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From Wired: developers are launching a beta version of QTrax, after reaching deals with the major music labels to allow free music downloads.

QTrax is an ad-supported P2P application that works within the Firefox web browser on Windows computers. Internet Explorer and Safari are not supported. Macs will be supported on 18 March, according to this article from New York’s Silicon Allwy Insider.

That article also reveals that Universal was the final of the 4 major labels to sign with QTrax.

The music files use Windows Media DRM, so they probably won’t work on iPods. A QTrax spokesmen claims iPod compatibility is high on the service’s list, and this Associated Press article says that QTrax has developed a workaround for iTunes compatibility. Apple has released patches to break previous iTunes workarounds by other companies.

QTrax has signed over most of the music revenues to the labels, so the service will earn the bulk of its margin by selling highly targeted web advertising. Of course, it is trivial to block ads in Firefox web pages by using an extension like AdBlock Plus. Whether AdBlock will work with the QTrax Songbird engine is another question. OpenDNS should block the ads, as I mentioned on 3 September 2007.

When I checked QTrax.com a few minutes ago, I saw a single image that claimed the service was overwhelmed by demand - check in tomorrow.

I’ve posted a PDF file with the syllabus and schedule for my online IS 6100-AO course. Just click the preceding link and look for the PDF file icon.

The course starts on Tuesday, 22 January 2008.

I’ll post a link to the Paper 1 assignment by then on the course web page. That assignment is a brief introduction paper that requires no textbook reading.

In the meantime, please check the syllabus. There are a couple of chapters to read before the end of the month. I’ll start posting some additional links and articles next week, too.

I do require students to sign up for TurnItIn.com. it’s a free service for HPU students. I use that system to receive and return assignments, as well as keep the gradebook. The service works with Internet Explorer, Safari and Firefox browsers.

Students should send me an email indicating what email address they want to use as their log-in ID for TurnItIn.com. I recommend using a personal e-mail address that gets checked every day. Mobile email and webmail addresses are fine. Some students use their Pipeline accounts, and that’s OK, too.

Students who already have a TurnItIn.com account should email me their address, so I can add them to the TurnItIn.com section.

23 January 2008: I updated the syllabus – the wrong textbook was listed on page 11. We are using the 8th edition O’Brien & Markas textbook again this term.

I mentioned OpenDNS on 3 September and 13 July of 2007. This is a free service that looks up domain names. Domain names represent the numeric IP (Internet Protocol) addresses that are used on every server. The Domain Name System (DNS) is highly distributed, and a good target for all sorts of legal and illegal opportunities.

OpenDNS is much faster than the domain name servers I’ve used at other ISPs. Every ISP has to provide DNS services to subscribers. The DNS servers are an important part of maintaining a fast connection, but some ISPs just do not manage their DNS servers well.

OpenDNS a great way to speed up an Internet connection, especially for residential and WiFi users, by outsourcing every domain name lookup request to a dedicated set of very fast servers in North America and Europe.

It’s hard to beat secure, fast and free.

OpenDNS also includes some nice security features. The service will block phishing and adult web sites, using a constantly updated list of known servers. This is a more elegant solution that proprietary security software that usually slows down a Windows or Mac computer.

Late last year, OpenDNS asked users to recommend the service to schools and universities. A recent article in THE Journal reports that over 10,000 educational organizations have adopted OpenDNS services.

Crackers have started to attack domain name servers, inserting false domain name entries that redirect users from well-known sites to forgeries. Schools and educational institutions are an attractive target for these attacks, as their IT security is sometimes less than adequate. In the past, school email servers have been a primary target for botnets. Hackers break into these servers, which can then be used to send spam. The legitimate users of these servers may not realize their email system has been compromised until their ISP cuts off their email access.

Installing OpenDNS on a personal computer is easy to do. I would not recommend that employees do this on their company computer without the support of their IT department, as some companies maintain specific entries in their own domain name servers.

I’m testing a web-based research tool called Zotero. I hope this free service can replace bibliographic database products like EndNote and Citation. I’ve recommended that software to IS 6100 and professional paper students. However, both products cost over US$100 for the student versions.

Zotero is free. It’s an add-on that can be installed in the Firefox web browser. The database is saved in that computer. I’m looking for a way to overcome this limitation. Zotero will not work well or at all with Internet Explorer, Opera or Safari.

Like other software packages, Zotero can capture citation information from web pages. This is a very helpful feature, especially for users who are dealing with long reference lists. Users can import listings directly from EBSCO and ABI.

It’s also possible to add photos from Flickr and materials from the Internet Archive. Zotero keeps adding support for more sites, and web site developers can add some support on their own. Yesterday, I added Zotero support to this blog. Zotero users can click the icon in the address bar to add a billso.com article to their Zotero library.

Zotero also plays nice with Microsoft Office and its leading freeware competitor, OpenOffice. The OpenOffice software can be downloaded from its web site.

One feature I want to try is file management. Zotero can import PDFs and other documents into its search database. I usually save web pages and articles as PDFs for long-term storage.

Of course, a big reason to use any bibliography manager is auto-formatting. Any decent bibliography package, including Zotero, let users build a reference list. The software then creates a list with the user’s choice of formatting, such as APA style.

Please note that I will not require my IS 6100 and IS 7010 students to use Zotero or Firefox, of course.

There’s two articles in today’s Honolulu newspapers about local Internet usage.

An article in the Honolulu Advertiser’s business section reports that Honolulu residents tend to spend more time on the Internet than the average US Internet user.

Oceanic Time Warner’s Road Runner cable modem service recently celebrated its 10th anniversary in Honolulu. The company reports that Honolulu is one of its most mature markets, with 220,000 customers. Many customers use residential broadband service to work from home.

Meanwhile, the lead story in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s business section examined the coffee shop office. At the bottom of the article, there’s a nice set of netiquette tips for public WiFi users. One major item in this list – people who buy little or nothing from a coffee shop while they use the free WiFi. Squatters beware!

Sadly, there wasn’t a single meaningful mention of security and privacy issues in either article. I recommend that anyone who uses their computer in a public place buy and use a privacy filter. This is a thin piece of polarized plastic that completely covers the screen. The filter restricts the viewing angle, making it difficult for anyone but the user to read the screen. 3M has a nice selection of filters that will fit most laptops. The Gadgeteer has a good review here.

The next two pictures demonstrate how a privacy filter works, by comparing a bare screen  on the left with the filtered screen on the right.

More public WiFi services are offering encrypted sessions, but it’s a good idea to use a VPN (virtual private network) to encrypt traffic. For companies whose employees tend to use public WiFi, a VPN is an easy expense to justify. Residential users can also set up their own VPN with a router, open source software or web-based services like GoToMyPC.

This article mentioned Kokua Wireless, a free municipal WiFi service that covers my office building in downtown Honolulu. Kokua’s coverage of downtown Honolulu is quite good, as shown in this screen shot from their mapping application.

Residential broadband providers have joined the battle for customer loyalty. Road Runner has Speed Zone, its own public WiFi network for its residential and business customers. Hawaiian Telcom partnered with Skywave to offer HT Spots, its own attempt at satisfying this key success factor. Users must have be a broadband subscriber to use these either of these services.

In the last few months, I’ve noticed more people around town using mobile data cards from Sprint, AT&T and Clearwire. These devices are more expensive and more secure than some public WiFi connections. Both HawTel and Oceanic offer encrypted public WiFi connections, of course.