IDG News Service reports on Hitachi’s tablet-style Internet appliacance using Transmeta’s Crusoe microprocessor and Linux. The Flora-ie 55mi also features support for wireless networking and goes on sale in Japan Wednesday.

ZDNET.co.uk: “Star Wars fans in the UK have been stung by an email hoax suggesting
that the forthcoming UK Census would recognise “Jedi” as a religion if
enough people put it on their form.

The Office of National Statistics confirmed on Thursday that the stunt,
which had raised hopes among Star Wars fanatics across the country
that they would be recognised as Jedi Knights, will not work.”

Chicago Tribune: “Computer security experts are warning that a brand of modem SBC
Communications Inc. and other phone companies distributed to subscribers of
their DSL Internet services could leave computers prone to hacker attacks.”

The Register: “A flaw with Microsoft’s first security product leaves it vulnerable to denial of service
attacks.

The problem arises because Microsoft’s Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA)
Server’s Web Proxy service doesn’t handle particular requests if they exceed a
certain length, causing the program to crash if its Web Publishing features are
enabled.”

ZDNET.co.uk: “A security hole in a Microsoft Windows feature has not been removed
since its first encounter with the virus ‘Bubble Boy’ in 1999.

“That kind of danger is still present today. The feature is not used by
99.9 percent of people, and so it should be the first thing removed from
a computer when the machine is set up. Otherwise users are at risk of
being attacked,” Trend Micro spokesperson Andy Liou told ZDNet
Australia.”

ZDNET.co.uk: “Trend Micro, AVX and Symantec say a new virus is spreading:
BADTRANS.A, or w32.badtrans.13312@mm.”

Washington Post: “At age 3, Patrick Roanhouse got his first computer. At 7, he figured out how to construct a modem out of scrap parts. By 14, he was running around cyberspace. Without 2600, Patrick says he would probably be one of those pot-smoking,
crack-sniffing guys who gave up on life a long time ago.”

ZDNET says MS has “seen the error of its ways:” “One of the first manifestations that will make it into customers’ hands
will be a feature in the Windows XP client and Whistler server called
Software Restriction Policies. This “managed code” feature will enable
administrators to set policies and choose which kinds of code are
permitted to run and where and how programs can run on a user’s
machine. For instance, all Visual Basic script files could be rendered
useless, except for those that contain a digital signature embedded in
the script code.”

ZDNET: “Listen.com, a music directory service partly funded by major record
labels, is shedding a little of its squeaky-clean image with a new
song-search service that plugs directly into Napster’s software.”

CNET: “While everyone seems to be looking for merely the next technology, we are hoping they
search for something that renders something obsolete,” Bordogna said. For example, the
automobile made the livery stable obsolete, and few regret that now. Similarly, transistors
made vacuum tubes obsolete and CDs killed needle-and-groove records. “The question is
how you get on the positive side of this creative disruption,” he said. “How do you create and
anticipate different futures? How do you grab the chain before someone else does?”