CourseCast of the Week

Episode 103, 06/01/2009

Title/Description: US Cyber Security, Google Wave, Microsoft Bing, eBook Competition Ramps Up, and Other Tech Headlines

Welcome to Course Technology's CourseCast of the week, Episode 103, recorded May 30th, 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. This week's CourseCast goes out to Ms. Doty's Computing for College and Career class at Flagler Technical Center. Thanks for listening to CourseCasts.

If you would like a shout out to your school, email me at cousrecasts@gmail.com and let me know how you use CourseCasts in your classes. And now, the news.

Story 1: US Gets Serious about Cyber Security

President Obama has released a long-awaited new government strategy to "deter, prevent, detect and defend” against cyberattacks. "U.S. military dominance, safety and economic security are at risk unless the nation can better secure cyberspace," Obama said. The 38 page plan calls for a "cyber security coordinator" to manage the cyber security efforts of the Pentagon, the National Security Agency, the Homeland Security Department and other agencies. The new cyber security coordinator, yet to be named, will have full access to the President much like the coordinator for nuclear and conventional threats.

While light on details, the plan calls for a cyber security education campaign, coordination with private businesses on cyber incident response, and the establishment of performance metrics for measuring the effectiveness of cyber security efforts.

In related news, the Pentagon announced plans to create a new division to operate in cyberspace. This new branch of the armed forces will conduct both offensive and defensive computer warfare, armed with computer code and Internet strategies.

Story 2: Introducing Google Wave

Google has introduced a social networking collaboration technology with a new twist. Google Wave combines elements of e-mail, instant messaging, wikis and photo sharing to make online communication more dynamic. The new approach is expected to transform the way people collaborate on projects. The product was introduced at Google's developers conference last week. Google Wave is open source Web-based software that is fertile ground for community development. Check it out at wave.google.com.

Story 3: Introducing Microsoft Bing

Microsoft has unveiled a preview version of its new Web search engine named Bing. Some reviewers believe that Bing can give Google some long awaited competition in the search business. Microsoft refers to Bing as a Decision Engine and says it helps users move beyond search to make faster, more informed decisions.

Bing search results provide much more than just links sorted by popularity. It categorizes search results by context, and provides quick access to related information through the Explorer pane. It also includes Quick previews of linked pages, image and video search, and other innovations. Bing is scheduled to open for business June 3rd. Check it out at bling.com

Story 4: EBook competition ramps up

Amazon should enjoy its monopoly power in the eBook business while it can. Competition in the market is about to ramp up. Plastic Logic is scheduled to release a super thin ebook reader with a slick touch display interface. The Plastic Logic Reader appears to have much of the same functionality of a Kindle, with additional capabilities such as the ability to view Microsoft Office documents, and a user interface that is getting rave reviews. More competition in this market will be coming from netbooks. A company named Pixel Qi, founded by former One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) CTO Mary Lou Jepsen, unveiled a new netbook display design that provides an e-ink mode giving small netbooks the display capabilities of a Kindle.

And that brings us to news briefs

  • A new Zune is scheduled to arrive later this year. The new version of Microsoft's iPod challenger will include hi-def video, a touch screen, Wi-fi, and Hi-def radio reception.
    Microsoft to launch new Zune later this year [Reuters]
  • A Russian investment firm has purchased a nearly 2 percent stake in Facebook for $200 million which puts the overall value of Facebook at around $10 billion -ironic considering the company has yet to turn a profit.
    Facebook's $200M Investment Values Co. At $10B [NYTimes]
  • The Palm Pre will be available on Sprint's network June 6th. Recent reports indicate that it may become available on Verizon and AT&T networks in early 2010.
    Update: A Palm Pre from Verizon - and maybe AT&T - coming after Christmas [Computerworld]
  • Dell has reported a 63 percent drop in net income in the first quarter, as compared to the first quarter last year.
    Dell's net income drops 63% in Q1 [Computerworld]
  • An email virus reportedly disrupted the FBI's unclassified Webbased email for several days. The Bureau's classified internal systems were unaffected.
    FBI e-mail clobbered after virus [Computerworld]
  • Getting flooded by spam email? You're not alone! Security software company , Symantec reports that 90 percent of email flowing over the Internet is spam, and 58 percent of spam is generated by botnets.
    90 percent of e-mail is spam, Symantec says [Computerworld]

That's it for this week's CourseCasts. Remember that what you hear in the CourseCast is just the tip of the iceberg! Go to coursecasts.course.com for links to the full stories covered in this CourseCast. There you will also find discussion questions for use in your course, and the CourseCast Archives. Email me with your comments and 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!