Surf these sites: ''Analyzer'' Nabbed in Israel -- The hacker who allegedly broke into US military networks has been nabbed by Israeli police, along with two alleged accomplices. Members of his hacker entourage claim that the Israeli government tried to hire Analyzer recently. [Wired News] ''E911'' Turns Cell Phones into Tracking Devices -- The FCC''s requirements for enhanced 911 services makes cell phones tools for locating users in distress. Privacy groups fear they''ll be used for more than that. [Wired News] ''Private Doorbell'' Rings Hollow -- A coalition of high-tech companies finds a way around the government''s strong crypto export rules. Does the new export license amount to anything new? By Chris Jones. [Wired News] ''Unscheduled Maintenance'' Takes Down Amazon -- The bookseller says an internal problem has shuttered its site for a "few hours." [Wired News] 3Com Sets Sights on Nokia, Europe -- Given the success of its PalmPilot organizer, 3Com is looking to ramp up its consumer electronics development and marketing efforts. Also: BeOs debuts on the Intel platform. [Wired News] A ''Hands-Off'' Operation -- A new robotic finger developed at the University of California at Berkeley mimics the movements of a human hand and gives doctors a new way to reduce patient trauma from surgery. By Heidi Kriz. [Wired News] A Baby Step for Nanotech -- A new device that manipulates atoms is an important advance for researchers who one day hope to build machines the size of molecules. By Niall McKay. [Wired News] A Chip for Every Occasion -- As the flood of information appliances begins to hit the market, some manufacturers looking for an edge have turned to chip specialists for more flexible, efficient processors that can be quickly adapted for these devices. By Gene Koprowski. [Wired News] A Clever New Way to Search? -- IBM is hoping search engines will take a shine to its new technology that combines machine precision with good old human smarts. By Heidi Kriz. [Wired News] A Clone Is a Clone Is a Clone -- What do you get when you cross a mouse cell with a mouse egg cell? A new technique for cloning that produces several generations of clones. By Kristi Coale. [Wired News] A Flexible Alternative to LCDs -- Lucent''s Bell Labs has developed a new transistor manufacturing process that could lead to plastic computer screens - more durable and more flexible than today''s LCD standard. [Wired News] A Flight Plan for Mars -- Scientists hope to advance Mars exploration in 2003 with a reconnaissance mission over the red planet. Two NASA groups, the Ames facility and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, vie for a lucrative project grant. By Niall McKay. [Wired News] A Free Java OS for PCs -- As the free-software movement gathers steam, developers behind the fledgling JOS Project believe their enthusiasm can produce a full-fledged Windows alternative. A long row to hoe? You betcha. [Wired News] A Fully Automated Gassing Up -- An automated fuel pump being tested in the United States takes about 90 seconds to do a robotic-arm fill-up. A national rollout is expected in 1999. [Wired News] A New Lock on Network Security -- Sandia National Lab has developed a combination lock that could add a microscopic, but formidable, layer of security to computer networks. By Kristen Philipkoski. [Wired News] A New Prescription for the Square-Eye Set? -- While repetitive stress syndrome is normally associated with wrist and nerve problems, it may also well apply to the pain associated with PC-strained eyes. [Wired News] A New Yardstick for Everest -- Mount Everest: How tall is it and how fast is it growing? A group of climbers hopes to answer these questions with the help of advanced global positioning system equipment. [Wired News] A Next-Generation Net, Right Now -- The Internet we have now is too unreliable for remote-control surgery, telemedicine, and collaborative research. A new national backbone could change that. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] A Poirot for the 21st Century -- NASA technology may find practical applications in earthbound criminal science. A pilot program will determine whether specific space-age technology can be useful helping criminal investigators collect and process evidence. [Wired News] A Primitive Challenge to Programmers -- The Computer Conservation Society has made an unusual challenge to programmers: Write a software program for Baby, the first stored-memory computer, built in 1948. [Wired News] A Privacy Hole in My Excite -- It won''t trigger the end of civilization as we know it, but a curious webmaster finds a glitch that exposes the personal data of the customized news and search service''s users. [Wired News] A Quantum Step Closer to Elusive Computer -- Los Alamos scientists described how they solved two critical questions that have blocked the building of a quantum computer. [Wired News] A Shoe That Always Fits -- A New York-based ergonomics firm has developed a "smart shoe" that may help quiet your barking dogs. An embedded microvalve senses the swelling of your feet throughout the day, and expands the shoe accordingly. [Wired News] A Spider in Every Corner -- Like other search companies that came before, Lycos is offering webmasters a utility to let users search their Web sites. [Wired News] A Tale of Two Registries -- The recent spat between Microsoft and RealNetworks raises a broader policy question: Do media companies need to adopt a code of conduct as their video and audio software vies on the Net? By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] A Thrifty Photoshop Built for the Web -- A part of the growing free software movement, the GIMP image-editing application will debut next week, three years after its conception. Free-spirited developers can do with it what they will. [Wired News] A URL to Remember -- Upstart services are using international domains to shorten URLs, and give them more meaning. A corruption of the domain name system? Welcome to the party, says one domain guru. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] AGIS Beefs Up Backbone for Premium Services -- One of the nation''s biggest backbone providers has just expanded its network in order to handle more IP telephony and other high-bandwidth services. [Wired News] AMD Chips Pressure Intel -- AMD''s new K7 chip expects to make a 20 percent performance jump over the fastest Pentium II chips. How long that lead lasts is another question. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] AOL: ''You''ve Got Weak Security!'' -- America Online members lost email and Web access Friday morning after somebody meddled with vulnerable AOL domain name update documents and pointed them elsewhere. By Michael Stutz. [Wired News] AOL: A Cracker''s Paradise? -- With all the interactive and remote features under its ISP umbrella, AOL has opened up a hornet''s nest of opportunity for creative hackers. And thus far, crackers haven''t been timid about proving that point. [Wired News] AdNet Makes Banners Bark -- An Internet ad firm has won the blessing of the directories as an approved server of audio-enhanced adverts. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Adding Sense to Sensory on the Web -- The World Wide Web Consortium outlines its first step for making Web content more accessible to the visually impaired. [Wired News] Alarm Sounded Over Bandwidth ''Greed'' -- Internet videophones and so-called "optimized" Internet applications are nice for consumers, but they can also skirt the Internet''s traffic regulations in their quest for speed. A new Internet Engineering Task Force paper pushes back. [Wired News] AltaVista Surfs Clinton Tape -- Those who found the president''s grand jury testimony a snoozer can fast forward to the good parts -- thanks to AltaVista and a video-searching technology. By Chris Jones. [Wired News] An Info Highway for Road Hogs -- One of the Clinton administration''s pet projects, the Next Generation Internet, is on display in Washington. The new tech festival features 18 applications that show off the network of the future. [Wired News] Analyzer Headed for Army, Fame -- The Israeli teen accused of cracking US military networks has turned into a media darling, despite his harsh characterization by US officials. He''s also angling for a computer-systems job with his country''s defense forces. [Wired News] Animation Tutorial: Introduction -- Animating season is now open. Begin with this introduction to get an overview, read profiles of the main technologies, and find out what to expect from this seven-lesson tutorial. From Webmonkey. [Wired News] Animation Tutorial: Lesson 2 -- Emily and Anna pull out all the stops on the five-star tour of GIF89. From Webmonkey. [Wired News] Animation Tutorial: Lesson 3 -- Quirky as it is, dHTML''s high jinks can be a boon to animators. Anna tells us how to get dynamic. From Webmonkey. [Wired News] Animation Tutorial: Lesson 4 -- This introduction to Macromedia''s Flash is no Mickey Mouse. Whether you''re an old hand at animating or your dexterity stops at stick figures, this intro will have you drawing online in no time. From Webmonkey. [Wired News] Animation Tutorial: Lesson 5 -- This lesson in animation and design theory draws the base line, then invites you to break all the rules of the game. From Webmonkey.com. [Wired News] Animation Tutorial: Lesson 6 -- Skillfully incorporating sound into your animation can guarantee your project''s success. Conversely, a lousy sound job can sink that project, and fast. Here are some tips on achieving the former, and avoiding the latter. [Wired News] Animation Tutorial: Lesson 7 -- Take a good look at this moving issue -- how traditional styles of animation work and the ways in which they adapt to the digital realm. Plus a few tips. By Anna McMillan. [Wired News] Annotated Reality -- Look at a restaurant and read the reviews beamed to your smart glasses before you sit down. Welcome to the future, where wearable computers "augment" reality. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Another Freemail Security Flaw -- The security of free email services has come under scrutiny in light of several serious holes discovered during the past week. By Michael Stutz. [Wired News] Another JavaOS, This One for Business -- Sun and IBM get together to try and unify the Java operating environment for network computers. [Wired News] Another Network Associates U-Turn on Key Recovery? -- Having acquired a company with close ties to the Defense Department, the steward of Pretty Good Privacy has changed course in a direction that has civil liberties activists worried. [Wired News] Anti-Nuke Cracker Strikes Again -- A teenage member of the group that last month broke into computers at an Indian atomic research lab has scrawled anti-nuclear graffiti across more than 300 Web sites. By James Glave. [Wired News] Anti-Spam Boycott Faces Fragmented Ranks -- Last week, some were predicting that a moratorium on "spam canceling" would cause many Usenet servers to crash and burn. But while a few machines clogged up, there''s still no sign of the intended meltdown. [Wired News] AntiOnline Founder Under Fire -- A Defense Department contractor emailed the founder of a computer security news and information Web site, warning him that he "may be culpable" for promoting the hacking of government networks. [Wired News] Apple OS Searches Anew -- Sherlock, a metasearch engine in Apple''s newest operating system, can search the Web and local drives. Users are sure to like the feature -- but Web portals may take pause. By Michael Stutz. [Wired News] Apprenticechip -- A Mesa, Arizona, start-up has found an efficient way of training semiconductor plant workers. Its system uses virtual reality to simulate the entire manufacturing process -- from puttin'' on the bunny suit to workin'' the assembly line. [Wired News] Are Net Weather Reports A Snow Job? -- A handful of sites purport to track the speedups and slowdowns of the entire Internet. But critics say the cool graphs just don''t add up. [Wired News] Ariane Sheds Light on Launch Race -- Now that Iridium is up in the sky, launch-pad operators and rocket developers are focusing on Motorola''s other projects and Teledesic - seriously. By Kristi Coale. [Wired News] Asteroid Flap Reveals Astronomy''s Gaps -- Earth may be safe from one asteroid, but astronomers must combine efforts and methods to make sightings and predictions more reliable. [Wired News] Aussies Out to Give Mozilla Crypto Punch -- The US Commerce Department barred Netscape from using strong crypto in its exportable Communicator browser - but clever Australian cypherpunks are about to put it back in. [Wired News] Back Orifice Goes Forth -- The latest, greatest hacker program is spreading fast, and ISPs have now confirmed exploits. While security firms develop detection tools, Microsoft still has little to say. By Michael Stutz. [Wired News] Back Orifice Surfaces Down Under -- The notorious cracker program that can watch and listen in on Windows users has been discovered on approximately 1,400 Australian Internet accounts. By Christopher Jones. [Wired News] Back Orifice a Pain in the ...? -- An underground computer security group says it is about to release a program that will allegedly grant deep access into the machine of any Windows user unfortunate enough to run it. By James Glave. [Wired News] Back, Back! Dreaded Hoe -- When the lights go out, lightning and storms are the usual suspects. But when communications networks go down, the first suspect is a mechanical one: backhoes ripping into fiber-optic cables. Oops. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Back? The Amiga Never Left -- It was a platform to beat all platforms, yet the other platforms won. But the Amiga computer survives today, thanks to a cadre of devoted followers. And if Gateway can do what other companies couldn''t, Amiga could be back to stay. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Bandwidth Scavenger -- Using a small peice of leftover cellular spectrum, Dick Gossen is linking machines to each other and to you. [Wired News] Bargain Hunting Bit by Bit -- A technology newly patented by Price Quote Network will allow Web shoppers to compare inventory and prices among online vendors and brick-and-mortar merchants all over the world. By Kristen Philipkoski. [Wired News] Battle of the Game Engines -- Build a better game engine and gamers will beat a path to your door. But some say code can only take you so far - which is where another religious war begins. James Glave reports from E3. [Wired News] Be Demos OS on Intel Platform -- Be Inc., maker of an alternative OS for Power Macs, now has an alternative to Windows for Pentium PCs. Demoed yesterday, the OS is due to ship in March. [Wired News] Be Your Own Design Team -- Staff your design team with diverse members - even if it''s just a team of one. [Wired News] Bell Atlantic Seeks FCC Stamp on Backbone Proposal -- In a filing to the FCC, Bell Atlantic has asked for regulatory breaks on a proposed high-speed Internet backbone network. If granted, it could accelerate the development of similar networks around the country. [Wired News] Bell Labs Secures Web Scripting -- Bell Labs has outlined ways to address flaws in browser scripting languages that leave information divulged at one site open to another. [Wired News] Blowing Out the Phone Line -- Sprint''s new service promises unlimited bandwidth over a single existing telephone line. But you can''t hook in just yet. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Bonk! A New Windows Security Hole -- Microsoft is scrambling to patch a new attack that can freeze up any networked Windows 95 or NT machine. [Wired News] Breaking Through the ICE -- The authors of the Interactive Content Exchange specification say their proposed Net standard could help Web publishers share and license information without having to call the lawyers at every turn. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Breakthrough in Genetic Research -- A Connecticut-based biotech firm identifies thousands of new human gene variations. Researchers seeking cures for hereditary diseases now have a reliable road map to follow. By Kristen Philipkoski. [Wired News] Bringing Sound Into the PC Foreground -- "Sonification," which evolved from one of the first forms of computer music, may one day allow us to monitor data flows with our ears - a stock''s rise or fall or an increase in temperature at a chemical plant, for example. [Wired News] Broadcom Adds PC Flavor to TVs -- Broadcom is out to give TV viewers a more PC-like experience, with high-resolution displays, multiple windows, and interactive content. By Chris Jones. [Wired News] Browser Battles Script On -- Countering Microsoft''s Internet Explorer beta release last month, Netscape has submitted a new scripting proposal to the W3C that muddies the water for developers. By Lisa Rein. [Wired News] Browser Privacy Fix Fails -- Netscape releases updated browser software to fix a privacy bug that exposes users'' surfing habits. But the man who discovered the original hole finds the same problem, and more, in the latest software. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Browser Standards Beat On -- As the Document Object Model moves toward standardization, Microsoft and Netscape waver on uniform support. Forces at play: hubris, competition, and the Microsoft factor. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Buffer Bugs Cisco -- Cisco is alerting customers to a bug that could reveal passwords and other information stored on network switches and routers. By Michael Stutz. [Wired News] Building a Better Bra is Rocket Science -- A group of British researchers have used lasers and 3D imaging tools to help develop the perfect bra. Also: Intel is previewing its next-generation computer chips at a trade show in Germany. [Wired News] Building a Better Molecule -- By trapping and studying an artificial molecule, engineers hope to improve upon Mother Nature and make DNA computers a reality. By Kristi Coale. [Wired News] Butterflies Show Path to Cooler Chips -- By understanding how the biological thin-film structures work in butterflies, researchers at Tufts University hope to create a similar process for the thermal processing of silicon manufacturing. [Wired News] Cable Finally Talking Digital TV -- A new standard allows viewers to get next-generation television from the jack in the living-room wall. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Cable TV Gurus Band Together on Targeted Ads -- Merging self-styled network and cable TV programming with the Internet, Your Choice TV wants to give viewers and advertisers an offer they can''t refuse. [Wired News] Cache Confusion Shuts Down Site -- Caching technology aims to help networks and Internet service providers deliver Web pages faster. But it can also introduce network problems. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Cache and Carry -- The newest Javascript exploit affects Netscape browsers and allows snoops to track users'' Web travels. Netscape will tell users how to avoid it and will plug the hole in its next browsers. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Cadillac''s Coupe DeStorm -- The company that produced the first electric starter and the V-8 engine brings us "night vision," an infrared sensor that can identify objects up to 500 yards away. By Kristen Philipkoski. [Wired News] Can Caching Tame the Web? -- Web caching would store popular pages closer to users, and a flurry of companies are out to popularize it. Promising less Net traffic and faster browsing, caching must anticipate usage patterns on a constantly growing and changing Web. But skeptics say even when it does, caching''s impact may be limited at best. [Wired News] Can You Believe What You Read? -- When The New York Times Web site fell to crackers recently, the damage was obvious. But what if a more subtle crack had been orchestrated? By Michael Stutz. [Wired News] Catching Computer Science Cheaters -- Fed up with chronic plagiarism, computer science instructors are increasingly turning to Web-based tools that search for "borrowed" computer code in homework assignments. [Wired News] Cell-Phone Security Far From Airtight -- The Smartcard Developer Association claims to have cracked the algorithm used to secure the subscriber information in about 80 million digital cell phones worldwide. [Wired News] Cells Speak for Themselves -- Stanford researchers devise a method to help them answer the riddle, "What did one brain cell say to the other?" By Kristi Coale. [Wired News] Changing Coke.com Back to Coke -- Network Solutions buys into a budding keyword-technology company. The domain-name king wants to be there when keywords flower as the new way to navigate the Web. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Changing Genes or Generations? -- A California physician says in utero gene therapy could prevent some serious hereditary diseases. Critics say the experimental procedure could affect generations of mothers and children. By Kristen Philipkoski. [Wired News] Checking Out Your Reservations -- A Dallas company may have recorded the details of your most recent hotel stay, with the aim of crunching it for marketing trend research. But some privacy advocates are concerned. By Michael Stutz. [Wired News] China: What Super Laser? -- Both the Pentagon and the Chinese Embassy downplay speculation that China is developing a laser aimed at bringing down US satellite communications. By Polly Sprenger. [Wired News] Chip Design Reaches for Light Speed -- Researchers at UNC-Charlotte have discovered a technique that could lead to the integration of electronic and photonic capability on a single silicon chip. Translation: (potentially) light-speed computer chips for the next century. [Wired News] Chrome-Plating Windows -- Microsoft''s latest innovation is supposed to turbocharge Windows'' 3-D abilities for Web and multimedia graphics, but one observer says it''s more of a push to get PC users to buy more hardware. [Wired News] Civilian Space Travel: Got Cash? -- If civilian space travel is to become marketable, safety, sickness, and pricing issues have to be addressed, says a joint report by NASA and private industry. [Wired News] Cleaning up a Cold War Mess -- Getting rid of uranium-contaminated warehouses and other vestiges of US nuclear weapons production is a job with heavy-duty requirements. Here are some of the technologies that have won the bid. By Kristen Philipkoski. [Wired News] Clearing the Digital ID -- ValiCert has built a mechanism for checking the status of digital certificates. Intel is licensing it for its cross-vendor security platform, which ValiCert says will make digital ID checks as common as validating a credit card. [Wired News] Clinton Video to Flood Net -- A week ago, the Starr report shifted the Internet into high gear. But streaming President Clinton''s videotaped testimony online could cause a serious traffic snarl. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Closing the Geek Gap -- The Clinton administration, with a heavy assist from industry, talks about ways to train more workers for the information technology sector. [Wired News] Comment Chattez-Vous? -- Uni-Verse breaks through the language barrier by translating, on the fly, chat-room conversations typed in six different languages. By Niall McKay. [Wired News] Connecting the Dots on Net Calls -- Jeff Pulver has been helping Internet telephony providers hook up for years. Now, he''s started the Minutes Exchange, a telephony brokerage where telcos and ISPs can negotiate inter-carrier services. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Contrarian Browsers -- Everyone agrees that browsers should be standards compliant. But that''s easier said than done, and it often comes at the price of innovation. From Webmonkey. [Wired News] Cool Computing Comes to PCs -- KryoTech''s new technology freezes chips to improve their processing speed. With its newest configuration, the company debuts its cooling system in the PC market. By Steven Brody. [Wired News] Cooler Heads Prevail -- After a closer look at a judge''s order on Java, Microsoft says it''s not such a big deal. By Christopher Jones. [Wired News] Cooling Down US Cities -- NASA has been helping US cities identify heat islands that lead to higher air temperatures and ground-level ozone concentrations. By Kristen Philipkoski. [Wired News] Cracker Fights for Flat Rates -- A Swedish teenager says he went public with his ISP password theft to highlight the access fees charged by his country''s largest telco and owner of a popular ISP. By James Glave. [Wired News] Crackers Knock, Don''t Get In -- The head of one of the US government''s leading computer network security centers says cracker attacks are on the rise, but few intrusions succeed. A new incident response report is there to help when things go amiss. By James Glave. [Wired News] Crackers Set Sights on Submarines -- The international group of crackers that claimed to have stolen military networking software are preparing to release another set of programs that they say can track and communicate with subs. [Wired News] Crackers Snag Credit-Card Info -- Are your online credit-card transactions safe? After three teenagers broke into a retailer''s network and stole a bunch of credit-card orders, don''t be so sure. By James Glave. [Wired News] Crackers: We Control Your TVs -- Time Warner Cable in Los Angeles is the apparent victim of a break-in giving the hackers the ability to move satellite downlink dishes -- and send text scrolling across TV screens. By James Glave. [Wired News] Crackers: We Stole Nuke Data -- A trio of teenage crackers say they have stolen thousands of sensitive emails traded between Indian nuclear weapons reseachers in the weeks prior to, and following, that country''s recent nuclear tests. By James Glave. [Wired News] Creating One Huge Computer -- In an interview with Wired magazine, Sun Microsystems visionary Bill Joy gives the first in-depth glimpse of Jini, the Java-based distributed-computing technology that aims to give all computers everywhere the ability to interact. By Kevin Kelly and Spencer Reiss. [Wired News] Critics Bash Reno''s Cyberwar Plan -- The US Attorney General''s US$64 million proposal would coordinate existing efforts to fend off threats to the nation''s networks. But critics called the plan short-sighted and misguided. [Wired News] Crucial Tech: Foreskin Farming -- Vat-grown human organs sound like something from TNT''s MonsterVision, but they''re now a commercial reality. [Wired News] Crucial Tech: Thin Client? Fat Chance -- Network computers may be cheap to manage, but they have a darkside: increased corporate surveillance, the demise of Dilbert screensavers and dubiously legal JPEG collections. [Wired News] Crucial Tech: VCSELs -- Tiny lasers are going to make wires the buggy whips of the next millennium. [Wired News] Crucial Tech: Ant Wisdom -- Professor Paul Kantor''s digital-information pheromones sniff out the good stuff on the Web. But keep your antennae up for intellectual fads and poisoned bait. [Wired News] Crucial Tech: Character Recognition -- Armed with a preclassification system based on an algorithm tantamount to natural selection, Silicon Biology believes it holds the key to better optical character recognition of handwriting and other written forms. [Wired News] Crucial Tech: DNA Tweezers -- A recent Noble Prize winner has fashioned an unusual tool for manipulating DNA strands. With a microscopic lens and a laser, he''s created optical tweezers. [Wired News] Crucial Tech: Lookups Looking Up -- The routing of packet prefixes is a major source of Net congestion. Washington University''s George Varghese is using egg baskets and binary trees to unclog the bottlenecks. [Wired News] Crucial Tech: Seeing with Sonar -- Using an unconventional approach, a laboratory at Yale University is making great strides toward developing artificial eyes. [Wired News] Crucial Tech: Telecom Goes Qwest -- An upstart firm uses the Internet and state-of-the-art fiber laid alongside railroad tracks
to offer phone service at half the going rate. [Wired News] Crucial Tech: Yet Another Gigabit Operation -- The latest hot box in the network router wars will open the pipes for videoconferencing and immersive multimedia. All this, and spam blocking, too. [Wired News] Cryptozilla Thwarts Feds Crypto Ban -- A group of independent software developers did Friday what Netscape was never able to do - produce and distribute a version of the Navigator browser with 128-bit strong encryption. [Wired News] DIY Robot Helps Read Genome -- Step-by-step instructions for a gene-hunting robot should put genome research within the grasp of scientists with not-so-deep pockets. By Kristi Coale. [Wired News] DNA Testing for the Dogs -- DNA testing isn''t just for celebrities anymore. Just ask "Dog X," an Australian pooch that allegedly left its doo-doo at the beach, and its owner fighting a $30 fine. If the tab isn''t paid, guess what goes in for the DNA test? By Stewart Taggart. [Wired News] DOD-Cracking Team Used Common Bug -- The owner of the ISP that provided Internet access to two teenagers implicated in recent attacks on military servers said the pair jumped through a widely known security hole. [Wired News] DOE Tags IBM for Superfast Computer -- To replace nuclear testing with realistic computer simulations, the Department of Energy is paying IBM $85 million for a supercomputer to make it so. [Wired News] DSL and the Telco Trial -- Service by Christmas? Much of the answer rests with phone companies, who will have to invest in facilities to bring the technology into our homes. [Wired News] DSL''s Ticket to Ride? -- Lucent matches Rockwell in a new quest for a simplified digital subscriber line technology that phone companies would actually deploy. [Wired News] Da Vinci Takes Aim at PalmPilot -- It looks like a PalmPilot, it acts like a PalmPilot -- but the company making the next personal organizer device claims it''s cheaper and better than the million-unit selller. By Michael Stutz. [Wired News] Data Snafu Downs Cell Calls -- A corrupt database was blamed for a Pacific Bell outage that affected nearly 380,000 wireless phone users. [Wired News] Database Guru Shines Anew -- Companies from Oracle to Amazon are indebted to James Gray. His achievements are acknowledged by an international computer group. By Christopher Jones. [Wired News] Day 1: The Foundations of Web Design -- Jeffrey Veen''s Web design manifesto begins with a look at the place where art and technology collide. [Wired News] Day 2: Aesthetics for the Web -- Jeffrey Veen''s journey into the heart of Web design leads him to speed, simplicity, and clarity. [Wired News] Debate over Windows NT Password Breaker -- A Boston hacker collective releases an upgraded tool it says will help system administrators detect weak file-server passwords that the Microsoft program leaves vulnerable to cracking. [Wired News] Debugging the Bug Detector -- A bug in Symantec''s latest version of its Norton Utilities antivirus suite freezes Windows desktops and denies access to floppy drives. By Michael Stutz. [Wired News] Defeating Biological Warfare -- What can be done if a terrorist opens a vial of deadly disease at the local mall? If a new technology proves successful, perhaps a lot. By Kristen Philipkoski. [Wired News] Dial-A-Strength Crypto on a Chip -- Hewlett-Packard and Wave Systems say they have the answer to the deadlock on crypto exports: a hardware-based system that will obey the laws of the land. By Chris Jones. [Wired News] Dialup Snafus: The Good News -- Mom and pop Internet service providers needn''t worry yet about the big telcos, participants at an ISP conference have learned. Thankfully, the Net is still a hassle. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Digital Music Goes Portable -- A new Walkman-like device will download, store, and play MP3 files available on the Internet. By Judy DeMocker. [Wired News] Do Rebuilt Cells Portend a Fountain of Youth? -- Can humankind extend the body''s life, almost indefinitely, using a new cell replication technique? Such are the questions that a group of scientists are asking after a recent experiment. [Wired News] Do-It-Youself Supercomputers -- Hobbyists hacking away in basements have long created innovative computers. Now researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratories have leaped to another level, building a mondo supercomputer with a mini pricetag. By Ilan Greenberg. [Wired News] Docs Using Net as Disease Detector -- A project involving Canada''s health ministry and the World Health Organization aims to scan online resources as a way of heading off real-world epidemics. [Wired News] Documents Get It Together -- A new technical standard brings document sharing and editing to the Web. By Christopher Jones. [Wired News] Does Firefly Deal Swat Netscape E-Commerce? -- Microsoft''s acquisition of Firefly could spell trouble for Netscape''s e-commerce strategy, which hinges on a privacy plug-in that Firefly was building for it. [Wired News] Does MS Own Windows 2000? -- A Virginia entrepreneur owns the Windows 2000 trademark -- the same name Microsoft wants to use for its next-generation operating system. Is trouble brewing? By James Glave. [Wired News] Does Yahoo Still Yahoo? -- One of the Web''s flagship sites is increasingly blasted for failing to list submissions. It''s not its job to get every site in, Yahoos say - but some are calling for the Web''s de facto directory to own up to a quiet shift in its goals. [Wired News] Does the Internet Backbone Index Have a Spine? -- CompuServe owns the fastest backbone in the US, according the Third Keynote/Boardwatch Index of Backbone Providers. Critics say that''s not surprising, given what they allege is the survey''s flawed methodology. [Wired News] Dramatic Internet Growth Continues -- Things are still booming out there, according to the latest version of Mark Lottor''s annual tally of hosts connected to the Net. [Wired News] Dressing Smart: Wearable PCs -- With strange glasses, head-mounted monitors, and strap-on devices of all kinds, researchers gather in Pittsburgh to advance the wearable computer. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Drug Needle in the Haystack -- The Haystack, an enormous automated lab, works without pause to combine substances to see if any interesting - and lucrative - drugs emerge. [Wired News] Drug-Testing Dummies -- A patient simulator stands in to teach doctors how new drugs affect real patients. By Kristen Philipkoski. [Wired News] EBay Bites the Dust -- Again -- A failed software upgrade brings down the online auction house for the second time in a month. By Polly Sprenger. [Wired News] Earth Gets a Wink from Spacecraft -- As the spacecraft NEAR heads toward a rendezvous with the biggest near-Earth asteroid, it will take a moment to be noticed. [Wired News] Eclipse Opens Window to Solar Eruptions -- An airborne observatory put a national team of scientists in a position to measure solar radiation during Thursday''s eclipse. The mission may help explain magnetic disturbances on Earth that affect cellular communications. [Wired News] Electronic Eyes Get Smaller -- New technology from Lucent will allow tiny, inexpensive video cameras to be built for use in videoconferencing and, more ominously, surveillance. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Email Everywhere -- Web 101 tries out one of the world''s great communication tools: Web-based email. [Wired News] Email Hole Exposes Computers -- A newly discovered opening in Microsoft and Netscape email programs clears a route for a Trojan horse invasion. The potential consequences: stolen passwords, email control, data loss, and more. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Email Links Mask Threat -- The vulnerability revealed Friday uses Eudora''s ability to work with "scripts" to let innocent links in messages find and run potentially destructive software. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Email from Anywhere -- A new messaging device from Magellan can send email from anywhere in the world. And if you''re not sure where in the world you are, it can tell you that, too. By Kristen Philipkoski. [Wired News] Email, Email Everywhere -- A number of new services are sprouting up to give users more widespread access to email accounts. Fujitsu is the latest provider. By Niall McKay. [Wired News] Encrypting Your Every Move -- Cylink is tying SynData''s one-click Windows encryption tool to its network security software. Pitching itself against RSA Data Security and Network Associates, the company hopes the software makes user encryption as routine as a file-save. [Wired News] Ericsson Cries Foul -- Ericsson says its next-generation wireless technology of choice is getting unfair treatment by Lucent, but one observer says it''s all just part of the ITU process of finding a standard. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Et tu, Apple? -- With Apple at its side, Redmond says it will help Java developers tap the native capabilities of the Mac OS - just like it''s doing for Windows. [Wired News] Eword: Junkosphere -- The Final Frontier has become the final resting place of intergalactic junk. If a solution isn''t found soon, NASA astronauts will be playing a new game: debris dodging. [Wired News] Excite Moves to Patch Search Software -- The search engine company made moves to address the security hole in its Excite for Web Servers product. [Wired News] Excite Search Bug Threatens Web Sites -- A major security hole will potentially allow a cracker to run Unix commands on any of the hundreds of sites that run Excite for Web Servers. The results could be nothing short of disastrous - and the bug has been public for nearly a month. [Wired News] Explorer Icon: ''I''ll Be Back'' -- The icon that Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ordered off the Windows 95 desktop will be reappearing in Windows 98. Why? Because it''s Windows 98, Microsoft says, and the judge was talking about Windows 95. [Wired News] Explorer in Step with Netscape -- The final release of Microsoft''s latest browser promises support for a controversial keyword function and a wider swath of Web standards. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Express Lane for E-Shoppers -- New eWallet software will fill out any Web site''s purchasing form, and that could grease the skids for e-commerce. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Extractor Pro Will Make Spammers Pay -- The new release of one of the Net''s biggest tools for sending bulk unsolicited email will limit - and force spammers to pay ISPs for - their ads. [Wired News] Eye in the Sky -- A class at American University in Washington, DC, shows how newly available satellite data puts reporters in forbidden places and tracks human-rights abuses. By Kristi Coale. [Wired News] Eyeing Bright Light -- Bright Light''s antispam vision has basic appeal to activists and ISPs. But it still doesn''t kill spam at its root, and its success will have to be tested. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] FAA Grapples with Year 2000 Snafu -- While the FAA''s 23 million lines of code are being made Y2K compliant, the problem is also evident in the microcode that is built into some of its hardware. [Wired News] FBI Eyes Easier In for Wireless -- Privacy advocates say the FBI is out to reverse the checks and balances of a law that gives officials access to communications networks. But the government maintains it only wants to have its say in case the law is amended. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] FBI Spam: ''Look Out for Terrorists'' -- When John Bolding received an unsolicited terrorist advisory from the FBI, he thought it was an honest mistake. He soon learned it wasn''t, and that he was just one of 100,000 recipients. [Wired News] FBI Sweet on Crypto Proposal -- A new industry proposal, led by Cisco Systems and Network Associates, aims to allow law enforcement agencies access to scrambled messages as they pass over the Net''s interchanges. By James Glave. [Wired News] FBI Tracks the Denim Trail -- First it was genes, and now it''s jeans that the FBI is using to identify criminal suspects. The unique wear patterns of denim may not be as iron-clad as DNA evidence, but the technique has already bagged a couple of crooks. [Wired News] Feeding Frenzy Over Netscape Code -- While Microsoft shrugged and touted its own browser components, developers looked under the hood of Netscape''s newly released browser code. [Wired News] Filename Bug Leaves Servers Open to Snoops -- Microsoft has issued a patch for a bug that could leave files on their Windows NT web server open to prying eyes. [Wired News] Filtering Out the Filters -- A university student makes a point about censorship on the Net by breaking Netscape''s content-filtering option. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Finding Brand Names Fast -- Can''t remember that Southwest Airlines is at iflyswa.com? No problem, the Real Name System will change all that, starting on Monday with AltaVista. [Wired News] Finding Genomic Road Signs -- Sequencing the human genome is a mere prelude to the real work of finding the actual genes. A Texas researcher is giving away a tool on the Web that can help scientists chart the map of human life. By Kristi Coale. [Wired News] Finding the Fakes -- Trying to put a dent in the worldwide counterfeiting business, a company develops a device for tagging and tracking products anywhere. By Christopher Jones. [Wired News] Fishing the Good Fish -- A billion pounds of fish are lost each year as fisheries scoop up unwanted species. New software gives the fishing industry a more accurate picture of what''s lurking below the bow. By Kristen Philipkoski. [Wired News] Found in Space -- NASA scientists locate their wayward spacecraft 27 hours after radio communications were severed Sunday. By Polly Sprenger. [Wired News] Free Software''s Watchful Eyes -- The developer of an alternative Mac operating system used free source code without following the rules, and it wasn''t long before he heard about it. [Wired News] Freed Software Winning Support, Making Waves -- When Netscape freed its browser code last week, the company endorsed the time-tested principle of "copyleft," where the author of a copyrighted work forgoes restrictions on modifying or reproducing the work. [Wired News] Freelancing in the Web World -- So you think you''ve got the cojones to be a freelancer, eh? Then join Evany as she gives you some pointers on this wild and woolly career move. From Webmonkey. [Wired News] From Ants to Einstein -- Edward O. Wilson explains how Nature''s law and Moore''s Law point to a unified theory of everything. [Wired News] From Criminals to Web Crawlers -- A search-engine technology developed with the help of the FBI has made a dramatic impact on police investigations. Now it''s set to take on what could be a more daunting challenge: the Web. By Kristen Philipkoski. [Wired News] Gassing Up Your Cell Phone -- A micro fuel cell is being developed at a Los Alamos National Lab spinoff that can convert methanol fuel into new life for cell phones. [Wired News] Gates Sees a Clearer Future -- In his keynote address to the Comdex trade show, Bill Gates foretells a future where computer screens are easy to read. Sounds like a guy with a bad case of eyestrain. Polly Sprenger reports from Las Vegas. [Wired News] Gene Transfer a Success -- University of North Carolina researchers have transferred whole healthy genes into human cells. The development is the first step toward treating genetic diseases. [Wired News] GeoCities Black Hole No Biggie -- The "largest community on the Web" has joined Netcom and the Microsoft Network as the target of a widespread and powerful anti-spam black hole that usually leads to chaos. Most members haven''t noticed, however. By Michael Stutz. [Wired News] Geocities Rebuffs Trojan Horse -- A relatively benign Trojan horse is spreading on Internet Relay Chat channels. Once installed, the program opens a backdoor to the infected machine. By Michael Stutz. [Wired News] Getting Ahead of the Elliptic Curve -- 3Com jumps on board with Certicom''s ECC, a challenger to RSA''s cryptography hegemony. Meanwhile, RSA is making ECC moves itself - kind of. [Wired News] Getting Some Alien Experience -- A research group wants help collecting and analyzing data that could contain otherworldly conversations. Are you game? By Jennifer Sullivan. [Wired News] Getting to the Bottom of ''Cyber Attacks'' -- "The Pentagon is under cyber attack!" Big deal, say security experts who smell a political agenda at the heart of Wednesday''s alarmist announcements. [Wired News] Give Me MySpace -- A new, Windows-independent utility wants to stake out screen real estate beyond the borders of the desktop. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Giving 3-D Objects a Dose of Reality -- University of Florida researchers have developed a modeling language designed to give VRML objects more realistic, dynamic behaviors. [Wired News] Glitch Snows Weather Satellite -- Unknown technical problems brought down a satellite feeding weather data to the eastern United States, and a hurricane looms. Still, it appears the backup plan is working. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Gotta Pay to Push? -- A small online software delivery company has received a patent for a variety of "push" technologies. Will Microsoft, Marimba, Pointcast, and other developers now have to pay to push? By James Glave. [Wired News] Graphics the Web Way -- The Web changed imaging processing, so Macromedia made a new image processor. With Fireworks, the company hopes it has staked out a new product category. [Wired News] Grocery Checkout Goes Self-Serve -- Ever worry about paying an unspoken surcharge because of grocery store scanners? If so - and you might well have cause - then a new self-service checkout system may be the answer. [Wired News] Group Out to Set A New Standard -- Designers in the Web Standards Project have a message for Netscape and Microsoft: By not sticking to standards, you cost us tens of thousands of dollars each year. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Grove Keeping Intel in the Chips -- The chip-maker''s leader has seen the future and dubbed it P6: The latest architecture from the Intel runs everything from home computers to sophisticated servers. [Wired News] HDML, Take Two -- HDML was supposed to be the markup language for Web-surfing cell phones, but phone makers didn''t heed the call. Enter the revamped Wireless Application Protocol to take its place. [Wired News] HP Makes E-Shopper Guarantees -- Shopping ''til your packets drop? HP''s new "Web Quality of Service" strategy lavishes special traffic handling on preferred shoppers and business customers. [Wired News] HP Wins Strong Encryption Export Approval -- By establishing a system that keeps encryption products in line with changing national crypto policies, Hewlett-Packard has won a license from the US government to export a special hardware-based, strong encryption technology. [Wired News] HP''s Export Plan: Freedom by Constraint -- Hewlett-Packard''s workaround to get strong encryption technology on foreign shores may be too tricky for its own good. [Wired News] HTML Writers Guild Joins W3C -- For the first time, independent Web designers will have a voice in the future direction of Web technologies that they would work with every day. [Wired News] Hacker Raises Stakes in DOD Attacks -- Analyzer, the self-professed mentor and teacher of two teens accused of hacking US government servers, said he still has access to more than 400 Defense Department machines. [Wired News] Hacker Raises Stakes in DOD Attacks -- Analyzer, the self-professed mentor and teacher of two teens accused of hacking US government servers, said he still has access to more than 400 Defense Department machines. [Wired News] Hackers: We Fight Pedophiles, Not Pentagon -- Two of the three teens implicated in recent attacks on military networks are members of a global hacking and security collective called Enforcers. Now the group has come forward with its own version of the "cyberwar" saga. [Wired News] Hacking Posse (Mostly) Leaves Web in Peace -- The Enforcers, who count the notorious Analyzer among their ranks, say they will stop defacing commercial Web sites. But critics say little will really change. [Wired News] Hacking the Power Grid -- Given the increasing number of high-profile attacks on networks hooked to the Internet, what are the chances of a crack on energy plants? By Gene Koprowski. [Wired News] Have Crackers Found Military''s Achilles'' Heel? -- In what may be the first legitimate taste of potential cyberwar, a group of crackers claims it has stolen the software that is used to control US military computer networks and systems, including GPS satellites. [Wired News] Having a Ball With Chips -- Cheaper cost and easier integration are two of the reasons Ball Semiconductor wants to start making integrated circuits out of spheres instead of chips. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Hazy Future for New Web Standard -- The Document Object Model holds the promise of adding interactivity to Web pages. But only if it can get uniform support in browser software. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Hello, Microsoft Calling... -- A consumer pushes a button on her cordless, tells it to "Call Brat-face," and the phone dials her little brother in Omaha. It sounds like something from the Jetsons, but it''s coming to you from Microsoft. [Wired News] Helping the Web Grow Up -- New technologies will make the Web a more efficient system, setting all that information out there into action. While the goals are high, there''s a way to go before the Web can become more than just a mechanism for browsing. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Hey -- That''s Private -- Users want privacy and the bennies of personalized sites. Collaborative filtering coupled with a technology-based privacy standard may be the answer to protecting user data. From Webmonkey.com. [Wired News] High Vacancy Rate for Rentware -- Renting the latest business software is cheap and hassle-free. Analysts wonder why rentware is so slow to win acceptance among small companies. By Claudia Graziano. [Wired News] High-Speed Access Leaps Hurdle -- The International Telecommunication Union approves a "consumer" version of a technology for speeding Internet access 30 times faster than today''s fastest modems. By Chris Oakes and Sean Donahue. [Wired News] High-Speed Data Up in the Air -- New developments in spread spectrum and Local Multipoint Distribution Services move the world closer to high-speed Net without the wires. [Wired News] Home Is Anywhere You Hang Your Session File -- NetDesk aims to help users jump from one Java-hip platform to another, picking up their work right where they left it. [Wired News] Hospitals Stare Down Millennium -- A group of Y2K watchers gather in Washington to make sure the nation''s hospitals don''t end up on life support in the wee hours of 2000. By Spencer E. Ante. [Wired News] Hotline Reinvents the BBS -- A new Windows version of a server and file transfer system is generating big buzz among Christians, pornographers, and software pirates alike. By Leander Kahney. [Wired News] Hotmail Bug, Still an Open Book? -- Hotmail remains vulnerable to a two-week-old security problem, says the man who discovered the bug. But the company''s fix, successful or not, is making some people nervous. By Michael Stutz. [Wired News] Hotmail Has a Hole - and a Fix -- A Danish government official reports a method by which unauthorized visitors could read private email over accountholders'' shoulders. The company says it will patch the hole right away. [Wired News] Hotmail Open to Script Attacks -- Until it''s fixed, a vulnerability in Microsoft''s Hotmail service puts sensitive information at risk by leaving the door open to attacks by Trojan horses. By Michael Stutz. [Wired News] How PalmPilot Became a Hacker Cult -- Developers are so in love with the PalmPilot, the little personal information manager designed to quickly handle your names and dates, that they are trying to push it in surprising directions. [Wired News] How Will PDAs Paint Pictures? -- A series of recent proposals are tackling the problem of how to display graphics on PDAs, cell phones and other "small footprint" devices. The answer may lie in vector graphics and XML. [Wired News] How Will PDAs Paint Pictures? -- A series of recent proposals are tackling the problem of how to display graphics on PDAs, cell phones, and other "small footprint" devices. The answer may lie in vector graphics and XML. [Wired News] Hypertext Guru Has New Spin on Old Plans -- After toiling over his mythical Xanadu publishing system since 1960, Ted Nelson told stunned WWW7 conference-goers that he is finally set to release software based on the paradigm into the public domain. [Wired News] IBM Closes Crypto ''Back Door'' -- IBM researchers shore up a vulnerability in one of the most widely used encryption systems on the Net. It''s not stronger encryption they''re offering, but a way to seal a back door once considered too insignificant to worry about. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] IBM Meets Digital on the 1,000-MHz Roof -- In the lead-up to a major chip industry conference, IBM matches DEC in 1-GHz chip speeds. [Wired News] IBM to Build Custom Java Chips -- Licensing Sun''s processor design for chips that speak native Java, IBM said the agreement is a building block in its networked computing strategy. [Wired News] IBM''s Walkman PC -- Big Blue demonstrates its new Wearable PC in Japan. And it''s a full-blown Windows 98 computer. By Niall McKay. [Wired News] ICQ Password Problem Squashed -- As of Friday, a security hole in the world''s most popular instant messaging system allowed a malicious user to masquerade as another user. The company patched the hole, but other security issues remain. By James Glave. [Wired News] ISP Homepage Hacker Taunts FBI -- A hacker who claims to be one of the central figures in the FBI''s investigation of "cyberattacks" on the Pentagon has stepped into the spotlight. "Analyzer" broke into the NetDex Web site yesterday, and left his calling card. [Wired News] Indexing the Video Frontier -- Seeking footage of Regis kissing Kathie Lee? The pope in the pope-mobile? As video libraries grow online, interest in searching them will grow, too. Video analysis is the technology for the (daunting) job ahead, but media-makers from ABC to PBS - and technology vendors like Microsoft - are starting to pay heed. [Wired News] Infoseek Goes Bilingual -- XML, touted as the next-generation Web language, finds a home with a major search engine. Advocates applaud and say it will mean a smarter Web one day. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Intel Dips Futuristic Pen in Invisible Ink -- Industrial designers at the Engineering Design Research Center have teamed with Intel on a futuristic project: Digital Ink, a ballpoint pen that uses embedded processors to track strokes and character recognition software to record what it writes. [Wired News] Intel Guns High and Low -- The revamped Celeron processor should give Intel a solid offering among budget PCs, while its new 450 MHz Pentium II chip is aimed at speedier tastes. By Claudia Graziano. [Wired News] Intel Juices Memory Bank -- The world''s biggest computer-chip company shells out US$500 million for a 6 percent stake in memory chipmaker Micron to help speed development of next-generation memory devices. [Wired News] Intel''s 3D Power Play? -- Intel gets behind a scalable 3D file format and openly publishes the spec. But since the VRML Consortium is working on similar technology, what''s Intel''s motive? Simple: Get Pentium-hungry 3D going ASAP. [Wired News] Intel: Graphics Chip to Make PCs Life-like -- The chip giant promises 3-D realism and an "enriched visual experience" from its new graphics accelerator. [Wired News] Internet Explorer Bug Makes a Return Visit -- A new IE bug - related to a bug that surfaced last November - has prompted Microsoft to create yet another patch for its browser. [Wired News] Internet Hacking For Dummies -- A panel discussion at "Computers, Freedom, and Privacy" conference in Texas reviewed common security blunders, and offered sound advice for protecting sensitive data. [Wired News] Internet Keywords Patent Spat -- A new lawsuit charges Centraal with infringing on Netword''s recently patented keyword technology, in a case that could have implications for Netscape''s new Smart Browser. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Intruders in The Palace -- The chat company issued a crucial software fix Friday, correcting a bug that allows rogue servers to send any type of code to hard drives of community members. By Niall McKay. [Wired News] Inventor Warns MS on Patents -- Drexler Technology''s CEO says that Microsoft is in danger of infringing on more than five patents he holds relating to optical memory -- a compact-storage technology that may be built into future Windows CE devices. [Wired News] Invisible on the Web -- Worried about having your personal information filed away in nameless and numerous marketing clearinghouses? A new service offers a potential solution: an anonymous dialup account that protects your identity in the Web world. By Michael Stutz. [Wired News] Iridium''s Final Thrust: the World Watches -- As Motorola prepares to launch the last of 66 satellites for its global wireless Iridium network, a new chapter in data communications is about to begin. Whether the network will work as billed is another question. [Wired News] Iridium: All Systems Still Go -- Rocket troubles won''t stand in the way of Iridium''s plans for offering service by the end of September, its chief says. [Wired News] Is DOD Hacker Home Free in Israel? -- Analyzer, who has come forward as the tutor of the two California teens implicated in recent attacks on government Web servers, is reportedly a resident of Israel. Given his location, federal agents may have a difficult job bringing him in. [Wired News] Java Clone Laid Open -- Transvirtual has released an "open source" version of Java to challenge Sun''s own implementation. The purpose? To make the language accessible to more people with fewer strings attached. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Java Jumping Out of the Box? -- Java applets used to download to your computer and run there. But a new technololgy sets them free to zip around the Net, performing useful tasks. By Niall McKay. [Wired News] Java Programmers a Keen, Dedicated Bunch -- A survey of Windows developers reveals that those who use Java are more cognizant of industry standards, and more deeply dedicated to their platform. [Wired News] Java Talk With Gosling -- At the Software Development ''98 conference in San Francisco, Java''s creator discussed the here and now of his prized language, and dropped clues about where it''s headed. [Wired News] Java Wins First Set-Top OS Role -- In plans for set-top boxes aimed at US consumers, Java has so far played second fiddle to operating systems like Windows CE. But today Sun''s JavaOS was cast as the star in the system that will run Hitachi set-tops in the Japanese market. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Java''s Set-Top Set-Up -- Scientific-Atlanta says it will put PersonalJava in its set-top boxes. As its PowerTV subsidiary works to adapt Sun''s technology to its OS, Java''s try at TV could get its first real test. [Wired News] Java, Java Everywhere -- Wherever there''s an Oracle database running, Java will be running, too. A new Java strategy by database vendor Oracle will finally make Sun''s language ubiquitous, the company promises. [Wired News] JavaOne Gets Off to Soft Start -- The jokes bombed, the Hewlett-Packard barbs were bitter at best, and the gimmick didn''t work, but Sun''s annual JavaOne confab is off and running. [Wired News] Just Outta Beta -- Coming next down the pipeline: the rebirth of the floppy, a cookie crumbler, and a portable business-card reader to keep your organizer from bulging. [Wired News] Keeping Clear of Meteors -- This year''s Leonid meteor shower has some folks spooked about collisions between meteors and satellites. One company''s software tool is helping satellite makers relieve their worries and reduce their chances of damage. By Kristi Coale. [Wired News] Keeping Streams Closer to Home -- A new joint venture between the maker of RealAudio and a Web caching company aims to move multimedia Web content closer to end users, reducing the chance for glitches in between. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Kiwi E-Commerce Powers Through Blackout -- Downtown Auckland, New Zealand, has been without power for more than a week. But for those who deal in bits, business is still booming. [Wired News] Learning From Bats -- Brown University researchers are modeling how bats create detailed sonar maps of their worlds. Researchers are hoping a new software will someday allow submarine commanders to do the same thing. By Karlin Lillington. [Wired News] Let My Data Go! -- Freeing file formats would free us all from software monopolies, Simson Garfinkel says. [Wired News] Let Your Fingers Do the Login -- In the first widespread use of biometric technology, Compaq is offering a fingerprint identification system for PCs. No need to remember a password. It''s at your fingertips. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Lightning Net Speeds Coming This Christmas -- The technology that Microsoft, Intel, and Compaq will use to create a de facto standard for high-speed modem connections comes from a little-known Massachusetts-based company, Aware, Inc. [Wired News] Little Guys Wary of AOL -- Without Netscape''s help, RealNetworks might never have left Seattle. Now, the next generation of Web-helper companies looks nervously to Netscape''s new boss. By Christopher Jones. [Wired News] Long Distance 2¢ a Minute -- Is voice over IP just another hype that will never hit mainstream markets? The Swedish developers of Dynamic Transfer Mode say they''ve got the technology to make it happen. By Claudia Graziano. [Wired News] Lost in Space -- NASA researchers investigating asteroids that could be on a collision path with Earth lost communication with their unmanned spacecraft Sunday. By Polly Sprenger. [Wired News] Lucent Pumps Up Fiber Capacity -- With the demand for high-speed data throughput expanding rapidly, the company unveils a major evolutionary step in the development of fiber-optic cable. The bottom line: A single fiber strand''s capacity could be quintupled. [Wired News] Lucent Stretches Fiber Pipes -- A new fiber-optics technology from Lucent will quadruple the bandwidth of undersea lines and enable 10 gigabit-per-second transmissions. By Kristen Philipkoski. [Wired News] Lucent Takes Beaten Path -- Lucent''s new chip production technology uses a tried-and-true production process, which could allow cell phones to run without recharging for a month. By Kristen Philipkoski. [Wired News] Lucent: Wireless is a BLAST -- The telco technology company unveils BLAST, a technology said to increase wireless transmission capacity tenfold. That would be a boon to businesses -- and to those living far from a phone jack. [Wired News] Lukewarm Reception for Intel''s Celeron -- Intel showed off its new Celeron processors on Wednesday, amid speculation that the chips lack the performance to compete in an increasingly competitive marketplace. [Wired News] Lycos Trails the Search Scene ... Or Does It? -- A new ranking of search engines says that Lycos indexes fewer pages than its five biggest competitors. But does freshness count? [Wired News] MAE West Suffers Outage, Bounces Back -- During an equipment upgrade at San Jose-based MAE-West, the Internet switching facility ground to a near halt, causing service interruptions throughout the country. [Wired News] MCI WorldCom Offers DSL -- The telco wants to squash digital subscriber line''s bad rap as the high-bandwidth service that never delivered. By R. Scott Raynovich. [Wired News] MS Office Leaks Sensitive Data -- Microsoft has confirmed a bug in certain versions of Microsoft Office that can leave traces of a user''s personal data -- including passwords -- in files sent to other users. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] MS Patents Anonymous Ecash -- Security experts are disparaging Microsoft''s new patent on untraceable electronic cash, saying that digital currency has a long way to go. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] MS Shores Up Email Levee -- Microsoft has updated its patch for a recent security problem in the Outlook 98 software. The company has also raised flags over a bogus email attachment. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] MS, Sun Weave Tangled Path -- In describing the network of the future, both Microsoft and Sun see distributed, self-monitoring systems. How to achieve this goal is where the companies diverge. By Lisa Rein. [Wired News] MS: Open Source is Direct Threat -- An internal Microsoft memo fingers open-source software, including Mozilla and Linux, as a serious danger to its core software lines. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] MSN Emerges from Black Hole -- For three and a half days this week, subscribers to Microsoft''s online service were unable to send any email. The reason? The service had been placed into an anti-spam black hole from which it has only just emerged. By Debbie Scoblionkov and James Glave. [Wired News] Macromedia Cracks Open Flash -- Seeking to make it the Web standard, Macromedia -- a step behind Adobe and its PGML spec -- laid open its Flash technology as a spec for vector-based graphics on the Web. [Wired News] Majoring in Martians -- The search for extraterrestrial life got a boost this week when the University of Washington announced a new graduate program in astrobiology. By Kristen Philipkoski. [Wired News] Making Net Names Safer -- The Net''s system for translating domain names into Internet addresses is easy to spoof, but a US$1.4 million security upgrade aims to change that. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Making Sense of Searching -- InQuizit''s new technology of natural language recognition may improve our data-hunting tools and foster more sensible communication with our computers. By Claudia Graziano. [Wired News] Meet the Electronic Tongue -- University of Texas researchers developed the e-tongue to tell sweet from sour. One day, the technology may replace human food testers. By Kristen Philipkoski. [Wired News] Meet the Floppy Screen -- A new technology would use flexible plastics instead of glass as the basis for computer screens. By Craig Bicknell. [Wired News] Messenger Client Joins Mozilla -- In the next few days, Netscape will release the last set of source code associated with its Communicator suite, giving Mozilla hackers a mail and news client to play with. [Wired News] Mexican Schools Embrace Linux -- The government hopes to save millions of dollars in license fees by wiring the nation''s schools with the open-source system. By Leander Kahney. [Wired News] Microchips Take Radiation Heat -- As microchip designers endlessly miniaturize their creations, they face a new threat in the form of radiation leaking off the solder that binds them. By Kristen Philipkoski. [Wired News] Microsoft Discounts Threat -- The Back Orifice program is not as threatening as billed, says Microsoft, but the hackers who created it stand by their claims and note that 14,000 copies already have been downloaded. By Michael Stutz. [Wired News] Microsoft Frowns on SMIL -- Microsoft has decided not to support a significant new W3C standard for streaming video and sound files online. RealNetworks and other multimedia developers are taking the vendor-neutral route. By Lisa Rein. [Wired News] Microsoft Pre-Packages HTML Editing Tools -- Building an HTML editor? Microsoft has built editing components so you don''t have to. [Wired News] Microsoft Recruits Sea Slugs -- Microsoft and the University of Washington have teamed up to study how sea slugs process information. The goal? To design smarter computer systems. By Niall McKay. [Wired News] Microsoft Releases NetShow 3.0 -- The software supergiant unveils its contribution to streaming media mania, and anxious developers eat it up at Web Tech-Ed in Palm Springs, California. [Wired News] Microsoft Rights Hotmail -- The security threat to Hotmail users that emerged earlier this week has been patched, says Microsoft. The fix involves filtering out all scripting code in incoming mail messages. By Michael Stutz. [Wired News] Microsoft Searches for Feedback -- Microsoft quietly took the wraps off its Net search engine today. But the site uses the same backstage technology as several other search engines. By Chris Jones. [Wired News] Microsoft Spearheads Multimedia Standard -- The Multimedia Task Force wants to make digital media production a more integrated process. Microsoft and the other member companies have developed a new file format to do just that. [Wired News] Microsoft Tries Government Crypto -- By supporting the US government''s encryption protocols, the software company will be able to sell its Windows NT servers to federal agencies. Whether it adds more security to government networks is debatable. By Kristen Philipkoski. [Wired News] Microsoft Wants to Get Along -- Microsoft promises that it will make its core products -- Windows, Office, and BackOffice -- work better with rivals'' offerings. By Jennifer Sullivan. [Wired News] Microsoft''s Next Ambition: The Net''s Backend -- As Microsoft acquires and partners with Web companies, it reportedly invites them to move from Unix to the company''s Windows NT Web servers. Critics say that may not bode well for consumers. [Wired News] Microsoft, Intel, Others Form DSL Group -- The goal: speed deployment of ADSL. The companies with a plan: Microsoft, Intel, a slew of the local phone companies, and other major telco and PC industry players. [Wired News] Mining Water From Moon Data -- To conclude that water exists on the moon, NASA scientists used a device located on board the Lunar Prospector that distinguishes between different types of neutrons around the moon’s poles. [Wired News] Mining the Moon for Habitation -- A small band of researchers is looking into ways of using the resources of Mars and the moon to eventually create habitats for humanity. [Wired News] Mosaic Boomerangs to the Set-top -- Spyglass has licensed the guts of the Web''s first graphical browser to cellphone giant Nokia for use in set-top boxes all over Europe. [Wired News] Mosaic Redux, Part II -- Having turned the one-time desktop browser into an HTML engine for the set-top age, Spyglass makes a browser proper available to the same folks. [Wired News] Mozilla Source, Revision 1 -- Netscape''s newly freed source code reaches its initial evolutionary milestone as mozilla.org posts the first version of the code modified by outside developers. [Wired News] Mozilla.org: We Are Not Netscape -- One of the coordinators of the Mozilla open-source browser project sounds off on the AOL-Netscape merger. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] Msoft Bug Opens Site Secrets -- A new security hole affecting a Microsoft server scripting language leaves sensitive and hidden Web site info, such as passwords, exposed to malicious users. By Michael Stutz and James Glave. [Wired News] MySpace Crowds Windows'' Turf -- Windows may have control of the desktop, but the Pixel Company doesn''t see why it can''t stake its own claim to the screen space that surrounds it. By Chris Oakes. [Wired News] NASA Greets Beowulf -- The space agency''s Computer Crimes Division has jacked up its analysis toolkit with a DIY supercomputer that can track cracker trails with unprecedented speed. By Michael Stutz. [Wired News] NASA''s ''Deep Impact'' Mission -- The space agency is considering a proposal to blast a large copper ball into a comet in an effort to determine the origins of life. By Niall McKay. [Wired News] NASA''s ''Deep Impact'' Mission -- The space agency is considering a proposal to blast a large copper ball into a comet in an effort to determine the origins of life. By Niall McKay. [Wired News] NSA Frees Secret Crypto Schemes -- Facing an economic crunch, America''s code-breaking spy agency has released two long-secret algorithms that were once the basis of a controversial evesdropping scheme. By James Glave. [Wired News] NSF Sets Up Smart-Infrastructure Shop -- The National Science Foundation''s new think tank, the Institute for Civil Infrastructure Systems, will come up with designs for smart transportation, water supply, electric power, and communications. [Wired News] NT Attacks Raise Questions, Provide No Answers -- One computer security expert says the vulnerabilities in Windows NT make attacks like Monday''s on servers nationwide almost routine as the system becomes more popular. How coordinated or targeted they may have been, he says, is impossible to determine without an investigation. [Wired News] Nader Takes Biotech Patent to Task -- Ralph Nader wants the biotech industry to grow a conscience, so he''s asking the Clinton administration to investigate Amgen''s control of a synthetic blood protein that could potentially be made accessible to more patients. [Wired News] Navy Software Dead in the Water -- The US Navy recently confirmed that software upgrade problems have put two of its prize battle cruisers out of action until further notice. By Michael Stutz. [Wired News] Net Forecast: Cloudy, but Clearing -- Efforts to plumb the health of the Internet may perk up with distributed ping sampling and open source software licensing. By James Glave. [Wired News] Net Messaging Called ''Catastrophic'' -- ICQ, an Internet-based ''instant-messaging'' program used by millions, is flagged by experts as being riddled with security holes that allow users to impersonate other users and alter messages sent over the system. By James Glave. [Wired News] Net Religious Groups Besieged -- A three-day spam attack against some online newsgroups is halted when an ISP pulls the plug on the perpetrators. But the damage may not be over. By Michael Stutz. [Wired News] Net Survives Starr Supernova -- Some sites timed out, but the Internet didn''t melt. In fact, it thrived under what may prove to be the single greatest event in the medium''s history. By Niall McKay. [Wired News] Netcom Escapes Anti-Spam Blackhole -- Until last week, many Netcom subscribers found their mail bouncing with a cryptic error. They had Paul Vixie''s Realtime Blackhole List to thank. [Wired News] Netcom Issued ''Death Penalty'' -- Starting tomorrow, those who hold accounts with the national Internet service provider may find their news posts vanish, claims an anti-spam cabal . [Wired News] Netcom Spared Anti-Spam Punishment -- The ISP reaches an understanding on policing spam with Usenet activists who had threatened to impose a "death penalty" against the service. [Wi