NewsScan Daily, 25 March 2004 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 25 March 2004 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"  
       EU, US Regulators See Microsoft Differently
       'Mess' Delays Kazaa Case
       Microsoft's Converging Strategy for Xbox and PC Games
       HP Continues Linux Expansion
       Does the Bus Still Stop Here?
       Friend or Foe?

FEATURES        
       Flash Card
       Worth Thinking About: The Body's Delicate Balancing Act

EU, US REGULATORS SEE MICROSOFT DIFFERENTLY
     The European Union's decision to fine Microsoft Corp. and require it to
make alternate versions of its Windows operating system (NewsScan Daily 24
Mar 2004) is considerably tougher than the position taken by the U.S.
Department of Justice.  Democrat Senator Patty Murray of Washington state
says: "This ruling is yet another example of the EU assaulting a successful
American industry and policies that support our economic growth." Business
experts are making the point that it is very difficult for companies to
abide by divergent international rules, and attorney E. Marcellus
Williamson, a specialist in EU antitrust issues, says: "In a world in which
products cross borders regularly and in which dominant companies operate in
both places ... it becomes difficult to advise those companies on what kind
of unilateral conduct they can engage in."  And attorney Eleanor M. Fox,
another EU antitrust expert, predicts: "I anticipate there will be another
round of angst" over the different approaches of Europe and America.
(Washington Post 25 Mar 2004)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22278-2004Mar24.html

SEARCH 'MESS' DELAYS KAZAA CASE
     The music industry will have to wait until at least May before being
granted access to material seized in raids on the headquarters of
peer-to-peer network Kazaa. An Australian federal court judge has described
the execution of civil search orders as "a bit of a mess," and ordered the
seized material held until May. These materials include documents and
computer files taken in raids on the office of Kazaa owner Sharman Networks
and the homes of several key executives. (The Australian 23 Mar 2004)
http://tinyurl.com/3b9lz

MICROSOFT'S CONVERGING STRATEGY FOR XBOX AND PC GAMES
     Microsoft is adopting a new strategy (called XNA) that will allow a
developer of game software to write a single program able to be used on
Windows PC's, on Xbox video game consoles, or on mobile hardware systems.
The Microsoft vice president in charge of the Xbox business says,
"Previously the game industry has been defined by hardware. We believe we
can break that cycle." Industry experts doubt that there will be a legal
challenge to the XNA strategy, which once again leverages Microsoft's
dominance in the PC industry. (New York Times 25 Mar 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/25/technology/25game.html

HP CONTINUES LINUX EXPANSION
     Hewlett-Packard is expanding its partnership with Novell by packaging
its SuSE version of Linux with computers purchased by corporate clients. The
HP executive in charge of that company's Linux division says: "When you have
the No. 1 client provider and a major Linux distributor out there, this is a
pretty significant move." The decision to expand the use of the Linux
platform at HP was made as the result of expressions of interest by "a
number of very large customers from Fortune 50 companies." IDC analyst Roger
Kay says, "What's interesting is the possibility it will give Microsoft the
impression that it's actually in a competitive market. It would act like a
competitor rather than a monopoly and use price as a competitive tool."
(AP/San Jose Mercury News 25 Mar 2004)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/8267380.htm

DOES THE BUS STILL STOP HERE?
     Transportation officials South Portland, Maine, plan to install global
positioning systems on its buses so that riders at certain stops will be
able to check a computer monitor to see where a bus is along its route. The
idea is to reduce passenger anxiety. One transit official explains, "If
riders can tell by looking at map when the bus will be there, they are more
likely to wait." The city's bus system now handles between 550 and 700
riders a day, most of whom want to know when buses will arrive. (AP/USA
Today 25 Mar 2004)
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2004-03-25-maine-bus-gps_x
htm

FRIEND OR FOE?
     New technology called Athena developed at Sandia National Laboratories
will allow aircraft to read radar profiles of friendly ground vehicles and
tanks differently from enemy profiles. Radar generates energy that reflects
off objects on the ground, and Athena will use a synthetic echo to modify
the reflection that friendly ground vehicles bounce back so that a special
icon appears on a plane's radar screen. (AP/Los Angeles Times 25 Mar 2004)
http://www.latimes.com/technology/ats-ap_technology12mar25,1,5462777.story?c
oll=sns-ap-toptechnology

*****  

FLASH CARD      
     "I live in company with a body, a silent companion, exacting and
eternal." (Eugene Delacroix)

WORTH THINKING ABOUT: THE BODY'S DELICATE BALANCING ACT
     Science writer Boyce Rensberger reports on how the microscope is
becoming modern medicine's newest weapon for detecting and managing disease:
     "Human life, biologists now know, is really the sum of the lives of
many individual cells organized in specific ways. And all disease is the
result of processes that go awry within cells or among cells. Cancer and the
common cold, heart disease and hay fever, even AIDS and arthritis, all
afflict people because of failed mechanisms within cells. This is why
biologists say basic research -- aimed at understanding how cells work
rather than at conquering any specific disease -- promises knowledge that
can be used to attack many, and perhaps all, diseases.
     "Sickle-cell anemia, for example, is the result of the slightly flawed
shape of one kind of molecule in a person's blood cells. The errant molecule
warps the red blood cell's normal doughnut shape into a crescent, or sickle,
shape. Some forms of diabetes are caused by faulty molecules called
receptors that are embedded in the membranes that enclose cells. These
molecules are specialized gatekeepers, intended to recognize only insulin
molecules and, when one comes along and binds to it, they will relay the
appropriate signal to the cell's interior. With faulty shapes, the molecules
fail to recognize insulin and the body becomes as sick as if it had no
insulin at all. 
     "As scientists probe the innermost workings of these microscopic
components of the human body, they are beginning to understand one of the
most profound mysteries ever contemplated -- the nature of life and how it
works."
                           ***
See 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0195108744/newsscancom/ref=nos
im for Boyce Rensberger's "Life Itself: Exploring the Realm of the Living
Cell" -- or look for it in your favorite library. (We donate all revenue
from our book recommendations to adult literacy programs.)

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