Google Fiber is slowly but surely expanding around the United States. And in the process, it’s making companies and consumers think twice about their current services. Google Fiber is a major change agent in the computing world. The service, which rolled out in Kansas City first but now has plans to head to Austin, Texas, and Provo, Utah, is arguably one of the most exciting developments coming out of the search giant. It is essentially the top-of-the-line Internet service in the United States. And although it’s only available in a few places, Google Fiber has the capability of turning the entire industry on its head.

http://www.eweek.com/networking/google-fiber-matters-10-reasons-why/

Enterprises are now facing a wide range of cyber-security threats that target their infrastructure, applications, operations and even employees. As more companies put their business information online, there is an enlarging attack surface for hackers looking to access company Websites and IT infrastructure. Disturbingly, most attacks today are carried out automatically using an army of bots that are not targeting specific companies. Hackers instead are trying to reach as many Websites as possible to maximize their botnet ROI, and any company, big or small, is a target. With the rapid evolution of online threats, more cloud-based managed services are becoming a part of the enterprise security strategy. The benefits of mitigating threats at the perimeter, having security experts on your side, and not having to deal with updates, maintenance and other operational aspects are appealing to IT managers—even if they have an in-house security team.

http://www.eweek.com/security/slideshows/how-to-handle-website-attacks-your-security-may-not-see-coming/

Some of the nation’s most elite professors are taking up a new teaching fad: Massively Open Online Courses. MOOCs rhymes with nukes, and the reach is about the same. These classes streamed on the Internet have millions of students around the world enrolling. They’re free of charge. But when you add up all the work it takes on and off camera to make a MOOC, the cost to professors is pretty high. As Prof. Kevin Werbach can attest, the life of a MOOCs rockstar is not pure glitz.

http://www.marketplace.org/topics/tech/education/life-online-professor

Driver cell phone use and crashes due to distracted drivers are vastly underreported, according to a National Safety Council report, entitled “Crashes Involving Cell Phones: Challenges of Collecting and Reporting Reliable Crash Data.” The study, which was funded in part by Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company and reviewed 180 fatal crashes from 2009 to 2011, also brings up large differences in states’ reporting of fatal crashes due to cell phone distraction. For instance, in 2011, Tennessee reported 93 fatal crashes that involved cell phone use, but New York, a state with a much larger population, reported only one. Texas reported 40, but its neighboring state Louisiana reported none. Even when drivers admitted cell phone use during a fatal crash, the council’s analysis found that in about half these cases, the crash was not coded in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) Fatal Analysis Reporting System. Of these fatal crashes, in 2011, only 52 percent were coded in the national data as involving cell phone use, the study showed. Here’s a look at some state-by-state figures.

http://www.eweek.com/mobile/slideshows/mobile-phone-related-fatal-car-crashes-highest-in-tennessee/

Google Glass is on the minds of just about every technology nerd out there. The device, which is worn like a pair of glasses, allows users to do everything from snapping photos to recording video. Google Glass is designed to replace cameras, smartphones and perhaps other devices as the primary form of communication and data transmission on an individual’s person. According to Google, it’s the next logical step for wearable technology and will entice quite a few customers to buy it. But what if Google Glass doesn’t actually succeed in attracting customers? As nice as the idea might sound, there are still a number of market barriers that could cause Google Glass to stumble at the starting gates. Google Glass is an ambitious project that while it will win adherents is also making other potential users question whether it is practical. eWEEK examines the factors that could hold back Google Glass. From market factors to Google’s own missteps, it’s possible that Google Glass won’t actually reach the level of success so many think it will.

http://www.eweek.com/mobile/slideshows/google-glass-faces-market-barriers-10-factors-that-could-hold-it-back/

Why do students cheat — and how are they getting away with it? One unintended use for massive open online courses, dubbed “MOOCs,” is to help professors better understand the mechanics of cheating in online learning. Bernard Bull, an assistant vice president for academics at Concordia University Wisconsin, will ask his class to cheat for the purposes of anthropological research. Students will then be asked to disclose exactly how they cheated. The assignment is a unit in a new class, “Understanding Cheating in Online Courses,” which is offered through the Canvas MOOC platform run by Instructure, a course-management company.

http://venturebeat.com/2013/05/14/new-online-course-encourages-students-to-cheat-for-science/

Data science and personal information are converging to shape the Internet’s most powerful and surprising consumer products. Can we use data about people to alter physical reality, even in real time, and improve their performance at work or in life? That is the question being asked by a developing field called augmented social reality. Here’s a simple example. A few years ago, with Sandy Pentland’s human dynamics research group at MIT’s Media Lab, I created what I termed an “augmented cubicle.” It had two desks separated by a wall of plexiglass with an actuator-controlled window blind in the middle. Depending on whether we wanted different people to be talking to each other, the blinds would change position at night every few days or weeks.

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/514371/augmenting-social-reality-in-the-workplace/

Google has set plenty of restrictions on the functionality of apps for Glass, the head-mounted display it is now shipping out to early adopters. At the company’s annual developer conference, I/O, which kicks off today, it will show app creators how to break those rules. One conference session will be called “Voiding Your Warranty: Hacking Glass.” But it could be controversial to encourage experimentation with a product that at once has wowed people with its possibilities and spurred uneasy imaginings of a society subject to ubiquitous, user-generated surveillance. Google clearly wants developers to help explore the limits of what Glass can do, and yet Glass is not even on the market yet, and a handful of bars and cafés have already banned the hardware.

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/514831/treading-carefully-google-encourages-developers-to-hack-glass/

Quantum computing took a giant leap forward on the world stage today as NASA and Google, in partnership with a consortium of universities, launched an initiative to investigate how the technology might lead to breakthroughs in artificial intelligence. The new Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab will employ what may be the most advanced commercially available quantum computer, the D-Wave Two, which a recent study confirmed was much faster than conventional machines at defeating specific problems (see “D-Wave’s Quantum Computer Goes to the Races, Wins”). The machine will be installed at the NASA Advanced Supercomputing Facility at the Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley and is expected to be available for government, industrial, and university research later this year.

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/514846/google-and-nasa-launch-quantum-computing-ai-lab/

In this corner: MOOC enthusiasts, envisioning how these large, online courses will increase access to higher education, reduce costs, and reinvigorate teaching and learning. In the other corner: MOOC critics, anticipating how MOOCs will eliminate meaningful interaction between faculty and students, reduce the quality of learning, and decimate the professorship. You’ve probably heard by now that Amherst declined to participate in edX and that San Jose State faculty pushed back on plans for another MOOC in their midst. Recently, there is (seemingly) more press about the potential future impact of these large online courses.

http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/stratedgy/both-sides