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.
10/25/13
TechNews for the week: Oct 25; Oct 23; Oct 21;
War, Politics and Reports (Also, see Finance and Economics)
Drone strikes kill more civilians than U.S. admits; Secret memos reveal explicit nature of U.S., Pakistan agreement on drones;
Al-Qaeda strikes fear in Iraq’s government-backed Sunni militia;
Afghan war’s end may help close Guantanamo Bay; Bribery scandal rocks Navy;
China and India agree border pact; Chinese newspaper takes on the police;
Officials alert foreign services that Snowden has documents on their cooperation with US; NSA monitored calls of 35 world leaders after US official handed over contacts;
U.S. Reportedly Spied on Mexican President’s E-mail Account; Why the NSA spies on France and Germany; German leader calls Obama on alleged cellphone tapping;
Why Healthcare.gov Failed; Tech Contractors Reject Blame For Healthcare.gov Mess; CGI Federal, the company behind the botched launch of HealthCare.gov;
Officials say Experts working to fix HealthCare.gov site; exchange site needs total overhaul;
Ohio agrees to expand Medicaid;
Republican Civil War Over Shutdown Drama; McConnell’s deal-making riles up conservatives back home;
Paul seeks hold on Yellen nomination;
The 37 House Republicans Who Could Lose Their Jobs For Shutting Down The Government;
North Carolina GOP Official Who Called Blacks 'Lazy' In Daily Show Voter ID Interview Resigns;
Math, science and technology:
Security issues
Edward Snowden: Zero chance Russia, China nabbed files; Edward Snowden is no traitor; Code Names for NSA Exploit Tools;
White House Releases Draft Cybersecurity Standards; The Trajectories of Government and Corporate Surveillance;
Dry Ice Bombs at LAX;
Court Says ‘Hacker’ Label Indicates Bad Intentions;
Math and science
Why are there more runners in D.C.? Proof That Running a Marathon Is Not Likely to Kill You;
Web and Computing issues
Free diagnostic tools for website response and performance issues; Five apps for screen capture in Windows; Streaming Video Magic With Chromecast;
ICANN Announces Delegation of Four New Domains;
Patent Reform Bill Targeting Trolls Introduced;
SC Politics
The Agenda: Is DeMint's Heritage extreme?; S.C. mayor's "queer" comments; Attempt to stop I-526 quashed Sen. Grooms gets item off agenda;
S.C.'s legislative delegation on the shutdown;
Sanford weighs GOP fallout from shutdown saga; Mark Sanford’s fiancee, Maria Belen Chapur, breaks silence on their relationship;
Nancy Mace: Term limits are the only way to stop the ruling elitists;
Finance and Economics
U.S. economy added 148,000 jobs in September; unemployment rate at 7.2 percent; Japanese inflation nears 5-year high;
Most Americans accumulating debt faster than retirement savings; North Dakota: Trouble in boomtown;
JPMorgan Chase nears $13 billion deal with Justice Dept.; Bank of America is found liable for Countrywide fraud;
Illinois Online Tax Law Ruled Unconstitutional; Online Sales Tax Issue May End Up at Supreme Court;
Healthcare.gov: Latest Victim Of Federal Acquisition Problems?;
DuPont to spin off performance chemicals unit;
Other news
The most dangerous states in America;
Dick Cheney feared assassination by heart-device hack; The secrets of Glenn Beck's persistent popularity;
How to get a discount on nearly everything you buy online;
Education:
Study: Despite Tuition Hikes, College’s Actual Costs Stable; Tuition Increases Slow Down, but There's More to College Affordability;
Group says Too Many Colleges Let Students Down on Quality of Education; 5 Things You Don’t Have the Guts to Tell Your Students;
A top Republican Senator Questions Value of NEH Grants; CFPB Report Highlights Private Student Loan Payment Processing Pitfalls;
U. of Alaska at Anchorage Moves to Rank Its Programs; University of Phoenix parent to lay off 500 workers on declining enrollment;
'Flipping' Classrooms May Not Make Much Difference; 'What Is Open Access?' An Explanatory Video;
Middle School Students Launch Homemade Rockets;
NCAA says Athletes' Graduation Rates Continue to Rise;
U. of Miami Gets 3-Year NCAA Probation but Avoids Additional Bowl Ban;
10/18/13
TechNews for the week: Oct 18; Oct 16;
War, Politics and Reports (Also, see Finance and Economics)
Shutdown ends; Obama signs deal; Women Are the Only Adults Left in Washington; Debt-ceiling breach would push economy into free fall;
Senate passes bill to reopen government, raise debt limit; Gov't reopens after Congress ends 16-day shutdown; House employee escorted off floor after rant;
U.S. Senator Cruz blocks confirmation of new FCC chairman;
Republicans' Secret Ally Against Obamacare; House Republicans divided over latest debt limit, funding plan;
U.S. losing patience as deadline for Afghan deal nears; In Syria, al-Qaeda-linked groups show signs of digging in;
Iran pushes for end to nuclear crisis as talks get underway; Iran, world powers set new nuclear talks;
Bracing for defense cuts, Hagel decries ‘fiscal uncertainty’; How the US Army wasted $5 billion on clothes;
Documents reveal NSA’s role in targeted killing program; Push underway to declassify FISC document;
What's More Important: Border Security Or Protecting Immigrant Workers? If illegal border crossings are falling, why are so many immigrants jailed?
New charges against ex-Blackwater guards in Iraq shooting;
Math, science and technology:
Security issues
October Crypto-Gram Newsletter, NSA news and more;
NSA reportedly collecting millions of email address books and IM contact lists worldwide; Harvesting Contact Lists; NSA Hack Attacks: Good Value For Money?
Fingerprinting Burner Phones; Identifying Cell Phones Through Sensor Imperfections;
Security Researcher Finds Backdoor in D-Link Routers; D-Link Router Backdoor;
New Secure Smart Phone App; An open-source whistleblower support system;
Why "A Court Order Is an Insider Attack";
Math and science
What archaeology tells us about the Bible; Rare sea creature found off California coast;
MIT Professor Finds Strength In Flaws;
Technology That Allows Users To Feel 3D Objects On Flat Screen;
Tips for athletes on going gluten-free;
Web and Computing issues
10 Essential Web Design Strategies;
3D Printing Costs a Pretty Penny, but Options Abound; Square Cash: You've Got Mail (And Money);
Top 15 Android tablet apps for work and play; Five best email apps for Android tablets; Five utilities for a better Google Earth;
A first look at Android 4.4; How to upgrade to Windows 8.1 from any version of Windows;
Finance and Economics
What The National Debt Means To You;
World Bank loans to China may have killed U.S. jobs;
JPMorgan loss caps bad year for Jamie Dimon; JPMorgan to pay $100 million to CFTC over trading losses;
Ireland to End Tax Arrangement That Saved Apple $40B; How Boeing Got a Sweetheart Deal From the U.S. Army;
Innovation In Renewable Energy Is Booming Worldwide; US oil boom faces costs pressure;
Cloud, 3D Printing Make Gartner's Key Technologies List; Voxeljet IPO jumps on 3D printing bandwagon;
3D printing service launched at Asda Monks Cross store; Supermarket Prints 3D Mini Me;
Other news
10 signs it's time to let an employee go;
'Facts' about Americans' online video habits;
Education:
Higher Education’s Reform-Industrial Complex; Sky-rocketing cost of higher education: Administrators Ate My Tuition;
Spending Rules for Endowments Change More Often Than Thought; If Enrollment Falls Short, Cutting or Adding Programs Is No Quick Fix;
College Rankings May Matter More to Prospective Students Than You’d Think; Traditional Education Beats Online in Key Areas;
Common App Has a Wild Day, and a Competitor Adds a Big Name; Common App Announces Fixes, Admissions Offices Preach Calm;
Report by Faculty Group Questions Savings From MOOCs; Ohio State U. Lets MOOC Students Grade Peer-Graders;
Helping Professors Use Technology Is Top Concern in Computing Survey; Why Management Training Doesn’t Work;
Governor Asks Alabama State U. to Halt Presidential Search and Deal With Audit;
Scientific American Deletes a Blog Post, and Debate Erupts Over Race and Gender;
Midshipman facing court-martial asks judge to step in;
10/11/13
TechNews for the week: Oct 11; Oct 9; Oct 7;
War, Politics and Reports (Also, see Finance and Economics)
China and Japan warn US on shutdown; Parties slow to budge on strategies to overcome shutdown;
14th Amendment remains off table despite Treasury warning; Obama Does Not Rule Out Taking Action On The Debt Ceiling By Himself;
Boehner: U.S. Republicans will not pass 'clean' debt-limit increase; House GOP to offer short-term debt deal; Obama Rejects short-term Debt-Limit Proposal;
In the Polls: Republican Popularity Falls as Blame Rises; Tea Party unmoved by US default threat; For some tea party congressmen, backlash at home;
Chemical weapons inspectors begin destroying Syrian stockpile; Netanyahu warns UK on Iran ties; U.S. expected to curb military aid to Egypt;
Kerry insists U.S. not abandoning Asia; Libya demands explanation for 'kidnapping' of citizen by US forces; Afghans: U.S. ‘forcibly’ snatched Pakistan Taliban leader ;
Snowden Leaks To Reveal NSA's 'Central Role In The US Assassination Program'; Four Americans meet with Edward Snowden in Moscow;
After leaks, NSA struggles for trust; Dual-leadership role at NSA, Cyber Command stirs debate;
Pentagon recalls defense civilians on furlough;
Obamacare a different law in red states; Officials warned of Obamacare glitches before Web site launch; Government admits to design flaws in healthcare.gov;
State laws offer varying degrees of debt protection;
Pivotal campaign finance case on U.S. high court docket;
Math, science and technology:
Security issues
The NSA's New Risk Analysis;
Report: NSA targets Tor network that protects user anonymity; How the NSA Attacks Tor/Firefox Users With QUANTUM and FOXACID;
Justice Dept. seeks delay in NSA surveillance case, citing gov't shutdown; NSA Lawsuit Proceeding, Despite Government Shutdown;
Seven Surprising Reasons Why Cyber-Crime Costs Keep Rising; Annual Cost of Cybercrime Increases 26% in U.S.;
Microsoft Pays Hacking Expert, Updates Explorer;
New Low in Election Fraud;
Setting up Air Gaps;
Math and science
600 ways that 3D printing is changing the world; 'Terminator'-style cube robots swarm and self-assemble;
Higgs boson theory nets Nobel for pair of physicists; Einstein Papers Go Digital;
Abraham Nemeth, 94, developer of Braille math code, dies;
Web and Computing issues
10 best new features in Excel 2013; Five free tools to aid in graphic design; 8 Apps to improve your Android smartphone or tablet's battery life;
How to edit posts and comments on Facebook for Android;
Ubuntu 13.10 Review: A great Linux desktop gets better;
Intel Lays Out Road Map for Internet of Things;
SC Politics
SC Gov. Haley to pay state for campaign expenses; SC senators not sold on independent ethics panel;
Database: SC Lawmaker Campaign Expenditures;
Finance and Economics
3 Little-Known Facts About Social Security; Animosity Towards Affordable Health Care is Hard to Fathom;
SEC Taking No Action Against Apple Over Tax Policies; SEC charges former Akamai executive whose tips went to Rajaratnam;
3D printing: Supply chain gains but IP, bioprinting risks loom;
Other news
Fox News mistakenly airs parody of Obama; PBS hopes for Internet hit with ‘Peg + Cat’;
How to deal with the brilliant, but problematic employee;
Education:
Earnings Gap Narrows, but College Education Still Pays; The 10 Most Useless Graduate Degrees; Dump Exam Scores and High Schools Grades;
Report predicts U.S. Will Be Fastest-Growing Foreign-Student Destination; Israeli Higher Education Deteriorates and Brain Drain Worsens;
The Biggest Lesson From the Flipped Classroom; Rutgers Graduate Faculty Opposes Pearson eCollege Deal;
U.S. Agencies Revamp Standards for Cybersecurity Program;
Louisiana’s Public Universities Let Millions Go Unused for Endowed Chairs; Federal Judge Says Maryland Failed to Desegregate Its Public Colleges;
Purdue's Mitch Daniels Says He Erred in Giving Conservative Talk;
The Hottest Math Professors In America;
Moody’s Says Big-Time Sports Pose Increasing Risks for Universities; Proposal Calls for Antitrust Exemption for NCAA ;
New Documentary Film Explores Inequities in College Sports; Georgetown U. Coach Resigns After Investigation Into Player Complaints;
Football Season May Screech To A Halt For America's Military Academies;
10/4/13
TechNews for the week: Oct 4; Oct 2; Sept 30;
War, Politics and Reports (Also, see Finance and Economics)
Frozen by shutdown, US Treasury warns of 'catastrophic' default; Economists fearful of fallout from government shutdown; US takes ‘extraordinary’ measures to pay bills;
Republicans to stage piecemeal budget votes; threaten to take debt limit fight to the brink; 4 Apolitical Reasons Federal Websites Went Dark;
Next GOP Move: Impeach Obama;
Kentucky promotes health insurance law; Government continues streamlining new health exchanges Web sites;
Military review exposes US-South Korea tensions; U.S., S. Korea can’t agree on who should command troops;
US Military Will Use Drones to Spy on North Korea; Agreement will allow U.S. to fly surveillance drones from base in Japan;
Map: Is Your State a No-Drone Zone?
Officials say: US nuclear commander suspended over gambling; 2 generals forced to retire for Afghan breach;
Justice Department to sue North Carolina over voting law; GOP-led states moving aggressively on voting rules;
Netanyahu urges Obama to keep Iran sanctions in place; Iran's cyberwarfare czar is allegedly assassinated;
Clashes erupt at pro-Morsi demonstrations in Egypt;
Math, science and technology:
Security issues
Senator Feinstein Admits the NSA Taps the Internet Backbone; NSA employee spied on nine women without detection, internal file shows;
How NSA snooping secures profits for famed privacy pro; NSA ran secret test on tracking Americans' cell phones;
NSA maps some Americans' social connections; NSA Storing Internet Data, Social Networking Data, on Pretty Much Everybody;
Verizon: 'No comment' on FISA court challenge, as Foursquare, WordPress join anti-secrecy fight; Snowden’s E-mail Provider Received Search Warrant;
On Secrecy; Analysis of the hacker group Anonymous; Silk Road bust hints at FBI's new cybercrime powers;
Microsoft Yet to Patch Internet Explorer Vulnerability; IE Zero-Day Flaw Exposure Widens;
Government Shutdown: What Are IT Systems Risks? Online Health Exchanges: How Secure?
Iran Hacked Navy Computers;
How Israel is rewriting the future of cybersecurity and creating the next Silicon Valley;
Math and science
CERN's Large Hadron Collider Gets Google Maps Treatment;
NASA's Voyager 1 Spacecraft, Launched in 1977, Continues Explorations; Strange Super-Earth Planet Has 'Plasma' Water Atmosphere;
New Island Spewing Flammable Gas;
Pitt researcher taking printing to the next dimension with 4-D; 3D-printed toothbrush scrubs chompers in 6 seconds;
3D Printing: If You Can Imagine It, You Can Make It; 3D Printing Is Going to Change Business, Society and the World;
Teenager Makes Battery-Free Flashlight; Developments in Microphone Technology;
Web and Computing issues
How the Internet of Things Will Change the Way We Work and reshape IT;
No, Gmail’s ad-targeting isn’t wiretapping;
Microsoft Creating New Office Touch Apps; Five free cataloging applications;
Ten reasons not to fix computers for free;
SC Politics
S.C. Governor Again Draws Criticism for a University-Board Appointment ;
S.C. Department of Education wants to eliminate classroom size restrictions;
Senior Center Debate Getting Old;
Finance and Economics
SEC throws spoke into derivatives shake-up; Wells Fargo to pay $869m in Freddie deal;
Catastrophe models give insurers insight into disasters;
The 50 States of Obamacare;
Other news
Boy Scouts Attend STEM Camp In Indiana;
A Machiavellian Guide to Destroying Public Universities in 12 Easy Steps;
Education:
Caltech Retains Top Position in Latest World University Rankings; Some Education and Research Web Sites Go Dark Amid Shutdown;
U.S. Officials Say Colleges May Keep Race-Conscious Admissions 'With Care';
Education cuts hit America’s poor; Default Rate on Federal Student Loans Climbs Again;
Colleges Engaging In Renewed Debate Over Requirements For General Education; Advanced Academics Updates 18 Courses for Common Core;
5 Tips for Explaining Common Core to Parents; Report: Most Important Factor for Common Core Success Is Teacher Support;
Chicago Public Schools Adds Flipped Professional Development for Lowest-Performing Schools; Bill Gates: MOOCs Could Help 2-Year Colleges and Their Students;
Penn State Offers a Bonus to Employees Who Participate in Wellness Program;
Critics Say Sting on Open-Access Journals Misses Larger Point; N.J. Institute of Technology Strips a Professor of Tenure and Fires Him;
Student bias: Demagogues and Prophets;
We Already Pay College Athletes;
Ole Miss Apologizes After Football Players’ Reported Use of Antigay Slurs; Former Tutor to Chapel Hill Athletes Faces Charges of Aiding Sports Agents;