The Newspaper Shop -- Thursday edition

[walktalker]

News are us

Microsoft stomps on new IE bugs
Microsoft urged Windows users to download a fix for Internet Explorer on Wednesday, following the company's announcement that six new flaws had been found in its Web browser. The software giant called three of the flaws critical, but only one of them -- a cross-site scripting error that affects only Internet Explorer 6.0 -- would allow an attacker or a worm to run a program on the victim's computer.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-914836.html

AOL turns up heat in browser wars
America Online has dropped Internet Explorer from a test version of its software for Mac OS X, the latest sign that the Internet giant wants a rematch in the browser wars with Microsoft. AOL for Mac OS X version 2 includes an integrated browser using technology created by Netscape Communications, according to a note to beta testers describing the software's features. In addition, the upgrade includes a new "aquafied" look "in the spirit" of OS X's liquid-like user interface, as well as instant messaging and Buddy List support for chatting with Mac.com users, among other things, the note said.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-915657.html

In-car computers -- headed for a dead end?
If the automobile industry proceeds with current business plans, the car of the future will include an outdated, malfunctioning jumble of incompatible electronic gadgets. That's the pessimistic prediction of some experts at Telematics Detroit 2002, a trade show for people who engineer and manufacture dashboard electronics such as wireless devices, navigation tools and passenger entertainment systems -- an emerging industry known as telematics. The two-day conference, which concludes Thursday, has so far been a stark contrast to the euphoria that surrounded in-vehicle computing just one year ago.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-915353.html

Lindows ruling knocks Microsoft back
Microsoft's claim to the word "Windows" suffered another blow this week when a federal judge again questioned the company's assertion that the term is not generic. The judge also repeated his denial of Microsoft's request to shut down the Lindows.com site and block its owner from advertising its product. Lindows, started by Michael Robertson, the founder and former CEO of MP3.com, aims to offer an alternative to Microsoft's dominant Windows operating system by selling a new program, LindowsOS, which would allow Windows programs to run on the Linux operating system.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-915263.html

Judge questions MS, states on sanctions
A federal judge on Wednesday sharply questioned attorneys on both sides of the Microsoft antitrust case, as she weighed the extent of the sanctions against the software giant. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly quizzed lawyers in the landmark case about whether she should impose sanctions on Microsoft that cover products such as handheld computers and network servers, and whether she should order the company to make features of its Windows operating system removable.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-915069.html

Tech giants back file-swapper Kazaa
Powerful computer and telecommunications companies are allying with upstart file-swapping service Kazaa in a bid to overhaul the way record labels are paid for music and other content distributed on the Net. Stung by legislative proposals that could force computer companies and Internet service providers to become anti-piracy cops, Verizon Communications and an influential technology trade association are beginning to push a copyright proposal that could make downloading a song online as legal as listening to the radio.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-915036.html

Linux grabs big win with Reuters
Reuters will announce plans Thursday to bring its financial information software to Linux in conjunction with Red Hat, Intel and Hewlett-Packard, sources said, a major achievement for the comparatively young open-source operating system. Morgan Stanley will be one among other customers using the software, sources familiar with the project said. Red Hat, the leading seller of the Linux operating system, announced in March that Morgan Stanley was a customer.
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-915830.html?tag=fd_top

This hacker's got the gummy touch
Companies using fingerprint readers to increase security now have to worry about a new threat: the gummy finger. A Japanese researcher presented a study on Tuesday at the International Telecommunications Union's Workshop on Security in Seoul, Korea, showing that fingerprint readers can be fooled 80 percent of the time by a fake finger created with gelatin sporting prints lifted from a glass, for example. The results should be enough to send fingerprint sensor makers back to the drawing board, said Bruce Schneier, chief technology officer with Counterpane Internet Security.
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-915580.html?tag=fd_top

Facial recognition put to the test
Facial-recognition security systems installed at Boston's Logan Airport, where two of the Sept. 11 hijacked flights originated, worked more than 90 percent of the time in a recently concluded test, two companies behind the systems said Thursday. While official data has not yet been released, Visionics and Viisage Technology said their systems were able to identify individuals from a pre-selected group passing through the airport more than nine out of 10 times.
http://news.com.com/2100-1017-915832.html?tag=fd_top
http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,52563,00.html

Procedure stalls opt-in Senate bill
A Senate committee, set on Thursday to pass a controversial measure that would limit the way businesses could use customer e-mail addresses and other personal data, was delayed by a parliamentary maneuver. The Senate Commerce Committee voted to approve several changes to the bill, which is designed to boost Internet privacy. Aside from e-mail, the bill would also limit how businesses may use phone numbers, purchase records and other data collected through their Web sites.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-915792.html?tag=fd_top

Americans make life decisions on the net
Americans are using the internet to make major life decisions, according to a new study. Research by US-based think-tank Pew Internet found that millions of Americans are turning to the web for help about getting a job, moving home and choosing a school for their children. Nearly half said that the internet played an important role in one of the 15 major decisions they had made. This included helping a loved one deal with illness or getting important financial advice.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci...00/1987672.stm

Video Games Go Retro
For those old enough to remember it, there is nothing like the sound of a round of Missile Command as played on the Atari 2600 game system, circa 1982. The premise was simple and, considering the year, timely. Protect six nameless cities from the onslaught of a nuclear attack by blowing up enemy missiles in midair using fast, accurate projectiles. There it was: World War III right there on a TV screen.
http://www.forbes.com/home/2002/05/16/0516tentech.html

Dell to get green with PC recycling
Dell Computer is getting set to announce a program to offer PC recycling to consumers. Details of the program are being finalized and will be made public within the next day or two, company spokesman Bryant Hilton said Thursday. Under similar programs from other manufacturers, consumers pay a fee to the PC manufacturer to dispose of old equipment. The recycling program would join existing options for Dell customers looking to unload old PCs.
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-915703.html?tag=cd_mh

TV giants given time to flip digital switch
Nine big-city TV stations on Thursday were given an extra six months to fully broadcast digital signals, and federal regulators warned smaller stations that unreasonable delays will not be tolerated. The Federal Communications Commission granted the nine stations in six cities, from Hartford, Conn., to Denver and involving affiliates of the four major networks, six more months to air their full broadcast signal digitally, almost three years later than was required of other stations.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-915752.html?tag=cd_mh

Big Blue researchers win inventor laurels
Three IBM researchers on Thursday will share an honor with the father of aspirin, when they're inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for their pioneering work on laser eye surgery. Rangaswamy Srinivasan, James Wynne and Samuel Blum invented the excimer laser surgical procedure, which laid the groundwork for LASIK surgery, a phenomenon that's enabled at least 5 million people to ditch their glasses and contacts. The surgery involves using ultraviolet lasers to reshape the cornea to treat nearsightedness. The trio began their work on laser surgery in the 1970s while working at IBM. The company received a patent on the procedure in 1988.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-915705.html?tag=cd_mh

Sonic makes noise with DVD software
Software company Sonic Solutions on Friday will begin shipping the latest version of its video editing and production program aimed to make DVD editing easier. The latest version of Sonic's MyDVD software includes new features for video editing and production on recordable and rewritable DVD discs, improving on earlier versions. MyDVD can be used with any type of recordable and rewritable DVD discs or drive. The software is bundled with certain models of PCs sold by Dell Computer, Compaq Computer, Hewlett-Packard, Sony and NEC. "Our goal is to make it easy to use recordable DVD technology," said Mark Ely, general manager of Sonic Solutions' desktop product group.
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-915509.html?tag=cd_mh

24's Good Guys Do Use Macs
As Fox's hit espionage thriller 24 draws to a close, the theory that the good guys use Macintosh computers while the bad guys use Windows PCs appears to be reinforced. The penultimate episode of the show, which aired on Tuesday evening, finally resolved the show's major cliffhanger -– the identity of a traitor. The traitor's identity was a revelation that took most viewers by surprise, but not those who had spotted the producers' new device to denote villainy in the shady world of spies: The baddies use computers running Microsoft Windows; the good guys use Macs.
http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,52559,00.html

Air of Frustration at AIDS Confab
Scientists say research on new AIDS-prevention tools that would give women greater control over their health should produce a viable product by 2007. They are frustrated, however, by the pace of research and the lack of investment from large pharmaceutical companies. The 650 people who attended this week's Microbicides 2002 conference heard good news about several gels, creams and other microbicide products that many researchers believe could significantly enhance AIDS-prevention efforts.
http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,52564,00.html

Doc Predicts Human Clone Soon
A Kentucky doctor said he expects to make a woman pregnant with a cloned embryo by the end of the year as House members seek to nudge the Senate toward action on a cloning ban. "This is no time for half measures," Rep. Dave Weldon (R-Florida) said of a Senate bill that would ban reproductive cloning but allow cloning for research. "We must pass an effective ban." The Senate has delayed until June its debate on whether to ban all cloning or allow the research exception.
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,52575,00.html

Europe To Let Nations Decide On Financial Spam
A proposed directive that was approved this week by the European Parliament will leave individual member nations with the decision as to whether financial services spam should be an opt-out or opt-in choice for consumers. A set of Europe-wide rules covering the marketing of financial services like credit cards and investment funds over the Internet and by telephone has been proposed by the European Commission.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176616.html

Space station's main oxygen supply fails
The crew of the International Space Station was forced to activate back-up oxygen generating equipment on Wednesday after the ISS's main supply system broke down. Russian engineers are struggling to repair the main "Elektron" oxygen supply system, which is located in the Russian Zvezda living module. The system converts water into hydrogen and oxygen. But both Russian and US officials say the crew is in no danger. Secondary oxygen supplies should last for at least 100 days and a shuttle mission is scheduled to bring fresh supplies to the station in early June.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992289

History of gaming goes on show
Where would you find an Italian plumber, a fierce young woman with unfeasibly large breasts and a speedy blue hedgehog in the same room? Answer: At the UK's first major exhibition of video games running at the Barbican Gallery in London until September. The exhibition is guaranteed to drag even the most hardcore gamer away from his bedroom and out into the daylight. It charts the history of video games from 1962 when the first gaming computer was built to the modern day rivalry between the PlayStation 2, the Xbox and the GameCube, as well as looking at some of the ways games may change in the future.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci...00/1989810.stm

Stringless violin to bring feeling to computer music
A stringless violin is set to bring emotion and pathos to that most soulless of art forms: computerised music. Electronic musicians like to play their instruments into a computer using a Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) system, which lets them record the notes and how loud they are played. Once that data has been recorded on a hard drive, it can be played back through any MIDI compatible electronic instrument.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992282

To Err is Human … and of Interest to ET?
Humans live and die by approximations. We are seldom as perfect or as accurate as we would like to be. And as we contemplate what we might say to an advanced extraterrestrial civilization, maybe that’s a point we should emphasize. If the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) succeeds, then it’s very likely the civilization we discover will be much older than our own. The reasoning is simple: if the typical civilization has the capacity to communicate by radio with other intelligence in the universe for only a few decades before it self-destructs, then it’s very unlikely that any two civilizations will happen to exist at almost the same small slice of time in the ten billion year history of our galaxy. The only way we’re likely to detect ET is if alien civilizations are much older than we are.
http://www.space.com/searchforlife/s...rr_020516.html

Web-Shy Advertisers Might Be Coming Around
Companies that make consumer packaged goods (CPG) long have dominated advertising in traditional media, but so far have stayed away from the Internet in droves. According to a new study, the online sector may receive a welcome boost in advertising spending from CPG companies. The study, released today by e-business information research firm Emarketer, said CPG companies spent $12.4 billion across all measured media in 2000, and $11.9 billion in 2001.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176633.html

Man Posts Sexy Personal Ads In Ex-Wife's Name, Gets Jailed
An Arizona man who placed sexually explicit personal ads on the Internet, but attributed them to his ex-wife, has been handed a year in jail for that and other computer-related crimes. The office of Arizona Attorney General Janet Napolitano said this week that a Glendale man was sentenced in Maricopa County Superior Court to jail time plus 10 years' probation following two separate incidents involving faked identity.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176631.html

More news later on

[TankGirl]

Originally posted by walktalker
News are us

Indeed so, Mr WT! Thanks for the first copy!

- tg

[Ðiego]

You are without a doubt a Very Useful Engine! I do so look forward to the paper!

/me tosses Walker his two bits..

Keep it up dude, its all good :¬)


Ð

[theknife]

pretty much my favorite feature here or anywhere else online

if The Newspaper Shop had it's own page, I'd probably make it my home page....

...and that's about the highest compliment I could pay any website!