New & Noteworthy: Tomorrow's big news; Apple financial data; Outpost hangs on; more

OK Mac, What's So Special Now? Another reminder from Wired about tomorrow's announcement by Apple of some new device other than a Mac: "The invitation arrived via FedEx, in a plain white envelope with a handwritten inscription. The card was spare, clean, white. Like pretty much everything Apple does these days, it was fancy in an understated way." More.

Apple Puts the Squeeze on Other Box Makers From Worldly Investor News: "Apple has $4.3 billion in cash, which is more than the GDP of some countries. That's about $12 a share. Apple stock trades at $18. The company shipped 850,000 units in the quarter, with the 250,000 shipped iBooks picking up the sales slack in the other products." More.

Outpost Hangs on as Fry's Merger Deadline Approaches From E-Commerce Times: "Struggling e-tailer Outpost makes it clear in a recent SEC filing that the merger with Fry's Electronics is its best hope for long-term survival. Outpost.com, one of the first big-name pure-play e-tailers, continues to lose money but says it expects to have enough cash to hang on until its proposed merger with Fry's Electronics can be consummated." More.

Beyond Carnivore: FBI Eyes Packet Taps From InteractiveWeek: "Stewart Baker, a partner with law firm Steptoe & Johnson, is a former general counsel to the National Security Agency. He says the FBI has spent the last two years developing a new surveillance architecture that would concentrate Internet traffic in several key locations where all packets, not just e-mail, could be wiretapped. It is now planning to begin implementing this architecture using the powers it has under existing wiretapping laws." More.

Hacker cracks Microsoft anti-piracy software From CNET: "A piece of software being distributed anonymously online has successfully cracked part of Microsoft's anti-piracy technology, the centerpiece of much of the giant's recent forays into the audio and video world. Microsoft confirmed Friday that the code, written by a programmer using the pseudonym 'Beale Screamer,' can strip off the protections that prevent a song from being copied an unlimited amount of times." More.

Ad industry promises to regulate Web bugs From ComputerWire.com: "The Internet ad industry says pixels that track users' web use are just a form of cookie - but it plans to regulate their use by advertisers. The Network Advertising Initiative, a dwindling coalition of Internet advertising firms, last week announced that it intends to develop industry standard best practice principle for the use of so-called 'Web bugs.'" More.

Supreme Court Set to Consider 'Virtual' Child Pornography From The New York Times: "A hard-fought legal debate over the constitutionality of a federal law designed to punish 'virtual' or computer-generated child pornography will echo through the courtroom of the United States Supreme Court in two weeks, when the justices are scheduled to hear oral arguments in the matter, Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition." More.

What makes a winning Net grocer? From CNET/Knowledge@Wharton: "As most people now know, for all its hubris, Webvan has turned out to be one of the dot-com economy's most spectacular failures. After burning its way through more than $1.2 billion in two years after its high-profile launch, the company declared bankruptcy in July this year. Most of its 2,000 employees were let go with minimal notice. Since then, the company has been liquidating its assets. Borders, through one of his companies, has petitioned the bankruptcy court to let him buy Webvan's software technology for $2.5 million and the assumption of $500,000 in debt." More.