Web Headlines

Headlines from around the Web for Wednesday, Dec. 5.

Compiled by Melanie Bender

New York to Begin Emergency Notification Pilot Program

The New York Times

The city announced it will start a pilot program on Monday that will deliver alerts by text messages, e-mail messages and phone calls, warning about flooding, chemical spills and other emergencies to anyone who signs up.

Network Skills in High Demand, Poll Finds

NetworkWorld

Research shows that nearly 20 percent of CIOs cite networking as the single job area in which they expect to see the most growth.

Authors Advises on How to Recruit and Retain the Net Generation

ComputerWorld

Author Don Tapscott notes that the Net Generation's work habits are different from those of their parents, because they have been profoundly influenced by technology like instant messaging, video games, mobile phones and search -- but they are not lazy.

MIT Puts Entire Curriculum Online

ComputerWorld

First announced in 2001, MIT's OpenCourseWare includes syllabuses, homework assignments, exams, reference materials and video lectures when available. The information is published under an open license that allows for reuse, distribution and modification of the materials for noncommercial purposes.

Birmingham City Schools will be First in Nation to Get $200 XO Laptops

The Birmingham News

The Birmingham mayor signed a purchase agreement for 15,000 laptops from One Laptop Per Child, a nonprofit foundation whose goal is to provide every child in the world with access to technology.

Penalty Fee Allows City to Revamp WiFi Plan

The Houston Chronicle

City officials in Houston are planning to use part of the $5 million penalty fee that EarthLink paid in September to finance a "digital inclusion" program intended to help students and the elderly in low-income neighborhoods access the Internet.

DHS' Data Mining Sparks More Controversy

Federal Computer Week

Although the Homeland Security Department terminated a controversial visual analytics data mining program this summer, it continues to engage in visual analytics research in a separate program, a spokeswoman confirmed.

Security Vendor: Malware Samples Doubled in One Year

InfoWorld

Through the end of 2006 and 20 years prior, Finnish security vendor F-Secure counted a total of 250,000 samples of malicious software, said the company's chief research officer. This year alone, 250,000 samples have been counted.

Web-Based Campaign Finance Reporting System Promises Ease

The Arizona Republic

The Arizona Secretary of State's Office is rolling out a Web-based campaign finance reporting system designed to make it easier for campaigns to enter information. Deputy Secretary of State Kevin Tyne said the simplified process will help get the information to the public sooner.

Pentagon Pursues Mashups, Microformats for Battlefield Intel

eWeek

The Pentagon is experimenting with using microformats with mashups to help expose legacy information for broader reuse.