NewsScan Daily, 26 March 2004 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 26 March 2004 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"
        WTO Says U.S. Online Gambling Policy Is Against the Law
        Nano-Lightning Storms Cool Chips
        New E-Book Reader Uses Digital Paper Technology
        Deal of the Century -- 100-Year Domain Service
        Libraries Use Internet to Lure Patrons

FEATURES
        Flash Card
        Honorary Subscriber: Leo Hendrik Baekeland
        Mailbag: The World As We Find It

WTO SAYS U.S. ONLINE GAMBLING POLICY IS AGAINST THE LAW
      The World Trade Organization has ruled that U.S. policy prohibiting 
Internet gambling violates international trade law. The decision came in 
response to a case brought by island nation Antigua and Barbuda, which 
licenses 19 companies that offer sports wagering and casino-type games over 
the Internet. Antigua and Barbuda had argued that U.S. trade policy does 
not prohibit cross-border gambling operations and that the government in 
fact wants U.S. casino operations to operate land-based and Internet-based 
units overseas. Sir Ronald Sanders, the islands' chief foreign affairs 
representative, said the WTO's decision means that the U.S. must liberalize 
its online gambling regulations or risk accusations of hypocrisy on its 
free trade policy: "The U.S. says it wants open competition. But it only 
wants free trade when it suits the U.S." Sebastian Sinclair, a research 
analyst who studies the Internet gambling industry, says the WTO decision 
could galvanize U.S. lawmakers who want to see online gambling banned. At 
the same time, it revealed the chasm between U.S. policies and attitudes 
toward gambling in the rest of the world. "We're going down one path, and 
the rest of the world is going down a completely different path." 
Meanwhile, many U.S. residents already use offshore online gambling 
services, says Betonsports.com CEO David Carruthers, who said last year his 
company took 33 million bets from people in North America, most of them in 
the U.S. (New York Times 26 Mar 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/26/technology/26gamble.html

NANO-LIGHTNING STORMS COOL CHIPS
      Engineers at Purdue University have come up with a novel way to cool 
computer chips by generating lightning and wind on a microscopic level 
using carbon nanotubes. The researchers have filed for patents based on the 
concept and next steps will include developing a prototype and examining 
different materials that could be used in the device. The idea is to 
position an array of carbon nanotubes near a computer chip. A negative 
charge applied to some of the nanotubes would cause electrons to be 
emitted, creating a microscopic cloud of ionized air, which then would lead 
to an electrical charge imbalance in the micro-atmosphere, causing a 
microscopic lightning strike. Meanwhile, the ionized cloud would 
alternately be attracted and repelled by adjacent electrodes, creating a 
tiny breeze to cool the chips. "In simple terms, we are generating a kind 
of lightning on a nano-scale here," says Purdue professor Suresh Garimella. 
(CNet News.com 25 Mar 2004)
http://news.com.com/2100-7337-5179422.html

NEW E-BOOK READER USES DIGITAL PAPER TECHNOLOGY
      Sony, Philips and digital paper pioneer E-Ink are launching an 
electronic book reader called Librié, which is the size of a paperback book 
and can hold 500 texts in its memory. The display has a resolution of 170 
pixels per inch -- about the same quality as a newspaper, says E-Ink. The 
Librié weighs about 300g (about 10.5 ounces), including four AAA batteries 
and a front cover. The device uses battery power only when text is 
refreshed, which means it should be able to display about 10,000 pages 
before it needs its batteries changed. The Librié is 13mm (about half an 
inch) thick and its screen measures 15cm (about 6 inches) diagonally. It's 
due to go on sale in Japan in late April for $375. (BBC News 26 Mar 2004)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3568505.stm

DEAL OF THE CENTURY -- 100-YEAR DOMAIN SERVICE
      Responding to frustration over the current Internet domain name 
registration renewal process, Network Solutions says it will offer a 
100-year registration option for $1,000 per name. "We've had a number of 
customers who have allowed high-value domain names to lapse," says Network 
Solutions CEO Champ Mitchell, citing Microsoft's failure to renew its 
Passport.com address in 1999 and the Washington Post's temporary lapse in 
renewing its washpost.com domain name earlier this year. Mitchell agreed 
that most domain owners won't want to pony up $1,000 for something that 
costs $40 per year, but predicted that there might be up to 10,000 
potential takers for the 100-Year Domain Service. But Wayne State 
University law professor Jonathan Weinberg says the deal may not be a 
bargain for customers. "Just as you wouldn't want to be locked into your 
phone company for the next hundred years, even if they offered you a really 
good deal on a phone, it doesn't make a lot of sense to be locked in with a 
domain registration company for the next hundred years. If Network 
Solutions should go bankrupt 30 years from now or 70 years from now, you're 
up a creek." (Washington Post 24 Mar 2004)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21959-2004Mar24.html

LIBRARIES USE INTERNET TO LURE PATRONS
      Libraries are using the Internet to attract busy readers by e-mailing 
patrons online book teasers -- a chapter or so of a book at regular 
intervals. More than 3,000 libraries nationwide have latched onto the 
strategy as a way to serve both bookworms and the time-pressed. "It gives 
them an opportunity to know what's out there in the publishing world, to 
hook onto new titles," says Public Library Association president Luis 
Herrera. The service is provided by DearReader.com, owned by Suzanne 
Beecher, who started out by e-mailing chapters to part-time employees of 
her family's software business. "I realized that if you could get business 
people and stay-at-home moms involved in a book so that reading is on their 
short list, that's quite an accomplishment," says Beecher, who works 
together with librarians to select the books. Beecher's employees -- mostly 
stay-at-home moms -- type up and send out the chapters. Users can sign up 
for specific genres, such as mystery, romance or teen. "We tell people to 
read only what they enjoy reading. If you don't like a book, just hit the 
delete key," says Beecher. (AP 26 Mar 2004)
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20040326/D81I4AC80.html

*****

FLASH CARD
      "If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it. The more 
things you do, the more you can do." (Lucille Ball)

HONORARY SUBSCRIBER: LEO HENDRIK BAEKELAND (1863-1944)
      Today's Honorary Subscriber is the Belgian-American industrial 
chemist Dr. Leo Hendrik Baekeland (1863-1944), who helped usher in the 
modern plastics industry when he invented the commercially useful synthetic 
resin that he named Bakelite after himself.
      Unlike its predecessor, Celluloid, Bakelite would not soften under 
heat. It was a hard, water- and solvent-resistant substance that could be 
machine tooled. In time it would replace steel as the symbol of the modern 
industrial world. It became omnipresent in products of every description, 
from telephone handsets, pot handles, bottle caps, dental fillings, and 
costume jewelry, to mention a few. Bakelite was not Baekeland's only major 
invention. Previously he had developed a photographic paper that could be 
developed under artificial light. Called Velox, it was purchased by 
Eastman-Kodak for a million dollars.
      Baekeland was born in Ghent, Brussels, where he was a scholarship 
student at that city's university. He finished his undergraduate work in 
1882, and then took only two years to earn his doctorate in 1884, still not 
yet 21 years of age. In 1887 he was appointed to the faculty of the 
University of Bruges. In 1889 he went to the United States on a traveling 
fellowship. He had taken up photography as a hobby, and while in the United 
States he was offered a good job in that field. In 1891 he set up his own 
company to make and market the Velox photographic paper he had invented. 
After he sold Velox to Eastman-Kodak, he moved to Yonkers, New York, where 
he installed a laboratory in his home, so that he could pursue his new 
interest in finding a synthetic substitute for shellac. Shellac was a key 
substance in making electrical insulation, and the supply of natural 
shellac was inadequate to meet demand. Baekeland experimented with phenol 
and formaldehyde in the search for a shellac substitute, but came up 
instead with a resinous mass he serendipitously refined into the plastic 
substance that changed our world from one of wood and marble into one of 
Formica and plastic. Following Baekeland's lead, the modern world has 
witnessed an unending procession of coal tar distillates, such as 
Plexiglas, polyesters, vinyls and nylons, polyurethane and Teflon.
      Baekeland introduced Bakelite in 1909 at a meeting of the New York 
Chapter of the American Chemistry Society. He then founded the General 
Bakelite Corp. to both make and license the manufacture of the product. He 
had to contend with business problems of patent infringements and 
counterfeit Bakelite products. His fellow chemists genuinely respected 
Baekeland, and in 1924 he served as president of the American Chemical 
Society. He retired in 1939 and sold his company to the Union Carbide and 
Carbon Corporation.

See http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0070267146/newsscancom/ref=nosim 
for "Modern Plastics" -- 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

WHY GAMBLE WHEN YOU CAN MARKET TECHNOLOGY?
http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=10281
      If gamblers had that kind of technology (did you ever look at the way 
the ball starts its roll, and the short time they would have to predict its 
fall and still place their bets?), they would be able to sell it for 
legitimate uses and get far more than they could hope to win at the 
casinos, and live happily ever after on royalties. <G> (Wilson Baptista Junior)

COMPOUNDING THE SPAM PROBLEM
Re: http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=10287
      Regarding the detection of password-protected virus zip files: No, 
no, no! Do not enable notification to a sender that a virus was found in a 
message or bounce messages to non-existent users or allow any kind of 
non-delivery alerts. Spammers and various worms that send spam often fake 
the sender's address, which means that notifications are not going to the 
correct sender, and that seriously compounds the spam problem. (Mark Gibbs)

DOUBLE-EDGED INVENTIONS
Re: 
http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=honorary_subscriber&id=764
      Was the fame of Honorary Subscriber Charles F. Kettering gained by 
good or by evil? Contributing to the creation of two great pollutants -- 
leaded gasoline and Freon (greenhouse-effect gas) -- is not something to be 
proud of. Good food for thought. Who will be famous in 20, 50, 100 years ? 
And what for? (Luis Claudio Silva)

'LADIES, START YOUR ENGINES!'
Re: 
http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=honorary_subscriber&id=764
      You missed probably the most important invention that Kettering 
worked on for automobiles, and that was the electric starter. Prior to that 
invention, all automobile engines had to be riskily hand-cranked. Women 
were basically afraid of using cars. When the electric starter was 
available, a huge new market for GM developed. (Earl J. Niemoth)

HANG THEM ALL
Re: http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=10288
      Different laws are not really an issue in the Microsoft antitrust 
case. Regulators (both US and EU) declared that Microsoft's actions were 
illegal. Microsoft appealed in both jurisdictions -- and continued the 
illegal activity meanwhile. Both appeals were (at least partially) 
unsuccessful. Different states have different sentencing guidelines. 
Defendants who are already on probation typically get more severe 
punishment. Why should law-breaking corporations be treated any more gently 
than law-breaking individuals? (Jim J. Jewett)

EU LOVES CONSUMERS TO DEATH
Re: http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=10276
      The European Commission's declaration that Microsoft must "...divulge 
previously proprietary information about how Windows works so that rival 
software companies can tailor their products to work with it" suggests that 
Microsoft is preventing software developers from working with their 
products. This statement couldn't be further from the truth. Microsoft's 
brilliance--and one reason it earned a 91% market share-- is that it 
encourages software developers to tap into the power of its operating 
system. Each product that Microsoft produces has a Software Developers Kit 
(SDK) that's freely given away on the Microsoft Developers Network 
(http://msdn.microsoft.com/). They also publish thousands of free technical 
articles on developing software solutions that work with, and expand upon, 
Microsoft's products. This philosophy actively encourages software 
developers to concentrate on creating their products rather than 
reinventing the whole software wheel and, in the process, it allows 
developers to produce more reasonably priced software solutions for the 
consumer to select from. In the end, Microsoft gains market share because 
people gravitate towards inexpensive tools that offer the greatest number 
of solutions to get the job done.
      Should Microsoft be punished for robustly supporting software 
developers? No. Will Microsoft disclosing its proprietary source code make 
it easier for developers to make products compatible with Microsoft's 
products? No. Could such a disclosure reveal product vulnerabilities and 
give hackers a better idea of where to attack the 91% of us that choose to 
use Microsoft products? You can count on it. The EU Commission's 
declaration has no basis in reality, and could be seriously damaging to the 
consumers it suggests it wants to protect. (Corl DeLuna)

GIVE 'EM HELL
Re: http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=10275
      It was a nice coincidence reading the excerpt from David McCollugh's 
"Truman" in NewsScan, because I'd just finished the book. "Truman" is one 
of the best and most fascinating biographies I'd ever read. If you haven't 
read it and do, you'll see how the Presidents since Truman pale in 
comparison. As stated in the book, no President ever faced as many 
monumental world crises in such a short period of time. Most men would have 
caved under the stress and strain. Truman was decisive, a scholar of 
history, not a millionaire like some presidents before him and many after 
him, and he trusted that if the American public got the facts that they'd 
make the right decision... If you ever feel down and think that the world 
is against you, please read the chapter about Truman's 1948 presidential 
campaign. No one (except "Give 'em hell Harry!") thought he'd win; even his 
close advisers had grave doubts. (Jim Bauman)

JOYCEAN WORDMONGERING
Re: http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=10247
      Thanks so much for printing that vivid excerpt from the opening of 
James Joyce's "The Dead" in one of your Worth Thinking About pieces. The 
story summons up sights, sounds, and smells which transport one out of the 
age of technology to "the Misses Morkan's annual dance." As a St. Patrick's 
Day tribute, I read the section aloud to my husband Leslie Morris (a 
long-time subscriber to your publication), and found that the words sound 
even better than they read. Many thanks for giving us a visit with Joyce -- 
who, even in the midst of the festivities, reminds us that people are not 
dupes. I hope you whetted peoples' appetites enough to send them back to 
read the rest of the story: the final image is one of the most 
unforgettable in modern literature. (Sharon Cramer Ph.D., Buffalo State 
College)

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