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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 09 Issue 50
Volume 9, Issue 50 Atari Online News, Etc. December 14, 2007
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2007
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 #0950 12/14/07
~ Browser Wars, New Front ~ People Are Talking! ~ C64 Hits Big 25!
~ Wikipedia Death Knell? ~ Skewer Politicians! ~ Phishers Jailed!
~ eBay: User Experience! ~ WTF Is "W00t", and Why ~ Wii Rain Checks!
~ Norton Supports Leopard ~ Sun Backs OpenOffice! ~ PS "Eye" Released!
-* SAFE Legislation Gets Passed *-
-* Congressman Delivers Virtual Speech *-
-* Spam Levels Rise to Unprecedented Heights! *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Well, I don't know whether or not it's carpal tunnel or arthritis, but I
do know that my wrists are really sore after a bout of another snowstorm
yesterday! We got hit with over 8 inches in my neighborhood, and the
storm hung around most of the day. I've been out three times already to
clean it all up, with another round likely to do a little more. Why?
Because the prediction is for another Nor'easter to hit us over the
weekend! Fortunately, we have a snow blower, so I don't have to shovel
the majority of what we get. Otherwise, I'd likely need to spend a day
or more in a hot sauna soothing these aching old bones!
So, it's getting mighty close to the holiday - only another week or so
to go. The bulk of our shopping is done, with a few last-minute items
to get over the weekend. Glad to have this all under control, and done
early for a change! I hope you're all doing as well, and will have some
time to relax before the big day.
I have some additional comments to make this week, but since they pertain
to Joe's column this week, I'll add them at the end of his column rather
than spoil it all before you get there!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
joe@atarinews.org
Hidi ho, friends and neighbors. Well, you probably noticed that there
was no People Are Talking column last week.
Or... maybe you didn't. I don't know. Although I get a few emails every
so-often, it's usually when I've touched a nerve, ticked someone off or
made a point that you hadn't thought of before. And that's okay with
me. I also make sure that, if you send me an email, you get one back,
just so you know that I actually ready yours.
There just weren't enough messages in the NewsGroup last week to justify
a column, so I saved 'em up to add to this week's messages. Let's see
if we can make a go of it this time.
Last week I had a good start on my column intro, too. It dealt with one
of my pet peeves: Inaccurate grammar.
I was reading an article on an astronomy-related website last week about
the estimated age of a cluster of stars. It turns out that these stars
aren't anywhere near as old as we thought they were.
This is the kind of stuff I enjoy reading. It's what keeps my mind from
turning completely to oatmeal. Well, a paragraph or two into the
article, the author writes that the stars are "ten times younger" than
previously thought.
Now that really ticks me off. Here's an article on a science-based
website, talking about astronomy... a real, honest-to-goodness
science... and we're talking about "ten times younger"??
You may know what the author is talking about, but it phrase is
inaccurate and, therefore, of very little use for scientific
discussion. So I wrote him an email, and pointed out that the phrase
was not only scientifically inaccurate but grammatically incorrect.
In case you're scratching your head trying to figure out what my problem
is with this phrase, I'll fill you in: There is no such thing as ten
times younger. Something can be one tenth as old, but not ten times
younger. That's like an item on sale costing "more less".
Nitpicking, you say? Perhaps. But it's sloppy grammar and, therefore,
sloppy thought. It's like those finance company commercials that used
to tell us that we could "save up to ten percent or more".
There's another commercial circulating right now (for AT&T, if I
remember correctly) where a woman says that she'd use the money she
saved to buy "some really awesome concert tickets". Ummm... which is
awesome? The concert, or the tickets? As stated, it would be the
tickets themselves that would be awesome... I don't know... maybe
they'd have glitter on them or they'd glow in the dark or something.
Wouldn't "some tickets to a really awesome concert" be what she really
meant?
Another commercial talks about the tradition of breaking a wishbone. We
all know that one, right? One person pulls on one side of the wishbone,
and another person pulls on the other, until it breaks. Well in the
commercial, they explain that the person who gets "the bigger half"
will have their wish come true.
Ummm... excuse me... BIGGER half? Point that copy writer to a
dictionary, please. By definition, halves are equal. There is no such
thing as a 'bigger' half.
Of course, there are many examples of things like this... the
phrase "same difference" comes to mind... and most people will argue
that, as long as you know what someone means, it's okay.
Well it's not okay. You cannot mean what you say if you cannot say what
you mean. The author of that article didn't mean that the stars in
question were ten times younger... he couldn't have, since there's no
such thing.... he meant that they are one tenth as old. The person who
gets the bigger PIECE of the wishbone will get their wish, and I think
we'd all much rather enjoy an awesome concert as opposed to an awesome
ticket.
Anyway, I don't know if he's too busy to answer emails, if he thought I
was nitpicking, or if he just didn't take it seriously, but the author
of that astronomy article never replied. So I guess we can add 'rude'
to his list of transgressions, huh?
You have no way of knowing this, but I've been sitting here for about
ten minutes now, trying to think of a witty zinger to close with.
Unfortunately, it's always easier to point out someone else's mistakes
and shortcomings than to do something original and witty. Or perhaps I
really am just nit-picking and am part of the burgeoning idiocracy that
I commonly rant about.
Irregardless, let's get to the news, hints, tips and info from that
UseNet thing.
From the comp.sys.atari.st NewsGroup
====================================
Alan Hourihane asks about the NVRAM clock chip in his Falcon030:
"O.k. so my Falcon's clock chip has died and it was the MK48T87B-24
variant.
I've heard that the DS1287 works as a replacement or you can hack at the
chip to expose the pins. Unfortunately mine was the hard top version
and it broken away.
So I'm looking for a replacement device with a 24 pin socket.
Anyone ordered from somewhere before, preferably in the UK, but I'm
quite happy if it's somewhere else.
I have googled, but I want to make sure it's the right device. Thanks
for any advice!"
Edward Baiz tells Alan:
"Yeah mine has died also. I am waiting for my CT-63 upgrade from Czuba
Tech. That will have a 90mhz non programmable clock chip on it. I read
where a guy actually hooked up a battery to his dead clock chip and it
worked fine. I guess you have to dig in the top of the chip, pull out
some contacts and connect the battery."
Greg Goodwin adds:
"I did that about a year ago. Works fine, and you just need a dremel
and a bit of patience. Also, it's a fairly idiot proof task -- about
the worst you can do is to ruin the chip, and you were planning on
replacing it anyways!"
Edward replies:
"I have a dremel tool, so maybe I will give it a try some day..."
Alan Hourihane asks for help in troubleshooting something that 'blowed
up' on his motherboard:
"O.k, so I've got an eiffel hooked up to my Falcon, and something has
shorted and popped something on the falcon mainboard. I'm not sure what
to look for, any ideas anyone?"
'Shadow' tells Alan:
"Capacitors pop. Smell may be good tool in this case. Besides looking
for toasty bits."
Mike Freeman adds:
"I also have had a transistor pop on me. I had installed a PC power
supply onto my stock Falcon after the original went out. Someone told
me that the colors for the wires should be the same, so I went with
that. Bad mistake. I connected the wires, powered it up (with the top
of the case off in case I had to make any other changes), and I heard a
loud pop, saw a puff of smoke, and heard half of the transistor hit the
wall on the opposite side of the room! Very exciting! Fortunately, the
transistor, which was part of the audio system, was easy to replace,
and after doing that and connecting the power supply the correct way,
everything worked perfectly again."
Joakim Högberg adds:
"What version of the Eiffel do you have? I have one that Satantronic
made, the version that fits in a slot on a PC tower case. In my case,
the Eiffel was short circuited when put in a metal case, the shielding
of the joystick port carried some voltage.
I had a look on the PCB layout and found out where it came from, and now
it seems ok. But do check things out carefully with a multimeter
before trying to hook it up to the Falcon again!
Check this out:
http://tinyurl.com/2ht3yp [URL modified by Editor]"
'Skweekyfeet' asks for help in wiring a null-modem interface:
"I really do fancy running the Geoff Crammond classic Stunt Car Racer
again. To that end is there anyone here able to tell me how to wire a
null modem cable for that all important link for 2 ST's. I have a 5
core cable (that used to work fine) with 1 end still on and
wired....the other end was cut by the builders when we had some
work done about 15 years ago. I believe 2 wires had to be reversed but
which ones? On this 25 way d plug I have 2,3,4,5 and 7 wired. Your help
will be much appreciated."
'Shadow' tells Skweek:
"Google and Wikipedia are your friend.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Null_modem "
Dave Wade tells Shadow:
"Isn't this a complex article. You need to cross 4 wires. 2-3/3-2 and
4-5/5-4 and 7-7 is uncrossed."
Shadow tells Dave that he....
"Didn't actually read it. Do recall thinking the diagram seemed busy.
Point was it's very easy to type "null modem" into a search engine. Get
lots of info someone has already produced."
Dave points out:
"Not when its wrong. e.g. here:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet_crossover_cable
it says you can make a token ring cross over cable. You can't....."
Shadow asks Dave:
"Assuming your are correct, and I have no desire to find out if you are,
are you saying no one should ever use Wikipedia because you found an
error?
I normally get more than one source for things that might let the smoke
out of my components. The internet like most other things requires a
little common sense. I wouldn't believe one person's posting in a
newsgroup either. Google is a search engine."
Jason Harmon takes an interest and asks about the token ring cables:
"I found a number of references for Token Ring crossover cables online,
including some cable stores with them available. I used 16Mbit token
ring years ago, but never heard of direct connections between
machines. Are these cables maybe for use in connecting
hubs/rings/routers (whatever the correct device name is for TR) instead
of PCs?"
Shadow replies:
"My knowledge of Token Ring is basic from a text book and that memory is
fading. I Was kind of wondering why you'd even need a crossover cable
for it but not enough to research it. Chances I'll ever see a Token
Ring let alone work on one is almost nil. Not too lazy to read what you
2 post though."
For the past several columns, we've been watching a thread on the
December 10th Computer Museum shindig at which Jack Tramiel was slated
to speak. Let's take a look at the latest information provided by
Robert Bernardo:
"CNET News has posted a report of the event.
Go to:
http://www.news.com/8301-13772_3-9832182-52.html?tag=nefd.top
From: Cameron Kaiser
Anyway, here are some photos. This is Jack at the press reception:
http://www.floodgap.com/temp/qDSCN0785.jpg
Jack and his wife, talking to Bil Herd:
http://www.floodgap.com/temp/qDSCN0795.jpg
The cake Liquid Computing brought along:
http://www.floodgap.com/temp/qDSCN0796.jpg
Bill Ward and I splitting the last piece:
http://www.floodgap.com/temp/qDSCN0800.jpg
And last but not least, yours truly with Leonard and Jack:
http://www.floodgap.com/temp/qDSCN0789.jpg "
Well folks, that's it for this time around. Tune in again next week,
same time, same station, and be ready to listen to what they are saying
when...
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
[Publisher's note: It's very rare that I find something in Joe's column
that gets a rise out of me. Reading Joe's comments about the "common"
use of poor grammar (and spelling) rings quite true. Such poor writing
drives me crazy - it occurs in so many venues, including newspapers and
television. I'm talking about professionals, people who we rely on for
accurate reporting, etc. If we can't depend on them to spell correctly
and use proper grammar, where can we turn?
So, after reading Joe's comments, I started to get worked up about it
because I was agreeing with Joe with every word, until the end of his
commentary! And there it was: "irregardless"! My mouth dropped. I
didn't get a phone call from Joe, so I'm guessing that his ears weren't
ringing! He used one of those "words" that is probably one of my
all-time pet peeves. After all of his commentary, he used "that word".
But, I decided that I had better play it safe before I wrote anything.
After all, we're friends and co-conspirators with this weekly missive.
So, I decided to research things so I could point out some facts; I went
to my old Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary to check it out. I was
prepared to point out to Joe that there was no such entry. Lo and behold,
there was an entry for it! Technically, Joe is correct, but take a look
at the definition as Webster's points out:
irregardless: adv. [prob. blend of irrespective and regardless]
Usage: Irregardless originated in dialectal American speech in the early
20th century. Its fairly widespread use in speech called it to the
attention of usage commentators as early as 1927. The most frequently
repeated remark about it is that "there is no such word." There is such
a word, however. It is still used primarily in speech, although it can
be found from time to time in edited prose. Its reputation has not risen
over the years, and it is still a long way from general acceptance. Use
regardless instead.
So, I saved myself (and Joe!) some unnecessary needling. I agree with
the dictionary's "suggestion" to avoid the word, and use the word
regardless instead. But, since the word exists, I'll now have to become
more tolerant of its usage!]
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - Wii "Rain Checks" Guaranteed!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" PlayStation 'Eye' Released!
Politicians Skewered!
And much more!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
The Long-Awaited PlayStation Eye
The idea of watching a video game is not new. But what about when the
games start watching back? Last week, Sony released its long-awaited
PlayStation Eye, a digital camera that lets players interact with some
games using body motions.
The PlayStation Eye is Sony's answer to Live Vision, Microsoft's camera
for its Xbox 360 game console. The Eye, for the PlayStation 3, has twice
the resolution of its predecessor, the EyeToy.
The PlayStation Eye, which could just as easily have been named for the
ear, comes with four tiny omnidirectional microphones that pick up spoken
words even in a noisy room.
Software titles that can be used with the camera include SingStar, a
karaoke-style game that lets you create and share your own music videos;
Eye of Judgment, an interactive card game in which creatures jump out of
printed cards; and Aquatopia, which turns your display into an
interactive fish tank.
If you've ever looked at a digital camera full of photos and thought,
"Those pictures aren't going to upload themselves," you can think again.
Eye-Fi has created a memory card with a built-in Wi-Fi transmitter that
will automatically upload your photos to any of 17 photo sites when you
are within range of a designated wireless network.
The 2-gigabyte SD memory card looks like any other, but it has a small
antenna and Wi-Fi service inside. To set it up, the card has to be in the
supplied card reader and formatted to recognize the right network.
If you use a photo-sharing site like Shutterfly, Flickr or Facebook, the
card will send photos over the Internet to Eye-Fi, which then formats
them for the site you use. It also automates sign-in and passwords so
that your photos seem to magically appear.
The Eye-Fi card and reader is available online from Amazon, Buy.com and
Wal-Mart.
It can also be set up to send photos directly to your computer, it you
want to be selective about what gets shared.
Nintendo, GameStop To Guarantee Wiis After Holiday
Nintendo Co Ltd said on Friday it will offer a "rain check" program to
deliver the Wii in January to shoppers who can't buy the game console
during the holiday season due to inventory shortages.
Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime told a telephone news
conference that shoppers who pay the full price of about $249 for an
out-of-stock Wii on December 20 and 21 at retailer GameStop Corp will get
a certificate promising a Wii "sometime in January."
The program is exclusive to GameStop. The executive declined to say how
many units would be available, but noted that the video game specialty
retailer had "many tens of thousands" of rain checks.
"We expect this to be a very strong program and ... a great way for
consumers who desperately want a Wii to be able to have something to put
under the tree - a certificate that guarantees their family will be able
to get a system in January," he said.
Fils-Aime also said several national U.S. retailers, including Best Buy
Co Inc, Sears Holdings Corp and Wal-Mart Stores Inc, will have Wiis
available this weekend and in the coming week.
The Wii has been in hot demand due largely to its unique motion-sensing
controller and simpler games that have drawn customers outside the
traditional base of young males. Nintendo remained on top of the U.S.
game hardware in November, selling 981,000 Wiis, according to market
research firm NPD.
While sales of rival consoles - Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360 and the
PlayStation 3 by Sony Corp - have been strong, consumers across the
United States have scrambled to find a Wii, often lining up before dawn
at shops, or paying significantly marked-up prices.
Fils-Aime said that because of strong demand for the Wii, which has sold
6 million units since it launched in the U.S. about one year ago,
Nintendo has not been able to manufacture the systems fast enough to
satisfy consumers' appetites.
"There was no ability for us to stockpile systems over the summer to meet
the holiday rush," he said. "The appeal ... to nongamers has taken away
some of the seasonality of sales we have come to expect in the past."
Fils-Aime, who called the shortages "unfortunate," added that Nintendo
has raised production twice in the past year to about 1.8 million units
a month from an initial run of 1 million a month.
"We will continue producing at that level for quite a while," he said.
"This shortfall benefits no one. Enough systems would make everyone,
including me, much happier."
PC Game Skewers Politicians Evenhandedly
If you're tired of watching Mitt and Mike, Hilary and Rudy, and Colbert
and Coulter limit their swipes to words, pick one and go for it in the
new video game "DC Smackdown."
Featuring signature moves like the "Intern Trample," "Mormon Conversion"
and "Barack Your World," the 17-character game skewers bipartisanly. A
pantsless Bill Clinton chases a herd of Monica Lewinskys, Jesse Jackson
hurls Hasidic Jews and Anne Coulter has a special "verbal diarrhea"
attack.
"It's a real simple game - we're talking Street Fighter, circa 1994,"
said Dave Holbrook, a freelance producer and former Disney animator who
made it, with help from friends, in his spare time. "It's nothing crazy,
but it's a fun little commentary on what's going on. And everybody's
special move has to do with their political stance or what they've
said."
Now available just for PCs, the game costs $4.99 to download. Holbrook
said he initially wanted to charge an extra buck for donation to the
customer's political campaign of choice, but changed his mind because of
regulatory paperwork.
If it sells, Holbrook wants to expand to the Xbox or Wii and include
historic politicians and pundits.
Holbrook said he and the other creators tried hard to poke evenhanded fun
on a cast narrowed from 30 choices.
"Glen Beck started becoming more popular, so we switched him with Sean
Hannity," he said. "We almost had Stephen Colbert in there, but we chose
(Jon) Stewart. (Colbert) is in the game, though - he's actually Jon
Stewart's attack. He throws Stephen Colbert."
The game has eight levels - the first six randomly generated from the
list of characters and the last two involving combat between former Vice
President Al Gore and President George W. Bush.
Bush's special attack is "nuclear" - with his signature pronunciation -
while Gore's is global warming. Gore has a "CO2 fart attack," while Bush
has a Karl Rove attack. Dressed like the grim reaper, Rove passes
through and steals the opponent's soul.
NY School Opens Lab for Serious Games
A new research lab at the prestigious Parsons design school aims to
develop video games with a conscience - called "serious games" - and
study whether playing them can be a force for social good.
The games, which aim to educate, appeal mostly to a niche market and are
used to train public officials, students and professionals in various
fields.
The U.S. military, for example, trains with games that model terrorist
attacks, school hostage crises and natural disasters. Other serious games
teach nonviolent ways of fighting dictators and military occupiers.
Director Colleen Macklin hopes research at Parsons The New School of
Design's PETLab, launched Wednesday and made up of students and faculty,
will make serious games more mainstream.
"Our goal is really to create intersections between game design, social
issues and learning," she said.
PETLab, in the first such effort in the country, will create models of
new types of games or interactive designs that address social issues and
will do interactive research on whether playing the games helps effect
positive social change.
It is funded by a $450,000 grant from the MacArthur Foundation as part
of the foundation's study of how digital technologies are changing the
way people learn and socialize.
Lab researchers hope to create more games like the popular "Ayiti: The
Cost of Life," developed by the nonprofit Global Kids and tech company
GameLab, in which players manage life for a virtual family of five in
rural Haiti. The object of the game is to make spending decisions -
saving money vs. throwing a party vs. buying food - that keep the family
healthy.
PETLab has partnered with Games for Change, a nonprofit group that
supports serious game designers and provides a forum for designers to
show off their work.
"We're planting seeds for the next generation of game makers," said
Suzanne Seggerman, founder of Games for Change. "How amazing would it be
to have 'Fast Food Nation' or 'An Inconvenient Truth' as a video game,
where players can actually learn how to make their environment better
through the game?"
So far, the lab is working with Microsoft Corp., studying whether the
software maker's Xbox game development tool could be modified to create
socially conscious games.
The lab also is working with the social arm of MTV's Web site,
think.MTV.com, which offers information on the environment, sexual
health and immigration. And it is designing tutorials on creating games
for young people.
Violent Game 'Manhunt 2' Wins Appeal Against British Ban
A violent video game featuring blood-spattered scenes in an asylum is set
for release in Britain after its makers won an appeal against censors on
Monday.
"Manhunt 2" was twice rejected by the British Board of Film
Classification (BBFC) this year, becoming the first video game in a
decade to be banned in Britain.
Censors said it demonstrated "casual sadism" and an "unrelenting focus
on stalking and brutal slaying".
But its makers Rockstar Games, famous for producing the acclaimed "Grand
Theft Auto" series, were successful in an appeal to the Video Appeals
Committee which overturned the BBFC's decision.
The reasons for the ruling will be published in the next few days.
Rockstar said it was pleased with the decision and added it was committed
to marketing its products "responsibly".
"Manhunt 2", which is made for the Playstation2 and Nintendo Wii
consoles, was the first video game in a decade to be refused a
classification by the British censors.
Stills on the "Manhunt 2" website show computer-graphic images of
blood-drenched people attacking each other with syringes, axes and knives
amid scenes of decapitations and mutilations.
It has had a troubled launch, with its makers suspending its planned July
launch in the United States and Europe after it fell foul of the censors
in Britain, Ireland, Italy and Switzerland.
The game eventually went on sale in the US market in October this year.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
House Tries to Make the Internet SAFE
By an overwhelming margin - 409 to 2 - the U.S. House of Representatives
passed new legislation on Thursday aimed at making the Internet safer
for children. The Securing Adolescents From Exploitation-Online (SAFE)
Act was sponsored by Texas Democrat Nick Lampson, one of the founding
members of the House Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus.
Among other things, the legislation imposes significant fines on
Internet service providers (ISPs) that fail to report evidence of child
exploitation to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
According to a press release from Rep. Lampson's office, ISPs would be
fined $150,000 per incident per day for first offenses, and $300,000 per
incident per day for second and succeeding offenses.
"We are not trying to make these (Internet providers) spies on what they
put out there," Lampson said in the statement, "but there are plenty of
ways information can be gleaned from what you see on the Internet and if
that is illegal, we want it reported to law enforcement."
According to an analysis by CNET's Declan McCullough, the bill's
definition of ISP - anyone offering an open Wi-Fi service - could apply
to municipalities, libraries, coffee shops, or even individuals who
fail to password protect their Wi-Fi router. The language of the
legislation, which was adopted without congressional hearings or
significant debate, may also apply to social-networking sites, e-mail
service providers, and Internet search engines.
Lauren Weinstein, the cofounder of People for Internet Responsibility,
said that he is not particularly concerned that federal agents will be
targeting coffee shops and homeowners. "I don't think that's where the
likely focus of enforcement will be," Weinstein said in a phone
interview.
Instead, Weinstein argued, law enforcement is much more likely to
target services that either store infringing images or display them as
part of search results. "It seems very likely to me," he said, "that
groups concerned about the issue of child pornography and feeling
empowered by the SAFE Act could argue that a search engine like Google
Images has an obligation to comply with the requirements of the law."
The requirements of the legislation, if it takes effect, could impose
significant regulatory burdens on affected sites. In addition to
reporting possible violations to NCMEC, ISPs and covered sites would be
required to preserve the images themselves (normally itself a violation
of federal law), as well as preserving information about when the
images were accessed and any available information about the individual
who downloaded them.
As it is currently drafted, the legislation applies not merely to
photographs of minors engaged in sexual activity (which is clearly
child pornography), but also more subjective material, including
photographs of minors in provocative poses and sexually explicit
cartoon drawings depicting minors. Many question whether ISPs should
be put in the uncomfortable position of determining whether borderline
material should be reported, much of which may not even be criminal.
"This legislation creates potentially huge compliance problems for
legitimate sites," Weinstein said. "There are some bright lines that
need to be drawn between material that shows real abuse, and material
that is only a problem for a few people. More importantly, the farther
that you get from real photographs involving minors, the closer you
get to trying to police thought crimes."
Virtual Congressman Speaks At Summit
Rep. Edward Markey couldn't make it to Bali for the United Nations
climate change summit, so he sent along the next best thing: an animated
version of himself.
Relying on computer technology, Markey, D-Mass., addressed the global
climate change meeting Tuesday night using a virtual likeness of himself,
known as an "avatar."
Markey's 3-D computerized likeness wore a dark blue suit, a green tie and
a white shirt. He used the online community Second Life to speak in front
of a computerized image of the Bali conference setting.
"I have teleported here over the Internet," he told the audience.
Markey wanted to attend the Bali conference, but he is involved in talks
on the energy bill in Congress this week.
"I had to stay here in Washington to pass a clean energy bill that will
make a down payment on the global warming cuts needed to save the
planet," Markey said in a statement before his virtual appearance. "But
it was critical to show the leaders gathered in Bali that they have
partners here in America who are deeply concerned about solving global
warming and re-engaging the United States on the global stage."
Markey spoke in front of a computer at a staffer's home on Capitol Hill
audiences in Bali and on the Internet viewed his avatar.
"This is my first foray into Second Life, but it won't be my last," he
said.
Markey is chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence
and Global Warming. He is also chairman of the House Subcommittee on
Telecommunications and the Internet.
Sun Will Support OpenOffice.org
Sun Microsystems on Monday plans to announce that it will provide support
for the OpenOffice.org productivity software suite, citing a wave of
momentum behind the open-source project.
The support, which starts at US$20 per user per year, will be offered to
companies that distribute OpenOffice.org, not directly to end-users,
according to Mark Herring, senior director of marketing for
StarOffice/OpenOffice.org and Network.com. "For a lot of distributors,
they wanted to distribute OpenOffice.org and had no option for back-line
support," he said.
OpenOffice.org and StarOffice, Sun's accompanying commercial product, are
compatible with Microsoft Office and identical in terms of capabilities,
which include word processing, spreadsheets and presentation software. But
until now, Sun only supported StarOffice.
Another difference will remain - Sun does not plan to provide
indemnification against lawsuits for OpenOffice.org, as it does for
StarOffice, Herring said.
Sun's move comes as OpenOffice.org is being downloaded 1 million times per
week, with total downloads to date standing at about 110 million, Herring
said.
Out of that number, Sun estimates that "tens of millions" of people are
actively using the software, according to Herring. The most recent
version is 2.3. Version 2.4 is expected in March and will contain
significant new features, according to the openoffice.org Web site.
"Microsoft Office is still the dominant tool out there - only a fool
would deny that," he said. "But [OpenOffice.org] has had a huge amount
of momentum."
Sun believes the average OpenOffice.org user skews younger on average,
and that download activity in Europe and the U.S. has been greater than
in Asian countries, he added.
Developers can create extensions to the core OpenOffice.org suite. Sun
has made a new one for shaving down the size of presentation files,
Herring said. The wizard-like tool goes through a file and asks users
whether they want to keep or compress the various elements, he said.
Sun plans to provide support for any extensions it creates, according to
Herring. As for ones made by third parties, "we would have to work with
them on that code on a case-by-case basis," he said.
Sun is also releasing StarOffice 8 Server. Herring described it as a
conversion engine that changes 40 document types into PDF files. The
server, which costs $11,000, is aimed at enterprises with large stores
of legacy documents that aren't archived with an open standard, according
to Herring.
Death Knell Sounds for Wikipedia, About.com
In relatively quiet fashion, search engine giant Google announced the
testing of a new tool for organizing and disseminating knowledge on the
Web. The new tool is built around the concept of a "knol," which the
company says stands for "a unit of knowledge."
"A knol on a particular topic," wrote Udi Manber, Google's vice president
of engineering, "is meant to be the first thing someone who searches for
this topic for the first time will want to read."
Manber said that, unlike Wikipedia, which relies on the collective and
relatively anonymous contributions of many different editors, Google's
knols will be primarily written by a single, identified author whose
credentials will be displayed at the top of each knol.
"Google will not serve as an editor in any way, and will not bless any
content," Manber emphasized. "All editorial responsibilities and control
will rest with the authors. We hope that knols will include the opinions
and points of view of the authors who will put their reputation on the
line."
The common consensus in the media is that Google's knols are aimed
squarely at Wikipedia, and in fact, the sample Web page on display in
Manber's blog post does bear some passing resemblance to a typical
Wikipedia page. At the top of the page is a brief summary, beside which
is a table of contents with links to various sections of the page.
But Google is considering several different features, the most
provocative of which is a ranking system that will affect how high the
knols appear in Google search results. Manber said that Google
anticipates that there will be competing knols for some topic, and
rankings will help readers decide which knols are the most reliable and
useful.
Google anticipates that some writers will choose to include Google Ads
on their knol pages. "If an author chooses to include ads," Manber said,
"Google will provide the author with substantial revenue share from the
proceeds of those ads."
That feature alone suggests that Google's target is less Wikipedia than
it is About.com, which has built an extensive network of topical
ad-supported channels, each one with its own identified human guide.
About.com hires writers to serve as Guides on specific titles and then
pays them based on page views. The chief difference with Google's knol
concept is that any person would be able to create a knol page on any
conceivable topic.
Not surprisingly, at this early stage, there are myriad unanswered
questions about how all of this will work. Manber also said that,
although the concept centers around a specific author, "people will be
able to submit comments, questions, edits, additional content, and so
on."
Presumably, however, any suggested edits will have to be approved by the
page's creator, or the concept of author origin and control will be lost.
It might be a while before the answers are known. A spokesperson for
Google said in an e-mail interview that because this is still in the
experimental stage, there are no "public-facing knols" for review right
now. The company is not releasing any further information about when the
knol feature will go live.
EBay Focusing On "User Experience"
EBay Inc. will focus on improving the "user experience" in 2008 in hopes
of making the world's largest online auction more satisfying for its
millions of users, a top executive said.
Engineers significantly updated eBay's home page earlier this year - for
the first time since 1999 - and made its search engine faster.
Next year they'll focus on rooting out sellers with unethical or
questionable business strategies - particularly vendors who charge
exorbitant fees, said John Donahoe, president of eBay Marketplaces.
Many sellers lure shoppers with extremely low fixed prices or auctions
that start at a penny - then charge disproportionate fees to mail the
item to the buyer.
The phenomenon pervades lightweight electronics vendors, some of whom
advertise cell phones or digital music players for virtually nothing -
then charge $15 or more to ship.
A year ago, Donahoe said, eBay began asking buyers to rank sellers'
shipping costs on a scale of one to five. Users may now view that data in
aggregate form and, if they want, decide whom to purchase from based on
shipping fee scores.
The company may use the data in more palpable ways in 2008, such as
incorporating shipping fee complaints into search algorithms; sellers
with high shipping fees may not appear in the first page of search
results. It also may include factors such as whether shipping was prompt
or the seller responds to questions.
While they seem arcane, such tweaks have big ramifications for the tens
of thousands of people who make their living through eBay. Donahoe, who
came to eBay after a business consulting career, hopes buyers will be
the beneficiaries.
"EBay needs to evolve the user experience to be more competitive and
differentiated," Donahoe said in the company's San Jose, Calif.,
headquarters. "We could start basing our search results or other policies
on user feedback, or at least give the buyer a warning."
A New Front Is Opened in the Browser Wars
Opera Software, the Oslo-based producer of the Opera browser, has filed a
complaint with the European Commission against Microsoft, alleging that
the software giant is unfairly abusing its dominant market position by
tying Windows to Internet Explorer. The complaint also alleges that
Microsoft is hindering Web interoperability by failing to adhere to
widely accepted Web standards.
In a press statement released earlier Thursday, Opera CEO Jon von
Tetzchner said that the company was acting on behalf of all consumers who
are tired of having a monopolist make choices for them.
"In addition to promoting the free choice of individual consumers,"
Tetzchner added, "we are a champion of open Web standards and
cross-platform innovation. We cannot rest until we've brought fair and
equitable options to consumers worldwide."
The company is asking the European Commission to order Microsoft either
to unbundle Internet Explorer or to require it to bundle additional
competing browsers, such as Firefox or Opera. In addition, Opera is
seeking an order requiring Microsoft to comply with "fundamental and open
Web standards accepted by the Web-authoring community."
Earlier this year, the European Court of First Instance upheld a 2004
ruling by the European Commission that Microsoft abused its monopoly
position by unfairly tying its Windows Media Player to its operating
system. Opera's Chief Technology Officer, Hakon Wium Lie, said in a
telephone interview that the Microsoft's behavior with its browser is
parallel to its treatment of its music player.
"We think it's even more serious for browsers, though, because browsers
are more important to people in their everyday lives," Lie said. "And
with Web 2.0, the browser is increasingly turning into a platform for
application development. If one company retains monopoly power, that's
very harmful."
The crux of Opera's interoperability claim centers on Internet Explorer's
failure to master the Acid2 test, a page-rendering challenge designed by
the Web Standards Project to measure a browser's compliance with W3C HTML
and CSS 2.0 standards. If a browser is fully compliant, a cheerful face
appears on the screen under the words "Hello World," and the face's nose
turns blue when the mouse hovers over it.
"It's a very visual example of how well different browsers comply with
Web standards," Lie said.
Currently, just four browsers successfully render the image on the test
page: Safari 2.0.3., Konqueror 3.5, Opera 9, and Mozilla Firefox 3.0b1.
The page as rendered by Internet Explorer is a Mondrian-esque splash of
reds, yellows, and blacks.
"This is a very difficult test," Lie said, "and it is difficult for all
browsers, not just Microsoft. It took Opera almost a year to do it, but
we've done it, Firefox has done it, Safari has done it, but Microsoft,
they don't care, it seems."
Lie said he believes that by refusing to comply with commonly accepted
Web standards, Microsoft is attempting to take its OS monopoly onto the
Web. "It's very important to them," Lie said, "because the Web is the
new platform. The browser is becoming the fundamental tool for computer
users."
Norton AntiVirus 11 Ships for Leopard
Leopard has a new weapon in its antimalware arsenal with Symantec's
release on Monday of Norton AntiVirus 11 for Mac OS X 10.5. Symantec said
the new product offers improved performance and better protection against
Internet-connected applications.
The new version of the popular security software features signature-based
protection against malware that can be installed when the user downloads
pictures, music, and software. Symantec said that 78 percent of attacks
take place at this level.
Even though Macs are less of a target for malware, Symantec noted that
the machines still can pass malicious software to others by e-mail,
instant messages, or Web links. The other machines can be either PCs or
Macs, so AntiVirus 11 scans for viruses and other vulnerabilities for
both platforms.
AntiVirus 11 can gather updates in the background, so it can protect with
what Symantec called "set it and forget" convenience. The software also
has less impact on system startup and resource use, according to the
company.
The newly updated interface features wizards to indicate system status,
and a new Norton AntiVirus dashboard widget that shows a summary of
current protection levels. For users who hate to be interrupted in the
middle of a movie scene, scheduled virus scans can be moved to a less
intrusive time with the "snooze button."
For power users, there is a command line interface via the Terminal, for
adding virus scans and custom scripts as desired. But some Mac users,
power or not, invariably ask whether antivirus software is needed for
their platform.
Apple itself promotes Macs as being less vulnerable to viruses than PCs.
On its Web site, for instance, it said that while "no computer connected
to the Internet will ever be 100 percent immune from attack, Mac OS X has
helped the Mac keep its clean bill of health with a superior Unix
foundation and security features that go above and beyond the norm of
PCs."
In a column last month for the Washington Post, computer security expert
Brian Krebs said he is often asked by Mac users whether they should use
antivirus software. He wrote that "there are very few examples of
malicious software in the wild built for Mac users," but said that every
user should be aware of risks when using the Internet, such as in
downloading software from sites whose credibility is unknown.
Other experts have noted that many Macs are used in multiplatform
environments, and could spread viruses to PCs if the Macs themselves do
not have adequate protection.
The new version of Norton AntiVirus for the Mac costs $49.95 and includes
one year of updates.
Spam Levels Rise to Unprecedented Heights
Spam continues to plague the average computer user, with up to 95 percent
of all e-mail traffic consisting of unsolicited e-mails, according to a
study from Web security vendor Barracuda Networks.
Barracuda analyzed more than one billion e-mail messages sent to its
50,000 customers, and found that 90 to 95 percent of all e-mail sent in
2007 was spam, up from 85 to 90 percent last year.
That number has been on the rise since 2001, when spam accounted for only
5 percent of e-mail traffic. In 2004, the year that Congress passed the
CAN-SPAM Act, spam was 70 percent of all e-mail, Barracuda said.
In a separate poll of 261 business professionals, Barracuda also found
that 57 percent of respondents viewed spam as the worst form of junk
advertising, while 31 percent cited postal junk mail and 12 percent
selected telemarketing.
Thirteen percent of those polled reported receiving more than 50 spam
messages a day, while 65 percent received fewer than 10, the report said.
Barracuda saw an influx of spam messages on Thanksgiving Day, when
spammers tried to cash in on the post holiday shopping frenzy by sending
phishing e-mails from popular retailers. Spammers are expected to again
blast consumers after New Year's with resolution-themed e-mails for
things like weight loss and online college degrees, according to
Barracuda.
The most common spam technique in 2007 was identity obfuscation, whereby
spammers send e-mails from a variety of sources or register new domain
names in order to get around spam traps, Barracuda said.
The use of attachments in spam is also on the rise, the report found.
Sentencing in Massive Phishing Bust
Two people have been sentenced for their participation in a massive
phishing operation busted up by Italian authorities in July.
Sorin Pascu, 22, of Romania, was sentenced to five and a half years, and
Marius Braditeanu, head of the scam, was sentenced to six years,
according to Tuesday's edition of il Giornale.
Police arrested 18 Italians and eight other Eastern Europeans in July.
The country's financial police, the Guardia di Finanza, said the scam
involved sending fraudulent e-mails that appeared to come from Poste
Italiane, the country's postal operator, which also offers bank accounts,
insurance and loans.
The e-mails urged victims to hand over sensitive financial information.
The scammers then withdrew money from their accounts, the finance
authority said at the time.
Eventually, fraud management officials from Poste Italiane and the
finance authority traced the transaction papers used to empty the
accounts, which initially occurred in the Milan area and then spread
throughout the country.
Pascu reportedly told authorities the gang bought 10 (US$14.70) phone
cards to connect to the Internet, which allowed them a greater degree of
anonymity to send the phishing e-mails.
Police said at least 200 people were victimized by the scam, although
they think the number of victims is much higher, il Giornale reported.
As Commodore 64 Turns 25, Founders Reminisce
The founding fathers of the personal computer met on Monday night to
celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Commodore 64. The event
was markedly different than most Silicon Valley parties these days.
Business cards weren't passed, no one text- or instant-messaged during
the presentation, and no one said "Hey, Facebook me later."
Instead, the event was for the old boys who pioneered the personal
computer, a testament to the old days when geeks were really geeks and
eggheads. Speakers on the panel included Jack Tramiel, founder and chief
executive officer of Commodore, Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple,
William Lowe, father of the IBM PC, and Adam Chowaniec, developer of the
Amiga PC and chairman of the board for Liquid Computing.
The culture and attitude in the early days of the PC was not as
touchy-feely as it is today. Tramiel would most likely not have taken
kindly to the idea of hiring his employees a chef or letting them bring
their dogs to work. He discussed the "business is war" philosophy that
he is known for, which is the antithesis of the Valley culture today. He
said that his cutthroat attitude is why he was able to succeed in selling
over 22 million units of the Commodore 64.
"I think I produced more millionaires in that company than anybody else,"
Tramiel said. "My job was to tell them what they were doing wrong, not
tell them how good they are."
"Well, what about a company like Google whose culture is the exact
opposite of that?" asked John Markoff, a writer for The New York Times
and moderator of the panel.
"Google is not making a product that is strictly innovation. They need to
tell people how good they are," Tramiel replied.
Tramiel survived the Holocaust during World War II. After he immigrated
to the United States, he said he felt the need to give back to the
government that had helped save him. His way of giving back was to join
the U.S. Army, where his job was repairing typewriters and writing
machines. He took that skill with him after he left the army and his
expertise in typewriters evolved into the Commodore 64. And why that
moniker?
"Well I was in the army and I wanted to call my company 'General,' but
there are so many Generals in the United States - General Electric,
General Motors, etc." he said. "Then I went to 'Admiral' and that was
taken. So I wound up in Berlin and we were in a cab and the cab made a
short stop and in front of it was an Opal Commodore. And that was it."
Tramiel admitted that he was overly focused on hardware back then and
underestimated the importance of software. He recalls his decision to
use the Microsoft BASIC operating system rather than his own
proprietary software.
"Bill Gates came to see me trying to sell BASIC," Tramiel said. "He
told me I didn't have to give him any money, I only had to give him $3
per unit. I told him I was already married," he joked. "I told him that
the highest price I would give him was $2,500. So he took that $2,500
and after that he didn't want to speak to me."
Other panelists discussed the unknown and the uncertainty they felt in
the early days when computing was seen as more of a hobby than a
business tool.
"We tried to sell to Commodore and we got turned down," Wozniak said.
"Steve [Jobs] offered the system for a couple hundred thousand dollars
and I was shaking in my boots thinking, 'How can we be talking about
this much work?' I was scared to death and it was Steve who had the
guts back then."
Lowe reminisced about early visions of computing that seemed so far out
in the 1970s.
"When I was trying to convince IBM that we should do a micro-based
machine, I was introduced to Ted Nelson," Lowe said. "I brought him to
a meeting at IBM and he made a presentation with an overhead projector.
The presentation was pictures of him retrieving data from around the
world, in the Amazon, on a beach. His message was that anyone would be
able to get any information on any date, anywhere in the world, at any
given time. And I'll tell you, that is natural today but back in 1978,
that was revolutionary. And he said that was the way that we should
design our computing world. So we did."
The event was sold-out and panelists received a standing ovation before
they cut the anniversary cake.
"We've suffered through almost a whole year of hype around the iPhone
but it didn't even touch the kind of hype and enthusiasm we had for
the Commodore 64 back then," Markoff said. "It was infectious and
palpable."
One could argue that it still is.
What's This w00t and Why Is It Word of the Year?
Gamers, rejoice! The quintessential l33t-speak shout - "w00t!" - has been
named the "Word of the Year" by the Merriam-Webster Online Web site. In
the somewhat dry language of the company's press release, "w00t" is
listed as an interjection, and defined as "expressing joy (it could be
after a triumph, or for no reason at all); similar in use to the word
'yay.'"
According to the Merriam-Webster Web site, "w00t" is a transliteration
derived an acronym for the phrase "We Owned the Other Team." The
innovative spelling, with two zeros in the middle, is derived from a
hackerlanguage known as "l33t," in which numbers and symbols are
substituted for letters they resemble.
"What's interesting about the selection of w00t is that it is taking
language in a new direction," said John Morse, President and Publisher of
Merriam-Webster Inc., in the company's press release. "Given the
inefficiency of texting with a numeric keyboard, people look for
self-evident numeral-letter substitutions: 0 for O; 3 for E; 7 for T; and
4 for A. This is simply a different and more efficient way of
representing the alphabetical character."
Another explanation, according to some gaming Web sites, is that hackers
began developing l33t as a way of making it harder to search for their
bulletin board conversations online. Undoubtedly, however, the NSA is
hard at work on a real-time l33t translator.
Regardless of exactly how "l33t" and "w00t" developed, it is a safe bet
that somewhere, Noah Webster is smiling. In 1828, after more than two
decades of work, Webster published "An American Dictionary of the
English Language," in which he himself revolutionized the spelling of
many common words. Among other things, he dropped the "u" in words like
"colour," changed "centre" to "center" and "gaol" to "jail," and added
words that were uniquely American, such as chowder, hickory, squash, and
skunk. Clearly, this was not a man who believed in a static vocabulary.
Despite the historical and linguistic significance of the dictionary, it
sold poorly, and Webster finished his life in relative poverty.
Following his death, the rights to the Dictionary were acquired by G & C
Merriam in Springfield, Massachusetts. More than 160 years later, the
company (still based in Springfield) continues to publish updated
versions of Webster's groundbreaking work.
Merriam-Webster named "w00t" as the top word of 2007 after conducting a
poll on its m-w.com Web site, in which visitors were asked to choose
from a list of twenty words compiled by the company. The words were
selected from frequent searches on Merriam-Webster Online and
submissions to Merriam-Webster's "Open Dictionary," which enables
visitors to submit suggestions for new words. In taking top honors,
"w00t" beat out two other well-known recent additions to the English
language: "facebook" (which finished #2) and "blamestorm" (which
finished #5).
As the winner of the 2007 vote, "w00t" joins a prestigious group of
prior winners, including "truthiness" (2006), "integrity" (2005), and
"blog" (2004). It will be interesting to see how this Borg of a word
influences future votes; perhaps next year's winner will be declared
the "M3rr14m-W3b$73r W0r� 0�' 7h3 ¥34r."
=~=~=~=
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