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.
4/25/14
TechNews for the week: April 25; April 23; April 21;
War, Politics and Reports (Also, see Finance and Economics)
Ukraine crisis: US warns of dangerous precedent for other territorial disputes; Ukraine peace deal falters as rebels show no sign of surrender;
Russia issues blunt threat to respond in Ukraine; Clashes spread across eastern Ukraine; U.S. readies more sanctions on Russia over Ukraine;
Iran admits nuclear agency reshuffle to pave way for 5+1 talks;
Suspected militants killed in Yemen drone strike; Yemen says 55 killed in strikes on al-Qaeda base;
Israel halts peace talks with Palestinians;
Navy reassigns ex-Blue Angels commander after complaint that he allowed sexual harassment;
Lawsuit: FBI using no-fly list to recruit informants; Supreme Court refuses to hear Florida appeal over worker drug testing;
Georgia Governor Signs 'Unprecedented' Gun Rights Bill; The Missouri House Wants to Impeach Governor Jay Nixon Over Gays and Guns;
Rand Paul and other Republican leaders back away from Bundy;
The Banking Caucus: Wall Street's secret weapon in Washington;
Math, science and technology:
Security issues
Attacker Exploits ‘Heartbleed’ Against Major Corporation; Android Heartbleed Alert: 150 Million Apps Still Vulnerable; Tech titans join forces to stop the next Heartbleed;
Metaphors of Surveillance; Info on Russian Bulk Surveillance; Conversnitch: Surveillance is getting cheaper and easier;
Clapper bans US intelligence employees from 'unauthorised' media contact;
U.S.-Backed ‘Mesh’ Networks Help Dissidents;
Math and science
Doubt is cast on climate benefit of biofuels made from corn waste; Conservatives Target Green Energy Policies, Solar Industry;
How BentProp and undersea robots found long-lost WWII bombers;
NASA: Mars Missions Could Make Humanity a Multi-Planet Species; Majority Of Public Questions Big Bang Theory;
3D 'bioprinting': how it works; Man prefers $50 3D printed hand to $42,000 prosthetic;
American wins Boston Marathon for first time in 31 years;
Web and computing issues
No-Poaching Settlement Could Spur Tech Talent War;
Newbies two-minute guide to Google Android; Great tips and tricks for Android; Control a PC with your Android; Use your phone as a digital wallet;
Google Maps Street View now lets you go back in time; Google Camera: A game-changing camera app; Top 5 Dolphin Browser add-ons;
Draft Net Neutrality Rules To Release in May; FCC to propose new net neutrality rules; FCC throws in the towel on net neutrality;
Communication Apps to Help Reduce Your Wireless Bill; 5 Online Tools Uncle Sam Wants You To Use;
SC Politics
Uncertainty lingers over South Carolina's withdrawal from Smarter Balanced;
The S.C. Legislature now runs CofC; College production draws ire of S.C. lawmakers;
South Carolina State U. Is Said to Be a Month Away From 'Financial Disaster';
Finance and Economics
What you’d need to make in every county in America to afford a decent one-bedroom; 1.6 million Americans don’t have indoor plumbing;
Study Finds More Than 10% Of US Bridges Need Urgent Repairs; As medical providers consolidate, questions about effects on costs, quality of care;
Are Fannie and Freddie money makers or losers? another view;
The fracking divide: Mexico's oil frontier beckons US drillers; Leading Fracking Firm Will Disclose Chemicals It Uses;
With Moves Toward Atlantic Drilling, Some Fear For South Carolina’s Tourism Industry;
Why the Aereo case over TV's future is too tough to call; Supreme Court Justices Seem Divided on Aereo TV;
AT&T Explores Expansion of Super-Fast Internet; Netflix opposes Comcast–TWC merger;
Other news
Review: ‘The Wrong Enemy: America in Afghanistan, 2001-2014’;
How Fox News Deals with Critics in the Wild: Not Well!;
Boy Scouts revokes troop charter over gay leader;
Education:
College Attainment Rises, but Lumina’s 60% Goal Is Now Harder to Reach; State and Local Money for Higher Education Increased Slightly in 2013;
Who’s Looking for College-Educated Workers? Public Sees College as More Than Just Job Preparation; Fewer High School Graduates Enrolling In College;
Education Dept. to Move Forward With Plans for Improving Teacher Preparation; Libraries Navigate the Messy World of Discovery Tools;
Report Details Shortage Of STEM Students; Students all about computers, not computer science; Students Prefer Smartphones and Laptops to Tablets, Study Finds ;
Trident Technical College gearing up for course schedule change; Around The World Schools Look To Teach Climate Science But Face Opposition In US;
U. of Illinois Warns Pension-Law ‘Glitch’ Could Prompt Retirement Wave; Professors at U. Michigan Question Administrators’ Extra Pay;
Supreme Court Upholds Michigan’s Ban on Race-Conscious College Admissions; Researchers Take a Closer Look at Texas' 'Top 10 Percent' Plan;
What’s Better for Your Résumé—Captain of the Debate Team or Playing College Sports? NCAA Declines Coursework From 24 Virtual High Schools;
4/18/14
TechNews for the week: April 18; April 16; April 14;
War, Politics and Reports (Also, see Finance and Economics)
Kiev sends in troops to dislodge separatists; Ukraine crisis: Geneva talks produce agreement on defusing conflict; Russian economy hit by Ukraine turmoil;
Special Report: How the U.S. made its Putin problem worse;
Syrian opposition fighters obtain U.S. anti-tank missiles;
Afghan economy facing serious revenue shortfall; CIA's Pakistan drone strikes carried out by regular US air force personnel;
Justice Stevens: The five extra words that can fix the Second Amendment;
Obama denounces voter apathy — and the GOP push for election ID laws;
States embracing Obamacare are doing a better job of covering the uninsured; Va. GOP Not Backing Down In Medicaid Stalemate;
Obama challenges Republicans on healthcare repeal;
Math, science and technology:
Security issues
April Crypto-Gram Newsletter, Heartbleed, NSA, and more;
More on Heartbleed; Heartbleed is about to get worse, and it will slow the Internet to a crawl; What's 'reverse' Heartbleed;
The first suspected Heartbleed hacker has been arrested; NSA denies it knew of, exploited Heartbleed, kept flaw secret; Exception Allows NSA to Exploit Cybersecurity Flaws;
GoGo Wireless Adds Surveillance Capabilities for Government; Court Upholds Contempt in Secure E-mail Case;
Hacker Underground: How Markets for Cyber-Tools, Stolen Data Work; What is Tails?
SEC Unveils Cyber-Security Disclosure Plan;
Police Disabling Their Own Voice Recorders;
Math and science
People’s “Puzzling” Views On Technology; Robots in Conversation, and the Result Is Surprisingly Human;
Scientists discover first Earth-sized planet that could support life;
Climate panel warns emissions rising, blurs reason;
Solar Technology That Wouldn’t Require Sunlight;
Scientists clone stem cells from adults;
Web and computing issues
Pro tip: Print to the cloud from your Android device;
Eight business-class alternatives to Dropbox;
6 security tips for using public Wi-Fi;
SC Politics
South Carolina Solar Bill Faces Challenges;
Waring’s Impact On South Carolina Politics;
Finance and Economics
Best and Worst Jobs in America: Mathematician Tops List;
Social Security stops trying to collect on old taxpayer debts;
China GDP Gauge Seen Showing Deeper Slowdown;
One Third Of H-1B Visas Go To Five Temp Labor Firms;
Army Corps Estimates Cost Of Fixing Fla Beach Erosion At $43.4 Million; GM Engineer Runs Into Dead Ends Trying To Solve Ignition Safety Problem;
TIAA-CREF reveals $6.3bn Nuveen deal; Doctor Compensation;
How the Case Against BofA's Ken Lewis Fizzled;
More Companies Buying Insurance for Internet Attacks;
US delays Keystone XL pipeline decision;
Other news
How laws are bent for the benefit of the wealthy;
‘Flash Boys’: Michael Lewis does it again;
The negative power of positive thinking;
Top 10 Upsides To Healthcare.gov Debacle;
Education:
TED: The New Academic Celebrity;
Is India the New Engine of Enrollment Growth for Graduate Schools; Air Force Struggling With Engineer Recruitment, Retention;
Tennessee Lawmakers Approve Plan to Make Community College Free; Culture of big bonuses permeates Ohio State administration;
States Cracking Down On For-Profit Colleges’ Abuses; Sen. Warren Proposes Allowing Student-Loan Borrowers to Refinance Debt;
2014: The Year the Media Stopped Caring About MOOCs? 5 Lessons for Online Teaching From Finishing a MOOC;
New SAT Moves Toward Testing Analytic Ability;
The Hidden Costs of Unsolicited Textbooks;
Colo. Bill to Improve Adjuncts' Working Conditions Is Defeated;
Should aspiring athletes have to go to college?
Fired AD at Northern Kentucky U Pleads Guilty to Theft; Mankato players say they're sticking with old coach;
UNC says Review Didn’t Support Researcher’s Claims on Athletes’ Literacy;
4/11/14
TechNews for the week: April 11; April 9; April 7;
War, Politics and Reports (Also, see Finance and Economics)
Ethnic politics complicate Afghan presidential election; U.S. leaves legacy of unexploded weapons in Afghanistan;
Kiev says Russia provoking trouble in eastern Ukraine; Ukrainian police remove pro-Russian forces in Kharkiv; Russia presses Ukraine on gas bills;
Ukrainian politicians sense a deal to ease crisis in the east; The less Americans know about Ukraine’s location, the more they want U.S.to intervene;
Israeli threats linger over Mideast peace talks;
Air Force plan to get rid of A-10s runs into opposition;
Supreme Court passes on NSA surveillance case; Inside the FBI’s secret relationship with JSOC;
A stale, inflated claim on health-plan terminations;
Ultra-conservative institute says Climate change is good for you;
Koch brothers' secret bank takes big step;
Math, science and technology:
Security issues
Heartbleed: a catastrophic bug in OpenSSL; Critical crypto bug; LastPass checks sites for 'Heartbleed' automatically; The heartache of Heartbleed;
How to recover from Heartbleed; protect yourself in Heartbleed's aftershocks;
'Unbreakable' Encryption Almost Certainly Isn't; Complex Corporate Systems Create New Hacking Threats;
Judges Denying bulk E-mail Requests in Criminal Probes;
Math and science
Experts say Reading is different online than off;
'Particle Fever' Documentary;
Drone Images Reveal Buried Ancient Village in New Mexico;
Web and computing issues
Tips for traveling with your smartphone; 10 common mistakes Android newbies make; Use Malwarebytes to check app privacy;
How to Run a Group-Authored Blog;
Windows XP: Why It Won't Die; Microsoft issues final Windows XP, Office 2003 patches; Five things to know about today’s XP deadline;
Finance and Economics
US|Illinois Moves to Ease Chicago Pension Woes; Financial Council Tells Banks to Upgrade Systems;
Businesses Experience Difficulty In Hiring Software Developers; Cap For H1-B Applications Reached In Five Days;
Who holds most oil sands leases? Depends who you ask; Lack Of Action On Wind Power Subsidy Slowing Industry’s Growth;
Top Medicare billers revealed, shedding light on doctors' revenue;
Holder Warns of Criminal Uses for Bitcoin;
The Gloomy Future Of The Tax Preparation Industry;
All About 3D Printing IPO Materialise;
Education:
AAUP Salary Survey: a Special Report; Faculty Salary data; Push to Reform Remedial Education Raises Difficult Questions;
Report: Families' College Savings Start to Rebound; Campus Debit Card Provider Under Investigation;
Khan Academy Unveils New Math Resources for Common Core;
Service Academies Take Part In Cyber Defense Exercise;
Board Halts U.Colorado Campus-Climate Survey That Drew Criticism;
NCAA President Criticizes Players’ Movement; College coaches, athletics get more college money; Want to Play in an NFL Stadium? That’ll Be $12-Million;
What Kind of Students Are One-and-Done Players? Why Did Universities Allow This to Happen?
Untie the Knot Binding College Sports and Educational Values; Amid National-Title Celebration, Academic Questions Take Center Stage;
Report Describes Increase in Female Athletes but Lack of Female Coaches;
Penn State Is Ordered Into Lawsuit Over Its $60-Million NCAA Fine;
4/4/14
TechNews for the week: April 4; April 2; March 31;
War, Politics and Reports (Also, see Finance and Economics)
Kerry cancels trip to meet with Palestinian leader Abbas; Israel Blocking Foreign Traffic on Government Sites;
NSA may have spied on 122 foreign leaders; U.S. secretly funded ‘Cuban Twitter’ to stir unrest on communist island;
Senate votes to release CIA interrogation report; Senate report: CIA misled on interrogations;
Pentagon grapples with insider threats; Poll of war veterans reveals the enduring effects of war;
Maryland set to replace troubled health exchange with Connecticut's system; Sides prepare for new confrontations over health-care law;
Congress is getting older, but so are the rest of us;
The House Republican Mess; Republicans Block Yet Another Immigration Measure;
GAO says big contract for air tankers awarded improperly;
High court voids overall contribution limits;
These congressmen want to tear down the wall between church and state;
Math, science and technology:
Security issues
Mass Surveillance by Eavesdropping on Web Cookies; Microsoft Clarifies Email Snooping Policy;
The Continuing Public/Private Surveillance Partnership; Privacy? Ephemeral Apps;
Financial Group Warns Bank About Cyber-Attacks;
Math and science
3,300-Year-Old Tomb with Pyramid Entrance Discovered in Egypt; EPA scientist tracks the health of the ocean and other waterways;
Asteroid Mission Concept Would Develop Technologies NASA Needs; Moon's Age Revealed, and a Lunar Mystery May Be Solved;
Highview Power Storage Stores Energy with Liquid Air; Research On New Optical Cloaking Techniques and another;
ONR to Study How Marines Make Battlefield Decisions; Recent Big-Data Struggles Are ‘Birthing Pains’;
What if we let a computer select the NCAA Tournament field?
Is Walking Just as Good as Running?
Web and Computing issues
How to Use Pa11y for Automated Accessibility Testing of Web Pages;
ICANN CEO Promises ‘No Rush’ on Ending U.S. Role;
SC Politics
College of Charleston's Faculty Senate Votes No Confidence in Board; Ravenel voted off College of Charleston's board by state legislators ;
S.C. Lawmakers Advance Compromise to Controversial Merger Proposal;
Opinion: Why Don’t Legislators Stay Home Next Year?
Finance and Economics
U.S. economy added 192,000 jobs in March; unemployment rate at 6.7 percent; Lewis explains how the stock market is rigged;
Sanctions Between Countries Pack a Bigger Punch Than You Might Think;
Supreme Court To Take Up Software Patent Case; Hears Arguments on Software Patents;
Congress targets overpriced medical procedures with bills; House votes to change health-care law’s work rules;
Fox News chart conveniently distorts ObamaCare enrollments;
Senate Finance Committee Votes To Restore Wind Tax Credit; FCC Chair Says No Plans for Net Neutrality;
10 innovations in the 3D printing realm;
Other news
A lack of resolve — not resources — keeps us snowbound;
Public Records – Now Online;
Education:
How 'Undermatching' Shapes Students' College Experience; Why Some Students Stay and Others Drop Out;
Pay Increases for Academic Professionals Outpace Inflation; How NC State Is Increasing Its International Enrollment;
House Republicans Propose Freezing Pell Grants, Ending Support for Endowments; Democrats’ Bill Seeks Coordinated Oversight of For-Profit Colleges;
National Geographic Channel Pulls TV Series That Archaeologists Criticized; Porn Studies Is Hot: Students never miss a class;
Former U. of Louisville Official Is Charged With Stealing $2.8-Million;
Sorting Out Key Questions in Players’ Bid to Unionize; Stanford Cautions Employees on Player-Union Talk;
A Basketball Academy's Empty Promises;