The Newspaper Shop -- Tuesday edition

[walktalker]

Another paper. One two, one two three four:

Group plugs Linux into interactive TV
Some of the largest makers of chips and interactive TV software have teamed to design Linux-based set-top boxes, aiming to create a lower-cost product than that from software giant Microsoft. Motorola and Pace Micro Technology represent the set-top box makers in the 24-member venture, dubbed TV Linux Alliance. By creating a standardized framework for Linux-based software for interactive TV, the alliance hopes to bring the technology to market more quickly and with lower development costs and fewer integration issues than by working alone.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...092552,00.html

Is BSD getting lost amid the open source salvos?
When listening to the verbal sparring between open source advocates and Microsoft, it's interesting to notice what's not being talked about. Look at any side of the debate. Do you see any mention of BSD? Quite a few licenses qualify as open source, according to those who define the term. In attacks on open source, such as the recent commentary by Microsoft's Craig Mundie, the headline and opening comments target open source in a general way. But one doesn't have to read far to see that the only open source license under attack is the GNU General Public License (GPL).
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/co...772296,00.html

Viva la P2P
Here stands the manager of corporate information systems: an autocrat, a dictator of data who rules with an iron fist. It's nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, it's probably in the job description. Order and predictability have always been business imperatives in managing information technologies, which has led to aggregating data on massive, powerful and centralized computers--the ubiquitous client-server model. Now the walls of the information technology glass house are being cracked open by peer-to-peer (P2P), a distributed information architecture that seems, at first glance, to be chaotic, unstable, uncontrollable -- everything a responsible IT professional would avoid.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...771379,00.html

AT&T's animation gives spam a new image
Mention video e-mail, and some people picture seasonal greetings from distant loved ones singing Jingle Bells over the Christmas turkey. But the images that will be flowing through AT&T WorldNet Service's new video e-mail service are certain to include a large side dish of spam. Instead of simply telling you about the beaches of Bermuda, travel agencies can send the waves lapping over your laptop. AT&T officials think consumers will continue to accept or ignore unwanted advertising as a trade-off for an entertaining new service.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...772081,00.html

General-purpose processors take center stage
The same microprocessor that lets your burn through a game of "Gran Turismo" may soon be running your PC's printer, as electronics manufacturers increasingly rely on general-purpose processors. "Standard" processors and system-on-a-chip designs that combine the function of several chips in one piece of silicon dominate the new offerings on display at the Embedded Processor Forum, which began Tuesday in San Jose, Calif. Chip manufacturers and designers at the forum are expected to announce about 30 new microprocessors, digital signal processors and other chips meant to power devices such as video game consoles, handheld computers, set-top boxes and networking equipment.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200...html?tag=mn_hd

Fake McVeigh video infects computers
If you get an offer to see a video of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh's execution, be careful. It probably isn't a video clip, just an old trick. In an Internet chat room Monday, hours after McVeigh's death, some participants followed a posted Web link to see a bootleg video of the execution. They wound up inadvertently downloading a malicious program that can allow a hacker to take control of another computer. Brad Chapman, a Brigham Young University computer science student, said that by visiting a Web site at Internet provider Concentric Networks, he unknowingly prompted his computer to download the program, known as SubSeven.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200...html?tag=mn_hd

Free Speech vs. Privacy
Freedom of the press and free speech carry a lot of weight in the courtroom, but as with everything in law, there are exceptions. Fortunately, these limitations haven't damaged our core understanding of these rights, and like healthy trees, the rights have grown in stature and importance, even as they have been trimmed around the edges. An opinion handed down last week by a California state court of appeals opens the way for a new case that, if successful, may trim the scope of freedoms normally accorded to the press.
http://www.ecompany.com/articles/web...,12297,00.html

Microsoft unbound
Any day now, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals will rule on whether Microsoft should be broken up per Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson's orders. No one is absolutely sure what will happen, but when one takes into account this court's well-established antipathy to antitrust enforcement, and considers the tart, aggressive questioning the appellate judges tortured Department of Justice prosecutors with earlier this spring, the smart money is on Microsoft.
http://salon.com/tech/col/leon/2001/...dux/index.html

China quashes anonymous surfing
The soft glow of computer screens lights the faces of hundreds of students and 20-somethings crammed into the Feiyu Internet cafe near Peking University, 24 hours a day. The basement cafe is one of roughly 1,000 in Beijing, where young Chinese can anonymously log onto the Internet and browse any site they fancy, such as news or sports--or even banned pornography sites. To Beijing, these cafes are a dangerous window into an electronic world beyond the Communist Party's control, and in April the government launched the second major clampdown against the popular venues in just over one year.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Can't Scan Without a Warrant
If the feds want to spy on your home using whizzy tech gadgets, they'd better get a warrant first, the Supreme Court said on Monday. In an important 5-4 ruling that extends privacy's shield to radiation not visible to the human eye, the court said federal agents should have obtained a warrant before using an infrared imaging device to snoop on Danny Lee Kyllo, an Oregon man they later arrested for growing marijuana.
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,44444,00.html

Oops, supper time... be back later