CourseCast of the Week

Episode 122, 10/10/2009

Title/Description: News from CTIA, and other Tech News Headlines

Welcome to Course Technology's CourseCast of the week, Episode 122, recorded October 10th, 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.

Visit the Course Casts Website at coursecasts.course.com where you will find links to the full stories covered in this CourseCast, related discussion questions for use in your technology courses, and the CourseCast Archives.

And now the news…

Story 1: News from CTIA

The CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment Convention is in full swing in San Diego and the spotlight is on the future of the cellular industry.

In a speech at CTIA, U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski praised cellular carriers for moving towards more open network policies and sympathized with concerns over bandwidth. "I believe that that the biggest threat to the future of mobile in America is the looming spectrum crisis," he said. Genachowski cited expectations for future growth in the use of smartphones and netbooks as a serious concern that could create a "traffic jam" on the "information superhighway." He stated that more wireless spectrum will be required to support the increase in demand and better network management will be needed from the FCC.

Wireless carriers believe that they should have freedom to manage network traffic for the benefit of their customers. AT&T Wireless CEO Ralph de la Vega made the case by pointing out that while iPhone users make up only three percent of its smart phone customers, they eat up 40 percent of its data bandwidth. He stated that AT&T needs to "manage the network to make sure that the few cannot crowd out the many."

Pressure from the FCC has influenced AT&T to change its position on Internet-based phone services for the iPhone. This week AT&T announced that it has cleared the way for Skype and other VoIP applications that it has previously blocked from the iPhone Apps Store.

Republicans sent a letter to the FCC this week expressing opposition to the FCC’s plan to regulate the telecom industry with laws designed to insure network neutrality. They argue that telecom companies should remain free to manage network traffic as they see fit. They fear that government regulations would reduce the industries motivation to upgrade networks and ultimately harm consumers.

News Briefs

  • The Wall Street Journal reports that Dell is working on a smart phone that will compete with Apple's iPhone on the AT&T network.
    Dell plans first U.S. smart phone with AT&T: source [Reuters]
  • The Wall Street Journal also reported that Bookseller Barnes & Noble will soon enter the eBook fray with an eBook reader of its own based on Google's Android operating system. BN already has an online digital bookstore with over 700,000 titles which can be downloaded to devices like the iPhone.
    Barnes & Noble to sell own electronic reader: WSJ [Reuters]
  • Speaking of eBooks, and it seems like everyone is, Amazon has announced an international version of its Kindle 2 eBook reader that it will make available in over 100 countries. The International version will use AT&T wireless network rather than Sprints network as is the case in the US.
    Kindle Seeks to Set the World on Fire [Ecommerce Times]
  • Apple has resigned from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce due to strong objections over the chamber's opposition to the EPA's efforts to limit greenhouse gases.
    Apple Resigns From U.S. Chamber of Commerce [NY Times]
  • A large and influential panel made up of representatives from the news Industry, some big tech companies, government agencies and the NAACP is pushing the U.S. government to "blanket" the U.S. with broadband Internet access. The group states that "rolling out broadband is as important a job today as the interstate highway system and the transcontinental railroad were for previous generations."
    Panel Wants Broadband to Blanket US [Ecommerce Times]
  • U.S. federal investigators have arrested 33 scammers, while Egyptian law enforcement nabbed 47 others in an international sting operation designed to shut down a huge phishing operation. The phishing scammers were able to steal over $1 million by distributing phishing emails that tricked recipients into revealing bank account information. Those arrested in the US face a maximum 20 years in federal prison.
    Feds Nab Dozens in Bank Phishing Scheme [Ecommerce Times]
  • Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and AOL were all under attach this past week as hackers attempted to hijack user passwords. A large-scale phishing attack managed to compromise 10,000 hotmail user passwords and over 20,000 passwords from the other services. The service providers quickly acted to protect the compromised accounts and thwart the attack.
    Gmail, Yahoo Mail join Hotmail; passwords exposed [Computerworld]
  • A recent study has determined that corporate America isn't too fond of Facebook and Twitter use at work. Fifty four percent of U.S. companies ban the use of the social networks.
    Study: 54% of companies ban Facebook, Twitter at work [Computerworld]
  • Asus Computer has made a radical policy change by allowing its customers to over clock their notebook PCs enabling them to run 33% faster without voiding the warranty.
    Asus embraces over clocking on newest notebooks [Computerworld]
  • Microsoft will be rolling out its biggest security patch ever this Tuesday to fix flaws in every version of Windows, Internet Explorer, Office SQL Server, developer tools, Forefront Security client software.
    Microsoft plans monster Patch Tuesday next week [Computerworld]
  • The Federal Trade Commission issued its first revision to its advertising practices rules in nearly 30 years. The change requires bloggers to disclose corporate sponsorship in order that those that read blogger product reviews are aware of financial influences that may cause bloggers to be less than impartial.
    Bloggers beware: the FTC is watching [Computerworld]
  • Regular listeners to this program are aware that millions of computers have been compromised and work together in botnets to spew spam and infect others. Many of the owners of those computers use Comcast for their Internet service. Soon Comcast will be using a notification system to alert its users when their computer has become infected.
    Botnet-hosting subscribers soon to get warnings from Comcast [Ars Technica]
  • So now that the recording industry has effectively shut down popular P2P applications and is finishing off The Pirate Bay, where are the pirates going? A new form of file-sharing service is emerging that supports the anonymous transfer of files from one user to another. RapidShare.com is one of the most popular such sites. Users upload files to RapidShare, which emails the recipient with a notification that the file is available and ready to be downloaded. The free version of the service supports up to 200 MB file, or users can pay for a premium membership and transfer Gigabytes. Anyone want to take bets on how long before RapidShare is sued?
    What's replacing P2P, Bit Torrent as pirate hangouts? [Computerworld]

That's it for this week's CourseCast. This week, I travel to Detroit to present at the Conference on Information Technology. If you plan to attend the conference, be sure to say hi, and be sure to visit the nice folks at the Course Technology Cengage Learning exhibition booth! Please email me with your comments and suggestions for the show at coursecasts@gmail.com. Let me know how you use CourseCasts in your classes and I'll give you and your school a shout out on my next CourseCast. Until next time, have a great week and be sure to take advantage of the Power -- of Technology!