August 8, 2002

The Holocaust ended more than half a century ago, but some Jews refuse to this day to buy German cars. Maybe they're on to something. "German authorities believe that representatives of fundamentalist Islamic organizations are using luxury car exports from Germany to Saudi Arabia to raise money for their activities," the Jerusalem Post reports, citing an article in Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. There's more: Two German car companies have simply wiped Israel off the map. The Mercedes Web site has a map of the Middle East that labels all the region's countries that have Mercedes distributors, plus several that don't (Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq)--but Israel is left unlabeled. BMW is even worse: Its map calls Israel "Palestine," though it appears to show the disputed West Bank as part of Jordan. UPDATE:  Both site have taken down the maps, and now only list arab countries as distributors in the list of middle east distributors.   They either don't have a distributor in Israel, or will not list it so as to not offend the arabs.   Volkswagen and its Audi division, however, both recognize the Jewish state's existence.  "opinionjournal" 4:44:25 PM

Microsoft, FTC reach privacy settlement. The software giant settles with the Federal Trade Commission over complaints that its Passport identification service violates people's privacy and security. [CNET News.com] 3:35:53 PM

If you wonder why Israel doesn't trust the UN to manage the towns and cities (incorrectly called refugee camps) and keep them free of bomb factories and terrorist schools, then you need to read how the UN is managing a mental institution in Kosovo. Patients have been raped and physically attacked under the eyes of the UN staff, held in "filthy and degrading" conditions, and threatened with punishment if they report the abuses, according to a damning investigation published in New York yesterday. 1:58:59 PM

Ring! It's a Digital Snapshot, Taken and Sent by Cellphone. A new service, mMode Pix, lets cellphone users shoot photos and instantly send them to friends via e-mail, using a wireless phone. By Susan Stellin. [New York Times: Technology] 7:11:33 AM

Big Screens Ready to Show Pictures on Memory Sticks. Many of the larger televisions to be introduced by Sony this summer and fall have a built-in Memory Stick slot on the control panel that allows viewers to insert a small removable storage card and look at digital photographs right there on the big screen. By J.d. Biersdorfer. [New York Times: Technology] 7:10:26 AM

.Net name ties Microsoft in knots. Microsoft's ambitious .Net initiative faces a problem that has nothing to do with the technology itself: explaining it. [CNET News.com] 7:09:22 AM

A Palestinian Green Light for an Israeli Pullback Deal. (New York Times: International News) The Palestinian Authority on Wednesday tentatively accepted Israel's terms for withdrawing from parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as Israeli forces pressed their offensive. [Palestine & Israel News] 7:08:32 AM

Charmed by Six Feet of Circuitry. A six-foot, 300-pound robot named Grace wowed the crowd at an artificial-intelligence conference in Edmonton, Alberta. By Curtis Gillespie. [New York Times: Technology] 7:06:24 AM