NewsScan Daily, 20 July 2004 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 20 July 2004 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"  
       Wireless Goes Qwerty
       Is the New Microsoft Software Antitrust-Compliant?
       Lindows Inspired to Change Its Name for $20 Million
       IBM Offer of Assistance to Universities
       New York Accepts $40k to Settle Spam Case

FEATURES           
       Flash Card
       Worth Thinking About: Little Men, Little Women

WIRELESS GOES QWERTY
     The success of multifunction devices such as Blackberry, PalmOne's Treo
600, and Sidekick has inspired new qwerty-keyboard models from Sony
Ericsson, Hewlett-Packard, and Microsoft: Sony Ericsson's P910 offers a
fold-down keyboard useful for sending long e-mail messages; HP and Danger
have developed devices with qwerty-style keyboards; and Microsoft will be
introducing a qwerty-keyboard device called the Pocket PC. Why the interest
in qwerty keypads? Consultant Andrew Seybold says, "In Europe and in Asia,
where the teenagers grew up with triple tapping, they got used to it. In the
U.S. the percentage of people who started out on keyboard is much higher and
that drives what they are used to on a handheld device." The Treo is the
only qwerty handset now being offered by all five major U.S. cellular
carriers, and PalmOne executive Joe Fabris boasts: "The Treo seems to be in
the Goldilocks zone: it's just the right size. We're in the refinement stage
and we're hammering ahead. Other people are still exploring." (New York
Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/19/technology/19phone.html

IS THE NEW MICROSOFT SOFTWARE ANTITRUST-COMPLIANT?
     The Justice Department has told a federal judge that the government
wants to look at Microsoft's next-generation operating system (code-named
Longhorn) early enough that changes can still be made in it if they are
necessary for compliance with the antitrust agreement made two years ago.
Industry analysts have predicted introduction of Longhorn in 2006 or 2007,
when the antitrust settlement is scheduled to expire. A Microsoft spokesman
says, "All development is being done with full consideration for our
obligations and commitments," and U.S. District Judge Colleen
Kollar-Kotelly, who presided over the antitrust agreement, praises its
effectiveness so far. (Washington Post 19 Jul 2004)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62852-2004Jul19.html

LINDOWS INSPIRED TO CHANGE ITS NAME FOR $20 MILLION
     Microsoft has settled its trademark infringement lawsuits against
Lindows with a $20 million payment to that Linux operating system company --
which will now change its name to Linspire. Microsoft says, "We are pleased
that Lindows will now compete in the market place with a name distinctly its
own." Lindows has four years to continue using two of its Web addresses ‹
www.lindows.com and www.lindowsinc.com ‹ for the purpose of redirecting
visitors to its new Web sites. (AP/USA Today 19 Jul 2004)
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-07-19-lindows-settles_x.htm

IBM OFFER OF ASSISTANCE TO UNIVERSITIES
     IBM is offering free access to IBM software and course-development
assistance to any university interested in broadening its curricula, in a
move designed to ensure that computer-science programs will teach students
about open-source software such as Linux and Sun's J2EE and Java languages
as well as IBM's proprietary DB2 database and WebSphere Internet software.
IBM said it was "getting strong signals from schools that they want an
alternative to Microsoft"; Kevin Schofield of Microsoft Research University
relations admitted generously: "Anyone who focuses on just one technology is
doing themselves a disservice."  (Wall Street Journal 20 Jul 2004)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB109027258344267723,00.html?mod=technology
_main_whats_news

NEW YORK ACCEPTS $40K TO SETTLE SPAM CASE
     New York has accepted $40,000 (plus $10,000 in fees) to settle a
lawsuit against a marketer charged with sending unsolicited and deceptive
bulk e-mail. New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said the marketer,
Scott Richter, and his company, OptInRealBig.com, have been held "to a new
standard of accountability in their delivery of e-mails. If he does not
fulfill these standards, he will find himself back in court, facing greater
penalties." Scott Richter's father (who is also his lawyer) says the
settlement basically involved a "no harm, no foul" situation from Richter's
standpoint, and that the NY attorney general's acceptance of $50,000 --
after initially talking about $20 million in damages -- "speaks for itself."
Neither Scott Richter nor his company admitted any wrongdoing in the
settlement. (AP/San Jose Mercury News 20 Jul 2004)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/9194143.htm

*****

FLASH CARD
     "Never give in. Never, never, never, never give in." (Winston
Churchill)

WORTH THINKING ABOUT: LITTLE MEN, LITTLE WOMEN
     Physicists Fred Adams and Greg Laughlin point out how small man's place
in the universe grows as our speculative knowledge of the cosmos increases:
     "A major revolution in perspective took place in the 16th century when
Nicolaus Copernicus argued that Earth is not the center of our solar system,
as had been previously assumed. Copernicus correctly realized that Earth is
just one of a number of planets orbiting the Sun. This apparent reduction in
status of Earth and hence mankind had profound repercussions at the time.
Earth was no longer thought to be the center of the universe. A major
revolution had begun.
     "After the Copernican revolution, the reduction in our status not only
continued, but accelerated. Astronomers soon realized that other stars are
actually objects like our Sun and can, at least in principle, have planetary
systems of their own. One of the first to make this inference was Giordano
Bruno, who claimed not only that other stars had planets, but also that the
planets were inhabited! Since that time, the idea that planets might exist
in other solar systems has been taken up time and again by eminent
scientists, including Leonhard Euler, Immanuel Kant, and Pierre Simon
Laplace. 
     "Remarkably, the idea of planets outside our solar system remained a
purely theoretical concept, without supporting data, for nearly four
centuries. Only in the last few years, beginning in 1995, has the existence
of planets orbiting other stars finally been firmly established. With new
observational capabilities and a great deal of hard work, Geoff Marcy,
Michel Mayor, and their collaborators have shown that planetary systems are
relatively commonplace. Our solar system has now been reduced to being but
one of perhaps billions of solar systems in the galaxy. Another revolution
has begun. 
     "Stepping up to the next larger size scale, we find that our galaxy is
not the only galaxy in the universe. As cosmologists first realized in the
early part of the 20th century, the visible universe is teeming with
galaxies, each containing billions of stars with the potential of having
their own planetary systems. This further erodes the remaining vestiges of
anthropocentric thought."

See ___ for "The Five Ages Of The Universe: Inside The Physics Of Eternity"
-- or look for it in your favorite library. Note: We donate all revenue from
our book recommendations to adult literacy programs.]

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