R
U fed up? Text messaging challenges media.
International editors and publishers are feeling the
pressure of popular nontraditional communications such as cell phone text
messages. These types of messages are quickly overtaking radio, television
and print media due to their immediacy and proximity to the public. During
a two-day meeting to encourage newspaper readership among youth,
publishers from the Los Angeles Times, USA Today and the New York Post
talked to European media leaders about decreasing newspaper circulation
and the European and American media. Pedro J. Ramirez, editor of Spain’s
El Mundo, said the growing “thumb generation” posed the biggest
challenge to traditional media, with text messages providing news and
gossip. This new obstacle was highlighted after the March 11 train
bombings in Madrid, Spain, that resulted in the 191 deaths and injured
more than 2,000 others only three days before national elections.
Readership programs are being introduced to ease the communications
takeover.
Authorities
nab Sasser suspect (a German teen)
The Sasser computer virus was
apparently the work of a German teenager. The 18-year-old high school
student, whose name has not been released, confessed to creating the worm
that crashed computers worldwide in the past week, German authorities said
Saturday. The suspect was identified by acquaintances seeking a lofty
reward of $250,000. The teen was detained Friday by police in Lower Saxony
in northern Germany. Authorities said the original programming code for
the Sasser virus was discovered on a computer in his home. German
authorities and officials at Microsoft Corp., whose Windows operating
system was targeted by Sasser, said the money-hungry tipsters approached
the software firm’s investigators on Wednesday. Microsoft will make good
on its promise of paying the full $250,000 to the informants if the
suspect is convicted.
Security
concerns shut down four federal sites
Four
federal government web sites have been identified by Rand Corp. as
possible security threats with information that could aid terrorists
according to a new study. All four have already been restricted, a few of
them shortly after
Sept. 11, 2001
. The sites included two databases held by the Transportation
Department’s and Special Programs Administration as well as the Nuclear
Commission's Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Plant Information Books,
which detailed the country’s nuclear facilities, and the Interior
Department's Bureau of Reclamation DataWeb online mapping site, which
contained technical information about dams around the United States.
Possibly more disturbing is the fact that even more detailed facts about
the
Grand Coulee
dam can be found on a biking enthusiast web site rather than the federal
site that has now been restricted. Researchers for Rand Corp. prepared a
study outlining the possible threats for the National Geospatial
Intelligence Agency.
Hug
a tree, or better yet, make one into a computer
Technologically inclined lumberjacks have a new item to
lust after – wood computer peripherals. The custom-designed monitors,
keyboards and mice produced by Swedx, a maker of computer peripherals, are
encased in timber culled from Chinese forests. Those wanting a more
natural look for their PC can choose from ash, mahogany or beech
encasings. The company attracts buyers who are also looking for something
a little more distinguished than the basic black or beige plastic
prototypes sold in stores and online.
Environmentally concerned customers also turn to the company because they
are worried about the dangers that thrown-out computer casings cause. The
wood is not glued onto a plastic frame. These casings are custom-made in a
deal between Swedx and Samsung. The company supplies Swedx with the
circuitry and LCD panel to fit the monitor’s wooden exterior.
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