The Newspaper Shop -- Tuesday edition

[walktalker]

P2P's little secret
File swappers hoping to share music and other works online without exposing their identity to the prying eyes of copyright enforcers face a tough choice. Popular peer-to-peer networks such as Kazaa, where the lion's share of online trading of music and other files takes place, are designed such that participants who wish to remain completely anonymous must pay a severe price in terms of convenience and usability, experts warn. "There is no good system out there for hiding identities," said Randy Saaf, president of MediaDefender, a Los Angeles-based company that investigates peer-to-peer networks for the music industry. "If they're sharing content, they're wide open--they're running the risk. It's hard to anonymize people on a big public network."
http://news.com.com/2100-1029_3-1023...g=fd_lede1_hed

Torvalds: What, me worry?
Linus Torvalds, who rose to fame by creating a successful alternative to Microsoft's Windows operating system, is no stranger to center stage. But this is the sort of attention Linux's founder could probably do without. The trouble began last March when SCO Group sued IBM for allegedly using SCO's Unix trade secrets in Linux. SCO subsequently claimed that its UnixWare source code also was copied line by line into the Linux "kernel" that Torvalds began writing as a computer science student in Finland in 1991 and still oversees. The legal contretemps focused new attention on the process that developers follow to create open-source applications: The source code that Linux programmers contribute to open-source software is freely shared. SCO specifically blames Torvalds for not establishing a mechanism to check whether code violates intellectual property (IP) rights such as patents or copyrights.
http://news.com.com/2008-1082_3-1023...g=fd_lede2_hed

ISP helps members sell Net to neighbors
Speakeasy, an independent broadband service provider, is turning its customers into mini-ISPs by giving them the tools to sell wireless Net access to their neighbors. Under the NetShare program, the Seattle-based Internet service provider is allowing people to resell access to their broadband connection to neighbors for anywhere from $20 to $100 a month. Speakeasy handles the billing, provides the downstream customers with their own e-mail boxes and other ISP basics, and takes half the amount charged on their bills. "It's a great way to use Wi-Fi at the grassroots level to extend the reach of broadband," said Joe Laszlo, an analyst with Jupiter Research. "Speakeasy gets more customers for their service, without having to pay anyone else for costly DSL (digital subscriber lines)."
http://news.com.com/2100-1034_3-1023861.html?tag=fd_top

Overture usurps Google at Freeserve U.K.
Overture Services won the Web search business of U.K. Internet service provider Freeserve, supplanting Google in its flagship service and laying out new terrain for a fight. A representative for Pasadena, Calif.-based Overture, a search company known for its commercial service, confirmed Tuesday that Freeserve U.K., the country's largest Net access provider, started using its search software this week. Mountain View, Calif.-based Google has powered Freeserve's search capabilities for approximately the last year. Overture's win comes months after it entered the algorithmic search business, over which Google reigns. Overture's signature business is in selling and distributing advertising text links to the search results of major Web portals -- including Yahoo and Microsoft's MSN -- a lucrative industry in which Google has become a dominant rival in the last year.
http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-1023896.html?tag=fd_top

McDonald's serves up wireless Web access
Would you like Internet access with your fries? McDonald's is convinced that, for many people, the answer is yes. However, even as it expands the number of restaurants offering wireless Internet access, company executives admit they are still trying to figure out the dollars and cents that will make the move add up. On Tuesday, the company announced a second trial of Wi-Fi access, announcing it has equipped dozens of restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area with the gear its customers need in order to surf the Web while wolfing down some Chicken McNuggets. Earlier this year, the company began offering service at 10 restaurants in Manhattan.
http://news.com.com/2100-1039_3-1023844.html?tag=fd_top

Lawmakers debate antispam plan
The Bush administration on Tuesday urged Congress to enact a new law criminalizing pornographic and fraudulent spam. William Moschella, an assistant attorney general, said the Department of Justice supports a bill called the Reduction in Distribution (RID) of Spam Act. "We at the department believe the legislation addresses the most difficult types of e-mail to address, and that is the fraudulent and the pornographic," Moschella told a House of Representatives subcommittee. "And for that reason, we're very supportive." If the RID Spam Act, which has been endorsed by AOL Time Warner and Microsoft, were to become law, it would require warning labels on unsolicited commercial e-mail and would prohibit falsifying e-mail headers. Violators would be punished by fines and, depending on the circumstances, up to two years in prison.
http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-1023740.html?tag=fd_top

As population matures, so do assisted-living technologies
Eric Dishman is making a cup of tea — and his kitchen knows it. At Intel’s Proactive Health Research lab in Hillsboro, OR, tiny sensors monitor the researcher’s every move. Radio frequency identification tags and magnetic sensors discreetly affixed to mugs, a tea jar, and a kettle, plus switches that tell when cabinet doors are open or closed, track each tea-making step. A nearby computer makes sense of these signals; if Dishman pauses for too long, video clips on a television prompt him with what to do next. It’s all part of a growing effort at Intel and other labs around the country to develop ways to help the elderly, and others who need assistance with everyday activities.
http://www.technologyreview.com/arti...ation10703.asp

Text-happy Brits need deep pockets
UK mobile phone users pay more for sending text messages than everyone else in Europe, except Spain. Sending a text message in the UK is up to four times more expensive than in Cyprus or Denmark, according to communications consultancy, Broad Group, which published the statistics in its Mobile Data Pricing study. According to the survey, the cheapest places in Europe to send text messages are Cyprus, Denmark and Norway, where the average text message costs between 2.4 pence and 4.2 pence. The most expensive text messages are sent in Spain (11 pence), followed closely by the UK (10.4 pence) and Sweden (9.7 pence). Oftel, the UK telecoms regulator, says competition in the UK text messaging market is healthy and does not think that intervention is necessary.
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2137240,00.html

Tracking tag firm exposes confidential data online
An organisation that plans to tag and track all manufactured goods over the internet has suffered an embarrassing security breach that exposed confidential documents on its website. The Auto-ID Centre is a body of 100 companies and five leading research universities, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which is committed to developing a global internet infrastructure that will track all objects tagged with radio frequency ID (RFID) chips. But privacy body Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering (Caspian) discovered a hole on the firm's web site that allows visitors to access confidential plans.
http://silicon.com/news/500013-500001/1/5037.html

Court backs thumbnail image linking
Search engines' display of miniature images is fair use under copyright law, a federal appeals court ruled Monday, but the legality of presenting full-size renditions of visual works is yet to be determined. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' decision is a partial win for defendant Arriba Soft -- an image search engine now known as Ditto.com -- in its case against photographer Leslie Kelly. Kelly sued Arriba Soft in April 1999 for copyright infringement when the company's software had recorded miniatures, or thumbnails, and full sizes of Kelly's digital photos and made them accessible via its search engine. The court ruled that use of thumbnail images in search engines is legal, confirming an earlier ruling by the same court from February 2002. But the court withdrew a previous decision on the display of full-size images, which it had deemed out of the bounds of fair use because it was likely to harm the market for Kelly's work.
http://news.com.com/2100-1025_3-1023629.html?tag=cd_mh

Recycling? It's Really Reselling
For most Americans, the word recycle brings to mind an image of green bins overflowing with newspapers, plastic bottles and soda cans that are later molded into something useful. What they probably don't picture is their waste being sold to Third World countries at a profit for certain companies -- which appears to be the case with cell-phone recycling programs. Customers who visit any cell-phone retail store or an office-supply chain like Staples will find a recycling bin urging cell-phone users to do their fair share for the environment. "Recycle your old phone, PDA or pager here," a tall plastic stand at Staples reads. But what Staples and other retailers don't tell customers is that phones dropped off at the bins are likely to be sold to Third World cell-phone operators with the profits split among various companies -- including Staples.
http://www.wired.com/news/wireless/0,1382,59530,00.html

The Super Power Issue: Being Invisible
Invisibility has been on humanity's wish list at least since Amon-Ra, a diety who could disappear and reappear at will, joined the Egyptian pantheon in 2008 BC. With recent advances in optics and computing, however, this elusive goal is no longer purely imaginary. Last spring, Susumu Tachi, an engineering professor at the University of Tokyo, demonstrated a crude invisibility cloak. Through the clever application of some dirt-cheap technology, the Japanese inventor has brought personal invisibility a step closer to reality. Tachi's cloak - a shiny raincoat that serves as a movie screen, showing imagery from a video camera positioned behind the wearer - is more gimmick than practical prototype. Nonetheless, from the right angle and under controlled circumstances, it does make a sort of ghost of the wearer.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1...invisible.html

Study: Gamers Not Reclusive Nerds
Roughly two-thirds of college students play video games, but the image of a nerdy guy who spends all day in a dimly lit room blowing up computer-generated bad guys is off base, according to a new study. College gamers are not necessarily male -- or antisocial hermits. And while about one-third of those surveyed admitted playing computer games during class, the games generally don't conflict with their studies, says the researcher who conducted the survey for the Pew Internet & American Life Project. "It's not taking the place of studying; nor is it taking away from other activities," says researcher Steve Jones, chairman of the communications department at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,59547,00.html

Iranian twins die in surgery
Ladan Bijani was the first to succumb, shortly after surgeons separated her head from that of her sister. Laleh died an hour and a half later, hospital officials have confirmed. In a statement they said: "Raffles Hospital regrets to announce that the Bijani twins, Ladan and Laleh, have both passed away during surgery to separate them." Earlier, hospital spokesman Dr Prem Kumar explained that the 29 year-old sisters had both lost a lot of blood during the operation and were in a critical state. A team of 28 doctors and 100 medical assistants were involved in the surgery to separate the twins.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3053638.stm

Hi-tech babble baffles many
Most people are confused and flummoxed by the jargon used to describe new technology, says a survey. Terms such as MP3 and Bluetooth are only understood by a small number of people, a report by a consumer research group found. The findings are bad news for the industry, as it suggests that the baffling terms are putting people off buying the latest gadget. "The technology industry must simplify its vocabulary so that consumers around the world can better understand the benefits technology can bring to their lives," said Patrick Moorhead, chairman of AMD's Global Consumer Advisory Board, which commissioned the study.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3054210.stm

P-Cube: Don't Fear the P2P
IP engineering firm P-Cube Monday unveiled a new SmartStart-P2P program it says will help companies keep from freaking out any time someone mentions the phrase peer-to-peer. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company says its new venture is a regimented diet of products and services that let broadband Internet service providers (ISP) understand the impact of broadband apps, such as peer-to-peer (P2P), on their networks. The program also includes software tools to cut down on the amount of related problems such as congestion, poor QoS, and high latency.
http://siliconvalley.internet.com/ne...le.php/2232001