Slashdot Mirror

Boomhauer writes "news.com has an article giving some details about how the president plans to relax some of the crytography export limits. Specifically, the regulations relating to strong encryption products that scramble information carried over computer or communications networks. "

Chops-Frozen-Water writes "It was only a matter of time. At their developer forum, Intel demoed a prototype of a "home entertainment device" that has a transparent blue case. Story also mentions a Korean manufacturer that's working on a Celeron-based iMac lookalike. Whatever you think of the iMac, the design concept is going to be around for a while... "

Chops-Frozen-Water writes "Motorola's first effort at a set-top device , seems pretty loaded... More of a platform than a device, it has 3D gaming, DVD player, and Internet access in addition to your basic cable TV decoder. If they were to include a cable modem-type capability, I'd be in line already... "

Paul Schmid writes "Ever wanted a "PC" that can cook meals, do homebanking, surf the web, read barcodes and can be used as a tv?. Maybe your dreams could come true with the help of NCR. The article is here. " Gotta love it. Pretty quick even the furniture will have microchips.

Zackary Tippett writes "I found this on news.com. It talks about how Oracle, Informix, Dell, and Intel think Linux is ready for corporate use " Good article. Several examples of Linux in big time use. Let's face it folks, Linux is going mainstream in a big way.

Jon Nelson writes "Aparently MTV faked a hack attack on its web page, replacing it with the words "JF was here," as a publicity stunt to expose a new online VJ, 'Johnny Fame.' The initals JF also belong to a member of Milw0rm, the group that hacked the indian nuclear research center. Personally I think it is a coincidence, but if its not, its just another example of how the media glorifies crime." I guess the stunt worked. We're talking about it. But I won't watch the show. Course I don't even have an antenna attached to my TV much less cable.

smcd writes " Looks like Sun have accepted that in order to sell hardware, its gotta be part of a Windows network. They've addressed this by developing NT style naming, authentication, and resources for Sparc & Intel boxes running Solaris. Doesn't this sound like Samba bundled with a couple of other tools?! Meanwhile the press release from Sun is here."

Hetz Ben Amo sent us this link talking about how not only has Oracle decided to go work with Linux, but has setup parternships with Red Hat Software and VA Research, SuSE, and Japanese firm Pacific HiTech. Very cool-anyone know anything more about this?

After winning a court case, it appears that the US Government can collect "infrastructure fees" from domain names. The Judge in the case ruled that iwas legal for the government to collect fees ranging from 15-30$USD per address. The lawsuit against this had been brought by the American Internet Registrants Association. Essentially, the judge ruled that Congress can authorize the National Science Foundation to collect the tax, meaning the tax can be imposed. Whew-maybe law school isn't such a good idea.

Matt Singerman sends in " An interesting article about how the group that is expected to make the largest number of PC purchases in 1999 will be those with a household income of less than $35,000. "

BOredAtWork writes "According to this, MS is attempting to remove the "concurrent clauses" from the BackOffice license agreement. Basically, the concurrent license agreement is when you buy less copies of software than you have employees, because they don't all use it at the same time. MS used to license office this way, but after Office Everywhere, they changed that license too. This could potentially mean millions of dollars to any business that upgrades their Back Office suite. Does anyone else think that charge-less-than-competition-until-your-product-is-everywhere sounds like a monopolistic tendancy? Hrm... "

hazzmatt sent this blurb my way: "Here's an announcement linking Sun and Quark together in their fights against Adobe and NT, respectively. Nice to see Unix making some inroads on the content side. But is Quark hooking up with the right Unix? Apparently this is a bid to gain marketshare momentum on Adobe, who are rumored to be readying a Quark-killer version of Pagemaker."

Hetz Ben Amo sent this link my way and daywalker also wrote "It appears that Dan Shaffer of "Project Heresy" fame will be covering be covering Linux news once a week in their CNET Radio webcast... Check out the good stuff "We'll be covering Linux news & views every Thursday in CNET Radio's 1:00 p.m. PT webcast, starting September 3. You can also catch each episode on-demand from this page." "

Larry wrote in to tell us about the DOJ antitrust suit againt Microsoft expanding. The new evidence includes the whole MS pressuring Intel deal, as well as the recent Caldera thing about MS adding bugs to crash DR DOS. It's getting pretty crazy. Stock dropped a few points too.

J Widjaja writes "A student in Missouri is suspended over his outside school webpage which critized his teacher and administration. He flunked the year as a result, and ACLU is helping him. The question becomes, does school has a right to regulate a student freedom of speech with such dire punishment? His case is still being fought in the court to prevent him failing his senior year. Is this a mirror of larger trend that who has the authority can do as they see fit to define what is acceptable speech? "

Sun sees Linux as a friend in the battle to maintain open standards, and wants to make more of its software freely available to keep it growing.

Jamie Flournoy writes "The FBI and the more Big Brotherish types in the US Congress are using the recent embassy bombings as examples of what they want to prevent with key recovery and/or key escrow. Here's the problem with that theory: the embassy bombings happened (i.e. were not detected or prevented by US intelligence forces) under the current, strict export controls - not under the proposed unrestricted export reforms that crypto people seek! So this hardly proves that these export controls work - in fact it proves that international terrorism continues with or without crypto regulation." When will they clue in? They can't stop crypto, it's already international. We'll just get friends in other countries to write it. Ugh.

Access, Microsoft's database, has a really nice bug in it: it can scramble records. Yet another reason to write to your bank and make sure they do not run Windows NT as their server.

15 companies are competing to try to be the company that provides the new encryption standard for the US government. The new project, Advanced Encryption Standard will be the one to replace the broken-as-Russia's-stock-market DES standard. For information check out this site.

Chris DiPierro writes "As if patenting Invited Pull wasn't bad enough, check out this story about how Intel, AMD, VLSI, and TI are being sued over what could be easily deemed abuse of the patent system. " I just love bad trends. Really.

Robert Ledford writes "Due to more people wanting broadband, telco's could be forced to lower prices. " The article says that we may see cheaper T1s and T3s or else the telcos will have a hard time competing with cable modems and xDSL.

Online communities seem to be the hot thing these days. Right now this article does a good job of looking over this not-so-new phenomena. I dunno-I guess I just figure we worked a lot of this out in the BBS days, and wonder what the big fuss is. Sure, graphics and such are neat, but how necessary are they to actual community? Being able to exchange ideas without rancor or reproach is what really matters I suppose.

Rob Davenport wrote in to tell us that news.com has an article about the next generation of the reigning pda champion. Color, lithium ion battery, more memory, smaller. It's a bit more expensive, but man, color Pilots. Yummy.

This site explains how to disable PICS in Netscape. I guess it was a good idea for awhile at least :) The hack was created (and sent in by) Brian Ristuccia. Update News.com picked up the story too. They have a writeup here. Thanks again to Brian for letting us know.

JDK 1.2 and Hotspot have been delayed again. The new shipping dates are November 1998 and first quarter 1999. It's not a smart move as it will further discourage many Java developers. Let's hope that the alternative software offerings around will suffice to keep the wagon rolling.

Apparently the bug Prove it 2000 found in Windows 98 does not occur every year, but every day if you reboot your system in the minute before midnight. Funny to think they put so much effort into testing it for Y2K compliance and missed this. Peer-review anybody?

As was expected, Intel is experiencing, some, ah, "heat regulation" issues with the new Xeon chip, as reported here. The problem is showing in quad-proc servers, and has been causing performance "glitches".
On the opposite end of the scale, Intel has said that they are experiencing "supply shortages" for their low-end chips. Analysts are saying it's because Intel isn't recognizing the changing consumer markets, but Intel claims that it is because of a change in the manufacturing process.

Beej writes "According to this article, DCE is slowly being abandoned by vendors drawn to glitzy new technologies, like LDAP, CORBA, and Java. It seems that for most DCE services, there now exist faster, smaller, and better equivalents."

Cary Collett writes "Sun Microsystems and IBM will today announce the availability of the JavaOS for Business, a new Java-based operating system derivative targeted at network computer rollouts and other client devices such as kiosks. See the whole scoop here "

While some of the media reported that Acer was considering developing its own x86 processors, it would seem that it will be using Cyrix processors instead. Read more below. In related news, ARM will release specs on its ARM 10 chip at that the Embedded Processor Forum on October 15th. It is expected to run at 500 MIPS, well in excess of StrongArm, raising the question of how ARM will position it with respect to Intel's SA-1500 processors. There should be some interesting competition between the ARM architecture and the low end x86 market in the near future.

A while back, IBM semiconductor could manufacture all of the non-intel x86 clones: AMD, Winchip, and Cyrix. But the tide seems to have turned with AMD now relying on Motorola instead of IBM, and Cyrix accusing IBM of undercutting them on price. I wonder whether this has anything to do with IBM's recent alliance with ST Microelectronics, proud owners of Metaflow, another x86 design house... alliance which should result in production of a system on a chip by the end of this year.

While some of the media reported that Acer was considering developing its own x86 processors, it would seem that it will be using Cyrix processors instead. Read more below. In related news, ARM will release specs on its ARM 10 chip at that the Embedded Processor Forum on October 15th. It is expected to run at 500 MIPS, well in excess of StrongArm, raising the question of how ARM will position it with respect to Intel's SA-1500 processors. There should be some interesting competition between the ARM architecture and the low end x86 market in the near future.

A while back, IBM semiconductor could manufacture all of the non-intel x86 clones: AMD, Winchip, and Cyrix. But the tide seems to have turned with AMD now relying on Motorola instead of IBM, and Cyrix accusing IBM of undercutting them on price. I wonder whether this has anything to do with IBM's recent alliance with ST Microelectronics, proud owners of Metaflow, another x86 design house... alliance which should result in production of a system on a chip by the end of this year.

While some of the media reported that Acer was considering developing its own x86 processors, it would seem that it will be using Cyrix processors instead. Read more below. In related news, ARM will release specs on its ARM 10 chip at that the Embedded Processor Forum on October 15th. It is expected to run at 500 MIPS, well in excess of StrongArm, raising the question of how ARM will position it with respect to Intel's SA-1500 processors. There should be some interesting competition between the ARM architecture and the low end x86 market in the near future.

A while back, IBM semiconductor could manufacture all of the non-intel x86 clones: AMD, Winchip, and Cyrix. But the tide seems to have turned with AMD now relying on Motorola instead of IBM, and Cyrix accusing IBM of undercutting them on price. I wonder whether this has anything to do with IBM's recent alliance with ST Microelectronics, proud owners of Metaflow, another x86 design house... alliance which should result in production of a system on a chip by the end of this year.

Microsoft has counterclaimed the DOJ suit, saying that the devel of IE began before Navigator, saying that the planned browser integration was begun before IE was born. Huh. The counterclaim is going to seek to force the states and DOJ to pay for the legal costs of the battle. In related news, Robert Bork, of almost-Supreme Court fame, was interviewed saying that the DOJ case is rock solid. It should be noted that Bork is a legal consultant for Netscape. But as long as I am in caveat mood, I'd like to say that he wasn't nominated to Supreme Court for being an idiot.

Microsoft has counterclaimed the DOJ suit, saying that the devel of IE began before Navigator, saying that the planned browser integration was begun before IE was born. Huh. The counterclaim is going to seek to force the states and DOJ to pay for the legal costs of the battle. In related news, Robert Bork, of almost-Supreme Court fame, was interviewed saying that the DOJ case is rock solid. It should be noted that Bork is a legal consultant for Netscape. But as long as I am in caveat mood, I'd like to say that he wasn't nominated to Supreme Court for being an idiot.

Back in March, we reported that Microsoft was demanding the recall of the March edition of PC Welt, after claiming that the magazine incited its readers to commit acts of piracy. Well, Microsoft lost its case, since it could not find anyone who had been incited.

Trepidity informed us that the Senate unamimously passed a spending bill with the "CDA II" amendments attached to it. These would make allowing children to view "harmful" material a crime. The amendments would also require schools and libraries to install censorware on all computers accessible to minors. If the bill were to pass the House and be signed into law, the American Civil Liberties Union and Electronic Frontier Foundation have vowed to have it overturned like they did with the first CDA. Click below to read more... But the cool thing about this, is that it apparently contradicts WIPO. Now some of you may know that Einstein had great difficulties persuading his friend Goedel to swear that he would abide by the American constitution (necessary to become a US citizen) because it was logically inconsistent. If 2 contradictory laws are passed, are both invalidated? Or does it become a lawyer free-for-all?

All in all, both measures are quite amazing: WIPO can even render cookie managing software such as Junkbusters illegal, and CDA reduces the freedoms of those who cannot afford their own internet connection, instead of ensuring that children learn to think critically about what they encounter.

XBS writes " AT&T and British Telecom are set to announce an international joint venture that would give AT&T access to the market in the U.K. and BT similar access in the U.S. " You can read more at MSNBC or News.com

After Rob Glaser testified before Congress that Microsoft's Media Player "breaks" the RealNetwork's player, Micorsoft argues that there is actually a bug in the way RealNetworks' installers edits the registry that causes the problems. I have looked at the Microsoft response and it seems easy enough to verify that they are correct. Can anyone who actually runs Windows confirm their findings for us? Seems Mr. Glaser has some tasty pie on his face now. As of this post, RealNetworks hasn't posted a reply to Microsoft's report. They're stock seems to be suffering, however.

The US Governement couldn't leave well enough alone. Not content in seeing CDA blown to bits by the Constitution, Dan Coats (R-Indiania) has tacked on to an Appropriations Bill what is basically CDA II. More details below. Essentially, this amendment prohibits "commercial" Web sites from allowing underage surfers to view adult-oriented material deemed "harmful to minors." It would apply to any communication, image, or writing that contains nudity, actual or simulated sex, or "lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific" value. If someone is found guilty of violating this, they could be fined up to $50,000 and imprisoned for six months.

Korean publisher Hangul has rejected Microsoft's rescue plan. This included a requirement that Hangul gave up its 80 percent word processor market share and withdraw from the market, opening the way for Microsoft Word to take over. Instead local investors will back the company. Microsoft seems to have reacted with classic FUD: "Korean companies are not professional or business-oriented enough, but you should continue investing there if you understand they think differently".

Well, alert reader Dave Sracic has sent in the link over to CNET. They are highlighting Free Software, with quotes from RMS, and stuff about Linux and various execs. And in the same vein, this story , also at News is about Linux going mainstream. Very cool.

Well, alert reader Dave Sracic has sent in the link over to CNET. They are highlighting Free Software, with quotes from RMS, and stuff about Linux and various execs. And in the same vein, this story , also at News is about Linux going mainstream. Very cool.

Well, alert reader Dave Sracic has sent in the link over to CNET. They are highlighting Free Software, with quotes from RMS, and stuff about Linux and various execs. And in the same vein, this story , also at News is about Linux going mainstream. Very cool.

Andy Tai writes " This news.com story reports that Intel will increase i ts Pentium II processor speed to 700mHz in 1999." Future versions will also require a larger case to fit all the 18 extra fans needed to prevent meltdown *grin*.

Hetz Ben Hamo (Unique) wrote in to tell us that the W3C Consortium has proposed a new HTTP protocol called HTTP-NG (for Next Generation). If this draft is accepted, I'm sure it will be practical sometime around when we start using IPV6 *grin*.

It might not be as big as the CETI deal, but Jeff Fifield writes "Microsoft has made a deal to install NT on every state government computer in Pennsylvania link ". Truly unfortunate. It sounds a little to me like Microsoft leveraging its OS unfairly, but I could be wrong...

Bob McCown writes "Im not sure if I like this or not. Several ISP's have been ordered to reveal the names of some of their users. Apparently they used a message board to attack employees of a Canadian company. Given the nature of the "threats" I tend to agree, but I also believe that this is a slippery slope, and could set a precedent for future abuse. "

Christopher Smith writes "According to this article on CNet, SCO has had a disappointing quarter, partially blamed on 1.5 million in sales being held up in India. Apparently the Indian customers have had trouble with financing." I'll bet that the financing is partially fallout (yeah, I know) from the nuclear testing. But someone needs to get Linux in there.

The Wintel attack on the enterprise server market seems to be slowing , because of the NT5 problem. The promises made about it are starting to cause problems for MS, and with a release date that still exists only in pipe dreams, perhaps lost ground can be regained.

After the massive problems the G4 had back in May, there are reports of similiar problems on two more. This time, the paging etc wasn't massacred because the birds switched over to backup controllers. Anyone else know anything more?