The verdict on the future of the Internet is in (once again), and experts overwhelmingly agree that by 2020 much of the world’s population will connect to the Web using mobile devices, according to a new study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

The report,“The Future of the Internet III,” included predictions from some 600 experts, including scholars and Internet stakeholders, about what path the Internet will take.

Of the respondents, 77 percent agreed that mobile devices, which will have greater computing power and will be more affordable, will be the primary tool used to connect to the Internet. The study also predicts that voice recognition and touch-based user interfaces will be more prevalent. A little more than half of the respondents agreed that virtual worlds...

A Michigan State University junior accused of violating a campus e-mail policy by sending a message to hundreds of professors received an official warning from the student-faculty judiciary on Wednesday, according to the

On a supercomputer at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University a team of computer scientists is building an artificial America filled with fake people who are given real addresses and are based on actual demographics.

According to IEEE Spectrum Online, the researchers have re-created the lives of 100 million Americans based on census data. Within six months, they hope to simulate the day-to-day lives of the country’s 300 million residents. Each fake person is given an age, education level, and job, which reflect the demographics of the communities they populate.

Using Navteg, a digital-mapping company, information is pulled from directories and databases to determine where each person may work, shop, or attend school.

The simulation may help to answer a few nagging questions. How do...

At the Ohio State University Medical Center, the iPod Touch is literally what the doctor ordered.

The university announced this week that all students in the College of Medicine would receive the devices, which the university plans to equip with medical software.

Justin Harper, a third-year medical student credited with the idea of distributing the wifi-enabled audio-and-video players, says the iPod Touch will allow him to listen to lectures during his commute to school and will put current medical information at his fingertips. He will be able to pull up graphics, watch videos of medical procedures, and search medical reference books. Perhaps more importantly, he says, he will be able to answer patients’ questions more quickly and without leaving their sides.

“It just makes [everything]...

It could be a scene out of “Revenge of the Nerds: The Next Next Generation.”

Computer geeks at universities around the country compete to sabotage a Victoria’s Secret contest that is being promoted—on some of the campuses—by sorority members via Facebook.

At Drexel University and a handful of other colleges, students created computer scripts to sway the contest—an online vote to nominate a university to receive its own clothing line—in their campuses’ favor.

Tim Plunkett, a junior at Drexel, created a script that could cast 1,500 votes per second, according to The Daily Pennsylvanian, the University of Pennsylvania’s independent...

In order to read this blog you must first answer the following security question:

What is the name of my family’s dog?

A new web service, Friendbo, offers to pose a similar question — one which only you and select group of friends know — to anyone who seeks to view information you post on your blog, or on sites like Facebook and YouTube. The more people learn about you, the more access they’ll have.

A group of faculty and students at the University of Washington is workingto demonstrate how the application can be used to protect data on Facebook profiles. The researchers hope Friendbo will better protect the privacy of Facebook users and make sharing information online more natural.

Managing blacklists and whitelists can lead to...

Application deadlines at many of the California State University’s 23 campuses have traditionally been loose. Students could apply in the fall, spring, and summer without fear of the campuses filling up.

But those days are over. If students don’t apply by November 30, they may not get in, Cal State officials warn in two new videos on YouTube. This is one, and this is the other.

The Board of Trustees announced this week in Long Beach that some 10,000 students who apply for the 2009-10 year will be turned away if the system does not receive more state financing. Nine campuses that have not been identified will cut off applications after November 30 and several others will...

It’s noon and you’ve still got 1,000 words to type. That might not seem like much, but it’s been months since you’ve last worked on your dissertation and distractions are plentiful. To make matters worse, your girlfriend, Violet, says she’s out the door and flying back to Australia if you don’t finish the paper by the end of the day.

What’s your next move?

This is the premise for Violet, a text-based computer game in which a graduate student is the main character. As the student, you must fight through countless distractions and solve a number of puzzles to finish the paper in time to save your relationship. The story is told by Violet, who allows you to examine objects in your office and ask for hints.

Created by Jeremy Freese, a professor of...

Snow World, a virtual-reality game that has been helping victims of fires cope with painful physical therapy for nearly a decade, is now part of a military study to examine whether or not virtual reality could provide relief for soldiers burned in combat.

The United States Army Institute of Surgical Research is seeking participants to join a study that is being conducted at Fort Sam Houston, according to ScienCentral.

The project is a collaboration between Christopher Maani, chief of anesthesia at the surgical-research institute, and Hunter Hoffman, one of the creators of Snow World and the director of the University of Washington’s Virtual Reality Analgesia Research Center. Mr. Hoffman developed the icy 3-D world with David Patterson, chief of...

Online enrollment at universities nationwide increased more than 12 percent in 2007 over the previous year, and the majority of college officials agree that competition for online students is increasing, according to the 2008 Sloan Survey of Online Learning.

According to the report, which included responses from more than 2,500 colleges, approximately 3.94-million students, a little more than 20 percent of the total student population in higher education, enrolled in at least one online course in the fall of 2007. Nearly 70 percent of the institutions surveyed acknowledged that they are competing for online students.

The worsening economy was one reason given for the increase in online enrollment.

“In these tough economic times, with unemployment up and...