Kevin Creamer's List: Technology

NY Times article about the concern among scientists that the coming advances in technology may be beyond our control as a society. Machines that can autonomously kill are here or will be shortly, and criminals will have the interest to use new technologies for illegal purposes. One CMU professor mentions his concern with privacy and information management, and the implications in a new world fraught with machines.

Scientists have found a way on a very small scale to make light repel light. Previously they had demonstrated that light could attract light. These two discoveries will allow faster data transfer.

Researchers will use a supercomputer to simulate a million computers, which they plan to expose to botnets. This will allow them to better understand how botnets look and behave.

IBM buys SPSS, looking to improve their predictive analytics offerings.

Conflicker appears to be one of the most professionally assembled malware programs ever. Experts still do not understand the intent of the program, and have not been able to defeat it. The article interestingly suggests that rather than being created by professional hackers, the program may be the product of some government's military.

Skype goes private, ending what was for me a confusing deal with eBay. The article suggests that at the least, eBay's move kept Google from acquiring Skype, and the sale of Skype seems to have helped eBay financially. I look forward to seeing what Skype does next.

Organic Light Emitting Diodes, or OLEDs, allows for flexible lighting. The cost is high now and they are not as efficient as they will be in a few years, but designers are fascinated with the possibilities. Me too. This is what Malcolm Brown discussed at the EDUCAUSE session about classrooms of the future, and it's nice to see it coming on the horizon.

From iPhones to satellite radios to Kindles, manufacturers have the ability to find out who is using a stolen device. But there's a conflict of interest: phone companies subsidize cell phones, and care more about use than the device. Amazon and Sirius XM require a police warrant to shut down or track the device. While they won't track down the stolen device, companies are quick to reimburse for any content that was purchased before the device was re-authorized. Is this something that needs to change? To me it feels like it should, and in England and other countries it works differently.

Speculation and expectation grow in anticipation of Wednesday's Apple event. Changes to iTunes seem likely, Beatles via iTunes less so.

Older versions of WordPress are being hacked by a worm. Upgrades are encouraged, though Fred put a fix into our WPMu instance that keeps us safe.

PC makers are apparently simplifying the information cards for their hardware, while following Apple's focus on design as a differentiator.

Apple's web page with licensing and pricing information for higher education.

NASA has created a user guide for WordPress. Cool.

About 16 of our faculty are using Stata, mostly in Economics. Wondering if we can negotiate a better licensing deal.

The site allows you to check the compatibility of various software and hardware with Win 7, both 32-bit and 64-bit. Important things to note: even if your computer has a 64-bit CPU (processor), most experts would recommend staying with 32-bit for compatibility with older hardware, but the reason to go 64-bit is if you have 4 Gigabytes or more of RAM.

It is suggested that one downloads the compatibility tool as well. You can find it in the lower third of that main page where it says, "Scan your PC for compatibility."

A writing center appointment system, used by our writing and speech centers, that might be a solution for Richmond's TLC.

An interactive monitor from HP. Perhaps a lower cost solution for DyKnow? Prices to be announced in December 2009.