By The Associated Press
The Associated Press

The Moorish invaders who once ruled Spain brought with them a clever irrigation system that helped turn arid land into verdant fields. A millennium later it is still largely in use, and Spain remains one of Europe's breadbaskets.

But after years of chronic drought coupled with vastly increased water use, not to mention worrying climatic change, farm groups have realized it's high time for change.

Spain's federation of irrigators, known as Fenacore, is promoting an initiative to computerize Spain's irrigation system by 2010, connecting some 500,000 farmers to an irrigation network headquartered outside Madrid.

The scheme should allow valuable water to be monitored and controlled by computer, drop by precious drop.

"We're jumping from the 13th century to the 21st century," said Juan Valero, Fenacore's secretary general.

While computer-assisted irrigation is not new, Fenacore believes no other country is organizing it at a national level. So far 200,000 farmers have signed up for the project, Valero said.

"The only way to manage water is to measure how much enters each channel, and computer technology is the best way to do this," he said.

Farmers are being encouraged to move away from outdated, wasteful Moorish-style flood irrigation systems toward drip and aspersion irrigation. They are also asked to lay highly efficient telecommunications cables alongside main water conduits so that the irrigation grid can be monitored from a national computer center.

"In almost half of Spain, the irrigation technique used is flooding, which uses up to three or four times more than the water that is necessary," Environment Minister Cristina Narbona said recently.

Fenacore estimates computerized irrigation will mean up to 20 percent water savings.

_ Ciaran Giles, AP Writer.

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Virtual world bans gambling

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The virtual world "Second Life" has banned gambling, a cautious legal maneuver that could dent revenue and spark anger among fans.

Although "Second Life" is home to large corporations such as Toyota Motor Corp. and Intel (News - Alert) Corp., which have virtual advertisements and marketing promotions, thousands of gambling shops dominate commerce. Virtual characters, known as "avatars," may compete at baccarat, poker, slots or other games.

San Francisco-based Linden Lab, which operates "Second Life," imposed the gambling ban last week, citing in a blog "conflicting gambling regulations around the world."

The company may remove violators' virtual equipment and may suspend or terminate accounts. Linden Labs also threatened to report user information to authorities.

"Second Life" executives refused to elaborate.

Numerous "Second Life" fans complained in message forums and on their blogs that the ban was a heavy-handed move to restrict freedom, and experts said the ban could crimp revenue.

"Second Life" has 8.5 million avatars, including 1.7 million logged on at least once in the past two months. Although creating an avatar is free, players may buy "Linden dollars," which can be cashed out for U.S. dollars at a variable rate. In the past 24 hours, players have spent $1.3 million on virtual clothes, real estate and other items.

Steve Nelson, chief strategy officer of Berkeley-based Clear Ink Inc., which provides virtual-world consulting services, said "Second Life" casino operators would be the hardest hit by the ban -- but it could also result in an overall downturn in spending.

"It's a funny psychological thing, because even though for some people it's a small amount of real dollars, they are dollars that circulate in the SL economy," he said.

_ Rachel Konrad, AP Technology Writer

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Companies seek control of `.us' domain

NEW YORK (AP) -- In Britain, ".uk" is the suffix of choice for Internet addresses. In Germany, it's ".de."

In the United States, however, ".us" is the forgotten stepchild. Web sites tend to prefer ".com," which was designed as a global moniker for commercial sites but is heavily populated by Americans.

Two companies prominent in the domain name industry want to challenge that notion.

Believing they could do a better job marketing the country's own domain name, ".info" operator Afilias Ltd. and registration company GoDaddy.com Inc. are now trying to take over the operations of ".us." They'll face a challenge from its current operator and possibly others. The U.S. government could rule as early as this month.

NeuStar (News - Alert) Inc. won the ".us" contract in 2001. At the time, addresses ending in ".us" were confusing to register and use. With the government's approval, NeuStar permitted sites to obtain non-geographic addresses such as "clothingstore.us," rather than the more cumbersome "clothingstore.los-angeles.ca.us."

The domain grew in usage to 1.3 million today, up from about 17,000 in 2001.

But that's still a fraction of the 11 million for ".de" and 6 million each for ".uk" and China's ".cn." Even the Netherland's ".nl" has about twice as many names.

"Now is the time to change (the `.us') leadership and put it on a growth track," said Roland LaPlante, chief marketing officer for Dublin, Ireland-based Afilias, whose U.S. arm is bidding with GoDaddy for the ".us" contract when the current one expires Oct. 25.

NeuStar won't step aside without a fight. It is seeking a contract renewal and believes quality rather than quantity is what counts. In a statement, the company said it has demonstrated its ability to operate ".us" with "the highest levels of security, stability, technical expertise and policy compliance."

It is not known if other companies have submitted bids. The Commerce Department did not return calls for comment.

_ Anick Jesdanun, AP Internet Writer

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ComScore to profile computer settings

NEW YORK (AP) -- ComScore Inc., a company best known for measuring the popularity of leading Web sites, has launched a new service for profiling computer hardware, configurations and usage.

ComScore believes that by providing information on what kinds of computers are in use and what software and settings are on them, developers will be able to better tailor their products, identify cross-promotion opportunities and understand adoption trends.

The new service, known as comScore Tech Metrix, is the company's "first foray into non-Web based measurement," said Linda Boland Abraham, executive vice president at comScore.

"When combined with Web behavior profiles, marketers can develop a granular perspective not only on the machine configuration and usage of key customers, but how and where to reach them on the Web," she said.

Tech Metrix will use a panel assembled through both online and random telephone recruiting methods.

The service will collect such information as system manufacturer, operating system, screen resolution, installed software and version number, default browser and browser settings.

_ Anick Jesdanun, AP Internet Writer

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