December 27, 2002

This is not fact, but a prediction much like the "Liz Taylor will marry this year" stuff that you see in supermarket tabloids.  IDC has a better record with these preditions, about 70% correct over the last 6 years, but it is still just an end of year stab at future telling. Internet a terror target Canada.com - The Internet could become a cyber-terrorism target if the United States invades Iraq a leading global technology-industry market researcher warns. IDC says that a major cyber-terrorism event will bring the Internet down for at least a day or two in the coming year, creating short-term economic disruptions worldwide. The attacks would be a reaction by malicious hackers to any U.S.-led invasion of of the oil-rich state, said John Gantz, IDC's chief research officer. IDC's other nine predictions for 2003 are not quite as far out there.  Wireless networks will take off,Online messages will multiply, and imaging will go digital are the most tame, and easy to believe.   1:53:36 PM

Gators displayed, eaten at theme park CNN - One hundred tigers and 2,000 alligators have been flown from Thailand to China to grace an animal park where visitors will be able to admire and eat some of the creatures displayed, a park official said on Thursday. The Bengal tigers and Siam alligators were biding their time in a breeding center after arriving in Hainan island on Tuesday, before moving into the "Sanya Love World" theme park ahead of its opening next year. 11:38:24 AM

Airline Co-Pilot Is Accused of Alcohol Use New York Times -  Airport police officers boarded a Delta Air Lines jet today just minutes before a scheduled early morning departure here and charged the co-pilot with operating an aircraft under the influence of alcohol. 11:16:33 AM

Phone Calls on the Cable Bill The New York Times - Why are cable companies working so hard to do more with the coax cable running into your house and business?  Besides cable TV, they want to sign you up for cable internet, and now digital cable telephone. Customers with two services are more likely to sign up for another, according to Marc Coblitz, senior vice president for strategic planning at the Comcast Corporation, and customers with three services are unlikely to switch to another carrier. Losing customers is expensive for the cable industry, and voice and data services are an essential part of their effort to reduce turnover. "Cable companies have transitioned over the last five years away from delivering a basic package of TV programs," Mr. Coblitz said. "We need to find ways to get people to buy more services from us." 10:42:06 AM

Hamas Calls for More Attacks on Israel Austin American Statesman, TX - The leader of Hamas told 30,000 supporters Friday that the group will keep carrying out suicide bombings and shootings in Israel, despite talks between the Islamic militant group and Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction on suspending such attacks. 9:58:59 AM

Attack Of The Killer Web Robots CBS News - They swarm the Internet harvesting e-mail addresses and free accounts to spawn hoards of junk messages. They lurk in chat rooms waiting to sting unsuspecting surfers with gambling sites, get-rich-quick schemes and pornography. But these automated computer programs - known as Web robots - have what may be a fatal flaw: For all their ability to seem otherwise, they're not human. So researchers at Carnegie Mellon University are designing software that can serve as an online gatekeeper. If you can't prove you're human, you won't get in. 8:55:46 AM