The Newspaper Shop -- Friday edition

[walktalker]

My readers reunion photo


Customers derail MS double-dipping
Bowing to customer pressure, Microsoft has backed off a controversial licensing provision that forced some customers to pay twice for the software they purchased. Microsoft quietly introduced the change on Oct. 1 in conjunction with another sweeping licensing revision that, according to research firm Gartner, raised software costs for many customers from 33 percent to 107 percent. "The message here is customer pressure works, and the government scrutiny helped," said Gartner analyst Neil MacDonald.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp01

Attacks threaten expo attendance
Comdex is moving ahead on schedule despite disruptions caused by last month's terrorist attacks, with security taking a front-row seat. Show manager Bill Sells of Key3Media said he's been fielding calls from numerous exhibitors and attendees worried about a washout at the IT industry's biggest annual conference in Las Vegas next month. But he said the signs so far are good, with not one exhibitor or major speaker dropping out since suicide hijackers smashed commercial jets into the World Trade Center and Pentagon on Sept. 11.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Microsoft puts you on the alert
Microsoft will announce next week a new business Internet service, tied to its .Net strategy, that will allow eBay and other Web sites to contact and send messages to customers via PCs, cell phones and other handheld devices. Microsoft plans to say that it has signed 20 companies to a new Web-based service, called .Net Alerts, according to sources close to the company. The service will notify subscribers of everything from updated sports scores to the shipping status of goods they've bought online. In the case of eBay, the online auction site can send buyers messages about the status of items they've bid on.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

E-tailers -- defenseless against fraud?
A slew of online merchants say they are fighting a lonely battle against Internet scam artists as credit-card fraud continues to mushroom on the Web. Many Web retailers present anecdotal evidence that the increased fraud has coincided with rule changes the card companies implemented just over a year ago, requiring Web merchants to have a copy of the customer's credit card or signature. Unless they do, the merchant is liable for the charge should a customr dispute it. E-tailers, which conduct Web transactions in a virtual environment instead of in the traditional face-to-face manner, have few ways to obtain that kind of proof, and in most cases, when a customer disputes a charge, the e-tailer is the one stuck with the financial responsibility.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Site makes a call for fake porn
A Swedish Web site plans to quell the ardour of men who trawl the Internet for pornography by bombarding them with squeaky-clean images and anti-exploitation messages. The site, getsomereal.com, urges concerned Internet users to turn the tables on aggressive Web porn merchants by creating hundreds of mock sex sites with names like "super sluts" and "horny schoolgirls". It hopes to persuade lustful surfers to see the error of their ways when, instead of raunchy scenes of depravity, they are confronted with the message: "Porn's fake -- girls are for real".
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Intel looks to gadgets to boost PC demand
Intel wants you in pictures. The company, best known for its Pentium PC processors, this week launched a trio of PC-related consumer devices intended to further its strategy of using gadgets to push PC demand. The new products from Intel's Connected Products Division include an updated Intel Pocket Digital PC Camera, a new MP3 player dubbed Personal Audio Player 3000 and the new Intel Play Digital Movie Creator, a children's video camera. All three use universal serial bus (USB) connections to hook up with a PC and will ship this month.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200...html?tag=mn_hd

AOL clears path to use Web bugs, cookies Roooooo!
A recent addition to America Online's privacy policy clears the way for the company to use online tracking tools, including cookies and Web bugs, to compile anonymous data about its members and measure the effectiveness of advertising. "AOL and its advertisers may use cookie technology to determine on an anonymous basis which advertisements members have seen and how members responded to them," the policy reads following an Aug. 28 amendment. "AOL and its advertisers may also use small pieces of code called 'Web beacons' or 'clear GIFs' to collect anonymous and aggregate advertising metrics, such as counting page views, promotion views, or advertising responses.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=mn_hd

Machines with a human touch
People have become accustomed to thinking of artificial intelligence and natural intelligence as being completely different — both in the way they work and in what they are made of. Artificial intelligence (AI) conjures up images of silicon chips in boxes, running software that has been written using human expertise as a guide. Natural intelligence gives the impression of “wetware” — cells interacting biologically with one another and with the environment, so that the whole organism can learn through experience. But that is not the only way to look at intelligence, as a group of electronics engineers, neuroscientists, roboticists and biologists demonstrated recently at a three-week workshop held in Telluride, Colorado.
http://www.economist.com/science/dis...tory_ID=779503

Tech giants hold high hopes for Internet2
If Pinchas Zuckerman, the music director at the National Arts Center Orchestra in Ottawa, hears a not-so-perfect note from his violin student Wu Jie, Zuckerman can demonstrate a better way to hold the bow even though Wu is watching from New York City. Wu, of the Manhattan School of Music, said that because of a two TV set-up she can watch herself on one screen and Zuckerman on the other with little delay and great sound quality, courtesy of a fast link-up to the Internet2 network. Internet2 started in 1996 as a group of corporations, universities and nonprofits interested in advanced research. The project acts as a laboratory for companies and researchers developing new technologies and also serves as a blueprint of what the Internet could look like in the future.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1004-200...html?tag=cd_pr

Record labels may form CD-making ensemble
Several big record companies are negotiating to form joint ventures for manufacturing compact discs, as the industry looks for ways to cut costs, according to a report. Spurred in part by the failure of recent merger proposals in the music industry, as well as deteriorating market conditions, at least four of the Big Five record companies have had talks about several different possible combinations, The Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition on Friday, citing sources familiar with the talks.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Tech giants push MPEG-4 standard
A standards body comprising such tech heavyweights as Apple Computer and Cisco Systems has released a specification for streaming MPEG-4 video and audio via the Web. The Internet Streaming Media Alliance (ISMA) announced this week that it has developed and published its first specification. ISMA 1.0 will let consumers install one plug-in for streaming audio and video, rather than a raft of programs each specific to a single format, on devices ranging from cell phones to personal computers. For ISMA, the specification is the latest effort to create open standards in streaming media. Microsoft's Windows Media, RealNetworks' RealPlayer and Apple's QuickTime each hold a piece of the market.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Net users lose a secret-alias tool
The company that pushed encryption and networking technology to the limits to enhance people's privacy said Thursday that it has decided to close its flagship anonymity network and focus on security software for home users. Security software maker Zero-Knowledge Systems announced that it would shut down the premium service component of its Freedom Network, which let people surf the Internet and send e-mail with almost complete privacy by using pseudonyms. Although more than 70,000 people signed on to the free test of the service two years ago, the swell of interest didn't wash up more than a small number of paying subscribers, said Austin Hill, co-founder and vice president of the company.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=ch_mh

Congress moves ahead on anti-terror bills
The House Judiciary Committee unanimously approved a scaled-back version of President Bush's anti-terrorism package Wednesday night, while Senate negotiators and the administration reached an "agreement in principle" on a similar measure. The actions will likely mean the full House and Senate will vote on their versions of the legislation as early as next week, and then move to try to hammer out differences and send a final measure to Bush to sign into law. The legislation would give law enforcement expanded power to wiretap the telephones of suspected terrorists, share intelligence information about them and track their Internet activity. The House committee passed its version on a 36-0 vote.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=ch_mh

FTC: Privacy enforcement, not new laws
The new chairman of the Federal Trade Commission said Thursday he would not support new privacy legislation but instead emphasize enforcement of existing laws, reversing a position taken by the consumer-protection agency last year. FTC Chairman Timothy Muris, an appointee of Republican President Bush, said Thursday in a long-anticipated speech that he does not currently see the need for new legislation that would give consumers greater control over how information about them is shared among businesses, both over the Internet and in the "offline" world. Instead, the agency will concentrate more heavily on enforcing existing laws and policies, boosting its enforcement budget by 50 percent, he said in a speech at a privacy conference in Cleveland. The FTC will crack down on junk e-mail, identity theft, fraudulent attempts to obtain personal information and companies that violate privacy promises to their customers, he said.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=ch_mh

Compaq recalls 1.4 million power adapters
Compaq Computer is recalling nearly 1.4 million notebook power adapters, citing fire risk. The company on Thursday issued a recall for the AC power adapters and their cords, used with Compaq Armada and Prosignia notebooks manufactured between September 1988 and July 2001. There have been five reported incidents of fire and no reports of injury, Compaq said. "We've worked very closely with the Consumer Product Safety Council to follow an orderly recall. We want to be very proactive to ensure the safety of our customers," Compaq spokesman Mike Hockey said.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200...html?tag=ch_mh

More news later on