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

Any Sufficiently Advanced Technology Is Indistinguishable From Magic

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?
Read more

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.
Read more

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.
Read more

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.
Read more

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.
Read more

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.
Read more

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.
Read more

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.
Read more

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.
Read more

Blackboard: A Big Name on Campus?

Business Week takes a look at Blackboard's big plans and likes what it sees (sort of).
Read more

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.
Read more

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?
Read more

Broadband: A Life-Saving Technology

This is an excellent, comprehensive article about the functionality and policy implications of widespread broadband implementation. A must-read.
Read more

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.
Read more

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.
Read more

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.
Read more

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.
Read more