Friday's Failsafe

News time. Apple discontinued the Newton on this day in 1998.

1. Microsoft is planning an update to XP before Longhorn - the next version of Windows - ships sometime later in this century. The company wouldn't say when Windows XP - Reloaded (no kidding, that's what they're calling it) will ship or even if it will be a Service Pack or full update. Service Pack 2 is in beta now and should ship soon. No word whether Microsoft plans a Windows XP - Revolutions.
2. Bill Gates is once again the world's richest man worth $46 billion, according to Forbes' 18th annual Billionaires List. Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have joined the list this year, along with Harry Potter author, JK Rowling. Paul Allen, our fearless leader, has dropped one position to #5 with a scant $21 billion.
3. IBM has won in a lawsuit filed by two former employees who claimed that poor conditions at IBM's Almaden, California disk drive plant caused their cancers.
4. Verisign, the primary US domain server, is suing ICANN, the official domain oversight body, over delaying SiteFinder, Verisign's crass attempt to offer a commercial search page in response to failed lookups. Verisign's lawyer called ICANNs attempts to regulate Verisign "brazen," giving a whole new meaning to the word.
5. Sendmail has announced it will support both Microsoft's and Yahoo's email authentication schemes, paving the way for universal email authentication, one of the most important steps toward eliminating spam.
6. According to Sophos, the US generates nearly 60% of all spam worldwide. Second-place Canada generates a mere 7%. The spam doesn't necessarily originate from the US, in fact much of it comes from Russia, but it's being sent from US computers, often without the knowledge of the computers' owners thanks to widespread trojan infections.
7. According to Wall St. Journal, the US Department of Justice is preparing a price fixing case against the major memory manufacturers. Samsung, Hynix, Micron, Infineon and others will be accused of artificially pumping up RAM prices in late 2001 and 2002.
8. The Register says a hi-def DVD recordable spec has been approved by the DVD Forum, paving the way for recordable HDTV discs using blue lasers. The DVD Forum isn't talking. The blue laser discs hold 20 GB per side.