Wednesday, June 11, 2003

Voyager to a Strange Planet. Spending 40 hours a week as a vulgar mutant, one man escapes reality and wins renown in the world of massively multiplayer games. By Seth Schiesel. [New York Times: NYT HomePage] 6:10:16 PM

"I'm a voting adult and it's my job to fix it". DIY goddess Ani DiFranco on political responsibility in the Bush era, the "lying, whoring media," life in New Orleans and her bottomless pit of self-loathing. [Salon.com] 10:06:40 AM

G.I.'s in Iraqi City Are Stalked by Faceless Enemies at Night. U.S. forces in Falluja seem to be battling a small but determined foe who has a primitive but effective command-and-control system. By Michael R. Gordon. [New York Times: NYT HomePage] 10:06:21 AM

iTunes Music Store 'dangerously addictive'. Though the iTunes Music Store charges 99 cents per song while other (often illegal) sites still offer "free" songs, Apple's service will change the music business, according to Business Week 2.0. The disadvantage of the free sites is that they load spyware and transfer viruses onto your hard drive, plus their regular customers could be served with piracy lawsuits, the article notes. And the Apple service is "easy to use, completely legal and -- frankly -- dangerously addictive," according to Business Week 2.0. [MacCentral] 10:06:02 AM

The Computer Store evolves into The Mac Store. Though Computer Stores Northwest is changing the name and look of its stores, it's not a reaction to Apple opening some retail stores in the same geographical region, according to Kevin Anderson, president and CEO of Computer Stores Northwest. The Computer Stores Northwest regional chain owns six stores. They're changing from the The Computer Store to The Mac Store and some store interiors have been redesigned. [MacCentral] 10:05:41 AM

Latest Bugbear virus claws at banks. Security company Symantec uncovers a sinister new function in the fast-spreading e-mail virus--the intruder harvests passwords used by bank employees. [CNET News.com] 10:05:16 AM

Virus Guns for Banks' Passwords. Experts found the Web addresses of more than 1,200 financial institutions buried inside BugBear.B's malicious code. Now the FBI is investigating what is believed to be the first Net attack aimed at a single economic sector. [Wired News] 10:04:59 AM

Spam war settles into mobile phones. Spam sent by text message could become a bigger problem than junk e-mail unless the industry takes action, according to a U.K. phone regulator. [CNET News.com] 10:04:42 AM