The Newspaper Shop -- Monday edition

[walktalker]

A little shelter of the usual war-related stuff, anyone ?

The changing face of search engines
Ken Abbott knows the ins and outs of search engine marketing: Dollars for clicks are in, directory listings are out. Abbott, head of Web marketing for Integramed.com, which sells infertility treatments, considers obtaining an editorial listing in Yahoo's directory "a waste of time," given that 95 percent of his site's traffic comes from pay-per-click advertising in search networks Overture and Google. Once the primary road signs to navigating the Internet, directories have moved to the shoulder. They are being displaced by algorithmic search tools and commercial services that many people -- Abbott among them -- now believe do a better job in satisfying Web surfers and advertisers.
http://news.com.com/2100-1032-993677...g=fd_lede1_hed

Hotmail restricts outgoing messages
Microsoft's MSN Hotmail, a free Web-based e-mail service, has tightened restrictions on daily outbound messages sent by subscribers, a tactic it says will help curb spam. The Redmond, Wash.-based company on Friday said that Hotmail subscribers are now limited to sending only 100 messages a day "in an effort to prevent spammers from using Hotmail to spread spam," said Lisa Gurry, MSN lead product manager. The change, made last week, should affect only about 1 percent of its nearly 110 million worldwide users, based on historical usage data, Gurry said. "The higher the limit is, the more likely that the service can be used for spam, so we found that 99 percent of Hotmail users would find this new limit perfectly acceptable," she said.
http://news.com.com/2100-1025-993774.html?tag=nl

Plan pulls Net into search for kids
The move to take Amber Alerts from interstates to the Internet is accelerating. California State Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, unveiled a proposal Monday to include Amber Alerts on all state-funded Internet sites. Introduced almost a decade ago, Amber Alerts use highway billboards to post child abduction notices and to enlist public help. The state Senate bill is the latest effort to expand the alerts to Internet sites. "In our increasingly high-tech society, more and more people get on the information superhighway every day," said Florez in a statement. "This will be the equivalent of a flashing road sign for computer users to broaden the search for kidnap victims." Last October, America Online announced plans to post Amber Alerts on its Web site.
http://news.com.com/2100-1028-993907.html?tag=fd_top

Amazon makes bid for Web-ad patent
Online retailer Amazon.com has filed for a patent on a method for auctioning Web advertisements, a move that raises questions about the company's interest in the ad market. The e-commerce giant, which sells limited advertising space on its Web site, recently filed with the United States Patent and Trademark office for a patent that deals with Internet ads. The application was updated Friday. Specifically, the company is seeking a patent for "a method in a computer system for allocating display space on a Web page, the method comprising: receiving multiple bids indicating a bid amount and an advertisement," according to the application.
http://news.com.com/2100-1024-993904.html?tag=fd_top

EarthLink looks to speed dial-up Net
Internet service provider EarthLink is launching a new set of products aimed at people who are tired of dial-up slowdowns but aren't yet ready to pay broadband's high price tag. This week the company is kicking off a new $28.95 offer that bundles a so-called Web accelerator service with an ordinary dial-up account. Using a combination of techniques, the service can speed Web page loading times by up to five times, although it has no effect on other activities such as e-mail or file-swapping downloads. EarthLink is also test-marketing a low-priced, basic DSL (digital subscriber line) service, although the company has no launch date planned.
http://news.com.com/2100-1032-993893.html?tag=fd_top

Office 2003 may pose antivirus problem
The latest test version of Microsoft Office 2003 could cause problems for antivirus companies because the XML-based format it supports will bog down scanning software, according to security experts. The problem centers on macros embedded in documents in the Office 2003 beta, or test, version. When saved as an XML (Extensible Markup Language) file, the macros can more or less wind up anywhere. This means that scanners must search the entire contents of a file, rather than examine the part of the file where macros are always positioned. Although a simple solution has been put forward by the antivirus industry, Microsoft has not yet introduced any changes. A Microsoft spokesperson said the problem is an issue for XML documents in general and not specific to Office 2003.
http://news.com.com/2100-1002-993696.html?tag=cd_mh

IBM wins academic oil research deal
The University of Texas bought about 4 tons worth of IBM supercomputer for a project to model how oil and gas flow beneath the surface of the earth, Big Blue said Friday. The system consists of 32 p655 Unix servers, each with four Power4 processors, and a single 32-processor p690. The list price for that equipment is more than $6 million, though the university got a discount, IBM said. IBM competes in the supercomputer market with established companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems and newer arrival Dell Computer. In 2002, Big Blue rapidly grew to second place in the high-performance technical computing market, nearly catching up to HP's No. 1 spot. The systems, to be installed at the university's Texas Advanced Computing Center, will more than triple the power of an existing IBM Power4 system, the university said in a statement.
http://news.com.com/2100-1010-993657.html?tag=cd_mh

Schism hits key open-source group
A schism has struck the XFree86 movement, an open-source graphics project key to Linux and several other operating systems, resulting in the expulsion, by the core group in charge of the project, of one of its members. The six-member Core Team of the XFree86 project announced Thursday that it had ejected member Keith Packard for trying to create a parallel XFree86 project and refusing to discuss reasons for the radical move with the rest of the core team. The core team disclosed the ouster in conjunction with an announcement of a new mailing list to discuss XFree86's future. In an interview, Packard didn't comment on specific actions but indicated that he was trying to make it easier for interested and qualified programmers to contribute to the XFree86 project. "XFree86 is not currently a friendly place to play," he said.
http://news.com.com/2100-1016-993597.html?tag=cd_mh

Microsoft patch freezes some systems
A patch for a security flaw that affects Microsoft's Web server software running on Windows 2000 has caused system freezes for some customers, the company said Thursday. The company became aware of the problem after several customers who applied the patch, released Monday, complained that their updated Windows 2000 system wouldn't run, said Iain Mulholland, program manager for the Microsoft Security Response Center. "We would have probably caught it if we had a longer testing period," he said. But he stressed that because an attacker had already used the vulnerability to compromise a customer's system, Microsoft had rushed to send the patch out.
http://news.com.com/2100-1002-993515.html?tag=nl

Virus writers take advantage of war
Virus writers have taken advantage of the onset of a U.S. war on Iraq to release an e-mail supposedly offering a variety of war-themed attachments, ranging from secret U.S. spy pictures to screensavers mocking President Bush. However, the e-mails actually contain a new worm called Ganda. The worm, which is thought to originate in Sweden, travels in an e-mail with a variety of subject lines and body text -- all intended to trick recipients into running the virus-ridden attachment. "We're keen to stress that we still have this virus as a low risk at the moment," said Jack Clark, a manager for McAfee anti-virus products. "But it does show how far some virus writers are prepared to go to get attention."
http://news.com.com/1200-1002-993549.html

China nabs illegal advertisers with spam
Authorities in China are using a computer program that spams illegal advertisers' mobile phones until they turn themselves in. Officials in Hangzhou, the capital of China's Zhejiang province, have developed a system that bombards mobile phones with prerecorded voice messages. The computerized phone-spamming technology targets people who put up illegal advertisements that contain mobile numbers, according to the People's Daily newspaper. According to the report, illegal stickers have become an eyesore in recent years, with China's coastal and urbanized areas blighted with a blizzard of advertisements. This is because the postcard-size stickers, which promote everything from fake identity cards to counterfeit academic certifications, are cheap to produce and offer some anonymity.
http://news.com.com/2100-1039-993861.html?tag=cd_mh

Germany restricts game it says glorifies war
Electronic Arts, the nation's largest maker of video games, says it is caught in the crossfire between the German and United States governments over the Iraq war. This month, the German government listed a new game produced by Electronic Arts on an index of games the government considers violent. Such games may not be advertised or displayed on shelves in Germany, although they may be kept under store counters and sold to adults. The game, Command & Conquer Generals, depicts an animated siege of Baghdad, with the United States military battling a fictional terrorist group called the Global Liberation Army, which bombs the city with missiles carrying anthrax, killing civilians.
http://news.com.com/1200-1043-993849.html?tag=nl

Antiwar hacker strikes the U.S. Navy
Virus writer and hacker activity has stepped up dramatically since the U.S. and U.K. armed forces started their war against Iraq. In the past 48 hours, more than 1,000 Web sites have been hacked and defaced, according to F-Secure. The Internet security company suggests most of the vandalism was made in the response to the military action in the Gulf. Among those attacked are a number of U.S. military sites, as well as commercial and political properties. Many were defaced with antiwar messages as the weight of protest mounts. Perhaps most notably, the U.S. Navy Web site was hacked by an activist called Apocalypse. The message posted on the site read: "No War, U.S.A think they can tell the world what to do, It is not what you can do for your country, it's what your country can do for you! This defacement is dedicated to my bro."
http://news.com.com/1200-1002-993690.html?tag=nl

Paid content slowly winning converts
Consumers are warming to the notion of paying for online content, but that isn't likely to translate to a significant source of revenue for Internet companies anytime soon, according to a new study. In a report released Monday, Jupiter Research predicted that consumers will pay $2 billion for online content in 2003, a 30 percent jump from the $1.6 billion they spent last year. The company also predicted that paid content will then grow at a 20 percent rate through 2007 to reach $5.4 billion.
http://news.com.com/2100-1025-993832.html?tag=cd_mh

Tech hides data, ID inside songs
SunnComm Technologies, one of several companies developing anti-CD copying products, has licensed a new technique that can hide data, video, software or an identifying watermark inside music files. The company said Thursday that it is working with Stealth MediaLabs to create a kind of super-watermark that can be embedded inside music files, which -- the companies contend -- can survive if the song is digitally compressed, rerecorded through an analog connection, or even if the song is recorded off the radio. SunnComm realized that the watermark-like technology, originally licensed with the intent of helping to bolster copy protection, can also carry other data such as liner notes or pictures, executives said. The company is focusing on the copy-protection uses but also will work with record labels that may be interested in embedding other information.
http://news.com.com/2100-1027-993588.html?tag=cd_mh

Public to chime in on copyright law
Fans and foes of the controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act soon will have another chance to tell the U.S. government what they think. The Library of Congress' Copyright Office said on Thursday that it will hold a series of public hearings over the next two months in Washington, D.C. and California to decide what changes, if any, should be made to the section of the DMCA that restricts bypassing copy-protection schemes. Anyone with strong feelings about the DMCA, one way or another, may submit a request by Apr. 1 to testify during the public forums, the Copyright Office said in its announcement. The hearing dates in the U.S. capital will be Apr. 11, Apr. 15 and May 2. The dates and locations in California have not been set yet. The Copyright Office's announcement comes as criticism of the DMCA's "anticircumvention" restrictions has grown.
http://news.com.com/2100-1028-993495.html?tag=cd_mh

For AOL, 8.0 is not yet enough
America Online is planning to launch an enhanced version of its AOL 8.0 service next week as part of an effort to revitalize its struggling Internet service and to burnish the appeal of its broadband technology. The launch of AOL 8.0 Plus comes six months after the AOL Time Warner division unveiled the first incarnation of AOL 8.0. As part of the launch, a source close to the company said, the online heavyweight will spend $35 million in an advertising campaign. The campaign got under way during Sunday night's Academy Awards show with a commercial starring actress Sharon Stone.
http://news.com.com/2100-1025-993826.html

Sonicblue seeks bankruptcy protection
Hardware maker Sonicblue has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and intends to sell its ReplayTV digital recorder and Rio MP3 player businesses. The bankruptcy notice, filed Friday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in San Jose, Calif., is intended to let Sonicblue continue operations long enough to sell its main subsidiaries. The company plans to complete those sales by April and then to open the bidding for its remaining assets. "In the end, we and our financial advisers have concluded that the best outcome for our creditors and our employees is to sell our businesses to better-heeled owners," Gregory Ballard, Sonicblue's CEO, said in a statement.
http://news.com.com/2100-1047-993647.html?tag=cd_mh

Dell to offer at-home recycling pickup
Dell Computer is bringing PC recycling to your doorstep. The Round Rock, Texas, PC maker announced on Wednesday its new Dell Recycling program, effective in the United States, that offers consumers a $15 at-home pickup service for dispatching old PCs for donation or recycling. Dell's goal with the program is to make the process of recycling or donating easier and less expensive, to encourage more consumers to avoid simply throwing away their machines, the company said. Dell executives said the program, which kicks off March 25, costs less and is more convenient than its current recycling program, which requires people to deliver the PC to a post office or other facility to be mailed. The new program will accept any brand of PC, not just Dell machines.
http://news.com.com/2100-1041-993317.html?tag=cd_mh

Can video games ease physical pain?
Feeling ill? Take two hours of "Grand Theft Auto" and call the doctor in the morning. Video games could become part of the modern physician's repertoire, based on a research report released this week that suggests playing such games reduces sensitivity to pain by distracting the player. Bryan Raudenbush, an assistant professor of psychology at Wheeling Jesuit University in Wheeling, W.Va., conducted the study of 30 college students. Each student had a hand submerged in ice-cold water, once with no distraction and twice more while playing one of two video games. Subjects who played a zombie-shooting action game during the experiment were able to tolerate the pain a full minute longer than those without a game or those playing a mah-jongg puzzle game.
http://news.com.com/2100-1043-993323.html?tag=cd_mh

More news later on

[TankGirl]

He's back!

- tg

[VWguy]

'bout time, squirt.

Welcome back.

[multi]

thx 4 the news WT...