The Newspaper Shop -- Friday edition

[walktalker]

Sorry, you must read all of these

New Pentium 4 rejects Rambus memory
PC manufacturers will push the Pentium 4 toward wide circulation Monday with new computers that for the first time wed the chip with standard memory, rather than Rambus memory. Virtually every major computer company will unveil budget-class Pentium 4 computers for the business market at the beginning of next week. Hewlett-Packard, for instance, will release the Vectra VL 420, which will contain a 1.6GHz Pentium 4, 128MB of memory and a 20GB hard drive for $899. Gateway, Dell Computer, IBM and others have similar plans. All of these computers will share key characteristics. For one, they will cost approximately $100 less than existing, similarly configured models, according to sources, because they will contain SDRAM, the most common form of memory on the market today, rather than RDRAM, the memory based on designs from Rambus.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Code Red worm: Good for you?
Any farmer will tell you worms are good for the soil, but security researchers are now finding their digital namesakes may be good for security. In its monthly report released earlier this week, Internet survey firm Netcraft found that Web servers running Microsoft's software have become much more secure in the wake of the Code Red worm attack. The results mirror another survey released in early August by the Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis, a research center based at the University of California at San Diego. "Code Red got a lot of publicity," said David Moore, a senior researcher with CAIDA. "It got a lot of people recognizing that patching servers is a problem." In mid-July, the Code Red worm used a recently discovered vulnerability in Microsoft's flagship Internet Information Server software to spread across the Internet, hopping from server to server.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

WHO: Cell-phone cancer risk needs study
A link between mobile-phone usage and cancer cannot be dismissed without further research, an official at a World Health Organization agency said Friday. "More research is needed," Elisabeth Cardis, chief of radiation and cancer at the WHO's International Agency for Research in Cancer, told a conference in Helsinki. The explosive growth in mobile-phone usage, particularly in Europe and the United States, has increased the public debate over possible health risks linked to mobile phones. While a few studies claim there is a connection, most authoritative studies have not been able to conclude that regular mobile-phone usage could damage a person's brain.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

TiVo: Bound to be bundled?
When Raymond Padilla recently returned home to San Francisco from a tiring business trip, he knew his TiVo digital video recorder had also been working overtime. A boxing fan, Padilla switched on the TiVo to find a recording of his favorite fight, the 1975 "Thrilla in Manila" between heavyweight champ Muhammad Ali and challenger Joe Frazier. "The best part is that my TiVo can figure out what I like and surprise me with gems like that fight," Padilla said. It's this sort of personal treatment that has won TiVo the loyalty of close to 230,000 consumers across the United States. Yet the company is just one of an increasing number of those making digital video recorders and jumping into a promising but unproven market.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200...html?tag=tp_pr

Lawsuit targets copy-protected CDs
A California woman has filed a lawsuit against an independent record label for embedding technology in CDs that blocks people from listening to songs on a computer. The suit, filed in California Superior Court in Marin County, alleges that Denver, Colo.-based Fahrenheit Entertainment misled consumers by failing to include an adequate disclaimer on CDs encoded with digital copyright-protection software. The suit also cites SunnComm, the Phoenix-based software company that created the protection program as a preliminary measure to prevent people from distributing digital copies of the songs over the Internet. The lawsuit said the protected album, "Charley Pride: A Tribute to Jim Reeves," does not offer a disclaimer that it will not operate on computer CD players.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=mn_hd

Car buyers driving big traffic to auto sites
Web surfers are driving a lot of traffic to auto manufacturer sites, according to Nielsen/NetRatings, with U.S. automakers capturing the top two rankings during July. Ford reached 1.4 million unique visitors, according to the Web site traffic measuring company, followed by Chevrolet's 905,000. Japanese automakers took the next couple of spots with Toyota drawing 809,000 unique visitors and Honda luring 782,000 unique visitors. General Motors rounded out the top five rankings with 734,000 unique visitors. "Online automotive sites have looked to become the first stop in the consumers' buying process, allowing those online to compare different makes, models and options in a variety of ways," said Patrick Thomas, Internet analyst at NetRatings.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200...html?tag=mn_hd

Slap on the wrist?
Is history repeating itself? In 1981, an incoming Reagan administration dismissed an antitrust case against IBM that had been in the works for 13 years. On Thursday, the Bush Department of Justice announced that it would not pursue a breakup of Microsoft, and, perhaps more important, was dropping its attempt to prove that Microsoft had illegally "tied" its Web browser to its Windows operating system, thereby giving the company an unfair advantage over competitors. At first glance, Microsoft's foes could be excused for throwing up their hands in exasperation. In come the Republicans, out goes the antitrust enforcement. After years of testimony, evidence, cross-examination and countless appeals to higher courts, a simple change in administration could be seen as the most significant determination of legal strategy and outcome. An administration that has rapidly established itself as one of the most corporate-friendly in recent memory is backing away from the fight, pledging to end the whole unseemly mess "as quickly as possible."
http://salon.com/tech/feature/2001/0...cts/index.html

Researchers tout touchy-feely technology
Haptics -- from the Greek verb "to touch" -- are still the realm of deep-pocketed research institutions and industrial design shops, but academics say they may soon become a mainstream computing phenomenon. In January, the influential MIT Technology Review named haptics one of 10 emerging technologies that will "have a profound impact on the economy and on how we live and work." On Wednesday, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates showed off a handheld computer that understands which way is up and where it's being touched. Gates said the technology would let the computer reorient the display according to how it's held or understand when a person is holding it like a cell phone to give dictation.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200...html?tag=cd_pr

eBay wins copyright infringement battle
eBay won what it called a precedent-setting court victory Thursday when a federal judge ruled that the Internet auction company was not liable for copyright infringement in the "Manson" documentary case because bootleg copies of the film were sold on the site. The case was one of several recently that have tested provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a 1998 law meant to stimulate Internet commerce while protecting copyrights. But the other cases, such as the criminal prosecution of Russian programmer Dmitry Sklyarov, are based on provisions in the law that ban technologies that let people circumvent copyright protections. The judge in the eBay case said it was the first to test whether a Web site has a "safe harbor" if people use the site to sell items that infringe on copyrights.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Sega aims to be top game maker
Japanese game maker Sega said on Friday it aimed to become the No. 1 game software maker in the world, on the back of its future lineup of titles for leading consoles. Chief Operating Officer Tetsu Kayama said in an interview that Sega aimed to raise its share of the U.S. and Japanese markets to 15 percent in the 2003/04 business year, from around 5 percent now. The company is also targeting a 12 percent share of the European market, up from 3 percent. “Our goal is to become the world's largest game software provider,” Kayama said.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Sony writes swan song for radio service
Sony, which last week pulled the plug on its eVilla Internet appliance, now plans to discontinue a device that helped identify songs playing on the radio. The consumer-electronics giant plans to offer a $25 refund to those who purchased the key-chain attachment, which is basically a digital stopwatch that can connect to a PC. By pressing the lone button on the device and then connecting to a computer, eMarker owners could find out information about the song they had "bookmarked." "The idea was very innovative," said Sony spokesman Mack Araki. "I think it is fair to say that the products and service were received well by the customers who used it. However, we concluded it is not feasable to generate a reasonable rate of return in the near future."
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200...html?tag=ch_mh

More news later on

[walktalker]

Microsoft Still Faces Feds' Regs
Microsoft has dodged a breakup, but it may soon become the software industry's first regulated monopoly. Justice Department officials announced Thursday they had abandoned their original goal of carving Microsoft into halves, saying they now want a complex set of "conduct-related" regulations to govern the company's future behavior. The goal, according to the government, is to avoid the legal wrangling involved in defending a breakup order and to "streamline the case with the goal of securing an effective remedy as quickly as possible."
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,46619,00.html

Code Blue Targets China Firm
A retooled version of the Code Red worm called Code Blue, discovered in Chinese computer systems Friday, is programmed to launch a denial-of-service attack against well-known Chinese security firm NS Focus. Central Command, an antiviral software firm, has analyzed the new worm and located the DoS attack code. "We are monitoring systems for Code Blue but at this time, we have yet to see any Code Blue-like activity here at Central Command," Vice President Steven Sundermeier said. "The worm so far seems to be limited to China."
http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,46624,00.html

The U.S. Recruits New Hackers
The government desperately needs experts to fight hackers. So they've recruited a 63-year-old retired aerospace engineer, a midwestern mother of three, and a long-haired former teen golfing champ to do the job. The National Science Foundation is handing out $8.6 million worth of two-year training scholarships in computer security, in return for two years of government service. These three -- all students at the University of Tulsa, one of six participating institutions -- are among the first of an expected 200 people to begin their studies. Julie Evans found the inspiration to fight computer viruses from a human disease -- her daughter's cancer.
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,46567,00.html

New Evidence for Life on Mars
Hungarian scientists claimed on Friday to have found evidence of living organisms on Mars after analyzing 60,000 photographs taken by the Mars Global Surveyor probe. The three-man team said the pictures showed evidence of thousands of dark dune spots, similar to organisms found near Earth's South Pole, in craters in Mars' snowy southern polar region. "These spots indicate that on the surface below the ice there are such organisms which, absorbing solar energy, are able to melt the ice and create conditions of life for themselves," biologist and team member Tibor Ganti told Reuters.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,46628,00.html

Quantum Crypto to the Rescue
This week has been big for cryptography. It's seen both technical and theoretical advances in next-generation quantum crypto systems and technology. It's seen a prototype enter its testing phase that could send secret crypto keys through open air to a satellite or across town. And it's seen the announcement of a new breed of laser that could someday form the backbone of secure, long-distance quantum cryptographic communications over fiber-optic lines. Exploiting the cagey nature of matter at the atomic and subatomic scales, quantum crypto offers to repair what its cousin the quantum computer promises to break.
http://www.wired.com/news/infostruct...,46610,00.html

Judicial Net monitoring plan comes to a head
Federal judges are typically a staid lot, known for restraint and public decorum. But the black robes are off and a veritable shouting match has erupted over whether they and their staffs are entitled to privacy when using court computers to send e-mails and access the Internet. It's a clash familiar to millions of other public and private workers who are subject to monitoring on office computers. But now electronic monitoring is hitting home with a privileged group that often sets privacy rules for the rest of the nation. And much of the controversy is playing out publicly, with some not-so-judicious sniping.
http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/t...monitoring.htm

Euro spam vote in limbo
The European parliament has bungled its latest attempt to outlaw spam. Yesterday MEPs voted in favour (259 for, 210 against and 6 abstentions) of an amendment that would have prohibited the sending of unsolicited email without prior permission. The so-called "opt-in" system is favoured by many who have lobbied against spam and who want to curtail the activities of online marketeers. However, because the result of a series of amendments proved unacceptable to a majority of MEPs, the whole matter was referred back to the Committee on Citizens' Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs to debate further the draft directive on privacy protection in electronic communication.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/21539.html

Fuel cell system could help nab drunk drivers
If engineers at Texas Christian University have their way, drunk drivers may soon have a new nemesis: cars with fuel cell sensors. An engineering team at the Fort Worth, Texas, school has developed an electronic technique that enables policemen to identify drunk drivers among passing motorists remotely. The technique not only provides probable cause for law enforcement agents to pull over impaired drivers, it also gives society a means to deal with an epidemic that kills thousands of people every year. The technology is also expected to be well-received by automakers concerned over liability claims caused by drunk-driving accidents.
http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20010906S0167

High Court bid by biotech firm
Biotech company Aventis has appeared at the High Court in London to stop the UK Government forcing it to disclose the risks of genetically modified crop trials. UK ministers want the company to reveal the health and environmental impacts of a chemical used in its experimental crop growing programme. However, the company is seeking a judicial review. Several trials are taking place throughout Britain, including a number in the north of Scotland.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci...00/1530219.stm

Reactive Glass
A new class of "bioactive" glass can act like an intelligent system — it not only senses its environment but reacts chemically and physically to it. At Southern Illinois University, Bakul C. Dave (pronounced Da-vey) has formed a transparent glassy material from an organically modified silica gel solution. Mixed with water at room temperature, the sol-gel solution hardens in about five minutes into a solid yet elastic transparent gel. The sol-gel glass is honeycombed with microscopic pores that can absorb biomolecules such as proteins or enzymes and release them in response to environmental stimuli. This property could bring closer a smart drug-delivery vehicle able to regulate dosages to maintain proper therapeutic levels.
http://www.techreview.com/web/mason/mason080601.asp

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, You?
Currently, about 230,000 people live in the nation of Britannia: soldiers, tailors, blacksmiths, musicians — people from every walk of life. Of course, Britannia does not exist anywhere but in the minds of the people who live there. Britannia is a virtual world, also known as a Persistent State World, a place where online computer gamers compete and interact with hundreds of thousands of others, simultaneously. It's called persistent because the world exists independent of any individual player's presence.
http://www.techreview.com/web/mcdona...nald090701.asp

With A Web Full Of Free Content, Canadians Balk At Paying
A new survey suggests that it won't be easy to wean Canadian Internet users from their traditional diet of free Web content. Research company Ipsos-Reid, sizing up the task ahead for Web publishers and Webcasters contemplating subscription fees, said today that just 5 percent of online Canadians are clearly open to the idea of coughing up cash for content. The survey, summarized in the company's latest "Canadian Interactive Reid Report," found that 79 percent of Internet users are strongly opposed to paying annual or monthly subscription fees for Web content, saying they were "very unlikely" to pay. Another 15 percent said they were "somewhat unlikely."
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/169871.html

Security Expert's DMCA Protest Rallies Supporters
Dug Song's protest against restrictive copyright laws may only be skin deep, but it has touched a nerve with other security researchers who feel threatened by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). On Sunday, Song, a security architect with Arbor Networks, replaced the front door of his personal site with a message that reads, "Censored By The Digital Millenium Copyright Act." Clicking on the large, all-capital red letters on a black background takes the visitor to Anti-DMCA.org, a Web site critical of the controversial 1998 US law which attempted to update copyright protections to include digital media.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/169829.html

another great job wt!

- js.