Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 07 Issue 24
Volume 7, Issue 24 Atari Online News, Etc. June 10, 2005
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2005
All Rights Reserved
Atari Online News, Etc.
A-ONE Online Magazine
Dana P. Jacobson, Publisher/Managing Editor
Joseph Mirando, Managing Editor
Rob Mahlert, Associate Editor
Atari Online News, Etc. Staff
Dana P. Jacobson -- Editor
Joe Mirando -- "People Are Talking"
Michael Burkley -- "Unabashed Atariophile"
Albert Dayes -- "CC: Classic Chips"
Rob Mahlert -- Web site
Thomas J. Andrews -- "Keeper of the Flame"
With Contributions by:
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
http://www.icwhen.com/aone/
http://a1mag.atari.org
Now available:
http://www.atarinews.org
Visit the Atari Advantage Forum on Delphi!
http://forums.delphiforums.com/atari/
=~=~=~=
A-ONE #0724 06/10/05
~ Seagate Boosts Storage ~ People Are Talking! ~ Jackson Suicide Worm!
~ Utah Porn Law Is Sued! ~ Online Services of Old ~ EU Wins A Battle!
~ Hotbar In Hot Water! ~ AOL Offers Free Web Ma ~ Google Ads & Spyware!
~ ~ Chinese Must Register! ~
-* Apple Switches To Intel Chips *-
-* AOL Offers Free, Web-based E-Mail! *-
-* Yahoo Ditches Fees for U.S. Web Auctions! *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Well, it's finally happened, summer has arrived. Yes, the hot weather, the
evening thunderstorms, and all. We've finally managed to get some nice
weather this past week. We managed to get the pool opened, some of the
flower gardens put in, and the air conditioners running! It's great. And,
if all goes well, by the time you read this issue, I'll have got in my first
round of golf of the season! Life is good again.
I don't have much to say this week. Not much time to really even think
about some commentary - your lucky break! So, let's get to this week's
issue. Enjoy the weather!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
From STReport #642
> The Flip Side STR Feature From a different viewpoint!
=========================
A LITTLE OF THIS, A LITTLE OF THAT
by Michael Lee
Occasionally I'm asked which of the three major on-line services I
like best: CIS, Delphi or Genie. To me, that is one of those really
difficult questions, on par with "Which do you like best, steak, ice
cream or potatoes". All three are foods but there are times when I
like each one "best". It's the same with the three major on-line
services; each one has a different flavor and texture, and there are
times when I think of each one as "best".
CIS is the grandpappy of the on-line services and has several
different ST areas. It's the most expensive of the three services but
it offers the same price 7 days a week, 24-hours a day. The other two
services charge you "an arm and a leg" if you want to call during
prime time (usually 7am to 6pm) but CIS charges the same no matter
what time you call. There's usually plenty of sysops and users
available to answer any questions that you have.
The ST area on Delphi is probably the smallest of the three major's
but it's growing rapidly. Much of that rapid growth is due to the
casual atmosphere in the message base; people seem to let down their
hair and just chat. Also, the recently implemented 20-20 Plan
probably has had a lot to do with it's recent growth. For $20 a
month, you can call 20 hours (non-prime time) and you're not limited
to just the ST area. All of Delphi is available for that $20.
Last, but certainly not least, is Genie. It's the "newest kid" on the
block but in just a few short years, it has grown to be possibly the
major on-line service for ST users. Besides the ST Roundtable, there
are also 4-5 other individual ST product support Roundtables. Not
satisfied with the success they've had, Genie recently came up with
Star Services. With Star Services, you pay one small monthly fee (I
believe it's $5.00) and your 1200 and 2400 on-line times are only
$6.00 per hour (non-prime time). Plus, with Star Services there are
many of the Roundtables which are free!! That's right, free!!
This week, Genie added the coup de grace..ST Aladdin!! Written by T.
Purves of Griffin Software, ST Aladdin is a front-end program that
automates all your GEnie Roundtable and GEmail functions for you.
Once you get it setup properly (I'm still working on that) it does
everything for you. ST Aladdin log's you onto Genie, captures all the
new messages and file listings (from as many Roundtables as you wish),
and then logs you off. At your convenience, you can read and reply to
the messages and mail, and pick out which files you want to download.
It will then go back on-line, send your replies and download the files
you want. It does a lot more (I'm still learning) but that gives you
the basic idea behind it. It speeds up your on-line time, thus saving
you money. ST Aladdin is a very well written program (what else would
you expect from Tim) and is heavily documented. The price? Just the
cost of downloading it!! That's right, it's another "freebie" from
Genie!!
That will give you a brief synopsis of each service. Each one has
dedicated sysops who will try to make your time on-line as pleasurable
and enjoyable as possible. Each one has interesting message bases.
Each one has a good file area (though Genie's seems to be the
largest). You will find many of the same users frequent two or more
of them, so no matter where you go, you'll find friendly faces. So
which one should you join? Do like I did, join all three!!
----------------
I just want to thank ICD for an excellent design with the internal
Mega HD adaptor/mount. Last Friday, while leaving my office, I managed
to DROP my Mega 4 off my desk. As it bounced off my chair on its way
down, I stood transfixed and watched until it hit the floor.
I have a carpeted floor so the case wasn't broken but when I picked it
up something rattled. I figured the HD mount had let go or the Seagate
had broken apart. THAT is one miserable feeling!
Got home suicidal and took the Mega apart. Everything looked OK except
that my T-16 had come out of its socket. Put it back in the socket,
booted with trepidation... everything worked fine!
The T-16 was in a bastard socket - I'd used the original socket in my
old sold ST. Here's to Atari's designers for coming up with one TOUGH
computer, to Jim Allen for solid design of his accelerator, and...
particularly to ICD for designing a perfectly-fitting, strong mount
for their internal HD kit! Thanks to all for protecting this user from
himself.
(From Mike Valent on Genie.)
----------------
Until next week....
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
joe@atarinews.org
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. Another week has come and gone, and
Mother Nature has again proven that she's got a sense of humor. In the
space of 24 hours we've gone from October/November-type weather to
early August weather. Depending on how the temperature is tomorrow, we
may be in the middle of our first heat wave. A heat wave, according to
the local TV meteorologist, is three consecutive days with temperatures
at or above 90. While temps in the 90's never really bothered me much,
having three days of it after about a month of temps in the 50's takes
a little bit of adjustment. And I don't seem to adjust like I used to.
I turned 45 today. Whoopie! The funny thing is that I don't feel 45.
There are times when I feel 15, and there are times when I feel 80....
but never 45. <grin>
Being well into "middle age", I find it strange that I don't feel more
grown up. I can remember my parents at my age. They were all grown up
and proper and raising a large family.
Like just about everyone else, my parents always seemed 'all growed up'
to me, even when they were in their early 30's. And here I am, still
basically a big, gray-haired kid. I still horse around with my nieces
and nephews and they, too, think of Unka Joe as a big kid. And I'm
content with that. On a very basic level, we are what we are, and I'm
content to play with my 'toys' and do whatever else comes along.
So let's see what's come along on the UseNet.
From the comp.sys.atari.st NewsGroup
====================================
Mille Babic posts this about the Scandinavian Atari Computer Show:
-----------------------------------------
The Nordic Atari Computer Show (NAS) 2005
-----------------------------------------
Where? G·¼teborgs H·¼gre Samskola in Gothenburg
B·-ltgatan 4 (Tram stop "Stampgatan")
When? 2 - 3 July 2005
Saturday, 2 July, 10:00 - 22:00
Sunday, 3 July, 11:00 - 16:00
How to get there?
By car, train or public transport.
See www.vasttrafik.se or www.gulasidorna.se (maps)
What? The main theme for NAS2005 is Accelerated Falcon030 with ct60/63
and EtherNet network card.
Ethernet LAN with access to Internet is available for all who bring
their own computers.
Rodolphe Czuba will be attending NAS2005.
Nick Harlow (16/32-Systems) is probably coming.
The brothers Gild· will show the EtherNet network card.
Three Atari-compatible Hades computers will be at NAS.
A number of Atari Falcon030 with both ct60 and Falcon eXtender.
At least two Atari TT030, plus STacy and STF.
ASH-MagiC-PC will be shown with LAN/Internet capability.
64-bit multimedia console Atari Jaguar.
Atari Portfolio.
Entrance fee:
SEK 20 per day to the treasurer Kenneth Medin. (Press free.)
Info: Information posted at http://www.sak.nu/nas Mille Babic's homepage
is during June and July entirely devoted to NAS2005.
http://mille.atari.org
Lodging:
We can recommend a youth hostel in Gothenburg:
Kvibergs Vandrarhem (Tram 6, 10 minutes from NAS) See
http://www.vandrarhem.com Hotel F1 is well-known for its fixed price of
SEK 310/night for a room, whether for one or three people in the same
room.
Perfect for the family. Located in Fr·¼lunda, telephone 031-492400.
KFUK-KFUM has a summer hostel right next door to NAS, in the former
women's jail Gullbrohemmet. It is often used by backpackers and others
who want somewhere cheap to stay the night in town.
E-mail: info@sak.nu (Swedish Atari Club) atari@sverige.nu (Mille Babic,
NAS05 Coordinator)
Telephone:
0762-100934 during NAS days for directions, help, etc.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Once again it is time for The Nordic Atari Show, this annual gathering
that rings us together to share experiences, talk, and let software and
hardware change owners.
It is now the eleventh year in a row that NAS manifests. We really hope
that all expectations will be fulfilled and everyone can express their
interest for Atari.
As was the case the previous two years, NAS is again scheduled a weekend
in the vacation month of July.
One large room will host any commercial stands, plus demonstrations by
programmers and other Atari friends. Many different models of Atari and
compatibles will be shown.
The largest room will host lectures and exhibitor demonstrations of
applications, system software, games, and hardware solutions.
Other activities will include small competitions of different kinds. It
has not yet been determined which, though likely at least one classic
game on an Atari will figure in some way.
Refreshments available on site will consist of soda in cans and coffee.
The event is located in a school, so everyone is expected to follow the
rules of conduct that apply to these premises.
Svenska Atariklubben
In·-gogatan 12 (c/o Medin)
418 74 Gothenburg "
Dr. Uwe Seimet, author of HDDriver, posts this:
In the past I have been asked whether users abroad could order HDDRIVER
or updates and pay with PayPal (http://www.paypal.com). This is
possible now."
Ronald Hall tells Uwe:
"Thats great news Uwe! I'm sure many users (both new and those who wish
to update) will appreciate this. Thanks much."
Joseph Place hears about the Nordic Atari Show and asks:
"While drooling over these posts about NAS, I began to wonder if there
may be support to have a North American Atari Show? I know there are
gaming expos that companies like B&C Computervisions and Best
Electronics have supported. How many of you would support an Atari
show in the USA? I would be willing to pay $200-300 dollars for
registration if we were to fly in a guest like Rodolphe Czuba and
have some interesting things to show/discuss/purchase, etc. Chime in!"
Coda tells Joseph:
"Can you make it somewhere in the Metropolitan NY area, around the end
of September? If so, I will bring my soldering iron!"
Joseph replies:
"Honestly, I couldn't afford that much, but I'd be willing to chip in
what I could.
I'm all for the idea of a show, and I'd love to go to one and see some
of the faces attached to the names!"
'Quincy' asks for help finding software for a cartridge clock:
"I have a Navarone Timekeeper Cartridge Clock for an Atari 520ST.
Unfortunately, the one floppy disk with drivers I have is corrupted.
Anyone know if the software is available anywhere on the 'net?"
Greg Goodwin tells Quincy:
"I think I have one of these in storage. Remind me in email and I'll
look for it this weekend."
Jean-Marc Maucotel asks about "language swapping" for MagiC5:
"I have a german version of MagiC 5, got it with my Falcon, can I patch
it to have a french version?"
Derryck Croker tells Jean-Marc:
"With a resource editor you could translate all of the RSC files from
German, which would give you an interface in your language, but any
system error messages produced by the OS would still be in German. Also
there might be a flag or two to indicate the OS's language version.
I have English resource files on my web site (DDP section) which may or
may not be of some use to you."
On the lighter side, Winnie Oakbob asks about the ST's interplanetary
capability:
"I want to send an ATARI ST to Mars next week and I wonder if it will
work there. Do you know if the ST works on Mars?"
Exxos tells Winnie:
"Most of NASA'a stuff don't seem to. Perhaps that's where they are going
wrong!"
Bill Glaholt tells Exxos:
"Yeah, but inside sources say that most of them have been running
on Amiga hardware. (*wink*)"
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 - 'Conker' Goes Gold!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Coaster Gets Soaked!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Conker: Live and Reloaded Goes Gold For Xbox
The most popular (and lethal) squirrel in the world, Conker, is readying
his plans to invade gamers' homes as Microsoft Game Studios announced that
Conker: Live and Reloaded for Xbox has gone gold. Conker: Live and
Reloaded, developed by the award-winning team at Rare, will drop gamers on
to the front lines of an epic battle between the noble Squirrels and the
vicious Tediz.
Gaming's notoriously naughty squirrel - Conker - arrives on Xbox with a
bang in an all-new Xbox Live-enabled team-based shooter, Conker: Live &
Reloaded. Featuring intense death-match and campaign storyline modes via
Xbox Live and system link, players can compete as one of six combat
specialists across multi-mission campaigns covering Old War and Future War.
The Live game-play promises to deliver the non-stop action, humour,
gratuitous violence and intensity for which Conker is famous.
Also included is the critically acclaimed single-player game, Conker's Bad
Fur Day, completely recreated for the Xbox with stunning graphics and
"reloaded" attitude.
Summertime Gets Soaked! as Atari Prepares for
'RollerCoaster Tycoon 3: Soaked!'
The summer solstice just got a little brighter as Atari, Inc. announced
that developer Frontier has completed RollerCoaster Tycoon 3: Soaked!, the
first expansion pack for the successful RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 franchise.
Scheduled to ship to retail outlets nationwide on the longest day of
summer, June 21, RollerCoaster Tycoon 3: Soaked! is perfectly timed because
the game invites players to create and control their own water parks just
as the summer vacation season gets underway.
According to the NPD Group, RollerCoaster Tycoon is the top-selling tycoon
franchise, having sold nearly nine million units life-to-date worldwide,
and since 1995, becoming the second best selling PC game of all time in the
U.S. "With Frontier's creativity and passion, Atari is pleased to continue
to support the enormous worldwide RCT fan base with innovative and exciting
new content," said Matt Collins, Director of Category Marketing at Atari.
"With RollerCoaster Tycoon 3: Soaked! Frontier and Atari have created so
much more than just an expansion pack."
RollerCoaster Tycoon 3: Soaked! offers players more than 50 new rides and
coasters, many of which are built around a water park theme, including
swimming pool complexes, massive water slides, wave pools and amazing
interactivity with water, including stirring up swimming pools, firing
water cannons at park guests and a brand new interactive water-based
coaster called The Roller Soaker! New Swimming Pool and Waterfall Designers
will enable players to add hundreds of enhancements and the RCT3 MixMaster
has been expanded to allow players to customize dazzling laser light,
firework and water shows using the player's own music library.
Players can also create marine spectaculars with performing dolphins,
killer whale shows and custom-designed aquariums. The new tunneling system
opens up a whole new set of opportunities, with tunnels both underground
and under water. With original coasters, water slides, beaches and more,
RollerCoaster Tycoon 3: Soaked! is the ultimate interactive experience for
summer fun.
Developed by Frontier Developments Ltd. of Cambridge, England, in
conjunction with Chris Sawyer, the creator and developer of RollerCoaster
Tycoon, RollerCoaster Tycoon 3: Soaked! is for the PC and will ship to
retailers on June 21 for $29.99.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Apple to Switch Macs to Intel Chips
After years of touting its Macintosh computers as superior alternatives,
Apple Computer Inc. said Monday that it would switch to the very Intel
microprocessors that power machines designed to run Microsoft Windows.
Though the long-rumored transition will help the Mac compete against
Windows PCs in performance and - potentially - price, the move poses big
challenges for Apple, its software developers and users. In fact, past Mac
chip changes have led to significant market share losses.
Apple now must persuade current users and potential buyers that today's
Macs will not become the technology equivalent of lame ducks. And it must
get software companies to develop programs that work on both the Macs of
today and of tomorrow.
In a speech to software developers Monday, Apple CEO Steve Jobs admitted
the change will not be fast or easy. The first Intel-based Macs won't
appear until June 2006, and the full product line won't shift to Intel
until the following year, he said.
"This is not going to be a transition that happens overnight," Jobs said.
"It's going to happen over a period of a few years."
Jobs also announced the immediate availability of a "transition kit" for
programmers and said Apple would offer software that translates programs
written specifically for the older chips to run on Macs with Intel inside.
Jobs revealed that Apple has been working on the move for at least five
years, creating two separate versions of its critically acclaimed Mac OS X
operating system for both the current Mac chips and those built by Intel.
"Mac OS X has been leading a secret double life," he said.
Two major Mac software makers - Adobe Systems Inc. and Microsoft Corp. -
announced that they would support Macs running the new hardware. Roz Ho,
general manager of Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit, said its Office
productivity suite would work on current and future Macs.
But the announcement did not address how Apple would keep Mac OS X from
running on non-Apple computers. The appearance of cheaper clones could hurt
Apple sales.
It's also not clear whether the move might make Macs more vulnerable to
attacks by viruses and other malware. To date, they've been mostly exempt.
In making the move, Apple is abandoning a processor known as the PowerPC
that it developed with International Business Machines Corp. and Motorola
Inc. in the 1990s to compete against Intel's x86 architecture and which it
touted as more powerful.
On Monday, Apple did not specify the exact Intel chips it plans to use.
Jobs did say that Intel's focus on power management, crucial to extending
battery life on portable computers, was as important as performance in the
decision.
The switch ends years of squabbling between Apple and its chip suppliers,
IBM and Freescale Semiconductor Inc., which was spun off from Motorola last
year.
When Motorola was the primary supplier of G4 chips for Macs, Apple grew
frustrated with the rate of improvement. In 2002, it signed a deal with IBM
to provide advanced chips for its high-end desktop computers, the Power Mac
G5.
But the IBM-Apple deal was rocky almost from the start.
Jobs said Macs would top 3 gigahertz in processing speed by the end of last
year, but IBM could not deliver. The IBM chips also were scarce for desktop
computers and nonexistent for notebooks, which by some measures have now
begun to outsell PCs in the United States.
They simply ran too hot and consumed too much electricity for portables.
Analysts were skeptical about the Apple announcement.
In the past, major transitions have led to defections by customers and
software developers, said Nathan Brookwood, an analyst at the research firm
Insight 64.
In the mid-1980s, the Mac captured as much as 10 percent of the overall PC
market, he said. But when Apple switched from Motorola 68000 processors to
PowerPC chips, the Mac's share dropped to below 5 percent. When the Mac's
operating system later changed to OS X, it fell to below 3 percent.
"I have a lot of trouble understanding why they would do it," Brookwood
said of the transition to Intel processors. "Unless there's something
magical, I would have to believe it's not a good move."
By wrestling away Apple's business from IBM, Intel gains further dominance
of the PC processor business. It currently has 80 percent market share.
Paul Otellini, Intel's new chief executive, said the chip maker was pleased
to have Apple's business.
"I suspect there is a whole bunch of you that never thought you would see
this logo on this stage," he said onstage with Jobs. "I was one of them for
a while."
Although IBM and Freescale suffer a setback with the loss of Apple, Mac
chip sales were just a fraction of their total semiconductor revenues.
Recently, IBM has signed deals to provide the chips for the next-generation
video game machines of Microsoft, Nintendo Co. and Sony Corp.
A new microprocessor that IBM co-developed with Sony and Toshiba Corp.,
code-named Cell and planned for Sony's next PlayStation console, is being
touted as capable of delivering 10 times the performance of today's PC
processors.
In a memo to employees, Freescale CEO Michel Mayer said Apple's business
represents only 3 percent of the company's revenues.
"It is increasingly clear that the center of technology innovation is
moving away from the personal computer," Mayer said. "The phase-out of this
business now gives us the opportunity to focus more on the higher growth
segments of the semiconductor market where our portfolio is a good fit."
AOL Offers Free, Web-Based E-Mail
America Online Inc. launched a free, Web-based e-mail service on Monday,
departing for the first time from a fee-based subscription model as it
moves to compete with free, and increasingly large, e-mail accounts offered
by the likes of Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc.
The unit of media conglomerate Time Warner Inc. said the service will
provide users with two gigabytes of storage, along with protection against
viruses and spam. The mail program is being marketed as an extension of the
company's popular chat application, AOL Instant Messenger, and users of
that program will be able to use their existing screen name for their
e-mail address, the company said.
Google's Gmail service currently gives users about 2.3 gigabytes of storage
and is gradually raising that ceiling. Yahoo offers 1 gigabyte for free and
Microsoft Corp.'s Hotmail allows 250 megabytes.
The company also upped its offerings for paying subscribers to its
traditional America Online e-mail, giving its nearly 80 million accounts
unlimited storage space. AOL said it is the first online service to offer
unlimited e-mail storage.
The company also said it will allow multiple simultaneous log-ins for
dial-up connections, an offering previously reserved for high-speed
connections. The change allows members with different screen names, but on
the same account, to log in at the same time from multiple locations.
Seagate Boosts Notebook Storage
Seagate Technology will start a shipping 2.5-inch notebook PC drive with
160GB of capacity in the first quarter of next year, it said this week.
The drive was one of a series of new products - including new 500GB
drives - that the company announced at a news conference in Tokyo.
The extra storage for the 160GB drive is achieved through a new technology
called perpendicular recording, according to Tsuyoshi Kobayashi, vice
president and regional director of Nippon Seagate.
Perpendicular technology is being introduced by most of the world's major
hard drive vendors and promises a series of big capacity boosts in the
coming years for drives used in servers, PCs, notebooks, and portable
devices, the vendors say.
It works by standing the magnetic fields that represent data bits upright.
In today's commercially available drives, those fields lay flat on the
disk surface. Standing them upright means they take less space, enabling
more to be packed on the disk.
Seagate's drive looks to be the first 2.5-inch drive with this capacity
using perpendicular recording technology to hit the market. For notebooks,
two companies have so far said they plan to use the technology with
2.5-inch drives. Hitachi Global Storage Technologies is field-testing 100GB
drives, but has yet to announce it is shipping them. In April, Fujitsu said
it planned to sell 200GB drives using perpendicular technology, but not
until 2007.
Seagate's Momentus 5400.3 160GB drive will have a spin speed of 5400 rpm
and come with either the Ultra ATA-100 interface or SATA (Serial ATA) 150
interface, according to the company.
The company will use the technology to boost the capacity of a range of
its 2.5-inch drives, Kobayashi says.
One will be a 7200 rpm version due next year, although the company did not
specify the capacity. Others will have capacities as high as 240GB and be
available within a few years, Kobayashi says.
Seagate is also considering adopting perpendicular recording technology for
both its 3.5-inch and 1-inch drives, but the company isn't saying exactly
what it's planning yet, he says.
"There's no boundary. Perpendicular can be used in drives regardless of the
form factor," Kobayashi says.
As well as the push into perpendicular technology, Seagate is also
increasing the capacity options for many of its upcoming drives using
conventional storage technology. Many of these are aimed at consumer
applications, he says.
At the high capacity end, the company will start shipping three new
3.5-inch 500GB drives in the next six months, it says.
The 500GB Barracuda 7200.9, as with prior products in the range, is aimed
at high-end PCs. The company is also introducing a new line of products
called the DB35 series for video recorders and home servers. Capacities in
the range start at 80GB and top out with the 500GB version. The third 500GB
product is an external drive, the company says.
The new Barracuda and the DB35 series will ship in the July-September
quarter, while the external drive will ship in the October-December period,
Seagate says.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, the company is also offering new
1-inch drives and, for the first time, will sell its own brand of Compact
Flash (CF) card form-factor drives, it says.
The ST1 series for MP3 players and other portable devices comes in 4GB and
8GB versions. The company put its first CF form-factor drives on sale
earlier this year with capacities of 2.5GB and 5GB and these were sold to
electronics makers. The new CF drives, aimed at photographers, will come
in 4GB and 8GB capacities, Kobayashi says.
Both the ST1 and the CF drives will ship in the July-September period, the
company says.
Yahoo Ditches Fees On U.S. Web Auctions
Internet media company Yahoo Inc. will quit charging fees for auctions on
its U.S. site in an effort to encourage more people to sell their wares,
the company said on Sunday.
Rob Solomon, general manager and vice president of Yahoo Shopping, denied
the move was a defensive response to top online auctioneer eBay Inc.'s
announcement on Wednesday it had agreed to buy Shopping.com, a provider of
online comparison shopping and consumer reviews, for $620 million.
"It's taken us six months for us to work on this. The timing of this (and
eBay's acquisition announcement) is purely coincidental," he said.
Yahoo has no plans to end the fees it charges users on its other auction
sites, including the one for Japan, the company's top auction site. The
company also runs auction sites in Canada, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Yahoo said it will generate revenue from its U.S. auctions by continuing to
have paid search listings by its Yahoo Search Marketing division. Paid
search ads are triggered by keywords related to their product or brand.
Previously, Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo has charged users of its U.S.
auction site 5 cents to 75 cents to post an item, depending on the starting
price of the item.
If an item sells, the user then has had to pay a 2 percent final value fee
that can vary depending on the closing price of the item sold. More
expensive items carried additional fees that could total up to 1.5 percent
of the final price of the item in addition to the 2 percent fee.
Microsoft to Ship Modified Windows XP
Microsoft will begin distributing a modified version of its Windows XP
operating system to PC makers in Europe on June 15, more than a year after
it was ordered to do so as part of the European Commission's antitrust
ruling against the company.
Microsoft was ordered last March to sell a version of Windows XP without
its media player software, as part of the Commission's ruling that the
software maker abused its "near-monopoly" in Europe to harm competition.
By effectively forcing PC makers to include Windows Media Player with every
computer they sold, Microsoft gained an unfair advantage over rivals such
as RealNetworks and Apple Computer, the Commission said. The Commission is
the E.U.'s executive body.
The new software, called Windows XP Home Edition N and Windows XP
Professional Edition N, is Microsoft's second attempt to meet the
Commission's requirement. It distributed a version of XP to channel
partners in January, but the Commission rejected that product as
unsatisfactory.
In particular, Microsoft altered registry files in a way that made the
operating system work less well with rival media players, the Commission
said at the time. It also rejected Microsoft's proposed name for the
product, Windows XP Reduced Media Edition, which it found unappealing. The
Commission told Microsoft to remove warnings that the new software would
not work with some programs.
The latest versions fix those problems, Microsoft says in a statement
Wednesday. They will be available to PC makers on June 15 in English,
French, German, Italian, and Spanish, and to other distribution channels,
including retail stores, on July 1. Versions in 10 other European languages
will be in the channel by July 15, it says.
Microsoft has said the software will cost the same as the "standard"
version of Windows XP, which Microsoft will continue to sell. Critics have
argued that it should charge less for the versions without Windows Media
Player, on the grounds that consumers will not pay the same price for less
software, undermining the ruling.
As with existing versions of Windows, PC makers and end users can install
other media players with the new editions, Microsoft says. It provided CDs
of the software to the European Commission early last week, it says.
How much impact the new software will have remains unclear. Most big PC
makers in Europe said in January that they did not plan to offer the
version of Windows without media player, citing the cost of supporting
additional products and the weak demand they anticipated from consumers.
A Microsoft spokesman in Europe did not immediately return a call seeking
comment Wednesday.
In the ruling last March, the Redmond, Washington, company was also fined
$662 million and ordered to provide interfaces for its workgroup server
software to competitors. The company has been haggling with regulators over
the terms of its compliance ever since, and the Commission has threatened
to fine Microsoft $5 million a day for noncompliance.
The two sides appear to be inching closer to an accord, however. A week
ago, Microsoft submitted a new proposal for compliance that included more
flexible terms for its server licensing program. The Commission said it
will consult competitors to decide if the efforts are acceptable.
Hotbar in Hot Water with Online Privacy Group
Adware vendor Hotbar.com Inc. is feeling the heat this week over its pesky
adware programs and spotty adherence to online privacy rules, eWEEK has
learned.
Last week, TRUSTe, the online privacy group, revoked Hotbar.com's right to
display that organization's seal of approval. On Tuesday, anti-virus giant
Symantec Corp. joined the fray, asking the U.S. District Court for the
Northern District of California to rule on its right to detect and remove
certain Hotbar programs as unwanted adware.
Hotbar.com distributes a variety of adware, which tracks users' online
behavior in exchange for such digital gewgaws as Web browser toolbars with
changeable "skins," screensaver programs and instant messaging emoticons.
The company has been criticized by anti-spyware researchers in the past for
dubious installation practices, such as using spam e-mail or pop-up
advertisements to push packages of its adware applications onto users'
systems, often with scant notice to users about what is being installed.
Hotbar.com fiercely defends its business practices, and sent a
cease-and-desist letter to Sunbelt Software Inc., an anti-spyware software
vendor, in May, calling on that company to stop labeling its wares
"adware," according to a copy of the letter posted on Sunbelt's Web site.
In the letter, Hotbar claims that its adware provides a valuable service
to Web surfers, users of Microsoft's Outlook program and online shoppers.
Moreover, the company alleges that competing anti-spyware programs by
Microsoft Corp., Lavasoft Inc., McAfee Inc. and others don't flag Hotbar's
programs.
The Symantec lawsuit may be an effort to avoid Sunbelt's fate. Symantec is
not seeking damages, "but simply a ruling from the court that we have a
right to detect such programs," spokesperson Genevieve Haldeman told eWEEK
in an e-mail message.
While it fights Sunbelt and Symantec in court over the definition of
"adware," Hotbar also found itself on the defensive with online privacy
group TRUSTe over the improper display of the TRUSTe program seal on
Hotbar's Web page.
Like other companies, Hotbar displays the TRUSTe logo on its Web page,
indicating it adheres to that group's privacy guidelines. But TRUSTe now
claims that Hotbar violated its guidelines by displaying the TRUSTe logo
on a page that downloads software onto visitors' computers.
TRUSTe forbade that practice after the organization's members became
concerned that displaying the TRUSTe seal on software download pages would
be perceived as an endorsement of the software being downloaded-a service
that TRUSTe does not provide, according to executive director Fran Meier,
executive director at TRUSTe.
TRUSTe informed Hotbar.com recently that its status had been changed to
"not verified" pending changes in the Web page regarding the display of the
TRUSTe Seal.
Hotbar has since removed the seal from its download page but still displays
it on its home page, a violation of TRUSTe's rules, Meier said.
Clicking on the TRUSTe seal displays a page indicating that Hotbar is not
verified and its display of the seal is "unlawful and violates a TRUSTe
trademark."
Meier said that TRUSTe periodically reviews the sites of organizations that
display its seal and acts quickly to revoke certification from companies
that violate its guidelines.
However, Meier admits that her group does not evaluate downloads from Web
sites. Sites like Hotbar could technically comply with TRUSTe's online
privacy guidelines and still distribute adware and spyware programs.
TRUSTe is strategically exploring the possibility of looking at software
downloads in addition to how Web sites handle sensitive information
provided by Web surfers.
Behind the legal wrangling is mounting criticism as many ordinary computer
users struggle to free their computers from serial adware and spyware
infections.
A number of anti-spyware bills are competing on Capitol Hill, and experts
say that Congress is likely to pass some kind of legislation outlawing
certain installation and user monitoring practices later this year.
More recently, a group of anti-spyware vendors joined forces with the
Center for Democracy and Technology and other public interest groups to
form the Anti-Spyware Coalition, which will develop industry standard
definitions of such terms as "adware" and "spyware," which are often
conflated.
Do Google Ads Help Fund Spyware?
Google's sponsored-link ads may have helped turn the world's best-known
search engine into a financial powerhouse, but they also are coming under
attack for contributing to spyware practices that undermine trust on the
Web.
Anti-spyware researcher Ben Edelman this week criticized Google Inc. for
playing a role in the distribution of browser toolbars that he says
violates Google's own principle about software downloads.
In a research report released Monday, Edelman outlined examples of how
Google's AdWords pay-per-click ads are helping to fund software download
practices in which spyware is installed on users' machines or where
disclosures and software licenses are hidden.
He specifically cited the role that Google ads play with the IBIS WebSearch
Toolbar, a download labeled as spyware by anti-spyware tools, and with
search toolbars from Ask Jeeves Inc., one of Google's major ad-distribution
partners. Google shares a portion of ad revenue with its distribution
partners.
"Users have more and more of this junk trying to sneak onto their
computers, and it's a profitable business for the makers of the software
because they can show these ads," Edelman said.
With the IBIS WebSearch Toolbar, Edelman examined the ads that appear when
a user enters a search query in the toolbar. The search results page, on
WebSearch.com, includes sponsored listings.
In some cases, Edelman traced those listings back to the Google.com domain,
but they traveled through a middleman that he identified as Go2Net. Go2Net
is a property of InfoSpace Inc., which is also a distribution partner for
Google's search-based ads. Google does not appear to have a direct
relationship with IBIS WebSearch.
InfoSpace officials were unavailable for comment on Edelman's findings, and
inquiries to IBIS LLC, the Boca Raton, Fla., company behind WebSearch, were
not returned. A Google spokesperson declined to discuss specific
ad-distribution partners but said that the company takes its software
principles seriously.
"Google strongly supports the adherence to our software principles by our
partner network," the spokesperson said in a statement. "Google reviews
claims of non-adherence to our software principles and works with our
partners to make changes, if necessary, to be in compliance with our
principles."
In the software principles, which Google publicly posted about a year ago,
the company frowns upon spyware and software installations that trick users
or obscure disclosure. Mountain View, Calif.-based Google states that it
follows the principles for all its software and encourages partners to
follow suit.
Ask Jeeves already had faced past criticism from Edelman and other
anti-spyware advocates about the way its search toolbars are distributed.
Google regularly names Ask Jeeves as one of its largest distribution
partners for AdWords, and search queries on the toolbars return results
that include Google's sponsored links.
Along with its namesake toolbar, the Oakland, Calif., search company also
supports toolbars for sites that it had acquired with its purchase of
Interactive Search Holdings Inc. Those include the My Search and My Way
toolbars.
While none of the toolbars track users like spyware, Edelman said that some
of the Ask Jeeves partners distributing them use download tactics that are
similar to spyware purveyors.
"Ask Jeeves is not spying but is using lousy installation tactics," he
said.
In one case, an Ask Jeeves toolbar is bundled with a peer-to-peer program
called iMesh, but users are only informed of the toolbar download in fine
print on page 27 of a 56-page license, Edelman wrote in his report.
In the past, the MySearch toolbar also has been included as part of the
Kazaa peer-to-peer installation. While it is disclosed during installation,
the toolbar's licensing terms are hidden, Edelman said.
Ask Jeeves is aware of Edelman's findings and has begun taking action with
its partners. The company is working with iMesh to improve the processes
it uses for disclosing information about the toolbar download, said Colby
Zintl, an Ask Jeeves spokesperson.
"This is a larger industry issue about the need to improve the disclosure
and installation practices," Zintl said. "It's our responsibility,
ultimately, to make sure that partners comply with our policies."
The company previously had severed ties with an unnamed partner that had
distributed an Ask Jeeves toolbar download called SmileyCentral through
banner ads, Zintl said. Edelman also had criticized Ask Jeeves for
promoting SmileyCentral through banner ads that hide links to software
licenses.
To Edelman, the larger problem with both the IBIS and Ask Jeeves toolbar
examples is that Google's ads help to fund practices that undermine
Google's own best practices. Google's advertisers also are often unaware
that their ads may appear on sites that are distributing spyware or using
questionable practices.
"Google's advertisers are really being led astray here by Google saying,
'We will show ads on high-quality partner sites and you can trust us,'"
Edelman said. "Google is showing these ads any way that they can make a
buck."
Google isn't the only provider of search-based ads to face criticism
surrounding spyware and adware.
Yahoo Inc. has a partnership with Claria Corp. to distribute Yahoo's
sponsored-link ads. Claria is well-known for displaying ads through
software labeled as adware. Last year, Yahoo faced accusations of favoring
adware in its own Anti-Spy spyware-blocking tool before changing default
settings in Anti-Spy.
Dave Methvin, the chief technology officer at PC Pitstop LLC, also has
observed examples of Google's sponsored listings appearing in places that
violate Google's terms with publishers and its principles. He wants the
search company to do more to tackle the problem, including demonstrating
publicly that it is enforcing its policies.
PC Pitstop, a Dakota Dunes, S.D., company that runs a Web site for PC
diagnostics, runs ads through Google AdWords and displays sponsored
listings on its site, Methvin said.
"If the only penalty for being caught is a 'tsk, tsk,' then they will just
change their name and the next month will be doing the same thing," Methvin
said of spyware and adware purveyors.
Methvin acknowledged that Google would be hard-pressed to catch all
examples of misused ads but said that the company could make it easier for
its publisher partners and users to report questionable use of Google ads.
"Though Google puts on a brave face, to a great extent it's almost
impossible to stop this fraud," he said.
Trojan Hides in Jackson Suicide Spam
A spam campaign claiming that Michael Jackson has attempted suicide has
been spreading across the Internet, according to security firm Sophos.
E-mails with the bogus news contain a Trojan horse that infects a system
if a user clicks on a link to find out more about the singer's alleged
self-induced death.
Sophos has identified hundreds of the messages, which draw on the intense
interest surrounding the pop star's recent trial and impending jury
verdict.
The spam messages arrive with the subject line, "Re: Suicidal aattempt" and
follow with message text noting that Michael Jackson made a "suicidal
attempt" at his Neverland Ranch the previous evening.
The rest of the grammatically mangled and often misspelled text reads:
"They suggest this attempt follows the last claim was made against the king
of pop. 46 years old Michael has left pre-suicid note which describes and
interpretes some of his sins."
A link to "read more" takes users to a Web site with a message that it is
too busy, but is covertly installing malicious code onto their PCs.
Sophos has determined that the code downloaded onto PCs actually attempts
to download another Trojan horse, identified as Troj/Borobt-Gen.
The firm recommends that companies update their corporate virus protection
and filter attachments that might contain malicious code if they have not
done so already.
Virus-laden messages that are tied into breaking news are being used more
often, said Sophos senior technology consultant Graham Cluley.
Many Internet users have become familiar with the more classic types of
spam messages, usually advertising prescription medicine or X-rated images,
leaving virus writers to exploit new avenues.
"Basically, they'll try anything that they think will work," said Cluley.
"That used to be alerts from banks and credit card companies, but people
have been educated about those."
News items, especially involving celebrities, seems to be the next new
wave. "People swap these kind of news stories by e-mail all the time,"
Cluely noted. "So getting one more won't seem unusual to them, even if
it's from an unknown source."
China Orders All Web Sites to Register
Authorities have ordered all China-based Web sites and blogs to register or
be closed down, in the latest effort by the communist government to police
the world of cyberspace.
Commercial publishers and advertisers can face fines of up to 1 million
yuan ($120,000) for failing to register, according to documents posted on
the Web site of the Ministry of Information Industry.
Private, noncommercial bloggers or Web sites must register the complete
identity of the person responsible for the site, it said. The ministry,
which has set a June 30 deadline for compliance, said 74 percent of all
sites had already registered.
"The Internet has profited many people but it also has brought many
problems, such as sex, violence and feudal superstitions and other harmful
information that has seriously poisoned people's spirits," the MII Web site
said in explaining the rules, which were quietly introduced in March.
All public media in China is controlled by the state, though limits on the
Internet have tended to lag behind as advances in technology and the Web's
rapid spread outstripped Beijing's ability to keep tabs on users and
service providers.
China has more than 87 million Internet users, the world's second largest
online population after the United States.
The government has long required all major commercial Web sites to register
and take responsibility for Internet content - at least 54 people have been
jailed for posting essays or other content deemed subversive online.
But blogs, online diaries, muckraking Web sites and dissident publishing
have been harder to police. According to cnblog.org, a Chinese Web log host
company, the country has about 700,000 such sites.
Now, however, the government has developed a new system to track down and
close those caught violating the rules, the ministry said.
"There's a 'Net Crawler System' that will monitor the sites in real time
and search each Web address for its registration number," said one document
listing questions and answers about the new rules. "It will report back to
the MII if it finds a site thought to be unregistered."
The press advocacy group Reporters Without Borders protested the new rules,
saying they would force people with dissenting opinions to shift Web sites
overseas, where mainland Chinese users might be unable to access them due
to government censorship filters.
The Paris-based group said that in May, many bloggers in China received
e-mail messages telling them to register to avoid having their blogs
declared illegal.
"Those who continue to publish under their real names on sites hosted in
China will either have to avoid political subjects or just relay the
Communist Party's propaganda," the rights group said. "This decision will
enable those in power to control online news and information much more
effectively."
The latest restrictions follow many others. Authorities have closed down
thousands of Internet cafes - the main entry to the Web for many Chinese
unable to afford a computer or Internet access.
They've also installed surveillance cameras and begun requiring visitors
to Shanghai Internet cafes to register using their official identity cards
- all in an effort to keep tabs on who's seeing and saying what online.
Groups Sue to Overturn Utah's Porn Law
Civil liberties, publishing and other groups filed a federal challenge
Thursday to a Utah law that requires Internet service providers to give
customers software filters for blocking pornographic Web sites.
Their lawsuit claims that many Web sites deemed harmful to minors share the
same computer servers and Internet addresses as unrelated sites that
contain no pornography, and blocking one site can block them all.
Lawyers say Utah's statute is worse than some laws already struck down in
other states because it provides no way for Web sites to appeal judgments
made by Utah's attorney general office about what constitutes a
pornographic site.
Under the law signed by Gov. Jon Huntsman in March, state lawyers planned
to begin trolling the Internet July 1 for ever-changing Web sites
considered pornographic and issuing ISPs blacklists they must incorporate
in software filters for customers.
Betsy Burton, owner of The King's English Bookshop and one of the 14
plaintiffs, said such a list could include her Web site because it links
to descriptions and jacket art for books like Margaret Atwood's "Oryx and
Crake," whose cover depicts female bodies in the nude.
Also joining the lawsuit were another bookstore; Utah chapters of the
American Civil Liberties Union and the Sexual Health Network; the Comic
Book Legal Defense Fund and two small ISPs operating in Utah, Mountain
Wireless and CSolutions Inc.
Federal courts have struck down Internet porn-blocking laws in Arizona, New
Mexico, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia
and Wisconsin, said Michael Bamberger, a New York lawyer representing some
of the plaintiffs. Congressional efforts also have been overturned.
Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff's office had no immediate response to
the 55-page lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City.
"We have just received it. We're going to review it and will be meeting
with the people who filed the lawsuit," Shurtleff spokesman Paul Murphy
said Thursday.
The law's chief sponsors in the Legislature did not return calls for
comment.
Pete Ashdown of XMission, an Internet Service provider with more than
25,000 Utah subscribers, said he had lobbied against the law but didn't
join the lawsuit because "I didn't want to antagonize anyone further."
Ashdown, a Democrat who plans to challenge U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah,
next year, said parents can already buy filters to keep their children from
viewing porn sites. XMission provides one on request and can reconfigure it
to let through sites blocked by mistake. The Utah law would give XMission
no such flexibility, he said.
=~=~=~=
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.
