***************************************************** Edupage is a service of EDUCAUSE, a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology. *****************************************************
TOP STORIES FOR FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2006 U.S. Department of Commerce Renews ICANN Contract Boeing to Drop In-Flight Broadband Service Report Advises Consistency on Government Web Sites Penn State Adopts Text Messages to Students U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE RENEWS ICANN CONTRACT The U.S. Department of Commerce renewed its contract with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), leaving the management of the technical details of the Internet with the nonprofit group. ICANN will continue its responsibility for Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), which includes allocating IP addresses, assigning protocol identifiers, and managing top-level domain names and root servers. The contract involves five one-year options. Internet News, 17 August 2006 http://www.internetnews.com/infra/article.php/3627026 BOEING TO DROP IN-FLIGHT BROADBAND SERVICE Boeing has announced plans to drop its in-flight Internet service, called Connexion, due to lack of demand. Airline passengers access the Internet through a high-speed wireless network, with signals bounced off satellites. Despite preimplementation surveys showing strong interest in the service, very few passengers used Connexion, which cost $9.95 an hour or $26.95 a flight. New York Times, 18 August 2006 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/18/business/18boeing.html REPORT ADVISES CONSISTENCY ON GOVERNMENT WEB SITES An annual report on state and federal e-government portals recommended increased consistency of government Web sites. According to Darrell West, a professor of political science at Brown University and the author of the report "Digital Government: Technology and Public Sector Performance," government Web sites should use consistent designs on their pages. The seventh annual report, published by Brown's Taubman Center for Public Policy, ranks the General Services Administration's FirstGov.gov as top among federal sites. Federal Computer Week, 17 August 2006 http://www.fcw.com/article95695-08-17-06-Web PENN STATE ADOPTS TEXT MESSAGES TO STUDENTS Pennsylvania State university will launch a text-messaging wireless service called PSUTXT today as an expansion of Penn State Live, a news service with 360,000 subscribers. The university plans to use the service to send text messages of news alerts to mobile devices. Registered users can sign up for short message service (SMS) text messages on campus emergencies, sports, and concert information. Topics will expand as users indicate an interest in other types of information. PSUTXT targets Penn State students, faculty, and staff, although anyone may subscribe. CNET, 16 August 2006 http://news.com.com/2100-1039_3-6106302.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. To access resources including articles, books, conference sessions, contracts, effective practices, plans, policies, position descriptions, and blog content, go to http://www.educause.edu/resources ***************************************************** CONFERENCES For information on all EDUCAUSE learning and networking opportunities, see http://www.educause.edu/31 ***************************************************** COPYRIGHT Edupage copyright (c) 2006, EDUCAUSE
