April 8, 2002

Japan may go nuclear, hawk tells Beijing  --  A SENIOR Japanese politician has said that Japan is capable of producing thousands of nuclear warheads overnight to counter China’s rapid military build-up. Although there would probably be a major domestic pushback from the citizens of Japan, I would suppose they would not only be able to make the nuclear weapons, but make them smaller and cheaper. A report from Robert Whymant in Tokyo via The Times Online 12:50:33 PM

If you thought the pop up X-10 web cam advertisments were annoying, just wait untill you start hitting the newest superhighway speed bumps: Pop-up Downloads.  While visiting a website, you might get a prompt to download some software.  It might seem to be some kind of plug in required to view the website, but it also might be a download advertisment.  The application you download might even crash your computer.  More about this from CNET 10:03:40 AM

Mideast violence spills over into Brooklyn, N.Y.  A jewish family who's son found himself trying to do peace work was trapped inside Arafat's compound. When last Saturday morning, according to news accounts, Arafat offered Adam breakfast as a gesture of gratitude for his intervention, the community in Brooklyn turned on his family back home.  The spate of hate-filled messages grew so threatening that Doreen and Stuart Shapiro have been forced to flee their home and go into hiding.  Cynthia Tucker talks about this in her opinion piece.  [ The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ] 8:03:07 AM

Bertelsmann Chief Executive Thomas Middelhoff confirmed Friday that his media conglomerate wants to take over Napster, the struggling file-swapping company it has already supported with tens of millions of dollars, according to a German report.  Middelhoff has always dreamed of using Napster for music distribution.  At one time this might have been a good idea, however he says he is prepared to spend up to $30 million.  Sorry, Napster is yesterday's news.  The users have moved on.  Graeme Wearden, of ZDNet News reports. 7:46:56 AM

Just in time for the new Star Wars Movie, Robots Make the Rounds To Ease Hospitals' Costs.  Think about the "nursebot," a talking robot that guides nursing home residents from their rooms to the dining hall or other areas -- offering weather reports and television schedules along the way. [ WashingtonPost.com ] 7:37:47 AM

eBay hit with multi-hour outage. The outage prevents customers from viewing or bidding on items in its clothing or jewelry categories and prevented sellers from listing items in those categories.  I can only imagine all the buyers and sellers hitting refresh over and over again. Give them a break, it was the first major outage in more than a year.  It is not a life support system, Damn it Captain, I am not a miracle worker! [CNET News.com] 7:23:51 AM