***************************************************** 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 MONDAY, JULY 22, 2002 Congress Moves Forward with Technology Guard Federal IT Spending Frozen Senate Finally Upgrades E-Mail Application AND Project Aims to Increase Accessibility ProQuest Digitizes Entire Backfile of New York Times RealNetworks Plays Microsoft Files CONGRESS MOVES FORWARD WITH TECHNOLOGY GUARD Last week the Senate passed legislation that would create a National Emergency Technology Guard, similar to the National Guard, to protect the country from cybercrime. The House of Representatives has passed similar legislation. The new group would comprise volunteers to respond to, and try to prevent, attacks on the nation's communication systems. The legislation would also create a reserve of privately owned technology equipment that could be called on in the event of an emergency. Lance Hoffman of George Washington University testified at Senate hearings on the bill and warned lawmakers of the potential to infiltrate such a volunteer force. Without necessary precautions, he said, "we risk doing more harm than good." Nando Times, 21 July 2002 http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/473380p-3783273c.html FEDERAL IT SPENDING FROZEN A memo sent Friday from the Office of Management and Budget to the heads of 22 federal agencies puts a freeze on any IT spending projects that exceed $500,000. The agencies in question would be combined to form the proposed Department of Homeland Security, and collectively they have IT spending of $364 million budgeted for 2002 and $782 million for 2003. According to the memo, the goals of the homeland security department can best be achieved with "an integrated and universal IT system." The freeze in spending is meant to allow officials to assess IT projects for the agencies, creating standardized systems and eliminating duplication. CNET, 22 July 2002 http://news.com.com/2100-1017-945395.html SENATE FINALLY UPGRADES E-MAIL APPLICATION The U.S. Senate has begun upgrading its offices to Microsoft Outlook, replacing its 12-year-old system. The House of Representatives began replacing its aging e-mail system in 1996, but the Senate until now continued to use "cc:Mail," a program developed in 1985 and in service at the Senate office since 1990. According to Senate staffers, the old system took at least 15 minutes to transmit a message and sometimes up to several days. The old system also did not allow sending Web pages. One staffer who asked not to be named said if a message needed to get there quickly, he would use his Yahoo account. The Senate conversion is expected to be finished by November, though some Senators have said they don't want the upgrade until after election day, fearing problems with the transition. Washington Post, 19 July 2002 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33809-2002Jul19.html AND ***************************************************** PROJECT AIMS TO INCREASE ACCESSIBILITY The Archimedes Project (http://archimedes.stanford.edu/) at Stanford Univeristy aims to promote the general use of accessible comptuer tools, raising accessibility for all users. The project does not design tools specifically for those with disabilities. Instead, the group tries to develop accessible tools that will be used by the general population. Whereas many accessibility projects focus on users with disabilities, the goal of the Archimedes Project is to develop accessible tools that are so superior to other products that even those without disabilities will want to have them. Wired News, 22 July 2002 http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,53930,00.html PROQUEST DIGITIZES ENTIRE BACKFILE OF NEW YORK TIMES ProQuest Information and Learning announced that it has completely digitized every backfile issue (1851-1999) of "The New York Times," including all stories, editorials, photos, and ads. The effort was part of the company's Historical Newspapers program. Content can be searched by keyword and other parameters, or users can flip through pages just as would be done with a printed version. The work covered almost three million pages of text and makes the content available to library or education subscribers to ProQuest. Information Today, 22 July 2002 http://www.infotoday.com/newsbreaks/wnd020722.htm REALNETWORKS PLAYS MICROSOFT FILES A new version of software from RealNetworks will play audio and video in various formats, including Microsoft's Windows Media. By analyzing data sent from a server to the Windows Media Player, developers at RealNetworks were able to create a "clean-room" application--a program that can handle proprietary formats without access to the underlying code. RealNetworks, one of the early leaders in streaming audio and video, has been under pressure from others in the market, most notably Microsoft, which gives away the server and player portions of its media player. The new version of RealNetworks' software is seen as a direct challenge to Microsoft and an attempt to prevent having the streaming media market overwhelmed by Microsoft, as happened with Netscape and the browser market. New York Times, 21 July 2002 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/22/technology/22REAL.html *** CORRECTION *** The Friday, July 19 issue of Edupage included a story about a new powerline product. That product is from Phonex Broadband, not "Phoenix." 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