The Unforgetable Newspaper Shop -- Friday edition

[walktalker]

Gazing into the chip crystal ball
Last week, a CD-ROM landed on my desk. It looked innocuous enough, with a plain, vaguely 70s cover design in brown and white. Even the title, "International Electron Devices Meeting 2001", seemed intentionally bland -- almost offputtingly so. But the contents of the CD were electrifying: hundreds and hundreds of technical papers given at the IEDM in Washington earlier in December detailing the state of the art in semiconductor research. Some of the ideas will come to nothing: intriguing experiments into blind alleys.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp01

P2P: From piracy to productivity
It's now over two years since a few underground song-swapping services put peer-to-peer technology firmly at the forefront of the IT agenda. Napster's little bout of legal trouble, which kicked off back in December 1999, ground merrily on throughout 2001, but P2P has largely outgrown adolescent distractions like music. Distributed computing is set to play a crucial role in the future of Internet-based computing. A look back at some of the more significant P2P stories of 2001 shows that -- although not a new concept -- P2P is starting to assume a very important role in the corporate space, as tech giants scramble to succeed in this new market.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Walter Hewlett files anti-merger proxy
Hewlett-Packard on Friday reiterated its belief that its proposed merger with Compaq Computer is the best course for the company. Hewlett-Packard's response, revealed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, came a day after Walter Hewlett filed his formal proxy notice to shareholders of Hewlett-Packard stock -- making an official call to vote against the megamerger between HP and Compaq. Hewlett's proxy awaits final approval by the SEC. Once the proxy has been finalized, Hewlett can send green cards asking shareholders to tender their votes against the merger.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

CD prices set to take a plunge
Shoppers may think they have seen enough bargains this holiday season, but CDs at $9.99 may soon be a standard offer at music stores as retailers slash prices in bid to battle the scourge of online music piracy. So for studios, artists and retailers alike, 2001 is closing out as a year of few sweet notes as the industry is also being hit by a lack of blockbuster pop music releases.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Online shoppers evade holiday hassle
It is the dreaded season of gift returns -- a particularly thorny issue online, where sending back a gift is usually confusing and costly for the customer and equally troublesome for the store. After years of trying to improve the system through software and online tools, an increasing number of merchants are falling back on a decidedly low-tech answer by simply letting customers bring their returns to brick-and-mortar stores.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200...html?tag=mn_hd

Robots pick up the pace
Consumer-oriented robots took a number of steps forward in the past year. A start-up in England designed a robot hound that dwarfed Sony's Aibo. Sony hit back with a new pack of robot dogs for the consumer market. Meanwhile, researchers at universities and in the private sector made several breakthroughs in their quest to create an intelligent humanoid.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200...html?tag=mn_hd

@Home employees: Pay stub to pay snub
As Excite@Home slowly shuts down over the next few months, some of the last longtime employees are angry at what they see as a final insult by the company they've been with for years. Under terms of a deal negotiated with the company's creditors several months ago, top managers and executives are getting between four and nine months of severance pay. Most of the rest of the company, including those who have spent five years or more working their way up to relatively senior positions, are getting nothing.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1004-200...html?tag=mn_hd

AOL global membership exceeds 33 million
Internet provider America Online on Friday said its worldwide subscriber base had surpassed 33 million, driven by AOL 7.0, the newest version of its software. In addition to AOL 7.0, which includes advanced high-speed content, AOL has completed its launch of high-speed access over cable in Time Warner Cable's 20 largest markets. The service will be available in the remaining markets next year. The company said that on average, each AOL member spends almost 70 minutes online daily.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=mn_hd

Pay-to-Play Music: Lots of Missed Notes
To subscribe or not to subscribe -- that is the question for digital-music fans this holiday season. At long last, alternatives exist to the Sons of Napster, such as MusicCity's Morpheus and LimeWire, which offer loads of music for trading but often with murky sound quality and unreliable downloads. That highlights the strengths of the trio of paid offerings launched in December: crystal-clear fidelity. The new subscription services include two eagerly anticipated offerings from the Big Five music labels. Pressplay, a venture of Vivendi subsidiary Universal Music Group and Sony Music, went live on Dec. 19.
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/...11227_6780.htm

Sony in talks with Fujitsu on Net business
Sony said Friday it was in talks with computer giant Fujitsu about possible cooperation in the Internet business. Sony did not elaborate on the content of the talks. Both companies said no decision had been reached. The Nihon Keizai Shimbun, however, reported Friday that Sony was in talks to acquire Nifty, Japan's largest Internet service provider, for about $762.7 million from Fujitsu. It said Sony aims to be the biggest Internet service provider in Japan by buying Nifty, while Fujitsu hopes to improve its financial standing through the deal and focus its management resources on its mainstay systems business.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_mh

More news later on

[walktalker]

Surf 'N Hemp: Feel the Power
Waves and cannabis have a long and colorful association, captured memorably on screen by Sean Penn's stoner-surfer Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Now a Republican representing Hawaii in the House of Representatives wants to turn waves and hemp into keywords for responsible cultivation of renewable energy sources. She's already off to a good start.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,49087,00.html

Photo Homage to the Stillborn
At first glance, the newborn appears to be sleeping. He lies tummy-down on a white blanket, legs tucked under a bulky diaper, eyes shut and mouth agape. A pair of teddy bears stand sentry over his small body. But a closer look at the photograph reveals the horrible truth: The baby is dead, his skin discolored by imminent decay. The picture is one of hundreds of stillborn and miscarried babies that bereaved parents have posted on the Internet in virtual memorials for children they say were "born angels."
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,49308,00.html

Patent-Wielding Tumbleweed Jumped The Gun
Online entertainment developer eUniverse says it doesn't plan to make a snap decision on its response to a patent-infringement lawsuit just because e-mail technology company Tumbleweed Communications Corp. was quick to file its claim in a California court. In fact, said Christopher Lipp, vice president and general counsel for Los Angeles-based eUniverse, Tumbleweed's announcement Thursday of a lawsuit focusing on technology for distributing electronic greetings cards might have been a bid to pressure his publicly traded company into a licensing deal.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/173288.html

Dot-God: Religion Clicks With Internet Users
More people in the U.S. use the Internet to get religious and spiritual information than to look for dates, gamble or trade stocks, research has found. One in four Internet users - 28 million people - have turned to the Net for inspiration and 3 million people make such online visits every day, according to Pew Internet and American Life survey findings.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/173287.html

Top Female Tech Engineers May Make More Than Men
Women with plenty of experience in electronics and computer engineering are likely to make more money than their male counterparts, according to a survey from the U.S. arm of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. However the Washington-based IEEE-USA also pointed out in statistics released Thursday that most women in electrotechnology and information-technology jobs aren't pulling in the top dollars that require 20 or more years of experience.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/173285.html

Post Office Internet Growth Stunted By Management
The U.S. Postal Service has been unable to develop a unified and effective Internet and e-commerce strategy, mainly because of a "fragmented" management approach, says a new report issued by the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO). The report, released earlier this week, is a follow-up by the GAO on recommendations it gave to the Postal Service in September 2000 on updating its services for the Internet.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/173283.html

FTC OKs Four ISPs For Service On AOL Time Warner's Cables
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has endorsed a batch of Internet service providers (ISPs) AOL Time Warner has invited to provide competitive Internet access through the communication and media giant's cable systems. The FTC approval Thursday of four ISPs - three of them regional service providers - helps shore up AOL's compliance with open- access conditions the regulator placed on its approval of the America Online/Time Warner merger.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/173277.html

Tech: 2 Steps Forward, 2 Steps Back In 2001
This wasn't quite the year tech stood still -- sometimes it outright retreated. Take Internet access. First the free providers went bust, then the cheap digital-subscriber-line providers collapsed, then DSL carriers NorthPoint Communications Inc. and Rhythms NetConnections Inc. imploded, then -- most ignominiously of all -- Excite At Home, blessed with a monopoly on cable-modem service to 64 million homes, choked to death on its own debt. By the time the smoke clears, millions of people will have been disconnected
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/173264.html

More Cell-Phone Users Cut Ties To Traditional Service
More consumers are behaving like Collins, making cell phones their primary line, and in some cases abandoning their land lines altogether. About 2.2 percent of people in the United States have done away with their regular phone service and depend totally on their cell phones or other wireless devices, according to the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA), a trade group based in Washington. Although it is still nascent, the phenomenon marks a sea change for the telecommunications industry and for residential customers, who traditionally haven’t had a choice for local phone service.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/173261.html

Globalstar Satphone Service Now Available In Afghanistan
Globalstar satellite phones can now be used in Central Asia, including Afghanistan, the satellite telephony carrier has announced. The service is being provided by GlobalTel, Globalstar's Russian service provider. Globalstar says that its satphones are already being used to support medical and humanitarian programs in Afghanistan.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/173286.html

Digital TV Plus Internet Equals Success In U.K.
Better choice of channels and integrated Web access will help attract more U.K. viewers to digital TV, according to a report published today. A study, entitled "Digital Decisions: Viewer Choice and Digital Television" and prepared for the British government, found that features such as Internet access, e-mail and home shopping will all add to the digital TV experience. The report from the Viewers Panel, a voluntary group, is part of the government's first biennial review into the progress made in the changeover to digital TV.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/173276.html

Satellite takes a super-close look at Earth
The highest-resolution commercially available imagery of Earth is streaming out of space, courtesy of DigitalGlobe’s QuickBird satellite. The satellite was lofted into orbit on Oct. 18 and circles the Earth in a 280-mile (450-kilometer) sun-synchronous orbit. That spacecraft track around the planet yields a consistent revisit fly-over of the same spot year-round. A show-off sampling of QuickBird’s high-resolution imagery was made public Dec. 17. For example, a black-and-white image of Bangkok, Thailand, reveals objects on the ground 2 feet (61 centimeters) across. A color shot of McMurdo Station in Antarctica picks up objects 9 feet (2.44 meters) across.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/678981.asp?0dm=C11OT

More news later on

[ab-NORM-al]

Thank You Sir!

[walktalker]

BUMP !!

[gazdet]

lol thanks WT dude