Each weekend we highlight the most relevant stories Wired News has covered. To find out what's coming up, jump to The Week Ahead.
Don't open that file: The world stands on virus alert, again. This time the culprit is the much more difficult to trace W32/ExploreZip.worm, which travels via email and deletes Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files. So virulent is this worm, Intel and Microsoft have shut down large sections of their email networks. The FBI is intensifying its investigation, but as yet appears to have no clues to the worm's perpetrator.
Digital Amazon: Amazon.com has launched a new digital music section, giving online music insiders hope that the world of digital music, previously considered the exclusive domain of college students and geeks, will turn mainstream.
Conflicting interests?: Online drugstore PlanetRx announced it would develop several disease-specific sites, beginning with diabetes.com, that will be bankrolled by drugmaker Parke-Davis. The relationship immediately had some people wondering if patients will be able to count on PlanetRx for objective medical information.
E-brouhaha: EBay told edeal to stop asking new users to supply their eBay feedback ratings when they register at the site. EBay said people might somehow be confused by the practice; edeal said it's just trying to give sellers and buyers a way to demonstrate their credibility. No legal action -- yet.
Government presses on against MS: The government, pressing its antitrust case against Microsoft, tried to show that the software giant's monopoly was so powerful, it tried to strong-arm even IBM. MS said no such bullying occurred, and that the disputes between the two companies were the inevitable product of their OS/2 breakup. Plus, said MS, IBM underpaid Microsoft millions of dollars for software.
MS marches on: However Microsoft played the browser game, it can now safely be declared the winner. A new survey revealed that for the first time, Internet Explorer moved ahead of Netscape Communicator and Navigator in the overall market.
And on: As Office 2000 officially hit the stores, Microsoft trumpeted its tight wiring with the Web. But critics said the commingling of existing Web standards with the proprietary data of Office 2000's native file formats could spell trouble.
Too-free speech: Hundreds of Web hosts joined together to stop Third Voice, whose software allows users to post comments on sites they visit. The comments are seen only by other users of Third Voice, but dissenters said it's still an invasion of privacy and a violation of copyright law.
SDMI on track: The Secure Digital Music Initiative reached agreement on "reference architecture" that lays the groundwork for developing digital audio playback devices. That means the recording industry may yet have specs for an MP3 alternative by 30 June, as planned.
Shag report: James Glave reviews the much-anticipated Austin Powers sequel -- now playing everywhere, as they say. To sum up: "The loyalists have seen the first film so many times that [Mike] Myers' latest, subtle variations on the same theme fall flat."
You've got a protest: Close to 1 million people stayed offline throughout Europe to protest metered Internet access. Or so claimed organizers of the pan-European boycott. Among the action's backers was America Online, which needs reduced rates in its fight against telco-backed free services.
Downstream trouble: An anti-spammer group went after a company called ibill, and in the process blocked credit card transactions for thousands of Net-based businesses for days. Ibill is threatening legal action; the spam fighters say the mishap was unfortunate, but an inevitable byproduct of Net self-regulation in the absence of government leadership.
That'll show 'em: AT&T WorldNet bowed to a subpoena and gave the Church of Scientology's publishing arm the name of an online critic. The anonymous poster said that in doing so, AT&T has put his life at risk. He'll fight back by switching his online and long-distance service to MCI.
Inventory no more: Sony snuck a new factor into the digital-music equation, announcing it will distribute its music catalog to stores by way of a high-speed digital network. The system could ensure that customers never walk away from a store unable to find the CD they wanted.
Enough already: Mill Cove District School shut down its email address after an innocent little geography project -- a dozen or so pleas for info from abroad -- spread like a virus and brought thousands of responses to the Nova Scotia fifth graders. "We've definitely put Mill Cove on the map," said a teacher there. "But what a mess."
Sci-fi steps out: It wasn't the Oscars, far from it. But the 25th annual Saturn Awards, given by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films, represented a step up from the old days for the oft-mocked genre. Among the winners: Drew Barrymore, The Truman Show, and the Godzilla special-effects team.
Didn't add up: One of those cheap-PC schemes ran into trouble, with Softstream customers saying they hadn't received their $250 desktop computers. The Utah company, which hoped to profit on the below-cost sales by renting software to users, blamed an investment shortfall for the problems.
X by the bay: San Francisco welcomed the X-Games, the ESPN-produced extreme-sports fest previously held in San Diego. Said Mayor Willie Brown, with characteristic subtlety: "They don't belong in the old-people town of San Diego."
Med-tech: Instead of daily insulin injections, diabetics might soon be able to rely on a surgically implanted pump to feed them insulin as needed. This "artificial pancreas," relying on new chip technology, is three years or more away from reality, researchers said.
Secure in the knowledge: The much-quoted computer security pundit John Vranesevich was accused of paying people to hack sites so he could get the scoops on the stories. Vranesevich vehemently denied the charges and said Attrition.org was just upset that he was working with the Air Force and other government agencies to help track down crackers.
Getting desperate: Iridium, try to lure more customers to its lightly used, debt-ridden satellite phone service, said it would cut prices. The depths of Iridium's problems were emphasized when distributor US Digital Communications said it was giving up on trying to market the service.
We surrender: Demon Internet decided not to fight the ruling that found the service provider responsible for postings to its newsgroup servers. The case sets a strong precedent that ISPs in the United Kingdom potentially could be held liable for the content of gigabytes' worth of materials that move over their servers daily.
Spaced out: SETI@home, which uses spare computing cycles on PCs to search for signs of intelligent life beamed to Earth, has been erroneously sending the same packets of radio data to its 500,000 participants, over and over. One miffed volunteer estimated that reprocessing of old data wasted "eight tons of fossil fuel per hour."
I'm givin' her all she's got, Captain: Well, yes, there are problems with Chris Van Den Broeck's theory of warp-speed travel. For starters, though his "warp bubble" could run on less than a gram of negative energy, it's physically impossible to generate even that small amount today. Still, it's a way cool idea, as any Trekkie would attest. THE WEEK AHEAD
14 to 16 June, Washington, DC: The congressional Joint Economic Committee holds a first-ever National Summit on High Technology. Day 1 features appearances by Fed chairman Alan Greenspan and IBM Chief Louis Gerstner. Microsoft's Bill Gates headlines Day 2, with other speakers, presenters, and panelists to be announced.
15 to 16 June, San Diego: MP3.com holds its second MP3 Summit. "Bands, eats, and a superstar lineup of speakers and panels," promises MP3.com's Michael Robertson.
15 to 18 June, San Francisco: It's the big one for Java devotees: the JavaOne Conference. All of Sun's top people will be there, along with hordes of developers.
18 June, New York and Los Angeles: Phantom Menace begins limited digital screening, the first step toward the Lucas vision of celluloid-free theaters everywhere.
18 June, Washington, DC: The National Gambling Impact Study Commission delivers its report to Congress and the President. Among its recommendations, a call for a federal ban on Internet gambling.
