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TOP STORIES FOR FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2005 EDUCAUSE Publishes First Web-Only Book U.K. Offers Web Site for Security Alerts DDOS Attacks Target Japanese Government Web Sites Mozilla Fixes Firefox Flaws Intel to Buy Maker of Digital TV Processors Odeo to Commercialize Podcasting EDUCAUSE PUBLISHES FIRST WEB-ONLY BOOK EDUCAUSE has published its first Web-only book, "Educating the Net Generation," edited by Diana Oblinger, vice president of EDUCAUSE and director of the National Learning Infrastructure Initiative, and James Oblinger, chancellor of North Carolina State University. The e-book is available in PDF and HTML formats, with Web-only resources (further reading, video, podcasts, and useful links) listed on its home page. A file of the complete book is available for download and printing. EDUCAUSE, 25 February 2005 http://www.educause.edu/books/educatingthenetgen/5989 U.K. OFFERS WEB SITE FOR SECURITY ALERTS A new Web site called ITsafe will send security alerts to home and small-business computer users in the United Kingdom. The National Infrastructure Security Coordination Centre will run the free site, which also offers advice on protecting personal data. The government plans to issue official alerts by e-mail or text messages over mobile devices to users who sign up for the service if a particular virus or other security breach poses a significant threat and users can do something to combat it, such as updating software or downloading security patches. The ITsafe site will not supply either. The Home Office estimates up to 10 security alerts per year based on past experience. PCWorld, 24 February 2005 http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,119811,00.asp DDOS ATTACKS TARGET JAPANESE GOVERNMENT WEB SITES Distributed denial-of-service attacks targeting the Japanese Prime Minister's Office and Cabinet Office this week caused severe network slowdowns and prevented access to the two Web sites, according to Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda. The cyber attacks caused no significant damage, evidently not having been designed to destroy data, and the affected networks have returned to normal functioning. Similar attacks on several Japanese ministries in August and January 2004 temporarily froze their Web servers. The Japanese government has not yet identified the attackers. San Jose Mercury News, 24 February 2005 http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/10980656.htm MOZILLA FIXES FIREFOX FLAWS The Firefox 1.0.1 update released by the Mozilla Foundation fixes several flaws in the Web browser, including one that permitted domain spoofing. The update is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. The updated browser displays the IDN Punycode (encoding of Unicode strings into the limited character set) in the address bar to prevent spoofing. ZDNet, 24 February 2005 http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5589693.html INTEL TO BUY MAKER OF DIGITAL TV PROCESSORS Intel has announced plans to buy digital TV chip maker Oplus Technologies, a privately held firm based in Yokneam, Israel. No price was given. Oplus designs processors for digital TVs based on various display technologies, including LCD, plasma, and back-projection. It contracts with other companies for chip fabrication. Oplus will continue to operate and sell chips under its own name, according to the announcement. Intel did not specify whether it would bring Oplus's chip fabrication in house. The Register, 25 February 2005 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/25/intel_to_buy_oplus/ ODEO TO COMMERCIALIZE PODCASTING Odeo, a five-person start-up based in San Francisco, plans to introduce a Web-based system aimed at commercializing podcasting. A number of companies already create audio programs for mobile downloads, and both hardware and software systems enable converting regular and Internet radio broadcasts for mobile storage and listening on MP3 audio players. Odeo plans to provide an all-in-one system to produce podcasts, assemble custom playlists of audio files, and copy files directly onto MP3 players. The company aims to make money by selling audio content and advertising and plans to add software for producing and editing podcasts in the future. New York Times, 25 February 2005 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/25/technology/25podcast.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) 2005, EDUCAUSE
