NewsScan Daily, 4 February 2005 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 4 February 2005 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"
        Spammers Try a New Tack
       Canadians Up in Arms Over Health Info Privacy
        Why Buy When You Can Rent?
        Yahoo Launches 'Contextually Relevant' Search Tool
        Wi-Fi Phones

FEATURES
        Flash Card
        Honorary Subscriber: Joe "King" Oliver

SPAMMERS TRY A NEW TACK
      Tired of being blocked by "blacklists," spammers are turning to a new 
technique -- routing it directly through the computers of their Internet 
service providers, rather than sending it from individual machines. The 
result poses a dilemma: to block spam coming directly from an ISP's servers 
would mean blocking all its mail, crippling the system. "From what we've 
seen, the volumes of this type of spam are going up dramatically," says 
Steve Linford, who heads up the Spamhaus Project. "We're really looking at 
a bleak thing" if ISPs don't quickly deploy countermeasures, he adds. Such 
measures could include more aggressive monitoring and limiting how much 
mail is being sent from individual machines on their networks. In addition, 
ISPs should beef up efforts to authenticate mail they pass on through their 
own computers, says Linford. A study released yesterday estimates that 
deleting spam costs nearly $22 billion per year in lost productivity, based 
on a survey of 1,000 adults who said they spend about three minutes per day 
trashing spam when they check their e-mail. (Washington Post 4 Feb 2005)
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61901-2005Feb3.html>

CANADIANS UP IN ARMS OVER HEALTH INFO PRIVACY
      Activists with the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association say 
that plans to outsource storage of Canadian citizens' health records to a 
U.S. company places that sensitive information in jeopardy. They fear that 
putting the data in the hands of Maximus Can, a subsidiary of U.S.-based 
Maximus, could lead to data-mining exercises, such as those that involved 
passenger records from JetBlue and other airlines. Or, as in the case with 
data on Latin American citizens purchased in 2003 by ChoicePoint that was 
then sold to U.S. immigration authorities, it could be used to prevent 
British Columbians with serious health issues, such as AIDS, from entering 
the U.S. Under the U.S. Patriot Act, U.S. companies can be forced to reveal 
information while prohibited from telling customers or employees that it 
has been shared. Activists fear that reach will extend to subsidiaries of 
U.S. companies operating outside its borders. "There really isn't a 
database of cross-referenced information that you could consider to be more 
personal… The potential for this information to be used and misused is 
great," says Michael Vonn, policy director for the British Columbia Civil 
Liberties Association. (Wired.com 4 Feb 2005)
<http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,66497,00.html>

WHY BUY WHEN YOU CAN RENT?
      Until recently, subscribers to music download services were 
restricted in their ability to transfer songs they purchased to portable 
players, while Apple has touted the portability of its iTunes service, 
aimed at owners of its iPod portable music player. But Napster is hoping to 
change all that with its Napster To Go service, which it's promoting in a 
SuperBowl ad urging music fans to compare the costs of spending $10,000 to 
buy and transfer 10,000 songs to an iPod, compared with the $15 per month 
fee to carry songs from a catalog of more than a million tracks on 
Napster-compatible players. The Napster service will use Microsoft's new 
Janus digital rights management software, and manufacturers like Samsung, 
iRiver, Gateway and Creative are cranking up production of Janus-compatible 
devices ranging in price from about $250 to $500. An IDC analyst predicts 
the price eventually will fall below $100, creating tougher competition for 
Apple. (Reuters 3 Feb 2005)
<http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=7521346>

YAHOO LAUNCHES 'CONTEXTUALLY RELEVANT' SEARCH TOOL
      Yahoo is taking the wraps off its Y!Q search tool that combs the 
Internet for "contextually relevant" content based on what the user is 
reading. So if a user is reading an article on Sammy Sosa being traded to 
the Baltimore Orioles, one click on the Y!Q link produces a menu of related 
stories from ESPN and others, as well as links to the Os' team page and 
ticket information. The tool is the latest in a series of search 
innovations launched by Yahoo and rival Google. "It's a game of 
one-upmanship," says a Forrester Research analyst. (San Jose Mercury News 3 
Feb 2005)
<http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/10807572.htm>

WIFI PHONES
      Travelers lugging laptops to wireless hot spots in airports and 
coffee bars may soon be flipping open their Wi-Fi handsets to take 
advantage of cheap calls. The voice over Wi-Fi handsets digitize the voice 
and send it as data packets, similar to the way VoIP calls work. But they 
do it wirelessly, over the Wi-Fi network. Experts say Wi-Fi handsets soon 
will be common on the consumer market. "Probably we will see dual-use 
handsets that are cell phones as well as voice over Wi-Fi," says Philip 
Solis, senior analyst at ABI Research. Vonage, which has 400,000 customers 
who use its VoIP service, plans to start selling Wi-Fi handsets, priced 
somewhere between $75 and $100. (New York Times 3 Feb 2005)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/03/technology/circuits/03next.html>

*****

FLASH CARD
      "Biology, by and large, is not interested in finding the best things, 
just things that are pretty good that can be found quickly." (John 
Hopfield, computational neurobiologist)

JOE "KING" OLIVER
      Today's Honorary Subscriber is the legendary jazz musician Joe "King" 
Oliver (1885-1939), whose masterful command of the cornet earned him the 
nickname "King" in the early years of the New Orleans jazz scene.
      Oliver was a pioneer in using an assortment of items such as derby 
hats, bottles and cups to mute and alter the wa-wa and other sounds coming 
from his instrument. Blinded in one eye as a child, he often played while 
sitting in a chair or leaning against the wall, with a derby hat tilted so 
that it hid his bad eye.
      Like most trumpet players of his day, Oliver was an ensemble player 
more than a virtuoso soloist. Because recording technology was just in its 
infancy, the sound legacy of Oliver's performances is skimpy. He made no 
recordings until 1923, when his best years were behind him. Written 
accounts of his live performances, however, attest to the exciting 
spontaneity and creativity of his music. In the span of black musical 
history, Oliver occupies an important place in the era between ragtime and 
solo improvisation, as exemplified by Oliver's famous protégé, Louis Armstrong.
      Joseph Oliver was born in the town of Abend, Louisiana, 19 December 
1885. He moved to New Orleans in his youth, where he became a professional 
musician playing in dance bands and marching bands. Together with the 
trombonist Edward "Kid" Ory he formed a band that soon caught on with the 
New Orleans jazz enthusiasts. When a fight broke out during a performance 
in a local dance hall, Oliver and his band were hauled into court along 
with the troublemakers. Oliver decided to take jobs out of town, first in 
Chicago, then in California, returning to Chicago where he remained until 
1927. By then the King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band had become famous for its 
ensemble jazz, and Oliver's compositions, including Dippermouth Blues, 
Doctor Jazz, and Canal Street Blues, were becoming jazz standards. In 1927 
Oliver moved to New York City, where he had been offered permanent work at 
the Cotton Club. But when he held out for more money, the job went to the 
band of young Duke Ellington.
      The Depression years were hard on Oliver. He lost his savings when a 
Chicago bank failed, and he had to take the band on tour accepting 
low-paying billings until the band broke up and Oliver was stranded in 
Savannah, Georgia.
      In 1937, after quitting show business, he was forced into a life of 
poverty, working as a poolroom attendant. His health was poor and he died 
soon thereafter.
      During his career Oliver had a profound influence on many younger 
players, including Tommy Ladnier, Muggsy Spanier, Paul Mares, Bubber Miley, 
Johnny Wiggs, and his truest protégé, Louis Armstrong, who on learning of 
Oliver's death said:
       "Joe Oliver has always been my inspiration and my idol. No trumpet 
player ever had the fire that Oliver had. Man, he really could punch a 
number. No one created as much as Joe."

[To find a library copy of Walter C. Allen's biography of "King" Oliver, 
visit RLG's RedLightGreen service at 
<http://www.redlightgreen.com/ucwprod/servlet/ucw.servlets.UCWController?ACTION=EDITION&WORKID=7196655&> 
-- or to purchase Oliver's music on CDs visit: 
<http://www.cdconnection.com/bin/nph-search?target=king+oliver&source=adwords> 
Note: We donate all revenue from our book recommendations to adult literacy 
programs.]

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