The Newspaper Shop -- Wednesday edition

[walktalker]

Security driven two-headed hard drive
A Japanese start-up has come up with a mutant piece of hardware that it says may deliver "perfect security" for Web servers: a two-headed hard disk drive. Tokyo-based Scarabs has developed a prototype of the hard drive, which has a read-only head and a read-write head. The Web server can only read from the drive, theoretically making it impossible for attackers to deface the site or otherwise modify data. For updating the site, an internal PC can be connected to the drive via the read-write head. "Each head works independently, so no synchronous control between two heads is needed," the company stated on its Web site.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-946021.html

Intel plans portable video player
Intel aims to boost consumer interest in PCs and its processors by announcing components for a portable personal video player on Monday. Intel's Emerging Platforms Lab will announce hardware and software that will help manufacturers design a device that can store and play digital media, according to sources familiar with the company's plans. Intel won't manufacture the device, but the design is meant for a player to be the size of a paperback book that downloads content from a PC via a USB 2.0 port or through wireless 802.11b networking technology.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-946002.html

Remote control
Far from Hollywood and Silicon Valley, a key battle over the future of digital entertainment is looming at a federal courthouse in Georgia. There, a judge will decide on a patent infringement lawsuit filed by Gemstar-TV Guide International against its rivals in the market for "interactive programming guides" used in TV set-top boxes that provide cable and satellite services. As obscure as the case may sound, its outcome could have profound consequences for the computer, television and entertainment industries. "The interactive programming guide is going to be the first thing you see when you turn on the television, and that's what everybody's fighting about," said Richard Sherrill, senior vice president of the ITV group at Kitro Media, who has a long history in the cable TV industry.
http://news.com.com/2009-1023-944917.html?tag=fd_lede

Display company powers up prospects
Cambridge Display Technology will use a grant to brighten the prospects for solar cells as well as flat-panel monitors. CDT announced on Wednesday that it has been awarded a grant from the British government's Department of Trade and Industry for plastic solar cell research and development. The grant will help the privately held company develop efficient and commercially viable solar cells using its light-emitting diode (LED) screen technology. Company representatives would not disclose the amount of the grant. "The grant is not enough to do the entire commercialization of solar cells using LED," said Stewart Hough, CDT's vice president of business development.
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-946111.html?tag=fd_top

Infineon cuts deals for wearable chips
Chipmaker Infineon reports it has seen "huge" interest from the textile industry in its wearable computing technology, paving the way for everything from identification chips to MP3 players that can be built into ordinary fabrics. Infineon's technology, announced in April as the culmination of two years of research, allows for microprocessors, sensors and connectors to be integrated into ordinary fabrics that can be washed or dry-cleaned, according to the company. "We did a lot of tests. We used washing machines, we also ironed it," said spokesman Reiner Schoenrock. "It is durable." Since Infineon gave the first demonstrations, more than 200 textile manufacturers have stepped up to find out about using the technology in their products.
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-946065.html?tag=fd_top

Intel planning portable media device
Intel aims to boost consumer interest in PCs and its processors by announcing components for a portable personal video player on Monday. Intel's Emerging Platforms Lab will announce hardware and software that will help manufacturers design a device that can store and play digital media, according to sources familiar with the company's plans. Intel won't manufacture the device, but the design is meant for a player to be the size of a paperback book that downloads content from a PC via a USB 2.0 port or through wireless 802.11b networking technology. The device would include an Intel XScale processor, hard drive and liquid crystal display. The devices are expected to be available from manufacturers next year for about $400.
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-945968.html?tag=fd_top

Wi-Fi's Achilles heel
Wi-Fi wireless technology has garnered a lot of attention from corporations interested in inexpensive network access for employees working away from their desks. But there's another, less-publicized reason why it's also demanding of attention: Wi-Fi offers hackers the ultimate cloaking device. Out of the box, Wi-Fi hardware is designed for ease of use and not security. Basic Wi-Fi implementations include some security controls, and while far from perfect, they do provide a deterrent to hackers. However, unless the security controls are turned on, they're about as useless as a screen door on a submarine. Wi-Fi also completely changes the concept of physical security. In a wireless world, security guards and surveillance cameras count for very little.
http://news.com.com/2010-1071-945935.html?tag=fd_nc_1

Cyber heroes forced to wait for glory
The life of a hero was not supposed to be like this. You can walk the Planes of Power where gods do dwell and have stood fearless before the mightiest creatures that call Everquest their home. Your history is one of glorious deeds but now, to complete the epic quest that will make your life as a priest complete, you have to stand in line and wait like a peasant at the village pump. Perhaps Everquest should be renamed Everqueue. The huge popularity of the online adventure game Everquest is causing problems for some players keen to complete key tasks for the characters they control.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2129912.stm

U.K. government backs open source
The U.K. government confirmed on Monday that it will consider open-source software as a way to avoid getting locked into proprietary information technology products. Not only central government will be affected by the policy: so too will local governments and the wider public sector, including non-departmental public bodies and the National Health Service. Contracts will be awarded on a value-for-money basis. The move is likely to be seen as a major boost to open-source software. Open source has been increasingly adopted by big software vendors since 1998, when companies such as IBM, Oracle and Computer Associates started to take it seriously. IBM has since said it has devoted $1 billion to the marketing and development of open-source software.
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-945947.html?tag=cd_mh

Five arrests in Adelphia fraud case
Three members of the founding family of troubled cable operator Adelphia Communications and two former executives were arrested Wednesday on federal charges of securities and bank fraud. The complaint, unsealed in federal court in Manhattan, names as defendants: John Rigas, former CEO; Timothy Rigas, former chief financial officer; Michael Rigas, former executive vice president, operations; James R. Brown, former vice president, finance; and Michael Mulcahey, former director of internal reporting. The Rigas family members were arrested in the early morning in New York and are expected to appear in Manhattan federal court later Wednesday. Brown and Mulcahey were arrested in Pennsylvania and are expected to appear in Williamsport, Pa.
http://news.com.com/2100-1033-946033.html?tag=cd_mh

Trekkies Go Boldly, Virtually
Star Trek fans will soon have one less reason to get a life (as William Shatner once famously begged them to). In August they'll be able to attend a 3-D virtual convention held exclusively online. Visitors to Vir-Con 2002, the first virtual Star Trek convention, will exchange stuffy uniforms and face putty for slick 3-D avatars, representing Starfleet cadets, Romulan centurions, Borg drones and other intergalactic humanoids. They will interact in a holodeck-like convention center powered by software from 3DVR developer Blaxxun Interactive. Vir-Con's producer, Virtual-Conventions LLC, says online, interactive 3DVR technology has reached the point of commercial viability. It plans to produce dozens of trade shows this decade.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,53876,00.html

African Schools Get a Tech Boost
In some schools in Africa, basic necessities like water and electricity are so rare that bringing technology resources to students might seem to be beyond their reach. But SchoolNetAfrica, the first African-run nonprofit organization focusing on educational technology, is doing just that. "Countries are at different levels (of technology access) but they all believe that information and communication technology will help the students to be critical learners and thinkers," said Heba Ramzy, the steering committee member for Egypt. Ramzy is one of 10 steering committee representatives from 10 African countries that governs SNA. Twenty-eight African countries participate in the program.
http://www.wired.com/news/school/0,1383,54045,00.html

Mile-Wide Asteroid Might Collide
Maybe, just maybe, a large and newly sighted asteroid could hit the Earth -- but probably not, astronomers said on Wednesday. They have issued an all-points bulletin on the asteroid that at first looked like it could be on a collision course with Earth, but it will take several more weeks of observation to tell for sure. They are calling on astronomers around the world, amateur and professional, to take a look at the mile-wide (2 km-wide) hunk of rock, so its trajectory can be calculated.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,54081,00.html

Study: Brains Want to Cooperate
A team from Emory University in Atlanta says they have resolved a question philosophers have been debating for centuries: Why do people cooperate with one another even when it is not in their best interests to do so? The Emory studies revealed a biological theory that essentially says people cooperate because it makes them feel good. "We say people act this way because the brain is hard-wired to cooperate -- it associates cooperation with reward," said Gregory Berns, a professor at the Emory University Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.
http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,53945,00.html

More, more news later on

[JackSpratts]

[TankGirl]

Good stuff, WT! How about a to the newsman?

Originally posted by walktalker
U.K. government backs open source
The U.K. government confirmed on Monday that it will consider open-source software as a way to avoid getting locked into proprietary information technology products. Not only central government will be affected by the policy: so too will local governments and the wider public sector, including non-departmental public bodies and the National Health Service. Contracts will be awarded on a value-for-money basis. The move is likely to be seen as a major boost to open-source software. Open source has been increasingly adopted by big software vendors since 1998, when companies such as IBM, Oracle and Computer Associates started to take it seriously. IBM has since said it has devoted $1 billion to the marketing and development of open-source software.
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-945947.html?tag=cd_mh

These are big news with big consequences. It's not that long ago that we heard German Federal Government going for open source instead of Microsoft's expensive proprietary products.

- tg

[ab-NORM-al]

thanks WT!!

cool new, new avatar TG!

[naz]

i'm posting in every forum because i'm an idiot