Brendan I. Koerner

Last July, a federal appeals court forced Napster to shutter its MP3-swapping service. Copyright-shirking music geeks turned to rival networks like Morpheus, KaZaA, and Grokster, through which tens of millions of bootlegged files now flow daily. Why are these upstarts still running?

They're darn stubborn. The entertainment industry figured that the Napster court order would put the kibosh on future file-sharing schemes. But the new companies relish playing David to the recording industry's Goliath; Steven Griffin, for example, CEO of Morpheus… more

The so-called Tauzin-Dingell Act, slated for a House vote this Wednesday, has seemingly spawned more drive-time radio ads than "Hooked on Phonics." The bill would allow the "Baby Bell" phone companies to offer long-distance data services without first abandoning their local monopolies, thus nixing a key regulatory provision of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Because interstate broadband is worth billions, the four titans of regional telecom -- Verizon, SBC, Qwest, and BellSouth -- have spent months saturating the airwaves with… more

For Alan and Louise Masterton, the death of their daughter, Nicole, had a uniquely cruel twist. It was terrible enough that the3-year-old succumbed to burns suffered in an accident at the family's Monifieth, Scotland, home in 1999. But for the Mastertons, Nicole was more than just a cherished child -- she was a chromosomal miracle. The couple had spent 15 years trying to conceive a girl, bearing four sons in the process. When Nicole finally arrived in 1995, the Mastertons… more

Mention the Caspian Sea to an oil tycoon and his eyes are bound to flare with longing. Ever since the Soviet Union's demise, energy executives have dreamt of tapping the vast petroleum stores beneath the Japan-sized body of water and the post-Soviet nations that surround it -- Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan. The US Department of Energy estimates that the Caspian basin contains an eye-popping 110 billion barrels of oil, three times America's proven reserves. The Kashagan field, for example, which… more

Numerous culprits have been faulted for the technology industry's recent woes, from profligate executives to Pollyannaish stock pickers. But wide-eyed journalists deserve a fair share of the blame, too. During the go-go '90s, Silicon Valley press coverage often seemed more like hagiography than reportage, as high-tech magnates were treated with an awe previously reserved for rock stars and astronauts.

In "The New Imperialists: How Five Restless Kids Grew Up to Virtually Rule Your World," Mark Leibovich offers an antidote to… more

Vision is a favorite topic of Dr. Garth W. Coonce, a minor Christian-broadcasting magnate from Marion, Illinois. In his monthly newsletter, Partnership, he often muses on the sacred visions that have inspired him to amass 16 television stations, creating a 24-hour network that beams charismatic preachers like Creflo Dollar and Benny Hinn into devout homes. Coonce also likes to share the communiques he still receives from the Almighty, who occasionally instructs him to expand his media holdings into, say,… more

The hardcore fans of Aibo, a popular robotic pet, are a creative, if geeky, bunch. Since 1999, when the lifelike toys first appeared beneath Christmas trees, hundreds of Aibo enthusiasts have programmed their charges to perform tricks unimagined in the boardrooms of Sony, the robot's creator. By expertly tweaking Aibo's code, hobbyists have enabled the robobeast to boogie to Madonna's "Vogue," double as a breadbox-sized surveillance camera, or growl "Bite my shiny metal robot ass!" All these behaviors are infinitely… more

With America on full alert for the foreseeable future, interest in biometric scanners -- devices that verify a person's identity by measuring unique features such as nasal curvature, iris patterns, or hand shape -- has been booming. But civil liberties watchdogs, privacy advocates, and even some security gurus warn that the devices are less effective than advertised and that the personal data they generate could easily be misused.

Currently, biometric tools are primarily marketed as "smart locks" to prevent trespassers from… more

Federal authorities are currently prosecuting Nicodemo Scarfo Jr. -- the 36-year-old son of jailed-for-life Philadelphia godfather Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo -- for running a loan-sharking and gambling operation in New Jersey. According to a New York Times article, an FBI sweep of Junior's computer hard drive revealed that he was breaking federal usury laws by charging annual interest of 152 percent a year for his very illegal loans.

Now, 152 percent is steep by Citibank standards, but it's a sweet… more

Last year, Theodore Postol began distributing a report critical of a missile-defense system made by aerospace giant TRW. Postol, an MIT professor of technology and security policy, argued that Pentagon scientists had doctored TRW's data to conceal the fact that cheap, low-tech decoys can easily fool the $60 billion-plus system. A nuclear warhead could be encased in a Mylar balloon, for example, and released with a flurry of identical balloons; the defensive missiles would be unable to detect which one… more