Dave Murphy's Student Resources Blog
I have a favor ask of you. I am researching how the personal computer (PC) has affected the face of America. Specifically, I am interested in the PC’s effect on American culture and attitudes. For example, how has access to a PC affected behavior and expectations? To do this , I’m asking for your experiences that were brought on by the PC revolution.
Students, faculty, and staff at seven campuses of the California State University (CSU) system are at risk for identity theft after a hardware technician improperly disposed of a computer hard drive with unencrypted database tables that included Social Security numbers and other personal details. The CSU is required, under California law, to notify all affected parties.
You’ve seen them; they’re small, colorful, probably attached to a lanyard. They’re USB flash drives, a.k.a. flash keys or key drives. The USB flash drives had replaced floppy disks and CD-RWs as the media of choice for on-the-go computer users. I’ve noticed the portable drives dangling from the backpacks of college students and the necks of corporate employees. While a worker could hardly carry a laptop out the employee exit without raising suspicious, a USB flash drive would raise no eyebrows. However, which is ultimately more important: one computer or an department’s sensitive data files?
Metropolitan-wide broadband services may soon be coming from overhead. Sanswire Networks, LLC hopes to bring broadband to entire metropolitan areas via tiny airships. Atlanta, Georgia may be the first city to benefit from this interesting digital communication service, starting as early as next week.
High-capacity DVDs (Digital Versatile Disks) that use blue laser technology may soon be available to information technology professionals. Blue laser DVD-RW (rewritable) disks are expected by Sony in the U.S. as early as this June. The disks will store 23GB of data and the drives will initially be connected by SCSI or USB 2.0 interfaces. The expected cost of the first models is between $2,500 and $3,000; however, fast price drops should follow.
Microsoft is readying the Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) upgrade for release in mid-2004. The upgrade will address many of the security problems that currently plague the company’s flagship operating system.
The U.S. Copyright Office ruled this week that a manufacturer of low-cost, third-party printer ink cartridges can continue to make and sell cartridges for Lexmark printers. This ruling will have broad impact on the printer consumable market as alternative brands of ink cartridges may now move from the black market to retail store shelves.
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) will launch its new 64-bit Athlon microprocessor tomorrow. This chip gives AMD a significant edge over rival Intel. Microsoft is slated to release a version of the Windows operating system optimized to run on AMD’s new chip, forcing Intel to model the AMD component architecture or convince Microsoft to create a Windows version for the as-yet-unreleased 64-bit chip from Intel.