NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 3 October
03-10-2008
by Emmet Cole
ICS calls for improved ICT skills | Ballmer barmy about Windows Cloud
Ireland needs to start putting a greater emphasis on ICT skills, according to a pre-budget submission released by the Irish Computer Society and ICS Skills on Friday. The ICS recommends that programmes like ECDL are made available to schools across the country. Some 120,000 second level students have completed ECDL in the past 10 years, and the ICS has called for all second level students to be given an equal opportunity to "improve their skills and become more productive members of the information society."
Microsoft CEO Steve 'I Believe I Can Fly' Ballmer has promised an operating system for the internet. "Just as we have an operating system for the PC, for the phone, and for the server, we need a new operating system that runs in the internet," Ballmer said Thursday in a speech to France's CIGREF (Club Informatique des Grandes Entreprises Françaises). "I bet we'll call it Windows something. We're going to announce it in four weeks. We might even have a trademark by then. So, for today I'll call it Windows Cloud. And Windows Cloud will be a place where you can run arbitrary applications up in the internet that runs .NET."
Meanwhile, a mere three weeks after the first particle beams were injected into the Large Hadron Collider -- the particle accelerator that has not yet destroyed our planet -- the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid has begun analysing data produced by the hundreds of millions of subatomic collisions taking place inside the LHC every second. The Grid is expected to analyse more than 15 million Gigabytes of data every year. The Worldwide LHC Computing Grid combines the IT power of more than 140 computer centres, the result of collaboration between 33 countries.
A large number of Americans don't use basic internet security tools and overestimate the level of security protection on their computers, according to a new cyber security study released by the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) and Symantec. The "NCSA-Symantec Online Safety Study" found that more than 80 percent of Americans claim to have a firewall installed on their computer. In reality only 42 percent had adequate firewall protection. Meanwhile, 95 percent of computer users had antivirus software installed.
IBM has announced an expansion of its Lotus Notes and Domino collaboration software. The updated version is aimed at improving mobility and security for the iPhone and protecting companies from spam and computer viruses. Lotus Notes and Domino software has more than 140 million licensed users worldwide.
Finally, the most technology friendly presidential race is history continues apace with US Democratic candidate Barack Obama aiming to turn the iPhone into a political recruiting tool. The application software has a "Call Friends" option to help organise contacts in swing states. The application was developed by a team of volunteers in less than three weeks.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 