Stephen Gallant Review

Do We Really Need an Internet?

2009-04-01T22:00:00.000-04:00

Is the Internet Doomed to Fail? Johna Till Johnson. Computerworld. April 1, 2009.
The demand for bandwith may exceed the net's capacity in a few years, and some are looking for alternatives.

The New School Librarians

2009-02-17T16:36:00.002-05:00

In Web Age, Library Job Gets Update. Motoko Rich. New York Times. February 15, 2009.
The third installment in NYT's Future of Reading series profiles a librarian in New York's Public School 225 who is teaching Internet and computer skill to her students.

Social Network Dangers

2009-02-17T16:23:00.002-05:00

Social Networks a Magnet for Malware. Sean Gallagher. Internet.com. February 17, 2009.
Hackers are using social networking sites to spread viruses and other forms of malware using nothing more than social engineering to trick unsuspecting people into clicking. With their millions of users, site administrators have difficulty testing all the links posted by their users.

Media Found to Have Ill Effect on Children

2008-12-02T22:00:00.000-05:00

Media Bombardment Is Linked To Ill Effects During Childhood. donna St. George. Washington Post. December 2, 2008.
Too much exposeure to television, music, movies and other media is making children sick.

Google's New Web Browser

2008-09-02T15:24:00.003-04:00

Google Takes On IE, Firefox With Chrome Web Browser. Scott Gilbertson. Webmonkey. September 2, 2008.
Google is releasing a free opensource browser which will compete with Internet Explorer and Firefox.

Firefox 3 Release for Public Testing

2008-05-18T20:25:00.000-04:00

Firefox 3 Release Candidate 1 Now Available. Thomas Claburn. InformationWeek. May 17, 2008.

Mozilla Corporation has released a version of Firefox 3 which is likely to become the official version if no serious problems are discovered. It adds 15,000 improvements to the previous version.

The Obsolete Web Browser

2008-05-18T20:08:00.000-04:00

Rich Web development: Is the browser doomed?
Neil McAlister. Yahoo! News. May 12, 2008.

Websites have come a long way since the beginning of the Web and provide complex graphical and social functions undreamed of at that time. The traditional Web browser may need to evolve as well.

Arthur C. Clarke Dies

2008-03-19T08:24:00.001-04:00

Writer Arthur C Clarke Dies at 90. BBC. March 19, 2008.
Visionary author Arthur C. Clarke dies at his home in Sri Lanka. This obituary from the BBC is accompanied by video tributes and last year's audio farewell by Clarke to his fans.

Decline of User-Generated Content

2008-03-19T08:06:00.003-04:00

Revenge of the Experts. Tony Dokoupil. Newsweek.com. March 6, 2008.
Amidst the scandals involving Web 2.0 favorites such as Wikipedia, there is a growing appreciation for expertise.

Where Web Technology May be Going

2008-03-12T09:04:00.000-04:00

Inventing The Future. Victoria Barret. Forbes.com. March 11, 2008.
A journalist attending the O'Reilly Emerging Technology conference looks for potential trends.

New Firefox Features

2008-03-12T09:02:00.000-04:00

First Look: Firefox 3 beta 4. Preston Gralla. Computerworld. March 11, 2008.

The author reviews important new additions to the Firefox browser, which include a better download manager, zoom feature and improved performance.

Mobile Broadband Gaining on Wi-Fi

2008-03-12T08:56:00.004-04:00

Wi-Fi's End is Near, Marketer Predicts. Sci-Tech Today. March 11, 2008.
Marketer Johan Bergendahl of Ericsson, speaking in Stockholm, predicts that mobile broadband will soon replace Wi-Fi.

Search Results, Ads Distributing Malware

2008-02-16T08:05:00.000-05:00

Web Browsing, Search, And Online Ads Grow More Risky, Google Says. Thomas Claburn. InformationWeek. February 12, 2008.
Google reports an increase in the number of websites that try to install malware on searchers' computers.

Is Video Choking the Net?

2008-02-16T08:00:00.001-05:00

Demand for video reshaping Internet. Peter Svensson. AP. February 11, 2008.
While ISPs deal with the problems caused by video and file sharing in their own ways, the U.S. government may decide to impose its own policies.

The Growing Digital Divide

2008-02-08T08:05:00.000-05:00

'Digital divide' widens between rich and poor countries: UN. AFP. February 7, 2008.
According to a study by the United Nations, there is a growing disparity in broadband usage between rich and poor countries.

Web 2.0 Security Limited

2008-02-08T08:00:00.000-05:00

Web 2.0: Unsafe At Any Speed? Andy Patrizio. InternetNews.com. February 7, 2008.
Many security experts believe that Web 2.0 resources are inherently unsafe.

Online Book Sales Rising

2008-02-02T08:00:00.000-05:00

Books 'most popular online buy' . BBC News. January 28, 2008.
According to an international survey conducted by Nielsen Online, the number of people purchasing books online has risen to 41%.

Reading Declines in the U.S.

2008-01-11T08:00:00.000-05:00

To Read of Not to Read: A Question of National Consequence (Research report #47). National endowment for the Arts. November 2007.

Encyclopedia Google

2007-12-22T08:00:00.002-05:00

Google Unveils Rival to Wikipedia. Rhys Blakely. Times Online. December 14, 2007.
Google is releasing "knol", its own online encyclopedia. It will be similar to Wikipedia, but with a few significant differences.

The Internet's Next Billion People

2007-12-22T08:00:00.001-05:00

How Next Billion will Shape Net. BBC News. December 12, 2007.
Professor Michael Geist looks at the effects that the next wave of Internet users will have on the online world.

Problems with Federal Websites

2007-12-22T08:00:00.000-05:00

Federal Websites Called Too Tough to Use. Grant Gross. PC World. December 12, 2007.
According to representatives of Google, Wikipedia and the Center for Democracy and Technoogy, the U.S. goverment's 2000 websites are difficult to access through search engines.

Impact of Google Docs

2007-11-19T07:10:00.000-05:00

Thin vs. Fat: Google’s Plan to Kill Microsoft Office. Randall C. Kennedy. InfoWorld. November 19, 2007.
Will the convenience of Google's Web-based applications bring an end to Microsoft's computer-based Office suite?

Gordon Moore

2007-11-19T07:09:00.000-05:00

Meeting the Man Behind Moore's Law. Jonathan Fildes. BBC News. November 13, 2007.
This article features a profile and link to an interview with the the renowned technological visionary

Web 2.0 Privacy Risk

2007-10-27T15:59:00.000-04:00

Microsoft: Watch out for Web 2.0's 'Kobe Bryant' Moment. Robert McMillan. Computerworld. October 24, 2007.
Microsoft is warning that Web 2.0 poses a greater privacy risk because personal information can be combined from multiple sources.

The Fortunes of Manga

2007-10-23T05:22:00.000-04:00

Japan, Ink: Inside the Manga Industrial Complex. Daniel H. Pink. Wired. October 22, 2007.
While the Japanese comics are wildly popular in the West, their sales are starting to decline in the country that started it all. This article takes a look inside the manga industry

Teens and Online Stranger Contact

2007-10-18T06:13:00.000-04:00

Teens and Online Stranger Contact. Aaron Smith. Pew Internet & American Life Project. October 14, 2007.
A new survey from Pew Internet reports that 32% of online teens have been contacted by strangers.

Asian Search Engines Gaining Popularity

2007-10-18T06:06:00.000-04:00

Asian Engines Look To Topple Google. Jennifer LeClaire. Newsfactor. October 12, 2007.
Search has become a global phenomenon with search engines based in China and South Korea finding favor with searchers.

Internet Usage by Chronically Ill

2007-10-09T06:17:00.000-04:00

E-patients With a Disability or Chronic Disease. Susannah Fox. Pew Internet & American Life Project. October 8, 2007.
While only half of those living with a disability or chronic disease go online, those who do are avid users of health information.

Situation at Thunderbird

2007-10-09T06:04:00.000-04:00

Thunderbird Developers Quit Mozilla. Gregg Keizer. Computerworld. October 8, 2007.
The two paid employees of Thunderbird, Mozilla's popular open-source e-mail program, have announced their intentions of leaving the company.

Launching the Consumer Electronics Revolution

2007-09-26T07:56:00.000-04:00

TI's First Handheld Calculator Now a Museum Piece. Computerworld. September 26, 2007.
In 1967 the electronics revolution was inaugurated as Texas Instruments unveiled the world's first handheld calculator. Today at a ceremony at the Smithsonian Institution the TI-58 and TI-59 will be added to its collection.

Using Teen Technology as Instructional Tools

2007-09-20T06:00:00.000-04:00

Tapping the Tools of Teen Culture in the LMC. AAron Schmidt. MultiMedia and Internet @ Schools. September 1, 2007.

Teens have grown up with blogs, instant messaging and other web-based technology. In this article methods of employing them in the classroom are presented.

Quality Concerns in Google Books

2007-09-16T18:58:00.000-04:00

Inheritance and Loss? A Brief Survey of Google Books. Paul Duguid. First Monday. August 6, 2007.

The author used Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy as a sample of the Google Books digitization project, and discovered major problems in the book's transference from the print to the digital medium.

Illuminating Ancient Manuscripts

2007-09-16T05:16:00.000-04:00

'Super-scope' to See Hidden Texts. Liz Seward. BBC News. September 13, 2007.

Using intense light beams produced by a synchrotron, scientists at the University of Cardiff have devised a method of reading ancient scrolls without unrolling them.

Deciding What's News

2007-09-13T20:24:00.000-04:00

Huge Disparity Among News Sites. Heather Havenstein. PC World. September 13, 2007.
According to a survey conducted by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, there is a big difference between mainstream news sites and those that let users determine the contents.

Wikipedia Editors Exposed

2007-08-20T05:35:00.000-04:00

CIA and Vatican Edit Wikipedia Entries. Glenn Chapman. AFP (via Yahoo! News). August 18, 2007.
A program created by Virgil Griffiths identifies the origins of Wikipedia edits. For example, a U.S. Democratic Party computer was used to malign talk show host Rush Limbaugh, and a BBC computer was used to deface an article on President Bush.
This is yet another example of the shortcomings of this popular online encyclopedia. While some of its articles may indeed be well-written, the degree of confidence that can be placed in the quality of any random article is low. Too often they are biased or uninformed. In better encyclopedias, articles are signed, objectively written by recognized authorities, and conscientiously edited and updated.

An Interview with Brewster Kahle

2007-08-20T05:21:00.000-04:00

Scan this Book! Andrew Richard Albanese. Library Journal. August 15, 2007.
In this interview Kahle, of the Open Content Alliance, explains what's at stake for librarians as Google and Microsoft continue to scan materials and place restrictions on them.

Computers Playng Games

2007-08-16T08:23:00.000-04:00

Computers Master the Game Board. Chris Gaylord. Christian Science Monitor. August 8, 2007.

In 1997 IBM's Deep blue defeated world chess champion Gary Kasparov. Since then computers have been programmed to master many other games, including poker, and may provide insights into real-world situations.

Jimmy Wales Interview

2007-08-15T06:27:00.000-04:00

Jimmy Wales Talks on the Future of Wikimedia. Dan Nystedt. IDG News Service. August 12, 2007.

The co-founder of Wikipedia discusses his plans for the future, including his efforts to make the Wikimedia Foundation a model organization allong the lines of the Red Cross.

DVD to be Released in Unfamiliar Formats

2007-08-15T06:17:00.000-04:00

Next-Gen DVD Formats Square Off for the Holidays. Gary Gentile. Newsfactor Network. August 10, 2007.
Consumers, already confused about HD DVD and Blu-ray formats, are bound to be unhappy in the coming months as movies are released exclusively in one format or the other, each requiring its own player.

Examining E-Mail Usage

2007-07-27T05:32:00.000-04:00

E-Mail Use Patterns in the United States. Zhixian Yi. Chinese Librarianship. December 1, 2007 (preprint).
An study of e-mail use was conducted, focusing on demographic, socio-economic and employment variables. The results may assist librarians in providing better tools and services to their customers.

Why Facebook May Overtake MySpace

2007-07-25T20:35:00.000-04:00

Is Facebook the New MySpace? Mark Sullivan. PC World. July 24, 2007.
The author compares and contrasts the two social networking services, and explains why he believes that Facebook will indeed become the next MySpace.

Growing Readership of Online Newspapers

2007-07-25T20:29:00.000-04:00

Online Newspaper Audience Rising Twice As Fast As General Internet Population: Report. David Kaplan. Forbes. July 25, 2007.
A study conducted for the Newspaper Association of America finds that the number of readers of online newspapers is rising twice as fast as the general Internet audience.

Introduction to Anime

2007-07-23T05:08:00.001-04:00

Anime's Brave New World. Robin Brenner. Library Journal. July 15, 2007.

The author provides an overview of Japanese animation and provides tips on its selection for libraries.

Social Networkers Risk Indentity Theft

2007-07-23T05:08:00.000-04:00

Web Networkers 'at Risk of Fraud'. BBC News. July 22, 2007.

Equifax has warned that posting too much personal information on social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook could make users vulnerable to identity theft.

Recorded Books in Conflict with NetLibrary

2007-07-18T05:58:00.000-04:00

Recorded Books, NetLibrary in Lawsuits Over Audiobook Service. Jennifer Pinkowski. Library Journal. July 17, 2007.
Recorded Books and NetLibrary are suing each other over a number of issues.

Social Networking Sites for Business

2007-07-18T05:50:00.000-04:00

Move Over MySpace, Sites Mean Business. Joe Bel Bruno. AP (via Yahoo! News). July 17, 2007.
Sites for business professionals such as LinkedIn are allowing members to share their contact lists and stock tips.

Google Apps for Nonprofits

2007-07-13T09:28:00.000-04:00

Google Gives Nonprofits Free Access To Google Apps. Thomas Claburn. InformationWeek. July 13, 2007.
Google is announcing that it will make the Education Edition of it Google Apps suite available to nonprofit organizations for free.

Spam Wars Continue

2007-07-13T09:21:00.000-04:00

Now PDF Is The Format For Spam Delivery. Andy Patrizio. Internetnews.com. July 13, 2007.
Now that Internet security firms have managed to combat image-based spam, junk mail is being sent in yet another format, one with its own security issues.

Cyberbullying Survey

2007-06-28T05:11:00.000-04:00

Cyberbullying and Online Teens. Amanda Lenhart. Pew Internet. June 27, 2007.
A new report by the Pew Internet & American Life Project finds that 32% of teenagers who use the Internet have been targets of annoying or menacing activities. These include receiving threats, having their private e-mail forwarded without their permission, and having embarrassing photos of themselves posted by others. Most often the victims of these activities are girls.

Using Wikis in Sports

2007-06-26T08:26:00.000-04:00

Sports Wikis: Who's on First? Lark Birdsong. Searcher. June 2007.
Citing numerous examples, the author shows how sports teams, organizations and businesses are using wikis to further their goals. He also indicates ways in which they can be useful reference tools for librarians.

Internationalizing Domain Names

2007-06-26T08:07:00.000-04:00

ICANN to Tackle New Top Level Domains. Juan Carlos Perez. PC World. June 25, 2007.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico this week, where their agenda includes discussion of adding international domain names using character sets beyond those currently in use.

On the Forefront of Personalization

2007-06-18T19:56:00.000-04:00

A Conversation With Google's Personalization Guru. J. Nicholas Hoover. InformationWeek. June 15, 2007.
Sep Kamvar is profiled here. While the conflict between personalization and privacy is acknowledged, Kamvar insists that Web history and search history are under the control of the user.

Physics Collides with the Blogosphere

2007-06-18T19:31:00.000-04:00

Rumors in Physics Blogosphere Test Faith in 'God Particle'. John Borland. Wired. June 18, 2007.
Rumors abound that scientists at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory have discovered the fabled Higgs boson. This article provides a revealing look at a scientific community.

Search Engine Privacy Questioned

2007-06-11T05:28:00.000-04:00

Google 'Hostile to Privacy': Privacy International. AFP. June 11, 2007.
In a new study prepared by Privacy International, Google and other search engines have been found deficient in the area of user privacy.

The Internet's Dark Corners

2007-06-11T05:16:00.000-04:00

Researchers Chart Internet's 'Black Holes' . Ryan Singel. Wired. June 7, 2007.
A researcher at the University of Washington has discovered that some parts of the Internet are unreachable.

Extraterrestrial Art

2007-06-01T06:10:00.000-04:00

Art for E.T.'S Sake. Stuart Atkinson. ad Astra. May 31, 2007.
Contact from extraterrestrials could potentially take many forms, some unimagineable to us. The author considers the possibility that artistic expression could be one of them.

Google Gears

2007-06-01T06:02:00.000-04:00

Google Making Web Work Offline. Reuters (via USATODAY.com). May 31, 2007.
Google has ceated a new product, Google Gears, that will allow people to work with Web resources while not being connected to the Internet.

Web 2.0 Security Concerns

2007-05-31T06:03:00.000-04:00

Is Web 2.0 Safe? Robert McMillan. PC World. May 30, 2007.
As MySpace.com learned recently, sites that encourage users to submit data may be leaving themselves open hackers.

Google Maps Raising Privacy Concerns

2007-05-30T06:20:00.000-04:00

Street-level Panoramas on Microsoft and Google Maps. AFP (via Yahoo! News). May 29, 2007.
Google and Microsoft are adding aerial and street-level views to their mapping products. Google Maps includes photographs of real people, raising concerns about invasion of privacy.

Anti-Spam Weapon Gains Approval

2007-05-24T06:43:00.000-04:00

Promising Antispam Technique Gets Nod. Declan McCullagh. CNET News.com. May 23, 2007.
The Internet Engineering Task Force, a standards organization, has given preliminary approval to DomainKeys Identified Mail as a means of verifying the senders of e-mail messages. This could go a long way in identifying fraudulent e-mail.

Google News

2007-05-24T06:29:00.000-04:00

Google Stands Firm Behind News Search Site. Juan Carlos Perez. IDG News Service. May 23, 2007.
Google product manager Nathan Stoll discusses issues concerning Google News, such as lawsuits by Agence France Presse and Copiepresse, in this interview.

Camera Phone Revolution

2007-05-19T16:22:00.000-04:00

Camera Phone Pioneer Mulls Gadget Impact. May Wong. AP. May 19, 2007.
Philippe Kahn, inventor of the camera phone 10 years ago, reflects on the impact the devices have had on society, for better or worse.

Behind Microsoft's Patent Claims

2007-05-15T05:38:00.000-04:00

Microsoft Patent Claims Hint at Internal Issues. Elizabeth Montalbano. IDG News Services. May 14, 2007.
Microsoft's claim of patent infringement by open source software may be an effort to intimidate distributors and users into adopting Windows Vista, according to some in the OS community.

Microsoft Claims Patent Infringement by Open Source

2007-05-14T05:48:00.000-04:00

Microsoft Takes on the Free World. Roger Parloff. Fortune. May 13, 2007.
Microsoft is claiming that 235 of its patents are being infringed by open-source software, such as Open Office and Linux, and could demand royalty payments.

Deep Blue Anniversary

2007-05-14T05:36:00.000-04:00

A Decade After Kasparov's Defeat, Deep Blue Coder Relives Victory. Robert Andrews. Wired. May 11, 2007.
Ten years ago, IBM's chess-playing supercomputer Deep Blue defeated champion Gary Kasparov in a highly publicized match. The computer's programmer, Murray Campbell, is interviewed in this article.

Encyclopedia of LIfe

2007-05-10T08:03:00.000-04:00

Huge Online 'Encyclopedia of Life' Project Begins. AP. (via FOXNews.com). May 9, 2007.
Scientists are creating an online encyclopedia which will contain information on the earth's 1.8 million known species, adding new ones as they are discovered.

iGoogle

2007-05-03T06:34:00.001-04:00

Personalize Searches with iGoogle. Reuters (via USATODAY.com). May 1, 2007.
Following the trend of social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook, and Flickr, Google is planning to allow users to personalize their search pages by share photos and other creative content.

iGoogle

2007-05-03T06:34:00.000-04:00

Personalize Searches with iGoogle. Reuters (via USATODAY.com). May 1, 2007.
Following the trend of many social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook, and Flickr, Google is planning to allow users to personalize their search pages by share photos and other creative content.

Yahoo as an Agent of Change

2007-04-30T06:11:00.000-04:00

Three Minutes with a Chief Yahoo. John Ribeiro. IDG News Service (via Yahoo News). April 29, 2007.
In this interview, Yahoo cofounder David Filo defends his company's marketing to third world countries as having the benefit of making non-democratic countries more open. Yahoo has most recently been accused of assisting the Chinese government in identifying a dissident who was subsequently imprisoned.

Google Facilitating Access to Government Info

2007-04-30T05:54:00.000-04:00

Google Helps Make Public Records Available. Dibya Sarkar. Associated Press (via Yahoo News). April 30, 2007.
Google will announce that is is working with state and government agencies to try to make government information accessible to Web searchers, much to the alarm of privacy advocates.

Banning the Reference Desk

2007-04-29T07:25:00.000-04:00

No Longer the Sacred Cow - No Longer a Desk: Transforming Reference Service to Meet 21st Century User Needs. Gabriela Sonntag and Felicia Paisson. Library Philosophy and Practice. 2007.
Some academic libraries are looking for alternatives to what they call the "sit and wait" model of reference service. Rather than having to answer directional questions, they are in their offices working on other tasks, such as planning information literacy instruction, while remaining on call for reference requests.

The Value of Writing

2007-04-20T05:42:00.000-04:00

Is the Pen Still Mighty in the Computer Age? Candace Lombardi. ZDNet News. April 19, 2007.
With students today being proficient at keyboarding, the value of writing with a pen is being debated. Some teachers believe that writing is a better way to encourage thought

Assessing Credibility Online

2007-04-20T05:22:00.000-04:00

Credibility of Content and the Future of Research, Learning, and Publishing in the Digital Environment. Kate Wittenberg. The Journal of Electronic Publishing. vol. 10, no. 1, Winter 2007.
As young people use Google for research and online communities for socializing, they have their own methods of assessing the credibility of the information and people they encounter. The author maintains that these skills should be recognized by information providers as they adapt their services to students' needs.

The Boston Athenaeum, a Notable Subscription Library

2007-04-14T06:00:00.000-04:00

Booking Your Own Private Library. Teresa Méndez. Christian Science Monitor. April 6, 2007.
Private subscritpion libraries were the forerunners of today's tax-supported public libraries. Many, such as the Boston Athenaeum, profiled here, still exist and offer services and ammenities not found in public libraries. Although not mentioned in this article, the Boston Athenium was once run by one of the great librarians, Charles Ammi Cutter.

Keeping Up with Integrated Library Systems

2007-04-11T05:48:00.000-04:00

An Industry Redefined. Marshall Breeding. Library Journal. April 1, 2007.
The author presents an overview of recent goings on in the ILS arena, including mergers and acquisitions and the growing adoption of open source solutions.

Fear of Google

2007-04-03T07:19:00.000-04:00

Is Google too Powerful? BusinessWeek Online. April 9, 2007.
Many of its competitors are alarmed by Google's growing power and influence as it dominates so much of the online world in areas ranging from search to advertising. As the company points out, however, its success is a result of providing services that many consumers value.

Learning Web 2.0

2007-04-02T05:15:00.000-04:00

Public Library Geeks Take Web 2.0 to the Stacks. Beverly Hanly. Wired. March 29, 2007.
Helene Blowers, IT director at the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, developed a program named Learning 2.0 to teach library staff the web 2.0 technologies. Although they have completed the program, the site remains up so that others may take advantage of her self-discovery tools and exercises.

Wikipedia Competitor Launched

2007-03-29T06:01:00.000-04:00

Wikipedia Cofounder Launches Citizendium. Jennifer LeClaire. NewsFactor Nework. March 27, 2007.
Dr. Larry Sanger, co-founder of Wikipedia, has launched a new collaborative encyclopedia called Citizendium, which he hopes will avoid some of the accountability problems which have plagued the former. For one thing, encyclopedia contributors will be required to use their real names.

Libraries as Community Information Providers

2007-03-29T05:48:00.000-04:00

The Library: A Distinct Local Voice? Charles Lyons. First Monday. March 5, 2007.
Libraries are well-placed to become leaders in the provision of local information in their communities. In his article Lyons shows how some libraries are accepting this role and using Web 2.0 technologies such as blogs and wikis to make community information accessible.

Wikipedia's Free-For-All Governance

2007-03-26T05:18:00.000-04:00

Wikipedia Shakeup: Resignations. Kim Zetter. Wired News. March 23, 2007.
Two of Wikimedia Foundation's top employees have announced their resignations, revealing leadership shortcomings affecting Wikipedia.

Myths of Multitasking

2007-03-26T05:17:00.000-04:00

Slow Down, Brave Multitasker, and Don’t Read This in Traffic. Steve Lohr. New York Times. March 25, 2007.
New research is demonstrating the limitations of multitasking and the harm that it may be causing to the economy as well as to our lives.

Redesigning the Internet

2007-03-20T07:26:00.000-04:00

A Broad-Based Team of Stanford Researchers Aims to Overhaul the Internet. Stanford Report. March 14, 2007.
Researchers at Stanford University are proposing a clean-slate redesign of the Internet in order to overcome deficiencies which have appeared in the 30 years of its existence. [Whitepaper, April 2006]

The Return of Lycos (as Jubii)

2007-03-19T08:07:00.000-04:00

Lycos, Early Search Engine, in a U.S. Remake as Jubii. Victoria Shannon. New York Times. March 19, 2007.
Barred from doing business in the U.S. as Lycos, Lycos Europe will re-introduce itself as Jubii in a bid to compete with search giants Google, Yahoo and Windows Live Search.

Google Improving Search Privacy

2007-03-19T07:55:00.000-04:00

Google Changes Privacy Policy For Search Data. Thomas Claburn. InformationWeek (via Yahoo! News). March 17, 2007.
By altering the IP addresses of logged-in users and changing cookie files, Google will make its users' identities less identifiable.

Wikipedia to Verify Credentials

2007-03-08T05:18:00.000-05:00

Wikipedia to Seek Proof of Credentials. Brian Bergstein. AP. (via Yahoo! News). March 7, 2007.
Following the discovery of fraud perpetrated by a Wikipedia "arbitrator", the free encyclopedia will start asking for proof when contributors claim academic credentials. Authors having no credentials will still be able to contribute anonymously.

A New Kind of AI

2007-03-03T06:00:00.000-05:00

The Thinking Machine. Evan Ratliff. Wired. March 2007.
Jeff Hawkins, creator of the Palm and Treo handheld devices, has developed a new theory of the human brain which is being realized in his Numenta system. It is generating a lot of interest.

Will Google Always Rule?

2007-02-28T05:57:00.000-05:00

Is a 'Google killer' on the Horizon? Gregory M. Lamb. Christian Science Monitor. February 28, 2007.
While Google may be today's leading search engine, some upstarts are saying that its continued dominance is not assured.

Feasting on Entertainment

2007-02-28T05:56:00.000-05:00

Snack Attack! Wired. March 2007.
This article, a cover story in Wired, surveys today's pop culture of portable, "bite-size" entertainment.

Cross-Searching in Libraries

2007-02-23T07:05:00.000-05:00

(Meta)search Like Google. Jonathan Rochkind. Library Journal. February 15, 2007.
Given the success of Google Scholar and similar services, library users seem to value the ability to search more than one database simultaneously. While some librarians are critical of some of the cross-search products offered to libraries, Rochkind offers some solutions.

Google Apps vs. Microsoft Office

2007-02-23T06:45:00.000-05:00

Google Apps: Should You Switch? Michael Calore. Wired News. February 22, 2007.
On Thursday Google announced a suite of web-based office software that will compete with Microsoft's office products. The author of this article examines the benefits and drawbacks of each.

Connecting Print and Online Media

2007-02-15T05:16:00.000-05:00

Hiding Messages in Plain Sight. BBC News. February 15, 2007.
The 2,500-year-old art of steganography is being used by the Japanese company Fujitsu to embed messages in photos that can be detected by the cameras in digital phones.

Nanotechnology Advance

2007-02-07T05:55:00.000-05:00

Maxwell's Demon Becomes Reality. The University of Edinburgh. February 2, 2007.
Announcing an advance in the field of nanotechnology, scientists at the University of Edinburgh have succeeded in creating a molecular-scale device that is able to trap molecules as they travel in a certain direction. This realizes an experiment first proposed by James Clerk Maxwell in the nineteenth century.

New Developments in Storage Media

2007-02-03T06:04:00.000-05:00

Storage Growth Sets a Fast Pace. Ian Hardy. BBC. February 2, 2007.
In this installment of the BBC's Click, Hardy looks at the forms computer storage media are now taking.

Wikipedia Being Cited in Court Decisions

2007-01-30T06:08:00.000-05:00

Courts Turn to Wikipedia, but Selectively. Noam Cohen. New York Times. January 29, 2007.
In an appalling development, U.S. judges are basing their decisions in part on information found in Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that anyone can contribute to.

The Harm of Online Bullying

2007-01-30T06:02:00.000-05:00

Cyber-Bullying Replaces Schoolyard Bullying Among US Kids. Virginie Montet. AFP. January 28, 2007.
Kids have now taken to taunting and bullying each other online out of reach of school juridictions. Cyber-bullying has contributed to at least two suicides.

Protecting Freedom of Speech on the Web

2007-01-26T06:18:00.000-05:00

Tech Firms, Rights Groups to Form Web Conduct Code. Michelle Nichols. Reuters. January 19, 2007.
The organizations Center for Democracy and Technology and Business for Social Responsibility are working with Microsoft, Google, Yahoo and Vodafone to develop a code of conduct to protect freedom of speech online.

New Publication Models for Scholarly Research

2007-01-24T11:16:00.001-05:00

Is This the End of the Scholarly Journal? Gregory M. Lamb. Christian Science Monitor. January 24, 2007.
Now that research can be easily published in blogs and e-books, there has been discussion about the value of traditional peer review. This article examines the issue and looks at online services that may be a preview of things to come. These are PLoS ONE from the Public Library of Science, and Journal of Visualized Experiments, or JoVE.

Court Dismisses Kahle v. Gonzales

2007-01-23T07:31:00.000-05:00

U.S. Court Upholds Copyright Law on "Orphan Works." Eric Auchard. Reuters (via Yahoo! News). January 22, 2007.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in its dismissal of Kahle v. Gonzales, has rejected an effort by Brewster Kahle and others to release out-of-print works from copyright protection.

Sparing the Reference Librarian

2007-01-22T05:45:00.000-05:00

Tiered Reference: The New Landscape of the Frontlines. Susan Gardner. Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship. v.7 no.3 (Winter 2006).
Perceiving less need for reference librarians in the age of Google, many academic libraries are putting student assistants up front to answer the simpler questions.

Google Library Project Gains a New Member

2007-01-21T19:58:00.000-05:00

Controversial Google Library Project Grows. AFP. January 19, 2007.
The University of Texas has joined Google Books Library Project, as described in this update on the digitization project.

Stephen Gallant Review

Do We Really Need an Internet?

The New School Librarians

Social Network Dangers

Media Found to Have Ill Effect on Children

Google's New Web Browser

Firefox 3 Release for Public Testing

The Obsolete Web Browser

Arthur C. Clarke Dies

Decline of User-Generated Content

Where Web Technology May be Going

New Firefox Features

First Look: Firefox 3 beta 4. Preston Gralla. Computerworld. March 11, 2008.

Mobile Broadband Gaining on Wi-Fi

Search Results, Ads Distributing Malware

Is Video Choking the Net?

The Growing Digital Divide

Web 2.0 Security Limited

Online Book Sales Rising

Reading Declines in the U.S.

Encyclopedia Google

The Internet's Next Billion People

Problems with Federal Websites

Impact of Google Docs

Thin vs. Fat: Google’s Plan to Kill Microsoft Office. Randall C. Kennedy. InfoWorld. November 19, 2007.Will the convenience of Google's Web-based applications bring an end to Microsoft's computer-based Office suite?

Gordon Moore

Web 2.0 Privacy Risk

The Fortunes of Manga

Teens and Online Stranger Contact

Asian Search Engines Gaining Popularity

Internet Usage by Chronically Ill

Situation at Thunderbird

Launching the Consumer Electronics Revolution

Using Teen Technology as Instructional Tools

Quality Concerns in Google Books

Illuminating Ancient Manuscripts

Deciding What's News

Wikipedia Editors Exposed

An Interview with Brewster Kahle

Computers Playng Games

Jimmy Wales Interview

DVD to be Released in Unfamiliar Formats

Examining E-Mail Usage

Why Facebook May Overtake MySpace

Growing Readership of Online Newspapers

Introduction to Anime

Social Networkers Risk Indentity Theft

Recorded Books in Conflict with NetLibrary

Social Networking Sites for Business

Google Apps for Nonprofits

Spam Wars Continue

Cyberbullying Survey

Using Wikis in Sports

Internationalizing Domain Names

On the Forefront of Personalization

Physics Collides with the Blogosphere

Search Engine Privacy Questioned

The Internet's Dark Corners

Extraterrestrial Art

Google Gears

Web 2.0 Security Concerns

Google Maps Raising Privacy Concerns

Anti-Spam Weapon Gains Approval

Google News

Camera Phone Revolution

Behind Microsoft's Patent Claims

Microsoft Claims Patent Infringement by Open Source

Deep Blue Anniversary

Encyclopedia of LIfe

iGoogle

iGoogle

Yahoo as an Agent of Change

Google Facilitating Access to Government Info

Banning the Reference Desk

The Value of Writing

Assessing Credibility Online

The Boston Athenaeum, a Notable Subscription Library

Keeping Up with Integrated Library Systems

Fear of Google

Learning Web 2.0

Thin vs. Fat: Google’s Plan to Kill Microsoft Office. Randall C. Kennedy. InfoWorld. November 19, 2007.
Will the convenience of Google's Web-based applications bring an end to Microsoft's computer-based Office suite?