THE SECRET LIFE OF DOCUMENTS
Sensitive information may be in your online documents and you don't even know it

THE NEW SCIENTIST reports of research which suggests that documents published on the Net may unintentionally reveal sensitive corporate or personal information.

Examining more than 100,000 Word documents, AT&T researchers used simple keyword searches on search engines.

"Sophisticated editing programs will often store information in a document file that the end user will not see. Storing recently deleted text can, for example, make editing a more efficient process ... (which) expose(s) unaware users to significant risks ... a crook could analyse electronic documents to gather information that could help them carry out corporate espionage or steal someone else's identity to commit fraud."

APPLE HAS TO PAY BACK A PIECE OF THE PIE
Class action settlement sparked by "thinking different" about tech support

ZDNET reports that APPLE has reached tentative settlement in a class-action lawsuit that alleged the company had failed to fully support Mac OS X on some G3-based Macs.

"The (class action) lawsuit claimed that Apple had promised that OS X would be "fully optimized" to run on all G3 machines but charged that such optimization was not done. As a result of failing to write the necessary drivers, the suit said, performance on older G3s was degraded "so severely that OS X is rendered an unrealistic option," stated the ZDNET report.

G3 users who are completely dissatisfied with Mac OS X, can return it for a full refund or keep it and get (a $25) coupon to use on future Apple products the won't support.

The settlement applies to MAC users who bought early iMacs (Bondi Blue and fruit-colored models) and older iBooks; the first PowerBook G3 models released (through the one that had a bronze keyboard); the first three Power Mac G3 models; and the Power Mac G3 all-in-one, introduced in April 1998.

To be eligible, people must own or have owned one of those machines and purchased Mac OS X for that computer on or before May 15, 2003.

MEMO TO STEVE JOBS:

Webster's defines "support" as:
(3c) to provide with substantiation
(4a) to hold up or serve as a foundation or prop for
(6) to keep (something) going

I'd listen to him, Steve, Webster was a pretty smart guy.

WOULD YOU LIKE WI-FI WITH THAT?
Mickey D's expands it's 802.11(b) service

E-R has a hunch that the Hamburgler is about to become a computer hacker ... BIG TIME.

CNET News reports that McDonalds is so happy with the success of it's WI-FI program that it is expanding it to 100 locations in the Chicago and Milwaukee areas. Seventy-five locations in both the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City already sell Internet access to web surfing fast food devotees.

The fast-food chain sells an hour of wireless access for $4.95, or a whole day for $7.95.

STREAMRIPPER
Record internet streams with a click

Are you listening live on the Internet? STREAMRIPPER will enable you to capture a stream save it to your hard drive.

Coming out of SOURCEFORGE, that open source think tank for cool applications that you NEED, STREAM RIPPER a WINAMP plug-in is easy to use. You will need WINAMP to use it, but that's a cool audio player you should have anyway.

Once you download the STREAMRIPPER plugin and install it, you start WINAMP, go into your Media Library and start your radio stream. Then, start Streamripper and click the Start button to start recording. When you're done, click stop.

That's it! Streamripper automatically saves each stream to a new folder in Winamp's folder in your Program Files.

UPDATE: Some recent testing with various streams shows that WinAmp won't play all internet streams, therefore your mileage may vary.

A NEW WORM STRIKES
W32/Blaster-A Worm spreads like lightning

The latest pernicious worm to assault the internet community is the W32/Blaster-A Worm. And boy, is it spreading like wildfire all across the `Net!

XP, NT, or Windows 2000 users are the likely culprits. If a user is lucky enough to be hit by this worm, they are constantly being knocked off the net & forced to reboot their OS. It ends up being a vicious circle.

Microsoft talks about the fix here.

Synmantec - God bless them - offers a free cleaner here.

SMILE, YOU'RE STUDYING ON CANDID CAMERA
Classrooms get webcams to monitor student behavior

USA TODAY reports on Mississippi schools getting webcams to "deter crime and general misbehavior among the district's 6,300 students -- and teachers!"

Will this be a trend?