Free Republic

The new Internet regulations say China's news Web sites must provide information beneficial to the public and state, and are prohibited from spreading information against China's national security and public interest. The announcement, made Sunday by China's official Xinhua News Agency, gave no further explanation of the new rules, nor what punishments could be faced by those who violate them. But the Beijing News reported that the new rules were targeted at those inciting illegal protests, gatherings and organizations online. The Beijing daily said violators would have to pay fines ranging from $1,237. Internet freedom advocates say the government is...

Computer users are being urged to be on guard for a bogus e-mail that pretends to offer news updates about Hurricane Katrina as a means to infect their PCs. The malicious e-mail gives a brief news bulletin on the disaster before urging people to click "read more" and be taken to the full story on a website. Yet once directed to the website, a virus is sent to the user's computer. People are also being told to watch out for fraudulent e-mail scams pretending to raise cash for Katrina victims. It's sickening to think that hackers are prepared to exploit...

A few weeks ago, the web world was captivated by the stunning images produced by Google Earth, an interactive 3D model of the globe. The ground detail is a montage of satellite images, which means you can zoom in to very, very high detail. In some cities this is complemented by 3D models of individual buildings. And because it would be crazy not to, it can also be overlaid with road maps to give you directions from A to B. If you insist, it will even fly the route for you. It is certainly a far cry from the online...

IBM and North Carolina's Research Park Triangle are whining and moaning about the paucity of students entering computer science: "With a critical shortage of [IT] workers projected in the coming years, it's crucial that [universities] attract top students to the field, a local IBM official said..." Irony, thy name is IBM. Allow me to quote from another article, dated May 19th: "IBM's headcount in India is inching closer to the 25,000 mark..." Gee, I wonder if IBM's Everest-sized outsourcing effort has dampened the enthusiasm of any would-be computer science majors? ...

Survey results from the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles (HERI/UCLA) show that the popularity of computer science (CS) as a major among incoming freshmen has dropped significantly in the past four years. Alarmingly, the proportion of women who thought that they might major in CS has fallen to levels unseen since the early 1970s. The percentage of incoming undergraduates indicating that they would major in CS declined by over 60 percent between the Fall of 2000 and 2004, and is now 70 percent lower than its peak in the early 1980s (Figure 1).Freshmen...

FEBRUARY 28, 2005 (COMPUTERWORLD) - An argument cited by H-1B supporters for raising the visa cap stems from the high number of foreign students -- especially from China and India -- who come to the U.S. to study. Foreign student enrollments account for about 70% of the masters and Ph.D. computer science students at Texas Tech University, according to John Borrelli, dean of the graduate school at the 28,000-student university in Lubbock. Last year, the number of foreign students who applied for graduate admissions was more than three times the number of U.S. residents who did so, Borrelli said. In...

Jef Raskin, the human-computer interface expert largely credited with beginning the Macintosh project for Apple Computer, died Saturday at age 61. Raskin, the author of The Humane Interface, died of cancer, according to a man who answered the telephone Sunday at Raskin's Pacifica, Calif., home. Raskin joined Apple in January 1978 as employee No. 31, but left the company in 1982 amid a well-documented dispute with Steve Jobs. The Macintosh was launched in 1984. Reskin was an assistant professor at the University of California, San Diego, and a visiting scholar at the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory in the 1970s when...

John Miano's career course is the sort of thing to make tech industry leaders wince and worry about their future work force. Miano was a programmer who tried for years to get into computer science doctoral programs. Despite earning a "B" average in college and publishing two technical books, he never was accepted. So he took the law school admission test and promptly won a full scholarship to Seton Hall. The result: one less computer scientist, one more lawyer. Discussion about technology's future in the United States often centers on problems that eighth graders have in algebra. But there also...

The information technology slump has reached the halls of academia. Students who once flocked to computer-related majors are rethinking their plans. Informal surveys suggest enrollments of students majoring in computer science have declined 20 percent from the height of the boom, say faculty leaders. Are comp-sci profs lamenting the trend? Guess again. "Most faculty would say, 'Yippee!'" says Maria Klawe, dean of engineering and applied science at Princeton University and president of the ACM, a leading professional organization for computing. Computer science departments were stretched thin by many IT wannabes who, according to their teachers, were drawn to the industry...

Preview: University of Texas students and their counterparts across the country are giving up on computer sciences and engineering programs amid concerns about a soft job market and the loss of tech jobs to other countries. Article: University of Texas students and their counterparts across the country are giving up on computer sciences and engineering programs amid concerns about a soft job market and the loss of tech jobs to other countries. According to a new survey by the Computing Research Association, enrollment in computer technology and engineering dropped by 19 percent in 2003, and some industry experts warn of...

U.S. students shun computer sciences OFFSHORING MAKES TECH CAREER LOOK RISKY By Karl Schoenberger Mercury News Undergraduates in U.S. universities are starting to abandon their studies in computer technology and engineering amid widespread worries about the accelerating pace of offshoring by high-technology employers. A new study, to be published in May, shows there was a dramatic drop-off of enrollment in those fields last year -- 19 percent -- and some educators warn about the potential consequences for America's global competitiveness. Enrollment in undergraduate computer-science courses continued to grow after the collapse of the dot-com bubble until the sharp decline in...

Fearing job losses due to outsourcing, undergraduates in the US have begun to abandon their studies in computer technology and engineering, says a new study. Conducted by the Washington-based Computing Research Association, the study will be published in May. It shows there is a dramatic drop-off in the enrolment of the two subjects - 19 per cent - even as some educators warn about the potential consequences for America's global competitiveness. Enrolment in undergraduate computer-science courses continued to grow after the collapse of the dotcom bubble until the sharp decline in the 2002-03 academic year, according to the study. Many...

Undergraduates in U.S. universities are starting to abandon their studies in computer technology and engineering amid widespread worries about the accelerating pace of offshoring by high-technology employers. A new study, to be published in May, shows there was a dramatic drop-off of enrollment in those fields last year -- 19 percent -- and some educators warn about the potential consequences for America's global competitiveness.

<p>It was 10 a.m. at the E3 Convention — where every year the computer gaming industry presents its newest creations — and titanic screens filling room after room were showing computer games' mayhem and gore. Just in case the virtual world was not enticing enough, scantily clad "hot babes" provided by the industry roamed the halls for the almost entirely male attendees to ogle and pose with.</p>

<p>The money, from the National Security Agency, was slated to fund a senior professor in his study of computer architecture. But the NSA demanded to know which foreign students would assist the professor, a US citizen.</p> <p>In a move that reflects growing national concern at universities about heightened government scrutiny of their research, MIT turned down the federal funding and opted to look elsewhere for the money.</p>