CourseCast of the Week

Episode 0091, 03/07/2009

Title/Description: High-tech Terrorists, Microsoft AI, News Briefs

Welcome to Course Technology's CourseCast of the week, Episode 91, recorded March 07, 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 - High-tech Terrorists

Internet technologies have become key tools for extremist groups and terrorists looking to advance their cause. A recent U.S. Army intelligence report warned of terrorists using social networking tools like Twitter to communicate anonymously with cell members and to detonate roadside bombs. A security report released this week pointed out that extremist groups in Southeast Asia are relying on social networks to radicalize the youth of the region. Al-Qaeda, the Southeast Asian militant group Jemaah Islamiah, and other extremist Muslim groups employ professional media units to produce high-quality videos and photos to publish along with recruiting messages in Web pages, on social networks, and in blogs. The number of radical and extremist websites accessible in Southeast Asia has increased by 600 percent over the last year, during a time when much of the population is accessing the Internet for the first time.

At least one US politician is working to thwart the use of technology by terrorists through the use of censorship. Californian Assemblyman, Joel Anderson, has put forth a bill that would force Google and other online mapping companies to blur satellite and street-view images of locations deemed vulnerable to terrorist attacks. His list includes millions of locations such as schools, places of worship, government and medical buildings. Anderson told the Associated press that all he is trying to do is stop terrorists. "I do not want California to be helping map out future targets for terrorists" Anderson said.

Anderson’s bill has been criticized by many. Security expert Bruce Schneider had this to say about the bill: "While terrorism turns society's very infrastructure against itself, we only harm ourselves by dismantling that infrastructure in response, just as we would if we banned cars because bank robbers use them."

Internet seen a growing weapon in Asian radicalization [Reuters]
California lawmaker wants satellite images blurred [vnunet]

Story 2 - Microsoft AI

Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer, Craig Mundie, has revealed that Microsoft is investing heavily in artificial intelligence research to design virtual personal assistants to live in personal computers. Advances in graphics processing units, or GPU's, have provided processing power beyond that of today's CPUs making it possible to support AI applications in personal computers. With most of computing moving off the PC and onto the Web, Microsoft views virtual personal assistants as a way to keep the PC relevant. The intelligent agent research in which Microsoft is engaged will lead to virtual personal assistants that assist users with finding information online and provide digital services such as making appointments and purchasing tickets. Microsoft is also working on avatar health care workers that can be deployed around the world to assist with health care. Microsoft's virtual personal assistant is intended to make all users feel like an executive with a most efficient assistant that can anticipate your every need.

Future PCs Could Be Assistants, Teachers, Robot Healers [NewsFactor]
Microsoft Mapping Course to a Jetsons-Style Future [NYTimes]

And that brings us to news News Briefs.

  • Facebook has announced that it is working to add Twitter-like functionality to its popular social-networking site. Twitter reported that it turned down an acquisition bid from Facebook last fall. Looks like these two wildly popular social networks are gearing up to compete head-to-head.
    Facebook fires up head-to-head battle with Twitter [Computerworld]
  • If you are looking for a job online, keep an eye out for fraudulent ads. Identity thieves are taking advantage of rising unemployment rates by posting numerous fake job ads to steal job applicant's personal information. Fake job ads are up 345% over the past three years.
    Job Seekers Targeted By Identity Thieves [InformationWeek]
  • A recently released United Nations report found that sixty percent of the global population uses cell phones and sixty percent of cell phone users live in developing nations. The report also found that Internet use has more than doubled with mobile broadband subscriptions climbing fastest.
    Sixty Percent of the World Uses Cell Phones [NewsFactor]
  • Microsoft has developed a new search engine that it claims is better and more useful than Google in helping users accomplish tasks. The search engine, code named Kumo, is in Alpha testing with no announcement as to when it will be released to the public.
    Microsoft Working on New Online Search Platform [NewsFactor]
  • Patch Tuesday is upon us once again. This month Microsoft will provide critical updates to core Windows functions. Make sure your Windows PC is set to update automatically to protect you against attacks on the newly unveiled vulnerabilities.
    Patch Tuesday Will Challenge IT with Core Updates [NewsFactor]
  • President Obama has named the countries first Chief Information Office. It is Vivek Kundra, an "Indian-born, techno-wiz" who is currently the CTO for the District of Columbia. Kundra will have power over federal technology spending, information sharing between government agencies, and between the government and the public, and over issues of information security and privacy. The countries new CIO has won the respect of many in the field for his use of cloud computing to provide information and services to his constituency, and has been voted one of the 25 top CTOs by InfoWorld magazine.
    White House Names First Chief Information Officer [NYTimes]
  • You think outsourcing US jobs to other countries is bad for the economy? A new French Web site lets kids outsource their homework. The Web-delivered service lets older kids make money by doing homework for younger kids. $6 will buy you answers to simple math problems while a term paper with PPT presentation goes for $100. The site has raised much controversy around Paris.
    Maths too hard? Pay French homework website to do it [Reuters]
  • Many analysts are calling it the beginning of the end for newspapers. Hearst Corporation is reassigning workers at the Seattle Post to work on the online-only version of the paper, signaling the inevitable end of the print version. Many high-profile U.S. newspapers have filed for bankruptcy or are struggling to stay afloat by dramatically cutting costs. Stopping the presses and going online is one way to save money and keep a newspaper from having to completely shut down, as the Rocky Mt. News was forced to do just last week.
    Seattle paper may shift to online-only: reports [Reuters]

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. E-mail 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!