NewsScan Daily, 24 March 2004 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 24 March 2004 ("Above The Fold")
***********************************************************
NewsScan Daily is underwritten by RLG, a world-class organization
making significant and sustained contributions to the effective
management and appropriate use of information technology. NSD is
written by John Gehl and Suzanne Douglas, [email protected].
***********************************************************

"ABOVE THE FOLD"
        EU Slaps Microsoft With $613M Fine
        Toshiba Goes with Dual-Format DVD Drives
        Interactive Features Charge Up E-Books
        SCO Takes Linux Battle Downunder
        Wiretap Case Focuses on Keystroke Recording Device
        Casino Winnings May Involve High-Tech Trickery

FEATURES
        Flash Card
        Honorary Subscriber: Charles F. Kettering
        Mailbag: The World As We Find It

EU SLAPS MICROSOFT WITH $613M FINE
      The European Commission, which enforces European Union antitrust law, 
has declared Microsoft an abusive monopoly and levied a fine of $613 
million. It also has ordered Microsoft to unbundle its Windows Media Player 
application from its Windows operating system and offer computer makers a 
choice of installing the streamlined version instead. Finally, Microsoft 
must, within 120 days, divulge previously proprietary information about how 
Windows works so that rival software companies can tailor their products to 
work with it. More than 95% of the world's PCs are powered by Windows 
software. Microsoft says it will appeal the ruling, but European 
competition commission Mario Monti appeared unfazed. "I am confident that 
we have produced here a decision that will stand before any appeal," said 
Monti. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs analyst Rich Sherlund downplayed the 
severity of the ruling: "I am not really concerned about the fine. It 
represents about two weeks of cash flow for Microsoft. And unbundling the 
music player is something they can live with." (New York Times 24 Mar 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/24/business/24CND-SOFT.html

TOSHIBA GOES WITH DUAL-FORMAT DVD DRIVES
      Toshiba launched new dual-format DVD recordable drives for PCs and 
laptops that support both the "-R/RW" and the "+R/RW" technologies, joining 
Hewlett-Packard, Sony and Pioneer in offering consumers a dual system. 
Toshiba, Sony and Pioneer had originally supported the "dash" format, while 
HP and Philips promoted the "plus" technology as technologically superior. 
By switching over to dual-format machines, a number of analysts say the 
impasse between the two camps is now passé. (CNet News.com 23 Mar 2004)
http://news.com.com/2100-1041-5178207.html

INTERACTIVE FEATURES CHARGE UP E-BOOKS
      The market for e-books has yet to heat up, but a startup called 
Waterfront Media is betting that by adding interactive tools such as a 
shopping-list generator, a meal planner and a message board, consumers will 
find the electronic versions of self-help books more useful than old-style 
hard copy. Waterfront partners with publishers that specialize in advice 
and personal-help books to create an authoritative Web site, which it then 
markets through online advertising. The partner receives a portion of the 
subscription fees, creating an additional revenue stream for the book 
publishers. Waterfront's biggest success is with the South Beach Diet -- a 
modified version of the Atkins diet that has topped the bestseller list for 
months. The company's www.southbeachdiet.com Web site makes up the bulk of 
its 300,000 paid subscribers, who get a six-week version of the diet and 
access to a "beach buddies" service that pairs up dieters with similar 
weight-loss goals. Other Waterfront partnerships include Tyndale House, 
which publishes the best-selling "Left Behind" novels, financial expert 
Jean Chatzky, fitness guru Denise Austin and New Age doctor Andrew Weil, 
and has several new projects in the works. (Wall Street Journal 23 Mar 2004)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB108008089806963339,00.html (sub re'q)

SCO TAKES LINUX BATTLE DOWNUNDER
      SCO Group has begun targeting Australian Linux users in its legal 
campaign to claim ownership of some code in the open-source operating 
system. SCO has engaged lawyers to "contact Linux users" about its 
controversial Linux licensing scheme, after its U.S. legal counsel targeted 
1,500 of the world's largest Linux users in May. SCO Australia-New Zealand 
general manager Kieran O'Shaugnessy would not say how many Australian 
organizations had been contacted, but claimed at least one sale had gone 
through for a SCO Linux license. SCO said several U.S. companies had bought 
the licenses, including Computer Associates although CA disputed the 
company's claim that Linux software infringed on its Unix patents. SCO's 
Linux licenses went on sale in the U.S. in July, and were made available in 
Australia in January at $999 per server processor and $285 per desktop 
machine. (The Australian, 23 Mar 2004, rec'd from John Lamp, Deakin University)
http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,9044174%5E15306%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html

WIRETAP CASE FOCUSES ON KEYSTROKE RECORDING DEVICE
      A California man has been charged with one count of wiretapping, 
becoming the first person in the U.S. to be charged with illegally using an 
electronic device to record someone's keystrokes. Larry Lee Ropp allegedly 
plugged a "Key Katcher" into the computer of a secretary at the insurance 
company where he worked. Key Katchers are commercially available and are 
marketed to parents who want to monitor their children's computer use. 
However, they are not legal when used on commercial property and when Ropp 
was fired for violating his company's time-clock policy, he called an 
employee and asked her to remove what he called a "toy" from the 
secretary's computer. Ropp was charged with wiretapping after the firm's 
technology department looked into the matter. A conviction could result in 
a maximum five-year prison sentence. (Los Angeles Times 24 Mar 2004)
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-me-wiretap24mar24,1,1110766.story?coll=la-headlines-technology

CASINO WINNINGS MAY INVOLVE HIGH-TECH TRICKERY
      Two men and a woman, all from Eastern Europe, have been arrested on 
suspicion of cheating at a London casino after winning more than £1 million 
at the roulette table. The Daily Mirror newspaper reported that police are 
investigating whether the trio used a laser scanner inside a mobile phone 
to calculate the speed of the ball on the spinning wheel to predict its 
likely final resting place. (AP/CNN.com 23 Mar 2004)
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/03/23/ritz.casino.ap/index.html

*****

FLASH CARD
      "The car as we know it is on the way out. To a large extent, I 
deplore its passing, for as a basically old-fashioned machine, it enshrines 
a basically old-fashioned idea: freedom. In terms of pollution, noise and 
human life, the price of that freedom may be high, but perhaps the car, by 
the very muddle and confusion it causes, may be holding back the 
remorseless spread of the regimented, electronic society." (J. G. Ballard)

HONORARY SUBSCRIBER: CHARLES F. KETTERING
      Today's Honorary Subscriber is the American engineer and inventor 
Charles Franklin Kettering (1876-1958), who made major contributions to the 
development of the modern automobile. He collaborated with the chemist 
Thomas Midgley in the use of tetraethyl lead to eliminate engine knock and 
the application of quick drying lacquers to automobile finishes. He also 
played a part in the discovery of Freon and in the modification of the 
high-speed, two-cycle diesel engine for use in trucks, buses and railroad 
engines. In 1951 he also developed a revolutionary high-compression 
automobile engine.
      Kettering was born in 1876 into a farming family in Loudonville, 
Ohio. In 1904, after graduating from Ohio State University with a degree in 
electrical engineering, he began working for the National Cash Register 
Company in Dayton, where he developed the first electric cash register. He 
rose to chief of the inventions department before resigning in 1909 to join 
with Edward A. Deeds to found the Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company 
(Delco) where they went into the business of designing automotive 
electrical equipment. In 1914 Kettering also founded the Dayton-Wright 
Airplane Company, which during World War I developed a propeller-driven 
guided missile with a 200-pound bomb load. Then in 1916 Delco became a 
subsidiary of United Motors Corporation, later General Motors Corporation 
(GM). Kettering was vice president and director of research for GM from 
1920 until his retirement in 1947.
      After his retirement Kettering continued to work on automobile 
related inventions (by the time of his death in 1958, he had acquired over 
200 patents), but he also increased his interest in philanthropy, 
particularly in supporting cancer research. As early as 1927, he had set up 
the Charles F. Kettering Foundation "to sponsor and carry out scientific 
research for the benefit of humanity."
      In 1945, with generous financing from the Sloan Foundation (set up in 
1934 by GM CEO Alfred P. Sloan, Jr.), Kettering was instrumental in 
establishing the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research. Located in 
New York City, the institute conducts research in physical and biological 
sciences relating to cancer. It also provides graduate instruction through 
Cornell University and publishes research progress reports. In 1960 the 
institute was expanded to become the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer 
Center. Kettering's name and memory was more recently honored when the 
General Motors Institute located in Flint, Michigan, was renamed Kettering 
University on January 1, 1998.

See http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1587981335/newsscancom/ref=nosim 
for a biography of Kettering by Thomas Alvin Boye -- or look for it in your 
favorite library. (We donate all revenue from our book recommendations to 
adult literacy programs.)

MAILBAG: THE WORLD AS WE FIND IT

CIRCULAR MARKETS
Re: http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=10271
      I can agree with Marc Andreessen's comment (NewsScan, 23 March 2004) 
that "offshoring fundamentally reduces the cost of goods and services for 
Americans" for some goods and services, but not all. However, he sees the 
issue as an entrepreneur, not as a middle class worker. And his logic is 
circular -- he says: If we outsource work to India, then there will be 
Indians with money who will want to buy American products such as Apple 
iPod (parts made in Taiwan and China), Coke (made by local plants and 
bottlers in India), Nike shoes (made in Indochina) and the services of 
Merrill Lynch ("offshored" to India). I see the profit for American 
companies but where are the jobs for the middle class American? (Barry M. 
Burriesci)

GOOD FOR THE WORLD OR GOOD FOR US?
Re: http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=10271
      Marc is missing something in his theory on offshore outsourcing. 
Offshore outsourcing may grow foreign demand for goods from American 
companies, which he says is good for us. However, those goods will be made 
from other outsourced manufacturing jobs. The only thing coming into 
America is the profit from sales, nothing else. Free trade agreements as 
currently written, encourage virtual slave labor in other countries and 
unemployment in the U.S. (Daniel L. Evans)

OPTIMISTIC PESSIMISM
Re: http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=10239
      With regard to Churchill's aphorism on optimist vs. pessimist, I'm 
reminded of the other version... The pessimist is one who says "Things 
couldn't possibly be worse," the optimist says, "Sure they can." (Michael 
Clancey)

COFFEE IN PAPER CUPS, UGH
Re: http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=10234
      Perhaps Starbucks can be persuaded to also have their coffee in real 
cups. On my only visit to the U.S. recently, I ordered an espresso at a 
Starbucks, and received it in a paper cup. Ugh!  I was about to complain 
when I realised that _everybody_ had their coffee in paper cups. (Ken Masters)

DETECTING PASSWORD-PROTECTED VIRUS ZIP FILES
Re: http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=10235
      Regarding the article "Latest E-Mail Worms Use Password Trick To Foil 
Filters," I came across the following tip in the LangaList newsletter that 
dealt with Virus Software not detecting password protected virus zip files. 
http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2004/2004-03-08.htm#3. I was able to 
complete some of the modifications described with the virus software on my 
home computer, but I'm not looking forward to having it be tested.  Where I 
work they've instituted this policy, "...We will block all messages sent 
with password-protected attachments, and send a notification to the 
recipient that the message was blocked." (James Bauman)

SUBSCRIPTION INFO FOR NEWSSCAN DAILY:
       To subscribe or unsubscribe to the text, html, or handheld versions 
of NewsScan Daily, send the appropriate subscribe or unsubscribe messages 
(i.e., with the word 'subscribe' or 'unsubscribe' in the subject line) to 
the addresses shown below:
       Text version: Send message to [email protected]
       HTML version: Send mail to [email protected]
       NewsScan-To-Go: http://www.newsscan.com/handheld/current.html

TELL YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT NEWSSCAN DAILY! Send them our little frog: 
http://www.newsscan.com/newsscan/newscup.html

***********************************************************
Please visit the site of RLG, the great organization that makes NewsScan 
Daily possible. (RLG has no influence over, nor any responsibility for, our 
editorial content.) Created in 1974 as the Research Libraries Group, RLG is 
a not-for-profit membership corporation of more than 160 universities, 
national libraries, archives, museums -- and other institutions with 
remarkable collections for research and learning. Its major initiatives are 
long-term retention of digital materials, resource sharing among member 
institutions, and improvement of researcher access to primary source 
material. RLG supplies online research resources worldwide. Visit RLG at 
http://www.rlg.org.

*********

To subscribe or unsubscribe to the TEXT version of NewsScan Daily, send an 
e-mail message to [email protected] with 'subscribe' or 'unsubscribe' 
in the subject line. To subscribe to our HTML version of NewsScan Daily, 
send mail to [email protected], with the word 'subscribe' as the 
subject. (Subscribing to the HTML version won't automatically unsubscribe 
you from the text version; please unsubscribe yourself as explained above.) 
Please note: To unsubscribe from an account to which you no longer have 
access, send mail to at [email protected].

*********

We call our news section "Above The Fold" to honor the tradition of the 
great "broadsheet" newspapers in which editors must decide which news 
stories are of such importance that they should be placed "above the fold" 
on the front page. The NewsScan Credo: Be informative, have fun, and get to 
the point! See http://www.newsscan.com/, and send us mail: John Gehl 
<[email protected]> and Suzanne Douglas <[email protected]>, or call 
770-704-7517.

*********

Get a free 6-week trial subscription to Innovation Weekly, an executive 
summary of trends, strategies and innovations in business and technology. 
Send mail to [email protected] with the word 'subscribe' in the 
subject line.

What customized news and information services do you need for your company? 
Get in touch with us at [email protected] or call 770-704-7517 to talk 
over the possibilities.

Copyright 2004. NewsScan Daily (R) is a publication of NewsScan Inc.
***********************************************************