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Issue no. 1, 2002 Published: Jan 03, 2003
EU copyright law misses deadline
Microsoft given last chance at EU settlement
Microsoft ordered to bundle Java with Windows
New MPEG-4 based video system takes step forward
E-mail virus picks up speed
Turing test battles web bots
Warming PC sound with vacuum tubes
Giving robots the gift of sight
Stethoscope faces digital future
If you thought pop-ups couldn't get any more annoying...
Jackson baby-dangling video game

EU copyright law misses deadline
A deadline for adopting a new EU law on copyright protection has passed with just two member countries signing up, dealing a blow to media and software companies beset by unauthorised duplication of their works across the internet. The EU passed the Copyright Directive last April. At the time it was seen as a big victory for copyright holders who wanted existing laws modernised to ensure they would be compensated for the digital distribution of their works. The deadline for implementing the directive was December 22 with just Greece and Denmark adopting it into local law. With hopes dashed of having a strong copyright law in place for the start of 2003, media and software companies complain that they are largely unprotected from digital piracy, an activity they see as the biggest threat to their future. The Business Software Alliance estimates the European software industry loses €3bn annually due to unauthorised copying. The music and film industries have been hit hard too, particularly by the growth of file-sharing networks Kazaa and Grokster.
MSNBC / Reuters Dec 23, 2002	back to top

Microsoft given last chance at EU settlement
European anti-trust regulators are offering Microsoft a last chance to persuade them not to take tough action about alleged abuses of market dominance. The make-or-break talks in Brussels in January are likely to be the final step before the Commission takes a decision that would bring an end to the four-year investigation into whether the US software group breached European Union anti-trust rules. Microsoft will have to defend itself against allegations that it used the strong position of its Windows software to gain a stranglehold in markets for video software and servers. The regulators are preparing a draft decision that could demand Microsoft separate its video software Media Player from Windows. Brussels could also make the company provide technical data to let rival servers interact with Windows. If the two sides fail to find a compromise, anti-trust commissioner Mario Monti will have to decide whether to back his case team or tone down its recommendations. A final decision is expected before July.
Financial Times Dec 22, 2002	back to top

Microsoft ordered to bundle Java with Windows
A US court has ruled that Microsoft must include Sun Microsystems' Java software in distributions of its Windows operating system. Judge Frederick Motz said that he would approve Sun's request for a preliminary injunction requiring Microsoft to include Java, after working out the details with lawyers for both companies. Sun is suing Microsoft for billions of dollars following rulings by two federal courts that Microsoft violated antitrust laws, in part by undermining Java. The company told a hearing earlier last month that, in the two years that it could take for a lawsuit to be heard, Microsoft's .Net could easily overwhelm Java because it would be included with Windows. Sun asked for the injunction to ensure a level playing field until the case is decided. The injunction could be issued in January. Microsoft intends to appeal against the decision, and is likely to seek a stay of the order pending the appeal. Legal experts were sceptical of Sun's chances of winning the injunction, because the courts do not want to make decisions that influence the marketplace before a trial is held.
VNUnet UK / Washington Post Dec 24, 2002	back to top

New MPEG-4 based video system takes step forward
The technical design for a new video compression system based on the MPEG-4 standard was agreed at a meeting in Japan last month, said the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Members of a joint video team of the ITU, the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) agreed on the technical base for the system, which the ITU has named H.264/AVC and the ISO/IEC has named 14496-10/MPEG-4 AVC. The system promises to significantly reduce the amount of bandwidth required to send a video image, and should mean better quality video from a range of technologies such as digital satellite broadcasts, digitally stored video or internet streaming. The system has been designed to cope with packet and data loss better than previous standards, such as the widely used H.262/MPEG-2 or H.263 formats.
Yahoo / Macworld Dec 24, 2002	back to top

E-mail virus picks up speed
A new virus which first appeared just before Christmas is infecting thousands of computers across the world. The spread of the Windows e-mail worm, called Yaha.K, has led anti-virus firms to classify it as a high risk. The virus has now been reported in 100 countries, predominantly in the UK and the Netherlands, according to MessageLabs which scans messages for viruses. It spreads by e-mailing itself to everyone in the victim's address book. It may also try to shut down anti-virus programs. Yaha.K arrives in an e-mail disguises as an .exe or .scr attachment, with a variety of subject lines and messages related to hacking, love, hate and porn. Anti-virus firms say the worm may also launch a denial of service attack against a Pakistani Government website, infopak.gov.pk.
BBC News Jan 02, 2003	back to top

Turing test battles web bots
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have designed software that acts as a 'bouncer' to stop web robots entering websites. Web 'bots' can be used to open free email accounts to hit people with spam, or perform other mischief. The developers have worked out a new version of the Turing test used to distinguish real people from these intelligent programs. Researchers refer to the test as a 'Captcha', short for Completely Automated Public Turing tests to tell Computers and Humans Apart. Some of the technology is already being used by sites such as Yahoo and Hotmail. One test involves selecting a word from an 850-word dictionary and converting it into a mangled image of itself, warping the letters and adding distracting ink spots, colours and backgrounds. It is simple for humans to read, but bots, even ones programmed to read, have difficulty with the distortions and distractions.
VNUnet UK / AP Dec 23, 2002	back to top

Warming PC sound with vacuum tubes
Taiwanese components company AOpen is selling a PC audio card based on a vacuum tube - the same century-old technology that sends electric guitar players and hi-fi aficionados into paroxysms of listening delight. The idea, according to AOpen, is to replicate the 'warm' sound of traditional tube-driven audio equipment inside PCs, which are increasingly being used as stereos by digital music lovers. The company quietly released a first version of the product in the US in August, and an updated version is now available in Taiwan. The company says the idea was initially a 'lark', dreamed up by an audiophile engineer in the course of a brainstorming session. But a lab test of the idea convinced enough people that sound quality was noticeably different that the company decided to produce the product. So far the company has sold about 5,000 of the tube boards in the US. Its customer base has been split evenly between gamers and hi-fi enthusiasts.
Yahoo / CNET Dec 23, 2002	back to top

Giving robots the gift of sight
A researcher from Carnegie Mellon University has completed work on a three-dimensional robotic vision system he says will allow machines to make their way through offices and homes. Hans Moravec's system consists of stereoscopic digital cameras and a 3D grid set up in the robot's computer brain. The system determines the robot's distance from objects by noticing the different placement of the object in the two camera images and applying a geometric equation. The grid, which is made up of 32 million digital cells, is used to help handle incomplete or potentially misleading visual data. Moravec assigns visual input to the 3D grid, and he has come up with a statistical method of judging the reliability of the data assigned to each cell. By adjusting the parameters of the formula the system can interpret visual input from different environments, such as regular light and low light.
Yahoo / CNET Dec 31, 2002	back to top

Stethoscope faces digital future
The stethoscope has been an integral part of the doctor's armoury for more than a century. It allows doctors to listen in to sounds from within the body, amplifying the heart and lungs to pick up murmurs and other potential problems While the general principle of the stethoscope has changed little since then with modifications to amplify the sound further. In skilled hands it can diagnose a wide variety of heart and lung conditions, including valve defects and holes in the heart. But in the future, the computer age could revolutionise the way that they work. Carl Leake, from 3M, a major manufacturer of stethoscopes, says that digital technology will improve the quality of the diagnosis. Digital stethoscopes can store sounds - you can play them back again and again, and even slow them down. The sound can be send to a colleague, or a consultant for a second opinion, says Leake.
BBC News Dec 30, 2002	back to top

If you thought pop-ups couldn't get any more annoying...
Pop-up ads, already the bane of millions of web surfers, are set to become even more intrusive. Pop-up and pop-under ads open a new window when people visit many popular websites, often littering the computer desktop with multiple browser screens. Advertisers hope people will visit the promoted web page by clicking anywhere on the window, although many simply close it by selecting the 'X' box in the top-right corner. But a relatively new feature may make it harder for people to avoid these windows. Using a technique called the 'kick through', advertisers can direct a person to another website if they simply move their cursor across the pop-up ad - no clicking is necessary. Many people who have encountered the ads say they overstep the boundaries of an already intrusive and loathed form of web advertising.
Silicon.com Dec 23, 2002	back to top

Jackson baby-dangling video game
Michael Jackson’s baby-dangling exploits have spawned a new video game in which the player has to catch babies in a basket as a cartoon version of the popstar hurls them from a rooftop. At the end of the game, called 'Michael Jackson Baby Drop', players receive a score and a supposed evaluation of their parenting skills. Jackson startled German fans last month when he dangled his baby outside his fourth-floor hotel window in Berlin, a moment captured on film and widely broadcast. He held his baby over a balcony with one arm to horrified gasps from the crowd of fans on the street below. The singer apologised, saying he had been caught up in the emotion of the moment. In the game by www.madblast.com the cartoon Jackson also throws spiders from the rooftop, which the player has to dodge. The popstar, who keeps tarantulas at his Neverland Valley ranch in California, was recently bitten by a spider on the foot.
MSNBC / Reuters Dec 24, 2002	back to top