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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 07 Issue 52
Volume 7, Issue 52 Atari Online News, Etc. December 23, 2005
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2005
All Rights Reserved
Atari Online News, Etc.
A-ONE Online Magazine
Dana P. Jacobson, Publisher/Managing Editor
Joseph Mirando, Managing Editor
Rob Mahlert, Associate Editor
Atari Online News, Etc. Staff
Dana P. Jacobson -- Editor
Joe Mirando -- "People Are Talking"
Michael Burkley -- "Unabashed Atariophile"
Albert Dayes -- "CC: Classic Chips"
Rob Mahlert -- Web site
Thomas J. Andrews -- "Keeper of the Flame"
With Contributions by:
Pierre Tonthat
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Visit the Atari Advantage Forum on Delphi!
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=~=~=~=
A-ONE #0752 12/23/05
~ Santa Claus Worm Hits! ~ People Are Talking! ~ Santa Goes High Tech
~ EU Threatens Microsoft ~ Happy Holidays To All! ~ New zView Beta!
~ Xbox 360 Shortage! ~ Send E-Mail to Future! ~ Dungeon Master Clone
~ French Endorse Sharing ~ Icahn Seeks To Derail! ~ AOL-Google Deal!
-* No eBay Live Pets Auctions! *-
-* Feds To Assess 2-Year CAN-SPAM Law *-
-* Microsoft Kills Mac Microsoft Explorer! *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Well, here we are, nearing the end of another year. The holidays are upon
us once again. We actually got our shopping done, with a week to spare this
year! Everything went without a hitch for a change. No last minute
shopping because I forgot someone on my list! It also makes for a more
relaxing vacation! We've already attended a couple of holiday gatherings,
and likely one or two more to come. But, we're managing to get in some rest
along the way.
I don't have too much to say this week. But, I do want to wish all of you a
very happy holiday season. I hope that all of your holiday wishes come
true. And please remember that while you're enjoying the festivities,
please do so responsibly. Happy Holidays from all of us here at A-ONE!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
Zview, Beta 7
Merry Christmas and happy new year for all the Atarians !
Here a screenshoot:
http://the.zorro.free.fr/beta7.jpg
And the news:
News:
-----
- PDF:
* Huge quality improvement in the PDF font rendering (Atari specific).
* Zoom function added.
* Code upgraded to xpdf 3.01pl1( 2005-dec-01).
- Complete EXIF 2.21 support for JPEG image( now, you can see various
useful information like when the picture was taken, if the flash of
your camera was fired or not, the model of your cam, etc...).
- Now, zView can extract the thumbnails embedded inside JPEG images
created with a digital photo-cam.
That means than the thumbnail creation is 20 times faster if the JPEG
was created with a camera.
- News options added:
* Skip drive (it's faster to skip the check of the CD-ROM drive for
example).
* Smooth Thumbnail: now, you can smooth the thumbnails with various method.
That is very slow and only available on true color or near true color
display but the result are perfect (especially with the lanczos computation).
* PDF font anti-aliasing ON/OFF.
* Fit the PDF to the window.
- Utilisation of an embedded font to have the same look on any computers.
- Animated interlaced Gif and animated Gif with transparency now supported.
- More zoom levels for the pictures( 25, 50, 100, 150 and 200%,
previously: 50, 100, and 200%).
- Some function's shortcuts added to the toolbars.
Bugs fixes:
-----------
- Many fixes in the PDF code( PDF rotated, problems with some fonts, etc..).
- Missing horizontal SLIDER computation in the PDF and image window.
- Little memory leak corrected in the multi-timer function.
- A memory block was not freed in the file_rename function.
- Some redraw fixed ( PDF bookmark, etc...).
- Others littles bugs fixed.
Ciao,
Zorro
--
http://the.zorro.free.fr
DGEM 0.20
Bonsoir :)
New version of my Dungeon Master clone, download on my
website or directly in the folder http://rajah.atari.org/files/
-> dgem020.zip (1.7 MB, dezipped: 7 MB)
New in this 0.20 Xmas2K5 version
- all the monsters
- hand to hand fighting
Careful, since this version, the program needs more memory.
8 Mo under 16 colors mode, 14 Mo under 256 colors mode.
Under 16 colors mode, some monsters appear with false colors
Minimum requirements :
STeem/Nostalgia/Hatari: TOS 2.06, VDI extended mode, 14 Mo
Falcon/TT/clones: TOS 4.04 (MagiC advised), 256 colors, 14 Mo
In this dungeon, the monsters have 1 health point.
A zoo is present at level -7, via the teleporter.
If you want to modify this or create a new dungeon, use
the Deditor. The current password for this example dungeon
is 'eil3'.
Coming next : throwing objects, casting spells, atmospheric effects,
throwing thing generators on wall... There will be not 0.22 version,
but 1.0.
Hope you'll enjoy. Merry Xmas, and Stay Atari :)
-- Pierre TONTHAT - Rajah Lone / Renaissance
http://rajah.atari.org
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
joe@atarinews.org
Hidi ho, friends and neighbors. Well, here we are again, just a couple of
days before Christmas. All the shopping is done, and the preparations
mostly finished, and now all that's left to do is wait for "the big
day".
I received a couple of emails (but not as many as I thought I was going
to though) about last week's 'column'. Most of them were quite nice, and
I thank you for them. A few of them, were... ummm... not so nice. The
funny thing was that, among the people who emailed me to argue about the
Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays debate, all but one actually agreed with
me. Most of the dissenting emails simply missed my point that greetings
are given, not taken, and thought that it was rude to tell people what
greeting they should use. That was my point exactly, and I thank
everyone who agreed with me even though they didn't realize it.
There was one email, however, that was just from outer space. The writer
was adamant that there was only one proper greeting for the season and
would countenance no other possibility. The general thread of his email
seemed to be that he had the right to demand that he was right. Just
between you and me, I think he was an Amiga user. <chuckle>
Anyway, I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you and yours a happy,
healthy and safe holiday. Watch yourself on the roads, since traffic
seems to be a little more tricky than usual this year. And please,
please, don't drink and drive. It's just not worth it.
Okay, I'm done preaching. Let's get to the news, hints, tips and info
from the UseNet.
From the comp.sys.atari.st NewsGroup
====================================
Jo Even Skarstein asks about converting 1ST Word Plus documents:
"I recently found some old disks with lots of documents I wrote in the
80's, all of them in 1ST Word Plus format. I'd like to convert them to a
current format like RTF or HTML, even plain text is OK. The obvious
solution is to use 1ST Word Plus and export to plain text, but 1ST Word
Plus doesn't work on my Milan. Are there any utilities that can do this?
Or perhaps another editor/word processor that reads these files?"
Ekkehard Flessa tells Jo Even:
"It definitely does on my Milan. German version 3.20TT of 1990.
If I remember correctly, there's also some converter program, 1WP2RTF or
the like.
Signum!4 should also be able to read 1ST Word Plus documents. But that
one is not always willing to run on my Milan."
Jo Even tells Ekkehard:
"On my Milan it behaves like on a ST/Falcon with NVDI, i.e. it use a too
big font size and totally mess up the display. A pity, because 1ST Word
Plus is one of my all-time favourites on the Atari. I'd really like to
get my hands on the sources and modernize it a bit.
Thanks, I've tried it now and it seems to work. It doesn't do a perfect
conversion, but good enough!"
Peter West adds his experiences:
"On my Falcon with NVDI and MagiC, 1WP works fine. I still use it
quite regularly for letters and articles that don't need fancy
fonts.
Incidentally, if IdeaList runs on your Milan, you can use that to
print out 1WP documents with all the attributes (but it disregards
ruler changes)."
Karsten Lüdersen adds:
"Papyrus (the TOS-Version, not the Windows-version) does read these
files."
Jo Even tells Karsten:
"It crashes on my Milan if I try to import a 1ST Word Plus document. I
have Papyrus 7.5, perhaps I need a newer version?"
Karsten asks Jo Even:
"Are You sure that the file is OK? With 1ST Wordplus documents in
papyrus, I had never any problems.
Try the latest demo version (10.2X) from the papyrus homepage
(<http://www.papyrus.de/files/PapX_TOS_Demo.zip>). As far as I know, you
can save documents with this demo version."
Edward Baiz adds his experiences:
"I have version 10 and sometimes it crashes when trying to load or import
files. I have a Hades060. What usually works is turing off the cache.
For some reason Papyrus works a lot better. After the file loads in, I
just turn the cache back on."
Jim DeClercq wonders aloud about dealing with hard drive sectors:
"I had a problem with my TT getting stuck on booting, so to make a long
story shorter, I ran the Write test part of Discus, and it found a bunch
of bad sectors. This is a very old drive. Then I ran HDD sector test, it
found no bad sectors, but showed a number of sectors that looked a little
strange for a 4 gig drive, and after that it did not get stuck in the
middle of a boot process. What did I do?"
Dr. Uwe Seimet, author of HD Driver, tells Jim:
"...As far as the sector tests of DISKUS and HDDRUTIL are concerned the
algorithms are different. HDDRIVER makes a a read test only, whereas
DISKUS, depending on the settings, also makes a write test. The results
if these different test approaches can differ.
In general SCSI drives are supposed to replace bad sectors by other,
reserved sectors as soon as the drive encounters an error."
Roger Burrows of Anodyne Software posts an open invitation to people
interested in beta testing:
"We're ready to start beta testing the next version of our CD writing
package, which will support DVD recorders as well. Apart from DVD
support, the main new features are:
. "burnproof" recording
. support for session-at-once audio CD recording
. backup of non-TOS partitions
Beta tester requirements:
. DVD recorder (if possible)
. a copy of ExtenDOS v4
. experience with CD Writer Suite v3
. good command of English or French
. sufficient time :-) (expect to take 10-20 hours)
Previous beta testing experience would be a help.
If you would like to help out, please email us at:
beta@anodynesoftware.com
and tell us what hardware & software you have. "
Neil Chester asks about what price a Falcon or two might bring:
"[I'm] Just wondering what is the market value of the following Falcons:
1) MkX cased Falcon CT2b with 20Gb HD
2) SpaceCase cased Falcon CT60 with 40Gb HD
Both with Maximum ST RAM and reasonable FAST RAM."
Ronald Hall tells Neil:
"From what I've seen, bog standard Falcons have been going for typically
$300-400 on Ebay. Sometimes higher. Expanded/updated ones are worth more,
of course."
From the comp.sys.atari.st.tech NewsGroup
=========================================
Richard McKeown asks about networking a Falcon to those darned PCs:
"What is the best way to transfer files from the Falcon to a PC? I have
done it with a null modem cable, but of course it's pretty slow. Is
there any way to get faster transfer rates with the printer port or even
the 8pin LAN port? My PC has the usual printer, serial and RJ45
ethernet ports."
Djuro Pucaric replies to Richard simply:
"Ethernet card for atari!"
Richard replies:
"I actually have 2 networking cartridges, but they don't seem to work
with the Falcon (can't remember if I tried them on the STe)."
David Wade adds some well-thought-out options:
"As usual the answer is "it depends on what you want to transfer". If you
want to move a small number of files then a floppy disk is probably the
best way. If you want to move larger amounts of data you have multiple
options:-
1) Get a CD writer. I assume as the TT has an IDE interface you can use a
modern IDE CD (or even DVD) writer. This is good as it can preserve
directory structure. You could also use a "Superdisk" (LS120) or other
large format floppy. Probably need HD Driver. This is also useful as a
backup tool.
2) Get a SCSI Flash Memory reader. HD Driver will let you read and write
flash memory if its in a Microtech 2-slot SCSI flash memory reader. These
crop up from time to time on e-bay. Note last I heard the 3-slot ones
don't work. Perhaps Ewe will comment as to why. Watch because many
sellers of this won't ship outside the US.
3) As some one else has said get an Ethernet connection. As the falcon
has no ASCI port it will have to be an "Ethernec" or a SCSI Ethernet
Adaptor. You can get Ethernec's from E-Bay. Probably worth getting a
card as well. You can also build your own (I did, see:
http://www.dwade.freeserve.co.uk/atari/main.html
for details. You will also find the SCSI Ethernet adaptors on E-bay. You
might want to consult:
http://www.anodynesoftware.com/ethernet/main.htm
for info on which ones work. I picked a couple up from a ham radio boot
sale for 1.00 pound each. (about 2 dollars.) The great thing about doing
it this way is that if you have broadband or similar you ST can FTP
directly from the many FTP sites around the world.
4) Because the ST (and I assume the Falcon is the same) has a "cut down"
printer port many PC transfer programs (that use LAPLINK) can't be ported
to the ST. One that I have used and which does work is PARCP. Take a
look at:
http://joy.sophics.cz/parcp/
I made my own cable from a standard printer cable. I chopped the end off
and soldered a D-25 on. Works pretty well. The registered version is
really quite usable.
Hope you find this helpful."
Uwe Seimet jumps in and offers an opinion on option number 2:
"For the Falcon, an IDE flash adapter is most likely the better choice,
because it is much cheaper since hardly any hardware is required because
CF cards essentially already have an IDE interface."
Dave now asks Uwe:
"Anyone tried any of these with HD Driver? Would they work on my STE with
an IDEAL interface?"
Uwe tells Dave:
"I am sometimes using an IDE CF adapter with my Falcon and (of course)
HDDRIVER. There are also other users, e.g. with a Milan.
I would expect such an adapter to work with any IDE interface, because
all in all the adapter appears like an IDE device to HDDRIVER, provided
that the adapter correctly supports the IDE standard."
Ronald Hall adds one more interesting option:
"If you had a burner, you could just transfer them via CD. Just a
thought."
Edward Baiz adds this little bit of info:
"Check out Millie Babic's website. He talks about connecting Atari
computers to the Internet using an Ethernet connection. That would be
the best way for transfer. http://user.tninet.se/~gcc561r/. Or try using
PARCP which uses the printer ports of both computers. You need a special
cable that you can either build or buy from the author.
http://joy.sophics.cz/parcp/ "
Well folks, that's about it for this week. Tune in again next week, same
time, same station for more good stuff. Happy holidays, folks, and again
I'll remind you not to drink and drive. The life you save may be mine!
'Till next week, keep your ears open so you'll hear what they are saying
when...
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - Santa Running Short of Xbox 360!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" California Game Ban Derailed!
Armored Core: Last Raven!
Xbox Tampering Bust! And More!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Santa Runs Short of Xbox 360
For those whose shopping lists still include Microsoft's Xbox 360 video
game system, it's looking like a blue Christmas.
Most stores and online retailers are sold out of the system, which starts
at $300, and don't expect new shipments to satisfy the demand. Auctions on
eBay and Craigslist are being bidded up to $1,000; sites such as
xbox.clambert.org have sprung up to track availability on the Net.
When word leaked out that Best Buy stores were to have a few systems
Sunday, customers began lining up. "I was going to camp out (early Sunday),
but when I got there I found people who had already gotten there at 7 p.m.
Friday," says Joey Rouse, 31, of Denham Springs, La., who checked a store
in Baton Rouge.
Instead, he ordered a system from Best Buy's website, but he's not sure his
360 will arrive in time for him and his two sons to play over the holiday.
Nonetheless, "I know what Christmas is really about," he says. "Anything
extra is a blessing. If it doesn't come, it doesn't come."
It's unclear when individual stores will get replenishments; most spokesmen
recommend that customers visit local stores and websites. "When the
consoles come in, we'll put them out," says Circuit City's Jim Babb.
The 360 is the first of a new generation of game systems due in the next
year. Microsoft launched it Nov. 22 and sold 326,000 by the end of the
month, according to market-tracking firm The NPD Group.
That falls short of the November 2001 launch of the original Xbox, when
Microsoft sold 772,000 in 15 days, says NPD's Anita Frazier. "The marketing
and awareness they built up far exceeded the supply," she says.
Microsoft has shipped 600,000 to 700,000 systems so far to North America,
fewer than expected, analyst P.J. McNealy of American Technology Research
estimates. Another 400,000 have gone to Europe and Japan.
The shortage hasn't hurt Microsoft yet, McNealy says. "Their larger concern
is how fast they can ramp up in the first six months of 2006, because Sony
is expected to start banging the drums for the PlayStation 3. People will
start to get distracted from the Xbox 360 in January."
Microsoft remains confident it will meet its goal of selling 3 million
worldwide in the first 90 days. "We are doing our best and working around
the clock to get them in the hands of our customers around the world as
quickly as possible," says spokeswoman Molly O'Donnell.
Some buyers have had to send their 360s back for glitches. However, those
with faulty systems represent only about 1% of customers, says Richard
Doherty of consulting firm The Envisioneering Group, comparable to "what
has happened before with the iPod and TiVo."
Whether the shortage erodes Microsoft's head start remains to be seen,
Doherty says, but for now "it's frustrating for retailers and for consumers
not being able to get the hottest product of the holiday season."
Armored Core: Last Raven For Playstation 2 Announces Spring Release
Agetec, Inc., a leading publisher of entertainment software, announced the
North American release of Armored Core: Last Raven for the PlayStation 2
computer entertainment system. The final Armored Core series installment
for the PlayStation2, Last Raven is the most intense mech game ever,
featuring a full story mode where each selected mission has an immediate
impact on the ultimate story outcome.
Six months after Armored Core: Nexus ends, two powerful groups, the
Alliance and the Vertex, are fighting for world dominance and victory
hinges upon the "Raven" pilots. You are a Raven, an elite mech warrior who
must choose sides between the fighting powers. Ravens face the ultimate
decision in the fight for survival, either to fiercely defend their chosen
side or fight alone and face the wrath of all Ravens.
Developed by FromSoftware, the Armored Core series enables players to
customize their Core Units with a virtually unlimited variety of options,
parts and weapons. Armored Core: Last Raven continues that tradition, but
with improved gameplay effects, including for the first time mechs that
continue in battle even after losing an arm, leg or head.
Armored Core: Last Raven is scheduled for release in Spring 2006. For more
information on AC: Last Raven and other Agetec titles please visit
http://www.agetec.com
Act of War: High Treason
With the first expansion pack for the critically acclaimed Act of War:
Direct Action, Eugen Systems and Atari are introducing a massive amount of
new features and content to enhance and extend the overall experience.
The new naval combat in provides a fully-fledged modern naval RTS within
Act of War. With over a dozen new units designed specifically for naval
warfare from Tarawa class carriers, Typhoon submarines and SH-60 Seahawk
anti-sub helicopters, to Harrier attack aircraft and Zubr class amphibious
assault hovercraft this feature alone promises to make this expansion pack
one of the most interesting new RTS offerings in 2006.
To support the naval combat feature, Eugen Systems have developed brand new
real-time physics technology to simulate waves and the heave of the ships,
ballistics code for ASROCs, Tomahawks, Harpoons and Typhoons and other
maritime weaponry, and normal mapping and deep parallax water surfaces for
the waves.
Instead of introducing a fourth faction, Eugen Systems have introduced a
different kind of feature which promises to mix things up considerably
during different phases of the game ? mercenary units. The concept is
simple: these are units for hire. Only one player at a time can hire each
mercenary unit, and to hire a mercenary team you need to pay a hefty
insurance policy. If the mercenaries are injured or even killed, you won't
get a full refund of your insurance deposit at the end of the contract.
The nine mercenary units range from close assault troops with Benelli
shotguns, to Roland SAM systems, SU-25 Froogfoot CAS aircraft, and even
F-117 stealth bombers that can be called into any part of the map.
For extra variation in the basic game each of the three factions also
receives 2-3 new units and as many new upgrades; in some cases they will
cover previous holes in the tech tree, in others just reinforce the
strength of each side or introduce a new use for existing units and
upgrades. Examples are Stinger infantry and Kiowa recon helicopters for the
U.S. Army, SCUD launchers and Hind AT-6 Spiral missiles for the Consortium,
and GUOS mine upgrades and experimental BLU-144 bombs for the Joint Strike
Fighters of the Task Force Talon.
Unconventional French developer Eugen System's third RTS game and their
biggest success to date, Act of War: Direct Action, was one of the big PC
surprise newcomers of 2005 with unanimous critical acclaim and reviews
consistently in the eighties and nineties in both U.S. and Europe.
Gamerankings.com rates the game second in the chart of best new RTS games
of 2005.
Act of War is an example of the emerging "Action RTS" subgenre light on
resource management, more focused on unit construction and troop movement,
and with the kind of amazing graphics and technology more usually seen in
shooters. It also featured live action cinematics to support a storyline
written in cooperation with New York Times bestselling techno-thriller
author Dale Brown.
The fast "pick-up-and-play" game mechanics made Act of War very popular in
the online multiplayer community, with over 10 million online games
completed in less than six months. There are many user-created maps
available to the community of at least as high quality as Eugen Systems's
own creations; a tell-tale sign of a healthy and thriving audience of fans.
Innovation was found in game pace, game mechanics details and visuals, the
possibility to play around with real weapons such as Abrams tanks, A-10
Thunderbolt close air support aircraft, Apache attack helicopters and U.S.
Marines ? in real-world locations such as Washington D.C. or San Francisco
under very authentic "rules of engagement", was something that appealed to
many fans of modern combat, techno-thrillers and RTS games.
Men Face Criminal Charge for Xbox Tampering
U.S. prosecutors have charged three men with copyright infringement for
selling modified Xbox consoles that enabled the original video game machine
from Microsoft Corp. to play pirated games.
The criminal complaint filed in federal court in Los Angeles on Monday
named ACME Game Store co-owners Jason Jones, 34, and Jonathan Bryant, 44,
as well as Pei "Patrick" Cai, 32.
The complaint alleges that Jones and Bryant sold Xbox systems that Cai
modified with chips and hard drives that allowed users to copy rented or
borrowed games onto the console for future play.
All three men are charged with one felony count of conspiracy to commit
copyright infringement and to violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
The charge of conspiracy carries a maximum possible penalty of five years
in federal prison.
Lawyers for the men, who will be summoned to appear in U.S. District Court
in Los Angeles in late January, could not be immediately reached for
comment.
Jones and Bryant demonstrated the modified Xbox game consoles in their
Melrose Avenue store. They charged from $225 to more than $500 for the
modifications, depending on the extent of the modifications and the number
of games preloaded onto the hard drive, according to a statement from
prosecutors and the complaint affidavit obtained by Reuters.
During the investigation, undercover agents with U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement paid $265 to have a modification chip, a hard drive and
77 pirated games installed on an Xbox, according to the criminal complaint.
Microsoft released the Xbox 360, the new version of its game console, on
November 22 in North America. The premium version of the system sells for
$400 and is sold-out at many retail outlets.
The original Xbox was released in late 2001 and now retails for around
$150. Games for the system cost up to $50 each.
Court Blocks California Video Game Sales Restriction
A federal judge has blocked a California law that would have made it
illegal to sell or rent violent video games to minors, saying he doubted
whether such sales could be banned even if the games were proved to cause
violent behavior among children.
The preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of the law was based on a
finding that the statute risked violating the right to free speech. The
decision comes amid a political and cultural war over the content of video
games, which last year accounted for $7.3 billion in U.S. sales and
rivaled Hollywood box office receipts.
A week ago, U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton spearheaded federal legislation aimed
at prohibiting the sale of violent or sexually explicit video games to
minors, saying the industry's self-rating system was being inadequately
enforced.
But in his ruling issued on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Ronald Whyte
sided with the video game industry, as have other federal and state judges.
The Video Software Dealers Association and the Entertainment Software
Association, acting on behalf of video game merchants and publishers, had
challenged the proposed California law, which would have imposed civil
penalties of up to $1,000 for each violation.
"For the sixth time in five years, Federal courts have now blocked or
struck down these state and local laws seeking to regulate the sale of
games to minors based on their content, and none have upheld such
statutes," said Douglas Lowenstein, president of the ESA, referring to
rulings in Illinois, Michigan and elsewhere.
Whyte, who sits on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of
California, said in his ruling that the ESA and the VSDA "have shown they
are likely to succeed on the merits of their claim that the Act violates
the First Amendment, or at least that serious questions are raised."
The ruling discussed several violent games, including "Postal II" in which
players have the opportunity to shoot, decapitate or urinate on characters
such as police officers or school girls.
Some researchers have claimed a link between violent video games and
violent behavior in youths. Previous court rulings on laws aimed at
restricting game sales have questioned whether such studies have
established true cause and effect.
But Whyte said: "It is uncertain that even if a causal link exists between
violent video games and violent behavior, the First Amendment allows a
state to restrict access to violent video games, even for those under
eighteen years of age."
California Assemblyman Leland Yee, a San Francisco Democrat and sponsor of
the legislation, called the preliminary injunction "a temporary pause" and
said backers of the new law would ultimately prevail.
Many video games that contain violent content carry ratings of "Mature 17+"
by the Entertainment Software Rating Board.
That rating agency and video game makers have been under fire since this
summer, when game publisher Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. pulled its
blockbuster title "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" from store shelves
following complaints over the discovery of sex scenes that could be
unlocked and viewed with a downloaded program.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Feds Assess 2-Year-Old Spam Law
Is the two-year-old U.S. antispam law known as the CAN-SPAM act working?
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will issue a report to Congress on this
topic this week, but those who make a living stopping spam believe that the
answer is an unequivocal "no."
The report, entitled "Effectiveness and Enforcement of the CAN-SPAM Act,"
is scheduled to be released at a press event in Washington Tuesday.
Officials from state and federal enforcement agencies, as well as the
Canadian Competition Bureau, will also announce "criminal law enforcement
initiatives targeting illegal spam operations," the FTC said in a
statement.
But the difficulty in catching spammers has made the Controlling the
Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act largely
ineffective, according to executives with spam-blocking companies.
"There isn't a lot of good news to report," said Andrew Lochart, senior
director of marketing with Postini. "The percentage of e-mail that's spam,
phishing, viruses, or a directory-harvesting attack continues to go up."
At present Postini processes about 500 million messages a day for its
customers. About 12 percent of them are flagged as legitimate e-mail,
Lochart said.
Jordan Ritter, chief technology officer with Cloudmark, agrees that the law
has been ineffective, but he doubts that the FTC report will say so.
"I would expect it not to say that [the law] has been a dismal failure,"
Ritter said.
Despite several high-profile enforcement actions, however, it has proved to
be too difficult to catch and punish most spammers, many of whom operate
outside of the U.S., Ritter said. "It's had to track these people down," he
said.
If there is any good news to report, it may be that CAN-SPAM is driving
some spammers out of the U.S. Security research firm Sophos recently found
that while more spam originates in the U.S. than any other country, the
percentage of worldwide spammers within U.S. borders is dropping. In the
first six months of 2005, U.S. computers were responsible for about 26
percent of the world's spam, down from 42 percent the previous year.
The CAN-SPAM Act was signed into law two years ago last week.
Microsoft Kills Mac Internet Explorer
Microsoft will stop supporting the Mac version of Internet Explorer at the
end of 2005. The move follows a decision in June 2003 to end code
development for the browser. At that time, Microsoft had predicted it would
end support within a few years of letting the product sit idle.
Although users still can download Internet Explorer for Mac from the
Microsoft site, the company has recommended that users move to other Web
browsers, such as Apple's Safari.
The decision to pull the plug on Mac Internet Explorer was surprising, said
Forrester Research analyst Nate Root, but not shocking.
Development for the browser had ceased at version 5, he pointed out,
putting Mac IE on a kind of technological life support.
To go forward, Microsoft had to make a decision on whether to end the
product altogether or invest in additional development.
"To get it up to the level of Safari would have required significant
investment and development efforts from Microsoft," said Root. "They would
have had to restart the whole development cycle to get it up to the level
of state-of-the-art."
The decision to end Mac IE rather than put more energy into the project
could be an acknowledgement, in part, about the preferences of Mac users,
Root noted.
"It's safe to say that most of the kind of folks who buy Macs wouldn't
relish running Internet Explorer on their machines," he noted. "So
Microsoft probably didn't think that it was worth it to try to win them
over."
Many Mac users prefer Safari, he said, because Apple has kept the browser
updated with new features, whereas Mac IE has languished.
But Microsoft's rejection of Mac IE still is somewhat eyebrow-raising, Root
believes. "Now that the browser wars have heated up again, with Firefox
being the obvious catalyst to challenge Microsoft, it's a little surprising
that Microsoft would choose to abandon the Mac platform rather than
reinvent on it," he said.
EBay Scraps Plans to Offer Live Pets
Internet auctioneer eBay Inc. has canceled plans to allow live pets to be
sold on its Web site after receiving thousands of angry letters from users.
The San Jose-based company has long banned the sale of live animals except
fish and snails, and officials said Monday they were scrapping plans to
create a separate classifieds category that would feature free ads from
animal shelters and paid ads from breeders.
Over the weekend, an eBay manager revealed in a posting to an online
message board that the company was considering lifting the ban, prompting
letters from more than 2,000 users, most of whom urged that the ban remain,
said company spokesman Hani Durzy.
Users were worried the listings would encourage puppy mills, where animals
are sometimes bred in unsanitary conditions, and that it would be difficult
to differentiate between legitimate animal shelters and unsavory sources.
"The feedback was pretty overwhelming," Durzy said. "Farms and for-profit
commercial breeders wasn't something that they wanted to see."
Booming sales of pet supplies - and the possibility that users may want a
pet listing service - had prompted the company to reconsider its ban on the
sale of live animals, Durzy said.
Microsoft Odd Man Out in AOL-Google Deal
America Online is preparing to seal a deal with Google Inc. that will
deepen their relationship while leaving Microsoft Corp. as the spurned
suitor.
The software titan's failure to woo AOL away from Google in favor of its
own search technology highlights the uphill battle Microsoft faces as it
tries to gain traction in the lucrative business of selling online ads.
Yet industry analysts say the lost bid also shows that Microsoft, its
fiercely competitive culture notwithstanding, wasn't willing to go to
unreasonable lengths to make a deal work.
"I think they've learned that you don't do a deal at any price just to do
a deal. You do a deal that makes sense for you," said analyst Michael
Gartenberg with Jupiter Research.
AOL parent Time Warner Inc. and Google were expected to announce this week
a broadening of their search and advertising partnership after a long
courtship in which Yahoo Inc. was also, for a time, a suitor.
In a five-year deal, Google would pay $1 billion for a 5 percent stake in
AOL, said one executive familiar with Time Warner's position. Google also
agreed to integrate AOL's video clips in its fledgling video service and
highlight AOL's properties among the search engine's keyword ads, also
known as sponsored links.
The executive said AOL also would get an undisclosed amount of credit to
buy such sponsored links on Google's network. And it would be permitted to
display graphics in the ads, a novelty for a Google ad partner.
Microsoft, by contrast, wasn't interested in a cash investment in AOL, say
officials familiar with both sides of the talks. The software maker had
tried to persuade AOL to set up a shared online advertising business in
which both companies held a stake, according to a person familiar with the
Microsoft camp. The officials spoke on condition they not be named because
the discussions were confidential.
That doesn't ease the sting to Microsoft, which was late to develop its own
search engine technology and recently launched its own platform for the
lucrative business of selling paid ads that often accompany search results.
A deal with AOL would have jumpstarted both efforts.
"It slows their progress. It doesn't eliminate their progress," said
Marianne Wolk, research analyst with Susquehanna Financial Group.
The deal also would have been a coup if only because it would have meant a
loss for Google.
White-hot in the eyes of investors, Google is showing early success in
profiting from the movement of computing from the desktop to the Web. That
could eventually pose a massive threat to Microsoft's core businesses.
"It clearly would've given them bragging rights and it would have done
Google a lot of damage," said analyst Rob Enderle, taking Google down a
peg.
On the other hand, Enderle said, the stakes were significantly higher for
Google to make a deal work.
AOL is Google's biggest customer, accounting for about $420 million, or
about 10 percent, of Google's revenue during the first nine months of this
year, according to regulatory filings. Losing the deal would have
represented a blow to both the company's revenue and its image as the
search market leader.
Also, while online search technology is at the center of Google's business,
Microsoft's MSN online unit represents just a portion of its business and
the company still makes the bulk of its money from its Windows and Office
franchises.
"For Microsoft it was kind of a nice to have," Enderle said. "For Google it
was a must have."
A deal with Microsoft would have been considerably riskier for AOL since
Google's online advertising business is more firmly established and
Microsoft is the relative newcomer.
"Given that there was a fairly successful relationship already established
between AOL and Google, the old maxim of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'
certainly would be coming into play," said David Garrity, director of
research for Investec's U.S. operations.
Still, Garrity thinks Microsoft inability to strike a deal shows that the
software giant, which recently announced a massive push into Web-based
software and services, still has work to do if it wants to compete
effectively with Google, Yahoo and others online.
As it moves to launch a new set of Internet-based offerings for things like
checking e-mail and doing business tasks, Microsoft is weathering criticism
that it is losing ground to younger, more nimble competitors.
The software gaint recently announced a reorganization that was aimed in
part at addressing such bureaucratic woes.
"I do think from a cultural standpoint that Microsoft is not yet quite
thinking in the way that they need to competitively," Garrity said.
EU Threatens Microsoft With Daily Fines
Europe's competition regulator threatened U.S. software giant Microsoft
with daily fines on Thursday for failing to comply with antitrust sanctions
a year after a top European Union court ruled it must obey.
The European Commission said it may fine Microsoft up to 2 million euros
($2.37 million) a day unless it complies with an order to provide key
information to allow rivals' group servers to work with its ubiquitous
Windows operating system.
"I have given Microsoft every opportunity to comply with its obligations.
However, I have been left with no alternative other than to proceed via the
formal route to ensure Microsoft's compliance," EU Competition Commissioner
Neelie Kroes said in a statement.
The Brussels EU executive said Microsoft had five weeks, until January 25,
to reply and show it was in compliance with the EU demands. Any fines would
be retroactive to December 15, it said.
Microsoft called the move unjustified and said it was doing its best to
obey the European antitrust watchdog's landmark March 2004 ruling, but that
Brussels kept piling on new demands.
The company vowed to contest the latest decision to the full extent allowed
by EU law including by demanding an oral hearing, which can take months to
organize, stringing out the procedure.
Alan Davis, a technology analyst with brokers McAdams Wright Ragen in New
York, said the threatened fine could come to about $600 million a year
after taxes and would cut his full-year earnings forecast of $1.33 by 5.5
cents a share or 4 percent.
"It would be significant, but not devastating," Davis told Reuters. But he
added that he expected Microsoft to act at the last minute to avoid having
to pay the fine.
"They've tended to do things at the 11th hour," he said. "It's a cat and
mouse game with Microsoft. I doubt that it will happen."
Officials at Oracle Corp., one of Microsoft's biggest competitors, declined
comment on the situation.
The Commission ruled in 2004 that Microsoft had abused its global dominance
by leveraging its near monopoly in the market for PC operating systems and
for media players to squelch rivals.
It imposed a record 497 million euro fine and forced Microsoft to sell a
version of Windows without the Windows Media Player software used to watch
films and listen to music, giving rivals a fairer chance to compete.
At stake now is a part of that decision requiring Microsoft "to disclose
complete and accurate interface documentation which would allow
non-Microsoft work group servers to achieve full interoperability with
Windows PCs and servers."
Microsoft said in a statement the Commission's latest demand "can open the
door to the production of clones of parts of the Windows operating system"
and went beyond the scope of the original EU decision.
"We have now responded to more than 100 requests from the Commission. We
continue working quickly to meet the Commission's new and changing demands.
Yet every time we make a change, we find that the Commission moves the goal
post and demands another change," said Microsoft General Counsel Brad
Smith.
The Commission said that in its view, supported by two reports from a
Monitoring Trustee appointed by mutual agreement, Microsoft had not yet
provided full specifications.
The Court of First Instance, the EU's second-highest court, rejected
Microsoft's appeal to suspend the measures last December and warned it
would face a daily fine if it did not comply with its obligation by
December 15, 2005.
The software giant's appeal against the substance of the EU antitrust case
is still pending and the Court of First Instance hopes to hold a hearing by
early spring.
EU Competition spokesman Jonathan Todd said Microsoft would also have a
right to appeal any fines to the EU courts.
It was the first time the EU executive had made use of new powers enacted
last year to impose daily penalties for noncompliance in antitrust cases,
he told a news conference.
The Commission said that Microsoft had indeed revised the interoperability
information it was obliged to disclose, but the data was incomplete and
inaccurate.
The Monitoring Trustee had found that "any programmer or programming team
seeking to use the Technical Documentation for a real development exercise
would be wholly and completely unable to proceed on the basis of the
documentation."
"Overall, the process of using the documentation is an absolutely
frustrating, time-consuming and ultimately fruitless task," the Commission
quoted the trustee, British Professor Neil Barrett, as saying.
Todd said the company could ask for an extension of the deadline as well as
an oral hearing, which would be open to member states and all interested
parties.
Asked whether an oral hearing would delay the imposition of fines, Todd
told reporters: "The deadline is five weeks... If they don't comply,
they'll have to pay the fine every day."
He said other issues remained open in its appraisal of the Microsoft case,
including the royalties charged by Microsoft for interoperability
information.
Latest Tax Tool: 'Internet Shaming'
Tax scofflaws, beware. State governments are combining new technology with
old-fashioned shame to goad delinquent taxpayers to pay up.
At least 18 states have launched websites to post the names of people and
businesses that owe back taxes. Maryland calls its website "Caught in the
Web." In South Carolina, it's "Debtor's Corner." Wisconsin on Jan. 3 will
launch "website of Shame."
Advocates of so-called Internet shaming say it's an inexpensive way to
capture millions of dollars at a time when many states have tight budgets
and seek politically viable ways to find more revenue.
"Raising taxes is a very radioactive strategy," says Sujit CanagaRetna, a
fiscal analyst with the Council of State Governments, a non-partisan group
that provides policy information to states. "This is another way to bring
in more (of) what is owed to the state in an innovative way that has proven
to be fairly successful. It's gathering more popularity across the
country."
Georgia's online delinquent tax list has collected at least $19.6 million
since it went up in February 2004. Colorado's website has raked in $11
million. Kansas went online in March.
"NOTICE OF PENDING INTERNET POSTING," began the letter the Wisconsin
Department of Revenue recently sent to more than 7,000 people and
businesses who owe the state at least $25,000 each in sales, income,
corporate or other taxes. Wisconsin is owed $771 million in back taxes,
about 7% of the $11.5 billion it collected last year. The state isn't
expecting the website to recoup all of it. Its goal: $1.5 million a year.
The threat of online exposure is working. At least 88 Wisconsin residents
and 21 businesses have agreed to settle debts totaling $7.9 million. "The
real success of the program is before the postings are made," says
Geraldine Conrad, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Revenue.
"People are motivated to pay."
Some tax specialists worry about the Internet shaming trend. "How are
people going to be compensated when, inevitably, mistakes are made?" says
Pete Sepp, spokesman for the National Taxpayers Union, a non-partisan
watchdog group.
Santa Worm Hits Messaging Networks
With the holidays upon us, the name of Santa Claus is being used for evil
rather than good by worm developers, who have targeted major
instant-messaging systems with a holiday-themed virus.
The IM.GiftCom.All worm has made an appearance on several messaging
networks, including America Online, Microsoft MSN, and Yahoo.
The worm attempts to dupe you into believing that a friend has sent you a
link to a harmless file. If you click on the file, you see an image of
Santa. While viewing it, the worm attempts to install a rootkit on your
system.
Rootkits are frequently used to circumvent security software and give an
attacker remote control of a machine. Once the attacker is inside your
system, the worm harvests your instant-message contact lists for subsequent
infections.
The new worm is not surprising to many security researchers because
holiday-themed threats often occur just as people are swapping online cards
and forwarding holiday messages to each other.
The fact that the threat appears in instant-messaging systems also does not
come as a shock, considering the phenomenal growth rate in the number of
innovative new worms and viruses over the past year.
Since the start of 2005, messaging-related security threats have been
growing each month, according to messaging-security firm IMLogic.
"The difficulty is that worm developers are using tactics that have been
successful in e-mail campaigns," said IMLogic chief technology officer Jon
Sakoda. "They're able to mutate earlier worms and try different strategies,
and that's giving them a level of sophistication."
Another problem is that users still are not fully aware that worms and
viruses can move through messaging systems, Sakoda added.
In corporate environments, threats like the recent Santa Claus worm can be
especially nasty because some employees use instant-messaging applications
on the sly, without the knowledge of the I.T. staff.
"CIOs should definitely know what's on their network, and what users are
doing," said Sakoda. "If they think employees aren't using instant
messaging just because it's not allowed, then they better think again."
Icahn Seeks to Derail Google As Partner of AOL
Dissident shareholder Carl Icahn on Monday labeled as "disastrous" a new
deal set to be unveiled this week between Time Warner Inc.'s America Online
unit and Web search leader Google Inc., as the billionaire investor argued
that AOL could do better.
Icahn said in a letter to Time Warner's board of directors that the company
appeared to be on the verge of a "disastrous decision" following reports it
is in talks to sell a 5 percent stake of its AOL Internet unit to Google
Inc.
Icahn, whose group has a 3.1 percent stake in Time Warner, said he feared
a Google pact may preclude a merger or other deals with the likes of eBay
Inc., Yahoo Inc., IAC/InterActiveCorp, or Microsoft Corp.
"Like all shareholders, I am not opposed to Time Warner entering into an
AOL transaction that creates long-term value," Icahn wrote. "However, I am
deeply concerned that the Time Warner board may be on the verge of making
a disastrous decision concerning an agreement with Google," he said.
In the past several months, Icahn has blasted Time Warner's every move as
falling short of realizing the company's full value. He has hired
investment bank Lazard Ltd to wage a campaign to replace a majority of Time
Warner's directors.
A Time Warner spokesman declined to comment. "There's nothing new here, and
given that, we're not going to comment," spokeswoman Kathy McKiernan said.
A Google spokesman was not immediately available to comment.
Shares of Google, which traded to record intra-day high level of $446.21,
up 3.7 percent on the day, turned tail and fell back on news of Icahn's
opposition to the potential new search and advertising deal between AOL and
Google.
Icahn, who has said he is waging an "all-out proxy battle" to force Time
Warner to step up asset sales and streamline, cited a recent report by
Goldman Sachs that argued that Google may not be the best long-term partner
for America Online.
Wall Street analysts debated whether the $1 billion, which sources said
Google was prepared to pay AOL for a 5 percent stake, was a meaningful
calculation of the implied overall value of AOL - $20 billion - if it were
spun-off.
Some analysts groused that the investment could simply be an expedient way
for Google to keep AOL as a key customer and thwart rival Microsoft from
gaining a foothold in advertising. Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney
calculated that AOL's business declined to just 1.9 percent of Google's net
revenue recently.
Another financial analyst, who declined to be named, said Google may view
the $1 billion stake as a small down payment to avert the loss of AOL as
its biggest single customer and thereby defend its lofty $125 billion
market capitalization.
France Lawmakers Endorse File-Sharing
A French government crackdown on digital piracy backfired Thursday as
lawmakers rebelled by endorsing amendments to legalize the online sharing
of music and movies instead of punishing it.
The vote by members of France's lower house dealt a setback to Culture
Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, who introduced the draft legislation.
Showbiz and cultural celebrities protested the latest move, an indication
that the amendments' supporters may eventually have to back down.
Under the original proposals, those caught pirating copy-protected material
would have faced $360,000 in fines and up to three years in jail.
An 11th-hour government offer to give illegal downloaders two warnings
prior to prosecution was not enough to stem the rebellion. Instead, the
amendments voted would legalize file-sharing by anyone paying a monthly
royalties duty estimated at $8.50.
Music labels and movie distributors have suggested the amendments would
break international laws on intellectual property, and French actors and
musicians lined up to condemn the surprise vote.
"To legalize the downloading of our music, almost free of charge, is to
kill our work," venerable rocker Johnny Hallyday said in a statement.
The actors' and musicians' branch of France's largest trade union, the
CFDT, said the plan "would mean the death of our country's music and
audiovisual industries."
The proposed royalties duty amounts to a "Sovietization" of the arts, said
Bernard Miyet, president of the French music composers' and publishers'
organization SACEM.
"You're talking about an administered price, set by a commission without
regard to the music and film economy," Miyet said.
But UFC-Que Choisir, France's largest consumer group, said the plan would
create a "new area of freedom allowing Internet users access to cultural
diversity and fair payment for creators."
Days before the parliamentary debate, consumer activists delivered a
110,000-signature petition to the culture ministry criticizing the draft
bill. The right of consumers to make copies of their music and videos for
private use is enshrined in European law, and media companies have faced
legal action in France for selling copy-protected CDs and DVDs.
The ruling conservatives' parliamentary leader, Bernard Accoyer, rejected
government demands for a fresh vote Thursday, saying lawmakers will first
take time to listen to all sides, "in particular the artists and creators."
The final lower-house vote is not expected until after Jan. 17, when
deputies return from their winter break. The bill requires only one further
vote in the Senate to become law, under the emergency procedure invoked by
the government to comply with a 2001 European Union directive on digital
piracy.
Santa Goes High Tech on the Internet
Santa Claus is going high-tech as more children and parents are able to
reach the jolly old elf online.
"We can use this technology to our advantage and provide a much more
believable experience for our kids," said Anne Gaskell, co-owner of
SantaSpeaking.com.
The Sioux City-based Web site, launched last year, features an online form
where parents, friends and relatives can request personalized letters and
phone calls, which last three minutes or more depending on how many
children are whispering - or shouting - their Christmas wishes in Santa's
ear.
Gaskell said the company has made about 1,000 calls this season, with many
more requests rolling in just days before Christmas.
The live calls range in cost from $15 to $39.95 - add $5 if the call if
made after Dec. 15. SantaSpeaking.com also offers a selection of MP3 and CD
recordings of the holiday conversations, in which Santa lets little
children know that he's aware if they have been naughty or nice.
"When you go to the mall, Santa's not able to know all of those details,"
Gaskell said. "Parents are just overjoyed with the reaction their kids are
getting - that Santa knows they've been stealing cookies from the cookie
jar or fighting with their brother or sister.
"It just blows them away," she said.
Gaskell, the mother of three children under age 5, said she started the Web
site because "I wanted something a little bit better for my children."
A series of four prerecorded telephone calls update the tiny tots on
Santa's travels on Christmas Eve. Kids also can log on at noon on Dec. 24
to watch Santa's departure from the North Pole through a CG animation
video - the type of technology used in the holiday hit "The Polar Express."
And if that's not enough to update kids on the comings and goings of Mr.
Claus, he's even taken up blogging at the site.
High-tech services from Santa are available on Web sites popping up around
the nation and world. Other sites feature names such as santasayshello.com,
livesantacalls.com, santacalledme.com, santaphonecalls.com and
chatwithsanta.com.
At SantaSpeaking.com, parents also can order personalized letters that
include the child's name, age and activities. Those cost $14.95 and arrive
in a plastic tube filled with festive "magic dust" to be sprinkled outside
the home to "help attract the reindeer."
A sample letter, addressed to young Lydia, reads:
"I know that you have been doing so well in preschool, picking up your toys
and learning to ride your bike. Don't worry about accidentally cutting your
sister's hair, we know that it's impossible to be good all the time."
The cheery and colorful Web site, which features a live reindeer cam and
children's games, was developed by a Rhode Island company, and the graphics
come from a designer in Ohio. The Santas make their calls from Omaha, Neb.,
contracted through a call center.
According to a press release issued by Gaskell earlier this month,
About.com and Google Zeitgeist report that the word "Santa" has been the
6th most popular search in December.
By comparison, a separate survey found the number of Santa visits to
shopping malls has dropped about 40 percent between 2001 and 2003, Gaskell
said.
"To skeptics, the thought of going online to find Santa can sound high-tech
and impersonal," Brandon Lobaugh, Gaskell's business partner, said in a
statement. "But the live phone call from Santa in reality is more
believable and more in keeping with the Santa Claus legend because they are
highly personalized by the parents ... Santa knows all."
On the Net:
SantaSpeaking.com: http://www.santaspeaking.com/Index.aspx
Web Sites Let Users Send E-Mail to Future
In the year 2009, on the 25th of April, a man named Greg is supposed to get
an e-mail. The e-mail will remind Greg that he is his best friend and worst
enemy, that he once dated a woman named Michelle, and that he planned to
major in computer science.
"More importantly," the e-mail says, "are you wearing women's clothing?"
The e-mail was sent by none other than Greg himself - through a Web site
called FutureMe.org.
The site is one of a handful that let people send e-mails to themselves and
others years in the future. They are technology's answer to time capsules,
trading on people's sense of curiosity, accountability and nostalgia.
"Messages into the future is something that people have always sought to
do," said Paul Saffo, director of the Institute for the Future. "In a way,
it's a statement of optimism."
Matt Sly, 29, came up with the concept for FutureMe.org about four years
ago. He was inspired one day after recalling how during his education he
had been given assignments to write letters to himself.
Sly, who partnered with 31-year-old Jay Patrikios of San Francisco on the
project, said the site has made maybe $58 through donations. He is adamant
that FutureMe.org is not a reminder service and that users should think
long-term.
The site lets people send messages 30 years from now, though Sly's numbers
show most users schedule their e-mails to be sent within three years.
"We want people to think about their future and what their goals and dreams
and hopes and fears are," he said. "We're trying to facilitate some serious
existential pondering."
He said a large number of the messages sent do one of two basic things:
tell the future person what the past person was doing at the time, and ask
the future person if he or she had met the aspirations of the past person.
"The tone of the past person is not always friendly," said Sly, now a Yale
University graduate student. "It's often like 'Get
off your lazy butt.'"
Recently, Forbes.com jumped on the idea, offering an "e-mail time capsule"
promotion. More than 140,000 letters were collected over about six weeks.
Nearly 20 percent of the messages sent are supposed to land in the sender's
inbox in 20 years; others requested shorter time frames. Forbes.com is
partnering with Yahoo! and Codefix Consulting on the project.
"A lot of people have kind of been freaked out by it," said David Ewalt, a
Forbes.com writer who worked on the project. "It really makes you stop and
think about your life in a way that you usually don't."
Another type of future message service can be found at sites such as
myLastEmail.com or LastWishes.com, which promise to send messages to loved
ones (or less-than-loved ones) after you die.
Paul Hudson, co-founder of the International Time Capsule Society, said
e-mail time capsules were new to him.
"Part of the value of time capsules are that they are thought processes in
the present," said Hudson, a historian who teaches at Georgia Perimeter
College. "You define yourself when you do a time capsule. It might be a
good exercise in introspection."
But sometimes the past is best left behind, said Saffo, who personally
finds the whole thing "sad and really weird."
"The lesson about all these things, it's the lesson from time capsules, is
you have to be careful lest you set yourself up for enormous embarrassment
in two decades," Saffo said. "Do you really want to be reminded that you
thought ABBA was cool?"
Service providers try to make the delivery process fail-safe through
partnerships or back up software, and they urge people to hang on to their
e-mail address, but there's no ironclad guarantee that the message will
ever arrive.
Technology changes. Companies go out of business. Spam filters might get in
the way.
Still, that hasn't deterred a sizable number of people from signing up.
On FutureMe.org, where more than 112,000 messages have been written, many
writers are confident enough to make their e-mails - though not necessarily
their names - public.
"I hope that I've learned to take responsibility for my actions - to not be
passive aggressive and to not avoid things that are scary for me," one
wrote. "I hope I've changed a little."
"Are you missing an eye? If so, I apologize." wrote another.
And, of course, the cautious optimist: "Hell, I hope you're still alive."
___
On the Net:
http://www.FutureMe.org
=~=~=~=
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