The Newspaper Shop -- Tuesday edition

[walktalker]

Wearable Wi-Fi -- the wave of the future?
Wi-Fi has gone wearable as manufacturers try to find new things for these wireless networks to do. After all is said and done, these wireless networks -- now in an estimated 15 million homes and offices -- can really only shuttle information from one place to the next. Wi-Fi needs to do more if it's going to stay alive, wireless executives say. Companies like Wi-Fi start-up Vocera Communications are focusing on merging telephone networks with Wi-Fi's ability to deliver data over short ranges.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-939232.html

LindowsOS licenses herald cheaper PCs
Linux software developer Lindows.com has said it will offer system builders a flat-rate licensing plan for its operating system, in contrast to the per-unit fees charged by Microsoft and other software companies. On Monday Lindows.com, which claims its operating system will eventually be able to run popular Microsoft Windows applications, launched its Builder program, which offers system builders technical support, testing tools, LindowsOS Certification eligibility and a software library for $500 per month. The license allows the manufacturer to install the software on any number of systems, potentially allowing massive savings over traditional licensing plans.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-939068.html

IT pros: Cyberraid to hit U.S. agencies
Information technology professionals think a major attack on U.S. government computer systems is coming and that the government is not adequately prepared for it, according to a survey released Tuesday. Nearly half of IT professionals believe that the U.S. government will be hit with a "major cyberattack" in the next 12 months, according to the survey, conducted for the Business Software Alliance. BSA President Richard Holleyman, announcing the survey results at an e-government conference here, said an attack could range from a discrete attempt to get at a select group of highly sensitive data to a broad-ranging attack on multiple systems.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-939152.html

Will MS put clamps on digital media?
A battle is brewing over the future of digital media that could determine whether consumers are locked into formats controlled by Microsoft or have access to more open standards championed by competitors. On the one hand, Microsoft is pushing its proprietary Windows Media technologies and its pending successor, dubbed Corona. On the other, RealNetworks, a longstanding supporter of many digital media formats, is joining Apple Computer and other companies in backing open-standard MPEG-4. Microsoft faces numerous obstacles in this format war, including major resistance among content owners and distributors -- such as cable and wireless providers, which are reluctant to hand over a crucial component of their industries to a single technology provider.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-939064.html

Fighting back against PC invaders
By day, Paul Kurland runs an innocuous pool maintenance business in Miami, but don't be fooled: Online, he's armed with the digital equivalent of an atomic bomb in the arms race against annoying advertising and spying software. The SpyBlocker program he created can wipe out any targets in its path. In doing so, however, it also completely blocks access to large portions of many popular Web sites. Some call it an overreaction, but Kurland isn't at all apologetic.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-939046.html

Change of heart? MS reveals source code
Microsoft, long a proponent of keeping source code secret, plans to publish the source code to a critical part of its Palladium project to enhance security, a representative of the software giant said Monday. The component -- some thousands of lines of source code -- is the basic foundation of the security proposed in Microsoft's project and, as such, is the linchpin for the software giant's trusted-computing platform.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-939016.html

Teen sued over fake story posted online
U.S. regulators on Tuesday sued a 17-year-old who posted a phony story on Internet sites under a Bloomberg journalist's name, hoping to boost the stock price of a drug company in which he had just invested. Benjamin Snyder, from Lawrenceville, Ga., confessed to stealing the pen name of the financial news company's John Rega to try to inflate Viragen International's shares, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said. "He didn't make any profits, but we still sued him because his conduct was outrageous. We will come down hard and fast on anyone who tries to exploit the Internet to defraud investors," said John Stark, the SEC's head of Internet enforcement.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-939162.html?tag=fd_top

Net bigwigs label sites' content
Trying to do their part to make the Web more child-friendly, technology heavyweights including America Online, Microsoft and Yahoo say they've labeled almost every page on their sites with an updated content-assessment system. Living up to a commitment they made in October, the companies announced that they've labeled 93 percent of their pages in accordance with the Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA), a voluntary system that seeks to create a content-neutral guide for parents and children. The ICRA is an international nonprofit group that aims to balance efforts to protect children online while respecting free speech.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-939072.html?tag=fd_top

Why Software Is So Bad
It’s one of the oldest jokes on the Internet, endlessly forwarded from e-mailbox to e-mailbox. A software mogul — usually Bill Gates, but sometimes another — makes a speech. “If the automobile industry had developed like the software industry,” the mogul proclaims, “we would all be driving $25 cars that get 1,000 miles to the gallon.” To which an automobile executive retorts, “Yeah, and if cars were like software, they would crash twice a day for no reason, and when you called for service, they’d tell you to reinstall the engine.” The joke encapsulates one of the great puzzles of contemporary technology.
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/mann0702.asp

Enlisting science in terrorism fight
Calling some of the nation's computer networks "extremely vulnerable to attack," the National Academy of Sciences is issuing a new report urging the United States to better exploit its vast scientific resources if it hopes to fight terrorist threats. The 362-page report, released Tuesday, lists an array of immediate anti-terror applications for existing technology and recommends urgent research projects to thwart terrorist threats. The study, which focuses on a variety of dangers, including those involving nuclear materials and biological agents, also suggests the creation of an independent homeland security institute to better coordinate and implement anti-terrorism efforts within the scientific and technology community.
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-939084.html?tag=cd_mh

Paying up for a spam seal of approval
An e-mail gateway start-up is pushing marketers to back a plan that would let spam recipients charge companies for unwanted messages. San Bruno, Calif.-based IronPort Systems plans to unveil Tuesday its BondedSender program, aimed at giving legitimate bulk e-mail a seal of credibility. Participating companies would be asked to post a cash bond with a neutral party against which recipients could charge a small fee if they were improperly targeted with e-mail. A few such recipients wouldn't make much difference to the bond, but thousands of charge-backs could make companies reconsider sending the next mailing.
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-938976.html?tag=cd_mh

Digital media: Will Microsoft win again?
A battle is brewing over the future of digital media that could determine whether consumers are locked into formats controlled by Microsoft or have access to more open standards championed by competitors. On the one hand, Microsoft is pushing its proprietary Windows Media technologies and its pending successor, dubbed Corona. On the other, RealNetworks, a longstanding supporter of many digital media formats, is joining Apple Computer and other companies in backing open-standard MPEG-4. Microsoft faces numerous obstacles in this format war, including major resistance among content owners and distributors -- such as cable and wireless providers, which are reluctant to hand over a crucial component of their industries to a single technology provider.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-938997.html?tag=cd_mh

Russia poised to restrict Net activities
Russia's parliament may give final approval this week to sweeping restrictions on using the Internet to oppose the government. At the request of President Vladimir Putin, the Russian Duma voted 272 to 126 last week in favor of the offline and online restrictions as an immediate response to what Putin called a spate of pro-Nazi and anti-religious extremist activities. Russia's actions come as U.S. law enforcement is seeking expanded powers to monitor Web activity. Last month, U.S. Justice Department and FBI officials announced new guidelines that would allow agents to mine publicly available databases and Web sites for information, even if they're not conducting a specific investigation.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-938810.html?tag=cd_mh

Want a movie with your Xbox?
Microsoft has been quietly working since last fall on a device combining its money-losing Xbox video game console with its digital video recorder, according to published reports on Tuesday. The article by magazine Red Herring cited speculation that such a combined machine could be launched next year for a price of around $500, which factors in the added costs of a larger hard drive and TV tuning equipment. The project sounds similar to HomeStation, a device Microsoft reportedly has been working on since last year. As previously reported by CNET News.com, HomeStation devices would combine the ability to play Xbox games with digital TV functions and Internet access.
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-938990.html?tag=cd_mh

Do You Know Where His Keys Are?
Some people make lists of their books or CDs. Some people take pictures of their possessions for insurance purposes. Matthew McClintock, a 35-year-old webmaster from Chicago, makes lists and takes pictures to an obsessive degree. McClintock has created a website that attempts to document everything in his house, from the boxers in his dresser to the tools in the basement, and absolutely everything else in between. Since last October, McClintock has carefully gone around his three-story house photographing and documenting everything it contains, including cooking utensils, books, T-shirts, and pens in a desk drawer.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,53388,00.html

You Gotta Hand It to Porn Coders
She covers her monitor with Post-it Notes to hide the X-rated action on the screen, but a Southern California computer programmer can't plug her ears. Such are the hazards of helping to develop a voice-recognition software that one adult-video production company hopes will revolutionize interactive porn. If it works, the software will allow DVD viewers to control exactly how Debbie does Dallas without ever touching a mouse.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,53300,00.html

Say Good-Bye to Plastic
It could be the biggest thing since sliced bread was wrapped in cellophane: biodegradable food packaging that's cheap enough to compete with conventional plastic. Once used, it can be thrown onto the compost heap or even eaten. This year, startup Plantic Technologies will roll out a cornstarch-based bioplastic that can be molded into everything from Twinkie wrappers to cracker trays. The technology, developed by the Australian government, could help usher in a 21st-century green revolution. Cornfields rather than oil fields could satisfy much of the enormous demand for plastic.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1...tart.html?pg=8

Egyptians Flock to New Net Plan
Egyptians are spending more time on the Internet since the Internet became free -- free of subscription fees that is, because users are still paying the nominal cost of 20 cents per hour for their Internet calls. That's good news for the ISPs, which collect 70 percent of the call revenues from the phone company. Access is vital because only one million out of 69 million Egyptian citizens use the Internet, and as a developing country, Egypt risks falling further behind as the global economy becomes increasingly knowledge-based.
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,52993,00.html

Too Many Ringey-Dingeys in Kabul
It was one ring too many. Foreign Minister Abdullah abruptly descended the podium after repeatedly asking journalists to turn off their mobile phones, and still they rang. His annoyance might be considered a sign of progress: The use of cell phones is spreading in Afghanistan. More than two months after cellular service was introduced in the capital, mobile phones have become a business tool for the moneychangers in Kabul's crowded bazaar, who make regular calls to neighboring Pakistan to get the latest exchange rates.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,53470,00.html

Atom agency gives dirty bomb warning
Terrorists could find the materials to build a dirty radiation bomb in almost any country in the world, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) warned on Tuesday. They could pack radioactive material normally used in industry and medicine around a conventional bomb and use it to contaminate a wide area. The IAEA says more than 100 countries may not be keeping proper track of what happens to materials like cobalt-60, strontium-90, caesium-137 and iridium-192.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci...00/2065153.stm

Coming soon: SMS TV
Is nowhere safe from text messaging, coming soon to landlines and not so soon to TVs? A Devon firm called WirelessOcean has developed Text2TV, a set-top box-based system which plugs into a mobile phone's data port and one of a TV set's multimedia SCART channels, New Scientist reports. If someone texts you, the message pops up on your screen. To reply you can use a remote control and a virtual keyboard on the screen or, if you're a Sky subscriber, you can just key in the message. There's no need to key in a message using a mobile phone in either case.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/25885.html

Silencing Genes in HIV
Nature would never leave something as valuable as genetic code unprotected. One of the security measures protecting DNA in plants and animals is a mechanism that fights viruses by shutting down their genes. In plants the phenomenon is known as gene silencing, and it has been widely used to study plant genes. It has also been used to create transgenic tomato plants that are resistant to plant viruses. What works in tomatoes may also work in people. A number of laboratories are investigating ways to exploit the naturally occurring defense mechanism in humans to fight HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. A new study reports success in blocking the virus in cell cultures by silencing genes in HIV and human cells.
http://gnn.tigr.org/articles/06_02/hiv.shtml

Astronomers on Brink of Watershed in Planet Discoveries
The first phase of a two-decade hunt for planets around other stars ended this month with announcements of the discovery of two planets in Jupiter-like orbits, proving that our solar system has cousins, at least of the distant variety. Now it is census time. The world's top planet hunters are rushing headlong into Phase II, during which they expect the number of known extrasolar planets to rise dramatically from its present total of about 100. Several groups are fanning out in all manner of observational directions, with telescopes big and small, to root out, count and characterize other solar systems. Based on interviews with top experts, the new era will probably last anywhere from four to six years, barring any major surprises.
http://www.space.com/scienceastronom...ed_020624.html

Aspirin "reduces lung cancer risk"
Regular use of aspirin more than halves the risk of lung cancer in women who smoke, according to research in New York. But other cancer experts warn the study group is small, and say smokers should give up - not take aspirin to reduce their lung cancer risk. The 12-year study of 889 smoking and non-smoking women - 81 of whom developed lung cancer - found that those who took aspirin three times a week for six months or more were a third less likely to have developed lung cancer. The drug was particularly effective in preventing non-small cell lung cancer - the most common type, which is associated with tobacco smoking. The women who smoked and took aspirin regularly had a 61 per cent lower chance of developing this form of lung cancer than women who smoked and did not take aspirin.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992456

Hollywood, high-tech battle over digital content
When Sonicblue, maker of ReplayTV, designs new products, the team includes some unlikely people: lawyers. That's because Sonicblue builds products that Hollywood hates and consumers love. It specializes in gadgets that let people download, copy and share digital music and video. Those devices, entertainment companies say, often infringe on their copyrights because they allow the sharing of pirated content. Twenty-eight entertainment companies are suing Sonicblue to get ReplayTV off the shelves because the digital video recorder lets viewers skip commercials and send shows to friends over the Internet. Sonicblue says it has no plans to voluntarily scratch ReplayTV. The fight between Hollywood and Sonicblue is one of many being waged between the industries.
http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/t...onus-cover.htm

CD pirates in from the cold
Australia plans to endorse CD-copying kiosks in a controversial world-first plan that legalises music piracy. The Australian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society will allow an Adelaide-based business to operate CD-pirating kiosks nationwide for a modest royalty payment. The coin-operated kiosks could open in shopping malls, supermarkets or record stores from September and charge $5 for each CD 'burn'. Some independent operators have already installed copying machines in convenience stores, but their legality has not been tested. Observers say the green light from AMCOS, which represents songwriters and music publishing companies, has world implications and suggests the industry has been cornered into a compromise with the unstoppable pirating of music...
http://news.com.au/common/story_page...E13762,00.html

More news later on

[TankGirl]

I am just about to light the fire within and... read the news!

- tg