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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 10 Issue 17
Volume 10, Issue 17 Atari Online News, Etc. April 25, 2008
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2008
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 #1017 04/25/08
~ eBay Sues Craigslist! ~ People Are Talking! ~ Debate Over the Web!
~ More Rock Phish Gang! ~ Laptops and Customs! ~ Trojans On the Rise!
~ Infected Web Pages Up! ~ Subpoena for Records! ~ New Ubuntu Is Out!
~ Craigslist Fires Back! ~ OLPS Switch Is Muddled ~ Informal Writing!
-* China Is #1 in Internet Users *-
-* Microsoft in Quandary Over Yahoo Bid *-
-* Russian Prosecutors Eye Internet Censorship *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Well, I'm going to tell you right off the bat - I'm going to keep this
week's commentary short. I'm tired, and sore - it's been quite a week.
I've finished cleaning up the remaining mess from last fall, and the yard
looks good (well, much better!). Still a little to do to clean up some
of my garden areas, but that's a simple task. The outside water is all
reconnected, turned on, and ready to go. A few gutter covers need to be
replaced after a brutal winter - another simple task. The yard has
received its initial blast of weed killer and fertilizer, but could use
some more, plus some seeding. I'm getting there, and way ahead of
schedule!
And last week I started working back at the golf course. Not too hard
at the moment, but I'm using muscles that were practically dormant all
winter. I have to admit, I'm not as young as I'd like to think I am.
And my body is proof of that!
So, it's an early night for me this week. Working again this weekend,
and I need some rest. It's been a long time since I had to get up before
the sun rises!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
joe@atarinews.org
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. I'll warn you right now that there really
weren't enough messages in the NewsGroup to make a good column this
week, but there's something that I want to get off my chest, so you're
just going to have to suffer through it.
This past week, I got a chance to see the trailer for a movie
called "EXPELLED (NO INTELLIGENCE ALLOWED)". As you've probably
guessed, it's about the Evolution/Intelligent Design controversy.
Now, I know what you're thinking: "Hmmm... didn't that whole thing die
down a couple of years ago?"
Yes, it did. But it seems that now, Ben Stein; teacher, Nixon
speech-writer, television game show host and movie star, has decided
that he wants to make some money on the situation.
I must say right out front that I have not (yet) seen the whole movie.
All I've seen is a trailer which, I can only assume, mimics the overall
tone and mood of the movie.
If I had any doubts about Mr. Stein's political leanings or social
agenda, they have been assuaged by his current offering's tone, tenor
and attitude. Most prevalent right out of the shoot is the theme
that 'they' don't want you to believe <fill-in-the-blank>. It could
lead to you being ostracized, and even get you fired from your job,
they warn.
This is a device that's been used by politicians for eons, and more
often than usual in the past decade. There's no better way to get
people to waste time than to tell them that someone doesn't want them
to know or believe something. It's just one more facet of the 'politics
of fear', I'm afraid.
Next on my checklist was the idea that someone who supports one theory
in favor of another should have something to say in favor of their
preference as opposed to just having something negative to say about
the one they don't support. In other words, don't tell me "this must be
right because I think the other one is wrong". The main argument I
hear 'in favor of' Intelligent Design is that Darwinism doesn't explain
everything completely.
Another of my favorite gripes is proponents of Intelligent Design are
always quick to point out that "evolution is just a theory". And
they're right. But you know what? GRAVITATION is just a theory too.
Take a pencil and drop it in front of you. No matter how many times you
do it, and no matter where you do it (on the surface of the Earth), the
results are going to be the same: the pencil will fall. Despite the
fact that gravitation is 'only' a theory, you will never, ever drop a
pencil anywhere on the surface of the Earth and have it fall UP. The
fact that "Darwinism" is a theory has no bearing on its validity.
Okay, on to my next point. The movie (or, at least the trailer for the
movie) would have you believe that there is widespread disagreement
within the scientific community about the validity of the theory of
evolution. That simply isn't so. It's also fairly common to hear
proponents of Intelligent Design say that they have a right to have ID
taught in the classroom right alongside evolution. Au contrair, mon
frere. The fact that you WANT something to be true doesn't make it so.
Truth is a philosophical quality. FACT is a scientific quality. You
simply cannot say that something is science simply because you want to
believe it.
Next point: Irreducible Complexity. Proponents of ID will often point to
the eye as proof that a 'Creator' or intelligent force must have been
involved in making things exactly as we see them today, because no
combination of pre-existing things could have been brought together or
modified to result in the current thing. Ask any biologist and they'll
tell you that lenses and light-sensing cells abound in the natural
world, and some can even be genetically tied to the evolution of the
eye.
Another 'ding': Stacking the Deck. If you want people to believe in
Intelligent Design, because it is not a valid scientific theory, you
must first work to degrade the scientific theories that oppose it.
Things like the age of the Universe. You'll often hear Creationists and
ID proponents say that current scientific theories must be incorrect
because they take for granted that the Universe must be billions of
years old, and anyone who's read the bible knows that the world is only
a little over six THOUSAND years old.
I've got to admit that this one has me scratching my head. If you can
get people to believe that the world is only six thousand years old,
you can get them to believe anything... why stop at Intelligent
Design?? Why not get them to believe that you really have their best
interests at heart and that giving tax breaks to the very rich will
quickly help the poor? Oh. Nevermind. [grin]
Finally, the thing that got me was that they showed pictures of either
Copernicus or Galileo and Einstein, saying that, in THEIR day,
Intelligent Design would have been accepted as an alternative easily.
Well, on this count, I've got to agree with them. Copernicus and Galileo
lived during times when the Church held sway over everything, and
disagreeing with them could very quickly get unhealthy. Copernicus was
charged with heresy during the Inquisition for teaching that the Earth
revolved around the Sun, not the other way around. This was contrary to
church teachings. Sure, Intelligent Design would have been accepted
back then... it would have fit right in.
And I've got to confess (in keeping with the "church" theme I've got
going here, I guess) that I really have no idea of what point Ben Stein
was trying to make by dragging Einstein into it. Unless, of course,
it's because Nazi Germany had spent at least a couple of decades
denouncing Einstein's theories as "Jewish Science". Does that really
make them feel better? Really?
Well, I leave it to you, my fair reader. You are free to believe in
Intelligent Design, or dueling sea dragons, or the world being carried
on the back of a great turtle. I'll fight to my last breath to protect
that right. But please, PLEASE don't try to tell me that it's science.
Faith is a wonderful thing. It's what makes us who we are, more so than
any other facet of our lives. But Faith-Based Science is an oxymoron. I
find it almost amusing that the reverse doesn't hold true. Don't you?
So, do I want you to get all up-in-arms and boycott this movie
(Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed... limited showings from mid-April,
2008, http://www.expelledthemovie.com)? Hell no! I WANT you to go see
it... Heck, I'll probably see it at least a couple of times to try and
determine if maybe there's some satire involved that I missed from
watching the trailer. Go see the movie. Think about it, and talk about
it.... and think about it some more.
Well, enough of that. Let's get to the news, hints, tips and info
available from the UseNet.
From the comp.sys.atari.st NewsGroup
====================================
Rob Aries asks about alternative storage devices for his Falcon:
"I am trying to resurrect a Falcon 030 that has been in my attic for a
long time. The HD is toast (click of death). I saw somewhere how a
person used a compact flash card to replace his Falcon HD. I bought an
IDE --> CF adapter on Ebay and I have an old 128MB card I was using in a
camera. My next step is to format & partition the card.
Another search of my attic, and the only such software I found was for
my old Link (used with my even older Atari ST). It's ICD software
(v6.2.4 IIRC) but works ONLY with Adaptec host controllers. It sees the
CF card as "unrecognized unit" on ID #15, then it hangs.
Some online searching and I see the well-regarded HDDRIVER software,
however the demo won't format. Since I am really doing all this for
curiosity's sake and may not even use this Falcon (actually it's not even
mine), I am wondering if there is any free/shareware options anywhere
for making this CF card work."
Adam Brannon tells Rob to...
"Go to http://www.atari.org/services/systemdisks.php. It has almost all
Atari system disks available to download, including the Falcon HDD
drivers disks. This should get you started."
Rob tells Adam simply:
"Thank you! Now I have a Falcon with a 120MB flash drive!"
How's that for fast, folks? Pretty slick, huh? Meanwhile, someone posted
last week that the source code for the Jinnee desktop had been lost, so
the project can now be considered dead. The last release of Jinnee, it
seems, truly IS the last. On the subject of Teradesk and its code being
available for use, Henk Robbers talks a bit about building upon it to
make a new desktop:
"I still believe that the name "Teradesk" should remain being associable
with a simple and compact desktop as it is now.
If you want more, the code is GPL, feel free but call it different.
XA_desk sounds like a good idee.
Djordje, do you agree?"
Djordje Vukovic replies:
"Yes, completely.
Regarding the simplicity- or otherwise:
An important part of my concept when I first took part in TeraDesk
project was that it should remain compact and simple. Many times there
arose a situation where I had to weight the benefits of adding some
option against the increase of code size and memory usage, and
increased complexity of use. It seems that people using more capable
machines tend to forget that there is also a number of users with
feebler Atari machines who find that TeraDesk, as it is now, exactly
satisfies their needs. They would have no use of marvelous desktops
needing X megabytes of RAM and XX megabytes of disk space. As there
were already two other desktops targeted at capable machines, I think
it was a good decision to provide a new one having in mind primarily
the feeble and the poor :) - therefore it was clearly said, when
TeraDesk 3 was released, that it was not intended as a replacement for
Thing and Jinnee.
I would also like to point that the (good-natured) objections raised
here against TeraDesk appear to concern the cosmetic side mostly- not
the functionality. There seems to be a general agreement that TeraDesk
does what it is supposed to do, reliably. And yes, I agree that the
code has become tightly connected and there are some legacy segments in
it, but it is all in the function of fulfilling its purpose and design
concept.
By the way. some things should remain simple. I think that there are
rising issues of visual appearance of GUIs, icons etc. (on any
operating system) that will have to be discussed soon. How standardized
should they be? How complex can a display become before it becomes
unmanangeable by human users, whose brains do not double their
processing power every couple of years, as CPUs do?
Imagine that one is driving a fast car and comes to a traffic sign
warning of a dangerous bend ahead (a simple three-colour triangular
icon). Would the message be better and more quickly understood by the
driver if, instead of the traffic sign, there was a magnificent
true color photograph, in 8000x4000 resolution, of a pile of crashed
cars, on which one could read every number on license plates, recognize
the members of salvage teams caught in the scene, and read the logos
and advertisements on cars of media people present?
(a question: why would anyone need a truecolour desktop icon?)
Regarding the naming of names:
In order to avoid confusion, it would indeed be better to create a new
name for any significantly different new fork, and leave "TeraDesk" name
(btw. I never found out what was this supposed to mean) to the current
fork.
About development of a new desktop:
It is all very nice, but I would like to say a few words of warning:
I joined TeraDesk project several months after Henk revived it. It took
us almost a year to overhaul it significantly and create TeraDesk 3.
Since then, a number of things were added, problems fixed and it took
more than four years to get it to its present status (and there are
still some improvements to make- a new bugfix release is due soon). I
am afraid that if a new desktop project is started, by the time it
reaches a really usable state there will hardly be any users left (or
even left alive). We have an example of "Direct" desktop with nice
visual effects but relatively poor functionality that was abandoned
soon after initial release. We have painfully slow advances e.g. in
Highwire (is it still developed at all?) and even in XaAES (when was
the last release?).
There was a general once, who said something about having good ideas
today, against excellent ideas tomorrow..."
Jean-Francois Lemaire answers Djordje's question about needing a
true-color icon:
"Because an icon designed in a modern graphics application with
gradients, Gaussian blurs or transparency looks like crap when
converted in 256 colours, let alone 16. I know that from experience. It
removes much of the fun of creating new icons. Drawing pixel by pixel
in Interface may be courageous, but not everyone is a masochist.
So, the user may not *need* a true colour icon, but the artist *wants*
them because they make it's work easier. Now don't ask me why would
anyone need gradients in an icon."
Djordje replies:
"The last sentence/question is in fact the important one. What an artist
likes is irrelevant. What is relevant is that the interface is convenient
-to the user-. Icons or whatever other symbols are used to communicate
with a computer should be simple, quickly readable by the user,
standardized and possibly human-language independent. Use of gradients,
blurs or transparencies seems to me to be counter-productive in that
context. The "icons" need not be the likenesses of anything- just
easily recognizable, difficult to misinterpret, graphic shapes. A set
of highly-stylised Chinese-like or Egyptian-like pictograms comes to
mind.
OT: for a long time we were taught (more-less) that pictographic writing
was used mostly by "primitive" societies early in human history, and
that it was made obsolete by the invention of phonetic alphabets.
Lately, we are seeing a significant revival of the use of pictograms,
which prove to be more convenient when it is necessary to convey
instantly-readable messages, or communicate across language barriers.
On the other hand, increased use of pictograms, together with increased
graphic power of computers and telecommunications devices, seems to
indicate the onset of wide-spread, computer induced illiteracy- fewer
and fewer people will want to actually read or write anything and a
richness of words will be gradually lost. I am not sure that humanity
will benefit from such development."
Jean-Francois replies:
"What I meant to say is that by allowing true colour icons you allow the
guy/gal who will actually do the drawing full control over it's
creativity. By limiting the display to 256 colours you don't. Liking or
not liking what he/she does with the 16700000 colours at his/her
disposal is just a matter of opinion."
'Phantomm' asks about a virtual memory manager and a Falcon:
"[Has] Anyone had any experience using the program Outside, virtual
memory manager with a CT2B Falcon?
I know that some programs don't work well with the FastRam of a CT2B and
want to make sure that the Outside program is compatible before setting
it up."
Jo Even Skarstein tells Phantomm:
"The CT2 use the MMU to map FastRAM, so I doubt that Outside will work."
Uwe Seimet tells Jo Even:
"It depends on the translation tables. If the mapping is similar to the
one used by the TT TOS it might also work for the CT2."
Mark Bedingfield adds his experiences (and memory):
"I'm pretty sure I got it working on my CT2B. I'll have a look tonight
and see if its still installed. I have 64MB fast ram anyway, so never
use it;-) All that's required is a 030 or better if I remember
correctly."
When someone mentions a "clean way" of installing a separate file
selector using N.AES, Gerhard Stoll asks:
"What [is the] clean way of installing a separate fileselector that
N.AES has?"
Jo Even Skarstein tells Gerhard:
"N.Fsel hooks into N.AES using a clean interface. I'm not sure if it's
documented anywhere though."
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 - Little League World Series 2008!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 'Gran Turismo 5 Prologue'!
EU: Protect Minors Better!
And more!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
'Gran Turismo 5 Prologue' Thrills Despite Slim Options
The latest release of Gran Turismo is missing quite a bit under the hood.
Instead of waiting to unveil a full version of the hit racing series for
PlayStation 3, developers roll out the scaled-back Gran Turismo 5
Prologue. The options are slim, but the experience is powerful.
Prologue is the appetizer for the eventual release of Gran Turismo 5.
Players can choose from more than 60 cars. Its predecessor, Gran
Turismo 4, has a garage of 700 vehicles.
After purchasing your first vehicle, you advance to circuit racing. Each
tier involves 10 races you must conquer before moving to the next
circuit. The events are spread across six tracks, including Daytona
International Speedway.
Depending on how you finish, you'll earn points for each race, which you
can use to purchase new vehicles. Unfortunately, none of the visual and
performance customizations are available to buy this time around.
Prologue is one of the most gorgeous racing titles available. Vehicles
glisten in sunlight. Textures like asphalt and metallic finishes look
incredibly authentic. The interior dash perspective is an astounding
first-person view of the action. You'll see your driver shift gears as he
navigates tracks. A high-speed spin out in some of the more powerful
vehicles is dizzying. The sounds of tires screeching or engines revving
are sharp.
Handling is as unique as the vehicles' make and model. Cars with high
horsepower may accelerate quickly, but require greater skill when
navigating sharp turns. On the other hand, some smaller cars may not be
the fastest, but take turns with precision.
What's baffling about Prologue is how vehicles can manage to slam into
walls or other cars at high speeds and show no signs of damage. You can
rear end a car going well over 100 mph and not even end up with a busted
taillight.
The other glaring issue is the lack of options. Granted, the scaled-down
format has been known since the title was first announced. If you're a
Gran Turismo fan, however, prepare to see even less than expected.
Not only are there fewer vehicles and tracks, but there's little variety
in the events available. Standard races, time trials and drift
challenges are among the handful of events. While Gran Turismo finally
makes its online debut, with up to 16-player races, the types of races
remain limited.
But the lack of selections is offset by Prologue's $39.99 price tag,
roughly $20 less than a standard PS3 release. And once you hit the
track, you'll learn the ride in Gran Turismo remains exhilarating.
Activision Steps to the Plate with 'Little League
World Series 2008' for Wii and Nintendo DS
Activision, Inc. announced Wednesday the upcoming release of Little
League World Series 2008 for Wii and Nintendo DS. Players will have the
ability to bat, pitch and field using intuitive controls developed
exclusively for Nintendo's platforms. Little League World Series is the
perfect game to play with your friends and family. The game hits shelves
August 5, 2008.
"Little League baseball fans, players and families simply haven't had a
videogame made just for them, so our goal is to fill this niche," said
Dave Oxford, Activision Publishing. "Creating this game with the Little
League organization has been a pleasure and we look forward to paying
homage to the three million Little League players around the world
today."
Little League World Series is the first officially licensed Little League
video game to hit next-generation consoles. Bat, pitch and field your way
from local sandlot slugger to Little League World Series Champion.
Featuring eight U.S. and eight international teams, extraordinarily deep
character customization, World Series Mode, and various skill based
challenges, Little League World Series offers an exciting, authentic
baseball experience. Motion-sensing controls on Wii make it accessible
for Little League players and parents, while the DS version gives
players the freedom to get on the diamond anywhere.
"Activision has captured the essence of what makes Little League so
wonderful for players and spectators alike," Jud Rogers, Sr. Marketing
Executive, Little League International. "We look forward to working with
them in the upcoming months to help polish the game and bring it to
Little Leaguers and fans."
Asian History Inspires New Online Games
After exhausting just about every elf, dragon and knight featured in
Western cultures, makers of popular online games are turning to ancient
Asian history and war heroes for new inspiration.
Chief among their sources is "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," an epic
Chinese novel whose plots and characters are familiar to most Asians.
"Romance," which long existed in oral form before it was put together in
writing in the 14th century, covers a chaotic two-century period in
ancient China marked by infighting between warlords following the fall of
the Han Dynasty.
The story, full of dramatic and bloody episodes about ruthless ambition,
military tactics, loyalty and betrayal, yielded numerous battle legends
and war heroes that are still venerated by Asians.
It also makes for an ideal theme for movies and TV shows, with the latest
being John Woo's "Red Cliff," to be released just before the Beijing
Olympics.
While awareness of ancient Chinese history is still limited in the West,
critical and popular hits such as the film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden
Dragon" and last week's Jackie Chan vehicle "Forbidden Kingdom" are
preparing Western gamers for the idiosyncrasies of Asian-based games.
Japanese game developer Koei Co Ltd has pioneered games based on
"Romance of the Three Kingdoms," from PC games in floppy disk to brand
new console versions running on Microsoft's Xbox 360.
Its "Dynasty Warriors" series, featuring legendary characters from the
novel combined with kung-fu style action, sold more than 15 million
copies worldwide.
Now, makers of online games are trying to bring the well-known saga into
multiplayer role-playing games. They say the novel provides all the
materials needed, from characters to political landscape, to entertain
online gamers for months of play.
"Romance" could re-energize an industry suffering from the lack of a
major blockbuster game since "World of Warcraft" by Blizzard
Entertainment Inc launched in 2004.
South Korean game developer Wemade Entertainment unveiled a multiplayer
role-playing game, "Chang Chun," last year. In it, characters mingle with
people from real Chinese history and get involved in politics and
battles. Gamers build their martial art skills, acquire weapons and
armor, form clans and lead wars against each other.
Converting centuries-old texts into virtual reality, however, proved a
tough task.
"It took more than four years of research into the novel's contents,
Chinese history, architecture, clothing and so on," said Park Jung-soo,
who leads Wemade's development team. "All members of our team went on
research trips to China."
Gamers appreciate such efforts, saying details and historical facts are
key attractions.
"Managing troops, food supply and other elements to win the war is very
interesting. There's also a whole system for government offices and
rankings," said an online user, who wanted to be identified by ID
sbh8243.
"If you want to engage more, you can join the policy team and lead the
country you're in."
"Warlord" by Neowiz Games takes a step further in its attempt to blend
Western and Eastern war history. A gamer can choose among characters from
different cultures, such as a Chinese general, a Japanese ninja or a
magician knight from ancient Europe. As the game progresses, the gamer
faces famous generals and warriors from history books.
Kim Jae-young, production manager at Neowiz Games, said developers at the
firm combed through not only history books but artwork, prehistoric wall
paintings and artifacts to rebuild the scenes from long-gone historic
moments.
Analysts say well-made games based on "Romance" have the potential to
become money-spinners, given the fast-growing gamer population in China.
Wemade, which is offering a trial of "Chang Chun" in China, said it ranks
among the most popular online games there.
"The Chinese online game market has yet to fully boom up," said Shim
Jun-bo, an analyst at CJ Investment & Securities.
"One day there will be a perfectly made 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms'
game from a major studio like Blizzard, and it will become an absolute
blockbuster."
EU Tells Videogame Industry To Protect Minors Better
Videogame makers and shops have two years to come up with a widely
accepted industry code of conduct to better protect children from violent
images, the European Union's executive body said on Tuesday.
"Creators have to enjoy freedom of expression but at the same time it's
an industry that impacts society," EU Information Society Commissioner
Viviane Reding told a news conference.
Worldwide revenues from videogaming are expected to reach 30 billion
euros ($47.5 billion) within two years, of which the 27-nation EU will
account for about one-third, Reding said.
Public concerns that videogames can cause aggressive behavior have been
heightened by school shootings such as that in Finland last November, and
have led to several countries banning games such as "Manhunt 2," Reding
added.
The EU executive has powers to propose legislation, but decided to give
the sector two years to come up with a code of conduct that has wider
industry backing than the current one. The industry is also being asked
to spend more on advertising its symbols denoting the age suitability of
games.
"When children go out to play today they enter the world of joysticks. We
are not quite sure where they go and there is real anxiety from parents,"
EU Consumer Protection Commissioner Meglena Kuneva said.
The industry's age classification system - Pan European Games Information
(PEGI) - is sponsored by more than 200 industry members and used in 20 of
the 27 EU states. There is also an online version but with far fewer
industry backers.
The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers' Association (ELSPA), a
videogame industry lobby, said the PEGI age rating system was robust.
"Importantly, it protects children as games move increasingly online and
therefore should be adopted by UK regulators. We look forward to
discussing this at the forthcoming UK consultation," ELSPA's director
general Paul Jackson said.
The European Commission wants PEGI's age symbols to become familiar to
the public but it accepts there is no conclusive evidence that violent
videogames influence children's behavior.
"We want to work in this environment on a precautionary principle,"
Kuneva said.
Last year a U.S. federal judge struck down a 2005 California state law
barring the sale of violent videogames to minors as unconstitutional,
adding there was no evidence such games were any more harmful than some
television shows and movies.
Scenes of bloody killings were scaled back to allow Manhunt 2 to go on
sale to U.S. players aged 17 years and older.
Making a game for adults only is seen as uncommercial as hardware makers
such as Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo do not allow such content on their
machines, which are popular with children.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
China Vaults Past USA in Internet Users
China, already the world leader in cellphone use, has surpassed the USA
as the No. 1 nation in Internet users.
The number of Chinese on the Internet hit more than 220 million as of
February, according to estimates from official Chinese statistics by the
Beijing-based research group BDA China. The government is likely to
confirm the leap at its half-yearly report in July.
The longtime Internet leader, the USA, which founded and developed the
network of computers, had 216 million users at the end of 2007,
according to Nielsen/NetRatings.
The percentage of American users - 71% - still exceeds China's 17%.
China has 1.3 billion people, compared with nearly 304 million in the
USA.
China, however, has a higher growth rate, says BDA's chairman, Duncan
Clark. By the end of March, for example, Chinese users climbed to 233
million.
At the end of 2007, China's Internet users reached 210 million, a jump of
53% from the previous year, says Zhang Shanshan, media director for the
China Internet Network Information Center, which gathers statistics for
the Ministry of Information Industry.
Clark says the rapid growth is powered in part by China's economic boom.
While the government "continues to filter the Net and encourage
self-censorship, it also has a mandate to promote cheaper technology and
the knowledge economy."
And there is strong government backing for companies such as China
Netcom, which offers broadband service at $10 a month, Clark says.
At the company's Xibahe branch in north Beijing, dozens of people
recently lined up to buy broadband service.
Sun Xin, 19, a student, was helping his parents sign up for DSL.
"My friends all agree - no Internet, no life," Sun says. "We use it
every day for MSN, and I love playing games like World of Warcraft."
The game is so popular that players can pay companies in China to play
in their place so they can continue gaining points.
Microsoft in Quandary Over Yahoo Bid as Key Deadline Looms
Microsoft Corp. is no closer to buying Yahoo Inc. than when it made its
$44.6 billion bid nearly three months ago, leaving the software maker in
a quandary over whether the deal is still worth pursuing.
A decision is likely to emerge in the next few days, with Yahoo facing a
weekend deadline to accept the offer. Although the deadline expires
Saturday, Microsoft has indicated it probably won't reveal its next move
until early next week.
The tense mating dance is at a standstill because Yahoo's board has
repeatedly said it won't sell to Microsoft for less than $45 billion,
even though the bid hoisted its stock shortly after it hit a four-year
low in late January.
The impasse has left most analysts predicting Microsoft will either
sweeten its offer or attempt to replace Yahoo's board with a slate of
directors who will embrace a takeover.
But the architects of Microsoft's bid - Chief Executive Steve Ballmer
and Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell - have been signaling the
Redmond, Wash.-based company might abandon the bid and leave
Sunnyvale-based Yahoo twisting in the wind.
The public remarks of Ballmer and Liddell could be just part of a
negotiating ploy aimed at pressuring Yahoo to the negotiating table.
But some analysts think Microsoft would be smart to walk away now.
By turning a cold shoulder, Microsoft could position itself to return
with another bid this summer in hopes of completing the acquisition
without suffering through the disruption and rancor likely to erupt if
Microsoft were to try to oust Yahoo's board in a risky process known as a
proxy contest.
This scenario could only pan out if Microsoft is correct in its belief
that Yahoo is stuck in a downward spiral after steadily losing ground in
the online advertising market during the past two years.
Unless Yahoo can bounce back, its shares might eventually drop even lower
than their $19.18 price when Microsoft made its initial bid of $31.
Yahoo shares fell 50 cents to finish Friday at $26.80, pulled down by the
declining value of Microsoft's cash-and-stock bid.
Driven by Wall Street's disappointment with the company's short-term
outlook, Microsoft shares dropped $1.97 to $29.83 on Friday. The decline
lowered the value of the Yahoo bid to $42.7 billion, or $29.68 per share.
If Yahoo's stock were to plummet into the mid-teens, Microsoft
conceivably could return with another offer that would probably be more
warmly received than its original bid.
"Yahoo management would be under inordinate pressure to accept at that
point," said Dinosaur Securities analyst David Garrity. "Why go through
all the distractions and expense of a proxy fight if you see another way"
to an amicable transaction?
Yahoo management has expressed confidence in a turnaround plan that
projects revenue increases of 25 percent in 2009 and 2010. But analyst
estimates for those years have remained substantially below those targets
- a sign of the widespread skepticism about whether Yahoo will be able to
reach its ambitious goals.
Abandoned takeover bids have paved the way to corporate acquisitions
before. Just last fall, Oracle Corp. withdrew a $6.7 billion bid for
rival business software maker BEA Systems Inc. after being spurned and
then wrapped up the takeover for $8.5 billion three months later.
Other analysts remain convinced Microsoft will either raise its bid or
launch a proxy contest because it needs Yahoo's franchise to mount a more
serious challenge Google Inc.'s dominance of the Internet's search and
advertising market.
"We still believe (Microsoft) is committed to completing the transaction
and is unlikely to walk away," Citigroup analyst Brent Thill wrote in a
Friday note.
McAdams Wright Ragen analyst Sid Parakh said he can't envision Microsoft
raising its offer, especially since Yahoo's management hasn't proven its
strategy will boost the company's stock price above $30 on its own.
Microsoft's current bid is "already a stretch, and I don't see any
reason for them to really bid against themselves," Parakh said.
Yahoo could try to extract a higher bid by farming out some of the
advertising on its Web site to Google. The two sides just completed a
two-week trial that allowed Google to show text-based advertising along a
small percentage of Yahoo's search results.
A long-term advertising partnership with Google probably would provide a
significant boost to Yahoo's profits, but antitrust concerns might block
an alliance between the owners of the Internet's two largest search
engines. Combined, Google and Yahoo control more than 80 percent of the
U.S. search market.
Yahoo also has been exploring a possible merger with the online
operations of Time Warner Inc.'s AOL, but most analysts view that as a
weaker alternative to a Microsoft takeover.
As it stands now, Yahoo's first-quarter revenue growth of 9 percent is
far behind both Google's and Microsoft's online services division, which
climbed 42 percent and 40 percent, respectively.
That's just one reason Garrity believes Ballmer and Liddell are realizing
that Microsoft doesn't need Yahoo at any price.
"Sometimes the best deals are the ones that aren't done," he said.
Rock Phish Gang Adds Second Punch to Phishing Attacks
A notorious online gang known for its prolific phishing operations has
expanded its means of attack, potentially putting more PC users at risk
of losing personal data.
The Rock Phish gang surfaced around 2004, becoming well-known for its
expertise in setting up phishing sites, which seek to trick people into
divulging sensitive data, as well as for selling phishing kits designed
for less technical cybercriminals.
Now, the phishing sites linked with the Rock Phish gang are being rigged
with a drive-by download, a type of attack that can infect a PC with
malicious software without any interaction by the user, researchers from
vendor RSA said Monday.
The one-two punch means that even people who go to the phishing site but
aren't fooled into inputting their personal details could still be
infected, wrote Uriel Maimon, a senior researcher, on RSA's blog.
The phishing Web site tries to exploit any software vulnerabilities, and
if it finds one, will then load the Zeus Trojan onto the PC. Zeus is
particularly dangerous: it can collect data on forms, take screen shots,
pilfer passwords from browsers and remotely control the computer, Maimon
wrote.
Zeus also comes in at least 150 flavors. One of the phishing kits being
sold now for US$700 masks how Zeus appears to security programs. That
kit uses a binary generator, which creates a new binary file for Zeus
for every kit.
Antivirus programs uses signatures, or data files, that describe what
malicious programs "look" like in order to be detected. But creating
new binaries can render security programs blind. Most of the popular
antivirus programs can't detect the variants.
"These files are radically different from each other, making them
notoriously difficult for antivirus or security software to detect,"
Maimon wrote.
Web Criminals Fuel Big Rise in "Trojans"
Cyber-criminals are behind a dramatic rise in stealthy programs called
"trojans" that infect computers to sell rogue software, send unwanted
email or steal personal data, a study has found.
In a report released in London, Microsoft said the number of trojans
removed from computers around the world in the second half of 2007 rose
by 300 percent from the first half.
The figure has risen so sharply because more computers are fitted with
software that detects malicious programs and because criminals had come
to see trojans as their "tool of choice," the report said.
"The numbers have simply exploded, it's huge," said Vinny Gullotto,
general manager of the Microsoft Malware Protection Center. "There is a
lot of criminal intent there."
Trojans can log keystrokes to gather passwords, send spam from private
computers or harvest email addresses or personal information for
criminal purposes.
The most common family of trojans last year was "Win32/Zlob," a piece of
malicious software, or malware, that people unwittingly download from the
Internet.
Its designers trick people into saving it by telling them they need a new
piece of software to watch video online.
Once installed, it bombards people with pop-up messages and bogus
flashing warnings that their computer is infected.
The messages say: "Your computer is infected! Windows has detected
spyware infection. Click here to protect your computer."
The trojan then sends adverts offering to sell rogue anti-spyware on
sites that could expose customers to credit card fraud. Microsoft said
the problem is global and linked to organized criminal gangs.
"The majority (of trojans) come from the (United) States, China, Russia
and South America," Gullotto said on the fringes of the Infosecurity
Europe trade conference on Tuesday.
Microsoft said the number of computers around the world that were made
safe after being infected with trojans rose from one million in the
second half of 2006 to 19 million in the second half of 2007.
The report is online: http://www.microsoft.com/security/portal/sir.aspx
Study Finds Infected Web Pages on the Rise
A year ago, one out of every 909 e-mails was infected with malicious
code. In the first quarter of 2008, only one out of every 2,500 was
infected. Good news? Not really. All it means is that the attackers have
changed tactics to overcome the defenses you're building, according to
security company Sophos.
"As companies implement better e-mail defenses, the hackers are looking
for new avenues of attack. E-mail also lacks some of the flexibility that
Web-based attacks can offer," said Richard Wang, U.S. SophosLabs Manager.
A study done by Sophos that examines the security events and trends of
the first quarter of this year showed that the decline in attacks
against e-mail was balanced by what the company calls "an unprecedented
number of threats" targeting Web pages. Last year, the company detected
an average of roughly 5,000 infected Web pages a day; this quarter, the
average is 15,000 per day. That's one new infected Web page every five
seconds.
And these are sites you may well visit: 79 percent are legitimate sites,
not sites set up specifically to host malicious attacks.
"The Web gives hackers an easy way to deliver software to their victims,"
Wang said. "It also allows them to change the software they are using at
a moment's notice. This makes the Web far more flexible as an attack
vector than e-mail."
Companies in the United States are taking the worst beating from the
switch in tactics, with domestic companies now unwittingly hosting the
greatest number of malicious content. (Last year, the number-one spot was
held by China.)
"The most likely cause of this is the hackers' move away from
purpose-built malicious Web sites. The vast majority of sites that we now
see hosting malware are legitimate sites that hackers have broken into
and added their own code. All kinds of sites, from auto parts to Web
design, are now hosting dangerous software," Wang told us.
No one is immune from malware, with attackers taking pains to ensure
that different browsers and operating systems are treated equally.
According to Wang, "If a user browses to an infected Web page, the
hacker can deliver different attack software depending on the operating
system and browser that the user has. A Windows user with Internet
Explorer will experience a different attack from a Mac OS X user with
Safari."
The Sophos report also shows that more than 92 percent of all e-mail sent
in the first quarter of this year was spam. "The sheer number of Web
sites related to spam is growing at an incredible rate," Wang said.
"Sophos finds over 23,000 new spam-related sites every day - that's about
one every three seconds." Expect to find more spam in your in-box,
Sophos says, as spammers continue to bypass CAPTCHA systems meant to
distinguish humans from automated spambots.
Also on the increase are attacks aimed at individuals, Wang said. "We
have seen a significant increase in targeted phishing attacks, also known
as 'spear-phishing.' In these attacks, people known to belong to a
specific organization or group are precisely targeted. We have seen
spear-phishing attacks against college students, ISP users, and even
CEOs."
The best defense, Sophos says, is to defend Web and e-mail gateways,
protect end-point devices, and educate users on safe computing practices.
EBay Sues Craigslist Over Alleged Stake Dilution
EBay Inc, the world's largest online auctioneer, sued Craigslist, a
competitor in which it holds an ownership stake, in a dispute over
whether the Internet bulletin board tried to blunt eBay's control.
EBay alleged in the lawsuit that the board of directors of Craigslist,
the Web's dominant classifieds listing service, took "unilateral
actions" to dilute eBay's 28.4 percent stake by more than 10 percent,
eBay said in a statement.
The suit, filed on Tuesday under seal, asked a Delaware Chancery Court
to rescind the unspecified actions to protect eBay's stockholders and
preserve its stake in Craigslist.
The suit names as defendants Craigslist founder, Craig Newmark, who runs
the company in a famously open-minded style, and Chief Executive Jim
Buckmaster. Newmark and Buckmaster are the only members of Craigslist's
board of directors.
EBay bought a minority ownership stake in 2004, and launched its own
free online classifieds site, called Kijiji, three years later in the
United States.
The two services directly compete in the United States and about a dozen
countries, with Kijiji tailoring its ads to young families rather than
maintaining a Craigslist-style open marketplace.
In an email, Newmark had no comment on the lawsuit, or on whether the
dispute involved the companies' business rivalry, saying Craigslist
needed "a little time to figure it all out."
An eBay spokeswoman said the disputed board actions concerned "corporate
governance issues" and did not involve Kijiji.
She said eBay could reveal no more about its complaint without
Craigslist's permission to protect information about privately held
Craigslist governed by confidentiality restrictions.
Craigslist Fires Back, Blasts eBay Actions As Unethical
Craigslist is firing back at its rival and minority owner eBay, scolding
the online auctioneer's actions as unethical and smelling of a hostile
takeover.
In a move that pits two of the Internet's most popular sites against each
other, EBay Inc. sued the online classifieds company Tuesday, alleging it
unfairly tried to dilute eBay's stake in it.
EBay purchased a 28 percent stake in privately held Craigslist in 2004.
But in January, eBay says, Craigslist's board, consisting of founder
Craig Newmark and Chief Executive Jim Buckmaster, unilaterally acted to
dilute eBay's economic interest in Craigslist by more than 10 percent.
In an entry titled "Tainted Love" that Craigslist posted on its blog
Tuesday night, the company said the allegations are unfounded and the
lawsuit came from out of the blue.
"Coming from a company that views Craigslist as a prime competitor,
filing suit without so much as mentioning these assertions to us
beforehand seems unethical, and suggests ulterior motives. ... Ebay has
absolutely no reason to feel threatened unless a hostile takeover of
Craigslist, or the sale of Ebay's stake in Craigslist to an unfriendly
party, is their ultimate goal," the post said.
EBay, the world's largest online auctioneer, was an unsolicited suitor
to quirky Craigslist in 2004. An unnamed former Craigslist shareholder
sought out eBay and sealed a deal whose financial terms were never
disclosed.
At the time, Newmark said the companies had similar philosophies, but a
company spokeswoman said, "Craigslist has never sought any outside money,
and that's not going to change."
EBay said at the time of the deal that it was interested in learning
about the classifieds business, a portion of its own site that's been
growing rapidly in recent years.
San Jose-based eBay made $7.7 billion in revenue in 2007 and has 279
million registered users. It is the 17th most popular English-language
site, according to traffic ranking site Alexa, while Craigslist ranks
45th.
Craigslist, based in San Francisco, has never disclosed revenue figures.
It charges for job ads and apartment listings only in select cities.
Newmark, a former IBM programmer, founded Craigslist in 1995 as a roundup
of local events in San Francisco, but the bare-bones site fast became a
popular online destination and has branched out to 450 cities worldwide.
Although it has always used a ".org" domain name usually associated with
nonprofits, Craigslist incorporated as a for-profit company in 1999.
With 25 employees working out of Victorian houses in San Francisco's
Inner Sunset neighborhood, the site has grown from 1 billion page views
per month in 2004 to 9 billion per month now, according to Craigslist. It
hosts 30 million new classifieds a month, most posted for free.
EBay spokeswoman Kim Rubey declined to quantify eBay's current stake in
Craigslist.
Much larger eBay, which has 15,000 employees, is asking Delaware's Court
of Chancery to negate Craigslist's board's actions.
The complaint is under seal because of confidentiality restrictions,
according to a company statement. Craigslist may ask the court to make
the complaint publicly available, eBay said.
The lawsuit was announced 45 minutes before stock markets closed Tuesday.
EBay's stock closed at $30.89, up 26 cents, then gained a penny in
after-hours trading.
Senators Debate Future of Web
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin said Tuesday his
agency has all the authority it needs to prevent Internet service
providers from discriminating against Web surfers and that new
legislation is unnecessary.
"I do not believe any additional regulations are needed at this time,"
Martin said at a hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee. "But I
also believe that the commission has a responsibility to enforce the
principles that it has already adopted."
The FCC has conducted two hearings on "network management" following
admissions by Comcast Corp. that it sometimes delayed file-sharing
traffic for subscribers as a way to keep Web traffic flowing.
The hearing was called at a time when the issue of "network neutrality"
- the principle that people should be able to go where they choose on
the Internet without interference from network owners - has heated up.
The network neutrality debate has divided Congress, with Democrats
largely in favor and Republicans mostly opposed, a point that became
clearer at Tuesday's committee meeting.
"It is a political division now and it's getting more so," said Sen. Ted
Stevens, R-Alaska. "It is unfortunate." He said a return to "intense
regulation" of the Internet is "entirely unwarranted."
The hearing included some star power, with the appearance of Justine
Bateman, best known for her role on the TV sitcom Family Ties. Bateman is
now a founding partner of a new online media venture.
"The idea of your site succeeding or failing based upon whether or not
you paid the telecom companies enough to carry your material or allow
quick access is appalling," she told the committee.
Also speaking for a free-flowing Internet was Patric Verrone, the
president of the Writers Guild of America, West, which recently ended a
100-day strike that virtually paralyzed television production. The
Internet was a valuable organizing tool for the writers, he said in an
interview.
"When your employers are the same companies that control the media, it's
hard to get your message out," Verrone said.
To maintain contact with one another, guild members used blog postings,
e-mail and videos. It was the success of that campaign that prompted
Verrone to come to Washington and push for legislation that he hopes
will guarantee the Internet's status as an open forum for communication.
Verrone, a television writer and producer for over 20 years, supports
legislation proposed by Sens. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Byron Dorgan,
D-N.D., that would force those who control Internet service to treat all
traffic equally.
Large network owners like cable and telecommunications companies are
opposed to network neutrality legislation, saying it would add a layer of
regulation that will hurt consumers. They say it is unnecessary and
amounts to a solution in search of a problem.
Kyle McSlarrow, president and CEO of the National Cable and
Telecommunications Association, described the picture painted by pro-net
neutrality commenters as "a complete fantasy."
McSlarrow said of the tens of millions of people who use the Internet
every day, "no one is being blocked" and if they were, they could go to
another service provider.
Martin told the panel that the FCC's anti-discrimination "Internet
Policy Statement," approved in 2005, is enforceable and gives the
commission adequate authority to protect consumers.
When the policy was approved, Martin had a different opinion, however.
In his statement at the time, he noted "policy statements do not
establish rules nor are they enforceable documents" but that the
commission decision "does reflect core beliefs that each member of this
Commission holds regarding how broadband Internet access should
function."
NJ Court Requires Subpoena for Internet Subscriber Records
Internet service providers must not release personal information about
users in New Jersey without a valid subpoena, even to police, the state's
highest court ruled Monday.
New Jersey's Supreme Court found that the state's constitution gives
greater protection against unreasonable searches and seizures than the
U.S. Constitution.
The court ruled that Internet providers should not disclose private
information to anyone without a subpoena.
A Washington lawyer who handles Internet litigation, Megan E. Gray, said
the ruling "seems to be consistent with a trend nationwide, but not a
strong trend."
"It's contrary to what is happening with rights of privacy at the
federal level," Gray said. "But it's all over the board for the states,
with a mild trend toward protecting this information."
Grayson Barber, a lawyer representing the American Civil Liberties
Union, Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Electronic Privacy
Information Center, among other groups that filed friend-of-the-court
briefs in the case, said it was the first ruling in the nation to
recognize a reasonable expectation of privacy for Internet users.
"The reality is that people do expect a measure of privacy when they use
the Internet," Barber said.
The 7-0 ruling upheld lower court decisions that restricted police from
obtaining the identity of a Cape May County woman accused of retaliating
in 2004 against her boss after an argument by changing her employer's
access codes to a supplier's Web site.
Police obtained the woman's identity through her Internet provider,
Comcast Corp., by tracing an Internet fingerprint left by her computer.
The fingerprint consisted of an Internet protocol address, often called
an IP address, that could be identified only by Comcast.
Police obtained a subpoena for the data from a municipal court, but
higher courts said a grand jury subpoena was necessary because an
indictable offense was at issue.
Police must seek a criminal grand jury subpoena to get such
information, the court found. And it said the woman's 2005 indictment on
a charge of theft by computer cannot stand unless prosecutors have
enough proof without the evidence, now suppressed, that they got from
Comcast without having the right subpoena.
Prosecutors can resume their pursuit of the information.
"Suppression under the circumstances present here does not mean that the
evidence is lost in its entirety. Comcast's records existed independently
of the faulty process the police followed," Chief Justice Stuart Rabner
wrote for the unanimous court. "And, unlike a confession coerced from a
defendant in violation of her constitutional rights, the record does not
suggest that police conduct in this case in any way affected the records
Comcast kept."
Cape May County Prosecutor Robert L. Taylor said his office will seek a
grand jury subpoena and a new indictment.
Customs Can Search All Files on a Laptop, Court Rules
Business travelers carrying laptops into the U.S. from overseas may be in
for a rude experience. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday
that U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officers can search laptops -
including opening every file on the hard drive - without any reasonable
suspicion.
The decision in United States v Arnold by a three-judge panel reverses a
U.S. District Court decision that said such searches require reasonable
suspicion.
The case concerns Michael Arnold, who arrived at Los Angeles
International Airport from the Philippines and was pulled aside by
customs agents for a random laptop search. When the officers started up
the computer they found two folders on the desktop labeled Kodak Pictures
and Kodak Memories.
When they found photos of nude women in those folders, they spent several
hours opening multiple files until they found images of child
pornography. They seized the computer and two weeks later obtained a
warrant. A grand jury charged Arnold with breaking federal
child-pornography laws.
In its ruling, the Ninth Circuit held that international arrivals at U.S.
airports are subject to the same rules as border crossings. Those rules
give customs officials broad leeway to conduct searches of anything a
traveler brings into the country. The international terminal of a U.S.
airport is the "functional equivalent of a border," the court said,
citing the U.S. Supreme Court case of Almeida-Sanchez v. United States.
In arguments before the court, Arnold's lawyer, Marilyn Bednarski, had a
creative argument to get around the presumption that border searches are
reasonable. Computers are "an extension of ourselves," she told media
outlets this week. "It really is like looking into someone's mind, rather
than looking into a box or a folder or a purse."
In other words, Bednarski argued, laptops are actually an extension of
our bodies. That argument is based on a Supreme Court holding that there
is at least one limit to border officers' ability to search at will. In
a 1985 case, United States v. Montoya de Hernandez, the Supreme Court
ruled that officers do need reasonable suspicion to search the alimentary
canal because "the interests in human dignity and privacy which the
Fourth Amendment protects forbid any such intrusion on the mere chance
that desired evidence might be obtained."
The appeals court didn't buy that argument.
Bednarksi also argued that the laptop was the equivalent of one's home,
since it potentially contains digital versions of all the images and
documents traditionally kept in the home. In another 1985 case,
California v. Carney, the Supreme Court ruled that not even a mobile
home is accorded the same privacy interest as an actual home since it is
"readily movable." A laptop is even more movable than a mobile home, the
court noted.
International travelers uncomfortable with having their laptops searched
might want to consider storing files online and renting a laptop when
they get to their destination country, or encrypting their files if they
do travel with a laptop.
"It's so easy to encrypt your files, passing through any spot where you
are liable to be searched with sensitive data unencrypted seems
brain-dead," one person posted on a blog.
Russian Prosecutors Eye Internet Censorship
The Russian prosecutor's office wants tough anti-extremism laws to be
extended to the Internet, state newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported
Wednesday, prompting fears of growing media censorship.
The prosecutors office has proposed a legal amendment to bring the
Internet under the same rules as printed media, Vyacheslav Sizov, a top
official at the prosecutor general's office told the daily.
Newspapers deemed in court to have published extremist material can be
shut down
under current laws.
The new proposal is for any website deemed to have hosted extremist
material to be blocked by providers in Russia "within a month," Sizov
said.
The Internet is the freest area of the media in Russia, where almost all
television and many newspapers are under formal or unofficial government
control.
The extremism law has already come under fire from human rights
activists, who say its sweeping nature is open to abuse by officials
wanting to outlaw legitimate criticism.
"It is a worry whenever the government tries to change any law," Oleg
Panfilov, director of the Centre of Journalism in Extreme Situations,
told AFP.
"It is difficult to find anyone who is not against extremism but it
depends on how the law is used. The government uses (it) selectively."
News website www.gazeta.ru was warned for extremism last year after it
wrote about cartoons that satirised the prophet Mohammed.
OLPC Switch to Windows on XO Is 'Muddled,' Developers Say
Open-source developers should stop bickering, unite and jointly develop a
Windows user interface to make XO laptops more appealing to users, One
Laptop Per Child Chairman Nicholas Negroponte has urged in a public note
to that community.
Developers in the open-source community did not take lightly to
Negroponte's comments, expressing outrage and questioning the judgment
of OLPC's shift from Linux to Windows for the XO laptop. Developers
called Negroponte's appeal "vague" and "demoralizing" for the future
development of Sugar, the user interface that currently works with Linux
on XO laptops.
In a note on OLPC's community site, Negroponte wrote that Sugar is less
than perfect and needs to be developed for Windows to expand the laptop's
appeal. The nonprofit has engaged in discussions with Microsoft to load
Windows on dual-boot versions of the XO laptop.
"I attribute our weakness to unrealistic development goals and
practices," Negroponte wrote. "Our mission has never changed. It has been
to bring connected laptops for learning to children in the poorest and
most remote locations of the world. Our mission has never been to
advocate the perfect learning model or pure Open Source."
Sugar needs to be separated from the OS core and made platform agnostic,
Negroponte wrote. "To do that, we need to hire more developers, work more
together and spend less time arguing."
This week developers began debating XO's possible shift from Linux to
Windows after Monday's resignation of Walter Bender, OLPC's president of
software and content. Bender gained a following in the open-source
community by promoting open-source software for the XO despite growing
efforts to load the laptop with Windows XP.
In a note posted Monday at OLPC's community news, Bender said that he was
leaving to advance the quality open-source software for learning and
would continue to work with the OLPC community "by adopting the spirit
and methodology of the open-source movement."
Observers contend that Bender left because he was less than happy with
OLPC's move from open source to Windows on the XO laptop. Some developers
saw it as a sign that OLPC is scaling down Sugar's development.
Drawing that conclusion from Bender's departure is incorrect, Negroponte
wrote: "We are scaling Sugar up, not down."
Developers replied that his vision of Sugar for Windows is muddled and
that he is further dividing himself from OLPC's developer community.
"If you are not serious about Sugar on Windows within the next year,
please continue to avoid 'now' and use 'might' and 'someday' when you
talk about it, and we'll continue to try to make Sugar-on-Linux achieve
its potential," wrote C. Scott Ananian in a community posting at the OLPC
site.
"I approve of keeping OLPC's options open, in case your current
development team (myself included) cannot deliver on Sugar's potential,
but setting vague (and demoralizing) goals for future development -
without actually devoting the resources to achieve those goals - is
madness. You have only succeeded in alienating the developers you need
to make Sugar-on-Linux work, without actually achieving any progress on
Sugar-on-Windows," Ananian wrote.
Porting Sugar, which runs on multiple Linux distributions, to Windows
shouldn't be hard, but the question is whether users will have the same
experience on both OSes, wrote Tomeu Vizoso.
Negroponte wrote that Sugar needs to be changed from an omelet to a fried
egg "with distinct yoke and white, rather than having the UI,
collaborative tools, power management and radios merge into one amorphous
blob."
Vizoso wouldn't chew on Negroponte's vision of a fried egg. "My
understanding is that the Sugar UI is composed of inseparable components
because we wanted to give an integrated and coherent experience. In
which way are you suggesting to split Sugar?"
Ubuntu 8.04 Released
The latest version of the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution was officially
released to the public today after the customary beta-test period. This
version is designated "LTS," for "long-term support," which should make it
attractive to business customers who prefer a longer upgrade cycle for
their operating systems.
Ubuntu 8.04 is available in a version tailored for server systems, but in
the past it has been the desktop version that has garnered the most
attention. The new release should be no different, as it includes a
number of improvements for desktop users - most notably, a new installer
that allows the OS to coexist on a Windows computer without partitioning
or re-formatting the hard drive.
As is customary for Linux distributions, Ubuntu 8.04 includes incremental
updates to many of the software packages that make up the system, from
low-level details like the window manager and graphics subsystem, all the
way up to the bundled OpenOffice.org productivity suite. The new release
is also the first to ship with the Firefox 3.0 browser, which is
currently still in late-stage beta testing. Despite some bleeding-edge
additions to the package, my early testing of Ubuntu 8.04 showed it to be
a remarkably stable and well-polished Linux desktop.
Full disclosure: I've tried many different desktop Linux distributions,
but Ubuntu remains my personal favorite. I will definitely be upgrading
the Ubuntu partition on the computer from which I write this, just as
soon as I'm able.
Of course, getting your own copy of Ubuntu may well be the trick. The
main servers are typically overburdened in the first few days after a new
release. Be sure to use the mirror nearest you, or better still, use
BitTorrent. Links to torrent files are hidden away on the main Ubuntu
site, but they're available. Using BitTorrent helps to relieve the load
on the download servers, plus you get the satisfaction of helping fellow
Linux users get their own copies of Ubuntu while you download yours. (If
the server is too slow to let you navigate to the torrent files, try here
for a torrent for the desktop version for i386.)
Not All :) As Informal Writing Creeps Into Teen Assignments
It's nothing to LOL about: Despite best efforts to keep school writing
assignments formal, two-thirds of teens admit in a survey that emoticons
and other informal styles have crept in.
The Pew Internet and American Life Project, in a study released Thursday,
also found that teens who keep blogs or use social-networking sites like
Facebook or News Corp.'s MySpace have a greater tendency to slip
nonstandard elements into assignments.
The results may give parents, teachers and others a big :( - a frown to
the rest of us - though the study's authors see hope.
"It's a teachable moment," said Amanda Lenhart, senior research
specialist at Pew. "If you find that in a child's or student's writing,
that's an opportunity to address the differences between formal and
informal writing. They learn to make the distinction ... just as they
learn not to use slang terms in formal writing."
Half of the teens surveyed say they sometimes fail to use proper
capitalization and punctuation in assignments, while 38 percent have
carried over the shortcuts typical in instant messaging or e-mail
messages, such as "LOL" for "laughing out loud." A quarter of teens have
used :) and other emoticons.
Overall, 64 percent have used at least one of the informal elements in
school.
Teens who consider electronic communications with friends as "writing"
are more likely to carry the informal elements into school assignments
than those who distinguish the two.
The study was co-sponsored by the National Commission on Writing at the
College Board, the nonprofit group that administers the SAT and other
placement tests.
The chairman of the commission's advisory board, Richard Sterling, said
the rules could possibly change completely within a generation or two:
Perhaps the start of sentences would no longer need capitalization, the
way the use of commas has decreased over the past few decades. "Language
changes," Sterling said.
Defying conventional wisdom, the study also found that the generation
born digital is shunning computer use for most assignments. About
two-thirds of teens say they typically do their school writing by hand.
And for personal writing outside school, longhand is even more popular
- the preferred form for nearly three-quarters of teens.
That could be because the majority of writing is short - school
assignments are on average a paragraph to a page in length, Lenhart
said.
Among other findings:
* Teens who keep blogs are more likely to engage in personal writing.
They also tend to believe that writing will prove crucial to their
eventual success in life.
* Parents are more likely than teens to believe that Internet-based
writing such as e-mail and instant messaging affects writing overall,
though both groups are split on whether the electronic communications
help or hurt. Nonetheless, 73 percent of teens and 40 percent of parents
believe Internet writing makes no difference either way.
The telephone-based survey of 700 U.S. residents ages 12 to 17 and their
parents was conducted Sept. 19 to Nov. 16 and has a margin of sampling
error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.
Microsoft Starts Testing Office Subscription Sales
Microsoft Corp started testing a new way of selling its Office software
suite on a subscription basis, packaging it with security software and
free online services.
Microsoft on Friday launched a new test program code-named "Albany"
that will allow consumers to download and install Office 2007, which
includes Word processing and Excel spreadsheet, and then receive
updates for a subscription instead of a more traditional one-time
license fee.
Consumers will also receive Windows Live OneCare, a Web-based security
software, and online applications including Windows Live Mail and
Office Live Workspace.
Microsoft did not disclose how it plans to set the pricing for
"Albany" or when it would be widely available.
The company faces competition from Google Inc and a slew of start-ups
including privately-held Zoho, which are offering applications
comparable to Office but delivered through a Web browser for free or
a monthly subscription.
Microsoft said this is not a complete overhaul of how it sells
software.
"We are definitely not straying from our traditional software sales
model," said Bryson Gordon, product manager for the project.
"There will always be a significant number of users for whom
purchasing a perpetual license to the latest version of Office is
still the best choice. "Albany" just gives customers more choice."
=~=~=~=
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