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TOP STORIES FOR FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 2006 NSF Funds Nanotechnology Center at UMass Duke's iPod Program Evolves Copyright Infringement Letters Target LANs Committee Kills Net Neutrality Bill NSF FUNDS NANOTECHNOLOGY CENTER AT UMASS The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded the University of Massachusetts at Amherst $16 million to fund nanotechnology research, beating out a number of higher-profile institutions for the prestigious grant. UMass already has more than 50 faculty working in the field of nanotechnology, and the university has drawn $54 million in funding for nanotechnology research since 1997. As a condition of the award, the state must provide $5 million, for which Governor Mitt Romney has begun to work. With the grant, the Center for Hierarchical Manufacturing at UMass will embark on research in the areas of nanoscale manufacturing, bionanotechnology, and nanomaterials. "I'm hopeful that nanotechnology will offer the same kinds of benefits and economic potential for the Commonwealth that we saw with biotech," said Romney. The Boston Channel, 25 April 2006 http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/8979687/detail.html DUKE'S IPOD PROGRAM EVOLVES Duke University's iPod program continues to evolve since its introduction in 2004, when all incoming freshmen were given iPods. The Duke Digital Initiative was started to investigate the pedagogical uses for the devices and, despite skepticism from some corners, has proven successful. In the second year of the program, instead of giving every freshman an iPod, the university handed out iPods to any student enrolled in a course designated by the school's Center for Instructional Technology as having a legitimate use for the device. The goal was to encourage faculty to design curricula that incorporated the technology. Indeed, the number of courses approved for iPod use rose from 19 in the spring of 2005 to 47 in the spring of 2006. New changes to the program reflect budgetary constraints. Students in iPod-approved courses can now borrow the devices for the duration of the term. Students who want to own an iPod can buy one from the university for $99, about one-third of what it would cost retail. Inside Higher Ed, 28 April 2006 http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/04/28/ipod COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT LETTERS TARGET LANS The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) have sent letters to presidents of 40 universities in 25 states asking that they investigate possible illegal file trading on campus local area networks (LANs). The letters suggest that many students might think that trading copyrighted files across LANs is either not illegal or sufficiently shielded from copyright owners that it's okay to do. The letters encourage recipients to see whether students are using applications such as Direct Connect (DC++), MyTunes, or OurTunes to swap files on LANs and, if so, to take actions to stop them. Fred von Lohmann, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, faulted the RIAA and the MPAA for being out of step with the times. Music labels sent similar letters regarding Napster, he said. "Here we are, seven years later, and the problem from their perspective is bigger than ever." The entertainment industry should make licensing arrangements with colleges and universities, he said, and "let the students do what they're going to do anyway." CNET, 27 April 2006 http://news.com.com/2100-1025_3-6066118.html COMMITTEE KILLS NET NEUTRALITY BILL The House Energy and Commerce Committee has killed an amendment designed to guarantee net neutrality. The amendment would have prevented Internet service providers from delivering different content at different speeds based on content providers' having paid extra fees. Supporters of the amendment, including Microsoft, Amazon, and Google, argued that the Internet was built on ideas antithetical to the notion of paying fees to have content available to consumers. They called on Congress not to drop the issue but to "enact legislation preventing discrimination" against certain content providers. Opponents of the amendment, including cable and phone companies, suggested that the landscape of online content, including such material as movie-quality video, could be available to consumers if content providers paid a surcharge for it. Joe Barton (R-Tex.), chairman of the committee, commented that net neutrality is "still not clearly defined" and that he doubts the dire predictions of the amendment's supporters. ZDNet, 26 April 2006 http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6065465.html ***************************************************** EDUPAGE INFORMATION To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your settings, or access the Edupage archive, visit http://www.educause.edu/Edupage/639 Or, you can subscribe or unsubscribe by sending e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To SUBSCRIBE, in the body of the message type: SUBSCRIBE Edupage YourFirstName YourLastName To UNSUBSCRIBE, in the body of the message type: SIGNOFF Edupage If you have subscription problems, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***************************************************** OTHER EDUCAUSE RESOURCES The EDUCAUSE Resource Center is a repository for information concerning use and management of IT in higher education. 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