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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 04 Issue 34
Volume 4, Issue 34 Atari Online News, Etc. August 23, 2002
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2002
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
Martin Doering
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Visit the Atari Advantage Forum on Delphi!
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=~=~=~=
A-ONE #0434 08/23/02
~ New Means To Fight Spam ~ People Are Talking! ~ EmuTOS Beta News!
~ Hyperlink Lawsuit Tossed~ Office Security Flaws! ~ Off the Beaten Path!
~ New Video Chip for Xbox ~ Paris Apple Expo 2002! ~ MSN for Macintosh!
~ Suit Against Junk Faxes ~ Faster Pentium 4 ~ More CGE2K2 News!
-* Intel To Debut Faster P4 Chip *-
-* Wireless Web Has Come to Starbucks! *-
-* Earthlink Software Helps Ban Pop-Up Ads! *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Finally! The 10-day heatwave is over. For those less-informed, a heatwave
consists of at least three consecutive days of 90+ degree temperature. I
thought that the air conditioners weren't going to survive. We lost power
three times over the past week - likely due to drains to the power grids in
this area. Fortunately, the losses weren't lengthy.
So, for the first week of vacation, it hasn't been too bad. We survived the
weekend with plenty of pool use. I spent Monday on a fancy-schmancy golf
course for a charity golf tournament sponsored by the hospital I work at.
The only way that I could afford to play was if someone sponsored me! One
of our vendors sponsored a foursome from my department. It was a great day,
albeit on the warm side. Everything was free, on and off the course. We
had fun even though we knew we didn't have a prayer of winning (and we
didn't!).
Not much else going on here, otherwise. A lot of goofing off for a few
days; it actually felt good once the weather for the better! Next week I'll
add some work to the playing around! Maybe!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
EmuTOS Release 0.5 (beta)
Dear Atari Community!
We are happy to announce the second beta release of EmuTOS (0.5 beta).
INTRODUCTION
EmuTOS is a single-user single-tasking operating system for the 32 bit
Atari computer emulators. It is thought as a replacement for the
TOS-images you usually need today for using emulators and it is also
running on some real hardware, like the Atari Mega STE. All is open and
maybe it is also running on totally new machines in the future.
EmuTOS is being developed for more than a year now and is licensed
under the OpenSource Gnu General Public Licence (GPL).
DESCRIPTION
EmuTOS is basically made up of six parts:
- The BIOS, which is the basic input output system
- The XBIOS, which provides the interface to the hardware
- The GEMDOS, which are the high level OS routines
- The VDI, the virtual device interface - means the screen driver
- The AES, the application environment services or window manager
- The desktop, which is the graphical shell to the user
The BIOS and XBIOS code is our own development. It is really written
from scratch and implements nearly all of the TOS 1.0 BIOS
functionality, and a bit more, like e.g. hard disk access and STE sampled
sound. A few things like printing, midi and serial stuff is missing for
now, but may be implemented somewhere in the future.
The GEMDOS part is based on Digital Research's GEMDOS sources, which
were made available under GPL licence in 1999 by Caldera.
The graphical parts like VDI and AES are now more or less fully
implemented. They work in all the graphics modes of the original Atari
ST. On some emulators EmuTOS can be patched to work with much bigger
screen resolutions without any problems.
The desktop is not as nice as the original one, but is pretty usable
now for a start. You are free to use a more advanced desktop
replacement any time.
Since EmuTOS just implements the TOS's functionality, you might want to
use MiNT on it in order to run more modern software. EmuTOS is not an
alternative to MiNT. But EmuTOS is the only free base OS to boot MiNT.
EMULATION AND FUTURE PLATFORM
EmuTOS and MiNT cooperate well. For the future we plan, that both can
make use of a yet to implement standard native call interface for
emulators.
When running EmuTOS in an emulator, this interface will provide access
to use the power of the underlying OS kernel. It may allow using modern
3D graphics cards, will provide fast native file system access and will
enable you to use networking with all bells and whistles - and many
things more you always dreamed of.
This is, what EmuTOS is made for: A free OS, that can evolve. Progress
has been fast up to now, because we have a small, but enthusiastic
development team and are eager to see EmuTOS running with GEM and all.
HARDWARE
Making EmuTOS running natively on a new hardware platform is more or
less just a question of driver support for EmuTOS. The same for MiNT, if
you'd like to have it running on top of EmuTOS.
This is the currently supported Hardware:
- CPU support for m68000, m68010, m68020, m68030, m68040
- FPU detected
- Memory controller (both ST and Falcon)
- Monitor type detection (mono or not)
- WD 1772 Floppy disk controller (write track not tested)
- DMA controller
- MFP
- PSG
- ST shifter
- STE shifter (partially)
- ACIAs, IKBD protocol, mouse
- MegaST Real-Time Clock (set clock not tested)
- NVRAM (including RTC)
- DMA sound
AVAILABILITY
EmuTOS has its home at sourceforge:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/emutos
A ready made EmuTOS image or the source can be downloaded from:
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=36560
It is always available in source form from our CVS server at:
http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=36560
If you are just curious or would like to help us develop this nice
little OS, you are invited to subscribe to our Mailing list for
developers at:
http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=36560
Hope, you like EmuTOS. If you have any suggestions or comments, we
always like to hear the good and also the bad things about it.
Your EmuTOS development team.
--
written by Martin Doering
http://emutos.sourceforge.net/
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
joe@atarinews.org
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. As Dana has probably already written, the
weather here in the northeast has been borderline spectacular. The
temperatures have been down-right mild and the humidity has been low.
Just the kind of weather that those "yard work" types like the most...
Right Dana? <smirk>
I made use of the beautiful weather last weekend to do something that I
haven't done since I was a kid... I took a walk out in the woods. Of
course, the woods that I grew up around are long since gone thanks to
the ever-increasing population and its need for living space, but there
is a park not far from where I live and I decided to take a little
stroll.
In colonial times there was a system of canals that went from the
farthest reaches of the state to the ocean. It was the main form of
commercial transportation for generations. But it was superceded by the
railroad first, then by over-land and air transportation. One of these
canals happens to run through the public park that I just mentioned.
Now, the canal is only a shadow of what it formerly was. A casual
observer (NEVER observe casually!) would probably mistake what is left
as a shallow, slow moving brook if it weren't for the signs every few
hundred feet that proclaim that it's a historic site.
Since I try not to observe casually, while walking along the canal I saw
something shimmering in the sunlight just below the surface of the
water. It was an old medicine bottle of the type you see in movies about
the 'wild west' when the travelling medicine show arrives on the scene.
It's not worth much... a couple of dollars at most... but it's an
interesting piece of the past.
A half an hour or so turned up a few old coins, another bottle, and what
I think was a pocket watch a hundred or more years ago. I had to wonder
about some of the things that might have fallen off of barges as they
made their way up and down the canals. Most of the 'treasures' have no
doubt been either collected up by people like myself or covered over
with earth or hauled away.
Now, I understand that not everyone has a canal within walking distance,
but that's really not my point anyway. My point is that every so often
you have to do something a little different. You have to just take a
right turn instead of a left and see where it takes you. As long as you
don't expect anything earth-shaking or life-changing, you might just
enjoy yourself.
I know that it seems that I preach about stuff like this a lot, but give
it a try... even if only to shut me up for a week or so. <grin>
Now let's get to the news, hints, tips, and info available every week
from the UseNet.
From the comp.sys.atari.st NewsGroup
====================================
Although this has no doubt been mentioned elsewhere in this issue, I'll
use it here anyway. Dan Ackerman post this about HighWire:
"Let me start off by apologizing for the delay in this message. I tried
to send one out yesterday, but as of 27 hours later it has still to show
up on any news server I can find.
In the effort to bring some excitement to these dog days of summer and
to give everyone something else to discuss...
The HighWire Development Team would like to announce that the 0.0.8Alpha
release of HighWire is now available for your use and entertainment.
Changes in this version include the following.
Extended menu bar, the current charset encoding can be seen and changed
at menu title "View". Also de/increasing of the display font is
available there.
Menu entry "Info.." will show now some basic information about the
active frame.
Right mouse click now opens a pop-up menu.
Improved algorithm for line breaking to avoid splitting of text lines at
wrong positions.
Implementation of memory caching of images avoids multiple loading of
the same image. The pseudo URI "about:cache" now shows detailed
information about cached images.
Implementation of <frame scrolling=..> attribute.
Bugfix < font > tags inside links breaking colouring.
And much more ..
Download links are on the HighWire site.
HighWire Development Team
http://highwire.atari-users.net
Also of note for programmers is the number of libs available on the
coders information page, of the HighWire site (this can be found under
join the team).
As of this time the current versions of gemlib, libungif and zlib are
available for gcc, PureC and LatticeC.
With the Image caching in place in this release some real comparisons of
speed can be made. To get an impression of the speedup try imgtest.htm
with the version 0.0.7 alpha package and compare it to the 0.0.8 alpha
package.
Well have some fun and sorry again about the delay in the message."
Martin Tarenskeen asks about printing out ST-Guide texts:
"Is there an easy way to print out ALL pages of an ST-Guide hypertext?
The only way I can think of is using HCP.TTP to convert it to ASCII, but
then the images won't be printed. Anyone?"
Mike Kerslake tells Martin:
"There was a German program which used GDOS to print out ST-Guide texts,
I did play about with it for a while, but don't remember getting very
far with it."
Derryck Croker tells Mike:
"HYP2GDOS if I'm not mistaken. IIRC it won't print some pages linked to
in a certain way or similar."
Raoul Teulings asks about his SLM804 Laser Printer:
"A lot of threads ago there was someone who mentioned a sort of shadowy
image through the regular printout of a SLM804. I seem to have the same
problem.What can be done about it? Do I have to replace the drum or is
there something less radical? I also notice that there is a lot of toner
on the box that contains the toner cartridge. Is that normal or has that
been spilled due to transportation of something?
There's still a Epson at the side of the SLM so there is no big fuzz but
I would like to use the SLM804 and not only because of his fine
printout..."
Jim DeClercq tells Raoul:
"The first thing to do is confirm that what is probably the problem is
the problem. Take out the wiper blade, which is just behind the drum, by
removing two screws. It probably looks yellowed, because even a new one
is 20 years old. Rub then end surface on a flat file, and put it back
in. If that helps, you need a new wiper blade.
One Australian fellow posted that he had some new ones, not old stock
but really new, but would not ship outside of australia. One other
person said he knew how to make them, but nobody wanted to buy one from
him. Still true, I guess.
I made one for me. I took an Epson CX blade, and, lacking a bending
press, bashed it out flat with a big hammer, and then bent the metal
holding the plastic wiper blade to exactly 15 degrees, to match the old
one. Then I cut away everything that did not fit, and made new mounting
holes, so that the new blade would not fold over against the drum. It
should not lean very hard against the drum.
Actual hole position is hard to measure, but it is about 1/2 inch behind
the working tip of the wiper blade.
This is a small bother to do, and I could make another, but someone
recently posted that he was looking for that business. He could probably
sell a dozen or so. There are at least that many people with an SLM804
parked and waiting for a new wiper blade.
Mine works fine, but looks like it was done with a big hammer. It is not
pretty, but it works.
Topic two: toner on top of the box is a bad sign. If that was shipped
without removing the drum and toner, there could be conductive toner
everywhere, and you will soon get proficient at taking a SLM804 apart
into really small pieces. If it is causing no trouble, do not worry
about it."
Frederic Marand asks about one of my favorite subjects... reading ST
floppies on a PC:
"I just found a bunch of my old ST floppies, and I can't read them on my
PC although some of them has been formatted with TOS1.4. ST2DOS.EXE
complains about not being able to read their boot sector. I thought Saint
could do it, but apparently it only uses floppy images, not actual
floppies.
The drive on my PC reads PC floppies without any problem, but I no
longer have my old ST.
Is there any hope ?"
Edward Baiz tells Frederic:
"Hmmm?? Could be the drives in the ST and PC are not compatible. I have
run into that before. I just formatted a disk on my STe and put into the
PC and it worked fine. I would say, just mail the disks to someone who
has an Atari and have that person email you the data. I would do it, but
if you have someone in your area, that would be better."
Charles Richmond adds:
"I have been able to read most of my ST floppies on my 68k Mac. If the
Mac has a translator to read PC disks, it should be able to read the ST
floppies."
Frederic tells Charles:
"Thanks for the suggestion. I happen to know one (Power)Mac user ; I'll
ask him. Is there something I should tell him or should the Mac read
these automatically ?
Charles replies:
"The newer Power Macs have *no* floppy drives at all...perhaps your
friend has an older model. The one I used was a 68k Mac, and the reading
as automatic and required *no* special efforts..."
David Wade proposes another option:
"If your PC has a WIN9X based OS you might also try the Gemulator
Explorer 2.03 which you can download from
http://www.emulators.com/download.htm
near the bottom of the page."
Neil Chester asks about SCSI chains:
"After purchasing an Adtron PC Card Reader earlier this year, and
sorting out the strange case of the extra LUN associated with it, I now
find that this third device upsets the rest of the chain!!
Physical chain ID# HD Driver setup Falcon CT2B 7
7.00 CDRW 1 1.00 GT9500
2 2.00 Adtron
6 6.00 (with test 2 LUN - OFF) TERMINATED
I found that trying to use the CDRW without the Adtron being ON was
impossible - in fact before I switched ON the Adtron no CDs were
recognized by the system!! This was the same when operating the Adtron
without the CDRW being ON - the card could be read but the files
according to Kobold were corrupt and JPGs were corrupt according to
PhotoTip, Aniplay and IC4+.
I then switched ON the CDRW and these problems disappeared although I
did get corrupted images on screen when I tried to load the pictures
into PhotoTip directly from the Card Reader. I then copied the same
pictures onto a hard drive and there was no problems apart from 1 with a
bit of Huffman corruption. Is there some sort of interference on the
chain?
Is there anyway of curing this? I am using HD Driver v8.04 & Magic
6.20, also Extendos Gold v3.40 (for the CDRW).
Any thoughts would be helpful!"
Derryck Croker tells Neil:
"Sounds like a termination issue to me - does the card reader have
active termination? If it's anything like the Zip drive then you have to
have it switched on to activate termination.
I'd recommend double- and triple-checking that all terminations are
removed, and if possible, select external termination on that card
reader and use a good quality terminator block. And at least one device
should provide TERMPWR to the bus, although your Falcon should take care
of that.
First though try the reader in the chain by itself and see what
happens."
Dr. Uwe Seimet tells Neil:
"This is definitely a problem caused by your hardware. The SCSI standard
mandates that devices that are switched off must not influence other
devices. If they do something is wrong. With cables or termination, or
even with the device electronics."
Kenneth Medin tells Neil:
"I'm facing a sort of similar problem with a MP7040S Ricoh CD-R/RW and
a Quantum Fireball SE hard disk. The Ricoh simply doesn't like the
Quantum drive at all!
When powered up together something hangs the burner totally. It does not
show up un HDDriver and even the eject button refuses to work!
This happens even on the simplest of setups: the Quantum drive
connected only with the burner with a single short flat cable and both
terminated. No computer involved. The same eject button failure occurs
here too.
But, if I first power up all other items on the chain, the Quantum and
three other hard disks and a TT, and then manually connect the power
connector to the burner after a few seconds everything is just fine!
It looks like the Quantum drive sends something out on the bus that
kills the burner on startup.
The Quantum drive is a SCSI-3 device that requires initiator
identification and is not possible to boot from on my TT.
I'm planning to solve this dilemma by simply add a delay power up relay
to the CD burner.
Another possible solution would be if there are any other "soft
settings" than those that show up in HDDRUTIL?"
Uwe tells Kenneth:
"Again, this is something that cannot be solved with software settings.
Problems like that are most likely caused by wrong termination and
cables. Note that there are cables that have such a bad quality that
they do not work reliably. I have such a cable at home: It's very short
and so you wouldn't expect it to cause problems, but it does."
Kenneth tells Uwe:
"Agreed, but I really think I can exclude bad cables and terminations in
this case.
1. Everything works perfect without the troublesome Quantum disk.
2. With the disk on the bus but powered down everything is OK.
3. If I power up the CD burner slightly later than the other units
everything works perfect too.
4. The same happens with a minimalistic setup with only the Quantum
drive and CD burner and no computer. The eject button freezes if I power
them both up at the same time."
Jean-Luc Ceccoli asks Kenneth:
"What about the Termpower jumper on the Quantum ?"
Kenneth replies:
"This Quantum Fireball SE does not have any other jumper settings than
ID and termination. I have termpower set on the main Fujitsu disk.
I did solve the problem today in an unusual way:
I simply made a small power up delay unit so now everything is OK. The
delay is set to appr. 15 seconds and happens only at first power up. I
made it from 9 components including a transistor and two relays.
Got so excited by the result that I also made some major work on two
TT's. Switching TOS and Ajax chips, floppy and hard disk from a newer TT
with conductive paint to an older with metal shielding. Lots of work,
but now my main Atari has a working Yamaha chip and will print
properly..."
Well folks, that's it for this week. My hands are less problematic than
they have been, but I still need to ease up on computer work for a
while. Damn... I hate having to say that. 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 - New Video Chip for Xbox!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" More CGE2K2 News!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Microsoft Adds New Video Chip to Xbox
A partner of software giant Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday unveiled a new
video chip for the Xbox video game console in a move aimed at reducing the
machine's cost.
Campbell, California-based Focus Enhancements Inc. said it has developed a
new chip for the console, which made its debut in the United States last
November, that processes video for television.
"The chip going into the Xbox is designed to give Microsoft a competitive
advantage," Tom Hamilton, the executive vice president of Focus, told
Reuters.
Xbox's rivals in the lucrative video game player market are Sony Corp.'s
Playstation 2 and Nintendo Co Ltd.'s GameCube.
Hamilton said Focus's chip is "several dollars cheaper" than what
Microsoft is using now to convert video from the console's graphics chip
to a format suitable for TV sets.
He also said the chip is planned for use on a new motherboard for the
console, rather than the one Microsoft has been using.
"It's basically a cost-reduced board," Hamilton said.
He said the new board, and Focus's new chip, are all part of an effort on
Microsoft's part to reduce its hardware costs for the console, an effort
that he said began last year, before the console had even reached the
market.
"We're always looking at short- and long-term ways to reduce the cost of
making the Xbox," a Microsoft spokeswoman said.
In the United States, the Xbox and Playstation 2 both carry suggested
retail prices of $199, while GameCube has a suggested retail price of
$149.95
Financial analysts have speculated that Microsoft loses as much as $150 on
each Xbox sold. Game console manufacturers typically take losses on the
consoles in their first years of production and look to make the money
back on volume sales of higher-margin games.
Microsoft is currently in arbitration with Nvidia Corp. , which makes the
Xbox graphic chip, over the price it pays for the chips and Nvidia's
production schedule. Nvidia has said in filings with securities regulators
it may have to produce the chips at a loss if Microsoft wins the case.
Earlier this year, Flextronics International Ltd. , which manufactures the
console for Microsoft, began the process of moving some Xbox production to
China from facilities in Hungary. Cost savings were cited as a reason for
the transfer.
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE Gaming Online - Online Users Growl & Purr!
"""""""""""""""""""
AtariAge CGE2K2 Report & Pictures
AtariAge has just put their 2002 Classic Gaming Expo report online. In
addition to the report, you can view hundreds of pictures, video from
the event, and a gallery of all the Atari-related games released at the
show. You can find all of this on AtariAge here:
http://www.atariage.com/features/cge2k2/index.html
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Earthlink Software Helps Banish Pop-Up Ads
EarthLink Inc.'s arsenal for luring away subscribers from its online rivals
includes a multimillion-dollar marketing campaign and new access software
that will block pop-up ads, one of the most frequently cited annoyances on
the Internet.
The Internet service provider on Monday unveiled the software upgrade and
$10 million plus ad campaign as it steps up efforts against competitors
Microsoft Corp.'s MSN and AOL Time Warner Inc.'s America Online.
Unlike those companies, EarthLink derives almost no revenue from
advertising.
"Advertisers would not like subscribers having that option," Yankee Group
analyst Rob Lancaster said.
Both Atlanta-based EarthLink and MSN have been aggressively trying to woo
away dissatisfied AOL users with tools to reduce junk email and pop-up
ads, for example.
"The whole notion is really around switchers and providing a better
Internet experience with fewer drop-offs, pop ups and spam," Karen Gough,
EarthLink's executive vice president of marketing, told Reuters.
America Online, the market leader, has reduced the number of pop-up ads its
members see and replaced promotions on its welcome screens with more
member-focused news and content in an effort starting this summer, a
spokesman said.
Beginning Monday, EarthLink is making a preview of the pop-up blocker
software available through its Web site and will soon incorporate it into
the latest incarnation of the company's TotalAccess 2003 software.
"The pop-up blocker is the most exciting feature," said Jim Anderson, vice
president of product development. "About 4.1 billion pop-up ads are served
on the Internet, and we have had consumers tell us that is the most
annoying experience on the Internet."
If users want pop-up ads, they can turn the new feature off, Anderson said.
TotalAccess 2003, the first major upgrade of EarthLink's access service
since 1999, also has new e-mail features that let users reach stored e-mail
address books from any Internet- connected computer and enable quicker
access to services that include games and Google's search engine.
EarthLink, which has about 4.9 million subscribers, will spend more than
$10 million on television and radio spots, print and online ads, and
direct mail.
While the company's earlier campaigns tried to build awareness, Gough said
this one aims to differentiate EarthLink from other Internet service
providers.
Most Internet service providers, including AOL and EarthLink, have been
struggling with slowing dial-up growth and increasing their high-speed
subscribers.
High-speed services are seen as the next major growth engine for Internet
companies as Web surfers seek out faster connections and services such as
the digital delivery of music.
EarthLink developed the latest version of its Internet access service with
high-speed subscribers in mind, Anderson said.
A spokesman said the company plans to upgrade the service more frequently,
perhaps twice a year.
Microsoft to Release MSN for Macintosh
Microsoft Corp. said on Thursday that it will release a Macintosh version
of its MSN browser early next year, marking the first time the software
giant has made it widely available to Apple Computer Inc.'s Mac users.
The browser, MSN for Mac OS X, takes direct aim at online services rival
AOL Time Warner Inc.'s America Online, which unveiled a version of its
Internet service and software for Apple's latest operating system last week.
Microsoft's newest MSN browser will be available only with MSN's Internet
access service or as a separate subscription. It is being revamped to add
features that make it easier for users to manage e-mail, protect their
personal computers from viruses, handle digital photos, and browse the
Web.
MSN 8, the latest version for Microsoft's Windows operating system, is set
to be released this fall ahead of the Mac version release.
"The goal is basically to reach a new audience," said MSN Product Manager
Lisa Gurry. "We haven't had a Macintosh client broadly available before."
Previously, a limited batch of Mac users who signed up for Internet access
services through Microsoft's partnership with Qwest Communications
International Inc. could get a version of MSN for the Macintosh operating
system, Gurry said.
Microsoft already makes software for Mac OS X, most notably the Office
suite of productivity software, but is trying to increase its reach onto
Macintosh desktops and into new markets.
The new versions of MSN are the latest consumer-oriented offerings to be
unveiled by the Redmond, Washington-based software maker as it prepares to
launch a series of new products this year aimed at extending its reach
beyond the desk and personal computer.
Offering MSN as a separate subscription for users who don't already use
MSN Internet access services is a departure for Microsoft, which still
offers its dominant Internet Explorer software free as part of its
operating system.
No pricing information on the new product was immediately available.
Company Fights Spam with Copyright, Trademark Law
A California company said on Monday it plans to fight Internet e-mail spam
using a new system that relies on U.S. copyright and trademark law.
Palo Alto, California-based Habeas Inc. provides a system that allows
people to easily differentiate between acceptable e-mail and spam, said
Chief Executive Anne P. Mitchell.
"We're letting you separate the wheat from the chafe," Mitchell said.
Habeas is a Latin term used in legal proceedings that means "evidence" or
"to show proof."
But where the Habeas system is truly unique is in its enforcement
mechanisms that provides a way to prosecute spammers in the absence of laws
that prohibit spamming, she said.
"It's frustrating because Congress is never going to pass any meaningful
spam law," Mitchell said.
Most laws on the books call for unsolicited e-mails to specify that they
are advertisements in the subject line or prohibit disguising the
information of the sender, neither of which will effectively curtail spam,
she said.
"There are very few laws that prohibit spamming, largely because it's hard
to define what spam is," she added.
The Habeas system does not block spam, but makes it easy for people to
separate the wanted e-mail from unwanted e-mail or prioritize wanted
e-mail. It also gives people a way to report spammers so they will be
blocked in the future.
Under the Habeas Sender Warranted Email service people and organizations
can certify that e-mails they send are not spam by embedding into the
header a special, universal mark. The mark is invisible to most recipients
but can be read by those who know how to get access to the hidden portions
of headers.
The Habeas mark contains a three-line haiku protected by copyright law.
Six other lines contain the copyright and trademark notices and other
trademark protected information.
Senders using the mark are verifying that the e-mail meets one of the
following criteria: the e-mail is sent to only one recipient; the sender
has verified permission from each recipient; the sender and each recipient
share a pre-existing professional relationship; each recipient is a friend
or family member of the sender and the e-mail is not commercial.
If senders fail to meet the criteria, they could be sued for trademark and
copyright infringement, Mitchell said.
Mitchell said she does not recommend that people entirely block out
non-Habeas e-mail.
The Habeas system ensures that important mail gets through, she said. For
example, anti-spam technology has been known to block bulk e-mail that
people want, such as domain name expiration notices from Web address
registrars, she added.
Individuals and Internet service providers can license and use the mark
for free, while businesses and bulk e-mail companies will pay to use it.
Customers include Microsoft Corp.'s WebTV division and Outblaze, a Hong
Kong-based outsourcer for large e-mail service providers including
Internet.com and mail.com.
Lawsuits Seek $2.2 Trillion Over 'Junk' Faxes
A coalition of California activists filed a jaw-dropping $2.2 trillion set
of lawsuits against facsimile marketer Fax.com Thursday, saying millions of
"junk faxes" are clogging the nation's fax machines, jamming communications
and possibly endangering lives.
The suits, filed in both California state and federal court, seek class
action status and punitive damages against privately held Fax.com, its
telecommunications provider, Cox Business Services, a division of Cox
Communications Inc., as well as Fax.com's advertisers.
"The right to free speech stops at the entrance to my house. You are not
allowed to invade my privacy and to use my resources to send your message,"
said Steve Kirsch, a long-time Internet entrepreneur and philanthropist who
announced the lawsuits on Thursday.
The lawsuits accuse all the named companies of violating federal laws
prohibiting "junk" faxes -- unsolicited advertisements or announcements
which "broadcast" to millions of personal, corporate and government
facsimile machines.
Fax.com, in a statement, rejected the lawsuits as "unfounded and absurd"
and said it had the constitutional right to advertise by fax.
But in a decision earlier this month, the Federal Communications Commission
proposed fining Fax.com $5.38 million for sending unsolicited
advertisements by fax, the largest fine ever proposed for such a violation.
Lawyers in the California lawsuits said they would seek a minimum statutory
remedy of $500 per fax from every advertiser who used Fax.com to send out
unsolicited advertisements over the past four years.
"We believe that there are companies with substantial assets in this group.
We will seek treble damages of $1,500 per unsolicited fax from Fax.com and
Cox Communications," Kirsch said in a statement.
Fax.com's president, Kevin Katz, said the suit was aimed at intimidating
his company's customers -- many of whom are small business owners who rely
on faxing as an affordable and effective method of advertising. He also
said the suits ignored the public service Fax.com performs by mass faxing
missing children alerts.
"I am dismayed by the outrageous charges leveled in the suit," Katz said.
"To claim that a single fax endangers lives is bizarre."
Officials at Cox Communications did not return calls seeking comment
Thursday.
The lawsuits were announced at a news conference at El Camino Hospital in
Mountain View, Calif., where officials said they had also been bombarded
with junk fax advertisements sent by computer "war dialing" programs that
can target numerous facsimile machines simultaneously.
"We have between 80 and 100 different fax machines in the hospital. In one
fax machine which we monitored for a period of about four months we
received over 500 junk faxes," said Mark Zielazinski, the hospital's chief
information officer.
In Washington state, the University of Washington Medical Center was almost
shut down by a "war dialing" assault mounted by a facsimile broadcaster.
"In the past year, Fax.com made over 1,000 telephone calls at once to the
University of Washington Medical Center," center spokesman Walter Neary
said, adding that the center had since joined with Washington's state
attorney general to file suit against the Fax.com.
Kirsch, who founded Infoseek Corp. before it was acquired by Walt Disney
Co., and now heads Propel Software Corp., has launched a Web site,
www.junkfax.org, to tell people how to get off fax marketers' lists.
Microsoft Warns of Security Risks in Office, IE
Microsoft Corp. said on Thursday that "critical" security lapses in its
Office software and Internet Explorer Web browser put tens of millions of
users at risk of having their files read and altered by online attackers.
The world's No. 1 software maker said that an attacker, using e-mail or a
Web page, could use Internet related parts of Office to run programs, alter
data and wipe out the hard drive as well as view file and clipboard
contents on a user's system.
Office is a software product that runs on Windows and is used to write
documents and crunch numbers.
"Microsoft is committed to keeping customers' information safe, and is
providing a patch that eliminates three vulnerabilities in Office Web
Components," Microsoft Security Program Manager Christopher Budd said in
an e-mail.
In addition, Microsoft reported vulnerabilities in the three latest
versions of its dominant Internet Explorer browser software that allows
infiltrators to read files.
Microsoft urged users to fix the glitches by downloading software patches
from Microsoft's TechNet Web site ( http://www.microsoft.com/technet).
"It's important that users get the patch," said Russ Cooper, head of
security at TruSecure Corp., a computer security company, and editor of
NTBugTraq.
"Typically with these types of issues it will be six to nine months until
we see a massive attempt to start exploiting it," Cooper said, adding that
a preemptive patch was critical.
Since Office is used by at least 100 million users, the risk of widespread
attacks was significant, Cooper said.
The security warnings are the latest headaches for the Redmond,
Washington-based software company.
Microsoft, shaken by break-ins to its system and vulnerabilities in its
software, launched a "trustworthy computing" campaign earlier this year to
improve the security of all of its software.
Since that initiative, which chairman Bill Gates said had cost the company
$100 million so far this year, Microsoft has issued at least 30 security
bulletins for flaws in its software.
Last week, security experts reported serious flaws in the Internet
Explorer browser and a complementary encryption program that could expose
credit card and other sensitive information of Internet users.
The Office-related programs vulnerable to attacks include Microsoft Office
2000, Office XP, Money 2002, Money 2003, Project 2002 as well as server
software related to such client software, Microsoft said.
Microsoft said it is not aware of any specific security breaches or the
amount of any potential damage that might have occurred due to
vulnerabilities in its software.
Intel to Debut Faster Pentium 4 Next Week
Intel Corp., the world's largest semiconductor manufacturer, will announce
next week its speediest Pentium 4 processor yet, according to industry
sources, as the company looks to reap the benefits from increased
production efficiencies.
On Monday, Intel will announce its Pentium 4 chip running at a speed of 2.8
billion cycles per second, or 2.8 gigahertz a second, putting it farther
ahead of its chief rival, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. , in terms of
clockspeed. Pricing on the chips wasn't immediately available.
The introduction of the Pentium 4 chip running at 2.8 gigahertz was
accelerated earlier this summer. Intel, based in Santa Clara, California,
pulled in the introduction date of that chip from the fourth quarter to
the third quarter, according to sources.
Intel also moved up the introduction of a Pentium 4 chip running at 3.0
gigahertz so that it will be available in time for the year-end holiday
shopping season. Intel had planned to introduce that microprocessor -- the
brains of a personal computer -- by the end of the year.
When Intel introduces new chips, it typically drops prices on the Pentium
and Celeron processors it already has on the market, and there is no
reason to suspect that Intel will not again cut prices on its currently
available chips when it introduces the new 2.8 gigahertz Pentium 4 on
Monday.
Last year, Intel poured $7.3 billion into capital spending, much of it on
chip-making equipment that can etch smaller lines onto semiconductor
wafers and for gear that can handle wafers that are about a foot in
diameter, compared with ones of a previous diameter of about 8 inches.
Some of the Pentium 4 processors to be announced on Monday will be made
from the larger, 300-millimeter-diameter wafers, the sources said. All of
Intel's current faster Pentium 4 chips for desktop PCs have dimensions
that are as small as 0.13 microns across. By comparison, a human hair is
about 100 microns across.
The new equipment allows Intel and other chipmakers to get more usable
chips from each wafer, boosting productivity and performance while cutting
costs.
Intel's fastest Pentium 4 runs at 2.53 gigahertz and costs $637 in
quantities of 1,000. Typically Intel introduces a new chip at about the
price as the fastest, previously available chip. This suggests that the
2.8 gigahertz Pentium 4 chip will cost about $640 in quantities of 1,000.
Advanced Micro Devices, based in Sunnyvale, California, reportedly will
introduce faster versions of its chips, an Athlon XP 2400+ and an Athlon
XP 2600+ toward the end of the month. AMD's highest performance model now
is the Athlon XP 2200+, which boasts a clock speed of 1.80 gigahertz.
Jobs To Kick Off Apple Expo 2002 in Paris
Apple CEO Steve Jobs will deliver the opening keynote address at Apple Expo
2002 in Paris on Tuesday, Sept. 10 at 10:00 a.m. CET at the Palais des
Congrs. The expo will be held at the Paris Expo in Porte de Versailles,
Hall 4, September 10-14.
An estimated 250 exhibitors, manufacturers, publishers, developers and
resellers will be displaying their wares at the expo and over 80,000
attendees are expected.
For the first time at Apple Expo, Apple has organized a series of training
seminars on new applications and technological innovations for the Mac. The
seminars are designed for IT professionals, developers, system
administrators, documentation managers, Intranet/Extranet/Website and
security experts and more. Twelve conference sessions will deal with four
topics: Contents; Intranet, Extranet, Web; Security: development, uses and
advantages; and "Strategic planning and investments."
Apple conferences are targeted to all sorts of Mac users and will cover
topics such as Mac OS X 10.2, XServe, Mac OS X tools for disabled users and
more. There'll also be a Final Cut Pro workshop, Mac OS X lab, DV
Classroom, Education Solution Centre and Education Bar. At the Education
Bar, educators can meet with members of the Apple Education teams.
More information on Apple Expo 2002, including registration and pricing,
can be found at the conference Web site.
Judge Throws Out Hyperlink Lawsuit
A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit that could have made the World
Wide Web a pay-as-you-click toll road.
U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon rejected BT Group's claim that it owns
the patent on hyperlinks - those single-click that make the Web what it
is.
Filed earlier this year, the suit accused an Internet service provider,
Prodigy Communications Corp., of infringing on BT's patent on hyperlinks.
McMahon rejected BT's claim that each Web server on the Internet is a
central computer and thus the Internet falls within the patent's scope.
"The Internet is a network of computers intertwined with each other in
order to allow users around the world to exchange information," she wrote.
"The whole purpose of the Internet is for the sources of information to be
in many places rather than centralized."
Her 27-page decision, filed Thursday in federal court in White Plains,
N.Y., concluded that "no jury could find that Prodigy infringes on the
patent."
The suit had been viewed as a test case that could have opened the door
for BT to challenge other Internet service providers and demand licensing
fees that might add to members' costs.
At a hearing in February, McMahon warned that it would be difficult to
prove that a patent filed in 1976 - more than a decade before the World
Wide Web was created - somehow applies to modern computers.
BT attorney Albert Breneisen, insisted at the time that the "basic
structure of linking is covered by the patent." Before BT's technology, he
said, a computer user had to know and enter the complete address of
another page.
The lawsuit has been viewed with chagrin by many in the information
technology field.
Some computer historians trace the idea of hypertext back to Vannevar
Bush, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor, in the 1930s. They
also note that Doug Engelbart, who invented the computer mouse, worked on
an early hypertext system in the late 1960s.
Wireless Web Comes to Starbucks Shops
As if the caffeine wasn't enough to get customers going, Starbucks Corp. on
Wednesday launched coffee drinkers into cyberspace with high-speed wireless
Internet access at some 1,200 cafes.
Chairman Howard Schultz told Reuters everything computing was going mobile
and Starbucks, based in the high-tech coffee-loving city of Seattle, wanted
to be part of that trend. He added, of course, he expected customers to buy
more coffee while using the system.
"People use Starbucks not only as a place to get coffee, but as an
extension of their porch, an extension of their office," Schultz said.
The chain of wireless local networks, surrounding a hub that communicates
with devices in close proximity, is run by T-Mobile, the wireless division
of Germany's Deutsche Telekom AG.
The experiment also serves as a starting point for telephone companies
aiming to supplement global data networks based on cellphone-type
technology with super fast "hot spots" offering connections at
corporate-level speeds.
The networks are based on the Wi-Fi standard, which lets laptops, digital
assistants and other devices equipped with antennas surf at speeds about 5
times as fast as a cable modem from within 300 feet of a Wi-Fi hub.
T-Mobile will offer per-minute and unlimited-use plans at rates on par
with home Internet service, saying executives and retail customers had
proven in a year of trials they would pay for the convenience.
"It becomes a viral experience," John Stanton, Chairman of T-Mobile's U.S.
operations, told a news conference. "People become...addicted."
No. 1 personal computer maker Hewlett-Packard Co., a partner in the
wireless roll-out, also has developed software to make it easier to log
on, although Microsoft Corp.'s new Windows XP and Apple Computer Inc.'s
OS X operating systems have similar technology built in.
The three companies, which declined to give financial terms of the
partnership, aim to open up a total of 2,000 cafes with the wireless
Internet access in the United States as well as Europe, including Berlin
and London, by the end of the year.
Starbucks' Schultz said that 70 percent of Starbucks roughly 6,000 stores
would be suitable for Wi-Fi.
Corporations and many home users have rushed to build wireless networks
using Wi-Fi, the common name for the wireless 802.11b standard, but the
promise of networks in public places has been slow to develop.
Wireless telecommunications providers worldwide are considering or
planning roll-outs of Wi-Fi networks that could provide islands of fast
Internet service in heavily used areas. T-Mobile already has some of its
"HotSpots" at airports.
"Our vision is, we want to replace the wired telephone network," Stanton
said in an interview. The Wi-Fi network will especially help in the United
States, where the costs and regulatory framework discourage roll-out of
true, third-generation wireless networks, he said.
Access costs to the Starbucks network will start at about $12 per hour
using the most expensive, pay-as-you-go plan, but executives said many
users in trials had subscribed to unlimited use plans. T-Mobile offers
local unlimited access for $29.95 per month and nationwide use for $49.95.
Users will need a Wi-Fi antenna.
Corporate users have flocked to Starbucks trials, said Darren Huston,
senior vice president of new ventures.
"The thing snowballs," as word spreads through corporations, especially
hi-tech ones, he said.
T-Mobile said only about one in 10 customers called a toll-free help line
to set up their computers which was proof, he said, of ease of use.
=~=~=~=
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