The Newspaper Shop -- Monday edition

[walktalker]

Rejoice, napsterites !

MS "solves" mystery of hacking spree
Microsoft has put a new spin on a mysterious rash of Windows 2000 hacks. An advisory from the software giant last week warned companies of a number of attacks targeting servers running Windows 2000, the cause of which had initially puzzled Microsoft. After following a trail of evidence left behind on compromised Windows 2000 servers, the company now believes that hackers have systematically exploited Windows 2000 servers that haven't been properly locked down, rather than a hole in the operating system.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-957159.html

Matchmaker marries Mac and Linux
Aiming to capitalize on growing support for Macs within the open-source community, a Mac dealer has started selling Apple Computers loaded with both the Linux operating system and Mac OS X. For the past few weeks, Moline, Ill.-based QliTech Linux Computers has been selling PowerBooks, iBooks and Power Macs containing both Mac OS X and one of several flavors of Linux, designed to run on PowerPC chips used by Macs. QliTech is capitalizing on newfound celebrity status that the Mac is enjoying within some circles of the open-source community. The trend has been growing since Apple moved to Mac OS X more than a year ago. The new operating system has an open-source core and a Unix base that shares more in common with Linux than did prior Mac operating systems.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-957138.html

AltaVista searches banned in China
The Chinese government has blocked access to search engine AltaVista as part of its campaign to prevent citizens from accessing material deemed unsuitable and a potential threat to the ruling Communist party. The move is the latest to target Web search engines in China in recent months, coming just days after the government blocked access to U.S-based search engine Google. Meanwhile, Yahoo's China-based affiliate agreed in March to voluntarily block access to certain sites in accordance with local regulations. In a recent sweep, Yahoo China pulled links to the outlawed Falun Gong sect. Search engines are hardly alone in falling afoul of the Chinese government's Internet policies. China regularly restricts Internet usage by prohibiting access to certain Web sites it views as subversive to reigning politics.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-957154.html

Microsoft wants a hacker -- for Xbox
In another indication of how serious Microsoft is about cracking down on "mod chips" used for hacking its Xbox game console, the company is seeking to hire a software engineer to investigate the gray-market add-ons. A notice posted on Microsoft's hiring site seeks an engineer charged with "collecting, evaluating and conducting analysis of modification chips" as part of security research on Xbox hardware and software. The engineer will "assist in designing hardware detection code fragments to be embedded in future versions of the product," according to the notice, another sign that Microsoft plans to devise technology to test for hacked Xbox hardware. "Preference is given to those with...gaming hacking knowledge," the notice states.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-957160.html

PC makers slow to endorse XP update
Microsoft on Monday issued the first update, or service pack, for the Windows XP operating system. But the update, available as a free download from Microsoft's Web site, may not appear on some new PCs until next year. The release of a first service pack is typically a watershed event for a new version of Windows, signaling that the initial shakedown is over and that the operating system is ready for primetime. Many businesses waited to upgrade to Windows 2000, for example, until Microsoft released the first update in July 2000, about five months after the operating system launched. However, PC makers plan to be slow to add the Windows XP Service Pack 1 to new systems.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-957077.html

IBM chip fights power drain
IBM has produced in its labs a chip with double-gate transistors, a significant milestone in the raging semiconductor space race. Scientists at the Armonk, N.Y.-based company revealed that they have manufactured a working static RAM chip out of so-called Fin-Fet transistors, which feature two gates, rather than a single one, for conducting electricity. To date, IBM has said little publicly about double-gate transistors. At a technical conference in December, the company will provide details about the memory chip and also talk about other research on transistors.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-957087.html

HP creates new nano-circuit
Hewlett-Packard researchers are proclaiming a big breakthrough in tiny technology. Researchers at HP Labs announced Monday that they have created a new kind of extremely minute circuit for computer chips using nanotechnology, the science of building devices out of parts measuring 100 nanometers or less. One nanometer is one billionth of a meter. These new circuits measure less than one square micron and can be used to create memory chips or to augment processors, the researchers said. HP asserts that more than 1,000 of these circuits can fit on the tip of a human hair.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-957089.html

Eclipse adds to open-source framework
Eclipse, a project backed by IBM to create open-source development tools, later this month will release an update to its technology designed to help link different programming tools. The development-tool project is creating a common structure, or software framework, that connects programming, debugging and testing tools from multiple companies. It allows software developers to choose development tools from different software makers and plug them together, making them easier to learn and use. The Eclipse project -- which now has the backing of more than 150 software companies, including Borland, Rational Software, Red Hat and Sybase -- supports the Java, C, C++, C# and Cobol programming languages.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-957067.html

ISPs, record labels on a collision course
A delicate detente is breaking down under pressure from peer-to-peer networks, placing two powerful industries on a collision course that could reshape the legal landscape for online file-swapping. Record companies and movie studios have long turned to Internet service providers for help in their battle against online piracy, but ISPs are beginning to balk at what they see as increasingly onerous demands to step up pressure against online copyright infringement. Last month saw a two-pronged expansion of that strategy, resulting in separate legal skirmishes between the record labels' trade association, Verizon Communications and a handful of large backbone service providers. Internet service providers now say they're increasingly concerned that their hard-won position of neutrality in the copyright wars is being undermined.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-957023.html

Sony takes sides in DVD war -- both
Sony is set to release a new rewritable DVD drive that addresses two of the biggest hurdles facing the market as the technology tries to break through to mainstream consumers: compatibility and price. On the compatibility front, two groups of manufacturers -- the DVD Forum and the DVD+RW Alliance -- are locked in a struggle to establish their respective, incompatible, formats as the industry standard. The DVD Forum advocates the DVD-RW, DVD-R and DVD-RAM formats, while the DVD+RW Alliance promotes the format it's named after, which features DVD+R support. Analysts have said the standard struggle and its accompanying blizzard of abbreviations has confused consumers enough to prevent rewritable DVDs from becoming a hit. Sony's solution is simple.
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-957191.html?tag=fd_top

Audiogalaxy swaps music services
Onetime file-swapping powerhouse Audiogalaxy, hobbled by a legal settlement with record labels, has launched a legal music offer in place of its old download service. The company has tapped Listen.com to offer a paid subscription service. The offer launched quietly on Audiogalaxy's site last week. Audiogalaxy executives couldn't immediately be reached for comment. A Listen.com spokesman said his company wasn't worried about the file-swapper's history. "We're interested in working with any partner who has an audience that loves music," said Listen.com spokesman Matt Graves.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-957166.html?tag=fd_top

Warner Bros. films get Net screening
Internet movie service CinemaNow on Monday said it has signed Warner Bros. to a pact for downloading films, marking its first deal with a major studio and Warner's entry into video-on-demand over the Web. Warner Bros. will make some new hits such as "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and older, library titles such as Alfred Hitchcock's "Dial M for Murder" available for CinemaNow's normal, 24-hour access time through the end of this year. Prices will range from $3.99 for downloading a blockbuster such as "Harry Potter" to $2.99 for other titles.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-957181.html?tag=fd_top

Hollywood's war on innovation
In August, the board of directors of Sonicblue fired CEO Ken Potashner after he publicly accused three board members of taking improper loans from company coffers. Sonicblue is best known for the controversial ReplayTV personal video recorder, and Potashner's exit was a fittingly contentious and melodramatic end to his tenure. Since assuming leadership in 1998, Potashner had managed to embroil his company in noisy legal battles with investors, employees, competitors, the government of Taiwan, the recording industry, and 29 film and broadcasting companies. "Antagonistic lawsuits are a head rush," Potashner said only weeks before he was sacked. "People think that if Hollywood is coming out this aggressively against us, we must have products they want to buy."
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/20...lue/index.html

Don't look now, but you may find you're being watched
These days, if you feel like somebody's watching you, you might be right. One year after the Sept. 11 attacks, security experts and privacy advocates say there has been a surge in the number of video cameras installed around the country. The electronic eyes keep an unwavering gaze on everything from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Washington Monument. And biometric facial recognition technology is being tested with video surveillance systems in a handful of places such as the Fresno airport and the resort area of Virginia Beach, Va.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl....DTL&type=tech

MovieLink reels in IBM for on-demand
Entertainment site MovieLink on Monday is set to announce that IBM will provide the technology behind its coming on-demand movie service. The Hollywood, Calif.-based company -- a joint venture between Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal and Warner Bros. -- is expected to introduce a library of studio films, available for download to the PC, before the holidays. Under its three-year deal with IBM, MovieLink will store its collection of films, trailers and movie clips at the technology giant’s centralized facility in New Jersey. When content is requested, IBM will deliver it over a distributed network, which MovieLink has yet to publicly designate. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-957020.html?tag=cd_mh

Kodak recalls 75,000 digital cameras
Photography giant Kodak recalled one of its older digital camera models Monday because of a possible shock hazard. Kodak said in a statement that in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, it was asking all owners of its DC5000 Zoom camera to stop using the device and to return it to Kodak. Kodak estimated there were about 75,000 units of the camera in use worldwide. Kodak said it had received 12 reports of owners receiving mild electrical shocks while changing the camera's batteries or memory card or connecting its USB cable. The DC5000 Zoom was one of Kodak's first entries into the high end of the digital camera market.
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-957112.html?tag=cd_mh

Scientists develop seeing-eye mouse
Scientists looking for ways to help blind people get more out of computers have developed a mouse that goes bump and have combined it with sound representations of graphs that would otherwise be inaccessible to the blind. Mike Burton of Glasgow University told reporters at the British Association for the Advancement of Science annual festival that the mouse vibrated every time it met a line on a graph, giving a blind operator a tactile tip-off. "The technique is a very good way of presenting information to blind and sighted people," he said. "The bottom line is that the cheapest and most flexible solution works." Likening the jumping mouse to electronic Braille, Burton said one of the most daunting tasks facing visually impaired people is trying to assimilate information giving an overview of data or events.
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-957092.html?tag=cd_mh

Corporate Paws Grab for Desktop
There is nothing wrong with your PC. Don't attempt to adjust the monitor. We are controlling transmission. Fans of The Outer Limits will recognize that modified refrain, but media company executives appear to have taken the campy TV theme to heart and turned it into the backbone of their effort to control the flow of digital information. They've applied pressure on Congress to pass bills like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (PDF), which has allowed them to clamp down on new technologies. And they've gone to work on computer manufacturers and software developers, persuading them to release PCs with restrictive hardware, software and settings pre-installed. The security sounds like a good idea, but it increases corporate control over networked systems. The code for those digital rights management systems is closed to outside developers.
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,54941,00.html

Science Fact: Farscape Axed
Alienated science-fiction fans appear to be hoping that some network executives will soon be abducted and experience a close encounter with an extraterrestrial's probe. That bad mood is in response to the news that the SciFi Channel show Farscape has been canceled, according to an announcement made by David Kemper, executive producer of Farscape, in a live chat on the SciFi Channel website on Friday. But Farscape fans aren't willing to let the show be lost in space. Shortly after Kemper broke the news, Farscape devotees began using the Internet to plan their protests.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,55028,00.html

Navy's Novel Approach to Spy Tech
The Navy needs new ways to analyze its spy images. So it's turning to breast cancer detection to spark new ideas. After decades of steady development, Automatic Target Recognition -- the collection of technologies used to discriminate between, say, a camouflaged tank and the forest it's hiding in -- has "stagnated," according to James Buss, a program manager at the Office of Naval Research. Picking out Osama bin Laden from a spy satellite image is basically impossible with current technology. ATR systems "sweep up enormous quantities of data, but their usefulness has been limited by our ability to pull the important information out of that clutter," Buss said.
http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,54992,00.html

What's OK for Dot-Kids Domain?
Sex, violence and the "seven dirty words" prohibited by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission would be banned from a children's Internet domain, according to preliminary guidelines released Monday by the domain manager. Washington-based NeuStar, which plans to set up the kid-friendly Internet zone, said it would rely on existing guidelines for television and advertising to determine what material would be appropriate for the dot-kids.us domain. Developers would have to follow FCC rules for radio and television, which bar profanity and require some educational content, the privately held company said, while advertisements would have to comply with guidelines set up by a Better Business Bureau panel.
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,55032,00.html

Logging On, Way, Way Down Under
At the very end of the earth, 90 degrees south, it’s not easy to get an Internet connection. "For all intents and purposes, it is one of the few populated places on Earth right now that does not have a technical capability to have Internet access," says Andre Roy, from Raytheon Polar Services Company, the company that supports the U.S. Antarctic Program. At present, the base can provide connection for a maximum of 13 hours a day using old, unreliable geosynchronous satellites that have drifted out of their original orbits. So the National Science Foundation plans to bring the Internet to the scientists and support staff who live at the Amundsen-Scott Station all day, every day by laying a fiber-optic cable across this continent of extremes. It will radically change life at the pole.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,54899,00.html

Cleaner Living Through Nanotech
For scientists who study it, nanotechnology is considered a clean technology, perhaps even the key to solving some current environmental ills. And the field is advancing rapidly. The National Science Foundation has been cutting its timetable for the release of nanotech-fueled products from five or 10 years to two or three years, said Mihail Roco, NSF's senior adviser on nanotechnology. First products likely to emerge are in medicine, Roco said. Nanotechnology will so thoroughly affect the way science addresses medicine, food, electronics and the environment, that within a decade or so, Roco envisions a $1 trillion yearly market in products that carry nano-components, including all computer chips, half of pharmaceuticals and half of chemical catalysts.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,55024,00.html

Ag Device Zaps Weeds on the Spot
Weeds lurking in crops may soon meet their nemesis in a new piece of equipment about to make its presence felt on the local farm. Engineers have developed a weed-killing device equipped with optical sensors that rely on complex algorithms to distinguish unwanted weeds from wanted crops. When it homes in on weeds, it triggers sprayers to douse them with herbicide. The goal: use fewer chemicals on crops. It's good news for the environment -- and for farmers' pocketbooks. After all, the less pesticide they use, the less it costs them to bring a crop to harvest.
http://www.wired.com/news/gizmos/0,1452,54800,00.html

Internet Security Not Pressing to All
Companies increasingly identify computer security as one of their top priorities, but a significant minority admit that they are inadequately protected, according to a survey to be released today. "The positive news is that industry is talking the talk of the need for improved information security," said David McCurdy, executive director of the Internet Security Alliance. "The negative news is that very few are walking the walk." Nearly 90 percent of 227 companies that responded to a survey said information security was essential to the survival of their business. However, 30 percent said their plans for dealing with technology threats were inadequate.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...-2002Sep8.html

Archaic computer systems hamper war on terror
After Richard Colvin Reid was arrested for allegedly trying to detonate explosives in his shoes on a U.S.-bound airliner in December, federal officials never searched electronic transportation incident reports to determine if this was a new pattern of terrorist activity. The reason is simple and distressing: The Department of Transportation's computer system doesn't allow those reports to be searched by key words like "shoe'' and "bomb,'' a function most computer users take for granted. And this is far from the worst case of information-technology impotence in the war on terrorism. The Department of Transportation's Web-based "Activation Information Management'' system is actually state-of-the-art for the federal government -- it uses the Internet, not glacial mainframe computers, and is accessible to employees in all the department's 12 agencies, a rarity among the fiefdoms of Washington.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/sil...al/4033433.htm

Windows plays fair with rivals
Software giant Microsoft is upgrading its Windows XP operating system to make it compliant with US Government rulings on fair competition. The latest update to the operating system contains software tools that allow many of its components to be hidden. The US Government demanded the changes during the closing stages of an anti-trust case in which Microsoft was found guilty of abusing its market dominance. The update also fixes many security loopholes and vulnerabilities in the software.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2245945.stm

Stem cell bank 'within a year'
Europe's first stem cell bank, which will be based in the UK, could be up and running within a year. The National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC) has been awarded a £2.6m contract to set up the bank by the Medical Research Council (MRC). Stem cells are hailed as a potentially revolutionary way of treating disease and repairing damage to the body. It is thought they could one day be used to treat conditions like Alzheimer's and diabetes. The aim of the bank is to allow the huge amount of research needed to better understand stem cells to take place.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2245863.stm

Quantum software gets the picture
When you look at a tile floor, you may think about how well the pattern goes with the rest of the room, but you won't wonder whether there is a pattern there in the first place. A computer, on the other hand, would have a hard time simply figuring out that a black tile followed by a white tile followed by a black tile followed by a white tile constitutes a pattern. It is clear that quantum computers, which use the quirks of quantum physics to compute, will be orders of magnitude more efficient at many tasks than ordinary, classical computers, if and when sufficiently large quantum computers can be built. A physicist at the University of British Columbia has come up with an algorithm that proves that quantum computers would be faster at finding patterns, too.
http://www.trnmag.com/Stories/2002/0...re_090402.html

'Safe' laser weapon comes under fire
Eye specialists say a laser weapon designed to dazzle soldiers could permanently damage eyesight, despite being dubbed "eye-safe". Since 1996 the Geneva Convention has prohibited weapons designed to cause permanent blindness. But lasers that dazzle or cause temporary "flash" blindness are permitted. The Pentagon has already exploited this loophole with laser weapons called illuminators. These red-laser weapons illuminate an aggressor, who will then hide or flee after realising they are in someone's rifle sights. But while illuminators do not work well in bright daylight they are powerful enough to damage vision.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992756

Iraqi nuclear weapon possible 'within months'
Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein could produce a nuclear weapon within a few months, if he could just get his hands on enough highly enriched uranium (HEU) to fuel a warhead. That is the conclusion of a study announced today by John Chipman of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. Chipman said on Monday: "Iraq does not possess facilities to produce fissile material in sufficient amounts for nuclear weapons". Moreover, he concludes, building such facilities would take several years and require much foreign assistance - which is hard, although not impossible, to get under the current international trade sanctions imposed on Iraq.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992773

More news later on

[fblaguy]

My favorite articles

MS "solves" mystery of hacking spree

Ahahahahaha, once again it proves that people need to watch what they use for passwords and for security.

Microsoft wants a hacker -- for Xbox

Whomever is hired for this job will become the most hated person on the internet.....next to Hillary Rosen


Eclipse adds to open-source framework

A wonderful idea indeed, should make some programming easier.

ISPs, record labels on a collision course

Yes, ISP's should take a stand on being pushed around like that

Sony takes sides in DVD war -- both

Someday it will be decided, but at least Sony is taking the initiative and offering both.


Audiogalaxy swaps music services

* fblaguy hears the sound of Audiogalaxy digging its own grave.

Corporate Paws Grab for Desktop

Not good, maybe when I graduate I can dedicate myself to cracking this restrictive stuff.


Internet Security Not Pressing to All

It will get them eventually.

Archaic computer systems hamper war on terror

Proof that systems need to be standardized in the govt.

Windows plays fair with rivals

Pinch me, I must be dreaming.

[ssj4_android]

I'd hardly call just "hiding" the program "fair." BTW, what is this Lite PC?

[JackSpratts]

over two dozen stories. that's a lotta news wt!

- js.

[TankGirl]

Good stuff, WT!

Originally posted by walktalker
ISPs, record labels on a collision course
A delicate detente is breaking down under pressure from peer-to-peer networks, placing two powerful industries on a collision course that could reshape the legal landscape for online file-swapping. Record companies and movie studios have long turned to Internet service providers for help in their battle against online piracy, but ISPs are beginning to balk at what they see as increasingly onerous demands to step up pressure against online copyright infringement. Last month saw a two-pronged expansion of that strategy, resulting in separate legal skirmishes between the record labels' trade association, Verizon Communications and a handful of large backbone service providers. Internet service providers now say they're increasingly concerned that their hard-won position of neutrality in the copyright wars is being undermined.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-957023.html

This will be a crucial confrontation, and its outcome will shape the future of p2p in one way or another. If the copyright nazis get any better grip on ISPs p2p will be forced to evolve into more protected forms where the ISPs simply have no way of knowing what their customers are doing with their bandwidth.

- tg

[ssj4_android]

I just watched the screensavers and found out about XP's new big vulnerability. I don't really read much into security unfortunentally. Anyways, I don't feel like installing SP1 yet. Will it work with my hacked theme.dll?

[Squid]

Originally posted by ssj4_android
I just watched the screensavers and found out about XP's new big vulnerability. I don't really read much into security unfortunentally. Anyways, I don't feel like installing SP1 yet. Will it work with my hacked theme.dll?

no.


but it's not hard to get a new one

[ssj4_android]

Where? It looks like the one on tgtsoft.com won't work with SP1, right?