Current cite-ings from the popular and trade computing press

Citation

(2011), "Current cite-ings from the popular and trade computing press", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 28 No. 8. https://doi.org/10.1108/lhtn.2011.23928haa.003

Current cite-ings from the popular and trade computing press

Article Type: Current cite-ings from the popular and trade computing press From: Library Hi Tech News, Volume 28, Issue 8

This column's focus is primarily on evolving use of new computer applications for technology that is definitely of prime interest to libraries. Tablets and smart phones are continuing to make huge inroads in all markets, including libraries. Along with new technologies, come new possibilities for breakdowns in security.

Hardware and software

The Samsung Series 5 Chrome book running Google's Chrome operating system is available with Wi-Fi for $429, or with 3G radio and 100 mb of monthly data allotment from Verizon for $499. It is a 3.3 lb. Net book computer. The Google cloud allows user data and apps to be always available no matter where you are. You can add a secure digital card to the USB port to boost storage. It has been described as a multifunction tablet (Boulton, 2010).

Microsoft has announced that Windows 8 will support system-on-a-chip architecture, which positions itself to be available for tablets and other mobile devices powered by ARM offerings. The desktop design is one of tiles, again enabling it to play on mobile devices. Other features include multitasking, Internet Explorer 10, and the same Windows file system. It will accept touch input. Microsoft's biggest competitions in the OS field are Apple's Mac OS X, and Hewlett-Packard's WebOS (Kolakowski, 2011).

For security, Rashid recommends two-factor authentication for passwords. She uses Google's Gmail as an example. Users use their name and password, and then they are directed to a verification page where they enter a six-digit code that is generated by an application on the smart phone, or is sent via short message service. (Rashid, 2011).

A special section of Maximum PC is devoted to computer security whether it is a desktop PC, laptop, computer network, smart phone, or e-mail. Some specific suggestions include the following: Windows XP is now almost ten years old and is a popular target for attacks. Shortened URLS can disguise a link to a malware-ridden site. For your network, consider using Google's Public DNS. For smart phones be sure to back up your data, do not store sensitive data and disable Bluetooth and Wi-Fi when not in use. The top five threat vectors are JavaScript, PDF/Flash vulnerabilities, Botnets, XSS (cross-site scripting) holes, and the use of USB thumb drives. The article ends with a list of the biggest future threats: smart phone attacks, malicious apps from iTunes and Android market, pre-infected hardware devices, attacks on Macintosh computers which up to now have been rare, and highly targeted phishing (Maximum PC, 2011).

A survey of young employees found that 87 percent decide where they will work based on their ability to use state-of-the-art technology. They also like to use unsupported social network sites, instant messaging, and rouge open source technologies. Another survey found that employees between 50 and 64 express some resistance to learning new technology skills. To address this disparity, it is suggested that companies should have a technology policy, and that they should provide training to users (Greengard, 2011).

IT departments are worried about employees using an OS that they do not support, thus opening the door for malware and other security problems. It was found that less than 18 percent of IT departments have antivirus, remote support, or patch management for tablets, thin terminals, and smart phones. Microsoft and other software companies want to push their software into an enterprise via the employees. This has created a mess for IT departments. This article offers five guidelines for selecting which operating systems to support (Healey, 2011).

Mind mapping software is a unique application of visual diagrams that has uses in creating new ideas, workflows, and measuring progress. Some major products on the market are Mindoma that includes options for team collaboration and video ; Mindmeister that includes sharing tools, and offline mode, and widgets ; and Mindjet that includes integration with Microsoft Access. Mindoma and Mindmeister have free versions available and Mindjet sells for $249 (Mac) or $349 (PC) (Prestipin, 2011).

Insiders at MacWorld discussed whether the iPad could replace the laptop. It was found that the Macbook Air was better for typing, had a more mature operating system, and was better for technical or creative work. The gap is closing. The iPad operating system has some growing to do. The iPad has better multitasking, and is very versatile (Belanger, 2011).

A much larger review of tablets reviews current and forthcoming products that compete with the iPad including the RIM Blackberry Playbook, HP Slate 500, Archos 10.1 Internet Tablet, Viewsonic Viewpad 7, Stream TV Elocity A7, and the Samsung Galaxy Tab. The Samsung Galaxy Tab gets the highest reviews for current Android tablets. According to the article, the ultimate tablet will be lightweight, have an antiglare display, kickstand, USB ports, HDMI, web standards such as Flash and HTML5, instant on, dual cameras, open video standards, and IP printing (Strohmeyer and Perenson, 2011).

Education

Advanced Capture Technology has caught on in higher education. Teachers have said it makes them better teachers. It has been said that classes based on interaction are not good candidates for capture. One teacher pre-recorded her lecture so when the class became live, there was more time for group discussions. Students find that it helps in their effectiveness of studying (Waters, 2011).

Kahn Academy is an educational web site that lets you learn anything for free. There are 2,400 videos. A teacher in California now uses Kahn Academy to let students learn at home, and do their homework at school. This provides more one-on-one teaching, which is very effective (Thompson, 2011).

Learning management systems (LMS) are evolving. There are proprietary and open source products. A popular proprietary system is Blackboard. Moodle and Sakai are the most popular open source choices. Technologists, educators, and vendors were asked to weigh in on how LMS will tackle informal learning, social networking, assessment, and mobile learning (Campus Technology, 2011).

Laughlin discusses what kinds of interactive technologies are most effective in the classroom. Interactive teaching involves group discussions, demonstrations, question-answer sessions, and electronic quizzes. This article talks about student response systems, which provide feedback in student comprehension. It discusses collaborative learning systems, where a network allows several students to share files and make a presentation. One example is Tidebreaks's ClassSpot. Voice lift is a technology that allows a teacher to increase their voice level. Recording and streaming is now also available. Two popular products are LifeSize Video Center and 323Link's Educast. Unified classroom communications are being developed, whereby one product can bring together multiple technologies (Laughlin, 2011).

Many libraries are beginning to use digital signing to make a strong first impression with library users. This article reviews the experiences at DePaul University. It is important that the information provided be up to date, impressive and consistent with the institution's vision and image (Ellis, 2011).

Internet

Universities are beginning to slowly transition from internet protocol version 4 (Ipv4) addresses to Ipv6 addresses. An Ipv4 device may not be able to communicate with an Ipv6 device. Dual-stacking and tunneling can assist with the communication issues. Security is an issue too. Most IT employees feel that security holes will be found and corrected (Fredette, 2011).

A visionary author has imagined that there will be an autopilot bot that gathers information from all of a users social networking sites. He says artificial intelligence may be able to mimic a human in reaching this goal (Levy, 2011).

HTML5 gives web developers some more tools to use such as authorship in the form of the "rel" attribute. The rel= attribute is related to HTML5 in the use of microdata. Microdata is an HTML5 specification that provides extra semantic markup for web pages to help machines understand what the content is more readily. HTML5 also gives a rel=author link. This allows you to point to author pages from articles and indicate to search engines the identity of the author (Small Business Lab, 2011). Another article notes that HTML5 makes better and more complete web pages. It enables developers to create graphical elements without a plug-in. It provides better tags that will make search results more relevant. It will enable video and audio without plug-ins. It will let users edit text in selected portions of a page. It will make dragging and dropping easier (Johnson, 2010).

LinkedIn is a business social networking site with up to 80 million business and academic professionals as members, 60 percent of who are decision makers. This article tells users how to optimize their presence on LinkedIn. The point is to build a consumer relationship, and eventually gain a customer. One of the best things to do is seek engagement with the customer. For example, start debates within LinkedIn groups. Consistently provide tips, tools, resources, video, and articles, and distribute them within a group. Answer questions on the Q&A board. Have a complete profile with videos, blog, PowerPoint presentations, and publications (Jaramillo, 2011).

Wireless communications can be used in all areas of an organization. The critical technology for enterprise wireless is Wi-Fi. *02.11n is ideal for the enterprise. It gives faster throughput, and it has multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) technology. With MIMO, you get much better connectivity because it is dual band (Rash, 2010).

Maximum PC's annual guide to 101 killer web sites reviews some interesting options of interest to libraries. Shapethehive.com is a visual experiment in digital collaboration that displays a color-coded hex grid. The wayback machine (www.archive.org/web/web.php) is where you can view historical versions of various web sites. Cleverbot.com is an attempt to create an intelligent agent that learns more with each conversation. Photosynth.net from Microsoft allows one to take digital photos and stitch them together into a 3D design (Castle, 2011).

An article in DigitalPhoto reviews the use of social media to share photos with others. The importance of tagging photos with relevant information is critical in order to drive traffic to your site whether it is a blog, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, or YouTube. For Twitter, one can upload photos via applications such as TwitPic or yfrog. It is noted that Vimeo, an alternative of YouTube provides for better quality of video and playback. Some applications allow one to use several social networks together. Blackbird Pie will publish Twitter tweets on a blog or web site and Twitterfeed will send blog posts to Twitter (Willis, 2011).

Lois Trapasso(Marlo233@gmail.com) is based at Rutgers University - Library of Science and Medicine, Piscataway, New Jersey, USA