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TOP STORIES FOR WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2003 E-Rate Probe Nets First Guilty Plea Give Up Your Room, Get a Computer ISPs Plan to Scan All E-Mail Attachments Wireless Technology to Improve Parking Enforcement Water-Cooled PCs Promise Silent Operation E-RATE PROBE NETS FIRST GUILTY PLEA Duane Maynard has become the first fruit borne by the federal investigation into the E-Rate program, which some have said is fraught with abuse and fraud. Maynard pled guilty to charges that the contracting company where he used to work conspired with officials from the West Fresno Elementary School District to eliminate competition in the bidding process. Maynard also pled guilty to lying to a grand jury. Howe Electric, the company Maynard worked for, received more than $6 million from the government through the E-Rate program. Maynard faces up to three years in prison and a fine of $350,000, though his sentence will likely be less than the maximum because of his cooperation with federal investigators. Internet News, 27 August 2003 http://dc.internet.com/news/article.php/3069181 GIVE UP YOUR ROOM, GET A COMPUTER Wilfred Laurier University in Ontario is offering computers to students who agree to give up their rooms on campus. Laurier, like many other universities, guarantees incoming students on-campus housing, and the university found itself with a significant shortage of housing after the province of Ontario eliminated grade 13 from its high schools. Because of the change, twice as many students as usual completed high school last year, resulting in twice as many incoming college students. Students willing to relinquish on-campus housing were given their choice of a laptop, a desktop, or a BlackBerry. The deal also included a food credit and another credit toward books. Although Laurier had hoped that 100 students would take the offer, however, only 41 have done so. University officials said they thought that student concern over being somewhat socially isolated by living away from campus outweighed the benefits of the package the school offered. Wired News, 27 August 2003 http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,60125,00.html ISPS PLAN TO SCAN ALL E-MAIL ATTACHMENTS In the wake of recent virulent computer attacks, many Internet service providers (ISPs) plan to join AOL and other ISPs in filtering all e-mail attachments before delivering them to their customers' inboxes in an effort to halt the spread of computer viruses. According to security firm MessageLabs, approximately 90 percent of all Internet worms and viruses spread via e-mail. Filtering is an expensive proposition for ISPs, costing millions of dollars to purchase software and maintain the program. In addition to cost, ISPs run the risk of filtering out legitimate e-mail. Customers, however, have come to expect such service from their ISPs, which means that ISPs large and small will need to swallow the cost of filtering to keep their customers. Washington Post, 27 August 2003 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54406-2003Aug27.html WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY TO IMPROVE PARKING ENFORCEMENT Wireless technology is being used to improve parking enforcement and avoid unnecessary towings. An application developed by T2 Systems Inc. gives parking-enforcement officers up-to-the-minutes information about outstanding tickets. Typically, if an officer identifies a car as one subject to towing because of unpaid tickets, the car would get towed even if the owner had just paid the tickets. With the wireless system, an officer can contact the office to see if the outstanding tickets have been paid before having a car towed. Wireless technology also allows officers to transmit data as they issue new tickets. Doing this means those who get ticketed can obtain information right away from the office about the ticket, and it saves officers the time of having to manually enter the ticket information when they return to the office. The University of Arkansas has put the system through a test on its campus and found it to work well, though such systems are necessarily limited by available wireless coverage. Federal Computer Week, 25 August 2003 http://www.fcw.com/geb/articles/2003/0825/web-park-08-25-03.asp WATER-COOLED PCS PROMISE SILENT OPERATION Start-up company Cooligy has developed a computer cooling system that uses water rather than air and promises silent operation. As computer chips become increasingly fast, they generate larger and larger amounts of heat, and the cooling fans used on today's computers are likely to be insufficient for computers in the future. The water-based system relies on a pump designed by Ken Goodson, a mechanical engineer at Stanford University. The pump uses a glass disk that is electrically charged, creating an electro-osmosis effect that pushes water through many small tubes in the glass. The result is a pump with no moving parts that has sufficient water flow to keep computer chips cool. Some water-cooled computers already exist, but none uses the electro-osmosis pump. At least one observer commented that he is uncomfortable mixing electricity and water in computers and said that fans remain an economical option. New Scientist, 25 August 2003 http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994086 ***************************************************** 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 "EQ" and "EDUCAUSE Review," books, and other materials dealing with the impacts and implications of information technology in higher education. 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