NewsScan Daily, 25 October 2004 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 25 October 2004 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"
        Neural Network at the Controls
        Music Industry on the Wrong Course
        Cybersecurity Largely Ignored by Individual Users
        Advertisers Track Radio Listening Habits
        Naked News Goes Mobile

FEATURES
        Flash Card
        Honorary Subscriber: Edward Emerson Barnard

NEURAL NETWORK AT THE CONTROLS
      Researchers at the University of Florida have created a neural 
network made up of 25,000 disembodied rat neurons and hooked it up to a 
flight simulator on a desktop computer. The neurons, which are growing on 
top of a multi-electrode array, are fed information about the simulated 
F-22's horizontal and vertical movements by stimulating the electrodes, 
causing them to fire in patterns that are then used to control the 
aircraft. "It's as if the neurons control the stick in the aircraft, they 
can move it back and forth and left and right," says UF professor Thomas 
DeMarse. "The electrodes allow us to record the activity from the neurons 
and stimulate them so we can listen to the conversation among the neurons 
and also input information back into the neural network." Thus far, the 
network has "learned" how to control the fighter jet's pitch and roll in a 
broad range of weather conditions, but DeMarse plans to improve the system 
by having the "brain" use a horizon to judge how well it's controlling the 
aircraft. The goal is to find out how the neurons communicate with each 
other and eventually translate that knowledge into the development of a 
novel computing architecture. (Wired.com 23 Oct 2004)
<http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,65438,00.html>

MUSIC INDUSTRY ON THE WRONG COURSE
      Wharton business professor Joel Waldfogel says the music industry is 
mistakenly pursuing a short-term strategy in backing the Inducing 
Infringement of Copyrights Act of 2004, which would hold liable any entity 
that "intentionally aids, abets, induces or procures" copyrighted material. 
Rather than fighting technological advances through litigation, the music 
industry must come up with new business models -- for instance, taking 
advantage of the Internet to slash its distribution costs. "Instead of 
putting out CDs and shipping them on trucks, they can send them directly at 
a very low cost. That does suggest a very different business model than 
charging $15 or $20 for a CD. It might be a much more attractive way to do 
things. Stuff that is easy to distribute wants to be free. Given that 
force, I think [the recording industry] needs to come up with a new model 
for generating income," says Waldfogel. (Knowledge@Wharton Oct 20-Nov 2 2004)
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewArticle&id=1066

CYBERSECURITY LARGELY IGNORED BY INDIVIDUAL USERS
      A new study by America Online and the National Cyber Security 
Alliance indicates that about 80% of home PCs are infected with spyware, 
but most users aren't even aware of it. And while 85% of users had 
installed antivirus software, two-thirds of those had not updated it in the 
past week. In addition, about 20% had an active virus on their machines and 
two-thirds did not have a firewall installed. AOL chief trust officer 
Tatiana Gau says the results highlight just how vulnerable the average 
online user is to malicious hackers. "No consumer would walk down the 
street waving a stack of cash or leave their wallet sitting in a public 
place, but far too many are doing the exact same thing online. Without 
basic protections like antivirus, spyware and firewall software, consumers 
are leaving their personal and financial information at risk." (CNet 
News.com 24 Oct 2004)
<http://news.com.com/Plague+carriers+Most+users+unaware+of+PC+infections/2100-1029_3-5423306.html>

ADVERTISERS TRACK RADIO LISTENING HABITS
      In 14 locations around the Washington area, a company called 
MobilTrak has installed sensing devices on utility poles that pick up the 
electronic signals from cars' antennas as they speed by and record which 
station they're listening to. The monitoring process gives businesses a 
welcome insight into the listening habits of their target audience and 
helps them decide how to allocate their advertising budget, says MobilTrak 
managing partner C. David Boice: "It's all about precision marketing. It's 
about giving marketers real-time data about what's happening in certain 
areas at certain times so they don't waste their advertising dollars." The 
most enthusiastic adopters have been car dealerships, who generally believe 
that 80% of their business comes from people who live or work within 10 
miles of their location. One dealer found that the two stations he'd been 
investing in -- a talk-personality station and a contemporary music station 
-- didn't even rank in the top 10 for in-car radio listeners driving by his 
dealership. "It was a real eye-opener," he says. Currently, MobilTrak picks 
up only FM signals, but the company says it plans to introduce technology 
that picks up AM and satellite station signals next spring. (Washington 
Post 25 Oct 2004)
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60013-2004Oct24.html>

NAKED NEWS GOES MOBILE
      Naked News, the global media phenomenon that broadcasts in 172 
countries and features nude newscasters reading the day's headlines, is 
heading to the tiny screen. "Naked News is the most successful transition 
from Internet to television ever. We have show that we offer a unique 
program that attracts a large and loyal audience. We are planning to 
produce program segments geared to the current state of mobile technology 
in Europe, something that our target group considers important. We will 
start with news, sports, entertainment and possibly even weather reports. 
As soon as North America is ready, we will produce a similar program for 
that market," says executive producer David Warge. (Ananova 22 Oct 2004)
<http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1147689.html>

*****

FLASH CARD
      "The way of fortune is like the milky way in the sky; which is a 
number of smaller stars, not seen asunder, but giving light together; so it 
is a number of little and scarce discerned virtues, or rather faculties and 
customs, that make men fortunate." (Francis Bacon)

HONORARY SUBSCRIBER: EDWARD EMERSON BARNARD
      Today's Honorary Subscriber is the astronomer Edward Emerson Barnard 
(1857-1923), the foremost American observational astronomer of his time.
      Barnard is remembered for his frequent discovery of comets and 
nebulae, for the novel application of photography to astronomy on a regular 
basis, and for his discoveries of the fifth moon of Jupiter and a fast 
moving star now called Barnard's Runaway Star.
      Edward Emerson Barnard was a pioneer in celestial photography, taking 
a remarkable series of photographs of the Milky Way, at a time when the 
photographic procedure required long exposures and extreme patience. His 
observations led him to conclude that many starless spaces in the Milky Way 
are dark nebulae, consisting of clouds of dustlike particles.
      He was born into poor circumstances in Nashville, Tennessee, some 
months after his father died. To help support his family -- at age nine, 
with only two months of formal schooling -- he went to work in a portrait 
studio. He continued there for 17 years, and with an amateur's enthusiasm 
bought a telescope and began studying the stars in his spare time.
      With encouragement from the famous astronomer, Simon Newcomb, Barnard 
began taking courses at Vanderbilt University and was put in charge of the 
observatory there. He left at age 30 without a degree but by that time he 
had demonstrated his talent for celestial observation, having, among other 
accomplishments, discovered a comet.
      In 1888 the Lick Observatory was opened at Mount Hamilton, 
California, and Barnard was recommended for a staff position. He began to 
photograph the Milky Way in earnest, using his large aperture lenses to 
reveal much new detail, including 16 comets. Barnard was the first to 
discover a comet with the aid of astronomical photography. But he was also 
the last astronomer to discover a planetary satellite without the use of 
photography. That was Jupiter's fifth satellite, Amalthea, the first new 
satellite of Jupiter to be discovered for nearly three centuries.

[To find a library copy of Barnard's memoirs visit RLG's RedLightGreen.com: 
<http://www.redlightgreen.com/ucwprod/servlet/ucw.servlets.UCWController?ACTION=EDITION&WORKID=12959021&> 
-- or for a more general book on astronomy consider purchasing "Firefly 
Guide to the Universe": 
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1552978192/newsscancom/ref=no 
sim>. Note: We donate all revenue from our recommendations to adult 
literacy programs.]

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