Matt's Favorites: See You At LTU Thursday, Math Whizzes, Spotify Music In Fords, Mars Under Attack, And More
So here's the very latest in tech, from local to across the universe...
* If you're worried about wireless security, visit me at Lawrence Tech Thursday morning for our monthly Last Thursdays Unwired at Lawrence Technological University event. The proliferation of smart mobile devices like tablets, smartphones and notebooks is driving the BYOD ("Bring Your Own Device") explosion and putting ever-increasing demands on wireless networks. Organizations want to harness the productivity gains these devices provide, but without putting network assets at risk. It is now more important than ever to have control over your entire network -- both wired and wireless -- with comprehensive, integrated security policies and increased visibility. Find out how to secure your WLAN and eliminate wireless network management headaches in our meeting Thursday, Feb. 28 at LTU. It's all free. Doors open at 7:30 and the really smart people start talking at 8, shortly after I introduce them. Register at this link.
* Congratulations to the kids at University Preparatory Middle School in Detroit, who have qualified for the Delta College Middle School Mathematics Competition. The competition is comprised of critical thinking questions and deep knowledge and application of information to real world scenarios. To compete, students must decipher the mathematical information from the body of text, connect several concepts, and apply different strategies to multi-step problems drawing across the middle school curriculum -- algebra, geometry, statistics and probability, and logic. In preparing for the competition, students were tasked with meeting the national standards for their respective grade levels and building their knowledge base. Students began studying rigorous concepts, which far exceeded grade level expectations and now regularly undertake high school and college-level mathematical equations. Several students were able to increase their content knowledge by more than 2 grade levels in just 6 short months. Mr. Vlad, their math teacher, a Teach For America Detroit corps member, said "The students have embraced this challenge and exceeded all expectations. Their drive and skills are an inspiration." And by the way, can you solve this problem? ((2x〖10〗^6 )(26.25x〖10〗^(-10) )(4x〖10〗^13))/((7x〖10〗^3 )(3x〖10〗^14 )(5x〖10〗^11))+ √(14.6 x 12 3/4+ 38.85)-(3.6 x 6.3)^2= They can! (And ow. Just looking at that makes my brain sore.)
* Streaming music service Spotify has partnered with Ford Motor Co to allow its subscribers to listen to music in more than one million Ford vehicles in North America.
* Internet users who illegally share music, movies or television shows online could soon receive warning notices from the nation's five major Internet service providers.
* Maybe Atlantis -- or at least the cousin to Atlantis -- does exist after all. Researchers have announced a discovery of a continent hidden deep beneath the Indian Ocean. The finding was reported in the journal Nature Geoscience. The scientists, led by Trond Torsvik from the University of Oslo, say that a micro-continent may have sunk below the island of Mauritius millions of years ago.
* Attention fellow old people: To beat heart disease, the Mediterranean diet of the right fats beats a super low-fat diet. So eat those nuts and olive oil, and a few pops of red wine a week doesn't hurt.
* Finally, the Onion, a Web site I usually adore, just flat out goes too far.
* Is it true that a hacker could have accessed every single Facebook account due to a privacy flaw? Actually, yes. And he wrote about how he did it on his blog.
* Those new moons of Pluto? They're going to be named Vulcan and Cerberus. Cool.
* Samsung sent an invitation to the press on Monday for an event on March 14 in New York City. The electronics giant is expected to announce its next-generation smartphone.
* In space, it turns out the red of Mars is only skin deep.
* And look out, Curiosity! Mars may get hit by a comet in 2014.
* A rocket carrying seven new satellites, including the first spacecraft designed to hunt huge asteroids and two of the world's smallest space telescopes, launched into space Monday (Feb. 25) from an Indian spaceport.
* Beijing hotly denies accusations of official involvement in massive cyberattacks against foreign targets, insinuating such activity is the work of rogues. But at least one element cited by Internet experts points to professional cyberspies: China's hackers take weekends off.
* The Asus FonePad is a cheap 7-inch Jelly Bean tablet that makes phone calls. Sounds perfect.
* Barnes and Noble's founder wants to take the struggling bookstore chain private. Good luck.
* Facebook has agreed to remove some so-called tribute pages related to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting over concerns they're being used to exploit the tragedy, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said Monday.
