CourseCast of the Week

Episode 0094, 03/28/2009

Title/Description: Tether-blocking and other news headlines

Welcome to Course Technology's CourseCast of the week, Episode 95, recorded April 4th, 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.

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And now, the news.

Story 1 - Tether-blocking

The iPhone has changed the face of computing by putting the Internet in the palm of your hand. While the iPhone is an amazing device, users of the iPhone and phones running Google's Android operating system have been frustrated by a very limiting aspect of these top-of-the-line smart phones. While users pay for unlimited Internet access from these phones, they are unable to connect their notebooks to the phones for Internet access. Connecting a computer to the Internet through a cell phone is called tethering and is a technology that has been around for a while, over many cell phones. Software vendors have proved that It's possible to tether to an iPhone and G-Phone as well, but tethering software has been banned by Apple and Google at the request of their cell phone service partners - AT&T and T-Mobile respectively. If you are an iPhone user and wish to connect your notebook PC to the Internet through AT&T, you'll have to fork over $60 a month for an additional line and a connect card, bringing your monthly bill to $160 per month or more. This is why the carriers are requiring Apple and Google to block the ability to tether, they want customers to have to purchase a second line instead of sharing one between phone and PC.

Free Press, a national, nonpartisan organization that works to reform the media, is pressing the FCC to force wireless carriers to follow the same open Internet policy as landline networks. Landline networks, those that provide phone service over wires, are required by law to allow Internet services from other providers to use their network - even if the service competes with its own. So, for example, you might sign up for high speed DSL Internet from AOL which is delivered over your AT&T phone lines. If he FCC goes along with open Internet for wireless carriers, tethered connections, Internet phone services like Skype, and other Internet services will be allowed over wireless cell phone networks, dramatically impacting how cell phone carriers earn revenue and conduct business.

Google bans tethering app from Android Market? [c|net news]

Skype's iPhone Limits Irk Some [NewsFacor]

AT&T To Try Selling Wireless Broadband Laptops [NewsFactor]

FCC Asked To Apply Open Internet Rule To Skype [NewsFactor]

Skype for iPhone Promises New Features [NYTimes]

And that brings us to News Briefs -

  • The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reports a 33 percent increase in reports of Internet-based crimes in 2008.
    Complaints of Internet-based crimes up 33 percent [c|net news]
  • Japan's Honda Research Institute has created a device that allows the famous Asimo robot to be controlled purely by human thought. The human controller wears a helmet full of sensors that monitor brainwaves to send wireless signals hat cause the robot to move in a controlled manner.
    Honda thinks up mind-controlled robots [c|net]
  • Wikipedia's founder Jimmy Wales has pulled the plug on his crowd-sourced search engine Wikia Search. Launched in January 2008, the search engine that dared to take on Google failed to generate enough public interest to survive the economic downturn.
    Wikia Search bites the dust, fails as a Google alternative [Computerworld]
  • A vulnerability in PowerPoint 2000, 2003, and 2004 is being exploited by hackers to enslave PCs. Users running this software should be cautious of any PowerPoint file from an unknown source.
    Attackers exploit critical PowerPoint vulnerability [Computerworld]
  • Google's Street View crews have photographed most neighborhoods in the US and have moved on to Europe, Japan, and elsewhere overseas, but not without some pushback from overseas governments and populations. Last week Google's Street View vehicle was attacked and chased away by angry residents of an upscale town in the UK when it attempted to photograph their homes.
    British Villagers Chase Away Google's Street Views Car [NewsFactor]
  • A new law has been enacted in Sweden that requires Internet service providers to disclose the Internet address of users committing copyright infringement. Since the law was enacted, Internet traffic in Sweden has slowed by nearly fifty percent. Sweden is home to the popular bit-torrent site The Pirate Bay.
    Swedish Internet Traffic Plunges with New Piracy Law [NewsFactor]
  • US movie theaters owned by AMC will be receiving an upgrade. AMC has contracted with Sony to install nearly 5,000 digital projectors in its theaters.
    AMC to Get Sony Digital Projectors [NYTimes]
  • The soon-to-be-released movie “X-Men Origins: Wolverine" was watched by millions of fans a month before its debut in the theaters due to its early and illegal availability on bit-torrent networks.
    Piracy Puts Film Online One Month Before Open [NYTimes]
  • GE and Intel have partnered to develop technologies that will allow physicians to observe patients remotely so the patient can be monitored at home, saving the need for a hospital stay.
    G.E. and Intel Working on Remote Monitors to Provide Home Health Care [NYTimes]

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!