The Newspaper Shop -- Tuesday edition

[walktalker]

Intel: Napster, Linux inspires us
U.S. chipmaker Intel said Tuesday that it has been inspired by song-swapping Internet service Napster and free operating system Linux to overhaul some of its technology infrastructure. Despite Napster's short-lived success -- it has been idle since July after stumbling over legal and technical issues -- the company's technology helped Intel to limit expensive network bills, Intel IT Vice President Doug Busch said. Often, the semiconductor heavyweight needs to send large multimedia computer files, which contain information such as manuals or video messages, to its employees across the globe. But Intel simply cannot afford to send all these files from its California headquarters over the Internet and run up huge telecom bills, Busch said.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp01

Hackers bypass Microsoft copy protection
Hackers in Hong Kong are routinely breaking Microsoft's digital media copyright protection system and helping themselves to broadband encrypted content, including games, films and music videos, according to a report in the South China Morning Post today. The content is hosted on now.com.hk, which belongs to major Asian broadcaster Network of the World, and is protected by Microsoft's digital rights management software, DRM 2. The hackers are using FreeMe, a DRM 2 cracker developed by pseudonymous programmer "Beale Screamer" and recently distributed across the Web following exposure on the U.S. security site Cryptome.org. FreeMe first appeared earlier this month, and this is believed to be the first time it has been put into wide use.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Compaq jumps on freebie bandwagon
Compaq Computer is getting aggressive in the giveaway game.
On Tuesday, the PC maker launched a new promotion: Buy an Evo notebook, an Evo desktop or an Armada notebook and get a Compaq iPaq 3650 handheld for free. The handheld, which has a color screen and 32MB of memory, sells for $399 on Compaq's Web site. The offer is part of Compaq's new Business Tuesday. The program, a 72-hour promotion that changes weekly, was launched to reach out to small and medium-sized businesses. The freebies are also part of a larger trend in which PC makers have been offering discounts, rebates and free hardware with their new PCs in an effort to woo customers in a down market. Some of the more aggressive offers have come from Dell Computer.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Supreme Court zaps violent game law
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a decision by a lower appeals court to block the enforcement of an Indianapolis law that required children to have parental consent and/or supervision when playing arcade games that are deemed too violent. The law, which was adopted on July 10, was aimed at shielding minors from arcade games that depict violence and strong sexual content. It required arcade operators to separate violent games from other arcade units and display signs that explicitly state the requirement of parental consent to play.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Mono Project aims to bring .Net to Linux
The open-source community, through Linux software development company Ximian, has embarked on a development effort to bring Microsoft's .Net platform to Linux. Called the Mono Project, this effort encompasses creating a development environment that will allow applications developed for .Net to run on Linux-based as well as Windows-based systems. Mono originated out of a need for improved development tools for the GNOME community and for Ximian specifically, according to Miguel de Icaza, Ximian's chief technical officer.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Beware the Internet tax man
After years of largely unregulated commerce, Internet retailers and consumers are hearing a dreaded message: Beware the tax man. Now that the U.S. federal government's three-year tax ban has expired, the days of the Internet as a practically duty-free zone may be numbered. Although Congress could still resume the moratorium, the door to such taxes is starting to open. "I think in the short run, the expiration of the moratorium is a non-event," said Tom Steele, co-chairman of the state and local tax group for San Francisco-based law firm Morrison & Foerster. "The real import here is a political one. The expiration of the old act changes the political dynamic of the new one." The reasons for the change in those winds are many and diverse.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Baseball officials plan live video streaming
As the Arizona Diamondbacks and the New York Yankees duke it out in the World Series, Major League Baseball officials are warming up for a contest of their own that could help decide the future of sports broadcasting. Next season, the professional baseball organization plans to begin streaming real-time video of games over the Internet, according to the head of its online division. The move, which will be targeted largely at employees with high-speed Net access at work, would represent the first time a major sports league has made live games available in their entirety online, according to an MLB representative.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=tp_pr

New Nimda worm offshoot spreading
A new variant of the Nimda worm has started spreading slowly throughout the Asia-Pacific region, antivirus experts said Tuesday. The variant, called Nimda.E, spreads using the same methods as the original worm, but its files have been renamed to mimic existing Windows files. "The first report we received was in Korea at about 11 p.m. (6 a.m. Monday PST), shortly after we received similar reports in the U.S. and Australia as well," Anthony Kuo, regional technology manager for antivirus company Trend Micro, said in a statement.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200...html?tag=mn_hd

Amazon saves millions with Linux switch
Amazon.com was able to cut $17 million in technology expenses in the last quarter largely due to a switch to Linux. The online retailer spent $54 million on technology and content expenses in its third quarter, ended Sept. 30, compared with $71 million in the year-ago quarter, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The reduction was primarily because of Amazon's "migration to a Linux-based technology platform that utilizes a less-costly technology infrastructure, as well as general price reductions for data and telecommunication services due to market overcapacity," according to the statement.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200...html?tag=mn_hd

Judge: Imation must pay Quantum royalties
Storage-hardware maker Quantum has won a preliminary injunction that requires rival Imation to pay royalties for a Quantum backup-tape format, but the judge stopped short of barring Imation from selling the tapes. Judge William Elfving, of the Santa Clara County Superior Court in California, said Monday that Imation must pay a 30 percent royalty to Quantum on its DLT tape cartridges. "After two years of collecting Quantum's trade secrets and benefiting from their use, Imation has repudiated the license agreement without authorization," Elfving said in a ruling.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200...html?tag=mn_hd

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