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IT Trends for Thursday, April 22, 2004

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Thursday, April 22, 2004

In This Issue

OPINION

Terry Calhoun, IT Trends Commentator
Society for College and University Planning (SCUP)
University of Michigan


Why You Should Care Very Much About a 26-Page Legal Filing: And Thank a Bunch of Associations

SCADA Security and the "Most Monumental Non-Nuclear Explosion and Fire" On April 13, a coalition of higher education associations filed a 26-page legal brief known as a “comment” with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) opposing a Justice Department petition which asks the FCC to allow it to apply the same rules regarding wiretapping that it currently enjoys with traditional telephony to all types of broadband Internet access. Hooray for the coalition! And, thanks.

If the Justice Department loses within the FCC, as I hope it d'es, the same issues will show up on the legislative calendars in the Congress and the Senate. If you feel strongly about these issues, please use the link provided at the end of this article to express your concerns to your elected officials. (The link will tell you who they are and provide contact information instantly, based on your zip code.)
Read more


IT NEWS

Internet Speed Record Set: 6.26 Gbps Over 11,000 Kilometers

Researchers at CalTech and CERN, who had set the previous Internet speed record, pursue new such records to illustrate the top-end capabilities of Internet2. The Internet2 judging panel said that such work demonstrates potentials for research and teaching.
Read more

Purdue Unveils Virtual Reality "Cave"

Purdue's Envision Center for Data Perceptualization has a new "cave," which lets users interact with virtual objects as though they are real, using special goggles and gloves. One interesting early use of the room is to fill it with a virtual audience to help students overcome their fears of public speaking.
Read more

TCP Flaw--Internet Wide Open to Hackers?

A researcher in Milwaukee discovered last year that he can routinely trick personal computers and routers into shutting down digital information transmission by remotely resetting the machines. He says that terrorists can understand "within five minutes" how to use the flaw to launch large scale attacks.
Read more

Peer-to-Peer Arms Race

UCLA has joined the University of Florida in implementing an Automated Copyright Notice System (ACNS), leading critics of those systems and others to decry a continuous pounding of user rights and privileges that will just lead universities and colleges into a costly, technology "arms race." The software is open-source and royalty-free.
Read more

Search Engine Wars

This five-part series from NPR's Morning Edition covers the history, development, current status, and future of the search engine business - and its influence on the Internet.
Read more (and listen to)

How Secure Is Your Backup and Retrieval of Patient Information?

If your institution has a medical school and/or stores patient or research data, the stringent requirements of HIPAA, the the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, are something that will soon, or may already be, affecting your IT life.
Read more

Customs Officials Don't Have Access to SEVIS Data

Despite huge and expensive efforts by colleges and universities to comply with the requirements of the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, the front line of US customs officials comprehensively d'es not have access to or use the data.
Read more

Will Colleges Miss the Next Big Thing?

Subtitled: "Technology budget cuts could hurt innovation on campuses, officials worry," this is a report of a Chronicle/Gartner survey ot top CIOs and it's worrisome, indeed. Staff are getting the most bang for their buck, but creativity and innovation is directed at saving money - not necessarily creating better or new services and products. (Requires paid subscription)
Read more

Oracle, Intel, HP, and Others Drive Adoption of Grid Computing

The Enterprise Grid Alliance (EGA) is a consortium formed to develop enterprise grid solutions and accelerate the deployment of grid computing in enterprises.
Read more

SMART Board Big Hit at Hendrix College

This is a case of higher education following K-12, as the education department is implementing this hi-tech device to ensure teachers learn how to use it while getting their undergraduate degree.
Read more

Are Campus Cards Too Smart for Their Own Good?

Implementation successes and failures on a variety of campuses show that it's not the technology that fails to work, it's the lack of appropriate business model and need.
Read more

Entertainment Industry Takes Anti-Piracy Offensive to Campuses

Taking their anti-piracy crusade to the front lines, the music and film industries are set to launch a new technology that will enable copyright holders to better police ISPs or high-volume networks like those on university campuses.
Read more

Stanford's Linux Supercomputers Compromised

Malicious hackers using sophisticated password-sniffing techniques have compromised multi-user Linux and Solaris computers that run academic supercomputer centers, according to an advisory issued by the Stanford University's IT Systems and Services (ITSS) unit.
Read more

RESOURCES


The Cult of Mac Blog

Wired News has introduced a new service for Mac afficianados that runs alongside its pre-existing Mac resources. It's a "a daily update of curious, quirky Mac-related links."
Learn more

DEALS, CONTRACTS, AWARDS

Campus Solutions Implementation at the U. of Cambridge

CIBER Enterprise Solutions announced it has won an implementation contract for PeopleSoft Enterprise Campus Solutions and PeopleSoft Enterprise Portal with the University of Cambridge (UK) strengthening the higher education practice.
Read more

Sponsored by:
Is your campus prepared for the tech-savvy student?
Dell University programs can enable you to successfully plan student computing initiatives. We can help you select the systems and configurations that best suit your university's needs. Find out how prepared your campus is by taking this quick assessment.

Click here for details.

Events


Syllabus2004 July 18-22, San Francisco: Technologies to Connect the Campus

Events Calendar


Sponsored by:
CyberLearning Labs ANGEL Course Management System Alternative
Colleges are testing the limits of their CMS. They’re experiencing growing pains as a broad array of users adopt the CMS. Provider support, integration, and the value-to-price relationship have become even more critical. Change d'esn’t need to be daunting. Read how next-generation capabilities in ANGEL meet the new demands.

Click here for details.

POLL

Is it possible to solve most security issues at the PC level, specifically, with patches?
Yes
No


Sponsored by:
Visions for IT-Enabled Learning at Syllabus2004
Join your colleagues at Syllabus2004, July 18-22 in San Francisco for five days of programming featuring higher education's foremost thought leaders in IT and education technologies. On Monday, July 19, Clifford Lynch, Executive Director of the Coalition for Networked Information and an adjunct professor at the University of California-Berkeley offers the opening keynote examining digital information and learning cultures. Thought-provoking keynotes are among the many reasons to be a part of Syllabus2004. Spend a day on campus at UC Berkeley, select sessions from five conference tracks, enjoy plenary panels led by technology experts from campuses across the country, and network with your peers in a collegial atmosphere. Register by June 18 and save up to $200.

For more information and to register,click here.

NEW PRODUCTS

Third Generation WebCT Vista Offers New Features

Long Island University has deployed the first end-to-end educational network on based on Lightpath’s new 2.5 Gbps fiber optic metro area network linking LIU's three residential campuses. This new technology will enable: video conferencing, IP telephony, additional bandwidth, and broadcast of public radio.

Microsoft Kicks Off Eight-Week Demo Tour

WebCT Vista 3.0 has a broad range of new features make grading, student group management, and analysis of the impact of eLearning at the institution more efficient for students and instructors.
Read more


Sponsored By

The Impact of Wireless Network on Instructional Computing

Howard Strauss, manager of technology outreach as Princeton University

Despite the popularity of the technology, wireless is only beginning to show its potential uses for instruction. Howard Strauss comments about the use of the technology, both in the classroom and remotely.

Click Here to Listen



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