New terrorism buzzword: steganography
Terrorism investigations have drawn new attention to a stealthy method of Internet communication called steganography, according to The New York Times. The process allows messages to be hidden in digital photographs or music files that show no outward signs of being altered, experts told the Times. Intelligence officials have been mum about how and when terrorists might be employing the method, but a former French defense ministry official said it was used by recently apprehended terrorists who were plotting to blow up the U.S. Embassy in Paris. The only way to spot steganography is with computer programs that recognize small statistical deviations from the way a file's code is supposed to look. Chet Hosmer, the president and chief executive of WetStone Technologies in Cortland, N.Y., told the Times that "quite an alarming number of images appear to have steganography in them." WetStone works under a contract with the Air Force. Hosmer would not reveal where he found steganography, the Times said.
Auction offers carcass of Webvan
In what the San Francisco Chronicle calls "the biggest dot-bomb auction yet," everything in the Foster City, Calif., headquarters of failed grocery-delivery service Webvan will go up for sale Tuesday and Wednesday. The company spent millions on lavish offices, but failed to make any money in the business, which also ate up other optimistic Web companies such as Kozmo.com. Webvan's headquarters was "a two-story building stuffed with top-of-the-line furniture, equipment, technology and toys," according to the Chronicle, with the original assets worth about $70 million. Webvan has already auctioned or liquidated its assets in Seattle, San Diego, Chicago, Oakland, Baltimore and three sites in Southern California. Auction officials told the newspaper that at previous sales, some big-ticket items fetched only 10 percent to 20 percent of their book value.
Pulitzer winner to write live, online
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert Olen Butler, who teaches at Florida State University, on Tuesday is launching his Inside Creative Writing program, which will feature him writing a story online in real time. "My project ... involves the sharing of a fully elaborated, moment-to-moment act of personal intimacy formerly found only behind the veil of private life, the act of creating a piece of literary fiction," Butler said, according to Wired News. Butler will answer questions after each writing session. "I won't have the chance, even unconsciously, to re-plan the story," he said. "I want the whole process to be visible in real time on the Internet." The first session is set for 9 p.m. EST at www.fsu.edu/~butler.
New Napster set for 2002
The rollout of the new Napster won't happen until at least the first quarter of 2002, the company's chief executive, Konrad Hilbers, told a tech conference Monday in Los Angeles. Hilbers said the toughest obstacle for Napster is the lack of cooperation from the major record labels, which have failed to agree to terms with Napster to use their songs online. Hilbers suggested that if the trend continues, Congress should step in and authorize "compulsory licensing" of major-label music online. Radio and television stations already are the beneficiaries of compulsory licensing, which allows them access to copyrighted tunes with the agreement to pay back music companies and publishers. Napster essentially has been shut down since March, when a federal judge ordered the company to stop allowing access to copyrighted material.
U.S. cracks down on illegal Cipro on Web
Web sites that are illegally selling the antibiotic Cipro or are hawking bogus versions of the anti-anthrax drug are facing federal investigations, reports the British Broadcasting Corp. Trade associations for the pharmacy industry have been battling Web drug sales for years, noting that just about any medication can be found on the Web illegally or through sites that exploit gray areas in the law. Carmen Catizone, executive director of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy told the BBC there are at least 50 problematic sites that sell Cipro, although they appear to be backed by about a dozen core companies. Some sites allow purchases of the antibiotic after customers fill out questionnaires or have online "consultations," Catizone said, adding that "some sites aren't even asking for that; you just pick the medication you want."
Nielsen buys Web-watching rivals
NetRatings Inc., an offshoot of the Nielsen ratings company, has agreed to buy rival Jupiter Media Metrix for $71 million in stock and cash, as well as the remaining portion of audience measurement firm eRatings that it does not own. Internet research firms have taken a hit along with the rest of the dot-com industry, but analysts said the deals would make NetRatings the undisputed leader the Internet audience-measurement business. The companies can be found on the Web at nielsen-netratings.com, jmm.com and eratings.com.
Intel founder drops millions on Caltech
Caltech University in Pasadena, Calif., will be the recipient of donations totaling $600 million from Intel Corp. co-founder Gordon E. Moore, the largest donation ever made to a U.S. university. The gifts from Moore and his wife, Betty, come with few strings attached and will be used for a list of scientific projects yet to be developed. The gift to Caltech eclipsed the $400 million gift to Stanford University made in May by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the $360 million given in March to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute by an anonymous donor. Microsoft founder Bill Gates gave $1 billion to establish a scholarship fund for minority students, but the gift did not specify a particular school.
(Compiled by Joe Warminsky in Washington.)
