The Newspaper Shop -- Wednesday edition

[walktalker]

Take that... and that... and that...
Sites seek to blast ad blockers
Publishers have been promised a new weapon to combat software that wipes advertisements off the Web, bringing a potential challenge to ad-free surfing. Dusseldorf, Germany-based MediaBeam last month said it's testing a product that aims to detect ad-blocking software and charge the people using it a fee to view a Web site's content. The product, called AdKey, is scheduled for commercial release by November. "People using anti-ad software...have the advantage to use our service but (not to) participate in the advertising system. But we need someone to pay the bill," said MediaBeam CEO Frank Beckhert, whose 15-person company has been testing AdKey for the last two weeks. "We just couldn't accept that people were using our service for free" anymore.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp01

Microsoft's Ballmer dismisses rival project
Steve Ballmer, outspoken president and chief executive of Microsoft Corp., dismissed rival Sun Microsystems Inc.'s efforts to compete with his company's Passport identity service as "craziness" built on a "weak foundation" on Wednesday. Ballmer was speaking to an industry group when he was asked about the Liberty Alliance Project, a service announced by Sun and some 30 partners. Like Passport, it is designed to save and verify people's identities in order to speed up online transactions. "I think what we announced is right. I think the Sun thing has absolutely no probability of mattering to the world. That's my nonemotional view," Ballmer told a symposium sponsored by Gartner, the information technology consultant and analyst.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

ISP to banish virus spreaders
British Internet users who fail to protect their machines against virulent computer viruses such as Nimda could have their Internet connections suspended by their Internet service provider. British ISP Telewest has been the first to take direct action against customers who have refused to patch their computers against the Nimda worm or have left infected PCs running. The company insists that these are "sensible" measures to protect customers from malicious worms that are able to self-propagate across networks without user intervention. "Telewest, in line with other service providers, has put into practice a virus protection strategy to prevent infection of our network," said a spokeswoman at the company. "Protective measures include the temporary removal of service from customers who are virus infected and who may have not taken appropriate preventive measures."
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

3G devices to support Linux OS
Texas Instruments plans to make its OMAP wireless platform Linux-friendly, meaning that 3G devices by Nokia, Ericsson, Sony and Sendo could use the open source operating system. Linux could soon be playing an important role in the third-generation handheld device market, following the announcement by Texas Instruments on Tuesday that its OMAP wireless architecture would support the open-source operating system. TI's OMAP wireless platform has already attracted the interest of several big-names companies. The likes of Nokia, Ericsson, Sony and Sendo are understood to have chosen to use the technology in some of their forthcoming 3G devices. By adding support for Linux, TI believes it will help developers to create new applications that will take advantage of the benefits of a 3G network.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Newest security -- ATMs that recognize your face
Biometric-enabled ATMs could be doling out cash to Australian bank customers within a year following the launch of technology that promises to reduce the expense of converting existing ATM security infrastructure. The use of biometric technology -- the analysis of certain unique body "signatures", such as fingerprint and retina scanning -- for ATM security purposes, has long been bandied about as a viable alternative to personal identification numbers (PINs). But the prohibitive expense associated with deploying a brand new fleet of biometrically-secure ATMs has seen many banks adopt a wait-and-see approach.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

New Linux kernel available for download
Linux developers can get their hands on the latest stable operating system kernel, version 2.4.11, as of Wednesday. The kernel, or heart of the OS, is available on www.kernel.org, which also lists mirrors where the software can be found. The new kernel includes improvements to such crucial areas as networking and USB control, as well as updates throughout. Kernel version 2.4 was released in January, and the most recent stable version, 2.4.10, made its debut in September. Linus Torvalds said in at recent Linux conference that kernel improvements are no longer important, and that it is more crucial to make Linux more usable for end-users on the desktop. But other say that the progress of the OS core is the main force driving the GNU/Linux operating system ahead.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Microsoft closes window to customer data
Microsoft moved swiftly this week to close a security gap in its customer service Web site that let anyone with a browser view customers' sales records and other confidential information. The software giant had left a search database exposed without security protections. The address of the customer service page was unpublished, but by altering the numerical IP (Internet Protocol) addresses of known Microsoft Web sites, a security enthusiast located it and found himself with access to an unknown number of customer service records. Each exposed record included the customer's name, purchasing history, shipping address, billing address, phone numbers, e-mail address and credit card type. It did not include the actual credit card number.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=mn_hd

Intel countersues Via over U.S. patents
Intel has escalated its legal war with Via Technologies by filing a countersuit, alleging that Via infringes on U.S. patents for processors. On Oct. 5, Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel filed the counterclaim and an answer to a suit recently filed by Via in the U.S. District Court in Texas. In the counterclaim, Intel alleges that Taipei, Taiwan-based Via and its U.S. subsidiary Centaur Technology infringed five U.S. patents that Intel holds when Via developed the C3 processor. The suit seeks unspecified damages and a permanent injunction to prevent Via from selling the chip.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200...html?tag=mn_hd

Microsoft warns of new PC threat
A new vulnerability has been detected in PCs running Microsoft's Excel spreadsheet and PowerPoint presentation programs, which allows a specially crafted macro to avoid detection and run malicious code on a victim's machine. The software hole allows a malformed macro -- a mini-program that runs within an application -- to escape the security warnings built into Excel and PowerPoint, so that a computer user can unknowingly run infected macros when opening a spreadsheet or presentation.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200...html?tag=mn_hd

Cornering the Content Market: Microsoft's New Monopoly Play
Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly's Friday ruling in the Microsoft antitrust case is a far cry from her predecessor's original verdict. Where once it seemed the company would be split into two parts, now it's merely been instructed to settle with the Department of Justice out of court. Even as the public's interest of the case has faded, so too, it seems, has the vehemence with which the government initially pursued it. Is that it, then? In light of the market downturn, are we now willing to let bygones be bygones, turn the page and hope Microsoft does its part to return our economy to its former glory? I hope not -- because if you think about it, Microsoft's market dominance is an even larger issue today than it was when the antitrust case began.
http://www.sfgate.com/technology/expound/

Software sought to expose terrorist cells
In a move that has some privacy rights advocates concerned, the Pentagon is hoping to track down terrorists with the help of a growing battery of computer software developed to combat consumer and business fraud. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is trying to design its own version of the software to uncover terrorist cells that are posing as legitimate groups and lying about such things as past employment, education and business affiliations. "What is needed is intelligent agent software that is capable of reviewing Web sites and identifying implausible or inconsistent information,'' the agency said in an Oct. 2 public notice seeking help from businesses or others to create the software.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/ne...arpa101001.htm

Congress told security research needed
A panel of academics told Congress on Wednesday that the nation's electricity, telecommunications and banking networks will remain vulnerable to attack unless Congress earmarks more funds for computer-security research. Even as the nation has grown more dependent on computer networks, and attacks on these networks have grown more common, work on cybersecurity has progressed little since the 1960s, experts told the House Science Committee. The federal government's lackluster support of security research discourages academics from doing work in the area.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Bush names computer security adviser
President Bush beefed up his Homeland Security team Tuesday, appointing special advisers to crack down on terrorist networks and protect the nation's computer systems from online attacks. The announcements came one day after former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge was sworn in to lead the first White House Office of Homeland Security, amid heightened fears of reprisals against U.S. targets after American and British forces began bombing Afghanistan on Sunday.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200...html?tag=ch_mh

IBM, Microsoft tapped for medical venture
Pfizer, the world's largest drug company, said Wednesday that it formed an alliance with Microsoft and IBM to set up a new software and services company for doctors. The companies said the new venture, called Amicore, is designed to "reduce the administrative workload and paperwork for physicians," enabling them to better focus on patient care. New York-based Amicore has acquired PenChart, a Connecticut-based software developer whose healthcare application will form the basis of the company's initial product offering, IBM, Microsoft and Pfizer said in a joint statement.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200...html?tag=cd_mh

File swappers awake to Napster knockoffs
The number of people using online music- and video-sharing services has risen sharply despite the self-imposed shutdown of song-swapping service Napster, according to a study released Wednesday. Technology research company Jupiter Media Metrix said at-home users of file-swapping services other than Napster totaled 6.9 million in August, up 492 percent from March, when Jupiter began tracking those services. Over the same period, according to the company's Media Metrix audience-ratings service, Napster's audience fell 49 percent to 5.5 million users in August, just after it shuttered its free service.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_mh

More news later on