IT Trends :: Thursday, May 4, 2006
New Technology
Your Thoughts Are Your Password
What if you could one day unlock your door or access your bank account by simply "thinking" your password? Too far out? Perhaps not.
Wish we could have worked this one into last week's column: Brain wave “signatures” sound like a pretty cool way to replace passwords. On the other hand, brain waves are pretty idiosyncratic - not to mention weak over distance…
Researchers at
Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, are exploring the possibility of a biometric security device that will use a person's thoughts to authenticate her or his identity…(Wired News)
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Internet2 Unveils Plans for an Improved Version of Its Academic High-Speed Network
Abilene could be replaced within 18 months by a "new network [that would initially] carry data on 10 different wavelengths of light, each of which could handle 10 gigabits of data per second – or the total capacity of Abilene – at a time." It would provide researchers with massive amounts of extra bandwidth at a moment's notice.
Douglas E. Van Houweling, president of Internet2, said in a talk during the organization's spring meeting here that the new network initially would carry data on 10 different wavelengths of light, each of which could handle 10 gigabits of data per second -- or the total capacity of Abilene -- at a time…(The Chronicle)
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Welcome to College, Here's Your Windows Live Account
WindowsLive@edu is Microsoft's wedge into student user loyalties. It's already signed, or is about to be signed, for 100 colleges and universities. Students can use their regular e-mail address with Windows Live Mail for a client. Better yet, students won’t have to deal with ads because Microsoft has agreed to turn them off for those specific accounts…(M-Dollar)
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Millsaps College Students Build Web Database for Red Cross
Millsaps is in Mississippi, and its computer labs were full of Red Cross workers doing computer stuff post-Katrina. Some Millsaps students decided to make their jobs easier and built a Web-based database that's getting great reviews.
The students got involved when the Red Cross took over Millsaps computer labs after Hurricane Katrina to type out and print data on thousands of evacuees, shelters, and volunteers…(WTOK News )
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