The Newspaper Shop -- Thursday edition

[walktalker]

Life goes on, news too...
I'm back from my usual news hunt; help yourself

2GHz PCs ready for launch
For the computing maniac who thought he had everything, PCs with 2GHz chips will land Monday. Nearly every major PC manufacturer will release new models sporting Pentium 4 chips running at 2GHz and 1.9GHz, according to several sources. The chips will appear in high-end consumer PCs as well as in corporate desktops and workstations. While the new PCs will increase the performance standards for desktop computers, they also will be fairly cheap, the result of a slow market for computers. Compaq Computer, for instance, will slide under the limbo pole with a Presario 7000T desktop for $1,499. The computer will come with a 2GHz Pentium 4 processor, 128MB of RDRAM, a 20GB hard drive, a CD-ROM and a 17-inch monitor.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp01

Microsoft judge could be picked Friday
With a lottery to select a new judge for the Microsoft Corp. antitrust case set for as early as Friday, some judges in the federal court say they don't want the case. A lottery will randomly select one judge from a pool of up to 18 judges in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to preside over the next phase of the long-running Microsoft case. Several judges have already privately said they hope their number doesn't come up. "They've expressed concern about the amount of work it will be," says Washington antitrust attorney Marc Fleischaker, chairman of the law firm Arent Fox, who has talked with several judges about the case. That workload, the judges fear, could wreak havoc with the schedule for other cases on their docket.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Sklyarov's lawyers push for plea bargain
As Russian computer programmer Dmitry Sklyarov was due yesterday to be indicted for circumventing the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), the prosecution and defense lawyers revealed plans to negotiate a possible plea bargain. In a case that has sparked off global protests, Sklyarov could today face a five-year prison sentence for creating software that circumvented the copyright protection mechanism in Adobe's eBook reader. But on the morning of the hearing, both sides confirmed that they will be asking the federal judge to postpone the proceedings for a week. "We're talking about whether or not there are any potential ways to dispose of the case," lead defence attorney Joseph Burton told the Associated Press on Wednesday. "We've been talking to them for a while."
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Open source Java going strong
The open source and free software communities have embraced Java, and the fruits of that relationship are starting to show. On the server, projects like Jigsaw, JBoss, Enhydra and Apache's Jakarta are flagship efforts with mature and stable products. Java client applications are showing strong promise with projects like JEdit, Jext, LimeWire, NetBeans, BlueJ, ArgoUML, and many others. And many open source XML tools are often developed in Java only or Java first. It is critical that the Java platform continue to attract open source developers. Open source Java development provides a wealth of tools, applications, and components that keep Java development cost-effective and Java developers productive.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/co...pt=zdnn_nbs_hl

Overseas groups battle their own Net piracy
At the height of Napster's court battles, some committed file swappers had an idea: We'll set up shop overseas, outside the reach of U.S. courts and copyright organizations. That vision is beginning to take shape, as international versions of Napster spring up around the world. But they're already meeting their own legal resistance -- led in many areas by the International Federation of Phonographic Industries (IFPI), an organization that is slowly gaining new prominence in the industry's global fight to quash Net piracy. IFPI is an umbrella group that oversees record companies' interests around the world, an international counterpart to the Recording Industry Association of America. Until recently, U.S. residents had little or no reason even to have heard of the group, as most of its actions take place outside U.S. borders.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=tp_pr

Microsoft releases new security tool
Hoping to reduce the impact of security threats such as the "Code Red" worm, Microsoft on Thursday released a tool designed to help less technically sophisticated users eliminate vulnerabilities in their servers. The free, downloadable security tool helps users disable functions and settings that could leave their servers open to an attack, said Scott Culp, Microsoft's security program manager. These include Internet printing, advanced search functions and certain scripting technologies that enable viruses and worms to spread, Culp said. The tool is designed for Internet Information Server (IIS), Windows NT and Windows 2000 software for publishing Web pages. A flaw in IIS was exploited by Code Red, launching potentially crippling attacks on some Web sites.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200...html?tag=mn_hd

Microsoft accuses Brit companies of piracy
Two British companies are facing the wrath of Microsoft's ongoing anti-piracy campaign for allegedly selling counterfeit Microsoft products. Microsoft has commenced legal proceedings against the directors of two Basingstoke-based companies -- Pacific Computers and Taran Microsystems -- for allegedly infringing its copyright and the Microsoft trademark. The claims forms were filed on Aug. 2. Two directors of Pacific Computers, Marc Roach and Richard Donaldson, as well as two former directors and shareholders, Andrew Miles and Simon Miles, stand charged with allegedly selling counterfeit products, including Microsoft Windows 98 OEM packs. Microsoft is investigating the full details of the company's dealings, but claims that the sales took place between July 2000 and February 2001.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200...html?tag=ch_mh

Nintendo delays U.S. launch of GameCube
Nintendo has pushed back the U.S. arrival of its new GameCube video game console by nearly two weeks, with executives saying they intend to avoid the shortages and frustrated consumers that marked the debut of Sony's PlayStation 2 last fall. "The (change) really was to make sure we avoided somebody else's misstep," Peter Main, vice president of sales and marketing for Nintendo of America, said during a press conference from Space World, Nintendo's annual fan fair and media event in Tokyo. "We're noting the misfire that occurred one year ago when somebody came to market with 400,000 units."
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Lobbyists Tied to Microsoft Wrote Citizens' Letters
Letters purportedly written by at least two dead people landed on the desk of Utah Atty. Gen. Mark Shurtleff earlier this year, imploring him to go easy on Microsoft Corp. for its conduct as a monopoly. The pleas, along with about 400 others from Utah citizens, are part of a carefully orchestrated nationwide campaign to create the impression of a surging grass-roots movement. But it may be backfiring. The targets of the campaign, attorneys general of some of the 18 states that have joined the Justice Department in suing Microsoft, have figured out the campaign's origins, and they're fuming.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-082301micro.story

Remotely Interesting
Welcome to the new era of cheap, easy, and not always reliable remote home surveillance. Using a variety of personal computer-based controllers, cameras, and sensors that communicate over the Internet, anxious homeowners can keep an eye on the house from anywhere in the world. The Xanboo system is still a bit buggy and therefore cannot be recommended as a home security system, but it is a fascinating first peek at the possibilities of smart-home management made possible by broadband Internet connections. It consists of a central control unit about the size of a portable CD player, a fist-sized Xanboo color videocamera with a built-in motion detector, a 60-foot video connector, and Xanboo controller software for Windows-based computers. Although it works with dial-up connections to the Internet, you'll have better success with PCs that have a persistent link to the Net through a DSL or cable modem connection.
http://www.fortune.com/indexw.jhtml?...artcol.jh tml

More news later on

[walktalker]

DVD Cracking Case, Western Style
The two-pronged, bi-coastal legal war being waged against individuals who have distributed a code that can circumvent encryption on DVDs now focuses on First Amendment issues being raised in San Jose. Thursday's court battle was to be held in front of a three-judge panel that makes up California's Sixth District Court of Appeals. The case focuses on an injunction filed against 21 individuals and 400 unnamed people accused of stealing trade secrets. The DVD Copy Control Association (DVD CCA) -- an industry trade organization that licenses DVD technology, and which filed the original lawsuit -- was expected to argue that the defendants stole trade secrets when they distributed a code that circumvents encryption technology attached to DVDs. However, attorneys representing the defendants will argue that the injunction violates the free-speech rights of programmers.
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,46270,00.html

Paintball Co. Smeared by Hoax
In the latest in a spate of corporate cyber-invasions, a hacker broke into a paintball company's website and sent out phony financial statements Thursday, forcing the Nasdaq stock market to halt trading in the company's shares for more than two hours. After discovering its computer security had been breached overnight, Brass Eagle Inc. (XTRM) notified law enforcement officials, including the FBI, which has a special unit that investigates computer crimes. An FBI spokesman in Little Rock, Arkansas, said only that the agency was aware of the case.
http://www.wired.com/news/ebiz/0,1272,46277,00.html

Borderhack: Barbed and Unwired
Perhaps nowhere in the world is the line of economic disparity so clearly drawn as along the Mexico-U.S. border. To the south, cardboard shantytowns slump miserably in the dust. To the north, skyscraper cities sparkle in the sun, beckoning to the huddled masses on the disadvantaged side. Between them extends a 2,000-mile wall, physical in some parts, virtual in others. This division between the Third and First worlds is the focus of Borderhack 2.0, held in Tijuana this weekend, a conference whose aim is to intellectually dismantle the border and examine its contents. The brainchild of Fran Ilich, editor-at-large of the Mexican technology zine Sputnik, the event is part of the no-border movement, launched in Germany in 1998 to protest European immigration policies.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,46234,00.html
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,45921,00.html

Debating Merits of Palms in Class
Ann Arbor Open School in Michigan is an alternative public school that prides itself on accepting new ideas and student individuality, talents and interests. But to the chagrin of some parents and teachers, there is one idea the school isn't open to -- the use of handheld computers in the classroom. "It doesn't feel like that school to do this," said Celeste Novak, an architect whose 13-year-old son Jay attends Ann Arbor Open. "His school is very wired." Ann Arbor Open's policy isn't unique: Several schools around the country are banning handheld devices. Ironically, this comes at a time when many others are embracing the technology as a teaching tool.
http://www.wired.com/news/school/0,1383,45863,00.html

E-Textbooks Offer Light Reading
When students at the University of Phoenix return to school this fall, many of them won't be carrying books in their backpacks. Instead, they will download digital textbooks, multimedia simulations and PowerPoint presentations from portable e-book readers and desktop PCs. These students are part of the university's plan to phase out traditional textbooks and become a "bookless college. Delivery of course materials electronically will free us from the rigid ways that students get their materials, which are lectures and textbooks," said Dr. Adam Honea, Dean of the College of Information Systems and Technology at the University of Phoenix.
http://www.wired.com/news/school/0,1383,45860,00.html

Thumbs Up for Internet Traveler
A penniless student traveling the world courtesy of strangers he meets over the Internet is roaming Europe in high style. Dutch student Ramon Stoppelenberg has stayed in palaces and attended glitzy movie premières. He's flown first class and been put up in posh hotels. He's even been invinted on Jay Leno's Tonight show. Trouble is, he's stuck in rainy northern Europe with few prospects of a ticket across the pond.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,46155,00.html

Big Blue to Start Co-Branding
IBM has one of the corporate world's best-known names, but that isn't stopping it from launching a branding campaign. Big Blue kicks off a new branding campaign on Thursday by marketing the IBM brand name on its customers' products, a blue-and-white striped logo in the shape of a peeled-back flag that reads "IBM Technology." International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) wants to make sure consumers know when its technology is used in other companies' products from video game consoles to television set-top boxes, cell phones and digital cameras.
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,46245,00.html

Gene fingerprint could spot cancer
Scientists may be one step closer to gaining the ability to "fingerprint" prostate cancers - spotting which are the most likely to spread. If it works, the technique could help spare thousands of older men the risks involved with surgery. The prostate gland is found near the bladder in men, and its cancer is the second most common male cancer in the UK. Doctors who discover evidence of prostate cancer face a dilemma, as there is a real risk that intervening could cause more harm than it prevents. Many prostate cancers are relatively benign and slow-growing, meaning that, particularly in elderly men, they may have no impact on life expectancy.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/hea...00/1504372.stm

RSI revisited: controversy over computer's role
Since computers became a staple of offices nationwide, many workers have been diagnosed with repetitive stress injuries, especially carpal tunnel syndrome. But now some researchers say that, contrary to popular thought, carpal tunnel may not be associated with computer use at all. Some skeptics go so far as to say they don’t believe any workstation-related factors contribute to the various ills collectively known as RSI. The majority of doctors, however, counter that such a broad stance ignores the science.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/610809.asp

Mini nuclear reactor could power apartment blocks
A nuclear reactor designed to generate power in the basement of an apartment block is being developed in Japan. In the past few months government-backed researchers have been testing a fail-safe mechanism for the reactor, which will close down automatically if it overheats. The Rapid-L reactor was conceived as a powerhouse for colonies on the Moon. But at six metres high and only two metres wide this 200-kilowatt reactor could relatively easily fit into the basement of an office building or apartment block, where it would have to be housed in a solid containment building. "In the future it will be quite difficult to construct further large nuclear power plants because of site restrictions," says Mitsuru Kambe, head of the research team at Japan's Central Research Institute of Electrical Power Industry (CRIEPI).
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991186

Fingered by the movie cops
The MPAA looks for people who are distributing movies in any form that they are not authorized to. It uses Ranger Online’s software to monitor multiple areas of the Internet, including IRC, Gnutella, Usenet, Web sites, auction sites and ftp sites. It does this on an international basis. When it finds a location that is distributing copyrighted material, it identifies the owner and the host of the material. Citing the DMCA, it sends a letter and notifies the alleged perpetrators that they are infringing on a copyright.
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/20...te/index1.html

More news later on

[TankGirl]

Bumbz!

Good news hunting Mr. Newsman!

- tg

[Dawn]

Ahhh, its so nice to have the news to read. Thanks Newsman!