The Newspaper Shop -- Monday edition

[walktalker]

Here in Canada, it's thanksgiving... but just for CQ and the Napsterites, I'll be writing

Intel overhauls chip design
Intel on Monday is unveiling an entirely new design for the silicon and metal vehicles that connect the microprocessor to the rest of the computer. That may sound arcane, but the oft-overlooked art of chip packaging is absolutely crucial to the future of the semiconductor industry. Intel says that the breakthrough will play an essential role in allowing processing power to grow. Five years from now, microprocessors will run at 20GHz; they'll need to issue and receive a vast amount of signals and will require a high infusion of electricity. Bumpless Build-Up Layer (BBUL) packaging will essentially channel all that traffic through an extremely thin web of interconnections -- tiny wires that link chip circuits--surrounding the chip. BBUL, set to go to work in five to six years, allows a far more ornate web than can be produced through current packaging technology.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp01

Symantec locks out small-biz hackers
Security software maker Symantec announced Monday a new line of drop-in network appliances to protect companies against Internet attackers and to secure communications between offices. Known as the Symantec Firewall/VPN Appliances, the three new products allow companies to add baseline security to their branch offices and encrypt all data between the company and small-office networks connecting through a virtual private network (VPN). A VPN uses encryption to securely connect two private networks over the Internet. The technology is more secure than a dial-up connection and cheaper than buying a dedicated communications line.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

New technology fires Toshiba screens
Toshiba is bringing its low-temperature polysilicon display technology to notebooks in hopes of eventually lowering their price, the company said Monday. Such technology is already used in smaller devices, including some handheld computers and cell phones, and offers higher quality images using fewer components -- 40 percent less, according to Toshiba -- than its counterpart called amorphous silicon. Low-temperature polysilicon is also lighter than amorphous silicon and has the potential to allow all of a computer's components, from the processor to the memory, to be built into the screen. This would allow manufacturers to create thinner and less-expensive devices. The trade-off is that low-temperature polysilicon displays currently cost considerably more than amorphous silicon screens. Most liquid-crystal displays currently use amorphous silicon technology.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Sun takes on Microsoft...again
Sun Microsystems Inc. on Monday said it would cut the price of its Web server software by 37 percent in a bid to take market share away from Microsoft Corp.'s competing software. Palo Alto, California-based Sun said it would cut the price of its iPlanet Web Server Enterprise Edition 6.0 to $940 per computer processor from $1,495 for any customer changing from a competing platform. Sun said it would also make available software that would allow users to run pages written for Microsoft's server software format on that company's Internet Information Services (IIS) architecture on Sun's platform without modification.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Extremist sites under heightened scrutiny
Like many other groups, Muslim extremists have found the Internet to be a convenient tool for spreading propaganda and helpful hints for their followers around the world. Now, however, Web sites calling for jihad, or holy war, against the West are coming under increasing scrutiny, and some have been closed. Getting information about how to fund a holy war, build a bomb or inspire true believers to attend training camps in guerrilla warfare has long been as easy as visiting Yahoo Inc.'s Yahoo.com or other Internet portals. Yahoo serves as a gateway to dozens of Web sites offering tips on everything from handling weapons to creating an Islamic state. One British site shows a video of soldiers shooting at a picture of Bill Clinton.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

PC makers push service package deals
The beleaguered PC industry is taking a cue from McDonalds, bundling hardware and services into computing "value meals" that offer better deals for customers and steadier revenue for PC makers. With PC manufacturers facing one of the worst years ever for hardware sales, services are increasingly becoming the new lifeblood of the industry, analysts say. Not only can services secure more hardware sales, PC makers have become more adept at coming up with ways to make the services industry follow the same business patterns as does manufacturing. Dell, for instance, announced Monday that, for $40,000, it will provide all the hardware, software and services for a Windows 2000 server cluster under its Infrastructure Accelerators program.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200...html?tag=tp_pr

Microsoft eyes auctions of old Windows
People looking to off-load their old Microsoft software to make way for Windows XP have to be careful about selling it online. For more than a year, Microsoft employees have kept tabs on eBay and other online auctions for software sales that the company believes violate its copyright or trademark rights. When they surface, Microsoft and the auction house work together to shut them down. Under the licensing agreement with Microsoft, people who buy a computer with pre-loaded software cannot break out the software and sell it. But if they buy the software separately, they can sell it. Ron Faul learned about this the hard way. Faul, who infrequently sells video games on eBay "when I'm tired of them," was trying to auction off two copies of Windows 95 for between $5 and $10 a piece, and a trial copy of Windows XP for $5.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200...html?tag=mn_hd

Napster, music industry return to court
Recording giants will head to federal court in San Francisco Wednesday to request a summary judgment against Napster in their long-running copyright infringement lawsuit against the song-swapping company, lawyers for the companies said. "We will argue in front of Judge (Marilyn Hall) Patel on Wednesday, seeking a summary judgment against Napster on the issue of liability, which would in essence leave for trial only the amount of damages and the nature of the injunction," said Russell Frackman, an attorney for the record industry. Napster lawyers plan to oppose the request and argue for a full trial to determine its liability. The company faces potentially billions of dollars in damages as a result of the lawsuit.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=mn_hd

Travel sites see rebound in traffic
Consumer interest in Internet travel sites bounced back at the end of last month, as traffic climbed in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, a survey released Monday reported. Traffic to seven out of the top 10 travel sites rebounded during the week ending Sept. 30, surpassing levels reported for the week ending Sept. 9, according to a survey by Nielsen/NetRatings, which measures traffic to Web sites. Online travel companies Hotwire and Expedia were among those reporting the largest growth, along with the sites of Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and American Airlines.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200...html?tag=mn_hd

The devil is in Windows' details
Microsoft and its Justice Department opponents are back in settlement talks ordered by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly. The last settlement round, ordered by the last judge, went nowhere. Since then Microsoft has been officially determined, by both the district and appeals courts, to be a monopolist and to have broken the antitrust laws. But the government has dropped its push to break up the company and now seeks a variety of procedural remedies. Meanwhile, Microsoft continues to behave as though nothing has happened, merrily releasing a new operating system, Windows XP, whose design replicates all the approaches that got the company in trouble in the past.
http://salon.com/tech/col/rose/2001/...oly/index.html

Movie Studios Playing Up Potential of DVD Format
Just a few years ago, studios such as Disney, Paramount and News Corp.-owned 20th Century Fox shunned DVD, fearing piracy and the prospect that the technology would fizzle just as Betamax had done. Now they are trying to outdo each other with increasingly elaborate discs that represent a quantum leap from the bare-bones, add-on look of earlier digital experiments. In the newest souped-up DVDs, there are movie outtakes, directors' commentaries, behind-the-scenes looks at the making of the movies, explanations of the special effects -- even DVD-ROM games aimed at broadening the target market of families and children.
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la...s%2Dtechnology

As Net fraud grows, so do e-tailers' fears
A slew of online merchants say they are fighting a lonely battle against Internet scam artists as credit-card fraud continues to mushroom on the Web. Many Web retailers present anecdotal evidence that the increased fraud has coincided with rule changes the card companies implemented just over a year ago, requiring Web merchants to have a copy of the customer's credit card or signature. Unless they do, the merchant is liable for the charge should a customer dispute it. E-tailers, which conduct Web transactions in a virtual environment instead of in the traditional face-to-face manner, have few ways to obtain that kind of proof, and in most cases, when a customer disputes a charge, the e-tailer is the one stuck with the financial responsibility.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200...html?tag=ch_mh

MSNBC.com learns Spanish
Internet news site MSNBC.com on Monday said it had teamed with a unit of Hispanic Broadcasting to provide Spanish-language content in a move that will give it access to the fastest-growing U.S. demographic group. MSNBC.com's first attempt to reach the U.S. Hispanic audience with a Spanish-language news service will bring original news content from a unit of Hispanic Broadcasting, one of the biggest Spanish-language radio broadcasters in the United States, as well as translate English-language stories. The unit, Netmio.com, gathers news from 11 U.S. cities with large Hispanic populations and counts more than 20 major national advertisers and 200 local advertisers as clients.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Fast times at digital high
Ten years ago, a school lesson on drought in sub-Saharan Africa might have required students to read a textbook and, perhaps, to watch a film. Today, with the help of computers and the Internet, that lesson could be transformed from a one-way flow of information into an interactive process. Students could go online to search for the latest thinking on the causes of drought. They could use e-mail to interview African-studies specialists on the cultural impact of the problem. And they could apply digital geography and weather tools to simulate the effects of drought on local crops and the environment.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-201...html?tag=ch_mh

Net users dash to U.K. site for attack details
The Web site of British Prime Minister Tony Blair was temporarily inaccessible this week after it published a document purporting to prove Osama bin Laden helped plan and execute terrorist attacks on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. The document has drawn intense interest as a possible source of insight into the U.S. government's case against bin Laden and his Al Qaeda terrorist network, which it named prime suspects in the Sept. 11 suicide hijacking. Although the United States shared some information with Britain and other allies, the government has backed off initial promises to present proof to the public.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=ch_mh

More news later on

[walktalker]

INS Culls Foreign Student Info
Government officials who want personal information about foreign students attending schools in the United States will soon be able to get such data with the click of a mouse. The Immigration and Naturalization Service is developing a database, called the Student Exchange Visitor Information System, to centralize international student records from schools around the country. Implementation of the technology will begin at 12 schools in the Boston area this month, and will be nationwide by 2003.
http://www.wired.com/news/school/0,1383,47353,00.html

Mitnick Warns Other 'Scapegoats'
The world's most notorious hacker says the government should focus on securing its computer systems rather than snooping on citizens. Kevin Mitnick, who spent four-and-a-half years behind bars for breaking into the computer systems of telephone companies, stresses that hackers should take extreme care these days given the sensitive political environment and the new laws defining many hacks as acts of terrorism. He also warned that any hacker could win the "scapegoat sweepstakes" at any time, receiving a harsh sentence to serve as an example to other hackers.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,47354,00.html

Afghanistan, on 50 Websites a Day
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the international spotlight has been trained on Afghanistan, the Central Asian country notorious for housing one of the most repressive regimes on the planet as well as suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden. But how much do most people really know about Afghanistan? A little digging on the Web sheds light on the enigmatic nation. Because the Taliban has outlawed the Internet for being obscene and anti-Islamic, the following sites are all hosted outside Afghanistan.
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,47243,00.html

SlugBot: Enemy of Slugs
In the near future, the very mention of SlugBot could send waves of terror through the slug community, while farmers will sing its praises. A prototype robot capable of hunting down over 100 slugs an hour and using their rotting bodies to generate electricity is being developed by engineers at the University of West England's Intelligent Autonomous Systems Laboratory. The SlugBot is an attempt to build the world's first fully autonomous robot. When completed, the SlugBot will be the first robot to work completely independent of human care. It won't even need help to recharge its batteries.
http://www.wired.com/news/gizmos/0,1452,47156,00.html

Music Labels Not Yet in Tune
Six months ago, Michael Downing watched his digital music company die. Like other digital music companies that launched during the frenzy last year, Downing believed Musicbank would be able to deliver entertainment to a mass market. Instead he found out it couldn't deliver anything to anybody. The five major record labels were unable to deliver many of their songs to Musicbank, the fledgling locker service, because nobody was quite sure how to license music to digital startups without inviting a spate of lawsuits. Seemingly overnight, venture capitalists' purse strings were drawn tight. So when those same five record labels announced last week that they were going to begin working together on two new subscription services, something didn't seem right. If the major labels can solve the licensing problems, it could wind up beneficial for small companies as well.
http://www.wired.com/news/mp3/0,1285,47318,00.html

Nuke 'Em From On High
Following the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was questioned on ABC television's This Week program about the possible use of tactical nuclear weapons in the expected conflicts to come. In practiced Pentagonese, Rumsfeld deftly avoided answering the question of whether the use of tactical nuclear weapons could be ruled out. Though large "theater" thermonuclear devices -- doomsday bombs -- don't fit the Bush administration's war on terrorism, smaller tactical nukes do not seem out of the question in the current mindset of the Defense Department.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,47319,00.html

Dirty tricks of hunt for al-Qaida cash
It would be every computer hacker’s dream. Working from home, playing the usual games, except this time breaking into computers alongside U.S. intelligence forces — hunting down Osama bin Laden’s money through cyberspace. A German hacker claims his pals have done just that. And while most experts are skeptical of his claim, they concede that finding al-Qaida funds tucked away in banks around the world might require a few dirty digital tricks — either from inside the government or by “free-lancers.”
http://www.msnbc.com/news/638639.asp

NASA's new frontier: Selling space
When a Russian spaceship flew to the international space station last spring, a millionaire tourist wasn't the only commercial payload. The Russians -- ever on the lookout for a quick buck -- also delivered a crispy-crust salami pizza on behalf of Pizza Hut. And a pair of talking picture frames personally dedicated to the two dads on board, courtesy of RadioShack. And a March 2001 issue of Popular Mechanics, compliments of the magazine. Now, NASA is about to jump on the space-for-sale bandwagon.
http://europe.cnn.com/2001/TECH/spac....ap/index.html

Bar Codes May Aid Blood Testing
Microscopic particles formed into bar codes may enable medical workers to identify hundreds of different proteins in a single drop of blood, leading to faster and more accurate lab tests. In a study appearing Friday in the journal Science, scientists report that the micro bar codes, similar to the system stores use to electronically identify products at the cash register, are made by forming metallic atoms into rods so small that it takes 20 to span a human hair. Michael J. Natan, chief technical officer of SurroMed Inc. in Mountain View, Calif., and a co-author of the study, said atoms of gold, silver, copper and other metals are assembled in banded patterns in the rods.
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la...s%2Dtechnology

Listen.com Adds Indie Labels To Subscription Service
Online music services company Listen.com today said that is has signed its first licensing deals for recordings that could be served up through its upcoming Rhapsody music distribution platform. The privately held San Francisco, Calif., company said agreements have been reached with a number of independent record labels, including Alligator Records, Bar/None Records, Lost Cat Records, Bloodshot Records and more than a half-dozen other outfits. Company spokesman Matt Graves told Newsbytes that Listen.com's Rhapsody service, to launch later this fall, targets potential distribution partners looking for a way to deliver subscription-based music services to their customers.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/170927.html

AOL Stops One Security Breach, Fails To Stop Another
America Online has fixed a security hole that for years allowed a cadre of cognoscenti hackers to create bogus AOL accounts and hack away in relative obscurity, but has yet to patch a little-known vulnerability that allows anyone with an AOL account to switch many phone customers' long-distance providers. According to information obtained by Newsbytes, the exploit allows the switcher to view the victim's calling and billing records – all without ever notifying the victim or asking his or her permission. The method for creating a ghost AOL account has become something of an open secret among the subculture of more sophisticated AOL-hacker types, but the process for doing so is fairly straightforward.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/170924.html

Terrorist Attacks Can't Be Blamed For Everything
You got a good idea of how corporations could blame their problems on the World Trade Center and Pentagon disasters when AOL Time Warner Inc. announced a few days ago that it is not going to earn as much money as expected in large part because of "the impact on its business of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks." "No financial impact can compare to the terrible suffering and loss of life inflicted by the vicious attacks," said chief executive Gerald M. Levin, as he lowered the company's earnings targets. Actually, AOL Time Warner wasn't going to hit its numbers anyway, analysts generally agree. The marriage of Washington's most successful high-tech company and the New York media company hasn't proved as propitious as hoped. One of the many difficulties is that the advertising market was bad before the attacks and then worsened.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/170921.html

German Hacker Launches 'Kill.net' In Anti-Terrorism Effort
Kim Schmitz, the German hacker and businessman who has made headlines recently by declaring a hacking war on terrorism, has launched a new Web site as part of his efforts. The Web site, http://www.kill.net , was launched Sunday at just about the same time that the U.S. and U.K. launched the much-anticipated first military attack against Osama bin Laden's based Qaeda network and Afghanistan's Taliban government. Bin Laden is believed to be the mastermind behind the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. Schmitz said he will use the Web site to help recruit hackers for his newly formed organization YIHAT (Young Intelligent Hackers Against Terror). The Web site also will be used to publicize YIHAT, deliver information about its activities and will have a forum for hackers to communicate.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/170902.html

More news later on