As spammers identify new tricks for sneaking their junk past software sentinels, service providers’ technical parries could put even more legitimate mail at risk.

After sending an email overseas, Ashley Friedlein had yet to receive a response until he learned through a check up phone call that his email had never been received. With todays technology many email receipents have learned that mail is not getting through to them while they are still receiving spam mail.

Spam and spam-fighting have “in some cases eroded the reliability of the mail system,” said Eric Allman

These days you can access just about any form of media anywhere. There is always a way to get information and entertainment. New technology is now even offering television in the car! What will they think of next!

A new generation of products is promising users the ability to remotely access their TVs from around the house on a local network or from around the world via a broadband Internet connection.

TV to go!

A journalist is a writer who collects, writes, edits, and presents news for all forms of the media. A journalist does not have to be a employee to any of these forms of media though. I believe that anyone can be a journalist. A journalist is just someone who reports news they have investigated and found out. Drudge is as much of a journalist as Katie Couric he has invested news or gossip and reporting it to the society, just as Katie Couric does every morning.I do not think that the internet really changes the definition of news people still investigate and report the news yet on the internet. THe only way it could change it is that it can get to the society faster.This is also how it challenges the definition of a journalist, it can get to people faster than any other form of media.

With the Internet taking over the world, Internet news has also been growing at full force. This can be bad news for small daily papers, but it can also be bad news for readers. Paying for the news on the Internet may be the next step.

It will take years of experimentation, involving companies of all sizes and vintages, for the news media to refine the new models and settle into a sustainable new structure. No doubt great fortunes will be made or lost in the process. But in the end, I suspect, our industry, like most others, will come to be dominated by a handful of national and super-regional news organizations that can offer readers and advertisers a full range of differently priced news products through a variety of media.

The industry seems to be having to do a complete 360!

An emailer to The Corner describes blog’s self-righting principle well:

The blogs also have a sort of ’self-righting’ quality, that seems to keep things on an even keel. If you read some egregious comment at 8 am, usually by noon, it’s been totally sliced and diced, beaten with a clue bat and reduced to a pile of what it was to start with.

Microsoft is risking alienating customers because of the amonut of threats with the software.

Speaking at a security conference, Gates also said the company would give consumers a free tool for combating spyware, a pesky and growing threat that can monitor users’ activities, hinder computer performance and create other hassles. Microsoft also will sell a more sophisticated antispyware product to businesses.

Hunter S. Thompson, who was portrayed by Johnny Depp in the 1998 film “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” has killed himself.

Hunter Stockton Thompson, who coined the term “gonzo journalism” to describe the unique and furiously personal approach to reportage exemplified in his 1972 book “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” died Sunday night of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Denver Post
Thompson was known for his unique form of journalism and drug use.

John Leo, who writes for US News and World Report, says bloggers are getting it right more often than the MSM.

Why some in mainstream media keep depicting bloggers as inaccurate is a mystery. In the blogs I follow, accuracy is crucially important, and errors have to be admitted quickly, usually on the day of the mistake. Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit.com suggests that mainstream media might want to hire some bloggers to check their stories before publication. This is a cheeky but polite reminder that bloggers are in the checking business, and big media should get used to someone looking over their shoulder.

Let’s see what the MSM will do, if anything, with this crazy claim from a NY congressman that Rove planted the CBS documents.

The congressman first has evidence for his claim, before he doesn’t have evidence. Even so, he pins the courage label to his chest and gets cheered for his theory. The congressman has followed the story so closely that he can’t even remember what news organization Rove set up.

It’s so unfair that new-media folk demand so much evidence for claims like this.

The world’s first mobile phone virus has spread to the United States from the Philippines.

The virus, called Cabir, has spread slowly into 12 countries and marks the beginning of the mobile phone virus era, which could one day disrupt the lives of many of the world’s 1.5 billion mobile phone users.

The biggest impact of the relatively innocuous virus, found in about 15 variations so far, is draining mobile phone batteries, said Mikko Hypponen, director of Finnish anti-virus research company F-Secure (FSC1V.HE).

I wonder how we would know if our phone has been tampered by the virus. I think it’s great that phone companies are now offering phones with anti-virus software, but what about those of us who have phones with out the software? Is there anyway we can get it?

ScrappleFace has an exclusive warning from the FCC to the MSM:

Under the terms of the new protocol, the New York Times, Washington Post and L.A. Times, for example, may continue their traditional ‘news’ coverage, but all sections of the papers will now be labeled ‘Op-Ed.’

Televised news operations, like CNN or CBS, will be in compliance if newscasters simply wink at the camera at least once every 20 seconds during agenda-driven stories.

A jury yesterday found that the Boston Herald libeled Superior Court Judge Ernest Murphy in a series of stories dating back to 2002, and ordered the paper to pay damages of $2.1 million.

Herald Publisher Patrick J. Purcell immediately vowed to appeal the verdict, which came after a month-long trial and nearly a week of deliberation.

“We’d like to thank the jury for their diligence on this very complicated case,” Purcell said. “However, we believe the First Amendment allows news organizations to provide uninhibited coverage of government and public figures, and we will continue to cover them vigorously.”

Purcell also expressed “complete faith” in reporter David Wedge, who also was found to have libeled Murphy. “We are confident this decision will be reversed on appeal,” Purcell said.

The verdict came just one week after the state’s highest court upheld a $2.1 million libel verdict against The Boston Globe in a case involving a former doctor.

Randomhouse has purchased a share from a cell phone provider. They want to provide book access through cellular phones. They have already announced that they will provide a foriegn language study book that can be accessed by cell phones.

Random House, the country’s leading trade book publisher, announced Thursday that it had purchased a “significant minority stake” in VOCEL, a San Diego-based company that describes itself as a provider of “premium-branded applications for mobile phones.”

Random House also announced that it has reached licensing arrangements with VOCEL to provide cell phone access to the publisher’s Living Language foreign-language study programs and Prima Games video game strategy guides.

“You have a whole generation of consumers, perhaps more than a generation, who are never more than 10 feet from their cell phones, including when they shower,” said Richard Sarnoff, president of Random House Ventures, an investment subsidiary of Random House, Inc. “Increasingly, cell phones are becoming an appliance for entertainment and education.”

Cell phone texts have already caught on in Germany, South Korea (news - web sites) and Japan, where a cell-novel became so popular that it was turned into a feature film, “Deep Love.” But don’t expect the next Tom Clancy thriller to pop up on your phone. In the United States, Sarnoff said that phones, like e-books, are currently better suited for information than for narrative.

“The screens are inappropriate for that kind of sustained reading,” he said. “That’s a `maybe, someday’ discussion. We’ll keep an eye on that area, and if something happens … we’ll certainly respond.”

The authorities are investigating two bogus e-mails targeted at families of soldiers killed in Iraq. The e-mails claim to have ties with the US Homeland Security.

The scams “are among the worst we have ever encountered,” Michael J. Garcia, director of the department’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau, said Friday.

Both of the online pleas for help — and money — link themselves to the bureau.

In one scheme, e-mail sent to families of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq include a link to the bureau’s Web site. The e-mail seeks to recover money from a friend of the slain soldier.

In the other, the e-mail identifies itself as being sent by a federal agent trying to track down funds looted from the Iraqi Central Bank by Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)’s son. The e-mail also links to the bureau Web site and asks for confirmation of the recipient’s address by urging, “There is a very important and confidential matter which I want us both to discuss.”

Garcia called both e-mail campaigns “bogus” and urged people to ignore and delete them.

There are some new toys out there with a lot of knowledge. These toys know the name, favorite food, and other personal information about the child. A small microchip allows the toy to store the information. Parents can use a CD-ROM or a cable connection to download any information that they want the toy to store.

These electronic toys, which make a child’s play more interactive and personal, are among the products manufacturers are betting on to help them reclaim sales lost since 2003 to grown-up gadgets like iPod music players.

“Kids tend to remember experiences that are personalized,” said Reyne Rice, a toy trend specialist for the Toy Industry Association, the industry trade group.

While these high-tech offerings account for only a small number of the products being unveiled at this year’s industry expo, the American International Toy Fair, which officially begins Sunday, they represent the “wow factor” — the kind of product that draws parents into stores, said Chris Byrne, a New York-based independent toy consultant.

All kinds of toys are going high-tech — industry analysts estimate that at least 75 percent of toys debuting this year will have a microchip. Jim Silver, publisher of the Toy Book, a New York-based industry magazine, now calls the toy business “the family entertainment business.”

“The lines have blurred between toys and electronics,” he said

A University of Miami sophomore, along with two friend set up an online aution to sell books. He claims that his service is cheaper than some of the more popular ones. Some students say that they would rather buy and sell with this new web site.

Zia plans to post his books on College Junktion, an online auction designed by college students, for college students, that opened for business Friday. Registration to the Web site — www.collegejunktion.com — requires a valid “.edu” e-mail address. Such addresses are reserved for people connected with schools.

President, CEO and University of Miami sophomore Jason Baptiste developed College Junktion with two friends living on the same dormitory hall.

The idea grew from a bulletin board Baptiste passed while going for a cup of coffee on campus. “There was this board with hundreds of flyers of stuff for sale — a car here, a textbook there, this TV. The only way to get exposure was this board,” he said. “I thought, ‘What could I do to make this easier? Why not create a service to buy, sell and trade them on the Internet?’”

It’s no longer a unique idea, with online giants Amazon’s and eBay’s massive auctions and the regional classifieds on craigslist. But Baptiste, 19, from Norwood, N.J., plans to combine auctions with networking features found on Friendster or thefacebook, which link users by common interests or acquaintances.

Within the next few months, Baptiste said, photo sharing, calendars, blogs and user groups will be added to the site. Eventually, the friends-of-friends listed in a seller’s network could become a potential pool of buyers he can contact directly.

The internet and the elderly, two words that usually don’t mix, but a new company is trying to bring the two together. “CyberSeniors”, a new computer training program is getting the elderly up to date on technology.

Charles Huntoon, 84, leaned back in the overstuffed couch of a Free Street cyber cafe and laughed when he was asked whether he ever got frustrated trying to teach himself about computers.

“I don’t know if frustrated is the right word,” Huntoon said. “There were plenty of times I’d have liked to throw it out the window, though.”

Bafflement with what Huntoon calls “this box” remains a problem for many older people, denying them access to the health information, social connectedness and creative opportunities offered by computers and the Internet.

But Huntoon and thousands of other elderly Mainers are solving the riddle of the box with the help of CyberSeniors, a Portland-based computer training program for older people.

In recent months, the organization has opened its Free Street cafe and expanded into Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Today it will announce a $250,000 grant from Microsoft to open 32 health-care training centers across Maine for the instruction of senior citizens and doctors.

All these initiatives strive to integrate older people with an increasingly wired community.

The cafe offers instruction as basic as clicking a mouse, and as advanced as evaluating the worth of information on the Internet. It also offers seniors a chance to mingle with more-experienced older people and with younger computer users who are checking e-mail, writing reports or scanning pictures.

The health-care centers will enable doctors and patients to learn how computers can help older people become better-educated health consumers.

“This is all about real community as well as virtual community,” said Elizabeth Isele, founder and president of CyberSeniors. “We’re not teaching people this to further isolate seniors.”

Authorities are trying to find the anonymous contributor to a web page. “MD4BUSH”, the anonymous contributer has aided in spreading rumors about Mayor Martin O’Malley. The rumors are about his personal life. Two Sun reporters have been questioned in their involvement.

Jervis S. Finney, chief counsel to Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., has begun questioning members of the media - including two Sun reporters - about “MD4BUSH,” an anonymous contributor to a Web site that posted rumors about Mayor Martin O’Malley.

Finney said he was asking the questions as part of his investigation into the activities of Joseph F. Steffen Jr., an aide to the governor who was fired Feb. 8 for his involvement in spreading the rumors about O’Malley’s personal life.

O’Malley has vehemently denied the rumors.

MD4BUSH had several Web log exchanges with Steffen about the O’Malley rumors and gathered a number of Steffen’s most damaging postings in an easy-to-find location on the Web shortly after the story reporting Steffens’ connection with the rumors broke on a media Web site.

In a Feb. 16 letter to Sun reporter Michael Dresser, Finney cited a federal appeals court panel’s decision this week that undercuts reporters’ right to shield their sources. In a separate letter to Sun columnist Michael Olesker, Finney asked “whether you are in fact ‘MD4BUSH.’”

Olesker and Dresser said they had no knowledge of MD4BUSH.

The Zimbabwe elections are going to be held on March 31 this year. The government has finally agreed to allow political parties to buy campaign advertisement on Zimbabwe’s only tv and radio stations, but many say that it is too late to be of any help.

Movement for Democratic Change secretary general Welshman Ncube says he wrote to the ZBC in early February about placing campaign advertisements, but was told to wait until the onset of the election period.

Mr. Ncube said the regulations now made it impossible for the MDC to advertise on Zimbabwe’s only television and radio stations, which are government controlled.

Andrew Moyse, director of the Media Monitoring Project that observes media in Zimbabwe, said the new regulations would exclude the MDC from advertising, even if it had the money to buy air time. He said the MDC had not been allowed to advertise during the past two national polls.

Mr. Moyse said there was a High Court order from the 2000 parliamentary election ordering ZBC to provide fair and balanced news and current affairs. He said the ZBC consistently has ignored the order for the past five years. He said the state broadcaster is constitutionally bound to provide non-partisan news, which he said is ignored in every newscast on radio and television.

Mr. Moyse said when the Zanu PF Party launched its election campaign last week, the state broadcaster provided four hours of live coverage, and that the journalists and camera crews were all wearing Zanu PF campaign regalia. He said in the last national poll three years ago, Media Monitoring Projects statistics showed that 96 percent of political coverage was given to President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF and the four percent in which the MDC was featured were negative or false reports.

It doesn’t look like the elections will come out fair this time eathier.

IMAO puts the world on notice.

If you are part of the mainstream media, blogs will keep demanding facts and objectivity from you. Don’t give in! If you cede to this demand, who knows what they’ll ask for next!