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BREAKING SURF
The tragedy of the sunken Russian submarine Kursk has captured the world's attention this past week. At press time, Norwegian divers have managed to enter the sub and found flooded compartments, ruling out the possibilty of survivors. The Russian public has criticized the government and its handling of the crisis, particularly the government's delay in seeking international assistance. We're sure you've read much coverage in the mainstream media so we'll direct you to Jane's, which has a more detailed set of front-page articles about the story than you've probably seen, with an appropriately military slant.http://www.janes.com/
This study, widely reported in the media, reveals that, yes, consumers want privacy while online and no, they don't take any precautions to assure that privacy. We suspect most people do not know how to protect their online privacy or even what real threats to their privacy exist. Other interesting findings include the fact that 25% of people surveyed have responded to e-mail from a stranger. A full 86% of Net users say that they are concerned about businesses or people they don't know obtaining personal information about them or their families. The study is full of interesting tidbits like this and can be found here.
http://pewinternet.org/reports/toc.asp?Report=19
Server problems notwithstanding, as a graduate thesis, Voteauction is was an intriguing experiment as well as a potential legal quagmire. Trading on the theory that US elections are already bought through media and advertising and that the individual voter is missing out on tons of cash, Voteauction wanted to cut out the middleman and let interested parties buy blocks of votes. Most commentators have expressed one variant or another of the term "legal nightmare". Sure enough, after some publicity from Wired legal threats from the New York Election Board were not long in coming. Wired has more. In related news, one voter has cut out all middlemen and placed his vote for sale on eBay. The auction was due to end August 25 but by August 21, eBay had removed the post. Salon has the details.
Voteauction: http://www.rpi.edu/~baumgj/voteauction/
Story: http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,38229,00.html
Shut Down: http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,38355,00.html
Salon: http://www.salon.com/tech/log/2000/08/17/vote_sale/index.html
DeCSS Legal Decision Prevents Linking to Program
The district court of New York has ruled that hacker publication 2600 cannot publish code that facilitates the piracy of DVDs. DeCSS - the code of which 2600 had posted on its Web site - is used to circumventing CSS, the encryption scheme used on some DVDs to protect the data thereon from piracy. The ruling and judgment make some interesting points: DeCSS is not free speech, and preventing 2600 from even linking to sites with the DeCSS code is not preventing free speech. Lawyers for 2600 will, of course, appeal.Story: http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-2547756.html
Ruling: http://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/courtweb/pdf/D02NYSC/00-08117.PDF
Judgement: http://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/courtweb/pdf/D02NYSC/00-08118.PDF
2600 Responds to the DeCSS Legal Decision
Emmanuel Goldstein, the editor of 2600, discusses the recent decision forcing them to remove links to DVD decryption code. He points out that by merely pointing a big fat finger at the DVD decryption problem, the magazine came under threat of a lawsuit based on a profoundly flawed piece of legislation - the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The well thought out piece illustrates the profound clash between the world views of the forces of commercial monopolization and the anarchic contingent of Net dwellers. Good reading.http://www.2600.com/news/2000/0821.html
A Gold Medal in Shortsighted Event Organization
Not even the highest of the high-flying dotcoms can buy their way into the Olympics. The 2000 Olympics will take place September in Sydney, Australia, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has decreed that only traditional media will be allowed to cover the events. For the third straight Olympics, all Internet broadcasters have been denied access: no play-by-play; no replays; absolutely no live webcasts. Essentially, the IOC is attempting to protect lucrative television deals. We feel we should point out that, unlike the previous Olympic years, personal video and broadcast technology have become so ubiquitous that any Games spectator could provide pirate coverage. We're positive many people will attempt social hacks - attempts to fool people in order to smuggle information and results onto the Net - and it will be interesting to see just how free information wants to be. CNN offers an article with an interesting historical slant.http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/08/15/olympic.ban.idg/index.html
The 50 Least Influential Movies of All Time
How refreashing it is, in this world of "X Best Y of All Time" lists to run across a list which stands the concept on its head with wildly hilarious results. GamePro.com, of all unlikely venues, compiled this list of 50 movies which they judged to be utterly without influence. That is not entirely true, however. Movies like "Howard the Duck" and the much underrated "Last Action Hero" had profound influence on both the careers of Hollywood elite (Lucas, Schwarzenegger) and the bottom lines of the studios which produced them. One could argue that the movies did not influence the audience, but throwing in something like "Zardoz" with the bare breasts and the scantily clad babes blows that theory. And how could they possibly leave out "Gymkata"? Anyway, a fine compilation of truly obscure bad movies - bad in a totally forgettable way, as opposed to bad in that memorable Ed Wood way.http://www.gameproworld.com/gpw/channel/entertainment/article/0,1484,6311,00.html
After reading this, you'll know that you should never necessarily believe what you see in live video feeds. The article discusses a system that can alter video feeds in real time. During the time it takes to render one frame of video, the system can insert or remove parts of the video picture. For example, the video of a figure skater can be edited to take out all trace of her, leaving only pictures supposedly coming from a camera panning across the ice. The technology is already used to insert ads into TV pictures during sporting events. The article spotlights more dire applications of the technology, including spoofing the video feeds from military surveillance cameras and literally putting words into people's mouths. Hmm, maybe not literally. As you read the piece, pause to consider the implications for society steeped in video surveillence cameras. This very technique may have beened used to spoof the "Survivor" hackers (q.v.).
http://www.techreview.com/articles/july00/amato.htm
You may have noticed that one or two of us really like "Survivor", to be honest, we like it as much for the Web rumor mongering and background as for the show itself. Although about half of our readers won't get this until the show has ended Wednesday, we decided to present a small list of related sites that haven't yet found their way into NSD. Survivorhunter has many screen captures, but the real reason to visit are the hilarious Rich Dance and the Colleen Dance. The Rudy Reigns site champions the cause of Rudy - who, by the way, we pick to win it all - and the National Post has an article in which the Survivor production team admits setting up that Gervase win hoax. H>Where the Money Is Despite the rocky ride NASDAQ has taken investors on recently, venture capitalists continue to break records by investing more money in more companies, according to SiliconValley.com's second quarter 2000 venture capital survey. How much money? Over $19 billion US in 1,400 companies. What's the next big funding frenzy? Optical networking.
Survivorhunter: http://survivorhunter.tripod.com/
Rudy Reigns: http://www.geocities.com/rudyreigns/main.htm
National Post: http://www.nationalpost.com/search/story.html?f=/stories/20000804/360685.html
http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/companies/moneytree/
RemarQ Acquired, Backs away from Brink
Last issue, we reported that RemarQ had cancelled its free Usenet browsing service. That chivalrous Critical Path has ridden into the rescue and scooped up the damsel in distress that was RemarQ, saving her from the nasty claws of poor cash flow or something or other. The upshot is that free Usenet lives on at the RemarQ URL.http://www.remarq.com/
Last issue, we printed a little note on Rob's online wedding proposal. Robin, the focus of his HTML, finally found the site. Here's her response.
http://www.virtualromantic.com/robin/robin's_answer.htm's_answer.htm
ONLINE CULTURE
The Register has been busy playing on Amazon. In an article last month, they revealed that Amazon had little if any security checks in place to prevent people from submitting reviews in the guise of the author of any given book. This week, the magazine provides some amusing examples of what's been done with this, including Albert Einstein saying that he got it wrong and that God does play dice with the Universe and Fyodor Dostoyevsky saying that though dead he still likes "Notes from the Underground".Security checks: http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/12436.html
Examples: http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/1/12721.html
That's the name of a new study from the Xerox PARC Internet Ecologies Area (IEA) group. The group sampled messages on the Gnutella file sharing network and came to the not very surprising conclusion that most users don't share files, but take them. The study notes that "over a 24-hour period, we established that 70% of Gnutella users share no files, and 90% of the users answer no queries." The study notes that such behavior leads to a degredation of the Gnutella system performance. Incidentally, the IEA group's Web site is a treasure trove of papers on the evolution of the Net ecology (in the "new results" section). Great browsing here for online culture junkies.
Study: http://www.parc.xerox.com/istl/groups/iea/papers/gnutella/FreeRidingA.html
IEA: http://www.parc.xerox.com/istl/groups/iea/
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
The Art's Great, but the Studio Needs Work
This is one of the nicer online fine arts studios, featuring some wonderful imagery. Frankly, we'd like to see more of that, and less of the DarkBoy cartoons that they also offer here. The cartoons are OK, but we'd prefer them on a spinoff Web site. Here, the imagery is enough of a draw. We'd also like to see less extensive - i.e. no - use of dark blue text on black background, here used for navigational information. While it can be a restive combination, a lot of folks have difficulty reading that color set. Navigational toolbas should allow the user to easily navigate. That's an oversight that could be easily remedied. Regardless, the renderings presented here make for an inspirational visit that just may motivate you to dive back into those drawing and editing programs.http://www.themhstudio.com/
The inhabitants of this Web site claim to be aliens who landed on our planet about five years ago and it wouldn't much surprise us. The programmers under their control pump out small, but generally humorous, downloads weekly or so - just the diversion for the growing number of Earthlings who spend their days (and many of their nights) bathed in computer-generated radiation. About half of these little gems can be played directly on the Web site, among them several of our favorites: Hubcap Attack, in which a figure skater flings hubcaps at her boyfriend while dodging whiskey bottles flung at her; the NRA guide to spring cleaning; and of course, Missing White House Email. The first two require good aim; the latter doesn't. All downloads are free and compact, typically 400 kB big. Bear in mind that some of the humor won't entertain all audiences. You may not find the Britney Smears "Oops! I Farted Again!" cut particularly inviting.
http://www.zthing.com/
BOOKS & E-ZINES
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Items our staff likes and you might too. Click on the image or title to order at a hefty discount from our affiliate Amazon.com, and send a few pennies our way as well.
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Secrets and Lies: Digital Security in a Networked World
The Terrible Hours: The Man Behind the Greatest Submarine Rescue in History
Hawk: Occupation: Skateboarder
Playhttp://www.americanafunz.com/
Is the romantic marriage proposal dead? We wanted to take the three-minute survey to discover whether modern proposals seem to rely more on props and location than uncertainty (we tend to have discussed it already), but our reviewer hasn't yet experienced the thrills of giddy romance and thus the whole thing just made her glum. We were relieved to see her much cheered by the hearty discussions of one-night stands ("Should you spring out of bed, brush your teeth and ask for round five?") and the brashness of the Q and A section which addresses pressing concerns such as hot-footed lovers, workplace love cheats, and fiscal woes.
http://www.conversely.com/
New Yorker Cartoons Suitable for Framing and E-Mailing
Before Prozac, even before Valium, neurotic urbanites relied on New Yorker cartoons. You can now buy more than 20,000 of these cartoons online, and many can be sent free as e-mail greeting cards. An ongoing contest invites the world to that amusing little pastime of dreaming up a caption for this month's provocative, captionless, one-frame sketch. And now, finally, comes the vanity New Yorker cartoon, a sophisticated bit of custom comedy which can be purchased for you and your droll entourage of friends.http://www.cartoonbank.com/
The Wide World of Sports E-Zines
The yourSPORTmail.com folks want to help you, the surfer on the go, keep up to date on their favorite sports teams. Each morning your mailbox will receive the latest news about North American pro and college team sports from the NHL to the WNBA. The free e-mails sport tiny ads at the top and bottom that are less intrusive than some, er, similar services. Tagged the "easiest way to be a fan", yourSPORTmail.com even enlivens its Web site with treats like live scoreboards. The site has some items of interest for any sports enthusiast, wanting perhaps only in ways to deliver online beer.http://www.yoursportsmail.com/
SURFING SCIENCE
Post Out-of-Africa Paleoanthropology
The 1990s saw tremendous activity in paleoanthropology. You might expect that DNA analysis has driven all the recent discoveries upon which new theories of man's origins and development are based. Partly. Essays by James Q. Jacobs, adjunct professor at Central Arizona College, show that old fashioned digging, excavation, carbon dating, and climate analysis have, in some cases, cast doubt on theories relying solely on DNA. Professor Jacobs surveys major developments in the areas of human origins, fossils, isolation of Neanderthal DNA, rock art, and many others.http://www.geocities.com/archaeogeo/paleo/index.html
For those laboring under the illusion that politics and science do not intertwine, here's a wake-up call - along with a trove of information relating to that most famous of not-dead-yet catches, the coelacanth. This site is sure to open many eyes with solid facts regarding this little-known fish that was discovered alive in the 1950s, its presumed state of extinction notwithstanding. And the facts will fascinate you. Not only does the site look closely at the animal, its lifestyle, and its present conservation status, it also opens a small window onto the complex dances and intrigues played out by the partners of science and politics in the arena of conservation and animal management.
http://www.dinofish.com/
One of the memorable highlights of kindergarten, if you don't count recess and art class, was the experience of watching incubated eggs turn into little fluffy chicks. For children who might not be fortunate enough to witness it in person, The University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign has set up Chickscope, an area for online documentation and discussion. In the embryology section, kids can learn about the lifecycle of a developing chick (or just read Day 11 if you're particularly interested in finding out how to come out with pink and blue chicks instead of the standard-issue yellow). Parents can learn how to build an incubator for their teaching at home and older kids can check out EggMath, which teaches geometry and calculus through a Java applet.
http://chickscope.beckman.uiuc.edu/
Natural Resources Defense Council
This offering from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is one fast, slick site. These designers have their act together and it's a joy to visit. Actually, it's a relaunch, redesigned with the activist in mind. As such, it's pretty much what one would expect: Act now to save wildlife in Belize. Act now to prevent drilling for oil in the Arctic. Global warming is not only a real catastrophe, it is created by humans. To a remarkable degree, the overarching message of the site reminded us of a line from the old "Pogo" comic strip: "We have seen the enemy, and he is us." As long as it's understood that the material presented is not unbiased, netsurfers should find their visit an enjoyable experience. On the subject of global warming, for example, we couldn't find any reference to the fact that there are at least 191,000 (and counting) resources on the subject, and that a number disagree with the doomsday scenario. We couldn't resist giving netsurfers a pointer to a different perspective out of MIT. Choose your news. We all have to make our own decisions.NRDC: http://www.nrdc.org/
MIT: http://www.cato.org/pubs/regulation/reg15n2g.html
AccuWeather.com, self-tagged the "World's Weather Authority", boasts weather information both global and local with images from both radar and satellite, and five-day forecasts for 43,000 US locations. But before you check that your drive down to Islamorada won't be interrupted by thunderstorms, you can also peek at "Hurricane! 2000", AccuWeather.com's tropical storm info center, which offers forecasts and updates on the latest storms, past storm histories, and information and trivia about these rude visitors.
http://www.accuweather.com/
COMMUNITY SUPPORT
Taking from the Technologically Rich and Giving to the Poor
The Robin Hood page may not be beautiful, but it serves a worthy purpose. It pulls together sites which donate your eyeballs to a worthy cause - well, not literally, that's a whole other type of donation, but basically each site gives its ad revenue to charity. We can imagine Sally Struthers inducing her late-night TV audience with a snaggle-voiced "With as few as ten clicks a day, about the same amount you spend trying to navigate around a new Web site, you could be giving food to hungry children." (Pan to monitor reflection of sad-eyed child.) The Robin Hood page is full of links where your clicks can support UN refugee relief efforts or help build a shelter for battered women. Using nothing more than your mouse you can donate medicine for victims of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster or even save a Patagonian coastal reserve.http://www.vasa.abo.fi/svf/up/robin.htm
They say that kids are apathetic today. Too much television and too little human contact has made them cold to the needs of others, and the Internet is only exacerbating the problem. Andriy Mishchenko, a 16-year old Web designer in Toronto, begs to differ. SearchToHelp is his result, a search engine using a combination of AltaVista and Google's technology, wrapped into one big giving-back machine. Every time someone uses the search engine, three cents are contributed to a charity. If that user also clicks on ad banners, another quarter is added to the donation. Where does the money go? The users decide. Each month they vote on which charities they'd like their contributions to go to. It sorta gives you warm fuzzies all over.
http://www.searchtohelp.com/
Bringing non-profit organizations online is turning a nice profit for one online company. MyAssociation.com offers e-business solutions for associations and non-profit organizations. It counts among their clients Pi Kappa Phi and the Whitman-Walker Clinic. It has received $20 million in venture capital to make this sort of thing happen. The client organizations gain a Web site where they can sell products and easily take credit card pledges securely over the Internet. To keep donors coming back, the sites include features like message boards and chat rooms where visitors can meet like-minded philanthropists. All in all, it sounds like a win-win situation.
http://www.myassociation.com/
CORRECTIONS
Get a Cable Modem, Escape Jail, Get a New URL
Judy Sammel, who we last saw running from the law in "Get a Cable Modem... Go to Jail" (NSD 5.11) has moved her account to a new URL.http://www.geocities.com/flutocracy/cablemodem.htm
That Not So Marvel-ous Superman
Last issue, we may have possibly been able to be somewhat interpreted as hinting that Superman was a product of Marvel, when everyone knows, of course, that he's under a long-term contract at DC. There. Clear as a lucite whistle.