?
If you stick a light-emitting chip at the back of your mobile phone to reduce your exposure to radiation, you might want to consider using a hands-free kit instead. According to Stephen Chong, Singapore's Health Sciences Authority (HSA) director of Centre for Radiation Protection, the hands-free kit is the "only effective device" recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) in reducing mobile phone users' exposure to radiation. Light-emitting devices are currently available from mobile phone accessory shops all over the world. They are commonly known as "radiation absorbing earpieces", among other terms. One user, Paul Teo, said he was convinced into buying the chip when a shop attendent claimed that the device would reduce his radiation exposure by as much as 30 percent as it "converts" radiowave into light energy.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Taming the Web
"Information wants to be free." "The Internet can't be controlled." We've heard it so often that we sometimes take for granted that it's true. But THE INTERNET CAN BE CONTROLLED, and those who argue otherwise are hastening the day when it will be controlled too much, by the wrong people, and for the wrong reasons.
http://www.techreview.com/magazine/sep01/mann.asp

The Once and Future Nanomachine
Among the promised fruits of nanotechnology, small machines have always stood out. Their attraction is straightforward. Large machines--airplanes, submarines, robotic welders, toaster ovens -- are unquestionably useful. If one could take the same ideas used to design these devices and apply them to machines that were a tiny fraction of their size, who knows what they might be able to do? Imagining two types of small machines -- one analogous to an existing machine, the second entirely new -- has captured broad attention. The first is a nanoscale submarine, with dimensions of only a few billionths of a meter -- the length of a few tens or hundreds of atoms. This machine might, so the argument goes, be useful in medicine by navigating through the blood, seeking out diseased cells and destroying them.
http://www.sciam.com/2001/0901issue/0901whitesides.html

Mobile phone translator service unveiled
If you are puzzled when the German waiter asks you: "Was möchten Sie?" all you have to do is to reach for your mobile phone. Not only will the phone tell you that the waiter is asking you what you want, it will even translate your order into German. The system, called Verbmobil, can translate spoken English, German, Japanese and Chinese almost instantaneously. It operates over a standard mobile phone network - you just dial a number. Verbmobil, the product of a $90-million research programme, was demonstrated in Seattle last week. "It's 90 per cent accurate," says Wolfgang Wahlster from the artificial intelligence research institute DFKI in Saarbrücken, Germany. "We have checked it against 25,000 translation tasks." It is also quick. The delay in translation is no more than a few milliseconds.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991161

More news later on

[walktalker]

Mouth-based music control
Rock guitarists used to rely on some nimble footwork to add all those spine-tingling wails to their guitar solos. Soon, all they will have to do is to open their mouths. Musicians have long used "wah-wah pedals" to change the sound of notes on electric guitars. The Mouthesizer, which has been developed by Michael Lyons at the ATR Media Integration & Communication Research Labs in Kyoto, Japan, not only replaces the pedal but also produces a wealth of other effects. A pickup on the guitar converts the notes being played into MIDI, the language of electronic music that can define properties of musical notes such as their pitch and duration. Meanwhile, a miniature head-mounted digital camera monitors the shape of your mouth and sends instructions to a synthesiser, which modifies the MIDI properties of the notes.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991162

Law Could 'Infect' Americas Via Free-Trade Pact
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) says controversial U.S. laws that appear to make it illegal for researchers to poke around in someone else's copyright protection technology could "infect" dozens of other countries through a far-reaching free-trade agreement. The EFF, a technology-focused civil liberties group, issued an alert Thursday, saying the current draft of the treaty behind the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) takes a stand on intellectual property rights that reads like a page from the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in the U.S. The motion picture industry has wielded the DMCA in civil courts to crack down on the distribution of free software that can read encrypted DVD movies. And, more recently, the DMCA was behind criminal charges against Russian software developer Dmitry Sklyarov, who was attending the Def Con 9 conference in Las Vegas to discuss his company's unraveling of security features in Adobe Systems' Acrobat eBook Reader.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/169165.html

Florida Voting Systems Won't Be Kid-Tested
Officials in Broward County, Fla., are about to decide on a new voting system to replace the county's infamous punchcards, but they won't use high school kids to test the system's security. This week county commissioners, while discussing the idea of a mock election, entertained a suggestion that students try to break into the systems. But that won't happen, said Assistant County Administrator Pete Corwin. The idea made the papers, which led to a crush of news media inquiries - something Broward County officials are familiar with. The world spotlight was on the county when hanging chads and other flaws in the old punchcard system left the presidential election in limbo.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/169164.html

Security Software Spies On Workers
Corporate layoffs are creating a problem for some companies: how to protect their computer networks from disgruntled workers who might use inside knowledge of company computers to get back at former employers. A Linthicum-based division of Raytheon Co., the defense and electronics giant, is selling software that lets administrators of big computer systems track and analyze the flow of information across their networks. The software also illustrates the tradeoff between computer security and employee privacy. Raytheon's product, called SilentRunner, lets companies monitor and protect against employees sending sensitive information to places it doesn't belong. It also tracks employee use of company equipment to a degree that may be disconcerting to workers.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/169123.html

Web Address Holder Can't Force Ad Removal
A New York court late last month dismissed a lawsuit filed by an Internet domain name holder who wanted Register.com - the company that sold him his Web address - to remove an advertisement that it had linked to the address. Michael Zurakov, who registered the address "laborzionist.org" through Register.com, sued the domain name seller after the company placed its standard "coming soon" page on his Web address. Register.com places the coming soon message - which includes a link to Register.com's home page - on all the new addresses it registers. The message is used as a placeholder and is erased as soon as a domain name holder erects a Web site, links their address to an existing Web site or otherwise activates the address, Register.com spokesperson Shonna Keeogan said today.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/169117.html

Music biz patents anti-rip encryption technology
Recording industry organisation the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry has come up with yet another scheme to foil listeners who rip CDs on their PCs. Details of the method appear in a patent filed by IFPI. The patent, GB2357165, centres on encrypting the track time codes stamped onto every music disc, New Scientist reports. CD players (well, most of 'em) ignore the time codes, which detail the duration of each track, but CD-ROM drives do not. So scramble the time codes and a disc will happily play in a hi-fi (probably) but no one will be able to play or copy it using their PC.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/21092.html

Intel backed video encryption standard is 'fatally flawed'
A well-respected cryptographer claims he has discovered a way to break an Intel-backed format for encoding video transmissions - but is prevented by US law on speaking on the issue. Niels Ferguson believes he could be prosecuted under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) so he has held off publishing his findings which suggest flaws with the High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) system. Even though he lives in Holland, Ferguson fears that in the wake of the prosecution of Russian programmer Dmitry Sklyarov that the DMCA threatens freedom of speech throughout the world. Intel has not threatened him in any way but he still fears that the motion picture industry or some other body might still prosecute him.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/21085.html

Old PCs cause birth defects
Research due to be released tomorrow suggests that babies born near landfill sites are more likely to suffer birth defects. The Government-funded study, carried out by the Small Area Health Statistics Unit (SAHSU), found that women were one per cent more likely to have a baby with a congenital defect if they lived within two km of a landfill site. SAHSU also found that 80 per cent of the UK population lives this close to one of the dumping grounds. And women living near landfill sites containing hazardous waste were seven per cent more likely to have a baby with congenital defects. "We cannot say that there is no risk from landfill sites," said Dr Pat Troop, deputy chief medical officer at the department of health.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/21084.html

Crystals could revolutionize memory
Silicon devices can be squeezed only so small, but scientists, eager to keep Moore’s Law on track, are always searching for alternatives that may squeeze them smaller still. One of the most fascinating is a class of crystals known as perovskites, named after a 19th-century Russian mineralogist. Perovskites form three-dimensional atomic arrays made of alkaline metals, like magnesium and strontium; transition metals, like titanium and chromium; and oxygen. They somewhat resemble their more famous copper-based cousins, the high-temperature superconducting ceramics, whose discovery won Nobel Prizes in physics for IBM’s J. Georg Bednorz and K. Alexander Muller. By switching around the distribution of their elements, researchers can tailor perovskites to be insulators, magnetic materials, semiconductors or superconductors. Such flexibility means that these crystals, laid down in thin films, could actuate microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) or make for thinner gate insulators in transistors. But their quickest effect may be to make RAM, as we know it, history.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/614578.asp?0dm=C1CPT

[Dawn]

Is your vacation over newsman?

Thanks for your contribution! It is appreciated!!


P.S. I miss Garfield

[walktalker]

Originally posted by Dawn
P.S. I miss Garfield

I shall get him back to work... but you know that furball... He has been lazy all vacations long

[nanook]

just finished it all.

good stuff wt!!!!

Hey dumbass...

[walktalker]

UMB