Researchers at Penn State and other universities have developed a tool to more easily share or search for large academic files – using the principles most associated with trading music and movies illegally.
But unlike the free “peer-to-peer” file-sharing systems that have drawn complaints and lawsuits from the entertainment industry, people who allow data to be exchanged over LionShare can place limits on who can view specific files.
“It all comes down to how people share content and what restrictions they put on the content that they share,” said Mike Halm, director of LionShare at Penn State, which started the project.
The secure, private network is meant for faculty, researchers and students to trade photos, research, class materials and other types of information that may be not be easily accessible through current technology.
Normally, a researcher looking for data would need to conduct separate, time-consuming searches at individual repositories – virtual warehouses where research databases, photos or other large files can be stored. It may also difficult to download large data sets or video of, for instance, a deep-sea expedition.
LionShare, now being tested and slated for general release Sept. 30, combines the concepts of file-sharing and repository searching into a single search, Halm said.
Why the Internet was invented: In the decade since the Web’s emergence, what have been people been looking for online?
According to Lycos Inc., which offered one of the Web’s earliest search engines, we’ve put this vast, powerful, revolutionary new communications medium to work in service of information about … Pamela Anderson.
The pinup actress topped the list of Lycos’ 50 most popular search terms from September 1995 through last Saturday.
The rest of the top 10 has a few more wholesome subjects. Dragonball was No. 2, followed by Pokemon, Britney Spears, World Wrestling Entertainment, tattoos, Las Vegas, the NFL, the Sept. 11 attacks and Christmas.
It’s on us: Opera Software ASA is now giving away its Web browser and removing ads in an effort to broaden its user base and capture revenues by referring traffic to search engines and e-commerce sites.
Before the availability of Opera version 8.5 this week, users who downloaded the browser had to either pay $39 or view ads while browsing. Its competitors, including Microsoft Corp.’s Internet Explorer and Mozilla’s Firefox, carried no such requirement.
Christen Krogh, Opera’s vice president of engineering, insisted the move was not prompted by the success of Firefox, whose rapid growth in usage has threatened to push Internet Explorer’s market share below 90 percent for the first time in years.
In addition to getting revenue from fees and ads, Opera’s browser also had revenue-sharing agreements with other sites, primarily Google Inc., for directing traffic through the browser’s built-in search box.
By expanding the number of users, Opera can expect to earn more through such deals, Krogh said. A wider presence on desktops, he said, also could help Opera get on more mobile devices, where Opera has an advantage because its underlying code is more compact than its rivals’.
Ban extends to autodialed text messages, court rules: An Arizona court has ruled that a 1991 federal ban on using autodialers to call cell phones also prohibits sending mobile text messages with unsolicited advertisements – a technology not in vogue when the law was enacted.
The unanimous decision by a three-judge Court of Appeals panel upholds a ruling in favor of a man who had sued a mortgage company in 2001 after it sent two unsolicited text messages to his cell phone. Rodney Joffe claimed that the messages by Acacia Mortgage Corp. violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991.
Acacia argued that it had only sent a message and did not “call” Joffe, but the Court of Appeals said that was an incomplete description of what the company did when it used e-mail to indirectly connect to Joffe’s cell phone and place a text message.
“Even though Acacia used an attenuated method to dial a cell phone telephone number, it nevertheless did so,” Judge Patricia K. Norris wrote for the panel.
AOL switches to new anti-spyware vendor: America Online Inc. is switching the vendor it uses to protect its Internet access subscribers from spyware and other malicious threats, a move the company says will mean more comprehensive scans.
A tool powered by Computer Associates International Inc.’s technology replaces one using Aluria Software LLC’s. AOL had been considering the switch before rival EarthLink Inc. announced in August it was purchasing Aluria, AOL spokesman Andrew Weinstein said.
According to Weinstein, AOL’s anti-spyware tool will look for 28,000 programs, compared with only a few thousand before. The time to complete a full weekly scan has been cut in half and won’t interfere with other computing tasks, he said. The new tool will also check the computer’s memory every minute for rogue programs already running.
From Herald news services
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