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PS: After the final exam

Spammer gets seven years in jail for hijacking a mail server!

Finals are graded!  Those of you that have not picked them up yet can get them from outside my office, hanging on the hook (don't worry, they are stapled shut :-).

If you have already picked up your final, two students have pointed out where *I* and the book disagreed on some of the answers. Since it is  Christmas, I have given you guys the benefit of the doubt. Add 8 points to your score on the test. You are welcome

What was the first email sent?

Should we grade like they hold elections in Florida?

Al Gore Elementary in Carthage, TN recently implemented a new set of
rules and guidelines for scoring student tests. Effective immediately, all
teachers are expected to follow these rules when scoring standardized
student tests:

1. Initially, all standardized tests will be scored by computer
scanning equipment to provide a "rough estimate" of the student's score.

2. To ensure fairness and accuracy, only those students who failed
the test will be subject to hand scoring.

3. Each failing student will hand score his or her own test,
assisted by two other failing students.

4. This group of three failing students will establish their own
rules and standards for scoring.

5. When scoring an individual item, the three failing students 
must address the questions "How did the student intend to answer the
question?"

If the student did indeed intend to answer the question
incorrectly, then it is counted wrong. However, if the student did not 
intend to answer it incorrectly, then it is scored "correct." One way to
determine intent involves looking at how the student answered other items
on the test. If, for instance, a student answered other items correctly,
clearly he or she did not intend to answer subsequent questions
incorrectly. In such cases, the incorrectly answered item is scored as "correct."

6. Failing students are permitted to re-score their tests as many 
times as necessary until a passing score is achieved. The important point
that must be emphasized in these new rules is this: The student's intent
is paramount. It is not what they did, but what they intended to do that
counts. Further, only a group of failing students can possibly discern the
intent of other failing students. Students who passed the test have no
additional recourse, unless they are children of U. S. Military
personnel,in which case, their test scores are not counted and they will
receive an automatic "zero."

Failing students are encouraged to add additional rules and 
guidelines to this list as they pop into their heads. Please list all
suggestions below and return.

David Bois, Principal Al Gore Elementary


Days before the final, Tuesday, December 12

Tuesday, Dec 12: I have answered a few questions via email.  See you at 4:45pm for the final!

I have gotten two emails from students asking about the quiz, saying they didn't get it.  If you didn't get it, you are either using Hotmail or are not on the class list.  It's too late now, but everyone needed to be on the class mailing list (how many times did I pester everyone about that?) to get the quiz.  

Monday, Dec 11: I am snowed in at home.  I will reply to emails but I don't think I will be in the office until later today, if at all.   I will try to post a review for the final as well.

8:15am: The Wade Center is open!  Thanks to Peiwan for walking on over :-)

5:30pm: The University has cancelled evening classes.   The Wade Center will most likely close early, around 9pm.

5:30pm: I had a question about differential backup.   That is where you have already done a complete backup, and then you do a backup of those files that have changed since the last backup.  For example, on Sunday nite you do a full backup, then Monday evening do a diff' to backup those files that have changed.

Things to study for in the Final Exam.  The exam will consist of 25 true/false questions, and 25 multiple choice questions.  I won't have any short answer or essay questions. 

Some topics to study for:
* Virtual reality
* methods of evaluating an IT system
* prototyping (define, methods of doing)
* ergonomics and human factors
* disaster recovery - plans, hot/cold sites
* backup methods and techniques
* kinds of benefits from a system (tangible, intangible)
* conversion methods (parallel, phased, pilot, etc.)
* request for proposal
* Systems Development Life Cycle

Your quiz has been sent!  Check your email.  What you should do is "reply" back to tbegley@creighton.edu and then fill out the five short-answer questions.  These questions are based on the machine room tour.  Please do NOT share your answers with other students in the class.

A quick reminder on HOW TO FTP files to your Flamingo account.  Remember, the paper is due on your website on Monday the 11th at 8:00am!  

Quiz 11 is graded and available, hanging outside my office door (BA 112A).

Weather!  Snow is coming.  To see if Creighton is snowed in and your final is cancelled, call 280-5800 :-).

Thursday, December 7

Last Day of Class!  Don't forget - tour today at the latter end of class.  If you haven't got your TechTip in yet, today is the last day to do it.  We will have a quiz, number 11, today in class.  Then I will email you Quiz 12 and you will email it back to me.  Don't forget our final exam on Tuesday, December 12th at the regular class time.  It will cover the last chapters in the text and the material covered in class.

I am drooling!  Wired, high-tech homes of the Rich and Nerdish.

POS (Point of Sale) systems that are now being upgraded to Linux - for example, Home Depot is converting 90,000 POS systems to Linux!  Read about it here.

Saint Chad - patron saint of elections.  Yes, it's true!  Read about it here.

The Department of Defense is saving Iridium.

Read Cringely's column about bandwidth to the home and the "coming PC slump.

Please keep me informed if you change your email address!  Here is a bounce that I got today from the class list saying that this address is not found.  No address in our class list, no way to get the quiz!

*** ATTENTION ***

Your e-mail is being returned to you because there was a problem with its delivery. 
Please direct further questions regarding this message to your e-mail administrator.
--AOL Postmaster

----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
<schirger@aol.com>

----- Transcript of session follows -----
... while talking to air-zb02.mail.aol.com.:
>>> RCPT To:<schirger@aol.com>
<<< 550 MAILBOX NOT FOUND
550 <schirger@aol.com>... User unknown

Wednesday, December 6

FCC is considering mandating 10-digit dialing in the near future.  Remind me to explain overlays and other ways of assigning phone numbers.

Did you have a free email account on Altavista?  Well, not anymore!

FBI was doing keystroke monitoring on a suspect.

Lousy quality control in computers and computer components?
But that's not the worst of it. In a syndicated newspaper column published in the Los Angeles Times on Nov. 27, Gary Chapman, director of the 21st Century Project at the University of Texas and an authority on the social implications of new developments in information technology, noted that "repeated experiences with software glitches tend to narrow one's use of computers to the familiar and routine. Studies have shown that most users rely on less than 10 percent of the features of common programs as Microsoft Word or Netscape Communicator. It takes a high toleration for frustration and failure to explore beyond the boundaries of one's own comfort level ... It also calls into question how much money and energy we spend on new software features that most people don't use or even know about."

Telex still lives!

Read this!  It's h*ll working in a call center, at least according to this inside story.

Tuesday, December 5

Privacy information

Great article in Dr. Dobb's Journal (programmers magazine) about the Debian Hurd, an operating system that does not have a monolithic kernel.  Check out the article here.  References to the Hurd should be in everyone's paper who is doing operating systems! (Well, you have already checked that out, I am sure). 

MP3.com - pretty useless now with their new business model.

Monday, December 4

"You Deserve A Beak Today" - check your order <ugh!>  Better picture in this article here.

Do you use AOL Instant Messenger? If so, you need to be aware of this security hole.

FBI is predicting an increase in e-commerce site attacks.  Article here.

Found this card when I was cleaning out some old files.  This is what you got when you had an account on the mainframe in the mid-80's.  Front of card.  Back of card.

Billionaires' Gates and Buffett play bridge in Omaha!

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: RAZING THE FIREWALL
Georgetown University next year will begin experimenting withreplacing its firewall with a virtual private intranet (VPIN) that will authenticate users directly to the network. The VPIN would provide a more scalable, cost-effective, and efficient alternative to the firewall, says Georgetown's chief IT architect Richard Kogut. Using directory-enabled networking (DEN) and virtual local area networks (VLANs), the VPIN would provide different levels of network access to different types of users. A VLAN groups geographically separate network ports in a way that makes them function as a unified physical LAN. Meanwhile, DEN allows users to be dynamically assigned to VLANs based on what type of user they are rather than on their physical port location. Georgetown could create a VPIN by arranging its network into a series of server VLANs and user VLANs. Routing rules would then determine which user VLANs could send traffic to which server VLANs. In this way, the VPIN would present users with only the parts of the network that they are allowed to access.
(Information Security, November 2000)

Just a reminder - I have moved the due date of your research paper to Monday, December 11th at 8:00am.  You must have your research paper posted to the site by this time.

Friday, December 1

Article on "numbers stations" that you might hear if you monitor shortwave radio stations.

"Catch Me If You Can" - this is an excellent book (read it years ago) and should be required reading for all systems designers and all finance and accounting majors.

Thursday, November 30

Quiz strategy!  I wanted to get 12 in, and we won't have enough classes.  So, the last quiz will be a take-home, web or email quiz based on what you see in the computer center machine room tour.  That will give us the 12 we need so that I can drop the lowest two.

NASA to try to contact one of it's earliest spacecraft - Pioneer 6, launched in 1965!

Who told the most lies during the presidential debates?

Wednesday, November 29

Port assignments!

Tuesday, November 28

Class Field Trip!  I have arranged a field trip to the Computer Center machine room on the last day of class - Thursday, December 7th.  Toward the end of class we will adjourn to the Machine Room in the Old Gym for a tour by Larry Sheldon and Mickey Merriam.

Female mutant see four channels of color!  Seriously, this person (and others like her) see four levels of color.  Very interesting, especially for those of us that have trouble with three :-)

S_X ON THE NET: "LESS DISGUSTING AND SICK-O"
A federal district court in San Jose has ruled that a certain three-letter dot-com domain name [that might get us filtered from libraries if we were to spell it out] must be returned to its original owner, from whom it was transferred six years ago through a forged letter. The successful plaintiff said that the ruling "shows that eventually the little guy an win at a great cost [$500,000]" and added: "I plan to do something not as sick-o as this guy [the defendant]." The judge ordered the defendant to put $25 million in escrow pending a determination of how much the plaintiff had been deprived by the misappropriation of the valuable name that can't be spelled. (Wired.com 28 Nov 2000)
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,40380,00.html

Thanksgiving Break Time

The new Top Level Domains.  Article here.  More detailed article here, including how the names will work.  Article on unhappy people here.

Here it is: No support for SMP in the new Pentium IV processors.  Well, not at least until the latter part of next year when they re-do the core of the chip.

French Judge rules that Yahoo must block all Nazi auctions items from French users.  How the heck can you do that?  Slashdot discussion here.

Whistler (next Microsoft operating system, to replace Win98/ME) will refuse to run "unsigned" code.  Will this lead to running only Microsoft binaries?  This other article deals with some possible problems with code signing.

Who owns sex.com?  Not about the content, but rather the continuing battle over domain names.  For example, is "tbegley.com" my property that I can do what I want with, or is it like your phone number, that you don't own and can be changed by the phone company at any time.  The sex.com saga goes back a few years and includes allegetions of domain hijacking.  Here is a current story.

Is Microsoft using Linux code in Windows?

Domain names and ICANN - problems.  A Slashdot discussion.

Forbes Magazine article on eBay (they call it "Sleazebay") about how people are being ripped off.  Very interesting as it goes into detail on how these scams are performed.  If you have ever used an online auction, or are going to, check this out.

The author of one of our favorite commands, ping, is dead.  Check out the story here.

Here is a HALON FAQ to back up what we talked about in the last class.

Microsoft files briefs in the latest round...

NOSY E-MAIL
Privacy advocates are concerned about the fact that the new e-mail software system called HTML mail makes it possible for people sending you messages to monitor when and what time of day you open them, how often you reopen them, and whether you forward them to other people. The marketing companies that use HTML mail say it helps them develop more personalized promotions; individuals who use it claim they have a right to monitor their own correspondence. Richard M. Smith, the chief technology officer for the Privacy Foundations, argues: "You can buy 50,000 addresses of people who subscribe to The New Yorker. But you don't know what articles they're reading in it, or what books they've bought or what medical problems they've been researching lately. That's very much a possibility within this technology." (New York Times 22 Nov 2000)
http://partners.nytimes.com/2000/11/22/technology/22NET.html

NEW DOMAIN NAMES WILL DO LITTLE TO RELIEVE URL SQUEEZE
It turns out that the seven new domain names chosen by ICANN may do little to broaden the possibilities for picking an Internet name. Many of the companies tapped to administer the new names are planning to restrict who can buy them by charging hefty registration fees and vetting those that apply. Neulevel, the company that will be administering the .biz domain, reportedly is planning to charge $2,000 for each domain name and $150 a year to renew it. It's also planing to make the .biz names available only to established companies in an effort to prevent cybersquatting squabbles. Many of the other organizations chosen to run the new domains are thinking about imposing similar restrictions. (BBC News Online 21 Nov 2000)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1033000/1033835.stm

TURNING TO ONLINE SCHOOLS FOR ADVANCED DEGREES
Students seeking advanced degrees in business or law are increasingly turning to online classes to obtain those degrees. Online classes are convenient and affordable, allowing those who have full-time jobs and other responsibilities the  opportunity to further their education, students say. Carla Wright-Jukes, for example, expects to save tens of thousands of dollars by earning her M.B.A. from the online school Jones International University. Larry Pereira says the classes are ideal for him because he is always traveling on business. Despite the rising popularity of these classes, educators caution students to investigate choices thoroughly. Educators say many students are disappointed when they discover the lack of interaction among themselves, other students, and professors. Also, employers may not look upon a degree from a for-profit or an unaccredited university with much consideration. Educators say a strong online program, involving a limited number of students interacting frequently with a professor from an accredited university, will still require students to be serious and self-starting if they expect to succeed.
(New York Times, 19 November 2000)

TEACH YOUR CHILDREN WELL
Educators and high-tech leaders are recognizing the importance of teaching Internet ethics in school as children grow increasingly proficient with technology. Many students have the skills to hack computer systems, spread viruses, download illegal music files, and plagiarize content from the Internet, but they do not understand the ethical issues involved in these activities. "Kids today have the technical skills of adults but the ethical skills of very small children," says Cherie Geide, an adjunct professor at Marymount University. A recent Scholastic survey reports that almost half of elementary and middle school students indicated they do not believe hacking is a crime. Students tend to view stealing and other illegal activities differently on the Internet than in the real world because victims and perpetrators are anonymous in the online environment, Geide says. Meanwhile, the Department of Justice and the Information Technology Association of America have formed the Cybercitizen Partnership, which is creating a technology ethics curriculum that will be released to schools next year.
(Industry Standard, 20 November 2000)

Thursday, November 16

Here is a report from the CPSR (Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility) on elections, chad, etc.  Makes for a very interesting read.

Scour exchange shuts down!

Wednesday, November 15

Voting and Technology - an MSNBC article.

The Pentium IV is coming.  Intel plans to break tradition by getting these chips into the market as soon as possible, instead of their previous method of slowly releasing them.

Monday, November 13

"The End of the Multics Era" - the last Multics system is going to be taken out of service.  If you look at the list of requirements, it is still pretty accurate for today.  If you know your Operating Systems history, Multics is the predecessor of Unix.

More info on new TLD's

CODE BLUE AT CIA
Although their "misuse of computers" did not compromise any classified information, 160 employees of the Central Intelligence Agency are being investigated for exchanging off-color messages on a private chat room that had been set up covertly on the Agency's classi1fied internal network. One CIA official said that if those agents who created the covert communications facility had put it on the KGB's system "we'd be giving them medals," but that "sadly, it was ours." (AP/ExciteNews 12 Nov 2000)
http://news.excite.com/news/ap/001112/00/cia-naughty-chat

Thursday, November 9

Linus says that the 2.4 version of the Linux kernel will be out in December.  It will add USB support, support for UDMA 66/100 drives, and better SMP (multiple processor) support.  More here.

Effects of the Presidential election on web servers!

COURT RULES SCHOOL DISTRICT MUST RELEASE NET RECORDS
A New Hampshire court has ruled that James M. Knight, the father of a public school student, may have access to the Internet History Log Files (IHLF) of all students who used school district computers to access the Internet. The ruling could set a precedent in online privacy rights. The judge in the case, Gillian L. Abramson, determined that the state's "Right-to-Know" law covered the IHLF records. Defendants had argued that state and federal privacy laws prohibited the release of the files. The court also ruled that students have no right to expect privacy when using school computers because the district's Internet and Acceptable Use Policy states that communications will be monitored.
(Newsbytes, 6 November 2000)  Hmmm... could be interesting to see what places students (and faculty and staff, too) surf to from Creighton :-)

More on the court decision in New Hampshire that schools must release the log files of Internet usage among students, faculty and staff.  Interesting - will this mean filters, restrictions, or maybe not logging the information at all?

Tuesday, November 7

Microsoft Hacked Again!  It seems they forgot to apply their own patch to an IIS system.

Don't forget - test on Thursday!  Covering Chapters 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and Appendix B.  Remember that on some of these chapters you should rely on your notes on material that we went over in class - for example, the database stuff, Internet and networking information (Larry's talk, too).  

Monday, November 6

GROWING NUMBER OF COLLEGES REQUIRE STUDENTS TO OWN COMPUTERS
Although the Campus Computing Project reports that under 10 percent of all colleges and universities mandate that students purchase a computer prior to beginning their first year, observers believe the number of colleges instituting such plans this year and in the future is on the rise. At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, students must purchase an IBM ThinkPad, with prices ranging from $2,182 up to $2,924 for a high-end version. At New York's Polytechnic University, students lease computers at a cost of $500 per semester. Several schools  offer financial assistance to help students who cannot afford the computers, and most financial aid packages will cover the purchase of a required computer. Plans such as these are essential to provide equal education to all students, argues David G. Brown, vice president of Wake Forest University. He explains, "It's as if some students have keys to the library and others don't."
(Chronicle of Higher Education, 3 November 2000)  Question: What do you think about laptops at CU?

TWO-WAY HIGH-SPEED INTERNET ACCESS VIA SATELLITE
StarBand Communications, a McLean, Virginia company that plans to offer consumers a nationwide two-way satellite Internet service, has begun its venture by providing high-speed connections to the previously inaccessible
Havasupai Indian reservation at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. StarBand's chief executive says, "It's the only technology that you can put anywhere in the U.S. If you can see the southern sky, we can put in a terminal." And yet the company is marketing its services not only to the 50 million households not passed by a cable or DSL line, but also to the "customers out there who just don't want to deal with the local telephone company or the cable company, or are frustrated with installation problems." (Washington Post 6 Nov 2000)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20175-2000Nov5.html

Grammar for the net!

Friday, November 3

WSJ: Online Fraud is Increasing dramatically.

Get this - using a hands-free cell phone is more dangerous that a regular cell phone.

Thursday, November 2

Cringley - "Microsoft cracked" article here.

STUDY: NET USERS NOW OLDER, WISER
The common perception of the typical American Internet user as a young male is just a stereotype, according to new research from Gartner. Indeed, the Gartner report found that men and women are found in equal numbers on the Web and that the average U.S. Internet user is a married 41-year-old who makes $65,000 a year, has 2.81 kids, and uses a PC at the office. Gartner also determined that experience with the Internet, not age, is a more important determining factor in predicting who will make online purchases. "Internet users with more than three years' Internet experience are twice as likely to have purchased online than Internet users with a year's experience," says Gartner's Ann Marshman. Internet users who shop a lot online, regardless of demographics, also tend to pay their bills online, make bids at auction sites, and make financial transfers online, says Marshman. (E-Commerce Times, 31 October 2000)

Gartner Group report on Enterprise Operating Systems - check out #9 :-)

Wednesday, November 1

The Big Hack: Why MS' Blunder Threatens You - a very good article on why Microsoft's explanation just doesn't make sense.

Got your swatch set on "Internet Time" ??

New software betas coming: Whistler, the next version of Windows (combined Win98 and 2000 for consumers) and the long-awaited Linux kernel 2.4!

For those of you doing Telecommuting as your research paper - an article on how telecommuters can be a security threat to your network. (Hint Hint Microsoft :-)

Examples of information systems projects that went bad - really, really bad $$$

Napster is going to a subscription-based model.  Wonder how that will work?

Problems with the Internet Routing tables?  Relevent to chapter 6, too!

Tuesday, October 31

Happy Halloween!  

Fiber to the house?

A review of every modern Intel CPU

Friday, October 27

BREAKING NEWS!  Microsoft hacked!  Was the source code altered?   Story here.  How did it happen?  CNN story here as well.   Another "How could it" 

Oracle is being threatened with a lawsuit by Microsoft because they benchmark!

Thursday, October 26

Here is the link to the machine room pictures (Thanks Jay "Mr. Webcam" Landhurst).  I'll try to arrange a tour of the room for us one day.

Is Peer-to-Peer dead?  This is relevant to our chapter 6/appendix B discussions today.

Findings of the UCLA study on Internet use

Mir lives!  Geez, make up your minds!  We need it for Survivor III!

Tuesday, October 24

Larry Sheldon is guest speaking today!

In the UK, sweeping new powers of employers to monitor workers phone calls, emails, etc. go into place today.  Story here.

Check out this screenshot.  See anything interesting about it?  Just don't WINE about it!

An interesting analysis of the first 1000 .com domains, and their being blocked by products like Surfwatch.  This group found that 80% of the blocks were in error!

Amdahl to leave the mainframe market.  They have about a 10% market share.  Users are concerned that now IBM will have freer rein to charge more for their systems.  Geez, I remember when the BUNCH was the entire market!

Are you a cable modem user?  If you complain in public, they will yank your account - at least they did for this user.  Just like Novia did to me a couple of years ago.  Information on the @Home user here.  I'll mirror the documents he references later.

Data from the CIO ("Chief Information Officer") KnowPulse Poll
For which of the following offenses has an employee at your company been fired (per your company's personal Internet usage policy)?
a) Checking stock or sports scores:

b) Sending pornography:

c) Sexual harassment:

d) Compromising trade secrets:*

e) Buying their kids tickets to see Britney Spears

Fall Break Week

Are you one of the estimated 10% of cubicle workers who are depressed?  Supposedly these 10% are depressed due to Information Technology.  Wired article here.

20 Ways to End the World - a great read!

Goodbye Pioneer 10 :-(  Info on the ship here.

MacWeek says Unix isn't an operating system?  Here is the original article.  Exactly what is an operating system?

Why is there life?

Well, is it e-mail or email?

Broadband Could Be Hacked

Mir to crash in the Pacific in February?

Thursday, October 12

The Vintage Computer Festival!  A friend of mine went and here are some pictures.

Spyware!

Guest Speaker Update!  Be sure to be here on Tuesday, October 24.  Larry Sheldon will be here to discuss CU's network.  Come with questions!  I will take some test/quiz questions from his presentation as well.

Shopping Online versus Offline - who wins?

Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2000 13:17:13 -0500 (CDT)
From: Terry Begley <tbegley@creighton.edu>
To: mis353d@creighton.edu
Subject: Wade Center, Seagate Lab and Old Gym User Room Fall break hours (fwd)

The Wade Center and Seagate Labs Fall Break schedule is:
Friday, October 13: 8:00am - 4:00pm
Saturday, October 14 - Saturday, October 21: CLOSED
Sunday, October 22: Noon - Midnite
(regular hours resume)

From: Chris Clark <chrisc@creighton.edu>
Subject: [JAYNet-News] Old Gym User Room Fall break hours

The Client Support Services Old Gym Computer User Room will be open the
following hours of the duration of fall break:
Friday, Oct. 13: 8:00am - 5:00pm.
Saturday Oct. 14 - Saturday Oct. 21: 9:00am - 5:00pm
Sunday Oct. 22: 9:00am - Midnight
The User Room will resume normal hours at 8:00am on Monday, Oct. 23. 

chris clark, mcse, mct
labs administrator
client support services
creighton university
omaha, ne 68178
chrisc@creighton.edu
tel: 402.280.1162
fax: 402.280.2573 


Wednesday, October 11

BROADBAND IN HOMES CHANGES MEDIA HABITS
Households with broadband Internet capabilities tend to spend more time on the Internet and less watching TV or listening to the radio than do households with dial-up Internet access, according to a new study conducted by Arbitron and Coleman for the National Association of Broadcasters. Media time in the average U.S. household breaks down as follows: 33 percent of the time is spent watching TV, 28 percent listening to radio, and 11 percent using the Internet. Internet usage increases in households with broadband capabilities, accounting for 21 percent of "media time," while TV and radio usage drops to 24 percent and 21 percent, respectively. Households with broadband access average 134 minutes online per day, 61 percent more than households with dial-up access.
(PC World.com, 6 October 2000)

Tuesday, October 10

Ransoming Customer Data?  Motorola's plan to require private data - dealers must turn over confidential customer data to Motorola, or lose their right to sell their radios.  What do you think?

Now this is just plain weird, morbid, and very interesting.

Dr. Phillips is looking for a COBA student to sing the National Anthem at basketball games. If you have questions you can stop by BA 212A or call Pam at 280-2850.  Bonus points if you know the Creighton fight song!

For reading this, we are having a quiz today.  Here is a sample question:
* A DSS is well suited to:
a. calculating a payroll
b. helping you analyze sales trends
c. determining grade point averages
d. A and B
e. none of the above

Hubba hubba!  The Naked PC Page (check the URL :-)

On a related class note on Expert Systems:
http://library.northernlight.com/LH20000821010000222.html?cb=13&sc=0#doc

Yet Another Reason To Hate Hotmail:
The original message was received at Tue, 10 Oct 2000 14:01:35 -0500 (CDT)
from pigeon.creighton.edu [147.134.2.90]

----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
<xxx@hotmail.com>

----- Transcript of session follows -----
... while talking to mc7.law5.hotmail.com.:
>>> RCPT To:<xxx@hotmail.com>
<<< 552 Requested mail action aborted: exceeded storage allocation
554 <xxx@hotmail.com>... Service unavailable

So - if you have Hotmail and are subscribed to our list, be SURE to clean out your mailbox!

Research paper topic!  It's slipped my mind, so I would like everyone to submit a topic by Thursday's class.  More information here.

NOBEL PRIZE FOR INVENTOR OF INTERGRATED CIRCUIT
A Nobel prize for physics has been awarded to Jack Kilby, who in 1958invented the integrated circuit and then co-invented the pocket calculator.  By replacing cumbersome transistors, the integrated circuit allowed the creation of smaller and more powerful devices and led to the computer revolution of the 1970s. Kilby said he was "shocked" by the award, because "I had thought that Nobel prizes were not given for accomplishments like mine. To some extent, my contribution was an engineering one and Mr. Nobel did not make any provisions for engineering prizes." Asked to predict the future, the 77-year-old engineer was humble and cautious: "Certainly for some time we're in for more of the same. Electronics will continue to get cheaper and there will be new applications coming alone, which I don't think I've visualized very well." (Reuters/San Jose Mercury News 10 Oct 2000)
http://www.sjmercury.com/svtech/news/breaking/reuters/docs/495938l.htm

Midterm Grade Results will be based on:
* test one score
* quizzes taken so far (none dropped)
* web site progress
 - picture on your page
 - link to other site
 - link to our class page
* research paper topic turned in

Monday, October 9

Using a web-based email program (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.) isn't safe from Prying Eyes!

Did you hear about the Clinton-Lazio debate?  Both candidates came out against taxing the Internet to provide the Post Office with money.  Problem is, this is an urban legend.  Check out the official USPS rebuttal page here.

Here's a page from CPU Scorecard that lists the speed ratings of processors.  The Pentium III gets an "F" in the performance category.

Friday, October 6

Why the Internet Won't be Metered - an interesting look at charging for net access, and why metered access won't work.

JUDGE MAKES A CASE FOR THE DELETE KEY
District Court Judge James Rosenbaum has published an article called "In Defense of the DELETE Key," in which he bemoans the eternal nature of computer communications and reminisces fondly about pre-computer days when people casually spoke "off the record": "At this earlier time, two people could easily say something -- even, perhaps, something politically incorrect -- simply between themselves. They might even have exchanged nasty notes between themselves. And when they had moved past this tacky, but probably innocent moment, it was truly gone." Today, however, "an idle thought jotted onto a calendar, a tasteless joke passed to a once-trusted friend, a suggestive invitation directed at an uninterested recipient, if done electronically, will last forever. Years later, it can subject its author to liability." Rosenbaum proposes a "cyber statute of limitations" -- perhaps six months for an isolated e-mail message -- after which "deleted" documents would be legally consigned to the electronic rubbish heap and become inadmissible as evidence of possible wrongdoing. He makes an exception for recovered "deleted" messages from someone who has exhibited a pattern of egregious behavior or communications. The article was published in the Summer issue of The Green Bag, a literary law journal. (New York Times 5 Oct 2000)
http://.nytimes.partners.com/2000/10/05/technology/06CYBERLAW.html

Thursday, October 5

HOT TIPS!  Getting the Most out of Linux has some great commands, some of which you may have never used.  Definitely worth checking out!  Check out this neat-o command: pstree -p which gives you all the processes running in a tree form, and the -p gives the PID.

No, Napster wasn't down due to legal reasons - it had hardware problems.  Story here.

NETWORK SOLUTIONS TO REGISTER ASIAN-LANGUAGE DOMAIN NAMES
Network Solutions says it's ready to begin accepting registrations using Chinese characters, as well as Japanese and Korean phonetic symbols, reflecting the rapid growth of Internet use in the Asia-Pacific region. In the first half of this year, domain-name registrations more than doubled in 
South Korea and Japan. NSI's interest in the Asian market signals a shift in the Internet from US-English-language hegemony to more localization of both content and languages, says a research analyst in Hong Kong. (Wall Street Journal 5 Oct 2000)
http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB970683663294982030.htm

On a related note, you can check out Network Solutions web site and see if your name or hobby is available.  Check it out here.  In fact, for some fun and education, I would like you to pick a domain name that you would like to have, and see if it is available.  Then, when you find an available domain name, email it to our class list.

Amazon didn't invent one-click shopping, OpenTV did!

Also, I have revised the chapter five handouts to eliminate a few redundant slides.

Flamingo Users websites!  If you are not listed here, or if it is incorrect, please send me an email so I can correct it.

For class today (when we talk about Expert Systems) here is one - for law, called SHYSTER.  Another one to solve crossword puzzles.  Here's a FAQ and another FAQ on 'em.

Tuesday, October 3

There's a strange space fungus all over Mir - sounds like a bad horror movie!

Interesting - more secrets revealed about British code-breaking technology during WWII.  Click here for information on Colossus.  No, not the one from the Forbin Project!

This just in!  New TOP LEVEL DOMAINS have been proposed.  Check 'em out here.  There is the usual .sex. .kids, .biz, etc.  Was there a .etc?

MUSIC DOWNLOADING IS NOT THEFT, SAYS MAJORITY OF AMERICANS
Downloading music off the Internet is not stealing in the eyes of 53% of all U.S. Internet users, according to a new study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. And those who are active downloaders are even more adamant about their position -- 78% do not believe that downloading and sharing files for free is wrong, and 61% don't care if the music they're downloading is copyrighted. Even among the general population, 40% of those surveyed said they didn't see anything wrong with downloading music off the Internet, while 35% said the downloaders are stealing, and 25% chose not to take a position. In a finding guaranteed to raise the ire of the Recording Industry Association of America, only 21% of music downloaders end up actually buying the music they get off the Internet. (E-Commercetimes 2 Oct 2000)
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/news/articles2000/001002-1.shtml

NAPSTER IN ACADEMIA
Colleges and universities are split on "the Napster issue." Some are blocking Napster, some are not. Among the ones that are not are Georgia Tech, Michigan, Stanford, Duke, and the University of California at Berkeley. A Georgia Tech official says: "We are an educational institution and we will err on the side of unfettered access to information. Once you start down that road ... well, we could tie up an awful lot of staff people and resources trying to evaluate Web sites' content, and we don't want to get into that." Among the ones that are blocking Napster are Yale, Indiana, Southern California, Texas, Ohio State, Northeastern, and Canisius. The first three in this group made their decisions after being sued by two rock groups and the Recording Industry Association of America; the second two chose to block Napster on the grounds that Napster traffic clogged their computer networks; and the last two cited legal and ethical reasons for rejecting Napster and similar programs. A Canisius official explained: "It's not free for you to steal books from the public library, and it's not free to download music you haven't paid for." (AP/San Jose Mercury News 1 Oct 2000)
http://www.sjmercury.com/svtech/news/breaking/ap/docs/465588l.htm

Test scores are done - results are here on the quizzes page.

Amazon.com is going to court today against Barnesandnoble.com to defend their "one click" patent.  The idea that someone could patent the idea of clicking once is, to me, patently absurd.  Story here.  Go for it, B+N!

Monday, October 2

Top Ten Tech People of the decade!  Who is #1?  Can you figure out who all these people are?  I think that by the end of the semester we should all be able to identify all ten.

Napster was back in Appeals Court - a great article here.

Friday, September 29

OLD FILM COULD TORPEDO BT'S CLAIM ON HYPERLINKING
British Telecom's claim that it patented Internet hyperlinking technology back in 1976 has hit a snag. The U.S.-based Internet Patent News Service is pointing patent lawyers to a Web site (http://sloan.stanford.edu/MouseSite/1968Demo.html) that hosts a 90-minute film shot by Stanford University in 1968 featuring Douglas Englebart demonstrating the first computer mouse -- and using it to click on hyperlinks. (New Scientist 30 Sep 2000) - VERY interesting!

Tuesday, September 26

CLASS UPDATE: I will be going out of town for a funeral on Wednesday, and returning late on Thursday afternoon.  There is a chance that I might not be back in time for class on Thursday, so I will call the Dean's office and have them post a sign by 3:00pm IF I'm not going to make it, and send a message to the class list.  I should be back in time, but there is a small chance ( < 10%) that I won't.  

I'm grading the tests, and am amazed at the number of you that either a)answered both trivia questions, even though the directions clearly said "answer only one" and 2)the number of you that got them wrong, even thought I posted URLs with the answer!  "Skipper" is his job title, his name is Jonus Grumby on the show.  

Since not everyone has taken the test, I am holding back releasing them until everyone does.  Should be by Thursday - YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!!!

Saturday/Sunday, September 22/24

Should you be reading this from work?

Friday, September 22

Click here for a listing of screenshots for "Whistler" - the next generation Windows after Windows 98 and ME, and 2000.

"Universities Snub Napster Ban Request" - looks like Harvard, MIT, etc. are all refusing to ban Napster as Metallica wants them to.

"Gnutella is Going Down in Flames" - a story on Gnutella (Napster clone, for all kinds of software) that is not scaling - that is, not able to handle larger network connections.

"Growth of Internet Use Slows" - some good statistics on who is using the Internet, and who isn't - and why.

Thursday, September 21

I've fixed the link on the supplements page to the Hardware Slides and the Appendix A slides.  Sorry about that!  They have always been available on Network Neighborhood, or via ANONYMOUS FTP from a web browser anywhere on the Internet.

Well, it looks like it is up and running - the faster network connection, that is.  I have sent you all a slew of emails about the connection from the networking folks.  Please give me some feedback.  Things I have noticed is that I can now do radio stations on the network past 9:30am without them dying or cutting out, and that webpages are now loading much faster.  

Wednesday, September 20

Click here for a tip on an extra credit question on the test!  Or click here as well.

Microsoft Museum

Update on the network connection:
Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2000 17:49:48 CDT
From: Larry Sheldon <lsheldon@creighton.edu>
Subject: [jaynet-alert] Network Changes

  We are (and have been for several hours) moving to the new network connection.
  At this moment we are sending all outbound traffic via the new connection.
  The world, however, persists for the most part in sending the packets inbound to us via the old connection.
  Since it is the in-bound side of the old layout that is congested, you probably have not noticed a difference.
  We are continuing to work on getting the world to agree with us on how things should be done.

Tuesday, September 19

More Napster stuff - the Bare Naked Ladies are flooding Napster with ads for their album instead of the songs themselves.  Story on CNN here.

Missed the inaugural speech due to the technical problems (no sound)?  Here it is on the web.

Monday, September 18

Excellent article from Salon about used computers and the environment.  For example, do you know that there are over five pounds of lead in each monitor?

Did you see the message I forwarded from Chuck Ruch about our network connection?  
Check here for the graph that shows traffic usage on that port.
Check here for our current statistics with the T-1 lines.

Friday, September 15

A Brief History of Supercomputers

Student's PC Seized After Recording Industry Complaint

Thursday, September 14

In the "Big Deal" department, Microsoft releases Windows ME today.  Here's a link to a group of stories on ZDnet about it.

FROM SLASHDOT:
Posted by Hemos on Thursday September 14, @01:58PM
from the looking-back-down-history-trail dept.
martin writes "On Dec. 9, 1968, Douglas C. Engelbart and the group of 17 researchers working with him in the Augmentation Research Center at Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park, Calif., presented a 90-minute live public demonstration of the on live system, NLS, they had been working on since 1962. The public presentation was a session in the of the Fall Joint Computer Conference held at the Convention Center in San Francisco, and it was attended by about 1,000 computer professionals. This was the public debut of the computer mouse. But the mouse was only one of many innovations demonstrated that day, including hypertext, object addressing and dynamic file linking, as well as shared-screen collaboration involving two persons at different sites communicating over a network with audio and video interface. The original 90-minute video of this event is part of the Engelbart Collection in Special Collections of Stanford University. Hyperlinks Mouse Web-board Kinda knocks BT's patent for hyperlinking out of the water" The stuff is in Real format.

Wednesday, September 13

WE'RE BACK!!!  Sort of.  I have restored the web from Eden to cobweb.  Until I figure out what to do with my server (upgrade, repair, etc.) let's just use this site.  More later!

COOL! The Gallery of CSS Descramblers

More on the Amazon.com pricing strategy story.  Here on CNet is an article that says Amazon is asking customers to pay the higher price on some titles, due a "glitch" not related to the test, so they say.  Also, this from a Slashdot reader:
MDMurphy writes "Got this in the email just now. Despite reports I'd read that you had to write Amazon and ask for a refund if you saw they charged others a lower price, it seems they are letting their customers know proactively: Greetings from Amazon.com. Thank you for your recent purchase from our DVD store. As you may be aware, we occasionally test various aspects of our web site--design, layout, and other features--for brief periods to determine how they resonate with customers. Recently, we tested the discounts we offered on selected DVDs, so that different discounts for certain titles appeared to individual customers chosen at random. Because you placed an order for the DVD "The Big Blue - Director's Cut" during this period, we wanted to let you know that we will be refunding the difference between the price you paid and the lowest test price that we offered on that DVD during the test period, in your case, $1.49. We also wanted you to know that if we conduct any price tests in the future, all customers who order items affected by these tests will automatically be refunded any price difference at the conclusion of the test, thereby ensuring that they will pay the lowest available price. We value your business and appreciate the trust you have placed in us by being a customer. Thank you for shopping at Amazon.com." You can see another news report about the havoc the "experiment" has played on things.

Tuesday, September 12

Brittany's Guide to Semiconductor Physics???

Napster use quadruples in the last four months!  CNN story saved here.

THE E-BOOK THAT KEEPS ON GIVING
Dental students at New York University are using an electronic textbook 
based on a new business model. The Vital Source Technologies textbook is 
"no longer sold to students for a one-time payment," brags the company's 
Web site. Instead, "continually updated information is now licensed to 
students for a recurring yearly fee." Students will pay nearly $5,000 to 
use their VitalBook disks through all four years of dental school, which 
the school's dean says is comparable to what it would cost to buy the 
recommended texts in hardcopy form. As part of the deal, the school had to 
agree to make purchasing the e-book mandatory, ensuring there wouldn't be 
any customers for illegal copies. However, even proponents note that a 
major downside will occur when the students graduate, and the information 
is no longer accessible without further payments. "It's troublesome," says 
NYU dental school dean Michael Alfano. (Wall Street Journal 11 Sep 2000)

Book 'em, Danno!

Monday, September 11

Cell phone fry your brain?  Nah, they speed up your reflexes!

Metallica and Dr. Dre's lawyers to Harvard: Block that Napster!

Sunday, September 10

I've put up my revised copies of the Hardware lecture.  Click here for the slides in Powerpoint format, and Click here for them as an outline.

Breaking News: Western Union website hacked (should read "cracked") and they are recommending that if you used their site with a credit card, you should cancel that card.  ABC News story here.

Hey, what is this?  Let's talk on Tuesday...

Friday, September 8

Are web businesses ready for the Christmas rush?

Do you remember when I was talking about Opera and a few other web browsers?  Here is a small review from the ZD web site on four other alternative browsers.

Interesting surfer statistic: eBay gets more unique surfers than the next nine sites combined!  Check out the story here.  

Death of the Web-Safe Color Palette?  Check out this article on color design.  I want you to avoid certain color combinations on your websites - no purple-on-black or yellow-on-white, since I (and many men) have trouble with colors.   Keep this in mind when designing your website!  Oh, and Try This Test.

Thursday, September 7

INTERNET AT SCHOOL IS CHANGING WORK OF STUDENTS--AND TEACHERS
Nearly every school in the United States now has some form of Internet access, and education experts believe the Internet is changing the classroom dynamic. Educators claim students who once struggled in the traditional classroom--shy or learning-disabled students, students still learning to speak English, "visual learners"--feel more confident with and are learning more from Internet-based lessons. Students can use the Internet to communicate with students all over the world, to visit interactive museums and historical sites, and to investigate "real-world" topics such as cloning or forensic science. Educators believe Internet use encourages creativity while freeing teachers to spend more time coaching and less time lecturing students. Ninety-five percent of the nation's schools now have Internet connections, thanks in large part to the federal government's $6 billion e-rate program. But efforts to instruct teachers in the use of the Internet are lagging behind.  According to a recent survey by the Department of Education, almost two-thirds of teachers do not feel confident using computers or the Internet. 
(Washington Post, September 5 2000)

Wednesday, September 6

Follow-up from an email to the class list: Info on the Trinity DOS tool.

Ever order from Amazon.com?  If so, you could have paid more for the same item depending on which browser you used.  Check out this story here.

This just in!  Judge finds that MP3.com violated the copyrights of Universal Music Group, the world's largest record company.  Click here for a PDF of the news article.

Tuesday, September 5

Microsoft Changing It's Course at Their 25th Birthday article.  Here it is as a PDF on my server.

"The Ten Commandments of Email"

Sunday, September 3

NETWORK UPDATE!  We had a failure in the hub stack in COBA this morning.  I was able to reset it and we were back in business, but in the meantime users might have experienced problems getting out of the network from our building, or to our servers, from sometime between Saturday at 1700 and Sunday at 1330.

U.S. NET DEMOGRAPHICS SET TO SHIFT
The demographics of the U.S. online population will change over
the next several years, becoming more representative of the
population as a whole, according to a recent study from
International Data. About 103 million users from all age groups
and economic levels will go online for the first time by 2004. 
These new users will bring the total U.S. Internet population to
about 210 million users in 2004. Older Americans are now the 
fastest-growing community of users, and the number of online 
adults 55 and above is expected to more than triple from 1999 to
2004, reaching 34.1 million users. As a result, observers say 
online marketers should begin to target older adults. The
changes in the online population will force marketers that have
not yet gone online to do so, and will also offer opportunities
for new online firms to win the loyalty of novice users, says 
International Data's Barry Parr.
(E-Commerce Times, August 30 2000)

Saturday, September 2

Don't you dare even write an online journal about your trip or participation in the Olympics!  You would be considered a journalist, which is verboten.  Story here.

Anyone tried watching the Husker telecast?  I've been knocked off the server a couple of times, had trouble even getting to the Fox Sports webpage (noticed that they redid the page to open to a text-only page, since it was taking too long to load their main page). 

Friday, September 1

Do you have a cell phone?  Have you upgraded, or added a second line of service?  An article here at C:Net talks about how the cell phone industry is maturing, and is now facing the problem of either getting people to upgrade their current models, or go for even more commodity-style phones to entice even more users to their phones.  What do you marketing majors think?  Here is the article.

Thursday, August 31

Special surprise in class today!  What could it be?  Stay tuned!

So, do you think that Napster is illegal?  Depends on your age, according to this article.

When we discuss security, physical security is often overlooked.  Here is an article that deals with locking down a system when a user has physical access to it.  Click here for the article.  Click here for the PDF file on this server (faster).

Interested in Unix?  Check out this timeline.

Yahoo mail is been troublesome in the last 12 hours or so.  Check out the stack of queued mail on Bluejay here, and also this message that I got when I sent out a message to the class list a few minutes ago showing why I hate Hotmail so much:

The original message was received at Thu, 31 Aug 2000 16:17:33 -0500 (CDT)
from pigeon.creighton.edu [147.134.2.90]

----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
<shellya@hotmail.com>
<yogi8019@hotmail.com>

----- Transcript of session follows -----
... while talking to mc4.law5.hotmail.com.:
>>> DATA
<<< 554 Transaction failed
554 <yogi8019@hotmail.com>,<shellya@hotmail.com>... Service unavailable

[ Part 2: "Delivery Status" ]

Reporting-MTA: dns; mailjay.creighton.edu
Received-From-MTA: DNS; pigeon.creighton.edu
Arrival-Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2000 16:17:33 -0500 (CDT)

Final-Recipient: RFC822; shellya@hotmail.com
Action: failed
Status: 5.0.0
Remote-MTA: DNS; mc4.law5.hotmail.com
Diagnostic-Code: SMTP; 554 Transaction failed
Last-Attempt-Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2000 16:21:15 -0500 (CDT)

Wednesday, August 30

Don't you try to watch the Olympics on the Internet!

Tuesday, August 29

Intel is recalling their new 1.13GHz Pentium III chips, as they are unstable.  There are several reviews on the Internet about it.  Click here for the PDF file of a ZD story.

If you work for Apple Computer, don't leak secrets!

No more human in the R2D2 costume in the next Star Wars movie...

Monday, August 28

Apple - A Doomed Cause?

A time limited textbook?  Criminal penalties if you read it after it's "expiration"?  Read about it here.  Here is the FAQ for the book from SUNY.

Sunday, August 27

I've sent out a few messages to the class mailing list, mis353d@creighton.edu.  Not everyone in the class has joined yet, so be sure to get on the list or you will miss out!

Friday, August 25

Four of the thirteen root name servers were shut down Wednesday.  Check out this story on ZDnet.  I've also stored it locally here.

This just in!  A ruling that the hijacker of the sex.com domain does not have to give it back.  First story from Wired here.  More in class later on domain names and why they are so important.

Are you bored on Monday nights? Wishing for some excitement? Love the
smell of plastic bags? Have nimble fingers that love to work with
twist-ties? If so, do I have a deal for you!

Our new computers for BA 111 are due to arrive on Monday, starting
around 4:30pm. If you have some time to spare, I could sure use the help
to unbox, unwrap and un-twist tie the various components and get them
situated in the desks. Cathy Biddulph has agreed to move her class that
night so we can get started working on getting the systems going.

Everyone who helps gets a free Gateway box! 

Thursday, August 24

Welcome to the first day of class!  As you can see in our classroom, the computers are not here yet.  Gateway (also here for the CU configuration) admits to the delivery delay, but that does not do us much good.  The computers have been promised by Friday, and I will believe that when I am opening up cow-spotted boxes.  If they do not arrive, starting next week we may meet in the Seagate Lab.  Check here before each class to find out where we are meeting.

Update on the faster network connection: All of the components are finally here, and it is up to US West to make the connections.  Possibly around 7-10 days?  We really need the faster connection - check out this graph.

Burn baby burn!  Watch out for falling satellite parts!

Ach Di Lieber!  Taxen das Netverk?

Humor: ...and the winner is: Machiabelly!
 

Tuesday, August 22

How to Spy on Your Employees - an interesting article from MSNBC.

Our new Internet connection - coming soon!  Thanks to Jay Langhurst for this graphic.