Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 10 Issue 01
Volume 10, Issue 01 Atari Online News, Etc. January 4, 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:
To subscribe to A-ONE, change e-mail addresses, or unsubscribe,
log on to our website at: www.atarinews.org
and click on "Subscriptions".
OR subscribe to A-ONE by sending a message to: dpj@atarinews.org
and your address will be added to the distribution list.
To unsubscribe from A-ONE, send the following: Unsubscribe A-ONE
Please make sure that you include the same address that you used to
subscribe from.
To download A-ONE, set your browser bookmarks to one of the
following sites:
http://people.delphiforums.com/dpj/a-one.htm
Now available:
http://www.atarinews.org
Visit the Atari Advantage Forum on Delphi!
http://forums.delphiforums.com/atari/
=~=~=~=
A-ONE #1001 01/04/08
~ Favorite Time-Wasters! ~ People Are Talking! ~ Sears and Spyware?
~ UK Preps Prosecutors! ~ Gen Y Uses Libraries! ~ IBM's Cancer Suit!
~ Video Game Summit News ~ Mac Tablet Gets Debut! ~ CES Is Going Green!
~ Lithium Battery Ban! ~ Malware Evolving Fast! ~ "Stock" Beats "Sex"
-* Webroot Delivers Real-Time! *-
-* Intel Drops Out of the OLPC Program *-
-* Oz Plan To Filter Internet Comes Under Fire *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Ahhh, 2008 - another new year has arrived. Nice and cold, too cold!
Fortunately, we're going to get our January thaw earlier than usual!
It can get brutally cold around these parts at times; and I'm not a
big fan of this kind of weather!
In fact, this weather is part of the reason we stay close to home, if
not actually at home, for New Year's Eve. Like most years, we spent
our New Year's Eve quietly. My wife read for most of the night, and
I had a few drinks, listened to some tunes from yesteryear, and played
a video game or three. Saw the ball drop in Times Square, while
noticing that Dick Clark finally looks his age! Welcome to 2008!
And of course, with the new year come the presidential primaries and
caucuses. Egads, 11 months of political rhetoric thrown at us from
every angle. Not for the faint of heart, I can assure you!
Although not the best of segues, I wanted to thank all of you who have
continued to send us cards and letters! I won't drop any more names,
but we do appreciate the occasional pat on the back - that helps to keep
us going from week to week. We realize that there's just not a plethora
of Atari-related news to bring to your attention each week. Heck, there
isn't much to bring you once a month! But, when any news comes across
our monitors, we'll bring it your way! But remember, it's been quite
awhile since Atari - as we knew it - was "flourishing" and we were all
fanatical and waiting for each new piece of hardware and software that
we could get our hands on. Ancient history, technologically. But it's
amazing that Atari stuff still holds a fond portion in our hearts. Like
yesteryear, we're still waiting in anticipation for something new to
whet our appetite.
So, let's keep good thoughts, hoping that the faithful continue to do
some work to support our chosen platform, even if that platform has taken
a backseat to today's technological wonders. Happy New Year!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
joe@atarinews.org
Hidi ho, friends and neighbors. Well, here we are at the start of 2008.
I'm not even going to pretend that there are enough messages in the
NewsGroup to justify a column this week. There just aren't. But, being
the first issue of the year, I just don't feel right about skipping out
and letting you get off scott-free. [grin]
Soooo... what do we talk about? Well, you might not be totally sick and
tired of hearing about Britany Spears or any of the other 'Pop Tarts'
currently fueling the tabloids and news magazines.
Okay, okay. I'm not going to talk about poor little Brit or her
knocked-up sister. I DO find it amusing, though, that with the problems
these two girls are having, their poor mother may have to put the
release of her book on parenting on hold.
No, I'm NOT kidding. You can't make this stuff up.
As I type this, the results of the Iowa caucuses are coming in. You've
no doubt heard all kinds of stuff about 'the caucuses' by now, but if
you're like most people, you don't have a good idea of what they really
are. Don't feel bad. Neither do I. My state has a primary instead of a
caucus. A primary is much more like a straight-up pre-election election
to choose someone to run in the 'big' election. The Iowa Caucus doesn't
directly 'choose' a candidate.
We're not going to go step-by-step through the process because, quite
frankly, it confuses the hell out of me. But it basically goes like
this: Voters get together with other voters of the same party (only the
big two parties). They debate the strengths and weaknesses of the
available candidates and, in the end, vote for the one that they like.
There's more to it than that, but that's the basic idea. The
Republicans and Democrats each have their own processes and rules, but
in the end, each party ends up doing the same thing... casting votes
according to who each voter likes.
While you've no doubt heard about a "winner" for each side, it's more
accurate to think of it as rating the candidates, since there's no
penalty or disqualification or anything like that.
I guess the big surprise in the Iowa caucus was that former Arkansas
governor and baptist minster Mike Huckabee has come from behind and won
on the republican side.
No, I'm NOT kidding. You can't make this stuff up.
As we head into 2008, it's interesting to look back at 2007. We had
Michael Moore telling us about how bad our medical insurance situation
is and Al Gore telling us how bad the global warming situation is.
Teachers and parents are getting more comfortable with the idea that
faith is not science... and doesn't need to be. While they were busy
kicking faith-based pseudo-theory Intelligent Design out of the
classroom, two 'Creation Museums' have opened up and are ready for
public visits. I'm not sure about one of them, but the other one has
Man and dinosaurs existing side-by-side, with the dinosaurs being
saddled and ridden by early man. To quote a comedian/commentator, I knew
that this idea was bull back when I was a kid... and it was called "The
Flintstones".
We've still got people who don't understand the difference between the
scientific method and faith, people still denying the effects of global
warming, and people trying to tell us that our medical insurance system
is doing just fine.
No, I'm NOT kidding. You can't make this stuff up.
And finally, with my head turning toward politics, I've again started
checking in with my favorite political polling site,
www.electoral-vote.com.
I didn't know this when I'd first found the site, but it is the
brainchild of Andrew Tanenbaum, the author of a slew of textbooks on
general computing, networking, and distributed computing, and the
creator of MINIX and the MINIX file system. The only reason this jumped
out at me is that I used MINIX FS for accessing the internet with "The
TAF Disks"... remember that setup? What a bear THAT was, huh?
Installing MiNT with MINIX FS, installing and running an X-Windows like
system, and that browser... oh, what was it called??? Oh yeah, Chimera
(pronounced Ky-Mare-Uh). If I remember correctly, we had to do this at
the outset because of the TCP/IP protocol, which didn't exist on the ST
platform yet. Oh those were the days, huh? Shortly thereafter, came the
CAB browser and a couple of dialer setups for the ST, and we didn't
need to do that crazy stuff anymore. But it WAS fun, wasn't it? I'm not
kidding... all that digging and hacking and tweaking and swearing and
sweating may not have amounted to much, and it certainly hasn't changed
the world, but it kept me off the streets and out of trouble, and kept
me in contact with a great bunch of people... the folks in the Atari
world who were digging and hacking and tweaking and swearing and
sweating right along with me. Gawd, I long for those days again.
No, I'm NOT kidding. You can't make this stuff up.
Well, that's it for this week. Tune in again next week, same time, same
station, and be ready to listen to what they're saying when...
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - Xbox Live Woes Gets Freebie!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Into The World of Wolves!
Light-Gun Games Revival!
And more!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Video Game Looks Into World of Wolves
The new video game "WolfQuest" allows players to follow the call of the
wild in the role of a wolf in Yellowstone National Park.
Players learn quickly, with help from realistic graphics, that wolves do
a lot of running - across plains, through forests and up and down steep
slopes.
"You have to learn how to hunt, survive, defend your territory and
ultimately find a mate and establish your own pack," said project
director Grant Spickelmier, assistant education director at Minnesota Zoo
in Apple Valley.
The first episode, "Amethyst Mountain," was officially released Dec. 20
as a free download at http://www.wolfquest.org. Spickelmier said the game
had been downloaded 13,500 times by Wednesday.
The Minnesota Zoo developed "WolfQuest" with Eduweb, an educational
software developer in St. Paul, on a $508,253 National Science Foundation
grant. Other partners include the National Zoo in Washington, the Phoenix
Zoo, Yellowstone and the International Wolf Center in Ely.
The game is aimed at ages 10 to 15 because kids that age have largely
stopped going to zoos and are more interested in things like video games,
Spickelmier said.
"We're hoping to capture some of those kids back with this game," he
said, adding that the Minnesota Zoo also hopes to interest kids in wolf
conservation and biology.
Eleven-year-old Riley Breckheimer, of Apple Valley, tried out
"WolfQuest" at its launch party at the zoo and declared it "pretty
cool." He said he took down one snowshoe hare and got an elk about
halfway down. The game also gave him new respect for wolves.
"They can run over miles and miles of area just to get to one elk to get
something to eat," he said. "It's not like humans where humans have to
go just a few blocks to the grocery store."
It's not the first time a zoo has offered computer games. The San Diego
Zoo, National and the New York Zoos and Aquarium have games for younger
kids on their Web sites. Nor is it the first time a video game has
simulated wolf life: the DOS game "Wolf" was released in 1994.
But Steve Feldman, spokesman for the American Zoo Association, said
"WolfQuest" takes things to a higher level.
"The level of realism, and also the goal, which is to effect real
conservation behavior change, is what make this game unique," Feldman
said.
In the first episode, as a solitary wolf roaming Amethyst Mountain in
Yellowstone, players chase down elk and hares, relying on their eyes and
sense of smell. When the "scent vision" screen toggles on, the background
goes black and white and scent trails light up. The screen also shows how
old the trails are.
To howl like a wolf, players just hit the "H" key, which in future
episodes will help draw in their pack.
"WolfQuest" can be played alone or with up to five players online, where
players also can connect and share tips. Additional episodes due in 2008
will explore other areas of Yellowstone and allow players to establish
territory (yes, by lifting a leg) and defend their elk carcasses against
hungry grizzly bears, raise pups and even kill sheep on nearby ranches.
The game won praise from David Walsh, president of the National Institute
on Media and the Family, a group that studies the impact of media on
children's health and development and often makes news for its criticism
of violent video games.
"It's got great educational value while at the same time it's engaging,"
Walsh said. "It's a good alternative to the shoot 'em up games that are
so popular with that age group. ... I think this game has the potential
to chart some new territory."
WolfQuest: http://www.wolfquest.org
Minnesota Zoo: http://www.mnzoo.org
Eduweb: http://www.eduweb.com
National Institute on Media and the Family: http://www.mediafamily.org
Nintendo Revives The Light-Gun Game
Most gamers who grew up in the 1980s have fond memories of "Duck Hunt,"
one of the games that came with the Nintendo Entertainment System. Your
controller was a plastic gun, the Zapper, that you used to shoot
on-screen ducks; if you missed, your hunting dog would snicker.
Despite the ubiquity of the Zapper and "Duck Hunt," light-gun games for
home consoles never really caught on. For the last decade, Namco
Bandai's "Time Crisis" series has pretty much had the genre to itself,
although if you visit an arcade you're likely to see a broader selection
(with bigger weapons).
Nintendo's Zapper has a spiritual successor in the Wii console's remote
control, which you operate by pointing directly at your TV screen. And
Nintendo has acknowledged the connection by introducing a new version of
the Zapper - essentially, a plastic doohickey that turns the Wii's
remote-and-nunchaku combo into a two-handed firearm. It's not exactly
state-of-the-art technology, but it does add something fresh to the
first-person shooter.
* "Link's Crossbow Training" (Nintendo, $19.99 with the Wii Zapper): The
game that's packaged with the Zapper isn't the deepest title in the Wii
library, but it's a fast-paced challenge that just about anyone can
enjoy. You are Link, the hero of Nintendo's "Legend of Zelda" series, and
"Crossbow Training" takes you on a whirlwind tour of sites from 2006's
"Twilight Princess."
There are three kinds of competition: target shooting, in which you have
to fire at (mostly) stationary bull's-eyes; defender, in which enemies
come at you from all sides; and ranger, in which you have to hunt down
your foes. Accuracy pays off, because your score is multiplied by the
number of consecutive targets you hit - but other people I played with
had just as much fun shooting willy-nilly.
There are a few surprises. For example, if you shoot a glowing green
monster you get rapid-fire powers for a brief period. The ranger levels
are a little tougher because you have to move with the nunchaku while
swiveling your weapon with the Zapper. And the game can get quite
competitive when you have four players taking turns on the firing range.
Overall, the simplicity of "Crossbow Training" makes it a lively party
game. Two-and-a-half stars out of four.
* "Medal of Honor Heroes 2" (Electronic Arts, $49.99): EA's long-running
World War II series has been eclipsed in recent years by "Call of Duty"
and "Brothers in Arms," but there still may be some life in the old
soldier yet. There's nothing original plot-wise - hey, welcome back to
Omaha Beach! - but the savvy use of the Wii controller makes "Heroes 2"
feel brand new.
An arcade mode, designed specifically for the Zapper, moves you across
the terrain automatically and lets you focus on the fun part: shooting
Nazis. It has the somewhat cartoonish feel of a classic light-gun game
like "House of the Dead," but it's fast and accessible for players who
have never tried a first-person shooter before.
More serious gamers will go right to the campaign mode. Aside from the
usual running, shooting and hiding, you need to use the Wii remote to
throw grenades, tune enemy radios or set explosives - actions that are
easier to execute without the Zapper. Still, with its intuitive controls
and precise gunplay, "Heroes 2" is one of the Wii's best shooters yet.
Three stars.
* "Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles" (Capcom, $49.99): Like the
arcade version of "Heroes 2," "Umbrella Chronicles" moves you along a
predetermined path; your only job is to shoot the zombies and other
monsters that want to eat you. It's not as satisfying as, say, 2005's
"Resident Evil 4," but it's good, brainless fun.
"Chronicles" recreates classic scenarios from previous games in the
series, and fans will enjoy the trip down memory lane. But a newcomer can
have fun too, particularly when joining forces with a veteran in one of
the cooperative levels.
The aiming isn't accurate enough, especially when you need to hit a small
spot on a very large beast. And some of the boss fights seem unfair, with
difficulty levels that are way out of whack with the rest of the game.
Having a helper definitely makes the ordeal more manageable - and
enjoyable. Two-and-a-half stars.
Microsoft Promises Free Game After Online Woes
Microsoft Corp. said on Thursday it will offer a free downloadable video
game to users of its Xbox online gaming service after the network was
plagued with connection troubles over the holidays.
Xbox Live General Manager Mark Whitten said the problems stemmed from a
"massive increase" in new users of the service over the holiday season,
when sales of video game hardware and software surge.
"While the service was not completely offline at any given time, we are
disappointed in our performance," Whitten said in a statement.
Whitten said all Xbox Live members around the world would be able to
freely download one game over the service. Games sold on Xbox Live
typically cost from $5 to $20, and Whitten said Microsoft would give
details of the offer in the coming weeks.
Before the holiday sales surge, Xbox Live had more than eight million
members, many of whom were paying $50 a year for the premium service that
lets them play online against others.
Whitten did not give details of the cause of the problems, but gaming Web
sites and forums have been filled in recent days with complaints from
users frustrated with the inability to sign on to the service or play
online.
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE Gaming Online - Online Users Growl & Purr!
"""""""""""""""""""
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Person: Dan Iacovelli
Organization: Video Game Summit
Telephone Number: (708) 273-6029
Email Address: VideoGameSummit@yahoo.com
Web site Address: http://avc.atari-users.net/VGS.html
Video Game Summit Registration Announced
Chicago, Illinois - (December 31st, 2007) - Remember how much fun you used
to have playing Atari, Nintendo and all kinds of games on your computer?
Well, you will have the rare opportunity to play these great games again
at the Video Game Summit, a video game and computer trade show. In fact,
several dealers in retro games will be on hand offering games,
controllers, systems and memorabilia and will be prepared to buy or trade
for the games you have held onto since you were a kid. Who knows, you
might just have an Atari cartridge worth $1000 or more collecting dust in
your attic.
"Retrogaming," the playing and collecting of vintage video and computer
games, is more popular than ever. In fact, a dedicated group of
programmers still issues new games for game systems, such as the Atari
2600, last seen in retail stores over fifteen years ago.
The Video Game Summit, now in its fifth year, brings together retrogamers
from all over the country to swap stories, games and to compete in
sanctioned tournaments. The event is open to the public and people of
all ages with an interest in video games or computers are encouraged to
attend. According to the events organizer, Dan Iacovelli, "we plan to
have several gaming consoles set to free play and a trade room where
collectors will be free to swap their extra games." Best of all,
admission is free!
The Video Game Summit will run from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. and will be held
in the Heron Point Building adjacent to the Fairfield Inn located at 645
West North Avenue in Lombard, Illinois.
Registration is open now at
http://avc.atari-users.net/Events/VGS_files/register.html.
Dan Iacovelli is available to answer any questions at (708) 273-6029 or
VideoGameSummit@yahoo.com.
Dan Iacovelli is the chairperson of Atari Video Club and has published a
retrogaming fanzine "Atari Zone" since 1993(for more information on AVC
visit: http://avc.atari-users.net )
For information: http://avc.atari-users.net/VGS.html or
Contact: VideoGameSummit@yahoo.com or
Phone: (708) 273-6029
###
(also be sure to visit the VGS website for news on our game show)
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Australia's Plans To Filter Internet Under Fire
An Australian government plan to filter the Internet Wednesday drew
criticism from privacy advocates who said it represented the start of
state censorship.
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, a member of the Labor team which
ousted conservative prime minister John Howard in a November election,
wants filters in place to shield children from online porn and violence.
Under the plan, Internet service providers would provide feeds filtered
free of pornography and other inappropriate material to houses and
schools.
Conroy has rejected criticism that the move will debase the freedom of
the world wide web and represents a step towards the kind of Internet
censorship in place in China where sites are regularly blocked and
cyberdissidents arrested.
"Labor makes no apologies to those that argue that any regulation of the
Internet is like going down the Chinese road," he told national radio on
Monday.
"If people equate freedom of speech with watching child pornography,
then the Rudd Labor government is going to disagree."
But chair of the Australian Privacy Foundation Roger Clarke said the
plan would not only be ineffective but could have substantial
side-effects.
"Many pages will end up getting blocked that shouldn't be blocked," he
told AFP. "We don't need that, we need an open Internet."
Clarke said it was the role of parents and guardians, not the
government, to protect children from inappropriate material.
"It's not the government's business to control information flows," he
said.
"That's the kind of thing that goes on in oppressive countries, in
authoritarian countries.
"That's not what the government is there to do."
Peter Coroneos, spokesman for the Internet Industry Association, said
providers were already providing free filters and the industry was
unsure whether the plan would work.
"At the moment we don't know what the extent of it will be, what it will
cost, and whether it will set a precedent for other changes.
"We just don't know if it is feasible," he told Sydney's Daily Telegraph.
Conroy said Internet users would be able to access uncensored material
by opting out of the service and that the government would work with
industry to ensure the filters did not slow down the service.
"There are people who are going to make all sorts of statements about
the impact on the speed," he said.
"But that is why we are engaged constructively with the sector, engaging
in trials to find a way to implement this in the best possible way and
to work with the sector."
Intel Drops Out of One Laptop Per Child Program
Intel said on Thursday it will drop out of the One Laptop Per Child
project and resign from the board after the project's board demanded the
chipmaker stop supporting other efforts in emerging markets.
One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), a nonprofit project run by MIT professor
Nicholas Negroponte, aimed to sell $100 laptops to the world's poor
children.
But it began selling in October for $200 through a donor program to
finance the program's launch.
The OLPC board "had asked Intel to end its support for non-OLPC platforms
including the Classmate PC and other systems," Intel spokesman Chuck
Mulloy said. "They wanted us to focus our support exclusively on the OLPC
system."
A representative for the OLPC project was not immediately reachable.
Mulloy said Intel decided to drop out after six months of discussion.
Intel last year introduced the Classmate, a laptop for developing
markets. It is likely to have other projects this year.
"We've always said there will be many solutions. The most important
priority is to serve the need," he said
Webroot Delivers Real-Time Defense Against Malicious Code
In today's Internet world, protecting end-user PCs from the unknown is
one of the most important things you can do. No matter how a system is
compromised - be it a virus or a "drive-by" install of malicious code
via a Web site - there is no end to the amount of irritation and
potential financial damage that the user or company might suffer. With
most attacks zeroing in on identity theft, can you really take a chance?
The best way to defend PCs is to have some sort of anti-virus and
anti-spyware protection - and real-time protection trumps traditional
on-demand scans. Real-time anti-virus protection has been around for
years, but only recently have we started to see vendors roll out
real-time analysis and detection of malware. Like its real-time
anti-virus counterpart, this approach ensures malicious code is stopped
before it ever lands.
Among companies packaging real-time protection against viruses and
malware is Webroot Software. The recently released 5.5 version of Webroot
AntiVirus with AntiSpyware and Firewall provides real-time and on-demand
detection and remediation for virus and malware threats, and it boasts an
easy-to-use user interface. Resource utilization is minimal, and in my
tests, there was no noticeable slowdown while browsing the Web. This
package is intended for single users or small office installations; there
is no administrative console or central management. Business users that
need more administrative tools should look at Webroot AntiSpyware
Corporate Edition with AntiVirus.
United front The Webroot system comprises two separate yet complementary
engines. Through its partnership with Sophos, Webroot is able to totally
integrate Sophos' anti-virus protection into its package, providing
protection against all types of digital threats. New to this release is
the addition of behavioral detection in the anti-virus product;
previously, only signature-based virus detection was available. Now even
zero-day threats can be dealt with as the system monitors the overall
behavior of the running processes and data streams.
I tested Webroot AntiVirus with AntiSpyware and Firewall on a Windows XP
Pro PC with 512MB of RAM (both packages are Vista-compatible) and
carefully monitored system resource utilization during all aspects of my
testing. Under normal operation during my tests, RAM usage averaged
around 5MB and jumped up to about 90MB during full system scans. CPU
usage during a full scan averaged around 25 percent with some spikes,
but they were nearly unnoticeable when using the PC. The solution now
supports Firefox in addition to Internet Explorer but is available for
32-bit operating systems only.
Webroot AntiVirus with AntiSpyware uses a number of shields to define the
type and level of protection offered by the product. For example, the
Execution shield monitors and protects the PC against executing
applications, while the File System shield looks at each read and write
to disk for suspicious activity. In all, there are 17 different shields
organized into five groups protecting the various portions of the PC's
system.
To protect and serve The Network Shields go a long way toward helping
prevent infections. Here, Webroot will block access to common ad sites,
lock down the HOSTS file, and most important, deny access to Web sites
known to be sources of malware. Webroot maintains the list of potentially
malicious Web sites and updates it daily. When testing this feature, I
tried to browse a lyrics Web site that Webroot deemed a threat. The
solution prevented access to the site and displayed a warning as to why
it was blocked. The system does allow a user to access a site if he or
she believes it was blocked incorrectly (at the user's own risk, of
course). In this release, there is no way to whitelist a
specific Web site while blocking others, meaning that if a user returns
to the same blocked site at a later time, he or she will have to go
through the blocked/override process again.
When Webroot detects viruses or malware, the default action is to
quarantine them. I found it very easy to manage the items in my
quarantine and even rescued programs. Users can right-click a quarantined
item and tell Webroot to ignore it on future scans. Another feature I
like is that Webroot creates a list of scanned items, and as long as they
haven't changed since the previous scan, Webroot will skip over it,
reducing overall scan times.
I tested all aspects of Webroot's detection ability, trying to infect my
test PC over the network and Internet. I attempted to compromise my
system first by copying infected files from a network share, then by
pushing files to a file share on the test systems. Both times Webroot
either blocked the file as it was being copied, or when accessed, it
prevented me from infecting my PC. This was true no matter how the virus
was packaged: as a normal file or compressed inside a zip archive.
Testing over the Internet involved malicious Web sites as well as
virus-infected e-mails. In all cases, Webroot correctly denied access
with no false positives.
Fight fire with fire Webroot's Desktop Firewall is available free of
charge to Webroot customers, and it comes bundled with the AntiVirus with
AntiSpyware package. Unlike a lot of other "free" utilities, Desktop
Firewall actually comes packed with quite a few features, far surpassing
Microsoft's built-in firewall. There are customizable levels of
protection, and it allows for different security profiles for home,
office, and remote access. It includes a learning mode that builds a
baseline profile for CPU use, running processes and such, and works with
the baseline to clamp down on unusual activity. Also included are
real-time lists of running processes and port usage to help identify
abnormal activity.
Webroot AntiVirus with AntiSpyware and Firewall is a very good value and
offers a lot of first-rate protection for a very reasonable price. The
real-time malware and virus protection work very well, and the quarantine
service is easy to manage. I like how the various shields worked together
to provide the overall security posture while still allowing a level of
customization. When shopping for an anti-virus, anti-malware product for
your home office or small business, don't overlook Webroot's offering.
Researcher Accuses Sears of Spreading Spyware
Sears and Kmart customers who sign up for a new marketing program may be
giving up more private information than they'd bargained for, a prominent
anti-spyware researcher claims.
According to Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Ben Edelman,
Sears Holdings' My SHC Community program falls short of U.S. Federal
Trade Commission (FTC) standards by failing to notify users exactly what
happens when they download the company's marketing software.
And given the invasive nature of the product, Sears has an obligation to
make its behavior clearer to users. "The software is not something you'd
want on your computer or the computer of anyone you care about," Edelman
said in an interview. "It tracks every site you go to, every search you
make, every product you buy, and every product you look at but don't
buy. It's just spooky."
Edelman has posted an analysis of Sears's software describing its
operation and his concerns.
Problems with the retailer's My SHC Community program were first brought
to light in late December, when CA senior engineer Benjamin Googins
wrote a blog entry criticizing the software, which was written by
VoiceFive, a subsidiary of Internet measurement firm ComScore.
Sears launched the My SHC Community in March, intending it to be a
vehicle for customers who want a voice in the company's direction. "It's
still kind of in its early days," said Rob Harles, vice president of MY
SHC Community, in an interview conducted prior to Edelman's post. "It's
mainly used right now for research, but what we want to do is open it up
so it's creating dialogue with our customers."
Sears Holdings, the owner of the Sears Roebuck and Kmart department
stores is the third-largest retailer in the U.S.
Sears offers members $10, and a chance to win one of several sweepstakes
as an extra incentive to join the program.
But in return, a small percentage of members must install extremely
invasive software.
According to Googins, the product monitors not only all of the user's Web
traffic, but also keeps track of secure sessions such as visits to bank
sites, sniffs through email headers, and then sends that information to a
ComScore.
While Googins called the software "a significant threat to privacy,"
Harles doesn't see it that way. First off, he said that members can join
the community with or without the tracking software and that less than
10 percent of the members have signed up for the tracking program.
And those who get the tracking software installed have all personally
identifying information scrubbed by ComScore, and are informed of exactly
what's going on, he added.
Harles sent Googlins a detailed rebuttal to his claims, which the CA
researcher has published on his blog.
Edelman said Monday the Sears executive is simply wrong. "The comments
from... Rob Harles are remarkable," he said via e-mail. "Exactly
contrary to actual facts, as best I can tell."
Sears does disclose that it is installing tracking software, but doesn't
do enough to make sure that users have seen these disclosures before
they download the program, Edelman said in his analysis.
"The FTC requires that software makers and distributors provide clear,
prominent, unavoidable notice of the key terms," he wrote. "SHC's
installation of ComScore did nothing of the kind."
In an interview, Harles said that Sears had no immediate plans to change
its disclosure policies, but he did say that My SHC Community would
undoubtedly evolve in some ways.
This isn't the first time ComScore's software has been in the news. In
June, Edelman documented how they company's tracking software was being
installed on some PCs without consent.
"Why so many problems for ComScore?" Edelman wrote in his latest blog
posting. "The basic challenge is that users don't want ComScore
software. ComScore offers users nothing sufficiently valuable to
compensate them for the serious privacy invasion ComScore's software
entails. There's no good reason why users should share information about
their browsing, purchasing, and other online activities. So time and
time again, ComScore and its partners resort to trickery (or worse) to
get their software onto users' PCs."
UK Prepares Prosecutors for Computer Crime Law
U.K. prosecutors have received guidance on interpreting amendments to a
computer crime law that introduce stronger penalties for computer
hacking.
A six-page document published on Monday by the Crown Prosecution Service
(CPS) gives prosecutors pointers for handling offenses under
soon-to-change provisions of the Computer Misuse Act (CMA) of 1990.
The amendments were passed into law in November 2006 but have not yet
come into force. The changes are designed to strengthen the government's
ability to prosecute and punish hackers, and increase penalties for
accessing systems without authorization.
Computer security professionals have expressed concern about the
drafting of the changes, however.
The most-discussed change, contained in Section 3A of the CMA, makes it
illegal for someone to create an application that is "likely" to be used
for hacking. But the precise definition of "likely" has prompted fears
the law could potentially target those undertaking activities such as
penetration testing.
According to the CPS document, prosecutors should look at what an
application does and who its creator thought would use it. Conditions to
consider would be whether the hacking tool was given to a "closed and
vetted list of IT security professionals or was posted openly," CPS said.
Prosecutors should also find out whether the tool has a legitimate
purpose, if it has a large installation base and whether it's
commercially sold.
Some applications will "have a dual use, and prosecutors need to
ascertain that the subject has a criminal intent," CPS said. Possession
of a program is not enough to prosecute, it said.
Computer security researchers "might find some comfort in this guidance"
since criminal intent must be demonstrated, said Struan Robertson,
senior associate with law firm Pinsent Masons.
The guidance is generally acceptable, wrote Richard Clayton, a computer
scientist at the University of Cambridge, on his blog. But using the
criterion of whether a hacking program is available for sale ignores the
fact that much software is free, Clayton said.
On another issue, the document also clarifies what constitutes
unauthorized access to a computer, a crime under Section 1 of the amended
CMA. The defendant must know that the intended access wasn't permitted,
and prosecutors must show that the person intended to improperly access
information from the computer.
IBM Sued for Cancer Cluster
The birthplace of Big Blue is now the focal point of a massive lawsuit
contending IBM released over decades toxic and hazardous contaminants
into the environment of New York's Village of Endicott and the town of
Union. IBM opened its first plant in the area in 1924.
The lawsuit, filed Jan. 3 in Broome County, N.Y., by a band of law firms
representing about 90 plaintiffs, claims the hundreds of thousands of
pounds of toxic and hazardous chemicals, including TCE
(trichloroethylene), released into the soil, air and groundwater are now
vaporizing into the homes, businesses and churches of Endicott and Union.
As the result, the lawsuit claims, medical problems stemming from IBM's
actions include congenital heart defects in infants and kidney cancer in
adults. A recent New York State Department of Health Study found the two
illnesses occur at a significantly higher rate in Endicott than the rest
of the state.
The defendants are seeking unspecified damages for property devaluation
and loss of business value and income, including interest; for personal
injuries, medical monitoring, nuisance and trespass in an amount that
exceeds the jurisdiction limits of all lower courts; and for punitive
damages.
"[IBM], a sophisticated scientific business entity whose business
involved, in part, use of and knowledge about organic chemicals, knew or,
in the exercise of reasonable care, should have known that the volatile
organic chemicals that had wrongfully discharged," the lawsuit states,
"would remain volatile in the soil for substantial periods of time,
exceeding decades, and would migrate, as vapors, into the homes,
businesses, schools and churches located above the contaminated
groundwater plume."
IBM has been hit with a poaching lawsuit. Click here to read more.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs said the lawsuit is the first in a series of
civil actions against IBM that will be filed in the coming months. The
complaints include wrongful death, personal injury, property damage,
business and income loss, medical monitoring, nuisance, and trespass.
IBM spokesman Mike Maloney told eWEEK the lawsuit has "no basis in
science or law, and IBM will defend itself rigorously."
IBM sold its Endicott plant, which manufactured circuit boards,
integrated circuits, printers and computer systems, in 2002 but retains
extensive operations in the area. In 1979, IBM began a groundwater
mediation program, and in 2002 the company launched a vapor ventilation
initiative, including more than $2 billion in grants to local property
owners for ventilation systems.
CES To Highlight Tech for Greening Homes
While most electronics companies are still trying to establish green
credentials, 2008 could mark a turning point for previously obscure "home
automation" technologies that now are being advertised as a way to save
electricity - not just personal energy.
With systems that dim lights from a TV remote control or "smart" meters
that help cut power usage during costly peak times, the environmental
benefits of home automation will be touted at next week's International
Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Systems that let people configure lights, security and entertainment
devices from single control points are not new. But like most
technologies, early buyers mainly have been hobbyists or wealthy
consumers willing to spend thousands outfitting their homes with smart
controls.
Now the industry hopes that high energy costs and environmental awareness
- combined with people's desire to manage entertainment content from
single control points - will push home automation into the mainstream.
"Green is becoming a big part of why a connected home makes sense," said
Mike Seamons, a vice president at Exceptional Innovation LLC, which sells
the Lifeware line of home-automation products.
At CES, Lifeware will be showcasing its version of the "brain" at the
center of a smart home. It's a $2,500-and-up home server, configurable
from a computer or an entertainment system remote, that can relay media
content around the house and talk to wirelessly linked light switches,
thermostats and alarms.
Smart versions of those household items can cost several times more than
standard ones. But when networked, they can be set to make intelligent
decisions tending toward energy conservation. For example, when you arm
your security system, you can automatically have your lights turned off.
Or you can ease your home's heating or cooling demands without getting
off the couch.
"The same remote control you use for changing the channel on your TV set,
you can use to change your room temperature," said Bob Heile, chairman of
the ZigBee Alliance, which represents 250 companies whose devices use the
ZigBee wireless standard for data communication. "More and more things
are starting to be tied together. ... The energy issue will accelerate
the deployment."
Even if consumers aren't motivated enough by energy savings to check out
home automation, their electric utilities likely are, given the costs or
regulatory issues hindering the construction of new power plants.
That's why home-automation maker Control4 Corp. is testing ways for
electricity providers to subsidize "smart" meters that help people
recognize expensive peak power times in which electricity reductions are
most beneficial.
One idea being tested is to give people a "utility channel" on their TVs
that shows their homes' real-time energy consumption and how the monthly
electric bill would be trimmed by certain tweaks - like turning up the
fridge a few degrees.
"If the consumer can have an interactive experience with their home, then
they can actually start to reduce their energy usage in a way that has a
huge impact for the utility company," said Will West, Control4's CEO. His
company will be part of a panel discussion of the subject at CES.
For now, smart homes are a small enough market that consumers with green
motives might be able to give it a meaningful nudge. Parks Associates
analyst Bill Ablondi estimates the market for home controls at roughly
$3.5 billion in the U.S in 2007, headed to $6 billion by 2012.
However, Ablondi believes many U.S. consumers find entertainment a bigger
selling point, as home automation systems let people shuttle music and
movies from the Internet all over the house.
And Forrester Research analyst Christopher Mines argues that mass
adoption of home automation will depend less on green ideals and more on
whether the systems get easier to install and use.
"That, to me, is the bugaboo of so many of these whiz-bang home
technologies for consumers," Mines said. "My guess is that you will still
see some pretty complex stuff that is not intuitive."
Mac Tablet Makes Its First Appearance
Amid rumors of a tablet computer being launched by Apple at the upcoming
Macworld Expo trade show, a California company has taken the lead by
launching its own Mac-based tablet.
Axiotron said that its ModBook is an aftermarket hardware modification of
a standard Apple MacBook, and is intended for those times when "a
keyboard only gets in the way." The device was announced a year ago, at
the 2007 Macworld Expo in San Francisco.
As with other tablets, the user can write and draw directly on the
ModBook screen. The new tablet uses handwriting-recognition technology
that is already embedded in the Mac operating system.
The pen digitizer offers 133 position updates per second and 512 pressure
levels, with three different kinds of replaceable pen tips for different
drawing styles. For drawing, users can rest their hand on the screen
without generating marks because the pen is radio-based. The cursor can
be controlled even when the pen hovers over the screen.
In fact, Axiotron said that the ModBook offers a paper-like writing
sensation, in part because the LCD screen has been acid-treated to
achieve an etched surface.
The product, which starts at $2,290, also has a built-in iSight camera,
built-in 802.11a/b/g/n wireless, Bluetooth 2.0, and an integrated CD/DVD
drive that is upgradable.
Tablets are designed for mobile use, and the ModBook is certainly built
for rugged travel. Axiotron said it is the first portable Mac with
optional GPS, and that its top shell and interior display frame are
constructed from aircraft-quality magnesium alloy for durability.
The top shell is plated with chrome over copper and nickel layers, which
the company said offers protection against scratches and oxidation. In
addition, the LCD panel has a replaceable screen cover made from a
chemically strengthened material that Axiotron calls ForceGlass.
The mobile market is where the tablet "has proven itself for commercial
uses," noted IDC analyst Doug Bell, who said that utility workers,
hospital personnel, and on-the-floor factory management are some
on-your-feet professionals for whom a tablet computer is worth the
price.
But the ModBook doesn't have specific business applications, he noted.
Bell said that these applications might include new ways to use
multimedia, such as photos or movies.
Tablet computers raise the possibility of new uses for multitouch
interfaces, of the kind made famous by Apple's iPhone. There are industry
expectations that Apple eventually will endow other devices with a
multitouch interface, which, for instance, allows users to make images
larger or smaller by opening and closing two fingers on the screen.
Bell added that "multitouch is definitely on the horizon" for computers
from Apple and others, and said he is "bullish" on the growth prospects
for tablets.
U.S. Bans Spare Lithium Batteries From Checked Bags
New rules will go into effect on Jan. 1 that prohibit air passengers in
the U.S. from carrying spare lithium batteries in their checked baggage.
The new rules, announced Friday by the U.S. Department of Transport, are
designed to reduce the risk of fires in aircraft. Lithium batteries have
been identified as a possible cause of several aircraft fires.
Passengers will still be able to carry lithium batteries in checked bags
if they are installed in a device like a laptop or digital camera. But
loose batteries will need to be put in a plastic bag and carried on the
plane as hand luggage, the DOT said.
The rules also limit each passenger to two "extended-life" lithium
batteries. These are larger batteries with more than 8 grams of
equivalent lithium content, examples of which are pictured in the DOT's
statement.
The rules are also described at the SafeTravel.dot.gov Web site.
In February 2006 a United Parcel Service flight landed at Philadelphia
International Airport after the crew detected a fire in its cargo. The
National Transportation Safety Board said later that it found several
burned out laptop batteries on the plane, and could not rule them out as
a possible cause of the fire.
Lithium batteries are a fire hazzard because of the heat they can
generate when they are damaged or suffer a short circuit, the NTSB said
at a hearing about the Philadelphia incident last July.
"Several lithium battery incidents have occurred in recent years,
including a lithium-ion battery fire that occurred less than two months
ago on an airplane in Chicago," the NTSB said.
Several big makers of laptops and cell phones, including Dell and Nokia,
have recalled batteries recently because of flaws that created a
potential fire hazzard.
Malware Evolving Too Fast for Antivirus Apps
If you think that the latest security suites afford complete protection
against malware attacks, think again. Today's for-profit malware pushers
use dedicated test labs and other increasingly professional techniques to
improve their chances of infecting your computer. And the techniques they
employ to outpace security software makers appear to be working.
Make no mistake - a good security program can go a long way toward
keeping you in control of your system. But PC World's recent tests of
security suites found that new malware easily evaded the applications. In
our tests of how well security software blocks unknown malicious
programs, the best performer detected only one in four new malware
samples. In contrast, February 2007 results from similar heuristics
testing showed that the best utilities caught about half of new samples.
"In this industry, unlike others, we have an antagonist we have to deal
with, someone we're constantly battling back and forth with," says Hiep
Dang, director of antimalware research with McAfee's Avert Labs. "The
bad guys have the element of surprise."
Even just a 12-hour head start can translate into thousands of infected
PCs, and malware authors have long tested their programs against
antivirus applications to make sure they get that critical jump on the
opposition. VirusTotal.com and similar Web sites, which allow security
researchers and consumers to submit a questionable file and have it
scanned by more than 30 different antivirus engines, have unfortunately
made the testing easier for malware writers: Crooks can continue to
tweak their new malware projects until VirusTotal or one of the other new
multilanguage sites shows that the rogue application can slip past the
majority of antivirus programs.
Bad guys' use of sites such as VirusTotal can have a hidden benefit.
After online thugs submit a sample, VirusTotal can sometimes share it
with security companies, which can then update their programs to block
the new malware. But the site permits users to opt out of having their
samples submitted to antivirus vendors. VirusTotal says it offers the
option so that people can scan sensitive files at the site without having
them broadcast to companies.
Some well-organized criminal groups go a step farther and "maintain their
own antivirus setups, almost like their own VirusTotal," according to Don
Jackson, senior security researcher with the security services firm
SecureWorks.
Jackson says the opportunities for prerelease testing make for
harder-to-catch malware - and underscore why smart PC users should never
assume that their machines are immune to attack. For example, almost
every day, SecureWorks sees new variants of the PRG Trojan horse made
with a particular kit. And when the new versions first appear, usually
only 25 percent of antivirus scanners detect them, he says.
As bad as all of that might seem, don't throw in the towel and resign
yourself to the inevitability of infection. For one thing, antivirus
programs can do very well once their creators learn about a new sample.
When fully updated and pitted against PC World partner AV-Test's "zoo"
of 675,000 Trojan horses, keyloggers, and other malware, the
best-performing security suites detected 98 percent of them.
And security companies are aware of the challenge they face in keeping
pace with nimble online thieves. McAfee and Symantec are focusing on
additional layers of security, including firewalls and behavioral
scanners, which detect malicious software based on its behavior rather
than on a signature match.
Multilayered security is important, but you are the most important
component by far. AV-Test's results (and other security analyses) show
that no program can provide complete protection. Some malicious and
creative entrepreneur will always discover a way around any particular
security program.
Getting around you can be much harder for malware creators, however, if
you follow basic precautions. Crooks are quick to pounce on fresh
program vulnerabilities, so be sure to keep all of your applications -
not just your Web browser and Windows - up-to-date to seal off entire
avenues of attack. Also, the best social-engineering tactics often
accompany the newest and hardest-to-detect malware. If you assume that
every unexpected e-mail attachment is an attack, and ask for
confirmation from the sender before opening any attachment, you'll block
another huge chunk of potential infections.
Malware authors may obtain a temporary lead over antivirus programs, but
if you take sensible precautions in addition to running security tools,
they won't get a leg up on you.
"Stock" Beats "Sex" On Google China
The names of three banks and the word "stocks" beat "sex" to become four
of the most Googled words in China last year, according to a Google China
list seen on Thursday.
China Merchants Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and China
Construction Bank ranked second, third and sixth, according to a list
supplied by Google China on its website (www.google.cn).
"On the Chinese mainland, it was money and technology that took the
honors last year," the China Daily said, pointing out that "sex" was the
most popular keyword for Google users in some other countries.
Fourth on the list was "stock," not surprising with Shanghai shares
having risen 97 percent last year. At number 1 was "QQ," a Chinese
instant message service and a brand of car.
China's Central Bank, the Ministry of Finance and Banking Regulatory
Commission ranked first, third and fifth in the "Most Popular
Departments" list, the Web site said.
In another list named "qiu zhi," or "seeking knowledge," "what is a blue
chip" and "how to invest in the stock market" were the most searched
questions on Google in China, while "what is love" and "how to kiss"
ranked top of the global list.
China keeps a tight rein on Internet content and has launched several
campaigns to root out online pornography, perhaps one reason why "sex"
did not score so well.
Favorite Time-Wasters of 2007
If you're working anywhere near as hard as I am today, [Note from editor:
Oh, like you ever work hard?] then you'll have plenty of time to sit back
and enjoy these time wasters - favorites from 2007, plus a few brand-new
goodies.
Videos & Animation
Watch this French TV commercial saying that to really enjoy a movie, you
have to see it. They use a spoof of the trailer for The March of the
Penguins to plug the idea - and it's hilarious.
If you think 24 took a turn for the boring last season, just be thankful
that Jack Bauer isn't fighting terror in the age of dial-up connections,
pagers, and dot-matrix printers.
Watch "The Day The Routers Died," a well-done musical - and geeky -
parody of "American Pie" as performed at a RIPE 55 meeting, a five-day
gathering of networking geeks in Amsterdam.
The wind is misunderstood, no doubt. This weird bit of performance art
(actually a public-service announcement from an investment firm and a
German government agency) will set you straight.
If you liked "Animator vs. Animation," you'll love the author's second
version.
Remember when you were a kid and tried your hand making cool shadows?
Okay, maybe you didn't. That's why you need to watch this terrific
rendition of El Glge Kukla Gsterisi's shadow puppetry set to Louie
Armstrong singing "A Wonderful World."
Watch an original play starring Kevin Spacey, made just for the Internet.
It's brilliant. (Make sure to click the 2X in the right corner of the
frame.)
Microsoft's entry into the mobile phone arena is sure to give Apple a run
for the money - and promises to take the nerd world by storm.
Ever heard of Buddy, the famous surfing dog? He's a Jack Russell Terrier
and obviously can't wait to get into the water.
Addictive Games
Play FetchFido instead of working. It's easy...all you need to do is
touch the black squares and avoid the red ones. Ha!
Marbles is an updated version of Tetris. I didn't do so well.
Launchball is a really, really addicting puzzle game.
Have a deadline? Forget about it If you start playing Bloxorz, you'll
kiss the rest of the day good-bye. (BTW, level one's a snap. It's
downhill from there.)
"Don't go there!" That was enough of a warning to ensure I'd ignore Brint
K.'s advice and spend an hour with DesktopTD. It's not easy, for sure,
but it's great for exercising synapses. Fair warning, this isn't a
shoot-'em-up. You'll have to spend some time reading the instructions and
warming up to the strategies.
You say you like Flash walk-through games, especially while you're
sitting in on a boring teleconference? Try this one - it'll keep you busy
for at least an hour. Use your arrow keys and be careful - it's easy to
get trapped.
Save the cute bunny's life. You've got one minute to do it. So hurry up!
(It took me two tries.)
Test Your Smarts
Think you have terrific geography skills? Take your Lufthansa for a quick
trip and see if you can land in the right country. (Careful, it's
addictive.)
Build your vocabulary with the FreeRice game - and believe it or not,
it's real. They really do donate rice to the United Nations World Food
Program.
Computer programmer or serial killer? Can you tell the difference? Take
the test and see what kind of cop you'd make.
The Japanese IQ Test is incredibly annoying, impossible to solve, and
according to Alex, who sent this to me, "a massive, epic waste of time.
Epic." No lie. And good luck. (Lots of people have figured this out,
though, and I really resent their reasoning powers.)
Are they real or faked photos? I got six correct. Take the Fake or Foto
challenge and see how you do.
DIY Projects
Here's a nifty way to write your name in the snow.
Troubled by pesky alien abductions? Only 32 thousandths of an inch of
Velostat will set you free.
With a little fiddling (okay, more than a little), you can change the
display on HP printers to say just about anything you'd like. It's a cool
way to do a number on your office buddies.
Gen Y Tops Internet Use at Libraries
New research is turning traditional thinking about libraries on its
head. More than half of U.S. residents visited a library in the past 12
months to use computers instead of search for books, according to a
survey from the Pew Internet & American Life Project.
Specifically, 58 percent of participants in a national phone survey said
they used the Internet at home, work, a public library, or some other
place to get help in solving problems during the past two years.
"These findings turn our thinking about libraries upside down," Leigh
Estabrook, Dean and Professor Emerita at the University of Illinois,
and
coauthor of a report on the results of the survey, said in a statement.
Of the 53 percent of U.S. adults who said they visited a library in
2007, young adults age 18 to 30 - commonly known as Generation Y - were
the biggest library computer users, according to the Pew study.
Compared to their elders, Gen Y members were the most likely to use
libraries for problem-solving information and general patronage.
Overall, more than two-thirds of library patrons of all age groups said
they used computers during their library visits. What's more, Internet
users were more than twice as likely to patronize libraries as
non-Internet users.
Young adults said they are most likely to use libraries in the future
when they encounter problems: 40 percent of Gen Y said they would do
that, compared with 20 percent of those above age 30 who say they would
go to a library.
"Librarians have been asked whether the Internet makes libraries less
relevant. It has not. Internet use seems to create an information
hunger and it is
information-savvy young people who are the most
likely to visit libraries," Estabrook noted.
According to Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet & American Life
Project, and one of the study's authors, it is important to stress
that even though data shows the Internet is growing more popular, many
people do not use the Internet.
This low-access population prefers getting information and assistance
from sources other than the Internet. "Those without broadband
connections at home or at work have very different needs and search
strategies from those who have woven the Internet into their lives,"
Rainie said in a statement.
Another focus of the research was to see how the rise of the Internet
might affect the way government officials and librarians could work
to meet citizen needs.
Evans Witt, CEO of Princeton Survey Research Associates International,
the firm that conducted the survey and one of the report's authors,
said the big message in this survey is that those who want to help -
whether they sit in government offices, libraries, nonprofit
organizations, or politically active groups - live in a much more
complicated environment now than they did a decade ago.
"They must serve citizen needs that run the spectrum from high-tech
digerati who want everything served to them online to grandparents in
rural areas who want the government to mail them key documents that
are printed on real paper with real ink," Witt said in a statement.
=~=~=~=
Atari Online News, Etc. is a weekly publication covering the entire
Atari community. Reprint permission is granted, unless otherwise noted
at the beginning of any article, to Atari user groups and not for
profit publications only under the following terms: articles must
remain unedited and include the issue number and author at the top of
each article reprinted. Other reprints granted upon approval of
request. Send requests to: dpj@atarinews.org
No issue of Atari Online News, Etc. may be included on any commercial
media, nor uploaded or transmitted to any commercial online service or
internet site, in whole or in part, by any agent or means, without
the expressed consent or permission from the Publisher or Editor of
Atari Online News, Etc.
Opinions presented herein are those of the individual authors and do
not necessarily reflect those of the staff, or of the publishers. All
material herein is believed to be accurate at the time of publishing.
