[ECP] Educational CyberPlayGround NetHappenings Mailing List

Greetings All,

ECP: Educational CyberPlayGround NetHappenings Headlines and Resources
Let's start out the Fall 07 - Spring 08 year with some practical tips and resources. 




Happy Reading,

<Karen>



1)
There are 21 Tips to Deal with Information Overload
What follows are a number of tips, to be used together or separately, depending on your needs, that will help you become the Master of your information, and stop the onslaught of information overload, so that you can reconnect with what's truly important in your life. 
<http://webworkerdaily.com/2007/08/08/master-your-information-manifesto-21-tips-to-deal-with-info-overload/>

2)
How to Open Long Urls 0.2.1
a Firefox, Mozilla and Thunderbird Browser Extension to help you Open Long Urls like the one above 
http://mozmonkey.com/openlongurl/

Get the FireFox extension to install
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/search?q=open+long+url&status=4
This is an extension for Firefox, Mozilla and Thunderbird that adds an option to your File menu which allows you to open URLs that span several lines. It solves the problem of long urls recieved in email, that has been broken up onto two or more lines. 
How do I use it?
Click File > Open Long URL (or press CTR+ALT+O)
Enter the long url into the dialog that appears
Select if you want it to open in a, new window, new tab, or current window and tab 
Click Open

3)
Educational CyberPlayGround Arts Education http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Arts/HOME_Arts.html Improving literacy through arts education and advocacy by providing collaborative and interdisciplinary resources for understanding world culture. 

STUDIO THINKING: THE REAL BENEFITS OF VISUAL ARTS EDUCATION
IS THIS THE BOOK THAT WILL CHANGE ARTS EDUCATION?
These authors will settle for nothing less than changing the conversation.
First Review: September 12, 2007
by John Broomall
Executive director of the Pennsylvania Alliance for Arts Education
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Arts/StudioThinkingArtsAdvocacy.html
Studio Thinking: The Real Benefits of Visual Arts Education (Studio Thinking) is the work of researchers Lois Hetland, Ellen Winner, Shirley Veenema, and Kimberly M. Sheridan. The authors set out to tell us why arts education is important and to give art teachers a research based language they can use to describe what they teach, and what is learned. They reached their conclusions after studying a number of well-taught studio classes in two schools. Over the course of a year, they observed what they call a "hidden curriculum" that defines what art education is and what it does. Studio Thinking presents their findings in a cohesive model along with lesson examples and commentary. The authors say they want to "change the conversation about the arts in this country" and that could happen if they can resurrect, or reinvigorate, some of their earlier work. Studio Thinking presents what the authors say is the right "reason" for arts education as opposed to some other rationales, which they say, are just plain wrong. The intended audience includes students, artists, teacher trainees and experienced teachers, administrators, researchers, and advocates, just about everyone involved in arts education. This writer could fit into several of these categories, but my particular view of this book is as an advocate; my current work involves finding ways to maintain art and music teaching positions in an urban school district that is facing a $175,000,000 deficit. This is an instance in which the messengers may overshadow the message. The Studio Thinking authors are important voices; reports of their findings appear in the mainstream media, which means that real people might actually be informed and influenced. Two of them are known in some arts education circles as, for lack of a better term, anti-advocates. 

4)
http://www.BookFinder.com is an easy-to-use textbook search tool.
Enter a title, I.S.B.N. or author's name to navigate a huge database of 125 million new and used books. You can compare prices, shipping costs and the availability of less expensive editions published overseas. 

5)
U.S. News and World Report College/University Rankings Released 2008
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/rankindex_brief.php 

An Limited Alternative to the US News & World Report College Ranking?
[http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/ranknatudoc_brief.php ] 
***Academic Ranking of World Universities - 2007***
[ http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2007/ranking2007.htm ]
The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) has been published by the Institute of Higher Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (IHE-SJTU). 

6)
Leader in TJX Fraud Gets 5-Year Sentence
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118973246548127272.html
Irving Escobar, a ring leader in a TJX Cos.-linked credit-card fraud, was sentenced to five years in prison and has been ordered to pay nearly $600,000 in restitution for damages resulting from stolen financial information, Florida officials said.He participated in a 10-person operation that used counterfeit cards bearing the stolen credit-card data of hundreds of TJX customers to purchase approximately $3 million in goods and gift cards. The penalty is the stiffest handed down so far in the case. 

7)
Quantum threat to our secret data
http://technology.newscientist.com/article/mg19526216.700
IT MIGHT seem like an esoteric achievement of interest to only a handful of computer scientists, but the advent of quantum computers that can run a routine called Shor's algorithm could have profound consequences. It means the most dangerous threat posed by quantum computing - the ability to break the codes that protect our banking, business and e-commerce data - is now a step nearer reality. 

8)
How a Fox News linked Hacker Failed to fool Fark
http://valleywag.com/tech/followup/how-a-fox+linked-hacker-failed-to-fool-fark-290862.php
Fark.com sues over attempted hacking
http://www.kentucky.com/181/story/174791.html

9)
WikiScanner's flair for uncovering unseemly and biased edits will very likely make it the most discussed Wikipedia-related tool of the year. 
WikiDashboard http://wikidashboard.parc.com/
Providing social transparency to Wikipedia
We are pleased to announce the release of our first research prototype of a social dynamic analysis tool for Wikipedia called WikiDashboard. The idea is that if we provide social transparency and enable attribution of work to individual workers in Wikipedia, then this will eventually result in increased credibility and trust in the page content, and therefore higher levels of trust in Wikipedia. Wikipedia itself keeps track of these studies and openly discusses them here, which is a form of social transparency itself. However, even Wales himself have been quoted as saying that "while Wikipedia is useful for many things, he would like to make it known that he does not recommend it to college students for serious research." Indeed, the standard complaint I often hear about Wikipedia is that because of its editorial policy (anyone can edit anything), it is an unreliable source of information. 
Guide
http://asc-parc.blogspot.com/2007/09/quick-guide-to-wikidashboard-providing.html

10)
School computer security at risk
<http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070912/NEWS01/709120339/1002/NEWS>
The Gates Chili Central School District needs to better control
unauthorized access to its information technology computer rooms that
could result in someone altering records or essential data being lost,
according to a recent state Comptroller's Office report.
The audit examined seven schools within the district from July 1, 2005,
to Feb. 27, 2007.
Currently, the district does not keep a log of who enters server rooms,
which makes its computer systems and equipment vulnerable to any
intruder. In addition, the district's network servers are scattered in
seven rooms, with only two of the doors being locked.


11)
Who Needs Hackers?
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/12/technology/techspecial/12threat.html
Most of the problems we have day to day have nothing
to do with malice. Things break. Complex systems break in complex ways.
The threat is complexity itself. We have gone from fairly simple computing architectures to massively 
distributed, massively interconnected and interdependent networks, he
said, adding that as a result, flaws have become increasingly hard to
predict or spot.

12)
ISPs turn blind eye to million-machine malware monster
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/10/isps_ignore_strorm_worm_and_other_malware/
Several weeks ago, security researcher Lawrence Baldwin dispatched an
urgent email to abuse handlers at OptimumOnline, the broadband provider
owned by Cablevision, warning that one of its customers stood to lose
more than $60,000 to cyber crooks.
"He's got a keylogger on his system . . . below is a log of the
miscreant viewing the info that was logged from his system while
accessing his [Bank of America] accounts," Baldwin's email read. "Looks
like he's got nearly $60K in there, so a lot at stake. Can you get
someone to phone me that might be able to establish contact with this
customer?"
The email, which was addressed to a specific handler's email address and
was also copied to OptimumOnline's abuse desk, went on to provide the
user's IP address and enough specifics to suggest Baldwin's claim of a
keylogger was probably accurate. Yet, more than three weeks later,
Baldwin still hasn't heard back from the company.

13)
MPack Group + Infamous Russian ISP behind Bank of India hack
The notorious Russian Business Network has been identified as the ISP
responsible for a recent information-stealing financial attack
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/security/0,1000000189,39289057,00.htm

14)
Criminals operating malware supermarkets
http://www.techworld.com/security/news/index.cfm?newsID=10035
The global market for criminal malware now operates like a supermarket,
complete with special offers and volume discounts, a security company
has discovered.
According to Panda Softwares latest quarterly report, the going rate for
a reasonably sophisticated but generic Trojan is between 175 ($350) and
350 ($700), while the email list with which to target victims for the
program costs from 50 ($100) per million names.

15)
Technology that translates spoken or written words into British
Sign Language (BSL) has been developed by researchers at IBM.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6993326.stm
The system, called SiSi (Say It Sign It) was created by a group of
students in the UK.
SiSi will enable deaf people to have simultaneous sign language
interpretations of meetings and presentations.
It uses speech recognition to animate a digital character or avatar.

16)
Microsoft updates Windows without users' consent
http://windowssecrets.com/comp/070913
Microsoft has begun patching files on Windows XP and Vista without
users' knowledge, even when the users have turned off auto-updates.
Many companies require testing of patches before they are widely
installed, and businesses in this situation are objecting to the
stealth patching.

17)
TV Torrents: When 'piracy' is easier than legal purchase
http://www.cnet.com/8301-13739_1-9775271-46.html

18)
The petition against reauthorizing the NCLB
http://www.petitiononline.com/1teacher/petition.html

19)
At Rapleaf, your personals are public
The start-up aggregates social-networking profiles and, through TrustFuse, opens the possibility of selling that data to marketers. But sites like Rapleaf will quickly jar you awake: Everything you say or do on a social network could be fair game to sell to marketers. 
<http://news.com.com/At+Rapleaf%2C+your+personals+are+public/2100-1038_3-6205716.html?tag=sas.email>

20)
BILL MOYERS JOURNAL | Media Consolidation
Low Powered Radio is necessary.
Bill Moyers talks with FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps about the state of media consolidation. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh4TivFhmHk


21)
"Disk Failures in the Real World: What Does an MTTF of 1,000,000 Hours
Mean to You?"
http://www.usenix.org/events/fast07/tech/schroeder.html


Enough for today!!!

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