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TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, MAY 01, 2006 Stanford Med School Joins Internet Project U.K. Schools Grapple with Upgrades Suffolk Considers County-Wide Wi-Fi Napster Debuts Ad-Supported Service STANFORD MED SCHOOL JOINS INTERNET PROJECT The School of Medicine at Stanford University has joined a project led by a San Diego company to develop a Web portal where users in China can find accurate, current medical information. Many in China still rely on herbal remedies and treatments. The portal is intended to provide a reliable source of information to fill the gap between traditional approaches and modern medicine. Michael Chermak, chief executive of Bridgetech Holdings International, which is leading development of the portal, stressed the importance of having partners such as Stanford whose reputation can provide credibility for the project among users. Other partners in the venture include The Texas A&M Health Center and the Wu Jieping Medical Foundation, in China. Paul Costello, director of communications for Stanford's medical school, said the institution is not likely to benefit directly from the partnership but that the goal is to spread information "throughout the globe." Mercury News, 1 May 2006 http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/14473749.htm U.K. SCHOOLS GRAPPLE WITH UPGRADES An annual report from the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (BECTA) presents a mixed bag of findings on computer use and availability among U.K. schools. According to the agency, the number of computers in schools has increased. Moreover, schools are making "notable accelerated progress" in how they use computers, despite ongoing questions about the effect technology has on learning. Many schools, however, from primary through university education, are using older computers, and many schools are unable to replace systems on a three-year schedule. According to the report, "56 percent of primary and 44 percent of secondary schools did not have a policy in place for replacement of workstations in the school." Further, student enrollments at many schools, particularly at the college level, have outpaced acquisition of new computers, worsening the student-to-computer ratio. The report also warns of a "digital divide" between students who have computers at home and those who do not. BBC, 30 April 2006 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/4960586.stm SUFFOLK CONSIDERS COUNTY-WIDE WI-FI Suffolk County, in New York, is considering installing a free wireless network that would fully cover the county's 900 square miles, offering Internet access to 1.5 million residents. If built, the network would be one of the largest in the nation, though officials in Chicago are considering an even larger network, 940 square miles, that would cover 5 million people. Suffolk County includes considerable waterfront, and county officials are considering having the network extend over the water as well. Steve Levy, Suffolk County Executive, proposed the idea, saying that a private firm would be contracted to develop and maintain the network. Funding would come from advertising or from fees charged for higher connection speeds. Because the project would be sponsored by the county government, the proposed network has further fueled the debate over whether governments should be involved in such projects at all or if they should be taken up by commercial vendors. New York Times, 28 April 2006 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/28/nyregion/28suffolk.html NAPSTER DEBUTS AD-SUPPORTED SERVICE Napster has debuted a new service that allows users to listen to any song from the Napster library five times for free. Beyond that, users must either buy individual songs or pay for a monthly subscription. The service is supported by advertisements and is intended as an enticement to pay for online music. Napster also unveiled two more new services, NapsterLink and Narchive. NapsterLink is designed to let users share songs with their friends through e-mail, instant messaging, blogs, and other communication tools. The Narchive is a repository of comments, images, and links contributed by Napster users. CNET, 1 May 2006 http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-6066848.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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