The Newspaper Shop -- Thursday edition

[walktalker]

JPEG worm breaks new ground
Antivirus companies warned on Thursday of a new virus that communicates through digital images, but security experts aren't sure how much of a threat this latest evolutionary branch of malicious code poses. Dubbed the first "JPEG infector" by security company Network Associates, the W32/Perrun virus has two parts: infected JPEG images that contain the virus's payload and a viral program that extracts the code from the images and infects other JPEGs on the system as they are opened. Because PCs have to be infected by the extractor virus before any code hidden in image files can affect them, the program is more a computer-science curiosity than a threat, said Vincent Gullotto, vice president of Network Associates' antivirus emergency response team.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-935766.html

Linux's reputation for reliability took another step on
Wednesday with the introduction of the first medical embedded device using the operating system. Austrian company BMS Bayer launched EasyDose, a unit that monitors, displays and manages X-ray exposure data automatically through hospital networks. Based on Transmeta's Midori -- a very compact Linux distribution -- and a Cyrix GXM 233 processor, the unit has a 6.5-inch touch-screen and works to the standard DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) protocols over IP and Ethernet.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-935737.html

ID theft -- on the rise for e-biz
As e-business grows, identity theft will evolve from credit card fraud to corporate identity theft, having profound implications on the company's bottom line and employee behavior, according to IBM's security expert. Stacy Cannady, from IBM's client security product management, told ZDNet Australia corporate ID theft would allow criminals to order goods on company accounts or conduct industrial sabotage. For the victim, this could result in regulatory violation, legal compromise or competitive disaster.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-935740.html

New bugs swarm Windows
Microsoft posted three advisories on its Web site on Wednesday detailing several recently discovered flaws, one of which was deemed critical for Windows NT and 2000 servers. The software giant dubbed "critical" a buffer overflow in its remote access service (RAS) software, which is a native service in Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000 and Windows XP. The security hole could allow an attacker to run any code, the advisory stated. "An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain complete control over the machine, thereby gaining the ability to take any desired action," said the advisory.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-935563.html

Nvidia talks new language for graphics
A new programming language from Nvidia may really set the fur flying in computer games. Signaling the possibility of a major shift in how developers control a game's look, the graphics chip leader is releasing tools that will help give game programmers the option of trading some speed and smoothness to create more detailed images. The programming language, called Cg, was developed in collaboration with Microsoft and is similar to the software giant's series of C languages for writing Windows code, said Chris Seitz, Nvidia's manager of development tools. C code is also commonly used to write games.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-935626.html

Green light for 10-gigabit Ethernet
The 802.3 standards group of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) on Wednesday approved 802.3ae, a version of Ethernet that runs at 10 gigabits per second (gbps). The technology is already well proven, having undergone a major demonstration by 24 vendors at last week's Supercomm show in Atlanta. However, as it runs only on fiber-optic cables, it will not reach into enterprise LANs very quickly. The first section of the industry to take up the new Ethernet will likely be service providers and those selling equipment to them, since the technology will cost quite a lot at first and will initially be best suited to provisioning metropolitan area networks across installed fiber.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-935674.html

Apple buys video effects technology
Apple Computer has quietly purchased technologies from digital effects company Silicon Grail, extending its recent push into the high-end motion picture production market. Through the deal, which was finalized early this week, Apple acquires two core products from Hollywood-based Silicon Grail, Chalice and RAYZ. These so-called compositing tools provide the layering and special effects that occur in today's digitally enhanced visual effects films such as "Titantic."
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-935796.html?tag=fd_top

Digital cinema slow to reel in fans
It seems like the people with the most enthusiasm for digital cinema technology are those making movies with it. A half-dozen of the films shown at this year's Cannes Film Festival were shot at least partially using this new technology, which stores video and audio as digital data so it can be manipulated and transmitted electronically. The most prominent was "Clones," whose director seemed as intent on spreading the word about digital cinema as he was on hyping his movie. Still, although "Clones" was shot digitally from beginning to end, few moviegoers actually saw Lucas' film in its digital form. When it opened in the United States, only 60 screens out of 5,000 displayed it using digital projectors. The problem is, the directors may be hooked on digital, but the studios and theater owners are not.
http://news.com.com/2009-1023-935557.html?tag=fd_nc_1

File sharing: Innocent until proven guilty
Now Liebowitz has turned his attention to another hot-button issue where law and economics intersect: file sharing. It's a logical step for the professor. He's been following copyright law and its effects since the 1970s, when audiotapes were being denounced by the recording industry as tools for theft. On May 15, the Cato Institute published a new paper by Liebowitz, "Policing Pirates in the Networked Age," that takes a comprehensive look at the history of the recording industry's battle with piracy. In the paper, Liebowitz argues persuasively that record industry experts failed to prove their assertion that Napster was gutting industry revenues. But he also argues that eventually, digital downloading will be a serious threat to those revenues.
http://salon.com/tech/feature/2002/0...itz/index.html

Making online gaming pay
Online gaming is fun for everyone but the companies providing the sites and servers that let you play. For them it is an expensive business that takes huge amounts of time, energy and money to keep up with. To make matters worse, before now most have struggled to find ways to offset this expense by getting gamers to pay for the services they enjoy. But as broadband net connections become more popular and more people play online, some games sites are starting to experiment with new ways to make gaming pay.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci...00/2040732.stm

IBM eyes paperless insurance claims
IBM is rolling out a program to automate health insurance claims, saying it can save administrative costs, the company said Thursday. The first insurer to use the claims-processing service is Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield with 4.7 million subscribers, said IBM, which is targeting Internet technology to lower costs for health care firms. If widely adopted by insurance carriers, the service could save an estimated 35 percent to 40 percent of the $250 billion or more annually spent pushing paper, IBM said.
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-935582.html?tag=cd_mh

Liquid Audio finds a buyer
Alliance Entertainment on Thursday announced plans to acquire online music company Liquid Audio. Word of the sale comes only a few weeks after a dissident shareholder called on Liquid Audio to put itself up for sale. The call was prompted by the company's dismal earnings report. Liquid Audio reported revenue of just $135,000 for the first quarter of the year and a loss of $4.9 million. The company had earlier rejected a bid from Steel Partners II and BCG Strategic Investors to buy the company for $3 a share. Financial terms of the deal were not released.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-935620.html?tag=cd_mh

Found: Solar System Like Our Own
There's another solar system like ours, and it's very close by. Researchers from the University of California at Berkeley and the Carnegie Institution announced Thursday that they've found the first planetary system that closely resembles our own. The system centers around the sun-like star 55 Cancri, which lies in the Cancer constellation, only 41 light years away. Just around the corner, in astronomical terms. Since 1995, scientists have discovered about 80 planets outside of our solar system. But none of these "extrasolar" planets really looked like any of the ones in our backyard; they orbited too close to their stars, mostly making elongated, uneven rotations.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,53188,00.html

Tunisian Net Dissident Jailed
Tunisia's recent crackdown on cyber-dissidents has taken an ominous turn with the arrest and detention of journalist Zouhair Yahyaoui, founder and editor of the online news site TUNeZINE. Better known under the pseudonym Ettounsi, Yahyaoui was charged Thursday under clause 2 of Article 306b of the Tunisian criminal code for "knowingly putting out false news" and also for "stealing" Internet connection time at a local cyber café where he was working. Yahyaoui faces up to 10 years in prison if found guilty of both charges. The judge's decision on his case has been deferred until next Thursday.
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,53186,00.html

Bill/Steve's Sexcellent Adventure
In real life, Bill Gates screwed Steve Jobs and everyone else in the computer industry. But in Slash fiction, it's Steve Jobs who gets to screw Bill Gates -- literally. In six short fictional stories penned by Jezebel Slade, the long and ornery business relationship between Jobs and Gates is contrasted against their secret love affair, which is spelled out in pornographic detail. Flash is homoerotic fan fiction that is usually written by women, for women. The stories detail erotic encounters between pop culture figures.
http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,53071,00.html

Behind Linux's Struggle in Gov't
Proprietary software makers say they don't view Linux and its brethren as an immediate threat to their dominance inside the federal government. A Wired News survey of 14 Cabinet-level agencies found little official adoption of free operating systems and bureaucratic obstacles such as lists of approved products that stand in the way of future gains.
http://www.wired.com/news/linux/0,1411,53006,00.html

Transistors Reach Molecular Level
In the quest to miniaturize the computer chip, engineers ultimately run up against the molecule. This is as small as conventional electronic components can get -- anything below that and you're knee-deep in quantum computing. The single-molecule transistor promises to be a singularly transfiguring piece of nanoscale electronics. And while single-molecule electronic components are still at least a decade away, two teams of American scientists have taken the transistor down into this final realm.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,53161,00.html

High-Speed Internet Access Gets White House Spotlight
President Bush plans to tell technology executives today that his administration will work to make high-speed Internet access available in more areas, administration officials said. But the White House will not take sides on contentious regulatory questions that are among the most heavily lobbied issues in Washington. Technology executives, many of them political centrists who are viewed as crucial potential donors and supporters by both parties, have been aggressively lobbying the White House for incentives encouraging high-speed Internet service, known as broadband.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2002Jun12.html

European Digital Rights launches
Ten European Net privacy and freedom groups have banded together to form an international civil rights group. Called European Digital Rights (EDRi), the new organisation will be based in Brussels, where it will "focus its activities towards developments in the European Union and the Council of Europe". This is necessary, because rulings on privacy and interception are coming more and at an EU, and the introduction of new civil rights-threatening regulation is coming at an increasing pace, the group says.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/25712.html

Jambusters eye cellphones
A system that spots when drivers with mobile phones are stuck in a traffic jam could soon be used to help motorists dodge queues.
Network providers will be able to detect when congestion is building up on roads and motorways with the new program, which is being tested in the UK and Sweden. It relies on the fact that, when switched on, cellphones are in regular communication with the nearest base station, giving a precise location for the phone.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci...00/2040519.stm

Superbug resistance genes found
The key to antibiotic resistance in one of the world's most virulent "superbugs" has been found in a cluster of genes located in one region of its genome. The discovery should pave the way for the development of new, targeted drugs. "In the short-term this research will be useful in helping understand how these organisms actually cause infections and might help us develop targeted vaccines against them," says Alan Johnson of the UK's Public Health Laboratory Service. Enterococcus faecalis, a gut bacterium, is the third most common cause of hospital acquired infection, affecting more than 800,000 people each year in the US alone.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992399

Harry Potter released unprotected
Warner Home Video has chosen not to copy-protect the home versions of its blockbuster movie Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in major markets, including the US and UK. This means people can go out and buy a DVD or VHS, connect the analogue output of their player to a recorder - either analogue or digital - and make free copies for friends. Usually, hot new movies are protected by Macrovision, which tinkers with the analogue picture signal so that it can be viewed on a TV set but not copied. The Harry Potter title was released worldwide in May. The chance discovery that it is unprotected was made by market analysts in the US, who interpreted it as loss of confidence in Macrovision. Tests run by New Scientist confirm that the UK release can also be copied.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992404

From Bogie to Bono (and Elmo)
Gone are the days when the sight of a celebrity standing next to your local congressman meant you were about to hear a pitch for war bonds. Since Sen. Joe McCarthy started holding hearings into his suspicions of a communist infiltration of Hollywood, the celebrity infiltration of Washington seems to have gone virtually unchecked. Truthfully, Bogart and Bacall leading a group of stars to Washington to protest the McCarthy hearings was more of a change of star power than the beginning of a trend.
http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/...wer/index.html

More news later on

[Ðiego]

Could bionic eye end blindness?
Artificial vision for the blind was once the stuff of science fiction -- Lt. Geordi La Forge's visor on "Star Trek" or the bionic eye of "The Six Million Dollar Man." But now, a limited form of artificial vision is a reality -- one some say is one of the greatest triumphs in medical history. "We are now at a watershed," Joseph Lazzaro, author of "Adaptive Technologies for Learning and Work Environments," told CNN. "We are at the beginning of the end of blindness with this type of technology."
http://www.cnn.com/2002/HEALTH/06/13...eye/index.html

[TankGirl]

Originally posted by walktalker
Found: Solar System Like Our Own
There's another solar system like ours, and it's very close by. Researchers from the University of California at Berkeley and the Carnegie Institution announced Thursday that they've found the first planetary system that closely resembles our own. The system centers around the sun-like star 55 Cancri, which lies in the Cancer constellation, only 41 light years away. Just around the corner, in astronomical terms. Since 1995, scientists have discovered about 80 planets outside of our solar system. But none of these "extrasolar" planets really looked like any of the ones in our backyard; they orbited too close to their stars, mostly making elongated, uneven rotations.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,53188,00.html

Cosmic news like this are always fascinating... if you're interested in the topic see also this Nasa article, the attached artwork is from there.

Thanks again WT, you rock!

- tg