The Newspaper Shop -- Tuesday edition

[walktalker]

This newspaper is 100% compatible with the nearest recycle bin.
But you should read it first... (my paper, not the bin, mind you)

Napster crackdown fails to spur CD sales
U.S. music product shipments fell 4.4 percent to $5.9 billion in the first half of 2001, the Recording Industry Association of America said Tuesday, despite the industry's success in stifling its nemesis Napster. Shipments in the first half of 2000 totaled $6.2 billion. Hilary Rosen, chief executive of the RIAA, said that although consumer loyalty to physical music products still dominates, the industry is working aggressively to embrace new forms of online distribution. "Our companies recognize the fact that more consumers are looking to get music online and are experimenting with a number of approaches, including legitimate subscription services," she said.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp01

Microsoft sews up Hotmail hole
The day after Microsoft acknowledged a security hole in Hotmail, its popular free e-mail service, a representative for the software giant said it had fixed the problem. Details of the hole, which could have allowed any user the ability to read another user's e-mail, were originally publicized by hacker and security site Root-Core four days ago. Mark Wain, product manager for the Microsoft Network, acknowledged the problem Monday, but he downplayed the threat, calling it a "computational infeasibility." To exploit the flaw, a user would have had to know the target's username, the time the e-mail was received and a random two-digit number, he said. Most would-be attackers would know only the target's username and might be able to guess the time a particular message was received, making the technique hard to implement.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

XP gold code release just days away
Microsoft Corp. is expected to release the gold, or final, code for Windows XP to PC makers on Friday, the same day its antitrust case is returned to the District Court in Washington, D.C. Sources at several top PC makers, who all asked not to be named, told eWEEK that Microsoft is planning to announce the release of the Windows XP code at a news conference in Seattle on Friday. Once the code is released, computer makers will test its compatibility and stability on various proprietary platforms before pre-installing it on the new PCs and laptops and shipping it to customers. By publicly announcing the release of the gold code, Microsoft may be seeking to quell criticisms voiced privately by PC makers over perceived preferential treatment given to some computer manufacturers.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Virus fighters form anti-DDoS alliance
Recent threats such as the code Red and Leave worms are proof that virus writers and hackers are pooling resources to produce hybrid weapons that can cause tremendous damage. Now, a group of security companies is following suit, hoping that by combining their efforts, they'll be better able to combat the new, sophisticated attacks. McAfee, a division of Network Associates, this week will announce a research and development partnership with three anti-DDoS (distributed-denial-of-service) vendors — Arbor Networks, Asta Networks and Mazu Networks Inc. — with the goal of developing innovative technologies and techniques to detect and prevent DDoS attacks.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...pt=zdnn_nbs_hl

Pressure grows for wireless dead-spot data
Weaver is one of countless mobile phone buyers who have signed up for service -- often for up to a year -- only to find out that their wireless gadgets are practically useless from home, the office, or during their daily commute. "Typically, you can't take a cell phone out for a test drive to see if you have coverage inside your house," said David Butler of the Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports magazine. The lack of information about these so-called dead spots could change as proposed federal legislation and grassroots efforts work to pressure major carriers such as Verizon Wireless, AT&T Wireless, Cingular Wireless and Nextel Communications to disclose such data.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1004-200...html?tag=tp_pr

Digital cameras zoom in on accessories
On the stage of digital imaging products, the digital camera solo act is becoming an accessories ensemble. On Tuesday, consumer electronics giant Sony unveiled the portable DPP-MP1 digital photo printer. The introduction of the printer is indicative of the new markets cropping up around digital cameras and is expected to help push such cameras toward more mainstream consumers. "As consumers can do more with the cameras, they will be further tempted to take the next step toward digital imaging and buy a camera," said Greg Young, a general manager of digital imaging at Sony. Market researcher IDC estimates that 15 percent of U.S. households with PCs own digital cameras. But in order for the digital cameras to become ubiquitous, manufacturers will need to make them more tempting.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200...html?tag=mn_hd

'Spin' Could Be Quantum Boost for Computers
Electronic devices like radios and computers work by shuttling around the electric charge of electrons. Hence, the "electron" in "electronics." But besides their electric charge, electrons also have a less exploited property: "spin," an angular momentum that makes electrons act like tiny bar magnets. Researchers are beginning to tap into electrons' magnetic side as part of an emerging field known as spintronics. Already, spintronics has yielded a couple of uses and may eventually provide the underpinning for computers that employ quantum mechanical efforts to perform calculations. (Free reg. required)
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/21/sc...al/21RESE.html

Computer game helps dyslexics
Psychologists in Finland have developed a computer game to help children with dyslexia. They say it improves reading ability by training a specific part of the brain. The Helsinki-based team hopes to make the software available worldwide. The game is suitable for four-to seven-year-olds and could be used at home under parental supervision. Team leader Teija Kujala of the Cognitive Brain Research Unit at the University of Helsinki, Finland, told BBC News Online: "This program is very simple and easy to use and it can be applied in any language." She said: "We observed improvement in reading generally. The brain started to process auditory information better."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci...00/1496709.stm

Your fingerprint is the password
Biometric technology is rapidly becoming a crucial element of business security solutions. Long the province of spy films and popular fiction, devices that can identify people by scanning their fingerprints, retinas, or even the shape of their faces, are now being used to do something much more mundane: to cut costs. Maintaining appropriate levels of security for a broad variety of business applications within a large corporation or financial institution is expensive. Strict rules are put in place to ensure that security is not compromised - particularly where identification and passwords are concerned. Users are often required to maintain separate ID and password combinations for different applications, as well as being required to change passwords regularly. One financial institution in Canada recently decided to use biometrics as a way to achieve higher security while reducing security support costs.
http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pag...H7C&Collid=Any

The Magic Bus
It has always been the commuter's ride of last resort, the chariot of the plebes. But thanks to an infusion of 21st-century technology, the humble bus may soon be the fastest way to get you to the office. Are you ready to climb aboard?
http://www.business2.com/articles/ma...,16664,FF.html

More news later on

[walktalker]

U.S., Aussie security centers sign pact
Two groups that disseminate and analyze information about computer-security incidents in the United States and Australia announced Tuesday they will work together to develop better tools and techniques for protecting corporate and national networks. The network-security information clearinghouses, known as Computer Emergency Response Teams, or CERTs, have worked together in the past on an informal basis, said Jeffrey Carpenter, manager of the U.S. CERT Coordination Center at Carnegie Mellon University. "It is not the first time we have ever had an agreement with a response team in another country," he said. "However, in the past, those agreements have been for a specific task." CERT and AusCERT plan to release joint advisories and work together on creating new tools and techniques to combat threats to the Internet.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Smart cards starting to take off in U.S.
One of the more compelling arguments for wide-scale use of smart cards in large companies can be summed up in the following, somewhat cryptic question: How often do you call your bank's help desk when using an ATM? Companies are taking a cue from the banking business, starting to simplify their operations by distributing a single, plastic card to employees that unlocks office doors, gives them access to company networks, e-mail, human resource functions and employee benefits, as well as giving remote access when people are working from home or on the road. Such smart cards can replace myriad passwords and user IDs that modern office workers typically have. Under the new systems being offered, a worker can access a range of services by putting a single plastic card into a reader and typing in a personal identification number, or PIN, just the way people have at an automated teller machine for the past 20 years.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Online music site climbs the charts
It sounds like a genuine blast from the past: an online music site on an acquisition binge, expanding quickly around the world, with a stock price that has actually climbed since the beginning of the year. But don't look in the United States. The company is Vitaminic, the independent Milan, Italy-based site that has carved out a space in Europe somewhere between MTVi and MP3.com, with more success than either inside its own markets. The 3-year-old company has a little of the same rocky history of shifting business models that's familiar in the United States. But Vitaminic is attracting applause from analysts as it refocuses on farming out music to other corporations hungry for tunes to use in marketing campaigns or on their own Web sites.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_pr

Online Cash Ain't Worth Squat
It's not just Internet stocks that are getting tossed in the garbage heap this year. Soon, several upstart cyber-currencies won't be worth the paper they aren't printed on. In the last two weeks, three sites offering Internet payment and incentive programs -- Flooz, Beenz and Cybergold -- have either shuttered their sites or announced plans to close down. The closures, analysts say, offer fresh evidence of what they've long suspected: Alternative online payment systems are having a rough time competing with the already ubiquitous credit card. "The folding of these companies was pretty inevitable," said Avivah Litan, an analyst at Gartner Group who specializes in payment systems. "It's just amazing that they've lasted two years." In some ways, Litan says, the latest round of shutdowns follows the typical Internet riches-to-rags storyline.
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,46180,00.html

What's Really in Their Backpacks
Let's take a look
http://www.wired.com/news/school/0,1383,45880,00.html

What's On Tap? Why, Haptics
Someday soon, drivers will be alerted by a little tap on their shoulder when another car is riding on their blind spot. The car, which springs out of research from Purdue University and other U.S. research institutions, is an early application for haptics -– the science of integrating the sense of touch into human/computer interactions. And it promises to greatly expand the reach of computers into everyday life. Haptics is "based on the way the brain processes information," said Mk Haley, chair of the just-completed Emerging Technologies Exhibition at the Siggraph conference and a researcher at Walt Disney Imagineering. "If the information is based on physical sensations, your reactions are much, much faster."
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,46192,00.html

Scientists Find Great Steak Gene
Australian scientists say they have discovered new ways to produce better beef. More tender, juicier steaks could go on sale following a breakthrough in gene technology. Scientists have identified a particular gene associated with beef tenderness, and have also found that slower-moving cattle taste better than their quicker cousins. Both breakthroughs use advances in molecular genetics to identify cattle with genes that produce tender steaks. "We're not interfering with the bovine genome. We're using it as an aid to selection," said Dr. Bernie Bindon, who heads up the Co-operative Research Centre (CRC) for Cattle and Beef Quality.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,46203,00.html

All That Dissolves May Be Gold
Call them the microbes with the Midas touch. Thriving where most life forms cannot survive, simple microscopic organisms known as extremophiles are performing an astounding feat: turning dissolved gold into solid gold. University of Massachusetts professor Derek Lovley discovered the microbes' special power while experimenting on the use of a similar microbe to clean up toxic waste. Now he's using extremophiles to explain how some gold ore deposits may have formed.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,46197,00.html

Wireless Networks in Big Trouble
Wireless networks are a little less secure today with the public release of "AirSnort," a tool that can surreptitiously grab and analyze data moving across just about every major wireless network. When enough information has been captured, AirSnort can then piece together the system's master password. In other words, hackers and/or eavesdroppers using AirSnort can just grab what they want from a company's database wirelessly, out of thin air.
http://www.wired.com/news/wireless/0,1382,46187,00.html

Hack insurer adds Microsoft surcharge
Insurance broker J.S. Wurzler Underwriting Managers has started charging up to 15 percent more in premiums to clients that use Microsoft's Internet Information Server software, which the Code Red worm feasted on. In light of the $2 billion in damage caused by Code Red, founder and CEO John Wurzler's decision just before the virus hit seems prescient. Wurzler gained notoriety earlier this year for hiking cyberinsurance rates on companies that use Microsoft NT software on their servers. So far, Wurzler appears to be the only insurer singling out Microsoft for higher rates. And some security officials are not kind in their comments.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Songwriters claim MP3 set the stage for widespread piracy
A new lawsuit filed against MP3.com seeks to hold the San Diego music-locker service liable not just for songs it improperly copied and distributed -- but for every bootleg track exchanged through Napster and other underground file-swapping services. The suit, filed on behalf of 52 independent songwriters and music publishers, accuses MP3.com of "viral'' infringement. It alleges MP3.com's technology set the stage for widespread music piracy, enabling bootlegged songs to pass from computer to computer faster than you can say "Oops, I Did It Again.'' The argument goes like this: MP3.com made compressed copies of about 900,000 songs, which it placed on its computer servers -- without obtaining the rights to do so. That created a vast bootleg library, from which MP3.com subscribers could download songs. Once on the user's computer hard-drive, a single song could be copied and passed around infinitely in the music underground.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/ne.../mp3082101.htm

Even more news later on