[ET Clearinghouse] May 14 2002

Compasspoint Launches TrainingPoint
<:LINEBREAK:>From their description: "TrainingPoint is an experimental project with the goal of creating an online resource for the nonprofit sector that is supported and driven by its community of users. TrainingPoint is a free online service for nonprofit organizations and trainers that offers users the ability to upload and download freely distributable technology curriculum. "
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Here It Is - Really Fast Wireless Networking
<:LINEBREAK:>The very popular SMC Barricade Cable/DSL router is now released using 802.11a technology, with theoretical speeds of 54Mbps (or 74 Mbps in "Turbo Mode"), many times faster than current 802.11b routers. Look for it very soon!
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Community Technology: A DSL Co-op
<:LINEBREAK:>Can't afford the cost of DSL? Take a look at this model for cooperative broadband access.
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Homepage Usability
<:LINEBREAK:>From Jakob Nielsen, a short review of what he thinks should be on any website homepage.
<:LINEBREAK:>Building an "Electronic Commons"
<:LINEBREAK:>A progress report of a group of scholars that have set out to consider the question: "How can new information technologies be used to build community, enrich public life, educate for citizenship, and revitalize democracy, rather than to fragment community and erode the commonwealth?"
<:LINEBREAK:>Steganography: Hiding Messages Within Data
<:LINEBREAK:>Steganography is a technique that encodes a message inside of a data file. I have heard this technique used with images, where you hide a text message in the unused memory spaces of an image file - that way, you can send the image with the message and avoid the problem of having the message look like it was intentionally encoded, thereby causing alarm. This article describes a utility that will hide your message within a text list. In related data security developments, read here how your modem and monitor glow can give away what you are reading.
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Microsoft and Schools: Compulsory Windows for Mac Systems?
<:LINEBREAK:>Interesting article that discusses a Microsoft subscription licensing system for schools that apparently counts all the computers used, whether Macs or PCs, and then provides a standard suite of software for them and a contract for upgrades, including for Microsoft Windows. The apparent effect is that schools end up buying Microsoft Windows for Mac systems.
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New eDemocracy and Technology Newsletter
<:LINEBREAK:>Steven Clift from Minnesota E-Democracy has announced a new email list to bring together software developers to "create software applications that will help define the future of democracy".
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Linux in Schools, and a Microsoft Rebuke
<:LINEBREAK:>Linux Today is beginning a new category called "Public" - to encompass discussions and initiatives on using Linux in public institutions. The first story in this category includes a rebuke of Microsoft's claim that it is a bad idea to erase the original operating system from donated/refurbished computers (see last week's ET post for background on this).
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Computer Viruses and Booby-Trapped Websites
<:LINEBREAK:>This is a complicated virus that involved a pop-up add and automatic redirects to cause computers to download a virus file that starts disarming protections (firewalls and such) and downloading additional files. What is unique here is that the virus is ultimately distributed through an advertiser's pop-up window, and no mouse or keyboard intervention is required by the user to download the virus.