Incompatible mobile phone software is threatening to slow the growth of the mobile Internet. Most mobile phone networks use proprietary software that only works on one type of device or with one carrier. The competition is similar to what happened in the early stages of the personal computer industry. To counter this, Alcatel-Lucent recently launched an initiative to connect network operators with software developers to develop mobile applications that work with multiple networks and operating systems. More than 50 operators have expressed interest in the program and universal applications are in development. Meanwhile, China Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Vodafone, and SoftBank Mobile of Japan have established the Joint Innovation Lab (JIL) to develop applications for handsets on their networks. JIL has published a specification for a mobile “widget,” a simple type of phone application that displays live updates of limited data, like the current temperature. LG, Samsung, Research in Motion, and Sharp are all making phones using JIL’s widget format.

View Full Article

For More Information Visit: http://www.cpccci.com

A recent University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) survey found that more students are interested in majoring in science and technology fields, but those students are graduating at lower rates than students not pursing science and technology degrees. In 2009, 34.3 percent of white and Asian-American students and 34.1 percent of black, Latino, and Native American students said they planned to major in a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) discipline. “It’s really positive that we’re seeing growth in the percentage of students entering college who are interested in pursuing a STEM major across races,” says UCLA professor Mitchell Chang. However, the survey found that less than half of white and Asian-American students who started pursuing STEM majors actually graduated with STEM degrees, and the percentages are even less for blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans. “Something that happens in college–and it goes beyond just preparation–is losing students,” Chang says.

View Full Article

For More Information Visit: http://www.cpccci.com

The Bipartisan Policy Center recently staged the Cyber ShockWave, a simulation to demonstrate the plausibility of a cyberattack that could be as crippling as the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist strikes. “We were trying to tee up specific issues that would be digestible so they would become the building blocks of a broader, more comprehensive cyberstrategy,” says former CIA director Michael Hayden. The simulation, in which the cell phones and computers of tens of millions of Americans were turned into weapons to shut down the Internet, had 40 million people in the eastern United States without electrical power and more than 60 million cell phones out of service. Privacy was a key stumbling block in any strategy the participants tried to put forth. “Americans need to know that they should not expect to have their cell phone and other communications be private–not if the government is going to have to take aggressive action to tamp down the threat,” says Jamie Gorelick, a former deputy attorney general. Participants also wrangled over how far to go in regulating the private sector, which owns the vast majority of the “critical” infrastructure that is vulnerable to a cyberattack.

View Full Article

For More Information Visit: http://www.cpccci.com