IT Trends :: Thursday, June 8, 2006

  • 06/07/06

IT News

Harvard Profs Lay Down Law: No Laptops in Class

Harvard Health Services keeps a contemporary list of concerns for college students, including anxiety, eating disorders, depression, drug and alcohol abuse, and now "Internet distraction and overuse." This article includes data from a 2004 study that found almost 25% of Harvard undergraduates citing Internet use as an "impediment to their academic performance." Some law professors are now attempting to ban laptop use in classes and, despite the information above, most students oppose such a restriction… (Boston Herald)

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Miami U. Employee Loses PDA with Student Information

A different kind of data exposure happened at a school in Ohio. A Miami University employee lost a personal device containing information about 851 students. Why this type of private data was kept on a PDA in the first place is not discussed here, but so far there is no evidence of anyone obtaining or using this misplaced device. This is the second time the school has accidentally exposed vital student information this year… (The Columbus Dispatch)

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Go Away – Just Kidding!

The Defense Department's Defense Secretary Service first said it would not allow .edu computers to access the Joint Personnel Adjudication System, Industrial Security Facilities Database, or Defense Clearance and Investigations Index. Now they are taking it back. "It would cause too many problems for the users, and the security benefits would not be worth it," said an agency spokesperson... (The Chronicle of Higher Education)

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University Launches Data Center Lab, Consolidation Effort

Carnegie Mellon 's new Data Center Observatory is funded by the Air Force Office for Scientific Research, the Army Research Office, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, the National Science Foundation., Sun Microsystems, and Symantec. If that list isn't long enough for you, be sure to read about the construction projects needed to house 40 racks of servers… (InformationWeek)

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Featured

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    4 Ways Universities Are Using Google AI Tools for Learning and Administration

    In a recent blog post, Google shared an array of education customer stories, showcasing ways institutions are using AI tools like Gemini and NotebookLM to transform both learning and administrative tasks.

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    Meta Launches Stand-Alone AI App

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    Report: Identity Has Become a Critical Security Perimeter for Cloud Services

    A new threat landscape report points to new cloud vulnerabilities. According to the 2025 Global Threat Landscape Report from Fortinet, while misconfigured cloud storage buckets were once a prime vector for cybersecurity exploits, other cloud missteps are gaining focus.

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    Microsoft Announces Security Advancements

    Microsoft has announced major security advancements across its product portfolio and practices. The work is part of its Secure Future Initiative (SFI), a multiyear cybersecurity transformation the company calls the largest engineering project in company history.