News and Views
The opinions expressed on this page are not necessarily those of Creighton University.
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This page last updated on Friday, November 20, 2009 14:32:45
It won't be long before wintry weather threatens the Omaha area. If poor weather conditions force the University to close for all or part of a day, your most reliable source for accurate information is the Creighton University weather hotline at 280-5800.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Depressed woman loses benefits over Facebook photos
Office 2010 enters public beta this week
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Make-up exam day, come in at 4:30 to make up Exam Three if needed.
Check out how your fellow students did their websites!
EXAM THREE UPDATES
For those of you who finished first and used Firefox, you didn't have any problems. What happened is that students using Internet Explorer had no "submit" button, and then the trouble started!
Tuesday at 22:00: It appears that my questions with HTML code in them (the matching questions) caused Internet Explorer to choke. We don't have a reason for Firefox having the submission problem. I will be working with the Blueline staff on Wednesday to work out the test problems.
Wednesday at 13:00: It is the HMTL in the matching question that is giving this problem. The Blueline admin said that depending on the order of the questions, you might or might not have a submit button. I will be working with him today or tomorrow to figure out how to let you re-take the test if you want. More later on that.
Thursday at 15:00: The tests that were pending have been submitted, and all submitted exams have been graded. You should be able to see your grade in the gradebook. I have fixed the exam so that the offending HTML code has been removed and you can now see the matching test questions.
Thursday at 16:30: I am going to give you the option to retake the test if you are not happy with your grade, or if you left and did not finish. The higher of the two exam scores will be your grade for this exam. Because the test needs to be taken in BA 110 the two times open to you are either Monday, November 23rd from 4:30 - 5:45pm, or the regular class time of Tuesday, November 24th from 4:30 - 5:45pm.
I realize that some of you were intending to take off early and miss class on Tuesday, so Monday is your option. We will not have a lecture on Tuesday, November 24th to allow those to take the exam. I will adjust the syllabus to allow us to cover the material and Microsoft Access with our remaining classes, and will get that to you after Thanksgiving break.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Today's topic: Chapter Ten!
Updated information on student email - be sure to remind me to talk to you about this.
Microsoft confirms the first Windows 7 Zero-day Exploit. We should be OK at CU as we block these ports.
Apple wins judgment against Psystar. This is huge for Apple and just about kills that upstart.
Interesting article about the upcoming (?) Apple tablet
Dirty PCs (done dirt cheap?!)
Will Apple require you to respond to ads on their devices?
Did you use your Ray Tomlinson invention today?
The greatest generation - of networkers?
CA requires TVs to be more energy efficient
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Exam three today!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Test on Tuesday! Covers chapters 7-8-9 and class lectures. Review info here.
American Express' expert system - Article One and Article Two. Be sure to read these!
The MPAA wants to control the analog outputs on your television. But at least the UN says that downloaders should not go to jail.
Intel pays AMD $1.25 billion to settle their legal disputes
Microsoft says that Windows 7 is in response to the Mac OS. Oh wait, Microsoft says it is not!
Mafia Wars CEO brags about how he scams his users
Are you the computer support person for your family? You could wear this!
Exam Three review info is up - exam is Tuesday, November 17th, on Blueline, during the class time. Same format as the previous two exams.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Interesting story from 60 Minutes about the vulnerability of our power systems
Microsoft patches 15 flaws today (it's Patch Tuesday!)
Color blindness information - useful for when you are building websites
WS_FTP program is available for free, here. Send me an email if you want to get Microsoft Expressions
34 years ago today - you probably remember the song
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Quite a few of you were late for class on Tuesday. Let's not let that happen again, it is very annoying and also rude to your fellow students.
Remind me to tell you of an interesting development in the student email change.
Step back and think about the gopher
Steve Jobs is Fortune Magazine's "CEO of the Decade"
Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent
To blow up the King and Parli'ment.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England's overthrow;
By God's providence he was catch'd (or by God's mercy*)
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring. (Holla*)
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!
And what should we do with him? Burn him!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Could we run out of IP addresses by next year?
Apple to disable support for Atom processor in OS X 10.6.2?
A good run this
weekend!
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Funny! 4Chan ordered pizza to balloon boy's house while he was supposedly flying away
The One Hundred oldest domain names
Apple introduces new products on Tuesday, October 21 - just before Microsoft
introduces Windows 7 on Wednesday, October 22. Coincidence?
Also,
Apple declares war on the entire PC industry
Here's a
teardown of the new 27" iMac.
Want a Windows 7 burger?
InfoWorld says Snow Leopard
beats Windows 7
Geocities is closing down today - definitely an end of an era
Facebook to preserve the accounts of the dead
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Exam #2 today. Same time, same place.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Wireless network update!
T-Mobile customers: Sorry about your data!
Some interesting Microsoft news this week
Tuesday is going to be a monster "Patch Tuesday" for Microsoft products
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Thursday: Midterm Exam
Midterm grade will be Exams One and Two, and Assignments One and Two.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Major wireless changes on our network are coming! Stay tuned.
Walt Mossberg really likes Windows 7 - and I have to agree with his points
Warning in surge of wireless traffic
Wednesday, October 7, 2009 at 15:45:
I have posted the Assignment Two Part Two Answer Sheet form in a Word
document in the Assignments page
of this website, and also on Blueline.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Zombieland - Highly recommended!
Don't be distracted when you are on your phone!
An excellent history of the Internet (for chapter extension 10) and how it works
What was the WWW like in 1996?
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Mass: Police can't place a GPS tracking device on a car without a warrant
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
It seems we had a pretty low class attendance last Thursday. FYI: Most of the material I went over is not in the textbook (computer hardware and especially the information about hard drives and solid state drives). As always, I strongly recommend attending class.
Judge orders Google to deactivate users's email account
Apple and Intel collaborate on next generation 'lightpeak' connectors
Dell introduces ultra-thin notebook with wireless charging
Are you going to host a Windows 7 launch party? #1 and #2 - I don't plan on having one! (FYI: Tuesday, October 22. Perhaps we should have a class party!) Just for fun, check out this mash-up of the Windows launch party. But maybe it is not as bad as the MS-DOS 5.0 upgrade video or Steve Ballmer (MS' #2 man) introducing Windows 1.0 Here is a better video - The Birth of the Microsoft DOS and Windows 1.0 to WIndows Vista.
Assignment Two, Parts #1 and #2, are available. They are due no later than 16:30 (beginning of class time) on Thursday, October 8, 2009.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
For class: A guide to computer ports (as an addendum to chapter four)
Accounting rule change expected to take effect for Apple soon
HMMMMM.....Very interesting....
Team,
There will be an announcement sent out to campus soon that discusses how the
timeline for the new email for Students/Alumni "Jaymail" will be modified.
At this time, there will not be a change for Students in the fall, so they
will continue to get an Exchange account. The details will be in the
official announcement which will probably come from Lori Gigliotti, this is
just to give everyone a heads up.
Thanks,
Christopher Erisson
Manager Information Technology
DoIT
Update on Blueline: I've fixed the problem so your grades on the exam are now in your gradebook. Unfortunately the Blueline admins cannot figure out a way to fix the matching question problem, so I have decided to give everyone three (3) extra credit points for the exam. The extra credit has been added to your Gradebook on Blueline as of 13:00 today.
Exam One - Revised Scores
High score: 96
Low score: 68
Mean score: 85.4
Median score: 86.4
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Safety first for IT executives visiting China
Seagate releases first 6Gbps, 2TB hard drive
The top five ways students use technology to cheat - gotta watch out for those cellphones!
Support changes coming for WIndows Server 2000 and 2003
FCC Chairman says "open Internet" rules are vital
Outsourcing to Google? Flaw lets students read each others' email
"March of the Outdated Machines" - A pictorial history of computing technology
Music
publishers: iTunes not paying their fair share
"At a time when many iTunes shoppers are still fuming over Apple's
first-ever increase in song prices, the demands by the American Society of
Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI), and
other performing-rights groups, would likely lead to more price hikes at
iTunes. This would also undoubtedly confirm the perception held by many that
those overseeing the music industry are greedy."
"At the heart of the issue is the "performance fee", a type of licensing
fee used to compensate composers and publishers when their work is performed
in public. The music groups argue that digital distribution of their work,
including 30-second song samples and in TV and movie downloads such as those
found on iTunes, constitutes public performance and thus requires
performance fees to be paid by the distributors."
For class: A guide to computer ports (as an addendum to chapter four)
Friday,
September 17, 2009 at 15:10
Exam one has been graded, and you should be able to go in and
review it.
High score: 94.8
Low score: 66.7
Mean score: 84.1
Median score: 85.0
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Exam one! Same room, same time, etc.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
iPod fifth generation tear-down photos and a detailed review
InfoWorld's Windows Pulse: The real-world state of Windows
Unchain the office computers! - Is your PC locked down?
9/13/09 - I have set the correct time in Grackle, so you can be assured that your assignment will be graded correctly. I will need to replace the CMOS battery, (more here) but that will entail taking the computer down and opening it up, so I will wait until the October power outage to replace the battery.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
The ten best and ten worst companies in terms of customer service
Pigeon transfers data faster than South Africa's Telkom - and you thought your Internet connection was slow! But hey, it's RFC 1149
Apple news: Why there is no camera in the iPod Touch and a blurb on yesterdays' event
Captain Ramius: "Re-verify our range to target... one ping only."
Capt. Vasili Borodin: "Captain, I - I - I just..."
Captain Ramius: "Give me a ping, Vasili. One ping only, please."
Capt. Vasili Borodin: "Aye, Captain."
"The Hunt for Red October,"
1990
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Assignment One and handouts have been posted for class today.
iPod fee ("tax") proposed in Canada. They already tax blank recording media...
Forty years of Unix - a great article showing it's roots and a great companion to Assignment One and today's lab exercise. Along with that, how about the Unix Philosophy and a history and another history. And if you are really interested in Unix, check out the Unix Timeline.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Happy 40th birthday, Internet! and Remains of the Day story and Another great article w/video
How 20 popular websites looked when they launched
iPhone users are straining the AT&T network
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Is AT&T losing it's grip on the iPhone?
The first registered domain on the Internet is sold
H1N1 Statement
No one can predict how the H1N1 “swine flu” virus will affect us this
coming semester. Therefore, the instructor reserves the right to modify the
class content and delivery methods based on quarantine and other flu-related
events.
Classroom Temperature
I've been working with Facilities this week on the temperature problems on
the first floor of Eppley. This morning, like yesterday, the computer
classrooms and labs were around 78 degrees. Facilities is bringing in an
outside contractor to check out the air handlers and the control system so
hopefully the problems will be corrected today.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
First day of class!
Textbook information: I have obtained a copy of the first edition of the text. There are some major differences between the first and second editions. The first and most important of these is that chapters 7, 8 and 9 are completely different between the two editions. Second, there are some revisions in the other chapters. If you choose to buy the older, first edition be sure to find someone with the second edition for chapters 7-9.
Obsolete technology: 40 big losers - How many of these have you used, or still using?
ISU drops landlines in the dorms
Let's talk about email etiquette (Slashdot question) See Tip #1 and Tip #2 Oh, and HTML in email is a bad thing!
New iPods coming in early September
Some Interesting Links:
The Victorian-era supercomputer and the genius who created it
Seagate ships it's one billionth hard drive
Cracking open a vintage 50 megabyte Seagate ST-250R MFM drive!
The 10 worst PC keyboards of all time - how many have you used?
