Todays news, Monday 12/24/01

[VWguy]

Yep. I was bored.


Terrorism has no effect on PC buying - IDC

September 11 and the war in Afghanistan have had little or no impact on the PC or handheld buying intentions of Western Europeans.
That's the good news from the Consumer Hardware Survey <http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jhtml?con...12_05_150231IDC 2002>. The bad news is that the consumer PC market is rapidly approaching maturity, with renewals overtaking first-time purchases. Why is this bad news for PC makers? Well, 60 per cent of PC owners surveyed do not intend to by a new system in 2001 or 2002, while 43 per cent say they won't buy a new PC until after 2004.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/23501.html

Who needs hackers when we've got MS?

By now, people know that I'm not the world's greatest Microsoft fan. Truth be told, I'm not completely biased against the company, and will even acknowledge that it has, at various points, produced some decent products. I also don't 'bash' Microsoft because it's the 'in' thing to do these days, but because there are serious problems with the software company's products and services that they continue to ignore. In fact, some would argue, they just don't get it. Such observations, therefore, must be voiced.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/23496.html

US to yank Kevin Mitnick's radio license

In a five-page order <http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_publ...CC-01-359A1.pdf> released Friday, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) claims that 38-year old convicted hacker <http://www.kevinmitnick.com> Kevin Mitnick is not morally fit to be a ham radio operator.

"Mr. Mitnick's criminal background raises a substantial and material question of fact as to whether he possesses the requisite character qualifications to be and remain a commission licensee," the FCC said. "Given his propensity to engage in criminal activities, particularly those involving fraud, we have serious reservations about Mr. Mitnick's ability to comply with our rules and regulations in the future." http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/23494.html

Microsoft plugs XP security hole

People very rarely make genuinely new mistakes--it's much easier just to keep making the same old ones over and over again. Case in point: the buffer overflow. A relatively common flaw that arises from sloppy code-writing practices, the buffer overflow has been a primary source of serious security vulnerabilities for as long as people have recognized the concept of computer security. Everyone knows how dangerous buffer overflows can be and how to prevent them, yet they keep turning up, like ants at a picnic.
"I'm still amazed that we allow [buffer overflows] to occur," announced Microsoft security chief Howard Schmidt last week, according to the Associated Press. http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupd...2834555,00.html

Canada Readies Domain Dispute Procedures

The organization responsible for Canada's ".ca" Internet address space is preparing for a 2002 launch of its process for sorting out disputes between trademark owners and domain-name holders they accuse of being cybersquatters.
The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) recently unveiled the rules for its approach to the two-year-old Uniform Domain-Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) in place for such generic top-level domains as ".com," ".net" and ".org."
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/173207.html

Microsoft Wants Four-Month Delay Of Remedy Hearing

Microsoft Corp. [NASDAQ: MSFT] today asked a federal judge to delay by four months a remedy hearing to determine the appropriate penalty for Microsoft's antitrust violations.
The U.S. Justice Department and nine states reached a proposed settlement to their long-running antitrust case against Microsoft last month. Nine states and the District of Columbia are pressing on for stronger remedies against the software giant, and earlier this month outlined the punishments they will seek at a hearing scheduled for March. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/173206.html

Dot-Aero Names Go On Sale In March - Update

With the procedural flap over the .aero Internet domain resolved, the operators of the .aero registry this week announced that they would begin selling .aero Internet addresses to qualifying applicants in March 2002.
The Societe Internationale de Telecommunications Aeronautiques (SITA) - which was chosen by Internet addressing authorities to operate .aero - said today that they would be ready by March to begin running what will become the airline industry's proprietary Internet domain.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/173199.html

Regulator Mulls U.K. Broadband Access Rule Changes

. telecom regulator Oftel is pitching a plan that would allow competing operators to combine British Telecom's [NYSE:BTY] broadband services with their own offerings.
Consultation on the proposals closes Jan. 25. After that, the regulator expects new rules on third-party access to BT's broadband network will be drawn up. Oftel says it expects third-party operators to begin offering the revamped services by next summer.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/173194.html

Shoe-Bomb Suspect Arraigned; FBI Says 'Major Disaster' Averted

BOSTON — The FBI confirmed Monday that the explosives in the shoe of a man who had to be subdued on a Saturday flight bound to Miami from Paris were powerful enough to have caused a "major disaster."

Richard C. Reid was arraigned Monday and will remain in prison for a few days more at least. Authorities say they have no evidence he is connected to Usama bin Laden or the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,41501,00.html

Health Officials Aim to Prevent an 'Afghan War Syndrome'

WASHINGTON — Hoping to prevent an Afghan War Syndrome, military health officials are applying a decade's worth of lessons from the Persian Gulf conflict to U.S. troops now in conflicts abroad, whether it's against the Abu Sayyaf rebels in the Philippines or Usama bin Laden in Afghanistan.


Defense officials are being more vigilant about medical record-keeping for their troops, and service men and women are required to get a simple medical screening before and after deployment.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,41507,00.html

Unexcited@Home

AT&T Broadband's recent debacle perfectly underscores why the new technology hasn't caught on yet.
The Internet disappeared at midnight on Dec. 1 for 850,000 subscribers to AT&T (T) Broadband's cable modem service. That's when AT&T's insolvent broadband partner, ExciteAtHome, officially pulled the plug, cutting off Internet access for AT&T customers as a cost-cutting measure. In the following days, AT&T scrambled to restore Internet service to its customers to try to prevent them from switching in disgust to another Internet service provider.
http://www.business20.com/articles/...3,36513,FF.html

Pakistan, India Mass Troops

NEW DELHI, Dec. 23 -- India and Pakistan have increased deployments of troops and military equipment along their shared border in recent days as the Indian government considers whether to strike at Pakistan-based militant groups that officials here hold responsible for a recent attack on Parliament.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...-2001Dec23.html

Geraldo Rivera, In the Heat of Battle

Geraldo Rivera is offering to resign from Fox News.

If, that is, a panel of media analysts decides he did anything unethical in Afghanistan. Which, he insists, is ridiculous.

Rivera acknowledges that he made an "honest mistake" by saying he was at a "friendly fire" incident in which three American soldiers were killed in a U.S. bombing raid. He was hundreds of miles away, near what he maintains was a second such incident in which two or three Afghan opposition fighters were killed
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...-2001Dec23.html

U.S. may play online tax man for EU

Some U.S. online companies could soon be required to take on a new role: tax collectors for the European Union.

The EU's Council of Economic and Finance Ministers agreed earlier this month to require companies outside the EU to collect taxes on the goods and services they deliver digitally to European consumers, such as music, videos and e-books.

The agreement, expected to be approved in February and take effect in 2003, is another step toward ending the Internet's status as a largely duty-free zone, and it complicates the already controversial debate in America about whether to tax the Internet
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-20....html?tag=mn_hd

Dell pricing goof clears gadget shelves

A pricing mix-up on Dell's Web site has forced the PC maker to cancel some orders with Christmas right around the corner.

The Austin, Texas-based company had been offering refurbished Altec Lansing AD880 speakers, which normally sell for $229, for about a tenth of that price on its Web site.

The speakers were listed on the site from Dec. 6 through Dec. 11 for $24.95, according to the company, which attributed the mistake in pricing to "human error."

Message boards geared toward online shopping discounts--such as FatWallet.com--carried news of the low price, and eager shoppers jumped at it.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-20....html?tag=mn_hd

Group aims for quicker chipmaking fixes

A group of companies including chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices is mounting a new effort to create smarter semiconductor-manufacturing equipment.

The group, which also includes domainLogix, ILS Technology and Oceana Sensor Technologies, said this week that it will work to create software and industry standards intended to help make possible--for the first time--online diagnoses of chip-manufacturing equipment.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-20....html?tag=mn_hd

The year in music

Britney grows up, the Strokes get the girls, Bob Dylan pencils a moustache and everyone is mad at the goddamn record industry! Why hype finally failed in 2001.
http://www.salon.com/ent/music/feat...ic/index.html?x

[Dawn]

Thanks for the news VW.

BTW, when one of us is bored, it gives the rest of us something to do.