The Newspaper Shop -- Friday edition

[walktalker]

My two kitties are sick There are at the vet's right now

Is IM ready to do business?
Instant messaging slipped quietly into the workplace at Lehman Brothers last fall. After terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, the Wall Street brokerage turned a blind eye when employees took up AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) to stay in touch with co-workers and family. The crisis left the company's employees scattered across the city, and the program's simple "buddy lists" -- which show when others are online and available to chat -- proved too powerful and comforting to shut down. These days, however, Lehman is questioning how much longer the service should stay. At stake is not so much the future of instant messaging at Lehman, but rather America Online's role as a provider of it.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-940271.html

Gamers, beware -- Nimda could be lurking
Some video game players got a nasty surprise this week when they downloaded software from a popular online gaming site -- the Nimda computer virus. The installer for GameSpy Arcade 1.09, the main file exchange and gaming software of GameSpy.com, was infected with the Nimda virus twice this week, GameSpy Chief Executive Mark Surfas told Reuters. Surfas said the virus infected one of their download servers for two hours on Tuesday and five hours Wednesday night, while they were performing routine service.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-940213.html

It takes big bucks to beam up Kirk's chair
Want to take Captain Kirk's seat? Be prepared to pay $265,000. That's what the command chair used by William Shatner's signature character in the original "Star Trek" television show fetched in an auction Thursday. The live auction, which was accessible online through eBay, featured memorabilia -- including costumes, props and scripts -- from the "Star Trek" movies and television shows. But the chair was the most important item in the lot, said Lorna Hart, general manager with Profiles in History, which conducted the auction. Bidding on the chair started at $80,000 and the final price of $150,000 exceeded its estimated value of $100,000. In all, 29 bids were placed on the chair.
http://news.com.com/2100-1017-940453.html?tag=fd_top

DVD formats put to the test
Panasonic is trying to tackle one of the major obstacles that has slowed mainstream adoption of recordable DVD drives with a new drive that can read multiple formats. The electronics maker unveiled the DVDBurner II this week at the TechXNY technology conference in New York. The new drive meets the DVD Multi specification, meaning it is able to read and write recordable DVD formats recognized by the DVD Forum, an industry group with 230 member companies that support DVD-RAM, DVD-RW and DVD-R formats. Late last year, Hitachi unveiled its own drive, which, similar to Panasonic's DVDBurner II, supports the DVD Multi specification.
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-940438.html?tag=fd_top

Need info? Talk to the cell phone
Starting Monday, 20 million more people will begin getting the 4-1-1 on 511, a free traveler's information service reached by dialing just those three digits. Minnesotans will be first people in eight states served by BellSouth to be able to dial 511, using a series of voice commands to have local traffic or weather conditions read to them. Seven more states -- Alaska, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico and Vermont -- will get the service by year's end, according to Nadr Essabhoy, applications marketing director for BeVocal, which is providing voice-recognition software for the BellSouth 511 service.
http://news.com.com/2100-1033-940408.html?tag=fd_top

Sirius prepares for long-awaited launch
After multiple delays, Sirius Satellite Radio will complete the long-awaited nationwide launch of its 100-channel digital music, news, sports and talk radio service on Monday. Sirius' debut comes eight months after that of its only competitor in the nascent industry, XM Satellite Radio Holdings, but a month ahead of its own schedule. That stepped-up launch has left the companies making the receivers for Sirius struggling to keep up. Retail inventories are still thin and the initial sales promotion will be muted, Sirius executives said.
http://news.com.com/2100-1033-940424.html?tag=fd_top

Wooden solution to mobile chatter
A team of Japanese engineers has come up with a way of blocking mobile phone signals using wood panels containing magnetic material. The panels would be useful in cinemas, theatres, or anywhere where ringing mobile phones cause exasperation. They work by sandwiching a layer of nickel-zinc ferrite between thin slices of wood, New Scientist magazine reports. The magnetic ferrite absorbs much of the energy of the radio signal, cutting the phone dead in most cases.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci...00/2067672.stm

Addicted to technology? Plan some off-line time
These busy and constantly connected business people are typical of what appears to be a dirty little secret of high-tech: It's addictive. According to a study released this week by IOGEAR, a California manufacturer of computer peripherals, technology is taking the relaxation out of vacation. A survey of 255 business executives found that 82 percent admit they can't resist checking e-mail, contacting a colleague or conducting business-related activities while on vacation.
http://freep.com/money/tech/mwend27_20020627.htm

Tech companies: Do as Bond would do
The head of a government-based venture capital firm pleaded to the information technology industry: Be like James Bond. The fictional British spy used technology to his advantage when tracking down criminal masterminds. But in the real-world fight against terrorism, the situation shouldn't be different, Gilman Louie, chief executive of In-Q-Tel, said during a keynote speech at the TechXNY trade show here.
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-940195.html?tag=cd_mh

ICANN to Net users: No, you can't
The group that oversees the Internet's name system voted on Friday to exclude ordinary Web surfers from its board -- a move that critics say allows mainstream interests to tighten their grip on the online world. ICANN, or the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, unanimously passed the resolution at its quarterly meeting, clearing one of the most controversial issues in the development of the 4-year-old organization. Under a radical new system, the online election of individual Internet users to the group's executive board has been abolished.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-940291.html?tag=cd_mh

NPR Retreats, Link Stink Lingers
In response to furious criticism of its online linking policy, National Public Radio will no longer require webmasters to ask permission to link to NPR.org. But there are still limits on linking to the nonprofit radio network's site. Links to NPR's site "should not (a) suggest that NPR promotes or endorses any third party's causes, ideas, websites, products or services, or (b) use NPR content for inappropriate commercial purposes," according to a new policy posted on Thursday.
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,53543,00.html

Pirate Cops Raid MS Gaming Foe
Sometimes real life is stranger than any video game. When Swedish computer game designer MindArk, maker of the controversial Project Entropia role-playing world, announced Thursday that Microsoft was behind the raid of its corporate offices, the claim sounded like a Gates-hater's most paranoid delusion. But it turns out this is no fantasy. At the request of Microsoft, Adobe Systems, other members of the Business Software Alliance (BSA) and nearly 70 local court officials in Gothenburg, Sweden, swept through MindArk's offices, temporarily shutting down company operations while the bailiffs catalogued every piece of software in the place.
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,53534,00.html

Game Pirates Rule the Seize
Warcraft III, the much-anticipated sequel from Blizzard Entertainment, hits store shelves on July 3. The series, which is the company's most recognizable franchise, hoped its rollout would create a big splash in an industry that thrives on glitz and glamour. That wasn't to be. While designers rushed to complete the game, groups of crackers around the world were trying to get their hands on Warcraft III before it was released. It's a regular dance between game companies and pirate groups. The bigger the game, the more intense the pressure on both sides. In this battle, the game companies almost never win.
http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,53454,00.html

Building A Deepwater Live-work Lab
Marine scientist Richard Cooper hates his commute. Just reaching Veatch Canyon - a deep-sea rift 80 miles off Nantucket - means arranging a crew and a vessel, hauling a submersible craft, and packing enough food and support equipment to last at least seven days. So in 1996, Cooper, a University of Connecticut professor, decided he would design an undersea lab where he and other scientists could hang out indefinitely. "To really understand what goes on down there," he says, "had to live and work at depth." Today, his dream of a permanent lab next to Veatch has evolved into a $75 million project called the Ocean Atmosphere Seafloor Integration Study. Cooper founded a nonprofit in Groton, Connecticut, to direct Oasis and oversee several new research endeavors, including the construction of Ocean Base One - the first deep-sea research facility.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1...tart.html?pg=7

Aussies Mull CD-Copy Endorsement
In a move that contrasts with the hard stance in the United States, Australian music industry officials are gauging a plan to endorse CD-copying vending machines. The proposal is an example of the measures major record companies may have to swallow as technological advances in music distribution are made, or risk being accused of anti-competitive behavior, a legal expert involved in the industry said Wednesday. An Australian maker of CD burners asked the Australian Record Industry Association, or ARIA, and the Australian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society to let the machines be operated in public places in return for a small royalty fee for every CD copied.
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,53549,00.html

Cable Firms Faulted For Restrictions On Internet Service
Some cable providers have imposed "troubling" restrictions on how their high-speed Internet networks can be used by consumers and businesses, a coalition of high-tech companies has told federal regulators. In a filing with the Federal Communications Commission, the companies say that in the subscriber agreements of major cable Internet providers, there are prohibitions on the use of private corporate networks that allow employees to work from home; restrictions on adding hardware such as servers and game boxes to the networks; and clauses that reserve the right to restrict access to certain bandwidth-intensive sites, such as those for online gambling. It is unclear if the companies are enforcing those provisions.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2002Jun27.html

Falun Gong's New Campaign Sparks Beijing's Old Fears
Members of the Falun Gong spiritual group have hacked into Chinese TV broadcasts in six different cities over the past six months. This tactic attempts to counter the government's anti-Falun Gong propaganda, and it may signal the start of a new phase in the battle between the group and the government -- one that could pose a bigger threat to the Communist Party if the country's urban unemployed rise up in support of the group.
http://www.stratfor.com/fib/topStory_view.php?ID=205030

Comet chaser spacecraft ready for launch
A comet-chasing spacecraft is set to blast-off on Wednesday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in Florida. The NASA craft, Contour (Comet Nucleus Tour), will fly within 100 kilometres of two comets during its four-year mission, capturing surface images and measuring the chemical composition of each comet's nuclei. Contour will rendezvous with comet Encke on 12 November 2003, and then comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 on 19 June 2006. NASA scientists say the mission could provide valuable clues to the formation of the solar system.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992475

Push Here to Save Energy
One researcher’s unlikely crusade: to overthrow the on/off button. Look down about six inches at your monitor’s power button. There’s a similar button on your PC, printer, copier and fax machine. At a brief glance, they may look similar, but the odds are they aren’t. And that, believe it or not, may be costing your office big bucks. So says Bruce Nordman, a scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories (LBNL). According to Nordman, non-standard indicators cost businesses hundreds of millions of dollars when users — confounded by too many choices — fail to take advantage of their office equipment’s power-saving features.
http://www.technologyreview.com/arti..._leo062702.asp

Peering Over Einstein's Shoulders
After a century, Einstein's special theory of relativity, which describes the motion of particles moving at close to the speed of light, has held up remarkably well. But as scientists probe the edges of the current knowledge of physics with new tests, they may find effects that require modifications on the venerable theory. Several current theories, designed to encompass the behavior of black holes, the big bang and the fabric of the universe itself, could lead to violations of special relativity. So far, recent, updated versions of century-old experiments show no signs that Einstein's vision is reaching its limits.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...07809EC588EEDF

Acrylamide in food a "major concern"
A chemical known to cause cancer in animals, and recently found in high levels in cooked foods like chips, is a "major concern", according to an expert consultation group. The group says further research is "essential" to determine if these foods pose a hazard. The meeting was hosted by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. It was called to assess the dangers of acrylamide after startlingly high amounts were found in a variety of baked and fried foods by a Swedish research team in April.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992476

Auction scam hits plasma TV buyers
A collection of Web auction scam artists are ripping off plasma TV buyers, stealing thousands of dollars per victim, MSNBC.com has learned. The scam works thanks to a bit of wire transfer chicanery. Victims agree to make payment with Western Union, but are instructed to follow procedures that supposedly make the funds untouchable until the TV is delivered — the instructions, of course, are a sham. According the one auction fraud expert, thousands of eBay and uBid users may have already fallen for it.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/773280.asp?0dm=C11KT

Gadget Designers Try to Pry PC Users Away From Desks
The slogan that greeted visitors at the entrance to the PC Expo trade show was "What's next is here." But an alternate slogan could well be "It is now safe to turn off your computer." This year's show suggested that tech builders in search of the Next Big Thing are betting that people want to get away from their keyboards and mice. Handheld organizers, for example, continue to take on tasks once left to laptops and desktops, thanks to their increased wireless capacity and productivity software.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2002Jun27.html

'Nokia' loses nokia.me.uk cybersquatting case
Phone company Nokia has won the first case against a cybersquatter regarding .me.uk domains. The Finnish phone company wrote to the domain name holder from London asking him to hand over nokia.me.uk. However, he wrote back claiming that he had registered the domain name in question because his nickname was "Nokia". Fair enough, you might think. Snag is, he then asked Nokia (the phone company, that is) if they'd be prepared to buy the domain - for a price. It's at this point that Nokia sought to reclaim the domain under Nominet's Dispute Resolution Service.
http://www.theregus.com/content/6/25431.html

More news later on

[walktalker]

Originally posted by walktalker
My two kitties are sick There are at the vet's right now

Phew, one of them is fine; she only had some pine gum stuck under one of her paws. But the other has trouble eating, the vet is taking care of that cutie