The Newspaper Shop -- Monday edition

[walktalker]

Flaw in Windows worm tips off defenders
The fast-spreading "MBlast" worm seems to be crashing as many Windows computers as it's infecting, clueing administrators in to the fact that they need to patch their systems, security experts said Monday. By midafternoon Monday, the worm had infected at least 7,000 computers in a matter of hours, according to data provided by security company Symantec. Still, security experts stressed that the program had several flaws that had slowed its spread. "You are not going to see the rapid uptake of Slammer. However, it could easily be as large as Code Red," said Symantec's senior director of engineering, Alfred Huger, referring to the lightning-fast Slammer worm, which hit Microsoft SQL servers in January, and the Code Red worm, which gobbled up servers in July 2001.
http://news.com.com/2100-1002_3-5062...g=fd_lede1_hed

SCO Group wins Linux licensee
One down, 499 to go. SCO Group, the Unix copyright holder that's threatening Linux-using companies with legal action if they don't pay for a license to run the open-source operating system, said Monday that one company in the Fortune 500 list of the world's biggest corporations had been convinced by its arguments. SCO declined to say which company took out the license or to reveal licensing specifics. The Lindon, Utah, company said the deal illustrates the merits of its case, but analysts said the undisclosed terms of the deal could mean that it offered a good price to try to build momentum for its plan. SCO denied that it offered a special deal. SCO spokesman Blake Stowell said the unnamed company paid a "slight discount" to the price SCO announced last week. The unnamed company bought licenses "for a large number of servers" and will have to pay more if it buys more Linux servers, Stowell added.
http://news.com.com/2100-1016_3-5062396.html?tag=fd_top

Microsoft ordered to pay $521 million
A federal court in Chicago has ruled that Microsoft must pay $521 million to a Web technology company and the University of California after finding that the software giant's Internet Explorer infringed on their patents. The company, called Eolas Technologies, originally filed suit against Microsoft in 1999, alleging that the Redmond, Wash., giant infringed on its patents when enabling Internet Explorer to use plug-ins and applets in the software. The company's technology was first outlined in a patent application in the early 1990s. Martin Lueck, an attorney with Robins Kaplan Miller & Ciresi who represented Eolas, said the jury likely was swayed by internal documents from Microsoft. The specific patent from Eolas was not mentioned in the documents, but Microsoft executives had described the necessity for technology that conformed to the outlines of the patent.
http://news.com.com/2100-1012_3-5062409.html?tag=fd_top

P2P fingerprinter to get data from label
Digital song-tracking company Audible Magic is striking a deal with Universal Music Group for song information, getting another leg up in its quest to be able to identify -- and potentially block -- music as it is transferred online. The new arrangement, expected to be announced Tuesday, will see Universal give Audible Magic a "fingerprint," or digital identification tool, for each song it releases, before albums are shipped to retailers. The company uses those fingerprints to identify copyrighted songs online or in other venues such as CD-manufacturing plants to help guard against unauthorized copying. Audible Magic already has information from Universal and other labels in its databases, but getting the songs directly from the label before release will help make the identification business more efficient, Audible Magic CEO Vance Ikezoye said.
http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5062426.html?tag=fd_top

Acquitted man says virus put porn on PC
Unknowing Web surfers could find themselves charged with possessing illegal material that a lurking software program has acquired. One evening late in 2001, Julian Green's 7-year-old daughter came upstairs from the computer room of their home in the resort town of Torquay, in western England, and said, "The home page has changed, and it's something not very nice." When Green checked the machine, he found that the family PC seemed almost possessed. The Internet home page had somehow been switched so that the computer displayed a child pornography site when the browser software started up. Even if he turned the machine off, it would turn itself back on and dial the Internet on its own.
http://news.com.com/2100-1029_3-5062463.html?tag=fd_top

Online gamblers sue their creditors
A California couple that lost more than $100,000 gambling online is suing a host of credit card companies and banks, claiming the businesses shouldn't have processed the wagers. Lisa and Andrew Harding racked up tens of thousands of dollars in online gambling debt during 2002 and 2003, prompting a lawsuit from credit card company Retailers National Bank, which accused Lisa Harding of failing to pay the bills. Last week, the pair filed a countersuit against several credit card companies, including Visa International and its USA division, MasterCard International and Discover Financial Services. They also sued banks that issued the cards, including Retailers National Bank and Citibank, and companies they said electronically transferred funds for some of their bets, including Western Union Holdings.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023_3-5062411.html?tag=fd_top

Return of the green Luddites
Being an activist means always having to find something new to complain about. For much of the past decade, environmental activists have voiced fears about bioengineered crops. Engineered crops such as soybeans, corn and canola are popular in the United States, because farmers can reduce the amount of pesticides released into the environment, but pro-environmental groups have successfully campaigned against them in Europe. Never mind that in a major study published in 1989, the National Research Council concluded that genetically engineered products were as safe as or safer than products that are manufactured through more traditional methods. And never mind that there's no evidence that the millions of Americans who munch on engineered grain have experienced any ill effects as a result. Some well-meaning but scientifically illiterate activists who populate environmental groups are currently targeting another emerging area: nanotechnology.
http://news.com.com/2010-1071_3-5061...ml?tag=fd_nc_1

The man who mistook his girlfriend for a robot
Yoseph Bar-Cohen of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a roundish, gray-haired dynamo, gives a whirlwind tour of the possibilities, which he says are not far off — insect-like bots that walk and fly and crawl and hop, others that dive and swim. Cynthia Breazeal from the MIT Media Lab shows videos of the world's most lovable robot, the infant-like Kismet, looking up innocently at a woman who's practically cooing at it; Breazeal talks about how she gave Kismet emotions and why. Finally, there's David Hanson, a grad student in interactive arts and engineering at the University of Texas at Dallas. He's got thick dark hair, a square jaw, urban-hip artsy sideburns, and he's moving a bit jerkily in a nervous-but-trying-to-stay-calm sort of way. This, it turns out, is the guy with the head — but the head is out of commission today and he's just showing slides: a smiling urethane self-portrait, a tan bot named Andy-roid, a pirate robot with earring and eye patch. Overlook the fact that they're disembodied heads and they all look remarkably lifelike.
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/science...3054-1,00.html

Dangers of buying drugs on the net
All it takes is a credit card in one hand, a mouse in the other and a few choice words on an internet search engine. With those simple steps, you will be ready to take your pick from thousands of powerful medicines. Treatments for acne, cancer, impotence and heart disease. Drugs that are generally only available with a prescription. However, the advent of the internet and its hundreds if not thousands of e-pharmacies means that is no longer always the case. While the internet is home to many legitimate pharmacies, its also home to a growing number of pharmacies that operate illegally selling drugs to anyone willing to pay for them. A quick internet search unearths countless sites offering unlimited supplies of drugs without a prescription. Doctors are becoming increasingly concerned.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3123449.stm

Linux, Microsoft face off in India
ay Shekhar, who runs a small business that uses India's booming cell phone networks to send cricket scores to fans, feared that relying on inexpensive Linux software could cause problems. But having taken the plunge, Shekhar says he loves the Linux operating system, which costs only a tenth of the competing $8,703 (400,000 rupees) Windows package from Microsoft. And Shekhar is not alone. About 10 percent of India's personal computers will be sold with Linux rather than Microsoft OSes by March 2004, says Linux distributor Red Hat -- up from zero this past January. And analysts say a bigger worry for Microsoft is the growing use of Linux among India's pool of an estimated 400,000 software developers, many of whom churn out code for giants such as General Motors and American Express. Linux could use India as a back door into the lucrative global business-software market as Indian programmers, hunting for low-cost programming tools, use it as their basic system and introduce it to customers.
http://news.com.com/2100-1016_3-5062158.html?tag=cd_mh

Midlife crisis for the hard drive
The venerable hard drive is hitting middle age. The amount of data that can be crammed onto a single platter in a computer hard drive has increased at a torrid pace for the past few years, even doubling annually during some periods. But that growth is beginning to slow as engineers run into technological obstacles and many PC buyers feel they have more than enough space. The transition from 40GB per 3.5-inch platter to 80GB -- the standard for most current PCs--took less than two years. A similar leap, however, may take three years, and could impact pricing, innovation and competition throughout the industry. "There's no question" density growth has slowed, said Matt Massengill, CEO of drive maker Western Digital. "For some period of time you'll see some slower growth than 100 percent." Ashok Kumar, an analyst with U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray, predicted data density may not double again for another two to three years.
http://news.com.com/2100-1008_3-5061923.html?tag=cd_mh

Lawmakers to probe RFID technology
Lawmakers in California have scheduled a hearing for later this month to discuss privacy issues that surround a controversial technology that's designed to wirelessly monitor everything from clothing to currency. Sen. Debra Bowen, a California legislator recently on the forefront of an antispam legislation movement, is spearheading the Aug. 18 hearing, which will focus on an emerging area of technology that's known as radio frequency identification (RFID), a representative for Bowen has confirmed. The hearing, which is open to the public, will take place at the state capitol in Sacramento. Retailers and manufacturers in the United States and Europe, including Wal-Mart Stores, have begun testing RFID systems, which use millions of special sensors to automatically detect the movement of merchandise in stores and monitor inventory in warehouses.
http://news.com.com/2100-1039_3-5062009.html?tag=cd_mh

Searching for the personal touch
A stealth start-up out of Stanford University is hoping to raise the heat on one of the toughest problems in Web search -- and possibly out-Google Google in the process. Kaltix was formed in recent months by three members of Stanford's PageRank team -- a research group created to advance the mathematical algorithm developed by Google co-founder and Stanford alum Larry Page that cemented Google's fame. PageRank has helped steer people to Web sites like no other search technology before it, harnessing the link structure of the Web to determine the most popular pages. Now, Kaltix hopes to improve upon PageRank, with an attempt to speed up the underlying PageRank computations. That, in turn, could lay the groundwork for a breakthrough in a cutting-edge area of Web search development known as "personalization," which aims to sort search results based on the specific needs and interests of individuals, instead of the consensus approach pioneered by Google.
http://news.com.com/2100-1024_3-5061873.html

Get Your #@%!$ Paws Off My PDA!
Traveling tech aficionados are agitated, even outraged, that airport security workers will be pawing through their belongings to more carefully scrutinize electronic devices. Those who are particularly attached to their digital devices -- geeks, if you prefer -- might have been OK with stripping off their shoes and letting strangers riffle through their underwear in order to pass through security checks. "Most of us regard our computers as equivalent to members of the family, and some have even stronger feelings," said computer security researcher Robert Ferrell. "I guarantee you that anyone who messes with my laptop without my express permission is in for a world of hurt." "I just can't allow anyone who is clueless about computers to touch my machine," echoed Jeffrey Matthews, a systems administrator with a New York advertising firm.
http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,59944,00.html

Games Close In on Citizen Kane
Yes, the game business is increasingly reliant on movie licenses and sequels. It is less willing to take big risks, particularly in themes or audiences. But that risk aversion reflects an industry that largely is making fewer, bigger titles with absorbing, often branching narratives, well-written dialogue and much larger budgets -- as much as $10 million or more -- for audiences of growing maturity and sophistication. Combine that with the increasing technological proficiency of the current set of gaming consoles and more capable PCs, and what players are getting are games that technically and artistically are starting to realize the true power of an industry Holy Grail -- the interactive movie. "There's a slow movement toward more adult games that aren't risqué, but that do offer more interesting content for people who are older," said Mike Gallo, LucasArts producer for KOTOR, which was developed by BioWare.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,59964,00.html

Streaming Video, Cheap and Easy
As if the recording industry didn't already have its hands full suing music file traders, pretty soon anyone will be able to wirelessly stream high-quality, uninterrupted video and audio from their PCs to their TVs. All they need is a pair of dongles, and voila -- the movie they've downloaded from the Internet appears on their TV screen. "Typically, people will want to take MP3 files or music downloads and be able to play them through their stereo, which is a much better system than listening to music on a PC," said Ian McPherson, principal analyst at Wireless Data Research Group. "And as we get more bandwidth and more capabilities, we will see more streaming video applications that will be served by the PC in the home. But you still want to watch it on your television." Also, people could play music from radio stations all over the world -- the beauty of listening to music on the Web -- rather than relying on their local broadcasters, McPherson said.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,59959,00.html

3-D Printing's Great Leap Forward
Rapid prototyping is a concept straight out of Star Trek. Feed an RP machine a 3-D blueprint of an object and it will carve a model of that object out of metal, paper, plastic or starch, just like the replicator aboard the USS Enterprise. Now, these RP devices, also known as 3-D printers, are about to get even better. Engineers are giving the machines the ability to build moving parts, not just block models. University of California at Berkeley researcher Jeremy Risner is part of a team developing what are called "flextronic" devices -- or flexible mechatronics. Risner hopes to produce a proof-of-concept in six months: a small model with flexible joints and electronic parts built in. And all of it created by a 3-D printer. "My background is bioengineering and I'd like to develop models based on living designs," Risner said. "Maybe a rather flat insect with wriggling limbs and some actuators." Risner hopes to develop a fully functional, mechanical and electronic device within the next 18 months, using several printer heads to lay circuits, transistors, capacitors, sensors and casing.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,59648,00.html

Mr. Disruption Strikes Again
When Michael Robertson talks about his latest venture, Internet telephony startup SIPphone, he uses fighting words. "We're going to rock the telecom world," he says. "The industry as it exists today is a complete hose for consumers. The cost structure just isn't fair." The San Diego entrepreneur is known for high-profile battles. Microsoft sued his most recent venture, Lindows, arguing that the Linux-promoting company's name violates trademarks for the Windows operating system. MP3.com, the company Robertson founded in 1998, was the subject of a notoriously large lawsuit initiated by the Recording Industry Association of America over copyright matters. Launched Wednesday, SIPphone sells $65 phones that call anywhere in the world essentially for free.
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,59953,00.html

Many Bluetooth gadgets open to wireless snooping
A new software tool could allow sensitive data could be pilfered through the air from laptops, mobile phones and handheld computers. An eavesdropper can use the program to identify nearby devices that use the Bluetooth wireless protocol. If the gadget's default security settings mean the device is unprotected, data can easily be stolen. Bluetooth connects devices within a range of 15 metres and is now a standard feature on many devices. Ollie Whitehouse, a UK-based researcher with computer security firm @Stake, created the tool "Red Fang", to highlight the potential dangers of running poorly configured Bluetooth gadgets. He says many people may be unaware that they have Bluetooth installed and that security features are often switched off.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994041

Islam at the electronic frontier
There are two kinds of internet cafe in the Middle East: those where you sit with your back to the wall, and those where you don't. The importance of these seating arrangements should not be underestimated: having your back to the wall means nobody can look over your shoulder to check what you are up to. In other words, it is a discreet way of signalling that the cafe has a laid-back attitude towards pornography. I first came across this phenomenon a few years ago at an internet cafe in downtown Beirut which happened to be run by supporters of the militant Shi'a organisation Hizbullah. When I grumbled that their internet connection was unbelievably slow, one of the staff informed me that most customers were less interested in connection speed than the fact that it was the only cafe in the district where they could surf in total privacy.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/com...016429,00.html

Science acts to protect research integrity
A major investigation has been launched into the way scientists publish their results amid fears that their credibility is being undermined by controversial claims about cloning, GM foods and the safety of the MMR vaccine. The Royal Society has launched the inquiry after a series of high-profile stories involving dubious science grabbed newspaper headlines across the world. The problem was highlighted earlier this year when a cult called the Raelian Movement said it had successfully cloned humans, although there was little evidence to support the claim. Similar claims about genetic modification or the damage caused by the MMR vaccine also receive wide and often uncritical coverage, even when the scientific basis for them is weak.
http://www.news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=875072003

Printers invent cheap security
Xerox researchers have discovered a method that uses an ordinary printer to insert hologram-like images in common documents. The company also revealed it was serendipity and proximity that led to the discovery. Xerox researchers were examining ways to eliminate the problem of uneven glossy patches, called differential gloss, typically considered a defect on a print. Chu-heng Liu, who works at Xerox's Wilson Center for Research and Technology, said it occurred to the researchers that the problem could be turned on its head. By deliberating creating this effect, using a combination of software, halftones and tones, the researchers found they could embed an image that could only be seen by tilting the printed paper and viewing it at an angle, much like a hologram.
http://australianit.news.com.au/arti...E15306,00.html

Download warning 101
Next week, incoming students at UC Berkeley will receive more than just campus maps and classroom tours: They'll learn about the perils of sharing digital music and movies files online. Specifically they'll be warned they can lose their Internet access or get slapped with a costly copyright infringement lawsuit if they aren't careful about uploading and downloading files using programs like Kazaa. "It's a chance for us to educate (dorm) residents about the new threats coming from the entertainment industry," said Dedra Chamberlin, UC Berkeley's manager for residential computing. With the worldwide recording industry suffering from a three-year decline in CD sales that it blames largely on Internet piracy, the Recording Industry Association of America has stepped up its war on file sharing.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...#038;type=tech

Private spacecraft performs crucial test flight
A futuristic looking spacecraft has taken a crucial step towards becoming the first privately funded mission to carry a crew into space by completing its first solo test flight. SpaceShipOne is carried into the air attached to an even more exotic-looking twin turbojet airplane, called White Knight. In the test flight, the smaller craft was detached from its mother ship 14,300 metres above the Mohave Desert, while travelling at 194 kilometres per hour. SS1 glided back without power to an air base in the desert, where its pilot made a safe landing. Scaled Composites, the Californian company behind the spacecraft, says SS1 performed precisely as expected during the test. The test pilot had previously only practised flying the craft using a ground-based simulator.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994043

Rocket explosives aid cross-Pacific windsurfer
Explosive devices designed for space rockets are being used to provide an emergency capsize-recovery system for an adventurer attempting to windsurf across the Pacific Ocean. Raphaëla Le Gouvello's custom-built windsurfer weighs more than half a tonne and includes a watertight sleeping compartment. But righting such a hefty board in difficult conditions could be very hard to do. So, in a crisis, the pyrotechnic charges could be detonated to rapidly inflate a large airbag and tip the board back over again. "We developed these pyrotechnics for the Ariane rocket family," says Pierre Brisson, head of Technology Transfer at the European Space Agency. "It is certainly an extremely powerful airbag which should only be used as a last resort, as it could damage the craft." The pyrotechnic devices inflate the air bag in about a tenth of a second.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994042

Internet Providers Question Subpoenas to Stop File Swapping
Arguing that the record industry is trying to force its members to become the "police of the Internet," a group representing over 100 Internet service providers plans to deliver a letter to the industry's trade association today. The letter asks a series of pointed questions about plans to sue people suspected of illegally trading music files online. The letter from NetCoalition is the latest objection from Internet service providers to a flood of subpoenas from the record industry seeking the identities of Internet subscribers suspected of swapping files. "There are understandable fears among many in the Internet community that the real purpose of this legal campaign is to achieve in court what the association has not yet been able to accomplish in Congress — to make Internet companies legally responsible for the conduct of individuals who use their systems," the NetCoalition letter says. The group includes the Internet service provider associations of Virginia, Washington and Wyoming, as well as several companies, including Bway.net in New York.
http://www.zeropaid.com/news/article.../08112003a.php

Phish Spawning Big Music Downloads
Is Phish swimming upstream, or is its new model of music distribution the way of the future? As the phenomenal success of the jam titans' new online download service at livephish.com proves, bands don't necessarily need record labels anymore. Phish launched the Website with heavy fanfare on the eve of their highly anticipated New Year's concert last December, which saw the quartet regroup after a two-year-plus hiatus. Livephish.com allows band aficionados to download Phish shows within two days of the concert getting three-plus hours of sound-board-based music for the price of a CD -- $9.95 for the MP3 format and $12.95 for the higher-fidelity FLAC files. Phish -- which has long kept an open-taping policy, allowing concertgoers to record shows for non-commercial trading among fans -- now has made available clean digital concerts of all this year's shows, incudling the heralded New Year's stands and frontman Trey Anastasio's solo performances from the spring.
http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,12295,00.html

GPL goes to court
Britain, like most European countries, has accrued hundreds of years' worth of arcane laws. The US has a beautiful Bill of Rights, a splendid constitution and a civilian army of its best and brightest to uphold these laws. And while it's a tough call to say who has most fun in each respective park, Europeans have learned that the law and its social instruments are best ignored. However, there is a fundamental philosophical difference to how we approach 'the law': in Britain. If we don't like laws, we break them. Sometimes we break them en masse: but if you think about it, we're all very good at doing this. In the United States, if we don't like laws, we hire some lawyers to engage in an epic Talmudic battle of the intellects, with each side waving around such documents as "the Constituion" as if they were a sacred parchment, or Turin Shroud, until a victor is crowned. So rooted is this faith in the law, that constructive civil disobedience - such as having fun in the park - isn't yet embedded in the US culture. Which brings us to the most important social contract that the logician US culture has ever allowed to be tolerated: the GPL, or General Public Licence.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/32272.html

MS takes mouse wheel into second dimension
Microsoft is planning to add 'tilt-wheel technology' (TWT) to its popular range of computer mice, the company has announced, in a move which is sure to have significant connotations for hardcore PC gamers. TWT adds another axis of scrolling to the ubiquitous mouse wheel, allowing users to move left and right by tilting the wheel with their finger, as well as up and down in the traditional manner. It won't be a four-way scroll wheel, but in many respects that's better for PC gamers. Microsoft's official announcement points out the potential business applications (quicker navigation of large spreadsheets and unwieldy web sites), but the tilt could also be put to good use by gamers. In first-person shooter titles, for example, there is always a need for faster inventory or weapon switching, and strafing or binding are other functions that might also benefit from TWT.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/32268.html

Cosmonaut weds down-to-Earth bride
Like any wedding, there were the details: the wedding cake, picking the right colors, tuxedo arrangements for six and finding the right kind of music to "describe the couple," as wedding planners say. And then there were the security concerns at NASA's Johnson Space Center, the initial reluctance of the Russian space agency and the video satellite uplink to the International Space Station. The groom is cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, 41, commander of the current International Space Station mission. His bride is Ekaterina Dmitriev, 27, a naturalized American citizen living in Houston. Dmitriev said her vows in front of 200 guests and a Texas judge in the Gilruth Center auditorium at the Johnson Space Center near Houston; Malenchenko said his while orbiting 240 miles above them.
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationwo...news-headlines

'Spintronics' Could Enable A New Generation Of Electronic Devices, Physicists Say
Moore's Law - a dictum of the electronics industry that says the number of transistors that fit on a computer chip will double every 18 months - may soon face some fundamental roadblocks. Most researchers think there'll eventually be a limit to how many transistors they can cram on a chip. But even if Moore's Law could continue to spawn ever-tinier chips, small electronic devices are plagued by a big problem: energy loss, or dissipation, as signals pass from one transistor to the next. Line up all the tiny wires that connect the transistors in a Pentium chip, and the total length would stretch almost a mile. A lot of useful energy is lost as heat as electrons travel that distance. Theoretical physicists at Stanford and the University of Tokyo think they've found a way to solve the dissipation problem by manipulating a neglected property of the electron - its ''spin,'' or orientation, typically described by its quantum state as ''up'' or ''down.''
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0811070203.htm

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