The Newspaper Shop -- Friday edition

[walktalker]

Ruling may expand findings in MS lawsuits
In what could be a legal blow to Microsoft, a federal judge has signaled that antitrust plaintiffs who filed recent private lawsuits against the software giant might be able to use findings from the government's earlier case, according to published reports. The comments by U.S. District Judge Frederick Motz in Baltimore were made during a one-day hearing on a motion by plaintiffs Thursday. The plaintiffs -- including number of software makers -- asked that they be allowed to base their lawsuits on the antitrust violations that were established in the Justice Department's long-running case against Microsoft. A settlement in that case is pending in a separate federal courtroom, as is related litigation led by a number of state attorneys general.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-963339.html

Microsoft ordered to catch butterflies
New York City has ordered Microsoft to net its butterflies. The city has ordered Microsoft to remove a slew of butterfly decals that were plastered on phone booths, subway posts and traffic poles throughout Midtown Manhattan. The decals are part of Microsoft's promotion of its MSN 8.0 launch Thursday."Several different types of promotional poster, stickers and/or markings referring to products sponsored/produced by your company are defacing City-owned sidewalks and directional and informational traffic signs throughout New York City," wrote Cesar Fernandez, assistant counsel to the NYC Department of Transportation in a letter to Microsoft.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-963330.html

EU sees Microsoft decision soon
The European Commission will issue a preliminary ruling in an anti-trust case against Microsoft late this year and a final decision next year, a top official at the EU executive said on Friday. The Commission is investigating allegations that Microsoft used dominant power in the operating systems market for personal computers to improve its position in other markets. "We expect to issue a preliminary decision by the end of this year," said Philip Lowe, director general of the Commission's competition directorate.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-963340.html

Torvalds: Next Linux due by June
The next version of the heart of the Linux operating system is expected by June, project founder and leader Linus Torvalds predicted on Thursday. Scheduling the arrival of open-source software can be difficult given the informality of the collaborative programming process and the programmers' reluctance to release code that's not up to snuff. Indeed, version 2.4 of Linux arrived months later than hoped. But Torvalds and other key developers adopted a more structured approach for transforming the 2.5 "development" branch of the OS to the 2.6 version intended for real-world use. "We're pretty close to done with what will be 2.6... We're actually looking at the second quarter 2003 for the real 2.6 release," Torvalds told a group of Linux aficionados aboard a "Geek Cruise" in the Caribbean. CNET News.com reviewed a recording of Torvalds' talk.
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-963447...g=fd_lede1_hed

eBay patent case moves closer to trial
A patent dispute in which eBay is mired appears to be heading to trial, albeit later than originally expected. U.S. District Court Judge Jerome Friedman issued a series of rulings over the past week that clarify the issues in the case and that allow eBay to firm up its defense, but that reject its attempts to throw out the claims made in the disputed patents. Originally scheduled for November, the case is now set for trial in April of next year in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. "My view is that the court has now cleared this case for trial," said Scott Robertson, an attorney with Hunton & Williams who is representing MercExchange, the company that sued eBay.
http://news.com.com/2100-1017-963434.html?tag=fd_top

MSN releases new version of IM
Microsoft on Thursday launched a new version of its instant chat software MSN Messenger, which offers parental controls and other features only for paid subscribers of MSN 8. The Redmond, Wash.-based company made the upgrade of MSN Messenger 5 widely available on Friday. The free version includes such features as a new member directory, customizable news, and spam-blocking controls. As previously reported, for MSN 8 subscribers, the tool lets parents monitor and regulate children’s IM use and enables people using different computers to surf the Web together. The new IM software coincides with Microsoft’s marketing push for MSN 8, an upgrade to its proprietary Web software that was introduced publicly Thursday. The company is spending $300 million to advertise the revamped technology in heated competition with AOL Time Warner's America Online unit, which debuted its newest software, AOL 8.0, last week.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-963390.html?tag=fd_top

Pro-privacy senator dies in crash
Sen. Paul Wellstone, a Minnesota Democrat who fought to bolster Americans' privacy rights and limit government surveillance of the Internet, was killed in a plane crash on Friday afternoon. Wellstone, 58, was an unapologetic liberal who was elected in 1990 and opposed the Gulf War, sought to increase the minimum wage, and envisioned a tax-funded health care system. He was enmeshed in a tight re-election bid this year. In January, he asked the Federal Communications Commission to require telephone companies to seek customer permission before selling personal information. That information would include telephone number details of a customer's incoming and outgoing calls.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-963440.html?tag=fd_top

Son of the branded ISP
Branded Internet access deals are back. Following similar announcements from Yahoo and iVillage, this week's unveiling of a Walt Disney-Microsoft partnership to offer a family-oriented Internet access service makes the trend official. After suffering through one wave of failed Internet service provider marriages, content companies again want to take a piece of the action when it comes to connecting their customers to the Net. It's an arrangement America Online made famous, but that none have successfully duplicated. Remember Excite@Home?
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-963425.html?tag=fd_top

Dolby sounds out PC market
Audio technology company Dolby Labs is releasing new software that aims to deliver surround sound through ordinary PC speakers. Dolby Virtual Speaker, to be launched Tuesday, promises to create the effect of a 5.1-channel speaker system using normal stereo PC equipment. That means that instead of hearing distinct sounds from two speakers on either side of the PC monitor, the listener will experience the illusion of hearing sound from an additional two speakers behind him or her, and one directly in front. The ".1" refers to a subwoofer effect. "The PC opens up a whole new world in terms of what we're able to deliver, especially given the extent of the PC's processing power and the fact that so many people are connected through the Internet," said Greg Rodehau, a Dolby spokesman.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-963420.html?tag=fd_top

Blog site back up after hack attack
Pyra sparked up its popular Blogger.com site again Friday after shutting it down earlier in the day in response to a hacker attack.
The hack compromised individual accounts, locking out site users from their blogs. Pyra has taken the machine that was compromised offline and restored the Blogger site from its redundant servers, said Jason Shellen, the company's director of business development. Users whose accounts were compromised should be able to access them again, he said. Pyra has not yet determined when the hacker first got access to Blogger accounts, but the attack appeared to have started early Friday morning, Shellen said. Pyra took down the Blogger site at around 9 a.m. PDT, and it was offline for about two and a half hours, he said. It was brought up at about 11:25 a.m.
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-963375.html?tag=fd_top

The Palladium Paradox
When Microsoft announced its entry into the “trusted computing” arena in June, the requisite witticism within the IT industry was that putting “Microsoft” next to “trusted” is an oxymoron. Four months later, many smirks have disappeared as the plans progress and the true significance of code-name Palladium becomes ever more clear. The software, which is slated for future versions of the Windows operating system, looks on paper to be an all-good system for increasing privacy and security. The consequences of its deployment in the real world, however, will likely be decreased user control over the contents of their computers and a serious increase in Microsoft’s stranglehold on desktops. Palladium is a big deal.
http://www.technologyreview.com/arti...rger102502.asp

Taiwan Puts Its Chips on Biotech
Don't even think of walking into Dr. Chip Biotechnology's office without an appointment. A guard with a revolver at his hip stands outside the front door. Only after a careful search of your bag and a call to the chief executive's office for clearance does he relax and let you through. Dr. Chip himself -- CEO Wang Shin-hwan -- isn't as uptight. But he, too, is careful about showing off his disease-detecting biochips, which he keeps like jewels in a suede-lined box in his lab in the Hsinchu Science-Based Industrial Park in Taiwan. The chips are encoded with the DNA patterns of viruses and programmed to look for matching patterns in samples of blood or saliva. "These are among the first biochips on the market," Wang says, lifting the fingernail-sized chips with plastic pincers. "They will allow hospitals to detect infectious diseases within six hours, rather than days."
http://www.fortune.com/indexw.jhtml?...&doc_id=209949

The battle to control viruses
Anti-virus firm Sophos gets more calls about hoaxes than it does about any individual virus. So much so that it now compiles a list of top ten hoaxes to sit alongside the top ten most virulent viruses explained Graham Cluley, Chief Technology Consultant at Sophos. While hoaxes cannot actually do any damage to computers, they do use up valuable bandwidth, waste a good deal of resources and are therefore a nuisance. "Adopt a paranoid attitude. Don't believe any virus warning from anyone," Mr Cluley advised on a recent day out to the Sophos UK headquarters near Oxford to see the damage viruses can do. He is also keen to persuade users that they need to adopt a more sober approach to their online habits in order to avoid virus infection.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2358075.stm

The Battery In The Sky
Think back to the days of 1970s energy crisis and you may remember a lot of talk in the media about solar power. It would, the thinking went, become the dominant method for powering homes and businesses. It was such a popular idea that it left a permanent mark on the Manhattan skyline. The top of the Citicorp Center building, headquarters for Citigroup, is built at a steep angle which was to accommodate solar panels. Of course, the 1970s led to the 1980s -- and solar power became a business bust. Today it still costs more to produce a kilowatt-hour of solar power than it does to produce a kilowatt-hour from a coal fire plant. But that hasn't stopped the technology behind solar power from improving -- and finding other practical applications.
http://www.forbes.com/home/2002/10/2...artner=newscom

The Future Is … Then
Who needs science fiction? Federal tech and science wonks this summer went wild in a 400-page assessment of what nano, bio, info, and cogno might do for humanity. Converging Technologies for Improving Human Performance — a joint effort by the Commerce Department and the National Science Foundation — looks forward to a new age in federal science procurement. Consciously or not, the report echoes classic science fiction from 70 years ago at almost every turn. Too bad the prose isn’t as good.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1...art.html?pg=13

Gun Add-On Sets Sights on Killers
A device that can be incorporated into any type of firearm aims to make it harder for criminals to get away with murder. Every time a weapon fitted with the device is fired, it stamps an indelible imprint of the firearm's serial number onto the bullet's shell casing. This means that shell casings retrieved at the scene of a crime will become an even more valuable forensics tool, potentially enabling law enforcement professionals to ascertain instantly the gun's make and quickly track down the weapon's last registered owner. Stamping bullets, however, may not provide an instant solution to matching crimes -- like the Washington-area sniper shootings -- with culprits, said Todd Lizotte, vice president of research and development at NanoVia, where the new device is being developed.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,55947,00.html

Implantable Chip, On Sale Now
The maker of an implantable human ID chip has launched a national campaign to promote the device, offering $50 discounts to the first 100,000 people who register to get embedded with the microchip. Applied Digital Solutions has coined the tagline "Get Chipped" to market its product, VeriChip. The rice-size device costs $200. Those implanted must also pay for the doctor's injection fee and a monthly $10 database maintenance charge, said ADS spokesman Matthew Cossolotto. The VeriChip emits a 125-kilohertz radio frequency signal that transmits its unique ID number to a scanner. The number then accesses a computer database containing the client's file. Customers fill out a form detailing the information they want linked to their chip when they undergo the procedure, Cossolotto said.
http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,55999,00.html

Outing UFO Clues Good for Ratings
Fox Mulder would be proud of a group of Washington insiders who are throwing their weight behind the UFO movement. Former Chief of Staff John Podesta and a former Capitol Hill staffer this week called on the government to release secret evidence from UFO crash sites.The Coalition for Freedom of Information, directed by Washington lobbyist Edwin Rothschild, hopes to acquire UFO documents and debris for scientific analysis. Rothschild said neither he nor Podesta, who joined in the announcement, has heard any new rumors about UFOs from the Oval Office or Capitol Hill. "But people and pilots worldwide have seen things that shouldn't be there," Rothschild said, "and we ought to know what these things are." Rothschild said he wants to encourage a sustained, scientific study of UFO materials.
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,56004,00.html

Spanish Net Law Sparks Protest
Times have been hard for Georgeos Diaz-Montexano's online course in Egyptian hieroglyphics. One student in two years and $12 in tuition. But Diaz-Montexano pulled the plug on what he calls the world's only Spanish-language Egyptology site for a different reason: fears of hassle or a hefty fine under Spain's new law regulating cyberspace.Any website located in Spain that engages in commerce -- even a struggling Egyptology site -- must now register with the government under a stringent new law that took effect on Oct. 12. The tough rules have prompted at least 300 website owners to take their pages offline in protest, according to Kriptopolis, a digital rights and Internet security site coordinating the campaign. It has drawn support from online civil libertarians across Europe.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,56021,00.html

Letter: Free Software Hurts U.S.
An attack on the software license behind the Linux operating system has stirred up a free software controversy in Washington. Earlier this week, three members of the House of Representatives, Adam Smith (D-Wash.), Ron Kind (D-Wis.) and Jim Davis (D-Fla.), sent a note to 74 Democrats in Congress attacking Linux's GNU General Public License (GPL) as a threat to America's "innovation and security."The note urged members to support a letter written by Reps. Tom Davis (R-Va.) and Jim Turner (D-Texas) to Richard Clarke, who heads the board in charge of hammering out U.S. cybersecurity policy. Davis and Turner's letter asks that the plan explicitly reject "licenses that would prevent or discourage commercial adoption of promising cybersecurity technologies developed through federal R&D." There's only one problem. Tom Davis and Jim Turner say their letter has absolutely nothing to do with open source or the GPL.
http://www.wired.com/news/linux/0,1411,55989,00.html

Last Bell Tolls for Online School
Embattled cyberschool Einstein Academy is slated to go offline for good. On Wednesday the Morrisville school board voted overwhelmingly to revoke Einstein's charter, potentially pulling the plug on a controversial academy whose launch ignited a firestorm of political debate over virtual education. Board President Ken Junkins said board members voted 8-0 in favor of revoking the charter, with one abstention. "We felt that the problems with the school were so great that the education of these students was imperiled. There was more danger to these children from attending the school than not attending," he said.
http://www.wired.com/news/school/0,1383,56002,00.html

Did Newton Get It Wrong?
Russian scientist Evgeny Podkletnov is challenging one of the most sacred tenets of physics -- the law of gravity. Podkletnov claims that when objects are placed above a high-temperature, superconducting ceramic disk rotating within an electromagnetic field, the objects lose as much as 2 percent of their original weight. He calls the effect "gravity shielding," and when word of his research reached the public in 1996, a brief media circus ensued. Many in the physics community dismissed his effort as wishful thinking. Now, however, several mainstream organizations -- including Boeing (BA), NASA, and British aerospace giant BAE Systems -- are lending fresh credibility to Podkletnov's claims. Phantom Works, Boeing's top-secret R&D arm, recently disclosed that it is monitoring his research.
http://www.business2.com/articles/ma...,43531,FF.html

10 Confounding Cosmic Questions
Once while well-known astronomy lecturer and author by George Lovi (1939-1993) was running a public night at the Brooklyn College Observatory in New York, the telescope was pointed at Venus, displaying a delicate crescent shape. Yes, Venus goes through phases, just like the Moon does, as seen from our point of view. A student, surprised by the crescent, stubbornly insisted he was really looking at the Moon. Lovi pointed out that the Moon wasn’t even in the sky that night. "So what?" the student said. "Doesn’t a telescope show you things you can’t see without it?" This is but one of a number of popular misconceptions in astronomy. Some are widely held, others linger more as confounding questions in the backs of peoples’ minds. Why don’t meteor showers actually rain down? Is there a South Star? Why is July so hot?
http://www.space.com/spacewatch/conf..._021025-1.html

Smart routing could stop distributed net attacks
An assault carried out on crucial internet servers on Monday has highlighted the problem of distributed denial of service (DDoS) and focused attention on methods for counteracting the problem. One potential solution involves moving backwards through internet routers to stop an attack close to its source. On Monday, nine of 13 root domain name system (DNS) servers were bombarded with fake traffic from many slave computer systems. Although the attack was relatively unsophisticated, experts say it could have caused significant disruption to the web had it lasted for a few more hours. It is far from an isolated problem. Individual web sites are regularly targeted with smaller scale attacks that disrupt traffic.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992973

Brain electrodes cure obsessive patients
Implanting electrodes into the brains of two patients has rid them of the symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder, researchers in France report. Surgically implanted electrodes are used to treat the tremors associated with Parkinson's disease, though the method is reserved for only the most severe cases. But this study suggests that such "deep brain stimulation" could also be useful for treating behavioural problems associated with psychiatric disorders too. Luc Mallet, Yves Agid and their colleagues from Hôpital de la Pitie-Salpêtrière in Paris had performed the surgery to treat Parkinson's symptoms. But the surgical team were unaware that two of their patients had obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) as well.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992970

Viagra gives wildlife a boost
The success of the anti-impotence drug Viagra has drastically reduced the demand for wild animal body parts used in traditional cures for impotence, a new analysis shows. Researchers in Canada and Australia have shown that since the drug was introduced in 1998, worldwide trade in parts of some species has fallen by more than 70 per cent. The reason for Viagra's popularity is clear, says Frank von Hippel of the University of Alaska: "Viagra is cheaper than many animal products and its action is pronounced, immediate and effective." Von Hippel and his brother William at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, analysed data on three legally traded species used in traditional medicines: Alaskan reindeer, which are hunted for antler velvet, hooded seals and harp seals, which are both hunted for their genitalia.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992972

'Star Wars' producer: DVDs hurt B.O.
The movie industry loves tracking, and perhaps today's most relevant question is why young people aren't going to the same movie five or six times a la "Titanic." According to Rick McCallum, producer of "Attack of the Clones," "The Phantom Menace" and the "Young Indiana Jones" TV movies, one of the answers is DVD, Variety reports. As the cost of going to the movies has escalated to $20 or so for a ticket, parking and popcorn, teens are paying more attention to the fact that the movie will be out on DVD in just four or five months at a rental fee of $4 or $5 or a purchase price of $12-$15. And McCallum feels that the experience of watching the movie on DVD is superior to most movie theaters. "Filmmakers love it because it more closely resembles the film made," he says.
http://www.cnn.com/2002/SHOWBIZ/Movi...eut/index.html

Rosen Responds to Janis Ian: Misinformation and Mischaracterizations
Janis Ian’s USA TODAY column (Oct 23rd, “Music industry spins falsehood”) so blatantly mischaracterizes both the RIAA position as well as that of most record company executives that I know on several different issues that a response is merited. First, I must say that I am a huge fan of Janis Ian’s music. Her music has meant so much to me and hundreds of thousands of fans over the years. She is also a thoughtful and creative writer and an admirably impressive businesswoman. It is unfortunate that during this new, and extremely successful, phase of her career she chooses to attack and demean those who have chosen a different path – say for instance, artists and executives who work with major record companies. All of the enforcement efforts that the RIAA has engaged in over the years have been focused on two goals: to foster the development of a new, legitimate on-line music business to serve fans and to give artists and copyright owners a choice about how their music is distributed
http://www.riaa.com/PR_story.cfm?id=579

More news in two days -- it's weekend folks !!

[Smoketoomuch]

I have five tabs opened up right now ... great news! Have a nice weekend!