March 7, 2003

Poet Pope's muse returns Sydney Morning Herald - Pope John Paul II has let his feelings flow in a book of poetry seen as his "last testament" after almost 25 years leading the world's one billion Catholics 11:32:46 AM

Uproar Greets UK Muslim Cleric Incitement Sentence ABC News - Supporters of a Muslim cleric created uproar at the Old Bailey court Friday, shouting, "Allah is the only judge" and punching their fists in the air as their leader was imprisoned for nine years for inciting murder. 11:30:06 AM

Arafat chooses Abu Mazin as a prime minister, power is undefined Arabic News - A Palestinian official announced yesterday that the Palestinian President Yasser Arafat appointed the secretary general of the executive committee for the PLO Mahmoud Abbas ( Abu Mazin) to hold the post of Prime Minister to is to be created. 10:57:32 AM

Two of Bin Laden's Sons Captured Washington Post - (U.S. Officials Strongly Dispute Report) -- Two sons of Osama bin Laden were captured in southeastern Afghanistan in a joint operation involving Pakistani and U.S. 10:56:33 AM

Supreme Court upholds sex offender registration laws CNN - The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that photos of convicted sex offenders may be posted on the Internet, a victory for states that use the Web to warn citizens about potential predators in their neighborhoods. 10:53:55 AM

Internet speed record smashed CNN -  Offering a glimpse of a faster digital future, researchers announced they have set a new Internet speed record. On average, the amount of information that can be transferred over the Internet has doubled every year since 1984, scientists said. That trend is expected to continue. 10:51:17 AM

SCO sues IBM for $1 billion for 'devaluing Unix™' The Register - What could be stranger than one Linux business suing another Linux business for devaluing UNIX™ ? The SCO Group (formerly Caldera), which owns the UNIX™ trademark, has filed suit against IBM for investing in Linux and giving away proprietary technology in the operating system. IBM has a proprietary UNIX™ - AIX™ - but has invested heavily in Linux™, and with a thousand staff, is effectively the largest Linux™ employer. UPDATE: SCO: Suit Not About Linux (eWeek) The legal action the SCO Group brought against IBM has nothing to do with Linux or the open-source community, Darl McBride, CEO and president of the SCO Group, stressed in a media conference on Friday morning. My guess is that Darl McBride hasn't fully read the complaint.  "It is not possible for Linux to rapidly reach UNIX performance standards for complete enterprise functionality without the misappropriation of UNIX code, methods or concepts to achieve such performance, and coordination by a larger developer, such as IBM." - from their complaint In my opinion this is an attempt to get IBM back on the UNIX™/AIX™ train.  Why SCO™ thinks that they can force IBM to offer a different solution based on a lawsuit is beyond me.  IBM will offer what ever is in the customers best interest.  That is in IBMs best interest, and the only way they can compete. 8:08:52 AM

Stem Cells Heal a Broken Heart Wired News - Sixteen-year-old Dimitri Bonnville had already been accidentally shot in the heart with a nail gun while doing home repair, undergone open-heart surgery and suffered a massive heart attack, when doctors told his parents he needed a heart transplant. 8:00:07 AM

Appeals court strikes down Net porn law ZDNet.co.uk - A US federal law aimed at curbing Internet pornography violates Americans' free speech rights and is unconstitutional, an appeals court ruled on Thursday. 7:53:18 AM

UT: Hackers might strike again Houston Chronicle - University of Texas officials are warning that more computer hacking may be attempted after publicity that thieves filched Social Security numbers and other personal data on 55200 people from a university information system. In an internal memo, the university warned computer support staff to beware now that the breach -- which apparently started Feb. 26 and ended Sunday -- has been made public. UT did not announce the hacking until questioned by the Austin American-Statesman newspaper. 6:09:06 AM

Apple expected to launch music subscription service Toronto Star, Canada - Apple Computer Inc. and major record labels are expected to launch an online music subscription service within several weeks, entertainment industry sources said. 6:06:14 AM

Watch out: 'Spyware' turns anyone into a snoop Seattle Times, WA - ...a software program that "allows you to know exactly what your family member or employee is doing on the Internet." ... eBlaster will "record all Web sites visited, all applications launched and all keystrokes typed/ ... " In fact, it records both sides of all online conversations and reports them to you or the person who's spying on you. 6:03:44 AM