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TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2002 Study Says New Content Must Drive Broadband Adoption ICANN Given One Year to Prove Itself Sony Shows Biggest Growth in PC Sales AND Job Market Still Sluggish for IT Workers Cyber Corps Trains Workers, Pays for School New File-Sharing Service from Owners of Kazaa STUDY SAYS NEW CONTENT MUST DRIVE BROADBAND ADOPTION A new study from the Commerce Department says that most consumers will not be willing to pay for high-speed Internet connections at their homes until content provides a compelling justification. According to the report, only 10 percent of American households have high-speed access, less than in other countries including Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, or Canada. The report cites file-sharing services such as the now-defunct Napster as factors that promote high-speed access. However, as many peer-to-peer networks have come under legal pressures, consumer demand for broadband has stalled. Online music distribution from the music industry is largely regarded as too expensive and restrictive and so does not contribute to demand for broadband, according to the study. Wall Street Journal, 23 September 2002 (sub. req'd) http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1032788871596912713,00.html ICANN GIVEN ONE YEAR TO PROVE ITSELF Amid widespread complaints about the way that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has performed, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced it would give the organization one more year to prove itself. Assistant secretary of commerce Nancy Victory noted in the announcement that the Commerce Department is not satisfied with the transparency of ICANN's decision-making process nor with the group's inclusion of national governments in that process. The extension, she said, is nonetheless justified given ICANN's progress recently. Under the terms of the extension, ICANN will be required to complete specified tasks to satisfy the Commerce Department and to make quarterly reports about their progress on those tasks. The announcement from Commerce, however, concedes that currently "no obvious alternative exists" to extending ICANN's contract. New York Times, 21 September 2002 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/21/technology/21DOMA.html SONY SHOWS BIGGEST GROWTH IN PC SALES Despite slow sales across the board for personal computers, Sony increased its PC sales by almost 25 percent in the second quarter, according to data from Gartner Dataquest. The rise in sales moves Sony from its spot as the number 12 maker of PCs up to number 8 in the worldwide market. An analyst at IDC attributes Sony's success to its having some "of the operational excellence of Dell, some of the gaga design of Apple, and some of the total solutions idea from IBM." Much of the boost in Sony sales is for the company's Vaio notebooks, but sales of Sony desktops and of handheld devices have also risen. CNET, 23 September 2002 http://news.com.com/2100-1040-958889.html AND ***************************************************** JOB MARKET STILL SLUGGISH FOR IT WORKERS A survey conducted by the Information Technology Association of America and online IT recruitment service Dice Inc. shows that despite a modest increase in the number of IT jobs, the market remains very sluggish. According to the report, 85,000 new IT-sector jobs have been created this year, but this represents only a one percent increase, far short of the rebound many had predicted for the early part of this year. Some in the industry lay the blame for the continued soft market on both the increase of H-1B visas, which allow many IT workers to come and work in the United States, and "offshore programming," where companies outsource IT development to workers in other countries. A report is due out next year from the General Accounting Office concerning the affects of the H-1B visa program on U.S. workers. ComputerWorld, 23 September 2002 http://www.idg.net/ic_951464_1794_9-10000.html CYBER CORPS TRAINS WORKERS, PAYS FOR SCHOOL Sometimes called the civilian ROTC, the Cyber Corps program offers students free tuition, a monthly stipend, valuable experience, and a guaranteed job after graduation. Students taking part in the program, which is available at 11 colleges and universities, agree to work for two years for one of several government agencies after earning a degree in cybersecurity. Officials at schools included in the program say that even without advertising Cyber Corps, they receive more applicants than they have slots. The program began during the Clinton Administration partly in response to worry about the Y2K problem. Since last September 11, the program has received increased attention, and a boost in funding for the program will see it expanded into at least four more schools. San Jose Mercury News, 23 September 2002 http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/4135141.htm NEW FILE-SHARING SERVICE FROM OWNERS OF KAZAA Sharman Networks, the owner of the Kazaa file-sharing network, will debut a new version of its peer-to-peer application. The new version is said to have new features likely to draw customers, and Sharman has inked a deal with ISP Tiscali to promote Kazaa. The new service allows users to search ordinary Web pages, and Sharman will sell keywords to businesses that want to appear prominently in results of those searches. Another new feature allows users to download entire albums the same way they formerly could download individual songs. In the deal with Tiscali, Sharman will advertise the ISP to its users. In exchange, Tiscali will pay Sharman a fee for each of its users that signs up with Tiscali. Despite these moves for the service, many observers question whether Kazaa will remain operational given the mounting legal challenges to the service. NewsFactor Network, 23 September 2002 http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/19477.html ***************************************************** EDUPAGE INFORMATION To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change your settings, visit http://www.educause.edu/pub/edupage/edupage.html 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] For past issues of Edupage or information about translations of Edupage into other languages, visit http://www.educause.edu/pub/edupage/edupage.html ***************************************************** OTHER EDUCAUSE PUBLICATIONS EDUCAUSE publishes periodicals, including "EDUCAUSE Quarterly" and "EDUCAUSE Review," books, and other materials dealing with the impacts and implications of information technology in higher education. 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