NewsScan Daily, 3 June 2004 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 3 June 2004 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"
        McCaw's Got a Better Idea for Cheap, Fast Net Access
        Everything Old Is New Again in Video Games
        E-Mail Needs a Makeover
        Potter-Mania Fuels Netsky.P Worm
        SwarmBots on the Move

FEATURES
        Flash Card
        Worth Thinking About: The D-Day Proclamation

MCCAW'S GOT A BETTER IDEA FOR CHEAP, FAST NET ACCESS
      Serial entrepreneur Craig McCaw is tackling the wireless broadband 
market, combining the resources of recently purchased Clearwire with 
technology developed by another McCaw-owned company, NextNet Wireless, to 
launch his latest effort. The NextNet technology uses a 
paperback-book-sized device, plugged into a wall outlet, to provide 
high-speed Internet access. The wall device is able to transmit data to a 
receiver similar to a cell phone tower much faster than most cellular 
networks, says McCaw, who plans to charge about half the typical 
cellular-Internet rate for his Clearwire service. The move reflects McCaw's 
long-held desire to offer wireless broadband Internet access -- a previous 
effort to use low-earth-orbit satellites proved an expensive failure. He 
says "time will tell" if this latest venture will prove successful, but 
adds: "For the past 15 to 20 years we've been seeing people trying to 
attack that [wireless Internet] business and not succeeding. As we're 
walking over the bodies of our brethren, we're asking, 'How can we avoid 
this?' Above all, it has to be simple, cheap and high-quality." (Washington 
Post 3 Jun 2004)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10974-2004Jun2.html

EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN IN VIDEO GAMES
      As veteran video gamers get older and '80s nostalgia renews interest 
in old games, video game makers are beginning to look back, rather than 
forward, for their next big hit. "Retro's very popular right now," says 
Nintendo of America VP Perrin Kaplan. "We are part of the initiative that's 
happening across fashion, music and otherwise." Accordingly, Nintendo plans 
to release next week a nostalgia line for the Game Boy Advance that 
includes replica versions of Donkey Kong, Super Mario Brothers and six 
other titles from the '80s. The prices will be nostalgic, too -- $20 
apiece, versus the usual $30 and up for current games. Kaplan says a 
similar launch in Japan resulted in sales of one million games in eight 
days. Going "classic" is a smart financial move, says Robert Ennis, COO of 
Namco, publisher of Pac-Man. "The development costs have already been 
incurred. [Classic game sales] are very profitable and easy to predict." 
Meanwhile, Microsoft is developing a classic-games download service for the 
Xbox Live Arcade, according to Greg Canessa, group manager of casual games 
and avowed Pac-Man fan. "There's just something about the classics. I'll be 
an old man playing these games." (New York Times 3 Jun 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/03/technology/circuits/03clas.html

E-MAIL NEEDS A MAKEOVER
      Forget about spam -- even your "wanted" e-mail is clogging your 
in-box now, right? E-mail is "broken," says Eric Hahn, former CTO of 
Netscape and current CEO of antispam firm Proofpoint. "We need to make 
metaphoric changes. The [file-folder] metaphor was designed back when we 
were talking about getting five messages a day." Today, many folks receive 
10 to 20 times that number and filing each one just takes too much time. 
"People hate filing. They hate it in paper. They hate it in e-mail. Could 
you imagine what it would be like to have to file Web pages just to get 
back to them?" Hahn suggests that in addition to overhauling the filing 
function, software developers should find a way to combine 
instant-messaging software with e-mail software. "Doesn't it seem odd that 
IM is separate from e-mail? Why are those conversations so fundamentally 
different?" he asks. Ben Gross, a researcher at the University of 
Illinois-Urbana-Champaign, says that in addition to incorporating IM, 
e-mail software developers need to integrate RSS readers into their 
products, so that users can view updates to a Web page without having to 
download the whole Web page into a browser. Some e-mail software developers 
are already experimenting with new approaches: Microsoft's Outlook 2003 and 
Google's Gmail service include a "group by conversation" feature that 
enables users to view related e-mails sent to and from a single person. 
(Wired.com 3 Jun 2004)
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,63692,00.html

POTTER-MANIA FUELS NETSKY.P WORM
      The popularity of the latest Harry Potter film, which debuted in 
Britain Monday, is spurring the resurgence of the Netsky.P worm, which is 
now disguising itself as a Potter game, warn antivirus experts. Computer 
security firm Sophos says it has spotted thousands of copies in the last 
few days. "Echoing a technique used in 2000 by the Pikachu worm, Netsky.P 
targets young computer users by sometimes posing as content connected with 
the Harry Potter books and movie franchise," says Sophos senior tech 
consultant Graham Cluley. "Parents need to educate their children against 
the threats of viruses, to ensure the popularity of Potter doesn't cast a 
nasty spell on their computer systems." (BBC News 3 Jun 2004)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3773443.stm

SWARMBOTS ON THE MOVE
      Scientists at iRobot are imbuing hundreds of little wheeled 
autonomous robots with "swarm" behavior characteristic of insects like bees 
and ants. Insects make great role models for cheap robots because they have 
simple local interactions with one another that result in very complex 
group behaviors. iRobot's SwarmBots are tiny cubes on wheels -- about 5 
inches on each side -- equipped with a pair of electric motors, 
rechargeable batteries and a small color camera for simple object 
recognition. Communications are handled by an array of infrared 
transmitters and receivers similar to the ones used in TV remote controls. 
Strategists at DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) envision 
using the swarmbots for missions such as landmine disposal or mapping enemy 
territory. (Fortune 1 Jun 2004)
http://www.fortune.com/fortune/thisjustin/0,15704,643751,00.html

*****

FLASH CARD
        "Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this 
consolation with us -- that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the 
triumph." (Tom Paine)

WORTH THINKING ABOUT: THE D-DAY PROCLAMATION
      On D-Day, the 6th of June 1944, General Dwight D. Eisenhower issued 
the following proclamation to the assembled Overlord armada as it departed 
for the invasion of the beaches of Normandy, France. France was at the time 
occupied by Nazi forces and the collaborationist French Vichy government.
      "Soldiers, sailors and airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Forces! You 
are about to embark upon the great crusade, toward which we have striven 
these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you, the hopes and 
prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with 
our brave Allies and brothers in arms on other fronts you will bring about 
the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny 
over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free 
world.
       "Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well 
equipped and battle hardened. He will fight savagely.  But this is the year 
1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United 
Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man 
to man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air 
and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our home fronts have given us 
an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at 
our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! 
The free men of the world are marching together to victory!
      "I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, skill in 
battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory!
      "Good luck! And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon 
this great and noble undertaking."
      (The United Nations we know today had not yet been created, so 
Eisenhower's reference was really to the "Allies" -- i.e., the nations that 
had joined a coalition of forces to defeat the Berlin-Rome-Tokyo "Axis" 
powers. Eisenhower used the word "crusade" without in any way suggesting 
that the war was a religious crusade. Germany and Italy were predominantly 
Christian countries.)
                          ***
      [See 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0394412370/newsscancom/ref=nosim 
for Dwight David Eisenhower, "Eisenhower At War 1943-45" -- or look for it 
in your favorite library. We donate all revenue from our book 
recommendations to adult literacy programs.]

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