NewsScan Daily, 10 May 2004 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 10 May 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"  
       Sasser Creator Turned In for the Reward
       Ohio to Use E-Voting Machines in 31 Counties
       Computerization Ends Taiwanese Tradition
       What the Blank Is the Missing Word?
       Single-Use Credit Cards
       WiMax: A Technology in Search of a Market

FEATURES        
       Flash Card
       Honorary Subscriber: Linus Pauling

SASSER CREATOR TURNED IN FOR THE REWARD
     The German teenager who created the computer worm Sasser was identified
by acquaintances seeking a $250,000 reward from Microsoft. The young man was
arrested in the village of Waffensen, near Bremen, and appeared shaken by
the extent of the damage his program had caused around the world. He faces
charges of computer sabotage, which under German law could mean his
imprisonment for five years. If the teenager is convicted, Microsoft will
make good on its pledge for the full $250,000 reward. (Washington Post 9 May
2004)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11160-2004May8.html

OHIO TO USE E-VOTING MACHINES IN 31 COUNTIES
     Ohio lawmakers have authorized 31 counties to switch to electronic
voting machines in time for the Nov. 2 election. The law also requires that
by May 2006 e-voting machines be redesigned so that they issue paper
receipts confirming to voters the choices they made. Ohio's Secretary of
State will have the responsibility for making sure that those design changes
are made. (San Jose Mercury News 7 May 2004)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/8616084.htm

COMPUTERIZATION ENDS TAIWANESE TRADITION
     Computerization has helped end centuries of tradition in Taiwan, with
that country's parliament passing a new law requiring that official
documents now be written from left to right, the same way as Western
languages. Taiwan first thought of switching writing styles early last year,
to cope with increased computer use and to fit in with international
standards. Standardization has long been a vexing issue in Taiwan, where
some have switched to left-to-right but many still write in the old way. The
problem also affects the media, with the widely circulated Chinese-language
China Times using the traditional style but the group's evening newspaper
Chinatimes Express being printed from left to right. (The Age, 6 May 2004)
http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/05/06/1083635246589.html Rec'd from John
Lamp, Deakin U.

WHAT THE BLANK IS THE MISSING WORD?
     An Irish graduate student and her research adviser in Luxembourg have
developed a computer technique for identifying words in a document that have
been blanked out for security or privacy purposes. The program counts the
number of pixels blocked out, then determines the pixel length of words when
written in the specific font used in the document, then reduces the number
of possible words to just a few by using semantic guidelines and the
grammatical context. The researchers say that agencies could foil the
technique by to using OCR technology to rescan documents and alter fonts.
(New York Times 10 May 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/10/technology/10crypto.html

SINGLE-USE CREDIT CARDS
     To combat identity theft, credit-card issuers sometimes issue virtual
account numbers, which you typically obtain by signing up at the company's
Web site and then download software to your computer to get a new disposable
account number before each purchase you make. The number can only be used at
one merchant, whether for a single purchase or for a service with a
recurring monthly charge. MNBA executive Jim Donahue says, "It certainly has
yet to capture the majority of cardholders, but those who use it are very
loyal to it." However, since account holders normally don't have to pay for
fraudulent purchases made to their accounts, many of them see no personal
advantage to going through the extra step of obtaining a virtual account
number. (AP/USA Today 10 May 2004)
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/internetprivacy/2004-05-10-single-use-cred
it_x.htm

WIMAX: A TECHNOLOGY IN SEARCH OF A MARKET
     Known formally by its technical standard 802.16, WiMax is a muscle
version of the 802.11 wireless protocol that transmits Internet signals as
far as 300 feet to provide WiFi hot spots at coffee shops, airports and
hotels and for personal networks at home. Sean Maloney, general manager of
Intel's communications group, says: "We're facing an incredible next five
years. It's the broadband wireless era, as interesting as 1994-99 was with
the explosion of the Internet." A single WiMax transmitter could serve a
corporate headquarters, a college campus or even a city. But there are
plenty of doubters. Jeff Thermond of Broadcom Corp says "For all the places
with nomads and camels it's great, but WiMax is a technology in search of a
market." (Los Angeles Times 9 May 2004) http://tinyurl.com/yqj4r

*****  

FLASH CARD 
     "I have always tried to hide my efforts and wished my works to have a
light joyousness of springtime which never lets anyone suspect the labors it
has cost me." (Henri Matisse)

HONORARY SUBSCRIBER: LINUS CARL PAULING (1901-1994)
     Today's Honorary Subscriber is the American physical chemist Linus Carl
Pauling (1901-1994), who was twice awarded a Nobel Prize, first in 1954 for
chemistry and then in 1962 for peace. The chemistry prize recognized his
application of quantum mechanics in the study of molecular structures
involved in chemical bonding processes. The peace prize acknowledged his
very prominent activities in the campaign to ban nuclear testing and to
place nuclear weapons under international controls. Pauling was only the
second person to receive two Noble Prizes, the first being Madame Curie.
     Pauling was born in Portland, Oregon. He received a B.S. degree in
chemical engineering from Oregon State University), Corvallis, in 1922,
after which he went on to earn a Ph.D. in physical chemistry at the
California Institute of Technology in 1925. For two years he was a
postdoctoral fellow in Europe, working in the laboratories of such noted
scientists as Arnold Sommerfeld in Munich, Niels Bohr in Copenhagen, Erwin
Schrödinger in Zürich, and Sir William Henry Bragg in London. He returned to
the California Institute of Technology as assistant professor of chemistry
in 1927, becoming full professor in 1931 and serving as director of the
Gates and Crellin Laboratories of Chemistry between 1936 and 1958.
     Upon his return to Caltech from Europe he applied quantum mechanics to
chemistry and developed a new theory of the chemical bond. His views were to
revolutionize thinking about the structure of molecules, and when published
in 1939 his book, The Nature of the Chemical Bond and the Structure of
Molecules and Crystals, would become one of the most influential scientific
books of the 20th century. Pauling's research projects were interrupted by
World War II, during which he worked on explosives and developed an oxygen
detector. In the early 1950s he proposed the alpha helix as the basic
structure of proteins and narrowly missed discovering the double-helix
structure of DNA.
     In the aftermath of World War II Pauling became deeply concerned about
the dangers of radioactive fallout from nuclear weapons tests.  He spoke and
wrote against testing, and in 1958 he presented a petition to the United
Nations signed by more than 11,000 scientists. Despite his opposition to
nuclear testing by the Soviet Union as well as the U.S. many political
conservatives questioned his loyalty. During this latter period of his life
Pauling also concerned himself with a variety of medical issues. He
demonstrated that sickle-cell disease is a hereditary molecular disease. He
also developed a molecular model for the explanation of anesthesia and
introduced promising ideas about human memory processes.
     In 1963 Pauling joined the Center for the Study of Democratic
Institutions at Santa Barbara, where he largely devoted himself to the study
of problems of peace and war. In 1973 he founded the Linus Pauling Institute
of Science and Medicine where he engaged in his controversial program to
prevent and treat illness through the intake of optimum doses of vitamins
and minerals. Pauling died in 1994 in Big Sur, California.

See 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0870714899/newsscancom/ref=nos
im for "Linus Pauling: Scientist and Peacemaker"-- or look for it in your
favorite library. (We donate all revenue from book recommendations to adult
literacy programs.)

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.
***********************************************************