Colleges use software programs to catch cheaters

Hey! Another topic that can make us think a little and remember some times of our life.

With cheating on the rise at many college campuses, a technology war has broken out, as some Web sites vie to free students from paper-writing woes and others tout computer programs to battle the plagiarized papers.

Many college students have faced a similar dilemma: A professor’s deadline looms and the panic-stricken student must cobble together a 20-page term paper before morning. Some students plug away all night; others use a click of the computer mouse to find hundreds of ready-made papers.

“Our teams of expert writers all have an emphasis in writing and many have been writing for us since our launch over seven years ago,” proclaimed Irvine-based JunglePage.com, the self-described “premier online student research center” that sells pre-written essays focusing on astronomy to Shakespeare. “With an extensive writer network, JunglePage has helped students with tens of thousands of topics.”

JunglePage.com co-founder Alireza Alavian, who later sold the company, said the material on the Web site was only meant to be used as a research tool, not as a ready-made essay. “The same knife you use to cut food can be used to murder, it comes down to individual decision. We geared it more for research,” he said.

Another Internet search can lead instructors straight to the software used to catch the cheaters.

Five hundred miles north of JunglePage’s Orange County headquarters, downtown Oakland-based iParadigms has developed a program to scan students’ papers, asserting that it is “recognized as the worldwide standard for preventing Internet plagiarism.” The company’s Web-based program, TurnItIn.com, is designed to identify papers containing unoriginal material.

This battle over cheating and how to prevent it has been fought in classrooms, legislatures and courtrooms.

“There are new technologies that make it easier to cheat, but I don’t think technology is the driver,” said David Callahan, founder of the Washington, D.C.-based think tank Demos and author of “Cheating Culture: Why More Americans Are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead.” “I think technology is facilitating cheating by people who are more focused on cheating or have more incentives to cheat.”

Third party software slows Internet Explorer

Found some info about IE8. As for me I use another browser, but maybe some of you are using IE? Answer, please, if there is any problem with the new version?
Redmond (WA) – Internet Explorer 8 might appear slower than other browsers because of the way it interacts with third party software, Microsoft has claimed. The company said that add-ons, pluggable transfer protocols and non-Microsoft security software are causing IE 8 to bog down. Redmond insists that there is nothing wrong with the browser and suggests users run its Process Monitor tool to isolate the problems. Writing in the IE blog, a Microsoft spokesman said that Process Monitor allows you to view all registry, file system, and process activity on your computer, and includes a set of filtering features to enable you to narrow down your view to just one process. Users can filter out the processes that slow the browser and then save the list of acceptable processes. Add-ons can be disabled using Internet Explorer’s “Manage Add-Ons” command under the Tools menu. The most troublesome add-ons typically are toolbars and browser helper objects, which will run with each new tab opened in the browser. One of the major culprits, according to Microsoft, is the Skype add-on which slows the browser significantly. Microsoft does not provide a work around for the Skype problem but describes how to manage other add-ons here. Pluggable transfer protocols, which are typically installed by download managers, can also affect the browser’s performance. Microsoft was not telling anyone how to deal with them either. Likewise it did not say how to fix problems with security software slowing down IE 8. Part of the problem is that some software scans content flowing through Internet Explorer, causing poor performance. Security software can strip out an HTTP header that tells servers to send back compressed content. Despite all of that, Microsoft still claims that IE 8 is the fastest Web browser.

Internet-based therapy shows promise for insomnia

Hey, guys! Have you ever had problems with your dream? Do you know what is insomnia? The next article is for those who know!

CHICAGO — Sleepless people sometimes use the Internet to get through the night. Now a small study shows promising results for insomniacs with nine weeks of Internet-based therapy.

No human therapist is involved. The Internet software gives advice, even specific bedtimes, based on users’ sleep diaries. Patients learn better sleep habits — like avoiding daytime naps — through stories, quizzes and games.

“This is a very interactive, tailored, personalized program,” said study co-author Frances Thorndike of the University of Virginia Health System, who helped design the software, called Sleep Healthy Using the Internet, or SHUTi.

Such software could one day be a low-cost alternative for some patients, Thorndike said. And it could be the only nondrug option for people who live in areas without trained specialists, she said.

Prior research has shown face-to-face cognitive behavioral therapy can have long-lasting results for insomniacs without the side effects of medication. The SHUTi program is based on that style of therapy, which helps patients change thinking patterns that contribute to poor sleep.

In the new study, released recently in Archives of General Psychiatry, the researchers recruited 45 adults with moderate insomnia and randomly assigned 22 of them to try the Internet program.

The group who got the treatment woke up fewer times and spent fewer minutes awake during the night. The control group’s scores didn’t change. Even after six months, the Internet group’s scores remained improved.

The response was “fairly impressive and comparable to what you see with more intensive sorts of interventions,” said Jack Edinger, a sleep disorder specialist, who wasn’t involved in the study.

Participants were highly educated and had no sleep apnea or psychiatric problems. Testing the approach on a larger, more diverse group could determine which patients benefit most, Edinger said.

Shelby Harris, a sleep specialist, said something valuable is lost in an Internet-based approach. A trained therapist can help patients stay motivated and identify anxieties.

“There will certainly be people who prefer the face-to-face contact or do better with that type of therapy,” Thorndike said. “This will free up those limited resources for face-to-face therapy for the people who need it, benefit from it or would prefer it.”

The study was funded by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health.

High Speed Internet Fax – a Must for Today’s Business

Hello! Wanted to ask you what do you know about the Internet Fax Software? Here I found the note about it, hope it will help you!

Business tools are very important if you want to improve your bottom line, one of these tools is high speed Internet faxing, that lets you reach consumers and providers in easy steps, learn about it and how it can improve your communications. Internet has changed everything, form the way we access information to the way we talk. In the world of businesses the change is the same and only the ones who can keep up with those changes are the ones who will triumph. High speed Internet fax is a reality and a tool that will speed up the work-flow massively. Think about it, today’s all about mobility, and Internet faxing brings you to it.

Everyday we are moving towards a paperless world, something that is great for speed and also on terms of ecology.

It is easy to start in the world of high speed Internet fax. There’s no special knowledge you need to start. First of all you have to know what it’s all about: the faxes are sent through the Internet in a digital form, this way faxes can be received through e-mail attachments and fax machines, but they can also be organized and stored for your convenience.

Other advantages of high speed Internet faxing include

-Lower costs

-Reliability in service.

-Mobility and Accessibility.

-Easy management.

Traditional fax machines brought with them many problems (paper jams, running out of ink, phone line costs, etc) Internet faxing gets rid of all that, while making the transmission much clearer and smoother.

Where to find Internet fax software and services?

Today, you can find all the options you need easily just by searching o the web what you want. The Internet helps you compare, review and check the features that you want in a faxing solution for your business.

Although it is true that you can find some free fax software out there, if you are using it for business it is not recommended that you employ it. Current free fax software is very limited and does not offer the enhanced features paid software has. In the end it can even slow down your communications.

So what are you waiting for? Throw away your old fax machine and prepare to get started int he world of High Speed Internet Fax, I’m sure you”ll love it.

China Delays Rule on Internet Filtering Software

Hey! Surfing the Internet I found out that the message below is met most oftenly than others. So I decided to put it here for you could also write your comments about this situation. So, begin reading!

The Chinese government has postponed implementation of a controversial rule requiring all new personal computers sold in the country come with Internet filtering software.

China’s official Xinhua news agency released a brief report Tuesday citing the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The report provided no details on the reasons for the ministry’s decision, which comes one day before the rule was to go into effect.

Chinese Internet users had called for a boycott of online activities on July 1 to express their opposition to the new rule.

Critics in China say the program, called Green Dam Youth Escort, could be used to spy on Internet users. They have also voiced concerns it could expose computers to security threats and be used to block sites China feels are politically offensive.

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information has said the software is needed to protect children from pornographic and violent images. China says that use of the software will be voluntary, and that owners will be able to un-install the program.

There has also been international concern over the government’s plan. The United States raised its concerns with Beijing about the software’s impact during a recent meeting with Chinese officials.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Trade Representative Ron Kirk said the software may violate World Trade Organization rules. They say it also appears to have “broad-based censorship implications” and network security issues.