People might be wondering what Santa is doing in the run-up to Christmas. A report by PCWorld.com says he is a busy man, working his way across cyberspace while he prepares for his big night -- with the aid of helpers, of course. PCWorld.com compiled a list of some of the best Christmas sites. "Most of the sites are hobby projects, Web pages built by enthusiasts. If you visit enough Christmas-oriented Web sites, you'll eventually see nearly every rule of good Web design broken -- but the sheer joy of the season can shine through flashing backgrounds, leaping icons, and color combinations that make your eyeballs wiggle," PCWorld.com reported. Among the highlights: NORAD's Santa tracker (previously mentioned in UPI's On the Net) at noradsanta.org; clause.com, with a Top 10 list of acts that either are naughty or nice, and where you can track your own naughty/nice quotient; an online Santa coloring book at myhome.org/hoho/index.html, which has downloadable, Christmas-related GIFs that can be colored by little ones; and Christmas at HowStuffWorks.com, with facts about the history and traditions of the holiday.

HOLIDAY SPAM SPIKE CONFIRMED

Another holiday tradition is upon us: a spike in the number of unwanted e-mail messages, or Spam, anti-Spam technology firm Brightmail reported Monday. According to Brightmail, Spam attacks peaked in November, with more than 5.5 million unique Spam attacks during the 30-day period, while the company reports identifying and blocking more than 16 million of these messages. Overall, Spam volume has grown from 8 percent of all Internet e-mail traffic in 2001 to 40 percent in 2002, Brightmail reported. The really bad news -- although this "tsunami" of Spam traditionally abates somewhat after New Years', as in past years the volume will increase steadily thereafter, above 2002's 40-percent rate.

WHITE HOUSE SEEKS TO REASSURE ABOUT NET PRIVACY

The White House this weekend worked to lighten concerns about its plans for an "early warning system" to monitor the Internet, content provider internetnews.com reported Monday. Media reports last week said the program, part of the final version of Bush's "National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace," would require Internet service providers, or ISPs, to build a monitoring system to track their users. The plan raises serious concerns about personal and corporate privacy issues, including whether the new monitoring system would bypass current strict protections governing the government's use of wiretaps on phone lines, internetnews.com said. "The concern is obviously we have Fourth Amendment protections in terms of search and seizure, and there can only be reasonable, articulated and particularized searches. The danger of a system like this is that it is not based on suspicion of specific information, it's a sweep without suspicion," independent software litigation consultant Andrew Schulman told internetnews.com. The administration's final proposal is due in early 2003.

NEW PALM-POWERED PHONE

For stil-unfilled stockings, Sprint and Samsung have partnered up to introduce the new Samsung PCS SPH-i330, a 6-ounce phone with such features as a 160 x 240 pixel, 256-color touch screen display, 16 MB of memory, and Web browsing capabilities via Sprint's PCS nationwide network. The phone's Palm OS features allow users to surf the Internet while talking on the phone, and it is compatible with nearly all the 15,000 Palm OS applications available today, Sprint and Samsung announced Monday. "The 3G data capabilities of the enhanced Sprint Nationwide PCS Network, along with the advanced features of Samsung's wireless phone technology and PlamSource's operating system make the i330 a great tool for users who always need to have information at their fingertips," said Peter Skarzynski, senior vice president of the wireless terminal division of Samsung. Such technology doesn't come cheap, however. The new phone, available at Sprint stores, has a suggested retail price of $499.99.

(Got a tip for UPI's On the Net? E-mail it to sciencedesk@upi.com)