The Newspaper Shop -- Wednesday edition

[walktalker]

Opera cuts legacy code -- hums faster
Opera, the self-described "fastest browser on earth," has decided to jettison its legacy code in favor of something a little faster. The Oslo, Norway-based company is on the verge of releasing a trial, or beta, version of Opera 7, which will resemble its predecessor only in superficial ways. The rendering engine -- the heart of the browser which interprets code pulled down from Web servers -- has been rewritten from the ground up over the past 18 months. Dubbed Project Presto, after the musical tempo-character marking indicating speed and lightness, the rewritten browser was designed to make Opera both faster and more compatible with the Document Object Model (DOM), an emerging standard technology that lets scripts, like JavaScript, act on individual elements of a Web page.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-954561.html

Intel developing the chip with two brains
There's more than one way to build a multi-chip microprocessor, according to Intel. Like researchers at other companies, scientists at the chipmaking giant are experimenting with one of the dominant trends in microprocessor design: putting two chip cores, or "brains," into the same piece of silicon -- an approach that promises to improve performance and reduce power consumption over the next decade. But Intel's people are pushing the basic concept into new directions that will, the company asserts, increase such benefits even further. In "core hopping," for example, a stream of calculations will jump from one microprocessor core to another. Localized heat generated by transistors during intense number crunching can create "hot spots" that place a ceiling on performance, said Wilf Pinfold, technical director of microprocessor research at Intel labs. By rotating application processing, key transistors will stay cooler, heat will be more geographically spread and overall performance will climb.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-954456.html

New Apache flaw adds to Internet woes
Web servers and corporate PCs are at risk from vulnerabilities in the popular Apache server software and in a component of Microsoft's Windows 2000. The Apache flaw could allow an attacker to discover sensitive information or execute malicious code, while the Windows bug makes it possible for users to gain privileges high enough to alter files and user accounts. The Apache flaw affects versions 2.0.39 and earlier, but only affects non-Unix platforms such as Windows, OS2 and Netware. The software can be made to reveal the absolute path to a script whenever the server attempts, and fails, to execute the script. Such path information would give valuable information to a potential attacker. An attacker could also use the flaw to execute programs on the server.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-954502.html

QuakeCon: It's more than a game
Last weekend, 17-year-old Sean Price was the toast of the computer gaming world. Against all odds, Price beat the world's professional computer games champion here twice, in one of gaming's most closely watched competitions. Dubbed QuakeCon, the four-day party and technology tournament serves as an annual measure of the health and influence of dominant developer in the field, Id Software. With record attendance, $100,000 in prize money from corporate sponsors and dramatic action, this year's event would seem to be an optimist's delight. But even with his face wreathed in smiles, Price served as an emblem for uncertain futures: his own, and the industry's.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-954549.html

Apple wins another Emmy
Apple Computer has scooped up a second Emmy, this time for its Final Cut Pro video-editing software. The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences awarded the company an Emmy last year for its work with FireWire, and Apple also earned a Grammy from the Recording Academy this year. In an interview, Apple CEO Steve Jobs credited Final Cut Pro for bringing the quality of a $50,000 editing bay to anyone willing to spend $1,000 for video-editing software. "It's got this pro quality for under $1,000 that I think is democratizing pro video editing," Jobs said. Apple has also been investing to expand its offerings to video, graphics and music professionals, announcing a slew of acquisitions this year.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-954457.html

Group fear EU surveillance mission
Privacy advocates claim that the European Union plans to make sweeping changes to laws that govern communications-related data retention and privacy, requiring the long-term storage of such information and making it available to governments. Statewatch, a U.K.-based Internet organization that monitors threats to civil liberties within Europe, said Monday that European governments are planning to force all of the continent's telephone carriers, mobile network operators and Internet service providers to store details of their customers' Web use, e-mails and phone calls for up to two years. This data would be made available to governments and law enforcement agencies.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-954487.html

Office XP vs. bugs, round two
Microsoft on Wednesday plans to release its second collection of bug fixes, or service pack, to Office XP, the company confirmed Tuesday. Service Pack 2, a 15MB download, is supposed to enhance Office XP's performance, security and stability, while fixing a wide range of glitches, Microsoft said. "This is a very comprehensive service pack," said Simon Marks, Office product manager. The software giant issued the first Office XP service pack in December. Microsoft regularly releases consolidated bug-fix updates for its products. The Redmond, Wash.-based company issued Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 at the end of July. Microsoft could release Windows XP Service Pack 1 as early as Aug. 28. Like other updates, Office XP Service Pack 2 incorporates previously released patches and security fixes. On the security side, the update includes an April fix for an Outlook e-mail bug and June patch protecting Word and Excel from malicious code embedded in macros.
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-954615.html?tag=fd_top

DOJ to swappers: Law's not on your side
The U.S. Department of Justice is prepared to begin prosecuting peer-to-peer pirates, a top government official said on Tuesday. John Malcolm, a deputy assistant attorney general, said Americans should realize that swapping illicit copies of music and movies is a criminal offense that can result in lengthy prison terms. "A lot of people think these activities are legal, and they think they ought to be legal," Malcolm told an audience at the Progress and Freedom Foundation’s annual technology and politics summit. Malcolm said the Internet has become "the world's largest copy machine" and that criminal prosecutions of copyright offenders are now necessary to preserve the viability of America's content industries. "There does have to be some kind of a public message that stealing is stealing is stealing," said Malcolm, who oversees the arm of the Justice Department that prosecutes copyright and computer crime cases.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-954591.html?tag=fd_top

A tardy Morpheus meets mixed reviews
File-swapping company StreamCast Networks released a long-awaited new version of its Morpheus software Tuesday, in a bid to recapture its once-unrivaled online popularity. The Morpheus 2.0 software is StreamCast's first full release of new software since it was knocked unexpectedly offline in February. Since that time, the company has been distributing a hastily written replacement that has drawn criticism for being more difficult to use. The new version, originally expected to be released months ago, adds back most of the easy-to-use features of the older version, although in a very different form. Even if the new software brings Morpheus back on a par with Kazaa, the Australia-based service that has far outstripped its file-swapping rivals since last spring, StreamCast's future is clouded at best.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-954593.html?tag=fd_top

Cell phone gives wing to "airplane mode"
Some of the newest Samsung cell phones are sure to cause a few double takes from flight attendants. Software on phones like the Samsung A500 from Sprint PCS, unveiled on Tuesday, will shut down the part of the phone that sends and receives telephone calls, said Sprint PCS spokeswoman Bit Vo. At the same time, the new programming lets cell phone users access games or telephone directories stored on the phone. That may give airline passengers a flight path around part of a standard rule governing their onboard electronic habits. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) bans the use of cell phones on airplanes because of worries that calls could interfere with a plane's navigation system. Cell phones have to be connected to a wireless network to do anything, even if it has nothing to do with making a call. So a person simply playing a game or looking up an e-mail address stored on a cell phone could receive a phone call, and that would violate the FAA ban.
http://news.com.com/2100-1033-954588.html?tag=fd_top

Cracking the hackers' code
If your organisation suffered a computer crime in the past few years and reported it to AusCERT, it was probably an attack from outside your walls. Nearly 90 per cent of Australian organisations that reported an incident were attacked externally, according to the 2002 Australian Computer Crime and Security Survey. This is the first time the threat of being attacked from outside surpassed the likelihood of an assault from inside. It might be increasingly difficult to keep out external hackers but there are signs IT managers are finding it easier to win support within companies for improving security. Management consulting firm McKinsey & Co recently studied security best practices at Fortune 500 companies. About 30 of these companies, including AOL Time Warner, Merrill Lynch, Microsoft and Visa International, had appointed a chief security officer or other senior executive to oversee information security. In some cases, this executive had the power to stop the launch of new products or systems, and answered only to the chief executive.
http://theage.com.au/articles/2002/0...114072039.html

Pentium prices drop prior to official cuts
Intel plans to cut prices on its Pentium 4 chips soon, but many dealers have already lowered prices on the processors as a way to clear out inventory. Retailers are selling Pentium 4 chips for less than Intel's official wholesale prices, meaning consumers can pick up chips, or complete computers, at early, low prices. Intel sells the 2.5GHz Pentium 4, for example, to manufacturers for $637 in 1,000-unit quantities. Retailers on Pricewatch, however, are selling the chips for between $400 and $500 apiece. Pentium 4s running at 2.4GHz and 1.9GHz sell at a similar discount. Some retailers are even booking orders for the 2.8GHz Pentium 4, due to launch Aug. 26, offering the chip for $578 to $588. Intel declined to comment on any pending discounts. Sources, though, said the company plans to release four new processors, with 2.8GHz being the fastest, and follow up with price cuts.
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-954601.html?tag=cd_mh

Real looks to tame media player circus
RealNetworks on Tuesday introduced a new digital media player that supports all the major file formats and expanded its subscription programming to include college sports. The Seattle-based company launched a "universal" media player, called RealOne, which will stream audio and video files compressed in all the dominant formats, including MP3, Windows Media and QuickTime MPEG-4, as well as 50 others. In addition, the latest player gives consumers the ability to mix music playlists, burn CDs or play DVDs from their desktops. The advancements, including universal playback features, cost consumers $19.95 or are available free to RealOne SuperPass subscribers, who pay roughly $9.95 per month. In a play to amass more subscribers, RealNetworks also bolstered programming for RealOne SuperPass by offering live audio broadcasts of college sports in partnership with the College Sports Network, which previously held a deal with Yahoo.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-954587.html?tag=cd_mh

Graphics-card maker denies demise
VisionTek, one of the leading manufacturers of PC graphics cards based on Nvidia chips, denied reports Tuesday that it has gone out of business. Reports circulating on PC enthusiast sites over the past few days cited e-mails from VisionTek employees who said they had been laid off after creditors decided to shut down the Gurnee, Ill.-based company because of unpaid debts. John Malley, VisionTek's director of marketing, said in a statement Tuesday that although creditors had appointed a trustee, the company remained in business. "An assignee/trustee has been appointed and will attempt to maximize the value of the company's assets," he said. "The trustee is continuing to operate the company to determine if a sale is a viable alternative to a liquidation, and he is currently talking to interested parties. The company is continuing to take orders, ship products and honor rebates."
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-954566.html?tag=cd_mh

Students Say MS Buys Curriculum
Students at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, upset over a $2.3 million (CDN) partnership fund from Microsoft Canada, have charged that the company is trying to buy its way into the academic curriculum. The corporation had lobbied UW staff to use its C# programming language in a new course before the partnership fund was announced, Wired News has learned. The Canadian subsidiary of the Redmond, Washington, software firm last week announced the partnership that will fund research at the university as well as create a new course teaching Microsoft's C# programming language. Frank Clegg, Microsoft Canada's president, said he doesn't believe that the corporation is buying its way into the school's curriculum. "I'm proud of this. I'm so pleased," he said.
http://www.wired.com/news/school/0,1383,54601,00.html

Palm Admits Error, Fixes Nothing
Palm is in hot water and some of its customers are steamed. Despite misleading customers as to how many colors its m130 organizer actually displayed, the company said Monday it had no plans to reimburse customers for its error. To the dismay of many Palm owners, it didn't even issue an apology on its website. Owners of Palm's other color-screened products, the m505 and m515, questioned whether they really had 16-bit PDAs capable of displaying the 65,536 colors Palm promises. Palm insists that they do. Nonetheless, Palm owners in general expressed disgust with the company.
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,54647,00.html

NASA Sics Rover on Faux Mars
Scientists from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory completed a training exercise on Monday to prepare them for an exploration of Mars that they hope will bring them closer to answering questions about life on that planet. About 60 researchers from JPL, mostly field geologists, honed their skills in operating a Mars rover vehicle by using it to investigate the terrain of an undisclosed desert location somewhere in the American Southwest. To simulate conditions of controlling the rover on Mars, the specific site of the experiment was kept secret and the science team, which remotely guides the rover, was only allowed to make command decisions based on information received from the vehicle.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,54638,00.html

The Earthlings Have Landed
Choosing a place to land on Mars should be easy. The planet's surface area is as great as that of all Earth's continents combined, and thanks to 30 years of space missions, it has been mapped in bewitching detail. Unfortunately, spacecraft are delicate constructions, and finding a safe spot to land them on rocky ground is a colossal headache. NASA researchers have been nursing that headache for years as they analyze hundreds of sites, trying to decide where a pair of rovers should arrive for a Mars mission in early 2004. Just as they were to make their final choices this spring, new wind modeling data sent the scientists back to their databases. But what if you weren't constrained by engineering and treacherous terrain? What if you didn't have to worry about rocks that would gut your lander's belly, or slopes it would roll down, or those pesky winds? What if you could simply choose any one of the 1,470 places on Mars that now have a name — or the countless more that don't? Here's a map to help you decide — and the choices of some scientists and enthusiasts who have given the matter some thought.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1...arthlings.html

Digital copying rules may change
In a few years, Americans may not be able to copy a song off a CD, watch a recorded DVD at a friend's house, or store a copy of a television show for more than a day. Earlier this month, the Federal Communications Commission approved regulations that would require television manufacturers to include anticopying technology in the next generation of televisions. The technology would identify programs that broadcasters do not want consumers to copy without first paying a fee. And in Congress, lawmakers are considering a bill that would require all digital devices, and the software that runs them, to include a copyright protection system. The system would make it impossible for consumers to make unauthorized copies of music, movies, and television programs.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0819/p14s01-wmcn.html

The Flight that Tamed the Skies
Glenn Curtiss's aeronautical innovations outlasted the Wright brothers'. But his biggest contribution to aviation was an Albany-Manhattan flight many deemed suicidal. Next year marks the centennial of flight — 100 years since the December day in Kitty Hawk, NC, when the Wright brothers etched themselves so deeply into our collective consciousness. No doubt a good deal of hoopla will be whipped up about those two bicycle builders and their flight that changed America. But what the history books leave out is that the highly secretive Wright brothers refused to publicly demonstrate their airplane for four and a half years after that now legendary 12-second, 37-meter hop. By the time they revealed their machine, a number of other inventors already had airplanes flying.
http://www.technologyreview.com/arti...ulman10902.asp

The key to superefficient automotive systems: software
A few mysterious cars grace the parking lot of the Bosch test track, about 100 kilometers northeast of Stuttgart, Germany. Most are next year’s body styles, fenders shielded by foam panels and tape to thwart nosy competitors or journalists. But perhaps the most radical prototype is the most outwardly prosaic: a midnight blue Audi station wagon. Closer inspection reveals computers stuffed into its trunk, a joystick grafted onto its center console, a video camera glued to the windshield and a radar antenna bulging from a hole sawed in the front grill. The digital auto provides a glimpse into a future where vehicle systems like brakes and transmission are electronic, software-controlled and, above all, networked with each other and with the outside world.
http://www.technologyreview.com/arti...ation10902.asp

Gingko biloba fails memory test
Gingko biloba has no beneficial effect on memory in healthy older people, according to a US study. The popular herbal supplement is extracted from leaves of the gingko biloba tree. It is widely believed to enhance memory and concentration, and sales in the US alone exceed £200 million each year. "Many of our older patients were taking gingko and wanted to know if it was of any benefit. But although there had been dozens of trials showing beneficial effects, they all had serious shortcomings. We decided to carry out the first scientifically rigorous study," said Paul Solomon who led the study at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Solomon's team studied 230 adults over the age of 60 who were physically and mentally healthy. They found no memory improvements after six weeks of daily gingko supplementation.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992692

IWT Bans RIAA From Accessing Its Network
Information Wave Technologies has announced it will actively deny the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) from accessing the contents of its network. Earlier this year, the RIAA announced its new plan to access computers without owner's consent for the sake of protecting its assets. Information Wave believes this policy puts its customers at risk of unintentional damage, corporate espionage, and invasion of privacy to say the least. Due to the nature of this matter and RIAA's previous history, we feel the RIAA will abuse software vulnerabilities in a client's browser after the browser accesses its site, potentially allowing the RIAA to access and/or tamper with your data. Starting at midnight on August 19, 2002, Information Wave customers will no longer be able to reach the RIAA's web site. Information Wave will also actively seek out attempts by the RIAA to thwart this policy and apply additional filters to protect our customers' data.
http://www.informationwave.net/news/20020819riaa.php

More news later on

[TankGirl]

Hi Mr. Newsman!

Originally posted by walktalker
DOJ to swappers: Law's not on your side
The U.S. Department of Justice is prepared to begin prosecuting peer-to-peer pirates, a top government official said on Tuesday. John Malcolm, a deputy assistant attorney general, said Americans should realize that swapping illicit copies of music and movies is a criminal offense that can result in lengthy prison terms. "A lot of people think these activities are legal, and they think they ought to be legal," Malcolm told an audience at the Progress and Freedom Foundation’s annual technology and politics summit. Malcolm said the Internet has become "the world's largest copy machine" and that criminal prosecutions of copyright offenders are now necessary to preserve the viability of America's content industries. "There does have to be some kind of a public message that stealing is stealing is stealing," said Malcolm, who oversees the arm of the Justice Department that prosecutes copyright and computer crime cases.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-954591.html?tag=fd_top

To make things easier, they could start by suing all Americans who have copyrighted MP3s in the shared folders of their instant messengers. If there will still be room in the jails after this and capacity in the courtrooms, I'm sure they can spot a few Gnutella users too...

- tg

[mozart]

Originally posted by TankGirl
To make things easier, they could start by suing all Americans who have copyrighted MP3s in the shared folders of their instant messengers. If there will still be room in the jails after this and capacity in the courtrooms, I'm sure they can spot a few Gnutella users too...

Will there be any space left after all the racketeers have been dealt with?


On a related matter, there is also a terrible rumour going around about an Iraqi government sponsored plot to steal music.

A visit from a strong deposition of RIAA senior executives supported by their legal teams would seem to be in order.

Although there is a slight risk that it would make airstrikes irresistable

(not that I normally explicitly follow-up these threads, but thanks to WT for the news service )

[MagicMorpheus]

Originally posted by walktalker
Opera cuts legacy code -- hums faster
Opera, the self-described "fastest browser on earth," has decided to jettison its legacy code in favor of something a little faster. The Oslo, Norway-based company is on the verge of releasing a trial, or beta, version of Opera 7, which will resemble its predecessor only in superficial ways. The rendering engine -- the heart of the browser which interprets code pulled down from Web servers -- has been rewritten from the ground up over the past 18 months. Dubbed Project Presto, after the musical tempo-character marking indicating speed and lightness, the rewritten browser was designed to make Opera both faster and more compatible with the Document Object Model (DOM), an emerging standard technology that lets scripts, like JavaScript, act on individual elements of a Web page.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-954561.html

I Love Opera!