New & Noteworthy: GIF license fees; Palm news; NT security; Talking Moose; more

Web sites to pay for using GIF images? This may sound like a joke, but it's not. Unisys, which holds a patent for the LZW compression technology used in GIF images, wants to charge web sites a $5000 fee (or more!) for using GIF images on their sites. (Thanks, Lon Baker, who is also covering this issue on the Osmosys web site.)

Update: Keith Stone contends that the controversy here is more smoke than fire. He writes: "Basically, you are in violation of the license only if you are creating GIFs with unlicensed software, and you are using those GIFs for commercial purposes." Most webmasters need not worry. [Personally, I still find the language on the Unisys page to be confusing, especially as regards its definition of a "Billboard Web site" and what such a site would "qualify" for.]

Palm news A News.com article talks about upcoming Palm-licensed devices from Handspring. Meanwhile, a ZDNet article notes that Palm Computing itself is expected to concentrate more on its operating system software than on future hardware; hardware will come increasingly from third parties. (Thanks, Monty Solomon.)

Microsoft NT security flaw A TechWeb article states that "Microsoft has acknowledged a serious security flaw in NT when used with Service Pack 4 (SP4). The flaw enables hackers to masquerade as trusted hosts to get access to secure systems, using so-called Predictable IP Sequence Numbering - something that was identified and fixed in Unix systems several years ago." (Thanks, Monty Solomon.)

Apparently, this problem also affects the Mac OS, although reports on MacInTouch claim that it will be fixed in Mac OS 9.

Web site opens backdoor to Hotmail accounts From IDG News: "A Swedish hacker identified as 'Erikb' earlier today set up a Web site featuring a major security breach in Microsoft Corp.'s free, Web-based Hotmail service, allowing full access to users' e-mail accounts."

Free Tomb Raider II Newer Technology is giving away a free copy of Tomb Raider II software with any MAXpowr G3 processor upgrade purchased from August 21 through November 30, 1999.

Mozilla M9 is the latest update to this next generation web browser from Netscape.

Pocket Quicken 1.0 works with Quicken 2000 and your Palm Organizer.

PlayerPRO 5.3.2 is the latest version of this music editing program. No additional MIDI hardware required. It is fully tested with Mac OS 9 and QuickTime 4.0.

The Talking Moose lives and is updated for the year 2000!

Live Deskpicture 0.97b8 creates a dynamic image of the earth that updates as the world turns. Use it as a desktop background picture.

Apple stock approached $65 on Friday. A MacWEEK article has some background.