Music schools have a tradition of bringing in famous musicians to hold master classes with a handful of students, but many of those visits have been cut this year because of tight budgets. Free software developed at the University of Southern California promises to make videoconferencing clear enough to hold such classes remotely over high-speed Internet connections.

The software is called EchoDamp, and it was developed by Brian K. Shepard, an assistant professor of composition at Southern California's Thornton School of Music. "There's a great deal of information that is there if you're in the same room with somebody singing or performing an instrument, but that is often not transmitted in a videoconference," he said. The goal of his software, he added, is "to maintain a sonic environment online that is musically effective."

The book, The Last Lecture, by Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon computer-science professor and a Wall Street Journal reporter is proving very popular, according to a blog post today on Librarian and Information Science News. Barnes and Nobles, and Amazon bookstores have sold out of the book, and Amazon’s Web site states that the book will be in stock again May 7. It is based on Mr. Pausch’s inspirational “last lecture” he gave at the university after discovering he had terminal pancreatic cancer. The book offers advice on how to live life to the fullest. —Andrea L. Foster

Lawrence Lessig, a Stanford University law professor and cyberspace activist, said today that he has decided not to run for Congress, saying that a successful campaign in California’s 12th District against Jackie Speier, a popular former state senator who is already in the race, would be too difficult. Only last week, Mr. Lessig said he was considering a run.

Mr. Lessig said the money people raised for his candidacy would go to his effort to reform Congress.—Andrea L. Foster

Growing rumors about Lawrence Lessig running for Congress from California’s 12th District—encompassing Silicon Valley—are more than idle speculation. On Tuesday the Stanford University law professor and cyberspace activist announced that he is forming an exploratory committee to decide whether to seek the office. He says he will probably make a decision by March 1. The political action committee ActBlue, which raises money for Democratic candidates, says 392 people have contributed $30,666 to his candidacy. And a Web site that is pushing Mr. Lessig to run says his campaign warchest already...

Here’s what readers of Wired Campus clicked on the most:

1. Walt Mossberg Shows College Leaders His New iPhone — Days before the official release of the iPhone, Walter S. Mossberg, The Wall Street Journal’s personal-technology columnist, gave attendees at The Chronicle’s Presidents Forum a sneak peek. He noted that the iPhone is just one sign of a major shift of computing away from PCs and into users’ hands through new mobile devices.

2. A MySpace Photo Costs a Student a Teaching Certificate — Sharing a picture of a night out partying as a “Drunken Pirate” got a student at Millersville University of Pennsylvania into trouble....

Legislation pending in the House of Representatives that would require a paper record of each vote cast in every election is being promoted by computer-security researchers, including Edward W. Felten, of Princeton University.

But at a news conference today in Washington, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation urged the public to oppose the bill (H.R. 811), called the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act. It stalled in the House this month over concerns raised by groups representing the disabled and state and local governments.

“We support verifiable audit trails, but we disagree that paper is the best solution or should be mandated to the exclusion of other technology,” the foundation says in a

Life for scholars was lonely before the Web, says the philosopher David Weinberger, a fellow at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society and author of Everything Is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder (Times Books, 2007). In a debate with Andrew Keen, a Web 2.0 critic and author of The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet Is Killing our Culture (Doubleday/Currency, 2007), Mr. Weinberger says that before the Web grew ubiquitous, “ideas were scarce…because space, time, and the limitations of paper made it hard to hear what others were saying and well nigh impossible to talk with them about it.” Now, he writes, “I am in contact with people who come up with ideas I’d never have encountered, who are sources of wide...

After Walt Mossberg called IT departments at large organizations “the most regressive and poisonous force in technology today,” he became subject to some venomous comments himself.

Mr. Mossberg, personal-technology columnist for The Wall Street Journal, made the remarks in a speech to 250 college presidents and administrators at The Chronicle’s Presidents Forum on Monday. His belief is that large IT departments centralize the technology of their organizations too much, preventing people from pursuing their own choices of computers and software.

That comment seems to have peeved many college technology chiefs. On the Educause CIO listserv today, one person wrote, “It occurred to me that...

Walter S. Mossberg, The Wall Street Journal’s personal-technology columnist, picked up his review copy of the Apple iPhone this morning, and he gave his initial impressions of the much-anticipated gadget to college leaders during a speech at The Chronicle’s Presidents Forum.

As he pulled the phone from his pocket and explained what it was, oohs were heard from several audience members.

“I don’t know whether I’ll give it a good review or not,” he said, noting that he will use the phone for the next couple of weeks before writing his review. “I can already see some things I don’t like about it. I see some other things that I do like a lot about it.”

He said a crucial question was whether the iPhone’s touch-screen keypad is an...

Could Macs overtake PC’s as the computers of choice among Ivy League students? If the current trend holds, they may reach that goal surprisingly soon.

Officials at Princeton University have told the Daily Princetonian that 45 percent of the computers bought through the campus bookstore this year were Macs. That’s a university record, and it’s a sign that Apple’s academic growth spurt has not ended: In 2003 Macs accounted for just 15 percent of the computers bought at Princeton, and last year they made up 38 percent of the university’s sales.

Does your institution keep tabs on how many Macs and PC’s it sells? If so, what trends do your figures show? —Brock Read