These pages are a modest attempt to provide up-to-date news that is relevant to the areas of mathematics, education, computer science or information technology. Reader should keep in mind that old links often disappear.
9/27/13
TechNews for the week: Sept 27; Sept 25; Sept 23;
War, Politics and Reports (Also, see Finance and Economics)
Senate vote OKs government-funding bill, preserves Obamacare; 25 Republican senators reject Cruz strategy; GOP hard-liners block strategy to avoid shutdown;
Treasury: U.S. to exhaust borrowing capacity by October 17; Government shutdown would still entail costs; Agencies prepare to furlough workers;
Poll: government shutdown spells trouble for Republicans;
New FBI director dogged by budget problems; Documents reveal NSA spied on Martin Luther King, Muhammad Ali;
Most of Syria’s toxins are said to be ‘unweaponized’ ; UN security council agrees wording of resolution on Syria chemical weapons;
Mayor in Israel’s Galilee says no to mosques and churches, wants to keep his city Jewish ‘now and forever’;
U.S., Iran hold unusual direct talks, call tone positive; Obama, Iranian president speak by phone;
Climate panel: Human activity 'extremely likely' source of warming;
Declassified document: US narrowly escaped nuclear blast in 1961 H-bomb accident;
Math, science and technology:
Security issues
Congress unveils bill to limit NSA's powers; U.S. Officials Renew Push for Cybersecurity Legislation;
RSA warns over NSA link to encryption formula; Good Summary of Potential NSA Involvement in a NIST RNG Standard;
NSA: Metadata Equals Surveillance; NSA Chief: Don't Dump Essential Security Tools;
Three Data Brokerages Hit by Hackers; Apple's iPhone Fingerprint Reader Successfully Hacked; 3D-Printed Robot to Break Android PINs;
Owners of Old Yahoo E-mail Accounts Report Security Risk;
Three Paradoxes of Big Data;
Former FBI agent to plead guilty in AP leak case;
Math and science
Effects of Ancient Meteor Impacts Still Visible on Earth Today; Breakthrough Telescope Camera Sees More Star Detail;
Stanford University Engineers Build First Nanotube Computer; What Nanotube Computer Means To Moore's Law;
The smart rifle arrives; the new world of digitized guns; UCLA Engineers Develop OLED That Remains Lit Even When Stretched, Folded;
Web and Computing issues
Five free alternative web browsers for Windows; Customize Chrome with these four web development extensions;
8 lessons learned from upgrading a XP machine to Windows 8; Cost breakdown toolkit: Google Apps vs. Office 365;
When Internet trolls attack: A view from the receiving end; Laws Seek to Stop ‘Revenge Porn’ Websites;
MakerBot Digitizer 3D Scanner Turbocharges the Printing Process; Learn to make WebGL 3D effects;
Android users can now lock their lost devices remotely;
SC Politics
CofC is more of a business than a school; Mayor Billy Swails' bid to bring Francis Marion U. to Mt. P;
Still no word on Billy Shuman’s campaign donors ... four days before the election;
Finance and Economics
Crying wolf in Washington: Why we may finally default on our debt; Fed considers pledge: Low rates if inflation stays down;
Bank of America goes to trial over fraud charges; US rules ‘endanger’ derivatives reforms; AIG chief censured by regulators and politicians over race remarks;
Verizon CEO: Unlimited data plans just aren't sustainable;
NFL's A Nonprofit? It's Time For Football Reform; Book reviews;
Tech companies have highest turnover rate; Robots Taking All Our Jobs?
3D Robotics’ drone ambitions take off; Conoco in landmark Alaska drone flight;
Rent vs. Buy: Why Buying a House Generally Wins;
Other news
Civil War lessons;
Education:
Has the Cost of College Reached a Tipping Point? Worried About Message, Colleges Scrutinize Social Media;
SAT Results Show Most Students Are Unprepared for College; Rampant Errors Call into Question the Value of High-Stakes Testing;
Do We Need New Metrics in College Admissions? Why Counting Applications Is an Iffy Exercise; Debate Over Paid Recruitment Agents Has Ended—for Now;
Educ Dept Looks for Comments on Rating System for Higher Ed;
How Taxpayers Are Helping to Finance Harvard’s Capital Campaign;
Florida colleges to drop remedial classes for thousands; Purdue U. Software Prompts Students to Study—and Graduate;
Federal Lawmakers Ask Banks to Explain Lucrative Ties to Colleges;
U. Kansas Professor Is Placed on Leave After Tweet Denouncing NRA;
Benefits for college athletes; Football Players’ Graduation Rates Continue to Lag Behind Male Peers’;
NCAA Will Gradually Reinstate Penn State Football Scholarships;
9/20/13
TechNews for the week: Sept 20; Sept 18; Sept 16;
War, Politics and Reports (Also, see Finance and Economics)
U.S., Russia cut deal on Syria's chemical weapons; Iraq, Libya loom over quest to eliminate Syrian stockpile;
UN report confirms sarin 'war crime'; will enforce deal to rid Syria of chemical weapons; Syria crisis reveals uneasy ties between Obama, military;
Defiant Assad claims government did not use chem weapons, vows to abide by agreement;
In public shift, Israel calls for Assad's fall; Israel tries introducing its curriculum in East Jerusalem; Israeli Plan to Conscript Ultra-Orthodox Advances;
State Secession; Group calls for 5 western counties to secede from Maryland; Batty Secession Schemes Gain a Foothold Among Rural Conservatives;
House passes GOP spending plan that defunds Obamacare; Republicans Vote To Cut Food Stamps By $39 Billion; Obama goes after 'extreme' Republicans;
Despite shrinking US deficit, House GOP eyes government shutdown; GOP brushes off business lobby’s debt-limit warning;
House Republicans ignore Obama veto threat on spending bill;
Rampage likely to renew debate over security at military posts;
ACLU urges government to rein in power of the FBI; NYPD labels mosques terrorism enterprises;
Military bribery cases show exchange of information for luxury perks, concert tickets;
Benghazi probe’s leaders badgered by House GOP;
Math, science and technology:
Security issues
September Crypto-Gram Newsletter, NSA Commandeering the Internet, Government Secrecy, Conspiracy Theories and more;
NSA: On Security Backdoors; Is the NSA keeping your encrypted traffic forever? Report: NSA snoops on credit card transactions;
Audit: Justice Dept. office overstated terrorism convictions; Essay: NSA behemoth trampling our rights;
Legally Justifying NSA Surveillance of Americans; Secret court reveals justification for NSA's mass data collection;
Find out what one big data broker knows about you; How to Remain Secure Against the NSA;
NSA Contracted With Zero-Day Vendor Vupen; Microsoft reports IE zero-day attacks; Former CIA director says Terrorists prefer Gmail;
U.S. Iran sanctions force closure of opposition leader's website;
The Limitations of Intelligence;
Math and science
Biblical-Era Town Discovered Along Sea of Galilee; Earth's Biggest Deep Earthquake Still a Mystery;
Leaning Tower of Pisa 3D-mapped with handheld laser;
Alan Turing may finally receive a posthumous pardon. So what?;
Web and Computing issues
Court says Clicking ‘Like’ on Facebook Protected Speech; No Facebook, No Service?
How to install apps outside of Google Play; Google makes Quickoffice mobile app free for everyone;
Enable User Interaction Using Command Markup Element in HTML5; Software turns 2D objects 3D;
Four email types that can drive you crazy;
Microsoft prices Windows 8.1 starting at $119.99;
SC Politics
Teaching the 2nd Admendment in SC;
Finance and Economics
States find it hard to pull plug on managed care providers;
SEC votes to require firms to disclose CEO pay ratios; Lawmakers Plan to Disclose Internet Tax Principles;
JPMorgan may pay $750M fine for 'whale' losses; Digital Advertising Alliance Drops ‘Do Not Track’ Support; Hedge funds turn to psychology software;
S Africa mining bill sparks controversy;
Education:
Employers and Public Favor Graduates Who Can Communicate; Diane Ravitch And The ‘Error’ Of American School Reform;
Faculty Contract at Eastern Washington U. Raises Salaries by Market Rates; The upside and downside of public salaries;
Higher Education Act reauthorization: Senate Hearing Focuses on 'Triad' Responsible for Overseeing Colleges;
Small Private Colleges Attempt To Entice Students By Lowering Tuition; California’s Community Colleges Shift to Creative Commons Licenses;
Employers and Community-College Students Aren’t Sold on Online Degrees; MIT Will Offer MOOC Curricula, Not Just Single Courses, on edX;
After Investigation by Naval Academy, Outspoken Professor Will Return to Class; Penn State Eliminates Fines for Employees Who Skip Wellness Questions;
Student Cybersecurity Teams Get a Governing Body;
Texas A&M Pulls in $740-Million for Academics and Football; Penn State May Borrow $30-Million to Tide Over Its Athletics Department;
9/13/13
TechNews for the week: Sept 13; Sept 11; Sept 9;
War, Politics and Reports (Also, see Finance and Economics)
Russia urges Syria to Give up chemical weapons; US to halt attacks if Syria cedes control of arms; UN report to confirm chemical arms attack;
Transcript of Obama's speech on Syria; CIA begins delivering weapons to Syrian rebels; Securing Syria’s toxic arsenal won’t be easy;
Putin insists US drop threat of force against Syria; Putin's Op-Ed Says Strike Would Unleash New Terrorism;
Netanyahu: Message to Syria will be heard in Iran; Border strife fuels Turkey anger on Syria; Egyptian military offensive targets insurgents in Sinai;
GOP Lawmakers tie military cuts to military action in Syria - fight over sequestration;
Bill Would Block NSA from Circumventing Encryption;
NSA shares raw intelligence including Americans' data with Israel; Irony Alert: NSA Targets Israel - And Still Gives Your Data To Its Spies;
2 Colo. lawmakers ousted in gun control recalls;
Math, science and technology:
Security issues
Google races to encrypt data amid backlash over NSA spying; NSA Fallout: Google Speeds Data Encryption Plans; NIST to Review Encryption Standards;
Yahoo says U.S. sought info on 40,322 users in 2013; Yahoo, Facebook Sue to Disclose National Security Requests;
Matthew Green Speculates on How the NSA Defeats Encryption; Ed Felten on the NSA Disclosures;
NSA Impersonated Google to Get Data; New Leak Shows MITM Attacks Against Major Internet Services;
NSA violations led judge to consider viability of surveillance program, NSA gave misleading statements to court;
The TSA Is Legally Allowed to Lie to Us; Declassified court documents highlight NSA violations;
How US and UK spy agencies defeat internet privacy and security; What NSA snoops like about the iPhone;
Government Secrecy and the Generation Gap;
Documents Shed Light on Border Laptop Searches;
Indian Gov’t Reportedly Using Internet Surveillance;
Math and science
MIT Center To Examine Human Intelligence; The inside story of IBM Watson;
Byzantine-era gold hoard unearthed in Jerusalem; Delaware-sized lake discovered beneath Kenya desert;
Researchers find tiny gears on insect’s legs; Squid Inspire Better Camouflage For Military;
Robotist Develops Low-Cost Prosetic Hand Using 3D-Printed Components;
Web and Computing issues
Gmail Tabs: Marketers Strike Back;
Five Note taking apps; Lost Smartphone? 6 Free Tracking Apps;
Canvas Markup Element Renders Beautiful Graphics in HTML5;
SC Politics
South Carolina’s Poor; Gov. Haley has neglected to appoint nearly 600 positions on state boards and commissions;
Sanford defends bringing fiance on congressional trip to Israel;
Daniel Island secession: If at first you don't secede, try, try again;
Details of merger between CofC, MUSC remain up in the air;
Finance and Economics
Using real rates to explain Obamacare subsidies;
Pay Gap Between 1 Percent And Everybody Else Reaches Widest Point Since 1920s;
Study Finds Aerospace Engineering Degree Results In High Median Salary;
Hedge fund chief cheers derivatives reforms; rails against megabanks; Derivatives move from banks into the shadows;
Dow index announces biggest shake-up in a decade; Federal Reserve bank leaders warns SEC on money-market plan;
Judges May Strike Down FCC’s Net Neutrality Rules;
Capital One's 0 Percent APR Called 'Bait and Switch';
Koch brothers move into electronics with $7.2 billion Molex deal;
Other news
Book review: Countering Counterinsurgency; Domestic lessons learned from foreign wars;
Education:
Princeton Tops In US News Rankings; Critics Say Rankings Flawed, Hinder Affordability; At 'U.S. News,' the College-Ranking Wheels Keep on Turning;
Report Proposes Ways to Measure Colleges’ Impact on Communities; DIY College Rankings;
Public Colleges' Quest for Revenue and Prestige Squeezes Needy Students; Editorial: Higher Education Needs Cost Pressures;
Study: Adjuncts Are Better Teachers Than Tenured Professors; UC Davis Professor Questions Value Of Interdisciplinary Studies Programs;
Interest In STEM Declining Among Teenagers; Percentage Of Women In The Computer Science Field Has Declined;
Influx of Foreign Students Drives Modest Increase in Graduate-School Enrollments;
Better Data Can Help Colleges Fight Cheating; Program Reviews at Idaho Colleges Cover Administration and Sports Too;
Google and edX Create a MOOC Site for the Rest of Us; Lessons Learned From a Freshman-Composition MOOC;
New gainful employment proposal would affect more programs with fewer rules; Reauthorization of Higher Education Act to Begin Next Week;
Converse College Will Slash Tuition Next Year; Student Regent Wants to Debate Policy, Not Her Muslim Faith;
Johns Hopkins Dean Apologizes to Researcher for NSA Blogging Kerfuffle; U. of Alabama President Responds to Allegations of Student-Voter Fraud;
Stymied in Quest for LSU Records, Judge Asks: ‘Do We Need a Federal Marshal?’;
U. Illinois to Consider Dismissing Controversial Professor; West Point Professor Resigns After Reprimand Over Alleged Sex Harassment;
Reed College Investigates Title IX Complaint Over Students’ Fall Tradition;
Faculty Leaders Endorse New Division for Richest NCAA Programs; Medical Ethics Don't Make the Cut on Game Day; the Interview;
Fired AD at Northern Kentucky U. Misspent $311,000;
9/6/13
TechNews for the week: Sept 6; Sept 4;
War, Politics and Reports (Also, see Finance and Economics)
Analysis - Obama and Syria: Education of a reluctant war president; Poll: Most in U.S. oppose Syria strike; Pro-Israel, Jewish groups strongly back strike on Syria;
Syria strike: Resolution would set time limit, bar ground troops; Senate panel votes 10-7 to authorize strike; Rand Paul May Filibuster Against Syria Action;
Congress’s approval of Syria action is far from a guarantee; Obama’s decision could embolden Assad;
Israelis question U.S. commitment in Syria; Israel fears having to counter Iran alone; Unannounced Israel-U.S. missile test fuels jitters over Syria;
Record numbers of refugees flee Syria; Lebanon braces for fallout of any U.S.-led strikes on Syria;
Anatomy of a potential Syria military operation: Weapons targets defenses; Syrians form human shields around potential military targets;
Syria following the same script as Afghanistan;
Report: U.S. funds are being wasted on Afghan health aid ;
Iraq protesters rail against lawmaker pensions;
Scientists leave GOP due to attitudes toward science;
NSA 'spied on Brazil and Mexico'; US admits NSA illegally collected thousands of emails; Documents U.S. spy agencies mounted 231 offensive cyber-operations in 2011;
Math, science and technology:
Security issues
U.S. Spy Agencies Spend $37 Billion On Data; Energy Dept. Hack Details Emerge; DEA supplied with access to vast database of AT&T phone records;
Report: NSA can see through encryption, including your private e-mail's; NSA's Secret Campaign to Undermine Internet Security;
The NSA's Cryptographic Capabilities; Conspiracy Theories; and Breaking Most Encryption on the Internet; Spy agencies decry latest Snowden revelations;
NSA attempting to shut down secure mail; Data-Security Expert Kaspersky: There Is No More Privacy; 1983 Article on the NSA surveillance overreach;
NSA: NOBODY could stop Snowden – he was A SYSADMIN;
Researchers confirm quantum crypto can keep a secret;
Ruling Limits Scope of Search Warrants for E-mail; Microsoft, Google Clash with U.S. on Data Requests;
Anonymous hacktivists say they've taken down Syrian Electronic Army hacktivists; Conflicts in Syria, Egypt Lead to More Cyber Attacks;
Newfound Fear of Risk; Study shows: 'Money reduces trust' in small groups;
US documents say Al-Qaeda seeks ways to fight U.S. drones;
First case of Android Trojan spreading via mobile botnets discovered;
Math and science
Blueberries cut type-2 diabetes risk; With Nymi Wristband, Your Heartbeat Unlocks Your Devices;
Riddle of ANTIGRAVITY mountains on Saturn's Titan;
New Mexico-size volcano discovered in the depths of the Pacific Ocean; Study: Looming ‘sea level crisis’ faces US east coast;
USC Students Develop 3D Copy Machine To Scan, Copy, Print, And Fax 3D Objects;
Learn Excel - Sort Left to Right - Print Macro Faster than Ctrl+P;
Web and Computing issues
Breaking down an IPv6 address;
Apache Software Foundation: 10 Projects That Are Making a Difference;
Five flow charting applications; How to control your PC from your iPad for free; JustDelete.me: Clean Up Your Online Persona;
Convert Gmail attachments from Excel to Google Sheets on a mobile device; Accessing User’s Address book using Contacts Intent in HTML5;
The benefits of Excel helper columns;
SC Politics
Leadership positions pay off in SC Legislature; End Power Of County Legislative Delegations;
Unreported fender-bender involving Nikki Haley leads to questions about her ethics;
Columbia isn't the only town to criminalize homelessness;
The good, the bad, and the ugly of crypto-currency;
Finance and Economics
Unemployment rate slips to 7.3%; 169K new jobs;
Big insurers wary of entering new Obamacare markets; Insurance rates released by Wis. gov questioned;
S&P says US government lawsuit is revenge for AAA downgrade; FTC targets the ‘internet of things’;
Why the Education Bubble Will Be Worse Than the Housing Bubble;
US shops and restaurants fight patent trolls; Nokia Keeps Patents in Deal with Microsoft; Microsoft wins landmark patent ruling;
Chinese seek greater say in UK nuclear plants; First Chinese cargo ship nears end of Northeast Passage transit;
Boeing moves Advanced-Concept Airplane Team To Los Angeles Area;
Other news
Millennials seen as having least analytical skills;
Education:
State Funding Cuts Leading To College Tuition Increases;
A Star MOOC Professor Defects—at Least For Now; Lessons Learned From a Freshman-Composition MOOC;
Naval Academy sex assault hearing postponed; Naval cadet admitted a sexual encounter;
Report Proposes 28 Ideas for Improving College Sports; NCAA’s Strategic Plan Lacked Emphasis on Key Challenges;
Athletic trainers butt heads with coaches over concussion treatment; Athletic Trainer Beholden to the Coach; NCAA Faces Another Lawsuit Over Concussions;
Legislator's Lawsuit Over NCAA's Penn State Fine Proceed;