The Newspaper Shop -- Friday edition

[walktalker]

Web catches the holiday spirit
Mall workers are busy decking the halls with wreaths and piping carols into food courts, but the holiday spirit gripped the online division of FAO Schwarz six months ago. That's when four full-time employees at the New York-based toy retailer began taking surveys and making site upgrades to prepare for what they hope will be a holiday onslaught at FAOSchwarz.com. Throughout the summer and fall, they dressed up the home page and quickened the checkout process. They simplified a 15-item "product parade" that scrolls across the bottom of the site so that dial-up users -- who account for more than half of FAO Schwarz's online customers -- won't get impatient.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp01

Hybrid DDoS worm strikes MS servers
A known vulnerability in Microsoft SQL server systems is being targeted by a hybrid worm that combines a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS) with the automated propagation techniques used by worms such as Code Red. U.S.-based security company SecurityFocus noticed a rapidly growing network of controlled agents known as bots on Tuesday, which reportedly increased by 600 percent in the space of six hours. The bots were being used to launch DDoS attacks on systems wrongly configured with Microsoft SQL Server software.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Linux gets spruced-up desktop
The K Desktop Environment Project has released a new version of KDE. The software is a desktop environment running on top of Linux, the open-source operating system favoured by software developers and many Web sites. KDE 2.2.2 fixes bugs and security glitches and adds a few new features over 2.2.1, released last month, but the main advantage to users will be speed improvements. The new desktop speeds up icon loading and some dialog boxes. Some developers feel that KDE's performance -- which has been criticized as slow -- is now the main issue developers should focus on.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Can broadband revive tech industry?
Technology and telecoms firms could kickstart their languishing business if they can get the high-speed Internet into homes and small offices. At the Idate broadband conference here this week, executives will examine how broadband can be rolled out to a mass audience, despite the current economic slowdown and the financial woes of telecoms operators. Broadband gives people access to the Internet at speeds of up to 1.5 megabits per second, roughly 25 times faster than a standard dial-up telephone modem.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

DNA -- the building blocks of a computer
Following Mother Nature's lead, Israeli scientists have built a DNA computer so tiny that a trillion of them could fit in a test tube and perform a billion operations per second with 99.8 percent accuracy. Instead of using figures and formulas to solve a problem, the microscopic computer's input, output and software are made up of DNA molecules -- which store and process encoded information in living organisms. Scientists see such DNA computers as future competitors to their more conventional cousins because miniaturization is reaching its limits and DNA has the potential to be much faster than conventional computers.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

High demand for James Bond-style gadgets
Demand for high-tech spy gadgets and weapons has soared since September 11 and companies are scrambling to invent more as governments beef up security in response to global jitters. Sipping champagne among racks of guns, government and corporate representatives at a trade fair in Paris this week checked out the latest systems, including exploding robots and remote-controlled spy planes. "It looks very James Bond, but it is very professional and not a toy," Francois Mottin from French firm Exavision said, as his robot surveillance invention whizzed past.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Didn't There Used to Be Stars?
The night sky is fading. Because of the growing glow from street lights, illuminated signs, and brightly lit homes and offices, city dwellers are losing the night's deep velvet skies. The Milky Way is dimming, and even last Sunday's Leonid meteor storm was, for many of us, washed-out by light pollution. Pierantonio Cinzano and Fabio Falchi of Italy's University of Padova estimate that two-thirds of the world population, including 99 percent of the people in the continental United States and Europe, live under light-polluted skies.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,48593,00.html

The Tech of Star Trek: Part 2
Star Trek is set three centuries in the future, but the technology on the show is frequently behind the technology in use today. The most glaring example is the computer technology on the show. The captain of the "Voyager" series works with hardware clearly inferior to that of many present-day college students. "I have a laptop on my desk that's thinner than Captain Janeway's," said Rick Berman, executive producer of the television and movie franchise.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,48575,00.html

Free Card Game Is Such a Deal
An old card game goes online with a new subscription system -- one that doesn't involve monthly fees. Developed in 1993 and played by over six million people around the world, Magic: The Gathering is a card game that pits two players -- or a series of players -- against each other. Players build decks by buying or trading for new characters as they are released. It's a cross between Dungeons & Dragons and the old card game, War. Each player begins the game with a given number of points. By playing particular cards, opponents can attack each other by casting magic spells or releasing fighters. The goal of the game is to reduce the opponent's point total to zero.
http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,48257,00.html

Peter Gabriel powers Tiscali music downloads
Tiscali has joined up with artist and producer Peter Gabriel to flog music online. The service will be available from mid December and will enable users to rent or buy tracks from Mr Gabriel's digital music distribution company - OD2 - which was launched earlier this year. Essentially a massive music library containing thousands of tracks from record companies including BMG, EMI, Telstar, Mushroom, Realworld Records and V2, the service gives punters access to music online while ensuring artists get paid.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/22999.html

China shuts down over 17,000 Internet bars
Chinese authorities have shut down more than 17,000 Internet bars for failing to block Web sites considered subversive or pornographic, a state-run newspaper reported. The closures came during a nationwide sweep of China’s 94,000 Internet bars that was launched in April, the Shanghai-based Wen Hui Bao reported Tuesday. Called “wang ba” in Mandarin Chinese, most Internet bars here are nothing more than dimly lit one-room shops with a dozen personal computers. They are now found in almost every Chinese city and even large villages. Almost 27 million of China’s 1.3 billion people now log on, up from 4 million just two years ago, according to government figures.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/661393.asp?0si=-

Pop goes the music industry’s profit
When EMI reported steep first-half losses this week, the British music giant downplayed digital piracy as the source of its slumping sales. But even as financially troubled EMI hopes for a rebound in the critical Christmas season with hot releases from Garth Brooks and Lenny Kravitz, the growing popularity of CD-burning, video games and Napster clones threatens to accelerate the music industry’s global sales slowdown, analysts say.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/661412.asp?0si=-

Build your own PC and save
Personal computers are traditionally a popular holiday gift. With PC prices falling, it’s not hard to find a great deal. But if you’re looking for a truly rock-bottom price, consider building a PC from scratch. These days, it’s so easy, a 13-year-old can handle it — though first you may need to find a 13-year-old to help out. If you’re fearless enough to open up a computer case and install a device like a modem, you’ve probably got enough skill and confidence to build a state-of-the-art box from parts. If not, you’ll need some help. Here are some suggestions for a trouble-free assembly from my son Matthew....
http://www.msnbc.com/news/659917.asp?0si=-

First inter-satellite laser link made
A long-distance laser communication link between two Earth-orbiting satellites has been established for the first time. The technique allows fast moving, low Earth orbit satellites to relay information to the ground almost instantaneously via a geostationary satellite fixed in a much higher orbit. The experimental laser used sent data at five megabits per second, allowing still images to be sent. But the latest laser systems in development have much greater capacity and could be used to relay communications or video.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991603

Anti-terror law bad news for foreign hackers
The Justice Department, using the recently approved antiterrorism law, can now prosecute foreign hackers when they attack computers in their own or other countries outside the United States. Critics said Wednesday the change could make the United States the world's Internet policeman and set a precedent that would apply American values to the worldwide network.
http://www.salon.com/tech/wire/2001/...ers/index.html

More news later on

[Dawn]

Thanks for the news Walkman

[TankGirl]

Damned Dawn managed to grab the first copy...

Thanks again WT, great work... and thanks for the previous issue too which was excellent. You took it to the archives almost too quickly but luckily the archives are there....

- tg