Tuesday, December 31, 2002
Top Stories
Happy Birthday, Dear Internet
The Internet turns 20 on New Year's Day. Of course, some experts think it's 34, and others consider its age impossible to determine. But there's no denying that a significant event in the history of the medium occurred on Jan. 1, 1983.
Browsers Go Back To The Future
Programmers redesign button that accounts for 40% of all Internet clicks.
News
Biometrics Benched For Super Bowl
Facial-scan technology, which made a flashy and controversial debut at the 2001 Super Bowl in Tampa Bay, Florida, is essentially out of the business of working the crowds.
Penguin Power 2002
The Linux operating system and open-source software in general gained their first foothold on networked server computers in 2002, and emboldened advocates began a push to desktop computers as well.
Why Fight Wi-Fi?
Lingering concerns about WLAN security and marginal throughput gains have led many enterprises to duck adoption. Meanwhile, the ongoing commoditization of Gigabit Ethernet makes wired LANs look better all the time.
Economic Reality Check: Price Elasticity And The Music Business
Warning: Tough Year Ahead For IT Security
IT managers should brace themselves for a tough 2003 fighting the world's virus, worm, and Trojan horse writers, according to predictions made Monday by security expert Roger Thompson, the author of the WormWatch Web site.
Monday, December 30, 2002
Top Stories
Switching Doesn't Have To Sting
Changing providers for Internet or wireless service is as fun as a trip to the dentist. But hopping between ISPs just got less painful. And next year, consumers should be able to switch wireless services and take their phone numbers with them.
News
Requiem For The Pay Phone
As cell phone use increases, an icon gradually dies.
A Phone That Answers When Called
A user can shout, "Answer phone!" from across the room, and the phone will open the line and play a message telling the caller to hold on until the user can pick up the call.
Web Services Questioned
New research contradicts recent technology vendor claims that web services are ìrealî and being deployed by as many as half of Australia's large companies.
Eye Scans Unlock The Future
Biometrics boosters say that Americans are now willing to trade some of their privacy for increased security.
2003: The Year Of Asian Linux
A growing number of "next generation" Linux development is taking place in Asian countries, ranging from South Korea at one end of the continent to India diagonally across the continent's map, with China rising hugely — in the Linux sense — right in the middle of it all.
Sunday, December 29, 2002
News
Look Who Shrunk The Computer
Wisecracking rebel Harold Koplow was a pharmacist before landing a job at Wang Laboratories. Then, on the verge of dismissal, he designed the first microchip-loaded, user-friendly desktop unit.
XML For 2003
2003 is promising to be the most exciting year the XML world has seen since those halcyon days of 1998 and 1999, as substance fills in the space behind all the promises.
Saturday, December 28, 2002
News
Spiritual Connection On The Internet
Requesting prayers and joining virtual prayer circles has become commonplace on the Internet, as worshipers can e-mail an order of nuns and request a prayer or enter a chat room and ask whoever reads their message to pray on their behalf. But e-mailing a prayer for the intercession of a saint is new.
Wired For A Party
Online invitations are a click away. That's when the fun — or not — begins.
Yahoo Gets A 'Beautiful System'
Having long partnered with Google for algorithmic search and Overture for paid listings, Yahoo! now has a beautiful system of its own, after laying down $235 million in cash for Inktomi, a veteran search provider that had fallen on tough times.
No Tilting At Windows
Novell has new approach to recovery after failed battle with Microsoft.
Return Of The Independent Game Developer?
In-Room Chat As A Social Tool
The in-room chat created a two-channel experience — a live conversation in the room, and an overlapping real-time text conversation.
A Peek At History, Piracy-Free
Media company British Pathe, which produced 3,500 newsreels between 1910 and 1970, puts its entire collection online. But rather than adding digital copyright protection, the company simply stamped its logo on each downloadable clip.
AOL: It's Got Subscriber Problems
ISP gives away service, faces uncertainty in DSL era.
Friday, December 27, 2002
Top Stories
Fair Use And Abuse
Get set for an overdue national debate about consumer rights in the digital age.
News
Sony Upbeat About Broadband In HK
Sony's foray into Hong Kong's broadband market has been disappointing, but the firm remains optimistic.
The Year Ahead: Top Ten Technologies To Watch
Robots, cars, power and light. Just some of the sectors that'll see action next year.
Thursday, December 26, 2002
Top Stories
A Smart Keyboard For Typing On The Go
A new laptop, the AlphaSmart Dana, weighs only two pounds but costs only $400. As if that were not a sweet enough deal, this laptop also runs for 25 hours per battery charge, turns on and off instantly, has a touch screen for super-direct editing, and takes a four-foot drop to concrete without a whimper.
News
E-Tailers Find Hope In Holidays
A strong season for Web stores is expected to bode well for the coming year in e-commerce, say online retailers and analysts, even as offline retailers weather their worst holiday sales in decades.
The Customizer Is Always Right
Why I said good-bye to one-size-fits-all and became part of the mass one-to-one market.
Post-Boom Meal Plan: Order Online
The online food delivery model isn't buried with Kozmo.com and Webvan. Two Manhattan-based startups plan to succeed where others have failed — and make money, too.
Hong Kong Launches Powerline Broadband
After a two-year trial, Hutchison Global Communications (HGC) has launched a new type of broadband service for residences using the electricity supply network.
Supercharging The Supercomputer Race
Japan has the speed and power lead right now, but IBM promises to put the U.S. back out front — by far — in 2005.
Hot Links, Cool Trends On The Web
Japanese anime character Dragonball is the hottest Internet trend for the second year in a row, and Natalie Portman has unseated Angelina Jolie among popular celebrities on the Web, according to data from top Internet search sites.
Wednesday, December 25, 2002
News
'No-Touch' Typing For Disabled
In Brazil, physically disabled individuals may no longer need to buy expensive software to operate computers and surf the Web, thanks to a free application developed by programmers at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
How The Web Will Change Campaigns
The Internet was supposed to change the nature of politics. Technology would bring participatory democracy to a new level, ushering in a sort of Jefferson-meets-the-Jetsons era. But as the new Congress prepares to convene next month, a look at the Web's role in the recent midterm elections reveals that so far, such claims are as inflated as the predictions that the Internet would bankrupt bricks-and-mortar businesses.
All I Want For Christmas Is The Presumption Of Innocence
The presumpution of innocence has long served as a check on intrusive governments, and it is one of the pillars of our criminal justice system. Demagogues often attempt to weaken it by presenting a false dichotomy between the abstract concept of rights and a tangible feeling of security, often conjuring up criminal demons to frighten us into choosing the latter.
Pioneer Press Writer Turns Music Thief
This is the sort of thing that makes music-label executives break out in hives. I suppose I can see why.
Top Ten Web-Design Mistakes Of 2002
Every year brings new mistakes. In 2002, several of the worst mistakes in Web design related to poor email integration. The number one mistake, however, was lack of pricing information, followed by overly literal search engines.
Bring On The Web Services War
Stratton Sclavos has seen this movie before. Just as a new technology begins to see the light, the computer industry gets roiled by a divisive battle over standards and specifications.
Linux For The Wal-Mart Crowd
Early reviews are mixed, but Robertson insists that everyone loves a bargain.
Broadband About-Face
The broadband race is making a U-turn, as Web giants such as Yahoo, MSN and now America Online head away from plans to run their own high-speed Net access services and move toward branding partnerships with the Baby Bells and other heavyweights.
Tuesday, December 24, 2002
News
New York Says Nix The Cell Phone
The City Council on Wednesday approved a bill that would ban the use of cell phones at public performances in New York, from Broadway shows to highbrow art galleries to Madison Square Garden concerts.
Is That A TiVo Under The Tree?
Will this be the year that TiVo catches on with a mass audience? Not likely, say analysts.
San Francisco Bans Segways On Sidewwalks, Bike Paths
This is the first serious obstacle to inventor Dean Kamen's "pedestrian-friendly" "sidewalk interloper".
Online Sales Are Up For Holiday, But Just How Much?
While ordinary stores and catalog merchants have struggled for sales growth this holiday season, online retailers are having their best year yet. The main question late last week was how good was good.
Yahoo Plans To Buy Inktomi
Moving to re-establish itself as the pre-eminent place to search the Internet, Yahoo said yesterday that it would buy Inktomi, a maker of Web search technology, for $235 million in cash.
Christmas Brings 'Tsunami Of Spam'
The advent of the Christmas holiday season has brought with it a more than 20 per cent increase in the volume of spam traffic, according to a statement released by Brightmail.
The Roof As A Copyright Infringement Tool
While I appreciate the desire of copyright owners to protect their rights, the entertainment industry has become so aggressive in defending rights that it is hard to be sympathetic when they claim "injury."
Open Source Christmas?
"What if the community decides it doesn't need a Santa to bring the presents. What if they decide that some Brad Pitt lookalike would be better?"
What's Up With Wireless Java?
There's no question that wireless Java is a powerful programming medium for cell phones and other wireless devices. It's a question of "when", not "if".
Online Retailers 'Miss' Santa's Deadline
Some shoppers who escaped the crowds by ordering presents online have discovered their goods will not arrive in time for Christmas.
Monday, December 23, 2002
Top Stories
Blogs Make The Headlines
It's been said that newspapers write the first draft of history, but now there are blogs. These days, online scribes often get the news before it's fit to print.
Many Tools Of Big Brother Are Up And Running
In the Pentagon research effort to detect terrorism by electronically monitoring the civilian population, the most remarkable detail may be this: Most of the pieces of the system are already in place.
News
Warming PC Sould With Vacuum Tubes
Putting vacuum tubes in a PC might sound a little like adding a hand crank to a Porsche, but at least one company thinks it might be the future of computer audio.
Free Linux Operating System Wins Some Big-Name Fans
The computing industry might look back on 2002 as the year people got serious about Linux. The operating system has been gaining momentum as an alternative to Microsoft and proprietary versions of Unix, and 2002 was a breakout year for the technology.
Sunday, December 22, 2002
Top Stories
Dial-Up Revealtions
Now I really get it: giving people multiple ways to access their data, offering multiple views of content through a variety of interfaces, allows flexibility far beyond what we get through a standard browser.
In E-Mail Software, The Medium Is The Mess
Open-source development, in which programmers let anybody revise their products' core workings, can seem like a strange way to write software. But in this case, it may be the only way that works.
News
WiFi's Widening World
WiFi has been the buzz this holiday season, and this trend in computer fashion makes a lot of sense.
Users Binge At The Wireless Buffet
Wireless carriers are backpedaling on unlimited service offerings as smart customers figure out how to patch their phones to their laptops to take undue advantage of the all-you-can-eat data deals.
SOAP 1.2 Spec Takes Next Step
W3C on Thursday announced that SOAP 1.2 has advanced to the "Candidate Recommendation" stage, meaning developers are now being called on to implement the proposed Web services specification.
Pop-Ups Add New Twist
Pop-up advertisements, already the bane of millions of Web surfers, are becoming more intrusive.
IBM Plans Open-Source Storage Strategy
To encourage the broadest possible support for its forthcoming "Storage Tank" technology, IBM will release an open-source version of the software needed to let servers tap into the next-generation storage system.
Data Strips People Of Their Humanity
One can rant on for hours about the political meaning of this information screening, but what concerns us as information processing professionals is the light it casts on data gathering and data mining.
Government Spying (On You) Keeps Growing
This government believes it has a right, and a need, to know everything about us. This same government has a mania for secrecy that goes far beyond anything in recent history.
Terrorists On The Net? Who Cares?
To all those Chicken Littles clucking frantically about the imminent threat of a terrorist attack on U.S. computer networks, a new report says: Knock it off.
Friday, December 20, 2002
Top Stories
A Year To Forget
Enron, WorldCom, United; the war between Hollywood and Silicon Valley; a droopy stock market; and more, more, more spam. 2002 was not a whole lot of fun in the world of business and technology.
News
AOL Quiet On Use Of New IM Patent
AOL isn't announcing whether or not it has any plans to use the patent.
Oracle Plan Exposes Java Rift
In a move that has exposed a growing schism in the Java community, an Oracle proposal to bridge Java development tools moved ahead this week with approval from competing Java companies.
802.11 "Standards Drift" And Interoperability Certification
What Is RSS?
RSS is a format for syndicating news and the content of news-like sites, including major news sites like Wired, news-oriented community sites like Slashdot, and personal weblogs. But it's not just for news.
Thursday, December 19, 2002
Top Stories
Putting The Brakes On Blowhard 'Bloggers'
Freedoms come with responsibilities. Common journalistic standards of accuracy and fair play exist for good reasons, and bloogers, like the rest of us, must abide by them.
Simplicity Is Key
Ideo was one of the first firms to tackle design issues in the computer industry. And, with US$60 million in annual revenue and 360 employees, it remains the largest and one of the most influential.
Is $200 The Magic Number For PCs?
Welcome to the dawning of the age of the $200 personal computer.
Copyright Verdict, New Technology Are Reasons To Hope
In a year when the news on copyright was so consistently sour, let's be thankful for the gifts we've received this week.
News
Snooping In All The Wrong Places
Not only would the Administration's plan to centralize every American's records destroy privacy, the security payoff would be minimal.
Finidng More Than You Bargained For
Marketing via search engines, once thought to be the province of hucksters and tricksters, showed signs of becoming a major force on the Internet this year as more and more companies turned to consultants to place ads in search results and help them gain greater prominence in the actual result listings.
Web Services Giants Propose Specifications For Security, Policy
Leading Web services vendors including Microsoft, IBM, and BEA Systems on Wednesday introduced a set of proposed standards for security and policy for Web services.
High-Speed Internet Use Saw Uptick In '02
Belying cautionary tales that broadband deployment faces major hindrances in the United States, high-speed Internet connectivity rose 27 percent in the first half of this year.
Sampling High-Speed Internet: AT&T Broadband
Dial-up still rules.
You've Got Sex
Or rather, dear America Online, you had it. But as the suits at Time Warner prudishly looked away, you squandered your lead as the nation's leading purveyor of dirty chat.
Wednesday, December 18, 2002
Top Stories
Radio Free Software
Call them hackers of the last computing frontier: The GNU Radio coders believe that any device with a chip should be able to do, well, anything.
Tuning In To IM
Instant messaging, once banned as a threat to security and productivity, has not only been blessed by IT, it is becoming as critical to communications as e-mail.
News
Fake Escrow Site Scam Widens
Auction winners sometimes lose $40,000 at a time.
Are Pop-Ups Defendable?
Pop-ups are a doomed Web ad format in part because there are so many efforts to squash them by ISPs and software developers.
Metrowerks To Buy Linux Tools Company
Metrowerks, a maker of software development tools for embedded applications, Tuesday announced it has reached an agreement to acquire the assets of Embedix Inc., a Linux tools company.
Tuesday, December 17, 2002
Top Stories
U.S. Says No To Aussie Libel Lawsuit
Less than a week after Australia's high court issued a ruling suggesting that online publishers are fair game for libel suits anywhere their content appears, a U.S. federal court has veered in the opposite direction.
Limits Sought On Wireless Internet Access
The Defense Department, arguing that an increasingly popular form of wireless Internet access could interfere with military radar, is seeking new limits on the technology, which is seen as a rare bright spot for the communications industry.
The Web Bites Back
Protesters are turning the tables on government officials and businessmen who they say are making the web less pleasant to use.
News
Jury Finds ElcomSoft Not Guilty
Russian software developer ElcomSoft has been cleared of charges that it illegally created a program to disable encryption on Adobe e-books.
Patent Creates IM Wrinkle
America Online has quietly secured a patent that could shake up the competitive landscape for instant messaging software.
Red Hat Reports Slim Profit
Red Hat's revenue increased 14 percent to $24.3 million for its third fiscal quarter with a small profit of $305,000, the Linux seller reported Tuesday.
LindowsOS Due To Hit Retail Shelves
Software buyers may be doing a double take in retail stores over the coming months as they see Microsoft's familiar Windows OS sitting next to the new OS from Lindows.com.
Intel, iPass Team On Wireless Access
Intel is working with Internet service provider iPass to help keep business travelers connected at all times.
Monday, December 16, 2002
Top Stories
Creative Types: A Lot In Common
The Internet is teeming with creative people who aren't famous or rich. A new set of licenses from Creative Commons will allow copyright holders to share their work according to conditions they specify — and boost their profiles.
News
Intel Postpones Wi-Fi Chip
Intel is delaying its first Wi-Fi chip so the company can clean up some engineering issues and clear a few more regulatory hurdles.
Open-Source Group Broadens Its Reach
The Eclipse development tools consortium gained momentum Monday with the announcement of 13 members to its board of stewards and the introduction of three new open-source projects.
IBM Moves Toward Chip Breakthrough
IBM will announce Monday that it has passed another milestone on the road toward adopting an improved process for manufacturing semiconductors.
In The World Of The Very Small, Companies Make Big Plans
More and more businesses are moving into the world of nanotechnology, where particles of common materials are shrunk to such a minuscule size that they behave in unexpected — and often useful — ways.
CBS: "No Copy Protection, No HDTV"
One of HDTV's strongest supporters could pull away if an effective copy-protection system isn't in place by next year.
Couch Potato Heaven
Cable companies may have finally figured out how to give TV viewers what they want: the ability to watch a movie, any time, without a schlep to the video store.
One-Miniute Photo
Smile! Cell phone-camera combos are here. Just don't expect perfect pictures.
Friendnet
A friendnet is a network topology where every TCP/IP connection is backed up by a meatspace connection.
ICANN To Approve New Domains
The group that oversees the Internet's traffic system said Sunday it plans to approve a host of new address suffixes to join the likes of .com and .org in the coming year.
Saturday, December 14, 2002
News
A Retailing Mix: On Internet, In Print And In Store
The fastest growth appears to be coming from retailers that have mastered how to use the Internet in conjunction with catalogs, stores or both.
The Right Term Is Copyright Infringement
Just what are the boundaries of fair use?
Commodity Shuffle
The rapid commoditization of hardware in recent years is yielding great benefits for customers but brutal consequences for vendors increasingly forced to compete on price.
CTOs Face Challenges In Tech Advances
Many CTOs feel that they are their company's "chief transformation officer," with one foot in strategy and one foot in prevailing technology.
Friday, December 13, 2002
Top Stories
Alternative Web Browsers: Revenge Of The Lizard
Mitchell Baker, Mozilla's chief lizard wrangler, told NewsFactor that the software's open source nature helps the browser development team avoid Internet Explorer's many security issues.
Life On The Edge
The geek-driven world of new "decentralized" technologies like Wi-Fi, blogging and Web services is more about cutting out the middleman than finding a business model.
Piracy Is Progressive Taxation, And Other Thoughts On The Evolution Of Online Distribution
The continuing controversy over online file sharing sparks me to offer a few thoughts as an author and publisher. To be sure, I write and publish neither movies nor music, but books. But I think that some of the lessons of my experience still apply.
News
America As Wi-Fi Nation? Not So Fast
Startup Cometa Networks has bold plans to put 20,000 wireless "hot spots" in 50 big cities. Too bad it might take 250,000 or more.
The Big Boys' Mad Dash Into Wi-Fi
The wireless Internet is all the rage. The question now: Can tech giants turn it into a bona fide, billable business?
Spam Saturation Hits 40 Percent
In the days before Christmas the amount of spam e-mail being sent and received looks set to soar as marketing machines and e-greetings firms go into seasonal overdrive.
Australian Court's Upside-Down Internet Ruling
To say that defamation occurs where something has been read, as opposed to where it was posted, is an invitation to abuse.
Net Address Crunch Threatens Web Services
The number of Internet addresses available using the current generation of Internet infrastructure built on IPv4 technology will run out by 2005, jeopardizing the continued development of both fixed and wireless Net-based services.
Begging For Bucks Online
Need to pay down credit card debt? Desperate for money for music lessons? Simply tired of working and too embarrassed to stand on the corner with a tin cup? Try "cyberbegging."
SuSE, Red Hat In Linux Shootout
Windows users thinking of switching to Linux—either as an alternative or as an adjunct in a dual-boot system—should turn to SuSE due to its ease of use. But more seasoned users will find the stability and stronger font control of Red Hat more to their taste.
TiVo: If Music Be The Food Of Profit...
TiVo said Thursday that its television recording system will soon be able to play digital music and show pictures stored in personal computers.
Segway Owners A Small, Happy Club
A few lucky buyers got their hands on the first batch of Segways, but there's a problem: Everyone else wants to ride them.
Novell Previews New GroupWise Collaboration Suite
In a world of collaboration software dominated by Microsoft's Exchange and IBM's Lotus Notes, Novell continues to push ahead with its GroupWise application, hoping to distinguish itself in a busy field of contenders.
Thursday, December 12, 2002
Top Stories
Just Hit Repeat
The music industry has a big problem that, many experts believe, won't be solved until all the companies accept the inevitable and sell their songs online, either publicly through the Internet, or out of databases at record shops.
Lord Palmerston On Programming
Don't start a new project without at least one architect with several years of solid experience in the language, classes, APIs, and platforms you're building on.
News
Google Searches Out An E-Tail Niche
With holiday spending in full gear, Google is testing a new service that uses the company's search engine to help shoppers find products online.
IBM: OS/2 Still Sold Here
IBM assured customers Thursday that the company will continue to sell and support OS/2, clarifying an online notice that drew speculation that the vintage operating system was being phased out.
Memory Stick Breaks Gigabyte Barrier
Sony is close to unveiling a new, higher capacity version of its popular Memory Stick removable flash memory card. But sources say it won't be compatible with older devices.
Economics Of Kid-Friendly Domain Questioned
Now that Congress has zoned off an Internet neighborhood for children, online real estate agents are questioning whether they can attract enough tenants to make it a worthwhile place for parents to send their kids.
Movie Posters That Talk Back
New interactive posters draw movie fans into the action ó- and give studios information about how viewers respond to coming attractions.
The Next Big Thing Is Little
I have a hunch one of the next generation shapes for the consumer space will be stereo shelf sized, able to fit comfortably with the home entertainment pieces.
Interview: Rick Robinson, VP Of Community Products, AOL
Customer experience takes on new significance when there are 35 million customers involved; Rick described how it works at AOL.
So Many Nodes, So Little Security
A recent survey of Wi-Fi networks, however, revealed not only the extent of Wi-Fi adoption — covering more than 14,000 business and personal networks - but also the apparent laxity of users about Wi-Fi's built-in security.
The Wi-Fi Boom
There are community groups promoting public Wi-Fi access in nearly every large American city, from NYCwireless, which "unwired" Bryant Park and Tompkins Square Park in Manhattan, to KC Wireless in the Kansas City area. They have been joined by independent cafes and restaurants, apartment houses and community centers across the country that view free, easy access to the Internet as a draw for customers.
Lotus' Juggling Act
The most pressing challenge for IBM's Lotus Software division isn't what product it should build next but how to make the products it has work together in the future.
Flash Needs A Replacement, Soon
Researchers are contemplating a new technology to replace the removable memory being built into millions of consumer devices.
Wednesday, December 11, 2002
News
Mono Trudges On With .Net Alternative
Developers from the loosely-knit Mono project this week made available more bits and pieces of their technology, as they slowly plug away at creating an open source version of Microsoft Corp.'s .Net initiative. Meanwhile, plans for a complete release of the technology have been put on hold.
IBM Does VoIP, Finally
IBM on Wednesday announced it has begun offering a full set of services for migrating separate enterprise voice and data networks to a single IP- based network.
Sexism 'Rife' In Cyberspace
A survey conducted by search engine AltaVista found that male chauvinism is alive and well on the internet.
Denmark Bills Users For Downloads
A group affiliated with the Danish music, film and software industries has been sending out invoices to users of peer-to-peer file-sharing networks like Kazaa and eDonkey, demanding payment for downloaded copies of songs, movies or video games.
Verizon: Not Yet Time For Fancy Wireless
Bigger Web Ads Endorsed By Industry
Seeking to raise the profile of online advertising, an industry trade group that includes members such as MSN, AOL and Yahoo endorsed a new set of ad sizes that are larger than standard Web banners.
Internet Filters Block Many Useful Sites, Study Finds
Teenagers who look to the Internet for health information as part of their "wired generation" birthright are blocked from many useful sites by antipornography filters that federal law requires in school and library computers, a new study has found.
Tuesday, December 10, 2002
Top Stories
Welcome To The New IT Crisis
What is the most thankless, cumbersome function faced by Fortune 2000 companies? How about the one where your work only gets noticed when things break, where you're viewed as a major source of expenses, and your workload has tripled in the past year. Such is the state of information technology today.
Human Or Computer? Take This Test
As chief scientist of the Internet portal Yahoo, Dr Udi Manber had a profound problem: how to differentiate human intelligence from that of a machine.
In The Future, We'll All Be Harry Potter
The world of magic is a world where inanimate objects come alive; it's as if they had computational power, sensors, awareness, and connectivity.
News
Gateway To Offer Grid Computing Service
Gateway has set up a grid using software from United Devices and the roughly 8,000 PCs on display at Gateway's retail stores around the country.
Too Many Web Services Standards Bodies?
Representatives from Web services standardization bodies at a conference here Tuesday pondered the notion of whether there are, in fact, too many of these groups and whether it might be a good idea to consolidate efforts in one organization.
Aussie Can Sue Over Online Story
In a landmark case, Australia's highest court on Tuesday gave a businessman the right to sue for defamation in Australia over an article published in the United States and posted on the Internet.
Corel Begins XML Push
Canadian software maker Corel announced two new XML tools Tuesday in an effort to jump start its next phase of its financial recovery.
Kiddie Cell Phones: Hot New Toy?
Dear Santa: Forget Mattel, and bring on Nokia.
Bluetooth In Five Minutes Or Bust
Mike McCamon, executive director of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), says he will urge SIG members at this week's Bluetooth Developers Conference in San Jose, Calif., to adopt a "five-minutes-out-of-the-box" mentality.
Interfaces Of The Future
How long will it be before your computer is able to read your facial expressions? Will a rude gesture become the next Control-Alt-Delete?
Wi-Fi Spreading Internet Access To The Masses
Technology historians could look back at 2002 as the year a geeky wireless technology outgrew its grass roots and created a burst of excitement in the beaten-down telecommunications business.
Monday, December 9, 2002
Top Stories
Some Call It Fair Play
Free speech demands that biased customers, wrong-headed reviewers, and scurrilous competitors get to have their say.
Accessing A Whole New World Via Multimedia Phones
The people who use multimedia phones are not passive consumers of next-generation mobile services. They are extending the boundaries of mobile communications.
News
Bluetooth Gets Some Teeth
Ever-optimistic backers of Bluetooth are pinning their hopes on advances they claim will help make the nascent wireless protocol cheaper and easier to combine with other, more popular wireless platforms.
Bright Light For Wireless?
Analyst firm IDC on Monday issued an upbeat report about 2002 cell phone shipments, the latest in a recent spate of positive news for the otherwise battered U.S. cell phone industry.
Open Source J2EE 1.4 Gets Sun Green Light
The first open source implementation of the latest specification for enterprise Java is expected in JBoss Group LLC's increasingly popular open source application server next year.
Yahoo Launches Web Hosting Services
Yahoo on Monday will launch a new Web hosting service that will target small businesses looking to promote themselves online.
Fix Found For Linux Data-Loss Bug
Programmers have found a bug in newer versions of the Linux operating system that, under unusual circumstances, could cause systems to drop data.
The World According To Google
What if you had a magic tool that let you find out almost anything in less than a second? Millions of people already have it-óand itís changing the way we live.
Mystery Shopper Checking Her List
A marketing researcher anonymously buys from online retailers to determine whose Web sites and services are naughty or nice.
E-Mail Overload Is A Myth, Study Says
Most American workers are not — repeat not — overwhelmed by stuffed e-mail inboxes or vast amounts of spam, according to a new study that contradicts conventional wisdom that e-mail has become a major burden on people's lives.
A New Tack In Fighting Spam
Two California companies, taking a new tack in the spam war, are focusing not on filtering out unwanted e-mail, but on ensuring that notes that are welcome make it through increasingly stringent mail filters.
Sites Become Dependent On Google
Much as eBay spawned an army of entrepreneurial auctioneers, Google has become enough of a Web gatekeeper that its leads now prop up plenty of commercial sites.
Wi-Fi Internet Access Is Hot, But Its Profit Potential Is Tepid
Many industry analysts say it could be hard to make money in Wi-Fi, which is unlikely to represent more than a tiny fraction of the overall telecommunications equipment market for at least several years.
Free Content Online? Publishers Are Divided
Is the era of free information and entertainment on the Internet over? That was one of the more provocative assumptions put forward by the new management of America Online in its presentation to analysts last week.
Fliers Will Soon Be Able To Go Online On Board
The Internet, pervasive wherever planes land, is now penetrating higher altitudes as well.
Sunday, December 8, 2002
Top Stories
The Small Screen's Repertoire Expands
The Internet took another baby step toward movies-on-demand last week when RealNetworks struck a deal with movie distributor Starz Encore Group.
Saturday, December 7, 2002
Top Stories
State Played Key Role In Browsers
Break out the digital birthday cake: The Internet as a mass medium is 10 years old.
Internet Spammer Can't Take What He Dishes Out
West Bloomfield bulk e-mailer Alan Ralsky, who just may be the world's biggest sender of Internet spam, is getting a taste of his own medicine.
News
The Internet Is A Global Medium — Or Is It?
So much for impulse buying.
Vision Series: Vic Hayes
Hayes, who oversaw the first working group to draft what became the 802.11b standard, has since played a leading role in shepherding the development of the Wi-Fi technology used by an estimated 8 million wireless networks in U.S. homes and offices.
Saving Your Bits For Posterity
Someday, long after you're dead, your descendents will rummage through the minutiae of your life, eavesdropping on long-ago phone conversations, reading private e-mail exchanges and watching the video highlights of your existence.
Friday, December 6, 2002
Top Stories
Feds Label Wi-Fi A Terrorist Tool
Attention, Wi-Fi users: The Department of Homeland Security sees wireless networking technology as a terrorist threat.
AT&T, IBM, Intel Found Nationwide Wi-Fi Network Venture
As a wholesale supplier, Cometa will resell access to its IEEE 802.11 network to ISPs, wireless carriers, and owners of public access locations such as hotel chains, airports, and universities.
News
3G Networks Deliver At A Snail's Pace
The same landline dial-up services the carriers hoped to challenge with 3G aren't having any trouble keeping up—in fact, they're faster.
Thoughts On RedHat 8.0
While it sure looks nice, it's not quite the bargain I expected.
Walmart Backs Off — Somewhat
Wal-Mart has dropped the demand for a name, and that FatWallet was asking for damages for Wal-Mart's knowingly false invocation of DMCA.
More Linux Desktops On The Way
Entering a market that has attracted the likes of Sun Microsystems and raised an alarm at Microsoft, Penguin Computing announced Thursday a new desktop PC for businesses that runs on the open-source Linux operating system.
Thursday, December 5, 2002
Top Stories
The Holiday Card, Set In Motion
The holidays simply are not the holidays unless the memories of the year have been fully digitized and the holidays themselves have been shot and reshot, edited and re-edited, viewed and reviewed, posted to a Web site or sent out as e-mail or CD-ROM's or even DVD's to relatives and friends.
Homeland Security Waiting For Wi-Fi
Security needs to become a priority for users and makers of wireless networking equipment in order to stop insecure connections from being used to attack federal and corporate systems, network experts said Wednesday.
News
Wi-Fi: Bigger Than Budweiser?
A key figure for standards body the Wi-Fi Alliance says the wireless networking industry will surpass the revenue of household products such as Budweiser beer by 2006.
Is Silicon Valley Losing Its Grip?
AOL Said To Be Considering Layoffs
America Online CEO Jonathan Miller met Wednesday with top managers, detailing the division's turnaround plans and hinting at layoffs as a way to cut costs, according to a source present at the meeting.
RealNetworks To Release More Helix Code
RealNetworks is expected to release more streaming-media source code Monday, in the latest move to fend off Microsoft and the MPEG-4 standard.
President Signs 'Dot-Kids' Legislation
The Dot-Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act creates a dot-kids domain within America's dot-us addressing space.
Photo Sites Get Something To Smile About
After a two-year shakeout in the industry, the few surviving Internet photo service providers are seeing a spike in holiday sales, fueled by the growing popularity of digital cameras.
New Strategy From AOL Leaves Many Unconvined
Investors and analysts walked away from AOL Time Warner's four-hour meeting unconvinced that AOL's product plans were strong enough to reignite its growth anytime soon.
"Security Warning" Ads Draw Lawsuit
Web advertisements that masquerade as pop-up "security alert" windows generated by a surfer's computer or browser are the subject of a new class-action lawsuit, which aims to rid the Internet of the deceptive banners.
Wednesday, December 4, 2002
Top Stories
Xerox Scientist Sees Promise In Plastic
A scientist at Xerox on Tuesday detailed how to create inexpensive semiconducting plastics that may finally fulfill the promise of reducing the cost of display technology for laptops, cell phones and other devices.
News
Sun Accused Of Shading Open Source
A leading OpenBSD programmer has accused Sun Microsystems of hindering development of the open-source software for its newer computers, causing Sun to scramble to cooperate with the project in response.
IBM Debuts Linux-Only Server
IBM will announce a new low-end server Wednesday, its first Power processor-based system that can run the Linux operating system without needing IBM's AIX as well.
Holiday E-Cards: Handle With Care
Online greetings were once considered a free and relatively harmless alternative to paper cards. Now companies are charging users to send them, and recipients have to worry about fake e-cards that carry viruses.
Competition Forces AOL To Emphasize Faster Links
AOL Time Warner yesterday presented a new strategy for its AOL division to compete for high-speed Internet users, acknowledging that the service that helped make the Internet a mass medium is now in danger of falling behind as consumers seek faster connections online.
Tuesday, December 3, 2002
Top Stories
No Big Pickup Seen In IT Spending
Nearly two years ago, many experts predicted that a rebound in information technology spending was just around the corner. But the technology business is still waiting.
News
AOL Lifts Curtain On Version 9.0
America Online on Tuesday previewed the upcoming version 9.0 of its flagship AOL service, showing off an early rendition of the software that includes many new personalization and multimedia features.
AOL To Offer A New Vision
In a pivotal and long-awaited presentation to investors, AOL Time Warner is expected to disclose a radical shift in strategy for its flagging AOL division today.
Monday, December 2, 2002
Top Stories
What Would Dewey Do? Libraries Grapple With Internet
Balancing community standards against the First Amendment rights of patrons who use the computers to view X-rated material.
News
Ready For Smart-Card IDs?
Howard Schmidt faces one of the most daunting challenges in the United States: How do you protect the technology systems that support the country's critical infrastructure?
Rewriting The Script
Motion-capture technology will allow Hollywood to change the definition of live action — and a whole lot more.
Pirated Files Clog College Networks
Student downloads flood systems and draw complaints from entertainment firms.
Does Your Local Pub Have WiFi? It's Free...
If they sell three extra pints a day, they're breaking even.
Sunday, December 1, 2002
Top Stories
Finally, Linux With A Lot Less Fuss
Parts of this are still infuriatingly convoluted, but if you've been thinking about trying out Linux on part of your hard drive — or about dumping Windows entirely — this is what I'd recommend.
News
WLAN Security Is Still Work In Progress
IT managers are cautiously optimistic that wireless networks will — over time — become as secure as today's local area networks, but security concerns are still holding back deployment of the technology.