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A Cheapskate's Guide to Free Security Software

8/8/2008

Free is an attractive price. Read which packages were deemed "most useful" by a handful of experts.

First Look: Zimbra Web-Based E-Mail for the Desktop

7/30/2008

Zimbra, a Yahoo-owned company, last week released a beta of the open source Zimbra Desktop solution, which is meant to be an alternative to more traditional e-mail/groupware applications such as Microsoft Outlook.

Facebook and Collegiality: A Serendipitous Social Niche

7/2/2008

Facebook is a way to greet a colleague as if she or he is on your own campus: a wave at a distance, a hello at the corner burrito place, a honk as you both leave the campus parking lot. Informal collegiality has been extended over the miles.

Live Mesh: An 'Open Platform' for Developers

4/28/2008

Amit Mital, general manager of Microsoft's Live Mesh group, had a message for developers attending the Web 2.0 Expo April 22-25 in San Francisco: Think open platform.

First Look: IBM Lotus Symphony Beta 4

4/15/2008

IBM Lotus Symphony is one of the newer free office productivity suites out there, although the Lotus name itself has a long pedigree. Like OpenOffice.org--a free productivity suite fostered by Sun Microsystems--Lotus Symphony uses the OpenDocument Format (ODF), with reverse-engineered support for Microsoft Office formats, such as doc and xls.

First Look: PostgreSQL 8.3

2/28/2008

I decided to give open source database PostgreSQL a try using version 8.3, which was released early in February. My favored environment to use is Ubuntu Linux, which currently works well with MySQL installed. However, for this test, I opted to use the Windows version of PostgreSQL.

Early Look: Acid3

1/22/2008

In December, I wrote about Internet Explorer 8's ability to properly render the Acid2 test. Many current or upcoming browser releases are able to successfully process Acid2. However, the bar is about to be raised again. Since April 2007, the Web Standards Project has been designing Acid3 to be the next rendering milestone for modern browsers.

First Look: Project Zero

1/4/2008

Project Zero (an IBM incubator project) is an extension of the Eclipse open source Java programming IDE. It allows Java programmers to use a familiar development environment to create dynamic Web applications. While the project is supported by a "community," much like open source efforts, the aim of Project Zero is commercial, with IBM counting on getting feedback from developers in the mean time.

Review: Wacom Cintiq 12WX

12/12/2007

Whether you're participating in digital media instruction personally or merely supporting visual arts programs on your campuses, you no doubt have Wacom tablets up near the top of the equipment list. They're integral in the production of digital art, and they're ubiquitous in all realms of professional creative work.

First Look: The Popfly Development Environment

12/3/2007

For nearly a decade, Macromedia's Flash (now an Adobe product) has been the de facto standard for Web animation. It's in widespread use across the Web. Recently, Microsoft introduced its Silverlight platform, a competitor to Adobe's Flash and a few similar technologies.

First Look: DB4Objects Database

11/26/2007

As a freelancer, I've had to work with databases quite often. In my earlier years, I worked with Microsoft Access, creating Visual Basic for Applications forms to interact with my data tables and queries. As my needs matured, I moved on and embraced MySQL and the various front ends for it due to the increased versatility offered by such solutions.

First Look: The Curl Development Environment

11/8/2007

Curl, which has recently been released in part to the open source community under the Apache 2.0 license, is an object-oriented hybrid markup language with similarities to HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Review and Benchmarks: Apple 13-Inch MacBook

7/9/2007

After a little more than a year, Apple's entry-level MacBook line of notebook computers is now in its third generation. Sporting upgrades to wireless networking, CPU performance, and storage capacity....

Review: Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Premium

5/30/2007

Some of the most common applications IT professionals have to administer (besides the usual, ubiquitous office and productivity tools) are to be found in the Adobe's design software portfolio--Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash, Illustrator, and InDesign, among others.

Review: Adobe Creative Suite 3 Web Premium

5/29/2007

It's the moment that a whole bunch of Web designers and producers (especially those with Intel Macs) have been waiting many a moon for: Adobe's CS3 Design and Web suites are finally shipping.

A Look at Oracle's PeopleSoft Enterprise Campus Solutions 9.0

4/30/2007

Boise State University's coordinator for data quality and reporting comments on his university's beta trial of Campus Solutions 9.0 and that institution's intention to upgrade and move toward next-generation applications that improve constituent services.

Preview: Angel Learning Island on Second Life

4/17/2007

Today Angel Learning, in conjunction with the Second Life Educators community (SLED), will unveil a brand new island in Second Life dedicated toward educational experimentation....

Hands On with Photoshop CS3 Extended

3/27/2007

As a campus IT person, you might want to consider hiring a bouncer and putting up a velvet rope in front of your office. In a few hours, every department head and faculty member....

Review: Google Mini 2.2

3/19/2007

"Deploy and forget." That's the phrase that comes to mind to describe the Google Mini, the 1U rackmount appliance from Google....

More Than Open Source: A Second Look at Sakai

3/14/2007

Because it often gets the most press for being "open source" software, you may not know that Sakai has unique features--many not found in other course management systems.

First Look: Desire2Learn Essentials

3/1/2007

This week Desire2Learn introduced a new course management/ learning management system targeted toward smaller institutions.

Hands on with Newer Tech’s Universal Drive Adapter

1/9/2007

Here's one for the technician on the move. Chances are that the computers in your school use at least two different types of hard drives—probably more. You have, of course, SATA and PATA 3.5-inch hard drives in your desktops and workstations. But you also have SATA and PATA 2.5-inch drives for your notebooks. (The more recent high-performance notebooks like Apple's MacBook and MacBook Pro use 2.5-inch SATA drives.) And this means that when it comes time for diagnostics, recovery or general maintenance on these drives, you're stuck finding enclosures or docks for each one of these different interface types.

Educause Floor Shopper: CT Exclusive: Our Product Picks

9/30/2006

Check out the new technology products and upgrades that caught our editors’ attention. If you’re heading to the Educause expo in Dallas, don’t miss these booths!