CourseCast of the Week
Episode 0085,
01/24/2009
Title/Description: Whitehouse Technology, and Tech News
Briefs
Welcome to Course
Technology's CourseCast of the week, Episode 85, recorded January 24th, 2009. This
is Ken Baldauf bringing you this week's technology news and information. This CourseCast
is brought to you by Course Technology. Check out www.cengage.com/coursetechnology
for innovative textbooks and creative electronic learning solutions.
Story 1 - Whitehouse
Technology
The presidential inauguration
and issues surrounding our new president filled the technology headlines this
week. The inaugural event drew millions to the Web seeking news and live video
streams. Most major news sites were overwhelmed by requests and brought to a
near standstill. CNN reports that it served up a record 1.3 million concurrent
live streams at its peak just prior to the President's inaugural address. Over
the course of the day, CNN satisfied 21.3 million video requests in all.
Similar amounts of traffic was pouring into Web servers at ABC, CBS, Fox
Business, the L.A. Times, NBC, National Public Radio, USA Today and The Wall
Street Journal.
As President Obama
delivered his address to the world, a newly designed Web site was unveiled at
whitehouse.gov. The Web site features the new administration's ideals of
transparency, communication, and participation. It is at whitehouse.gov that
you can find the Presidents weekly video address provided through a YouTube
embedded video. The site also features the president's blog, and information
about the administration's priorities.
On their first full day on
the job, the new president, his administration, cabinet and staff were faced
with numerous technological hurdles. Many offices in the Whitehouse had no
phone service. The computers available were running outdated Microsoft
software. There were very few notebook computers and no wireless network. The
new administration, known for its cutting edge use of the latest technologies,
and who are predominantly Mac users, will have their
work cut out for them, bringing their new office space up to date while
maintaining the high-level of security required.
President Obama, was pleased to learn that he will be allowed to
continue to use his Blackberry. The deal that he struck with Whitehouse
security has some strict conditions. Only his senior staff and a small group of
personal friends are allowed to communicate with the president over the device
through voice, text messaging and email. Those in this inner circle will be
subjected to a briefing by White House security on how communications are to be
conducted. Finally, the device itself has been locked down with special
security software to safeguard communications.
Our new president is
focused on technology issues both in the White House and across the country. He
has requested that Sun Microsystems Chairman Scott McNealy prepare a white
paper on the benefits the U.S.
government can derive from adopting open source software. The new
administration has released a six point outline of its position on homeland
security. One of the points is directed at building a secure, trustworthy, and
accountable cyber infrastructure. The new administration has also proposed a
broadband stimulus package worth $6 billion to deliver high-speed Internet to unserved and underserved US populations. The package is
currently being debated in House. Republicans are opposed to the package due to
its inclusion of provisions for network neutrality, open access, and minimum
speeds.
At the conclusion of its
first week in office, it is clear that the new administration will provide
technology journalists with plenty to write about in coming weeks, months, and
years.
And now
for News Briefs.
- The Chinese Ministry of Public Security has shut
down 1,250 Web sites and arrested 41 people in an effort to clean up
obscene and vulgar content on the Internet. Its next target is mobile
phones.
China
extends war on porn to mobile phones [Ars Technica]
- In the US, an appeal to put in place
a law intended to protect children from pornography was shot down due to
its potential to interfere with free speech. The law would have required
Web sites serving pornography to confirm that those accessing the material
were adults through the use of credit cards or adult access codes.
Online
pornography law appeal denied [Reuters]
- As the February 17th deadline for the analog to
digital over-the-air television switch looms, many are worried that the
switch is going to leave a significant percentage of the population
without television. A Nielsen poll estimates that more than 6 million
households using analogue televisions have yet to prepare for the switch.
It is very likely that the deadline will be postponed.
Nielsen:
>6 million households still not ready for DTV day [Ars Technica]
Verizon
does 180, says it now supports a DTV delay [Ars
Technica]
- The Encyclopedia Britannica has opened its
online doors to user-generated content. The new feature moves Britannica
in the direction of Wikipedia, however, unlike Wiki, all submitted content
will undergo a thorough vetting by Britannica's subject-area experts.
Britannica
opens up, aims the "literary canon" at Wikipedia [Ars Technica]
- Hard Times for radio as the over-the-air-radio
behemoth Clear Channel reduces its workforce by 1,850 and Internet radio
giant Pandora begins inserting sponsored commercials into its music
streams.
Hard
times all around for radio: Pandora adds commercials [Ars Technica]
- The number of individuals to access the Internet
surpassed a billion last month. The Asia-Pacific region takes the biggest slice
of the pie with 41.3 percent, Europe the second with 24 percent, the US has 18.4 percent, and latin america 7.4 percent. One
interesting statistic is that 72.5 percent of US citizens use the
Internet, while only 19 percent of China's population is on line.
However, China's
population is so large that its small percentage online still outnumbers
US Internet users.
Internet
users worldwide surpass 1 billion in December [c|net]
Internet World
Stats
- Facebook is now twice as popular as MySpace
worldwide.
In
battle for Friends, Facebook now twice as popular as MySpace
[Computerworld]
- In this week's tech layoff news three big
companies announce cuts: Intel will close four plants and lay off 6,000,
Sun Microsystems is laying off 6,000, and
Microsoft will lay off 5,000 over 18 months.
Intel
to shut four plants, lay off 6,000 [Computerworld]
Sun
Microsystems begins laying off 6,000 today [VentureBeat]
Microsoft
cutting 1,400 jobs today, 5,000 over 18 months [Venture Beat]
- Despite the economy and economic hardship, some
tech companies actually had some good news to announce this week: Apple
set a single-quarter record in the last three months of 2008 selling more
than 2.5 million Macs, and 4.3 million iPhones.
Google reported an 18 percent jump in revenue over the same period.
Apple
sets revenue record during recession [Computerworld]
Google
Reports 18 Percent Jump in Q4 Revenue [NewsFactor]
- Depending on who you ask, at least one in every
16 PCs are infected with the DownAdUp
worm, with some experts stating its more like one in three.
Downadup worm now infects 1 in every 16 PCs, says
Panda Security [Computerworld]
US-CERT
Instructions for protecting your PC from DownAdUp
- In what is being called the biggest data breach
in history, Heartland Payment Systems, a major debit and credit card
processing company announced that a hundred million credit card numbers
may have been stolen. Malware installed on the companies
servers spied on hundreds of millions of transactions as they occurred
over the period of months.
Debit-card
processor claims data breach part of bigger fraud [Computerworld]
Malware
Swipes Millions of Credit Cards [Technology Review]
- The FCC is back to probing Comcast. This time
for allegations that the company is giving its own VoIP service more
reliable and higher quality service than it provides to its competitors.
FCC Probes
Comcast Treatment of VoIP Competitors [NewsFactor]
- Be leery of any airline e-ticket receipt that
you see in your inbox. It's the latest trick in spreading malware.
Airline
ticket receipt scam spreads malware [The Register]
- While the Obama administrations to working to
spread high-speed Internet to everyone in the country, results of a recent
Pew study provide an ironic counterpoint. It turns out that two-thirds of
Americans without access to high-speed Internet don't want it.
Two-thirds
of Americans without broadband don't want it [Ars
Technica]
That's it for this week's CourseCast.
Links to this week's stories and many more news and information resources are
provided at the CourseCast Web site at coursecasts.course.com. Email us with
your suggestions for the show at course.coursecasts@cengage.com.
Until next time, have a great week and be sure to take advantage of the Power
-- of Technology!