Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 05 Issue 15
Volume 5, Issue 15 Atari Online News, Etc. April 11, 2003
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2003
All Rights Reserved
Atari Online News, Etc.
A-ONE Online Magazine
Dana P. Jacobson, Publisher/Managing Editor
Joseph Mirando, Managing Editor
Rob Mahlert, Associate Editor
Atari Online News, Etc. Staff
Dana P. Jacobson -- Editor
Joe Mirando -- "People Are Talking"
Michael Burkley -- "Unabashed Atariophile"
Albert Dayes -- "CC: Classic Chips"
Rob Mahlert -- Web site
Thomas J. Andrews -- "Keeper of the Flame"
With Contributions by:
Kevin Savetz
Matthias Reichl
Jayson Hill
To subscribe to A-ONE, change e-mail addresses, or unsubscribe,
log on to our website at: www.atarinews.org
and click on "Subscriptions".
OR subscribe to A-ONE by sending a message to: dpj@atarinews.org
and your address will be added to the distribution list.
To unsubscribe from A-ONE, send the following: Unsubscribe A-ONE
Please make sure that you include the same address that you used to
subscribe from.
To download A-ONE, set your browser bookmarks to one of the
following sites:
http://people.delphiforums.com/dpj/a-one.htm
http://www.icwhen.com/aone/
http://a1mag.atari.org
Now available:
http://www.atarinews.org
Visit the Atari Advantage Forum on Delphi!
http://forums.delphiforums.com/atari/
=~=~=~=
A-ONE #0515 04/11/03
~ Yahoo! Retools Search! ~ People Are Talking! ~ Mac OS X Upgraded!
~ Classic Gaming Expo! ~ Adobe Acrobat Turns 6.0 ~ New AtariSIO Out!
~ SETI@home Has Bugs! ~ 7th Annual Webby Awards ~ Spam Bill Introduced
~ Power-line Web Service ~ Spam Marches On and On! ~ Anita Borg Dies!
-* Creating Adventure Games! *-
-* Compute!'s 1st Book of Atari On Web *-
-* Tech Copyright Law Challenge Is Tossed Out *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Although the calendar tells us that Spring has been here for a couple of
weeks, you wouldn't know it here in New England! There's been snow, freezing
rain, and sleet over the past few days; and there is still a little snow on
the ground. There's a rumor flying around that the weather is supposed to
greatly improve some time next week. We'll see. Naturally, I decided to
take the wrong week off from work! I'll get in a day or two of barbecuing
before this week is up, guaranteed!
As you may have surmised over the past few weeks, I've been glued to the
news regarding the Iraq War. I've become a CNN junkie of sorts. As a
journalist by education, I find it amazing how this war is getting covered.
While at times I see stupidity among some of these embedded journalists,
there are many times that I see some terrific reporting, and bravery. It's
unbelievable that we can see first-hand accounts of this war, as it's
happening. We don't have to wait for the network slants of the story - we
see it for ourselves and can make our own judgement. We can understand the
difference between the propaganda and the real story. Seeing the Iraqi
people in Baghdad and other cities cheering as the statues of Saddam Hussein
were brought down was exciting. Seeing that marine drape Saddam's face
with the American flag, and then replaced with an Iraqi flag was
heart-warming. Watching the Iraqi Minister of Information making a fool of
himself was comedic. Whether you agree or disagree with this war, you
really have to appreciate the efforts of the American and British troops in
a continuing successful effort. Let's hope that there is success with the
rebuilding of a free Iraqi country.
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
Compute!'s First Book of Atari on the Web
The geeks, nerds, and spazzes at atariarchives.org are proud to announce
that the full text of Compute!'s First Book of Atari is now available on
the Web.
Published in 1981, this classic book includes articles printed just after
the release of the Atari 400 and 800 computers. It includes early reviews
of Atari BASIC, DOS 1, and the Atari 810 disk drive, plus unique BASIC and
machine language tutorials. The first chapter includes an interview with
Atari's VP of marketing, examining the early '80s personal computer market.
All of the book's type-in programs are available for download. This is the
13th book to be made available at atariarchives.org.
It's available at
http://www.atariarchives.org/c1ba/
Creating Adventure Games On Your Computer on the Web
The folks at atariarchives.org are proud to announce that the full text of
the classic computer book _Creating Adventure Games On Your Computer_ is
now available on the Web. Written by Tim Hartnell and published in 1983,
the book includes four complete adventure games in BASIC plus innumerable
tips on creating your own text adventures.
The book's BASIC programs are compatible with Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Coleco
Adam, Commodore 64 and Vic-20, IBM PC, Texas Instruments TI 99/4a (with
Extended BASIC), all TRS-80 models, and MSX BASIC. All of the programs are
downloadable for instant gratification.
This is the 14th book to be made available at atariarchives.org.
http://www.atariarchives.org/adventure
New AtariSIO Release V0.11 beta
I've uploaded a new AtariSIO release to my homepage
http://www.horus.com/~hias/atari/
Version 0.11 beta includes the following changes:
* atariserver now contains loadable 6502 high speed SIO code
(like the HDI or Speedy 1050) - thanks to ABBUC for the code!
* A "print DOS2.x directory" function was added to atariserver
* AtariSIO now reached beta status
* several minor bug fixes and improvements
so long,
Hias
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
joe@atarinews.org
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. Another week has come and gone already. I
don't know where the time goes. Sure, I've been busy lately, but it's
more than that. There just seems to be so much happening these days that
it's all but impossible to keep track of it all.
It used to be that news from a war half way around the world took weeks
to get back to you. About 60 years ago, things started happening faster
and you could count on getting 'news from the front' that was no more
than a week old. 30 years ago you could count on getting news on the
day's events during the evening news. Now you can get the news as it's
happening. That can be a good thing, but it can also mean that we get the
more sensational parts of a story before the storyteller has a chance to
figure out what the reality is. And if THEY don't know what's real, how
can we possibly expect to know what's real?
Not that most of us are concerned with reality. Most of us are busy
chasing our tails about "truth". Well kiddies, the truth is... there
ain't no truth. It's all subjective. Or as Einstein said, it's all
relative. A reporter's fondest wish is to touch his or her
readers/listeners/viewers and to make them stop and think. Being on the
front line as they are now gets them right into the nitty-gritty of it
all and allows them to show it all to us. They get to test their mettle
like Hemingway or Mailer and get it all on the top-of-the-hour newsbreak.
The deaths of several 'imbedded' reporters this week brought up another
question in my mind...
Is the military, and by extension the government it serves, out of it's
damned mind?? Are they really trying to teach people to NOT think?
Perhaps THAT'S how they plan to win the next election.
What happens when this current situation is over and it's time to go back
to actually THINKING instead of feeling? Thought hasn't been high on some
peoples' lists for quite a while, and I worry about this trend of not
having to think because you've got these reporters shoveling data into
your brain for you. Will we next just let the polls or some archaic
method of numeralogical statistical manipulation decide who will be
president instead of going out and voting?
Nah, that can't happen here, can it?
Well, let's get on with the news, hints, tips, and info available from
the UseNet.
From the comp.sys.atari.st NewsGroup
====================================
Dave Burns asks about emailing with an ST:
"I have my PC at uni, which is very far away in the wilds of Scotland,
whilst I sometimes pop back home to south east england to see
friends/family etc. I have an aging 1MB STFM sitting back there, that I
sometimes use to type up work if need be (using Protext 4.3...). Having
not followed the state of atari that much as of the past few years; is it
possible for me to access a pop3 and or web-based email account (ie
hotmail), using my atari? I don't need to access attachments, but the
ability to send and receive email whilst connected to a PPP connection
would be great; as would telnet / simple web access - again this doesn't
even have to be proper graphical HTML, a unix style lynx browser would be
fine. At home i'd have a standard BT Internet PPP dialup connection, and
my atari ST has 2 double sided floppy drives, and a standard external
modem... Anyone got it to work with a spec like this?"
Edward Baiz tells Dave:
"Yes it is possible, but more memory (2 or 4meg) would be better. I would
go with STiK2 or STing and use Newsie. It allows email, ftp, newsgroup
access and even has a text-based web browser."
Charles Stanley adds:
"Yes. Log on to Zetnet.co.uk, where you will find a small but flourishing
Atari community and an ISP that welcomes Atari users."
Greg Goodwin adds:
"It is possible. You won't likely be able to access web based mail due
to the ST's inability to easily deal with security (i.e. encryption).
However, POP3 over PPP is possible. You will need STing or STiK and an
email program (Marijuana Mail is the smallest and probably the only one
you can get running on a single floppy 1 MB ST). Since you have two
floppy drives, you might prefer Newsie, which has very good
(though slightly buggy) newsgroup capability and Lynx-like HTML capability."
Martin Tarenskeen adds his list of tips:
"More ram (2 or 4 MB) and a hard disk would make things a little easier,
but YES it IS possible !
You'll need a boot floppy with some stuff in the auto folder:
- DRIVER.PRG and MFP.PRG from the HSMODA07 (HSModem) package
- STIK.PRG (STIK2 for your PPP connection)
- JAR.PRG (A little prog to install cookiejar on your ST. There are
others too), is needed by STIK.
To make a connection you need QDIALER.ACC from the STIK package. Also
runs as a PRG.
As e-mail client I would suggest Marijuana mail which is small enough to
run on a 1 MB ST, is very simple, and can run from a floppie.
This was the stuff I have been using the last few weeks: while my full
featured Falcon030/CT2b was being repaired, my good old 1040STf was doing
my e-mail for me ! But I'm glad I have my Falcon back and working again."
Edward Baiz asks about printers for NVDI:
"I have an Epson Photo 700 printer that I use on my system. I would like
to get something that prints a lot faster. I was wondering if anyone is
using some of today's more up to date printers with any success with NVDI 5?"
John Garone tells Edward:
"If a printer on a Falcon is any way to compare, I have an HP 840c hooked
up that works well with NVDI 5.1."
Peter Schneider adds:
"Don't be too angry, NVDI is known to be slow.
Do you regard an HP LaserJet 5L as modern?"
'JLM' tells Edward:
"I have a hp color LaserJet 4550 on my TT.. watch those pages fly!
However, I've never come across anyway to print in color. Oh well."
Tony Cianfaglione asks about the device interface on an ST:
"Does the STe have the 40 pins for IDE like the Falcon does? On the
latter machine, it's simply matter of plugging in a cable."
Adam Klobukowski tells Tony:
"No, STe does not have it.
You can buy an interface for it, or build one yourself (sorry, I do not
remember the url)."
Tony tells Adam:
"Thanks. The reason I asked was that I read somewhere that some STe's
had internal HDs and was wondering how hard it was to rig up."
'Tim' jumps in and tells the gang:
"I am looking to buy a IDE interface for my 1040STf. What are the best
and where can I get one? I have a 2.5" Laptop HD I can use. What sizes
can these interfaces use?"
Greg Goodwin tells Tim:
"The interface can use any size. TOS however, is limited to 256MB or
512MB partitions (what version do you have?). Still, 14 256MB partitions
make nearly 2 GB."
Pera Putnik adds:
"TOS is limited to partitions of 32 MB! You need BIGDOS to override it.
Then it can be up to 2 GB. With Mint you can use FAT 32 too..."
Michael Schwingen adds:
"TOS 4.04 can handle up to 1GB per partition, older versions 512 or 256MB.
IDE means he will need at least TOS 2.06 to boot off the disk, so 32MB is
definitely wrong, although I am not quite sure of the exact limit that
2.06 can handle."
Greg Goodwin tells Michael:
"I think you are confusing GEM with BGM partitions. GEM partitions are
IBM compatible, and there is indeed a 32 MB limit on those (16 MB on very
early TOSses, if I recall). However, every Atari OS (except perhaps
1.00) can also have BGM partitions, which work well on Ataris but are not
IBM compatible. Since the commercial IDE adaptor is also
a TOS 2.06 upgrade (I had forgotten about that), the largest partition
available under TOS will be 512MB, and 14 partitions can be active
simultaneously for storage of 7GB. With special drivers, other types of
partitions, like FAT32 (F32) and Linux are possible, but that's another
discussion."
Dr. Uwe Seimet, author of HD Driver, adds:
"Even with TOS 1.02 each TOS compatible partition can have 256 MB. With
TOS 2.0x/3.0x it is 512 MB per partition, with TOS 4.0x it is 1 GB per
partition. You do not need any additional tools for that."
Well folks, that's it for this week. Tune in again next week, same time,
same station, and be ready to listen to what they are saying when...
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - Classic Gaming Expo 2003!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Xbox Price Cut in Europe!
Buy GameCube, Get 'Zelda!
And much more!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Microsoft Cuts Xbox Europe Price, U.S. Seen Next
Microsoft Corp. on Thursday slashed the price of its Xbox video game
console by 20 percent in Europe as analysts warned that the company was in
danger of missing its shipment target for the fiscal year.
In its third price cut in just over a year, Microsoft said it will sell the
Xbox for 199 euros ($214.40) in continental Europe and 129 pounds ($201.90)
in Britain. This brings the price below market-leader Sony Corp.'s
PlayStation 2 and Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s GameCube.
Microsoft and Nintendo have been battling neck and neck for the No. 2
position across Europe, a fast-growing market.
Analysts said Microsoft's decision to cut the price of the Xbox in Europe
underscored the competitive pressures facing both game box makers and could
be the first move in another round of discounting for the industry.
On Monday Nintendo said global shipment of the GameCube in the fiscal year
ended March 31 totaled 5.6 million, a steep shortfall from the company's
forecast of 10 million units.
As of early March Microsoft said it had shipped more than 8 million units
worldwide since its launch in the autumn of 2001.
But Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter told Reuters on Thursday that
based on his calculations of sales and estimates of retail inventory,
Microsoft will end up shipping about 7.6 million Xbox units by the end of
June, short of the company's 9 million-unit forecast.
"I'd say even with Microsoft fudge numbers you can get to 8 million. You
can't get to 9 million. You just can't get there," Pachter said. "The
question one has to ask is: are they more interested in making money or
are they more interested in saving face? With any rational company, one
should assume they're interested in making money. With Microsoft, I'm not
sure."
SG Cowen analyst Drew Brosseau said in a note Thursday that while "recent
cuts in component costs should help offset" the price cut, Microsoft would
keep losing money on the consoles.
The consensus among industry watchers has been that the three consoles
would see a price cut in May, around the time of the video game industry's
annual trade show, the Electronic Entertainment Expo.
That was the scenario in 2002, when Sony and Microsoft each took $100 cuts
to $199 and Nintendo took a $50 cut to $149.
Nintendo made it clear on Thursday that if there are to be price cuts, it
will not be the one to initiate the move.
"It is not in our plans. We have historically not led price cuts," George
Harrison, a senior vice president with Nintendo of America, told Reuters.
"There is always pressure built up before E3 .... We will have to see as
we get there."
Microsoft and Sony have repeatedly declined to comment on speculation about
their price strategies and have stood by their current pricing, though they
stood by their prices in 2002 almost until the day they cut them.
U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray analyst Tony Gikas, in a note Thursday, said he
expected European price cuts for the PS2 and Xbox and thought more were
coming.
"We also think Microsoft will lead the way with a U.S. hardware price cut
from $199 to $149 (followed simultaneously by Sony) sometime during the
next four to six weeks," he said. "Post-hardware price cut, virtually no
new catalysts exist for the sector."
Microsoft, which launched Xbox in Europe in March 2002, last cut prices
there in September to 160 pounds in the U.K. and 249 euros in continental
Europe.
That price cut led to strong holiday season sales and vaulted Xbox to
Europe's No. 2 spot, firmly behind PS2.
Microsoft said Thursday it had sold two million Xbox units in Europe so
far, putting it narrowly ahead of GameCube.
Nintendo to Give Away 'Zelda' with GameCube
Struggling Japanese games company Nintendo Co. Ltd., having fallen well
short of its sales goals for the GameCube video game console, said on
Friday it will give away one of its most important games for free with the
purchase of the hardware.
Nintendo, which has been offering a free game from a small selection with
the purchase of the $149.95 GameCube for a few months, said it will add
"The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker" to the giveaway pool as of May 4 and
continuing through July.
"Zelda" will replace "Resident Evil Zero" in the giveaway offer, which some
retailers have supplemented with a second free game on their own.
Nintendo had been counting on "Zelda," the latest title in one of gaming's
most successful and storied franchises, to boost the GameCube's fortunes
after a disappointing holiday season.
"They just need to find ways to get more traction," RBC Capital Markets
analyst Stewart Halpern told Reuters. "Apparently the title itself has not
been enough to drive machine sales."
Earlier this week, Nintendo said it had shipped 5.6 million GameCubes
worldwide in the fiscal year ended March 31, substantially shy of its goal
of 10 million.
Nintendo was aggressive in promoting the new "Zelda" game before its
launch, offering a free disc with versions of two classic "Zelda" games to
people who pre-ordered the new title. The company claimed pre-sales of more
than 600,000 copies of the game ahead of its late-March launch.
"They're really taking their best card and playing it," Halpern said.
As a further enticement, Nintendo also said on Friday it will include a
demo disc, with playable samples of upcoming games, as part of the
promotion.
Nintendo officials said earlier this week they would not cut the price of
the GameCube unless their competitors lowered their prices. Sony Corp.'s
dominant PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox both retail for $199.
After dominating the international video game market from the early 1980s
to the mid-1990s, Nintendo has been eclipsed by Sony and Microsoft in the
global console market.
Nintendo Cuts Royalty Rates to Woo Game Developers
Nintendo Co. Ltd. on Thursday said it has trimmed the royalty rates it
charges outside game developers, in an effort beef up the roster of hit
titles available on its flagging GameCube console.
Japan's Nintendo, third behind Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 2 and Microsoft
Corp.'s Xbox game console, said that in March it adjusted its royalty rate
structure for all licensees to make it competitive with its rivals.
"Before our royalty rate was a little more aggressive so to the third party
publisher it was a little less attractive to make games for GameCube,"
George Harrison, senior vice president of marketing for Nintendo of
America, told Reuters.
Software is a catalyst for the gaming industry, with hit titles spurring
sales of boxes on which they are exclusively available. In turn, consumers
then seek to buy more games for the particular machine they own.
What is more, games developed by console makers are a profit engine, while
major third-party publishers typically pay a royalty to the console maker
and keep the lion's share of profits for themselves.
Nintendo earlier this week blamed a slump in profits on GameCube, whose
sales fell short of its target of 10 million by 44 percent for 2002.
The company admitted that new titles in its long-running 'Mario' and
'Metroid' series were overshadowed by blockbuster demand for "Grand Theft
Auto" (GTA) games, developed for the PlayStation 2 by publisher Take-Two
Interactive Software Inc.
"Grand Theft Auto: Vice City," released in the United States last October,
was the best-selling game of 2002 and has sold about five million units
worldwide.
"The biggest games of the year last year were games like GTA and they came
from an independent publisher," Harrison said. "We need to make sure that
we have good relationships with all the independent publishers, because
you never know where the next big hit game is going to come from."
Nintendo intends to place more emphasis on third-party game developers at
the upcoming E3 trade show in Las Vegas in May, the largest annual
exhibition for Gaming industry. Several developers, who see a large
installed base of a game platform as a guarantee that audience exists for
their titles, have complained about GameCube slack sales.
"Games from Namco Ltd. and Sega Corp. and Capcom Co. Ltd. ... we think are
going to be just as important in helping to sell our hardware system this
year as much as our own games," he said. "We are going to sell a lot of
GameCube and its our job to convince them that we are."
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE Gaming Online - Online Users Growl & Purr!
"""""""""""""""""""
CLASSIC GAMING EXPO 2003 EXCLUSIVE GAMES PREVIEWED AT PHILLYCLASSIC 4
Greetings Classic Game Fans!
More news on the upcoming Classic Gaming Expo 2003. While this release
announces two new games for classic systems to be released at CGE, you can
bet there will be more as we get closer.
I'll be at E3 networking (I'm still looking for that paying job.), so if
you'd like to get together to talk about coverage of CG Expo, drop me a
line so we can arrange something.
Thanks.
Jayson
CLASSIC GAMING EXPO 2003 EXCLUSIVE GAMES
PREVIEWED AT PHILLYCLASSIC 4
CGE Services And Digital Press Give First Looks At New Games To Be Released
For Atari 2600 and ColecoVision Video Game Systems
VALLEY STREAM, NEW YORK - April 11, 2003 - Two new video games for classic
systems were previewed at the recent PhillyClassic 4 gaming show. The first
looks at Entity on the Atari 2600 from CGE Services Corporation and Space
Invaders Collection for the ColecoVision from Digital Press wowed
PhillyClassic attendees. Both games will be released to the public at
Classic Gaming Expo 2003 in Las Vegas, August 9 and 10.
"The games are expected to garner rave reviews in the classic gaming
community once they are completed and released," said Joe Santuli,
Digital Press founder and CGE co-organizer. "Both games demonstrate the
continued vitality of classic systems and our commitment to their
support."
In Entity for the Atari 2600, the latest game from classic game author
Mark Klein (Subterranea, Pick-up), players must help guide The Entity
toward his goal through the doorways to the next level while avoiding
making him mad.
Digital Press brings one of the all-time classic arcade games to the
ColecoVision for the first time with Space Invaders Collection. An
incredible collection featuring arcade-accurate ports of three Space
Invaders arcade games: the monochrome, color and Part II variations.
Online ticket sales and additional information for the August 9 and 10
show are available at CGE Services Corporation's Web site:
http://www.cgexpo.com. The site will be updated with additional
information as special events are finalized and guest speaker attendance
is confirmed.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Yahoo! Retools Search Engine
Yahoo! Inc. is rolling out a souped-up search engine Monday in a bid to
supplant its business partner, Google, as the most popular place to find
things on the Internet.
With the revisions, Yahoo believes its search engine will provide more
useful information than Google's and be simpler to use. The rebuilt version
will combine Google's index with Yahoo's customized services spanning
sports, driving directions and weather reports.
"We think this is going to change the game a bit," said Jeff Weiner,
Yahoo's senior vice president of search and marketplace. "This is the first
of many steps toward reinforcing our leadership in the marketplace."
Google declined to comment on Yahoo's new search engine.
Battle lines clearly are being drawn between the companies, said Danny
Sullivan, editor of the industry newsletter Search Engine Watch.
"They are going to be duking it out," Sullivan predicted. "Clearly, Yahoo
would like to keep more people from going over to Google to search and
maybe even bring back some of the people that have previously left."
Toppling Google won't be easy. In just five years, Google has become
synonymous with online searching.
Yahoo played a vital role in Google's rise. After encouraging Google to
create its search engine, Yahoo raised the startup's profile nearly three
years ago by licensing Google's software to run the searches on its popular
online portal.
According to the industry newsletter, Google handles an average of 112
million searches a day and Yahoo handles about 42 million. Most of Yahoo's
results are generated by Google's software.
With its success, Google has introduced other services, such as news and
shopping pages, that traverse Yahoo's turf.
To lessen its dependence on Google, Yahoo last month bought search engine
specialist Inktomi for $279.5 million. Yahoo plans to incorporate Inktomi's
tools in to its search engine by year's end.
Success also has thrust privately held Google into the cross-hairs of
Microsoft Corp., which last week said it would improve its online search
prowess.
Adobe Acrobat Turns 6.0
Adobe Systems launched version 6.0 of its Acrobat PDF software Monday,
making it available in three versions.
Acrobat Elements, Acrobat 6.0 Standard, and Acrobat 6.0 professional have
been designed for different types of users, based on customer research,
Mark Floisand, Adobe's marketing director for Northern Europe said.
"We identified what components each type of industry or user uses and
instead of having one product that people only use bits of, we evolved it
to a family," he said.
Acrobat Elements is a simple version of the software for users who want to
convert pages from Microsoft's Office and Outlook to PDF files with a "one
button" option. It will only be available for Windows, and on a licensed
basis for 1,000 users or more, Floisand said.
Acrobat 6.0 Standard is for business users who need to create and
distribute documents for review. Users can track who has seen a document
and check their identities using digital signatures, Floisand said.
Previous versions of Acrobat software have allowed users to create PDFs
from Web pages but most didn't know how to do it, he said. The new version
therefore gives a one-button option for capturing a page and saving it as
a PDF.
Previous versions have also allowed digital signatures, Floisand said, but
"now it's more elegant and refined." Acrobat 6.0 Standard is available for
both Windows and Apple Macintosh platforms, and can be bought off the shelf
or under license, Floisand said.
Acrobat 6.0 Professional has been put together for designers, engineers,
and any other users who are creating graphically complex documents,
Floisand said. Searchable archives, review, and markup tools and one-button
PDF creation from design software including Autodesk's AutoCAD files, while
retaining the layers in those files, will make it more useful than previous
versions, Floisand said. Large page formats are also supported, he said.
Like the Standard edition, Professional is available for both Windows and
Macintosh, individually or under license.
Professional and Standard will be available in mid-May for an expected
street price of $449 and $299 respectively, exclusive of tax. Upgrades are
available for users of Acrobat 4.0 and 5.0 for $149 and $99. Acrobat
Elements has been available since March, costing from $29 per seat for a
minimum of 1000 seats.
Adobe Reader, the latest and renamed version of Acrobat Reader PDF reader
software, will be available free from mid-May.
Apple Releases Mac OS X 10.2.5
As expected, Apple on Thursday released an update for Mac OS X, bringing
the current version to 10.2.5. The update is also available through the
Software Update control panel.
The update delivers enhanced functionality and improved reliability for the
following applications, services and technologies: AirPort, Bluetooth,
Classic compatibility, FireWire, Graphics, Image Capture, Mail and OpenGL.
Mac OS X 10.2.5 also includes improvements to AFP, web services, dial-up
connections over PPP, and Windows file services, as well as audio, disc
recording, graphics, and printing improvements. The update also provides
updated security services and includes the latest security updates.
Earlier today, Apple made available a Mac OS X 10.2.5 Update CD, which
will make updating many computers in a lab environment easier to update
to the current operating system. The cost of the CD is US$19.95 and has
an estimated ship time of 1-2 days from the online Apple Store.
FCC's Powell Lauds Power-Line Internet Service
The head of the Federal Communications Commission gave his blessing on
Wednesday to an emerging technology that would provide high-speed Internet
service through power lines.
FCC Chairman Michael Powell toured a house in suburban Maryland that had
been set up to showcase the new service, which transmits e-mail, Web pages,
telephone service and other data over the existing power grid and through
standard electrical outlets.
In the living room, Powell listened to an Internet radio broadcast and
watched the movie "Ice Age" on a flat-screen 42-inch television streaming
from another computer miles away.
In the home office, Powell checked his voice mail over an Internet
telephone and watched as a printer spat out a picture taken by a
surveillance camera at the front door. He nodded approvingly at other
computers scattered throughout the house that stayed online by plugging
into nearby electrical outlets.
"This is within striking distance of being the third major broadband pipe
into the home," Powell said. "I'm a little bummed it's not (available) in
my area."
Powell's visit provided a boost for a technology that after several years
of false starts could soon provide consumers with another option for
high-speed Internet service.
Roughly 14 percent of U.S. households subscribe to broadband service, which
offers Internet speeds roughly 30 times as fast as conventional dial-up
service.
But existing cable-TV and telephone-based networks do not serve all
neighborhoods, and analysts say high prices remain a barrier to adoption.
Broadband providers like Comcast Corp. and Verizon Communications usually
charge between $40 and $60 per month for access.
Current Technologies, the equipment maker which set up the demonstration,
hopes to offer service for under $30 by the end of the year, company
officials said.
Consumers who sign up for the service could plug into the Internet through
any outlet in the house with a $70 modem the size of a deck of cards.
Current has wired about 70 households in Potomac, Maryland, in a test with
power provider Pepco Holdings Inc., and is also testing the service in
suburban Cincinnati.
Developers have had to overcome several technical and regulatory hurdles.
While the power lines that blanket the country can handle both electricity
and Internet traffic, transformer boxes that "step down" power levels for
household use tend to garble data and make it unreadable. The problem has
vexed utilities and equipment makers like Nortel Networks for years.
Developers have recently found ways to overcome the issue. Current
Technologies, based in Germantown, Maryland, uses a physical link to bypass
neighborhood transformers, while other equipment makers rely on wireless
links or cell phone-style technology to scramble the data and push it
through the transformers.
Power companies need permission from state regulators before offering the
service, but Pepco Vice President Michael Sullivan said he didn't think
that would be a problem because regulators are eager to see more
competition.
"The roll-out could be very expeditious," he said.
Powell said the FCC would try to encourage, rather than discourage, the
new technology. The agency is currently determining whether it needs to
change the way it inspects power-line equipment to ensure it works
properly.
"What we're trying to do is shine some bright headlights to see where there
will be regulatory and legal problems and try to get ahead of them and get
them removed," he said.
Judge Tosses Tech Copyright Law Challenge
A federal judge on Wednesday threw out a lawsuit that challenged the 1998
Digital Millennium Copyright Act by seeking permission for a Harvard
student to probe Internet filtering software used in schools and public
libraries.
The lawsuit was brought last summer by the American Civil Liberties Union
on behalf of Ben Edelman, a Harvard Law School student who has argued that
such software often blocks far more than pornography and other
objectionable sites.
Edelman had asked a Seattle company called N2H2 for a list of sites its
software blocks, but was rebuffed. He then went to court to seek permission
to reverse-engineer N2H2's product, saying he needed court permission
because the controversial 1998 law forbids the dissemination of information
that could be used to bypass copyright-protection schemes.
"The reason we filed the suit the way we did, seeking declaratory judgment,
is that I simply cannot do this research without a court telling me it's
permissible," Edelman said after a court hearing last week. "They could
seize whatever assets I have if I were later found to have infringed on
their rights."
N2H2 claimed that providing such information to Edelman would compromise
trade secrets, and that Edelman had no legal standing to be granted such
permission because there was no imminent threat he would be sued.
U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns agreed, writing in a ruling issued
Wednesday that "there is no plausibly protected constitutional interest
that Edelman can assert that outweighs N2H2's right to protect its
copyrighted material from an invasive and destructive trespass."
Chris Hansen, the ACLU attorney who argued the case, said the ACLU was
discussing options for other ways to challenge the law. Edelman did not
immediately respond to an e-mail message.
N2H2 spokesman David Burt said the company was pleased with the ruling.
"We think that researchers and other people who want to learn about filters
already have means for doing that," Burt said. "I think it's pretty clear
that people who want to analyze and criticize filters can use tools that do
not involve decryption."
Apple in Talks to Buy Universal Music
Apple Computer Inc. is in talks to buy the world's largest record company,
Universal Music Group, from Vivendi Universal, a source close to the matter
said on Friday, in a deal that could transform the music industry.
The deal with Universal Music, believed to be worth as much as $6 billion,
would also reinvent Apple. The personal computer maker, which is suffering
from weak demand, would get a foothold in new markets for its PCs, software
and the iPod digital music player, analysts said.
But the news did raise doubts among Apple shareholders, many of whom had
bought the stock because of its $4.4 billion cash war chest. Apple shares
fell 8 percent.
The Los Angeles Times first reported the talks in an article on Friday that
said Apple could offer $5 billion to $6 billion for Universal Music, which
is home to artists like Jay-Z and U2, before Vivendi's April 29 board
meeting.
Vivendi and Apple spokeswomen declined to comment.
The negotiations come against the backdrop of a severe slump in the music
business, as the popularity of free music-sharing services and competition
with other entertainment outlets cut into profits.
The technology and music industries have been at loggerheads over the
ability of consumers to use computers to swap songs for free on online
services such as Kazaa.
But the combination of Apple, which made its name by marketing
consumer-friendly PCs, with the world's largest music company, could help
bridge the gap between the two industries and usher in a new era of digital
music, analysts say.
"This is about as close you can get to someone really kick-starting this
stuff," said Forrester Research analyst Josh Bernoff.
Music companies have been desperately seeking a profitable way to sell
music over the Web but faced challenges over how to accommodate artists
and protect digital rights.
Technology companies would not be as encumbered. Apple, for example, has
its own operating system, hardware and digital music devices that would let
them hit the ground running once they can tap a music catalog.
Universal's parent, Vivendi Universal, for its part, is seeking to cut its
debt and regain investor credibility by selling assets, including its U.S.
entertainment assets, known collectively as Vivendi Universal
Entertainment.
Although Universal's operating profit is down 23 percent, it still
dominates the industry, accounting for about one-quarter of all CD sales.
Sources close to Vivendi have said the French company had been moving away
from selling the music business, given the poor state of the music
industry.
But a person familiar with the matter said that, while selling the business
may not have been at the forefront of its plans, Vivendi's board would
likely entertain an offer it thought was serious.
In a related development, billionaire oilman Marvin Davis said he would
drop his bid to acquire Vivendi's U.S. entertainment assets if it sells
Universal Music to Apple, a source familiar with the situation said Friday.
Davis, who once owned the 20th Century Fox film studio, launched a $15
billion bid for Vivendi Universal Entertainment last November, vowing that
he could put together the financing for the deal and was not simply
"kicking the tires," as he has been accused of doing in past.
Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs has long been interested in the
entertainment business. He is also chairman of Pixar Animation Studios
Inc., purveyor of such blockbusters as "Monsters Inc." and "Toy Story."
Several industry insiders said the music industry is ripe for a fresh
perspective from entrepreneurs like Jobs and Andy Lack, the NBC executive
recently tapped to run Sony Music.
"It's a tremendous undertaking," said Richard Gay, vice president in Booz
Allen's media and entertainment group. "It's going to take a real risk
taker to save the music business."
If a deal happens, it could run into some of the cultural issues that
hobbled once-heralded and now widely criticized AOL Time Warner merger.
Analysts said the widely different culture between Apple and Universal
could be an issue.
Raymond James analyst Phil Leigh said in a research note that an Apple deal
would double the computer company's revenue and remove any doubt it intends
to become a trend-setter in online music distribution.
If the deal does go through, analysts said it could open the door for more
collaboration between technology and music companies, even if it does not
spark a wave of mergers.
According to sources familiar with the situation, Microsoft, for example,
has had discussions with EMI Group Plc as recently as last year to buy the
world's third largest label, although the talks came to nothing.
Sony, the world's largest consumer electronics company and a major player
in movies and music, could also play a large role in the transformation.
"Microsoft is intriguing but their forays into the content business have in
general been costly and you can't call any of them major successes,"
Bernoff said. "Sony's intriguing but they already have a music company.
European regulators have been resistant allowing these companies to merge."
Spam Marches On ... And On
Spam volume was up about 4% in March and now accounts for 45% of overall
E-mail traffic, according to E-mail filtering company Brightmail Inc.
Spam accounted for 8% of all E-mail in January 2001 and 40% in January
2003. At this rate, spam will exceed the volume of regular E-mail this
year, said Brightmail CEO Enrique Salem.
March's jump is the single biggest monthly rise in spam volume, Salem said.
He said the increase is due to spammers becoming more efficient and
harvesting more addresses.
A growing spam category: the war with Iraq. SurfControl plc, an E-mail and
Web-filtering company, says spam touting war-related merchandise is the
fastest-growing new type of spam. It's gone from just a few messages to
nearly 10% of overall spam volume, the company said.
"Most of the war-related spam began to appear in mid-March, using
patriotism and fear to sell everything from lapel pins to gas masks," the
company said in a statement.
War-related spam messages include:
American car flags to support our troopsCelebrate American Courage: Take 4
History Books for $1 Each! Defenders of freedom U.S. coin Discover Platinum
American flag card Honor our military with exclusive collectibles Show your
pride (T-shirts) Show your support with a U.S. lapel pin Support our troops
(T-shirts) Terrorist threat, please read! (Water filtration system) Israeli
gas masks in stock for a limited time!
Gas-mask spam rose from zero in early February to 216 variations by late
March, the company said.
And that's just spam designed to sell merchandise; SurfControl didn't keep
a tally of war-related spam not designed to sell merchandise, such as "Join
President Bush sites) in Thanking Our Troops," a request for letters and
care packages to be sent to U.S. troops, including a claim to have been paid
for by the Republican National Committee.
Senators Introduce Junk E-Mail Bill
Two U.S. senators introduced a bill on Thursday seeking to cut down on
"spam," the unwanted junk e-mail that by some estimates accounts for 40
percent of e-mail traffic worldwide.
The bill, sponsored by Montana Republican Sen. Conrad Burns and Oregon
Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, takes aim at a popular spam tactic by requiring
Internet marketers to provide legitimate return addresses on their
messages. Spammers often hide behind false return addresses to avoid the
ire of their targets and to slip through filtering software.
Marketers would also be required to honor requests to be taken off
customer lists.
"This bill will help to keep legitimate Internet traffic and e-commerce
flowing by going after those unscrupulous individuals who use e-mail in
annoying and misleading ways," Wyden said in a statement.
Offers for "herbal Viagra" and urgent requests for assistance from
"Nigerian colonels" have become an annoying constant of online life.
But spam has grown from nuisance to threat status over the past year as
the volume of unwanted messages exploded.
The bill would not allow consumers to sue spammers directly, but require
state attorneys general to sue on their behalf. The Federal Trade
Commission could also fine violators, and Internet providers could block
spammers from their networks.
Internet portal Yahoo! said it supported the bill, while the DMA and
Internet provider America Online said they would work with the Senate to
craft an effective bill.
The average "wired" American received more than 2,200 spam messages last
year, according to Jupiter Research, while the British government said
last month that spam now accounts for 40 percent of global e-mail traffic.
Internet access providers complain that their equipment is overwhelmed by
the torrent of unwanted e-mail, while legitimate businesses worry that
their pitches are getting lost in the din.
The problem has become so acute that the Direct Marketing Association
(DMA), a trade group representing telemarketers and direct mailers,
switched its position last year and said it would support a national
anti-spam law.
While 27 states have anti-spam laws, previous congressional efforts have
foundered over free-speech concerns and opposition from the DMA and other
industry groups.
A similar bill sponsored by Burns and Wyden cleared the Commerce Committee
last year, but was not taken up for a vote in the Senate.
"Now it's time to move forward. This legislation has been on hold for too
long," Burns said.
Webby Awards Reveal Finalists
The 2003 Academy Awards are history, but recognition of the best of the
Internet is just gearing up, with the announcement of the finalists for the
7th Annual Webby Awards.
The International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences released the list this
week, recognizing outstanding Web sites in such categories as education,
games, politics, finance, spirituality, technical achievement, and the
catchall: weird.
Organizers note that sites encouraging dialog and action on everything
from the war in Iraq to grassroots organizing are acknowledged this season.
So are fashion, news gathering, and online auctions - a perennial favorite.
A complete list of nominees is available at The Webby Awards.
Awards will be announced June 5 in San Francisco. The Webby tradition
restricts winners to an acceptance speech of five words or less.
The Webbys invite all Netizens to participate in the awards by voting on
the People's Voice Awards. Through May 23, all are welcome to cast online
ballots for their choice of Web sites. Any site may be submitted in this
open category.
Awards are given by the Academy, a global organization whose more than 480
members are recognized experts in numerous fields. Among the participants
are musicians Beck and David Bowie, Internet co-creator Vint Cerf,
political columnist Arianna Huffington, Smart Mobs author Howard Rheingold,
Simpsons creator Matt Groening, Real Networks CEO Rob Glaser, The Body Shop
president Anita Roddick, and Oracle chairman Larry Ellison. Other members
include Web developers, Internet experts, and technology writers and
editors.
PriceWaterhouseCoopers audits The Webby Awards and People's Voice Awards
voting process.
"This year's nominees clearly demonstrate how the Web is increasingly
being used as a tool to empower people, not just politically but also
technologically, spiritually, and in countless other ways," says Maya
Draisin, executive director of The Academy.
Draisin cites nominees such as Movable Type, a finalist in the Best
Practices category, and LiveJournal, in the Community category, which have
contributed to the explosion in personal Web logs (blogs).
The Webbys also recognize sites that provide innovative ways to organize
people and pursue political activity, such as Meetup.com, also a Community
category finalist; and MoveOn.org, noted in the Politics category.
"This year's nominees are a tribute to the Web's power to facilitate
worldwide conversation on ideas that are often overlooked in traditional
media," says Tiffany Shlain, founder and creative director of The Webby
Awards.
For the third year, the Academy will also present the Best Practices Award,
which recognizes a single Web site that serves as a model of excellence.
This year's nominees are Commanding Heights Online, Edutopia, Movable Type,
Theban Mapping Project, and Wired News.
The list of nominees this year includes many long-established sites and
recognizes a record 24 international nominees, according to Webby Awards
staff.
Several sites received more than one nomination. BBC-affiliated Web sites
led the entries with three nominations: BBC Video Nation in the Community
category; BBC News in the News category, and BBC Religion & Ethics in the
Spirituality category.
Organizations with Web site finalists in at least two categories include
PBS, Google, CBC Radio, Disney's Toontown Online, NASA, The New York Times,
The Onion, oddtodd.com, Sodaplay, and Metacritic.
Space Searcher SETI@home Has Bugs
Providing further proof of the adage "No good deed goes unpunished," the
SETI@home screen saver has been found to contain vulnerabilities that could
let attackers execute malicious code on PCs running the popular program,
according to an advisory released by a computer science student in the
Netherlands.
SETI@home is a scientific experiment that marshals the processing power of
Internet-connected computers in the search for extraterrestrial
intelligence (SETI).
Participants install a free software program packaged as a screen saver.
While the screen saver runs, the software downloads, analyzes, and uploads
radio telescope data from a server at the University of California,
Berkeley, host of the SETI@home project.
The SETI@home team has released patched client software, version 3.08,
which was described as a "precautionary security release," according to
information on the SETI@home Web page. (The SETI@home screen saver has also
been updated in PCWorld.com's Downloads section).
The earlier version of the screen-saver software contains a buffer overrun
vulnerability in code that processes responses from the SETI@home server,
according to Berend-Jan Wever, the 26-year-old Dutch student who wrote the
advisory.
After tricking the client into connecting to a server the attacker
controls, an attacker could cause the buffer overrun by sending a long
string of data followed by a "newline" character, Wever wrote.
The vulnerability affects all versions of the SETI@home client software,
including those for the Microsoft Windows operating system, Apple
Computer's Macintosh operating system, and versions of the Unix operating
system.
The software running on the main SETI@home server at UC Berkeley contains
a similar vulnerability, according to the advisory.
A separate problem concerns the SETI@home client's transmission of
information back to the SETI@home server. Wever discovered that all
information from the SETI@home client is sent out in plain text form. That
information includes data on the operating system and processor type used
by the machine running the SETI@home client.
Malicious hackers could collect the SETI@home data using any one of a
number of common packet-sniffing programs, providing useful information
for planning a larger network attack, according to the advisory.
The vulnerability would require attackers to "spoof" a fake SETI@home
server and trick the software clients into connecting to it before they
could be compromised. The SETI@home team knew of no previous attack on a
client that used such a method, the Web site said.
However, clients could easily be tricked using spoofing tools or attacked
from HTTP proxy servers or routers used by the SETI@home host machine,
according to the advisory.
More than 4 million Internet users have registered with SETI@home. Of those
registered users, more than 500,000 are considered "active," having
returned data to the main server within the last four weeks, according to
the project's Web page.
Computer Scientist Anita Borg Dies at 54
Anita Borg, a pioneering computer scientist who worked to break the
"silicon ceiling" that often kept women and minorities from rising to the
top of the high-tech industry, has died. She was 54.
She died of brain cancer Sunday at her mother's home in Sonoma, Calif.,
according to the Institute for Women and Technology.
Borg was in her mid-20s when she decided to get a degree in programming,
eventually receiving a Ph.D. in computer science from the Courant Institute
at New York University in 1981. She held a number of jobs ranging from
startups to Digital Equipment Corp.
While attending an industry conference in 1987, she noticed only a handful
of women were present. With that group as a base, she started Systers, an
e-mail group that provided support, mentoring and encouragement to women in
computing.
Today, Systers has more than 2,500 members in 38 countries.
Borg, who was born in 1949 in Chicago, helped found the Grace Hopper
Celebration in Computing conference, which focuses on the careers and
research of women in the high-tech industry. It is held every other year
and is now the largest gathering of women in computing.
In 1997, she founded the Institute for Women and Technology, which not only
runs Systers and the Grace Hopper conferences but also works to heighten
the impact of technology on women around the world.
"The chauvinism of the past and the present has been to go somewhere and
say `Here, buy these brilliant things,'" she told The Associated Press in a
2000 interview. "But if you want to think out of the box, why not talk to
people who aren't in the box?"
She received the $250,000 Heinz Award for Technology, the Economy and
Employment in February 2002. In July 1999, President Clinton appointed Borg
to the Commission on the Advancement of Women and Minorities in Science,
Engineering and Technology.
Borg also was a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery and a
member of the board of the Computing Research Association. In 1998 and
1999, she was a board member of the National Academy of Engineering's
Committee on the Celebration of Women in Engineering.
Borg is survived by her husband, Winfried Wilcke of Los Altos Hills; a
sister, Lee Naffz; and her mother, Beverly Naffz.
A private memorial is planned.
=~=~=~=
Atari Online News, Etc. is a weekly publication covering the entire
Atari community. Reprint permission is granted, unless otherwise noted
at the beginning of any article, to Atari user groups and not for
profit publications only under the following terms: articles must
remain unedited and include the issue number and author at the top of
each article reprinted. Other reprints granted upon approval of
request. Send requests to: dpj@atarinews.org
No issue of Atari Online News, Etc. may be included on any commercial
media, nor uploaded or transmitted to any commercial online service or
internet site, in whole or in part, by any agent or means, without
the expressed consent or permission from the Publisher or Editor of
Atari Online News, Etc.
Opinions presented herein are those of the individual authors and do
not necessarily reflect those of the staff, or of the publishers. All
material herein is believed to be accurate at the time of publishing.
