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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 07 Issue 38
Volume 7, Issue 38 Atari Online News, Etc. September 16, 2005
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2005
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:
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=~=~=~=
A-ONE #0738 09/16/05
~ China Bust Explained! ~ People Are Talking! ~ Macworld Cancelled!
~ Yahoo E-mail Upgrade! ~ Google's Blog Search! ~ Lexmark Adds Twist!
~ Asia Tackles Addiction ~ One-handed Controller! ~ Xbox 360 Next Month
-* Internet Tax Plan Reemerges! *-
-* Employees Ignore Security Risks! *-
-* Fraud Reveals Workings of Internet Theft! *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
It's been a very strange week. And, I'm not sure how to explain it. The
week started off so weirdly, that I took advantage of an offer to play some
golf midway through the week, down in Maine. It was a terrific diversion.
I also had some interesting issues with my faithful Falcon030. I've been
running it for many years now, but lately, it's been acting up. Part of the
problem has been hardware (the internal hard drive died ages ago and the
internal floppy drive has been acting up), but the other problem has been
the fact that a variety of floppy disks that I use have been getting
corrupted - probably due to age. Many of the programs that I've been using
have been either AUTO folder programs, or accessories. Well, finally, the
Warp9 boot-up program was failing to load. Atari computers are slow to
begin with, but after being used to running fast PCs all day long, a
Warp9-less Falcon seems unbearably slow. It took me three days to finally
get my Falcon to boot with Warp9 intact! All of the sudden, the Falcon is a
speed demon again! Thankfully. I was getting nervous that my Atari
machines were finally showing their age by more than just years. But at the
moment, all is well with the world again. Oh, that internal drive that's
dead - I just bypass it and boot from a floppy configuration and take
advantage of a couple of external drives connected to the machine. Works
effectively enough for my needs. So, a good friend and tool remains
faithful for a bit longer. Long live Atari machines!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
joe@atarinews.org
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. Another week has come and gone, and
Mother Nature is again showing us that she's in control. Hurricane
Ophelia is just sitting off the coast, dumping rain upon North Carolina
like there's no tomorrow.
But of course there will be a tomorrow, and things will slowly return to
normal for most of us. But beyond all that we can do, Mother Nature
will settle back and do whatever she wants to do regardless of our
wishes.
It's always annoyed me that one of the remarks that Mark Twain is most
famous for is that "Everyone complains about the weather, but no one
does anything about it". Yes, I understand that his intent was a gentle
mocking of the human propensity for self-importance, but I've always
felt that it left something un-said.
We have, of course, done something about it, although it's not exactly
what Mr. Clemens had in mind. And while some still doubt the extent if
not the fact of our handiwork, the scientific community is solidly
behind the idea that we are indeed having an effect on our environment.
I wonder what Twain would have thought of some of the arguments going on
around us today. Although he presented the persona of a mild mannered
country boy, he actually had a keen, probing mind, and was
scientifically inclined. I can imagine him sitting in the parlor of his
Hartford, Connecticut home (a handful of minutes from where I now sit),
discussing everything from global warming to man's inhumanity to man.
I can't swear to this, but I'll bet that one could go through his
collected works and quotes and piece together an opinion on just about
anything that's going on currently, from global warming to politics to
the space program. Of course, if TWO people did it, I'm also betting
that they could come up with two different viewpoints on just about
everything. And y'know what? I'd also be willing to bet that the old
guy would have something to say about THAT too.
Well, let's get on with the hints, tips, news and info from the UseNet.
From the comp.sys.atari.st NewsGroup
====================================
David Leaver asks for assistance with his Ethernet setup:
"My Falcon is running Magic 6.2 and MagicNet. I have one of Elmar
Hilgart's cartridge-port ethernet adaptors which, with Vassilis's
RTL8012.MIF driver, works nicely with an ADSL router/modem in 68030
mode.
However, although I have had no other problems with the CT63 (touch
wood), this combination does not work in 68060 mode. Some things seem
to trying to happen, in that the activity light on the adaptor
flashes, but I can't establish any communication. I can't even ping
the router.
My '060 is the full version, so I hope that the note in CT60/63
ST-Guide file about the cartridge port does not apply.
As I have put my hand up for an EtherNAT, getting this working may be
a waste of time but I'd still like to try.
Any bright ideas?
By the way, the above set-up works nicely with my ST, MSTe and TT."
Djuro Pucaric tells David:
"Well, there was a special 060 driver written for STiNG and ethernec so
this probably means that there should be special 060 driver for this
setup..."
Robert Schaffner adds:
"I used the same interface on CT2 Falcon.
If i got the interface new, it doesn't work in CT2 mode.
Elmar modified the driver to the faster (CT2) rom port timing.
With the modified driver the interface works great on CT2 falcon.
I think you had the same problem."
Jean-Luc Ceccoli asks for help with partitioning a hard disk:
"I've come into trouble trying to partition many IDE drives from 15 to
20 GB on both my CT60'ed Falcons and my C-Lab MK-I one.
I couldn't succeed so far.
So, could someone (owning CT60 if possible) please try the following :
1- prepare a boot floppy with HD-Driver 8(.16),
2- attach at least a 15 GB IDE drive,
3- boot from floppy,
4- set at least 16 partitions of 8 MB each,
5- try to install the driver,
6- try to access the partition menu again,
7- return here and tell us... "
Ronald Hall tells Jean-Luc:
"I've got an 80 gig IDE Maxtor hard drive on my Falcon. I'm using v8.15
of HDDriver. I don't have it put back together yet, so what I say goes a
bit from memory.
IIRC, I used partitions C through P, which is about 14 partitions. I
made them almost the maximum limit under TOS 4.92. I believe it was
something like 950 megs each. (isn't 1 gig the limit?).
This worked. However, again - if I recall correctly, at some point when
I was running HDDriver to set everything up, I had to reboot at least
once for everything to show up correctly."
Unfortunately, as I mentioned in the previous post, I don't have my
Falcon back together yet to try what you want. What is the problem you
are seeing/having?"
Dr. Uwe Seimet, author of HDDriver, explains about the rebooting:
"Rebooting is required because otherwise TOS cannot access the
additional partitions, i.e. those that were not present before
partitioning.
Rebooting is also required when the maximum partition size is bigger
than it was before. This in particular happens when the number of
partitions is reduced, which can result in some partitions having
bigger logical sector sizes than before. One could say that in general
rebooting is required after partitioning."
Kenneth Medin asks about encoding MP3 and OGG files with his TT and
AniPlayer:
"I'm having problems with latest Aniplayer 2.22 on my TT running Magic
6.20 related to the various SLB files.
To encode mp3's I need LAME_ENC.SLB but if I try the (only available)
68060 version I get an "68000 exception nr -69" and Aniplayer exits.
The doc's says:
Requirements:
- 68020 or higher
- FPU or 68060
- MiNT 1.15.3 or MagiC 6 or MetaDOS 2.74.
so I should be fine with my 68030 with fpu but it simply doesn't work at
all!
However... if I use the older Aniplayer 2.20 LAME_ENC.SLB it's OK! Both
the 68060 and 68881 versions work (68881 slightly faster).
The 2.22 version is compiled with Gcc 3.3 and 2.20 with Gcc 2.95.2.
It's also interesting that the same happens with AVCODEC.SLB when
encoding mp2: 68020 (Gcc 2.95.2) is OK but 68060 (Gcc 3.3) exits with
the same error -69. Here both versions are present in the aniplayer 2.22
package!
So far by mixing versions I'm able to write both mp2 and mp3.
To encode Ogg files VORB_ENC.SLB is used but unfortunately there is only
a 68060 (Gcc 3.3) available in 2.22 and non at all in the 2.20 package.
This version also exits with error -69, so at the moment I'm unable to
encode Ogg files with Aniplayer.
Anyone with better luck on either TT or 68030 Falcon??"
Martin Tarenskeen tells Kenneth:
"Interesting test. Have you contacted the author about this issue ?
I might have a similar problem on my Falcon030/CT2B+68882. I'll try
using the codecs compiled with gcc 2.95.2 and see if this fixes the
problems I'm currently having."
Kenneth tells Martin:
"Just did [contact the author].
But some of the SLB README's clearly state:
"compiled with Gcc 3.3 with -m68060 and libm2060"
and older ones:
"compiled with Gcc 2.95.2 with -m68020-60"
so it looks like 68030 support got dropped in the last 2.22 version.
It's really a slow process to encode to mp3 and ogg files. About 100
minutes to get a one minute file but still useful if you are not in a
hurry...
They say "slow food" is good for your stomach so maybe "slow computing"
is good for your brain!
I have now managed to get both mp3 and ogg encoding working by combining
SLB's from Aniplayer 2.20 (LAME_ENC.SLB), 2.21 (VORB_ENC.SLB) and 2.22
(AVCODEC.SLB).
The older versions can be found at:
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/didierm/files/anipl220.zip
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/didierm/files/anipl221.zip
This can definitely be confusing to anyone as you also have several
different SLB versions in all three Aniplayer versions..."
Luis Gomes asks about changing floppy drives:
"Anyone have a plan how to transform a floppy drive from TEAC ID1 into
ID0 with the solder links, so I can use it on my ste?"
Mark Bedingfield asks Luis:
"What model? Usually with the TEAC there are solder pads on the
underside of the drive. They are listed as ID0 and ID1. Move the SM
resistor 90 degrees. It is only a wire (0 ohm resistor) bridge, so if
you want you can bridge it with solder."
The conversation hasn't played itself out yet, but I figured the
information that Mark provided might help someone else too, so we'll
see what happens next week.
Well folks, that's it for this week. Tune in again next week, same time,
same station, and be ready to listen to what they are saying when...
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - Xbox 360 in November!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Tourneys Draw Big Sponsors!
Asia Tackles Addiction!
And much more!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Microsoft To Ship Xbox 360 in November in U.S.
Microsoft Corp. said on Thursday its next-generation Xbox 360 video game
console would go on sale in North America on November 22, just before the
U.S. Thanksgiving holiday kicks off the year-end shopping season, followed
by European and Japanese debuts over the next three weeks.
The software giant aims to take the lead in the $25 billion video game
market from Sony Corp., which was first to market with a current generation
console. Sony's PlayStation 3 will trail the Xbox 360, debuting in the
spring.
Microsoft said the sleek, concave, white Xbox 360, which boasts
high-resolution graphics and wireless controllers, would be released on
December 2 in Europe and December 10 in Japan, the world's second-largest
game market.
While Xbox competes almost evenly with Sony's PlayStation 2 in the United
States, in Japan it runs a distant third behind Sony and Nintendo Co.'s
GameCube.
Microsoft had sold 470,624 Xboxes in Japan as of August. This compares with
Sony's 18.14 million cumulative PS2 sales, and Nintendo's 3.8 million
GameCube unit sales, according to Famitsu, Japan's leading game magazine.
"The Japanese market is the most important key for the Xbox's global
strategy. Microsoft is committing fully to its success in Japan,"
Yoshihiro Maruyama, general manager of the Xbox Division in Japan, told a
press conference.
"We will continue to make as much effort as we can to make the Xbox 360
successful in Japan," he said.
Seven games, including "Dead or Alive 4" from Tecmo Ltd., would be
available at the Japan launch and 20 titles would be ready by the end of
January 2006, Maruyama said.
Microsoft, which plans to sell separate high-end and "Core System" Xbox 360
bundles in the United States and Europe, will launch in Japan with just a
premium Xbox 360 package - priced at 37,900 yen compared with 34,800 yen
for the current Xbox and 39,800 yen for Sony's PS2 when it was launched.
The high-end package includes the new console, a wireless controller and
other accessories as well as a detachable hard drive needed to play certain
game titles written for the original Xbox and sophisticated games. It will
cost around $400 in the United States, $100 more than the Xbox 360 Core
System.
But Microsoft could cut consumer prices on that detachable hard-drive -
where prices have been dropping rapidly - if Sony's PS3 price comes in
lower than the high-end Xbox 360.
Asked about the reason for launching only premium packages in Japan,
Maruyama said Japanese gamers tended to have broadband connections, and
more content requiring a hard drive would likely be available in the
country than other regions.
But he did not rule out the possibility of introducing the cheaper Core
System in Japan in the coming years.
The video game industry has become a mainstream entertainment industry
rivaling Hollywood in its ability to create franchises.
First-day sales of blockbuster video games like Microsoft's "Halo 2" also
regularly top movie opening-day ticket sales, although revenue drops off
much faster.
Microsoft has not said how many Xbox 360 units it will ship, but it is
aiming to break even on the hardware in the first year or two.
"We will wind up cost-reducing the product every year," Todd Holmdahl,
corporate vice president of the Xbox product group, said in a recent
interview.
Wedbush Morgan Securities video game analyst Michael Pachter projected
Microsoft would have at least 2 million units ready for sale in the United
States and Europe.
"In the U.S. they'll sell out at 1.5 million right away," Pachter said.
"They won't last a week."
He expected 500,000-700,000 consoles ready in Europe. He had no estimates
for Japan.
Microsoft vowed it would not be second this time around and plans to have
15 to 20 games ready at launch, with 25 to 40 ready by the end of 2005,
Xbox chief Robbie Bach told the Reuters Technology and Telecoms Summit on
Wednesday.
Analysts say that in Japan, Microsoft would do well to match current
second-place console maker Nintendo, whose next-generation Revolution
console is due in 2006.
Maruyama said a lack of compelling games was behind the sluggish sales of
the current Xbox in Japan and that the key to the success of the
next-generation console was improving the game lineup. He added that more
than 100 titles were under development with most due to be available by the
end of 2006.
Videogame Tourneys Draw Big-Time Sponsors
Is "frags per round" going to be the batting average of the 21st century?
Professional computer gamers certainly hope so.
Players of Counter Strike, a popular title in competition at the U.S.
finals of the World Cyber Games last week, count their prowess in how many
enemies they can shoot to pieces, or "fragment," in a frantic two-minute
round of virtual gunplay.
Time and demographics, boosters say, argue for videogame tourneys becoming
the next big spectator sport in the United States, where more than 108
million Americans now play computer games, according to the Yankee Group.
They're already garnering big-name sponsors.
"Kids in the early 1900s were playing baseball in dirt fields. Kids today
are playing computer games" says Jason Lake, an Atlanta real-estate lawyer
who owns two teams of pro gamers, totaling fourteen players, some of whom
did battle last week.
For a non-gamer, the competition at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom can't
have looked too exciting.
Pale young men crowded around computers on the floor as the
cyberspace-based action unfolded on big-screen displays overhead,
accompanied by a play-by-play announcer rattling off things like "Schwan's
gonna be hiding behind a big box there, waiting for them to come up, and
it's 7-0 for the counterterrorists on this map."
Only about 4,000 spectators showed up at the Hammerstein, organizers said,
but more than 63,000 followed the games live on the Web.
Even more significantly, more than a million people around the world have
tried to qualify for the final, to be held in Singapore in November. That's
mostly a sign of the acceptance that computer gaming (or e-sports, as
promoters like to call it) has gained in the rest of the world.
Just 40,000 of that million were Americans.
In South Korea, where the World Cyber Games is based, three cable channels
broadcast competitive gaming around the clock and some of the country's
approximately 200 professional gamers bask in rock star-like fame.
In the United States, "there are rock stars already, but the mass market
doesn't know about them," says Robert Krakoff, president Razer Group, which
makes computer mice and is a major sponsor of the games, along with Intel
Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co.
Krakoff, along with many in the industry, believes the United States will
soon catch up to Korea because traditional advertising is losing much of
its effectiveness at reaching young men.
"Corporations are dropping hundreds of millions of dollars on a TV ad, and
kids don't even watch TV," says Lake, the team owner. "They're missing this
demographic."
There are signs that the corporate world is waking up: last week, McNeil
Consumer & Specialty Pharmaceuticals, the Johnson & Johnson subsidiary
that makes Tylenol, announced it was sponsoring Ouch!, a six-man Counter
Strike team.
It is believed to be the first time a non-computer company has sponsored a
U.S. videogame team.
Trevor Schmidt, who runs Gotfrag.com, notes that Burger King sponsors games
in Germany. He thinks the United States is six to eight months away from
seeing major videogame sponsorship deals by consumer-goods companies.
For all the optimism, several hurdles must be overcome if e-sports are to
become a mass phenomenon. For one, the violent game content can be
off-putting both to spectators and advertisers.
To the gamers themselves, the mayhem on the computer screen doesn't count
as real violence. Apart from the occasional case of wrist-wracking carpal
tunnel syndrome, no one gets hurt.
"It's not really even looked at as violent or shooting, it's more about
teamwork, like soccer or football," says Lake.
Another hurdle is the very technology that enables these games.
Manufacturers keep putting out new games and game consoles, obsoleting the
old.
"You have to relearn every year," says Matija Biljeskovic, who competes in
pixelated FIFA Soccer. "The way the players recover the ball, the timings,
it all changes."
Lastly, watching the games isn't necessarily very enjoyable for someone who
hasn't played that particular game.
"In older generations ... I don't think this is ever going to have
mainstream appeal," says Lake.
For now, video gaming is not a road to riches for the players.
McNeil would not say how much it is paying Ouch!, but Schmidt estimates the
average player on a successful team makes $30,000 to $40,000 a year, mostly
from sponsorships and excluding prize money.
Perhaps 50 gamers in the United States are at that level.
Biljeskovic doesn't make that much, since his game doesn't appeal to U.S.
sponsors. If his existence is any measure, the life of a semipro video
gamer doesn't quite match that of a pro baseball player or rock star in
glamour.
The 21-year-old studies electrical engineering at Northern Illinois
University and is a single father. He practices after he puts his
three-year-old daughter to bed at 9 p.m.
When Biljeskovic tells women that he's a serious video gamer, they're not
necessarily excited. But then he tells them that gaming competitions have
taken him to Switzerland, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
"They go 'Oh wow, that's awesome!' And of course they ask me to take them
with me to Switzerland," he says.
Biljeskovic went on last week to win the U.S. final in FIFA Soccer, which
means he'll be part of Team USA in Singapore in November.
Burnout Revenge in Stores Now For Xbox and Playstation 2
Electronic Arts announced that Burnout Revenge is now available at North
American retailers for the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system and
Xbox video game system from Microsoft. The game is rated E10+ by the ESRB
and carries an MSRP of $49.95.
The sequel to one of most acclaimed games of 2004, Burnout Revenge straps
gamers into the fastest, most dangerous racer on the road. Built for
unprecedented destruction, Burnout Revenge challenges gamers to exact their
revenge on rush hour traffic, vindictive rival racers and anything else
that gets between them and the finish line.
Burnout Revenge has already garnered critical praise, including a perfect
score from Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine (5 of 5) and the second
highest score ever from Official Xbox Magazine (9.8 of 10). The game was
also awarded the Game Critics Award for Best Racing Game at E3 2005.
"Burnout Revenge is testament to the wealth of talent at Criterion," said
Paul Lee, President of EA Studios. "The studio continues to deliver
genre-defining games that raise the bar for gameplay, technology and
creativity."
In addition to tricked out new race, crash and road rage modes, Burnout
Revenge takes the series' blistering speed and spectacular destruction to
dizzying new heights with an all-new traffic attack mode, challenging
gamers to battle the clock and unleash their frustrations on rush hour
traffic.
Burnout Revenge was developed by Criterion Software Limited in Guildford,
UK. The studio is also developing the explosive first-person shooter BLACK,
slated for release in February 2006 on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox.
For more information about Burnout Revenge, please visit
http://burnout.ea.com
Nintendo Unveils Next-generation Game Controller
Nintendo Co. Ltd. surprised the game industry on Friday with an
unconventional one-handed controller for its next-generation "Revolution"
console that aims to draw in new players.
Motion detector sensors in the controller, which resembles a TV remote,
allows players to control the game by wielding it like a sword, waving it
like a conductor's baton, or swinging it like a baseball bat depending on
the game, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said in a keynote session at the
Tokyo Game Show.
"It's designed like a TV remote because that's familiar to everyone
including those who are intimidated by a two-handed controller," said
Iwata. "Its intuitive form allows both experienced and new gamers to stand
on the same starting line."
Nintendo, known for game characters such as Mario, Donkey Kong and Pokemon,
unveiled its console, code-named "Revolution," in May, and said it would
launch in 2006. The console will give users access to more than 20 years of
games from past Nintendo consoles.
The company had kept its controller under careful wraps, fearing its rivals
would copy its idea.
"Revolution" will be competing with Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360, which will
launch in November, and Sony Corp.'s Playstation 3, expected to launch next
spring.
Nintendo dominates the $25 billion portable game industry, but its current
GameCube console lags far behind market leader Sony's current generation
Playstation 2.
Nintendo's new controller is mainly operated by sensor, which it calls "a
direct pointing device" even though it has a control pad and buttons. It
also has an expansion to plug in a joystick-like second device.
"It's not a gimmick, and it's different," said Tokyo-based KBC Securities
analyst Hiroshi Kamide. "It should get people interested," he said,
although he added that he'd like to see the device in action in games.
Iwata said its "Revolution" console and controller was designed to increase
the gaming market by drawing in new users across all ages who might be
scared off by today's complex and fast action games.
"Our mission is to revive the gaming industry by increasing our user base,"
said Iwata. "If we can't do that, we might as well stand back and watch the
market die off."
Iwata also said he hoped "Revolution" would give small developers an
opportunity to create games for a next-generation console without the
multi-million dollar budgets and the years of development time required
for today's top titles.
"Small developers can compete on creativity not on scale or staff size....
Nintendo is willing to help bring these ideas to life," Iwata said.
Iwata said he was looking forward to seeing how developers will use the
pointer, which could be used for both quick action or slow, precise motion.
A Nintendo video during the keynote even showed one player using the
controller as a dentists' drill.
Asia Tackles Online Game Addiction
Warning: online game playing can be hazardous to health.
So far, such a warning - usually reserved for addictive products like
cigarettes and liquor - has yet to appear on the growing stable of online
game titles rapidly gaining popularity in Asia.
But that could soon change, as the industry's rapid growth gives rise to a
new generation of addicts, like the South Korean man who died of heart
failure after playing a game called "StarCraft" for 50 hours at an Internet
cafe.
The 28-year-old Korean had quit his job to spend more time playing games,
and left his seat only to go to the toilet and take brief naps, according
to media reports.
Analysts estimate 1-2 percent of South Korea's online gamers suffer from
addiction. The government has designed clinics to help cure addicts, and is
talking with developers about creating advisory patches to alert gamers to
the dangers of heavy play.
Hanbit Soft, operator of StarCraft, is also considering opening a "game
camp" to educate people on the possible effects of too much play, a
spokesman said.
"It has definitely bought some negative social impact," said Jun Fwu Chin,
an analyst at data tracking firm IDC.
He said so-called hard-core online gamers - people who play for 20 hours or
more a month - now make up about a third of the gaming community.
Game operators, whose titles feature names like "Legend of Mir" and
"Ragnarok," say they are trying to be socially responsible by working with
regulators and taking their own measures to curtail addictive behavior.
The jury is still largely out on the issue of harmful effects of online
gaming.
Most industry players insist that the number of excessive players is still
a very small proportion of the overall online gaming population.
Regulators are also treading lightly on the issue, voicing concerns but
also being careful not to jeopardize the high growth industry.
The online game sector is growing explosively in Asia, worth an estimated
$1.1 billion last year with annual growth set to average 19 percent through
2008, according to IDC.
South Korea is the region's biggest market, worth $397 million last year.
But the booming China market is catching up fast, worth $298 million last
year when it bypassed Taiwan to become the region's second-biggest.
In another highly publicized case involving addictive behavior, an avid
gamer in Shanghai in June was sentenced to life in prison for fatally
stabbing a competitor who borrowed and then sold his virtual "dragon
saber."
Taiwanese media routinely report about robberies committed to support
Internet cafe habits.
Like Korea, China is also in the midst of a campaign to address the issue
of online addiction, working with game operators on systems to discourage
compulsive behavior.
Analysts said the backlash - and resulting countermeasures - are still
in relatively mild early phases, and thus the effects on major operators
such as China's Shanda, South Korea's NCSoft, and Taiwan's Gamania, should
be muted for now.
China's trial system, which discourages addictive behavior by limiting
"experience points" a gamer earns the longer he plays, should have some
effect in limiting the problem in that market, said JP Morgan analyst Dick
Wei.
The system, reached after extensive consultation from the industry, is
considered relatively light for Chinese regulators, who in the past have
unilaterally imposed much more draconian measures on other high-growth new
media sectors.
"That should stop some of the users from excessive play, but it is not
going to stop all the problem," he said. "It could be there are different
measures to address this issue."
Taipei has also issued rules forcing Internet cafes to keep their distance
from schools.
The city government also requires children under 15 to be accompanied by
adults and Internet cafes to post warnings advising players to rest their
eyes and stretch their legs.
Many say the raft of new rules, while restricting, are not heavy-handed
because governments are trying to avoid killing a potential golden goose.
Reflecting that balance, Singapore earlier this month allowed a man to
postpone his military service so he could take part in a computer games
competition, as the country tries to promote the industry, according to a
media report.
Despite Japan's status as pioneer of the modern gaming industry, addiction
is less of a problem there because people are less likely to look to the
Web and more often play games on home-bound consoles like Sony's
PlayStation, said Hirokazu Hamamura, president of Enterbrain, publisher of
Japan's leading gaming magazine.
"There are fewer cases of addiction with console games because they are
played differently than online games which progress in real time speed and
take a long time to play," he said.
Still, he added, many Japanese companies such as Square Enix
include messages in their games warning players not to over-indulge.
Square Enix Chief Executive Officer Yoichi Wada said the issue was one
that not only individual companies, but the broader gaming community will
have to face in the years ahead.
"In a networked society, this kind of thing always happens," he said at
the Reuters Asia Technology and Telecoms Summit in Tokyo on Wednesday. "It
cannot be solved by game companies alone. It must be addressed by the game
society, the network society.
Sony Recalls 3.6M PlayStation 2 Adaptors
Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. said Tuesday it will recall certain AC
adaptors sold worldwide with the slim version of its PlayStation 2
following cases of overheating and melting.
A spokeswoman at Sony Corp.'s game business unit told Dow Jones Newswires
about 3.6 million adaptors manufactured between August 2004 and December
2004 with are subject to the recall.
They include about 960,000 units sold in North America, 2.3 million units
in Europe and 60,000 units in Japan.
The company said it has received reports of about 40 cases of adaptors
overheating and melting in North America.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Fraud Reveals Workings of Internet Theft
The illicit haul arrived each day by e-mail, the personal details of
computer users tricked by an Internet thief: a victim's name, credit card
number, date of birth, Social Security number, mother's maiden name.
One more Internet "phishing" scam was operating. But this time, private
sleuths soon were hot on the electronic trail of a thief whose online alias
indicated an affinity for the dark side. The case moved ahead in part
because of an underground tipster and the thief's penchant for repeatedly
using the same two passwords - "syerwerz" and "r00tm3."
Unraveling a scheme that also had hacked Kenyon College in Ohio leapt
across continents and ultimately pointed toward a neighborhood in Granby,
Quebec. It offers an extraordinary glimpse behind an Internet fraud that
targets the most trusting computer users.
"This is really lousy," said Johan Fabris of Holmes, Pa. The 82-year-old
grandmother had her online bank account hijacked. Her teenage grandson set
up the account for her to sell hand-sewn doll clothes in Internet auctions.
"This was my first foray into the modern computer world. These damn people,
life is complicated enough," Fabris said.
In such phishing scams, victims are fooled by realistic-looking e-mails
that appear to come from banks or other financial institutions. The
urgent-looking messages direct recipients to verify their accounts by
typing personal details - credit card information, for example - into a Web
site disguised to appear legitimate.
Despite warnings from the government, banks and security experts, consumers
fall victim with disturbing frequency.
One industry organization, the Anti-Phishing Working Group, estimated that
thieves collectively launch more than 14,000 such schemes monthly and that
about 5 percent of computer users respond to the fraudulent messages.
"They make it look completely real," said Jennifer Phillips, 25, of
Martinsville, Ill. She was tricked into disclosing her card number,
mother's maiden name, bank routing number and more. "You wouldn't think
this could happen to anybody living in the middle of cornfields," she said.
Internet sleuths from CardCops Inc. of Malibu, Calif., uncovered the latest
plot.
A tipster pointed them to the thief's e-mail account and gave up the
thief's favorite passwords, which the thief previously had shared with the
informant, chief executive Dan Clements said.
CardCops monitors Internet chat rooms and other hacker communications for
stolen credit card numbers, then notifies merchants and consumers to block
bad purchases.
Clements said he logged into the thief's account - despite concerns this
could be illegal - and found what he described as a "den of treasure" for
identity crooks.
Clements said he discovered copies of victims' financial information plus
tantalizing clues to the thief's real identity. They included an invoice
for two Gamecube video games purchased with a stolen credit card and
delivered to a family's home in Quebec, plus evidence the thief had tested
his schemes using a high-speed Internet connection traced to a home
computer in Canada.
"I'm so furious," said Cindy Brenneke of Sunnyvale, Calif., whose Bank of
America credit card was used to buy the games.
She had been similarly tricked into disclosing her card number. "It was
total stupidity," she said. Brenneke said roughly $4,000 in fraudulent
charges were run up for music, movies and video games on Web sites within
days of her mistake.
The person listed on the invoice as receiving the video games in Quebec
denied any involvement in Internet fraud, telling The Associated Press in
a brief interview he did nothing wrong.
But shortly after the interview, the e-mail inbox used for the purchases
was mysteriously emptied and the password changed, said Clements, who said
he kept copies of everything he found.
The fraud illustrates the conflict between quickly warning potential
victims and preserving evidence for police to investigate. Clements said
he immediately notified each consumer whose information he found in the
inbox and later reported the findings to police before the AP called the
home in Quebec.
The case also shows how hard it can be to get the attention of police.
Phillips said she called police in Illinois to complain, but a detective
never called back. Brenneke said police in California offered to open a
file on her case as a courtesy, but told her Canadian authorities would
have to investigate. "It kind of stinks," Brenneke said.
Such experiences are common.
"Unquestionably, there are online crooks who are getting away with
impunity," said Beryl Howell, a former top lawyer with the Senate Judiciary
Committee. "Victims are fending for themselves."
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Quebec said it does not investigate
online financial crimes. A city detective in Granby referred the case to
provincial police but cautioned that any investigation would take months.
"There's sort of a hole in enforcement," acknowledged Marc Gosselin, a
cybercrimes investigator for the Mounties.
Clements said he was unconcerned about the legal risks of reading the
thief's e-mails, even though a former Justice Department lawyer said it
could land Clements in trouble.
"Law enforcement can't allow self-help vigilantes to go around and do
this," said Marc Zwillinger, a former cybercrimes prosecutor.
In the Canadian-based scheme, messages were routed through a computer in
Macedonia. Official-looking e-mails were sent randomly on Aug. 23 directing
computer users to visit a Web page and confirm details about their bank
accounts. The counterfeit e-mails reassured would-be victims "this security
measure will protect our customers from account thefts and any other
fraudulent activities."
But the Web page did not belong to any bank.
Officials at Kenyon College in Ohio said someone hacked into a school
computer Aug. 22 and set up the fake banking page. It transmitted victims'
personal information to the Canadian e-mail inbox plus two other addresses
believed to belong to thieves.
"It looked very genuine," said Tam Nguyen of Huntersville, N.C., who was
tricked into revealing his credit card number, Social Security number,
mother's maiden name and more.
"My wife saw the e-mail and told me to take care of it right away. Stupid
me, I just went ahead and gave up everything," he said.
The school's director of information systems, Ron Griggs, said the break-in
was traced to the same high-speed Internet account in Canada used to run
early tests of the fraud scheme. He said 32 people visited the fake banking
Web site before someone complained. The college shut off access Aug. 24.
In Illinois, Jennifer Phillips canceled her compromised credit account and
is more suspicious these days. But she is under no illusion that what
happened to her was an isolated case.
In the days after discovering she had been tricked, Phillips said she
received two more urgent-looking e-mails pressing her to verify her bank
account online.
This time, she deleted them.
Employees Ignore Security Risks
Enterprises need to do a better job of educating their workers about
potential online security risks, according to security authority Trend
Micro.
The results of a recent study by the company reveal that many employees in
businesses around the world are more likely to engage in riskier online
behavior at work than at home, believing, wrongly in some cases, that their
I.T. departments will protect them.
In a survey that polled some 1,200 employees in the U.S., Germany and
Japan, 39 percent believed that I.T. could prevent them from falling prey
to threats like spyware and phishing. This belief prompted many of them to
admit risky online behavior. Of those who admitted to such activity, 63
percent said that they do so because they feel they are protected by
security software installed on their computers by their employers.
Attitudes regarding security risks in the workplace vary according to
geographic region and the type of threat, the study shows. For example, in
Germany, only 14 percent of enterprise workers expressed confidence that
their I.T. departments could deal with phishing attacks, while that number
was 40 percent in Japan and 24 percent in the U.S.
And the size of a business seems to have an impact on awareness of security
risks, said Bob Hansmann, senior product marketing manager at Trend Micro.
In Japan and Germany, those in larger enterprises are more aware of
security threats than workers in organizations of 500 or fewer employees.
But in the U.S., users in smaller businesses have a higher awareness of
threats such as spam, viruses and spyware, he said.
"So the question is whether large enterprise users in the U.S. are less
aware of security risks because of overconfidence in the I.T. department's
ability to handle those risks," said Hansmann. "The bottom line is that
everyone has to be part of the solution."
The challenge for businesses, both large and small, is to implement an
Internet policy enforcement strategy, ensuring that software patches
throughout the I.T. system are applied and updated, and that antivirus
applications are working and current. "Those steps will address the bulk of
threats seen this year," Hansmann said.
Employers should remind their workers that their online behavior presents
security risks, he added, including the downloading of games or other files
that provide access to sensitive information. "But if the student doesn't
want to learn, the teacher's efforts are wasted," said Hansmann.
Internet Tax Plan Emerges - Again
In October, some states will begin complying with the Streamlined Sales Tax
Agreement (SSTA) - a national effort to simplify sales-tax jurisdictions
and pave the way to uniform collection of sales tax on purchases made over
the Internet and through other remote channels.
While compliance with the program is voluntary, currently 13 states have
signed up to participate in it. Those that plan to put it in place have
expressed renewed enthusiasm for making tax collection by out-of-state
vendors mandatory.
Previous attempts to create a sales-tax system to cover e-commerce
providers have languished in Congress, but proponents of such proposals are
hoping that the currently very complicated tax system will renew the debate
in Congress and attract more states to adopt the SSTA.
The issue of how to collect taxes from e-commerce companies has turned out
to be a thorny one because it involves whether a company doing business
online also has brick-and-mortar stores in certain states.
Some feel the SSTA not only will help iron out those complications, but
also will reinvigorate the debate over sales tax and Internet companies.
The National Governors Association and the National Council of State
Legislators have been lobbying Congress to make it mandatory for all
companies to collect sales tax from customers in states that subscribe to
the SSTA.
Part of the challenge in creating an effective Net tax plan is building in
protections for small businesses, meaning they would be compensated for
changes to their tax systems as well as for the additional training and
processing expenses that small business would have to shoulder, said Steve
DelBianco, executive director of the NetChoice Coalition, whose members
include eBay, America Online and Orbitz.
NetChoice is supportive of the streamlined system, but its members feel
that more must be done at a state level to examine the issue and simplify
its processes.
"There's a lot left to prove," said DelBianco. "In particular, there's
nothing in the agreement about compensating retailers for the change in
their systems, and we feel that's a major component that needs to be
added."
But adoption of the SSTA in October is a significant first step, he added.
"It's a great start, and it should provide some direction for the future."
Yahoo Founder Explains China E-Mail Move
Yahoo had to comply with a demand by Chinese authorities to provide
information about a personal e-mail of a journalist who was later convicted
under state secrecy laws and sentenced to 10 years in prison, the company's
co-founder Jerry Yang said Saturday.
Yang, responding to questions during an Internet forum in this eastern
Chinese resort city, said he could not discuss the details of the case
involving Shi Tao, a former writer for the financial publication
Contemporary Business News.
Overseas-based human rights groups disclosed days earlier that Yahoo
Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd., part of Yahoo's global network, provided e-mail
account information that helped lead to Shi's conviction.
Yahoo earlier defended its move, saying it was obliged to comply with
Chinese laws and regulations.
The demand for the information was a "legal order" and Yahoo gets such
requests from law enforcement agencies all the time, and not just in China,
Yang told the forum.
But he added, "I cannot talk about the details of this case."
Other Chinese journalists have faced similar charges of violating vague
security laws as communist leaders struggle to maintain control of
information in the burgeoning Internet era.
Despite government information sharing requirements and other restrictions,
Yahoo and its major rivals have been expanding their presence in mainland
China in hopes of reaching more of the country's fast-growing population of
Internet users, which now number more than 100 million.
Yahoo paid $1 billion for a 40 percent stake in Alibaba.com, host of the
Hangzhou conference, last month.
New York-based Human Rights in China and the Paris-based international
media watchdog Reporters Without Borders sent an open letter addressed to
former U.S. President Bill Clinton, who was a keynote speaker at the
Internet forum, urging him to bring up Shi's case during his visit to
China.
But Clinton only alluded to the risks faced by Internet users targeted by
the authorities for whatever reason.
"The Internet, no matter what political system a country has, and our
political system is different from yours, the Internet is having
significant political and social consequences and they cannot be erased,"
he said.
"The political system's limits on freedom of speech ... have not seemed to
have any adverse consequences on e-commerce," he said. "It's something
you'll all have to watch and see your way through," he said.
According to Reporters Without Borders, court papers show that Yahoo
Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd. gave Chinese investigators information that
helped them trace a personal Yahoo e-mail to Shi's computer.
It says Shi was convicted for sending notes on a government circular
spelling out restrictions on the media in his e-mail. He was seized in
November at his home in the northwestern province of Shanxi.
The case is the latest instance in which a prominent high-tech company has
faced accusations of cooperating with Chinese authorities to gain favor in
a country that's expected to become an Internet gold mine.
Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo and two of its biggest rivals, Google
Inc. and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN, previously have come under attack for
censoring online news sites and Web logs, or blogs, featuring content that
China's communist government wants to suppress.
Lexmark Puts Twist on Photo Sharing
Lexmark, in what it claims is a first, has crossed an inkjet with a CD
drive, to create a new type of multifunction printer.
The Lexington, Ky., company on Monday introduced the P450, a $199, 4-inch
by 6-inch inkjet photo printer that incorporates a CD burner.
The P450 is like many other Lexmark International Inc. models in that it's
a thermal inkjet designed to be small, relatively portable and to operate
independently of a Microsoft Corp. Windows-based PC or Apple Computer Inc.
Macintosh. But the company believes consumers will use the printer to share
and archive digital photos on CDs, something that's not usually possible in
the absence of a computer, in addition to editing and printing them.
"The Lexmark P450 brings more photo processing functions to the home.
People can now save and organize their digital photos on CD, print from a
cell phone, view their photos on a television and much more," Najib Bahous,
president of Lexmark's Consumer Printer Division, said in a statement.
Lexmark's P450 also includes a 2.4-inch display for viewing photos, along
with the ability to edit the images with functions such as crop, rotate,
color fix and redeye remove.
The machine also comes with a compliment of ports, including a PictBridge
port, which allows it to connect directly to numerous cameras, as well as
slots for memory cards, including CompactFlash, SmartMedia Card, Sony
Corp.'s MemoryStick, Secure Digital, MultiMediaCard and xD Card.
The P450 can also print JPEG format photo files stored on USB (Universal
Serial Bus) drives as well as run off shots taken with camera phones using
Bluetooth wireless and show pictures on a television screen, provided
consumers purchase the correct Bluetooth and TV adapters.
The P450, which will compete with the likes of Hewlett-Packard Co.'s
Photosmart 375, will begin shipping next month in the United States and
will also be available internationally.
The P450 will be available at retailers including Circuit City, Staples and
Target, as well as via QVC Inc.'s television sales channel and the online
sites of retailers Best Buy Co. Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Lexmark
said.
Google Posts Blog Search
Google Inc. unveiled Wednesday a beta version of its search engine for
Weblogs, more commonly known as blogs.
The company, which first jumped into the online journal market in 2003 with
its buyout of popular hosting service Blogger, said that it launched the
search tool in an effort to spur continued growth of the blogging
phenomenon. Technorati, a blog search site that will compete with Google's
offering, currently lists over 17 million sites and 1.5 billion links in
its own index, up from only 100,000 sites two years ago.
The beta site retains Google's traditional clean presentation and offers an
advanced search function that allows users to focus their queries on blogs
related to specific titles or authors. The tool also gives people the
ability to search on blog posts written within a certain timeframe, or to
filter out sites containing objectionable language. The blog search
promises to list pages written in English, French, Italian, German,
Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Brazilian Portuguese, among other
languages.
Google said the tool will eventually aim to include every blog worldwide
that publishes a site feed via RSS or Atom technology, regardless of what
company or service is hosting the pages. The company will soon offer a
method for people to manually add sites not already picked up by its index
and said that it will also respect the privacy of blogs that do not offer
feeds.
A quick query aimed at a popular blog topic such as politics garners over
500,000 individual results, while a search around something more specific
such as iPod battery life finds roughly 8,000 links. Unsurprisingly, well
over 400,000 pages have already been indexed regarding the devastation of
Hurricane Katrina.
Despite pledging that it remains a "strong believer in the self-publishing
phenomenon represented by blogging," and that it hopes the new search tool
may "inspire many to join the revolution themselves," Google has also
established its belief that there should be limits to people's online
descriptions. A former Google employee, Mark Jen, left the firm only
several weeks after the search giant asked him to remove some controversial
comments he had made about the firm in his own blog.
Yahoo to Begin Testing E-mail Upgrade
Yahoo Inc. on Wednesday will begin testing a sleeker version of its free
e-mail service, shifting to a more dynamic design that mimics the look and
feel of a computer desktop application like Microsoft Corp.'s Outlook.
The company plans to invite a "sizable" portion of its current e-mail
accountholders to experiment with the retooled service, said Yahoo
spokeswoman Karen Mahon, who declined to be more specific.
If the test goes well, all of Yahoo's e-mail users - an audience that spans
tens of millions - eventually will be converted to the new system.
Yahoo imported most of the changes from Oddpost, an e-mail startup the
company bought for an undisclosed amount last year.
The overhaul, described as the most extensive since Yahoo began offering
free e-mail accounts eight years ago, represents the latest salvo in a
technological tug-of-war for online traffic.
For the past two years, Yahoo and its main Internet rivals - Google Inc.,
AOL and Microsoft's MSN.com - have been unveiling a series of upgrades
aimed at attracting and retaining their Web audiences so they remain
appealing outlets for advertisers.
Google, which runs the Internet's most popular search engine, shook things
up in the e-mail market last year by introducing a free service that
included 250 times more storage than some of its rivals. Yahoo and MSN
subsequently matched Google, which responded by more than doubling its
e-mail storage limit to 2.5 gigabytes.
More recently, the major e-mail providers have been introducing other bells
and whistles to keep their users happy and coming back for more ads.
Yahoo's upgrade follows recent AOL improvements meant to make its e-mail
service quicker and easier to use.
"Last year was the year of storage in e-mail, but now the real competition
seems to be about who has the coolest user interfaces," Radicati Group
analyst Marcel Nienhuis said.
Yahoo's e-mail service is currently leading the pack, with 63.6 million
unique U.S. visitors during July, according to the most recent figures from
comScore Media Metrix, a research firm. AOL ranked second with 48.7 million
visitors followed by MSN's Hotmail (44.4 million), Comcast Corp.'s Webmail
(5.6 million) and Google's Gmail (5.4 million).
With its changes, Yahoo's e-mail will look more like a traditional inbox
that operates through a software program installed on a computer hard drive
instead of being hosted on the Internet. Yet Yahoo's redesigned service
still relies on a Web browser and won't require its users to install
anything on their computers.
Using "dynamic" html, Yahoo's e-mail accounts will feature an inbox
containing all e-mails on the top of the page with a separate pane for
reading e-mail below it. The feature is meant to enable users to scroll
through an e-mail folder without having to click back and forth between Web
pages.
Yahoo's test audience also will use a computer mouse to "drag and drop"
e-mails from one folder to another and search all the content, including
attachments, stored in the inbox.
"Our competition has been doing some interesting things in e-mail, but we
think we have leapfrogged them all with all these new features," said
Ethan Diamond, an Oddpost co-founder who works for Yahoo as a director of
product management.
Macworld Expo Boston Cancelled
IDG World Expo on Friday said that have cancelled Macworld Expo Boston and
will instead focus their efforts on a single conference and expo in San
Francisco. The event, which has been a mainstay of East Coast conferences
for almost 20 years, has been axed just two years after returning to Boston
from New York City.
The marketplace and our own research have made it clear that the industry
prefers one main industry event, Mike Sponseller, spokesperson for IDG
World Expo, told MacCentral. Based on the industry s input, we will be
refocusing all of our resources to produce Macworld in San Francisco.
The relationship between Apple and IDG World Expo is very good according to
Sponseller. The two companies continue to work together on strategies and
work together on every facet of the San Francisco event.
The decision of how to best serve the Mac community is not one we take
lightly, said Sponseller.
Many considered moving Macworld Expo back to Boston a mistake from the
start, but show organizers continued on the path even without support from
Apple. IDG would not say whether they now considered the move a mistake.
At this point, that really isn t important, said Sponseller. It was a
strategic decision made by prior management and we really can t answer for
them.
IDG World Expo said the 2005 Macworld in San Francisco showed growth from
the previous year with an 11 percent overall attendance increase. The
attendance certification audit performed by Exhibit Surveys, Inc. found
that there were nearly 36,000 overall visitors at Macworld San Francisco
2005.
There was also a 13 percent increase in the number of paid conference
delegates; a 10 percent increase in the number of exhibitors; and a 31
percent increase in the average number of hours spent on the exhibit hall
floor by attendees.
=~=~=~=
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