CourseCast of the Week

Episode 125, 10/31/2009

Title/Description: Tech News Headlines

Welcome to Course Technology's CourseCast of the week, Episode 125, recorded October 31st, 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 CourseCasts 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.

• Lordy, lordy, look who's 40! The Internet! The first long-distance packet of data was sent over ARPANET on Oct 29, 1969.
  Happy Birthday! Today's Internet Is 40 Years Old [NewsFactor]
• T-Mobile is working to get noticed with a new steeply discounted cellular plan. Unlimited talk, text, and Web for $79.99 per month and no contract. The plan provides a 20 percent savings over other carriers, but does not offer any deals on handsets.
  T-Mobile USA unveils no-contract option [Reuters]
• The highly anticipated Droid handset from Motorola and Sprint goes on sale this week on November 6. Analysts are calling the phone the first serious iPhone contender. Investors will be watching how the public reacts to the new Android-powered handset and some are saying that a failure for the phone could mean the end of Motorola.
  Motorola's Droid has Google navigation features [Reuters]
  Motorola Droid vs. Apple iPhone 3GS: Finally, a contender? [Computerworld]
• Google has released a new Google Maps Navigation product that provides turn-by-turn navigation on Android cell phones. The software puts Google in direct competition with GPS navigation companies TomTom and Garmin, who's stock prices fell dramatically after Google's announcement. Sprint's new Droid handset will be the first to offer Google Maps Navigation software.
  Google drives into navigation market [Reuters]
  Google Navigation Doesn't Spell Doom for GPS Makers [NewsFactor]
• Google also launched its new music search technology this week. A Google search on a song or artist now provides a link that pops up a music player allowing you to listen to the song and a quick click will let you purchase and download it. The new service is made possible through partnerships with iLike, Lala, Pandora, iMeem and Rhapsody.
  Google launches music search with Lala and iLike [Reuters]
  Google Lifts the Curtain on Its New Music Service [NYTimes]
  Google Breaks Into Song With New Music Search [Ecommerce Times]
  Hands-On: Google's Music Search Is Just So-So [Computerworld]
• Also in Google news, Google Voice now allows users to keep their old phone numbers. You'll recall that Google Voice is a service that allows users to manage their phone lines and calls using Web-based tools. Those that opt to keep their own phone number rather than adopting a new Google phone number will have access to fewer features.
  Google Voice Lets Users Keep Their Phone Numbers [NewsFactor]
• The White house Web site has gone open source. Whitehouse.gov is now delivered using Drupal - a popular open source database-driven Web application framework.
  Drupal Moves Into the White House [NYTimes]
  White House Opens Web Site Programming To Public [NewsFactor]
• The city of Los Angeles, is moving to the cloud. The City Council voted unanimously to adopt Google's cloud computing applications including Gmail, and Google Docs for all of its 30,000 employees.
  City of Angels to Give Cloud Computing a Go [Ecommerce Times]
• While Windows 7 continues to get positive reviews, its upgrade path remains problematic for many users. Some college students who took advantage of the special $30 upgrade at windows7.digitalriver.com had issues with the 64 bit version. The installation software crashed when used to upgrade from the 32 bit version of Windows Vista. In general, the Windows 7 upgrade only works when upgrading from the same version of WIndows Vista, otherwise a messy and time-consuming clean install is required.
  Microsoft blames Windows 7 upgrade mess on user confusion [Computerworld]
  Windows 7 install trick saves up to $100 [Computerworld]
• Internet domain names are going international. Domain names will soon begin allowing characters other than the latin alphabet. So countries like Russia and Japan will soon be able to register domains using native characters and language.
  ICANN approves internationalized domain names [Computerworld]
• A study just released by the Department of Homeland Security and the Government Accountability Office expresses concern over the ability of the Internet to withstand the demands that an H1N1 pandemic would place on it. The report recommends government intervention to provide extra bandwidth capacity and manage network traffic in a way that would allow crucial data to be distributed to the public perhaps at the expense of other non-critical data communications.
  Can the Internet handle traffic in an H1N1 pandemic? [Computerworld]

That's it for this week's CourseCasts. 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!