The Newspaper Shop -- Tuesday edition

[walktalker]

AMD touts win, bangs head
Advanced Micro Devices' CEO Hector Ruiz announced a customer win and the name of the chipmaker's next-generation of desktop processors during a Comdex Fall 2002 keynote that featured talk of digital guitars and a cameo from a rock star. As expected, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company signed Northeast Utility, a New England power company, to a "medium-sized" deal that will result in the use of tens of thousands of AMD's processors. Northeast Utility ranks as number 2,730 on Fortune magazine's list of the largest companies.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-966405.html

Microsoft to decipher security alerts
Microsoft is promising customers that it will simplify the security alerts it routinely issues on problems affecting its products. The company notified customers of pending changes to security alert bulletins in an e-mail sent Tuesday to the Microsoft Security Notification Service mailing list. "Customer feedback tells us that, while technical professionals value our security bulletins, many end-users find them overly detailed and confusing," Steve Lipner, director of Microsoft Security Assurance, wrote in the e-mail. He also noted that many people receive notices that would be "of interest only to developers or system administrators."
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-966347.html

Security holes aren't being filled
System administrators are still not patching systems frequently enough, according to a recently published study of a software security flaw that allowed the Linux Slapper worm to spread. In fact, even after the Slapper worm highlighted the existence of a vulnerability in the Web security software known as OpenSSL, three out of 10 systems that had the flaw continue to be vulnerable even today, said Eric Rescorla, an independent security consultant. "Administrators aren't as responsive as they should be," he said. "Even after a relatively serious hole is found, administrators don't do the right things."
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-966398.html

Office, Windows cover Microsoft losses
Four of Microsoft's seven business divisions lost money in the most recent quarter, according to financial statements the company filed last week. In the routine filing with the Securities Exchange Commission, the company also revealed Windows desktop profit margins were as high as nearly 86 percent. Losses in the four divisions cast a shadow over Microsoft's fiscal 2003 first quarter, ended Sept. 30, despite volume licensing changes that helped boost revenue 26 percent. Profits from Windows desktop and Office, which in their respective categories have more than 90 percent market share, accounted for most of Microsoft's profits, according to the filing.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-966219.html

Defender of your right to online privacy
When Microsoft introduced version 6 of its Internet Explorer browser last year, many Webmasters were puzzled to find that their cookies were being blocked in increasing numbers. The culprit was IE's default implementation of the Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P), and for that, the irate Webmasters had Lorrie Cranor to thank. Cranor, a principal technical staff member at AT&T Labs-Research, has become virtually synonymous with P3P. She is the chair of the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) P3P working group. She designed AT&T's "privacy bird," a software download that turns different colors based on a Web site's P3P settings. This year, Cranor wrote the book on P3P. Published by O'Reilly & Associates, Cranor's Web Privacy with P3P is currently the only title devoted to the subject, though John Wiley & Sons will publish a similar manual in March.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-966377.html

Segway scooters on sale to public
If you've got $5,000 burning a hole in your pocket and you're looking for a fancy way to get to work, Amazon.com has a Segway for you. On Monday, the high-tech scooter was made available for sale to the public through Amazon.com's Web store. Previously, the scooter has been tested primarily by government agencies and companies interested in increasing worker productivity. Customers can put in an order today -- but for no more than two -- for a "first-come, first-served" delivery starting next March. "This is the only way for the general public to reserve first delivery of…our highest performing model," Segway said on its Web site Monday.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-966259.html

News Corp. exec puts piracy in spotlight
A key executive from media giant News Corp. on Tuesday urged cooperation between media and technology companies in combating piracy. During his keynote speech at the Comdex Fall 2002 trade show, News Corp. Chief Operating Officer Peter Chernin said it was time for the "looting epidemic" to end, citing losses from copyright infringement that he estimated were in the $8 billion range. Chernin is one of the first media executives at Comdex to focus on file-trading, an issue that has caused considerable tension between entertainment and tech companies. Companies such as TiVo, Microsoft and other PC makers have tried to tout the capabilities of their devices without raising the ire of media companies. But media giants are hesitant to support the development of products such as DVD burners and digital video recorders, which can play, copy and distribute content.
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-966457.html?tag=fd_top

Xbox Live not for everyone
Last week's launch of Microsoft's new online service for its Xbox video game console created headaches for some customers, who reported not being able to use the service or their game machines. The company on Friday released Xbox Live, a $50-a-year service that allows Xbox owners to tap into an existing high-speed Internet connection to play games online. The service has become the cornerstone of Microsoft's strategy to distinguish the Xbox from competing game machines made by Sony and Nintendo. While Xbox fans were pumped up for the debut of the service after a successful test version, those who had altered their consoles with "mod chips" were out of luck.
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-966419.html?tag=fd_top

Machine talks to machine in Nokia debut
Nokia-made technology that lets machines use cellular telephone networks to interact with computer systems or other machines is making its U.S. debut. The first commercial use of Nokia's version of so-called machine-to-machine (M2M) networks began Tuesday inside the offices of BioLab, a water-treatment product provider. The company is using Nokia equipment -- including a shoebox-size cellular antenna -- to remotely monitor the pH and sanitizer levels in swimming pools. M2M product lines bring together software and hardware designed to let devices automatically send an alert -- to a business's computer network or even to an information technology manager's cell phone, for example -- about any number of crises, such as a machine breaking down or stock running out.
http://news.com.com/2100-1033-966431.html?tag=fd_top

U.S. fails cybersecurity review -- again
The U.S. government flunked a computer-security review for the third consecutive year on Tuesday, showing no improvement despite increased attention from high-level officials. Government agencies that oversee military forces, prosecute criminals, coordinate emergency response efforts and set financial policy all received failing grades from congressional investigators. The Department of Transportation, whose computer systems guide commercial aircraft and allocate millions of dollars in highway funding, received the lowest score, 28 out of a possible 100.
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-966444.html?tag=fd_top

PCs, gadgets scrap for home dominance
The battle for the living room is on. The home computer, tired of being relegated to the office, is trying to put on new clothes so that it can hang out with the television, the set-top box and the DVD player. Meanwhile, those gadgets are also trying to grab more leverage in the home, adding new abilities to record and edit the images and videos they're playing. The debate over whether the gadgets or the PCs will win out took center stage at the Comdex Fall 2002 trade show on Tuesday as PC makers took on the consumer-electronics industry in a panel discussion. The event also put Apple Computer and Microsoft in the unusual position of being on the same side.
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-966399.html?tag=fd_top

Linux for the Rest of Us
The clerks at Zumiez, a national chain of snowboard and skateboard shops, tend to stick out from the crowd. And it's not just because they sport black hooded sweatshirts or smack their gum while ringing up your kid's new $100 "deck." It's what lies under the hood of the old Compaq computers they use as cash registers that makes them true deviants. Not a single computer in Zumiez's 98 stores from Bellevue, Wash., to Syracuse, N.Y., runs the industry standard -- Microsoft's Windows operating system and accompanying Office applications. Instead, Zumiez has embraced the populist newcomers to the desktop, the open-source Linux OS and a free assemblage of new Linux-based programs.
http://www.business2.com/articles/ma...,44531,FF.html

Virtual Keyboards Approach Reality
When it comes to entering data into a digital device, the clackety old keyboard still beats alternatives such as voice or handwriting recognition. Trouble is, the keyboards on the latest wave of mobile PDA/phones from companies like Research in Motion and Handspring literally make typists all thumbs. Virtual keyboards may change all that. Three competing companies — VKB of Jerusalem, Israel, Canesta of San Jose, CA, and Virtual Devices of Pittsburgh, PA — are selling products that use lasers to project an image of a full-sized QWERTY keyboard on a flat surface. Optical sensors then track the user’s finger movements and translate them into keystrokes on a screen. The owner of a mobile gadgets equipped with such a keyboard could prop it up on a seatback tray or a briefcase and type away, eschewing a full laptop or a collapsible keyboard.
http://www.technologyreview.com/arti...rald111902.asp

IBM to build fastest supercomputers
IBM has won a $290 million government contract to build what are expected to be the world's two fastest supercomputers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the company plans to announce Tuesday. One machine, ASCI Purple for nuclear weapons research, will be three times faster than the world's current top-ranked supercomputer, NEC's Earth Simulator, which has been clocked at 35 trillion calculations per second, or "teraflops." The other machine, the Linux-powered Blue Gene/L for civilian research, will be 10 times faster than Earth Simulator, with a speed of 360 teraflops, according to IBM. Also included in the $290 million government contract is a third, smaller computer -- a comparatively ordinary cluster of 944 x335 servers and 32 x345 machines.
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-966312.html?tag=cd_mh

Lindows hits virtual shelves
Lindows on Monday unveiled the latest version of its low-cost operating system aimed at bringing Linux to the masses. The release of LindowsOS 3.O marks the first time the company is selling its software as an independent product. Until now, Lindows came bundled with low-cost PCs, including some sold through Wal-Mart. The company said the LindowsOS 3.0 package will sell for about $129 and support dozens of Linux applications, including ones that mirror Windows applications. The software package, which is available online including at Walmart.com, also features Sun Microsystems' StarOffice 6.0 word processing software and supports more than 800 printers.
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-966183.html?tag=cd_mh

AOL debuts its own streaming tech
America Online unveiled on Monday a high-speed radio service, showcasing a new media-delivery technology that the company has quietly developed for use within its network. The launch of Broadband Radio@AOL marks the online giant's first live run on its network for the technology, called Ultravox. The online service aims to deliver CD-quality songs to subscribers who access it via a high-speed connection. The Ultravox launch could have repercussions beyond the company, particularly for partner RealNetworks, which in the past was the sole provider of streaming technology used on AOL's radio service. AOL will continue to use RealNetworks' technology for dial-up online radio products on AOL, on the Netscape Web site and through its Spinner product.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-966239.html

Turbocharged MPEG audio on the way
A key multimedia standards body is close to approving a turbocharged digital audio proposal, holding out the promise of digital music in smaller files. Last month, the section of the Moving Picture Experts Group responsible for the digital audio portion of the sprawling MPEG-4 digital media standard said it was recommending an addition to its existing audio guidelines. The new proposal, using technology from Swedish company Coding Technologies, would let digital audio data be compressed into files half the size of what they would have been using the most recent set of standards -- without a perceptible dip in sound quality. The same technology was used to upgrade MP3 to the newer MP3Pro, halving the size of MP3 audio files.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-966471.html?tag=cd_mh

Secret U.S. court OKs electronic spying
A secretive federal court on Monday granted police broad authority to monitor Internet use, record keystrokes and employ other surveillance methods against terror and espionage suspects. In an unexpected and near-complete victory for law enforcement, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review overturned a lower court's decision and said that Attorney General John Ashcroft's request for new powers was reasonable. The 56-page ruling removes procedural barriers for federal agents conducting surveillance under the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The law, enacted as part of post-Watergate reforms, permits sweeping electronic surveillance, telephone eavesdropping and surreptitious searches of residences and offices.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-966311.html?tag=cd_mh

Tech companies ask for unfiltered Net
A coalition of technology companies warned on Monday that cable companies might try to interpose themselves as gatekeepers between customers and Internet content. In a three-page letter to the Federal Communications Commission, the group, which includes Amazon.com, Apple Computer, Microsoft and others, called on the agency to preserve Internet users' "unfettered ability to reach lawful content and services and to communicate and interact with each other." "Despite our differences on the details of a solution, we are unanimous in our agreement that the government must ensure that transmission network operators do not encumber relationships between their customers and destinations on the network," read the letter from the ad-hoc alliance, called the Coalition of Broadband Users and Innovators.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-966307.html?tag=cd_mh

Court OKs faxed warrants
A federal appeals panel has ruled that police did not need to be present when executing a search warrant at an Internet company and instead could fax the request. In the ruling Monday, a panel of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals said police acted legally when they faxed a search warrant to Yahoo during an investigation into alleged child-porn activity. The ruling is believed to be the first case involving the question of whether police can fax a search warrant, a practice that increasingly has become a common crime-fighting tactic. The case has been closely watched by both privacy experts and Internet service providers, which are grappling with law enforcement's increasing reliance on technology during investigations and the potential for such searches to be overly broad.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-966267.html?tag=cd_mh

Online casting calls snub Apple
Hollywood shows its love for Apple Computer in many ways, by routinely featuring Macs in blockbuster movies and by using the PC maker's software to produce cool special effects. But the affair doesn't always extend to the Internet, where the studios are busy creating new services that promise to deliver every movie ever made to viewers at the click of a mouse. Last week, an online movie download service backed by five major studios opened for business, marking one of the industry's biggest moves to date into Internet distribution. Dubbed Movielink, the joint project by MGM Studios, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Studios and Warner Bros. Studios offers a limited selection of those studios' first-run and classic films, including last year's hit "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone."
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-966115.html?tag=cd_mh

Study: Surfing's up for mamas and papas
Parents are enthusiastically embracing the tech wave, according to a new study on the Web habits of moms and dads. A study scheduled for release Monday from the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that parents with children living at home are more likely to use the Internet and are more excited about technology and its benefits than people who are not parents, making mothers and fathers an increasingly important market for technology businesses. "Many wired parents are convinced technology helps them stay more in control of their busy lives," Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, said in a statement. "Even more important is that they are anxious to make sure their children learn how to use the Internet."
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-966071.html?tag=cd_mh

Flash memory cards set to dazzle
The market for flash memory cards has started to recover from inventory gluts and should grow substantially over the next few years, according to a new report. Worldwide sales of flash cards -- used for removable data storage in devices such as digital cameras -- are expected to total $2.05 billion this year, according to a report from Web-Feet Research, a Monterey, Calif.-based firm specializing in analysis of flash and other nonvolatile memory. That compares with sales of $1.8 billion in 2000 and $1.3 billion in 2001, when persistent inventory problems led to drastic price-cutting, said Web-Feet CEO Alan Niebel.
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-966443.html?tag=cd_mh

Philips builds bridge between TV and PC
Philips Electronics is looking to let your television tap into the video and audio stored on your PC. The company's connectivity group demonstrated its Wireless Home AV Platform device at the Comdex Fall 2002 trade show this week. The software and hardware product is designed to allow people to wirelessly access content stored on a PC via a consumer-electronics device such as a television or home stereo. "We see the lines between PCs and (consumer electronics) devices blurring, and we're taking baby steps towards a single 'converged' device," said Engelbert van Pelt, a general manager at Philips.
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-966106.html?tag=cd_mh

RealNetworks hits play for Palm music
People will be able store and play back music on the newest Palm handheld, thanks to a deal announced Monday between software company RealNetworks and the device maker. Under the alliance, Seattle-based RealNetworks will provide free downloads of RealOne Player Mobile software designed for Palm's upcoming device, the Tungsten T handheld. With the high-end device plus the mobile audio player, Tungsten T owners will be able to store and play audio files encoded using RealAudio and MP3 technology. "Now, with the added audio multimedia feature from RealNetworks’ RealOne Player, users will be able to download, store and play back news, entertainment and music," Palm spokesman Ken Wirt said in a statement.
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-966230.html?tag=cd_mh

How Much Hack Info Is Too Much?
To disclose or not disclose -- it's a question that's been under heavy discussion in the computer security industry over the past year. U.S. cybersecurity director Richard Clarke and virtually all software companies insist that software vendors should have a chance to fix problems before security researchers disclose them publicly. Researchers counter that without full disclosure, companies often fail to swiftly patch security holes. Full disclosure, in theory, also alerts computer users to problems that are already known to malicious hackers, who often exploit holes before patches become available. But a recent post on security news mailing list BugTraq has infuriated some who normally favor full disclosure.
http://www.wired.com/news/infostruct...,56463,00.html

Brits Mull Chipping Sex Offenders
The British government acknowledged Monday that it would consider using implanted ID chips to track sex offenders, raising the specter of forced chipping. The news was first reported on Sunday by the The Observer. The paper reprinted portions of a letter from Hilary Benn, the minister responsible for supervising sex offender programs, to Labour MP Andrew Mackinlay. Benn's letter said the British government was interested in the future potential of implants to track offenders' movements by satellite and measure their heart rate and blood pressure "to predict criminal activity." Home Office spokesman Matt Brook on Monday confirmed both the existence of the letter as well as its content.
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,56464,00.html

Rebuilding an Apple From the Past
Computer technician Vince Briel is planning to resurrect the Apple I, the hand-built machine that launched Apple computer. The Apple I is one of the hottest machines on the vintage computer market, but with less than 50 still in circulation, they are extremely hard to come by. An Apple I can cost anywhere between $15,000 and $50,000, depending on its condition, history and, of course, the economy. Briel is betting there's a market for replica machines capable of running original Apple I software, without breaking the bank. Briel has designed, built and is currently testing a replica of the Apple I. If all goes well, he hopes to go into production by next spring.
http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,56426,00.html

This Is Your Computer on Brains
The fastest supercomputers in the world are complete slackers compared with the processing power of the human brain. But that's about to change. The U.S Department of Energy announced Tuesday that IBM has won a $290 million contract to build two of the first computers capable of equaling the theoretical processing power of the human brain. The combined processing power of the two computers will be half a quadrillion (500 trillion) calculations per second, more than 1.5 times the combined processing power of all 500 machines on the recently released Top 500 list of supercomputers.
http://www.wired.com/news/infostruct...,56459,00.html

Tales of Oz, Wonderland Go Online
Most avid readers recall a story about a certain imaginative girl, a very late rabbit and a grinning Cheshire cat. But not all children have access to an endowed library packed with classics such as Alice in Wonderland. Students in urban or remote rural areas where library books are scant may never get their hands on a copy of Lewis Carroll's well-known story. A new project attempts to bridge this gap by developing a sweeping digital archive of books from around the world for children ages 3 to 13. The International Children's Digital Library will launch Wednesday with over 200 books from 27 cultures in 15 languages -- the largest international collection of children's literature available online.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,56366,00.html

Web-Inspired Ads Coming to TV
Davisson's attitude toward TV commercials -- and the power she has to ignore them completely if she wants to, thanks to her TiVo -- is setting off mild panic among television networks who rely on advertisements to finance their companies. "We sometimes stop for ads," she said. "They're for a movie you want to see, there's a cool new car ad, there's a funny Nike ad you haven't seen yet. So it's not like we're skipping them altogether." But many ads are being skipped, and network executives such as Court TV's Charlie Collier have had to think of new ways to insert commercials into programming without offending the viewer. Court TV is experimenting with a whole new way to fund its programs, beginning with what executives call in program product sponsorship, or IPPS. It's what the rest of us call pop-up ads, but they are less obtrusive than what you'd think.
http://www.techtv.com/news/culture/s...407781,00.html

Controversial Navy Sonar Cleared for Limited Testing
A federal judge has lifted a worldwide ban on the U.S. Navy's experimental new sonar system, clearing the way for limited testing of the controversial system. The judge approved an agreement reached by the Navy and a coalition of environmental groups who seek to limit the sonar's potential impacts on marine mammals. Friday's agreement will allow limited testing of the Navy's Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System Low Frequency Active sonar while the federal court in San Francisco considers a lawsuit challenging the legality of the system. Conservation groups have argued that the federal government has not done enough to ensure that the new, high intensity sonar system will not hurt or kill whales, dolphins, seals and sea turtles with its loud signals. Late last month, U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth LaPorte had issued a preliminary injunction stopping the deployment of the sonar system, which relies on very loud, low frequency sound to detect submarines at great distances.
http://ens-news.com/ens/nov2002/2002-11-18-06.asp

Decaff coffee gives a buzz too
The buzz from your morning cup of coffee may not be caused by caffeine after all. According to new research, decaffeinated coffee may be just as good at raising the blood pressure, at least for drinkers not used to the black stuff. Numerous studies have shown that too much caffeine interferes with sleep patterns, but the long term health effects of the drug are more controversial. Some scientists claim that daily caffeine stimulation increases our risk of high blood pressure and heart disease later in life. But overall, the evidence is equivocal, says Alice Lichtenstein of the American Heart Association's Nutrition Committee. Now, the small Swiss-led study suggests that to focus on caffeine alone may be wrong.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993075

Music Labels: Streaming Is Swell
If the recording industry has its way, the day of the music download may soon be dead. Or at least on life support. Record companies continue to use their financial muscle to slow the growth of file-trading networks and to acquire digital-rights management technologies that limit what people can do with MP3s and other files. To meet the growing demand for digital music, labels have turned to streaming services because they offer the one thing entertainment conglomerates want most: control.
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,56419,00.html

Movielink's Premiere Doesn't Live Up to Its Promise
Just because you can do something on the Internet doesn't mean you should. That seems to be the initial lesson of Movielink, the first site to let people legally download major-studio motion pictures. This joint venture of the five big studios (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal and Warner Bros.) opened for business Monday. Its first-to-the-market status makes Movielink worthy of commendation: The movie industry may still whine about online piracy, but it's also offering an alternative to theft. If, however, you are a consumer instead of a policy analyst, Movielink looks much less attractive. It offers a lousy selection, uncompetitive prices, unduly restrictive terms, poor quality and a slow delivery mechanism.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2002Nov15.html

More news later on

[JackSpratts]

i get my juice from nu. so their amds will power my amds. hmmn.

- js.