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Today’s New York Times features an article on WiFi telephones. These are mobile devices that can place telephone calls over an 802.11b connection by using VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). While these are similar to Skype phones that connect to a computer with a USB plug, WiFi phones are cordless. Here are some links to WiFi phones from Netgear and Belkin. The current models run Skype.The battery life of a WiFi phone is somewhat limited, because WiFi signals require more battery power than cell phones. A user might get only one or two hours of talk time on a WiFi phone. On the other hand, if there are free WiFi networks available, the user may be saving a lot of money on their calls.

WiFi phone users may have problems roaming from one access point to the next. The cell phone network is built to handle mobile users, as the network can hand-off a call from one tower to another as the caller walks, rides or drives across a coverage area. WiFi networks assume that the users will stay within the access point’s coverage area.

The article offers some compelling reasons why anyone who owns a WiFi access point should encrypt its signal. Encryption doesn’t stop other people from seeing or using your signal. WEP or WPA just makes it less convenient for a freeloader. Running an unencrypted WiFi router is like keeping the front door unlocked.

As I discussed on October 31, only about 10 percent of WiFi access points included in a recent survey ran WPA. Sixty percent of the access points found in this survey were unencrypted.

Users should run WPA in its pre-shared key (PSK) mode at home if their computer and WiFi access point supports that standard. The older WEP standard is what the university uses on its wireless network. However, WEP is almost trivial to crack with freely available software. Once someone gets the WEP key to a connection, they can monitor data sent to and from the connected computers.

Check the router’s documentation to learn how to enable WPA encryption. Before doing the setup for WPA-PSK, check the computers that will be connected, as older models may not support WPA without a software or hardware upgrade.

This post was first published on my old blog at http://www.bloglines.com/blog/wsodeman?id=247

Sometimes I use Blogline’s ‘clip/blog’ feature to post a link that I’ve found on that site. These links tend to redirect back to Bloglines, instead of the link’s original web site.

This link is from BoingBoing.net, which is one of the more popular blogs. It’s actually a group blog written by several contributors.

The main reason that I’ve posted this link is that I’ve noticed a rash of superfluous quotation marks and apostrophes in student papers this term.

I’m not an editor, but writing is an important skill for managers. In an online course and in e-mail relationships, writing is an important way of demonstrating one’s competency and skill.

For multilingual students, excellent English writing skills help demonstrate commitment, mastery and understanding within the American university system.

The most successful entreprenuers can find someone to to fix their writing, after all. Most managers have to correct their writing on their own. Automated spelling and grammar checkers are helpful, but can be misused.

These articles provide some excellent reading material:

• http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/education/2003448269_student26.html
• http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061126/ART16/61126010
• http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/26/fashion/26email.html

Here are a few quick rules that I use in my writing. I’ve added links to some helpful web sites. Purdue’s grammar web site is an excellent resource, and it’s more convenient than a trip to our writing center.

I’ve also added citations to the 5th edition of the APA Publication Manual. I never used the APA manual before I started teaching at my university four years ago, so it’s been a learning experience for me. I created http://billso.com/apa as a reference for my own grading, and for my students.

Some students have commented that the APA manual is a long and difficult style guide. It is long, no question about that. It can be difficult, especially when creating a reference list. However, the APA manual has many common-sense rules regarding English grammar and formatting.

I’ve had several jobs where I needed to learn a new style guide as part of an assignment, position or contract. Our university’s graduate programs use the APA manual because it’s widely available and comprehensive. It’s a good example of the style guides our students will encounter in their professional careers. Using one style guide is a better alternative than allowing programs to choose their own style guide, especially in required courses like IS 6100.

While I do mark grammar and formatting errors in papers, I’ve changed my thinking over the term. When I find these errors, I’m using unlabeled red flags in the TurnItIn.com GradeMark feature. This helps me make more comments on the student’s content.

It’s an issue

Read these articles from EnglishPlus and Emory University. Sometimes I think students just guess when they need to use “its” or it’s”.

• “it is” = “it’s”
• “its” = possessive pronoun. “It’s never a possessive!”
• Example: “It’s really not that confusing, because each word has its own function.”

Quotation marks

GrammarBook and Purdue University have some helpful tips about quotation marks. These are not a substitute for underlining, or a way to provide added emphasis.

• Most technical terms and names, such as Bluetooth, TCP/IP, five forces analysis, and HTML do not need quotation marks.
• Italics may be used the first time a term is mentioned.
• See section 3.06 of the APA manual for more details.

Paraphrasing

Be very careful when using someone else’s words. See these tips from Purdue.

• A direct quote is a word-for-word duplication or excerpt of what someone else said or wrote. Use quotation marks and a citation.
• Avoid using long, direct quotes.
• It’s always better to paraphrase or summarize than to use a direct quote. Either technique involves the writer’s skill in analyzing and interpreting the original remarks.
• See sections 3.34 and 3.36 in the APA manual for more details.

Italics vs. underlining vs. bold

• The APA manual prefers italics when the writer must emphasize a word or phrase.
• Do not overuse italics.
• Italics are also used in level 2, 3 and 4 headings (3.31-32).
• Avoid underlining. Use italics instead.
• I have one common-sense exception to this rule. Microsoft Word and other word processes often underline URLs like http://billso.com automatically, and this is fine for my courses. Most users do not know how to modify a Word style or template.
• Bold fonts should not be used in APA formatting, except for statistical symbols (3.58).

From Yahoo: The Wal-Mart web site was down for 10 hours today as thousands of Internet users overwhelmed the site. Analysts have ranked Walmart.com as the 21st largest web site in terms of user volume.

Wal-Mart’s problems started around 4:30 AM ET, and continued throughout the morning.

Amazon offered 1000 Xbox 360s for $100 each, among other items. Amazon.com management said their site experienced about 15 minutes of problems.

From Yahoo: According to an report by a European Union (EU) panel, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) broke EU protection laws when the group agreed to provide transaction information to the US Treasury, starting in late 2001. As revealed in June 2006, the Treasury used this information to identify and track suspected international terrorists.If you have transferred money between accounts in different countries in the last ten years, information about the transaction, yourself and your accounts probably went through a SWIFT network. SWIFT handles 11 million international financial transactions a day. These transactions are XML messages exchanged between banks across the Internet, using SWIFT’s messaging systems.

SWIFT management claims that it is trapped in a “legal black hole”, as Belgian, EU and US laws each have different requirements. SWIFT responded to the original US subpoenas to avoid fines and jail time. The EU panel recommended an investigation of Belgian regulators, as SWIFT is subject to Belgian law. US legislators and citizens have called for investigations and new laws.

Business Week has an article about an interesting merger of two video game companies. Bandai bought Namco in September 2005, and Namco Bandai became the 3rd largest video game copmany in Japan.Here’s another article: http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4252&Itemid=2

In the early years of the industry, Namco was best known for the Pac-Man, Galaxian and Frogger arcade games, as well as their use of the number 765 as a corporate symbol. In the PlayStation era, Namco found success with Tekken and Soul Calibur.

Bandai developed several popular series, as well as the Mobile Suit Gundam, Power Rangers and Cowboy Bebop multimedia franchises.

Both companies each struck licensing deals to put their games on home video game systems. I used to play the Atari 2600 version of Pac-Man. It was tolerable, but at least I could save my quarters.

Both companies had strong relationships with the Sony PlayStation groups. Namco Bandai has developed two games for the PlayStation 3 launch, new versions of Mobile Suit Gundam and Ridge Racer. This is amazing, considering that the PS3 is a brand new console that was launched at different dates in Japan and the United States.

The company has also set up software development teams in the US, while maintaining its development offices in Korea and Japan. The US office focuses on porting older Namco and Bandai games to mobile phones. Rereleasing old intellectual property (IP) is a common business model in publishing.