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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 10 Issue 50
Volume 10, Issue 50 Atari Online News, Etc. December 12, 2008
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 #1050 12/12/08
~ National Safety Office? ~ People Are Talking! ~ $99 Notebook Debuts!
~ Computer Mouse Hits 40 ~ Chrome Browser Is Out! ~ Student Sues School!
~ School Flak & Linux CD ~ New Firefox Beta Out! ~ Midway Sold Cheap!
~ Wii Shortages, Again? ~ Crimeware Hits A High! ~ Border Searches!
-* FCC's Free Internet Plan Dim *-
-* New National Office for Cyberspace? *-
-* MS To Sell Its Full Range of Web Software! *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Well, we just managed to dodge a bullet with the weather, at least in my
immediate area. Cities and towns all around us have just gone through a
blast of freezing rain and snow - knocking out power and causing all kinds
of problems. For us, just plenty of rain!
I'm so tempted to go off on the current state of national affairs, and the
ever-increasing "bailout" plans. Do we, or don't we bail out the
automakers? I really don't know if it's a good idea or not, but I'm
leaning toward not. The arrogance of this industry's management really
ticks me off, but there's obviously more to it than that. But how much
can we keep doing - who will be next? And when and how does all of this
help the average working stiff, like you and me? Where is our bailout
package? Yeah, that's what I thought!
The latest on our "son's" saga... After a lot of deliberation and
emotional thoughts, we moved beyond the emotions to make some decisions
that we think will be in the best interest of our guy. Because of the
location of the cancerous tumor in his lung, pressing against his heart,
we want to do what we can to alleviate that stress on him, both physically
and mentally. So, we've opted to move forward and put him through some
more testing - another ultrasound and a CT scan to determine where exactly
the tumor is situated, and whether or not the cancer has spread. If we're
"lucky" and the cancer is localized, we'll have the surgery to remove the
tumor so his breathing will improve, and the coughing bouts will end.
We were told that he should be strong enough to manage the surgery, so
we'll probably opt for that. After that, we'll discuss the rest of the
options and decide what is next. We're not sure we want him to have to
deal with chemotherapy, but we haven't ruled anything out just yet. We
want to do whatever we can to make him comfortable, with the least amount
of stress. So, the testing is Monday, and we'll go from there.
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
joe@atarinews.org
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. Another week has come and gone, and
there's lots of interesting stuff going on out there for us to scratch
our heads over.
Not in the Atari world, of course, but hey, ya can't have everything, ya
know?
I'm always amazed when people are amazed because of a greedy politician.
Be they from Chicago or Waterbury, some places just seem to draw most of
the seven deadly sins like magnets.
It's been pointed out that the vast majority of 'Chicago politicians'
are hard-working, honest folk who have the welfare of the city, state
and/or country in mind, and that it's the minority who are 'crooked'.
Somehow, I don't find that comforting.
Then there's the economy. The auto makers are lining up to get a piece
of the pie before Uncle Sam stops paying off. Some people have told me
that it's really unfair to blame the auto execs for things they couldn't
possibly have foreseen, and I tend to agree with that. BUT... what could
they not have foreseen? The fact that the higher-profit SUVs they love
to sell were gas hounds that would quickly fall out of favor if gas
prices rose? (and, given that we've had two oil men running the country
for the past 8 years, who could have seen OIL prices going up?)
Let's face it: Detroit has been engineering its own demise for more than
a decade now. The fact that petroleum is a finite resource has been
accepted since the gas shortages of the 70's.
Remember the cars that they came out with back then when there was
rationing and high prices? They came out with smaller, more efficient
cars that people could afford. But after that crisis was 'over', they
not only went back to their old ways, but flaunted it as if the ability
to over-pay for a gas-guzzler were a status symbol.
Many many moons ago, I bought a car... I'm not going to mention the make
or model, but it was a carburated 4 cylinder 1.6 liter engine. The next
car I bought boasted better fuel efficiency because it was
fuel-injected. It had a 1.4 liter engine instead of 1.6, and had more
power to boot. One would think that the auto makers and auto purchasers
would have seen the virtue of this and continued the trend, finding more
and more ways to be more efficient.
But nooooo, they wanted to make it sexy. Engine sizes went back up,
efficiency went down, and the whole fuel shortage thing got swept under
the carpet.
The next car I bought (my current one), still has a fuel-injected
engine, but it's a 1.8 liter model. I guess the extra 0.4 liters of
displacement were necessary to give the car more power after they did
everything they could to make it less efficient, and the extra
displacement itself also contributed to making everything less
efficient. But, you know, "That's what people want".
Well, after that came the feeling of entitlement with half-ton trucks
that were more showpieces than hard working trucks. And, of course,
efficiency suffered.
But more and more people wanted 'cross-over' vehicles that they could
cart their post-classical neo-yuppie larvae in and complain about what
they cost and what it cost to fill them up. Just another facet of our
lives screamed out for validation... the right to complain about
spending money we didn't have on things we didn't need to impress people
we didn't care about.
So there you have it. The manufacturers, despite knowing the ruin that
lay in that direction, gave the public what they wanted.
The public is now paying for their folly, the government is seeing to
that... there's no talk about a multi-billion dollar bail-out for Joe
DumbAss, is there? Let's see... at 700 billion dollars doled out to the
approximately 305 million people in this country, that'd be.... just
under $2,300.00 for every man, woman and child in the country.
I haven't heard any talk about THAT, have you? Why not give the money to
the people who are going to be doing the spending. The last "stimulus
check", according to pollsters, went to pay down debt anyway... that's a
good thing.. Spending money in that way would probably help the banking
industry, albeit not in the way they want. And that stimulus check
was... what? A maximum of $1,200.00 PER HOUSEHOLD? Hmmmm 12 hundred
bucks PER HOUSEHOLD versus 23 hundred PER PERSON... Hmmmm... which would
you think would be more of a stimulus? Me too.
Of course we can't allow the auto industry to fail... it'd be damaging
not only to our economy, but to our entire way of life for decades to
come. But I simply can't countenance giving money in any way, shape or
form, to the industry raiders who helped cause the problem in the first
place.
If you're going to bail out someone, and are considering bailing out the
industry that caused much of the problem with their own
short-sightedness, why not go RIGHT to the source and give the money to
the people who bought the cars they wanted the industry to make?
Okay, okay, that's enough of that. Let's get to the news, hints, tips
and info from the UseNet.
From the comp.sys.atari.st NewsGroup
====================================
Guillaume Tello asks about a 32 Mb TT RAM board:
"I have received this:
http://pagesperso-orange.fr/gtello/new.htm
Does someone know if this can be modified to get 64Mb or more?"
Jo Even Skarstein tells Guillaume:
"I'm on thin ice here, but I don't think you can. If I remember
correctly, there was a successor to the Mighty Mic 32 that was limited
to 64Mb."
Guillaume now posts this about his earlier question about the
differences between the NOVA and NOVA PLUS cards:
"I have the answer now: The NOVA is limited to 32k colors and the
SuperNOVA can go up to 24 bits or 32 bits resolutions (800x600x32b
requires 2Mb of VRAM)
Pretty cool. First impression and tests: the drivers have been improved
in speed and the TT with SuperNOVA is as fast as my other TT with Nova
and Cattamaran (concerning GEM/VDI calls)."
Edward Baiz tells Guillaume:
"The Nova Plus card I had for my Hades060 was upgradeable to 4meg of
video ram."
Phantomm asks about software he's accumulated:
"I've a few projects that I've been working on, and after going thru
some boxes, I have located my fairly large Atari software collection.
A lot of Atari ST/E related software on disks already in the .ST file
format. Many of these programs especially the games have been cracked
and have nice demos, intros and etc that run before the games loads up
or at the title screen.
A lot of effort went into doing these and I must have several thousand
files in the .ST format. ( I've collected this stuff for years)
Is there enough interest in these files for me to create a few CDs and
make available?
Or should I just leave them in the boxes?
Many are games, but also have a lot of apps/utilities/fonts/text files
and etc. These are from the 80s and early 90s."
Dennis Schulmeister tells Phantomm:
"Me, I'd love buying one of those discs."
Ggnukua adds:
"You can also upload the disks somewhere (newsgroups, file sharing
sites etc) if you can be arsed."
I think... I HOPE he meant "ARCed". [grin]
PPera adds:
"There is already a lot of SW downloadable on WEB. Practically all
menu disks (games with intros, apps) and programs separately. For
instance on planetemu.net . Some CDs, DVDs are still available too.
Of course, there is always interest for good stuff, especially if it
can not find easy. It would be good if you make some list before
writing CD, DVD. Best if you post about this on Atari forum:
http://www.atari-forum.com/index.php"
Phantomm tells PPera:
"Fair enough, I'll go ahead and put 'em on CDs and make a list
available
for comment.
This way at least, the files will be on a safer media. It will take
some
time however. Even though most are already in the .ST format, the shear
number of disks to copy over and sort makes it a huge task."
Well folks, that's it for this time around. I know it's short, but there
were a grand total of 10 usable messages in the Newsgroup this week...
This WEEK! I can remember when each Atari NewsGroup got that many
messages in half an hour! Ahhh... those were the days, huh?
Well, they're gone now, and there's no use crying over spilled bits, ey?
I guess all you can really do is tune in again next week, same time,
same station, and be ready to listen to what they were saying when...
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - Videogames Not Just for Kids!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Midway Sold for $100,000!
PlayStation Home Service Launched!
And much more!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Midway Sold for $100,000
Reuters is reporting that media mogul Sumner Redstone of Redstone's
National Amusements Inc has sold his controlling stake of Midway Games
Inc. to private investor Mark Thomas for roughly $100,000, or $0.0012
per share. Thomas will
assume $70 million of senior secured and unsecured debt.
Redstone's National Amusements Inc is expected to announce on Monday
that it sold the 87 percent stake to investor Mark Thomas, the
Journal said.
Thomas has agreed to pay about $100,000, or $0.0012 a share, for the
Midway stake and will assume $70 million of senior secured and
unsecured debt. Thomas has no prior relationship with Midway Games,
the paper said.
The sale amounts to a significant loss on Redstone's investment but
secures a hefty tax benefit as he negotiates other asset sales, the
paper said.
National Amusements has about $1.6 billion in debt outstanding. Half
of that will need to be repaid by year-end.
The long-term future of Midway Games Inc. remains hanging in the balance.
Uh-Oh: Nintendo Wii Shortages Looming, Again
Yes, three holiday seasons later it may still be a challenge for gift
givers to find a Wii.
Nintendo of America vice president of corporate affairs Denise Kaigler
told the Industry Standard (via email), "It's true that despite this amazing
amount of product we're putting into the channel, some locations around
the country are still experiencing sellouts. There's no way to know if
we'll have enough Wii consoles for the holidays."
Should shortages mount it won't be for a lack of production effort on
Nintendo's part. Kaigler said, "Nintendo now manufactures Wii consoles
at a rate of 2.4 million a month worldwide." She also noted that they
have put half again as many Wiis on U.S. shelves this holiday season
than last. Kaigler recommended that if you think you want one and see it
in a store then you should buy it then because, as she said, "it might
not be on that shelf much longer."
Reports prior to Black Friday noted ample supplies in stock with some stores
boasting castles built from the stacks of machines they had on hand. But
a quick check around online today showed GameStop, Wal-Mart, Kmart,
Target, and Amazon proper out of stock currently, with prices starting
at $338 from secondary sellers on Amazon for new units. As Christmas
draws closer and shopping takes on a more frenzied pace don't be
surprised to see people feverishly looking for Wiis once again,
accompanied by skyrocketing prices.
Videogames Not Just for Kids
Videogames are not just for kids. A new survey out on Sunday found that
more than half of American adults aged 18 and older play videogames, and
that about one out of five play every day or almost every day.
According to the survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project of
the Washington-based Pew Research Center, 53 percent of American adults
aged 18 or older play videogames although the number decreases
significantly with age.
Eighty-one percent of Americans aged between 18 and 29 play videogames,
60 percent of those aged between 30 and 49, 40 percent of those aged
between 50 and 64 and just 23 percent of those aged 65 and older, the
survey found.
Twenty-one percent of those surveyed said they play videogames every day
or almost every day.
The survey found that while a substantial number of adults play
videogames many more teenagers are gamers. A total of 97 percent of the
teenagers surveyed said they play videogames.
Men are more likely than women to play videogames, according to Pew, by
55 percent to 50 percent respectively.
Education level is a predictor of videogame play with 57 percent of
those with at least some college education playing games, 51 percent of
high school graduates and 40 percent of those with less than a high
school education.
For the study, videogame playing was defined as game-playing online, on
a desktop or laptop computer, a game console, a cellphone, a handheld
organizer or a portable gaming device.
Computers are the most popular equipment for adults who play videogames
with 38 percent saying they play games on desktop or laptop computers.
Twenty-eight percent play on game consoles like the Xbox, PlayStation or
the Wii, 18 percent on cellphones or handheld organizers and 13 percent
on portable gaming devices.
Teenagers were much more likely to play videogames on game consoles with
89 percent saying they used consoles to play games.
Internet users were significantly more likely to play games than those
who are not online, the study found, with 64 percent of Web users
playing games compared with just 20 percent of non-Internet users.
Parents are more likely to play videogames than non-parents with 66
percent of parents or guardians of children 17 years old or younger
playing games compared with 47 percents of adults who are not parents.
Teenagers are much more likely than adults to play games online with 76
percent of all teens saying they play games online compared with just 23
percent of all adults.
Pew said the data on teenagers was based on a survey of 1,102 teens
conducted between November 2007 and February 2008.
The data on adults was based on surveys of between 1,063 and 2,054
adults between October 2007 and December 2007. The various surveys had
margins of error of between plus or minus two percent and plus or minus
three percent.
PlayStation Home Service Launches Thursday
It's been so long since the wraps were taken off PlayStation Home at
GDC 2007 that at times it's been easy to forget that it exists. It
definitely does though, and in a couple days it'll finally be in the
hands of American and European PlayStation 3 owners everywhere.
Sony has announced that the wait will end December 11, with Home
becoming a free download that will launch directly from the PSN column
on the XMB. Those living in North America will get access to previously
announced virtual environments from Uncharted: Drake's Fortune and Far
Cry 2, with Resistance, Warhawk, Guitar Hero and SOCOM spaces coming at a
later date.
Basic features will be free, but customized furniture as well as designer
clothes for avatars will be available for a small fee thanks to
partnerships with furniture and fashion designers Lignet Roset and
Diesel. So if you're looking for your avatar to look like someone out of
Project Runway, this is your big chance.
Other features include promotional materials from Sony Pictures films
and "consumer brand spaces" such as Red Bull Island that feature various
sponsored events. Users will also have the ability to create clubs to
meet others who share their interests, again for a small fee.
According to Sony, the release is still an open beta, and will "continue
to evolve with new features and functionality." But then, Gmail is
apparently still in beta as well, so take that label for what you will.
All that matters is that it's finally coming to the public at large.
Hopefully it will have indeed been worth the wait.
Atari Blasts Back from the Past with New Game Plan
For many gamers Atari is a blast from the past or just a logo on retro
T-shirts but the company that dates back 36 years is looking to reclaim
a stake of the video game landscape.
Atari Inc., founded by Nolan Bushnell, launched the first truly
successful video game "Pong" in 1972 but has struggled in recent years
with lackluster games like "Jenga World Tour" and "Godzilla Unleashed."
But a change in ownership this year aims to reinvigorate the company.
French game publisher Infogrames had owned a majority stake in Atari
since 2000 but acquired the rest of Atari this year and has assumed its
name.
New Atari President Phil Harrison, who helped build Sony Worldwide
Studios into a leading game development factory, said it's now up to the
game maker to build the products and services that do the well-known
Atari brand justice.
"Having a cool logo and a brand that's known throughout the world is
great, but unless it stands for something and actually resonates with
our players by delivering great value, fun gameplay, and entertainment,
it doesn't mean anything," he said.
Analysts said Atari had an interesting but checkered past which could
makes some consumers - and investors - wary of its bid to get back on
top of the game.
"The Atari name will always mean 'old school cool' to gamers, but the
brand may need some rehab to regain respect," said Billy Pidgeon,
videogame analyst at IDC.
Atari used London's 02 Arena to showcase 14 games heading to stores in
2009, most of which will ship in the first six months.
For the more hardcore gamers, Atari will bring developer CD Projekt
RED's "The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf," a fantasy role-playing
game, to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in autumn 2009. Atari will also
handle retail distribution of CCP Games' "EVE Online," which gets a
global release March 10.
The company is also reviving the arcade boxing game "Ready 2 Rumble
Revolution" on Wii next year.
Having worked with Hollywood on games like Shiny Entertainment's "Enter
the Matrix" and Atari Los Angeles' "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,"
the company also plans to use a pair of established movie brands to
widen its audience.
"Ghostbusters: The Videogame" ships in June as the Sony Pictures film
marks its 25th anniversary and plays like an interactive third film in
the franchise with the cast involved.
Atari is bringing a virtual Vin Diesel to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in
the spring in "Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena," a shooter
that further explores the back story of Riddick from the films "Pitch
Black" and "Chronicles of Riddick."
Just this week, Atari acquired California-based Cryptic Studios for $28
million (plus the potential for another $20 million in bonus payments),
a developer that produces massively multiplayer online (MMO) games.
Harrison said he believes the future of gaming is online.
Atari will publish Cryptic's three upcoming games in 2009, 2010 and 2011
with the first out the gate the comic book heroes and villains of
"Champions Online," followed by "Star Trek Online" in 2010 and an
unannounced MMO game for 2011.
With its early slate now set, and new internal game development under
way at its new London studio and its established Eden Studio in Lyon,
France, Atari's management now has to deliver on its promise of better
quality games.
"I think Phil Harrison and Paulina Bozek (head of Atari's London Studio)
will be instrumental in building a mass market library, which will help
the publisher compete in today's market," said Pidgeon.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Report Recommends National Office for Cyberspace
The Commission on Cyber Security for the 44th Presidency released a
report Monday on Internet security with recommendations. The focus of
the commission, part of the Center for Strategic and International
Studies, is to provide President-Elect Barack Obama's administration
with insight on cybercriminal activities.
In recent years U.S. agencies, including the Pentagon and the Department
of Homeland Security, have experienced computer break-ins.
The commission was established in August 2007 to plan policy changes for
the new administration. It has made more than two dozen recommendations
to the Obama administration, including creating a new office for
cyberspace. To create the office, it recommends merging the National
Cyber Security Center and the Joint Interagency Task Force.
"We will never be fully secure in cyberspace, but much can be done to
reduce risk, increase resiliency, and gain new strengths," the
commission's report says. "We believe that the next administration can
improve the security situation in relatively short order."
The commission, which met four times and had 30 briefings with
government officials and private-sector experts, said the cyberspace war
has begun and recommended that the proposed National Office for
Cyberspace assume authority.
A Center for Cyber Security Operations was also proposed. The CCSO would
be a nonprofit group of public and private agencies collaborating on
security matters.
Security experts, including Microsoft's Paul Nicholas and McAfee's Dan
Hickey, and research scientists, including Jim Gosler of Sandia National
Laboratories and Clint Kreitner, president of the Center for Internet
Security, advised the commission.
It's likely this will be the first step in the Bush administration's $15
billion cybersecurity initiative.
The National Office for Cyberspace would have authority to revise the
Federal Information Security Management Act, oversee the Trusted
Internet Connection initiative and the Federal Desktop Core
Configuration, and require agencies to submit budget proposals relating
to cyberspace before submission to the Office of Management and Budget.
The 25 listed recommendations also include creation of three
public-private advisory groups, reforming the National Information
Assurance Policy, and increasing the use of secure Internet protocols.
Another recommendation includes increasing cybersecurity research
funding, currently set at $300 million for fiscal year 2009.
"The next administration has an opportunity to improve the situation; we
hope these recommendations can contribute to that effort and its
success," the report says.
White House Opposes FCC's Free Internet Plan
The Bush administration opposes a Federal Communications Commission
plan for free, nationwide wireless Internet access, according to a
report Wednesday by The Wall Street Journal.
The FCC has been considering auctioning 25 megahertz of spectrum in the
2155MHz to 2180MHz band. As part of the rules for using the spectrum,
the FCC plans to require license holders to offer some free wireless
broadband service.
The FCC sees the idea, which is based on a proposal submitted to the FCC
by M2Z Networks in 2006, as a way to provide broadband Internet service
to millions of Americans who either can't afford or don't want to pay
for high-speed Internet access.
However, in a letter sent to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin on Wednesday,
Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez expressed the administration's
opposition to the idea, which could be voted on as early as next week,
according to the report.
"The administration believes that the (airwaves) should be auctioned
without price or product mandate," Gutierrez wrote, according to the
Journal's report. "The history of FCC spectrum auctions has shown that
the potential for problems increases in instances where licensing is
overly prescriptive or designed around unproven business models."
An FCC spokesman told the newspaper that it had received Gutierrez's
letter and was reviewing it.
"We agree that market forces should help drive competition but we also
believe that providing free basic broadband to consumers is a good
thing," the spokesman told the Journal.
The FCC essentially threw its support behind the idea in October with
the release of an engineering report that dismissed concerns about
interference for existing providers.
Existing providers like T-Mobile USA, which spent $4.2 billion in 2006
acquiring spectrum in an adjacent band, said that opening up this
spectrum would cause interference and disrupt service.
The report, however, concluded that spectrum could be used as planned
"without a significant risk of harmful interference."
Obama Urged To Create Post To Protect Children Online
A group which promotes online safety for children urged US president-elect
Barack Obama on Thursday to create a post of "National Safety Officer" to
protect minors on the Internet.
The Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) made the recommendation in a
report, "Making Wise Choices Online," released at its Second Annual
Online Safety Conference held in Washington on Thursday.
Besides creating a post of National Safety Officer, the FOSI also called
for the creation of a US Council for Internet Safety and an Online
Safety Program to fund research, educational and awareness-raising
projects.
It said the post of National Safety Officer should be set up within the
office of the Chief Technology Officer, a position which Obama has
pledged to create in his administration which takes power on January 20.
"We need a paradigm shift in what we do, say and teach about online
safety," said FOSI chief executive Stephen Balkam.
"We look to the next administration to provide leadership and support at
the highest levels to help make the online world a safer place for
children."
Members of FOSI include such Internet powerhouses as AOL, Google,
Microsoft and MySpace.
The group works to protect children from online harassment,
cyberbullying, sexual predators and other threats.
Web Site-Based Crimeware Hits All-Time High
The use of malware on Web sites to steal passwords and other sensitive
information is skyrocketing, according to a new report from the
Anti-Phishing Working Group.
The number of URLs with hidden code for stealing passwords nearly
tripled between July 2007 and July 2008, to a record high of 9,529,
while the number of malicious-application variants hit a high of 442
this May, the APWG reports in its quarterly report (PDF) issued this
week.
The increase is primarily due to malicious code being used in SQL
injection attacks, in which a small malicious script is inserted into a
database that feeds information to the Web site. Typically, the host
site is legitimate such as BusinessWeek's, not a phishing site created
for the sole purpose of stealing consumer data.
The financial-services industry is the most targeted sector for phishing
attacks, followed by those focusing on auctions and payment services,
the report found.
"Cybercriminals continue to increase their activities to levels never
before seen in the five years since the APWG has been monitoring
phishing and crimeware," APWG Chairman Dave Jevans said in a statement.
The recession is prompting even more malicious activity online, he said.
"The current financial crisis has also been used by phishers to create
new scams that try to scare consumers into entering their usernames and
passwords into sites that mimic those of well-known distressed financial
institutions," Jevans said. "As the economy degrades, we are seeing a
continual increase in malicious and criminal activity on the Internet."
Another report issued this week shows that IT security professionals
view cybercrime and data breaches as the top security risks, followed by
mobility, outsourcing, cloud computing, mobile devices, peer-to-peer
file sharing, Web 2.0 services, and malware.
Meanwhile, respondents who work in IT operations listed outsourcing as
the biggest risk, followed by mobile devices and cybercrime, in the 2008
Security Mega Trends Survey conducted by The Ponemon Institute on behalf
of Lumension Security. In the survey, 577 respondents work in IT
security, and 825 work in IT operations.
Of those surveyed, 83 percent of the IT security workers and 79 percent
of IT operations professionals reported that their organization had a
data breach due to customer or employee information being lost or
stolen. Overall, 92 percent of the organizations have experienced a
cyberattack.
Another survey, released on Thursday by CA, looks at behaviors and
perceptions among American adults and teens of their safety online.
Fifty-seven percent of adults fear that they may become victims of
identity fraud online within the next two years, and 90 percent worry
about the security of their personal data. Meanwhile, 35 percent of
teens leave their social-networking profiles open to viewing by
strangers, 38 percent post their education information, 32 percent
disclose their e-mail addresses, and 28 percent reveal their birth date.
Laptop Searches at Border Might Get Restricted
Mohamed Shommo, an engineer for Cisco Systems Inc., travels overseas
several times a year for work, so he is accustomed to opening his bags
for border inspections upon returning to the U.S. But in recent years,
these inspections have gone much deeper than his luggage.
Border agents have scrutinized family pictures on Shommo's digital
camera, examined Koranic verses and other audio files on his iPod and
even looked up Google keyword searches he had typed into his company laptop.
"They literally searched everywhere and every device they could," said
Shommo, who now minimizes what he takes on international trips and
deletes pictures off his camera before returning to the U.S. "I don't
think anyone has a right to look at my private belongings without my
permission. You never know how they will interpret what they find."
Given all the personal details that people store on digital devices,
border searches of laptops and other gadgets can give law enforcement
officials far more revealing pictures of travelers than suitcase
inspections might yield. That has set off alarms among civil liberties
groups and travelers' advocates - and now among some members of Congress
who hope to impose restrictions on the practice next year.
They fear the government has crossed a sacred line by rummaging through
electronic contact lists and confidential e-mail messages, trade secrets
and proprietary business files, financial and medical records and other
deeply private information.
These searches, opponents say, threaten Fourth Amendment safeguards
against unreasonable search and seizure and could chill free expression
and other activities protected by the First Amendment. What's more, they
warn, such searches raise concerns about ethnic and religious profiling
since the targets often are Muslims, including U.S. citizens and
permanent residents.
"I feel like I don't have any privacy," said Shommo, a native of Sudan
who has been in the U.S. for more than a decade and plans to apply for
citizenship next year. "I don't feel treated equally to everybody else.
I feel discriminated against."
Customs and Border Protection, part of the Department of Homeland
Security, asserts that it has constitutional authority to conduct
routine searches at the border - without suspicion of wrongdoing - to
prevent dangerous people and property from entering the country. This
authority, the government maintains, applies not only to suitcases and
bags, but also to books, documents and other printed materials - as well
as to electronic devices.
Such searches, the government notes, have uncovered everything from
martyrdom videos and other violent jihadist materials to child
pornography and stolen intellectual property.
While Homeland Security points out that these procedures predate the
attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, civil liberties groups have seen an uptick in
complaints about border searches of electronic devices in the past two
years, according to Shirin Sinnar, staff attorney at the Asian Law
Caucus. In some cases, travelers suspected border agents were copying
their files after taking their laptops and cell phones away for anywhere
from a few minutes to a few weeks or longer.
Such inspections appear to amount to "a fishing expedition" by border
agents, said Farhana Khera, executive director of Muslim Advocates.
These objections led the Asian Law Caucus and the Electronic Frontier
Foundation to file a Freedom of Information request to obtain the
federal policy on border searches of electronic devices. When the
government failed to respond, the groups filed a lawsuit this year. And
lawmakers began demanding answers.
So in July, amid the mounting outside pressure, Homeland Security
released a formal policy stating that federal agents can search
documents and electronic devices at the border without suspicion. The
procedures also allow border agents to detain documents and devices for
"a reasonable period of time" to perform a thorough search "on-site or
at an off-site location."
The problem with this policy, argues Marcia Hofmann, staff attorney with
the Electronic Frontier Foundation, is that the contents of a laptop or
other digital device are fundamentally different than those of a typical
suitcase.
As Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who is co-sponsoring one of several bills in
Congress that would restrict such searches, put it: "You can't put your
life in a suitcase, but you can put your life on a computer."
Susan Gurley, executive director of the Association of Corporate Travel
Executives, which filed its own Freedom of Information request to obtain
the government's laptop search policy, noted that border searches pose a
particular concern for international business travelers. That's because
they often carry sensitive corporate information on their laptops and
don't have the option of leaving their computers at home.
And for many travelers, the concerns go beyond their own privacy or the
privacy of their employers. Lawyers may have documents subject to
attorney-client privilege. Doctors may be carrying patient records.
Tahir Anwar is an imam at a mosque in San Jose, Calif., so his laptop
and iPhone contain confidential information about the mosque's members,
including their personal e-mail messages.
Anwar has traveled abroad 12 times over the past 2 1/2 years and he has
been detained upon returning to the U.S. every time. Border agents have
searched his laptop and once took away his cell phone for 15 minutes.
Now when Anwar travels, he simply leaves his laptop behind and deletes
e-mail off his iPhone before crossing the border, synching it back up
with his computer after he gets home.
"People tell me their innermost secrets," Anwar said. "I tell people to
e-mail me, so a lot of personal information is in my e-mail. If people
find out that this information is being looked at, I can't serve my
purpose and people won't come to me."
For its part, the government argues that some of the most dangerous
contraband is transported in digital form today - making searches of
electronic devices a crucial law enforcement tool.
Among the successful searches the government cites from recent years: In
2006, a man arriving from the Netherlands at the Minneapolis airport had
digital pictures of high-level Al-Qaida officials, and video clips of
improvised explosive devices being detonated and of the man reading his
will. The man was convicted of visa fraud and removed from the country.
"To treat digital media at the international border differently than
Customs and Border Protection has treated documents and other
conveyances historically would provide a great advantage to terrorists
and others who seek to do us harm," Jayson Ahern, the agency's deputy
commissioner, said in a statement submitted to the Senate Judiciary
subcommittee on the Constitution in June. Homeland Security did not send
anyone to testify.
Amy Kudwa, a spokeswoman for the department, also stressed that a tiny
fraction of 1 percent of all travelers are singled out for laptop
searches at the border. She added that Homeland Security does not
profile based on religion, race, ethnicity or any other criteria in
conducting such searches.
So far, only a handful of court cases have addressed the issue.
Federal appeals courts in two circuits have upheld warrantless or
"suspicionless" computer searches at the border that turned up images of
child pornography used as evidence in criminal cases.
But late last year, a U.S. magistrate judge in Vermont ruled that the
government could not force a man to divulge the password to his laptop
after a search at the Canadian border found child pornography. The U.S.
Attorney's Office in Vermont is appealing the decision to the U.S.
district court.
Now Congress is getting involved. A handful of bills have been
introduced that could pass next year.
One measure, sponsored by Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., chairman of the
Constitution subcommittee, would require reasonable suspicion of illegal
activity to search the contents of electronic devices carried by U.S.
citizens and legal residents. It would also require probable cause and a
warrant or court order to detain a device for more than 24 hours.
And it would prohibit profiling of travelers based on race, ethnicity,
religion or national origin.
Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., is sponsoring a bill in the House that would
also require suspicion to inspect electronic devices. Engel said he is
not trying to impede legitimate searches to protect national security.
But, he said, it is just as important to protect civil liberties.
"It's outrageous that on a whim, a border agent can just ask you for
your laptop," Engel said. "We can't just throw our constitutional rights
out the window."
Google Releases Finished Version of Chrome Browser
Google yanked the "beta" test label off Chrome, quickly putting a stamp of
approval on its Web browser released in a direct challenge to Microsoft's
ubiquitous Internet Explorer.
The California online search titan - known for leaving new software
offerings in beta, or test, modes for what seems like ages - says
Chrome proved its merits, and in a relatively brief 100 days.
Google's free web-based Gmail service still bears a "beta" label even
though it was launched nearly five years ago.
Chrome has gone through 15 iterations since its launch with fixes and
modifications engineered based on feedback from some of the more than 10
million people worldwide that have started using the browser.
"We're excited to announce that with today's 50th release we are taking
off the 'beta' label," Google engineering director Linus Upson and
product management vice president Sundar Pichai wrote in an online
posting.
"We have removed the beta label as our goals for stability and
performance have been met but our work is far from done."
Improvements which users called for, and reportedly got, include better
video viewing, faster data loading, and strict privacy and security
controls.
Google and Microsoft have been in an escalating war, with the Redmond,
Washington-based software goliath striving to unseat Google as king of
Internet search and advertising.
Google, meanwhile, is striking at the heart of Microsoft's empire by
offering software free online as services supported by advertising.
Firefox 3.1 Beta 2 Available with New Features
Mozilla has quietly rolled out its second beta download of the
next-generation Firefox Web browser, code-named Shiretoko. Firefox 3.1
Beta 2 is a public preview release primarily intended for developer
testing and community feedback.
Firefox 3.1 Beta 2 is available for download in 54 languages. Though the
software's developers consider their latest public release to be stable,
they said users of Firefox 3.0 should not expect all their browser
plug-ins to work properly with Firefox 3.1 Beta 2.
The latest Firefox milestone is focused on testing core functionality,
noted Mike Beltzner, director for Mozilla Firefox. "It includes many new
features as well as improvements to performance, Web compatibility, and
speed," he said.
Just like the alpha release of the Opera 10 browser, Firefox 3.1 Beta 2
lets Web site designers link their pages to downloadable fonts to
display Unicode characters not otherwise supported and to render sites
more precisely. Additionally, the Beta 2 release now supports Canvas
shadow effects.
Other notable Beta 2 improvements include the default use of a
considerably faster Tracemonkey JavaScript engine, the addition of
speculative parsing to the Gecko 1.9.1 layout engine to speed up content
rendering, and support for new Web technologies such as the W3C
Geolocation API. However, Firefox 3.1 Beta 2's main claim to fame comes
from its incorporation of slick privacy browsing.
"Private browsing is not a tool to keep you anonymous from Web sites or
your ISP, or, for example, protect you from all kinds of spyware
applications which use sophisticated techniques to intercept your online
traffic," said developer Ehsan Akhgari. "Private browsing is only about
making sure that Firefox doesn't store any data which can be used to
trace your online activities - no more, no less."
Up to now, Firefox users who want to cover their Web-surfing tracks have
had to periodically clear the data that the browser normally stores,
such as history, cookies and cache. "The problem is that this action
will also remove the parts of your online activities data which you
don't want to hide, so the history that Firefox records can no longer be
used to find a Web site you had visited a month before," Akhgari observed.
And that's where Beta 2's private browsing comes in handy. To access
this stealth surfing feature, select Private Browsing from the Tools
menu and click on the Start Private Browsing button. A regular browsing
session is temporarily closed and a private session opens in a new window.
"At this stage, you can start browsing Web sites without ever having to
worry that Firefox might store something on your computer which can be
used to tell which pages you have visited," Akhgari said.
To stop private browsing, open the Tools menu and unselect Private
Browsing. "This action discards all of the data from your private
session, and will restore your non-private browsing session, just like
it was before entering the private-browsing mode," Akhgari said.
$99 (Yes, $99) Netbook Debuts From Asus, RadioShack
In what may be a sign of things to come, Asus and RadioShack have
launched a netbook whose price appears to be subsidized by its 3G
provider, AT&T.
The Acer Aspire one netbook is priced at just $99, but only for
customers who sign up for a two-year contract with AT&T, which is
providing the wireless data connection for the netbook's integrated 3G
connnection. AT&T's wireless data plans start at $60 per month, which
means consumers will pay little up front, but $1,440 over the two-year
contract.
The offer is available in 4,400 RadioShack company-operated stores
through Dec. 24, RadioShack said.
Although netbooks have been subsidized overseas by wireless carriers,
that trend hasn't appeared on U.S. shores. However, Michael Dell
reportedly claimed that netbooks would soon be subsidized by wireless
carriers, and HP consumer notebook chief Kevin Frost was quoted by The
Wall Street Journal, saying the subsidies "were the long-term model".
"Many people internationally are already enjoying the portability,
on-the-go connectivity and affordability of this emerging new
technology," said Peter Whitsett, RadioShack's executive vice president
of merchandising, in a statement. "We are proud to introduce this
concept in the U.S. by offering a netbook with integrated 3G
functionality in addition to full Wi-Fi capability.
The Windows XP netbook appears to be comparably equipped to some of its
competitors. Specifications provided by RadioShack and Asus indicate
that the netbook includes an 8.9-inch LCD screen, an Intel Atom
processor, a gigabyte of RAM, a 160-Gbyte hard drive, a webcam, a 5-in-1
memory card reader, the AT&T 3G technology, and 802.11b/g Wi-Fi. The
netbook weighs 2.44 pounds and measures 9.8 inches wide by 6.7 inches
deep and 1.1 inches high, when closed.
Microsoft To Soon Sell Full Range of Web Software
Microsoft Corp will soon launch a full range of online versions of its
software products, including the Office suite, and expects the weak
economy to accelerate growth of the nascent Web-based software market, a
senior executive said on Monday.
Stephen Elop, president of Microsoft's business division, is leading the
company's entry into the "software as a service" market, which offers
programs that are hosted online instead of downloaded to computer hard
drives.
By using the Web to host software like Microsoft Office, as well as
Exchange e-mail and SharePoint collaborative software, Microsoft
customers do not need to spend as much money on equipment and
maintenance of computer servers.
"What we think is in five years, 50 percent of the use of Exchange and
Sharepoint could be serviced from the cloud," Elop told Reuters in an
interview.
"Between now and then, a year or two or whatever, if it's going to be
tough economic times, that means we expect quite a lot of movement in
that direction, a lot of people taking advantage of that," he added. "I
think the economy will help it."
Microsoft's foray into online software services comes amid competition
from Google Inc, whose Google Apps provide free Web services including
calendar, collaboration, email and messaging software.
Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft has said it plans to upgrade its
Office business software to include online versions of the popular Word
and Excel programs. Elop said the company would soon announce a wide
range of services, including free versions supported by advertising.
"We expect fully that the full range of Office utilities, from the most
advanced to simpler lightweight versions, will be available with a range
of options: ad-funded, subscriptions-based, traditional licensing fees,
and so forth. So you should expect to see that full array," he said.
Elop declined to specify when the services would be launched, but said
"in 2009 you're going to see a lot of advance in this area."
Microsoft will likely make a profit from the new initiative within a
year after the launch, he said.
He also said that even the basic, free versions will trump Google Apps
in capabilities, and that Microsoft will ensure that users can move
Office documents in and out of the Web browser environment without any
garbling to the text.
Microsoft's advantage against Google is its rich set of software
services, he said, adding that this is also a benefit as it competes
with network equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc, which is also expanding
into the Web-based software business.
Elop said recent meetings with customers showed strong interest in
upgrading to online software applications, despite worries that a global
recession would dampen technology spending.
"We may have underestimated the extent to which customers will move in
this direction," he said.
Student Punished for Facebook Rant Against Teacher Sues School
A former Florida high school student disciplined for "cyberbullying" one
of her teachers on Facebook has filed a lawsuit against the principal of
the school for allegedly violating her freedom of speech.
Katherine Evans, 18, who recently graduated from Pembroke Pines Charter
High School north of Miami, is suing principal Peter Bayer for
suspending her after she posted negative comments about her English
teacher, the Miami Herald reported on Wednesday.
Evans, an honors student, created the Facebook group "Ms. Sarah Phelps
is the worst teacher I've ever met!" in November 2007 featuring a
picture of the teacher, and asked her friends to join, the newspaper said.
The three students who joined only did so to praise Phelps and criticize
Evans, after which she took down the page from the popular social
networking site, it said.
But school authorities got word of the group and suspended Evans for
three days for cyberbullying and disruptive behavior. She was also
removed from her advanced placement classes.
The lawsuit, filed Monday by the American Civil Liberties Union, does
not seek monetary damages but calls on the school to remove the
suspension penalty, which "stained (Evans's) academic record and
violated her First Amendment rights."
AISD Teacher Throws Fit Over Student's Linux CD
In an age where Windows and OS X reign supreme, it's no wonder that a
local AISD middle school teacher became enraged after discovering one of
her students distributing what she believed to be bootlegged copies of an
operating system in class.
While teacher "Karen" was clearly operating under the assumption that
she'd scored a minor victory for the Microsofts and other downtrodden
software giants of the world, the particular operating system that she
ended up disciplining her student for was a freely distributable version
of Linux.
To wit, the following is part of an email that the teacher sent to the
person who originally provided said Linux to the student:
...observed one of my students with a group of other children gathered
around his laptop. Upon looking at his computer, I saw he was giving a
demonstration of some sort. The student was showing the ability of the
laptop and handing out Linux disks. After confiscating the disks I called
a confrence [sic] with the student and that is how I came to discover you
and your organization.
Mr. Starks, I am sure you strongly believe in what you are doing but
I cannot either support your efforts or allow them to happen in my
classroom. At this point, I am not sure what you are doing is legal. No
software is free and spreading that misconception is harmful.
These children look up to adults for guidance and discipline. I will
research this as time allows and I want to assure you, if you are doing
anything illegal, I will pursue charges as the law allows. Mr. Starks, I
along with many others tried Linux during college and I assure you, the
claims you make are grossly over-stated and hinge on falsehoods. I admire
your attempts in getting computers in the hands of disadvantaged people
but putting linux on these machines is holding our kids back.
This is a world where Windows runs on virtually every computer, and
putting on a carnival show for an operating system is not helping these
children at all.
What makes the story especially poignant, besides the teacher's
disparagingly defeatist attitude, is that the copy of Linux was
originally provided to this student courtesy of the Austin-based HeliOS
Project, which builds and provides Linux computers to disadvantaged or
"exceptionally promising" students. It seems that this kid was merely
showing his friends, in an albeit super-nerdy fashion, that there existed
an alternative to bloated and overpriced operating systems.
Starks responded on the HeliOS blog, saying:
And please...investigate to your heart's content. You are about to
have your eyes opened, that is if you actually investigate anything at
all. Linux is a free as-in-cost and free as-in-license operating system.
It was designed specifically for those purposes. Linux is used to free
people from Microsoft. The fact that you seem to believe that Microsoft
is the end all and be-all is actually funny in a sad sort of way. Then
again, being a good NEA member, you would spout the Union line. Microsoft
has pumped tens of millions of dollars into your union. Of course you are
going to "recommend" Microsoft Windows". To do otherwise would probably
get you reprimanded at the least and fired at the worst. You are only
doing what you've been instructed to do.
You've been trained well.
His full response, plus the ensuing comments storm, makes for prime
reading. We're hoping that Miss Karen decides to abandon her quixotic
quest to "pursue charges as the law allows," because doing otherwise will
only subject this state's already-abysmal education system to further
ridicule.
Computer Mouse Turns 40
It's hard to believe that the computer mouse is celebrating its 40th
birthday today. Honestly, it doesn't look a day over 25.
On this date in 1968, inventor Douglas Engelbart demoed the first mouse
at the Fall Joint Computer Conference (FJCC). That mouse was a big
wooden box built by Bill English, who would continue to play an
important role in the device's evolution.
Visit Gearlog <http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/zd/tc_zd/
storytext/234847/30190740/SIG=1230jlarb/*http://www.gearlog.com/2008/
12/40_years_of_the_mouse_a_guided.php#more>, and check out some of the
highlights of the mouse's long and colorful career.
=~=~=~=
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