The Newspaper Shop -- Friday edition

[walktalker]

Antitrust case spurs XP makeoverMicrosoft is finalizing a major makeover for Windows XP that's intended to make it easier for consumers to choose third-party software over Microsoft's own products. Within the next few weeks, the software giant plans to begin testing Service Pack 1 for Windows XP, the first major update to the operating system, which was launched in October. Some of the more significant changes, such as those allowing consumers and PC makers to override Microsoft's default products, are a direct response to the continuing antitrust case against the Redmond, Wash.-based company.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-922147.html

Online gaming: A revolution ahead?
Online gaming via consoles may well revolutionize the game industry and the Internet -- just don't hold your breath. That's the consensus from leading game software executives at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the game industry's main trade show. While they applauded efforts by Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo to add online capabilities to their game machines, they said it will be years before online console games attract a paying audience big enough to support such services.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-922731.html

Seagate tackles upgrade fear factor
Seagate is targeting the do-it-yourself crowd with PC hard drive upgrade kits that will be sold at retail. The Scotts Valley, Calif.-based company, which sells hard drives and hard drive kits, said Friday that the new upgrade packages include detailed instructions and software that helps install the drive and diagnose problems. All of this for buyers who aren't afraid to crack open the case on their PC. For most consumer PC owners, upgrading the memory is the first step in updating an older PC. The process involves opening the case and inserting the memory module into a slot in the motherboard. Replacing a hard drive isn't much more complicated, and it is often the next step on the upgrade path, giving older PCs a boost in storage capacity.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-922377.html

Big Blue slips Linux into the oil industry
IBM has signed a deal with Landmark Graphics to build Linux supercomputers and PCs for oil and gas companies, the companies will announce Friday. Landmark Graphics, a subsidiary of petroleum industry support company Halliburton, provides software for oil exploration, drilling and production. Under a three-year deal, IBM will cooperate with the company to bring these products to Linux systems. IBM will provide service and support for the products. The deal is part of the gradual spread of Linux to servers and specialty markets, posing a threat to companies such as Sun Microsystems and Microsoft.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-922149.html

Video wall displays fantastic 3D voyage
Researchers at Boston University are out to prove that a picture is worth a thousand databases. The university's Scientific Computing and Visualization Group recently opened a new front in the techno revolution: creating oversized and extremely detailed 3D images out of reams of data and mathematical models to better study phenomena such as solar wind, electrical pulses or particle interaction. On a 7.5-by-10-foot screen, dubbed the Deep Vision Display Wall, researchers generate larger-than-life simulations of DNA strands or chemical reactions.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-922239.html

China's cell radiation law may fry industry
China may impose the world's toughest mobile phone radiation standards due to fears of health risks, telecoms officials said on Friday, threatening global cellphone makers with an expensive bill in their biggest market. The country is mulling strict standards that would cap handset radiation emissions at half the levels allowed overseas, which the officials said could cost the industry billions of dollars to adjust equipment.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-922207.html

Audiogalaxy in RIAA crosshairs
The Recording Industry Association of America on Friday filed a copyright lawsuit against Audiogalaxy, adding another front to the industry's legal battles against post-Napster file-swapping services. Filed in federal court in New York, the suit charges that Audiogalaxy's efforts to filter access to copyrighted songs have been ineffective. As a result, free-ranging access to copyrighted works through the system has gone unchecked -- much as once happened with Napster, the industry group contends.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-922729.html?tag=fd_top

Xbox struggling with math test
For the software publishing industry, video games are a numbers game. And for now, Microsoft is on the losing end. That's the upshot from the Electronics Entertainment Expo, the game industry's main trade show, where new games for Microsoft's Xbox have largely been limited to "me too" titles -- games already appearing on other consoles. Microsoft has said it expects to have more than 200 games for the Xbox by the end of the year, but less than two dozen of those will be exclusive Xbox titles from third-party publishers.
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-922551.html?tag=fd_top

LG Philips pushes LCDs mainstream
LG Philips on Friday opened the doors to a new plant that will help move larger liquid-crystal display monitors into the mainstream consumer-electronics market. The Kumi, South Korea-based plant will allow LG Philips to produce more large LCD panels for computers and TVs, faster and more cost efficiently than previous generations of plants, according to Bruce Berkoff, LG Philips' executive vice president of marketing. LG Philips is a Seoul, South Korea-based joint-venture company formed by LG Electronics and Philips Electronics in July of 1999. The supply from the new plant should help quench demand for LCD panels, which is exceeding supply -- something unheard of when LG Philips committed to building the plant in April of 2000.
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-922617.html?tag=fd_top

Media firms lobby piracy controls to EU
Every CD or DVD manufactured in the European Union would have to carry code designed to help track down pirated discs if proposals by media trade groups are adopted. The proposal was delivered to the European Union during a two-day piracy seminar in Madrid. If adopted, it would enable the sources of pirated discs made in the EU to be tracked down, say the industry groups, which include the Business Software Alliance (BSA) and the Motion Picture Association (MPA). Along with the unique code, called a Source Identification Code, the groups want more power to retrieve information that would help them identify the original manufacturer or distributor of the infringing goods.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-922706.html?tag=fd_top

The Army's New Killer App
The E3 convention was selected for the unveiling of a suite of video games called America's Army. These are 3-D action games like dozens of others, except for one thing: They're created by the U.S. Army. Inside the convention center, site of the 2002 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), attendees sampled the games in a 1,400-square-foot Army command post, which featured real-live air-assault sergeants rappelling down ropes from the ceiling. Quite a show for the first-ever appearance by the military at E3. Fictional soldiers have long starred in video games. But unlike other publishers, the Army won't try to reap millions off its games. Starting in August, it'll distribute its titles free to young people considering military careers.
http://www.businessweek.com/technolo...20523_2266.htm

The True Cost of Free Music
You can't stop the music. Sometimes, though, it does play out of tune. Consider Kazaa, arguably the most popular Napster replacement right now (just two months ago, that honor belonged to rival Morpheus. Kazaa is one of the dozen peer-to-peer music-swapping networks that arose when the recording industry shut down Napster. But some of the company's recent trials and tribulations prove that nothing in this world is ever truly free -- not even pirated digital music downloads. Kazaa was created by Dutch company Kazaa BV, which is currently being sued by a coalition of record and movie companies. Kazaa has already conceded legal and financial defeat in court, but that doesn't mean the music service is going away.
http://www.business2.com/articles/we...,40816,FF.html

Carriers need E911 rescue
A technology decision years ago now has three U.S. carriers in hot water with federal regulators who are demanding they move faster to meet E911 requirements. Cingular Wireless, VoiceStream Wireless and AT&T Wireless are all asking the Federal Communications Commission for more time to meet requirements that would allow rescue workers to pinpoint the location of a cell phone used to call 911 during an emergency. The companies say they've run into a number of roadblocks, and these issues may now prevent the carriers from meeting a June deadline for E911 services, according to Joel Taubenblatt, legal adviser in the office of the Chief Wireless Bureau for the FCC. The FCC is considering a new September or October deadline, he said.
http://news.com.com/2100-1033-921965.html?tag=cd_mh

Suit digs into Comcast's data collection
Cable giant Comcast has become the target of a lawsuit alleging the company violated consumer privacy by tracking Web habits.
The suit, filed by Michigan law firm Goren & Goren, seeks class-action status on behalf of people whose Web usage was monitored by Comcast earlier this year. "This is clearly an important issue," attorney Steven Goren said. "If we lose this, they will be able to monitor and, presumably, sell information about where people go on the Internet." The company came under fire in February for storing detailed information about people's Web surfing habits, including the sites they visited.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-922664.html?tag=cd_mh

Games to blast down digital TV pipes
In a bid to bypass the bottlenecks of the Internet, a company backed by major U.S. TV station owners will launch a service to bring video games and other content to PCs via unused broadcast bandwidth. iBlast, founded in 1999, taps the digital TV bandwidth that goes largely unused in most major cities to deliver content to PCs at speeds faster than 19 megabits per second. By comparison, a cable connection runs at about 1mbps. Starting July 25 in Los Angeles, iBlast Games will offer people as much as 4 gigabytes of data every month for $4.99 to $9.99 per month.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-922432.html?tag=cd_mh

Klez: Hi Mom, We're No. 1It's official. Klez is the most virulent e-mail virus of all time. For close to a year, SirCam was the virus most likely to turn up in your e-mail box. But representatives from a half-dozen antivirus firms now believe that "Klez.H" is the most pervasive e-mail virus in cyberhistory, estimating that it has infected hundreds of thousands of computers within hours of first being spotted in mid-April. And so far, Klez has shown no signs of going away.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,52765,00.html

FBI Seeks Pearl Video Ban on Net
The FBI has ordered an Internet provider to cease distributing the unedited video of journalist Daniel Pearl being brutally murdered. On Thursday afternoon, FBI agents from the Newark field office told a Virginia company to delete the 4-minute video, which a customer had posted on the ogrish.com site. Pro Hosters, located in Sterling, Virginia, responded by consulting with its customer and removing the video -- which has sprouted on scores of websites after Pearl, a 38-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter, was slain in Pakistan by a radical Muslim group.
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,52772,00.html

New Rules for the New Advertising Economy
Over the past year, a small company called X10 has practically become a household name, despite the fact that it sells little the average household would want. No need to explain how it did this, or what it's pushing; you already know. Its ubiquitous pop-under ads have made X10.com one of the most visited sites on the Web. And in the banality of billions of slightly suggestive webcam pitches lies the future of advertising - a radically different model that will challenge many of the presumptions about online media. Thanks to a savage online-advertising downturn, a few choice deals won X10 blanket coverage. It managed to do what was once unimaginable - it bought the Internet. You can run, but you can't hide from those cheesy spycam offers.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.06/view.html?pg=4

Record labels offer MP3 test for 99 cents
In what may be a first for the recording industry, Maverick Records and Vivendi Universal's online division are asking listeners to pay just under a dollar for an unprotected MP3 version of a new single. The companies put the track, a dance version of "Earth" by Meshell Ndegeocello, online Thursday on sites run by Vivendi Universal Net USA, including MP3.com, RollingStone.com, GetMusic.com and MP4.com. People can purchase the file for 99 cents and then burn the song to a CD-ROM disc or transfer it to a portable device. The companies said subscribers of EMusic's MP3 music service will be able to download the track as part of their memberships.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-921792.html

Recession? Don't Tell the Video Game Industry
Spurred by technology advances that create ever more realistic renderings of adventure, sports fantasy and violence, the video game industry is in a remarkable boom. As the industry gathers here for this year's Electronic Entertainment Exhibition, or E3, it appears to have created its own economy. Despite the recession, a prolonged technology slump and Sept. 11, sales of video game hardware, software and accessories increased 43 percent last year, to a record $9.4 billion, according to the market research firm NPD Group.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/24/te...gy/24GAME.html

Probing the Universe's first light
Astronomers using a telescope on a remote plateau in the Chilean desert have produced some of the most detailed images ever made of the oldest light emitted by the Universe. The study provides independent confirmation of theories about the origin of matter and energy. The Cosmic Background Imager (CBI) has detected minute variations in the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the so-called "echo of the Big Bang". This radiation has travelled through space for almost 14 billion years since the time when the Universe developed atoms.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci...00/2006476.stm

Should the moon be developed?
A dispute over prohibiting development on the moon is causing rising tides of controversy on earth. In the Vanguard of one side is Rick Steiner, a fisheries professor at the University of Alaska and environmental activist, who proposes that the United Nations designate the moon one of its World Heritage Sites, reserved for peaceful and scientific purposes. Among the many who oppose that idea is the Moon Society, a nonprofit organization of astronomers, computer programmers and other scientists who advocate “large-scale industrialization and private enterprise” on the moon.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/756847.asp?0si=-

The future of mind control
People already worry about genetics. They should worry about brain science too. In an attempt to treat depression, neuroscientists once carried out a simple experiment. Using electrodes, they stimulated the brains of women in ways that caused pleasurable feelings. The subjects came to no harm — indeed their symptoms appeared to evaporate, at least temporarily — but they quickly fell in love with their experimenters. Such a procedure (and there have been worse in the history of neuroscience) poses far more of a threat to human dignity and autonomy than does cloning.
http://www.economist.com/opinion/dis...ory_id=1143583

Silicon is slow...
Factoring 15 is a problem fit for grade school students and cheap calculators, but it's not the size or speed of the calculation, merely the fact of it that matters in this case. Chuang's seven-"qubit" quantum computer, at the moment the most powerful one ever built, provides concrete evidence of a proposition that scientists just a few years ago thought unworkable: that the properties of atoms at the quantum level can reliably be exploited for the brains of a working computer. Indeed, the work of Chuang and others suggests that quantum machines may one day be capable of massively parallel computing, in which billions of calculations happen at once — a feat that will never be possible with silicon chips.
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/compute...241609,00.html

Three million would die in "limited" nuclear war over Kashmir
A minimum of three million people would be killed and 1.5 million seriously injured if even a "limited" nuclear war broke out between India and Pakistan, warns a new study uncovered by New Scientist. The estimates are comprised of the immediate casualty list from blast, fire and radiation if only a tenth of both countries' nuclear weapons were exploded above 10 of their largest cities. It does not take account of the inevitable suffering that would result from the loss of homes, hospitals, water and energy supplies, or the cancers that could develop in future years.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992326

More news next monday

[tbozfan]

Thanks again! Just wish you had a website. Geeze if you did that would be a candidate for my homepage homepage

[goldie]

Audiogalaxy in RIAA crosshairs
The Recording Industry Association of America on Friday filed a copyright lawsuit against Audiogalaxy, adding another front to the industry's legal battles against post-Napster file-swapping services. Filed in federal court in New York, the suit charges that Audiogalaxy's efforts to filter access to copyrighted songs have been ineffective. As a result, free-ranging access to copyrighted works through the system has gone unchecked -- much as once happened with Napster, the industry group contends.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-922729.html?tag=fd_top

Oh my!!

Not Audiogalaxy too