The Newspaper Shop -- Friday edition

[walktalker]

My readers reunion photo


Customers derail MS double-dipping
Bowing to customer pressure, Microsoft has backed off a controversial licensing provision that forced some customers to pay twice for the software they purchased. Microsoft quietly introduced the change on Oct. 1 in conjunction with another sweeping licensing revision that, according to research firm Gartner, raised software costs for many customers from 33 percent to 107 percent. "The message here is customer pressure works, and the government scrutiny helped," said Gartner analyst Neil MacDonald.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp01

Attacks threaten expo attendance
Comdex is moving ahead on schedule despite disruptions caused by last month's terrorist attacks, with security taking a front-row seat. Show manager Bill Sells of Key3Media said he's been fielding calls from numerous exhibitors and attendees worried about a washout at the IT industry's biggest annual conference in Las Vegas next month. But he said the signs so far are good, with not one exhibitor or major speaker dropping out since suicide hijackers smashed commercial jets into the World Trade Center and Pentagon on Sept. 11.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Microsoft puts you on the alert
Microsoft will announce next week a new business Internet service, tied to its .Net strategy, that will allow eBay and other Web sites to contact and send messages to customers via PCs, cell phones and other handheld devices. Microsoft plans to say that it has signed 20 companies to a new Web-based service, called .Net Alerts, according to sources close to the company. The service will notify subscribers of everything from updated sports scores to the shipping status of goods they've bought online. In the case of eBay, the online auction site can send buyers messages about the status of items they've bid on.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

E-tailers -- defenseless against fraud?
A slew of online merchants say they are fighting a lonely battle against Internet scam artists as credit-card fraud continues to mushroom on the Web. Many Web retailers present anecdotal evidence that the increased fraud has coincided with rule changes the card companies implemented just over a year ago, requiring Web merchants to have a copy of the customer's credit card or signature. Unless they do, the merchant is liable for the charge should a customr dispute it. E-tailers, which conduct Web transactions in a virtual environment instead of in the traditional face-to-face manner, have few ways to obtain that kind of proof, and in most cases, when a customer disputes a charge, the e-tailer is the one stuck with the financial responsibility.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Site makes a call for fake porn
A Swedish Web site plans to quell the ardour of men who trawl the Internet for pornography by bombarding them with squeaky-clean images and anti-exploitation messages. The site, getsomereal.com, urges concerned Internet users to turn the tables on aggressive Web porn merchants by creating hundreds of mock sex sites with names like "super sluts" and "horny schoolgirls". It hopes to persuade lustful surfers to see the error of their ways when, instead of raunchy scenes of depravity, they are confronted with the message: "Porn's fake -- girls are for real".
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Intel looks to gadgets to boost PC demand
Intel wants you in pictures. The company, best known for its Pentium PC processors, this week launched a trio of PC-related consumer devices intended to further its strategy of using gadgets to push PC demand. The new products from Intel's Connected Products Division include an updated Intel Pocket Digital PC Camera, a new MP3 player dubbed Personal Audio Player 3000 and the new Intel Play Digital Movie Creator, a children's video camera. All three use universal serial bus (USB) connections to hook up with a PC and will ship this month.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200...html?tag=mn_hd

AOL clears path to use Web bugs, cookies Roooooo!
A recent addition to America Online's privacy policy clears the way for the company to use online tracking tools, including cookies and Web bugs, to compile anonymous data about its members and measure the effectiveness of advertising. "AOL and its advertisers may use cookie technology to determine on an anonymous basis which advertisements members have seen and how members responded to them," the policy reads following an Aug. 28 amendment. "AOL and its advertisers may also use small pieces of code called 'Web beacons' or 'clear GIFs' to collect anonymous and aggregate advertising metrics, such as counting page views, promotion views, or advertising responses.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=mn_hd

Machines with a human touch
People have become accustomed to thinking of artificial intelligence and natural intelligence as being completely different — both in the way they work and in what they are made of. Artificial intelligence (AI) conjures up images of silicon chips in boxes, running software that has been written using human expertise as a guide. Natural intelligence gives the impression of “wetware” — cells interacting biologically with one another and with the environment, so that the whole organism can learn through experience. But that is not the only way to look at intelligence, as a group of electronics engineers, neuroscientists, roboticists and biologists demonstrated recently at a three-week workshop held in Telluride, Colorado.
http://www.economist.com/science/dis...tory_ID=779503

Tech giants hold high hopes for Internet2
If Pinchas Zuckerman, the music director at the National Arts Center Orchestra in Ottawa, hears a not-so-perfect note from his violin student Wu Jie, Zuckerman can demonstrate a better way to hold the bow even though Wu is watching from New York City. Wu, of the Manhattan School of Music, said that because of a two TV set-up she can watch herself on one screen and Zuckerman on the other with little delay and great sound quality, courtesy of a fast link-up to the Internet2 network. Internet2 started in 1996 as a group of corporations, universities and nonprofits interested in advanced research. The project acts as a laboratory for companies and researchers developing new technologies and also serves as a blueprint of what the Internet could look like in the future.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1004-200...html?tag=cd_pr

Record labels may form CD-making ensemble
Several big record companies are negotiating to form joint ventures for manufacturing compact discs, as the industry looks for ways to cut costs, according to a report. Spurred in part by the failure of recent merger proposals in the music industry, as well as deteriorating market conditions, at least four of the Big Five record companies have had talks about several different possible combinations, The Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition on Friday, citing sources familiar with the talks.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Tech giants push MPEG-4 standard
A standards body comprising such tech heavyweights as Apple Computer and Cisco Systems has released a specification for streaming MPEG-4 video and audio via the Web. The Internet Streaming Media Alliance (ISMA) announced this week that it has developed and published its first specification. ISMA 1.0 will let consumers install one plug-in for streaming audio and video, rather than a raft of programs each specific to a single format, on devices ranging from cell phones to personal computers. For ISMA, the specification is the latest effort to create open standards in streaming media. Microsoft's Windows Media, RealNetworks' RealPlayer and Apple's QuickTime each hold a piece of the market.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Net users lose a secret-alias tool
The company that pushed encryption and networking technology to the limits to enhance people's privacy said Thursday that it has decided to close its flagship anonymity network and focus on security software for home users. Security software maker Zero-Knowledge Systems announced that it would shut down the premium service component of its Freedom Network, which let people surf the Internet and send e-mail with almost complete privacy by using pseudonyms. Although more than 70,000 people signed on to the free test of the service two years ago, the swell of interest didn't wash up more than a small number of paying subscribers, said Austin Hill, co-founder and vice president of the company.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=ch_mh

Congress moves ahead on anti-terror bills
The House Judiciary Committee unanimously approved a scaled-back version of President Bush's anti-terrorism package Wednesday night, while Senate negotiators and the administration reached an "agreement in principle" on a similar measure. The actions will likely mean the full House and Senate will vote on their versions of the legislation as early as next week, and then move to try to hammer out differences and send a final measure to Bush to sign into law. The legislation would give law enforcement expanded power to wiretap the telephones of suspected terrorists, share intelligence information about them and track their Internet activity. The House committee passed its version on a 36-0 vote.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=ch_mh

FTC: Privacy enforcement, not new laws
The new chairman of the Federal Trade Commission said Thursday he would not support new privacy legislation but instead emphasize enforcement of existing laws, reversing a position taken by the consumer-protection agency last year. FTC Chairman Timothy Muris, an appointee of Republican President Bush, said Thursday in a long-anticipated speech that he does not currently see the need for new legislation that would give consumers greater control over how information about them is shared among businesses, both over the Internet and in the "offline" world. Instead, the agency will concentrate more heavily on enforcing existing laws and policies, boosting its enforcement budget by 50 percent, he said in a speech at a privacy conference in Cleveland. The FTC will crack down on junk e-mail, identity theft, fraudulent attempts to obtain personal information and companies that violate privacy promises to their customers, he said.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=ch_mh

Compaq recalls 1.4 million power adapters
Compaq Computer is recalling nearly 1.4 million notebook power adapters, citing fire risk. The company on Thursday issued a recall for the AC power adapters and their cords, used with Compaq Armada and Prosignia notebooks manufactured between September 1988 and July 2001. There have been five reported incidents of fire and no reports of injury, Compaq said. "We've worked very closely with the Consumer Product Safety Council to follow an orderly recall. We want to be very proactive to ensure the safety of our customers," Compaq spokesman Mike Hockey said.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200...html?tag=ch_mh

More news later on

[walktalker]

New Code Tracks Genes, Not Jeans
Researchers on Friday unveiled a potentially important tool that could lead to better medicine and also help combat biowarfare. It's based on the same idea that in 1973 brought about the UPC bar code -- which created a standard code system that, can be affixed to every product and distinguishes it from every other product in the marketplace. These new Nanobarcodes, however, will not be found on beer cans or cereal boxes. Rather, their inventory keeping is done at the molecular and cellular level.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,47317,00.html

Tower Wreckage Reveals Clues
In a scrap yard across the Hudson River from the fallen twin towers, engineering professor Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl pores over the 1,500 tons of twisted, charred steel arriving here each day from the remains of the World Trade Center like an archaeologist, like a coroner. The University of California at Berkeley professor unveiled new details about the skyscrapers' cause of death Friday, displaying for the first time beams hit by one of the jets that ultimately brought down the towers, as well as scraps from the plane itself. Astaneh-Asl -- who has had access to 40,000 tons of scrap -- said his findings confirm the widely held theory about the buildings' demise: that the impact of the planes did relatively little damage to the Towers. Rather, it was 1,000-plus-degree heat from the burning jet fuel that caused key outer beams to buckle, and floor after floor to fall.
http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,47357,00.html

Xerox Can Continue Grafitti Suit
Xerox Corp. won a favorable ruling Friday in a legal battle with Palm Computing over software used to recognize handwriting on computer screens. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that Xerox could pursue a lawsuit charging that Palm's Graffiti software, which is used for interpreting handwriting on Palm Pilot computers, infringes on one of its patents. The decision reverses an earlier ruling to dismiss the case issued last year by a federal judge in Rochester, New York. In Friday's order, a panel of three judges unanimously agreed that Xerox has a reasonable chance of prevailing in its claims and said that the lower court used "defective factual predicates" in tossing out the case.
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,47363,00.html

Shower Curtain Rises on Ig Nobels
If this year's winners are any indication, it's probably just as hard to win an Ig Nobel prize as it is to win a bona fide Nobel. Contrary to what you might believe, the ten new winners of the Ig -- a send-up of the Nobel, giving prizes to people whose achievements "cannot or should not be reproduced" -- aren't on a lower rung of the genius ladder than, say, those mussy-haired physicists who dabble in relativity. They just think a little differently, they say. Indeed, some of the new Ig Nobel laureates, who were honored at a ceremony on Thursday evening at Harvard University, solved a few of the most vexing questions of our time. For example, why does a shower curtain billow inwards when the shower is on?
http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,47334,00.html
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,47336,00.html

FCC Grants Waivers on E911
The FCC on Friday granted temporary waivers to mobile phone operators who failed to implement technology that lets emergency dispatchers locate cell-phone callers. FCC Chairman Michael Powell said he was "disappointed" and "unsatisfied" his commission had to grant temporary waivers to Sprint PCS, Verizon Wireless, Cingular Wireless, AT&T Wireless and Nextel -- which all failed to meet an Oct. 1 deadline to implement the location-based technology known as E911. "I know and respect that carriers have made concerted strides in this area, but those efforts must be re-doubled," Powell said. "It goes without saying that there is a new sense of urgency around using mobile phones as important safety devices. They have become indispensable tools for calling for help and for delivering help."
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,47356,00.html

No Smoking Gun in Terror Bill
A well-known exception in federal gun control law commonly known as the "gun show loophole" can allow, for example, foreign tourists to walk into a gun show in 32 states and buy weapons with cash, no questions asked. Nowhere in the Bush administration's fledgling anti-terror legislation does it address this issue. In a licensed gun shop, required background checks would generally stop sales to anyone in the United States on a temporary visa -- the kind most of the Sept. 11 terrorists had. But under the terms of the Brady Handgun Control Act -- the 1993 gun control measure that required background checks -- unlicensed, "private" gun salesman can sell firearms without requiring background checks. Many gun-reform advocates recognize this as a loophole in the law.
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,47286,00.html

Debka: Conflict's Drudge Report?
The Iraqis are training Osama bin Laden's troops in chemical and biological weapons; Russian commando units packing newly acquired American arms are poised to storm Afghanistan; Israel is about to be charged with damaging the mosques on Jerusalem's contested Temple Mount. Stories like these# are making the free-wheeling Israeli news site Debkafile an increasingly popular destination for Americans looking for the inside scoop on the conflict with terrorism. Offered in Hebrew and English, Debkafile offers a blend of anonymous tips, unsubstantiated rumors and chilling, detail-laden stories on Middle Eastern military, intelligence, diplomatic, and terrorist matters.
http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,47325,00.html

Thought Police Peek Into Brains
U.S. investigators are facing the daunting task of sorting through more than 700 suspects in connection with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. A neuroscientist from Iowa says he's got the perfect tool to help them do it. Lawrence Farwell says he has devised a test that will ascertain whether the suspects have criminal knowledge of the terrorist attack by measuring their brainwaves. He calls it "brain fingerprinting." It a nutshell, it works like this: A subject's head is strapped with electrodes that pick up electrical activity. He sits in front of a computer monitor as words and images flash on the screen. When he recognizes the visual stimuli, a waveform called the P300 reacts and the signal is fed into a computer, where it is analyzed using a proprietary algorithm.
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,47221,00.html

Korean firms seek ban on Windows XP
Korea's biggest internet portal is seeking an injunction to ban the sale of Microsoft's new Windows XP operating system in South Korea. Daum Communications said it has filed a complaint with the Seoul District Court to block the sale of Windows XP, arguing that it will stifle its own internet messaging product. Windows XP is due to for a global launch on October 25, in time for the Christmas sales season. The new software revamps Microsoft's windows operating system, and is set to become the firm's bridgehead for its new for its new net-based services.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/bus...00/1580497.stm

NSA offers supersecure Linux
The National Security Agency, the government's security arm, along with help from Network Associates, last week announced it has made a security-enhanced version of Linux available for download.The NSA said it realizes that operating system security is necessary and that mainstream operating systems often lack critical security features that could enforce the confidentiality and integrity of network communications. Dubbed Security-Enhanced (SE) Linux, the NSA's version allows programs to have only the slimmest security permissions to run. SE Linux has a strong, yet flexible, access control architecture incorporated into the kernel to foil tampering and bypassing of security mechanisms.
http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/ptech/1...idg/index.html

Survivability of nuclear plants to be re-examined
After initially playing down the chance that a falling jetliner could disable or destroy a nuclear power plant, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is now planning to study whether a plant could survive such a disaster. The agency's shift comes amid heightened concern about the vulnerability of nuclear facilities to terrorist attacks. A Chronicle review of recent NRC inspections shows that although nuclear plants serving California are generally secure, they may not be 100 percent safe. Immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the NRC issued a reassuring statement: "Although nuclear power plants are not explicitly designed to withstand the crash of a large commercial airliner, plants have inherent capability to provide for the protection of public health and safety.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...5/MN197269.DTL

Discovery of 'Baby Galaxy' a Clever Feat
Using a clever technique that pushed two of the world's most powerful telescopes to their limits, a team of scientists has discovered a "baby galaxy" so small, faint and distant that it may be one of the long sought-after building blocks of modern galaxies. To find their galactic infant, the astronomers used a phenomenon predicted by Albert Einstein in the general theory of relativity -- employing a massive group of galaxies, themselves, as an extra lens. Most astronomers believe today's massive spiral and elliptical galaxies emerged from much smaller building blocks made up of clusters of stars. But astronomers have had a hard time seeing the galactic birthing process: Even the oldest known galaxies look similar to modern, mature galaxies, such as our own Milky Way.
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/...01galaxy.story

UK campaigners call for anti 'anti-rip' CD day of action
Campaigners will take to the streets of Britain this Saturday (6 October) in a bid to raise public awareness of the music industry's attempts to prevent listeners from copying CDs or playing discs on PCs. The UK's Campaign for Digital Rights, a loose, Web-based affiliation of computer users and music fans, is calling on anyone concerned about the implementation of the European Union Copyright Directive (EUCD) - the EU equivalent of the US' controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act - and the music industry's use of anti-rip technologies like Macrovision's SafeAudio and Midbar's Cactus to spread the word outside the nation's record stores. So far, stores in London, Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Rugby, Brighton and Cambridge have been targeted.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/22041.html

National geek guard to save the data
Get ready for geeks in green fatigues busting onto the scene of ground zero of any national disaster ready to save the data. That’s an idea being floated in Congress in the aftermath of the attacks in New York and Washington. As the mind-numbing human tragedy unfolded, many had to sit in anguished silence with nothing but a busy signal for solace. But that wouldn’t be the case if the National Emergency Technology Guard were in place.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/637621.asp?0si=-

Retinal photographs pinpoint people at high stroke risk
Retinal snapshots could help pinpoint people at high risk of suffering a stroke, say US researchers. They say their technique is cheap enough to be used by opticians and GPs to mass-screen patients. Strokes are caused by brain cell death due to bleeding from damaged blood vessels. Over 500,000 people suffer strokes every year in the US alone. Drugs that are effective at preventing stroke in high-risk patients are available, so doctors are keen to identify people with changes to their network of blood vessels - their vascular system - that make them more likely to suffer a stroke.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991388

More news later on

[TankGirl]

May I have the first copy, Mr. Newsman. Thank you!

- tg

[walktalker]

Originally posted by TankGirl
May I have the first copy, Mr. Newsman. Thank you!

- tg

Sure you can... the first is always put aside of the others, just for you

[KevC]

Originally posted by walktalker
Sure you can... the first is always put aside of the others, just for you

How about the second one ol buddy ol pal? *looks at ceiling... whistles innocently... the looks at toes....*

[walktalker]

Oh yeah, and the second too, for my own reading pleasure...
You want it, dude ? I'm done with this copy

Originally posted by walktalker
Survivability of nuclear plants to be re-examined
After initially playing down the chance that a falling jetliner could disable or destroy a nuclear power plant, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is now planning to study whether a plant could survive such a disaster......

"Although nuclear power plants are not explicitly designed to withstand the crash of a large commercial airliner..........

That's what I was afraid of, but it doesn't surprise me. I'm not sure anything could survive an attack like that.

(I live near a nuke power plant, hence my concern.)


Thanks for the news, newsman!