Thursday, October 31, 2002
Top Stories
Making The Web Child-Safe
KidFu is one of the most recent attempts to address a concern raised since the Web first took off as a popular medium almost a decade ago: the need for an online environment where children feel completely out of harm's way.
News Sites Need To Go On Diets
Home pages are bloated with information.
News
Wi-Fi Group Lays Out Better Wireless Security
The guidelines call for new mechanisms to replacement the current security system, based on WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy), which has come under fire for being too easy to circumvent.
Wireless ISPs Fanning New "Hot Spots"
The nation's oldest "hot spot" network plans to give away Wi-Fi equipment starting Friday, in an aggressive push to increase the number of urban areas that offer wireless Web access.
Hybrid Handhelds
Multifunctional devices may be the future for handhelds, but for now, there are hybrids.
Licensing Programmers: A Resurgent Issue
I highly respect the people who yearn for liability, but I challenge them to come up with a concrete proposal for such a law that would actually work and be fair.
RealNetworks, U.S. Government Recognize Power Of Open Source
Common sense, it seems, is breaking out all over.
Linux
Flag Of Inconvenience
Fearing the Taiwanese flag would irk China, Red Hat yanked it from its version of Linux — and started an international geek uproar.
Wednesday, October 30, 2002
Top Stories
Defending The Use Of Open Source
A new report reveals just how much the U.S. Department of Defense depends on open-source software and recommends steps to ensure that open source is recognized and accepted.
News
WiFi Eyes Better Wireless LAN Security
WECA on Thursday will announce a new set of mechanisms to combat the security problem that has plagued wireless LANs.
Airport Lounges, Unplugged
T-Mobile USA Inc., formerly VoiceStream Wireless, is partnering with American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines to let people get high-speed wireless Internet connections in nearly all of the airlinesí domestic clubs over the coming year.
Linux Firm Promises Low-Cost Clusters
French Linux distributor MandrakeSoft announced the release of a version of the open-source operating system that it says is optimized for creating low-budget supercomputers.
Open-Spectrum Advocates Say It Will Boost Technology
The core of this idea is the belief that, if the rules are tweaked the right way, technology companies in the next five years will have brought to market the equipment that will make the notion of electromagnetic-spectrum scarcity, a fundamental issue of telecom economics, seem quaint.
Tuesday, October 29, 2002
Top Stories
Security Fueling Open-Source Adoption
Security is becoming one of the main drivers behind the adoption of open-source software in the enterprise and government, say security experts and CIOs gathered here for Red Hat Inc.'s Open Source Security Summit.
Report: Digital Photos Not Bumping Film
Despite rapid growth in sales of digital cameras, consumers are using film as much as ever, according to a report released Tuesday by research company IDC.
The New Push For E-Government
From Washington, D.C., to Washington State to your hometown, Net-based efficiences are luring more and more entities online.
DVD Burners May Be Hot Gifts
As electronics makers hope for strong sales, Hollywood frets.
News
UnitedLinux Completes Beta
UnitedLinux has completed beta testing of the first release of its open source Linux operating system and is ready to launch the product as planned next month.
Wireless WarDrive: Wee Bit Of Fun
"There's something just plain wrong about a city where you can find 100 open wireless networks in a half hour and not one public bathroom."
Who Owns Your E-Mail?
Nancy Carter has a message for Internet service providers: Keep your hands off my e-mail.
Reuters Accused Of Hacking
According to news reports, the report was accessible to anyone who knew the correct address. But Intentia said the report was not linked to through any public means.
AIM, ICQ To Interoperate
America Online said it would allow its next version of AOL Instant Messenger to communicate with ICQ, a surprise move that will topple the long-standing barrier between the company's two popular IM services.
Web Services: Seeking A Common Tongue
A Web services standards organization Tuesday issued a first draft of recommendations for linking systems using the emerging technology.
RSS Files Can Help Keep Your Surfing Up To Date
RSS is a tremendous big win for everyone.
Celebrating Holidays And Special Occasions On Websites
Even small holiday decorations can increase joy of use and make websites feel more current and more connected to users' lives and physical environment. The key is to commemorate without detracting from your users' main reasons for visiting the site.
Monday, October 28, 2002
Top Stories
The Next Step
Having been there at the birth of the web, Berners-Lee is perhaps uniquely placed to see where it is going.
Eye On America, Indeed
For those who dare complain about video surveillance, the standard law enforcement response is that there's no expectation of privacy in public places. Given the capabilities of today's technology, this is utter nonsense.
News
Firm Says Law Stifles Fair Use
Software developer is trying to prove his DVD Copy Plus does not violate copyright law.
Sun To Give Away Server Software
Sun Microsystems on Monday announced an update to its application server software along with plans to offer a free version of the product.
Are Pop-Up Ads Killing Themselves?
The need for third-party pop-up killers may be lessening as Internet service providers and highly trafficked Web sites begin to include this functionality.
Palm Hands It To The High End
Aiming to kick-start a sluggish market for handhelds, Palm is announcing two new devices Monday for mobile professionals and businesses.
The Real War Is For PC Gamers And Their Money
Rival Interactive is not the only company trying to serve the Pentagon and computer geeks simultaneously.
Succesful Free Software Businesses
The tragedy, I've argued, is that amazon, google, et al don't consider themselves FSBs and act accordingly.
Sunday, October 27, 2002
Top Stories
Prada's Smart Tags Too Clever?
The Italian fashion company's use of radio ID tags is designed to improve the shopping experience, but privacy consultants say they pose new privacy risks for consumers.
A New Company Tries To Sort The Web's Chaos
Grokker software, which is intended to allow personal-computer users to visually make sense of collections of thousands or hundreds of thousands of text documents, is creating a buzz.
News
When The Spam Hits The Blogs
Owners of the conversational websites known as weblogs have recently noticed that their referral logs have become the newest target for spam.
Securing The Cloud
Digital security, once the province of geeks, is now everyone's concern. But there is much more to the problem—or the solution—than mere technology.
The Do's And Don'ts Of Shareware, Part 3
Today we conclude the series with a discussion about press releases, payment processing, user support, a launch checklist, localization, and working from the road.
Friday, October 25, 2002
Top Stories
Scientists Shrink Computing To Molecular Level
Using a novel computing technique that resembles an elaborately staged billiards trick shot, I.B.M. scientists have created what they say is not only the world's smallest logic circuit, but also possibly the smallest that could ever be made.
News
Blog Site Back Up After Hack Attack
Pyra sparked up its popular Blogger.com site again Friday after shutting it down earlier in the day in response to a hacker attack.
Torvalds: Next Linux Due By June
The next version of the heart of the Linux operating system is expected by June, project founder and leader Linus Torvalds predicted on Thursday.
Letter: Free Software Hurts US
An attack on the software license behind the Linux operating system has stirred up a free software controversy in Washington.
Blind May Get Look At Digital Pictures
Technology lets users 'see' by touch.
Thursday, October 24, 2002
Top Stories
Airlines Set To Install Inflight E-Mail
Mile-high Web access could help airlines boost revenues.
PCs May Know You Better Than Mum Does
Human-computer interaction will become more efficient and natural, characterized by questions and answers using natural language technology.
News
Sun To Step Aboard Web Services Group
The move is a reversal of the company's previous stance that it would join the group only as a board member so as to be on equal footing with IBM and Microsoft, the group's founding board members and Sun rivals.
More Than One Internet Attack Occurred Monday
Monday's attack on the 13 computer servers that manage the world's Internet traffic was the first of two assaults, according to officials at the companies that were affected.
Google Excluding Controversial Sites
To conform with some countries' laws, the leading search engine removes some anti-abortion, pro-Nazi, white supremacy and anti-semitic site listings.
P2P Hacking Bill May Be Amended
A proposal to let copyright owners hack into and disrupt peer-to-peer networks will be revised, a congressional aide said Wednesday.
Music Industry Spins Falsehood
I am not advocating indiscriminate downloading without the artist's permission. But I do object to the industry spin that it is doing all this to protect artists. It is not protecting us; it is protecting itself.
Ultrawideand Gets A Break
A new study suggests a wireless technology called ultrawideband causes less interference for bandwidth neighbors than first believed.
AOL Discs Heat Up On eBay Auctions
Touting the launch of version 8.0 of its online service, AOL has released a series of collectible discs sporting designs by celebrities such as movie star Tom Cruise and fashion designer Donna Karan. The discs—and the original artwork behind them—are now showing up on eBay and selling for $36 on up.
Wednesday, October 23, 2002
Top Stories
ID Chip's Controversial Approval
A surprise decision by the Food and Drug Administration permits the use of implantable ID chips in humans, despite an FDA investigator's recent public reservations about the devices.
Servers Bounce Back From E-Attack
An unusually powerful electronic attack briefly crippled nine of the 13 computer servers that manage global Internet traffic this week, officials disclosed Tuesday. But most Internet users didn't notice because the attack only lasted one hour.
News
Major Net Backbone Attack Could Be First Of Many
Experts say that Monday's incident opens a new chapter in the history of Internet-based attacks.
Tuesday, October 22, 2002
Top Stories
Interview: Marissa Mayer, Product Manager, Google
"I think Google should be like a Swiss Army knife: clean, simple, the tool you want to take everywhere."
Digital Identity Redux
THe big problem is that there's no consumer demand.
Southwest Off The Hook
The article is disappointingly full of FUD from critics of the ADA.
News
Tracking Down Insecure WLANs
Looking for something to do this weekend? Well, if you have a laptop and a wireless card, you can join dozens of other technophiles with time on their hands in searching out insecure WLANs.
Vendors Detail Changing Face Of Content Management
Several vendors Tuesday said that CM (content management) is evolving to include a broader variety of data types and new functionality and, in so doing, is broadening the ways CM can be used to add value throughout the organization.
Vignette Launches V7
V7 ushers in a shift in strategy, turning the company's focus to delivering packaged content applications for portals, document management, e-marketing, and collaboration, all powered by Web services, according to company officials.
Building Online Communities
Before you can start focusing your community-building actions, you must understand the dynamics of online communities.
Monday, October 21, 2002
Top Stories
Judge: Disabilities Act Doesn't Cover Web
A federal judge ruled Friday that Southwest Airlines does not have to revamp its Web site to make it more accessible to the blind.
News
Features For Linux 3.0 Kernel Nearly Set
The feature set for the Linux 3.0 kernel, the next major update to the open source operating system, is close to being finalized and contributors are being told to submit their patches to the list of candidates as soon as possible.
Researchers See Strides In Biometrics
Whether you stroll, stride, lurch or lumber, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology are studying ways to identify and track you by the way you walk.
Year Starts Slow For Web Ads
Online advertising sales dropped by 20 percent in the first six months of the year compared to 2001, a new study shows, cementing concerns about a prolonged ad slump.
Tuning In To Digital Radio
The future of radio—one of the last analog holdouts in an increasingly digital world—is coming into view in the United Kingdom.
Chrysler Crashes With Linux
DaimlerChrysler has purchased 108 dual-processor Linux workstations from IBM to run car-crash simulations, highlighting the spread of the low-cost "cluster" supercomputer technique beyond the academic domain.
Sunday, October 20, 2002
Top Stories
Software Idea May Be Just Crazy Enough To Work
For more than a year, Mitch Kapor and his small team have been working on what they're calling an open-source "Interpersonal Information Manager."
WiFi Software Tracks You Down
Positioning technology company Ekahau has released an updated version of its software, which allows devices to be physically tracked when they are connected to an 802.11 WLAN network.
For The Web Generation, Travel Is Self-Service
An army of bargain hunters, booking at the 11th hour, is changing the travel industry.
News
Instant Imaging Device Gives GPs Safe New Window INto The Body
A camera that can see through clothes, skin and even walls without X-rays has been developed in what is being called one of the first great technological breakthroughs of the 21st century.
Webcasters Get Royalty Reprieve
Samll Web broadcasters won't pay the price for Congress' failure to pass legislation that relieves them from thousands of dollars in back payments to the recording industry.
Saturday, October 19, 2002
Top Stories
Into The Deep
How deep linking can sink you.
Lessons From The Internet Bookmobile
While it wasn't always clear to the public what we were up to exactly—were we selling books? selling the equipment?—eventually the point crystallized: the Bookmobile is a demo of a public domain application.
News
NTT Develops 10Gbps Wireless System
NTT Science and Core Technology Laboratory Group has developed a wireless communications system using the 120GHz band.
The Mobile Internet: It Ain't Over 'Til The Fat Lady Sings
Opera's impressive new browser solves the puzzle of fitting regular Web pages onto very small screens. Will the much-hyped boom in cellphone surfing finally follow?
Friday, October 18, 2002
Top Stories
Digital Radio: Small Guys' Ruin?
The noise big radio conglomerates are making about digital radio is likely to drown out community radio stations — dashing small broadcasters' hopes that the new technology would boost their signal.
Stop With The Hacks, Mobile Users Don't Browse
Studying mobile usersí needs and tendencies, getting content into easily consumable formats and developing more usable and appropriate mobile applications are the real answers.
News
Step-By-Step Prompts Put The Blind On Track
An interactive personal navigation system developed at the University of Florida could someday guide blind people through corridors and along busy city sidewalks.
Thursday, October 17, 2002
News
Maintaining The Internet
Since WorldCom's financial troubles surfaced last spring, competing carriers have made a rallying cry for enterprises to invest in redundant services, but it turns out that they do not always have sufficient backup plans themselves.
For A Two-Digit Price, A Two-Button Palm
Maybe, just maybe, more features every year is not what people want.
Back To The User: Creating User-Focused Websites
Collective lessons learned from listening to and observing users.
Wednesday, October 16, 2002
News
For Google, Innovations Withstand Downturn
One smart idea has followed another at the Mountain View company.
I've Got To Get A Message To You
Instant messaging took a while to get here, but now it's here to stay.
Tuesday, October 15, 2002
Top Stories
Saving AOL
The online giant's woes are legion. Will new software and a bet on broadband come to the rescue?
News
Linux Renews Desktop Bid
Organizations shouldn't expect a move to Linux to significantly cut desktop costs.
Compact Disc Replacement Skips Out
Start-up DataPlay, which hoped its quarter-size minidisc would replace the compact disc, has shut down and is looking for a buyer.
The Keyboard That Isn't There
Work on the move? Forget laptops and fiddly data entry devices; soon an uncluttered tabletop will be all you need to set up a mobile office.
Monday, October 14, 2002
Top Stories
Opera Sings On Phone Browser
Opera Software says it has finally solved the long-standing problem of reading big, bulky Web pages on tiny cell phone screens, posing a potential threat to both WAP and to Microsoft.
News
It's Time To Fix Copyrights — Permanently
The debate over digital copyright finally is returning to the nation's capital—and it's about time.
Hollywood Vs. Your PC
Movie and music moguls are hopping mad over the new technologies that are transforming digital entertainment. Washington is listening. What's at risk? Your ability to enjoy DVDs and CDs you've bought, your privacy—even your control over your PC.
Sunday, October 13, 2002
Top Stories
Freedom To Flame
Online political chat is an insult to democracy. Can it be fixed?
In My Own Dream
Someone to wake us up before it's too late.
News
Easy Access To Public Records Online Raises Privacy Questions
Now governments are examining what information should be made public on the World Wide Web and whether different rules should apply to electronic documents.
'96pc Of Net Radio' To Close After Backroom Deal Screws Grassroots 'Casters
The smallest, non-profit webcasters accuse a cabal of thirteen small commercial operations of misleading Congress and the public by negotiating a deal which saves the wealthier stations from performance royalties, while many smaller operations, college stations and amateurs — the core of the grass roots broadcasters - will go to the wall.
Internet
Kiwi Symphony's Errant Scat Music
They had been expecting Wagner; instead, they got "Wee on My Face."
Saturday, October 12, 2002
Top Stories
Google Needs People
By reveling in declarations of pure automation, Google buries its true identity.
News
Free Mickey Mouse
Even if Mr Lessig loses the case on narrow legal grounds, the publicity will be invaluable to his cause.
An Interview With Douglas Bowman Of Wird News
The new design clearly shows what some experts have been saying: that standards-based design can be visually compelling and preserve the interface conventions we've come to expect from Web pages.
Was Satellite Radio A Big Waste?
Now, wallowing in debt, the companies face a new challenge: Commercial stations are back in the ballgame after the FCC cleared the way for them to begin digital broadcasts as early as this year.
Why Human Rights Requires Free Software
Human rights workers should be universally feted and supported. Instead, however, they are chronically underfunded, goaded to justify every detail of their work, and threatened with dire harm.
Linux
Windows Into Linux World
The founder of a popular Web site devoted to Linux used in gadgets such as handheld computers will announce next week plans to cover Linux rival Windows as well.
Friday, October 11, 2002
News
Jamming Camcorders In Movie Theaters
The company "will modify the timing and modulation of the light used to create the displayed image such that frame-based capture by recording devices is distorted," according to an abstract for the winning NIST grant application.
Biometric Mouse Offers Hands-On Security
A biometric mouse which records images of the veins in a user's hand is the latest tool developed to increase IT security.
Thursday, October 10, 2002
Top Stories
Hollywood Vs. Silicon Valley
Old Mickey Mouse cartoons, the "Happy Birthday" song and other superstar copyrights are at stake in a legal battle pitting movie and music moguls against academics and techies.
TiVo, We Hardly Knew Ye
Sorry fans, but it's destined for the ash heap of history.
News
Get Ready For The Obnoxious Online Ad Parade
Web advertising is getting ruder and noisier by the week.
Is HTML On Its Way Out?
Now, though, "X" is slowly starting to mark the hypertext spot as XML, XHTML and other, more sophisticated Internet languages nimbly supplement — and in some cases supplant — their older and stodgier cousin.
AOL Takes Cue From TV
The world's biggest online service is hoping to tap into bigger budgets by shifting to broadcast-style ad sales.
Attack Of The Freebie Software
Microsoft still rules the desktop, but Linux variants are spreading fast.
Yahoo In The Black
The report comes as Yahoo continues to weather a sluggish period for online advertising spending, which has traditionally been the company's largest source of revenue.
Teaching Java The Extreme Way
In this article, we'll start looking at a test-first approach to programming and to learning.
Wednesday, October 9, 2002
Top Stories
Managing Traffic Spikes
Traffic spikes can be broken into two broad categories: the ones you expect, and the ones you don't.
Itanium Gets Linux Supercomputer Boost
Quadrics, which manufactures gear that links numerous Linux computers into a single supercomputer, has made its products compatible with systems built around Intel's Itanium 2 chip.
The Do's And Don'ts Of Shareware, Part 2
Now we will discuss some basic approaches for writing maintainable code, testing software, assembling a deliverable package, writing ReadMe files, and marketing and distributing your software.
News
802.11a To Enter Testing
The Wi-Fi Alliance, the non-profit organization behind the testing and certification for interoperability of 802.11-based networking products, reports that as of November 29, 2002, the long delayed certification testing of 802.11a products for Wi-Fi interoperability will commence.
Want Wi-Fi? Verizon Takes It Home
Verizon Communications on Wednesday became the second Web service provider to sell wireless home networking equipment directly to subscribers.
Will E-Mail Remain The 'Perfect' Net App?
Let's hope spam kills it so we can trade it in for something better.
Riding Along With The Internet Bookmobile
Angered by a law that extends copyright terms for 20 years, a crusader named Brewster Kahle wants to use the Internet to make books available to everyone.
Polygraph Is Poor Tool For Screening Employees, Panel Says
In a report to the government, a panel of leading scientists said today that polygraph testing is too flawed to use for security screening. The panel said lie detector tests do a poor job of identifying spies or other national-security risks and are likely to produce false accusations of innocent people.
Government To Rewrite Source Code In Linux
The Indian government seems to be taking a leaf out of China's operating system, and is planning a countrywide drive to promote the open source operating system, Linux, as the 'platform of choice' instead of 'proprietary' solutions.
Google May Charge For Internet Search
The fees are being earmarked for sections of the website such as Google News, a new search facility launched this month which trawls news stories from about 4,000 different publications.
Tuesday, October 8, 2002
Top Stories
Google Explains New Page Rankings
"We're always trying new experiments and this was a natural extension of that; we have human evaluators who test each index. Things have to score higher before we push a new index out."
Accessibility Court Cases Worth Thinking About
Don't wait until the law makes you do it. Make your site accessible now.
News
IT Jobs Outlook
When will the IT jobs picture brighten, and what should you do until then? A select group of CIOs, educators and work force experts weigh in.
Spam Blocker Has Opposite Effect
Satisfied users of junk e-mail filter SpamNet protest loudly when unsolicited messages suddenly flood their inboxes. The problem? System "upgrades" — and the widespread UUNet failure.
Court Cracks Down On URL Copycat
An anti-abortion activist will face contempt of court charges Wednesday for registering domain names similar to those owned by the Washington Post Co.
Can Ads Pull Yahoo Out Of A Spot?
When Web portal Yahoo reports its third-quarter fiscal earnings on Wednesday, all eyes will be searching for improvement in its online advertising business.
Report: Wi-Fi Networks Too Risky
Starbucks customers who like surfing the Net wirelessly as they sip lattes might be surprised to hear that the federal government considers the practice dangerous.
IBM Retools Unix Software
IBM on Tuesday will release improvements to its AIX version of Unix that makes the software better able to juggle multiple jobs in the same machine.
Britain Clicks On Broadband Button
The number of broadband users in Britain has hit the one million mark.
Glitterati Vs. Geeks
Two heavyweights, Hollywood and Silicon Valley, take the fight over content to the Supremes.
Blog, Blog, Blog... Enough Already!
"Maybe we can come up with a new word to describe journalistic blogging."
All The World's An MIT Campus
Now the rest of the world can access MIT's curriculum on the Web for free, no tests or admissions essays required.
Monday, October 7, 2002
Top Stories
Designed For Life
Why gadgets in the real world are still so hard to use, and why computers need emotions.
Music Industry In Global Fight On Web Copies
Having vanquished the music swapping service Napster in court, the entertainment industry is facing a formidable obstacle in pursuing its major successor, KaZaA: geography.
News
House Votes For Webcasters' Reprieve
A bill exempting small Webcasters from fees that had threatened to drive many small operations out of business passed the House of Representatives on Monday.
Yahoo Heralds Corporate Messaging
Yahoo has unveiled a version of its Messenger service designed to work with corporate portals and business applications.
W3C Proposes XML Encryption Methods
The Web's leading standards group proposed two recommendations for encrypting XML data and documents, a key development in the organization's push to standardize technologies crucial to Web services.
Register Air Travelers? P-Shaw!
Some inappropriate uses of technology are simply ill-advised. The registered traveler plan looks downright dangerous.
Niche Retailers Supply Gadget Geeks With Latest From Japan
"There is a cultural difference where Japanese favor small compact sizes and elegant design way more than Americans do, but there's a portion of the American market who share that desire."
AOL Is Relearning Its ABCs
With advertisers scarce, the focus is on retaining subscribers.
Sunday, October 6, 2002
Top Stories
When Bad Things Happen To Good Ideas
Knowledge management is a solid concept that fell in with the wrong company. Software companies, to be precise.
Google Degraded? Geeks Aghast
The inevitable backlash finally appears to have hit the world's most popular search engine.
Real Hacking Rules!
Or, before the word is totally useless, what is the essence of hacking?
News
Linux: Popular, But Can It Do Windows?
"(Support for Linux) is a protest vote against Microsoft on the part of computer programmers."
'The Most Powerful Media Player In The World' Is A Universal Headache
The whole situation is a mess for users, but we're going to be stuck with it for a while.
DVD Copying Software Sparks New Legal Battle
321 Studios is heading to court to find out why you can legally make copies of video tapes and CDs, but not DVDs.
Saturday, October 5, 2002
Top Stories
What Does The Internet Look Like?
It is less random than people thought.
Friday, October 4, 2002
Top Stories
What Can You Expect From Chips Of The Future?
From Intel's Banias processors to IBM's PowerPCs, vendors prepare to share the details of their next-generation CPUs.
News
AOLTW Enforces Patents With Liberty Single Sign-On
The single sign-on authentication technology under development by the Liberty Alliance Project could be bound by intellectual property restraints, despite a pledge from project founders who have said the technology will be open and royalty-free.
"Wi-Fi5" Doesn't Make The Cut
Wi-Fi Alliance instead decided to call the new products "Wi-Fi," the same name it gives certified equipment based on the 802.11b standard.
AOL 8.0 Drops Satellite Subscribers
America Online is sending a new message to subscribers using broadband satellite connections: It's not good enough for you.
In Reversal, Sun To Ship $99 Solaris 9 X86
After months of indecision, Sun will now ship Solaris 9 x86, unbundled, supporting both the Sun hardware platform, for both current and future products, as well as the same list of all hardware supported for Solaris 8, according to Sun officials.
Securing Linux
Why it's worthwhile and achievable.
Linux
Virus Writers Get Slapper Happy
Internet vandals have continued to modify the recent Slapper worm and have sent at least four new variants of the hostile Linux program into the electronic wilds.
Thursday, October 3, 2002
Top Stories
Is Linux Taking Over The Enterprise?
These days, the question is not whether you can use Linux, but where you can best use it. Is there more to Linux than Apache and file and print serving?
News
Bill Would Circumvent Foreign Censors
A new bill designed to fight foreign Web censorship has been introduced in Congress.
Apache Leader Takes A New Direction
Terbush, one of the original founders of the influential Apache Web server project, is trying once again to start a company to help businesses get the most from improvements in the open-source software.
Dying In Its Booths
Imagine the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus shrinking from giant rings full of costumed elephants, deafening music and electrifying high-wire acts into a one-act play in your neighbor's basement starring Fido the dog.
Wednesday, October 2, 2002
Top Stories
Open Source: A False Sense Of Security?
Despite the mantra that open-source software is more secure thanks to its communal writing and review process, the vulnerabilities in OpenSSL were all buffer overruns, the most common and, many say, most preventable flaws in software.
Wireless, Classified Data Don't Mix
The U.S. Defense Department has released a new wireless security policy that prohibits the use of devices such as cell phones and personal digital assistants to access classified data.
Technology Needs To Change Us
Utility is what really counts—but what creates utility?
Webcasters Closer To Royalties Deal
Under pressure from an influential lawmaker, record labels and Internet broadcasters moved closer Tuesday to a compromise on royalties that could help small online radio stations stay in business.
News
The OS Wars: BSD Vs. Linux
So far, at least, Linux seems to have proven itself in the eyes of the enterprise.
Oracle To Compete With Lotus, Exchange
Oracle is taking on Microsoft and IBM with new e-mail, calendar and messaging software.
Bluetooth Snags A New Backer
Via Technologies strikes a deal that could take inexpensive wireless connectivity to the heart of the PC.
Tuesday, October 1, 2002
Top Stories
What The Net Is Doing To You
Academics are starting to find out how important an agent of social change the internet is, the opportunities it presents for researchers and how to frame policy and practice to cope with its associated changes.
Java's Continuing Evolution
In the face of challenges, can Java solidify its position as the current programming language
du jour? Only if it can adapt.
802.11g: The Next Best Thing Or The Next Last Thing
Want to have an argument? Get a dozen people who care about the future of 802.11 networking and ask them about 802.1g's prospects and watch the fur fly and the fun begin.
News
Get Hip With Wireless Sidekick
The Sidekick is best for chat, e-mail, sms, and browsing. With the inclusion of a phone and the camera, it's a clever and endearing wireless communicator.
Yahoo To Run Multimedia Ads
Yahoo on Tuesday plans to introduce new display advertising for its Web portal, in a move to attract additional marketers and boost revenue.
Broadband Disconnect
While broadband has vigorously pushed its way into the neighborhoods — analysts estimate 85 percent of the providers' data lines now snake out to homes — it has simply straggled into the business sector, unable to fall in step with demand.
Email Newsletter Pick Up Where Websites Leave Off
Users have highly emotional reactions to newsletters which feel much more personal than websites. In usability testing, success rates were high for subscribe and unsubscribe tasks, but users were frustrated by newsletters that demanded too much of their time.
Mr Hollywood Lives In Washington
Hollywood may be the entertainment capital of the world, but the real song and dance is being played out in Washington.