Surf these sites: ''80s Drum Machines Will Never Die -- Desktop DJs get a new software emulation of Roland analog drum and bass machines. [Wired News] ''Censored'' Documentary Fights to Be Seen -- A look at the ways corporate powers influence news coverage has been picked up by few PBS stations. Its supporters are crying censorship; PBS says the filmmakers, like others, just need publicity. [Wired News] ''Elvis of Fonts'' to Bust Out Rock Star ABCs -- Chank Diesel will launch his latest digital assault on lame fontography next week, with a series created by rock stars. [Wired News] ''Friendly Fire'' in Spam War Claims Victim -- Somebody transposed some numbers in an IP address. As a result, Peter Hall was kicked off EarthLink and labeled a spammer. [Wired News] ''Old, Weird America'' Returns on CD -- Harry Smith''s Anthology of American Folk Music was an artifact of an earlier, stranger time that became a ''bible'' to later generations searching for roots that echoed their sense of mystery. [Wired News] ''PLATO People'' Reunite, Honor Founder -- Don Bitzer, creator of the world''s first online community, was the focus of a reunion at the University of Illinois. [Wired News] ''Radio Art'' Squelches, Pops Its Birthday Song -- Beginning today, a Viennese radio station celebrates 10 years of experimental electronic radio music with a 96-hour cybercast. [Wired News] ''The Pitch'' F! - The Funeral Channel -- The F! channel will offer definitive coverage of famous deaths - all day and all night. Sure, reruns will attract only the faithful (or the downright weird), but when the world mourns, F! becomes must-see TV in a way NBC execs can only dream of. [Wired News] ''Tis the Season for Spotting Aliens -- The UFO Friendship Conference kicks off a particularly enthusiastic UFO time of the year. [Wired News] ... And the Winner Is ... Hype! -- The Webby Awards displayed new media''s desperate thirst for fame, glitz, and ad sponsors. [Wired News] 2B1 Thinks Globally, Taps Children Locally -- Under the aegis of MIT''s AI and New Media Lab, a new foundation hopes to wire the world by using its cheapest resource. [Wired News] 60 Minutes Scoop: Net Is a Rumor Mill -- So the Internet has its share of kooks and conspiracists. So, apparently, does television. [Wired News] A Bot to Take on Audio Pirates -- A Net search company and a digital watermark company are creating a way to track unauthorized audio files on the Net. Also: Saving your seat, competition videogaming, and computer gaming parlors. [Wired News] A Breath of Fresh TV -- Since the old networks are slowly dying and new channels are being born all the time, TV is entering one of its more creative phases. [Wired News] A Chat with the Master of Digital Hell -- R. U. Sirius talks with Mark Dippe about Spawn''s digital film effects and who''s really evil. [Wired News] A Cheat Sheet for Internet Sound -- Deciphering digital audio formats. [Wired News] A Cross-Cultural Verbal Explosion -- Three generations of radical poets/performers, including Miguel Algarin and Guillermo Gomez-Pe a, converge for improvisational pastiche and word jam. [Wired News] A Film Festival for the Masses -- With 15 short films for public consumption online, the Reel Time Film Festival dreams of eliminating the sunglasses-and-lift-tickets classism from the festival circuit. [Wired News] A Funny Thing Didn''t Happen on the Way to the Web -- While comedy site Conk is hoping to be the Tonight show of the Web, it will have a hard time beating most Net comedy, which has one important filter: Your friend who passed it on. [Wired News] A Gala Night for Weird Science -- The Ig Nobel Awards Ceremony gathered a host of science luminaries - who quickly shed any inhibitions - in a farcical tribute to the weird moments of science. [Wired News] A Good Multivitamin has Plenty of Antioxidants -- Dr. Andrew Weil''s dos and don''ts for picking the best multivitamin. [Wired News] A Haven for ''Endangered'' Art -- While musical sampling and artistic re-appropriation raises the ire, and litigation, of lawyers, a new Web site will gather the works of several artists working to build new art from the plundered creations of the past. [Wired News] A New Interface for Fans -- By giving fans access to live recordings for the price of blank tape, the Net is not only reshaping the PR and record-distribution industries, it''s subtly influencing the music itself. [Wired News] A Paper Mirror for the Web -- Coffeehouse, a printed anthology of online writing, aims to be the time capsule of the early Web. [Wired News] A Primitive Vibe from High-Tech Bodies of Art -- Sensorband melds technology and the flesh to create unnerving break beats and blasts that connect the band with its audience. [Wired News] A Rose is Not Always a Rose -- Posing as a woman in chat rooms invites warmth, some violence, and accidental affairs of the heart. [Wired News] A Thousand Classics for the ASCIIng -- Project Gutenberg celebrates its 1,000th free etext online. [Wired News] A Vision for Future Designs -- Getting to the source of architectural information, For Inspiration Only succeeds in capturing on paper the mind-bombing that is Future Systems. [Wired News] ABC Won''t Press Tough Cult Questions -- Diane Sawyer''s interview will focus on celibacy and castration, rather than ex-cult member Richard Ford''s motivations and movie deal. [Wired News] AFI Screens Films Online - Wear Your Glasses -- Charlie Chaplin''s The Rink will be the first entire film screened online - and it will be sure to have that old jerky, early-cinema feel. [Wired News] AI, Teamwork Is Goal of Robot Soccer Tourney -- Though the contestants move more like rolling garbage cans than high-tech Peles, RoboCup is making breakthroughs in artificial life and multi-agent collaboration. [Wired News] AOL ''Hacker Riot'' More Like Amateur Hour -- Victims couldn''t distinguish between AOL congestion and hacks. [Wired News] AOL Enlists the ''A-List'' for NY Guide -- Wendy Wasserstein, Ruben Blades, Derek Walcott, and Spalding Gray will contribute to AOL''s highest-profile city guide, Digital City NY, in hopes that "marquee" content will conquer competitors. [Wired News] AOL Revamps - Less Clutter, More Commerce -- To survive in the ''Next AOL,'' forum leaders must put less emphasis on schmoozing, more on raising revenue. [Wired News] AOL Spends Like Crazy on Asylum -- The company''s development studio, Greenhouse Networks, gets the funding to build a massive personalized entertainment service. [Wired News] AOL''s Hub Debuts Record Label -- The Hub will release music compilations drawn from its Web site content, as well as recruit new bands. A partnership with Tower Records enables distribution of CDs, and music will also be directly downloadable. [Wired News] AOL''s Santa: Harbinger of Web-to-TV Trend? -- A children''s show leads the rush to move online properties to TV. Is the Web content ready for prime time, or are we in for Cop Rock redux? [Wired News] AOL4FREE Culprit Tells His Tale -- Three weeks after being sentenced, Nicholas Ryan is ready to share his hacking odyssey. [Wired News] AP Tries Its Hand at Multimedia -- Rox, a slick new webzine, showcases the Associated Press''s most mixed-media friendly stories. [Wired News] ATT and Microsoft Tune In to Music on the Net -- With the two giant companies committed, the notion of the Net as delivery vehicle for music may get more corporate respect. [Wired News] Aboriginal Culture Awakens Australia -- With the Festival of the Dreaming - one of the largest national festivals in honor of indigenous cultures since the country was settled - Australia is giving official recognition to the culture of its original inhabitants. [Wired News] Ackermanthology Delivers Early Sci-Fi Gems -- Forrest J. Ackerman publishes a collection of short-stories from his 300,000 piece, house-cum-museum of science fiction in Hollywood. [Wired News] Acrophobia Gameshow Launches on the Internet -- The makers of You Don''t Know Jack have reworked a made-for-IRC cult hit, Acrophobia. The company hopes to build communities of chatting, clever gamers eager to absorb hours of interstitial ads. [Wired News] All That Is Solid Melts into Air -- The cult-fave cable show The Operation offers more or less unabridged documentaries of actual operations. [Wired News] All the World Wide Web''s a Stage -- The organizer of a six-hour marathon of drama, dance, and spoken word is soliciting audience collaboration to help him play with the meaning of ''site''-specific performance. [Wired News] All-Girl Quake Clans Shake Up Boys'' World -- CrackWhores tout seduction. Psycho Men Slayers are more demure. But both "kick ass" in the violent game arena. [Wired News] Allen Ginsberg Dying of Liver Cancer -- The cancer is untreatable, and the poet has "four to twelve" months to live, his doctor says. [Wired News] America''s Progressive-est Home Videos -- Do It Yourself Television, a brainchild of Free Speech TV webmaster Joey Manley, aims to provide a platform for low-res activists. [Wired News] American Memory Project Puts History Online -- Academics will get a new digital shortcut with an expansion of the AMP at the Library of Congress. Among the materials going online: slave records and music, and American frontier photos. [Wired News] Amerika''s Fragmented Pages -- The hypertext author''s huge multimedia project points to the future of narrative. [Wired News] An Electronic, Otherworldly Portal for Museum-Goers -- Allowing visitors to the new ZKM - in situ and elsewhere - to wander the museum and interact with each other, the Difference Engine never lets its users leave. [Wired News] An Oscar Moment for Predigital DIY Journalist -- The late George Seldes, the subject of a documentary that was up for an Oscar on Monday night, was muckraking forebear of the Net. [Wired News] Animate the Simpsons Yourself -- Erika Milvy reviews Fox''s CD-ROM and decides we can''t all be Matt Groening. [Wired News] Antenna Pipes Art through Screensaver -- When you''re not working, Jenny Holzer''s pensive proclamations will slide across your desktop. Can a digital Picasso be far behind? [Wired News] AntiOnline Agreement Crumbles, Student Defies Ban -- The Net-security Web site will be put back online despite a bungled attempt by the University of Pittsburgh to compromise with its student creators. [Wired News] Apocalypse Wow: Gaming Goes Hollywood -- The showroom floor at the Electronic Entertainment Expo explodes with Disneyfied production values. Janelle Brown reports on the horror that has visitors shell-shocked. [Wired News] Arcosanti Meets the Way New Age -- The utopian desert community built by visionary architect Paolo Soleri hosted an assembly of fringe science''s most outspoken notables. Mixing the two communities proved interesting. [Wired News] Ars Electronica Web Highlights -- This year''s festival launched a diverse assortment of Web sites. Austin Bunn picks the must-sees. [Wired News] Ars Unleashes Digital Circus of the Flesh -- The 18th annual Ars Electronica thrives on projects that break boundaries, and art that doesn''t fit in standard exhibition spaces. [Wired News] Art and Technology in Whimsical Dialog -- An exhibit at the Frankfurt Book Fair highlights the ubiquity of technology and modern creation. For today''s artists, says the coordinator, a computer is as natural as a pencil. [Wired News] Attracts Gamers Like Magic -- Being your own e-merchant may become a reality as SegaSoft merges high-security electronic trading and networked worlds of fantasy. [Wired News] Author Questions Technology''s Gifts to Music -- Author Paul Theberge debunks the myth of how technology liberates the musician in you. [Wired News] Avatars: Punching into Life Online -- If people are indeed the Net''s killer app, then just how powerful are their visual representations in human interaction? A San Francisco gathering explores the social ramifications. [Wired News] Away in a Loft, Gabriel Launches Eve -- The multimedia rock star avoids clich in his Xplora 1 follow-up through a stirring collaboration. David Kushner reports from the release party. [Wired News] BET and MSN Target Black Audience -- Black History Month spawns a slew of online content focused on community, and profit. [Wired News] BMI Bot Crawls Web for Unauthorized Tunes -- In a first step by the music industry to wrestle with new media, the performing rights organization''s ''MusicBot'' performs technologic triage. [Wired News] BS Detector: Anti-Spam List Won''t Work -- On one point, spammers and anti-spammers agree: Jerry Wang''s ambitious plan to create a global remove list are foolish. [Wired News] BS Detector: Geek Book Reeks of Stunt -- Johnny Deep claims to have published the files stolen from more than 100,000 computers, including Bill Gates'' personal machine. [Wired News] BS Detector: NaughtyRobot Is Panic Fodder -- An Internet spider is causing a stir in Usenet. [Wired News] BS Detector: Prankster Dubbed ''Cyber-Stalker'' -- The only verified incidents of Sommy''s "high-tech" reign of terror involve the telephone. [Wired News] Backyard Mars-Watchers Aid NASA -- Hobbyists on Web provide "invaluable" data to mission scientists. [Wired News] Banned High School Journalism Embraced on Web -- Hoping to function as nationwide student paper, the Bolt Reporter publishes news by and for teens, including the stories that make school administrators uneasy. [Wired News] Bard of Baud Sees Words as Warez -- Robert Pinsky, America''s new poet laureate, wants to exploit the Internet to distribute as much oral poetry as possible. [Wired News] Barney Doll Speaks, Takes Orders from TV -- Barney''s campaign for toddler mind-control takes another step this November when Microsoft teams up with PBS to allow specially encoded broadcasts of Barney & Friends to control the actions of a 16-inch talking Barney doll. [Wired News] Barter Site Aims to Launch Parallel Economy -- On the Nella Pages, you can barter Web design skills, graphics, facts, fonts, zines, games, software - even advice about sex, travel, death, and taxes. [Wired News] Baseball Sites Deliver Satisfaction to Office-Bound Fans -- ESPN''s GameCast is faster than Yahoo''s sports netcast, even if its rendering of players makes them look like old-time arcade targets. [Wired News] Battling Info Barbarians at the Gate -- Two authors each examine how growing amounts of information will lead to the fragmentation of society. John Alderman explores their pages and positions. [Wired News] Baud Lang Syne -- An hourly guide to spending all of your New Year''s Eve celebration on the Net. If that''s really what you want to do. [Wired News] Be Careful in Your Cure for Strep Throat -- Dr. Weil says strep throat can easily become kidney disease or rheumatic fever if not treated correctly. [Wired News] Bearish on Madonna -- Rogue Market: Where Wall Street meets Entertainment Tonight [Wired News] Because It''s There to Hear: Everest Eavesdrop -- Once remote and mysterious, climbing this legendary mountain is now within the reach - or at least earshot - of the Web. [Wired News] Before ... Click ... After -- Two beauty-conscious CD-ROMs show what happens when the Image Factory meets Silicon Valley. [Wired News] Belch Your Way to Brighter Kids -- SegaSoft ventures into "stealth learning" with a CD-ROM of the Grossology book series. [Wired News] Berlin Artist Wires Bombed-Out Squat -- A five-story ruin was settled by artists and musicians after the Wall fell. Now they''re finding the Net to be another liberating experience. [Wired News] Berliners Try to Keep Fallen Wall, Art Alive -- It''s been almost eight years since communism and its barrier crumbled. Now, artists and preservationists are fighting to keep demolition and vandals from erasing all physical traces of this important memory and expression. [Wired News] Beyond AquaNet: HK FX Get Digital -- Can you say "cheesy" in Cantonese? That''s the special-effects rep Hong Kong films enjoy. But as it faces its reunification future, the industry is hiring a new breed of young effects wizards. [Wired News] Beyond HOPE Hacks into Big Time -- From their own patron saints to a hacker OS, NY''s Renaissance Weekend for the hacker community highlighted the further evolution of computer pranksters into the mainstream - and into serious money. [Wired News] Beyond the (Silicon) Valley of the UltraVixen -- Importing a genre rife with schoolgirls, S/M, and robot sex, a new anime 3-D sex game combines a bizarre plot with kinky tastes. But successfully exploiting cross-cultural fetishes while sidestepping local taboos is tricky business. [Wired News] Blazing a Trail through Civilization -- Though telling history through a timeline is one of the oldest imagined uses of hypertext, putting HyperHistory online took some doing. [Wired News] Blender Relaunches as Webzine -- Meanwhile, other CD-ROM based zines ponder their options, their markets. [Wired News] Blizzard Takes Online Gaming by Storm -- Battle.net is free - and that poses a hefty cost for other online game services. [Wired News] Booting Up Something More Comfortable -- Wearable computing proponents gather to exchange ideas, hawk gizmos, and talk fashion. [Wired News] Boston Tech ''Salons'' Create Deals and Dialog -- Bob Metcalfe, the father of networking, is now acting as the Gertrude Stein of Boston''s digerati. [Wired News] Bots Bash Despite Legal Battle -- The fourth annual Robot Wars was a smashing success as lawyers gave way to bots armed with weapons like gas-powered circular saws, and bent on each other''s destruction. [Wired News] Bowie''s Web Oddity: Last-Minute Birthday Bash -- Bowie turns 50 on Wednesday - but his webcast party organizers are racing against the clock. [Wired News] Bowling Leagues for the New Millennium -- Quake teams come to the SlamSite gaming center wearing "skins" emblazoned with their clan logo. [Wired News] Braindrain at id. Mood ''Dark and Gloomy'' -- John Romero''s new company, Ion, grabs more top talent from id. [Wired News] Breeding the Machine -- This book''s heroes are great thinkers of history like Leibniz, Hooke, and Darwin - not Charles, but his grandfather Erasmus. [Wired News] British Biz School Opens Silicon Alley Lab -- Hoping to give budding multimedia execs a lesson in new-media content creation, the London Business School joins American schools and several veteran companies in New York''s digital outpost. [Wired News] Bugs Bunny, Meet Bozlo Beaver -- Warner Bros. embraces togglethis technology to deliver animated characters to desktops. [Wired News] Building a Musical ''Fourth World'' -- Trumpeter and composer Jon Hassell''s works are hybrids of traditional music from around the world with Western forms and modern electronics, forming new musical landscapes. [Wired News] Bullets Fly at Chinese Weapon Park -- An hour outside Beijing, the China North International Shooting Range caters to a growing number of leisure-seekers who come to fire assault rifles and rocket launchers. [Wired News] Burn Your Own Beats -- Companies doing the online music-distribution dance are shown a new step at the Plug In ''97 Conference: Customized CDs without the middleman. [Wired News] Burning Man Artists Plan San Francisco Event -- Modified furniture will be hung from an abandoned building in a participatory art celebration that organizers say the cops and fire department encourage. [Wired News] Burning Man Burnout -- This year''s annual festival in the Nevada desert is expected to be much bigger, and less anarchistic, ideas which have alienated many founders. [Wired News] Burning Man''s Burning Question: Got Permit? -- With 20,000 technopagans expected for next week''s delirious desert fest, organizers have yet to secure land-use permission. [Wired News] Burroughs Pops Online Cherry with Drag Queens -- The 83-year-old father of cyberpunk will be making his first online appearance on Friday, in the benefit Psychic Drag Queens Live On the Net. [Wired News] Burroughs Spun a Legacy of Naked Sense -- The novelist''s admirers converge on the Web to craft tributes and thread discussions about how his cut-ups prefigured the "Interzone" that is the Net. [Wired News] Buying Microsoft a Soul -- How Allen Ginsberg, Rosa Parks, and a young art director gave Microsoft a conscience. [Wired News] Buying Microsoft a Soul -- Steve Silberman tells how Allen Ginsberg, Rosa Parks, and a young art director gave Microsoft a conscience. [Wired News] CD-ROM Pornographer Jacks In to the Web -- Pixis Interactive hopes to have crotch-potatoes moaning by modem with its pay-per-play anime sex games, featuring Japanese ''idoru.'' [Wired News] CD-ROM Publishers Hang On To Barbie''s Skirt -- Mattel''s success is driving others into the girls'' game market. [Wired News] CES Crawler: Among the Sex Machines -- This year, ''customization'' and ''control'' are the porn industry''s buzzwords. [Wired News] CU-Heal-Me: Online Therapy Gets Visual -- Counselors reach out to the lonely and depressed with a klunky old app. [Wired News] Can Generative Music Carry the Net''s Tunes? -- A British music tech company is praying its Koan software will make the radical chic of computer-music as prevalent online as Lite FM is in American offices. [Wired News] Can Web Site Have a Life after Leary? -- The neuropolitics and psychedelic guru''s personal domain was his last hope for immortality. Feeling a moral obligation, his stepson is now reviving the popular but neglected leary.com. [Wired News] Can a Search Engine Make a Good Cartoon? -- An animated series featuring orphan avatars battling the likes of Boss Noise and his Spam Boys is in development for Yahoo''s kiddie directory. [Wired News] Cancer ''Cure'' Real or Just Really Expensive? -- A Houston judge declared a mistrial, but final judgment for Dr. Burzynski is still to come. Dr. Weil weighs in. [Wired News] Cannes Film Purists Ignore Digital Media -- Despite a big money presence by digital behemoths, rarefied Riviera movie buffs have their heads in the sand. [Wired News] Capturing Godzilla -- Next summer''s monster remake will feature animation driven by actors in real time. [Wired News] Caribbean Clone Lab Offers ET Religion -- Valiant Venture, an offshoot of a group that believes humans descended from clones created by extraterrestrials, wants you to make a US$200,000 investment in a new you. [Wired News] Carolina Keyboardist Kicks Out the Bandwidth -- Kelani Larethian has never met the musicians he plays with on Firesprung, a CD created over the Internet. [Wired News] Cars for Arts Sake -- The inaugural ArtCar WestFest will feature more than 100 wildly adorned and artfully modified cars, objects of a cultural change that, like Burning Man, represent new rituals for new times, say its founders. [Wired News] Celebrities without Skin Crawl into Gaming -- A new breed of videogames are being built with cinematic expectations. Working out the bugs in the character-generation process is creating interesting experiences - and work for actors. [Wired News] Celebrities, Mob, True Crime, Murder -- The Smoking Gun ports provocative Freedom of Information Act documents and other sexy and sleazy materials to the Web. [Wired News] Changing Office Habits Mean New Desks -- The furniture show at the alt.office conference reflects new ways of working, and preparing for that Friday-night rave once the papers are all shuffled out of the living room. [Wired News] Chaos in Britannia: Ultima Faces Protests -- Dragons and wizards can''t keep builders of the online game from being faced with social dilemmas and uprisings coming from those who''ve chosen to live in their fantastic world. [Wired News] Charmed by Colloidal Minerals? Get Past the Hype -- Dr. Weil believes they''re just a multilevel marketing scam with little evidence of any therapeutic benefit. [Wired News] Chemical Brothers Consume Themselves -- On tour with everything from the highest-tech prototype sound systems to instruments held together with duct tape, the electronic band with the heavy beats explain their love affair with records, including sampling their own. [Wired News] Chickelodeon -- Geraldine Laybourne, who helped bring us Nick at Nite, is now aiming to lighten up Lifetime Television. [Wired News] Christie''s Moves West to Lure Cybermoguls -- Catering to techno collectors is not easy for the East Coast auction houses. [Wired News] City of Women Poised for Revolution -- With free Web-hosting, listservs, and a RealAudio ''radio station,'' a pioneering Web community Amazon City is expanding to accommodate the growing number of women online. [Wired News] Click for Flicks: Rentals Debut Online -- Reel.com''s selection of 35,000 rental titles targets those whom Blockbuster can''t satisfy. But will those postage fees be more burdensome than late fees? [Wired News] Clinton to Inaugurate First ''E-March'' on AIDS -- Emphatically asserting their message that "AIDS is not over," a coalition of community groups is taking its message to Washington - virtually. [Wired News] CoMA Fest Wants to Wake Up Computer Culture -- A group of San Francisco galleries team up this weekend with a computer-museum-without-a-home to stage a new-media festival organizers hope will work to establish the museum''s identity and to give a boost to the appreciation of computer art. [Wired News] Coaxing God from the Machine -- AI academics, clergy, and theologians gather at MIT to explore the search for the sacred in the silicon. [Wired News] Code Red-Faced -- With Drudge imitating current journalism values with such uncanny fidelity, is it any wonder traditional media now vilifies him? [Wired News] Code Warriors Fought Errors Byte by Byte -- Irving Reed and Gustave Solomon carved one of the building blocks of the digital domain, but you''ve never heard of them. [Wired News] Competing Civilizations Forge Alliances -- The family tree of games sprung from the root of Avalon Hill''s board game Civilization is busy making deals and has, so far, avoided a war of succession. [Wired News] Computer Projects Attract Attention at Digital Salon -- At the School of Visual Art''s 5th annual Digital Salon, a pragmatic reserve was evident in works that were mostly high in content but low in bandwidth. [Wired News] Concentric Imports Continental Gaming -- The gaming network partners with European companies to offer its audience European games, but with a decidedly American flavor. [Wired News] Conquest of Faith -- A professor takes an intellectual leap from Darwin to ''50s sci-fi and Apple evangelism to chart the inventive evolution of American religion in the age of science. [Wired News] Considering the Virtual Museum -- A conference at the Louvre studies the end of the crowds and the start of the ''distributed museum.'' [Wired News] Content for Sale: New Media''s Weakest Link -- To bait surfers, you need gripping content. Enter the new-media ed agencies. [Wired News] Contest Rewards Webbed Kids, Encourages Learning -- ThinkQuest seeks to bring together students with different levels of techno-savvy and have them build educational Web sites. [Wired News] Copy Culture Is Our Nature -- The Culture of the Copy has hit bookstores just in time to feed clone fever. [Wired News] Copyright Groups on the Rights Track -- Several organizations team up to create international database tracking song titles. Will a centralized system solve the problem? [Wired News] Could ''Instant Community'' Be E-Minds'' Killer App? -- The Kasparov vs. Deep Blue match has given Electric Minds a much-needed windfall. [Wired News] Crash Test Opera -- If it ends in -philia or confronts your phobias, La Fuera dels Baus has probably done it. [Wired News] Crash Video Lands in US -- The Cronenberg film that mixes car wrecks and sex and turns Ted Turner''s stomach finally makes it to US retail, albeit in several versions. [Wired News] Creative Time Rethinks Wired Art -- A 10-piece show debunks digital-art myths under the Brooklyn Bridge. [Wired News] Cruising for Sex Is Popular with Users, Cops -- While giving readers advice on where to pick up men all over the world, a Web site rises to the challenge of police surveillance. [Wired News] Cult Suicide Developments -- The latest reports emerging from northern San Diego County, as the nation''s media descends on the site of the largest mass suicide in US history. [Wired News] Cult Suicide Developments -- Deputies who first investigated the scene of the mass suicide give their account the tragic discovery. [Wired News] Cult Suicide Developments -- How did a former music professor and an amateur astronomer steer their cult into computing? A few hints surface. [Wired News] Cult Suicide Update -- The latest reports emerging from northern San Diego County as the nation''s media descends on the site of the largest mass suicide in US history. [Wired News] Cultists Claimed They Were Monks -- Members told at least one Web-design client that they were monks working with former drug addicts. [Wired News] Cyber Angels'' Antiporn Database Dies -- The failure of the child-porn database highlights concerns about netizens taking matters into their own hands. [Wired News] Cyberculturists Crack Academia -- The Resource Center for Cyberculture Studies serves as a gathering place for cyber-gazing academics. [Wired News] Cyberfest Celebrates HAL in Urbana -- Arthur C. Clarke makes a satellite appearance from Sri Lanka for HAL''s birthday party. [Wired News] Cyberhippies Beat Cyberpunks into Space -- A Hugo-nominated - and acid-fueled - sci-fi saga that blasted off in 1970 has finally made it into the digital domain. [Wired News] Cyborg Pig Rendered in Real Time -- Brilliant Digital Entertainment pushes interactive storytelling with on-the-fly imaging. [Wired News] Cyborg Wannabes to Hold Hootenanny -- The Extropian thinkfest will still feature visionaries exploring possible futures, but this year''s confab will be more reserved, even investment-minded. [Wired News] Cyborg Weaves Web into Fashions -- Each garment features a URL that directs wearers to a site that hawks the company''s streetwear. [Wired News] Cyborganic CEO Warns of Crisis -- A note sent Wednesday to members of the influential ISP says lack of financing may throw Cyborganic''s future into peril. [Wired News] Cyclops Brings Jerkiness to Computer Animation -- A new camera could make that artificially smooth motion in computer animation a thing of the past. [Wired News] Déja Fu: It''s Bruce Lee TV -- USA is developing a series that channels the late martial-arts superstar via computer imagery. [Wired News] DIG IT Displays Artists'' Digital Ambivalence -- A San Francisco gallery presents the creations of those immersed in day-to-day digitalia [Wired News] DIY Comic Goes to Hollywood -- InVision Entertainment animates self-published comic and sets it to music by Bob (Schoolhouse Rock) Dorough. [Wired News] DJ in a Box -- The new Mixman CD-ROM gives you a chance to explore your own taste, talent, and instincts - and the ability to do it just like the big boys. [Wired News] DVD ''Magazine'' Gives Short Films a Home -- The Short Cinema Journal hopes format''s high resolution and easy access will prove to be the perfect format for short films. [Wired News] DVD Filter Gives Parents Final Cut -- The maker of "content-customization" software has Oscar in his eyes, but some filmmakers question the morality and legality of having others alter their work to suit tastes. [Wired News] Dangerously High Definition -- Cameraman Marc Pingry, obsessed with the perfect shot, embraces high-tech and high-risk adventure. [Wired News] Dead Wordsmith to Jam for Web Site -- DeadNet needs money, and Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter is going to help with a benefit show. [Wired News] Dead to Rise at Opening of Interactive Museum -- The Grateful Dead are raising funds to build Terrapin Station, ''equal parts interactive museum, sensory playground, and social/cultural laboratory.'' A New Year''s Eve reunion concert is scheduled for the 1999 opening. [Wired News] Death Culture Thrives in Online Gaming -- The Deathmatch Manifesto portrays the culture of players driven to kill each other - and teaches you to partake. [Wired News] Death Metal: Born-Again Heavy Metal -- Heavy metal has lost its glamour, and its mainstream support. What''s left is far more interesting: An extremist successor driven by romantic yearnings and nihilism. [Wired News] Death by Broderbund -- The Last Express is an animated mystery game with several hooks. In Street Cred. [Wired News] Death of Low Res Yields Two New Film Fests -- ResFest and D.Film are born in the wake of the Low Res Film Festival - the two founders couldn''t agree. [Wired News] Death of News Site Revives News War -- An online journalism face-off in Houston shakes the one-paper town. [Wired News] Dee Snider Plays Twisted Netster Onscreen -- Former Twisted Sister frontman continues his over-the-top career path, this time writing, producing, and starring in a movie about a Net-based serial killer. [Wired News] Deep Blue Buffs Up Shallow Play -- After a little tinkering, IBM''s chess-playing supercomputer can match a grandmaster like Garry Kasparov four moves into the future - but only about half the time. [Wired News] Deeply Dylan -- The official Bob Dylan Web site, launched by his record company and created by fans with a high Net profile, delivers best of "official" and "unofficial" Dylan. [Wired News] Desert Storm -- In Black Rock City, events, crowds, and dust devils appear and disappear with the same disarming speed for Michael Murphy. [Wired News] Designers Anxious, Look to Range of Experts -- In an era when artists are worried about the "disappearance of print," divining the future will be a popular concern at a New Orleans design conference. [Wired News] Designers Fuzzy about Blurring Boundaries -- Speakers at the Industrial Designers Society of America''s national convention urge interdisciplinary mingling. [Wired News] Designing for Living -- The global village, coursing with communal electric cars and computers that don''t look like computers, is explored by designers at this weekend''s Humane Village Congress. [Wired News] Diana''s Funeral, Part I: The Mourning After -- What can anybody add to the electronic avalanche of commentary, posturing, analysis, hand-wringing, outrage, and debate that poured forth all weekend long on cable, the Net, radio, and commercial TV? [Wired News] Digifilm''s Shot at Vitality -- The onedotzero festival hopes subtlety and abstraction - not shiny colors and wireframe 3-Ds - will help the experimental genre make a mark on the mainstream marquee. [Wired News] Digilantes Display Their Low-Fi Struggle -- With Commodore Amigas, Video Toasters, and ''tractor feet,'' an exhibition wants to tell the fugitive history of LA digital artists. [Wired News] Digital Art Hits Wall (Street) -- A financial-district art series takes over a building lobby with "video kinesis," CD-ROMs, and work from Lucent''s R D lab. [Wired News] Digital Art Show Revives Ancient Macs -- The MacClassic exhibit explores the (obsolete) materials of computer art - and questions the medium''s supposed lack of physicality. [Wired News] Digital Arts Come Out Down Under -- English artist Paul Brown has found support for making generative art in Brisbane, Australia, where dancers, comedians, actors, video and audio artists, and animators gather for the E-Media festival. [Wired News] Digital Signpost at a Sexual Crossroads -- Hoping to provide a clear, anonymous guide to sexual orientation, Alltogether.com features questions and answers hosted by diverse and interesting - if not yet perfect - virtual guides. [Wired News] Digital Storyfest Finds Heart among Bits -- Narrative and the Web will be the focus of this fall''s Digital Storytelling Festival. [Wired News] Digital-Design Icon Gets Its Due in Exhibition -- A museum exhibit documenting an influential design house''s work highlights the auspicious mix of its artfulness, technology, and growing business acumen. [Wired News] Diller Plans War on Perfectly Coiffed TV News -- The genius of Fox Television and the Home Shopping Network says it''s time to smash the mold of talking blond heads. He plans 11 new all-local, all-news stations, complete with rough edges. [Wired News] Disaffected Fans Cheer D&D Buyout -- The ''80s phenomenon had stagnated under producer TSR and may get a boost from new owners Wizards of the Coast. [Wired News] Discovering the Paparazzo Within, Part I -- Journalists and society are unhappily codependent, at odds and cross-purposes, but bound together for life. [Wired News] Discovering the Paparazzo Within, Part II -- The paparazzi deserve a fairer, cooler, and more considered hearing than their righteous journalistic colleagues or the public have yet been willing to give them. [Wired News] Discovery Launches Istanbul Across Platforms -- The Planet Explorer site is the first step in Discovery''s multimedia content strategy. Some "ubiquitous promotion" is expected. [Wired News] Disney Goes for VR and a Touch of Violence -- With broadswords and pitch-and-roll simulators, the company takes spinning teacups one better and hands users the controls. But don''t expect blood. It''s still a family-friendly world, after all. [Wired News] Disney Launches Smallfry World on Web, MSN -- The long-awaited kids'' service goes into beta Monday, but competition is just around the corner. [Wired News] Disney Separates Web, Pushes Family Brand -- Emphasizing kids'' safety and parental comfort, the online transformation will take inspiration from AOL, but give parents more control. [Wired News] Distribution Revolution Will Be Televised -- The Independent''s Day marathon coordinates with 18 cable-access channels nationwide to broadcast undistributed films. [Wired News] Do Girls Want Gloss? -- A new webzine aimed at teen girls offers the same old mix of models, boys, and clothes. Some wonder how that bodes for alternative content sites that up until now have been the demographic''s dominant online presence. [Wired News] Do and Ti''s Long, Strange Trip Toward Death -- The leaders of the Heaven''s Gate cult met in a mental hospital. Their two-decades-plus wanderings drew media attention and a small flock of disciples. [Wired News] Do-It-Yourself Mafia -- The Mob is losing market share to online con men and dealers. Where are the Feds when you need ''em? [Wired News] Documentary Shows Web as Hall of Mirrors -- Homepage films the Web''s king of self-examination, Justin Hall, and in the process asks questions about the blurry lines between surveillance and documentation. [Wired News] Doing the Time Warp, in Digital Camp -- The musical that refused to die continues to spawn mutant projects. This time it''s the Interactive Rocky Horror Show videogame. [Wired News] Domain-Name Hunter Practices Corporate Charity -- In a rare form of Net altruism, Scott Banister collects techie domain names, only to give them away to the rightful owners - you just have to ask nice. [Wired News] Doo-Doo Flies over Talking Turd -- Spumco claims South Park pinched a loaf of ideas from its comic creations. [Wired News] Dream Weaver -- Jeremy Taylor, America Online''s dream expert, has been combing through other people''s dreams for more than 25 years. [Wired News] Dreaming in Namespace -- Steve Silberman wonders, whether in a perfect world, would you be jill@coolchick.vain or jim@unix.geek? [Wired News] Drilling Begins at The Mining Company -- Another attempt at human-filtering the Net is set for launch. [Wired News] Drink of the Week: The Jack Rose -- A drink with a deep-laid taste, the look of a rose, but the bite of Jersey lightning. [Wired News] Drive-In, Moscow Style -- Imagine a self-conscious combination of The Magnificent Seven, The Road Warrior, and Sergio Leone''s spaghetti westerns all crammed into one film: The Wild East [Wired News] Drudge Flash: Deng''s Bizarre US Eulogy -- The Chinese leader dies, and suddenly the media are painting him as a global hero. [Wired News] Drudge Flash: Evita Eclipses Clinton -- The Golden Globe Awards beat out the Clinton gala 2 to 1. [Wired News] Drudge Flash: Fox Signs Olympic Guard -- Six figures buys the life stories of erstwhile bombing suspect Richard Jewell, his mama, and his lawyers. [Wired News] Drudge Flash: Hillary Gets Grammy Nod -- The first lady is up against fellow liberals Lauren Bacall, Garrison Keillor, Edward Asner, and Ellen Burstyn in the best spoken-word or non-musical album category. [Wired News] Drudge Flash: NASA to Launch Secret Rocket -- A dry run for launching 72 pounds of radioactive plutonium into space is set for Sunday. [Wired News] Drudge Flash: Networks Win Back a Sunday -- For the first time in recent memory, the big three networks pulled in more than 60 percent of the available audience during prime hours. [Wired News] Drudge Flash: Star Wars Strikes Again -- Fans endure freezing temps and scalpers'' rates - all for the Force. [Wired News] Drudge Hollywood - Media Awaits O. J. Meltdown Redux -- LA''s warm winter will only get hotter when the media''s O. J. obsession boils over with a civil-court verdict, says Matt Drudge. [Wired News] Drudge Hollywood: ABC''s 25 Minutes of 3-D Fame -- Columnist Matt Drudge says ABC''s hyped 3-D week will amount to less than 25 minutes of 3-D enhanced action throughout the entire week. [Wired News] Drudge Hollywood: ABC''s 3-D Stunt -- Anything to stop audience deterioration - but will the news shows cooperate? [Wired News] Drudge Hollywood: Communications Collapse ''97 -- Bad weather pushes people online, but the phone lines can''t take it. [Wired News] Drudge Hollywood: David Lynch''s Mindtrip -- ''He''s put on at least 50 pounds since the recess,'' worried a Newt-friendly emailer in a message labeled confidential and urgent. [Wired News] Drudge Hollywood: DreamWorks'' Arsenio Dropped -- ABC yanks Arsenio, adding to the woes at DreamWorks'' troubled TV unit. [Wired News] Drudge Hollywood: Forbes Launches Campaign 2000 -- In a preemptive strike, GOP presidential hopeful Steve Forbes begins another campaign. [Wired News] Drudge Hollywood: Force Is with Ewan McGregor -- George Lucas courting Trainspotting''s Ewan Mcgregor for Obi-Wan Kenobi role in Star Wars prequels. [Wired News] Drudge Hollywood: Foreign Film Market Soars -- Devil''s Own, starring Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt, does better abroad than at home in simultaneous release. [Wired News] Drudge Hollywood: Frasier and the President -- Kelsey Grammer tells GQ that Bill Clinton got plastic surgery from a doctor who augmented a girlfriend''s breasts. [Wired News] Drudge Hollywood: Godzilla Does New York -- Columnist Matt Drudge on monster film, recovery television, and Anthony Lake, mystery man. [Wired News] Drudge Hollywood: Is Jennings Next? -- Rumors at ABC question how long Jennings will remain as anchor. Diane Sawyer''s contract is up for renewal. [Wired News] Drudge Hollywood: NBC''s Commercial-Free Win -- The uninterrupted airing of Schindler''s List attracted more viewers as the night wore on. Will networks try to repeat NBC''s success? [Wired News] Drudge Hollywood: Networks Lose in February Sweeps -- The pressure is on in Broadcast Row to jack up ratings. [Wired News] Drudge Hollywood: O. J.-Clinton Flop Stuns Nets -- Shocked networks are trying to figure out why so few people tuned in for the State of the Union/civil trial verdicts combo. [Wired News] Drudge Hollywood: Oscar Fever -- On Tuesday began the furious illness that consumes the entire town - ending in seizure, this year at the Shrine Auditorium on 24 March. [Wired News] Drudge Hollywood: Oscars Snub Larry Flynt -- The porn magnate and bio-pic subject is furious to find he''s not getting a ticket to Monday''s festivities. Is this the Academy''s form of censorship? [Wired News] Drudge Hollywood: Porn Bio-Pic Pushes Limits -- Can Hollywood handle a 13-inch penis? The test screening of John Holmes'' most public of parts reveals some hints. [Wired News] Drudge Hollywood: Spy Satellites for Rent -- Just imagine what the National Enquirer/Hard Copy snitches will do with the power of the spy sat toy [Wired News] Drudge Hollywood: Star Wars to Top ET -- Star Wars will surpass the all-time domestic grosser, ET, sometime in the next two weeks. [Wired News] Drudge Hollywood: Steinem May Picket Oscars -- People vs. Larry Flynt is an Oscar nominee, and feminist Gloria Steinem is protesting. [Wired News] Drudge Hollywood: Stern May Star in Batman 5 -- Radio jock Howard Stern is on the short list to star in the Warner Bros. film Batman 5 - as the villainous Scarecrow. [Wired News] Drudge Hollywood: The Galaxy According to Gates -- Gates on the baby, Gates on romance, Gates on the creation of man: Time indulges in a delightful mix of future talk and celebrity stalk. [Wired News] Drudge Hollywood: The LA/DC Dilemma -- How to do the Golden Globes and still make the inauguration. [Wired News] Drudge Hollywood: The President Slips -- Talk-radio speculations ran wild after the president fell on Thursday night. [Wired News] Drudge Hollywood: Time Warner Touts Rosie -- Rosie O''Donnell made the covers of People, Entertainment Weekly, and Time last week - pay no nevermind to the fact that her show is produced by Time Warner, parent of said mags. [Wired News] Drudge Hollywood: Titanic Budget Bloats -- The new James Cameron movie could end up costing a staggering US$225 million - or more than $2 million a minute. [Wired News] Drudge Hollywood: Voices Come Calling -- Columnist Matt Drudge on frantic tips, jaundiced journalism, and Nixon versus Clinton. [Wired News] Drudge Hollywood: Why Starr Quit Whitewater -- Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr''s wife couldn''t take the pressure of intense public scrutiny. [Wired News] Drudge Hollywood: Will Volcano Sell? -- It''s another one of those $100 million bets. And industry talk all week has been about how the film "isn''t tracking well." [Wired News] Drudge Hollywood: Yeltsin Rumors Spread -- The ailing Russian president was declared dead in Britain''s House of Commons. [Wired News] Drudge New Year: High Times and Headline Hype -- Columnist Matt Drudge on the first dose of ''97 news, Renaissance elites, G. Gordon''s grief, and other right-wing party animals. [Wired News] Drudge Oscars: And the Ratings Are ... Weak -- New Nielsen numbers show Monday night''s Oscars to have the second-lowest ratings in the TV age. [Wired News] Drudge Report: Gingrich Caught on Cell Phone -- A tape of a cellular phone call has House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Republicans joking about how to spin Gingrich''s ethics crisis. [Wired News] Drudge Sneak: CNN May Sue for Havana Office -- If CNN can''t open a Cuba office via the Trading with the Enemy legislation, it''s going to the courts. [Wired News] Drudge Sneak: Clinton Pushes for CNN in Cuba -- Matt Drudge''s sneak preview of top morning news says the president is close to approving a CNN bureau in Cuba. [Wired News] Drudge Sneak: Did Maggie Take a Check? -- Matt Drudge''s sneak preview of top morning news has the latest on Maggie Williams, Johnny Chung, Howard Stern, and Cronkite versus Robertson. [Wired News] Drudge Sneak: McDougal Talks, Delays Sentence -- Matt Drudge''s sneak preview of morning papers says prosecutors want more time to corroborate information McDougal has given them. [Wired News] Drudge Sneak: Sony Eyeing James Bond -- But can John Calley imagine the media firestorm that would flare over the notion of super-British Bond being owned by the Japanese? [Wired News] Drudge Sneak: The Real-Life Star Wars Fighter -- In a blur of box-office and actual military strategy, the Pentagon is creating a military spaceplane. [Wired News] Drudge Sneak: Vader May Draw $15 Million -- Fox is hoping for at least $15 million from the relaunched ''Star Wars'' this weekend, and as much as $25 million. [Wired News] Drudge Sneak: White House Blames British Press -- Right-wing think tanks have kept the British press on a diet of conspiracy and innuendo, a White House report claims. [Wired News] Drudge Washington: Chinese Officials OK''d Bribes -- The FBI has evidence that Chinese officials first approved plans in 1995 to buy influence in the United States - and that the scheme is ongoing. [Wired News] Drudge Washington: Clinton and Nudity -- Matt Drudge tracks the Clintons vacationing in a sunny house with a view of the ocean and butt-naked tourists. [Wired News] Drudge Washington: Clinton v. Jones -- Swing-voting Justice Anthony Kennedy appeared to pour cold water on Paula Jones'' case. [Wired News] Drudge Washington: Clinton''s Overnight Bash -- Ted Turner is reportedly furious that the White House released his name as a Clinton overnight guest, reinforcing the notion that CNN is liberal-friendly from the top down. [Wired News] Drudge Washington: Clintons Don''t Disco -- Scenes and gossip from the first family''s inaugural bash. [Wired News] Drudge Washington: Did Big Brother Raise Funds? -- The White House says it didn''t use the computer for fund raising. The LA Times says otherwise. [Wired News] Drudge Washington: Did Clinton Lie Under Oath? -- James McDougal had his prison term trimmed to three years in exchange for providing new details that allegedly incriminate President Clinton. [Wired News] Drudge Washington: Dodd''s Chinese Connection -- Despite repeated denials from the senator, a source says the Connecticut Democrat was involved in soliciting a US$50,000 contribution for John Huang. [Wired News] Drudge Washington: Fading Nets Cry Foul -- Networks are asking the FCC to abandon rules preventing a company from owning more than one TV station in a market, columnist Matt Drudge says. [Wired News] Drudge Washington: Gingrich''s Cell-Phone Snafu -- The House Speaker learns why you shouldn''t have delicate political conversations on cell phones. [Wired News] Drudge Washington: Hillary and the Database Scandal -- Hillary Clinton may have to testify before a congressional hearing on illegal uses of Whitehouse database. [Wired News] Drudge Washington: McDermott''s Moment -- "We have a man who is in complete denial of his crime," a well-placed Hill source tells the Drudge Report. [Wired News] Drudge Washington: New DC Fund-Raising Scandal -- Columnist Matt Drudge''s sneak preview of top morning stories uncovers a new DNC fund-raising scandal involving the Chinese Embassy. [Wired News] Drudge Washington: Was Congress Bribed? -- DC is abuzz with an FBI investigation of Chinese reps trying to buy influence in Congress. [Wired News] Drudge Washington: Will Gates Snap Up WSJ? -- Discreet talk inside the WSJ Washington bureau has Gates sniffing around for a newspaper. [Wired News] Drudge, AOL Hit with $30 Million Libel Suit -- The Net''s own gossip columnist said he''d been had after publishing a rumor that presidential aide Sidney Blumenthal had abused his wife. Now both he and host America Online are facing a big-time suit. [Wired News] Drudge: ''World Army'' to March on US Soil -- Troops from the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, and elsewhere will test the viability of the Patriot, Hawk, and Stinger missile systems in a massive desert exercise. [Wired News] Drudge: ABC Tumbles with Sweeps -- ABC Entertainment president Jamie Tarses may soon get a chaperon - very soon. [Wired News] Drudge: Bill Gates'' $860 Million Day -- The Microsoft chief scored big when the stock market roared higher on Tuesday, but in Redmond, such bonanzas go virtually unnoticed. [Wired News] Drudge: CNN Anchors for Lost World -- No one will confirm it, but anchor Bernie Shaw has a Lost World cameo as a CNN anchor. [Wired News] Drudge: Ellen''s Outing Pulls in Ratings -- About 42 million viewers tuned in for the telling: Yes, Ellen DeGeneres'' TV character is gay. And for ABC, that''s absolutely fabulous. [Wired News] Drudge: FBI''s Shapiro Set to Resign -- The Republicans in Congress are hungry for a catch - but the FBI counsel''s exit should satiate them. [Wired News] Drudge: Gore to Dine at Gates'' Techno Mansion -- A tech summit brings a host of luminaries to make speeches and gaze at the House that Bill''s Building. [Wired News] Drudge: Grease is the McMovie Word -- Hollywood has a strange symbiosis with fast food that fills you up but leaves you queasy. [Wired News] Drudge: Harrison Ford Holds Up the Titanic -- Harrison Ford turned up the pressure when he learned that Paramount had rescheduled Titanic for release during the weekend of 25 July - the same weekend as his Air Force One. [Wired News] Drudge: Internet President Finally Logs On -- On Saturday, the president - a computer illiterate with poor typing skills - will have his own PC installed in the Oval Office and spend the afternoon hitting Web hot spots. [Wired News] Drudge: Lost World''s Killer Weekend -- Spielberg proves you can make back cost in 100 hours. [Wired News] Drudge: McVeigh''s Lawyer Blasts Dallas Paper -- Matt Drudge reports on the reaction to the Dallas Morning News'' decision to post a controversial story on the Net before a judge could decide on blocking its publication. [Wired News] Drudge: Michael Huffington Does Cannes -- No couple blurs show biz and politics like the Huffingtons. [Wired News] Drudge: Microsoft Outbids AOL? -- Ohio rumors have MS lawyers sniffing out CompuServe, prepared to double AOL''s offer. [Wired News] Drudge: Murdoch Jr. a 21st Century Media Hunk -- The 25-year-old heir apparent to the Rupert Murdoch empire made news this week when his father handed him the executive chairmanship of News Ltd. [Wired News] Drudge: Murdoch on the Hill Again -- The News Corp. chief goes to a Senate committee with his plan to take local TV stations nationwide. [Wired News] Drudge: Newspapers Down But Not Out -- A third of the nation''s papers actually gained in circulation in the past six months. Plus, ABC''s Jamie Tarses, O. J. and Whitewater books, and the Alan Smithee flap. [Wired News] Drudge: Radio Talk Show Linked to Suicides -- The nationally syndicated talk-radio show Overnight with Art Bell may have provided inspiration for the mass suicide date. [Wired News] Drudge: Rush Limbaugh Launches on Net -- Limbaugh''s new owner launched his program on two RealAudio channels this week. [Wired News] Drudge: Sinatra Falling Short in Congress -- Al D''Amato wants to honor Ol'' Blue Eyes, but the singer''s reputed Mafia ties are a problem for some House members. [Wired News] Drudge: Spielberg''s Dinosaurs in San Diego? -- Matt Drudge on Steven Spielberg''s variations on the Lost World plot that Michael Crichton wrote in his book. [Wired News] Drudge: Spielberg''s Violence, Times'' Gossip -- Parents may balk at Lost World, but the kids will want in. Meanwhile, The New York Times goes for gossip. [Wired News] Drudge: Suicide Was Planned Long Ago -- Authorities are in possession of a detailed manifesto by the group''s leader, believed to be a 25-year-old male, that explains the reasons for suicide. [Wired News] Drudge: Who Leaked Nuke Ship Info? -- Someone with access to classified CIA reports on the "combat-ready" nature of Russian nuclear vessels has some loose lips - and what''s being told to a Washington Times reporter has the potential to sink more than ships. [Wired News] Drudge: X-Files Film Gets Fox OK -- The trades show the studio flashing the green light. Will lead actors David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson get their $10 mil apiece? [Wired News] Dune Redux - for Sci-Fi Miniseries -- The Sci-Fi Channel will make Frank Herbert''s cult novel into a miniseries. [Wired News] Dylan Goes Electronic -- Sony has signed Citadel Underground editor Dan Levy to showcase rarities, recordings, and influences on bobdylan.com, the first official site. [Wired News] E-Minders Seek Shelter -- Members of Electric Minds are weighing several offers to give their troubled young community a new home. [Wired News] Earning from Others'' Mistakes -- Several Web sites are taking advantage of the inevitable typos, serving up ads - and even claiming to make money for the homeless. [Wired News] EarthLink Restricts Mail-Server Access -- The ISP''s war against spammers is chalking up some collateral casualties: people who simply like having remote access. [Wired News] Earthlink Spanks Ebola Monkey Bingo Author -- A developer claims a false virus warning about his game got him suspended by Earthlink. The ISP says it was his bad manners. [Wired News] East Coast Consortium Heats Up FX War -- A group of small New York digital-effects studios use the Net to fight the brain-drain toward California and its behemoth FX houses. [Wired News] Ebon Fisher Explores Subversive Play -- The New York art group Sandbox takes its exploration of the medium-specific nature of art to the Web. [Wired News] Effects Process Spawns Digital Diplomacy -- Like other effects-laden flicks, the dark summer picture relied on many studios. Merging the diverse work required more than just technical skills. [Wired News] Electronic Art Breaks Local Fair Boundary -- A Siggraph-backed display at the Sausalito Arts Festival hopes to erase the conceptual distance between computer-generated art and its wall-art-and-baubles cousins. [Wired News] Electronic Art Grabs Public Eye -- The German art fair Documenta X features meatspace and cyberspace exhibits. Guess which one has some of the show''s more exciting exhibits. [Wired News] Electronic Arts Tours Flight Trailer -- The flight-sim-maker, with a little help from AT T, attempts to enlarge military gaming with a mobile demo at airshows. [Wired News] Electronic Music, Meet the Recording Industry -- Big labels are determined to take advantage of the vibrant youth culture that''s gravitated toward electronic music. But with a format that doesn''t fit their expectations, they''re just not quite sure how to do it. [Wired News] Elites Sideswipe Drudge -- The top name in Net non-journalism has a head-on collision with Michael Kinsley and The New York Times'' Todd Purdum. Damage, however, was minor. [Wired News] Emmycasters Work in Media Niche -- Ironlight Digital wants to give netsurfers a backstage, watch-the-key-grip''s-handiwork view in advance of the awards telecast, a move that straddles the feared gap between TV and the Internet. [Wired News] En Vogue -- Women''s magazines occupy a special niche in the cluttered infoscape of modern media. So what''s a modern girl to do? Read Bust, of course. [Wired News] Encyclopedia Britannica Embraces Online Search -- The stalwart of accumulated knowledge and guilty parents has been trying to find its place in the Information Age. Building its brand with an online directory is the latest attempt. [Wired News] EstroNet Pumps Out ''Girl Culture'' -- Showstring indie zines are banding together with funded sites to prove that sisters are doing it for themselves. [Wired News] Evasion of Internet World Body Snatchers -- Mark Frauenfelder flees flaks in frightful search for something worthwhile at the LA Convention Center. [Wired News] Every Picture Can Tell a Lie -- Clearly ''photofiction'' is potentially provocative even as an art form. As a new journalistic tool, though, it is highly suspect. [Wired News] Everything Old Is News Again -- A news museum, opening Friday, hopes to rescue the reputation of today''s journalists with historical credence. [Wired News] Everything Old is Multimedia -- Public Works uses multiple obsolete technologies to create a barrage of moving pictures and processed sounds that comment on commodification of culture and militarization of society with rare depth. [Wired News] Everything You Know Is Wrong -- How DisInformation and other lefty DIY sites offer tours of Net subculture. [Wired News] Eword: Diller''s Drama -- Barry Diller, owner of the Home Shopping Network, has taken a hint from his famous network by buying the USA Network and the Sci-Fi Channel. [Wired News] Eword: Genndy''s Laboratory -- With Dexter''s Laboratory, the madcap adventures of an underage mad scientist and his guinea-pig sister, Russian emigre animator Genndy Tartakovsky has a hit on his hands. [Wired News] Eword: Sage of Subversion -- This online performance artist uses guerrilla tactics to overturn capitalist ideals. [Wired News] Eword: The Music Pirates -- MP3 audio technology has spawned a new generation of copycat criminals. But what''s the crime in meeting the future on its own terms? [Wired News] Excrement on Main Street: Arts and Crap Abound -- Anyone can set up shop and sell their handmade wares on the Web. Unfortunately, a lot of folks do, and a lot of the stuff reeks. [Wired News] Experimental Browser Maps Web''s Words -- Stalker, while hardly ready for prime time, points to a future when surfing the Web isn''t determined by Microsoft or Netscape''s ideas of what you should see, or how you should see it. [Wired News] Exposing the Unknown Artists -- A new online magazine functions as a resource center, providing advice and contacts in the art world, including agents, record labels, and grant resources. [Wired News] Ezine Publishers Get Pushy -- Headliner Underground is a browser plug-in that pushes headlines from ezines, bringing alternative content to the meme-of-the-moment landscape. [Wired News] Face the Muzak -- The company is leaping into the future - and cyberspace - with RealAudio promotional samples. In Scans. [Wired News] Fan Captures History of Games'' Early Creators -- A self-published book-on-disc explores the lives and motivations of 28 designers of classic videogames - like why crafting Defender and Robotron beats studying rats'' pubic hair. [Wired News] Fans Mourn Death of The Spot -- The cancellation of the troubled soap-opera site was like losing a friend, say regulars. [Wired News] Farewell, Junkie Godfather -- R.U. Sirius pays tribute to William S. Burroughs as he is mourned by the same culture that was shaped, defiled, and bettered by his writings. [Wired News] Feel the Force? Don''t Try It in Mono -- Not all theaters are showing the spiffed-up Empire with the full force of sound. So you may miss out on that Niagara roar in Vader''s voice. [Wired News] Ferrari Give-Away Drives Quake Contestants -- The id co-pilot wants to give something back to the players who put his success on the splatterfest fast track. Gamers say the tourney won''t compromise Quake''s original, bullying-for-its-own-sake appeal. [Wired News] Festival d''Automne Takes Stage to Web -- The mere existence of a Web site for the admired performing-arts festival was a shock to many Web-shy French. But the Web may become a perfect addition to the groundbreaking festival, whose organizers view art as information. [Wired News] Film Financiers Undaunted by Destiny''s Fate -- An indie filmmaker''s questionable attempt at raising money online may have run into trouble, but others are seeking financing via the Net. [Wired News] Filmmaker Becomes ''Cyber Terrorist'' - Kind Of -- The director of Sex and Killing says he won''t give up the domain name to indie guru John Pierson''s production company until Pierson reads his script. Pierson milks the opportunity. [Wired News] Filmmaker Dances around Sundance Rejection -- The man behind Hang Your Dog in the Wind prepares to crash Park City''s party with a second alternative to Sundance: Slumdance. [Wired News] Filmmaker Probes Millennial Change of Life -- In Fast, Cheap & Out of Control, the tension between the old, familiar world, and the coming robotic future is examined by documentary iconoclast Errol Morris. [Wired News] Filmmakers Battle with Studios over Rights -- Piracy and encryption aren''t worrying Hollywood - yet. Filmmakers and studios lock horns over who owns what. [Wired News] Films on Fire -- Sex and Zen authors Stefan Hammond and Mike Wilkins help us remember 1996 as the year Hong Kong action films stormed the Western world. [Wired News] Financial Trauma Spurs Drama of AMCY Plea -- After months upheaval, the creator of The Spot begs fans for help. [Wired News] Finding China''s Radical Artists -- MOMA''s video and film curator goes public with a Web site documenting her trip to China, where she identifies a ''Cartoon Generation'' of new Chinese artists. [Wired News] Fire Your Agent and Jack Into the Net -- Drawing on the spirit of their punk predecessors, today''s independent bands are using the Internet to update their DIY resources. [Wired News] Fish4It Finds Tires, Pearls -- A new serendipitous search engine wants to save you from getting drowned in the sea of sites. [Wired News] Flecks of Truth Shoot to Uncommon Extremes -- Icons of harshly alternative culture gathered to party and preach at the Expo of the Extreme. The stranger-than-thou crowd drew in many old-timers, but won few converts. [Wired News] Flogging Tetherballs in Cyberspace -- On tour promoting his new book, Mark Leyner is keeping a daily journal, posting notes from his travels and audio from his readings. [Wired News] For Black Colleges, It''s Get Wired or Wither -- The Diversity Initiative highlights a high-stakes battleground: The power of access and the future of black colleges in America. [Wired News] For Sacks, Cyberspace Is a Colorblind Island -- Oliver Sacks gets out of the clinic and onto an island. He''s returned with a book of essays, and an impression of the disabled helping each other to cope, to learn, to advance. [Wired News] Four11 ''Loophole'' Breaches Yahoo Privacy -- Yahoo tries to protect users'' privacy, but ends up giving away their addresses instead. [Wired News] Fragging for Profit -- TEN''s Professional Gamers League hopes to organize videogames into sports events boasting networked competition and big money prizes. [Wired News] France''s Day of Music and Chaos -- The annual F te de la musique is an occasion for ad hoc concert hall performances, chirpy barroom gigs, suburban raps, and urban improvs. A live video stream will help keep you tuned in. [Wired News] Frankfurt Book Fair Has Deep Roots, Techno Leanings -- Martin Luther sold his writings here; now G nter Grass is being feted with a 23-CD release of The Tin Drum. Our coverage of the book world''s most important gathering begins. [Wired News] Free School Web Sites Spark Controversy -- What''s the value of unrequested and unofficial fill-in-the-blank sites? Some educators want to know. [Wired News] Free Stuff! Yeah, Right. -- Consumers are so flushed with purchasing zeal they can''t tell the difference between opportunity and fantasy. [Wired News] Free Web Space Awaits Schools -- Family Education Network and the American School Directory are offering sites for American school districts. It''s now up to parents and schools to fill them with meaningful content. [Wired News] French Videogame History Pushes Economics -- The author suggests that the Pong and Doom industry, if given a boost, could cure France''s economic malaise. [Wired News] From Files to Flotsam, Apple Bequeaths Its Past -- In a nod to a common history as a shaper of Silicon Valley, Stanford University receives a huge collection of historic corporate materials and promotional doodads. [Wired News] From a Small Screen to the Small Screen -- With access to ''definitely pre-alpha'' animation software, an ordinary Power Mac and a far-flung crew, the producer of Planetary Traveler pulls off the first full-length film completely made on the desktop. [Wired News] Fujitsu''s Bird Brain Hints at Future of AI -- Virtual pets are cute and may perform the same function as real ones, but are they the holy grail? [Wired News] Fuzzy Logicians Get Tech Oscar -- An ILM team will receive an Oscar this Saturday for its ''fur systems solutions'' - soon to appear in the Star Wars prequels. [Wired News] Game Boy Creator Killed -- Gumpei Yokoi helped transform Nintendo from a 100-year-old maker of card games into a giant of the videogame industry. [Wired News] Game Developers Play with Hardware Types -- The Video Electronics Standards Association, which tries to create standards for all the hardware behind games, is trying to work more closely with the Computer Game Developers Association. [Wired News] GameGirlz Turns Industry On to Female Gamers -- A new webzine hopes to even the score by encouraging girls to get involved in videogaming, on the screen and in the boardroom. [Wired News] GameWorks Seattle: One Month after Launch -- The "Interactive Theme Park" wants to bring videogames to adults around the world. Wired News visits the Seattle flagship after they''ve had time to settle in. [Wired News] Gamers Claim AOL Is Playing Bait-and-Switch -- Three popular role-playing games are being pulled, as the online service revamps its "premium" game pricing. Gamers say AOL is changing the rules unfairly and are organizing protests. [Wired News] Gamers Eye HDTV Market -- Creators of digital worlds for games adapt their skills to high-definition TV, producing digital shows with an immersive, 3-D feel. [Wired News]