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TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, APRIL 03, 2006 New Wiki Focuses on Technical Problems U.K. to Develop Europe's Fastest Supercomputer Dutch Citizens to Get Personal Web Spaces Report Estimates Extent of Identity Theft IT Spending Expected to Rise NEW WIKI FOCUSES ON TECHNICAL PROBLEMS A new wiki aims to be an up-to-date resource for technical staff to learn about and report computer problems. Like other wikis, the Splunk Base wiki is open to the public; individuals can enter information about problems they have encountered with computer equipment including routers, servers, and databases. Entries can be edited and updated by users of the site, theoretically providing a resource that is constantly evolving to reflect new information. Michael Baum, chief executive of Splunk, which offers the new wiki, said one of the main problems that systems administrators face is the fact that vendors of computer equipment have varying formats for their error logs. He suggested that efforts to establish a standard format for such error logs is "ludicrous," arguing that a wiki format where users report errors and classify them is a better approach to sharing needed information. CNET, 2 April 2006 http://news.com.com/2100-7346_3-6056530.html U.K. TO DEVELOP EUROPE'S FASTEST SUPERCOMPUTER The British government is investing 52 million British pounds in a new supercomputer that will replace two other high-speed systems, one at the University of Manchester and the other run by a consortium led by the University of Edinburgh. The new computer, known as the High-End Computing Terascale Resource (Hector), will be capable of 100 teraflops of computing speed, a far cry from the 280 teraflops of IBM's Blue Gene/L installation at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California but nonetheless fast enough to top the list of supercomputer speeds in Europe. The system at the University of Manchester will be decommissioned this year; the one run by the University of Edinburgh will operate until December 2008. Science Minister Lord Sainsbury said the new system is needed because current systems are reaching their capacity. Jennifer Houghton, project manager of Hector, said one of the challenges of the new system will be designing programs that can fully exploit its potential. BBC, 2 April 2006 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4866258.stm DUTCH CITIZENS TO GET PERSONAL WEB SPACES Hoping to save administrative costs in the long run, the Dutch government announced an initiative to give every citizen and company in the country a personal Web page where they can access government information and services. The Personal Internet Page (PIP) program will initially include between 10 and 15 government agencies, which will make their records accessible online. Dutch citizens will be able to see tax information, Social Security data, and other government resources. The personal pages will notify users when they need to renew government-issued documents and will allow users to complete and submit forms over the Internet. The Interior Ministry said there is no firm date when the whole project will be finalized. A number of other countries in Europe have implemented similar online services for citizens. Yahoo, 31 March 2006 http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060331/wr_nm/dutch_internet_dc REPORT ESTIMATES EXTENT OF IDENTITY THEFT According to data from the National Crime Victimization Survey, which is conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice, identity theft affected an estimated 3.6 million households--with losses totaling $3.2 billion--in the first six months of 2004. The survey contacts a random sample of 42,000 households every six months and follows them for three years. The new data are from the first instance of the survey to specifically address identity theft. The most common types of theft were from unauthorized use of credit cards. Households with annual incomes of more than $75,000 and those headed by individuals between 18 and 24 years old were more likely to suffer identity theft, though the survey did not investigate the possible reasons behind these trends. PCWorld, 3 April 2006 http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,125291,00.asp IT SPENDING EXPECTED TO RISE Results of a survey by Accenture indicate a likely increase in IT spending over the next three years. The annual survey, which questions IT managers at 300 large U.S. businesses, found that 60 percent expect to increase spending, while just 13 percent anticipate that IT spending will drop. Thirty-two percent of respondents said IT spending at their companies was insufficient. The average forecast is for IT spending to rise by 5.5 percent. Factors that are expected to spur new or increased spending include new business initiatives, upgrading legacy systems, and adopting new technologies. Other factors mentioned were integration efforts following a merger or acquisition, regulatory compliance, and security. ZDNet, 31 March 2006 http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6056393.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. 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