News Items for 2007

November

• Google is planning to offer a new online storage service for storing all the data files that users normally store on their PC, as the Wall Street Journal reports. (11/27)

• Amazon.com announces the launch of Amazon Kindle, a new electronic reading device, as ABC News reports. (11/19)

October

• As MSNBC reports, Microsoft outbids Google for a stake in Facebook. Also, Blackberry users can now access Facebook with Research In Motion software. (10/25)

• Apple is lowering the price of songs purchased without copyright protection to $0.99 to match Amazon's price, as the New York Times reports. (10/17)

• Google Earth partners with YouTube to display videos tagged with geographical location information, as PC World reports. (10/12)

• Verizon challenges the iPhone market with the introduction of Voyager, as Reuters reports. (10/3)

• Microsoft has released the next generation Zune digital media player in 4-gigabyte, 8-gigabyte and 80-gigabyte models, as MSNBC reports. (10/3)

September

• Amazon has entered the digital music business with almost 2.3 million songs available for sale. The songs are unrestricted MP3s and can be used on just about any player, including Apple's iPod. (9/26)

August

• Timothy C. O'Rourke, Vice President for Computer and Information Services, has updated his Welcome message to the University community. Topics include the ERP implementation, the continuing network upgrade, and the Blackboard 7.2 upgrade. (8/27)

• What's new for Fall 2007? Check out the Student, Faculty, and Staff sections to find out. (8/22)

July

• Temple University's innovative web content management system is featured in the current issue of Campus Technology. (7/11)

• For the third year in a row, Computerworld has recognized Temple as one of the “Best Places to Work in IT.” Stressing a sense of commitment and connection in the workplace, Temple was listed at 67. Temple also made the top 10 list for Best Places for Diversity. (7/5)

June

• There is much excitement over this Friday's launch of the Apple iPhone, as the Associated Press reports. (6/25)

• Ebay is in the process of rethinking and refining itself, as CNN reports. (6/25)

• Network Maintenance: Please be advised that network maintenance will be performed on the morning of Wednesday, June 20th, between 12:01 a.m. and 3:00 a.m. Access to all central systems, including Blackboard, TUmail, Owlnet, TUportal, among others, will be interrupted at various points during this maintenance window. (6/19)

• TUportal Unavailable Tonight: TUportal will be unavailable for two hours tonight, starting at 10:00 p.m. for maintenance. Links to the websites usually available through the portal will appear at http://tuportal.temple.edu. (6/19)
  

• And the winner is....The recipients of this year's Webby awards, which honor the year's best web sites, have been announced, as an article in the San Francisco Chronicle reports. (5/3)

April

• In response to consumer requests, Dell offers Windows XP as an option on selected models of laptops and desktops, as MSNBC reports. (4/20)

March

• Temple was featured on KYW radio today in a story about Dr. Mark Barrett using iPods in his class at the Medical School to play the sounds of a heart murmur. (3/28)

• John Backus, who led the development of the Fortran programming language, has died, as MSNBC reports. (3/20)

Febraury

• Computer Services was recently informed that Cdigix, the company that provides Temple’s Ctrax music subscription service, will be closing its music business. The company will be shutting down Ctrax at the end of February. Computer Services is currently looking at alternative legal music downloading solutions for the Temple community and will announce any new developments. (2/22)

• Online farm forums account for enhanced farm production and cost savings in planting and fertilizing, as CNN reports. (2/19)
  
  
• Virus Alert: As you may already know, starting last week, Temple University began experiencing a major Windows virus outbreak. This very serious event is referred to as a “Zero Day Outbreak” because antivirus protection against these viruses did not yet exist.
  
  At this time, all on-campus computers directly connected to the Temple network are vulnerable. These also include systems connected to Temple's wireless network. Many students in the residence halls were impacted by these viruses and have already brought their systems to Computer Services Help Desk for remediation.
  
  To prevent the viruses from spreading and to protect your system, you must take immediate action by updating your Symantec antivirus program to version 10.1.4.4000. Performing this upgrade is critical. To find out your current antivirus version, double-click on the yellow Symantec shield in your system tray located at the bottom right corner of your PC screen. Verify that you are running version 10.1.4.4000. If you are not running this version, go to Temple's antivirus.temple.edu website, download, and install it. If you need help with this procedure, the technical contact for your school, college, or department can assist you. To see recent annoucements regarding this virus outbreak, go to www.temple.edu/cs/security/announcements.htm. (2/6)
  
  
• According to recent research conducted by The Pew Internet and American Life Project, tagging content is a growing trend among Web users, as the BBC News reports. (2/1)

January

• With Curriki, Scott McNealy, Sun Microsystems co-founder, aspires to advance online education for grades K-12, as CNBC reports. (1/30)
  
  
• Attention all Residence Hall Students: There has been a virus outbreak in the Temple Residence Halls. Please see the System Status page for instructions to ensure that your system is virus-free. (1/30)
  
  
• Student Video Contest: EDUCAUSE/Internet2 Computer and Network Security Task Force and the National Cyber Security Alliance are sponsoring the second annual Computer Security Awareness Video Contest. Cash prizes will be awarded to the winners. More details, as well as last year's winning videos, are available on the Web site. (1/23)
  
  
• The Ask a Librarian service has relocated from the 2nd Floor Lobby Desk of the TECH Center to Breakout Room 205A. The service will now be provided from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. On alternate weeks the librarians will offer either consultation services or mini-seminars. (1/18)
  
  
• The Princeton Review ranked Temple University as one of America's Most Connected Campuses three years in a row for a reason. To find out why, check out an overview of Temple's computer resources in the Spring 2007 Technology at Temple guide. Note that you need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this guide. (1/11)
  
  
• The anonymity and community spirit of the Internet contribute to the altruistic behavior displayed online, as the Technology Review reports. (1/11)
  
  
• The Online Journalism Review reports on copyright law and freedom of speech issues that online journalists will encounter this year. (1/10)