***************************************************** 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, DECEMBER 01, 2003 Defense Department Chooses Blackboard DVD Jon Hits iTunes Colleges Adapt to Student Power Consumption DEFENSE DEPARTMENT CHOOSES BLACKBOARD The U.S. Department of Defense has signed a three-year contract with Blackboard to provide e-learning technology to the Department of Defense Educational Activity (DODEA). Technology from Blackboard already underpins eArmyU, the online learning program of the U.S. Army. DODEA, which operates 22 K-12 schools for military personnel, will eventually provide the Blackboard tools to 75,000 students worldwide, though initially it will only be available to 500. Using the e-learning platform is expected to allow dependents of military personnel to continue their studies in a consistent manner, even if parents are transferred to other locations. Federal Computer Week, 26 November 2003 http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2003/1124/web-black-11-26-03.asp DVD JON HITS ITUNES Jon Lech Johansen, known as "DVD Jon" for the application he wrote to decrypt DVDs, has found a way to break the encryption of Apple Computer's iTunes and has posted the program online. Johansen faced a lawsuit from the movie industry over the DeCSS program he wrote at age 15 to play DVDs on a Linux-based computer. Johansen, of Norway, was acquitted in January of charges that by posting DeCSS online, he violated Norwegian copy-protection laws, though prosecutors have appealed that verdict. The new program, called QTFairUse, recently showed up on a Web site operated by Johansen accompanied by the message "So sue me." The program, which is available as an open-source application, defeats Apple's copy protection by opening a file legitimately but then creating a parallel, unprotected file. The result appears to be a perfect copy of a music file without any restrictions on trading or playing, though the files that are created cannot be played without additional software. CNN, 27 November 2003 http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/11/27/itunes.code.ap/index.html COLLEGES ADAPT TO STUDENT POWER CONSUMPTION As students show up at colleges and universities with larger and larger numbers of electrical appliances, many institutions are having to make substantial and sometimes expensive changes to accommodate the growing demand for power. Penn State University, for example, has seen its electricity usage rise from 27 million kilowatt hours in October 1996 to 33 million in October this year; the university spends about $1 million a month on electricity. Many institutions are upgrading dormitories with more outlets, new electrical panels, and rewired fuse boxes. Wright State University spent $500,000 to upgrade electrical services at one of its dorms to cope with students bringing computers, printers, scanners, stereos, TVs, and other appliances to campus. Some argue that rising demand for electricity results more from campus facilities, such as larger and more numerous computer labs, than from student usage. Andrew Matthews of the Association of College and University Housing Officers-International noted that many existing dorms were built in the 50s and 60s and were not constructed to meet current electrical demands. MSNBC, 26 November 2003 http://www.msnbc.com/news/995816.asp ***************************************************** 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. For information on EDUCAUSE publications see http://www.educause.edu/pub/ ***************************************************** CONFERENCES For information on all EDUCAUSE learning and networking opportunities, see http://www.educause.edu/conference/ ***************************************************** COPYRIGHT Edupage copyright (c) 2003, EDUCAUSE
