The Newspaper Shop -- Thursday edition

[walktalker]

My parrot Netcoco ate its 350th cookie !! Party time !


But first, let's read the news, shall we ?

U.S. pulls 'sensitive' info off the Web
Government agencies have been ordered to clear their Web sites of sensitive information about weapons of mass destruction that could be exploited by would-be terrorists, according to memos released on Thursday. Critics said that White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card's request for an "immediate re-examination" of all public documents could result in the government withdrawing thousands of papers, records and reports that have been available for years.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-865865.html

Scientologists force Google to cut links -- thanks to DMCA
Google was accused Wednesday of effectively removing from the Internet a Web site that is critical of the Church of Scientology after it deleted links to some of the site's pages from its search engine. The popular search company said it removed the links after it received a copyright-infringement complaint from the Church of Scientology. Andreas Heldal-Lund, Webmaster of the site Xenu.net, said in a Usenet posting that the complaint demanded that Google take down a large number of references to different parts of Xenu.net.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-866058.html

iMac price hike roils Apple community
If Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs was looking for a good place to deliver bad news, Tokyo may have been just far enough away from the company's California headquarters. Mac enthusiasts and analysts generally responded negatively to word that Apple would raise the price of its hot-selling flat-panel iMac by $100. Apple jacked up the price on all three iMac models in response to rising component costs. Liquid-crystal display (LCD) panels are in short supply, causing prices to spike after more than a year of declines and contributing to a backlog of new iMac orders.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-865802.html

Scots warned: Don't be fooled by .sc
Scottish companies were warned this week over the promotion of the .sc top level domain (TLD) as a Scottish identity on the Internet. U.K. registry Nominet, which oversees the .uk domain name, said Scottish businesses that are attracted by the offer of a .sc domain name should be aware that they may not be getting what they think. The .sc domain in fact denotes a Seychelles business. Nominet is concerned that Internet firm SC Registrars is promoting the .sc domain as being Scottish. On the front page of its Web site, SC Registrars promotes the Scottish connection heavily.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-865993.html

Yahoo adds e-mail forwarding service fee
Yahoo said Thursday that it will soon implement new fees in once-free areas on its service, marking the Web portal's latest effort to boost non-advertising revenue. The company said it will begin charging for a feature that lets people check their Yahoo e-mail messages from outside services. In addition, the company will limit public access to its data storage service in hopes of persuading people to pay for it.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-865652.html

Sex, white lies and chat rooms
Here are words of comfort for anyone who has spent more time than he should in online chat rooms -- a British psychologist has found that courtships begun in cyberspace can very well lead to true love. Many "virtual"relationships thrive once potential partners meet face-to-face because they already know each other so well through their online encounters, said Jeffrey Gavin, a lecturer in psychology at the University of Bath.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-864308.html

Microsoft eyes Net access in China
Software giant Microsoft is considering offering Internet access in China, where major rival AOL Time Warner is already moving ahead with an Internet service joint venture, a company executive said Thursday. That would make China the next theater in the battle the two U.S. rivals are waging to attract subscribers for Internet access. Microsoft is still deciding whether it will seek to offer Internet access in China as it does in the United States and other countries, said Alexander Huang, director for the Greater China region.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-865997.html

Web travel must cozy up to customers
According to a new survey, online shoppers are concerned with the quality of customer service at travel sites more than in any other Web retail category. Jupiter Media Metrix issued a report Thursday that showed 79 percent of consumers surveyed said they would be less likely to buy airline tickets a second time from a company with which they had a bad customer service experience.
http://news.com.com/2100-1017-865961.html

Microsoft sweeps out Hotmail accounts
Hotmail subscribers have a new problem to contend with: an e-mail janitor. In Microsoft's popular free e-mail service, messages are being swept out and bounced back to senders as the site urges members to upgrade to a premium version that costs $19.95 a year, according to subscribers. One Hotmail user, Arianna, said she signed on to her e-mail account last week to find the system had emptied out her in-box -- including important messages about her upcoming wedding -- but left her junk-mail folder full.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-866086.html

Senators propose high-tech SWAT team
Two senators introduced a bill Wednesday that would create a high-tech SWAT team of science and technology experts who would help the United States recover from cyberattacks on computer and communications networks. The bill would create teams of high-tech experts who would volunteer to help during an emergency, similar to existing programs for search-and-rescue and medical volunteers. It would also set up a "reserve" of experts who could be contacted by emergency personnel.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-865307.html?tag=cd_mh

Microsoft Hammers Away at Rival
Microsoft tried to show that a former top computer executive who now works at rival AOL Time Warner was biased in his testimony Thursday on behalf of nine states suing the software giant over antitrust practices. Under questioning by a Microsoft lawyer, AOL executive Peter Ashkin said he did not even know whether his company has official views on the legal case.
http://www.wired.com/news/antitrust/...,51239,00.html

A Mac Box Worth Weight in Gold
A lot of seemingly worthless items are auctioned on eBay every day. But perhaps taking the phenomenon to new heights, an empty cardboard box has just been auctioned for more than $500. The box dates from 1984 and contained one of the first Macintosh computers. The box was sold without the computer. "My Mac is long gone," explained the seller in the auction's listing, "but the box has been sitting in my attic for the last 18 years." The box was slightly yellowed and discolored on the top and sides, but did include all of the original packaging materials: the Styrofoam inserts, plastic sleeves and boxes for the keyboard and mouse.
http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,51208,00.html

Spam Showdown at Battle Creek
The small city of Battle Creek, Michigan, wants to lock up an anti-spam activist who it believes crashed its mail server. Never mind that the town government was using a buggy version of the Lotus Domino e-mail server, and that newer releases have fixed the problem. And never mind that anti-spammers may have been conducting a routine scan for possible sources of bulk e-mail. Battle Creek, a town of 54,000 best known as the headquarters of the Kellogg's cereal company, is on the warpath.
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,51218,00.html

DJs Mix Biz With Their Parties
Hundreds of parties. Lots of throbbing house music. Roving bands of porn stars. And cocaine and ecstasy by the truckload. But the notoriously debaucherous Winter Music Conference -- electronic music's most important annual event -- is shaping up to be a bit more business-like this year. Thousands of partygoers have already arrived in Miami, Florida's South Beach neighborhood for the 17th annual conference, which officially starts Saturday and continues through Wednesday. They'll be joined by a seemingly endless assortment of DJs, promoters, journalists, and label executives from around the world.
http://www.wired.com/news/mp3/0,1285,51149,00.html

Women beat men in web browsing
Women know what they want from the internet and spend less time than men getting it, according to analyst firm Jupiter MMXI. Women spend an average of seven hours online compared with male surfers who clocked up 10 hours per month, its study found. While there are still half as many European women online as men, the number of females getting wired has shot up by 29% in the past year.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci...00/1885348.stm

Eyeball squeezing could correct sight
A light tap on the side of your head could one day restore your eyesight, believe scientists. The tap would tighten a band of artificial muscle wrapped round your eyeballs, changing their shape and bringing blurry images into focus. While the idea has a high 'yuk' factor, the people behind it are confident it will be a safe and effective way to improve vision. Mohsen Shahinpoor and his team at the University of New Mexico call their artificial muscle a "smart eye band". It will be stitched to the sclera, the tough white outer part of the eyeball, and activated by an electromagnet in a hearing-aid-sized unit fitted behind one ear.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992064

Comdex Attendees' Personal Data Exhibited On The Web
A security flaw in an online registration system for the world's biggest computer trade shows exposed the personal data of some users, Key3Media Events [NYSE:KME] officials acknowledged today. The system, accessible from the company's Web site, enables visitors to register online for events produced by Key3Media Events, including Comdex, NetWorld+Interop, Seybold Seminars and JavaOne. By slightly manipulating login data recently sent in a registration confirmation e-mail to some show attendees, users of the online system were able today to view the profiles and shopping carts of other users.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175386.html

Senators Seek Firm Date For Fast-Track Vote
More than two dozen Republican senators on Thursday called for U.S. Senate leadership to schedule a date to vote on "trade promotion authority" legislation, a measure that would give the White House broader authority to negotiate international trade deals. Senate Finance Committee Ranking Republican Chuck Grassley of Iowa sent a letter signed by 26 GOP senators to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., urging them to schedule a vote before lawmakers leave this week for a two-week spring recess.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175383.html

More news later on

[Dawn]

Thanks for your time and effort, as usual newsman.

[TankGirl]

Originally posted by walktalker
My parrot Netcoco ate its 350th cookie !! Party time !

Congratulations to Netcoco and its proud owner and thanks for the newspaper!

- tg