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

NewsScan Daily, 26 August 2004 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"
        Could 'E-Mail-Free' Fridays Replace Khakis and Knit Shirts?
        Firm Targets Teen PC Market
        Changes to New Copyright Bill Urged
        U.S. Largest Exporter of Spam
        PBS Is Still Teachers' Pet

FEATURES
        Flash Card
        Worth Thinking About: The Golden Arches

COULD 'E-MAIL-FREE' FRIDAYS REPLACE KHAKIS AND KNIT SHIRTS?
      We all know that e-mail is turning into a huge time and productivity 
sink, but one lone crusader in Silicon Valley is trying to do something 
about it. Two months ago Jeremy Burton at Veritas Software decreed that 
Fridays in his marketing department were to be "e-mail free" -- employees 
who needed to communicate with each other were instructed to stop by and 
chat or use the phone. "E-mail is supposed to be this big productivity 
tool, but it's getting to the point where it is out of control," says 
Burton, who complains that he was regularly spending two hours a day just 
dealing with e-mail. The ban applies only to interdepartmental 
communications and violators are fined $1 per transgression, with the 
proceeds going toward charity (so far, almost $70 has been collected). Many 
workers have endorsed the ban, noting the advantages of face-to-face 
conversations, and Burton says he plans to continue the policy 
indefinitely. (Wall Street Journal 26 Aug 2004)
<http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB109347131099501222,00.html> (sub req'd)

FIRM TARGETS TEEN PC MARKET
      Digital Lifestyles Group is marketing a teen-friendly PC called the 
hip-e aimed at cornering the infamously fickle teenage technology market. 
The idea for hip-e grew out of Digital Lifestyle CEO Kent Savage's 
conversations with his 16-year-old son and his friends. After a series of 
informal focus groups, the boys were asked to draw up their designs for the 
ideal PC. Digital Lifestyles came back with 20 product concepts, which 
eventually were winnowed down to one. The hip-e is designed to serve as the 
hub for all of a teenager's digital interactions, and comes with a 
120-gigabyte hard drive, plus Wi-Fi accessibility, a TV tuner and 
connections for videogame consoles. Speakers attached to the bottom of the 
PC's stand are removable and can be turned into a portable "beatbox." For 
$200 extra, the hip-e comes with an MP3 player/keychain data storage drive 
and/or a cell phone that can be synched with data on the computer. The 
interface is simplified -- users click on "paper" to launch Microsoft Word 
and "burn CD" to open a CD-copying program -- and the 17-inch desktop 
display features a "hangout tuner" that enables users to jump around 
between applications categories, such as music, movies, games, photos, 
communications, shopping, etc. Savage says teenagers generally don't like 
performing separate searches for various programs, so "it made sense to 
organize it for them and serve it up to them. I think what Apple did with 
iTunes and the iPod is great. But that's just one application. We are doing 
that -- on steroids. It's all of these applications, all on one platform." 
(AP/CNN.com 24 Aug 2004)
<http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/ptech/08/24/business.of.life.ap/index.html>

CHANGES TO NEW COPYRIGHT BILL URGED
      The Consumer Electronics Association and the American Library 
Association, along with other technology and consumer groups, have 
recommended changes to the controversial Inducing Infringement of 
Copyrights Act (SB 2560), which is intended to discourage illegal 
file-sharing. The bill, sponsored by Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Patrick 
Leahy (D-Vt.), is supported by the record labels and Hollywood studios, who 
complain that illegal file-sharing is ruining their livelihood. But 
consumer groups recommend amending the legislation so "only someone who 
distributes a commercial computer program that is 'specifically designed' 
for wide-scale piracy on digital networks would be held liable for 
copyright violations," according to a press release. The proposed change 
would absolve ISPs, venture capitalists, credit card companies, banks, 
advertising agencies, IT help desks and librarians from liability. Emily 
Sheketoff, executive director of the American Library Association's 
Washington office, says she worries that SB 2560 "will quash innovation and 
creativity and the fair use of these technologies. The answer to protecting 
copyright is not to stop developing new technologies. The answer is to 
educate people on how to use these technologies properly and encourage 
people to use these technologies properly. There are many legal, legitimate 
file-sharing activities." (Wired.com 25 Aug 2004)
<http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,64697,00.html>

U.S. LARGEST EXPORTER OF SPAM
      The United States is the largest global source of spam, producing 
more than two of every five messages, a report by security firm Sophos 
shows. Sophos found about 43% of all spam originated in the United States. 
The next largest source was South Korea, with 15%, and China and Hong Kong, 
accounting for a combined 12% per cent. The report suggests that a U.S. law 
known as CAN-SPAM that took effect in January has done little to curb the 
flood on unwanted messages that some see as a threat to the Internet. Chris 
Kraft, senior security analyst at Sophos, says the results indicate little 
overall change from a similar survey in February for the United States. 
(The Australian 25 Aug 2004) rec'd from John Lamp, Deakin U.
<http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,10561978%5E15306%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html>

PBS IS STILL TEACHERS' PET
      PBS programming ranks No. 1 for the second year running as K-12 
teachers' favorite source for video to use in the classroom, according to a 
survey conducted by Grunwald Associates. Elementary school educators 
preferred "Between the Lions" and "Reading Rainbow," while middle and high 
school teachers favored "Nova." The study also found that 90% of teachers 
use video in the classroom, with 40% presenting full-length programs and 
20% preferring to use selected segments of programs. Word-of-mouth is still 
the most common way that teachers find out about video and multimedia 
programming for the classroom, far outscoring other sources, such as Web 
site links, search engines, print ads and other promotional tools. (PR 
Newswire 25 Aug 2004)
<http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040825/dcwfns1_1.html>

*****

FLASH CARD
      "When you are proclaiming peace with your lips, be careful to have it 
even more fully in your heart." (St. Francis of Assisi)

WORTH THINKING ABOUT: THE GOLDEN ARCHES
      In his book on globalization, which was published in 2000, New York 
Times journalist Thomas Friedman came up with this playful observation 
about the role McDonald's plays as an agent of world peace:
      "Every once in a while when I am traveling abroad, I need to indulge 
in a burger and a bag of McDonald's French fries. For all I know, I have 
eaten McDonald's burgers and fries in more countries in the world than 
anyone, and I can testify that they all really do taste the same. As I 
Quarter-Poundered my way around the world in recent years, I began to 
notice something intriguing. I don't know when the insight stuck me. It was 
a bolt out of the blue that must have hit somewhere between the McDonald's 
in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, the McDonald's in Tahrir Square in Cairo 
and the McDonald's off Zion Square in Jerusalem. And it was this: No two 
countries that both had McDonald's had fought a war against each other 
since each got its McDonald's.
      "I'm not kidding. It's uncanny. Look at the Middle East: Israel now 
has a kosher McDonald's, Saudi Arabia has McDonald's, which closes five 
times a day for Muslim prayer, Egypt has McDonald's and both Lebanon and 
Jordan have become McDonald's countries. None of them have had a war since 
the Golden Arches went in. Where is the big threat of war in the Middle 
East today? Israel-Syria, Israel-Iran and Israel-Iraq. Which three Middle 
East countries don't have McDonald's? Syria, Iran and Iraq. How about 
India-Pakistan? I'm convinced they could still blow each other up, because 
they both now have nukes, but only one of them -- India-has the fries to go 
with them. India, where 40 percent of the population is vegetarian, has the 
first beefless McDonald's in the world (vegetable nuggets!), but Pakistan 
is still -- dangerously -- a Mac-free zone.
      "Armed with this data, I offer 'The Golden Arches Theory of Conflict 
Prevention'--which stipulates that when a country reaches the level of 
economic development where it has a middle class big enough to support a 
McDonald's network, it becomes a McDonald's country. And people in 
McDonald's countries don't like to fight wars anymore, they prefer to wait 
in line for burgers."

See http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0385499345/newsscancom/ref=nosim 
for Thomas L. Friedman's "The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding 
Globalization" -- 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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