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HavenWorks.com/computer/archive/2003 |
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- Computer Archive
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ARCHIVES NEWS Computer News History Archives Computer Archives 2001 Computer Archives |
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- "Electronic
voting firm acknowledges hacker break-in." ... "A
Bellevue, Wash., company developing security technology for electronic
voting suffered an embarrassing hacker break-in that executives think was
tied to the rancorous debate over the safety of casting ballots online."
... "VoteHere confirmed Monday that U.S. authorities are investigating
a break-in of its computers months ago, when someone roamed its internal
computer network. The intruder accessed internal documents and may have
copied sensitive software blueprints that the company planned eventually
to disclose publicly." -By Ted Bridis
-AP via -USATODAY
- 
- 
- 
Microsoft
News - "Microsoft
faces new antitrust battle." ... "A new front in
the Microsoft antitrust wars was opened on Thursday as rival software maker
RealNetworks accused the company of illegally trying to monopolise the
market for digital media software and said it would seek damages of more
than $1bn." -By Richard Waters and Scott Morrison
-FT.com
- "IBM's
builds TV-sized supercomputer: Prototype of
Blue Gene L supercomputer is capable of 2 trillion teraflops." ... "IBM
Corp. has built a 512-node prototype of its Blue Gene L supercomputer that
has been ranked as the 73rd most powerful computer in the world. The machine,
which is capable of a peak performance of 2 trillion floating-point operations
per second (teraflops), is about the size of a 30-inch TV." ... "The project's
goal is to ultimately build a computer capable of a petaflop, or one thousand
trillion operations per second, about 25 times as fast as the most powerful
computer today, the 41-teraflop Earth Simulator supercomputer." -By
Robert McMillan -IDG.net
via -InfoWorld
- Microsoft
News - "Probable
last gasp on Microsoft antitrust case still matters."
... "On Tuesday, an appeals court in Washington heard arguments that the
so-called ``remedies'' for what everyone agrees were illegal acts were
not adequate to punish the crime or prevent its recurrence. The state of
Massachusetts and two technology trade organizations asked the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to tell U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly
to stiffen her order that, by virtually all accounts, has led to almost
no change of behavior on Microsoft's part." ... "Robert Bork, formerly
a judge on that appeals court, argued on behalf of the trade groups, calling
the infamous settlement with the Justice Department ``utterly inadequate,''
according to news reports." -By Dan Gillmor
-MercuryNews-BayArea
-
- "US
workers see hard times: High-tech firms tout
outsourcing as crucial to survival." ... ["The White Collar Job Migration."]
... "In the next generation of high-tech companies, entrepreneurs and venture
capitalists are making the outsourcing of jobs overseas part of their business
plans from the start. Ruthlessly, perhaps, they see outsourcing as the
latest innovation in an industry built on innovation." ... "To the surprise
of white-collar programmers who thought themselves immune, many of their
jobs have turned into ``grunt labor'' positions exported to India, China,
Russia, and other countries and filled with skilled but less expensive
workers. IBM Corp., Oracle Corp., Microsoft Corp., EMC Corp., and other
high-tech leaders have set up software design and maintenance centers in
India, and scores of other large companies have farmed programming work
to Indian consultancies." -By Chris Gaither
-Boston/Globe
- Microsoft
News - "Microsoft
Vows To Crush The Mouse That Roared." ... "A federal
jury ruled that Microsoft should pay tiny Eolas Technologies and the University
of California $521 million for infringing on their patent for sending software
applications over the Internet. But Microsoft, as is its habit, insists
that the jury verdict is not the end of the story but the beginning, that
it did nothing wrong and even if it did that the remedy is out of whack
with the wrong. This is what Microsoft often says after losing a trial
and before the inevitable appeals." -By Dan Ackman
-Forbes
- 
- 
- "Get
Your #@%!$ Paws Off My PDA!" ... "Traveling tech
aficionados are agitated, even outraged, that airport security workers
will be pawing through their belongings to more carefully scrutinize electronic
devices." ... "Portable computers, cameras, PDAs, MP3 players and other
gear are now subject to increased security checks at airports, in response
to government warnings on Tuesday that terrorists may be planning to conceal
weapons or bombs in electronic devices." -By Michelle
Delio -Wired
- 
- "Fellowship
of the online gamers." ... "In such fantasy worlds,
players who've never met in person form tight allegiances - and the ties
are based on tests of individual character, not gender, class, or race.
While critics decry the violence in many of these games, or worry about
the social maladjustment of adolescents who spend hour upon hour playing
them, the popularity seems rooted in the fellowship of the players, not
in the virtual mayhem and carnage. In fact, even as video games become
less violent and more interactive, more and more players are logging on."
... "This contradicts the widely held belief that violent onscreen images
are what draw kids to video games." -By Elizabeth
Armstrong -CSMonitor
- 
- 
- "Hatch
Takes Aim at Illegal Downloading." ... "During a
discussion on methods to frustrate computer users who illegally exchange
music and movie files over the Internet, [Utah's Republican Senator Orrin]
Hatch asked technology executives about ways to damage computers involved
in such file trading. Legal experts have said any such attack would violate
federal anti-hacking laws." ... ""No one is interested in destroying anyone's
computer," replied Randy Saaf of MediaDefender Inc., a secretive Los Angeles
company that builds technology to disrupt music downloads. One technique
deliberately downloads pirated material very slowly so other users can't."
... ""I'm interested," Hatch interrupted. He said damaging someone's computer
"may be the only way you can teach somebody about copyrights."" -By
Ted Bridis -AP
via -WashingtonPost
>TechNews
- "EPA
faulted on water pollution: Internal watchdog
says computer monitoring system is faulty." ... "In a report dated May
20, the Office of Inspector General criticized the agency for devoting
insufficient funds to upgrade the Permit Compliance System, or PCS."
-AP via -MSNBC
-
-
- "Software
Bullet Is Sought to Kill Musical Piracy." ... "Some
of the world's biggest record companies, facing rampant online piracy,
are quietly financing the development and testing of software programs
that would sabotage the computers and Internet connections of people who
download pirated music, according to industry executives." ... "The record
companies are exploring options on new countermeasures, which some experts
say have varying degrees of legality, to deter online theft: from attacking
personal Internet connections so as to slow or halt downloads of pirated
music to overwhelming the distribution networks with potentially malicious
programs that masquerade as music files." (1, 2)
-By Andrew Ross Sorkin
-NYTimes via -Google-News
-
- -
"Judge
rules file-sharing tools are legal: A US federal
judge has reversed many of the recording industry's previous victories
over peer-to-peer services, comparing Morpheus and Grokster software to
VCRs and photocopy machines." ... "In an almost complete reversal of previous
victories for the record labels and movie studios, federal court Judge
Stephen Wilson ruled that Streamcast -- parent of the Morpheus software
-- and Grokster were not liable for copyright infringements that took place
using their software. The ruling does not directly affect Kazaa, software
distributed by Sharman Networks, which has also been targeted by the entertainment
industry." -By John Borland with contributions by
Lisa Bowman -CNET/News
-ZDNet.co.ukt>News
- "Intel's
sights on lip-reading software: Intel has released
software that lets computers read lips, a step forward that could lead
to better voice recognition applications." ... "The Audio Visual Speech
Recognition (AVSR) software tracks a speaker's face and mouth movements.
By matching these movements with speech, the application can provide a
computer with enough data to respond to voice recognition commands, even
when these are given in noisy environments. The AVSR program is part of
the OpenCV computer vision library, a collection of open-source applications
and tools that help computers interpret visual data." -By
Michael Kanellos -CNET/News
- "Intel
gives away lip-reading speech recognition code."
... "Intel has released lip-reading visual speech recognition software
under an open source licence." ... "Called Audio Visual Speech Recognition
(AVSR), the software is part of Intel's OpenCV computer vision and facial
recognition code library. Essentially, it tracks the speaker's mouth movements
as individual character and syllable sounds are formed. Intel reckons the
technique to be far more accurate than traditional speech recognition algorithms,
which analyse sounds rather than images." -By Tony
Smith -TheRegister.co.uk
- "Reading
Lips In Software." -Slashdot
- "Prepare
to Meet Thy Doom: John Carmack's game engines
set the standard for PC graphics - and legions of gamers and the industry
love him for it. Now he's brought the world to the brink of Doom III."
... "A $108 million brand (counting the first two titles and various expansion
packs), Doom napalmed the path for everything that followed: the first-person
shooter action of Halo, the Internet play of EverQuest, the ultraviolence
of Grand Theft Auto III. Doom was the first product to invite gamers to
get under the hood and fiddle around with accessible, adaptable code that
allowed for modifications, or mods, and there are versions based on everything
from Star Wars to Aliens. As Doom and its successors became gaming standards,
companies like Valve and Raven licensed id's graphics engines to create
their own shooters." ... "Eventually, Carmack says, real-time rendering
will be so dynamic that animators will be able to produce films using game
engines. Motivated modmakers will have the tools - for free, if Carmack
has his way - to bring to life a vision as compelling as the new film Finding
Nemo (see Swimming
With Sharks). In his book Pattern Recognition, William Gibson
writes about a "Garage Kubrick." Carmack foresees a Basement Disney." (1,
2,
3)
-By David Kushner 200305Issue
11.05 -Wired -Magazine
- 
-
-
- "Calif.,
high-tech firm target more wind for grid." ... "U.S.
utilities have been buying wind power since the 1980s, but it has proven
difficult to reserve space for wind on the transmission grid because no
one could accurately forecast when it would be available." ... "But the
California Independent System Operator, which must balance energy supplies
with demand on the state grid, and TrueWind Solutions, an Albany, New York-based
computer modeling firm, are betting they can make wind a more "predictable"
power source scheduled for transmission shortly before it's needed." -By
Leonard Anderson -Reuters
via -Forbes
- 
- 
-
- 
- 
- "Climatologists
in U.S. are helping troops in Iraq." ... "The U.S.
Air Force Combat Climatology Center [in Asheville, North Carolina] has
offered war planners an idea of what conditions to expect during a typical
spring or summer in Iraq -- a nation that turned off most of its weather
reporting stations to the outside world during the 1980s." ... "The military
climatologists don't forecast daily weather in the region. They look at
the historical records to project long-term trends with normal and extreme
temperatures. They have developed a computer model that looks backward
to fill in the gaps, said Col. David Urbanski, who commands the 100 military
personnel and civil servants there." -AP
via -Weather.com
-
- 
- Microsoft
News - "Report:
Microsoft, EA Mull Bid for Sega." ... "Microsoft
Corp MSFT.O
and Electronic Arts Inc ERTS.O
are separately exploring the possibility of buying all or part of Japanese
videogame maker Sega Corp 7964.T,
the Asian Wall Street Journal said on Friday." ... "The paper, quoting
people familiar with the situation, said the two U.S. companies have yet
to hold formal talks with Sega and that no deal was imminent."-Reuters/Business
- 
- "Shin
Bet takes US lawyer's computer." ... "Israel's intelligence
service confiscated a computer from a controversial American lawyer this
week as he left the country after gathering evidence for a legal action
in the US courts against Ariel Sharon, George Bush and weapons manufacturers."
... "Members of Shin Bet stopped Stanley Cohen as he was flying out of
Tel Aviv on Tuesday and told him to hand over his computer for a routine
security check. They refused to return the machine even when he said he
would rather keep it and not fly." -By Chris McGreal
-Guardian.co.uk
-
- Microsoft
News - "Lawsuit
challenges Microsoft licensing: A California
woman sues Microsoft, Symantec and others, claiming the companies misled
consumers by requiring them to consent to licensing agreements they haven't
read." ... "Specifically, the suit, which was brought by Cathy Baker, claims
that Microsoft, Symantec, CompUSA, Best Buy and other unnamed retailers
don't allow people to read "shrink wrap" licenses--agreements printed inside
the box or incorporated into the software itself--before they buy a product."
-By Lisa M. Bowman -CNET
/News via -BusinessWeek
-
- Microsoft
News - "Woman
sues software makers over licensing terms." ... "[Plaintiff
Cathy] Baker bought the Windows XP Home edition upgrade and Norton Antivirus
software at a CompUSA store in San Rafael last month for her first home
computer. When she opened and began to install the software, she was asked
to agree electronically to licensing terms that she found unacceptable.
When she tried to return the software, the store refused to take it back
because the package had been opened, Baker said in the complaint." -By
Kristi Heim -MercuryNews
via -SiliconValley
-
- Microsoft
News - "Microsoft
give UK a peek at Windows: The United Kingdom is
the latest country to join a Microsoft program that lets international
governments see the otherwise secret source code underlying Windows." ...
"Microsoft unveiled
the Government Security Program two weeks ago as a way to address concerns
various governments have about the security of its Windows operating system.
The U.K. government announced its participation Friday." -By
Stephen Shankland -ZDNet>News
-
- Microsoft
News - "Governments
to see Windows code: Microsoft will share the source
code underlying its Windows operating system with several international
governments, a move designed to address concerns about the security of
the OS." ... "The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant, which dominates
the market for desktop software, has signed deals or expects to shortly
with 10 countries and organizations, Salah DanDan, worldwide GSP [Government
Security Program] manager, said in an interview." -By
Stephen Shankland -ZDNet>News
Microsoft
News -
- "Apple
Lashes Out at Microsoft Settlement." ... "In reaction
to the Redmond, Wash., software giant's $1.1 billion settlement of a California
class-action case, Apple Computer Inc. Monday night issued a statement
criticizing the settlement proposal." ... "As part of the settlement announced
last Friday, Microsoft pledged to donate two-thirds of the unclaimed funds—in
the form of vouchers—to California schools, with one-third of the unclaimed
funds going back to Microsoft." ... "Apple contends that in these types
of cases, "fewer than 25 percent of customers redeem these types of vouchers."
The Microsoft vouchers are available to customers who purchased Microsoft
software between 1995 and 2001. The vouchers range in value from $5 to
$29, depending on the product purchased." (1, 2)
-By Darryl K. Taft -eWEEK
-
- "Norwegian
Hacker, 19, Is Acquitted in DVD Piracy Case." ...
"A three-member panel of the Oslo City Court, including a judge and two
technical experts, ruled that Mr. Johansen had not broken any laws by using
and distributing the software and that he was free to view DVD's he bought
in any fashion he chose. Mr. Johansen has said that the software was intended
to help him play DVD's he already owned on a Linux-based computer, for
which DVD software had not yet been written." -By
Timothy L. O'Brien -NYTimes
via -Google-News
