Each weekend we highlight the most relevant stories Wired News has covered. To find out what's coming up, jump to The Week Ahead.
At the movies: The Phantom Menace finally opened and, screw the critics, most hard-core fans found fun in the Star Wars prequel. Didn't take long, though, for geek attention to shift to Austin Powers, the Holy Spirit of the Internet scene. Meanwhile, a small special-effects company claimed ILM owes an unacknowledged debt to cheap software and standard Macintosh computers.
Scientology slam back: Customer complaints convinced Amazon.com to reverse course and return A Piece of Blue Sky to its catalog. The company had recently pulled the Scientology exposé, which is banned in Britain.
RealSpammer: Network administrators and anti-junk mail activists said RealNetworks' huge database is littered with fake email addresses, in effect making it a spammer. They asked RN to confirm addresses when people register, but the company said no.
Now go take on the legislature: Dr. Laura urged her listeners to raise a stink in support of a library filtering bill. And just like that, three state senators changed their minds and voted to keep it alive.
It wants to be free: The Commerce Department flipped the switch on a new search site that pulls together information from millions of federal documents -- for a fee. Within hours, the White House asked for a review of gov.search, and requested that all charges be waived until further notice.
Webscam.com: "He cleaned me out of US$1,800, and I got a Web site that my Saint Bernard could have done better." That was one man's take on Robert Weber, whose Web work has left a lot of people in South Florida -- as well as the folks at Playboy -- very peeved.
Bulletproof: Free Web-based email can be convenient, but it's not always so secure. Enter Hushmail, which uses 1024-bit encryption. That's right, 1024. That kind of impenetrability is likely to add fuel to the debate over the availability of strong encryption tools in the United States.
Handheld letdown: The new Palm VII is supposed to be all about wireless access. But Web browsing? Fuggedaboutit. Instead, what your $599 investment -- plus $9.99 a month -- gets you is "Web-clipping" services provided by third parties.
Still kickin': Free B92 was back on the air, if only for a day. The Belgrade radio station, shut down by Slobodan Milosevic just before the NATO bombing began, did 24 hours of netcasting, with artists from all over the world contributing material.
All it can be: Money-losing Be's planned IPO may be a matter of life or death, but analysts had a hard time mustering enthusiasm when asked about its prospects.
We trade, therefore we are: Just two months old, Drugstore.com is another IPO wannabe. Already? Well, yeah, the company said, calling the planned offering a fine way to increase its visibility.
The good news for the online pharmacy is that the IPO market remains hot for Net plays, as demonstrated this week by Etoys.
Heal thyself: At the Center for Future Health, they're busy working on melanoma monitors, smart toothbrushes, and wearable computers. More than just neat gizmos, these self-care products might keep you from going to the doctor so often.
AOL's guy: Federal Communications Commission chairman William Kennard said the FCC does indeed have regulatory power over Net-by-cable service. This in response to America Online's concerns that new cable power AT&T will limit access to dialups.
Cryptographer, world conqueror: Neal Stephenson's newest, Cryptonomicon, found a perch in Amazon's top ten. "A bulky, though manageable package that seems destined to become the first true cypherpunk novel," was Declan McCullagh's assessment.
Breaking the VC barrier: Computer-related industries raked in US$33.5 billion in venture capital between 1991 and 1996, but only 1.6 percent of that went to women entrepreneurs. Viridian's Willa Seldon and Christine Cordaro want to change that by focusing their effort on women-led firms. Mostly, though, "we want to make as much money as possible," Seldon said.
Market maker: Petroleum, pork bellies ... and bandwidth? Just another commodity, according to a company called Enron, which said it wants to develop a marketplace for trading contracts in high-speed digital connections.
EFF weighs in: The debate over digital music welcomed a new player this week, one actually not in it for the money. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, noting the recording industry's push to kill MP3, called for open formats that may "encourage the full flowering of individual expression."
Deep thoughts: Bill Gates had some pals over to Redmond to chat -- CEO-types, numbering more than 100. "Time is finite, information is infinite," announced the Microsoft chief, who seems to prefer the role of visionary over ruthless capitalist (publicly, at least). The focus then turned to broadband, and how everybody's going to make a killing off it.
Saddam's line: A leading Iraqi newspaper launched its Web site, and humanitarians were hopeful that the move would raise awareness of how badly the country is faring under UN sanctions. Right now, though, it only raises awareness of the paper's poor translating, outdated news, and slow, wretched graphics.
Art for the new millennium: Just another tech museum? Try telling that to Linz, Austria, unlikely but proud home of the Ars Electronica Center, a tech-art Mecca with the only projection-screen VR setup in the world open to the general public.
Get with it: So, what's with the Museum of Web Art? While art critics, curators, and historians devise innovative ways to showcase Web art, MOWA remains stuck on an interface that mimics the physical space of a traditional museum.
Interactive-plus: A new plug-in called Third Voice allows users to highlight areas of text and footnote any Web page they visit. Cool for users, but what will corporations and large media outlets think if it catches on? THE WEEK AHEAD
25 May, Salt Lake City, Utah: A judge hears Microsoft's motion for a summary judgment in the Caldera antitrust lawsuit. Heading into the hearing, Microsoft was ordered to give the media access to classified documents in the case.
25 to 27 May, Berlin: For three days, the Net's new governing body ICANN will call the Hotel Adlon home. In addition to meetings of its advisory committees, general assembly, and constituency groups, a day-long public meeting is set for Wednesday.
26 May, New York City: The New York New Media Association hosts an evening conference on "What You Can Learn from the Online Sex Industry," and the prediction here is that it will be well-attended.
28 May: US and European negotiators are scheduled to try again to bridge the gap on digital privacy. So far, the Americans haven't accepted the EU's tough European Data Directive.
29 to 31 May: It's iMacs for the mass market as the colorful cuties go on sale at Sears stores throughout the nation over Memorial Day weekend.
