IT Trends for Thursday, July 29, 2004 -- Campus Technology

Arthur C. Clarke, still alive and kicking at the age of 87, wrote those words many years ago and we're seeing it happen ever more frequently in digital information technologies. Who among us would have thought, even 20 years ago, that we'd be as close as we are now to the "magic purse" of the Arabian Nights and other fairy tales and mythology.

It's not really magic, of course, but it is as though it were magic, and those of us who deal in info tech daily sometimes conceal the wonder of it all from our consciousness. I don't know why that should be. How can we take it for granted and not feel a sense of wonder that we can carry in our pockets a magic tool that lets us call talk to anyone in the world, anywhere, anytime; that has within it space that lets us enhance the powers of our minds by storing contact and communications information that would swamp us if we tried to stick it all in our brains; that has in it the power to bring us the equivalent of the entire Library of Congress on demand?
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IT NEWS

MyDoom Variant Slows Web - Uses Search Engines to Find Addresses

On the same day that Google set the price range for its IPO, a MyDoom variant that utilizes search engines hit broadly, causing a measurable slowing in the overall speed of the World Wide Web.
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Louisiana State Hit Hard by W32.Beagle.AG@mm

This one is just a variant of the Beagle/Bagel we all know and hate, but it was just enough different to get past protections at LSU.
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Web Adaptation Technology to Render Pages More Accessible

A new IBM service called Web Adaptation Technology (WAT) allows users to download software that will "translate" normal HTML pages, including those not coded to accessibility standards, into more accessible pages that the users can then view in a mediated fashion.
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Michigan Boosts E-Mail Storage Space, Denies Gmail Reaction

Saying "E-mail has become the central form of communication on campus" the university will boost email storage space from 50 MB to 200 MB and IFS space (general storage space for documents) from 50MB to 1GB.
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U. Nebraska's Peter Kiewit Institute (PKI) Selects Foundry for Network Upgrade

The institute has a 192,000 square-foot facility, which provides classrooms and laboratories for incubation of new businesses and to assist mature companies to utilize University of Nebraska-developed technologies. The initiative will bring 10-GbE to all workstations in the facility.
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Too Many Visual Basic Programmers, Business Need C and C++

Institutions are coping with the decreasing demand for computer science majors in differing ways. Many expect a rebound as the market demand eventually outstrips the supply.
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IBM Will Provide Top IT Gadgets and Top Executives to Northface University

Northface University provides an accelerated 28-month program for a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, WebSphere and .NET certifications serves up a digital portfolio of projects. Seventy percent of the curriculum is project-based, and provides mentoring.
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Middlesex University Library to Install RFID System to Track Pubs

The university's new £12 million learning resource center at the Hendon Campus will offer the latest in language and media facilities. Staff is already RFID-tagging the inventory.
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Blackboard: A Big Name on Campus?

Business Week takes a look at Blackboard's big plans and likes what it sees (sort of).
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Ink, A 5,000-year-old Technology Is a Cash Cow for Manufacturers

Ink and toner for computer printers and multifunction printers was a $32.5B industry last year. This interesting article estimates that consumers pay about $8k per gallon of ink. Hmm.
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Digital Rot - It's Not Just You, Things Aren't Lasting As Long

Is it changing styles or planned obsolescence? Or is it the next big thing coming along to replace it? Which will last longer, your plasma TV or the JPEG images of your son's wedding? Maybe you'd better print those out on special paper?
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RESOURCES

Broadband: A Life-Saving Technology

This is an excellent, comprehensive article about the functionality and policy implications of widespread broadband implementation. A must-read.
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Duke University Giving Free iPods to All Incoming Freshmen

The iPods have 20 Gigabytes of storage space and can be used to download calendar and syllabus info, as well as music.
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University of Denver: New Library and Information Science Program

The American Library Association (ALA) has accredited a new library program for the first time at a U.S. university in 28 years. The University of Denver College of Education's Library and Information Science (LIS) program will offer a master's degree with a choice of four areas of concentration: library and information resources and technology, school library media, archives and records management, and knowledge management.
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DEALS, CONTRACTS, AWARDS

Dell, Boston College Enter Into 3-Year Notebook Computer Agreement

The university is updating its wireless network to 802.11g and the Latitude D600 laptops, which will be offered through BU's Web site, will be set up specifically to take advantage of that functionality.
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NIH Grant to Be Used to Link Biomed Research Units in Kansas Institutions

The 5-year, $18M grant appears to be mostly aimed at increasing networking speed and capacity, and fast computers.
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Sponsored by:

Hewlett Packard
Introducing the HP Workstation xw4100: a top-of-the-line solution that delivers innovative technology at a low price. Designed to help you and your school operate as effectively as possible. And now, when you buy an xw4100 Workstation, you’ll save your school $656, for a limited time.

Click here for details

Sponsored by:

Save 33% on preconfigured HP Blade Bundles
Blades can significantly lower your total cost of ownership by reducing space utilization, improving power efficiency, increasing system availability and redundancy, and reducing the costs of connectivity, system acquisition, and data center management. HP Blade Bundles featuring the HP BL20p Blade Server let you get started affordably and expand as you need to.

Click here for details

TDWI World Conference in San Diego, August 8–13, 2004

TDWI Seminar Series: Minneapolis, Washington, D.C.

TDWI Hands-On BI Series: Anaheim, Washington, D.C.

Events Calendar

POLL

Would fee-based e-mail help stop spammers?
Yes
No

Sponsored by:

Mitsubishi
What if you were able to take a satellite image, make it 3-D, put it on a 7-foot by 12-foot screen, and have an unlimited capacity to move it around?” This is exactly what Mitsubishi and Purdue accomplished – a task nothing short of fantastic. Now, Mitsubishi wants you to experience an accurate, vivid and useful image for your institution. Take advantage of a FREE Mitsubishi Color-View™ projector evaluation, and learn more about Purdue’s leading education experience in virtual scientific display.

Click here for details

NEW PRODUCTS

Finally, A Cheap Mobile Phone Detector

Worried about students using cell phones to cheat during exams? Well, they are worried in the UK. A student project in New Zealand has led to prototypes of such devices that will cost $100 or less. The detectors are expected to also be used in prisons.
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Skype Plans to Connect All Phones, Even Landlines to VoIP

Starting soon, you can use your computer to call a regular, landline phone. And plans are underway to let users receive calls from landline phones, and collect landline-based voice mail digitally.
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Onfolio Launches New PC Application

Onfolio recently unveiled its flagship product. Onfolio enables users to easily collect, organize and share information they find searching the Internet. While most new Internet search technologies focus on helping people find information online, Internet users can keep track of the information they find online, annotate and organize that content, and more easily share it with others.
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Sponsored by:

Save up to $300! Register today for TechMentor San Jose
Put your technical skills - and career - into overdrive. TechMentor is the leading technical training conference for network administrators and IT managers. Spend a week improving your technical skills and upgrading your professional value. Attend TechMentor and find out why over 90% of attendees say they would attend again. For details visit:

Click here for details

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.

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Discussion of the Week:

As a professional educator who has taught, been an administrator and developed professional development program for faculty in four states in institutions, public, private, for profit and not for profit, I find that the questions are always the same. What can I do about students who do...?

Posted by Arlene A O'Leary
Simulation Learning Institute

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