NewsScan Daily, 22 February 2005 (" Above The Fold" )

NewsScan Daily, 22 February 2005 (" Above The Fold" )
***********************************************************
NewsScan Daily is underwritten by RLG, a world-class organization
making significant and sustained contributions to the effective
management and appropriate use of information technology. NSD is
written by John Gehl and Suzanne Douglas, [email protected].
***********************************************************

"ABOVE THE FOLD"
        Battling the Spim-Meisters
        First Spimmer Arrest
        U.K., Australia Top TV Piracy List
        Users Bypass Napster Copy Protection
        Mobile Phone Virus Infiltrates U.S.
        Engelbart Sees Power of the Web in 'Collective IQ'

FEATURES
          Flash Card
          Honorary Subscriber: Jerome Kern

BATTLING THE SPIM-MEISTERS
      Almost one in three instant-messaging users in the U.S. have received 
some kind of "spim" (unsolicited commercial instant messages), according to 
a survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Results indicate that 
users age 30 and younger are more likely to get spimmed, compared with the 
next older age cohort (31-49). Other than the age discrepancy, however, no 
other demographic trends were discernible, says Pew: "Instant message users 
in all income brackets and in all racial and ethnic groups are equally 
likely to receive spim. Somewhat surprisingly, broadband users at home are 
no more likely than dialup users to receive spim, even though, presumably, 
those with always-on broadband connections keep their instant message 
programs running for longer periods of time than dialup users." The survey 
found that 52 million Americans -- 42% of the online population -- use 
instant messaging, and among the 30-and-under age group, it's 66%. (Pew 
Internet & American Life Project 21 Feb 2005)
<http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/p/1052/pipcomments.asp>

FIRST SPIMMER ARREST
      An 18-year-old New York teenager has become the first person to be 
arrested on suspicion of spimming. Anthony Greco allegedly sent 1.5 million 
messages hawking pornography and mortgages to users of MySpace.com's IM 
system, and was arrested in a sting operation in the Los Angeles Airport 
last Wednesday following an extortion attempt on his part. Greco believed 
he was flying to LA to seal a deal with the president of MySpace.com, whom 
Greco had threatened with publicizing his spim techniques if he were not 
granted an exclusive marketing arrangement that would have legitimized his 
spimming activities. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Hoffstadt says that 
while Greco's case marks the first criminal prosecution of instant message 
spamming, there may well be more to come: "We're just beginning to get the 
tip of the iceberg. This could be a new wave as online communities start 
up." (CNet News.com 21 Feb 2005)
<http://news.com.com/U.S.+makes+first+arrest+for+spim/2100-7355_3-5584574.html>

U.K., AUSTRALIA TOP TV PIRACY LIST
      Australia and Britain have been revealed as the world's biggest 
markets for pirate TV downloads. The trend is being driven by tech-savvy 
fans who are unwilling to wait for popular U.S. shows such as 24 and 
Desperate Housewives. Australia ranked as second largest downloader of TV 
programs after Britain in a study of the phenomenon by U.K. technology 
consultancy Envisional. The U.S. was in third position. (The Australian 18 
Feb 2005) rec'd from John Lamp, Deakin U.
<http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,12292333%5E15306%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html>

USERS BYPASS NAPSTER COPY PROTECTION
      Users have found a way to skirt copy protection on Napster's portable 
music subscription service just days after its high-profile launch, 
potentially enabling them to make CDs with hundreds of thousands of songs 
free. Such users are already providing instructions to other would-be song 
burners through technology websites like BoingBoing. Napster is offering a 
free trial of its new Napster To Go service, which will enable users for a 
monthly $15 fee to download as much music as they want and transfer it to a 
portable device. They can also pay 99 cents for each track they want to 
burn to a CD. That "rental" model for digital entertainment, backed by 
giant software concern Microsoft and others, is getting its most serious 
mass-market tryout yet with Napster To Go. But, according to various Web 
sites, thwarting the intellectual property protections of the service is as 
easy as a free software patch. (The Age 18 Feb 2005) rec'd from John Lamp, 
Deakin U.
<http://theage.com.au/articles/2005/02/18/1108609381923.html>

MOBILE PHONE VIRUS INFILTRATES U.S.
      The world's first mobile phone virus "in the wild," dubbed Cabir, has 
migrated to the U.S. from its point of origin in the Philippines eight 
months ago, infecting phones in a dozen countries along the way. Experts 
say the mobile-phone virus threat will increase as virus-writers become 
more sophisticated and phones standardize technologies that will make it 
easier to for viruses to spread not just across devices, but the whole 
industry. Up until now, disparate technical standards have worked against 
fast-moving virus infiltration, but Cabir has now been found in countries 
ranging from the China to the U.K., spread via Bluetooth wireless 
technology. The biggest impact of the relatively innocuous virus is that 
it's designed to drain mobile phone batteries, says Finnish computer 
security expert Mikko Hypponnen. Last November, another virus known as 
"Skulls" was distributed to security firms as a so-called "proof-of-concept 
alert, but was not targeted at consumers. (Reuters/New York Times 21 Feb 2005)
<http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/technology/tech-tech-security.html>

ENGELBART SEES POWER OF THE WEB IN  'COLLECTIVE IQ'
      Douglas Engelbart, who's credited with pioneering online computing 
and e-mail while using the world's first mouse, says we're only a few steps 
into the long journey toward realizing the power of our "collective IQ" -- 
the harnessing of humanity's collective intelligence made possible by 
widespread collaboration using computers. "There's a real basic opportunity 
to build what I call a 'dynamic knowledge repository," says Engelbart. 
"This would be a place where you can put all different thoughts together 
that represents the best human understanding of a situation. It would be a 
well-formed argument. You can see the structure of the argument, people's 
assertions on both sides and their proof. This would all be knit together. 
You could use it for any number of problems. Wikipedia is something similar 
to it." (San Jose Mercury News 21 Feb 2005)
<http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/10953789.htm>

*****

FLASH CARD
      "If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often 
think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of 
music." (Albert Einstein)

HONORARY SUBSCRIBER: JEROME KERN
      Today's Honorary Subscriber is the popular American tunesmith Jerome 
David Kern (1885-1945), who composed a long string of memorable musicals 
and hit songs for Broadway and Hollywood. His 1927 musical, "Show Boat" 
(with libretto by Oscar Hammerstein II), inaugurated the serious musical 
play on the American stage. His solid popularity with the public was built 
on such hit songs as the classic "Ol' Man River," "Smoke Gets in Your 
Eyes," and "All the Things You Are." He received Oscars for his film songs 
"The Way You Look Tonight" and "The Last Time I Saw Paris." Critics have 
praised Kern's music for its natural flow of rhythm and for the infectious 
quality of its melodies that makes them linger in the listener's memory. 
Between 1905 and 1945 Kern composed nearly 700 songs for 117 shows and films.
     Kern was born in New York, to a first-generation Jewish-German family. 
Although his mother recognized his talent and encouraged him in music from 
an early age, his father insisted that he join the family retail business. 
Later his father recognized that Kern had little business aptitude and 
relented, allowing him to enroll at the New York College of Music. This led 
to a job as a song-plugger and in-house composer for a New York publisher. 
Next the 19-year-old Kern decided to move to London to learn what he could 
about musical comedy and European operetta. He soon succeeded in having his 
own songs used in West End shows.
      In England he also met his wife Eva. They were married in 1910 and 
remained together for the rest of their lives. When he returned to the 
United States he spent several years writing songs that enhanced the scores 
of European musical imports. Following that period, he began writing 
entirely new shows for the Broadway stage. Together with his collaborators, 
he wrote about believable people, turning to modern American life 
(especially new dance crazes) for inspiration.
     During the early 1930s he moved to Hollywood where he began composing 
for the new "talkie" films. Despite the excitement and the glamour of 
working in cinema, Kern missed Broadway, and he was delighted when 
Hammerstein asked him to collaborate on the planned 1945 revival of "Show 
Boat." Sadly, he never saw his revival performed. He died of a heart attack 
in November 1945. At his memorial service, Hammerstein remarked: "He 
stimulated everyone. He annoyed some. He never bored anyone at any time."
     [Tomorrow we'll feature excerpts from lyrics written for Kern's music 
by Hammerstein and other collaborators.]

[To find a library copy of Gerald Bordman's biography of Kern, visit RLG's 
RedLightGreen service at 
<http://www.redlightgreen.com/ucwprod/servlet/ucw.servlets.UCWController?ACTION=EDITION&WORKID=8946909&> 
-- or to purchase a copy of the DVD of "Till the Clouds Roll By," a musical 
biography of Kern featuring Judy Garland, go to: 
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0198500319/newsscancom/ref=nosim>
      Note: We donate all revenue from our book recommendations to adult 
literacy programs.]
  %%
SUBSCRIPTION INFO FOR NEWSSCAN DAILY: To subscribe or unsubscribe to the 
text, html, or handheld versions of NewsScan Daily, send the appropriate 
subscribe or unsubscribe messages (i.e., with the word 'subscribe' or 
'unsubscribe' in the subject line) to the addresses shown below:
     Text version: Send message to [email protected]
     Html version: Send mail to [email protected]
     NewsScan-To-Go: <http://www.newsscan.com/handheld/current.html>

TELL YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT NEWSSCAN DAILY! Send them our little frog: 
<http://www.newsscan.com/newsscan/newscup.html>

***********************************************************
Please visit the site of RLG, the great organization that makes NewsScan 
Daily possible. (RLG has no influence over, nor any responsibility for, our 
editorial content.) Created in 1974 as the Research Libraries Group, RLG is 
a not-for-profit membership corporation of more than 160 universities, 
national libraries, archives, museums -- and other institutions with 
remarkable collections for research and learning. Its major initiatives are 
long-term retention of digital materials, resource sharing among member 
institutions, and improvement of researcher access to primary source 
material. RLG supplies online research resources worldwide. Visit RLG at 
<http://www.rlg.org>.

*********

To subscribe or unsubscribe to the TEXT version of NewsScan Daily, send an 
e-mail message to [email protected] with 'subscribe' or 'unsubscribe' 
in the subject line. To subscribe to our HTML version of NewsScan Daily, 
send mail to [email protected], with the word 'subscribe' as the 
subject. (Subscribing to the HTML version won't automatically unsubscribe 
you from the text version; please unsubscribe yourself as explained above.) 
Please note: To unsubscribe from an account to which you no longer have 
access, send mail to at [email protected].

*********

We call our news section " Above The Fold"  to honor the tradition of the 
great " broadsheet"  newspapers in which editors must decide which news 
stories are of such importance that they should be placed " above the fold" 
on the front page. The NewsScan Credo: Be informative, have fun, and get to 
the point! See http://www.newsscan.com/, and send us mail: John Gehl 
<[email protected]> and Suzanne Douglas <[email protected]>, or call 
770-704-7517.

*********

Get a free 6-week trial subscription to Innovation Weekly, an executive 
summary of trends, strategies and innovations in business and technology. 
Send mail to [email protected] with the word 'subscribe' in the 
subject line.

What customized news and information services do you need for your company? 
Get in touch with us at [email protected] or call 770-704-7517 to talk 
over the possibilities.

Copyright 2005. NewsScan Daily (R) is a publication of NewsScan.com Inc.
***********************************************************