Gadgets Have Taken Over Long Term Memory Favorite Web Tools Web Radio Royalties on the Rise Profiles in IT – Robert Tappan Morris History of Worms Microsoft Shifts Work to Vancouver
According to a Trinity College survey released Friday, mobiles and portable devices that store reams of personal information have created a generation incapable of memorizing simple things.
The study argues that these devices have replaced our long-term memory capabilities.
As many as a third of those surveyed under the age of 30 were unable to recall their home telephone number without resorting to their mobile phones or to notes.
As far as important dates such as the birthdays of close family relatives
87 per cent of those over the age of 50 could remember the details
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected a petition by large, small and noncommercial Webcasters to delay the onset of the new fees.
Rates for 2006 at 0.08 cents per song, per listener.
0.11 cents in 2007, 0.14 cents in 2008
0.18 cents in 2009, 0.19 cents in 2010
Plus a $500 per "channel" minimum payment for each service
Small Internet stations that feature music are closing their doors this weekend.
Tech Talk Podcast is still royalty free!
Profiles in IT – Robert Tappan Morris
Creator of the Internet Worm which paralyzed the Internet in November 1988
He was a 23 year old doctoral student at Cornell University at that time.
He is now an associate professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
He is the son of Robert Morris, the former chief scientist at the National Computer Security Center, a division of the National Security Agency (NSA).
The original intent, according to him, was to gauge the size of the Internet.
He released the worm from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to conceal the fact that it actually originated from Cornell.
The Internet Worm was a small (99 line, not including object files) program.
It was estimated that the cost of repair for the damage caused by the worm at each system ranged from $200 to more than $53,000.
Indicted under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 on July 26, 1989
Convicted and sentenced to three years of probation, 400 hours of community service, a fine of $10,050 and the cost of his supervision.
History of Worms
The 1988 Internet worm was not the first program of its type, nor (alas) was it the last. Here is a brief description of other historical worms.
The term "worm" actually comes from a science fiction story called The Shockwave Rider written by John Brunner in 1975.
The first program that could reasonably called a worm was written in 1971 by Bob Thomas. This program was in response to the needs of air traffic controllers and would help to notify operators of when control of a certain airplane moved from one computer to another.
In the early 1980’s, John Shock and Jon Hepps of Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center began experimenting with worm programs. They developed 5 worms.
Microsoft Shifts Work to Vancouver
Microsoft Corp. plans to set up house in the Vancouver area this fall with a new software development centre that would attract talent without encountering U.S. immigration issues.
The location will be one of only a few development centers outside the company’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington.
Microsoft added Vancouver to its expansion list, which already includes plans to build new sites in Boston and Bellevue, Wash.
Other centers exist in North Carolina, Ireland, Denmark and Israel, while full research-and-development locations exist in the U.K., India, China and California’s Silicon Valley.
The company said the new location will "allow the company to continue to recruit and retain highly skilled people affected by the immigration issues in the U.S."