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TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2005 NSF Funds Nanotechnology Research Wireless Companies Form New Group Yahoo Announces Podcast Directory NSF FUNDS NANOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH Researchers at several universities have received grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study the social implications of nanotechnology. Until now, most funds for nanotechnology projects have supported efforts to develop the technology itself rather than to study its potential effects. Over the next five years, Arizona State University at Tempe and the University of California at Santa Barbara will receive $6.2 million and $5 million, respectively, to study the possible societal side effects of manipulating matter at the atomic level to create new substances and extremely small devices. The University of South Carolina and Harvard University will receive smaller grants to support existing projects. Among the speculative uses of nanotechnology is an idea to create tiny sensors that could reside within a human body and monitor its health. Such sensors would presumably spawn a host of ethical and privacy questions. Moreover, the prospect of creating new types of compounds at the atomic level raises concern about possible risks to the environment. Research at Arizona will focus on security, privacy, and biomedicine; at Santa Barbara, research will address social perceptions of the risk inherent in nanotechnology. Chronicle of Higher Education, 10 October 2005 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/daily/2005/10/2005101005n.htm WIRELESS COMPANIES FORM NEW GROUP A new alliance among 27 technology companies intends to accelerate the development of the 802.11n standard for wireless transmission. Members of the Enhanced Wireless Consortium include Broadcom, Intel, Cisco, Lenovo, Sony, and Toshiba. The standard promises speeds of between two and ten times faster than current wireless technologies, as well as increased range, while being compatible with products based on the 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g standards. With the new standard, less capacity is used to verify that transmissions are accurate, leaving room for the speed and distance improvements. Members of the consortium said they expect to have drafts of the standard available by early 2006 and the standard ratified by late 2006, well ahead of the timeline if it followed traditional procedures. Organizers said they hope makers of consumer electronics will take advantage of the early release of drafts of the 802.11n standard to develop products that can be available to consumers before ratification. USA Today, 10 October 2005 http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/2005-10-10-wi-fi-standards_x.htm YAHOO ANNOUNCES PODCAST DIRECTORY Yahoo will launch a new service to search podcasts, making it the first of the major search services to delve into that type of audio content. Yahoo estimates that five million people listen to podcasts, and sales of Apple's iPod--the leading MP3 player--total more than 20 million. Smaller services such as Odeo.com and Podcast.net offer services geared toward podcasts. With the Yahoo tools, users can search the Web for podcasts, looking for those in particular topic areas, and can rate the podcasts they listen to. Yahoo's service does not include tools to create podcasts, though officials with the company said one day it might. Many analysts see audio and video searching as the future for most search engines, and Yahoo's venture into podcast searches will likely prompt companies including Google to offer similar services. MSNBC, 9 October 2005 http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9645653/ ***************************************************** 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
