Each weekend we highlight the most relevant stories Wired News has covered. To find out what's coming up, jump to The Week Ahead.
That replicating gal: Melissa, a name of Greek origin meaning "honey bee," stung much of the networked world for a week. The email virus wasn't particularly difficult to avoid, but it nonetheless hit enough Microsoft Outlook users to prompt an FBI warning.
Theories as to Melissa's maker were many, but the one that counted most was the law's. On Thursday night, federal and state authorities in New Jersey arrested David L. Smith and charged him with writing and propagating the virus.
Small businesses, beware: The Web didn't create credit card fraud, but it does make it easier. While big e-commerce sites know this and have taken steps to protect themselves, experts told our reporter that the little guy still faces a world of risk.
Long-term plan: Yahoo burned US$5.6 billion worth of its high-flying stock to acquire Broadcast.com. That's an eye-popping price tag, but with the acquisition, the Web's leading site is now poised to do for audio and video what it did for the written word, say experts.
Open-source blues: Eric Raymond, weary of internal squabbling among the Linux elite, said he wanted to exit his leadership role. Days later, Jamie Zawinski flat-out quit Mozilla.org, lamenting that it failed to reach beyond Netscape's borders and become the collaborative process of his dreams.
MYOB: It sounds benign enough -- Know Your Customer. But civil libertarians call the practice of reporting large banking transactions to the government a gross privacy violation. On Tuesday, the ACLU launched Know Your Banker, an online campaign to mobilize the public against the snooping.
Jesse's campaign: There are pots o' gold aplenty in Silicon Valley, but a rainbow of races and ethnicities? Not hardly, says Jesse Jackson. The civil rights leader began a push to diversify tech board rooms, purchasing stock in 51 Silicon Valley companies.
Kovoso update: Serbian police shut down radio station B92 Friday morning, leaving the Internet as a last slim source of unbiased news from inside the country.
Almost okay: Phone service in the United States will be fine when Y2K rolls around. So claimed the Federal Communications Commission, with just a few caveats.
Not your father's IBM: Stodgy old Big Blue doing Web design? It's true. In fact, IBM, with a team of 450 technologists, creative directors and systems integrators, has quietly become one of the largest Web design firms.
IBM's Net cred got a big boost, too, with the announcement that the company will cease advertising on any site that doesn't post a privacy policy. Even folks typically skeptical of industry's ability to police itself were impressed. BTW, only Microsoft spends more on Web advertising than IBM.
Your vitals: Guarding your online identity and info is one thing -- but as technology advances, far more personal data could be up for grabs. Thus the call for "privacy principles" aimed at keeping tight reins on things like retina scans, voice recognition files, fingerprint files and DNA information.
Bezos' bid: Amazon dipped into its billion-dollar cash barrel to build an auction site. Hardly risk-free, it's a leap into a sector peopled by experienced hands like eBay and Onsale.com. But, say those in the know, it's probably "a wise strategic move."
Lucas' loonies: The Phantom Menace opens 19 May, but a hardcore group of fans will soon begin lining up for tickets. It's tradition, they say -- and it's on the Web. Which also happens to be the only place you'll find tickets for the upcoming Cranberries tour.
Digital itch: Three guys in Amsterdam say their product FinalScratch lets DJs and party throwers map digital sound files, including MP3, to a special vinyl record. So no, new audio formats won't spell the end of mixing and scratching.
Ink of a reddish hue: Iridium overcame a lot of obstacles and spent a ton of money to get its global satellite phone system in place. The only piece of the puzzle that's been missing? Customers.
Gilmore's geeks: It would take the world's fastest supercomputer 62,000 years to find a prime number big enough to win the EFF Cooperative Computing Challenge, which began Wednesday. But put 1.5 million ordinary PCs across the Internet on the job, and the number might be had in a year.
Money trail: Pure science hardly exists anymore, not with industry funding most university research. Participants at an MIT conference said this stifles the free and open exchange of information -- and they had horror stories to back up their claims.
Dibachi's designs: Farzad Dibachi unveiled his startup company Niku, which will build products aimed at helping companies organize and hang onto "the soft stuff, what's in people's heads." Analysts say it's a great idea, with any business that relies on intellectual horsepower a potential customer.
Better than gold: Australian mining firms are fleeing their slumping sector and heading for the Internet. "Gold is a very cyclical business, while e-commerce is here to stay," said one of the companies, reflecting just how upside-down the world has been turned by the digital revolution.
Ballmer's way: Microsoft announced it will align itself around five new business groups and add a hardware division -- but no, the company said, this isn't a road map for a post-trial breakup.
Meanwhile, settlement talks with the government began on Tuesday but apparently went nowhere. Later in the week, Microsoft did damage control after ally and home-state senator Slade Gorton called trial judge Thomas Penfield Jackson "a second- or third-rate judge."
Stepping back: Analyst Keith Benjamin, famously bullish when it comes to Net stocks, turned bear this week. Sort of. His new take: Avoid small companies with big valuations and stick with established Net brands like Amazon.com, SportsLine and Lycos.
Guy's guys: Business plans, schmizness plans. Networking -- now that's the key to getting financing for your startup. So said Guy Kawasaki of Garage.com, who's got a good thing going himself, convincing 500 entrepreneurial wannabes to fork over $495 for his Bootcamp for Startups seminar. THE WEEK AHEAD
5 April: It was 20 years ago that Sony introduced the Walkman, the first personal stereo. It didn't change the world, but it sure made gettin' around a lot more fun.
5 to 8 April, Colorado Springs, Colorado: A. Defense Secretary William Cohen, Clinton prosecutor James Sensenbrenner and the Tofflers. Q. Who's scheduled to speak at the National Space Symposium?
6 to 8 April, Washington, DC: "It's way too much of an 'insider's conference,' filled with inside jokes and jargon." So said co-founder Gary Chapman after last year's Computers, Privacy + Freedom gathering. Nonetheless, the movers and shakers will be there once again.
7 April, Washington, DC: On Night 2 at CFP99, Privacy International hands out the Big Brother Awards, spotlighting the "government and private sector organizations which have done the most to invade personal privacy in the United States."
8 April, Augusta, Maine: Is Maine really going to stockpile 13 million cubic feet of rice and beans just in case Y2K goes really bad? Legislators are scheduled to hold a hearing on the proposal.
