The News Kiosk - Weekend Edition 15 Dec 2001

[TankGirl]

Case against Dmitry Sklyarov dropped

Charges against Dmitry Sklyarov were deferred yesterday allowing the Russian programmer to return home after a five-month enforced stay in the US. Under the terms of a legal deal, Sklyarov must still return to the US to testify in the case that remains against Elcomsoft, Sklyarov's employer, when it faces copyright violation charges under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The legal agreement (signed by US Federal Court Judge Ronald Whyte) should eventually clear Sklyarov of charges brought against him for distributing Advance eBook Processor, an app which busts the access controls on Adobe's eBook reader.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/23403.html


Quantum crypto edges closer

British boffins have made a breakthrough in quantum cryptography, an advanced code-making technology which is theoretically uncrackable, by developing a single photon-emitting diode. This is important because the security of optical quantum cryptography relies on sending a single photon carrying digital information between two parties exchanging encoded information.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/23414.html


Microsoft, terrorism, and computer security

Since 11 September the world has changed immeasurably, but some things remain the same. The single greatest threat to Internet security is still Microsoft -# not the soon to be Osama Haz Bin. Microsoft is not, of course, a terrorist organization. But its ubiquity on the desktop coupled with its poor track record in network security is a tested formula for international disaster.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/23418.html


Wind may explain mystery anthrax cases

The two "mystery" cases of anthrax in the US may have been caused by spores blown on the wind from Trenton, New Jersey where anthrax-laced letters were processed in October. If true, the fear that anthrax was carried widely across North America by contaminated mail may be unfounded.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991697


Messiah does not play pirate software, humans do

Channel Technology has slammed Sony for forcing it to to stop distributing a PlayStation mod-chip product. Their website owner, calling himself Gazza , says the mod-chip can be used for legal purposes, such as playing imported games from other countries and regions and being able to view certain titles in full-screen mode at 60hz resolution on PAL consoles.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/23391.html


Why college radio fears the DMCA

In the heady days of the late 1990s, Internet radio broadcasts were a poster child for the free flow of information over the Web. If the Digital Millennium Copyright Act is fully enforced, webcasting could be just a fond memory for college radio - stations cannot simply afford to webcast their tunes.
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/20...ast/print.html


Artificial intelligence gets ready to party


Cocktail parties and relating to the opposite sex are two very human activities that preoccupy many during the holiday season. Computers are notoriously poor at both: artificial intelligence researchers have long envied the human abilities to assign gender to faces and pick voices out of a noisy babble. A San Diego company has now taught personal computers equivalent feats of recognition.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02


Gadgets put sports fans in the action

For sports fans who want to know what players see and feel during a game, new wireless technology could hold the answer. Cameras fixed to helmets of players and referees show a live video of what they see during the game on a spectator's Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) and a big overhead screen.
Sensors attached to players' bodies send information on their heart rate, showing how tired they are.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...832722,00.html


Pet Wash: A Sadistic Sudser?

Cruddy canine? Funky feline? Hold your nose no longer. Two Spanish entrepreneurs have invented a side-loading automatic pet washing machine, which they claim is safer and less stressful for the animals than washing them by hand. The inventors came up with an industrial strength washing machine that soaps, rinses and dries dogs and cats in less than half an hour.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,48952,00.html

Have fun & be irie!

- tg

[JackSpratts]

Beats the Dishwasher!

- js.

[walktalker]

Thanks a LOT TankGirl