June 2001 Technology Updates
1. Authors' guild battles over e-books
Time Warner Books' new Web site, iPublish.com, seems perfect for aspiring authors. Authors can submit their work on the site and have it rated by other authors. Works that receive the best ratings are considered for publication, by Time Warner, as an eBook. If published, the author receives a royalty of 25 percent of the net revenues.
In spite of the allure to new authors, the Author's Guild has sent a strongly worded statement to its 8,000 members warning them about iPublish.com's standard contract. One strong concern is that the 25 percent royalty rate is half of the industry average. Another major concern is that the company retains the rights to the author's first two printed works.
For more information, click on these links:
2. PC Tips - PowerPoint Slide Show
Many people use PowerPoint to enhance live presentations. What some people don't know is that the program can also run presentations automatically.
The first step in this process is to record narration for each slide (see May 2001 Technology Updates). Be sure to save the slide timing along with the narration.
Follow these steps to complete your slide show:
- On the menu bar, click on Slide Show, then Set Up Show.
- Select the appropriate type of show. If you want the presentation to run by itself in full-screen mode, choose Browsed at kiosk.
- Select slide show options. For example, you can set the show to run continuously.
- In the Slides area choose the slides you want to use for the presentation.
- In the Advance Slides area choose Using timings, if present.
- Click on OK.
- Press F5 to begin the show.
3. Hackers try to find child porn
A new e-mail virus has been unleashed on the Internet. However, this virus, called Noped, is not designed to be malicious. When activated it searches the user's hard drive for child pornography and sends an e-mail to the proper authorities. Noped is sent as a Visual Basic attachment to an e-mail message with "FWD: Help us all to end illegal child porn now" in the subject line. The attachment is called END ILLEGAL child porn NOW.TXT...vbs.
When activated the Visual Basic program searches the hard drive for jpeg images it believes might contain child pornography. The program comes bundled with e-mail addresses for many law enforcement agencies, including the FBI. If the program finds suspected child pornography, it sends the following e-mail to randomly selected law enforcement agencies, in various countries: "Hi, this is Antipedo2001 I have found a PC with known Child Pornography files on the hard drive. I have included a file listing below and included a sample for your convenience." At least one British law enforcement agency has indicated that it will ignore the automatically generated e-mail since it does not meet its standard of evidence.
For more information, click on these links:
4. Profs can't present
A group of academic researchers, led by a Princeton University professor, was prevented from presenting a paper at the Fourth International Information Hiding Workshop (held in April 2001) on how they cracked the music industry's digital watermark system. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI), and Verance corporation threatened legal action against the researchers if they presented. These organizations claim that disseminating the information violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
The researchers had taken part in SDMI's contest to crack its scheme to prevent the unlimited copying of music in digital formats, such as the popular MP3. As part of their participation in the contest the authors clicked on a button to show that they agreed not to publish their findings. In spite of the legal wrangling the paper is already available on the Cryptome.org Web site.
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5. Exodus hacked
One of the largest Web-hosting companies, Exodus Communications, suffered a hacker attack on one of its security-related Web sites on the evening of May 4, 2001. Exodus provides co-location services for big-name Web sites, such as Yahoo and eBay. Many large sites co-locate (store their site on servers in more than one location) in order to provide better response time and reliability.
The hacker, known as Fluffi Bunni, was able to gain access to Exodus.net. The site was defaced and firewall security logs were accessed. However, Exodus was immediately aware of the problem and took the affected server offline. In addition, the company began a trace to see where the attack originated. It is working with authorities to catch and prosecute Fluffi Bunni. Unlike many Web-hosting companies, Exodus has a policy for hunting down and prosecuting hackers.
For more information, click on these links:
6. Microsoft.Net
In an effort to implement its new .Net strategy, Microsoft announced on May 21, 2001, that two new versions of its software development tools will be available by the end of the year. The .Net strategy is aimed at moving Microsoft's operating systems and applications software to the Web. The company would then lease the software to users for a monthly fee.
To help computer programmers write software compatible with .Net, Microsoft released VisualStudio.Net. The software contains updated versions of two programming languages, Visual Basic and Visual C++. In addition, it includes the first release of a new programming language, C# (pronounced C sharp). The two versions of VisualStudio.Net announced on May 21 are Enterprise Architect and Enterprise Developer editions. Both versions contain sophisticated tools to help developers make their applications run faster.
For more information, click on these links:
7. Wearable devices
A company called Orang-Otang Computers received several patents in May for various wearable computing and telecommunication devices. Orang-Otang is best known for its Peel-It PDA case and wrist-mounted holder. The company has extended the concept to larger devices used by warehouse workers.
One of the patents issued was for the Jango Credit Card Terminal. It is a credit card terminal that can be worn on the wrist. The terminal even prints receipts. One of the other devices, the Flippo Phone, is a phone strapped to the forearm that pops into the useršs hand at the flick of the wrist.
For more information, click on these links:
8. Broadband in flight
ScreamingMedia, an Internet content provider, announced on May 7, 2001, that it had inked a deal with Boeing to provide in-flight broadband communication. The new service, Connexion by Boeing, will allow passengers to access destination-specific information, as well as sports, news, and weather. For example, a passenger traveling from New York City to Los Angeles (LA) would find information about LA attractions, hotels, and restaurants.
In addition to the Screaming Media content, the Connexion by Boeing service will allow users to access the Internet at speeds of up to 5 Mbps receiving and 1.5 Mbps sending. Boeing has not yet set pricing for the service, which is expected to appear on planes by the end of the year.
For more information, click on this link:
9. AOL uses neural net as a filter
On April 9, 2001, AOL changed the way it filters Web sites for children and teens. Prior to that date AOL contracted with SurfControl to run its parental controls operation. SurfControl used human editors to review sites and decide if they should be blocked. Now AOL is using technology provided by RuleSpace, which can automatically filter sites.
In the past, many civil liberties groups, including the ACLU, criticized automated filtering as being too restrictive. For example, an automated filter set to block pornographic material might filter out all sites with the word "breast." However, this would also block sites that deal with breast cancer. RuleSpace has solved this problem by using neural network technology to analyze words in context, so it can tell the difference between the word "breast" on a pornographic site and a breast cancer site.
For more information, click on these links:
10. Iran shuts cybercafes
On May 15, 2001, Iranian newspapers reported that the government had closed upwards of 400 cybercafes across the country. Cybercafes are shops where customers can use an Internet-connected computer for a fee. The closings occurred because a large number of people were using cybercafes to place international phone calls via the Internet.
The volume of Internet telephone calls led to revenue losses for the state-controlled telecommunications monopoly, Telecommunications Company of Iran (TCI). In addition, the tax revenue to the Iranian government on these calls would be about $50 million per year. Some Iranian officials denied that the closings were made to protect TCI. Instead, they say, many of these businesses were operating without licenses and others were failing to filter inappropriate material.
For more information, click on this link:
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