======================================================
AUC Higher Education News 29/7/04
June Edition
A collection of I.T. news and views relevant to the
tertiary education sector
Edited by Stephen Atherton
(Submissions welcome to s.atherton@uq.net.au)
======================================================
At the beginning of the month San Francisco hosted a couple of Geek Fests. One was the JAVA One conference which was huge. The other was the Apple World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) which although not as huge, was of great girth too <http://developer.apple.com/wwdc/>.
I attended the latter. By definition (DSM IV or similar), I do not suffer from CGS (Chronic Geek Syndrome) but instead IAGS (Intermittent Acute Geek Syndrome) but never the less, this was a conference worth going to. Being only a IAGS sufferer, a lot of this conference was frighteningly complex for me. The Steve Jobs keynote was as polished as usual (you can see it all at http://stream.apple.akadns.net/). The new OS "Tiger" looks grand <http://www.apple.com.au/macosx/tiger/>. To those not suffering any of the Geek related syndromes, there is probably not a lot that looks all that different. That which does is fabulous. The new iChat means four folks can video conference with each other. Check out the Tiger link above- there is some very cool stuff. Some photos of the software in action are at http://www.osxfaq.com/wwdc/2004/index1.ws
Cool is one thing, potential enhancement to the teaching, learning and research environment is another.
I know I would rather collaborate synchronously with a colleague I was co-authoring with. Seeing and talking to my Italian colleague whilst we work on that next paper in "Nature" beats the hell out of email. It really isn't rocket science. I do it all the time with colleagues and family (look - I have proof! <http://www.espc.com.au/athoman/virtuallyhome.html#Anchor-49575>). For now it is one to one unless other commercial products like "Marratech" are used <http://www.marratech.com>. The ability to have multiple users opens up all sorts of opportunities. Give me a lecture theatre, a class of apathetic undergrads, and an iChat session with a couple of experts in whatever discipline I am working in, and.... one excited classrooom.
Another obvious enhancement to the OS includes "Dashboard". Midget mini-applications to enhance experience. Not that this is a new concept. At least the authors of "Konfabulator" have a sense of humour about their existing products' similarities to "Dashboard" <http://www.konfabulator.com/>. They openly mocked Apple's posters at the conference- "Redmond we have a problem", "Redmond, start your photocopiers" <http://gallery.isachin.com/gallery/wwdc2004?page=2> with an "Apple, start your photocopiers" page (I'm not sure their lawyers think it's as funny). Redmond, for those not in the know, is the site of Microsoft's HQ.
The real magic is what's under the hood. Core services for video, audio and graphics mean programers won't have to worry about all of the nuts and bolts stuff. The new development environment, xCode 2, is a wonder <http://www.apple.com.au/macosx/tiger/xcode.html>.
Whether you are a PC user, or Mac user, have a look at what's coming down the line. I think the rules of the game are about to change. And for me, I'll enjoy my time in remission. No more developer conferences, fast food, or Star Trek videos for a few months.
----------------------- In This Issue ----------------------------------
1] Apple stuff- Apple Reports Third Quarter Results
2] Apple stuff- new iPod sells out on first day in Australia
3] Apple stuff- Motorola and Apple Bring iTunes to Motorola Mobile Phones
4] Apple stuff- preview of Mac OS X ?Tiger?
5] Apple stuff- Analysts weigh in on Apple iMac shortage
6] Apple stuff- H.264 Video Codec Adopted
7] Interesting stuff- PC Magazine's annual reader satisfaction survey
8] Interesting stuff- Has the Microsoft of Today Become the IBM of the Late '80s?
9] Interesting stuff- international Linux advocacy consortium targets higher education
10] Interesting stuff- Let the PC entertain you
11] Interesting stuff- Are Mac Users Smarter Than PC Users?
12] Interesting stuff- Duke Uni first years to be given iPods
13] Interesting stuff- a beat up on iTunes Music Store
14] Interesting stuff- the Virginia Tech story as told in Australia
15] Developer stuff- video tool for OpenMash / AccessGrid tools compatible with iSight
16] Developer stuff- why the Mac rocks for the main developer of Tomcat- he came for the Java, and stayed for the Cocoa
17] Developer stuff- Swinburne rolling out stereoscopic installations
18] Developer stuff- environment to administer MySQL database serve
19] Developer stuff- <oXygen/> XML Editor & XSLT Debugger
20] Developer stuff- MistralMovie for producing interactive QuickTime Movies
21] Developer stuff- PHP 5.0 goes for Microsoft's ASP-dot-Net jugular
22] Network stuff- Industry group and UCSD to address shared network infrastructures
23] Network stuff- more network admin webcasts now online
24] Legal stuff- Car thieves caught out by iPod
25] Security stuff- Windows XP Service Pack 2: Install With Care
26] Security stuff- Computer security in academia
27] Security stuff- Microsoft Issues Seven Security Patches (Two Critical)
28] Security stuff- The Internet Business Disruptions Benchmark Report
29] Security stuff- Gartner believes iPods Pose Security Risk for Enterprises
30] Third party stuff- yet another DICOM (radiology) viewer
31] Third party stuff- new OCR software
32] Third party stuff- Apple asks for tips on science applications that need to be ON Mac OS X
33] Third party stuff- LipSync: a Lotus Notes conduit
34] Third party stuff- Scientific Journal Information
35] Third party stuff- update to cell imaging software "OpenLab"
36] Third party stuff- web wiki collaboration application
37] Third party stuff- new style of project management with zero configuration networking
38] Third party stuff- Learning Management Systems: Are We There Yet?
39] Third party stuff- Fake degrees to be investigated in Britain
40] Third party stuff- Rapid E-Learning: Groundbreaking New Research
41] Third party stuff- Jordan?s Universities to move to E-learning
42] Teaching stuff- quality management of a joint-university e- learning project
43] Teaching stuff- Penn State World Campus faculty helps dismantle barriers to online teaching
44] Teaching stuff- Northern Ireland pupils have a 'craic' at Scholar Images
45] Teaching stuff- Online Learning and Fun
46] Teaching stuff- new U.S. survey shows students & employers prefer traditional uni online qualifications
47] Teaching stuff- new U.S. survey shows students & employers prefer traditional uni online qualifications
48] Research stuff- laboratory experiments to social science fields
49] Research stuff- Polite computers win their users' hearts and minds
50] Research stuff- Twinkling eyes animate movies
51] What's coming up - relevant events in I.T. & education
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1] Apple stuff- Apple Reports Third Quarter Results
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"CUPERTINO, California?July 14, 2004?Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2004 third quarter ended June 26, 2004. For the quarter, the Company posted a net profit of $61 million, or $.16 per diluted share. These results compare to a net profit of $19 million, or $.05 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenue for the quarter was $2.014 billion, up 30 percent from the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 27.8 percent, up from 27.7 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 39 percent of the quarter?s revenue."
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2004/jul/14results.html
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2] Apple stuff- new iPod sells out on first day in Australia
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iPods are proving to be flexible beasties indeed. The popularity has meant, as reported in a previous edition, folks like BMW are fitting optional iPod kits and all sorts of additional uses are being toyed with. Some I'm not so sure of <http://features.engadget.com/entry/6336778455600767/>. Competitors are starting to present some nice offerings < http://www.ipodlounge.com/articles_more.php?id=4342_0_8_0_M> <http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2004/07/07/walkman/?lsrc=mcweek-0709>
"Whether specialist dealer or mass retailer, Apple resellers have agreed the release of the vendor?s new iPod mini on Saturday was a major success. However, several resellers were concerned about the availability of stock."
http://www.arnnet.com.au/index.php?id=1195909619&eid=-100
A comparison to Sony's new offering in Wall Street journal <http://ptech.wsj.com/solution.html>
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3] Apple stuff- Motorola and Apple Bring iTunes to Motorola Mobile Phones
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"ROSEMONT, Illinois and CUPERTINO, California?July 26, 2004?Motorola, Inc. and Apple® today announced they are partnering to enable millions of music lovers to transfer their favorite songs from the iTunes® jukebox on their PC or Mac®, including songs from the iTunes Music Store, to Motorola?s next-generation ?always with you? mobile handsets, via a USB or Bluetooth connection. Apple will create a new iTunes mobile music player, which Motorola will make the standard music application on all their mass-market music phones, expected to be available in the first half of next year."
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2004/jul/26motorola.html
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4] Apple stuff- preview of Mac OS X ?Tiger?
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"WWDC 2004, SAN FRANCISCO?June 28, 2004?Apple® today previewed Mac OS® X version 10.4 ?Tiger,? the fifth major version of Mac OS X that will ship in the first half of 2005, extending Apple?s leadership in software innovation. Tiger continues Apple?s blazing pace of innovation with more than 150 breakthrough new features"
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2004/jun/28tiger.html
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5] Apple stuff- Analysts weigh in on Apple iMac shortage
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"While a new iMac has been expected for some time, Cupertino-based Apple Computer Inc. surprised many industry watchers when they announced late last week a shortage of iMacs leading the company to suspend order-taking for the product. Apple called the iMac shortage "less than perfect" planning as it waits for the next generation of consumer desktops to hit the market. Industry analysts see the shortage as a significant problem for the company, but one they feel Apple can recover from if the new iMac follows Apple's tradition blockbuster releases."
http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2004/07/07/analysts/
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6] Apple stuff- H.264 Video Codec Adopted
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"CUPERTINO, California?June 23, 2004?Apple® today announced that the DVD Forum has ratified the H.264 Advanced Video Codec (AVC) to be included in the next generation High Definition (HD) DVD format. The H.264/AVC codec was jointly developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and has been ratified into the MPEG-4 specification as the next-generation video codec. H.264/AVC is based on open standards and will ship in Apple?s QuickTime® software in an upcoming release next year."
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2004/jun/23quicktime.html
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7] Interesting stuff- PC Magazine's annual reader satisfaction survey
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From Shay Telfer <shay@cygnus.uwa.edu.au>
"According to PC Magazine's annual survey, Apple customers are the most satisfied"
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1623585,00.asp?kc=PCPCYH103129TX1BTT00586
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8] Interesting stuff- Has the Microsoft of Today Become the IBM of the Late '80s?
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"Middle age enters when it becomes clear to you that you are not the person that you want to be, when you realize that the skills that took you to where you are now will not take you further, when you need to switch from increasing your space to tending to what you have. I think Microsoft is entering middle age, whether it wants to or not (and who wants to, or even admit to it happening)."
http://www.acm.org/ubiquity/views/v5i22_andersen.html
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9] Interesting stuff- international Linux advocacy consortium targets higher education
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"BEAVERTON, Ore. - June 30, 2004 - The Open Source Development Labs (OSDL), a global consortium dedicated to accelerating the adoption of Linux in the enterprise, today announced a new Lab membership initiative dedicated to supporting qualifying institutions of higher education. The new program is designed to attract affiliates among colleges and universities interested in Linux research and deployment. The first institutions joining OSDL under the new program are Marist College, Oregon State University, Stanford University, Tokyo University of Technology and Waseda University in Japan."
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10] Interesting stuff- Let the PC entertain you
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"Computer companies want to oust the TV and the hi-fi from your living room. Will they succeed? Can a computer take over the tasks of every piece of hi-fi, video and TV equipment in your living room?"
New Scientist vol 183 issue 2456 - 17 July 2004, page 22 or
http://archive.newscientist.com/secure/article/article.jsp?rp=1&id=mg18324563.800
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11] Interesting stuff- Are Mac Users Smarter Than PC Users?
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Cited Shay Telfer <shay@cygnus.uwa.edu.au>
"My wife has a Dilbert cartoon on her office door in which one of the characters says: "If you hav any trouble sounding condescending, find a Unix user to show you how." She's a Mac user and the were worse even before they all became Unix users too. Or maybe not. But finding out whether the average Mac user really is smarter than the rest of us isn't so easy."
http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/35130.html
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12] Interesting stuff- Duke Uni first years to be given iPods
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Cited Darryl Rosin <d.rosin@griffith.edu.au>
"When she arrives Aug. 19, her iPod will be loaded with all kinds of useful information, including orientation schedules, calendars, campus tours, even the Duke fight song.Students also can use them for course content, such as recorded lectures, music, language lessons and audio books. Throughout the year, they will be able to download information through a Duke Web site modeled after Apple's
iTunes site, where people can download songs legally."
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1446864p-7571661c.html
http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/news/ipods_0704.html
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13] Interesting stuff- a beat up on iTunes Music Store
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Debate is a good thing, so read on. Although, having used the U.K. Music Store (have Brit Visa card and address, will travel), I still think it is the best model on offer. No, we still don't know when the Music Store will come to Australasia
Cited Alan Batson <one_bat@dodo.com.au>
"People are paying for songs on the iTunes Music Store because they think it's a good way to support musicians. But iTunes misses a huge opportunity. Instead of creating a system that gets virtually all of fans' money directly to artists-- finally possible with the internet-- iTunes takes a big step backwards. Apple calls iTunes "revolutionary" but record companies are using the service to force the same exploitive and unfair business model onto a new medium."
http://downhillbattle.org/itunes/index.html
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14] Interesting stuff- the Virginia Tech story as told in Australia
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"In a performance likely to give risk managers stomach ulcers, director of research cluster computing for Virginia Tech university, Kevin Shinpaugh has lifted the lid on how to break records, stay on time and budget ? and, using Apple G5s, build the one of world's quickest supercomputers."
http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php?id=1419384730&eid=-6787
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15] Developer stuff- video tool for OpenMash / AccessGrid tools compatible with iSight
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An interesting area that a number of folks are working on- UQ, JCU and CQU have a joint AUDF grant to develop similar tools for the AccessGrid project < http://auc.uow.edu.au/index2.html?audf/abouttheaudf.html~mainFrame>
From Bruce Williams <b.williams@griffith.edu.au>
"I've spent some time changing the VIC video tool to be compatible with the iSight and other firewire cams without using any third party drivers. I've done some testing with it and it works pretty well."
http://homepage.mac.com/netmaster_bruce/FileSharing3.html
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16] Developer stuff- why the Mac rocks for the main developer of Tomcat- he came for the Java, and stayed for the Cocoa
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Cited Giri Fox <gfox@asia.apple.com>
"Unnsse Khan wrote me yesterday and asked the question, "Why are Macs better than PCs?" I thought about it for a while and decided that I'd write my reply as a public blog entry. After all, I've been a poster boy for Macs for a while. Almost every serious programmer I know and respect now uses one?and many of them asked me that question before they took the jump and bought a PowerBook. Boy, if I had a kick back for every Mac I've helped sell... well, I'd be living in a penthouse suite instead of an apartment. But it doesn't matter. I like working on my platform. And I don't mind telling people why."
http://x180.net/Journal/MacOSX/WhyMacRocks.html
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17] Developer stuff- Swinburne rolling out stereoscopic installations
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From Paul Bourke <pdb@swin.edu.au> cited Rob Osborn <r.osborn@ecu.edu.au>
"...we have just installed our first (of many we hope) Mac G5 based stereoscopic system in Korea, it is used for public science education using our OpenGL based interactive content along with stereoscopic movie playback using QquickTime and the Pixlet codec."
http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/~pbourke/stereographics/installations/korea1.jpg
http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/~pbourke/stereographics/installations/korea2.jpg
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18] Developer stuff- environment to administer MySQL database serve
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"dbSuite WebBuilder is an integrated environment to administer all aspects of your local and remote MySQL database server. It is designed with ease of use in mind. Select any aspect of your server in a tree-like view. All possible actions for the selected object are easily accessible through the action bar. This makes even complex administration tasks easy to handle."
http://www.dbsuite.de/dbsuiteWebBuilder.html
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19] Developer stuff- <oXygen/> XML Editor & XSLT Debugger
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"The simple and elegant look of the <oXygen/> XML Editor combined with the complete coverage of the XML editing features have made it popular in both the corporate and academic worlds. It provides the necessary tools for the document creation and presentation. The documents can be created and validated against any user defined schema."
http://www.oxygenxml.com/
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20] Developer stuff- MistralMovie for producing interactive QuickTime Movies
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A competitor to TotalHip's "Livestage"? < http://www.totallyhip.com/livestage.asp>
"MistralMovie is an authoring software for producing interactive QuickTime© Movies. MistralMovie makes it possible via screens to create an interactive animation in format Mov (QuickTime©) by using images, text, sound of the video or of files VR. The presentations are usable on CD-Rom or Internet via the QuickTime© Player."
http://www.omegaconcept.fr/
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21] Developer stuff- PHP 5.0 goes for Microsoft's ASP-dot-Net jugular
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And guess what is under Mac OS X's hood?
Cited John Zornig <jzornig@asia.apple.com>
"THE PEOPLE at Zend Technologies quietly announced last week the availability of the long awaited PHP version 5. The rise of PHP - the open source, server-side web programming language that took the Net by storm starting in 1998 with its 3.0 release, seems to be unstoppable, if one believes the usage charts at php.net."
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=17268
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22] Network stuff- Industry group and UCSD to address shared network infrastructures
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"San Diego, CA, July 23, 2004 -- The University of California, San Diego and four international technology leaders have committed approximately $9 million over three years to the Center for Networked Systems (CNS), a new university-industry alliance focused on developing technologies for robust, secure, and open networked systems."
http://www.jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/news_events/release.sfe?id=285
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23] Network stuff- more network admin webcasts now online
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From Andrew Jeffrey <ajeffrey@asia.apple.com>
Two new WebCasts from macosxlabs.org are now mirrored locally on the AUC web server. The WebCasts cover:
- Apple Xsan
- PSU Blast Image Config 2.0
The next web cast will be on the new features in Apple Remote Desktop (ARD) 2 and we will mirror the web cast once it becomes available.
http://auc.uow.edu.au/macosxlabs/webcasts.html
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24] Legal stuff- Car thieves caught out by iPod
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Cited Shay Telfer <shay@cygnus.uwa.edu.au>
"A gang of thieves that made £500,000 after tricking showrooms out of top of the range cars were caught out by an iPod, a jury was told. They "hijacked" identities to drive off Jaguars, Mercedes, BMW's and Porsches, before selling them, the court heard. Police found forged documents which were put on an iPod - usually used to store music - during a raid."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/3833579.stm
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25] Security stuff- Windows XP Service Pack 2: Install With Care
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Cited <gde@netspace.net.au>
"The real surprise with Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 isn't potential compatibility issues, but the mayhem that can occur when SP2 is downloaded onto a system."
http://informationweek.securitypipeline.com/25600074
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26] Security stuff- Computer security in academia
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Dov Greenbaum et a. Computer security in academia?a potential roadblock to distributed annotation of the human genome.
Nature Biotechnology 22, 771 - 772 (01 Jun 2004)
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27] Security stuff- Microsoft Issues Seven Security Patches (Two Critical)
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"Microsoft Corp. last week released seven security patches covering a wide array of the company's products. Two of those patches fix holes that Microsoft deemed "critical" and warned could allow remote attackers to take control of vulnerable Windows systems."
http://enterprisesecurity.symantec.com/content.cfm?articleid=4394&PID=20482672&EID=699
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28] Security stuff- The Internet Business Disruptions Benchmark Report
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The one thing this consulting company left out - "use a Mac instead". Nearly every problem mentioned has yet to be experienced on a Macintosh!
"Viruses, spyware, and worms currently cost enterprises almost $2 million per incident. With 75% of all firms increasingly using the Internet for customer-facing business needs, something must be done about the downtime resulting from such disruptions. The Internet Business Disruptions Benchmark Report helps organizations do the following:
* Learn the dominant strategy that can combat Internet business disruptions
* Understand the appropriate enablers and technologies
* Quantify of the revenue loss impact of Internet-based business disruptions
* Overcome revenue loss rates and business down time"
http://www.aberdeen.com/ab_company/hottopics/ibd/default.htm
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29] Security stuff- Gartner believes iPods Pose Security Risk for Enterprises
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Just as any storage device like thumb Drives!
"The iPod may be popular, but it poses such a major security risk for businesses that enterprises should seriously consider banning it and other portable storage devices, according to a study by research firm Gartner Inc."
http://enterprisesecurity.symantec.com/content.cfm?articleid=4373&PID=20494796&EID=693
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30] Third party stuff- yet another DICOM (radiology) viewer
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"Escape Medical Viewer 3 (EMV) is the fast, lightweight, easy-to-use, cross-platform viewer, anonymizer and converter of DICOM and common images for MacOS 9 and X."
http://www.escape.gr/dicom/emv/index.html
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31] Third party stuff- new OCR software
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"Readiris Pro 9 is the most powerful and accurate OCR software for Mac OS X. It accurately and rapidly transforms your paper documents, your PDFs and images files into editable information ready to be use."
http://www.irisusa.com/products/readiris/mac/
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32] Third party stuff- Apple asks for tips on science applications that need to be ON Mac OS X
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"Please complete this form to request a scientific or engineering application ? commercial or Open Source ? that you?d like to see on Mac OS X. You can include applications developed for Mac OS 9 that are not yet available on Mac OS X."
http://www.apple.com/science/applications/survey/
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33] Third party stuff- LipSync: a Lotus Notes conduit
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I know some of you (eg Griffith Uni) are Lotus Notes users, so this may be of interest to you.
"Sync Contacts, Calendars, and ToDo's between Lotus Notes, Apple iCal, the MacOS X Address Book, Apple iPod, PalmOS PDA's, cell phones, and more!"
http://www.kissworks.com/kissworks/kissworks.nsf/LipSyncHome
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34] Third party stuff- Scientific Journal Information
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"This program lets you rapidly search for information about a scientific journal: Impact factor [(c) ISI], name, ISO abbregged name, web site. It is constantly in progress." (not sure, but it looks like it is limited to Life Sciences only)
http://www.ese.u-psud.fr/epc/conservation/SJI/SJI.html
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35] Third party stuff- update to cell imaging software "OpenLab"
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"Openlab is a modular imaging program designed specifically for scientific imaging. Openlab consists of a core product and an extensive range of modules. The scientist who uses Openlab can select from a versatile choice of system combinations, ranging from simple, inexpensive acquisition systems to advanced systems for visualizing cellular structure and function"
http://www.improvision.com/products/Openlab/default.lasso
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36] Third party stuff- web wiki collaboration application
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"ProjectForum provides a professional and easy-to-use web-based focus for your team's work and collaboration, helping to move documents and projects forward fast. Stay constantly in communication, without the never-ending, time-consuming and costly meetings or expensive teleconferences. With ProjectForum, you know the latest about your team at a glance, get rapid feedback to move work forward faster, and get the right information to make better, more timely decisions."
http://www.projectforum.com/pf/
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37] Third party stuff- new style of project management with zero configuration networking
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Note: for legal reasons Apple doesn't use the term "Rendezvous" anymore.
"PowerCard is a new revolution in project management software. Instead of managing your project through trees and lists of data. You use an innovative and intuitive "task card" based interface, where you write cards that represent the tasks you need to accomplish, and slide them around to organize them appropriately."
http://www.devoesquared.com/Software/PowerCard/
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38] Third party stuff- Learning Management Systems: Are We There Yet?
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"The LMS has reached maturity but is racing to keep up with changing requirements on campus and to meet the need for integration with other enterprise systems and a more collaborative working environment. Reminiscent of the kids in the back of the car on your family?s summer vacation, the persistent question about this technology seems to be, ?Are we there yet?? Syllabus asked the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation?s vice president for research in information technology about his vision for learning management systems and related technologies."
http://www.syllabus.com/article.asp?id=9675
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39] Third party stuff- Fake degrees to be investigated in Britain
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"The problem of fake degree certificates being sold on the internet is to be raised with the Education Secretary, Charles Clarke. Barry Sheerman, education select committee chairman, says he will ask Mr Clarke to investigate the trade when he appears before the committee next week."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/3867037.stm
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40] Third party stuff- Rapid E-Learning: Groundbreaking New Research
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well, "groundbreaking" may be oevrkill.
"For decades, technology-based training has promised to give corporations, universities, government, and non-profit organizations the power to increase the scale and reach of training. As companies have rushed into e-learning, however, many have found that the time and cost to build excellent content sometimes overcomes these advantages."
Which is why content creation tools like iLife change the balance!!
http://www.ltimagazine.com/ltimagazine/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=102399
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41] Third party stuff- Jordan?s Universities to move to E-learning
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"AMMAN ? Teaching methods at Jordanian universities are set to undergo sweeping changes over the next academic year, with the proposed introduction of a raft of new technologies and teaching methods. The Ministry of Higher Education wants the Kingdom's public universities to move away from "chalk and blackboard" teaching to "e-learning," which would make computers and the Internet an integral part of every study programme."
http://www.jordantimes.com/sun/homenews/homenews6.htm
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42] Teaching stuff- quality management of a joint-university e- learning project
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From July "Global Ed"
"This article describes a quality process to support higher education academics who are integrating technology into their learning and teaching programs. The joint-university e-learning project aims to cross-fertilize staff experiences and resources and provides educational advice to maximize the application of educational theories and technical support to minimize technical barriers."
http://www.globaled.com/articles.html
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43] Teaching stuff- Penn State World Campus faculty helps dismantle barriers to online teaching
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"University Park, Pa. -- A Penn State faculty research team has worked to dismantle two common barriers to teaching online and has been honored for its research with the 2004 Bill Murphy Barrier Buster Award from the American Distance Education Consortium (ADEC)."
http://live.psu.edu/story/7424
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44] Teaching stuff- Northern Ireland pupils have a 'craic' at Scholar Images
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"Students from Northern Ireland are now being given the same chances at University entry as those in England and Scotland.
It follows the launch of a pilot project for Heriot-Watt SCHOLAR, the world?s largest e-learning programme, into Northern Ireland by Interactive University (IU), the global e-learning specialist."
http://www.4ni.co.uk/industrynews.asp?id=31287
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45] Teaching stuff- Online Learning and Fun
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"What makes e-learning fun? What makes e-learning boring? We posed these questions at a Special Interest Group (SIG) on E-learning and Fun at CHI2004 in Vienna, Austria on April 27, 2004."
http://www.elearnmag.org/
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46] Teaching stuff- new U.S. survey shows students & employers prefer traditional uni online qualifications
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Of course this is more of a U.S. issue given the "university" label can be used more freely compared to Australia, New Zealand and Britain.
" A new survey from the Online University Consortium and a recent industry report from research firm Eduventures point to a similar conclusion: Many students and employers prefer -- and likely will continue to prefer -- online degree programs from traditional universities to their for-profit counterparts"
http://denver.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2004/05/24/newscolumn2.html
"We provide access to reputable universities that have online degree programs you can trust. Our quality assurance comes by qualifying university providers before learning ever begins. Some of the qualification standards we consider before accepting providers into our consortium are listed below."
http://www.onlineuc.net/about.html
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47] Teaching stuff- new U.S. survey shows students & employers prefer traditional uni online qualifications
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Cited Scott Barnham <sbarnham@asia.apple.com>
The collaborative "elearning" tools just keep coming. I've mentioned a number of applications in previous issues. Here is a new one.
"Horizon Wimba develops web-based collaboration software designed for online distance education, language learning and live interactive communications."
http://www.horizonwimba.com/horizon/
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48] Research stuff- laboratory experiments to social science fields
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"XLab, a new Haas School research facility, is helping to lead a scientific revolution by bringing controlled laboratory experiments to social science fields that have until now not made much use of experimentation. Economists, political scientists, anthropologists, and other social scientists at UC Berkeley have begun testing their theories in the new high-tech XLab to determine whether they can be applied to real world problems, including those in business."
http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/groups/newspubs/haasnews/archives/hn071904.html#1
http://xlab.berkeley.edu/
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49] Research stuff- Polite computers win their users' hearts and minds
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(which is one reason I use a Mac)
"Computer glitches would be a lot less annoying if the machines were programmed to acknowledge errors gracefully when something goes wrong, instead of merely flashing up a brusque "you goofed" message. The trick, according to a researcher who has analysed users' responses to their computers, is to make operating systems and software more "civilised" by saying sorry more often."
New Scientist vol 183 issue 2456 - 17 July 2004, page 20 or
http://archive.newscientist.com/secure/article/article.jsp?rp=2&id=mg18324563.200
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50] Research stuff- Twinkling eyes animate movies
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"To make computer generated images look like the real thing look no further than reflections from actors' eyes. ComputerR graphics artists face a tough job when they have to combine their hobbits, kung-fu fighters and spacecraft with live action footage for movies. For fantasy creations to look realistic, their appearance on screen has to react to changes in the colour, intensity and direction of the light in different parts of the film set."
New Scientist vol 183 issue 2457 - 24 July 2004, page 23 or
http://archive.newscientist.com/secure/article/article.jsp?rp=1&id=mg18324573.500
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51] What's coming up - relevant events in I.T. & education
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2 - 6 August, 2004
Cocoa Development and Programming
Beaconsfield, Bucks. UK
http://www.plsys.co.uk/training.htm
4 - 6 August, 2004
20th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching & Learning
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference/
8 - 12 & 1 6- 20 August, 2004
WebObjects Development
Beaconsfield, Bucks, UK
http://www.plsys.co.uk/training.htm
16 - 18 August, 2004
CATE 2004- International Conference on Computers and Advanced Technology in Education
Kauai, Hawaii, USA
http://www.iasted.com/conferences/2004/hawaii/cate.htm
23 - 27 August, 2004
The University of Calgary is pleased to host the Best Practices in e-Learning Online Conference. This conference will take place totally online so you can participate without the cost and inconvenience of traveling. The pre-conference workshops will take place the week before the main conference.
http://elearn.ucalgary.ca/conference/
29 August - 2 September, 2004
CAUDIT-EDUCAUSE Institute
Coolangatta, Australia
http://www.caudit.edu.au/caudit/caudit/institute/institute2004/index.html
5 - 8 September, 2004
Digital Resources for the Humanities
University of Newcastle, UK
http://drh2004.ncl.ac.uk
9 - 10 September, 2004
International Conference of Educational Technology 2004 by NIE and MOE
Singapore
http://www.icet.com.sg/files\home.htm
12 - 17 September, 2004
European Conference on Digital Libraries (ECDL) 2004
University of Bath, UK
http://www.ecdl2004.org/
14 - 16 September, 2004
ALT-C 2004- Blue skies and pragmatism: learning technologies for the next decade
Exeter, Devon, UK
http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2004
19 - 22 September, 2004
AoIR - Association of Internet Researchers 5.0
Brighton, Sussex, UK
http://aoir.org/2004/
25 - 28 September, 2004
WebCT 5th Annual Asia-Pacific User Conference
Manly Beach, Sydney, Australia
http://www.webct.com/asiapacific04
29 Sep - 1 October, 2004
CIRN - Community Informatics Research Network Conference and Colloquium
Prato, Italy
http://www.ciresearch.net/conferences/
9 October, 2004
The eXpo Conference
Auckland Uni Technology. NZ
http://digitalevents.co.nz/expo_main.html
13 - 16 October, 2004
The Ethics of Electronic Information in the 21 Century EEI21 - 2004
The University of Memphis. USA
http://www.memphis.edu/ethics21
19 - 22 October, 2004
EDUCAUSE 2004 Conference. IT From A Higher Vantage Point
Denver, Colorado. USA
http://www.educause.edu/conference/annual/2004/
20 - 24 November, 2004
OZCHI 2004
Wollongong, Australia
http://www.dsl.uow.edu.au/ozchi2004/
24 - 26 November, 2004
Griffith QualIT
Brisbane, Australia
http://www.griffith.edu.au/conference/qualit2004/
30 November - 3 December, 2004
ICCE2004 : International Conference on Computers in Education
Melbourne, Australia
http://www.rmit.edu.au/bus/icce2004
1 - 3 December, 2004
Online Educa Berlin 2004
Berlin, Germany
http://www.online-educa.com/en/
5 - 8 December, 2004
ASCILITE Conference 2004 - Beyond the Comfort Zone
The University of Western Australia. Perth, Australia
http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/perth04/
15 - 17 December, 2004
IADIS International Conference. Cognition and Exploratory Learning in Digital Age (CELDA 2004)
Lisbon, Portugal
http://www.iadis.org/celda2004/
3 - 6 January, 2005
HICSS-38
Hawaii
http://www.hicss.hawaii.edu/