The Newspaper Shop -- Wednesday edition

[walktalker]

States to Gates: Here's custom-made Windows
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates acknowledged Wednesday that an existing version of Windows for ATMs and other specialized machines that lets companies drop included components such as a browser could be configured to run on everyday computers. The admission may bolster the litigating states' claim that Microsoft could deliver a version of its flagship Windows operating system stripped of so-called middleware such as browsers and media players.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-890911.html

'Klez' variant strikes unprotected PC users
More than a week after it first started spreading, the latest variant of the Klez worm continues to infect PC users that haven't taken steps to protect themselves. While the number of computers infected by the Klez.H variant falls short of such epidemics as the LoveLetter worm, the virus has still shown surprising resiliency, said Steve Trilling, director of antivirus software maker Symantec's security response team.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-891218.html

Kazaa shares some of its secrets
A new candidate to become center of the file-swapping universe has been unveiled: Vanuatu, a small group of Islands in the South Pacific. That's where Sharman Networks, the parent company of the hugely popular Kazaa software, is registered to do business, according to Chief Executive Nikki Hemming. After months of speculation about the mysterious file-trading company, Hemming went public with this and other details of her business in a conference call late Tuesday.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-890335.html

Amazon's new tune: "Oh, Canada"?
Amid booming international sales, evidence is mounting that Amazon.com plans to launch a Canadian site this summer. Amazon is in talks with Canada Post, the Canadian equivalent to the U.S. Postal Service, to handle much of the distribution and fulfillment of the planned site, according to a source familiar with the company. News of the new Amazon.ca site was reported last week by a Canadian paper, which cited unidentified publishing industry sources.
http://news.com.com/2100-1017-891564.html?tag=fd_top

Using tax dollars to combat piracy
The Recording Industry Association of America is calling for additional federal funding to combat the ongoing wave of piracy, saying that the number of arrests and convictions for copyright crimes has skyrocketed over the course of a year. In a congressional hearing Tuesday before a subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, the RIAA requested additional funds for federal anti-piracy law enforcement efforts and is pushing for a renewed agenda on protecting intellectual property.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-891521.html?tag=fd_top

RealNetworks offering video update
RealNetworks is introducing on Wednesday a new version of its video compression technology that is aimed at improving choppy video broadcasts delivered over dial-up modems to the Internet. RealVideo 9 is the latest iteration of RealNetworks' audio and video compression technology, used by Web publishers to store and send large files such as movie clips, newscasts or DVDs over the Internet to the PC.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-890281.html?tag=cd_mh

Rotten Links Hamper Learning
It's downright annoying to come across a broken link on the Web. And for a professor teaching a distance education course –- or referring "traditional" students to an Internet resource –- it can be a major problem. Two researchers at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln tracked so-called link rot after they discovered that hyperlinks disappeared before they finished developing distance education courses.
http://www.wired.com/news/school/0,1383,51700,00.html

Human Cloning Doc: 3 in Progress
An Italian fertility specialist who has said he intends to create the world's first human clone told a television show on Wednesday three women were pregnant. Earlier this month a Middle East newspaper whipped up a storm of controversy by quoting Severino Antinori as saying that a woman in his program was pregnant, although he was not clear whether it was the result of cloning.
http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,52069,00.html

Lab-grown muscle sheets repair damaged hearts
Sheets of muscle grown from scratch can dramatically improve the function of damaged hearts, says a Japanese team. They hope the technique, tested in rats, could be used to repair damage caused by heart attacks in people. The team, led by Teruo Okano, professor of regenerative medicine at Tokyo Women's Medical University, used cardiomyocytes - heart muscle cells, taken from newborn rats. They grew the cells to form sheets measuring one centimetre by one centimetre, and 0.05 millimetres thick.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992197

Putting Fuel Cells To the Test
Next year people living in California and Tokyo could actually glimpse some fuel-cell cars driving around on public roads. Maybe they will even get a chance to kneel down, sniff the tailpipe, and discover that fuel-cell exhaust is truly no different from the warm, moist air rising from a mug of tea. But these won't be the sort of cars ordinary drivers could buy. Honda plans to produce a gaggle of cars for testing with one or two fleet customers in California, and Toyota will do the same in Japan.
http://www.fortune.com/indexw.jhtml?...&doc_id=207163

Pa.'s Online Kiddie Porn Law Unconstitutional
A new Pennsylvania law that requires Internet service providers (ISPs) to deny state residents access to Web sites that contain child pornography will not survive a legal challenge, a constitutional law expert said today. Under terms of the law, ISPs must block access to child porn within five days of receiving notice from the state attorney general's office that such material is accessible to Internet users in Pennsylvania.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176122.html

Broadband Revolutionizing Media Distribution
Broadband streaming media technology will fundamentally change the way people get their entertainment, but don't expect the media companies to stand idly by while their cash cow walks out the door. That was the message from Jonathan Taplin, the CEO of video on demand Web site Intertainer.com.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176120.html

Long-Time File-Swappers Buy More Music, Not Less
Contrary to charges that Internet song-swapping is killing the music industry, new Jupiter Media Metrix research contends that experienced online song-swappers are more likely to buy new albums than average music fans, not less. The same research also concludes that other popular computer technologies including broadband Internet access and writable CD drives are measurably sapping music industries revenues. But even with these revenue-draining technologies, the report says, the message is not so simple.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176114.html

Sexual desire boosted by breastfeeding odours
The sexual desire of women is boosted by the odours given off by breastfeeding women and newborn babies, researchers have found. The finding adds to the growing body of evidence suggesting that our natural smell influences other people on an unconscious level, and strengthens the argument that human pheromones exist and still exert a subtle influence over us. In the study, smells associated with breastfeeding increased feelings of sexual intimacy in childless women volunteers.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992205

More news later on

[TankGirl]

Thank you Mr. Walktalker!

Originally posted by walktalker
Long-Time File-Swappers Buy More Music, Not Less
Contrary to charges that Internet song-swapping is killing the music industry, new Jupiter Media Metrix research contends that experienced online song-swappers are more likely to buy new albums than average music fans, not less. The same research also concludes that other popular computer technologies including broadband Internet access and writable CD drives are measurably sapping music industries revenues. But even with these revenue-draining technologies, the report says, the message is not so simple.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176114.html

An interesting study, here is one detail worth attention:

Among all fans of online music, he writes, 29 percent said their music spending habits had changed. Of those, 19 percent reported more spending and 10 percent reported less. But P2P file-swappers were 41 percent more likely than average online music fans to have increased music spending levels in 2001, according to the research.

After being involved in p2p for a couple of years I have no trouble believing this. P2p has boosted the interest in music big way, for me personally and for virtually all of my online friends with whom I have been in contact since the early Naspter days. Some of them are quite wealthy and getting it all for 'free' is really not the point for them. Some of them buy a number of new albums every week just for the pleasure of sharing good new music with their friends. In general the focus is not on money at all, it is on music itself, on the artists and on various aspects of sharing.

And perhaps this is the explanation why p2p activists remain a group where there is still some growth in music sales. Pretty much every consumer on the planet has already realized that CDs are grossly overpriced and that the money goes to the middleman instead of the artist. This makes buying CDs less and less attractive for private consumption. Active filesharers, however, have the additional incentive of sharing the album with their online friends which still justifies the otherwise unacceptable price for them. The wine may be expensive but if a single bottle is enough to cater for a whole party you may still be willing to buy it.

Here are the final conclusions of Jupiter analyst Aram Sinnreich:

Sinnreich says the results show only statistical correlations, not cause-and-effect relationships. Nonetheless, the analyst wrote, "It is safe to say that active usage of online music content is one of the best predictors of increased consumer purchasing."

There should be a message in that mantra, says Sinnreich, for a music industry that has focused many of its efforts since 1999 on destroying the peer-to-peer file-sharing phenomenon that first surfaced with the rise of Napster.

- tg

[JackSpratts]

that file sharers may be purchasing more music does not surprise me. it worked that way with home taping and as far as i'm concerned the two activities are identical. eventually in a free society the facts emerge, even if they're buried deep inside a financial report. sales are up at warners, not down, and the riaa is doing all it can to disguise the fact.

- js.