The Newspaper Shop -- Tuesday edition

[walktalker]

'Goner' worm spreading fast
A mass-mailing e-mail worm started to spread quickly Tuesday, prompting antivirus software makers to advise their customers to upgrade their virus definitions. Dubbed Pentagone, Goner or Gone, the Visual Basic Script program spreads via e-mail and the messaging system ICQ. On infected computers, it stops most antivirus and security programs. MessageLabs has captured more than 23,000 e-mails containing copies of the worm, said Sunner, adding that the rate, now at about 100 messages per minute, is increasing.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp01

AOL pledges allegiance to Liberty
AOL Time Warner has joined a coalition of technology companies creating a common online registration and identity system to counter Microsoft's ambitions with its Passport service, an AOL spokesman confirmed Tuesday. AOL will become a founding member of the 34-company Liberty Alliance Project. The group will hold a governance meeting later this week to map out the steps it plans to take to establish this new technology.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Could XP allow hackers into your fridge?
Microsoft's release of a version of Windows XP that can squeeze into all sorts of devices, from slot machines to set-top boxes to cash registers, has a catch: If you're not careful, you could find that a virus has crashed your video recorder, or a hacker has invaded your refrigerator. With Windows XP Embedded, the software company is aiming to give makers of so-called "embedded" devices -- basically, any digital device that isn't a PC -- an easy way of building machines that are compatible with the software of the PC world, while including only as much complexity as is needed.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Microsoft urges EU to accept settlement
Microsoft is asking for European competition regulators to dismiss their investigation into the software company's business practices, arguing they should accept the settlement Microsoft has reached in the U.S. antitrust case. In a confidential 102-page court filing obtained by the Associated Press, Microsoft said that "all of the areas" of Europe's investigation are covered by the U.S. settlement, which has not yet been approved. Critics have said that the U.S. settlement will do nothing to limit Microsoft's monopolistic practices, which have already been ruled illegal. And EC officials have said that the investigation in Europe will continue, unaffected by Microsoft's settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Bluetooth shipments start to take off
Three separate market reports are giving encouraging news for Bluetooth, suggesting that the wireless technology is at last beginning to catch on. Analysts projected that chipset shipments of Bluetooth, the short-range radio technology for connecting PCs, consumer gadgets and peripherals, will push above 5 million this year, with some estimates topping 13 million units. While the numbers are a fraction of what Bluetooth is eventually expected to achieve, analysts said they show the technology is on track to becoming ubiquitous.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

States to sharpen claws in Microsoft case
A group of nine states plans to propose stiff sanctions against Microsoft that could include further opening the Windows source code and could extend to technologies not directly covered by the landmark antitrust case, sources say. The states are preparing to deliver a remedy proposal to U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly on Friday to meet a court-imposed deadline. Microsoft has until Dec. 12 to respond to the legal filing. The remedy, if accepted, could go well beyond last month's settlement between the company and the government, which includes the Justice Department and half the states that were co-plaintiffs with the federal agency.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200...html?tag=mn_hd

Gateway wins White House
Gateway has won another term in the White House. The PC maker announced Tuesday that it has signed a deal to provide systems to the Office of Administration, whose duties include managing PC hardware for the White House. The deal is a blanket purchase agreement -- valued at $1.7 million -- to place Gateway PCs and other equipment throughout the White House, including the president's office. Gateway PCs are already used inside the West Wing, along with hardware from other manufacturers. This time the company was able to win top spot in an open bidding process against Dell Computer, a source familiar with the bidding process said.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200...html?tag=mn_hd

RealNetworks plugs in MusicNet
RealNetworks launched its much-anticipated subscription service for online music Tuesday, offering a major test of consumer demand for paid content on the Web. The service, known as RealOne Music, comes amid a flurry of similar announcements -- and a chorus of skepticism about the prospects for paid subscriptions in the face of free songs available on file-swapping services popularized by Napster. As reported earlier, RealNetworks said it will charge $9.95 a month for the service on its own, or $19.95 a month as part of a larger package of content that includes exclusive sports, entertainment and news programming.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=mn_hd

Mixed reviews for EchoStar-DirecTV deal
Lawmakers said on Tuesday they were split over whether satellite television provider EchoStar Communications' purchase of rival DirecTV would decrease competition in the pay-television market and lead to higher prices. While EchoStar Chief Executive Charlie Ergen admitted the deal would result in less competition in some areas, he added that it would offer new services such as high-speed Internet access that otherwise would not be readily available.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1004-200...html?tag=mn_hd

Online kiosks aid abused women
Women who are victims of domestic violence will soon be able to turn to technology for help. London women who suffer mental and physical abuse by their spouses or partners will be able to find and contact support services via the net-connected kiosks that dot some of the capital's streets. The project has the backing of charities working to end domestic violence.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci...00/1691434.stm

Ameritrade glitch stops some Web trades
Weeks after Ameritrade bought National Discount Brokers, corporate customers whose accounts were automatically transferred to the new company can't make stock trades or get account information online because of a data transfer problem. Ameritrade spokeswoman Donna Kush said they got the customer information in an unusable form from AST StockPlan, which administers the accounts and acted as a middleman between NDB and NDB's corporate clients.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Will DSL benefit from Excite@Home fiasco?
A major cable provider is dead. Long live DSL. That's the message from some leading digital subscriber line (DSL) companies, which are offering free installation and other perks to customers without high-speed Internet access because of Excite@Home's bankruptcy proceedings. Since Saturday, when Excite@Home terminated service to AT&T customers, cable companies have migrated more than half of Excite@Home's 4.1 million customers to their independent networks.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1004-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Army nominee stresses high-tech needs
Claude Bolton, nominated to head acquisitions, logistics and technology for the U.S. Army, on Tuesday underscored the importance of science and technology and maintaining a qualified work force. Bolton, a trained fighter pilot with 22 years of active duty with the U.S. Air Force, told the Senate Armed Services Committee one of the biggest challenges facing the Army is its effort to become an innovative and flexible high-tech force.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Vivendi trims staff in new division
French media giant Vivendi Universal said Tuesday that it is restructuring a recently created online business unit, cutting 20 percent of the division's work force. Vivendi Universal Net USA Group will eliminate 130 jobs, focusing on redundant positions in finance, human resources, marketing and sales, Vivendi said. Staff members, who will be given compensation packages, are being notified this week. The company said the cuts are intended to move the unit toward profitability. Vivendi further said that GetMusic Chief Executive Andrew Nibley will leave the company to pursue other interests. Nibley is not among the 130 employees who will be laid off.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Online-ad sales continue to slide
U.S. Internet-advertising sales hit $5.55 billion for the first nine months of 2001, slipping 8.4 percent from the same period last year, according to a report released Tuesday. Advertising revenues totaled $1.79 billion in the third quarter, off 4.1 percent from $1.87 billion in the previous quarter, according to industry trade group the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). The decline is the industry's third straight dip in quarterly sales. The IAB's quarterly report, the Internet Ad Revenue Report, is conducted independently by PricewaterhouseCoopers' New Media Group.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_mh

FBI builds cybercrime division
The FBI announced Monday that, as part of its latest reorganization, the agency is forming a Cybercrime Division to handle intellectual-property, high-tech and computer crimes. The new organization shifts 11 existing divisions into four new units, said spokeswoman Deborah Weierman. The Cybercrime Division will be paired with the Criminal Investigation Division under Ruben Garcia Jr., the new executive assistant director for Criminal Investigations. The three other divisions are Counterterrorism / Counterintelligence, Law Enforcement Services, and Administration.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_mh

United Online cuts off some paying customers
United Online said Monday that it has stopped providing Internet service to some paying subscribers in a move to keep afloat through the economic storm. The Internet service provider, formed earlier this year through the merger of NetZero and Juno Online Services, said it sent termination notices to "a small percentage" of paying subscribers Friday. "Based upon certain factors, including the cost of telecommunications services in (those customers') area and their pattern of usage of our service, it has become cost-prohibitive to continue providing their current service," the company said in a statement.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Devices keep finger on wearer's pulse, place
It sees you when you're sleeping and knows when you're awake -- and it can keep track of your heart rate, body temperature and geographic location. No word yet on whether that means it knows if you've been bad or good. Applied Digital Solutions is launching a new line of products under the "Digital Angel" name that allow the monitoring of a person's whereabouts and vital statistics. The company began testing the devices last month and is launching a national campaign in southern Florida.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Kodak, Sanyo go organic in screen venture
Sanyo Electric, Japan's third-largest consumer electronics maker, and photo film giant Eastman Kodak on Tuesday unveiled plans for the world's first mass production of ultrathin, next-generation displays. A joint venture, targeted for total investment of $400 million, would expand cooperation between the two in organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays and aims to get a head start on a slew of rivals in the hot new technology.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200...html?tag=cd_mh

More news later on

[walktalker]

NASA: Taking Privatization Public
For years, Ed Hudgins was ignored, rebuffed and even mocked for suggesting ideas such as selling off NASA's space shuttle and space station. But after the Bush administration decided to move in that direction, the Cato Institute analyst is starting to look almost prophetic. Hudgins is the laissez-faire think tank's director of regulatory studies, a former economist for Congress' Joint Economic Committee, and the author of the forthcoming book Space: The Free-Market Frontier.
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,48814,00.html

Olympics Net Security Is His Game
At least one of the techies in charge of securing the 2002 Olympic Winter Games' computer network is having a lot of fun. Despite general security concerns and fears of attacks directed at the Olympics computer system, Matt McClung of Salt Lake City security firm Satel is excited about a job that would leave many systems administrators in a catatonic state.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,48665,00.html

Corner of Art Place and Tech Lane
A new book by San Francisco State University professor and digital artist Stephen Wilson examines the ways in which contemporary artists use science and technology to explore their ideas. And while art and science have been intertwined for centuries, it looks like it's going to be a while before artists and scientists collaborate on an equal footing. "When art and technology come together, magical things happen," said Andy Cunningham, founder of ZeroOne, a nonprofit art and technology organization.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,48836,00.html

Snail Mail, or E-Card Go?
Sending holiday greeting cards is a tradition that most people will continue this year despite recent cases of anthrax-tainted envelopes in the mail. "We're looking at a normal holiday mailing this year," said Horace Hinshaw, a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service, which typically handles about 4 billion pieces of mail between Thanksgiving and the end of the year. "We're encouraging people to continue using the mail service."
http://www.wired.com/news/holidays/0,1882,48343,00.html

At an Ashram Near You: His Aura
Meditation is not widely known as a spectator sport. The most introverted and ascetic of activities, it doesn't usually involve tech gadgetry, rave-style visuals or a sizeable audience. But when Ansuman Biswas meditates, people pay attention. Perched in the lotus position for six hours at a time, the Bengali-born, London-based artist is currently using a homemade electrocardiograph (ECG) device, laptop computer, video camera and real-time video imaging software to reveal his internal processes to the outside world.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,48623,00.html

Anything New in New Media Art?
Just when it seemed like new media art is old news, suddenly it's become big news again. At least that's how the organizers of the 2002 Whitney Biennial -- considered a survey of what's hot in American art -- would like the public to consider the works utilizing new technologies selected for its most eclectic Biennial to date. The curators have proudly announced that the exhibition features "the largest representations ever" of new media art, as if bigger means better. The list of artists was just announced this month; the show opens on March 7, 2002, at New York's Whitney Museum of American Art.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,48728,00.html

Cable-Modem Users Can't Turn to FCC
For the hundreds of thousands of cable-modem users who lost their Internet and e-mail services this past weekend, and for the millions who still might, there is a stark reality: No government agency can help. High-speed Internet access is now as important to many small businesses as electric power and telephone service. Yet unlike those utilities, cable-modem service is not regulated by the government, even by those agencies that oversee Internet access provided by telephone lines.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...-2001Dec3.html

Mail irradiating device born in Star Wars plan
Sometime next year, a big chunk of mail going to U.S. government offices in Washington, D.C., will pass by a $5 million device about the size of a short log. The device will zap letters and packages with electron beams designed to kill bacteria — in this case, anthrax. And Titan, a 20-year-old but mostly unknown company, will be largely responsible for safeguarding mail that crosses the desks of the nation's leaders as the U.S. Postal Service installs eight of its systems. If the anthrax threats persist and the Postal Service expands use of the systems, Titan could protect an even bigger share of the 700 million pieces of mail processed daily in the USA.
http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/t...rradiation.htm

Telescope now 'as good as Hubble'
A ground-based telescope has taken pictures of stars that match the quality of those provided by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in orbit. A team of astronomers and engineers at the Paranal Observatory in South America used a new Adaptive Optics (AO) facility to counteract the distorting effects of the Earth's atmosphere that make stars appear to twinkle when viewed from the ground.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci...00/1691590.stm

Men 'stressed in the womb'
Scientists believe men may be naturally more inclined to suffer from stress, even before birth. Research carried out at the University of Cambridge, UK, suggests men may be predisposed to stress because they release more of the stress hormone cortisol than women. Scientists examined levels of the hormone in unborn lambs and found that males released twice as much cortisol as females.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/hea...00/1689445.stm

AT&T Broadband Customers See Switch Glitches
As AT&T Broadband scrambles to get its cable modem Internet customers switched to its own high-speed network, customer emotions range from satisfaction to outrage over service interruptions and confusion in making the transition to the new system, according to postings in a forum room discussion today. Some users complained of slower speeds while others were grateful to have their high-speed Internet service back and that they were not forced to rely on far slower dialup access.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172683.html

Banks Learn To Write Readable Privacy Policies
Unless you're the type of person who prefers to deposit his savings under the mattress, you likely received at least one lengthy and indecipherable notice this summer describing how your bank handles your personal and financial information. And if you're anything like most consumers, you probably took one look at the notice and promptly tossed it into the trash. Financial institutions sent the notices to comply with new federal consumer privacy regulations. But by nearly all accounts, the majority of the mailings were written to satisfy corporate legal departments and did little to inform consumers of their privacy rights.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172682.html

Tauzin Wants To Pass Privacy Bill Early Next Year
Seeking to prevent California and a handful of other states from enacting strict Internet privacy laws, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin, R-La., today said he would seek to introduce and pass a federal electronic privacy package soon after Congress returns from its holiday break. Speaking to reporters following his luncheon keynote at a high-tech conference here, Tauzin said that it was vital for Congress to move on federal privacy language before any state legislatures enact their own rules.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172681.html

Broadband Set To Squeeze Portals In Europe
A new report predicts tough times ahead for Europe's Web portals, as broadband users start to get picky about which sites they use. The Forrester Research study says that, as the broadband industry evolves, the current crop of portals will face heavy competition from a new generation of content providers. To survive this highly competitive market, today's general interest portals must play to their specific strengths, Hellen K. Omwando, an associate Forrester analyst, told Newsbytes.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172680.html

Web Users Pass On Passport-Style ID Services
Most online shoppers prefer the hassle of multiple Web site registrations rather than having one specific identification for every site they visit, according to a new study from Gartner Inc. "The sober truth is that although consumers are bothered by multiple user IDs and passwords, most consumers don't see much relative value in having one credential to navigate the Web," said Avivah Litan, vice president and research director for Gartner, in a statement.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172677.html

Senate Confirms Former Lawmaker As Patent Office Chief
Former California Republican Representative James Rogan received U.S. Senate confirmation to be named Commerce Department. undersecretary and director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Currently a partner at the law firm of Venable, Baetjer, Howard & Civiletti LLP, Rogan lost his bid for reelection in the most recent congressional election cycle.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172676.html

Hard-Coded Into E-Mail Hell By BadTrans
You think the handful of BadTrans.B worm-infected messages you've received are a pain? Imagine what life is like for Linda Anderson, a Florida resident who's been getting over 500 BadTrans-related e-mail daily for the past week. The latest widespread infectious code to hit the Internet, BadTrans.B has been particularly unkind to 15 people whose e-mail addresses were programmed into the worm by its unidentified author.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172673.html

Online Stores Welcome Increased Trade Down Under
As Australia's online stores began decking out their sites with Christmas offers during November, visitors arrived in increased numbers and there are early indications that sites that understand the medium could get their rewards this year. The first two weeks of November saw a 24 percent increase in visits to e-tailers by Australians over the same period in October, according to the just-released Nielsen/NetRatings' Online Shopping Index.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172666.html

More news later on