Weekly Summary: Aug 27, 2007
Internet
Only 17% of rural Americans can get high-speed Internet access. Internet Service Providers are unwilling to spend the money to serve low density areas.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=299844 <http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=299844>
Air travel ticketing will be entirely electronic by 6/1/08. 84% of travelers on IATA airlines already fly without paper tickets. China plans to have 100% electronic ticketing by the end of 2007.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2176023,00.asp
Global Hosted Operating System (Ghost) is a free Web-based virtual machine that gives users access to applications and data from any Web-connected device. Users can access Web-based applications like Google Docs & Spreadsheets and store their settings and data online. Ghost is in alpha testing
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleTOC&specialReportId=9000382 <http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleTOC&specialReportId=9000382>
Zoho added offline read only access to word processing documents in its Writer Web-based word processor. Editing will be added in 3-4 weeks. Offline support will be added to other Zoho applications in the future.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9031918 <http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9031918>
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201801455
5 more universities are using Google Apps, but are primarily interested in using gmail, rather than replacing Microsoft Office.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9032318 <http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9032318>
Half of companies block access to Facebook because of concerns of company time wasted and information being posted.
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201801484
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201801251
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6203889.html
Google Sky is a new mapping feature of Google Earth that shows stars and galaxies as seen from Earth. The newest version of Google Earth is required.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070822/tc_nm/google_sky_dc_1
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070822/ap_on_hi_te/google_sky_7
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9032000 <http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9032000>
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201801753
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6203885.html
Users don’t like the new semitransparent ads that are displayed over the bottom of videos on YouTube.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9032319 <http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9032319>
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9032241 <http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9032241>
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9031999 <http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9031999>
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9032580 <http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9032580>
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2174254,00.asp
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201801805
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6204003.html
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6203802.html
Security
A Trojan horse infecting ads on job sites has stolen 1.6 million records from several hundred thousand job seekers on Monstore.com. The information is being used in phishing attacks.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9031418 <http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9031418>
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9032518 <http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9032518>
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9032278 <http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9032278>
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2174607,00.asp
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2172516,00.asp
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201802052
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201801551
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2175030,00.asp
Software
A 19 hour outage of Microsoft’s Windows Genuine Advantage servers on Friday resulted in some PCs getting identified as running pirated software. Windows Vista reacts by disabling features, including the Aero interface. Now that the servers are fixed, users who had an incorrect validation need to re-validate.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9032798 <http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9032798>
http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/vista/youre_not_genuine_enough.html
BeyondTrust Privilege Manager allows a company to apply Group Policies to manage the User Account Control prompts that users of Windows Vista get. UAC prompts appear when a user tries to do something that requires administrator privileges. With Privilege Manager, IT can use Group Policies to give tasks the privileges they need without prompting the user.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2173877,00.asp
http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2007/08/microsoft_endor.html
Microsoft will release Office Communications Server 2007, Office Communicator 2007, and Office Live Meeting 10/16.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/cmp/20070822/tc_cmp/201801574
http://news.yahoo.com/s/cmp/20070822/tc_cmp/201801566
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9031858 <http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9031858>
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201801574
MojoPac is a new virtualization technology that runs on top of Windows, using the operating system and applications of a host PC, and uses a user’s settings that can be stored on a USB memory drive, network share, or Web server. The user’s settings are loaded when the user logs on, and the user’s data and settings are stored back on the storage media when they log off, and all traces of the user are removed from the PC.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201801846
The next version of Ubuntu Linux will include several ease of use enhancements, including the ability to adjust monitor settings and select a graphics card, a new printer system that should detect and install printers automatically, a new version of the Gnome desktop, better search, a new deskbar, and fast user switching.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6204359.html
Hardware
Singapore Airlines is putting a PC in every seat and adding bigger screens and more movies on its A380s and 787s. A central server will provide movies, games, and other in-flight entertainment.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9032058 <http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9032058>
Seagate is planning to come out with solid-state drives that use flash memory next year.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9032298 <http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9032298>
Toshiba will start making a 2.5†320GB hard drive for laptops by the end of the year.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9031780 <http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9031780>
Toshiba has developed a 32GB flash memory card that will be available in January.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2174311,00.asp
Business
Acer is buying Gateway for $710 million, which will make it the 3rd largest PC maker. Together, they shipped 18.6 million PCs in 2006. The purchase also ends Lenovo’s attempt to purchase Packard Bell, because Gateway plans to use its right of first refusal to buy most of the shares of Packard Bell.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9032838
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2175908,00.asp
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6204543.html
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2175913,00.asp