Jenni throws in the towel

Nude Web broadcasting pioneer Jenni of Jennicam fame is throwing in the towel. CNet reports that Jennifer Ringley, 27, who became a quasi-celebrity when she installed video cameras in her room at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania in April 1996 and launched JenniCam.org, will broadcast no more.

A spokeswoman at online payment company PayPal confirmed that they were closing her account because the frontal nudity on her Web site violates the company`s acceptable use policy.

One of the most heavily touted concepts of the Internet boom was "convergence" - the notion that practically all consumer technologies, from television to instant messaging, would be housed in a single box, recalls CNet. But will it be a TV or a PC?

Neither really, it says. "To the likely surprise of most shoppers this holiday season, the box of the future may end up to be the humble game console."

Game companies are expanding their technologies, in part to avoid being eclipsed by digital video recorders and other living room boxes that have similar survival instincts. The experiment could have multibillion-dollar consequences for industries as diverse as computing, consumer electronics, entertainment and communications, while redefining household entertainment.

A handful of recent online attacks on free and open-source software servers has open-source developers looking over their shoulders, reports CNet.

During the last four months, unknown intruders have breached the security around servers hosting programs and code published by the Linux kernel development team, the Debian Project, the Gentoo Linux Project and the GNU Project, which manages the development of many important programs used by Linux and other Unix-like systems. The attacks have convinced open-source project leaders to take another look at their security.