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TOP STORIES FOR WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 08, 2006 Community College Introduces iPod Program U.K. Boosts Performance of Academic Supercomputer New Supercomputer Uses Different Approach Organization Identifies Worst Internet Censors COMMUNITY COLLEGE INTRODUCES IPOD PROGRAM The Community College of Southern Nevada (CCSN) is launching an iPod program to try to find out if the devices can assist in student learning. Students in the five or six classes in the pilot program will be loaned iPods by the institution. Faculty in those courses will augment the syllabus with podcasts of lectures and other lessons, as well as additional resources, such as music or other recorded material that helps explain a concept. After the semester is over, faculty involved in the program will be surveyed on whether the devices improved student outcomes; if so, the program is likely to be expanded in later terms. Lester Tanaka, an instructor at CCSN, said that students today are immersed in technology and expect college content to take advantage of it. Faculty can continue to lecture, he said, which will simply put students to sleep, or they can "step up to the plate and deliver the material in a way that is more palatable." Richard Carpenter, president of CCSN, noted that "the students who have appropriate self-discipline will love it. Those who don't have that may not do as well." Las Vegas Sun, 7 November 2006 http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/sun/2006/nov/07/566678255.html U.K. BOOSTS PERFORMANCE OF ACADEMIC SUPERCOMPUTER Officials in the United Kingdom have announced an upgrade to HPCx, a supercomputer used by academics for projects including studying biology and ocean currents. With the addition of 1,200 new processors, HPCx is now capable of processing speeds of 15.4 teraflops, though the system will typically operate at 12 teraflops, according to Arthur Trew, director of the Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre, which heads the consortium that runs the system. This compares to speeds of 280 teraflops for Blue Gene/L, currently the world's fastest computer, operated by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. The U.K. academic community will see a new supercomputer come online in 2007. Known as HECTOR, the High-End Computing Terascale Resource is expected to reach speeds of 100 teraflops. BBC, 8 November 2006 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6128066.stm NEW SUPERCOMPUTER USES DIFFERENT APPROACH A company called SiCortex Inc. has introduced a line of supercomputers that take a fundamentally different approach to the question of high-capacity processing than do so-called cluster systems, which have become the mainstay of the industry in recent years. The SiCortex computers take advantage of technology that allows placing the equivalent of six separate processors on a single chip, resulting in a system that uses considerably less power and takes up much less space. The company's top-of-the-line computer has 972 chips--equal to 5,832 processors--and fits in a single six-foot-tall cabinet. John Mucci, CEO of SiCortex, said a comparable cluster system would take as many as 10 cabinets and would use 10 times as much electricity. The company also markets a less-powerful system with 108 chips, or 648 processors. Horst Simon, director of the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, which manages supercomputers for the U.S. Department of Energy, said, "I'm surprised it took so long for someone to come up with this idea." Wall Street Journal, 8 November 2006 (sub. req'd) http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116294179539416180.html ORGANIZATION IDENTIFIES WORST INTERNET CENSORS Paris-based Reporters Without Borders has issued a list of 13 countries it says are the most egregious censors of Internet speech. On the list are Belarus, China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. According to the organization, these countries stifle online speech they deem subversive or threatening to the government, including sentencing to prison individuals accused of posting such material. Reporters Without Borders also criticized Yahoo and other Internet companies for cooperating with the governments of these countries in identifying individuals targeted for prosecution. In the case of Jiang Lijun, a Chinese man sentenced to four years in prison for pro-democracy remarks, Reporters Without Borders said Yahoo's assistance was key to Chinese authorities' ability to identify him. "It's one thing to turn a blind eye to censorship," said Lucie Morillon, a spokesperson with the organization. "It's another thing to collaborate." Silicon Valley, 8 November 2006 http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/15955567.htm ***************************************************** 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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