News Report #5

The Story of Yahoo's Decline

By: Brian Kraemer, Channel Web

Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008

This last year has been disastrous for Yahoo and in particular this last month. February 2008 Microsoft decided to expand their business to search engines to compete with Google and offered to buy Yahoo for 44 billion. The day before Microsoft's bid for Yahoo arrived, Yahoo's CEO Terry Semel resigned. This made Yahoo's co-founder Jerry Yang CEO. It was clear that Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO, was looking to strengthen his company's position in the Web and search engine field against Google. Microsoft was willing to pay a premium price and Yang understood that. Yang sensed that he would be able to get Microsoft to pay more money for Yahoo and waited. Microsoft finally raised their offer to 47 billion. Yang finally announced that he was asking 53 billion for Yahoo and that is when Microsoft walked out on the deal. Then Yahoo began talking to AOL and then News Corp. about a potential partnership, but both deals fell through. Yahoo began to realize they need constant revenue for an extended period of time and decided to try and link up with their number one competitor, Google, to create an ad revenue sharing deal. Initial reports said that Yahoo would reap about 800 million in annual revenue from the deal and that the contract would last 4 years with the option of 6 more. This was the deal that Yahoo was looking for, but advertisers and regulators felt that this deal would infringe on fair competition worldwide. In July the European Union launched an investigation on the deal. This investigation went on through October and Google began feeling uneasy about the deal. Google did not want to damage relationships with their valued partners. The deal was then approved but was gutted and Yahoo would make 80 to 100 million annually with a 2 year contract. This was fine with the desperate Yang, but Google had already decided to end the deal and move on. Yang became very desperate and basically asked Microsoft to buy Yahoo but Steve Ballmer declined and so did support for Jerry Yang. Yahoo stock prices went down until Yang resigned from his CEO position. After his resignation Yahoo's stock rallied until Steve Ballmer once again squashed any speculation that Microsoft would make an attempt to purchase Yahoo now that Yang has stepped down. This looks like Yahoo is going to be scrapped unless something dramatic happens. Yang could quite be one of the dumbest CEOs of a major corporation that I have ever seen. He could not accomplish anything as CEO of the company he co-founded and should have known better to tease a power house like Microsoft. Yang should have realized that Yahoo needs Microsoft more than Microsoft needs Yahoo. If you have Yahoo stock sell it before they go bankrupt.

Reading # 5

According to this article there are many misleading websites out there and they can be misleading in a number of ways. They can be counterfeit, malicious, fictitious, parodies, entertainment, hacks, and disinformation. A website can fall under more than just one of these categories. Often websites overlap their misleading techniques, such as the matrinlutherking.org website that uses counterfeit and malicious information. This website gives two clues to point out that it is a misleading site and reveal it's true intent. First, the e-mail link displays a link to vincent.breeding@stormfront.org. The home page for stormfront, the sites sponsor, is a resource for white nationalists. Secondly, the link to the web design by Candidus Productions brings up a page that states, we provide various web applications for pro-White people online. Most people do not click on these links to find out who constructed or sponsored the website. Most people do not think to do five minutes of research to find out the true intent of a website. They just take it in as they see it. These websites grab a hold of less sophisticated web users by presenting their biased views in a factual manner that looks legit. There are so many people out there that are determined to persuade the public in accepting their personal views that it has become very difficult to determine what is misleading and what is factual and non biased. People are getting better and better at disguising their website to look legit, which increases the difficulty of the average web surfer to distinguish what is misleading and what is an honest attempt of informing the public with non biased factual information. 

News Report #4

Gates, Microsoft lobby FCC for unlicensed white spaces use

by: IDG News Service

Microsoft is lobbying the FCC this week to allow unlicensed use of "white spaces" of television spectrum for wireless internet services. White spaces are the unused patches of wireless spectrum that lie between television channels. Many major technology companies such as Microsoft, Google, Phillips, Motorola, and several others are lobbying for the FCC to make that unlicensed spectrum available for new wireless broadband networks. Google co-founder, Larry Page, and other supporters have said it would be similar to Wi-Fi networks, but more powerful. One of the major advantages of allowing the unlicensed use of the white spaces is the ability to diminish the digital divide between rural and suburban communities. Because the white space network is more powerful, farm houses in the square states could be connected to broadband internet which could not be achieved by Wi-Fi. These major technology companies say they can and have created devices that can prevent interference with television broadcast. This has been the major argument. The television broadcasters believe the unlicensed use of white spaces for wireless internet services will interfere and become detrimental to the entire broadcasting industry. There have been many test to see if wireless internet use would interfere with broadcasting and what devices would work to prevent interference. Major technology companies say the tests show that it is possible to create devices that prevent the interference of broadcasting, while the broadcasters say just the opposite. The FCC is planning to officially vote on the issue during it's meeting Nov. 4th, 2008.

Reading Assignment #3

"The Infodiet" talks about the information literacy problem in the United States, but places blame on everyone for not compromising. This article blames database producers for being too focused on how much information they can fit into their database, and not enough on how they can make databases that are easier or more familiar to search like google. Students are also the problem because they have "infobesity," which is the over consumption of junk information. Like fast food, students have become addicted to ease and quickness when researching. This is why so many students have turned to google. On the other hand, libraries are like gourmet food, it may take longer to get but it is much better once you receive it. Many students are more interested in quick and easy searches that provide a lower quality of information. There fore it is the responsibility of database producers and libraries to come up with easier databases to search that still produce high quality information. Professors need to compromise with libraries and encourage students to use the library for research. Professors should require students to use articles from library databases as sources for their research. Some people think that research is not supposed to be easy. That the journey of research is part of the learning process. The problem with information literacy is there is very little compromise between database producers, libraries, professors, and students. Everybody needs to sacrifice a little whether it be the students time, or the libraries style of research.

Annotated Bibliography Part 1

Information Literacy

For a person to be information literate they must be able to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use the information effectively. Information literacy has become more important for K-12 students due to the constant expansion of our information centric world. As technology grows and information become easier to attain students must become information literate at early ages so they are prepared for secondary education and the workplace. In the early 1980's seminal reports were conducted and they concluded that the "rising tide of mediocrity" was eroding the foundations of the American educational system. This report along with many others that followed, led the American Library Association Presidential Committee (ALA) to take charge of this issue. The ALA Presidential Committee created a National Forum on Information Literacy. This forum is a volunteer network of organizations and was created to raise public awareness on the importance of information technology. This forum help create the first Summit on Inofrmation Literacy which was responsible for creating a national ICT literacy policy council to provide leadership in creating national standards for ITC literacy in the United States.

News Report #3

"Congress Eyes Restrictions On Exporting E-Waste"

September 18, 2008 4:30am

Posted by: Stephanie Condon

CNET News

Congress is now looking at the current restrictions on e-waste. E-waste is electronic waste that includes recycled electronics and electronic waste. E-waste is being exported to other nations such as China and India. These countries are improperly handling the waste and it could be harmful to their population and the environment. Currently the EPA has very little restrictions on e-waste. The restrictions cover only old cathode ray tube televisions and monitors. These existing regulations are not well enforced. Other exported used electronics such as computers, printers, and cellphones "flow virtually unrestricted" into other countries. There is a significant economic incentive for recycling companies to export hazardous e-waste because the need for raw materials in a country like China is driving up the demand for electronics. The only restrictions on e-waste, which covers CRT televisions, were implemented in January of 2007 and since then only one company has violated them. However, the Government Accountability Office posed as foreign CRT buyers and 43 U.S. companies were willing to ignore the current restrictions. "The U.S. fails to hold manufacturers responsible for the end-of-life management of their products that contain toxic materials" The GAO has proposed three recommendations to solve this problem. The EPA should expand its restrictions on hazardous materials so that they cover all products that pose a risk during disassembly. The U.S. should improve it's identification and tracking of exports to identify used electronics. Congress should implement legislation to ratify the Basel Convention. The Basel Convention would control and monitor the trans boundary movement of hazardous waste. Not all companies are at fault. Companies such as Dell and Hewlett-Packard have programs that safely recycle used electronics. I am surprised that the EPA didn't have more restrictions on e-waste. I guess it has not been much of a problem until late. I like that congress is looking into this and is trying to impose the Basil Convention. Hopefully congress passes these ideas and keeps U.S. companies from taking advantage of other countries.

Reading Assignment #1

Before I read this article I had not realized how large of a role libraries played through out time. Libraries were originally created as an archive of manuscripts, art, and important documents. Libraries are so important because they contain the foundational building blocks for all of humanity. During the medieval times, books were very expensive because the printing press had not yet been invented. This made libraries not only archives but a collection of lecterns with books chained to them. Then the printing press was invented and it out over 500,000 books into circulation by 1500. This invention created a higher demand for books and libraries. The combination of the printing press and Andrew Carnegie's funding for 2,509 libraries caused a huge turning point in the evolution of libraries. We have evolved from a time when information was scarce and precious to today were information is vast a readily available. Because there is so much information available today we keep striving for the latest, most technologically efficient way to store all of this info. Libraries are constantly evolving to keep up with the latest technology. Not only do they have to keep up with the new technology that emerges every month but they also have to dispose of out dated technology as well. As time goes on newer and better technology will be created and will replace older technology. We are now in the process of replacing CD's with digital devices. Since technological breakthroughs occur so often we barley even notice them. Many people don't realize how these breakthroughs are changing the world. This technological rampage that we are on is creating a more globalized world. Soon we will be in a new era of global systems. We will have a global tax code, global currency, global ethics standards, etc. This will force libraries to transition from centers of information to centers of culture. Libraries will be an experience/culture based and will include museums, theaters, parks, and educational institutions. Libraries will be one of the few technological concepts to not be replaced.

News Report #2

"Yahoo announces social networking app for iPhone"

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-12261_7-10037907-51.html

CNET News - Posted by Stephen Shankland

September 10, 2008 10:47am

I found an article about Yahoo's new applications for the mobile phone. Yesterday Yahoo announced a free new application for iPhone called OneConnect. This program helps centralize communication and social networking. It is like a socially connected address book. One feature of OneConnect, called pulse, allows you to see everything going on with your friends by pulling news feeds from Facebook, MySpace, and the other leading social networks into one joined view. It also has a "favorites" feature that allows the user to track or quickly contact people in there inner circle. There is also a feature that groups all of the messaging together(text messaging, instant messaging, and e-mail). This program is not strictly for the U.S. or Apple. It will be available shortly to the entire world as well as other phone programming companies such as Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, Nokia Series 60 phones. Yahoo is also developing software called Blueprint. Blueprint has a "runtime" foundation tuned for each supported mobile device. This software can be used by programmers as a foundation for mobile phone applications. "This software is designed to ease the development difficulties of ensuring compatibility with hundreds of different devices. " 

I like that Yahoo is pushing the envelope on mobile phones because it will challenge the rest of the mobile phone companies to step up. It is similar to the article I read last week about Google Chrome. This increasing competition in the technology field has encouraged a users market. I am not real big in Facebook or those other social networks, I was a couple years ago though, but there are a lot of people who are and this makes social networking possible on the go. I also like Yahoo's idea of creating software that will allow cellphones to live up to their capabilities. Blueprint will allow phones to use any applications or devices it is capable of using. More sophisticated phones are able to get more sophisticated options.    

Reading Assignment #2

According to this article, the younger generations are bombarded with information. Not only with print information but easily accessible electronic information. There are over 8,000 more online databases now than a decade ago and more than 100 million websites, up from 18,000 in 1995. This abundance of information has confused them, or made them lazy to the point that they use inaccurate sources. Many students are information illiterate before, during, and after college. ETS gave an information literacy test to college and high school students across the country and the results of this test supported the idea that much of the younger generations are information illiterate. The test proved that 48% of the test takers could not identify the objectivity of a website. This test along with many others have encouraged schools on all levels, but mainly the college level, to improve their students information literacy by requiring students to take a class on research skills, library class, or hold a library degree. On the other hand some professors disagree with IT classes because they want students to use reliable and reputable print source instead of the Internet. 

The main point to this article is that the younger generations are information illiterate. Which means we don't know how to use the library or information technology properly. I partially agree with this accusation. From my experiences, many college students don't know how to use online databases and don't know how distinguish between an online infomercial and facts. Many students also have no idea that Wikipedia is an open source encyclopedia that anyone can edit. There are also the students out there that are information literate that are just too lazy to go through the correct steps in gathering reliable and accurate information.

Chrome is Google's new browser. It is similar to Internet Explorer and Firefox but has more and improved features and applications. This new browser is supposed to run todays complex web applications much better. Chrome has a more powerful JavaScript engine to run the next generation of applications that can't used in today's browsers. Chrome is also able to keep each tab in isolation to prevent one tab from crashing another. Chrome has it's own task manager that makes this possible. Through the task manager you able to look at how much memory each tab is using and you can close individual tabs that are acting up. Chrome provides safe browsing by showing a warning message before you enter a site that is suspected of malware or phishing. You are able to browse the web without storing a record on your computer through incognito mode. This mode opens a new window and anything browsed in this window will not be saved after you close the window. Chrome provides a number of other benefits, I just wanted to touch on a few. If Chrome becomes the preferred browser, it will put a lot of pressure on Microsoft and Mac. This is good news for the users because it provides more competition to create the most stable, fast, safe, and user friendly browser. This browser may quickly become popular among individuals, but it will have a hard time working it's way into companies. Most companies have IT services that approve what software can be run on their computers. These IT services move really slowly in adopting new software. This is because they need to manage and administer software in a systematic, larger-scale way and they need tools for that. Chrome could infiltrate companies the way instant messaging did, through users setermined to use the software they like, without IT approval. I think Chrome will be a hit and will become the preferred browsing tool among individual users. It so handy and easy to use. It makes using the internet so much easier and faster. I like it because it has integrated some Mac, Microsoft, and Firefox features to create an improvement on all of their browsers.

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