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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 08 Issue 01
Volume 8, Issue 1 Atari Online News, Etc. January 6, 2006
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2006
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:
Kevin Savetz
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=~=~=~=
A-ONE #0801 01/06/06
~ Sober Worm Ready To Go ~ People Are Talking! ~ New mxPlay Released!
~ $11 Billion Spam Fine! ~ Online Shopping High! ~ Opera To Expand!
~ Web Outages Outrage! ~ Macworld Expo Growing! ~ STYMulator Released!
~ Microsoft Prepares Fix ~ Schools: Money Upfront ~ Dell Gaming PC?!
-* White House Site Counts Visit *-
-* File Sharing Web Sites Going Legit! *-
-* File-Sharing Barons Face Day of Reckoning! *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Happy New Year 2006! Here we are at the beginning of a new year.
Hopefully, we all will have a healthy and prosperous one. We had a quiet
New Year's celebration. My wife played some video games on her PS2, and I
had a few drinks, listened to some music, and watched some of the Three
Stooges marathon. Naturally, I watched the ball drop in Times Square, and
then back to the tunes! Very quiet, as usual. So, let's start the new year
off - regardless of this cold and snowy start - with a quick start. We're
enjoying the beginning of our eighth year publishing A-ONE. I still can't
believe that we're still here, putting out our magazine week after week. It
may be partly due to our enjoyment and dedication, but mostly it's because
of all of you welcoming us into your homes every week. For that, we thank
you!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
mxPlay 1.0.0 Released
Miro Kropacek has announced:
I wish you merry (post-)christmas time. We've got great news for you,
there's new audio media player! It's not just some simple replay routine
but full-featured player comparable to famous XMMS or Winamp. And for
your Atari!
Main features:
- modern user interface
- fully skinable GUI
- compatible from the simple TOS to the latest XaAES
- best d&d / va-start / long name support you've ever seen
- memory protection friendly
- multitasking support, windowed dialogs
- universal plugin API which allows you to take any kind of replay
routine and to adapt it to mxPlay
- it's free!
- open development, anyone can contribute / bugfix
- recursive directory/file adding with auto-detection for supported
formats
- and a lot of more ...
You can download it from sourceforge.net area (follow link below) or
take a look at http://atari.sk. Some "normal" home page is on the way,
we're really busy so be patient... after this step will atari.org
registration follow. Just for your information, the homepage will be at
mxplay.sourceforge.net and mxplay.atari.org, respectively.
Once again, all the best and we're looking for your comments!
Greetings,
Miro Kropacek, mxPlay maintainer
URL: http://sourceforge.net/projects/mxplay
STYMulator v0.1
gRzEnIu has announced:
Grzegorz Tomasz Stanczyk aka gRzEnIu has released a STYMulator.
STYMulator is a new chip music player for GNU/Linux. It's based on
ST-Sound GPL Library so supports YM music format dumped from ATARI
16-bit machines.
URL: http://atariarea.krap.pl/stymulator/
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
joe@atarinews.org
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. Well, we're into the new year now, and I
can't help but wonder what the next twelve months will bring. It seems
that it's big ideas that change everything that come out of nowhere and
smack us right between the eyes when we least expect it.
This is more than a 12 month span, but who could have predicted
affordable mobile phones that take pictures and surf the 'net? How about
multi-gigabyte solid-state hard drives that fit on a keychain? Global
positioning devices? Satellite radio, digital video recorders?
I remember my computer science professor saying that computers would
never be able to reproduce natural-sounding music because of the nature
of the waveform of digital sound. It's a square wave, as opposed to
natural, analog sound waves, which follow a nice, curving form.
Now, to be fair, back then (in 1980), the state of the art in personal
computer technology was the Apple ][.
I wonder what good ol' Professor Manross thinks of the iPod and MP3
files! <grin>
Well, let's get to the news. hints, tips and info available from the
UseNet.
From the comp.sys.atari.st NewsGroup
====================================
Phantom asks about software compatibility for the CT60/63:
"I have been pondering over to get a CT63 or not.
I have 2 CT2B Falcons that work great and have no hardware/software
compatibility problems with the stuff I use.
I also have several Falcons that are fairly stock including a SONO VISTA
that I just acquired.
The speed of the CT2B is fast enough for what I do. And is very
Compatible.
Although Rendering Images and 3D stuff would go faster with a
CT63 if the software is compatible.
My questions goes to the owners of a working CT60/CT63.
I'd like to know how much software is compatible.
Generally, I use most of the major Graphics/Animation software,
D2D Recording software, DTP, and Net Software, SCAN X for
Color Flatbed Scanners and the ColorBurst HandScanner.
Cubase Audio Falcon, Emagics LOGIC Atari with UNITOR II and
LOG 3.
Apex Media, True Image/Paint, Rainbow Multimedia 2, all the Lexicor
Software, such as Chronos 3D, Phoenix 2.0, and etc. Also VideoMaster
Falcon cartridge and software. Positive Image, are some that I use
most and need to know if these work. Also VIDI ST 12 and software.
Especially Apex Media, and VideoMaster Falcon software and Cartridge.
CUBASE Audio Falcon v.2.06 and EMAGICS Logic Atari with the cartridges
for SMPTE and extra MIDI support.
I am also interested to know if the extra memory can be used to record
Music and Sound to, with programs such as SAM, Cubase and others.
I'd like to hear from owners of a CT60/63 and the software that they use
without problems in accelerated mode.
Also any software that doesn't work or has some problems running in
accelerated mode.
This will help me decide if a CT63 is right for me."
'Mike' tells Phantom:
"As far as I know,with a CT 60 the fast Ram won't necessarily help with
digital audio recording. Most of the audio programs are set up for ST
Ram. I would say the exception is if you set up your fastram as a Ram
disk, then I know that Zero X will record to the Ram disk as if it was
an actual hard drive.Cubase audio won't do this its very restrictive as
to the kind of HD it records to. I.E. Scsi! I don't know if other audio
programs would do this. The problem is finding a Ram disk program that
will take advantage of the "massive" amounts of memory available with a
CT60.
The one program that is amazingly fast and really speeds up disk
operations is True Disk which was a freeware program. It has been
updated to take advantage of extra memory but that version is
unavailable from the author. Too bad as I have 500 megs of memory!
I would venture to say that its probably not worth it to convert the
CT2B Falcons to stock and then to CT60. How many Falcons do you have
anyway???
I think most of the programs you have would be compatible with CT60 and
you would probably notice a big speed increase. You would have to be
careful as the bus speed is increased with a CT2b but the same bus
increase requires some extra installation work with a CT60. This bus
acceleration with a CT60 may cause some problems with Digital audio.
And then there is the screen res. Without the videl acceleration you
may not get the same screen res you can get with a CTB2. On the other
hand, there are 2 models of video cards in the pipeline. check out
Czuba's website for a list of compatible programs.Also the Dead Hackers
site has an extensive bulletin board for CT60 users. I know Emagic
Logic (midi) works and its very fast. If I had a couple of stock
Falcons lying around I would definitely go for a CT63, especially if it
includes the clock module and a Rev 6 060, some of the bugs are worked
out and the firmware is all up to date. That's my 2 cents."
Rodolphe Czuba adds:
"Yes, sure, CT63 includes the CTCM and the 060 Rev.6 at 95 MHz minimum.
But only 9 cards still available (not reserved).
The boards are actually assembled in the factory...
I do not think I will produce a new run after...
Maybe the last chance to get one..
This afternoon a french guys came to see me at my house with a falcon mb
to repair and he had already (8 months ago !) reserved one CT63.
He paid me cash for 2 others CT63 because he has 4 falcon at home !
About software, I can say that the CT60/63 is at least equal to or maybe
more compatible than CT2, because of some bad design on CT2 (like TT-RAM
not at the $01000000 address (need to use the PMMU and it is not
'transparent' with some programs) and the DSP IRQ that is not
connected...)
There is a list of tested software and games on my web site !
About TT-RAM (SDRAM), Cubase use it a bit !! In fact You cannot flag Prog
RAM in the FILE INFO CPX because it will not run correctly (no crash)
because the AUDIO SDMA BUFFER is chained to the CODE of the software--->
if you let the cubase audio to load into SDRAM, the buffer is into SDRAM
and SDMA chip is not able (like blitter) to reach the SDRAM to rtransfer
audio or read audio...the result is that cubase audio run VERY FAST, but
you hear nothing on the AUDIO circuit !
BUT you can flag the other part of TT-RAM : the DATA MEMORY...and Cubase
uses it ...and you run really faster on some operations.
Note that this flag configuration was/is the same possible with CT2..."
Phantom now asks about recording to SCSI tape drives:
"Got a question about using SCSI Tape Drives on a fairly Stock
Falcon to do Direct to Tape recording.
Using HD Driver, will this work with most SCSI Tape Drives?
I have a HP Tape Drive, that has been used for storage on an
Atari.
Would it be reliable to record Music to it? Thoughts?"
Dr. Uwe Seimet tells Phantom:
"It should work, but you need a SCSI tape (DAT?) driver. HDDRIVER
provides the SCSI driver, but just like with CD-ROM drives you need a
device-specific driver to make use of this interface."
Phantom replies to Uwe:
"I was told that it was used on a Atari system before.
Anyway, Does ExtenDos support SCSI Tape Drives?
I use it for CDROM/CDR drives. Never checked on Tape support.
I know that Syquest Drives and the like suppose to work.
I Remember someone posting about using Tape Drives on
the Falcon before.
If anyone is using a SCSI Tape Drive on a Falcon or other
Atari, Post what software you are using and the type of drive.
I think it will work. But I am not sure if the writing speed to
Tape would be Fast enough to do Direct to Tape Recording.
It would help if someone knows how fast a SCSI Device must be
to keep up with Direct to SCSI Device Recording.
Copying files over to tape wouldn't be a problem.
However, when Recording a Live Song or Track I'm not sure
if a Tape System would be as fast as a Hard Drive when
writing. A Buffer may help if it doesn't cause any loss of
sound quality.
I know the Falcons SCSI system isn't a speed Demon compared
to the latest Computers.
What I have is a HP SCSI Tape Drive. It's a 3.5 Drive IIRC.
It uses very small Tapes. Around the size of a small Match Box.
The Tapes are still being made AFAIK and I have a lot of them
already. If I can't use it to do Direct to Tape recording, then
I'd at least like to use it to store completed Song Tracks.
Or for software backups and etc. Info anyone?"
Uwe tells Phantom:
"But not without a device-specific driver. Fact is that for each SCSI
device you need a specific driver in order to access it. You cannot
access a tape drive with a CD-ROM driver or a hard disk driver, *unless*
this device reports itself as a CD-ROM or hard disk device and
implements the same SCSI commands as these devices. But SCSI tape
devices do not do that because they are SCSI devices of their own, with
a special command set. This is why you need special drivers also under
Linux, for instance.
GEMAR by Steffen Engel ia a driver for SCSI tapes for the Atari. I think
it is shareware, you may find it on some ftp servers.
Note that a tape drive may rewind the tape while recording, which is bad
for direct audio recording."
Steve Adam adds his experiences:
"I wrote my own backup/restore software to access
a QIC-150 SCSI tape drive. It works quite well, though
it's perhaps a little under-documented. If you have the
capability of compiling the source without asking me *too*
many questions, then you're welcome to the source."
Paul Williamson asks about running Cubase on a CT60:
"Does anyone know if Cubase (midi not audio) runs on a CT60 Falcon ?"
'Dylan' tells Paul:
"I have a legit version of Cubase 3 (midi) and I will test it on my CT60
in the next few days. CAF works great at 90mhz!"
Rodolphe Czuba adds:
"Sure it runs !
I have at least 30 people who bought CT60 FOR CUBASE AUDIO !! So, if
there would be a problem they would have told it to me, no ???"
Paul replies to Rodolphe:
"I am sure they would - but I am not talking about Cubase AUDIO.
Cubase AUDIO is NOT the same prg as Cubase MIDI. (Although Cubase Audio
has MIDI functions within it.)
Cubase MIDI is also known not to be "cleanly" programmed, and has some
known problems. For instance, when it runs on my Hades, it prevents
access to the SCSI port. It also has a problem if there is too much
ST ram available.
So, whilst I know Cubase AUDIO runs fine, I was looking for confirmation
that Cubase MIDI also runs well. (I have been told that now.)"
Djuro Pucaric tells Paul simply:
"It does..."
Dennis Bishop asks about a clock battery for his TT:
"Took out the long dead battery today and no, radio shack doesn't have
anything the same voltage. Closest battery is a 3.0 one. I was wondering
if a pack of 2 or 4 AA or AAA batteries would work?"
Rory McMahon tells Dennis:
"You could check a local Fry's electronics and pay about $16 US for
these or....
Here is a link that I ordered some batteries from a while back.
http://sescodatasystems.com/product_372_detailed.html
Be advised, thanks to homeland security, all batteries must go ground.
Be prepared to wait up to a week for delivery.
I've also used 3 or 4 AA batteries with good results. I usually put 3
in series or if i have 4 put one in parallel with one of the 3. If you
use rechargables, they will get you pretty close to 3.6 volts.
Even for those whose battery has not expired, you should replace them
at least every couple years. I've had one explode in my TT and it make
one H3LL of a mess. Luckily I was able to clean it up and the TT still
works like a champ. The only damage was to the back metal plate which
I neutralized the battery acid and wire brushed the metal. If
possible, mount the battery outside the computer.
You will know when and if your battery explodes... It has an awful
nasty smell like something is burning..."
Jim DeClercq adds:
"If anyone cares, all TT use the same timekeeping chip, and several
different OEM batteries.
The last time I looked up that chip, any voltage greater than 3 volts,
and less than 5.00 volts will work. The top limit is a function of the
circuit they are in. Over 5.125 volts may cause fatal damage.
So there are several different ways to power that chip. For mine, the
batteries come from DigiKey, and arrive in three or four days."
Well folks, that's it for this week. Tune in again next week, same time
same station, and be ready to listen to what they are saying when...
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - Dell Readies Gaming PC?!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Dell Readies Renegade Gaming PC
Attempting to steal some thunder from Microsoft's Xbox 360 gaming console,
Dell Chairman Michael Dell launched a new, graphics-intensive PC built
especially for computer gaming at the International Consumer Electronics
Show here.
In a keynote address at the show, Dell introduced the XPS 600 Renegade, a
colorfully airbrushed box containing four graphics processing units (GPUs)
and other advanced technology to maximize PC gamers' experience to an
"extreme" degree, Dell said.
The XPS 600 Renegade can provide "three times the resolution of the Xbox
high-definition games," he said. The hardware surface of the new PC also
has been airbrushed with a lavish design by artist Michael Lavallee, Dell
said.
The XPS 600 Renegade is a new version of the current XPS 600, which already
is one of the leading PCs for gamers on the market, according to Dell.
Dell said that 40 percent of PC users are gamers, and providing the best
possible experience possible is important in competing for gamers'
attention against popular gaming consoles such as the Xbox. He said the PC
is becoming the "center of the home entertainment experience."
The XPS 600 Renegade will be available during spring in the U.S., which is
generally considered March to June.
Also during the keynote, Dell introduced a new monitor, the Dell UltraSharp
30-inch Monitor. Additionally, Alex Gruzen, senior vice president of Dell's
product group, appeared on stage to show off a new concept notebook the
company is considering for production. The notebook has a 20-inch screen
and an integrated handle for easy carrying.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
File-Sharing Barons Face Day of Reckoning
Weeks before the original Napster shut down for good in 2001, Internet
users were flocking to alternative song-swapping programs. Nearly 20
million people used Morpheus in its first four months, for example, to
trade music and other files for free online. But the man behind Morpheus
was worried. Michael Weiss figured popularity could bring its own perils.
As he feared, the notoriety led Hollywood studios and recording companies
to sue Weiss' StreamCast Inc. for copyright infringement. It was part of
the entertainment industry's wider effort to contain Morpheus and other
Napster clones such as Kazaa and Grokster from taking up where Napster left
off.
Now, like Napster founder Shawn Fanning before them, Weiss and other
file-sharing barons are facing their own day of reckoning after a landmark
U.S. Supreme Court decision last summer.
Over the last four months, several Napster heirs have shut down and others
are contemplating what they once couldn't abide - doing business by the
entertainment industry's rules to survive.
"We can take a look at another four years of legal battles and spending
millions of dollars on both sides, (but) is that where I want to spend the
next four years of my life?" said Weiss, 53. "It's better to focus the
company's energy on creating new technologies."
StreamCast hasn't shut down Morpheus, but the company recently approached
the entertainment industry to pursue talks about settling a lawsuit against
the company, according to court documents.
Wayne Rosso, who built a reputation criticizing the recording industry as
head of Grokster Ltd., is also pursuing a decidedly more cordial
relationship with music labels as he prepares to launch a
copyright-friendly file-sharing service.
"It's pretty clear who won," Rosso said. "We always knew that this free
trading of all this copyright material couldn't go on. It just wouldn't
work."
Such capitulation was once unheard of among the file-sharing operators who
lobbied against Hollywood and the recording industry. They billed
themselves as defenders of technological innovation who shouldn't be held
liable because some people used their software for piracy.
But the high court's ruling in June opened file-sharing operators to
potential liability - something the entertainment industry underscored when
it sent notices to seven file-sharing software operators in September
warning them to shut down or prepare for court.
Companies behind once-popular file-swapping programs like i2hub and WinMX
shut down after receiving the notice. LimeWire, BearShare and others also
put on notice have yet to make their decisions public.
Separately, an Australian court ordered Sharman Networks Ltd., which
distributes Kazaa, to ensure that new versions of the software filter out
unlicensed copyright material.
Still, the amount of file-sharing has continued to increase since the days
of Napster, and that's not likely to change much, said Eric Garland, chief
executive of BigChampagne LLC, which tracks activity on file-sharing
networks.
"These Web sites and these businesses were shut down but it doesn't shut
down the software, it doesn't shut down the (file-sharing) networks,"
Garland said. "The open-source community will continue to build new,
uncensored versions."
Mitch Bainwol, head of the music industry trade group Recording Industry
Association of America, concedes some file-sharers will find other means of
obtaining pirated music online.
"There will always be new technological challenges," Bainwol said.
But he noted a sea change since Napster fell: Propelled by the success of
Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes Music Store, young music fans now have more
legal options for obtaining music in digital form than they did back in
2001.
Ultimately, the entertainment companies are banking that the new-look
file-swapping services that emerge from the ashes of Napster's heirs will
draw computer users away from illegal services. To persevere, file-sharing
providers that seek to steer clear of copyright lawsuits will have to hope
for the same.
"I don't think anybody wants to see a replay of what happened to the
entertainment industry when Napster shut down," Weiss said. "The company or
companies that find the most effective method for transforming downloaders
into consumers will be the biggest winners in 2006."
So far, iMesh has been the only to complete the transition from being sued
by the recording industry to relaunching as a new service with the music
labels' seal of approval. But others are hoping to follow.
Rosso's new industry-blessed file-sharing venture, Mashboxx, has been in
the works for more than a year and is now expected to launch in early 2006.
Grokster settled its long-running copyright lawsuit for $50 million and is
slated to re-emerge as a licensed service, while executives at MetaMachine
Inc.'s eDonkey have also opted to transform.
"We're going to go legit," said chief executive Sam Yagan. "The eDonkey of
the future will be very much different from what it has been and will be
largely dictated by what the recording industry wants."
Rosso, Weiss and other file-sharing proponents insist that over the years,
they have sought the recording industry's blessing in one form or another.
But such offers were often rejected by major labels that saw the unfettered
sharing of their artists' songs as unacceptable.
"We were always in the background trying to get licenses and in those days
we would get one of two responses - either, `We're not going to reward
pirates,' or `Shut down and we'll talk about it,'" Rosso said.
Still, despite millions of dollars in legal costs and often public acrimony
between music companies and file-sharing executives, people on both sides
are playing up the spirit of cooperation.
"For most of the participants in this drama, this isn't about personal
relationships. It's about our ability to sustain a marketplace," Bainwol
said. "Those folks that are helping to power this transition are doing the
right thing."
File-Sharing Web Sites Going Legit
Weeks before the original Napster shut down for good in 2001, Internet
users were flocking to alternative song-swapping programs. Nearly 20
million people used Morpheus in its first four months, for example, to
trade music and other files for free online.
But the man behind Morpheus was worried. Michael Weiss figured popularity
could bring its own perils.
As he feared, the notoriety led Hollywood studios and recording companies
to sue Weiss' StreamCast Inc. for copyright infringement. It was part of
the entertainment industry's wider effort to contain Morpheus and other
Napster clones such as Kazaa and Grokster from taking up where Napster left
off.
Now, like Napster founder Shawn Fanning before them, Weiss and other
file-sharing barons are facing their own day of reckoning after a landmark
U.S. Supreme Court decision last summer.
Over the last four months, several Napster heirs have shut down and others
are contemplating what they once couldn't abide - doing business by the
entertainment industry's rules to survive.
"We can take a look at another four years of legal battles and spending
millions of dollars on both sides, (but) is that where I want to spend the
next four years of my life?" said Weiss, 53. "It's better to focus the
company's energy on creating new technologies."
StreamCast hasn't shut down Morpheus, but the company recently approached
the entertainment industry to pursue talks about settling a lawsuit against
the company, according to court documents.
Wayne Rosso, who built a reputation criticizing the recording industry as
head of Grokster Ltd., is also pursuing a decidedly more cordial
relationship with music labels as he prepares to launch a
copyright-friendly file-sharing service.
"It's pretty clear who won," Rosso said. "We always knew that this free
trading of all this copyright material couldn't go on. It just wouldn't
work."
Such capitulation was once unheard of among the file-sharing operators who
lobbied against Hollywood and the recording industry. They billed
themselves as defenders of technological innovation who shouldn't be held
liable because some people used their software for piracy.
But the high court's ruling in June opened file-sharing operators to
potential liability - something the entertainment industry underscored when
it sent notices to seven file-sharing software operators in September
warning them to shut down or prepare for court.
Companies behind once-popular file-swapping programs like i2hub and WinMX
shut down after receiving the notice. LimeWire, BearShare and others also
put on notice have yet to make their decisions public.
Separately, an Australian court ordered Sharman Networks Ltd., which
distributes Kazaa, to ensure that new versions of the software filter out
unlicensed copyright material.
Still, the amount of file-sharing has continued to increase since the days
of Napster, and that's not likely to change much, said Eric Garland, chief
executive of BigChampagne LLC, which tracks activity on file-sharing
networks.
"These Web sites and these businesses were shut down but it doesn't shut
down the software, it doesn't shut down the (file-sharing) networks,"
Garland said. "The open-source community will continue to build new,
uncensored versions."
Mitch Bainwol, head of the music industry trade group Recording Industry
Association of America, concedes some file-sharers will find other means of
obtaining pirated music online.
"There will always be new technological challenges," Bainwol said.
But he noted a sea change since Napster fell: Propelled by the success of
Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes Music Store, young music fans now have more
legal options for obtaining music in digital form than they did back in
2001.
Ultimately, the entertainment companies are banking that the new-look
file-swapping services that emerge from the ashes of Napster's heirs will
draw computer users away from illegal services. To persevere, file-sharing
providers that seek to steer clear of copyright lawsuits will have to hope
for the same.
"I don't think anybody wants to see a replay of what happened to the
entertainment industry when Napster shut down," Weiss said. "The company or
companies that find the most effective method for transforming downloaders
into consumers will be the biggest winners in 2006."
So far, iMesh has been the only to complete the transition from being sued
by the recording industry to relaunching as a new service with the music
labels' seal of approval. But others are hoping to follow.
Rosso's new industry-blessed file-sharing venture, Mashboxx, has been in
the works for more than a year and is now expected to launch in early 2006.
Grokster settled its long-running copyright lawsuit for $50 million and is
slated to re-emerge as a licensed service, while executives at MetaMachine
Inc.'s eDonkey have also opted to transform.
"We're going to go legit," said chief executive Sam Yagan. "The eDonkey of
the future will be very much different from what it has been and will be
largely dictated by what the recording industry wants."
Rosso, Weiss and other file-sharing proponents insist that over the years,
they have sought the recording industry's blessing in one form or another.
But such offers were often rejected by major labels that saw the unfettered
sharing of their artists' songs as unacceptable.
"We were always in the background trying to get licenses and in those days
we would get one of two responses - either, `We're not going to reward
pirates,' or `Shut down and we'll talk about it,'" Rosso said.
Still, despite millions of dollars in legal costs and often public acrimony
between music companies and file-sharing executives, people on both sides
are playing up the spirit of cooperation.
"For most of the participants in this drama, this isn't about personal
relationships. It's about our ability to sustain a marketplace," Bainwol
said. "Those folks that are helping to power this transition are doing the
right thing."
White House Says Web Site Counts Visitors
The White House said Friday its Web tracking technology is consistent with
federal rules because it only counts the number of visitors anonymously and
doesn't record personal information.
The White House's site uses what's known as a Web bug - a tiny graphic
image that's virtually invisible - to anonymously keep track of the number
and time of visits. The bug is sent by a server maintained by an outside
contractor, WebTrends Inc., and lets the traffic-analysis company know that
another person has visited a specific page on the site.
Web bugs themselves are not prohibited. However, under a directive from the
White House's Office of Management and Budget, they are largely banned at
government sites when linked to cookies, which are data files that let a
site track Web visitors.
Cookies are not generated simply by visiting the White House site. Rather,
WebTrends cookies are sometimes created when visiting other WebTrends
clients. An analysis by security researcher Richard M. Smith shows such
preexisting cookies have then been read when users visit the White House
site.
The discovery and subsequent inquiries by The Associated Press prompted the
White House to investigate. David Almacy, the White House's Internet
director, said tests conducted since Thursday show that data from the
cookie and the bug are not mixed - and thus the 2003 guidelines weren't
violated.
"The White House Web site is and always has been consistent with the OMB
guidance," Almacy said, adding that the limited tracking is common among
Web sites.
Jason Palmer, vice president of products for Portland, Ore.-based
WebTrends, said Web browsers are designed to scan preexisting cookies
automatically, but he insisted the company doesn't use the information to
track visitors to the White House site.
Smith said the White House and WebTrends could have avoided any appearance
of a problem by simply renaming the server used at WebTrends.
The Clinton administration first issued the strict rules on cookies in 2000
after its Office of National Drug Control Policy, through a contractor, had
used the technology to track computer users viewing its online anti-drug
advertising. The rules were updated in 2003 by the Bush administration.
Nonetheless, agencies occasionally violate the rules - inadvertently, they
contend. The CIA did in 2002, and the NSA more recently. The NSA disabled
the cookies this week and blamed a recent upgrade to software that shipped
with cookie settings already on.
Florida Slaps Spammer with $11 Billion Fine
CIS Internet Services, a Clinton, Iowa-based Internet service provider, has
been awarded $11.2 billion in a court judgment against a Florida man who
sent millions of unsolicited pieces of commercial e-mail.
Robert W. Kramer, III, the owner and operator of CIS Internet Services,
filed a lawsuit against Miami, Florida-based James McCalla, alleging that
over 280 million illegal spam e-mails were sent to CIS e-mail accounts.
The spam e-mails allegedly advertised mortgages, debt-consolidation
services, and pornographic and gambling Web sites.
The judgment comes nearly two years after Kramer first filed his lawsuit
against McCalla and other alleged spammers. In addition to slapping the
spammer with a record fine, the judgment issued by U.S. District Judge
Charles R. Wolle on December 23, 2005, prohibits McCalla from accessing the
Internet for three years.
Last year, another lawsuit by Kramer resulted in a judgment imposing a fine
of $1 billion against three other spammers. "This latest judgment is the
largest judgment against a spammer, eclipsing Kramer's previous combined
judgment by an order of magnitude," Kramer wrote in a statement issued to
the press.
"The amount that this spammer (McCalla) has been fined is quite staggering,
and is bound to raise some eyebrows," said Graham Cluley, senior technology
consultant at security firm Sophos. "The size of the fine was determined on
the basis of $10 per spam e-mail, but it's a certainty that the fine will
never actually be paid."
However, Kramer said he intends to take the spammers for every penny they
have. "I will seek the economic equivalent of the death penalty," he said
in a telephone call. "Otherwise, it would have been crazy to have spent all
this money to get a judgment."
Cluley said that successful convictions like the fine against McCalla help
send a clear message to other spammers that spamming will not be tolerated.
"For that reason, this sentence should be welcomed," he said.
"However, the unfortunate truth is that spam is a lucrative global
business, driven by criminal intent, and well beyond the ability of the
lawmakers to control," he noted. "Individuals and corporations who do not
take proactive measures to protect themselves from the onslaught are
certain to fall victim to the detrimental effects of spam in one form or
another."
If no one bought goods sold via spam, the problem of unsolicited commercial
e-mail would disappear overnight, Cluley argued.
Microsoft Prepares Patch for Windows Flaw
Microsoft Corp. says it will be at least a week before it issues a fix to
a recently discovered vulnerability that could let an attacker take control
of an Internet-connected computer.
Microsoft said Tuesday it has created a patch for the flaw in its Windows
operating system but needs to test it first. The software giant said it
hopes to release the patch as part of its regular monthly security updates
next Tuesday.
The Redmond company confirmed late last week that some people were trying
to take advantage of a flaw in an element of Windows that is used to view
images. If a user is tricked into viewing an image, such as on a malicious
Web site or within an e-mail attachment, that person's computer could be
attacked.
Microsoft said Tuesday that its research indicates the attacks are not
widespread. The fact that the vulnerability requires a person to take
action - say, opening an e-mail from a stranger - could mitigate the
potential damage.
But Marc Maiffret, an executive with eEye Digital Security Inc. of Aliso
Viejo, Calif., said the vulnerability still could be troubling because
personal firewalls will offer little protection and the attacks can easily
be modified to get around security software such as antivirus programs.
Another concern is that the flaw affects versions of Windows desktop and
server software dating back to Windows 98.
"It's basically almost any Windows PC right now that you can compromise if
you can trick a person to going to the wrong Web site or opening the wrong
e-mail," Maiffret said.
While it tests a fix, Microsoft is offering some technical options for
decreasing the risk of an exploit. Security experts say the flaw also
reinforces the importance of not opening e-mails from strangers or visiting
suspect Web sites.
Opera Expands Into Entertainment
Norwegian Web browser company Opera Software hopes to plug into the home
entertainment market with the launch of a new browser designed for TVs,
set-top boxes, and other consumer electronic devices.
Opera 8.5 for Devices, based on the company's core Web browser technology
for desktop computers and mobile phones, uses Extensible Rendering
Architecture to reformat Internet pages to suit any screen size, from
2-inch LCDs to large 16:9-ratio flat-panel TVs. The new version also has
what the company calls a "spatial navigation system," which will let users
easily navigate pages with any input device.
Industria, an Icelandic provider of broadband systems and integration
services, will use the browser technology in its new IPTV (Internet
Protocol television) software offering called Zignal, Opera says.
Sigma Designs, which specializes in system-on-chip technology, also plans
to pre-port the new browser software in its SMP8630 family of chip sets,
Opera said in a separate announcement Thursday.
The new Opera software includes the company's TV Rendering technology,
which makes the necessary adjustments to display any Web page on any TV
screen, according to information on Opera's Web site. The technology
focuses on pixelation and problematic colors, adapting different elements
individually to suit the TV screen, the company says. The original fonts,
colors, design, and style are left virtually untouched.
The Opera software also enables the use of Web technologies such as Ajax
(Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) to create advanced applications and
dynamic user interfaces, the company says.
Opera 8.5 for Devices is available for evaluation for commercial products
at Opera.com.
More Than 300 Exhibitors Expected at Macworld Expo
IDG World Expo on Thursday noted that more than 300 exhibitors are expected
to show products at next week's Macworld Conference & Expo in San
Francisco,Calif, a marked increase over 2005. The company also provided
details about some of the event highlights next week.
The increase in exhibitors would seem to be a sign of growth both in the
Mac market and the burgeoning iPod acccessory market. Last year's Macworld
Expo San Francisco saw 275 vendors exhibit. That was a 10 percent year over
year uptick compared to 2004. This year's growth is even bigger, with
closer to 350 vendors signed up for the show, Macworld has learned.
It's gonna be packed, said Mike Sponseller, public relations manager for
IDG World Expo.
The event kicks off Monday with Power Tools conference sessions, but for so
many attendees and Mac enthusiasts who keep an eye on the event happenings,
it doesn't really get started until Apple CEO Steve Jobs keynote at 9:00 AM
Pacific Time on Tuesday, January 10, 2005. At 11:00 AM the doors are
scheduled to open. The event runs through Friday, January 13, 2005.
Featured presentations open to all attendees include David Pogue's Macworld
talk show, info on podcasting, George Lucas revolution in filmmaking and
new features in Photoshop CS.
The Macworld Auto Show is a new Exhibit Hall attraction that features a
number of cars customized with Mac integration and iPod docks, including a
Volkswagen GTi, Porsche Cayenne, vintage Buick Riviera and more. The John
Lennon Educational Tour Bus will give users a look at the state of the art
in mobile recording and multimedia production.
Fifteen Power Tools conferences covering the gamut of creative professional
work on the Macintosh, a new feature called Market Symposiums, set up to
help small businss owners, educators, art directors and others.
Other features include the new Creative Corner in the Exhibit Hall,
highlighting music and audio technology, digital photography and more, the
Berklee Dream Studio, created by the Berklee College of Music and more.
Another Sober Worm Set to Strike
The next variant of the Sober worm is set to attack computers already
infected by previous versions of the malware. The new attack will occur at
the stroke of midnight GMT as January 5 turns into January 6, according to
European antivirus software vendors. Since Internet service providers and
local police are closely monitoring Web sites likely to be used in the
attack, security experts believe that the hacker may choose not to engage
in any malicious activity this time around.
"Nothing's posted yet [on the Web sites]," says Carole Theriault, senior
security consultant with Sophos PLC in the United Kingdom. "It's possible
he may stay well clear." Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer for
F-Secure in Finland, agrees with Theriault. "It's more likely he'll lay low
than engage in activation," Hypponen said in a phone interview Wednesday.
Nevertheless, the companies and their peers around the world are keeping a
close eye on the situation in case the hacker does choose to launch an
attack.
The last major Sober attack, Sober-Z, occurred in late November. At one
point, approximately one in every fourteen e-mail messages on the Internet
carried it, according to Sophos.
Previous Sober variants have turned users' computers into "spam machines,"
spewing out right-wing German propaganda, according to Theriault. The
upcoming attack could be something that "makes a big song and dance on
machines or something very subtle," she says. Hypponen warns that with all
the interest centering on the likely timing of the attack, the hacker may
forgo any malicious activity until the attention dies down.
Sober worm variants have been written in both German and English. The
German propaganda spreads only to e-mail inboxes that have a.de address
while remaining "invisible to the rest of the world," Hypponen says.
Though most hackers produce malware for monetary benefit, the Sober author
seems interested in only two things - working toward a future attack and
releasing propaganda - according to Hypponen.
Many previous Sober variants have spread via e-mail messages purporting to
be from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Central
Intelligence Agency, or other law enforcement agencies, or in messages
claiming to offer video clips of Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, stars of
The Simple Life, a U.S. reality TV show. After malicious code in an
attachment is executed, the worm spreads by sending itself to other e-mail
addresses contained on the infected PC.
The best way to protect yourself against an attack is with antivirus
software, according to the experts. "If you don't have antivirus, get
some," Theriault says. "If you have some, ensure it's up to date and clean
up your computer." Hypponen stresses that users must double-check that
their antivirus software is running and receiving regular updates. He
points out that many worms - not just Sober - switch off both antivirus and
firewall protection when they attack computers.
Hypponen doesn't expect authorities to catch the hacker - whom he refers to
as "a lone gunman" and thinks is probably a resident of Germany or
Austria - this time around. During November's Sober-Z attack, authorities
had much the same information they have now regarding the Web sites the
hacker was most likely to go to, but he escaped detection. "He's been
playing a game of cat and mouse [with the authorities] for over two years,"
Hypponen says. "I really do hope they'll be able to track him down."
Back in December, iDefense broke the encrypted code in a variant of the
Sober worm and discovered that January 5, 2006, was the date set for the
variant to download unknown pieces of code from various Web addresses. The
date coincides with the 87th anniversary of the founding of the precursor
to the Nazi Party.
Hypponen notes that initial reports about the exact timing of the attack
put it during January 5 GMT, but F-Secure researchers subsequently
double-checked the date and found that, according to the Sober code,
activation of any malware is due to occur after January 5.
Web Services Thrive, But Outages Outrage Users
Web sites that share blogs, bookmarks and photos exploded in popularity in
2005, but in recent weeks a number of major outages left users stranded and
frustrated.
The new breed of Web site includes blogging services such as TypePad, the
photo site Flickr, the shared bookmark site del.icio.us and many others.
They are sometimes known collectively as "Web 2.0": hosted online, relying
heavily on users' submissions, and frequently updated and tweaked by their
owners.
Their growth in the last year has been huge. Flickr and del.icio.us were
high-profile acquisitions for Internet giant Yahoo, and there are now at
least 20 million blogs in existence, according to some estimates, with tens
of thousands being added every day.
But the surge in Web-based applications hasn't come without some serious
hiccups as several notable services have crashed.
Six Apart, whose TypePad service is used by many high-profile bloggers,
experienced nearly an entire day of downtime on December 16, when it
suffered a hardware failure. Del.icio.us had a major power failure on
December 14. Services including Bloglines, Feedster and WordPress have also
experienced problems.
Nothing underlines the importance of these "social media" services as much
as the outcry of users when the sites crash. While the services were
usually back up and running within a few days at most, the outages prompted
much consternation from users who were temporarily unable to share their
blogs and bookmarks with the world.
Russell Buckley and Carlo Longino wrote on their blog MobHappy
(http://mobhappy.typepad.com/) that waiting for TypePad to be fixed was
like "waiting for a train to arrive, when you're sitting on a cold, damp
platform. It's mildly irritating for the first 5 minutes, but then
annoyance levels start to rise exponentially."
"TypePad has been growing so rapidly that it is finding the hard way that
scale and scalability matter," Business 2.0 technology writer Om Malik
wrote on his blog (http://gigaom.com/). "Are they the only ones? Not really
- over (the) past few days Bloglines, Feedster and Wordpress.com have been
behaving like a temperamental 3-year-old."
The usefulness of Web 2.0 services - which also include the collaborative
Web pages known as Wikis and RSS feeds that deliver customized information
to users - is highlighted when they are abruptly taken away.
"You need those services to be 'on.' I have come to expect 99.9 percent
uptime, and when a service crashes there is significant frustration," said
David Boxer, director of instructional technology and research at the
Windward School in Los Angeles, where he runs workshops on subjects like
podcasting and photoblogging.
"When those services go down, then we are stuck in a ditch," he said.
Boxer's students have worked on projects aimed at making them "citizen
journalists" via publishing their own blogs, podcasts, documentaries and
photo essays. But when those services suffer outages, everything grinds to
a halt.
When the Blogger Web site went down, Boxer's students lost some of their
work. And when del.icio.us crashed recently, "it left me personally in a
lurch," he said.
"I knew that eventually a machine or software application will crash, but
I always expect a third-party provider like del.icio.us will build enough
redundancy into the infrastructure that it will never go down," Boxer said.
It is still early days for Web 2.0, and some of the recent difficulties are
likely just teething problems as companies adapt to their new popularity.
However, the outages may make it harder to convince businesses and
investors that blogging is ready for primetime.
Boxer, for one, is willing to ride out a few outages to take advantage of
the new services.
"They allow for elements of personalization, content delivery and
information pushing unlike any previous incarnation of the Net," he said.
Schools Ask Parents to Pay Up Before Kids Log On
Heather Sutherland was excited to learn her public school system was using
laptop computers to teach elementary students such as her daughter. Until,
that is, she found out parents were expected to pay the nearly $1,500 cost.
"I said, 'What? You must be joking,' " Sutherland says. "I think it's
unfair that the (school district) is requiring us to 'pay to learn.' "
The public school system in this quiet city 27 miles southeast of Los
Angeles is pushing the frontiers of computer technology in the classroom
with a program that puts a laptop computer into the backpacks of children
as early as first grade. It is pushing the boundaries of financing, too, by
asking parents to pay $500 a year for three years so each of more than
2,000 elementary and middle school children can have their own Apple iBook
G4 laptop.
An increasing number of school systems are using computers in the core
curriculum of early grades. Don Knezek, CEO of the International Society
for Technology in Education, a non-profit group in Washington, says one
laptop per student is the hottest trend in educational computing.
But asking parents to pay for it isn't.
"I can see where that issue raises concerns," he says. "I'm not aware of
anyone else who has tried that."
The Fullerton program, at four of 20 district schools, has created a storm
of controversy for the school system and its superintendent, Cameron
McCune. It also has raised broader questions about how far public schools
here and elsewhere can go in using costly technology in the face of tight
school budgets and limited funding.
Some parents worry that whatever its educational benefits, the program has
created an expensive burden for struggling families and has forged new
divisions in the public schools.
Sutherland, who kept her 11-year-old daughter out of the program, is
concerned that it creates "a horrible form of financial segregation."
"It's mind-boggling that they would even suggest such a thing," Sutherland
says.
Some parents say the financial expectations and price tag violate
California's constitutional guarantee of a free public education - a
principle also in other state constitutions. The parents are threatening a
lawsuit and have enlisted the help of the American Civil Liberties Union.
"The California constitution is very, very clear: My children attend a free
public school," Sandra Dingess says.
Dingess moved three of her four children to another school within the
district to avoid the big computer bill and what she says was the
embarrassment her children faced from being unable to pay. Her fourth
child, an eighth-grader, remained in the program for a final year.
McCune, who created the program, acknowledges that his school system is
trying something controversial, but he says lower-income families can get
help paying for the computers. "In all four schools, nobody has been denied
access because of a lack of ability to pay."
There are other concerns. Some parents say transferring to another school
is not fair. Others object to requests for tax returns and financial
records to obtain aid. "We don't think you have the right to ask for that
information," Dingess says. "You're not the IRS. You're a public school."
Schools have come a long way in embracing technology in the past decade.
More than 99% of public schools had Internet access by 2002, according to
federal statistics. It is commonplace for even elementary classrooms to
have one or more computers.
In high schools, computer labs with multiple machines allow students to
research subjects and type up and print papers. The computers also let kids
use Internet-based prep courses for college entrance exams such as the SAT
and fill out online college applications, National PTA official Chuck
Saylors says. "At the PTA, we would encourage technology in the classroom,"
says Saylors, of Greenville, S.C. "Whether you are (going to be) a food
server in a restaurant or the CEO of a major corporation, every child that
leaves school now, regardless of what they do in adult life, is going to
have to have some knowledge of technology."
Well-stocked labs lessen pressure on parents to buy computers for their
children, Saylors says, but "not every school district and not every family
can have the resources to make that happen."
He says teachers, in assigning outside work, generally are sensitive to
differing computer resources in their students' homes. In Greenville, he
says, the school system has invited big employers to donate their used
computers to the schools, which in turn lease them to the families of
students for as little as $10 a year.
"We'd love to see computers in classrooms and in every home, but
realistically that's almost impossible," Saylors says.
That brings up the issue of disparity in education.
Reg Weaver, president of the National Education Association union, which
represents 2.7 million teachers, says the issue isn't computers but money.
"If there was (adequate) funding there, no kid would have to worry about
whether or not their parents choose for them to have a computer," Weaver
says.
Attempts in recent years to start similar programs with parents purchasing
laptops were suspended in the face of controversy at a San Diego County
school district and in Palo Alto, Calif. In the face of a potential suit,
Fullerton's elected school board has halted plans to expand it to all
sixth-graders next year and ordered a reassessment.
Students seem to like the brave new world, though what they're learning may
not be so educational. In Fullerton, computers are used in all subjects and
as much as 60% of the class work. Some of what they learn is how to e-mail
friends and download music.
"It was fun to have around and to use for my own purposes," says Riley
Hall, 13, who was in the program last year but transferred to another
school for eighth grade. "But it didn't make school any better or more
challenging. ... A lot of it at school was to show off what you know about
computers."
In designing Fullerton's program, McCune points to Henrico County, Va.,
where 24,000 laptops have been put in the hands of high school and middle
school students, and Maine, where 38,000 laptops have been provided to
seventh- and eighth-graders. In both cases, the county or state provided
the laptops. Parents weren't asked to lease or buy them.
Fullerton officials say their system can't afford that.
"Our problem here in California is we're underfunded so much, we just don't
have the money to pay for it," school board member Minard Duncan says. "I
don't blame the parents for objecting to paying for what we call free
public education."
Online Shopping Hit New Highs in 2005
Holiday shoppers spent more online in 2005 than they did in 2004,
continuing to steadily steal market share from brick-and-mortar shops,
according to a report released last week by Goldman Sachs,
Nielsen/NetRatings, and Harris Interactive.
Holiday shoppers in the U.S. spent $30.1 billion from late October until
December 23, a 30 percent increase over the 2004 holiday season, according
to the report, which surveyed 8600 shoppers in the U.S.
Online spending made up 27 percent of total spending during the holidays,
up from 16 percent four years ago.
Brick-and-mortar shops attracted 68 percent of holiday spending this year,
down from 72 percent last year, the report found.
This was a good season for computer hardware and peripherals, with online
sales in the sector growing 126 percent to $4.8 billion in spending. But
clothes were still the most popular item bought online during the season,
with spending reaching $5.3 billion on the segment, according to the
report.
Consumers spent less online on toys and video games this year, with the
category sinking 9 percent compared to 2004.
The study also found that consumer satisfaction with online shopping is
slowly creeping up, with 64 percent of those surveyed saying they were
satisfied with their experience, compared to 61 percent in 2004.
=~=~=~=
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