NewsScan Daily, 29 September 2003 ("Above The Fold") CORRECTED!

NewsScan Daily, 29 September 2003 ("Above The Fold") CORRECTED!
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NewsScan Daily is underwritten by RLG, a world-class organization
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written by John Gehl and Suzanne Douglas, [email protected].

[Note: Due to technical difficulties, last Friday's issue of NewsScan Daily
was sent out again today; however, as some of you have already pointed out,
it was just as good today as it was then. However, THIS (HERE) is the
correct issue of NewsScan Daily for today, 29 Sep 2003. We apologize for the
confusion.]

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"ABOVE THE FOLD"
        Tablet PCs Finding Their Niche
        ITunes Meets Its Musicmatch
        Changes Afoot for Nielsen's TV Rating System
        Vandals Diverting Computers to $5-a-Minute Porn Sites
        Torvalds: Geeky Kids Need Dates
        Cell Phone Utilization Study

FEATURES
        Flash Card
        Worth Thinking About: Social Tradeoffs

TABLET PCs FINDING THEIR NICHE
After several years of "novelty item" status, tablet PCs are finding their
market, fueled by the launch of Microsoft's latest, more user-friendly
Tablet PC operating system, improved voice recognition technology, and a
broader range of devices among which to choose. Unlike the increasingly
cutthroat PC market, tablet PCs are able to command premium pricing --
ranging from about $1,000 to $2,300 -- and are now sold by a number of major
PC makers, including Hewlett-Packard, Acer, Toshiba, NEC, Fujitsu and
Gateway. "We're in the very early stages of what effectively is nascent
demand in the tablet market," says IDC analyst Alan Promisel. "Looking
forward, I think the demand potential for tablets is pretty high." Adding to
the buzz is the proliferation of Wi-Fi hotspots within corporations, on
university campuses and in cafes such as Starbucks -- perfect for tablet PC
computing. And while the demand for tablet PCs among students and consumers
is expected to expand, the real push will come from corporate clients such
as doctors' offices and real estate operations, says Promisel: "The
technology is there, but the main stumbling block is the lack of
applications." However, the new Windows XP system for tablet PCs should
change all that, says Promisel. "It really does add a whole new layer. It
allows you to take digital notes and hand-write e-mails." IDC predicts
worldwide sales of 500,000 tablet PCs this year -- about 1% of the total
portable PC market. (Wired.com 28 Sep 2003)
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,60623,00.html

iTUNES MEETS ITS MUSICMATCH
Building on the popularity of Apple's iTunes Music Store, software maker
MusicMatch is launching a Windows-compatible music download service offering
songs from leading record labels with the fewest restrictions so far on
copying and portability. The new software allows customers to purchase songs
for 99 cents apiece without having to enroll in a monthly subscription
program, and users may copy the tracks onto as many as three different
computers and transfer them to portable music players, as well as burn as
many as 5 CDs with the same set of songs. MusicMatch president Peter D.
Csathy says it took months of negotiations with the labels to agree on those
terms. A digital music store "is DOA when you have complex usage rules,"
says Csathy. Those terms are likely to soon be offered by others targeting
the Windows market, which represents more than 90% of computer users. (Los
Angeles Times 29 Sep 2003)
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-musicmatch29sep29224416,1,6990564.st
ory?coll=la-headlines-technology

CHANGES AFOOT FOR NIELSEN'S TV RATING SYSTEM
Nielsen Media Research -- the television industry's lead authority on
audience ratings -- is revamping its operations in an effort to capture more
data on audience demographics for viewers of small digital-cable channels.
The company plans to double the size of its national sample to 10,000 by
2006 and is testing a new "psycho acoustic coding" system that can
differentiate between broadcasters' multicast signals. The system requires
broadcasters to embed distinctive audio signals -- inaudible to humans--
into their digital broadcasts that will enable Nielsen's new set-top box
(known inside the company as "golden ears") to monitor the different
channels. Digital television is still in its infancy but is growing up fast
as the deadline set for broadcasters to switch over from analog to digital
looms. Estimates suggest that fewer than 50 digital stations are currently
multicasting, but that number is expected to mushroom over the next few
years. Nielsen is also working with radio ratings service Arbitron in a test
to gauge the number of often uncounted viewers in dorm rooms, hotels and
gyms, using a "portable people meter" the size of a pager to track what kind
of radio and television programming people are consuming outside the home.
In Europe, Nielsen is studying a wristwatch-type meter to measure an
individual's viewing, be it at home or on the road, but the "portable people
meter" still has a few kinks to work out. For instance, it records a
television signal playing in a bar, even if the user isn't watching the
show. Still, many critics see the moves as a step in the right direction.
"Since VNU took over there has been a positive movement by Nielsen to
advance the state of measurement rather than just sit back and watch their
margins grow," says CBS research chief David Poltrack. "They have a plan for
measuring the future and are keeping on top of things." (Wall Street Journal
29 Sep 2003)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB10648012103934100,00.html (sub req'd)

VANDALS DIVERTING COMPUTERS TO $5-A-MINUTE PORN SITES
Network vandals have been exploiting a security gap in Microsoft's Internet
Explorer software and using it to connect their computers to $5-a-minute
porn lines by sending computer users to sites that change a computer's
dial-up settings, connecting it to expensive long distance telephone numbers
instead of the user's ISP. The original hole in Internet Explorer was
discovered last month, and Microsoft issued a software patch to fix it,
there but new variations of the malicious code seem to be evading the
existing patch. (Internet News 29 Sep 2003)
http://www.internet-magazine.com/news/view.asp?id=3732

TORVALDS: GEEKY KIDS NEED DATES
Asked how to end virus and worm attacks, Linux creator Linus Torvalds told
an interviewer: "When you have people who hook up these machines that
weren't designed for the Internet, and they don't even want to know about
all the intricacies of network security, what can you expect? We get what we
have now: a system that can be brought down by a teenager with too much time
on his hands. Should we blame the teenager? Sure, we can point the finger at
him and say, 'Bad boy!' and slap him for it. Will that actually fix
anything? No. The next geeky kid frustrated about not getting a date on
Saturday night will come along and do the same thing without really
understanding the consequences. So either we should make it a law that all
geeks have dates -- I'd have supported such a law when I was a teenager --
or the blame is really on the companies who sell and install the systems
that are quite that fragile." (New York Times Magazine 28 Sep 2003)
http://partners.nytimes.com/2003/09/28/magazine/WLN104109.html

CELL PHONE UTILIZATION STUDY
A study by a detective agency in Rome found cell phones involved in nearly
nine of every 10 discovered love affairs in that country, because of spouses
finding messages or phone numbers. The agency has offered up five rules to
help the guilty avoid discovery. One is to immediately delete call records
from phone memory, as well as text messages -- "even the most beautiful."
Italy has 58 million people and 53 million mobile subscriptions. A
spokesperson for Vodafone, the wireless communications company, said
judiciously: "Services that you have on your mobile phone help your
mobility, and allow you to have a more easy life -- more easy, but not
necessarily to betray your wife or husband. Maybe it's also useful for that;
I don't know. In their private life, our clients do what they want." (AP/San
Jose Mercury News 28 Sep 2003)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/6883873.htm

*****

FLASH CARD
      "A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat of the
fish that hath fed of that worm." (Hamlet)

WORTH THINKING ABOUT: SOCIAL TRADEOFFS?
      University of Massachusetts economist Nancy Folbre has written about
pressing care-giving issues troubling the modern family:
      "In a 1977 poll, about two-thirds of the Americans surveyed agreed that
"It is much better for everyone if the man is the achiever and the woman
takes care of the home and family." By 1998, only one-third agreed: the
proportions had reversed. Women are now far more likely to work outside the
home than they were twenty-five years ago. Partly as a result, they are less
bound by family obligations, with more permission -- indeed, encouragement
-- to pursue their own interests. Men's work hasn't changed nearly as much.
The amount of time they devote to housework and child care has increased by
a negligible amount.
      "In the United States today, men and women have equal rights before the
law. With respect to the care of children and other dependents, however, our
cultural norms still reflect greater expectations for women than for men.
Economic theory offers vivid examples of this cultural double standard. The
history of feminism reflects a sustained effort to challenge it.
      "Liberal feminism has demanded greater individual rights for women.
Social feminism has demanded greater social obligations, especially for men.
For reasons that have to do with our economic system, as well as our
political history, liberal feminism has enjoyed relatively more success in
the United States than in the more traditional societies of Europe. Its very
success has contributed to a dilemma. Women know they can benefit
economically by becoming achievers rather than caregivers. They also, know,
however, that if all women adopt this strategy, society as a whole will
become oriented more toward achievement than care."
                           ***
See
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1565847474/newsscancom/ref=nos
im for Nancy Folbre's "The Invisible Heart: Economics and Family Values"

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