The Newspaper Shop -- Tuesday edition

[walktalker]

Nappy news for everyone !!!

Taiwan opens door to open source
Taiwan is turning its back on software from the likes of Microsoft to develop its own open-source project, according to a recent report. The Taiwanese government plans to start an open-source project as early as next year that could save it as much as $295 million in royalty payments to Microsoft, according to a report from Taiwan's Central News Agency. Open-source software such as the Linux operating system may be freely modified and redistributed without the legal and financial constraints of proprietary software from Microsoft, Oracle and others.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-931885.html

More news later on

[TankGirl]

Thanks WT sweetie!

Interesting news and an interesting development. We just read how the Germany government opted to go for IBM's and SuSE's Linux package instead of Microsoft's closed source products. The winds seem to blow favorably for open source (and cheaper software) right now.

- tg

[walktalker]

Sorry I had to reboot I swear

Nader: Here's how to hurt Microsoft
Consumer advocate Ralph Nader asked the Bush administration on Tuesday to use its purchasing power to fight Microsoft's dominance in computer operating systems and office-productivity software. By changing its spending habits, Nader told Reuters, the federal government could accomplish what it had failed to do in the long-running and costly antitrust case against the Redmond, Washington-based software giant. "The only consumer in North America who can break up the Microsoft monopoly simply through purchasing strategies is the U.S. government," Nader told Reuters.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-932127.html

Are rivals stealing AOL buddies?
AOL Time Warner runs two of the world's largest instant messaging services, but it may be in danger of squandering its lead in the race to sell this hot Internet technology to corporations. Although consumers have flocked to instant messaging by the millions, business customers have remained wary; some have even banned it over security concerns. Still, companies represent one of the most lucrative markets for the technology. Most consumer services are offered for free, but corporations appear willing to pay for IM services that offer the ability to encrypt messages and authenticate the identity of its users, among other things.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-931605.html

Apple's eMacs leave the schoolyard
The cathode-ray tube returned to retail Macs on Tuesday, in a surprising turnabout for Apple Computer. The company has started selling a new eMac -- originally a version of the iMac for the education market -- to anyone who wants one. The retail version is similar to its education counterpart, but costs a little more and adds a few additional features such as a CD-rewritable drive and 56kbps modem. Like the original iMac introduced four years ago, the new model is built around a CRT monitor. When the Cupertino, Calif.-based company announced the original eMac, it said the computer was designed specifically for the education market and would not be sold at retail.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-931715.html

April sees slide in retail PC sales
April was the cruelest month for retail sales of desktop PCs, sliding 22.5 percent from a year ago, according to a new report. Researcher NPDTechworld said Tuesday that it was the slowest sales month for desktops in almost four years. While April tends to be one of the slower retail sales months, that in itself doesn't account for the drop, said Stephen Baker, director of research at NPDTechworld.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-931983.html

MS offers cheap Web access for TVs
Microsoft is offering a low-cost version of its interactive TV service, enabling users to surf the Web for prices starting at $9.95 per month. The company on Tuesday announced its MSN TV Internet receiver, which hooks up to a TV set and a phone line to access the Internet. Manufactured by Thompson RCA, it's based on the Web TV product that Microsoft acquired in 1997. Microsoft renamed that service MSN TV last year and appeared to focus on more advanced interactive TV ventures, particularly its UltimateTV service, which combined TV-based e-mail and Web surfing with a DirecTV satellite service and digital video recorder technology.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-931689.html

Mobile messaging's killer app?
Multimedia messaging (MMS), which allows mobile phone users to send text, pictures and sound, will overtake the increasingly popular text-only (SMS) service within the next three years, Swedish mobile maker Ericsson said on Tuesday. SMS was a little-known feature on GSM networks until around 1997 when operators began to enable messaging between networks. Last year, an estimated 102.9 billion SMS messages were sent worldwide.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-931767.html

Apple supports MPEG-4 despite fee dispute
Apple Computer on Tuesday released a public preview of QuickTime 6, potentially signaling the end of a heated dispute between the computer maker and a licensing group that controls the use of MPEG-4 media technology. The computer maker took the unusual step of releasing the software in absence of a final licensing agreement with MPEG LA, a licensing body representing 18 patent holders that have claims on underlying MPEG-4 technology, a next-generation compression format for video and audio.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-932129.html?tag=fd_top

Can Segway's scooter speed snail mail?
Seeking to discover whether big-city streets or bumpy country roads can keep mail carriers from their appointed rounds, the U.S. Postal Service said on Tuesday that it is set to expand testing of the much-anticipated Segway Human Transporter scooter into six cities. Postmaster General John Potter said the post office has bought 40 of the innovative Segway devices to begin a second phase of testing in Norman, Okla., and five new locations including Memphis, Tenn., the Bronx in New York City, San Francisco, Chandler, Ariz., and a sixth, yet-to-be-determined location.
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-932005.html?tag=fd_top

Wireless gaming: Back to the future?
Wireless is about connectivity, and that means huge possibilities for gaming. In a wireless game, there is head-to-head competition; there is no dice roll. For example, Sorrent's "Snapshot Live Football" is a real-time football action game where players need to make split-second decisions. The major wireless carriers view gaming as an effective way to increase usage and reduce churn. They also like the business model, which is built on revenue from subscriptions. Cell phone customers are accustomed to paying a subscription for premium services. People hooked on gaming are likely to continue to pay. There is a major opportunity to bring wireless gaming into the mainstream.
http://news.com.com/2010-1078-931578.html?tag=fd_nc_1

With speech-recognition software, your voice is the computer's command
I first tried voice control nearly 10 years ago, when Apple included it in the Macintosh operating system. The software then could recognize only a few dozen spoken commands, and it did so at such a slow pace that it was no more than a toy. But then the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) started injecting millions of dollars a year into automated speech transcription, and the field took off. Error rates began dropping by 10 to 15 percent a year. By 1996 Dragon Systems's NaturallySpeaking package, running on a high-end PC, could take dictation about as well as a sleep-deprived undergraduate. But for tasks beyond text entry, it was all but helpless. With the latest versions of NaturallySpeaking and its chief competitor, IBM's ViaVoice, that has changed.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/20...hnicality.html

Privacy Is Common Issue Online
Though businesses and their customers have largely taken divergent paths to e-commerce — businesses promoted it endlessly; consumers embraced it tepidly — these two groups are in lock step on at least one issue: online privacy. They both profess concern, but do little about it. This reality is underscored by a report to be issued today by Jupiter Research, the online consulting company, which found that businesses and their customers barely lifted a finger to protect individual privacy online, but fretted outwardly about the possible abuses of personal information and the chilling effect on Internet spending.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/03/te...gy/03ECOM.html

Companies concerned over employees' file-sharing at work
Back in the pre-Napster days, Harold Kester wasn't too concerned that his employees were using company computers and Internet connections to download music or movie files. But then a couple of tech-savvy employees downloaded and stored on a company server a bootleg copy of "Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace" long before the film hit the theater. After work, the employees would take over a conference room, project the film onto a big screen and invite co- workers to watch. They even served popcorn. "When I got wind of that, I realized, 'Hey, we have a real liability issue here,' " said Kester, who immediately shut down the makeshift movie house.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl....DTL&type=tech

Big bang demands big computer
Massachusetts Institute of Technology physicist Seth Lloyd, known for calculating the absolute, physical limit of a laptop computer's storage potential, has now imagined what it would take for a computer to accurately simulate the entire universe throughout its history. A report in this week's Nature magazine says Lloyd estimated that such a computer would have to contain 10 to the 90th bits of information and perform 10 to the 120th operations on those bits to model the universe in all its various incarnations since the big bang.
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-932149.html?tag=cd_mh

Best Buy changes privacy policy
Best Buy is changing its online privacy policy, allowing the company to combine customer information from its Web site with that collected in its stores. As part of the policy modification, the company also said it may share with third parties information collected from surveys or reviews on its site. The company has begun notifying customers of the changes via e-mail; the updated policy will go into effect June 9. The shift raised the eyebrows of some privacy advocates. The changes are only the latest in a disturbing trend of companies revamping their privacy policies to the detriment of consumers, advocates say.
http://news.com.com/2100-1017-932157.html?tag=cd_mh

Studios, tech firms near digital TV pact
Movie studios and consumer-electronics companies are close to reaching an agreement that would protect digital TV broadcasts from being copied and traded Napster-style over the Internet, negotiators said Monday. The group will likely report that most industry players agree that digital TV, recordable DVDs and other devices should recognize a "broadcast flag" that would allow consumers to make personal copies but prevent them from distributing those copies online, said negotiators involved in the process. Consumers could save digital broadcasts on DVDs and transfer broadcasts for playback on different devices in the same house, they said.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-931426.html?tag=cd_mh

Fans go digital to predict World Cup winner
You can get back to work, soccer fans: The 2002 World Cup is a done deal, with Italy avenging its 1994 defeat by Brazil. At least that's what Electronic Arts prognosticators came up with after simulating this year's tournament with "2002 FIFA World Cup," the game publisher's soccer game for PCs and game consoles. According to the EA simulation, Italy will defeat Brazil 2-0 to take the title, with Poland defeating Argentina in the third-place game.
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-931249.html?tag=cd_mh

Read The F***ing Story, Then RTFM
Admit it. You didn't read the f---ing manual. You didn't read it because you're a geek and you don't need no stinkin' manual. Or you didn't because you're not a geek, and the manual gave you brain cramps. Company executives and marketing consultants say over half the calls to U.S. tech support address issues that are already discussed in manuals provided with products. And even though they suspect that no one in the United States has ever read an entire product manual, companies continue to provide them because they are legally required to do so. But, in other countries, product manuals are read, discussed and treasured.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,52901,00.html

ReplayTV Won't Quit, Won't Quit
While other technology companies have backpedaled under the withering assault of movie- and music-industry lawyers, Sonicblue is pushing forward with its controversial ReplayTV recording device. Sonicblue unfurled a new version of its system just hours after receiving the news on Monday that it wouldn't be forced to watch what its customers are watching. Sonicblue is being sued by the motion picture and television industry over its ReplayTV set-top box, which allows people to digitally record shows as they would with a VCR, then e-mail them to friends.
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,52944,00.html

Solving Kid Porn's 'Real' Problem
In the aftermath of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that computer-generated images of minors engaged in sexual acts are not illegal and are in fact protected by the First Amendment, some prosecutors and police investigators have found themselves at a loss for how to proceed in child porn cases. More suspects are claiming that the seemingly illicit pictures and videos found on their hard drives are ersatz, police say. And an Illinois man who had already pleaded guilty to possessing 2,600 images of kiddie porn was freed from jail when a judge ruled that the state's law was unconstitutional because it failed to distinguish between real and fake porn.
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,52945,00.html

Helicopter-plane hybrid ready for take-off
Since Britain's Harrier jump jet first flew in 1960, engineers have not had much luck trying to build more fuel-efficient aircraft that can take off vertically and then fly like a plane. Now Boeing hopes to change all that with a radical new rotor craft that will make its first test flight in the next few weeks. Called the Canard Rotor Wing (CRW), Boeing's new baby is a combination of a fixed-wing plane and a helicopter. It uses a two-bladed rotor to get off the ground, but once airborne it locks the rotor into place to act as a fixed wing, allowing it to cruise at far higher speeds than any chopper.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992341

How would we answer the phone if ET called us?
Space has often been described as the last frontier but scientists the world over have long agreed that receiving a signal from another civilisation would be one of the greatest events in the history of humanity. Until now however little thought has been given to what we would actually say if we encountered ET. Should it be more than a simple intergalactic "Hi there. What's your name?" The man charged with the task of thinking about an intergalactic conversation is Dr Douglas Vakoch who has the grand title of "Interstellar Message Group Leader". He says "How we answer makes a tremendous impact because it determines the nature of the dialogue for hundreds of thousands of years."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/in_...00/2023019.stm

More news later on

[theknife]

More news later on

he always does this...leaves you dangling there, twisting in the wind...holding your breath, anticipating the arrival of some unspecified amount (how much is more?) of temporally relevant information (what is news?), to arrive at some point in the future (when is later on?).



...and I fall for it every time....