The Newspaper Shop -- Wednesday edition

[walktalker]

Tu as le pouvoir d'être fort, et la sagesse d'avoir la connaissance

Tech groups slam 'harmful' MS deal
SBC Communications and four trade groups told a federal judge Thursday that Microsoft's landmark antitrust settlement is not in the public interest. One other presenter, the Association for Competitive Technology ( ACT), defended the settlement during the afternoon session of a hearing that could determine the deal's fate. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly is charged with evaluating whether the deal is in the public interest, as mandated by the Nixon-era Tunney Act.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-854059.html

Hollywood: Lights, cameras, DivX
Jerome Rota, better known as Gej, never thought he'd find himself sitting among the suits and PowerPoint presentations showing off his software at a swanky hotel just minutes from the heart of Hollywood. But the once-underground creator of DivX joined his colleagues this week here at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel to launch DivX 5.0, compression technology that promises to be to video what MP3 is to music.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-853959.html

HP-Compaq deal clears FTC hurdle
The Federal Trade Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to approve Hewlett-Packard's bid to acquire Compaq Computer without conditions. Officially, the FTC voted to close its investigation without taking action. That allows the deal to proceed as proposed, the FTC said. FTC Commissioner Mozelle W. Thompson said in a statement that there were concerns about the merger, particularly that it would lessen competition in the 64-bit chip market.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-11-853815.html

Cox: Cheaper chips give new life to Linux
The advent of affordable 64-bit computing could be the best thing to happen to Linux in a long time, opening up a new market potentially as important as the original PC market, according to Linux "kernel hacker" Alan Cox. Cox, an employee of Linux vendor Red Hat, also criticized new guidelines suggested by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) covering the reporting of software security holes.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-852899.html

Comdex Chicago faces up to security
Biometrics and security came together at Comdex Chicago 2002 on Wednesday. Representatives from the airline and biometrics industries met for daylong discussions about working together to develop measures that could help prevent tragedies such as those on Sept. 11. Biometrics, the field of using biological determinants such as fingerprints and facial features for identification and access, has long been the next big thing in computing. Heightened security concerns and efforts by IBM and others to integrate fingerprint log-in buttons on notebooks are pushing the field toward center stage.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-854050.html

Yahoo to GeoCities users: Pay up
Yahoo is slowly weeding the freeloaders from its home page community, GeoCities. Last week, the Web portal quietly introduced a paid option for home-page builders, another attempt to convert free subscribers by limiting some features and promoting others. At the same time, the company told its free customers that by early April they would no longer be able to use "remote loading" or file transfer protocol (FTP), the oldest and most prevalent way to deliver content onto a Web page. If customers want those options, however, they can become paid subscribers.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-853768.html

Klez worm's a no-show
The Klez.e worm packed a miniscule punch after it activated Wednesday, with antivirus companies reporting little or no damage from the pest. The worm, which began spreading through e-mail messages in early February, is set to activate on infected PCs on the sixth day of odd-numbered months, potentially triggering a barrage of activity that would destroy many common types of PC files. By late Wednesday morning, however, antivirus-software company Symantec had no reports of PCs being damaged by the worm, said Sharon Ruckman, senior director of the company's Security Response center.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-853923.html

Burger Kings chomps into the Web
Next time you sink your teeth into a Burger King Whopper, it may be thanks to the fast food chain's recent foray into virtual food distribution. The company is bringing a new ordering system to 1,000 of its restaurants during the next three months that will allow franchise managers to purchase food, packaging and other supplies from distributors over the Web.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-853879.html

Groups vilify Microsoft settlement
SBC Communications and four trade groups told a federal judge Thursday that Microsoft's landmark antitrust settlement is not in the public interest. One other presenter, the Association for Competitive Technology (ACT), defended the settlement during the afternoon session of a hearing that could determine the deal's fate. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly is charged with evaluating whether the deal is in the public interest, as mandated by the Nixon-era Tunney Act. If she decides it is, the settlement between Microsoft, the Justice Department and nine of 18 states will likely be approved.
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-854057.html

Outage points to depth of P2P arsenal
The sudden shutdown of the Morpheus network last week has file swappers trolling for new sources of free music -- and they're finding plenty of alternatives. Although Morpheus and rival Kazaa Media Desktop remain the file-swapping tools of choice, a raft of second-tier peer-to-peer products together drew more than 1 million downloads in the past week, according to CNET Download.com, a software aggregation site operated by CNET Networks, publisher of News.com.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-854085.html

DOJ: Microsoft case not strong enough
The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday conceded that it settled with Microsoft in part because trustbusters failed to prove part of the basic theory of the antitrust case. In his presentation before U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, Justice Department lead attorney Philip Beck said that Microsoft was able to hold on to a monopoly in Intel-based operating systems only through anti-competitive acts. But the government was not in a position to make that argument stick, he said.
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-852709.html

Amazon, Barnes&Noble settle patent suit
Amazon.com said Wednesday that it has settled its long-running patent-infringement suit against Barnes&Noble.com over its 1-Click checkout system. The details of the settlement were not disclosed. The settlement filed Tuesday with the U.S. district court in Seattle ends the dispute between the e-commerce rivals. "We are pleased that the matter has been settled," said Patty Smith, spokeswoman for Amazon. A Barnes&Noble.com representative did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
http://news.com.com/2100-1017-854105.html

Klez.e worm threat fizzles
The Klez.e worm packed a miniscule punch after it activated Wednesday, with antivirus companies reporting little or no damage from the pest. The worm, which began spreading through e-mail messages in early February, is set to activate on infected PCs on the sixth day of odd-numbered months, potentially triggering a barrage of activity that would destroy many common types of PC files.
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-853532.html

Movie soundtracks come to gaming
Music worthy of Hollywood blockbuster films is breaking into the fantasy world of video games. The game designers of the forthcoming title Metal Gear Solid 2 felt the game's cinematic visuals and strong storyline deserved music of which any Hollywood producer would be proud. So they approached British film composer Harry Gregson-Williams, whose credits include the animated film Shrek, the thriller Spy Game and the disaster movie Armageddon.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci...00/1853722.stm

Stop. Pay Toll. Download.
Cooked up by an alliance of 18 consumer electronics companies called MPEG-LA, the MPEG-4 standard is aimed at online and wireless multimedia. As such it has the potential to cover everything from online games to interactive TV to the Internet streaming of music, TV shows and movies. So if you were playing a game of online Doom III that made use of MPEG-4 or were watching a similarly encoded Internet broadcast of a Britney Spears concert, you might have to pay an extra toll, just for use of the compression technology.
http://salon.com/tech/feature/2002/0...peg/index.html

Memo to the Record Companies: Downloading Can't Be Stopped
I can't believe I'm writing this article in 2002. When I started covering digital music in 1996, the record industry was grappling with the same fundamental issues it confronts today. Sure, the names and faces have changed, and the numbers are bigger, but the industry still doesn't seem to understand the potential upside of online music, and it still can't stop calling 60 million of its consumers "criminals." In fact, the industry chose to make its grandest consumer chastisement on its biggest night of the year: the Grammys.
http://www.business2.com/articles/we...,38553,FF.html

XM Radio patent angers broadcasters
Broadcasters are complaining to the Federal Communications Commission that XM Satellite Radio quietly got a patent to use its signal repeater network to provide local radio programming -- something XM had said it wouldn't do. XM spokesman Charles Robbins said the company has no intention of offering local programming; it plans to stick with its format of nationally syndicated programming. The patent was one of a number the company was granted, but is no guarantee that it will ever be used, he said.
http://news.com.com/2100-1033-853538.html

Study: Sunlight disrupts cell phones
Cell phone users already dismayed at losing their signal in tunnels, large buildings and in mysterious "dead spots" can blame another factor for cutting off their vital conversations: solar bursts. Bursts of microwave energy from the sun can disrupt wireless cell communications several times a year, a team at Lucent Technologies' Bell Labs in Murray Hill, N.J., said on Wednesday.
http://news.com.com/2100-1033-853937.html?tag=cd_mh

Company offers movie tools to techies
Video-on-demand provider Intertainer said Wednesday that it is offering software tools to developers, allowing companies to build their own video-on-demand services. Called Demand E.S.P., the application will enable cable operators, broadband providers and content owners to manage, program, distribute and track video-on-demand (VOD) content. Unlike pay-per-view, which consumers must watch on a scheduled basis, VOD lets people view a movie at their convenience as well as pause, rewind and fast-forward the service.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-853351.html?tag=cd_mh

Fox taps Yahoo to promote films
Fox Filmed Entertainment said Wednesday that it has signed a deal with Yahoo to promote movies and videos, its largest advertising commitment to an online media company. The deal involves advertising and market research, but financial terms were not released. Fox said it would promote two upcoming films on Yahoo, the animated "Ice Age," starring Ray Romano, and "Minority Report," directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Cruise.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-852877.html?tag=cd_mh

U.S. computer security focus of new bill
A new bill would extend a law that requires government agencies to regularly test their technological security. The Federal Information Security Management Act, introduced by Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., would extend the Government Information Security Reform Act of 2000, which is set to expire in November. That law required government agencies to make annual security assessments and tests of nonclassified information systems.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-853090.html?tag=cd_mh

Web moves may mean Qaida regrouping
Newly detected Internet traffic among al-Qaida followers, including intercepted e-mail messages, indicates that elements of the organization may be trying to regroup in remote parts of Pakistan near the Afghan border, according to a report Wednesday. U.S. government officials say they have found new Web sites and Internet communications that appear to be part of an effort to reconstitute al-Qaida and reestablish communications after the war in Afghanistan, The New York Times said.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-852902.html?tag=cd_mh

Japanese label protects its CDs
Israeli security company Midbar Tech is releasing 1 million copy-protected CDs in Japan as part of an aggressive push by record labels to curtail digital piracy. Midbar said Monday that Avex will be the first Japanese label to issue copy-protected CDs using its technology, dubbed Cactus Data Shield. Avex said only some of the tracks on each disc will be protected with Midbar's technology; unprotected songs will play on computers. The discs, scheduled for release this month, will carry a label informing consumers of the technology.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-852540.html?tag=cd_mh

More news later on

[TankGirl]

Thanks for the news WT sweetie!

Originally posted by walktalker
Outage points to depth of P2P arsenal
The sudden shutdown of the Morpheus network last week has file swappers trolling for new sources of free music -- and they're finding plenty of alternatives. Although Morpheus and rival Kazaa Media Desktop remain the file-swapping tools of choice, a raft of second-tier peer-to-peer products together drew more than 1 million downloads in the past week, according to CNET Download.com, a software aggregation site operated by CNET Networks, publisher of News.com.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-854085.html

Think about those numbers: 1 million downloads of second-tier p2p programs in a week! You can only guess how many more songs and movies those programs will help people to share and download and how many new rewarding trading contacts they will help to create. The RIAA may try to knock down some p2p enterprises and some of them may try to knock down each other but none of that will stop the process and the phenomenon itself. Free filesharing is becoming increasingly popular and commonplace, a natural part of the modern social and technical scenery.

- tg

PS. here are the interesting statistics for last week's CNet downloads:

382,000 iMesh
214,487 BearShare
205,274 LimeWire
161,152 Grokster
105,339 Audiogalaxy
....
7,812 Napster (the new test version)