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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 06 Issue 32
Volume 6, Issue 32 Atari Online News, Etc. August 6, 2004
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2004
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:
Rodolphe Czuba
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=~=~=~=
A-ONE #0632 08/06/04
~ P2Ps Given Warning! ~ People Are Talking! ~ CTLink Project!
~ New MyDoom Variant! ~ Finnish Web Addicts! ~ Spyware Is Growing!
~ Doom 3 On Shelves Now! ~ Lycos Sold to Terra! ~ Bloomba E-Mail!
~ Hospitals Move To EMR! ~ Gates Wants Nintendo?! ~ Can-Spam Is Flop!
-* CGE 2004 Celebrity Line-Up! *-
-* Mozilla Makes Preemptive Bug Strike *-
-* Online Scams Posing As Kerry Fund-Raisers! *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
It appears that the summer season has arrived, at least for a few days
anyway. Early in the week, the mercury climbed to around the 90-degree
mark, and probably reached that in my area. The humidity was almost as
high, relatively speaking. That's okay, we're allowed a few of these days
each summer - as long as most of the season is marked with the cooler
temperatures that we've seen most of this summer so far.
Most of my planned projects have been completed, so the warmer weather
doesn't really bother me too much now. And, if it gets too hot or humid, I
just jump in the pool to cool off. Our sunroom projects are done except for
the furnishings. We got blinds, but we'll need more due to an error in
calculations of the numbers needed. We're debating the next inside project,
but it appears that the enclosed front porch is going to get an overhaul
soon!
There's a story that's in this week's issue which is, or should be, of great
interest for everyone. it's also one that affects me professionally - the
eventual adaptation of electronic medical records. For me, I work in the
Health Information Management field. That's "Medical Records" for the
politically incorrect of us. My role in the department is managing the
storage and retrieval of the physical medical record for our patients. We
track their movement wherever they go. On paper, it sounds like a pretty
easy task, until you factor in the volume, multiple needs for the records,
doctors moving them throughout the facility and bypassing my staff, and
other day-to-day issues that makes our "simple" task more challenging.
People are used to having a paper medical record. Patients expect to see a
physician with his/her medical record in hand. Doctors expect the paper
record to review past medical history before seeing a patient, and during an
examination. Without that paper record, it makes patient care a little more
difficult, especially in a facility as large as ours.
Over the years, parts of a patient's history has also been stored online.
Our laboratory system has had test orders and results online for a number of
years. In years past, we used to send records to the physician whenever
test results were placed into the record, for review. This process required
a lot of manpower and the numbers of records moving throughout the facility
was massive. We finally convinced the powers that be that since the results
were available online, it made no sense to send the paper record; the
ordering physician could look those results up online. Not to mention that
a paper copy of the results continued to be directed to the physician!
As technology grows, more and more emphasis has been directed to provide the
ability to place more information online. Instead of writing down notes in
the record, a physician can dictate his/her notes, and have them uploaded to
the system and be made available. These notes can also be electronically
signed, thus validating the accuracy/completeness of the note. Radiology
has developed an electronic system which will eventually make the x-ray film
obsolete. Instead of having to review a film or paper interpretation, that
information can be viewed online. And the story continues with other tests,
and documentation. The downside: we still maintain the paper copies of all
of this information. And, there are doctors still who will maintain that
the paper record is vital.
But this is only part of the story. I agree that technology is important to
healthcare. And timeliness is important. As a patient, would you want to
have to come into an emergency room with chest pains, and have to wait to be
seen until your paper medical record arrives into the exam room? Not me. I
know the volume that we deal with every day. I know the difficulties we
encounter trying to locate medical records. I know the time it takes for it
to leave our department and get delivered to a patient care area. Why have
to wait if all of your vital medical history is available on a computer?
And, your electronic history will be complete - the paper record may be so
active that the paper results and notes may be sitting somewhere waiting for
someone to insert them into the record.
Okay, so now we know that an electronic medical record is the wave of the
future. But, we're now faced with other issues - most importantly, privacy
and confidentiality. With the paper record, the majority of people touching
your record are healthcare staff. We've all signed confidentiality
statements. This means that the only time that anyone views your record is
supposed to be because it's part of our job. If my neighbor's record
crosses my path for some reason, unless it's my job to do something with
that record, I'm required (by law) to suppress my curiosity as to why he/she
is being seen, and do what I need to do and send it on. And if my job
requires me to do something with the information inside that record, I keep
the information confidential. And that goes for any patient - whether it be
a friend, relative, or whomever.
So, what about an electronic record. Now it becomes more difficult. We
know that computers can be hacked. If information is stored on the web, it
can be hacked. Security is even more important for something like medical
histories that are stored electronically, both internally and externally.
So, not only do medical facilities have to put all of that medical history
in a fashion that ties it all together for each patient so a physician can
access it easily; but it also has to do so in fashion to keep people from
accessing that information when they're not supposed to have that access.
Yes, technology is the way to go for the future of medical information. But
with those immense improvements comes a greater responsibility to keep that
information secure and private. To me, that's a terrific challenge.
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
CTLink Project
www.czuba-tech.com
CTLink will be finished if at least 100 orders arrive.
For Falcon 030, the schematics are finished and the routing stills to be
done. Same for the VME version for MSTE, TT & Hades.
This project was started in April 04 and Nature informed me that they
finished an Ethernet board for CT60. Now they have added the same USB
controller than on CTLink, and CTLink is using the same Ethernet controller
than the EtherNAT board. This will gain time for drivers for the two boards
: Ethernet is managed by Nature and USB by Jan Thomas
Now you have the ball!
Let me know if you may buy this product ....
The more you will be, the faster will be finished the project...
I will record you up to september (because of your holidays).
Thanks to all people that support the atari projects.
Regards
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
joe@atarinews.org
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. Another week has flown by, and we're now
into August already. It amazes me how fast time can fly. You know the
saying; "Time flies when you're having fun"?
Well, it appears that time flies not only when you're having fun, but
also when you're too busy to pay attention to it. This is the end of the
32nd week of the year, and I haven't really paid attention to more than
a handful of them.
On another note, my doctor has decided that physical therapy wasn't doing
enough for the herniated disc in my neck. So now, instead of going to a
physical therapist, I'm going to a chiropractor. Chiropracty is one of
those things that either you believe in or you don't. I do. I don't
think it's a cure for everything, but I believe that it has many
applications. We shall see.
Of course, since the chiropractor is just starting off on my neck, I'm
sore from the middle of my neck down to the middle of my shoulder blade
on one side. I feel like I've been beaten with a baseball bat.
Well, enough about me. The message traffic has picked up a little bit in
the newsgroup, so let's take a look at what's going on.
From the comp.sys.atari.st NewsGroup
====================================
René Kint asks about a Secure Shell application:
"I am in the process of re-installing my Atari stuff. I found my good old
1040STfm dead, but the MegaSTe2 is still there, and running (although it
has a keyboard with some problems.
The 'new' setup is mainly there for few reasons: the geek part (it
runs!), maybe some programming (I still have Pure C around here
somewhere), but also as a simple SSH client once I got it connected to
some ethernet adapter. It starts up quickly compared to my Windows and
Linux PCs or my iMac!
So I need an ethernet adapter (hopefully, Elmar Hilgart will send me one
soon), and an SSH client, as my Linux server only accepts secure
connections.
But, I don't think I have found an SSH client till now.....maybe it is
part of STiNG, but I highly doubt it. If it doesn't exist....well, I
will have to fire up Pure C, dive into STiNG API's and SSH protocol
descriptions, dig up my old C knowledge and start typing...:-).
Can anyone help me? Is there an SSH client already? If not, is someone
out there willing/able to help out? I have not programmed anything
serious since 1993, so i definitely could use any help."
Matthias Alles tells René:
"You should give MiNT a try.
http://sparemint.atariforge.net/sparemint/
Sparemint is a MiNT-distribution, based on RPMs. This is the
package-list:
http://sparemint.atariforge.net/sparemint/html/packages.html
A ssh-client is also available, but I doubt it will work with a 2MB
machine (maybe with 4MB?). Beside that ssh is terribly slow on original
Atari-machine. You can take a nap, when you are logging in with ssh...
I don't know of any other ssh-client, but this one (openSSH)."
René replies:
"I remember running a very early version of MiNT on my STFm (which had
3MB of memory ;-)), so I know a version of MiNT existed that ran on an
original ST.
Maybe I will be able to run a crippled SpareMiNT installation, enabling
me to use some nice features (like filesharing through samba), but I
think the 2 MB boundary will restrict me a *lot*. However, I can not do
much about that, can I? Is there a *simple* way to expand my MegaSTe to
4 MB or even higher? Then I would try that as well.
I know OpenSSH from my Linux machines as well as my MacOSX machine. The
version you linked to is compiled with the 68020 as a target CPU, so at
least I will have to recompile it after installing SpareMiNT.
Well, at least this will not be a very easy exercise, that's for
sure....my God, a lot has changed since I pulled the plug on my ST's....
Sure, the handshake procedure of SSH takes some CPU time, but once logged
in I have good hopes the Atari can keep up with encrypting/decrypting the
traffic....?"
Frank Naumann adds:
"I'm sure you won't like to run ssh without FPU support. It require 3-4
minutes to establish a ssh connection on an ATARI TT. It will take ages
without FPU on an 8 MHz ATARI ST."
Thomas Binder tells Frank:
"That only applies to SSHv2 - v1-connections (ssh -1) are quite a
lot faster, but unfortunately also not fully secure due to some
flaws in the protocol. Of course, it's still better than using
telnet / rsh ..."
Mark Duckworth tells René:
"The current desires of a unix system require a
little bit more ram though. In your case you're looking at Freemint,
straight to an AES with networking. That's it. And even then you'll
have (slightly) less free ram available than after booting up a well
configured MagiC installation. MagiC is cream of the crop on ST/STe
machines, that's for sure.
Unlike some of the older Atari's, the Mega STe has 4 SIMM slots. Just go
out to your computer store (preferably one that deals in old used parts)
and find 4 30 pin simms. eBay is a great place to find these 2. You're
looking at about $1 for 4 megs... Seriously. They click into the slots on
the board - very intuitive.
Unfortunately an ST is[n't] a play machine anymore, unless you have
MagiC on it. Even then it's only moderately functional on today's
internet - A falcon with a CT60 however is a pretty strong animal. I
have ftp, sftp, ssh (client and server), irc, a great web browser
(http://highwire.atari-users.net), and due to our fantastic kernel
maintainers, freemint is solid and has very predictable behavior.
Also keep in mind, each openssh process requires something like 1.5 megs
or more of ram. An ST, even with 4mb this could be impossible. best to
telnet to another machine on the network and ssh from there - it's tough
to accept a machine's limitations.
There exists boards to upgrade a mega ste to 8 megs or more, but I have
been unable to procure one of these and I'm really good at finding that
type of thing I wish there was more out there, like the Marpet boards
for normal St's."
René now posts:
"First, thanks for all the positive responses to my original SSH
question. The original questions has led to some spin-off now.
I opened the case and (hey, I was used to an 1040 STf!!) I was surprised
by the components and modularity of this Mega STE compared to what I was
used to on the 1040 back in 1986. And it is 'old-pink' inside
First: it seems to have a quite standard FDD, although this one has a DD
drive (720K). Is it possible to replace it with an ordinary 1.44 floppy
drive from an ordinary PC? I have one here for spare parts....does
anyone know if this can be done easily?
Second: the same for the HD. It is a 48MB HDD and it looks like we have
an adapter built-in? Is this an ordinary SCSI drive Atari built in? If
this is the case, my hands are itching to replace it with some
multi-100MB SCSI drive of more recent build.....can this be done?
Third: The memory (as already told) is in 2 SIMMs. However, the SIMMs
yield no specs to me. Can someone tell me what SIMMs I exactly need to
make this a 4MB machine from the 2MB already there?
Fourth: There is a slot for a 68881 or 68882 FPU. Which should I use?
Would it make any difference (for example in our SSH case...)?
Fifth: The OS: Is a MegaSTE with 4MB OK for the hailed MagiC? Or
FreeMiNT? I have read about these on the net, but can someone please
tell me about which one to use in what case?
Sixth: heeee, maybe (after 18 years!!) I am still a geek for wanting to
get this machine on its feet again
It's summer now, guys. But this looks like a nice project for any
season :-)))
Your help and contributions are very much appreciated. I used to be a
very experienced user of my STF back in 86 (until about '92), but it
seems I have to catch up after all these years. Mac OSX and Linux give
me a lot of computing fun, but the roots are still back there...."
Coda tells Rene:
"There're two versions of MegaSTe around. The early one has an older style
AJAX floppy controller and it is not compatible with 1.44mb, plus there
is a GAL chip that needs replacing on the board. Later versions have the
right AJAX chip AND GAL, and just need the 1.44mb mechanism. Getting hold
of a new AJAX and GAL isn't that hard, its just EXPENSIVE! You can always
do an 'STfm' style mod, which involves overclocking the AJAX to get the
higher track density. Have a snoop around on Best Electronics at the part
numbers for the AJAX and GAL and compare to what you have inside your case.
The MegaSTe SCSI card is rather weak. You can put a _single_ SCSI drive
on there upto _1GB_ physical size, and nothing bigger. The card does not
support Parity either, but this can be added by yourself with a little
know-how and a few parts. I have heard that some people managed to put 2
drives on that card. I wouldn't try it unless you have a spare SCSI card
and don't mind blowing one of them. Also, you must keep the SCSI cable
as short as possible.
On my 16mhz Falcon I wouldn't really want to use either as a TOS
replacement, too darn slow. Now I have a CT60 I don't care (except I
don't run that MagiC crap). I have not tried running either on my
MegaSTe, I am happy with TOS 2.06 as I mostly use it for Music and
playing ST games."
René steps up to the plate again and asks:
"As long as I am the only one in the world in need of hardware answers I
keep on posting and I hope you all lurking will keep the answers coming
I have checked the internals of my MegaSTE (which has a 720KB floppy
drive). It has the C302096-001A AJAX chip fitted under the SCSI adapter,
and the GAL is the C3019301-002, right beneath the power supply.
The AJAX chip is good. But the GAL chip I don't know. Is it the right
one?
Now: how to move on? Can I just plug in a HD floppy drive? I guess not:
on the net I read about 'detect pin' problems and even one note about
having to plug the drive upside down (so the cable will have to be cut
because the plug doesn't allow for upside-down fitting of course). But
others say they have been successful."
'Tim' tells René:
"I have a TT030 and replaced my 720k drive recently with a Epson SMD-300
(340) 1.44m drive, which is a direct drop in replacement, I set it to
DS0 and all was good. Works perfectly, no problems at all. I believe
the MegaSTE is the same as the TT."
René asks Tim:
"Do you mean that as a drop-in replacement you didn't even have to change
the bezel?
Is this Epson a common model? Or will I have to shop around much for used
ones?
I have a Samsung here that I took out of an old PC, it has solder pads
for DS0 and DS1, so I will have to heat up the iron after more than 10
years again and start poking!
I tried it as DS1 but the MegaSTE did not respond to it at all. Not even
as drive B."
Tim replies:
"Yes you do not need to change the case! Fits perfectly!!! All I have
to do is swap the plastic face and eject button, and it fit perfectly.
These drives are fairly common in late 90's PCs here in the USA. I
actually have a spare. It is actually the EXACT same drive that the
Falcon030 uses.
Face and everything. But for the TT/MegaSTE the face needs to be swapped
from your 720k drive."
Well folks, that's it for this time around. I'm going to go rest my
achin' neck and relax a bit. My advice to you is to do the same. 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 - Doom 3 Hits the Streets!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Microsoft Looking at Nintendo?
CG Expo 2004 Celebrities!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Much-Anticipated Doom 3 Finally Complete
Four years after setting out to remake one of the most popular and violent
video games ever, the crew at id Software, Inc. is finally done with its
latest vision of hell.
"Doom 3" hits store shelves Tuesday, though there were reports of some
retailers breaking a midnight sales embargo and of pirated copies already
being distributed for free on the Internet.
"We're a bit nervous. It's like raising a child and you send them out into
the world," said Tim Willits, one of the game's designers.
The $55 sequel typifies the first person shooter genre id pioneered in the
early 1990s with the original "Doom," "Quake" and "Wolfenstein 3D": gamers
run and gun through hordes of monsters or other enemies in three
dimensions.
With each release, the visuals, sound and other effects have improved.
"Doom 3" is by far the most realistic and looks nearly equal to animated
films like "Shrek 2."
Marty Stratton, part of the id crew, has already blasted dozens of
flame-tossing imps, flying skulls and other nightmarish demons from another
dimension. But more keep spawning in flashes of yellow light.
"This is where it really starts getting scary," he says upon entering a new
level of "Doom 3" where massive hell knights lob deadly balls of energy
against a backdrop of shimmering lava pools and torches made of corpses.
"I don't know how many times I've been through hell but it just freaks me
out."
In "Doom 3" you are a marine on a martian outpost that becomes a gateway
to hell after a series of top secret experiments involving ancient alien
artifacts. With shotguns, rocket launchers, lasers and grenades, you alone
must fend off a menagerie of beasts and possessed base workers.
It's a familiar formula that's served the tiny developer well. While some
have decried id's games as overly violent, the company has sold millions
of copies of one gory hit after another.
In turn, the games have spawned legions of loyal fans. By the thousands,
gamers of all ages flock to "QuakeCon," an annual Texas gathering paid for
by id where like-minded players meet and fight each other online.
Along with "Half-Life 2," "Doom 3" is one of the most anticipated games
this year, said Greg Kasavin, executive editor of the review Web site
GameSpot.com.
"It represents the next technological leap by id Software - a developer
that's remained on the forefront of computer graphics and computer game
technology for more than a decade," he said.
Analyst Michael Goodman with the Yankee Group said "Doom 3" could boost the
sagging market for personal computer games. Sales of CD-ROM-based PC games
dropped from $1.4 billion two years ago to an estimated $1 billion this
year, largely due to the growing popularity of consoles like the Xbox and
PlayStation 2, he said.
The success has turned co-owner and technical director John Carmack into
one of the game industry's most revered gurus, renowned for his skill at
creating game "engines," the underlying foundation of a game which makes
everything from graphics to sound possible.
Carmack said there was some internal debate about what the next project
would be after its last game, the online shooter "Quake 3" and the "Team
Arena" expansion pack in 2000.
Eventually they decided to remake Doom using new software tools created by
Carmack.
"We've always been a small company of prima donnas," Carmack, sporting
baggy shorts and a white T-shirt, said as he swiveled his bespectacled gaze
from a flat screen computer monitor glowing with lines of computer code.
"But we've really matured as a development team. Lots of things took longer
than we expected, but we're really pleased with how it all turned out."
Id's sleek offices in a nondescript professional building in suburban
Dallas have been a home away from home for its two dozen employees.
Led by Carmack, they've been in "crunch mode" since January, clocking
80-hour work weeks in a rush to wrap things up.
Dress is casual: Employees stroll the dim hallways wearing shorts and
T-shirts. There's a kitchen stacked with boxes of Krispy-Kreme doughnuts,
bags of beef jerky and a row of arcade machines.
Many workers said an obsessive streak got them through the long hours. Lead
artist Kenneth Scott said he was worn out after working 9 a.m. to 2 a.m.
for months on end, but admitted to suffering from a bit of postpartum
depression when it was finished.
"We're pretty up to our chins in what we do," he said. "You get used to
that groove. Your mind drifts and you feel guilty when you're sitting down
relaxing."
It's only been a few weeks since "Doom 3" was declared done. Already, the
office is abuzz with renewed activity.
With window blinds pulled, programmers and artists are again hunched over
their keyboards, working on an Xbox version of "Doom 3," as well as a new
game. All anyone will say for now is that it will be a completely new game,
not a sequel.
"We're not like a rock band where you take four months off," Stratton said.
"Although, that would be nice."
Another Carmack project, meanwhile, has nothing to do with computer games.
Between his time finishing up the game and developing rockets with his
Armadillo Aerospace company, he and his wife, Anna, are expecting their
first child, Christopher Ryan Carmack, in mid-August.
Microsoft's Nintendo Ambition
Since launching the Xbox , Microsoft has purchased some notable developers
and had serious talks to buy several others. Now it might have its eyes on
a larger prize.
Founder and chairman Bill Gates has expressed interest in buying game giant
Nintendo should the company put itself on the market, reports German
magazine Wirtschafts Woche.
"If Hiroshi Yamauchi calls, he will be directly transferred to me," the
magazine quotes Gates as saying at an unspecified analyst conference.
Yamauchi is the former president of Nintendo and still owns a stake in the
company.
The magazine goes on to paraphrase Gates as saying he would immediately
make an offer if Nintendo shows a readiness to sell itself.
It's a juicy headline - and I have no doubt that it's true. Given the
opportunity, Microsoft would not just jump at the chance to own the company
that created Mario, Zelda and Donkey Kong, it would leap, frothing at the
mouth and sinking its teeth into anything that got in its way. You'd see
Gates and Chief Xbox officer Robbie Bach doing a dance that would put CEO
Steve Balmer's infamous "dance monkey boy" boogie to shame.
Here's the thing, though. Nintendo's not real interested in selling itself.
"It would be a great investment," said Perrin Kaplan, vice president of
marketing and corporate affairs for Nintendo. "We're a very successful
company. But the bad news for Mr. Gates is we're not for sale."
Analysts laughed - literally - when told about the report.
"All I know is since Microsoft announced it was getting in the gaming
business, there have been rumors, but I just can't imagine Nintendo
selling," said Mike Wallace of UBS Securities.
A Microsoft spokesperson would only say ""Microsoft does not comment on
rumors or speculation."
Perhaps a better game of "who's buying who in the game industry today" can
be played with Eidos. The company that Lara Croft built is most definitely
on the market these days - and confirmed earlier this week that it is in
talks with several companies about a possible takeover.
Things are preliminary and may go nowhere. And Eidos won't be making
further comment - but analysts have a couple of guesses about who's at the
table. The chief contenders are UbiSoft, Electronic Arts and Activision.
Eidos is a pretty juicy target, with a number of well-known franchises in
its collection. The best known is the "Tomb Raider" line, which arguably
has been overexposed in recent years, but could be revived if done right.
Less successful franchises, such as "Deus Ex," "Legacy of Kain" and
"Hitman" still have loyal cult followings.
EA has been in a buying mood lately, last week purchasing Criterion, the
developer of the "Burnout" racing games and (more importantly) the creators
of Renderware, perhaps the most popular third-party game engine in the
industry, for $48 million.
"It gives [EA] a key franchise in 'Tomb Raider'," said P.J. McNealy, an
analyst with American Technology Research. "[Other games] 'Hitman' and
'Thief' are in a genre in which they don't compete right now."
UbiSoft is on the rise these days, riding a critical and commercial wave of
successful titles, including "Prince of Persia" and "Splinter Cell". Buying
Eidos would add to its core strengths.
Activision has seen its share prices rise over the past year on the
strength of the "Spider Man 2" game, "Call of Duty" and "Tony Hawk
Underground". Adding a collection of solid franchises to that mix would
poise it for future growth.
Let's not leave Microsoft out of the running, though. After all, Lara Croft
isn't the force of nature she once was, but she'd still be a strong
addition to the line up of games for the next generation of Xbox. And many
of Eidos' titles appeal to a core gaming audience, which Microsoft has
targeted with its console.
It may not be Nintendo, but if Bill & Co. are looking to expand Microsoft's
game development unit, they could do a lot worse.
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE Gaming Online - Online Users Growl & Purr!
"""""""""""""""""""
Classic Gaming Expo Announces Video Gaming Celebrities For 2004 Show
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jayson Hill
CGE Director of Media Relations
(334) 705-0848
media@cgexpo.com
CLASSIC GAMING EXPO ANNOUNCES LARGEST GATHERING OF EARLY VIDEO GAME
INDUSTRY CELEBRITIES IN THE SEVEN YEAR HISTORY OF THE SHOW
Over 50 Of Video Gaming's Brightest Stars Will Meet Fans And
Share Stories At August 21 & 22 Show In San Jose, California
VALLEY STREAM, NEW YORK - August 4, 2004 - It will very likely look like a
wild class reunion as over 50 of the people who helped lay the foundation
for the multi-billion-dollar video game industry gather at the
seventh-annual Classic Gaming Expo (CGE). These gaming pioneers will meet
their fans, greet former colleagues and share their experiences from the
earliest days of video gaming. Included in the stellar lineup are Steve
Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computers; David Crane, Allan Miller and Bob
Whitehead, three of the four founding game designers of Activision; Al
Alcorn, designer of Atari's Pong; Jay Smith, designer of the only
vector-graphics game console, Vectrex; and many more. It is believed that
the August 21 & 22, 2004 show at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center
will mark the largest single gathering of video game industry founders at a
fan event ever.
"We are deeply touched by the outpouring of support for Classic Gaming Expo
from the people who started it all," said John Hardie, co-founder of CGE
Services Corporation. "I and my fellow organizers, Sean Kelly and Joe
Santulli, never dreamed that such a gathering would be possible, but the
people who had the foresight to imagine a new form of entertainment and
make it a reality have also shown they are willing to look back and
preserve the history they made and share it with the fans that so admire
their work."
In the history of Classic Gaming Expo many of the most respected names in
video gaming history have attended the show and given keynote speeches on
their roles in the history of video gaming. Ralph Baer, father of TV video
games, has attended multiple times. Nolan Bushnell, founder of the first
all-video-game company, Atari, made an appearance at CGE in 2003.
Activision's numerous game designers from the first half of the 1980s have
also been regular attendees and supporters of CGE. The list of celebrity
attendees reads like a who's who of the early years of the video game
industry. For a full list of the video gaming celebrities attending CGE
2004 visit the CGE celebrities Web page at: http://cgexpo.com/guests.htm
Classic Gaming Expo 2004 will take place at the San Jose McEnery Convention
Center in San Jose, California, August 21 and 22, 2004 and is open to
anyone with a love of video games. Additional information on attending the
show can be found at CGE's Web site: www.cgexpo.com.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Bloomba E-Mail Program to Include Scheduling
Bloomba, an e-mail program challenging Microsoft Corp.'s Outlook, will be
upgraded with features such as scheduling as it aims to capture more
business users, Stata Laboratories Inc., the program's developer, said on
Monday.
Bloomba has earned a following with search capabilities that allow users
to quickly sift through e-mails and attachments with keywords.
The new version, Bloomba Professional Edition, will allow users to create
and share schedules and synchronize data with Palm Inc.-based handheld
devices.
Schedules can also be shared among Bloomba users without complex
server-based e-mail systems, the company said.
Such features will make Bloomba, which costs $90, more appealing to small-
and medium-sized businesses, said Raymie Stata, chief executive of Stata
Laboratories.
Bloomba's main competitor Outlook is used by hundred of millions of users.
Smaller software developers have built add-ons to Outlook that users get
by default with the program.
Last month, Microsoft bought an add-on called Lookout that allows users to
search e-mail, contacts and other information with keywords.
Google Inc. also offers an online searchable e-mail account called Gmail.
Can-Spam Isn't Doing The Job
Compliance with the Can-Spam Act has fallen to a new low, according to
recent data collected by MX Logic. In July, compliance fell for the first
time to less than 1% - dropping to a measly 0.54% of all unsolicited
commercial mail the company sampled during the month.
MX Logic has been tracking compliance with Can-Spam since the federal law
went into effect in January. Through April, MX Logic's numbers remained
stable, with about 3% of spam messages complying with the law's
requirements, which range from verifiable return addresses to measures
consumers and businesses can use to opt out of mailing lists. In May and
June, however, the number slipped to 1%.
"Now it's been halved," said Steve Ruskin, a senior analyst at MX Logic.
"No one's really sure what's going on, but it's clear that Can-Spam isn't
a threat to spammers. They're just ignoring it."
Although hard-core spammers - the relatively small number who account for
the bulk of the world's spam - were never likely to toe the line, said
Ruskin, it's possible that some spammers who were complying have stopped.
The blame, he said, could be laid on law enforcement, which hasn't been
successful in tracking down on spammers. Some individuals have been
stymied - most recently a Boca Raton, Fla., resident whose assets were
frozen by the courts - but enforcement is the exception rather than the
rule.
A contributor to the poor showing could be due to the ever-expanding
numbers of spammers. "It's possible that the same number are complying now
as in January," said Ruskin, "but that as the number of spammers continues
to grow, that percentage gets watered down."
One of the tools businesses and users are hoping to put into play against
spam is a sender authentication standard that would prevent spammers from
spoofing, or forging, addresses.
This week, the standards-setting Internet Engineering Task Force is holding
meetings to decide, among a raft of other issues, Sender ID, a scheme that
combines Microsoft's proprietary Caller ID for Email idea and Sender Policy
Framework, an extension of the SMTP protocol.
Sender ID and its rivals, such as Yahoo's DomainKeys, aim to slow down spam
by verifying sender addresses, which would prevent spammers from hiding
behind bogus addresses. If they have to use legitimate domains - and buy
their own - spammers would be easier to track.
"We'd like to see some sort of authentication standard go forward," said
Ruskin. "Like everything else, it's not a silver bullet but it could go a
long way toward defeating spam."
The ITEF working group responsible for evaluating Sender ID is expected to
nominate it as an Internet standard this week.
"We're giving it a pretty good chance of passing," said Ruskin, who has a
company representative at the IETF meetings. "The word on the street is
that everyone wants to support [Sender ID], but that some are concerned
about the proprietary licensing that Microsoft wants to put in it. If
someone has to fax Microsoft each time a change is proposed to the
standard, that doesn't go down well with a certain group of people."
Sender ID, or at least a critical mass of some sort of authentication
standard, can't come too soon for Ruskin.
During July, MX Logic's monitoring found that 84% of all E-mail outside
corporate networks was spam, another new record.
With the spam-to-not-spam ratio just 50% only a year ago, Ruskin wonders
where spam will stop. "Sometime next year, spam will hit the 90s," he said.
"You'd like to think that there's some natural equilibrium, but unless
there's a fundamental change to the framework of E-mail, we run the risk
that virtually all mail will be spam."
Mozilla Launches Pre-emptive Strike on Bugs
Mozilla Foundation is hot on the tracks of intruders before they show up.
The organization, which develops and distributes the open-source Mozilla
browser, has formed its Security Bug Bounty Program in an effort to
identify vulnerabilities before hackers have a chance to exploit them.
The Foundation is offering a US$500 reward to users who detect and report
security problems in Mozilla's software. The project has the support of
Linspire, formerly Lindows, which just realized a $20 million cash award
from Microsoft in a settlement over the Windows trademark. Entrepreneur
Mark Shuttleworth - who founded the transaction firm Thawte and later sold
it to VeriSign - is also a supporter.
Security experts say that high-profile vulnerabilities, especially in
Microsoft's Internet Explorer, have placed security on the front burner for
most enterprises and consumers. Microsoft's Windows - which includes the
Explorer browser by default (remember the antitrust rulings?) - occupies
more than 95 percent of the world's personal computers.
Other systems - like Linux and Unix, or the browser developed by Mozilla -
do not sustain the intense attention from hackers the way Microsoft's
products do. But that may change.
Mozilla does not see itself remaining as the domain of Internet geeks. The
Mozilla Foundation's president Mitchell Baker says the organization's
technologies - especially the newest Firefox browser and Thunderbird e-mail
client - are gaining momentum in the enterprise market. Industry experts
say Mozilla has done a good job with the Netscape technology it inherited
in 2003.
Mozilla anticipates getting more attention - not only from businesses, but
also from hackers. "But I don't think it's valuable to simply say that
increased market share means greater vulnerability," said Chris Hoffman,
Mozilla's director of engineering. "There are other factors involved, and
we think the starting point for Mozilla is stronger than Explorer."
Apache, which dominates on servers, has fewer security problems than
Microsoft's ISS, Hoffman pointed out. The key is open source. "Microsoft
has created a much more complex security environment around its software,"
he told NewsFactor. "When it comes to security, Mozilla should follow in
the same footsteps as Apache."
In essence, Mozilla's Security Bug Bounty Program galvanizes the thousands
of users who already are keeping their eyes open for security weaknesses.
If security issues remain a high concern for businesses in the coming
years, Mozilla could find itself grabbing a significant market share after
it releases its much-anticipated Firefox 1.0 browser. No release date has
been set.
New MyDoom Variant Uses Yahoo People Search
Another new version of MyDoom is worming its way through the Internet, and
this variant-like the last one-uses Yahoo as part of its infection routine.
MyDoom.P is similar to most of the other MyDoom variants in that it arrives
via e-mail, with a spoofed sending address and a subject line designed to
make it look like the message is related to one that the recipient sent.
Among the subject lines in the e-mails are "SN: New secure mail," "Secure
delivery," "Re: Extended mail," "Delivery Status (Secure)," "Re: Server
Reply" and "SN: Server Status."
The body of the e-mail contains any of a number of sentences, some of which
refer to the included Zip file. Many of the messages reference security or
refer to the attached file as a "secure Zip file."
Once opened, the executable file copies itself to the Windows system
directory as "winlibs.exe." The executable contains a list of dozens of
common first and surnames that it puts through Yahoo's People Search in an
attempt to find more e-mail addresses to mail itself to, according to a
preliminary analysis of the worm done by the staff of the Internet Storm
Center at The SANS Institute in Bethesda, Md.
MyDoom.O, released last week, used a similar ploy, plugging domain names
into Yahoo, Google, AltaVista and Lycos search engines in an effort to find
valid e-mail addresses. This caused severe slowdowns and periodic outages
at several of the affected sites. As of midafternoon Tuesday, Yahoo's
People Search appeared to be responding normally.
Researchers on Monday discovered a new version of the Gaobot worm, which
spreads through the back doors installed by MyDoom variants, among other
avenues of infection. Gaobot.BAJ connects to an IRC server on port 6667
and waits for instructions from the attacker.
It then begins scanning the local network for machines sharing resources
with the infected PC and tries to copy itself to those machines. Afterward,
it begins scanning for PCs infected with any of the MyDoom worms and
attempts to install itself through the back door these worms place on
infected computers.
Spyware Continues To Proliferate
Spyware continues to plague computer users, according to figures released
Wednesday by Internet provider EarthLink and anti-adware vendor Webroot.
The companies' third joint SpyAudit report noted that although the
incidence of spyware's most dangerous forms - systems monitors such as key
loggers and trojans that can open the machine to hacker hijacking - dipped
slightly from May to June, they nearly doubled from the first to the second
quarters of 2004.
In the first quarter, SpyAudit found some 253,000 pieces of spyware it
categorized as system monitors or trojans, while during the second quarter
the number jumped to approximately 447,000.
So far this year, the pair have scanned approximately 2.1 million systems
and detected an astounding 54.8 million pieces of spyware and adware. The
average number of such programs on each PC is 26.5 - a number that's
remained fairly stable since the first of the year when the companies began
their scans.
Adware, defined by Webroot as any advertising-supported program that can
put pop-ups, pop-unders, and banners on the screen, remains the dominant
form of we-don't-want-it-ware, said the companies. Adware and adware
software's cookies account for 98.8% of all the detected spyware.
"The increased prevalence of adware is concerning," said David Moll,
Webroot's CEO. "Consumers should know that not all adware is harmless or
benign. Some of the most notorious programs in the spyware family are
classified as adware."
As proof, EarthLink and Webroot put the spotlight on CoolWebSearch, a
particularly virulent form of adware and one of the top adware threats on
the Web. Webroot has spotted and written signatures for nearly 100 CWS
variations.
"CoolWebSearch is a nasty example of adware that hijacks home pages and Web
searches, triggers a crippling amount of pop-ups, and changes a user's
browser settings," said Moll. Its most common use is to usurp a user's
browser home page and direct him or her to a paying client's site instead.
Other variations add porn links to Internet Explorer's Favorites list and
add a large number of files to the infected system, reducing overall
browsing performance.
EarthLink provides a free spyware scanning tool on its Web site, as does
Webroot.
Warnings Sent to File-Sharing Companies
Attorneys general from 45 states sent letters to seven companies that offer
online file-sharing software, hinting at possible legal consequences if the
networks don't better inform computer users about potential copyright
violations from sharing files.
But a legal expert questioned how file sharing might break state laws.
The correspondence Thursday signals the states' willingness to go after the
purveyors of Kazaa, Morpheus and other similar peer-to-peer software, which
entertainment companies contend are profiting from the unauthorized
distribution of songs, movies and software by users of their programs.
The letter was signed by attorneys general from all but five states -
Alaska, Kansas, Nebraska, New Hampshire and Wyoming - the District of
Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The attorneys general ask the companies to improve how they inform those
who use their software about potential legal and security risks associated
with file-sharing, which include being sued for copyright infringement,
identity theft, and unwittingly being exposed to pornography, computer
viruses and spyware.
The companies are also urged to develop better filters for pornography, but
not to make any changes to their software, such as adding encryption
features to hide users' identity.
"Encryption only reinforces the perception that P2P technology is being
used primarily for illegal ends," the letter says. "Accordingly, we would
ask you to refrain from making design changes to your software that prevent
law enforcement in our states from investigating and enforcing the law."
The letter stops short of spelling out consequences if the companies don't
heed the requests, but it includes references to past legal action taken
by the states against suspected spammers.
It's unclear what legal action based on state law is open to the attorneys
general.
Efforts to use federal copyright laws to shutter the current crop of
file-sharing software distributors have stalled since the original
file-sharing network, Napster, was forced to close down in 2001.
But states can only enforce copyright violations when it applies to sound
recordings made before 1972, said Fred von Lohmann, senior intellectual
property attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco.
"I'm not aware of any state law that file-sharing violates," von Lohmann
said. "This letter is clearly an exercise of political clout on the part
of the entertainment industry."
Letters were sent to the companies behind Kazaa, Morpheus, Grokster, Bear
Share, Blubster, MetaMachine/EDonkey 2000 and Lime Wire, as well as two of
the so-called P2P industry's trade associations.
Adam Eisgrau, executive director of P2P United, a trade group that
represents several of the firms, questioned the jurisdiction of the
attorneys general.
In a statement, Lime Wire LLC in New York said it would provide additional
warnings to its users "as appropriate," but rejected the suggestion to add
filters or remove encryption.
"Asking us not to use encryption is incredibly shortsighted when there are
clear legitimate corporate and public uses for a private network," said
Greg Bildson, Lime Wire's chief operating officer.
Lycos Sold to Korean Portal Company
A Korean Internet company is buying Lycos Inc. and its network of Web sites
for $105 million.
Terra Networks SA said on Monday that is it selling the U.S.-based portal
operator to Daum Communications Corp., based in Seoul, South Korea,
following a competitive process led by investment bank Lehman Brothers Inc.
As previously reported, Terra Networks earlier this year indicated that it
was considering alternatives for Lycos.
Terra Networks, based in Madrid and part of telecommunications company
Telef¢nica SA, had bought Lycos in 2000 for $12.5 billion, calling the
combined company Terra Lycos.
Lycos' U.S. operations are based in Waltham, Mass., and include such sites
as Wired News, Tripod.com, HotBot.com and Angelfire.com.
Terra Networks said it will retain Terra Networks USA, which operates a
portal for Spanish speakers in the United States, and its stake in Lycos
Europe. Lycos will transfer those assets, valued at $435 million, prior to
Daum's acquisition.
In a statement, Terra Networks said the sale of the company's strategy of
"strengthening its presence in geographical areas in which the Telef¢nica
Group has significant operations and in the Spanish and Portuguese speaking
market."
The sale of Lycos is subject to the approval of U.S. regulators.
Online Scams Pose as Kerry Campaign Fund-Raisers
Scam artists posing as fund-raisers for Democratic presidential nominee
John Kerry are trying to trick Internet users into sending them money, an
Internet security firm said on Tuesday.
The Kerry campaign said it had asked the Justice Department to investigate.
Two separate mass e-mail "spam" campaigns were uncovered that ask users to
contribute to Kerry's presidential bid, but direct the money to Web sites
in India and Texas that are not affiliated with the campaign, said the
security firm SurfControl, which makes Internet content filters.
Such "phishing" scams will likely become more commonplace as the
presidential campaign heats up, SurfControl vice president Susan Larson
said in a news release.
"Phishers and other scam artists are masters of leveraging timely events
to exploit the unwary," Larson said.
Kerry campaign spokesman Phil Singer said the campaign was aware of the
situation and had asked the Justice Department to investigate.
Kerry's campaign is no longer accepting donations, after receiving the
Democratic nomination last week, so any e-mail money solicitations
purporting to come from the campaign would not be legitimate.
Both Kerry and President Bush, the Republican candidate, have said they
will rely on public money rather than private funds after accepting their
party's nominations.
A Kerry spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
Both Kerry scams were dated August 1 but the Web sites behind them were no
longer operational, SurfControl said.
Online records show that one of the Web sites, www.johnkerry-edwards.org,
is registered to a woman in New Braunfels, Texas. A call to the listed
phone number was not immediately returned.
The other Web site, www.yahoogoogle.biz, is registered in Jaipur, India. No
phone number was provided.
The official Kerry Web site is www.johnkerry.com.
Phishing incidents have become increasingly common over the past year as
scam artists pose as banks and online businesses in attempts to collect
bank-account numbers, credit-card numbers and other sensitive personal
information.
June saw 1,422 new incidents, up from 176 in January, according to the
Anti-Phishing Working Group, a financial-services industry task force.
Most phishing Web sites were online for less than three days as fraud
perpetrators attempted to stay one step ahead of law enforcers, the group
said.
Yahoo Unveils New Local Search Engine
Internet giant Yahoo Inc. is unveiling a new search site that promises to
provide a more precise guide to neighborhood businesses, making the latest
in a series of attempts to improve the World Wide Web's focus on local
information.
Sunnyvale-based Yahoo is touting the site, http://local.yahoo.com, as a
major leap ahead in an industrywide effort to fine tune online search
engines so they do a better job finding things closer to home.
"We think this is a first product that crystallizes the power of local
search," said Paul Levine, who directs Yahoo's push into local search.
Yahoo launched the site late Monday on a test basis, meaning the company
still might revise some features based on user feedback. Reflecting the
experimental nature of the site, Yahoo initially isn't linking to the local
search engine from its main Web site.
The local search site represents another bit of one-upmanship in Yahoo's
intensifying rivalry with Mountain View-based Google, which introduced a
similar product in March.
Several other online search engines also have been zeroing in on local
search results, hoping to cash in on the lucrative small business
advertising market.
Verizon Communications souped up the local search results of its
SuperPages.com site earlier this year and Ask Jeeves Inc. on Tuesday
planned to announce a partnership with CitySearch in a bid to improve the
quality of local search results delivered on ask.com.
Hospitals Move Toward Paperless Age
Hospitals are trading their once-scattered medical charts, file folders,
X-rays and other documents for a unified electronic records system
accessible with a few keystrokes.
Federal officials who are trying to convince more hospital executives to go
"paperless" say electronic records can make hospitals more efficient,
reduce medical errors and lower health-care costs.
The costs of the transition can be high, and many physicians are also
unwilling to trade the ease of jotting down paperbound notations of their
patients' statuses for a system that requires them to type the same
information into a computer.
But concerns aside, digital records are a leap ahead for records system
rooted in cumbersome 19th century filing systems.
With no patient chart in sight, Dr. Sheila Gamache strides into Thom
Kolby's hospital room to check on him a day after the 54-year-old arrived
ashen-faced and perilously close to death with a clogged artery starving
his heart of oxygen.
Rather than flipping through a clipboard thick with pages of notations and
test results, Gamache gets up to speed on Kolby's condition simply by
logging onto a wireless notepad she carries on her daily rounds at the
Indiana Heart Hospital.
The Indiana Heart Hospital's year-old digital records system allows
Gamache, a cardiologist, to show Kolby an X-ray movie of his beating heart
just after he was admitted the day before with a clogged artery and in
excruciating pain.
"Do you see that right there?" she tells Kolby gravely, pointing to the
looped movie of the blockage displayed on a flat-screen computer in his
room. "I'm not kidding, they have a name for these and they're called
widow-makers."
Kolby, of New Palestine, Ind., watches the digital movie quietly with his
sons Tyler, 14, and Caleb, 12, then observes, "That must have been the
pain I was feeling." He tells Gamache he's feeling wonderful and is glad
to be alive a day after a surgeon reopened the blocked artery by inserting
a stent.
After the checkup, Gamache sits down at a computer outside Kolby's room -
one of 650 spread across the 88-bed hospital - to enter notes and order
changes in his blood-thinning medication.
And all of it without the typical paper trail filled with scrawled
physician handwriting.
Despite its digital records system, which cost $15 million to implement,
the hospital is not fully paperless. It still generates paper so that it
can interface with the majority of the medical community that remains
burdened with paper-filled records rooms.
To cut that paper load and meet President Bush's goal of making sure most
Americans have computerized medical records available within 10 years, the
federal government is trying to move things along.
On July 21, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson outlined a
plan that sets technology standards and provides financial incentives for
doctors and hospitals to invest in health care information technology.
David J. Brailer, the national coordinator for health information
technology appointed by President Bush in May, said cost has been one
barrier. He said it can cost tens of millions of dollars for a large
hospital, or network of hospitals, to make the change. Getting physicians,
nurses and medical technicians to abandon years of routine for a new system
is another obstacle.
"We don't just automate the old systems - we change the way the work is
done. And sometimes there's resistance to change," Brailer said. Younger
physicians are less apt to object.
The software must, of course, be reliable and handled with care. A new
system at a Department of Veterans Affairs' hospital in Tampa, Fla., was
plagued by troubles that delayed surgeries and sparked congressional
probes. The VA said last week that it is scrapping that system.
Nearly all hospitals do have electronic billing, but adoption of electronic
health records has been slow. Just 13 percent of hospitals and 28 percent
of physicians' practices had some level of electronic health record systems
in 2002, according to HHS.
Yet the change appears to carry great benefits.
According to a recent analysis by the Institute of Medicine, the routine
use of electronic records could help reduce the tens of thousands of deaths
and injuries caused by medical mistakes every year.
Brailer said paperless systems also cut administrative costs by eliminating
the need to produce, maintain and store enormous numbers of paper files.
Although it takes doctors longer to enter their patient observations on a
computer instead of writing them down, he said digital records save time in
the long term.
Tapping into this new data stream could advance even loftier goals.
The Mayo Clinic and IBM Corp., for example, are collaborating on a project
enlisting IBM's powerful supercomputers to analyze electronic medical
records and quickly assess patients' responses to new treatments for cancer
or other diseases.
The project began when the partners integrated millions of patient records
once stored in several incompatible formats into a standard system. Those
records, when combined with data such as the vast body of information
emerging from analysis of the human genome, could help doctors identify
disease causes and prevention, Dr. Hugh Smith, chairman of the Mayo Clinic
Board of Governors, said in a statement.
One drawback that electronic records systems pose for hospitals, however,
is that they can reduce hospital revenue, Brailer said. That's because
more efficient systems eliminate duplicated treatments, shorten hospital
stays and get patients out of intensive care units faster.
"This is an industry that's not necessary paid on the basis of efficiency.
It's paid on the basis of volume," Brailer said.
Evanston Northwestern Healthcare spent about $30 million to get its three
Chicago-area hospitals switched to a full electronic records system that
about 6,200 employees began using last year.
Mark R. Neaman, the company's president and chief executive office, said
the goal is about $10 million in savings in the first year, largely by
reducing the data-collection process.
Eliminating the time-consuming dictation and transcription process of
physicians' patient observations has saved $500,000 alone so far, he said.
Neaman said turnaround times for test results have fallen significantly at
the three hospitals, which have about 50,000 inpatient admissions and
100,000 emergency room visits annually. Getting mammogram results, for
example, now take about a day, not days or weeks.
"If you're a patient waiting for a crucial test result, an hour can seem
like a day," he said.
The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit coalition of business and other groups, is
one of several organizations working to encourage hospitals to move to
computerized records systems.
Suzanne Delbanco, the Washington-based group's chief executive officer,
said the biggest impetus for change may come from baby boomers who are less
willing than their parents to wait around for test results demanding more
efficient medical care.
"As patients begin to recognize that hospitals are largely in the dark
ages, they will begin to demand that they get the best care possible, which
is in part dependent on hospitals using electronic records," she said.
Web Addiction Gets Finnish Conscripts Out of Army
A number of Finnish conscripts have been excused their full term of
military service because they are addicted to the Internet, the Finnish
Defense
Forces said on Tuesday.
Doctors have found the young men miss their computers too much to cope with
their compulsory six months in the forces.
"For people who play (Internet) games all night and don't have any friends,
don't have any hobbies, to come into the army is a very big shock," said
Commander-Captain Jyrki Kivela at the military conscription unit.
"Some of (the conscripts) go to the doctor and say they can't stay.
Sometimes, the doctors have said they have an Internet addiction," Kivela
said.
There are no official figures for the Internet addict dropout rate.
"They get sent home for three years and after that they have to come back
and we ask if they are OK ... they will have had time to grow up," Kivela
said.
Finland called up 26,500 men in 2003, nine percent of whom were relieved of
duty for medical reasons.
However, the Internet drop-outs have not dented national pride in "sisu,"
a Finnish quality of being tough and resilient.
"We are very proud of our Finnish men. Eight-two percent of all Finnish men
manage their whole military service," Kivela said.
=~=~=~=
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