NewsScan Daily, 13 June 2003 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 13 June 2003 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"
        J.D. Edwards Files $1.7 Billion Suit Against Oracle
        Standards Group Okays Faster Wi-Fi
        MLB Offers Full-Length Game Downloads
        Companies Worry More About Spam Than Hackers
        S*x.com Restored to Rightful Owner
        Sign of the Times: No Electronic Pink Slip

FEATURES
        Flash Card
        Last Day! Don't Miss Out!! Doors Are Closing!!!
        Honorary Subscriber: Calamity Jane

J.D. EDWARDS FILES $1.7 BILLION SUIT AGAINST ORACLE
J.D. Edwards has filed a $1.7 billion lawsuit in Colorado against Oracle, 
alleging the database giant has "tortiously interfered" with its proposed 
takeover by PeopleSoft. J.D. Edwards is also filing a separate suit in 
California against Oracle, CEO Larry Ellison and VP Chuck Phillips, 
alleging wrongful conduct and unfair business practices. The legal actions 
come in response to Oracle's hostile bid to acquire PeopleSoft -- a bid 
formally rejected on Thursday. "Oracle's sole aim is to disrupt a merger 
that will create value for the key stakeholders at J.D. Edwards and 
PeopleSoft… We will not sit idly while Oracle pursues this arrogant, 
unlawful and destructive course of action," said J.D. Edwards CEO Bob 
Dutkowsky. Oracle responded that it believes the case has "no merit." (CNet 
News.com 12 Jun 2003)
http://news.com.com/2100-1012-1016598.html?tag=nl

STANDARDS GROUP OKAYS FASTER WI-FI
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) gave the 
go-ahead Thursday for the newest Wi-Fi standard, known in technical circles 
as 802.11g. The new standard is compatible with equipment based on the 
existing 802.11b Wi-Fi standard, and boasts theoretical speeds of up to 54 
megabits per second (compared with 802.11b's theoretical peak of 11 mbps). 
However, 802.11g gear has a shorter range than older equipment, notes 
Gartner analyst Kenneth Dulaney. (Reuters 12 Jun 2003)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=581&ncid=581&e=2&u=/nm/20030612/tc_nm/tech_wireless_wifi_dc

MLB OFFERS FULL-LENGTH GAME DOWNLOADS
Major League Baseball is pitching a new service -- allowing fans to 
download the video of an entire game that they can then watch on their 
computer or burn to a CD. The $3.95-per-game Digital Classic service 
launched its trial run Thursday, offering fans video of the Houston Astros' 
no-hitter against the New York Yankees the night before. As of late 
yesterday afternoon, 201 fans had downloaded the game. If the trial proves 
successful, MLB.com will probably offer almost every regular-season game on 
Digital Classic, making them available about 90 minutes after the game's 
end. The site will also being selling video of classic games for the same 
$3.95 price. MLB.com has been a forerunner in the online sports marketing 
area, partnering with RealNetworks to offer game video in a variety of 
formats so there is almost no marginal cost, says Bob Bowman, CEO of MLB 
Advanced Media. "We're just taking the same asset and slicing it up in a 
different way," says Bowman. The Digital Classic games will average about 
two hours in length (all commercials will be cut out) and the files will 
take about 40 minutes to download via high-speed connection. (Wall Street 
Journal 12 Jun 2003)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB105544237571228100.djm,00.html (sub req'd)

COMPANIES WORRY MORE ABOUT SPAM THAN HACKERS
Businesses are far more concerned about the rising flood of spam that's 
engulfing their networks than they are about run-of-the-mill hackers, 
according to a survey of 2,800 silcon.com readers. But the biggest worry is 
over virus attacks, with 71% of respondents citing viruses as the biggest 
threat to their businesses. Symantec's Kevin Chapman says he's not 
surprised by the results. "Spam has now gone way beyond the quick and easy 
'hit the delete button and it's gone' solution. It's now a really big 
problem. From the employees' point of view it is about productivity and the 
sheer annoyance of dealing with all these e-mails. For the employer it is 
about bandwidth and other network resources issues." But aside from 
productivity and bandwidth concerns, there's another consequence that could 
be lurking out there, says Martino Corbelli, marketing director for 
SurfControl. "Some of these spam e-mails have completely inappropriate 
content which can create serious problems for the employer on a legal 
basis. There may be somebody who feels they should be protected from 
p*rnographic content, for example, and in some cases they may be prepared 
to sue their employer if they feel they are being exposed to offensive 
material on the company's network." (Silicon.com 12 Jun 2003)
http://www.silicon.com/news/165-500001/1/4641.html

S*X.COM RESTORED TO RIGHTFUL OWNER
The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from cybersquatter Stephen 
Cohen, who had hijacked the lucrative s*x.com domain name from its original 
owner Gary Kremen, putting an end to six years of legal wrangling. The 
ruling, which upheld a lower court's award of $65 million in damages to 
Kremen, is viewed by legal experts as a landmark case because it holds 
domain registrar VeriSign accountable for allowing the ownership transfer 
to take place, based on a forged letter from Cohen. The case is also 
expected to set a precedent for treating an Internet address as legal 
property -- a designation disputed by VeriSign, which could face fines of 
up to $200 million if found liable. Kremen now faces an uphill battle to 
claim his award, because Cohen is now a fugitive in Mexico. (BBC News 13 
Jun 2003)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2987296.stm

SIGN OF THE TIMES: NO ELECTRONIC PINK SLIP
The new CEO of Vodafone has an unusual clause written into his contract -- 
if the board of directors decides it wants to sack chief executive Arun 
Sarin, it will have to inform him by old-fashioned letter or fax. The 
contract specifically prohibits firing Sarin via "electronic mail or any 
other electronic messaging service." Just call it a sign of the times. 
(AP/SiliconValley.com 12 Jun 2003)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/6073729.htm

*****

FLASH CARD
      "No poet, no artist of any art, has his complete meaning alone. His 
significance, his appreciation is the appreciation of his relation to the 
dead poets and artists." (T.S. Eliot)

LAST DAY! DON'T MISS OUT!! DOORS ARE CLOSING!!!
      Doesn't that headline make you want to participate in our little 
survey? Of course it does! Why would you want to miss out? Is that what you 
want to do with your life, always miss out on things?
      So just do it: send us a sentence or two (or three or four or more) 
about yourself, so we'll know who you are.
      Send to [email protected].

HONORARY SUBSCRIBER: CALAMITY JANE
      Today's Honorary Subscriber is the American folk heroine Calamity 
Jane (1852-1903), who wandered across the Western frontier, dressed like a 
man, frequenting bars and telling stories of her adventures. She claimed to 
have been a pony express rider and a scout with General Custer's forces.
      Born Martha Jane Cannary near Princeton, Missouri, she was orphaned 
by 1867 and soon after began roaming the mining districts of the west. By 
the late 1870s she was a familiar sight in Deadwood, Dakota Territory, 
where she became the companion of Wild Bill Hickok. In 1891 she married 
Clinton Burke, a hack driver; but the marriage didn't last. Deserted by 
Burke, she then made a career for herself touring in Wild West shows where 
her skill with a pistol made her a star performer.
      In 1901 she appeared at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, N.Y., 
but was fired for her erratic behavior and alcoholism. She then returned to 
Deadwood where she lived in obscurity until in 1903 she died and was buried 
beside Hickok.
      The origin of her name is unknown, but "Calamity" was as good a name 
as any to describe someone whose life encompassed the many hard knocks she 
experienced wandering about the untamed West. When in the spring of 1876 
new gold strikes brought her to Deadwood, she became a "bullwhacker" -- 
hauling goods and machinery to the outlying camps. Her acquaintance there 
with Hickok was cut short when he was shot dead in a saloon. The Calamity 
Jane legend had its beginnings in Deadwood when she captured the 
imagination of several magazine-feature writers who had come out West to 
cover the colorful early days of Deadwood.

See 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0917298330/newsscancom/ref=nosim 
for Roberta Beed Sollid's biography of Calamity Jane -- or look for it in 
your favorite library. (We donate all revenue from our book recommendations 
to adult literacy programs.)

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