The Newspaper Shop -- Monday edition

[walktalker]

Thought food for all the nappy readboys and nappy readgirls

Notebook overhaul on the horizon
Five years from now, the desktop will probably look pretty much like it does today, but the notebook will likely be smaller and lighter, capable of making cellular calls on its own and running on methane. Component development projects under way portend fairly substantial changes in notebook design, according to executives and analysts. Fuel cells and battery enhancements, which will let notebooks run three to 10 times longer without a recharge, will begin to appear by late 2004. Smaller hard drives and screens will also likely lead to some changes in the classic notepad shape for some models. Multiband wireless communications, where notebooks drift from cellular to Wi-Fi to back, will be common.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-951449.html

AOL: You've got unhappy customers
Consumer satisfaction with America Online is extremely low compared with other Web portals and with every almost sector of American industry, according to a new report. The University of Michigan released on Monday its latest American Customer Satisfaction Index, the results of survey that follows various sectors of the economy each quarter. The second quarter report focused on cars, household appliances, PCs and Web portals. For the first time, the survey also measured satisfaction with search engines and news and information Web sites. America Online got a consumer satisfaction rating of 59 out of a possible 100, the lowest of all companies measured in the Web portal category. The top scorer was Yahoo with 76. MSN came in at 72. The average for the portal category was 68.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-954350.html

PGP Corp. pledges easy encrption tools
PGP Corp. is setting out to do what Network Associates couldn't--entice enterprise customers to buy PGP encryption products by making them easier to use. On Monday, Network Associates sold its Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) encryption products to PGP Corp., a newly formed company. The deal gives the new company a line of encryption products based on the PGP algorithm, including PGPmail, PGPfile, PGPwireless, PGPkeyserver, for the Windows and Macintosh operating systems. Network Associates will retain some products developed using the PGPsdk encryption software development kit, including McAfee E-Business Server and McAfee Desktop Firewall and VPN Client.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-954346.html

EarthLink software banishes pop-ups
EarthLink's arsenal to lure away subscribers from its online rivals includes a multimillion dollar marketing campaign and new access software that will let Web surfers banish pop-up ads -- one of the most-often cited annoyances on the Web. The Internet service provider on Monday will unveil a major upgrade of its access software that will include pop-up blocker software and a $10 million plus ad campaign as it steps-up its efforts against rivals Microsoft's MSN and AOL Time Warner's America Online. "The whole notion is really around switchers and providing a better Internet experience with fewer drop-offs, pop ups and spam," said Karen Gough, EarthLink's executive vice president of marketing.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-954279.html

Rumors: Segway isn't really Ginger
In the latest twist to the long-running Ginger saga, it's now being rumored that the two-wheeled device unveiled by inventor Dean Kamen last December isn't in fact the real deal. According to a posting on the 'ginger-chat.com' site, the Segway Human Transporter (SHT for short) cannot be the same thing as the much-hyped mystery invention originally known as Ginger and IT. The claim revolves around inconsistencies between the description of Ginger contained in publicity for a book written by journalist Steve Kemper and the actual scooter-like invention. There are also some alleged patent irregularities.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-954339.html

Search sites under the regulator's gun
The commercial practices of search engines are once again in the spotlight after a recent warning shot from federal regulators over inadequate disclosure of paid links. The Federal Trade Commission sent a letter late last month urging several Web sites to provide conspicuous labels for commercial search listings or face possible action, and minor changes are already rippling through search destinations, including Terra Lycos, Ask Jeeves, LookSmart, America Online and Microsoft's MSN. But the reforms are unlikely to go beyond relabeling, at least for now, leaving untouched the myriad arrangements that have transformed many search engines from Web library catalogs to the online equivalent of the Yellow Pages.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-954171.html

Borland, IBM set sights on developers
IBM and Borland Software will bundle each other's products as part of a deal to target developers, the companies said Monday. The deal is focused on software for Windows and Linux developers. Starting later this summer, IBM will include 30-day trial versions of Borland's Delphi Studio Architect, C++Builder Enterprise and Kylix Enterprise with its DB2 Universal Developer's Edition and DB2 Universal Personal Edition. Borland will bundle the IBM software with its shipments. The two companies will also create a portal aimed at software developers. The portal will be hosted on the IBM Web site and marketed by IBM and Borland.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-954322.html

Secure Linux OS seeks global dominance
The scarcity of security companies peddling enterprise-class wares at LinuxWorld could mean that the job of making Linux definitively more secure than its proprietary counterparts will owe more to initiatives in Washington, DC, than Silicon Valley innovations. Overall, the products on hand lacked the originality and brand-name clout needed to wow enterprises. In the end, a development effort with the aim of making Linux a staple of governments worldwide may be what most convinces big business that the OS is secure and enterprise-worthy. The National Security Agency gave open-source software an initial boost when it pioneered the security-enhanced Linux OS (SELinux) prototype a year ago, but today universities are picking up the torch. At an EGOVOS conference session at LinuxWorld, panel members made clear just how ambitious their project is. Their goal? Make Linux bulletproof and governments will be compelled to adopt it.
http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupda...877516,00.html

Yahoo drops fees on payment service
Yahoo has restored a free version of its person-to-person payment system, in a sign that fees may not always fly with visitors of the online portal. Yahoo in the last week removed some fees from PayDirect -- an online service that lets people exchange money via e-mail. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company is backtracking nearly eight months after it made PayDirect fee-only. The partial reversal is testimony to an industry in flux. While some dot-coms, including Microsoft-owned Slate, dickered with Web site pricing in the last five years, most Net services and content owners supported free sites through advertising. But as the economic model underlying free sites crumbled, Net publishers introduced a host of paid services to reduce dependence on weak ad sales.
http://news.com.com/2100-1017-954416.html?tag=fd_top

Cox channel tunes in to advertisers
Cox Communications on Monday turned on a digital cable channel to explicitly showcase advertisers, in a first-of-its-kind trial in one market. The Atlanta-based cable TV and Internet service provider said it began testing an advertising on-demand service, called FreeZone, for San Diego digital cable subscribers. Those Cox customers can turn to a designated channel, without cost, to view content developed by a host of advertisers, including Kraft, Coca-Cola, Sony Music Entertainment's Epic Records and Volvo North America. Cox plans to test the service for six months. The programming, or long-form ads, will be much like infomercials, ranging in length from 5 minutes to 30 minutes, and will feature lifestyle or entertainment related to each brand. Salomon Sports, for example, is airing a video on extreme inline skating; Sony is sponsoring music videos of artists on its Epic Records label; and Volvo is broadcasting an ocean race, coupled with material on its new sports utility vehicle. In some cases, viewers can request information on products or services.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-954392.html?tag=fd_top

Debunking DMCA myths
Should researchers really be so worried about the much-reviled Digital Millennium Copyright Act? If you believe the buzz, you'll conclude that programmers, academics and engineers should be scared witless about being sued under the DMCA. In effect for nearly two years, the law sets protections for the codes that are wrapped around certain copyrighted content such as DVDs and electronic books. An attorney for the Computing Research Association, representing the computer science departments of some 200 universities, claims that "professors are afraid to study information systems or to publish their research." One researcher in the Netherlands announced that, because of the DMCA, he would not reveal his analysis of Intel's digital video system. Edward Felten, a computer scientist at Princeton University, and his colleagues postponed a presentation of their co-authored paper for four months after receiving DMCA threats. Because some of his co-authors' employers nixed the presentation, Felten's delay is understandable. However, the fears of legal action may not all be justified.
http://news.com.com/2010-12-950229.html?tag=fd_nc_1

Wireless hackers take to the air
Australian hackers have taken the practice of looking for open wireless networks to new heights. Before now many curious hackers have taken to cars and bicycles to look for wireless network nodes that are free for everyone to use or are inadequately protected. But the Australians have them all beaten by using a light aircraft to fly over the city of Perth and look for the wireless nodes from 460 metres (1500 feet) up. During their flight the group found up to 95 wireless nodes. To find the nodes the team, who are involved with the e3 wireless weblog, used a handheld iPaq computer and a laptop fitted with software that can spot wireless networks.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2202653.stm

Unisys wins government security deal
Unisys has won a three-year contract with the U.S. Transportation Security Administration that is worth $244 million in the first two years, the IT services company said Monday. Unisys will provide IT and telecommunications services related to hardware, software and network security to the agency created by President Bush after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The security organization, expected to become part of the Department of Homeland Security, will pay Unisys $23 million for the government's fiscal year 2002, which ends Sept. 30, and an estimated $221 million for the fiscal year 2003, the company said. Unisys said it will be expected to make items such as handheld computers, secure mobile radios and wide-area and local-area networks used by the agency can work together, the company said.
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-954332.html?tag=cd_mh

IBM enlisted for defense role
Uncle Sam is calling on IBM to help prevent enemy missiles from ever reaching U.S. soil. IBM plans to announce Monday that it has won a deal to supply the Defense Department with 66 high-end p690 "Regatta" Unix servers to be used as part of the country's ground-based missile defense program. About 20 of the servers will go to Boeing, which is managing the testing and simulation part of the missile defense program, while the remainder will be used by TRW, which is handling the command and control part. Instrumental to the deal was certifying that AIX, IBM's version of Unix, complied with a Defense Department program that puts a common user interface across many different types of Unix-based systems. The effort to move to a so-called Common Operating Environment, which began in the mid-1990s, is aimed at saving millions of dollars in training costs.
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-951567.html?tag=cd_mh

NEC shares rise on nanotube report
Shares in chips-to-computers conglomerate NEC rose Monday after the release of a report stating the company's intention to mass-produce carbon nanotubes -- microscopic structures heralded for their strength and conductivity -- as early as 2004. A representative for NEC said the company was on track to develop carbon nanotube production technology to meet its 2005 target launch date for fuel cells using the high-tech material, although it planned to tap another firm to do the manufacturing. The Nihon Keizai Shimbun business daily reported Monday that NEC would begin mass production of carbon nanohorns -- a conical variation of nanotubes -- as early as 2004 at the rate of one ton per year. The report helped buoy NEC's shares, which ended morning trade up 0.15 percent despite a 2.21 percent drop in the Nikkei average.
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-954275.html?tag=cd_mh

Study: Power Lines Probably Risky
The final report of a contested eight-year, $7 million study soon to be released by the California Department of Health Services may be the most credible statement yet on the connection between electric power lines and a variety of health problems. "To one degree or another, all three of the DHS scientists are inclined to believe that EMFs (electric and magnetic fields) can cause some degree of increased risk of childhood leukemia, adult brain cancer, Lou Gehrig's disease, and miscarriage," states a leaked copy of the final report from the California EMF Program, a study begun in 1993 on behalf of the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC).
http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,54637,00.html

Behold: 'Ebola Is Beautiful'
Spectators are usually charmed by the luminescent, brightly colored forms arranged on a backlit wall by artist Hunter O'Reilly -- at least until they find out what they really are. Some have said they look pretty, or like candy. But when O'Reilly tells them they are images of such killers as ebola, HIV and rabies, they jump back. "It's a photo, but it's not like I have a test tube of it," O'Reilly said. "They still have that instant reaction. It makes people think of the paradox of something being beautiful but intellectually horrifying." "Bioart" is becoming a force in the creative world. A glowing bunny made the front page of newspapers across the country two years ago, and installations that require biohazard committee approval are increasingly common at universities and art galleries.
http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,54550,00.html

A Promising Twist on AIDS Cure
AIDS researchers reported on Monday they had designed a vaccine that they believe may do what no other vaccine has done before -- protect people from getting infected by the virus. So far the team at the Institute of Virology at the University of Maryland has only tested monkeys. And they note that people trying to design a vaccine against the AIDS virus have repeatedly failed. But they think their design, based on the mechanism the virus uses to attach to the immune cells it targets, is the best yet. "In several animals, including monkeys, we were able to generate neutralizing antibodies that are not type-specific but broadly cover various types of HIV," Dr. Robert Gallo, who helped discover the AIDS virus and who heads the institute where the work was done, said in a telephone interview.
http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,54636,00.html

Identity Theft Is Rife in Russia
As Russia has long been dubbed a hub of tech fraud, credit-card holders have been justifiably wary about using their plastic there. Travelers have been warned that after charging a dinner to their card in Russia, that number could be copied and used even after the owner left the country. The advice on avoiding fraud in the former Soviet Union includes only using credit cards in reputable locations and monitoring their balances. However, even good advice may fail. For example, a resident expat said he did monitor his balance and used his debit card only at ATMs inside Moscow banks' offices, but still found his checking account cleaned out at Moscow ATMs when he was out of Russia.
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,54427,00.html

Children of the Revolution
We learned to crawl alongside the PC. We came of age with the Internet. Early-adopting, hyperconnected, always on: Call us Children of the Revolution, the first teens and tweens to grow up with the network. It takes a generation to unlock the potential of a transformative technology – we are that generation. From IM to MP3 to P2P, we lab-test tomorrow’s culture. While others marvel at the digital future, we take it for granted. Think of it as the difference between a second language and a first. And imagine the impact when full fluency hits the workplace, the shopping mall, the living room. In the past, you put away childish things when you grew up. But our tools are taking over the adult world. Check it out: The technology is trickling up.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1...rndigital.html

Biology Seeks a Few Good Geeks
"We want theoretical computer scientists." The declaration is perhaps not as stirring as Uncle Sam calling patriotic men into the army in World War I, but Vicky Markstein is just as determined in her pursuit and convinced of its importance to the nation and the welfare of humanity. As chairwoman of the inaugural IEEE Computer Society Bioinformatics Conference, held at Stanford University last week, Markstein is trying to recruit the leading minds of computer science into what she calls "the industrial revolution of biology," an anticipated period of discovery resulting from the analysis of genomic information. To spark the revolution as she intends, however, Markstein must first bridge a gap between two academic fields that do not always speak the same language.
http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,54417,00.html

Hush-Hush Hooray, Says NYC
As much as New Yorkers love to talk, they appear to be inclined to support legislation that prohibits people from using their cell phones in public. In what would be the first such ban in any U.S. city, New York City Councilman Philip Reed recently proposed legislation that prohibits the use of mobile phones in "places of public performance," such as movie theaters, art galleries and libraries. The bill makes an exception for emergency phone calls, but punishes people who infringe on the law with a $50 fine. Reed's bill is gaining momentum and has a good chance of passing. Reed said that only one of 25 city council members he has pitched his bill to wouldn't support it. Even Council Speaker Gifford Miller is on board in support of the bill.
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,54608,00.html

Algae: Power Plant of the Future?
Researchers seeking another energy source to ease the world's dependency on fossil fuels may have found a small answer to a big problem. A microscopic green algae -- known to scientists as Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, and to regular folk as pond scum -- was discovered more than 60 years ago to split water into hydrogen and oxygen under controlled conditions. A recent breakthrough in controlling the algae's hydrogen yield has prompted a Berkeley, California, company to try to be first to commercialize production. Energy experts -- who disagree on the when, but not the if, of the eventual depletion of fossil fuels -- are predicting that within decades the world will switch to a utopian hydrogen economy, where energy will be abundant, inexpensive and nonpolluting.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,54456,00.html

NASA plans to read terrorist's minds at airports
Airport security screeners may soon try to read the minds of travelers to identify terrorists. Officials of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration have told Northwest Airlines security specialists that the agency is developing brain-monitoring devices in cooperation with a commercial firm, which it did not identify. Space technology would be adapted to receive and analyze brain-wave and heartbeat patterns, then feed that data into computerized programs "to detect passengers who potentially might pose a threat," according to briefing documents obtained by The Washington Times. NASA wants to use "noninvasive neuro-electric sensors," imbedded in gates, to collect tiny electric signals that all brains and hearts transmit.
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20020817-704732.htm

Judge hits rewind on ReplayTV case
In a nod to consumers, a federal court ruled Friday that five ReplayTV owners will be heard in a legal debate over technology that lets TV viewers skip commercials. U.S. District Court Judge Florence-Marie Cooper granted permission to combine a copyright lawsuit filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation on behalf of the device owners and one filed by consumer electronics manufacturer Sonicblue, maker of ReplayTV. With its ruling, the judge denied a motion by the entertainment industry to dismiss the EFF lawsuit. Sonicblue and the EFF joined together in defense of a suit filed by several major TV networks and movie studios. In its suit, the entertainment industry alleged that Sonicblue's ReplayTV digital video recording (DVR) device infringed on copyrights by permitting consumers to skip commercials and send shows to other ReplayTV owners over the Internet.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-954169.html

Gravity control investigation raises hopes
Controlling gravity will probably never help us launch a spacecraft, but that does not mean we should give up on the idea, says the European Space Agency. It is calling for missions that might one day enable us to harness gravity, however weakly, for the benefits we will reap back on Earth. ESA has never got involved in gravity-control research before. But NASA's highly theoretical Breakthrough Propulsion Physics project in Cleveland, as well as recent announcements of unusual experimental findings in major science journals, have convinced the agency to take the field seriously, according to ESA adviser Clovis de Matos. Since September 2001, investigators Orfeu Bertolami and Martin Tajmar have been combing through more than a dozen different gravity-control schemes for ESA. They conclude that most are not worth wasting money on.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992674

More news later on

[MagicMorpheus]

Another good, hearty dose of news.

Keep up the good work!

[TankGirl]

Originally posted by walktalker
Thought food for all the nappy readboys and nappy readgirls

Gravity control investigation raises hopes
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992674

I this link gravity control not?

- tg