Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 09 Issue 07
Volume 9, Issue 07 Atari Online News, Etc. February 16, 2007
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2007
All Rights Reserved
Atari Online News, Etc.
A-ONE Online Magazine
Dana P. Jacobson, Publisher/Managing Editor
Joseph Mirando, Managing Editor
Rob Mahlert, Associate Editor
Atari Online News, Etc. Staff
Dana P. Jacobson -- Editor
Joe Mirando -- "People Are Talking"
Michael Burkley -- "Unabashed Atariophile"
Albert Dayes -- "CC: Classic Chips"
Rob Mahlert -- Web site
Thomas J. Andrews -- "Keeper of the Flame"
With Contributions by:
Fred Horvat
To subscribe to A-ONE, change e-mail addresses, or unsubscribe,
log on to our website at: www.atarinews.org
and click on "Subscriptions".
OR subscribe to A-ONE by sending a message to: dpj@atarinews.org
and your address will be added to the distribution list.
To unsubscribe from A-ONE, send the following: Unsubscribe A-ONE
Please make sure that you include the same address that you used to
subscribe from.
To download A-ONE, set your browser bookmarks to one of the
following sites:
http://people.delphiforums.com/dpj/a-one.htm
Now available:
http://www.atarinews.org
Visit the Atari Advantage Forum on Delphi!
http://forums.delphiforums.com/atari/
=~=~=~=
A-ONE #0907 02/16/07
~ Atari's Losses Lessen! ~ People Are Talking! ~ Gmail Ready For All
~ Vietnam PM Goes Online ~ Mixed Message In E-Mail ~ FDA Issues Warning!
~ MS Settles With Iowa! ~ One Laptop Per Child! ~ Drive-By Pharming?
~ MySpace Suit Dismissed ~ NetSmartz411 Launched! ~ Tormentor Parents?
-* Teacher Gets Porn Conviction *-
-* Many Dating Teens Get High-Tech Abuse *-
-* College: Wikipedia Not Source For Papers! *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Well, there's no denying it now - not with that fresh coat of seven inches
of snow outside - winter is definitely here in the Northeast. The initial
prediction was 3-5 inches, turning to a rain/snow mix. Well, we got the
3-5, plus two, of all sleet. No snow, no rain - just that heavy granular
stuff. I went out 3-4 times to clean the driveway and walks because I was
concerned that once the rain started, it would freeze everything and make
it worse to shovel. So, instead of waiting for the sleet to stop, and then
use the snowblower to remove, I shoveled. And shoveled, and shoveled. By
the third trip out, I decided to use the snowblower and take some pressure
off of my back. We then made a final cleaning in the early evening. Of
course, a little more sleet fell afterward, and froze good and solid!!
So, I'm hoping that during the warm-up this weekend, what's left of the
ice will melt and save my back from having to try and break up what's out
there.
Okay, enough about the weather, our first really "significant" snowfall of
the year. What I found interesting this week was an article pertaining to
a study at Syracuse University about e-mail and the problems that arise
with how people read/misread or write/miswrite e-mail.
Now, this issue isn't new to those of us who have been using the internet
and/or online services for a long time. I recall numerous instances, both
online the services and various bulletin boards, people making a fuss
about how messages were written and interpreted. It can be difficult, we
all know that.
With any written communication, it's impossible for the reader of the
message to truly know the intent of the written word. As the study shows,
the written word cannot express emotions, etc. as well as the spoken word.
Also, in today's electronic world of communications, there are many other
factors involved: time, speed, cost, technology, software are all factors.
And then you have various personalities reading or writing these messages.
Some people you know well, while others may be new acquaintances or
co-workers. Do people read the message, or between the lines. Are some
people predisposed to being defensive? Do some people scan messages
without truly reading everything?
This is nothing new, but the technology has changed somewhat, and more
people are exposed to this medium than 20 years ago. What's the solution?
I have no idea. All I can suggest is that people who are writing the
e-mails, text messages, IMs, etc. need to be more careful; and the people
who are recipients need to realize that these messages can be misleading.
When all else fails, communicate in person.
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
Atari: Q3 07 Sees Losses Lessen
While somewhat beleaguered in the past few years, Atari might finally be
turning a corner. While still not in the black, the publisher reported a
significant decrease in its losses. This was helped due to reduced
overhead and concentration on a smaller number of successful IPs. Atari
may really start hitting its stride just in time for the next-gen.
Atari released the fiscal report for the third fiscal period of 2007.
Revenue for the quarter ending December 31, 2006, was $47.3 million, a
significant drop off compared to the $100.0 million in the comparable
period a year earlier. However, the company's loss significantly decreased,
from $4.8 million or $0.35 per share Q3 2006 to $0.7 million, or $0.05 per
share this year.
"Once again, operating expenses were much lower than we expected primarily
due to lower product development and general and administrative costs,"
said Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan. "It appears that the company's
recent restructuring and February headcount reduction (it reduced its staff
by 25%) is now being reflected."
The revenue over the nine month period in total was also reduced, down to
$95.3 million from $162.2 million last year. Again, however, the losses
were reduced significantly. So far, the company has only lost $7.5 million,
or $0.56 per share, compared to net loss of $62.8 million, or $4.96 per
share same period last year.
"Atari continues to focus on improving product quality and is committed to
growing shareholder value," stated David Pierce, President and CEO of
Atari. "Specifically, Never Winter Nights 2, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai
Tenkaichi 2 and Test Drive Unlimited achieved our targets of quality and
market place acceptance on a global basis."
Highlights for the remainder of the year include Dragon Ball Z: Shin
Budokai 2 for PSP, Test Drive Unlimited on PC and PS2 and Bullet Witch for
Xbox 360 (which also went Gold status).
"We continue to believe that Atari is attempting to save its way to
prosperity," added Pachter. "Though we believe that it is important for the
company to align its cost structure with its sharply reduced revenue
profile, we believe that alignment only makes sense in the context of future
growth. In order to achieve that growth, we believe that the company must
invest in R&D, and we are concerned that lack of investment in R&D and
marketing could limit Atari's ability to effectively compete as the next
generation consoles begin to ramp."
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
joe@atarinews.org
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. First off, let me apologize for not
having a column in last week, but there just weren't enough messages to
put together a good column, and my intro was... well, let's just say it
was a good example of what happens when someone bottles up frustration
for a full week and then sits down to write something.
Anyway, this week's column should be of a 'normal' length, since I'm
including messages from last week as well as this week's. And I've
taken steps to vent some of my frustration, so I won't be telling you
what a bunch of cabbage-heads our politicians are, or how evil
corporate America can be, or how God must love stupid people because he
made so damned many of them.
Oh. Uh.. ummm... was that out loud? I guess I hadn't vented as much as I
thought I had. [grin]
Well, let's get to the news, hints, tips and info from the UseNet.
From the comp.sys.atari.st NewsGroup
====================================
'James D' asks about having 2 hard drives in his Falcon:
"I know that an IDE channel by default can only have two devices
connected to it but can the falcon have 2 ide drives internally with
just a 2.5 ide cable with three connections?
Or as usual there is much more to it.
I know this is possible in the amiga but I have a spare 2.5 inch ide
drive with a cable ready to connect???"
Dr. Uwe Seimet, author of HD Driver, tells James:
"What exactly does *three* connections mean? Fact is that you can
connect two IDE/ATAPI drives to the Falcon, as long as you ensure that
the cable is not too long. And, of course, one drive must be jumpered
as master, the other as slave."
Roger Burrows tells James:
"As Uwe says, it's quite straightforward, just use a short cable and
don't forget to configure one drive as master & one as slave. The main
issue is probably finding space within a standard Falcon's case. Of
course if you've recased it this would presumably not be an issue."
Ronald Hall adds:
"I've got 2 IDE devices on mine - one is an 80 gig Maxtor hard drive,
and the other is a Lite-On DVD burner..."
James replies:
"Thanks all, I will try it when I next have the courage to rip open my
Falcon again.
The only problem it seems was getting hold of a 2.5 Inch IDE lead that
enabled 2 hard drives to be connected at once, hence why I said "3
connectors". Standard 2.5 inch Laptop IDE cables are plentiful but
only for one device. I had to get the cable from an Amiga
firm.........argh"
Bernd Mueller explains:
"I think he means that kind of cable: http://tinyurl.com/2aovfm "
[URL modified by Editor]
Mark Bedingfield adds:
"Modern 2.5 inch drives are quite slim compared to the 65 meg disks the
Falcon came with. I would reckon it would not be too hard to modify the
cradle to take 2 drives."
'Peter' asks about upgrading his 1040ST:
"Hello, I have a friend who has an Atari 1040ST and he wants to upgrade
the memory to 4Mb. I found some one who has an Atari falcon 4 Mb
upgrade, can anyone tell me if it would work? If not has anyone got a
spare 4Mb chip?"
'Aly' tells Peter simply:
"www.logicsays.com/entry and click on Atari."
Matthias Arndt adds:
"Falcon memory upgrades do not fit into any 1040!
If it is an STE, you can use standard memory of its time and those are
still available on Ebay.
If it is an STF or STFM you run out of luck. You will need soldering and
some hacking of the MMU connections to fit an upgrade to 4MB. A single
RAM chip of 4MB wouldn't help either, you would need to build
an entire access logic to make the ST able to access it."
'PKPera' asks about video playback on an ST:
"I made some experiments with video-audio playback on Atari ST(e)
machines. It is possible to get smooth playback with 25 fps and full
low res 320x200. : http://www.ppest.org/atari/movpst.php "
Guillaume Tello offers:
"I wrote MP_STE, still available for download on my web page (can
play AVI, MOV, FLI, etc...) http://perso.orange.fr/gtello/downld_e.htm "
PK replies:
"Yes, I know about it. Your program is much more complex and
certainly many files work in it.
But it is simply not for a machine like an ST or STe. I achieved 1.3 fps
on a STE at 320x200, and in B/W, what is more slideshow than movie
playback.
Just reading raw bitmaps at 25 fps occupies about 80-90% of machine's
capability. For playing back compressed videos at 320x240 for instance
100MHz CPU may be not fast enough- depending on the used codec.
Another thing is memory usage - my player uses not any buffering, so it
can play practically any length on machine with 512KB, without any
stoppings.
I just think about making DVD with some movie in LAV format. There
should fit about 90 minutes of uncompressed video with audio. But it
will require direct sector access instead slow file access to DVD."
Guillaume Tello replies:
"Yes, you're right with the low speed with MP_STE when decoding AVI/MOV.
But I also have the FLM format from Lexicor that I extended to add
sound.
It is compressed but the decompression is very fast because the images
are stored in the video format 320x200x4 planes and that the
decompression is done directly in the video ram.
Your idea of a DVD in LAV format for STE is good. But I would like to
try to make a FLM from one of your videos and see
two things:
- does the compression give the opportunity to store more than 90
minutes onto your DVD
- does the uncompression allow the 25 fps?"
Phantomm tells Guillaume:
"MPLAYER supports VideoMaster FLM videos with sound.
But the last version I tried there was a bug on the sound.
There were 2 VideoMaster Carts, One just for the Falcon and one for
the ST/STE/Falcon.
Not sure if this bug was fixed but here is some info that may help.
For VideoMaster Falcon videos with sound. The sample Rate is Fixed at
12.292kHz 16Bit Stereo. According to the VMF Manual.
The Earlier VideoMaster cartridge for the ST/STE/Falcon didn't have a
fixed frequency! It started out at 1KHZ and went up to 16KHZ in steps of
1 KHZ.
I can't find anything in the manual about the samples being mono or
Stereo. Or 16Bit or 8Bit.
I think they are 8Bit Stereo, but do not know for sure as I have no docs
on this. Anyone know for sure?
Reason I mention this is that I remember getting static when playing a
Video and Sound FLM file recorded from the VideoMaster Falcon Cart IIRC.
Maybe you can do a update to Mplayer to play all the VideoMaster Sound
files correctly if you haven't done so already."
Well folks, that's it for this time around. Tune in again next week,
same time, same station, and be ready to listen to what they are saying
when...
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - id Confirms Enemy Territory: Quake Wars!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 'Rogue Galaxy' Is A Blast
Manhunt 2 In Development!
And much more!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Traveling Deep Into 'Rogue Galaxy' Is A Blast
They don't have eye patches or peg legs, but this band of pirates is every
bit as adventurous.
Intergalactic swashbucklers raid the PlayStation 2 in Sony's Rogue Galaxy,
a fast-paced action RPG with a rich storyline and impressive depth.
You play Jaster, a young adventurer who yearns to travel in space.
Jaster's quest starts when beasts invade home planet Rosa. With the help of
a mysterious fighter, Jaster vanquishes his foes. After secretly watching
Jaster in action, a pair of space pirates ask him aboard their ship and
explore the galaxy. He readily accepts.
Right away, Rogue Galaxy displays richness and vibrancy. The storyline is
thorough, yet rarely dull. Some cut scenes last too long, but quite a few
of the action sequences are breathtaking.
Rogue Galaxy's graphics are daring. Cut scenes and gameplay look nearly
identical, creating seamless shifts between the two.
Sound elements mostly complement Rogue. The voice acting is cheesy on
occasion.
But the game's bold musical selection keeps the energy strong.
As you progress, you meet different fighters that accompany you, up to
four at once. Each of the game's worlds is teeming with life, allowing for
plenty of interaction. Shops are scattered throughout to replenish your
inventory of items.
Transporters serve as save points as well as - you guessed it - ways to
quickly transport to different spots on the map. It's a great wrinkle that
keeps the pace fast.
Where the exploration suffers slightly is the lack of real
problem-solving. There's rarely a moment where you're puzzled about what
to do next. It's pointed out for you. Interactions offer minor details on
your environment, but little else.
Plenty of side games help break up the exploring. The Insectron tournament
lets you find and breed killer bugs to enter into an arena-style showdown.
A weapon synthesizer combines swords, guns and other tools to create more
powerful arsenals.
As with all RPGs, experience points are crucial. As you boost your
experience, more weapons become available to you. You'll also collect items
which, when put together, unlock a special combat power. The range in
abilities is vast, including fiery swords and whipping desert winds. A
Revelation Flow charts each item you find and how much further your powers
can expand.
Rogue's real-time battle system is fantastic, both in terms of action and
the ease in which you can incorporate your abilities and teammates.
Enemies are varied yet all vicious, from balls of slime to hulking
gorillas.
Early on, Rogue gives the impression of a repetitive button-masher. But
once additional team members and enhanced abilities enter the fray, the
battles become exciting. Each character has a primary and secondary
weapon. Jaster, for example, carries a sword and gun.
With a press of the triangle, you gain full control of your team. Send
them to fight separately or converge on one target. Unleash their powers
on enemies for lethal damage. Flip between characters to take advantage
of their strengths.
Manhunt 2 In Development For Playstation 2, PSP, and Nintendo Wii
Rockstar Games, the world-renowned publishing label of Take-Two
Interactive Software, Inc., is proud to announce Manhunt 2 for the
PlayStation 2 system, PSP system, and Nintendo's Wii. Manhunt 2 is the
debut title from the newly formed Rockstar London studio, which is
developing the game in conjunction with series creator Rockstar North.
The Wii version is being developed by Rockstar Toronto. Manhunt 2 will be
available this summer.
"With Manhunt 2 we have tried to create a game that stays close to the
original concept of chilling suspense and stealth, whilst pushing the game
design and storytelling forward," said Sam Houser, founder and executive
producer of Rockstar Games. "We are also excited to have our newest
development team, Rockstar London, working on the title alongside our two
established UK studios, Rockstar North and Leeds."
For more information on Manhunt 2 please visit
http://www.rockstargames.com.
id Confirms Enemy Territory: Quake Wars for Next-Generation Consoles
The war between the GDF and Strogg will soon be igniting on next-generation
consoles as id Software and Activision, Inc. today confirmed that Enemy
Territory: Quake Wars, the team-based first person action title, and
already one of the most anticipated new properties of 2007 is coming to
next-gen platforms. In this epic multiplayer-focused game, players can
choose to defend humanity as a part of the Global Defense Force (GDF) or
destroy it as a merciless Strogg alien invader. Under the executive
production of id Software, Nerve Software is developing Enemy Territory:
Quake Wars for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from
Microsoft, while Z-Axis is the developer for the PlayStation 3 computer
entertainment system.
"We're pleased to be working with Nerve and Z-Axis to bring the
highly-anticipated gameplay from Enemy Territory: Quake Wars to the Xbox
360 and PlayStation 3 system," said Todd Hollenshead, CEO, id Software.
Winner of more than 15 awards in 2006 and already selected as one of the
most anticipated new titles in 2007 by more than eight publications, Enemy
Territory: Quake Wars is being developed for the Windows PC by Splash
Damage - the Nerve Software and Z-Axis console versions will also feature
strategic team play, persistent character promotions and online stats
tracking. Players choose to battle as one of five unique classes in either
the conventionally armed GDF army or the futuristic Strogg invasion force,
each outfitted with specialist weapons and combat hardware. In this
adrenaline pumping fight for survival, warring forces utilize a variety of
different vehicles, deployable structures, and defense systems including
quad-bikes, tanks, and alien walkers for epic ground assaults; or
helicopters and anti-gravity ships to unleash airborne attacks. Throughout
each battle, teams establish bases, deploy defense structures, artillery,
radar, and advanced forward-command systems into enemy territory while
constructing and demolishing obstacles to speed progress and gain a
tactical advantage over the opponent. Enemy Territory: Quake Wars features
16-player battles on the console systems, delivering the ultimate team-and
objective-based multiplayer experience.
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars has not yet been rated by the ESRB.
Ghost Rider Ships For Playstation 2 and PSP
2K, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., Tuesday
announced that Ghost Rider, the action-packed combat and motorcycle video
game featuring Marvel Comics' iconic supernatural superhero, is now
available in North America for the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment
system, the PSP (PlayStation Portable) system and Game Boy Advance. The
title will be available in Europe as the movie releases in different
regions. The Ghost Rider video game reflects the stylized action of the
successful Marvel comic series and Sony Pictures' upcoming Ghost Rider
movie.
The game was developed by Climax and its storyline was authored by famed
comic writers Garth Ennis and Jimmy Palmiotti. In the video game, stuntman
Johnny Blaze is brought back as his alter ego, Ghost Rider, to protect
others from experiencing his Hell on Earth. Ghost Rider haunts America's
highways, inflicting his righteous wrath upon the souls of the wicked and
the damned. The unique storyline takes Ghost Rider to a large variety of
scenes and locations, while facing off against familiar faces from both the
Marvel comic universe and Sony Pictures' movie.
"The Ghost Rider video game offers an exhilarating gameplay experience in
a fast-paced environment. Ghost Rider can battle multiple enemies from the
Marvel Universe using his trademark weapons, the Hellfire Chain and
Hellfire Shotgun," said Christoph Hartmann, President of 2K. "Fans of the
comic book series will love its true-to-form style."
Features:
* Ride the terrifying Hell Cycle, swinging Ghost Rider's chain at enemies
and using the bike's powers to ride on water, boost over jumps, and power
down under obstacles.
* Travel through several locations from the movie, including the Quentin
Carnival and Caretaker's Graveyard and take a ride down the skyscraper
that links Earth to the depths of Hell.
* Upgrade the Hell Cycle, gain new moves and increase Ghost Rider's stats
using the essence of defeated foes as currency.
* Besides possessing superhuman strength, speed and durability, Ghost Rider
can force criminals to experience a level of emotional pain equivalent to
that which they have caused in others with his Penance Stare.
* Fight in spectacular boss battles with key Ghost Rider villains,
including Lilith, which will put players' combat skills to the test.
* Unlock original Ghost Rider comics, artwork, "making of" footage and
developer interviews.
* Extended replay value with bonus characters, challenging players to dig
deep into the experience.
* PSP offers new gameplay including game sharing, and Wi-Fi multiplayer
racing for up to four players.
Ghost Rider, rated "T" for Teen, is now available for $29.99 for the
PlayStation 2 system and the PSP system and $19.99 for the Game Boy
Advance. For more information, please visit:
http://www.ghostridergame.com.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Microsoft Settles Iowa Antitrust Case
Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday settled a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf
of thousands of Iowans who bought the company's programs between 1994 and
2006. Terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed.
The lawsuit sought more than $330 million from Microsoft for allegedly
engaging in monopolistic and anticompetitive conduct that caused customers
to pay more for software than they would have if there had been
competition.
Microsoft denied the allegations, saying Iowa customers received quality
products at fair prices.
On Wednesday, Polk County District Court Judge Scott Rosenberg ordered
attorneys to refrain from disclosing details of the settlement until
April.
"The court will be advised of the terms of the settlement in April and
there will be a hearing on April 20 for preliminary approval and if all
goes as scheduled there will be a hearing for final approval on Aug. 31,"
said Microsoft attorney Rich Wallis.
The world's largest software maker has faced 206 class-action lawsuits
across the United States since 2000. The company said 108 were
consolidated in a federal antitrust case and 96 remained in state courts.
Most were dismissed or settled before trial.
Only two, the Iowa case and one in Minnesota, went to trial. The Minnesota
case was settled after about two months into the trial.
Attorneys Roxanne Conlin and Rich Hagstrom filed the Iowa lawsuit in 2000.
"It was a mutual decision to settle and you kind of have to see the cards
lay down. That's part of what happens for both sides," Conlin said. "You
have to assess your risk and you have to assess what's in the best
interest of your clients."
Both sides agreed the settlement will include making money available to
buy computers and software for Iowa schools.
"We're going to take half of the unclaimed amount and use that to close
the digital divide in Iowa," Conlin said.
Conlin would not say whether the settlement would take the form of cash or
vouchers for computer equipment. Previously, she said she would refuse to
accept vouchers.
In the Minnesota case, the lawyers sought more than $300 million from the
company. During trial, the case settled for $174.5 million. Lawyer fees
were about $59.4 million, according to court documents. The six plaintiffs
who brought the case forward received $5,000 each
FDA Warns Of Dangers Of Internet Drugs
Consumers who thought they were purchasing sleep aids, antidepressants and
other drugs over the Internet instead were shipped a powerful
anti-psychotic, sending some unwitting victims to the emergency room,
federal health officials warned Friday.
The Food and Drug Administration said a number of consumers took the
schizophrenia drug, haloperidol, after being shipped what they thought
were a variety of different pills, including Ambien, a sleep aid, and the
anti-anxiety medications Xanax and Ativan. Others thought they were getting
the antidepressant Lexapro.
Preliminary analysis of the pills, packaged in plain plastic bags and
mailed in envelopes bearing Greek postmarks, suggest they contain
haloperidol. The FDA said it had reports of several consumers seeking
emergency medical treatment for symptoms such as difficulty in breathing,
muscle spasms and muscle stiffness after taking the pills.
The FDA used the occasion to remind consumers of the possible dangers of
buying prescription drugs on the Web.
The FDA posted images of the suspect pills and their shipping packages on
its Web site - http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/news/photos/haloperidol.html
- to help consumers identify any suspect product they may have ordered.
Consumers apparently ordered the drugs through a variety of commercial
Web sites. The FDA said it was investigating.
College: Wikipedia Not Source For Papers
Middlebury College history students are no longer allowed to use Wikipedia
in preparing class papers.
The school's history department recently adopted a policy that says it's
OK to consult the popular online encyclopedia, but that it can't be cited
as an authoritative source by students.
The policy says, in part, "Wikipedia is not an acceptable citation, even
though it may lead one to a citable source."
History professor Neil Waters says Wikipedia is an ideal place to start
research but an unacceptable way to end it.
Judge Dismisses $30 Million MySpace Lawsuit
A lawsuit against MySpace has been dismissed by a U.S. District Judge who
declared the social-networking site protected under the Communications
Decency Act. The $30 million suit was filed by the family of a 13-year-old
girl who says she was sexually assaulted by a 19-year-old man she met
through the site. The family accused MySpace of lacking proper controls
for its underage users.
In the ruling, Judge Sam Sparks noted that the site cannot be expected to
verify the age of every user, although it does set 14 as the minimum age
for registration.
The act cited by the judge is designed to grant immunity to interactive
online services for the content posted by their users. In his decision,
Sparks wrote that companies like MySpace would be crippled by lawsuits
arising out of third-party communications if they were made responsible
for user actions.
In the ruling, Sparks also noted that the girl lied about her age, posing
as an 18-year-old and ignoring the minimum age requirement stated by
MySpace during user signup.
The attorney for the family, Adam Loewy of Austin-based Barry & Loewy, was
quoted in news reports as saying that the family would appeal the
decision. He also said the family plans to file charges of fraud and
misrepresentation to go along with the current charges of negligence.
There are other, similar suits pending against MySpace, filed in state
court in California, that allege the site was negligent in protecting teen
users.
The suits were filed around the same time that MySpace announced the
development of a free parental control tool that's expected to be available
this summer.
The tool, codenamed "Zephyr," will allow parents to check the basic
information posted by their teens, including age, location, and username.
Other controls that have been recently implemented include a more
sophisticated background check system, which compares user profiles with
state and federal databases of sex offenders.
The site also hired about 100 employees last year to handle security
issues, and created an ad campaign in conjunction with the National Center
for Missing & Exploited Children to raise awareness among teenagers about
the dangers of posting too much personal information online.
"There's more that can be done in terms of protecting underage MySpace
users, but the good news is that the site is listening," said Parry Aftab,
executive director of watchdog group WiredSafety, which consults with
MySpace and is currently helping to create more education initiatives for
the site.
"The question of how to make a site like MySpace safer is difficult,
because you have many different elements," Aftab added. "Not only do you
have user education, but Congress needs to be involved, and law
enforcement, and parents. This will be an ongoing issues for some time."
Many Dating Teens Get High-Tech Abuse
Jealous teenagers often use cell phones and computers to harass and
control their romantic partners, and most victims of the abuse are
reluctant to discuss it with their parents, a survey showed on Thursday.
The survey, carried out by Teenage Research Unlimited, found nearly 25
percent of teens in a relationship had received hourly text messages or
phone calls to check up on them between midnight and 5 a.m. One out of
six said they had received messages 10 or more times an hour overnight.
"According to our experts, contacting someone that frequently with those
kinds of questions is simply about control and intimidation. It's not a
casual conversation," said Jane Randel, a vice president for clothing
retailer Liz Claiborne Inc., which commissioned the survey.
The survey was released at the launch of the loveisrespect.org, The
National Teen Dating Abuse Hotline, an Internet and telephone service to
help teenagers involved in abusive relationships. It is sponsored by Liz
Claiborne and the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
More than a third of the teens questioned for the survey said a boyfriend
or girlfriend had harassed them with text messages, and a quarter said
their partner had used a cell phone, e-mail, blog or Web chat to insult
them.
One in five said their boyfriends or girlfriends had used cell phones,
e-mail or Instant Messaging to press them for sex, and one in 10 said they
had been threatened with violence, the study found.
Victims of abusive behavior were reluctant to tell their parents.
Seventy-two percent said they had not told them about receiving a
harassing number of e-mails or text messages, and 82 percent had not told
them about being pressed to engage in sexual activity, the survey said.
Asked about why they had not told their parents about the abusive behavior,
nearly half said the problem was not serious, and more than a quarter said
they feared losing access to the technology, either cell phone or computer,
the survey said.
The online survey, carried out from December 15 to 22, questioned 615
youngsters age 13 to 18 and 414 parents of teens in that age range.
It had a margin of error of 4 percentage points for the teenagers and 5
percentage points for the adults. The margin of error for teens in a
relationship was 5 percentage points, and 7 percentage points for the
parents of teens in a relationship.
Teen Tech Tormentors: What's A Parent To Do?
When Boston University sophomore Kendrick Sledge was 14, incessant phone
calls alerted her parents to her relationship with an abusive and
controlling older boy, who would threaten suicide or a return to using
drugs if she tried to break up with him.
There were also offers of gifts. Only the fear of getting in trouble with
her parents prompted Sledge to turn down his offer to buy her a mobile
phone.
"Thank goodness I didn't take it. It would have just become a private line
for him to torture me," said Sledge, now 19.
Today's uber-wired teens aren't so lucky, according to a recent survey of
13- to 18-year-olds conducted for apparel company Liz Claiborne Inc. One
in three said they get as many as 30 hourly mobile phone text messages
from a boyfriend or girlfriend wanting to know where they are, what
they're doing or who they're with.
Nearly one in four reported hourly contact with a partner via cell phone
or text messages between midnight and 5 a.m.
Computers also are used as tools to control, harass or humiliate, the teen
respondents said.
Just over 70 percent said rumor spreading by boyfriends or girlfriends on
mobile phones or online social networking sites - such as News Corp.'s
popular MySpace.com - is a serious problem. Nearly the same percentage of
teens said sharing private or embarrassing pictures/ or videos via cell
phone or computers represented serious trouble.
Where Sledge's parents couldn't help but notice their home phone ringing
off the hook - nearly 70 percent of today's teens surveyed said their
parents have no clue that the high-tech gadgets they provided in an effort
to keep their offspring safe were being used by peers for psychological or
physical warfare.
That's something Sledge and others are working to change.
Sledge is a member of a teen task force set up by Liz Claiborne, which
partnered with the National Domestic Violence Hotline to create
www.loveisrespect.org, a national teen dating abuse helpline launched
earlier this month.
The importance of such efforts was underscored this week after a federal
judge in Texas dismissed a high-profile lawsuit brought against MySpace by
the family of a teenage girl who was sexually assaulted by a 19-year-old
man she met on popular social networking site.
One New York City mother got a chilling first-hand view of the problem
after her teenage daughter's friends posted a picture of her in a bathing
suit on MySpace.com.
Her daughter found it funny and tried to brush off her mom's concerns,
begging her not to call the other parents, even after the post attracted
responses that appeared to come from adult men.
The concerned mom, who asked not to be identified, said she pulled down the
MySpace posting, only to find that her daughter opened a new MySpace
account two months later that included enough personal information for
anyone to physically locate her.
"Perfectly good parents who have a lot of communication with their kids
are having problems with this. It's very scary. Teenagers cannot assess
risk.
Getting into serious trouble happens to other people and not to them," she
warned.
A variety of surveys have shown that most kids have suffered random acts
of cruelty at the hands of so-called friends.
Teens, who tend to favor IM and texting over e-mail, are vulnerable
because they don't have the experience to know the difference between
healthy behavior and harassment. When something goes wrong, they often feel
isolated and are reluctant to turn to parents or other adults for fear of
losing mobile phone or computer rights - or being banned from seeing
certain people.
"It's open season on kids," said Brandon Watson, chief executive of
privately held IMSafer, a company that monitors conversations on AOL,
Yahoo, MSN and MySpace IM programs and flags dangerous, inappropriate or
threatening words, IM jargon or themes and alerts parents who subscribe
when it detects a potential threat. It also offers a forum for parents at
IMSafer.com.
Lori Hahn, a computer savvy mother of three teens who keeps up with IM
acronyms, said she signed on with the company after stumbling upon a chat
session in which her 13-year-old son was talking with an adult male, whose
picture came up in the IM window.
"We had a conversation about it. He hadn't been aware that talking to
strangers on the Internet wasn't a fine thing to do ... He was just naive,"
she said, noting that IMSafer sends her flagged exchanges with a few other
lines of text to put the conversation in context.
"I'm not going to leave it to chance. I don't think I hover, but I try to
keep them safe. They're the only kids I have," Hahn said.
Since no technology offers a bullet-proof solution, technology and
anti-violence experts say parents have to get involved.
Sledge suggests that parents who suspect technology-enabled abuse stay
open to having a conversation about what may be happening, rather than
running with the instinctive response of forbidding their child from seeing
or communicating with his or her abuser.
"Sit down with your child and say, 'I'm concerned, you seem to be acting
different. Is something wrong?'," said Sledge, who noted that parents can
also use the new teen helpline.
Teacher Convicted In Porn Case
Until recently, Julie Amero says, she lived the quiet life of a small-town
substitute teacher, with little knowledge of computers and even less about
porn.
Now she is in the middle of a criminal case that hinges on the intricacies
of both, and it could put her behind bars for up to 40 years.
She was convicted last month of exposing seventh-grade students to
pornography on her classroom computer. She contended the images were
inadvertently thrust onto the screen by pornographers' unseen spyware and
adware programs.
Prosecutors dispute that. But her argument has made her a cause celebre
among some technology experts, who say what happened to her could happen
to anyone.
"I'm scared," the 40-year-old Amero said. "I'm just beside myself over
something I didn't do."
It all began in October 2004. Amero was assigned to a class at Kelly
Middle School in Norwich, a city of around 37,000 people about 40 miles
east of Hartford.
Amero says that before her class started, a teacher allowed her to e-mail
her husband. She says she used the computer and went to the bathroom,
returning to find the permanent teacher gone and two students viewing a
Web site on hair styles.
Amero says she chased the students away and started class. But later, she
says, pornographic images started popping up on the computer screen by
themselves. She says she tried to click the images off, but they kept
returning, and she was under strict orders not to shut the computer off.
"I did everything I possibly could to keep them from seeing anything," she
says.
Prosecutor David Smith contended at Amero's three-day trial that she
actually clicked on graphic Web sites.
Several students testified that they saw pictures of naked men and women,
including at least one image a couple having oral sex.
Computer consultant Herb Horner testified for the defense that the
children had gone to an innocent Web site on hair styles and were
redirected to another hairstyle site that had pornographic links. "It can
happen to anybody," Horner said.
The defense argued that the images were caused by adware and spyware,
programs that are often secretly planted on computers by Internet
businesses to track users' browsing habits. They can generate pop-up ads,
in some cases, pornographic ones.
"It's absolutely plausible," Ari Schwartz, deputy director of the Center
for Democracy and Technology, said of Amero's case. "It's a huge problem."
But many remain skeptical, including Mark Steinmetz, who served on Amero's
jury.
"So many kids noticed this going on," Steinmetz said. "It was truly
uncalled for. I would not want my child in her classroom. All she had to do
was throw a coat over it or unplug it. We figured even if there were
pop-ups, would you sit there?"
The Federal Trade Commission has been cracking down on companies accused
of spreading malicious spyware to millions of computer users worldwide.
Amero and her supporters say the old computer lacked firewall or
antispyware protections to prevent inappropriate pop-ups.
"What is extraordinary is the prosecution admitted there was no search made
for spyware, an incredible blunder akin to not checking for fingerprints at
a crime scene," Alex Eckelberry, president of a Florida software company,
wrote recently in the local newspaper. "When a pop-up occurs on a computer,
it will get shown as a visited Web site, and no 'physical click' is
necessary."
Smith, the prosecutor, would not say what he plans to recommend when Amero
is sentenced March 2. John Newsone, a defense attorney in Norwich familiar
with the case, said Amero might be spared prison or face perhaps a year to
18 months.
Principal Scott Fain said the computer lacked the latest firewall
protection because a vendor's bill had gone unpaid. "I was shocked to see
what made it through," he said.
But Fain also said Amero was the only one to report such a problem: "We've
never had a problem with pop-ups before or since."
US Group Launches Resource To Protect Children On Internet
A children's advocacy group launched the first-of-its-kind free online
safety resource to help parents and educators protect youths from being
exploited on the Internet.
NetSmartz411, as the online program is called, is managed by experts at
the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) who can
answer frequently asked questions about Internet safety and online
security.
"Parents and guardians have a very tough job keeping up with their
children in this ever changing world of technology," said Ernie Allen,
NCMEC president and chief executive officer. He said the resource located
at www.NetSmartz411.org was made possible by a 500,000-dollar grant from
the Qwest Foundation, which works to promote online safety awareness.
People who use the new site can inquire on a variety of topics including
how to report Internet crime, how to be on the lookout for online sexual
predators or what is a chat room and how it works.
Parents can also get a grasp of the lingo used by youngsters on the
Internet. For example, 143 stands for I love you, PAL: parents are
listening, or POS: parent over shoulder.
According to a recent NCMEC-commissioned study by the University of New
Hampshire, one in seven youths online is sexually solicited, and one in
three youths will encounter unwanted exposure to sexually explicit
material online.
'One Laptop Per Child' Rolls Out in February
From Brazil to Pakistan, some of the world's poorest children will peer
across the digital divide this month - reading electronic books, shooting
digital video, creating music and chatting with classmates online.
Founded by Massachusetts Institute of Technology academics, the non-profit
"One Laptop per Child" project will roll out nearly 2,500 of its
$150-laptops to eight nations in February.
The experiment is a prelude to mass production of the kid-friendly,
lime-green-and-white laptops scheduled to begin in July, when five million
will be built.
Its technological triumphs include a hand crank to charge its battery, a
keyboard that switches between languages, a digital video camera, wireless
connectivity and Linux open-source operating software tailored for remote
regions.
The project's operators say the price should fall to $100 apiece next
year, when they hope to produce 50 million of the so-called "XO" machines,
before dipping below $100 by 2010 when they aim to reach 150 million of
the world's poorest children.
"We're pledging to always drive the price down," Walter Bender, the
group's president of software and content, told Reuters. "Rather than
continuing to add features to keep the price inflated, we're keeping the
feature set stable and driving the price down."
A string pully, which Bender likens to a "salad spinner", is replacing
the handcrank. A minute of pulling generates 10 minutes of electricity.
The display switches from color to black and white for viewing in direct
sunlight, a feature unavailable in laptops 10 times more expensive.
State educators in Brazil, Uruguay, Libya, Rwanda, Pakistan, Thailand and
possibly Ethiopia and the West Bank will receive the first of the machines
in February's pilot before a wider rollout to Indonesia and a handful of
other countries.
But not everyone is applauding. Some predict the project will be a
financial burden on countries that can least afford it with no guarantee
of success. Others say the money would be better spent on food, medicine,
libraries and schools.
Some African officials question whether it suits the education of children
outside the United States. Still others question whether the laptops
simply will end up resold in illegal markets by cash-strapped families and
communities.
"On the technology I think the project is amazing and wonderful," said
Wayan Vota, whose blog (http://olpcnews.com/) monitors the project. "What
gives me pause is the social implications, the economic implications" of
how they plan to implement it.
"Essentially they want developing countries, or countries that already
have a significant amount of debt or other commitments, to borrow even
more, or to use even more of their limited resources, to buy the laptops
and to implement them in a way that is untried and untested on a large
scale."
Vota, who is also director of Geekcorps, a nonprofit that promotes
communication technology in developing countries, predicts staggering
costs for some poor nations.
"If you look at the cost of doing one laptop per every Nigerian child it
actually turns out to be 73 percent of the entire Nigerian budget, that's
not the educational part but the entire national budget of Nigeria," he
said.
Some educators may also be hostile toward it because the machines are
designed to encourage students to experiment with everything from music
and creating videos to writing their own computer programs, said Ethan
Zuckerman, a fellow at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society.
"You'll find some classrooms where the teachers are excited about letting
the students experiment and explore but you'll also find a lot based on
rote and repetition," he said.
But Vota and Zuckerman praised One Laptop Per Child for its pioneering
innovations including a laptop that needs just two watts of power compared
to the typical laptop's 30 to 40 watts, and does away with hard drives,
relying instead on flash memory and four USB ports to add memory devices.
Groups of the laptops can communicate with each other even without an
Internet connection under a pioneering "mesh" network so children can
swap images and collaborate on projects. It boasts a music sequencer with
digital instruments so children can play and create music.
Bender says the laptops can be remotely shut down to prevent them being
sold in black markets.
But Vota contends that hackers will try to buy them and will easily crack
their code. "For people earning one dollar a day the temptation to sell it
for $300 will be very strong," he said.
Google E-mail Service Ready For All
Google Inc.'s free e-mail service will shed the final remnants of its
invitation-only restrictions Wednesday, extending the reach of an
increasingly popular product that has emerged as a vital cog in the online
search leader's expansion efforts.
Invitations will no longer be required to join the nearly 3-year-old
"Gmail" service in the United States, Canada, Mexico and a swath of Asian
and South American countries where the Mountain View-based company
previously limited the number of users.
With those restrictions now lifted, Gmail will be open to all comers
worldwide for the first time since Google unveiled the service on April
Fool's Day in 2004.
"It's a pretty momentous time for Gmail," said Keith Coleman, Google's
product manager for the service.
Although it will no longer require invitations to sign up, Gmail is
retaining its "beta," or test, status, signaling that Google still
considers the service to be a work in progress.
Making Gmail more widely available is important to Google because other
key products like instant messaging and calendar management are tied into
the e-mail service, company co-founder Sergey Brin said an interview. "It
has become a real cornerstone for us."
Because Gmail users often remain logged into Google's Web site while they
conduct online searches, the service also helps the company's engineers
learn more about individual preferences, knowledge that can help deliver
more relevant search results and foster more loyalty.
The decision to lift all invitation requirements on Gmail signals Google
finally believes it has adequate computing capacity to accommodate the
generous amount of free storage provided by the e-mail service after
investing heavily in additional data centers. Gmail offers each account at
least 2.8 gigabytes of storage, enough to fill about 1.4 million pages.
In 2006 alone, Google's capital expenditures totaled $1.9 billion, with
much of the money going toward additional computing capacity. It's an
investment that Google could easily afford, having earned $3.1 billion on
revenue of $10.6 billion last year.
Now that Google has more computing muscle, Brin said the company will
start selling additional storage capacity to e-mail users with
extraordinary needs. Google still hasn't figured out the specifics, but
Brin indicated the e-mail storage and fees to be introduced later this year
would be similar to Google's photo-hosting service that charges $25
annually for 6.25 gigabytes and $500 annually for 250 gigabytes.
"We can't afford to give away everything for free," Brin said.
Google tries to make money off its e-mail service by electronically
scanning the content of the communications so it can display advertising
links tied to the topics being discussed.
Gmail's advertising methods have raised some privacy concerns and turned
off some potential users who don't like the idea of their e-mail
discussions being perused or commercialized.
Nevertheless, Gmail has been growing rapidly as Google gradually opened the
service in other parts of the world and made it increasingly easy to
wrangle an invitation where the restrictions were still in effect.
Like the other major providers of free e-mail, Google won't specify how
many users it has. But statistics compiled by the research firm comScore
Inc. indicate Google has surpassed AOL to become the world's third largest
e-mail service behind longtime leaders Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp.
In December, Gmail attracted 60 million unique visitors, a 71 percent
increase from the prior year, according to comScore Networks Inc.'s World
Metrix.
Despite that progress, Gmail remains far behind Yahoo Inc.'s free e-mail,
which increased 11 percent to 249 million unique visitors and Microsoft's
Windows Live Hotmail, which rose 13 percent to 236 million, comScore said.
Representatives for Yahoo and Microsoft, which don't require invitations,
declined to comment specifically on the broader access to Gmail.
Google seems unlikely to catch Yahoo's and Microsoft's competing e-mail
services any time soon, particularly since so many people are reluctant to
change their existing addresses. But Gmail still "should gain some serious
traction this year," predicted Jack Flanagan, a comScore analyst who
follows the e-mail market.
Brin said he doesn't especially care if Gmail ever becomes the largest
e-mail service. "The trick isn't getting more people to use the service.
The trick is to get more people to use the service more effectively."
Even though Gmail hasn't been universally available, its existence already
has affected just about anyone with a free e-mail account by pressuring the
market leaders to dramatically increase the storage capacity of individual
mailboxes.
Sunnyvale-based Yahoo now provides 1 gigabyte of free e-mail storage while
Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft offers 2 gigabytes per e-mail account. "We
will continue to listen to Yahoo users worldwide to evaluate our storage
offering and to make sure our users always have as much as they need,"
Yahoo spokeswoman Karen Mahon said.
Both Yahoo and Microsoft were giving away less than 10 megabytes of e-mail
storage when Gmail launched.
"We have already made e-mail better for everyone in the world," Google's
Coleman boasted.
Since Gmail's arrival, both Yahoo and Microsoft have introduced upgraded
versions of their free e-mail services that also remain in the beta phase.
In another move that mimicked Gmail, Yahoo this week introduced a feature
that allows instant messaging chats to be conducted within its e-mail
service.
Security Experts Warn of Drive-By Pharming Attacks
Symantec's Security Response division and the Indiana University School of
Informatics are warning of a new hacker tactic called drive-by pharming.
In this sinister plot twist on other drive-by hack techniques, attackers
use a malicious Web site to remotely reconfigure home broadband routers.
With traditional pharming, an attacker redirects a user from a legitimate
Web site to a bogus Web site that contains malicious code. Pharming attacks
can be executed by either changing the host file on a victim's PC or
manipulating a domain name system (DNS) server.
Drive-by pharming takes this strategy one step further, and, according to
Indiana University, up to 50 percent of home broadband users are
susceptible to such attacks.
In the new scheme, when a user visits a malicious Web site, an attacker is
able to remotely change the DNS settings on the broadband router or
wireless access point and reroute requests for legitimate sites - like
online banking sites or financial institutions - to bogus sites designed
to steal login information.
"This new research exposes a problem affecting millions of broadband users
worldwide," Oliver Friedrichs, director of Symantec Security Response,
said in a statement. "Because of the ease by which drive-by pharming
attacks can be launched, it is vital that consumers adequately protect
their broadband routers and wireless access points today."
According to the study, attackers can only leverage drive-by pharming when
a broadband router is not password-protected or an attacker is able to
guess the password. Most routers come with well-known default passwords
that users don't bother to change.
Professor Markus Jakobsson of the Indiana University School of Informatics
said this new strategy shows how important the human factor is in security.
"If an attacker can trick you into visiting his page, he can probe your
machine," he explained. "Deceit is not new to humankind, but it is fairly
recently that security researchers started taking it seriously."
Here's how the drive-by pharming attack works: Once the user clicks on a
malicious link, JavaScript code is used to change the DNS settings on the
user's router. From that point on, every time the user browses to a Web
site, DNS resolution will be performed by the attacker's server.
This gives the attacker complete discretion over which Web sites the
victim visits on the Internet. For example, the users might think they are
visiting their online banking Web site but in reality they have been
redirected to the attacker's site. These fraudulent sites are almost exact
replicas of the actual site, so the user will likely not recognize the
difference.
Once the user is directed to the pharmer's "bank" site, and enters a
username and password, the attacker can steal this information. The
attacker will then be able to access the victim's account on the real bank
site and transfer funds, create new accounts, write checks, and so forth.
What's important to remember is that this drive-by pharming scheme is an
attack, not a vulnerability, said Michael Sutton, a security evangelist
with SPI Dynamics. It relies on social engineering and lack of proper
security controls, he explained, but does not take advantage of a security
vulnerability.
"JavaScript is a powerful client-side scripting language and if a user can
be social engineered into visiting a Web page, JavaScript can be leveraged
to conduct a number of attacks," Sutton warned. "This is just of them." He
said that other researchers have demonstrated several other kinds of
attacks with JavaScript, with the results being scanning internal networks
or accessing a user's browsing history.
Because, as Sutton noted, the issue is not a vulnerability, existing
security solutions on the market today cannot protect against this type of
attack.
Drive-by pharming targets the user's router directly, and the existing
solutions only protect the user's computer system.
Symantec said its Consumer Business Unit is working on technologies to
help address the problem. The company's goal is to automatically impede the
attack by using several techniques running on the PC. Until then, Symantec
is suggesting that computer users make sure their routers have unique
passwords.
Symantec also recommends installing Internet security software and warns
against clicking on links that seem suspicious, such as those sent in an
e-mail from unfamiliar addresses.
Is That Really What Your E-mail Meant To Say?
Billions of emails are sent around the globe each day but are their true
meanings getting across? Maybe not.
Although emails are quick and easy to send, their lack of facial cues,
body language and emotional feedback mean they can be easily
misinterpreted.
Kristin Byron, of the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University
in New York, believes that many email users could be sending and getting
mixed messages in emails.
"A first step toward improving accuracy in emails is to recognize the
possibility that we are fallible as both email senders and receivers,"
said Byron who is an assistant professor of management at the university.
"People make the assumption that emails are very clear but that is just
not the case. There are a lot of misunderstandings," she added in an
interview.
One of the main points of confusion is that people forget that emotions
can be communicated in email. While facial expressions can be easy to
read, there aren't the same clear signals in emails.
Misinterpreted emails could be a particular minefield in the workplace
with co-workers perceiving emotional content in the email that may not be
intended.
Emotions can be expressed in emails through punctuation marks and other
techniques but that can confuse the message even more, according to Byron
who will report her findings in the journal Academy of Management Review.
"The use of exclamation points, asterisks, or capital letters, the length
of the message, even the use of emoticons all can be used or perceived to
communicate emotion. Yet these are ambiguous in email communication - and
are often discouraged from use in the workplace - and therefore may be
misinterpreted," she said.
Emoticons are symbols such as smiling faces or characters on keyboards
used in emails to show emotion.
To improve email communication and lower the risk of sending the wrong
signals Byron suggests email users express themselves clearly and repeat
important information they want to convey.
Companies might also consider offering training in the use of emails at
work. "With the increasing reliance on emails in the workplace,
understanding how to effectively communicate emotions by email is
crucial," Byron added.
Vietnam PM Goes Online In
First For One-party Rule
Vietnam's Prime Minister on Friday used his first online chat with the
public to explain the ruling Communist Party's ban on private media,
discuss his landmark visit to the Vatican and Hanoi's anti-corruption
campaign.
The online chat by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung was part of an effort by
the country's leaders to appear more accountable to Vietnam's 84 million
people, of whom more than half are younger than 35 and more exposed to the
world than previous generations.
Asked why he had signed a directive last year to ban any privatization of
the media and whether it was against "the freedom and liberalizing
democracy, which you strive for" Dung said the order was "in line with the
aspirations of our people."
He said the more than 600 state-run newspapers "must become the
mouthpiece, the forum for democracy of the people."
The party embraced market reforms of the mostly state-run economy that led
to the country being admitted to the World Trade Organization in January,
but they stop short at the media.
The party said in October that leaders would have regular online chats with
the public on corruption and other controversial issues, a first for
Vietnam.
Hanoi imposes legal and technical controls to block access to writings and
people on the Internet who challenge one-party rule.
About 3.1 million Vietnamese are Communist Party members, according to the
party, and about 16 percent of Vietnamese have access to the Internet.
Wearing a dark suit, white shirt and red tie, Dung sat in a black leather
chair in front of four computer screens inside the office of the
government Web site (www.chinhphu.vn) to answer questions submitted by the
public.
About 20,000 questions were sent before the three-hour chat and Dung
answered them verbally while government staff typed.
Top diplomat Vu Khoan conducted the initial online chat last December to
discuss challenges facing Vietnam in the WTO and its hosting of the
November summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
In the space of 12 years, Vietnam has emerged from isolation to one of
the world's fastest-expanding economies with GDP growth of 8.17 percent in
2006 and is a beacon for foreign investment.
Dung said on Friday that Vietnam aimed to "equitise" all of its
state-owned enterprises, using the term applied by Hanoi that refers to
partial privatization of state-owned companies.
Dung, who was installed last June and is Vietnam's youngest-ever premier,
in January became the country's first prime minister to attend the elite
World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland and the highest-ranking
official to meet the Pope.
Dung said online that the Vatican has proposed to establish diplomatic
relations and he "has taken note and assigned the diplomatic agencies to
conduct discussion."
Asked whether there were any obstacles or "banned zone" in the fight
against endemic corruption, Dung replied, "So far, I have not seen
anything obstructing me."
=~=~=~=
Atari Online News, Etc. is a weekly publication covering the entire
Atari community. Reprint permission is granted, unless otherwise noted
at the beginning of any article, to Atari user groups and not for
profit publications only under the following terms: articles must
remain unedited and include the issue number and author at the top of
each article reprinted. Other reprints granted upon approval of
request. Send requests to: dpj@atarinews.org
No issue of Atari Online News, Etc. may be included on any commercial
media, nor uploaded or transmitted to any commercial online service or
internet site, in whole or in part, by any agent or means, without
the expressed consent or permission from the Publisher or Editor of
Atari Online News, Etc.
Opinions presented herein are those of the individual authors and do
not necessarily reflect those of the staff, or of the publishers. All
material herein is believed to be accurate at the time of publishing.
