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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 11 Issue 25
Volume 11, Issue 25 Atari Online News, Etc. June 19, 2009
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2008
All Rights Reserved
Atari Online News, Etc.
A-ONE Online Magazine
Dana P. Jacobson, Publisher/Managing Editor
Joseph Mirando, Managing Editor
Rob Mahlert, Associate Editor
Atari Online News, Etc. Staff
Dana P. Jacobson -- Editor
Joe Mirando -- "People Are Talking"
Michael Burkley -- "Unabashed Atariophile"
Albert Dayes -- "CC: Classic Chips"
Rob Mahlert -- Web site
Thomas J. Andrews -- "Keeper of the Flame"
With Contributions by:
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=~=~=~=
A-ONE #1125 06/19/09
~ EU Wants Looser Grip! ~ People Are Talking! ~ Rabbis Launch Koogle!
~ Militants Exploit Web! ~ Help To Make Decisions ~ Cats and Dogs Online?
~ Fighting Web Censors! ~ Adobe To Charge Users! ~ Re-live 'Dark Days'!
~ Dubious Online Claims! ~ Microsoft and Security ~ Iranian Web Support!
-* UN: Fight Hate Speech on Web *-
-* City Wants Job-Seekers' Passwords! *-
-* Disney-Branded Netbook Designed for Kids! *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
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So, this is supposed to be Spring, just a few days from the beginning of
Summer? Where? Maybe in your part of the world, but here in the
Northeast it's been cool and rainy for most of the month. I had to dodge
between the raindrops this week just to try and mow the lawn! Getting
fairly tiresome! But, it is what it is!
With that in mind, there's little to talk about this week. Sure, the
economy is still in the dumper, more missiles tested by North Korea,
new Iranian "elections", it's hurricane season, and similar wonderful news
throughout the world. What more could we ask?
On the plus side, I, and most of all of the employees for the grocery chain
that I work, received bonuses this week. A pleasant surprise, for sure.
While I feel badly that many are losing their jobs, it's nice to see a
company rewarding its employees when the company is doing well. Had it
just been the administrators that got rewarded, I would have raised the
proverbial eyebrow, but that wasn't the case. So, while my bonus wasn't
a huge amount, I'm happy about it.
Anyway, it's been a long and tiring week - again. So, let's get on with
another fun-packed week of news and interesting news bits!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
joe@atarinews.org
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. It's shaping up to be an odd summer so far
here in the northeast. I'm sure that Dana has mentioned it already, but
I've just got to put my two cents in: It's been cooler than normal and
very very wet, with more of the same expected for the next several days.
That's very annoying when your lawn just keeps growing and growing. While
it's on the bright side today, the grass is just too darned wet to even
try to mow, especially since it's getting quite high now. I'll end up
having to cut it at least twice to get it down to something presentable
now, and I'm not looking forward to it, to be honest. Ah, the joys of
home ownership, right?
Unfortunately, there aren't enough messages in the NewsGroup this week to
make a good column, so you're just going to have to make do with my
rants. Yeah, I know, I know. But if you don't want to hear me rant like
this every week, post something to comp.sys.atari.st! [grin]
On another note, I want to mention last week's election in Iran. There
are two or three things that should be noted when considering Iranian
politics.
First, while I wouldn't say that the President of Iran is "just" a
puppet, he doesn't have the power that, say the President of the United
States does. He is constrained by one major factor (see the next point).
Second, the true power in Iran is held by the 'Supreme Leader of Iran',
Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Holding both political and religious sway
in the Islamic Republic, he is Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.
Obviously, anything he says is by definition both politically and
religiously insurmountable by even the 'President'.
So what is the purpose of having a President when the truly important
power is held by someone else? I don't know. I could guess that they feel
it gives their government an air of legitimacy on the world stage, or
pacifies their own people by making them feel that they've got some say
in government, but those would just be guesses.
The third thing to keep in mind is that, being a religious construct, the
Iranian government seldom feels constrained to follow what we consider
democratic guidelines. Everything they do is to further their own ends,
not to safeguard the rights of the citizenry.
Since the real power is held and used elsewhere, one might think that it
didn't matter who won the election, but Ahmadinejad is someone they can
control more easily than Mousavi. The last thing they want is someone
'bucking the system'.
It seems clear that the people of Iran haven't gotten the message that
they're still a religious state and are taking their lives in their hands
by demonstrating, no matter how peacefully. While they may think that they
have right on their side, they have only to look at Tienemen Square. If
the government and the powers that be feel that the demonstrators pose a
threat to their plans, they will not hesitate to squash them... for the
good of the country and glory of Islam, of course.
What get me the most, though, is the conservatives here in the United
States who are making a big deal about "rigged" elections in Iran.
Evidently, they still haven't learned that it's not our job to go busting
in and telling other countries how to run things.
I find it at least slightly ironic that the conservatives are the ones
yelling, "The people have spoken, and their will is being ignored!" and
"He's not the one most people voted for!" or "Elections shouldn't be
decided by a court or tribunal!".
Ummmm... that's not what they were saying eight years ago. Funny how
things change, ain't it?
The other thing I want to mention is this flap over President Obama
killing a fly during an interview. If you haven't seen it, a fly 'buzzed'
Obama once or twice, and when it landed on his arm, he swatted it.
No big deal, right? Well PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals) is all up in arms about it. They put out press releases and all
that stuff, and I'm sure that a few people are truly incensed about it.
But by and large, it's just a fly. Let's face it... there are hundreds of
billions, maybe even trillions, more where that one came from.
What I find most amusing, though, is the fact that this puts
conservatives (which I've lately taken to calling Republican'ts or
members of the G-NO-P), in a difficult position.
Think about it! If you were Rush Limbaugh right now, whose side of
this issue would you take? Obama's, or PETA's? [very big grin]
That's it for this week, kiddies. 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 - Recreate Dark Days in History!
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=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
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8Monkey Labs Videogame Recreates Dark Days in History
Videogame players will soon get to tinker with some of the grimmest
times in history.
"Darkest of Days" due for release in August blends history and game play
in a first-person shooter with settings from the US Civil War; the
destruction of Pompeii; the Battle of Little Big Horn, and both world
wars.
Aaron Schurman of 8Monkey Labs described the videogame as "a wild time
travel adventure" while giving AFP a preview of his brainchild.
Players start the game as a member of General Custer's unit trying in
vain to fend off annihilation by Native American Indian warriors in
Montana during Old West days in 1876.
Shortly before being finished off by Indians, the player's character is
rescued by "time agents" and recruited to help expose and stop someone
that is tampering with history.
Players' characters dare battlefields and even an erupting Mt. Vesuvius
to make sure people who were supposed to survive do and that outcomes of
the momentous events aren't altered enough to change the future.
"We get a chance to take you to some pretty crazy times," Schurman said.
"We wanted a game that is the way we feel, or wish, time travel would
work."
Schurman assembled a team of videogame industry veterans at 8Monkey Labs
to create a title he has envisioned for a decade. Schurman is chief
executive of Phantom EFX, which is publishing "Darkest of Days."
The 8Monkey team strived for historical accuracy in game settings that
include Pompeii; battles of Antietam and Tannenberg, and a World War II
prison camp.
Schurman said the only intentional deviation from historical accuracy
was giving Custer a last stand on a hill instead of on an open plain to
make for more intriguing game play.
8Monkey engineers built a software engine to accommodate sweeping
battlefields, hundreds of combatants, and the chaos of warfare,
according to Schurman.
In-game chatter is tailored to whatever languages would be used in those
places at those times.
"I wanted people to feel like they are pushed through the time portal,"
Schurman said.
"There is an amazing twist when you find out who is changing history and
why; that's all I'll say about that."
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Militants, 'Hacktivists' Exploit Web, Eye Recruits
Terrorist groups that have long used the Internet to spread propaganda
are increasingly tapping the Web to teach Islamic extremists how to be
hackers, recruit techies for cyberwarfare and raise money through online
fraud, U.S. officials say.
A senior defense official said intelligence reports indicate extremist
groups are seeking computer experts, including those capable of
breaching government or other sensitive network systems.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss
intelligence reports about the recruiting, said the extent and success
of those recruiting efforts are unclear.
But jihadists' interest in hacking is evident in forums across the
Internet. Law enforcement officials say terrorists are branching out
into Internet fraud to raise money for their operations.
One Internet forum, the Mujahedeen Electronic Net, offers hacking
instructions in a number of postings. A lengthy posting markets a weekly
course and limits it to regular contributors to the Web site who confirm
they are committed to Islam. The author of the offer claims the course
will be taught by "experts in the electronic jihad," according to a
translation of the posting.
Last week, U.S. and Italian authorities broke up an international
telephone fraud ring that had roots in Italy and employed hackers in the
Philippines. The operation is believed to have funneled thousands of
dollars to terrorist groups in Southeast Asia.
Italian officials drew a fragile link to Osama bin Laden. They said one
of the men charged with financing the hacking scheme had close ties to
members of the International Islamic Efforts Foundation, a
Philippines-based group linked to an Islamic charity organization once
headed by one of bin Laden's brothers-in-law, Muhammad Jamal Khalifa.
Khalifa was reported killed in 2007 during a burglary in Madagascar,
where he had a sapphire business.
To date, experts say extremists largely have engaged in "sport hacking";
defacing or taking down Web sites belonging to groups they consider
enemies, such as sites featuring Shiite, Jewish or Christian beliefs.
"It's more for propaganda value than for tactical value," said Jarret
Brachman, a former West Point researcher who is an expert on jihadist
groups.
These "hacktivists" prefer to use the electronic media for advertising
and spreading their beliefs. Internet sites that promote Islamic
extremism abound, as do sites that instruct followers how to build bombs
or conduct other types of attacks.
But some recent activity suggests there may be an aggressive push among
extremists for expertise such as engineering and technical backgrounds
that could be used against the U.S. government or other vital systems.
A senior counterterrorism official, who also requested anonymity in
order to speak on the sensitive matter, said al-Qaida is known to seek
out followers with scientific knowledge, and computer ability is a
logical step.
Adam Raisman, a senior analyst at the Washington-based SITE group, an
organization that monitors militant Web sites, said he has seen pitches
for people adept at photo or flash video programs that can be used to
build propaganda Web sites or take down sites considered offensive.
But, he added, "It's very difficult to gauge what they will do if they
have the ability to penetrate a network and realize the damage they can
create."
Brachman described a growing network of people in the U.S. who go online
and "cheer from the sidelines. They will never do anything violent, but
they have the skill sets to do low-level hacking and this is a way they
can play."
The challenge for extremist organizations, he said, is to find those
people and then "get them to take the step from being a consumer to
actually being an active participant" in the jihad.
Terrorist groups lack the skills to match the abilities of sophisticated
governments such as the U.S., China and Russia in launching widespread
Web attacks, but they could hire someone who does, Steven Chabinsky,
assistant deputy director of cyberissues for the Obama administration's
director of national intelligence, recently told a technology conference.
Reaching out to hackers with equipment and expertise could enable those
groups to transmit viruses or worms to take over computers and direct
them to send spam, carry out identity-theft or take down Web sites.
Some officials contend that extremists don't have to take down a
critical network or system to have an impact. Even the ability to
penetrate and deface a well-trafficked Web site could shake public
confidence in the government.
UN Urges Fight Against Hate Speech in Cyberspace
The United Nations has appealed to parents, the Internet industry and
policy-makers to join hands to eradicate hate speech from cyberspace.
Addressing a day-long seminar titled "Unlearning Intolerance" on the
danger of "cyberhate," UN chief Ban Ki-moon lauded the benefits of the
Internet but regretted that "there are those who use information
technology to reinforce stereotypes, to spread misinformation and
propagate hate."
"Some of the newest technologies are being used to peddle some of the
oldest fears," he warned, decrying what he called "digital
demonization... targeting innocents because of their faith, their raace,
their ethnicity, their sexual orientation."
The secretary general said the Internet industry "can help ensure that
hate speech does not proliferate online" and urged policy-makers to
"take a hard look at this problem and work to safeguard people while
balancing basic freedoms and human rights."
He also stressed that parents have a responsibility to teach their
children to safely surf the Internet.
The world body began its "Unlearning Intolerance" series in 2004 with a
forum on anti-Semitism and Islamophobia and has continued the program
with lectures and seminars since then.
Speakers at Tuesday's seminar included UN Under Secretary-General for
Public Information Kiyo Akasaka, chief security officer at News
Corporation and MySpace Hemanshu Nigam, and Ban's special representative
on violence against children Marta Santos Pais.
Web Support Pours Out for Iran Protesters
Google and Facebook have rushed out services in Farsi. Twitter users
have changed their home cities to Tehran to provide cover for Internet
users there. Others have configured their computers to serve as relay
points to bypass Iranian censorship.
In the aftermath of the disputed Iranian election, Internet companies
and individuals around the world have stepped in to help Iranians
communicate and organize.
Twitter delayed a scheduled maintenance shutdown so that people could
continue to access the microblogging site while scores of Americans set
up remote proxy servers so Iranians could access blocked Web sites from
inside their country.
All week, Internet users in the U.S. and around the world fixed their
eyes on the events unfolding in Iran, the way viewers might have been
glued to their television sets 30 years ago. But unlike 30, or even five
years ago, this time they could participate.
"Even if we can't help directly, this is a way of helping indirectly,"
said Ian Souter, 24, an unemployed computer animator in Lafayette, Ind.
He and other U.S. Web users set up ways for Iranians to access the
Internet using Tor, a service that allows people use the Internet
anonymously.
Even the file-sharing site Pirate Bay, best known for its run-ins with
the law over copyright infringement, has jumped in with the launch of a
network that helps Iranians surf anonymously.
Still, it was difficult to tell just how much of this information was
accessible to people inside Iran. The government has restricted
communications channels, and cell phone service has been spotty. Many
sites were blocked and service has been much slower than normal. Even
the use of proxies has grown more difficult as the government finds
them, and the country's Revolutionary Guard has sternly warned people
against posting objectionable content on Web sites.
Craig Labovitz, chief scientist at Chelmsford, Mass.-based Arbor
Networks Inc., said Iran's telecommunications monopoly has cut back the
speed of its Internet connections to the outside world, presumably to
increase its ability to filter the data.
The filters appear to target some common ways of evading censorship,
including the use of proxies, which allow Iranians to mask sites they
are trying to view by having traffic relayed through an
innocuous-looking server outside the country. Flash-based video, the
kind used by YouTube, is also being stifled, Labovitz said.
One Tehran resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of
government retaliation, said in an e-mail Friday the government has
"filtered Facebook but we use proxy."
"We will protest until they change the results. We hope hope hope," the
resident wrote.
It was such protesters that Twitter users like Arik Fraimovich were
hoping to stand behind - if only online.
Fraimovich, a 24-year-old man from Israel who describes himself as a
"geek and entrepreneur," created an application that lets him and other
Twitter users easily tint their profile pictures green, the trademark
color of reformist candidate Mir Hossain Mousavi.
Because Twitter is public and easy to use from cell phones, it has
proven an effective way of spreading messages to the masses, including
protesters. But its free-for-all form also lends itself to piles of
unverified information - and spam - spreading like wildfire.
Throughout the week, in an attempt to confuse censors, many Twitter
users in the U.S. and elsewhere also changed their listed locations and
time zones to the Iranian capital. A show of support, it also made it
more difficult to see just how many people were tweeting from Iran.
On Facebook, Mousavi supporters organized protests through his public
page and posted photos, videos and messages in Farsi. As of Friday, he
had more than 66,000 supporters.
The online outpouring has been "hugely important for letting the wider
world feel solidarity with the protesters, and in bringing attention to
the issues," said Ethan Zuckerman, research fellow at Harvard
University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society. But, he added,
"probably not that important in actually mobilizing people on the ground."
A lot of the information on social sites was coming not directly from
inside Iran but from Iranians in the diaspora.
"When we see these movements take over social networks, a lot of (that)
is in the U.S.," Zuckerman said. "A lot of this traffic we are seeing is
coming out of Iran in more conventional ways, whether that's Skype or
traditional telephone."
With a clampdown on the mainstream media, bellwether news outlets like
CNN and The New York Times turned to regular people with cameras to
report on the news. The BBC and the Voice of American, meanwhile, added
more satellites to broadcast into Iran, which had jammed their signals.
YouTube, Google's video sharing site, became a de facto news channel
about the events. A search for "Iran election protest," for example,
yielded nearly 4,000 results on Friday afternoon. YouTube also was
directing people to its Citizentube political blog, with frequent
updates highlighting clips from Iran.
Late Thursday, both Google and Facebook launched Farsi services, citing
the week's events and the need for Iranians to be able to communicate in
their own language.
Facebook, which has been working on translating its site to dozens of
languages with help from its users, had more than 400 Farsi speakers
submitting thousands of individual translations.
Google, meanwhile, added Farsi to its online translator, calling it "one
more tool that Persian speakers can use to communicate directly to the
world, and vice versa."
Though it rushed out its Farsi translator, Google said it had treated
the events in Iran as it would to any other major world event.
"People are using our services as intended," spokesman Scott Rubin said.
Earlier in the week, YouTube issued a statement directed at Iran,
reiterating that it allows clips depicting violence there and elsewhere
because of their journalistic merit. Although it generally bans videos
with graphic or gratuitous violence, YouTube has long made exceptions
for clips with educational, documentary of scientific value.
Rubin said Google has no way of measuring the amount of material flowing
from the protests in Iran. But he called it "ongoing and persistent and
an incredibly valuable source of citizen journalism."
While there have been reports of Google's e-mail service, Gmail, being
blocked, Rubin said the company has not seen any evidence on its end.
YouTube, on the other hand, was getting only 10 percent of its normal
traffic from Iran, indicating a block.
In China, where the government has long restricted Internet content,
YouTube has been blocked since March.
Rubin and Harvard's Zuckerman sought to dismiss direct comparisons
between Iran and China, where Google has agreed to provide a limited
version of its search results in order to operate in that country and
serve its large and growing base of Internet users.
Unlike in China, where it operates a China-specific Google.cn, Google does
not have a domain specific to Iran. This means when people in Tehran want
to google something, they go to main, U.S.-centric site,
Google.com.
"Iran is very different - they simply block access to most of the
platforms we're talking about," Zuckerman said. "There's no option to
work with them and make some services available - it's only possible to
work around them."
Rights Groups Urge US Laws To Punish Internet Censors
Human rights groups on Thursday urged US lawmakers to revive rules that
would punish US firms which help authoritarian governments crack down on
local computer users.
The House of Representatives Human Rights Commission heard testimony
from groups calling on Congress and President Barack Obama to resurrect
the stalled Global Online Freedom Act.
"These past days, the events in Iran have been a reminder of the
importance of alternative sources of media in closed societies," Lucie
Morillon, the Washington director of Reporters Without Borders, told the
Commission.
"Congress should pass the Global Online Freedom Act... as soon as
possible," she added.
The legislation, which would punish US firms for aiding Internet
censorship in blacklisted countries, has been languishing in Congress
since 2007.
It faced fierce opposition from the administration of former president
George W. Bush and some technology firms, both warning it would hurt US
business and diplomatic interests in places like China.
Although US firms are prohibited from doing business in Iran, the online
battle there between cyber dissidents and the authorities has largely
played out on US-owned networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.
As protests in Iran raged this week, the US Department of State said it
had asked Twitter to delay scheduled maintenance, fueling the debate
over Western technology companies' operations in closed societies.
One version of the proposed law would require US firms to report
blacklisted country's requests for information on customers, and allow
the US government to block that request.
Similar legislation to limit data transfer is also being considered by
the European Union.
Amnesty International's T. Kumar urged Obama to act.
"If his administration fails we will be sad to say that at least on
Internet freedom, President Obama's administration will be no better
than Bush's administration," he said.
Their comments were echoed by representatives from Freedom House and the
Laogai Foundation, a Washington-based group.
Iran has become just the latest crisis to place Western technology firms
between dissidents and governments.
In 2004, Internet search engine Yahoo! became a lightning rod for
criticism, after it was accused of providing the Chinese authorities
with information that led to the imprisonment of one of its customers,
Chinese dissident Shi Tao.
In 2005 he was jailed for 10 years and remains in a Chinese prison. A
Congressional panel investigating the case publicly pilloried Yahoo! for
its actions, with one prominent Congressman describing the firm's bosses
as moral "pygmies."
Other firms have been accused of providing filtering software that
blocks websites disliked by the local government.
But companies insist they must respect the local laws.
Since the Shi Tao scandal many, including Yahoo!, Google and Microsoft
have signed up to the Global Network Initiative, a voluntary code of
conduct.
In a statement Yahoo! said it had "learned tough lessons" in emerging
markets, and pointed to the Global Network Initiative as a move to
thwart "threats to online expression."
"The GNI was formed to help stakeholders in the technology industry
uphold the rights of freedom of expression and privacy in the face of
pressures from governments to comply with laws and policies that violate
these internationally recognized human rights," it said.
In the text, signatories pledge to "minimize the impact of government
restrictions on freedom of expression."
EU Calls for US To Loosen Grip on Internet Governance Body
The European Commission on Thursday called for the ICANN Internet body
to open up to greater number of countries, loosening the United State's
grip over the private group.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
currently operates under an agreement with the US Department of
Commerce, which expires on 30 September.
ICANN, a non-profit organization based in Marina del Rey in Southern
California, oversees the assignment of domain names - such as .org or
.edu - and Internet protocol addresses that help computers communicate.
The European Commission said that when ICANN's agreement with Washington
expired, it should become more "universally accountable."
"In the view of the European Commission, future internet governance
arrangements should reflect the key role that the global network has
come to play for all countries," it said in a statement.
According to the commission, there are currently 1.5 billion Internet
users worldwide, 300 million of which are in the European Union's 27
member states.
"Will it become a fully independent organisation, accountable to the
global internet community? Europeans would expect so, and this is what
we will push for," said EU Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding.
"I call on the United States to work together with the European Union to
achieve this."
The current agreement dates back to the group's inception in 1998 and
gives the US government oversight over the body.
Adobe To Charge Users for Acrobat.com
U.S. software company Adobe Systems Inc said on Monday it had moved
Acrobat.com out of public beta testing and would charge subscribers to
use the online version of its popular PDF reader software Acrobat.
The maker of Photoshop, Flash and Acrobat software said it would charge
subscribers for two new services that add capacity and capabilities for
intensive business use.
Adobe will charge $14.99 per month for the basic service, which allows
Web meetings for up to five participants and online conversion of 10
uploaded documents to PDF per month.
For the premium plus service, which has meeting capacity for up to 20
people and unlimited online creation of PDF files, Adobe will charge $39
per month.
Five million people have signed up to use Acrobat.com since it was
launched in June 2008, Adobe said.
Microsoft Takes on Symantec, McAfee in Security
Software giant Microsoft Corp is launching a free PC security service
next week in what could be the biggest challenge to date for anti-virus
companies with billions of dollars in annual revenue.
Industry analysts who previewed the service, Microsoft Security
Essentials, said its features and quality are on par with anti-virus
products from Symantec Corp, McAfee Inc and Trend Micro Inc that cost
about $40 per year.
"This is good news for consumers. It's bad news for competitors," said
Roger Kay, a PC industry analyst with Endpoint Technologies Associates.
The product offers protection from several types of malicious software,
including viruses, spyware, trojans and rootkits. If its scanner detects
a suspicious file that is not yet registered as malware, the program
alerts Microsoft researchers for further investigation.
Security companies have minimized the threat from Microsoft. Executives
with Symantec and McAfee dismiss it as a lightweight alternative to full
protection that they offer in their top-selling security suites.
Microsoft's offering only fights malicious software. The best-selling
products from security rivals bundle in other features such as
encryption, firewalls, data backup and parental controls.
Rob Enderle, an analyst with Enderle Group who closely follows the
industry, said consumers do not need all those bells and whistles.
"If what is 'good enough' is free, how do you justify paying more?" he
said.
Microsoft said on Thursday that a beta version of the product will be
available for download on its website on June 23. The company plans to
offer a final version by this fall.
The free service comes after a botched attempt to sell a suite of
security software dubbed Live OneCare that Microsoft launched three
years ago. It announced plans to kill that product in November.
Disney-Branded Netbook Designed for Kids
Call it "Baby's First Laptop."
On Wednesday, Asus and Disney launched the co-branded Netpal netbook,
also known as the Asus MK90 and MK90H, designed for kids aged 6-12. The
Netpal will be available in late July, and will retail for $349.99.
The systems come in Princess Pink and Magic Blue and offer customizable
themes that kids can set to their favorite Disney films and characters,
including Club Penguin, WALL-E, Hannah Montana, and the Jonas Bros.
Disney's branded netbooks are kid-proof and kid-friendly, and pack
plenty of power to boot. The "Netpals" are rugged and durable with a
spill-proof keyboard and ShockShield protection that should save data in
a fall. More importantly, parents can be confident that their children
will be safe, with more than 40 robust parental control options. These
include email and browser filters, as well as parental control over email.
The netbooks also come with a sizable software bundle, including
Disney-branded media-management software (Disney Mix), photo software
(Disney Pix), games, widgets, and more, that all launch from what Disney
calls the Disney Magic Desktop. Even the Disney Radio application seems
to be a kid-friendly take on Pandora or Slacker, offering streaming
audio and song requests. On launch, the browser opens to a number of
Disney-branded Web sites.
The netbook runs on an Intel Atom N270 processor, with 1 Gbyte of DDR2
RAM. It includes an 8.9-inch LED-backlit screen with a 1,024-by-600
resolution. The ASUS MK90H offers a 160-GB spinning drive, while the
MK90, exclusive to Toys 'R' Us, will have a 16-GB solid-state drive.
Otherwise, the systems are identical.
Both feature a VGA port, 3 USB ports, an Ethernet jack, audio-out and
Mic-in, a multi-card reader, and a 0.3-megapixel webcam. Both systems
offer 802.11 b/g/n and ASUS promises 5 hours of battery life. The MK90H
weighs in at just over 2.6 pounds and the lighter MK90 is only 2.2
pounds thanks to its SSD. Both run Windows XP Home.
Orthodox Jews Launch "Kosher" Search Engine
Religiously devout Jews barred by rabbis from surfing the Internet may
now "Koogle" it on a new "kosher" search engine, the site manager said
on Sunday.
Yossi Altman said Koogle, a play on the names of a Jewish noodle pudding
and the ubiquitous Google, appears to meet the standards of Orthodox
rabbis, who restrict use of the Web to ensure followers avoid viewing
sexually explicit material.
The site, at www.koogle.co.il, omits religiously objectionable material,
such as most photographs of women which Orthodox rabbis view as immodest,
Altman said.
Its links to Israeli news and shopping sites also filter out items most
ultra-Orthodox Israelis are forbidden by rabbis to have in their homes,
such a television sets.
"This is a kosher alternative for ultra-Orthodox Jews so that they may
surf the Internet," Altman said by telephone.
The site was developed in part at the encouragement of rabbis who sought
a solution to the needs of ultra-Orthodox Jews to browse the Web
particularly for vital services, he said.
Nothing can be posted on the Jewish Sabbath, when religious law bans all
types of work and business, Altman said. "If you try to buy something on
the Sabbath, it gets stuck and won't let you."
Cats And Dogs Meet Up Online in Colombia
Not satisfied with social networking sites for humans, a Colombian
engineer has launched mypetbum.com, which aspires to become a Facebook for
cats and dogs.
My Petbum users can search the site for other pets, get advice from
veterinarians or schedule muzzle-to-muzzle or paw-to-paw outings.
"It's an advanced form of interaction: people who participate in the
forum do so because they are telling a story," site founder Paul
Becerra, an industrial engineer and journalist, told El Espectador
newspaper.
Becerra said the idea for a site came after a friend owning a boxer dog
whose type is rare in Colombia was desperate to find a partner for the
pet.
After the first 500 users signed up in Colombia, Becerra obtained a new
server to boost access, with hopes to make the site a regional model.
"In Latin America, there is nothing like this," he said.
Playful Hunch.com Helps You Make Decisions
I'm sick of spending so much time making decisions, like what to eat for
lunch or where to go on a date. So lately I've been outsourcing the
process to a free new Web service that is happy to do it for me.
Hunch, which was co-founded by one of the people who launched the
popular photo-sharing service Flickr, helps you make thousands of
decisions ranging from "Am I drunk right now?" to "Which Zelda game
should I play?" Hunch asks you several multiple-choice questions to help
it hone in on the best advice.
The breadth of topics on the site is pretty limited. The Hunch team
seeded it with 500 topics, and users added about 2,000 during a private
beta test over the past few months. With this week's launch, users will
now add most of the topics.
Hunch is willing to help navigate tricky situations like determining
whether you're adopted or deciding if you're ready to get a dog, but I'd
be wary of using it as more than a sounding board for serious decisions.
Instead I had fun using it for determining what color to paint my nails
(yellow) or which vampire movie I should watch (a 2008 Swedish flick
called "Let the Right One In").
Perhaps because Hunch seems so dispassionate and reasoned in its
conclusions, it spurred me to do things I've been putting off.
I started by creating my own profile, and telling Hunch about me by
answering questions such as which TV shows I find funny, what color my
eyes are and whether I know any magic tricks. You can use Hunch without
going through this, but the profile can help the site learn about you
and give better suggestions.
I asked Hunch to help with fashion and hairstyle issues that I haven't
been able to figure out on my own.
First up: Which sandals should I get for the summer?
The site asked how much I wanted to spend, what heel height I prefer and
whether I sought a dressy, casual or formal pair. Then it settled on a
few suggestions, including a flat, simple, gladiator-style Sam Edelman
pair that I really liked.
I clicked a link to check out the sandals on Zappos.com. Hunch makes money
this way - it would get a cut from Zappos if I bought the footwear. I
decided not to shell out nearly $80 for such a piddly amount of leather
and sole, but a bright orange pair was seriously tempting.
Hunch also figured into my attempt to get out of a lunch rut of solely
pizza or turkey sandwiches. Perhaps it could steer me to something I was
too lazy to visualize.
After questions like "are you in the mood for something healthy or
indulgent/comforting?" and "are you eating alone?", Hunch decided I
really did want to keep eating pizza. (It also recommended pizza for a
co-worker unenthused about the sandwich he had made.)
An extended list showing all the possible suggestions is linked to each
Hunch result. It's initially sorted by the site's presumption of what
would be most relevant, though you can also view the list by popularity -
based on the number of other users who say they like the suggestion.
For the lunch query, Hunch presented 18 suggestions, with peanut butter
and jelly near the top. Enticing, but I figured I'd go with pizza so I
could use Hunch to make another decision: What topping do I want?
Hunch suggested arugula, but that tastes like lawn clippings to me.
Another suggestion, bell peppers, was more appealing, and I was
contentedly munching on the slice a little while later.
Because there are plenty of things I know I should do but just don't
want to, I used Hunch to motivate myself. The other day, I asked whether
I should go running. I've tried (and failed) to persuade myself to hit
the pavement by keeping all the running necessities in a drawer right
next to my desk, so I was skeptical that turning over my exercising free
will to Hunch would work.
It asked me about factors like the weather and the number of days since
my last run before concluding that yes, I should lace up my sneakers. I
spent the next 35 minutes cursing the site under my breath. Hunch
apparently didn't know how out of shape I was.
Fortunately, if you're not happy with the suggestions on Hunch, you can
help improve it - by adding your own or editing already published topics
after you've "played" at least five topics. Once you create a new topic,
other Hunch users can vote on how good or complete it is, and anyone can
add questions and results to it. Hunch's staff reviews the submissions
before adding them to the library.
For now, though, Hunch's helpfulness is somewhat limited.
I wanted advice on how I should cut my increasingly unruly hair, and the
first suggestion was a straight style with long, straight bangs. This
would have me looking like a glasses-wearing poodle. The other
suggestions - a shag cut, or a bob, like actress Katie Holmes - didn't
impress me either.
Another time the site was more than 50 percent sure I should leave work
early and grab a beer. This sounded like a genius idea, but since I
couldn't find advice on dealing with an angry boss, I stuck around.
City Wants Job Seekers' Social-Network Passwords
One city in Montana wants more than a job applicant's telephone number
and address. Along with their job experience, city officials in Bozeman,
Montana, are asking job seekers to provide passwords to social-network
Web sites and other online groups to which they belong.
Job applicants are being asked to sign a waiver that allows the city to
not only check prior work experience, education and credit history, but
also to check their social networks, blogs, and Internet chat rooms or
forums.
"Please list any and all current personal or business Web sites, Web
pages or memberships on any Internet-based chat rooms, social clubs or
forums, to include, but not limited to: Facebook, Google, Yahoo,
YouTube.com, MySpace, etc.," the application states, according to KBZK,
the Montana news station that received a tip from a job applicant.
Bozeman's city attorney, Greg Sullivan, is defending the practice,
saying the government has a responsibility to protect the public, and
therefore asking for the information is necessary.
"So we have positions ranging from fire and police, which require people
of high integrity for those positions all the way down to the lifeguards
and the folks that work in city hall here," Sullivan told KBZK. "So we
do those types of investigations to make sure the people that we hire
have the highest moral character and are a good fit for the city."
Bozeman began requiring the information approximately three to four
years ago, when social-networking Web sites became mainstream and
popular for people to use, according to Sullivan.
Aside from job seekers having their own privacy threatened, applicants
are worried that government officials will also have access to their
friends' and family's information, because social-networking sites such
as Facebook include a user's list of friends and information about those
friends.
To deal with that concern, Sullivan was asked about creating a separate
Bozeman Facebook page so that applicants can add the city as a friend,
and therefore allow the city to view the applicant's profile. Officials
may explore the option, Sullivan said.
A job applicant's information is not looked at early in the hiring
process, according to Sullivan. Those who become finalists for a
position and are made a provisional offer are the only applicants whose
social-network accounts are checked.
The request for passwords and log-in information has stirred up a great
deal of privacy concerns -- so much so that the American Civil Liberties
Union has spoken out against the request from officials.
Montana's own constitution states that the right of individual privacy
is essential to the well-being of a free society and shall not be
infringed without the showing of a compelling state interest.
Sullivan agreed that the right to privacy applies to every single person
in regard to state action in Montana, adding that the city takes
upholding those rights "incredibly seriously."
"What we are doing is essentially balancing individuals' right to
privacy with the need of the city to ensure we have the best employees."
Intel Program Spotlights Dubious Online Claims
Intel has launched software that sniffs out questionable claims at
websites.
A "Dispute Finder" crafted by Intel researchers in Berkeley, California,
for Firefox web browsers alerts Internet surfers to contentions that are
contradicted by information elsewhere online.
"The reason this is important is that very often you'll read a website
and not realize this is only one side of the story," Intel research
scientist Robert Ennals said in an online video.
Dispute Finder automatically highlights text containing contested claims
and then links to boxes summarizing points and counter-points. The data
base is designed to grow and evolve with user input.
Votes regarding the reliability of information are used to filter
dubious data.
Researchers reportedly envision a version of the software that will scan
caption information in television programs for specious claims and a
mobile device capable of "listening" for questionable comments in
conversations.
The mini-program, which works with Firefox web browsers, became
available Thursday online at disputefinder.cs.berkeley.edu.
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