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(09/20/05 3:51am)
One day after class last semester, friends of Ryan Alovis, now an IU graduate, sat on a couch in his living room playing a fast-paced game of Madden Football on Sony PlayStation. However, Alovis was nowhere near the excitement. Instead, he chose to juggle the responsibilities of attending daily classes and running his own business.\nFor many business-minded IU students like Alovis, creating a business venture and watching it grow is a top priority. Because they were not part of a final classroom project, these businesses forced the creators to work simultaneously on their schoolwork and their companies in order to achieve success.\n"It's completely exhilarating and the adrenaline definitely pumps when business starts rolling in," said Alovis, one of the co-founders of After Party Cleaning. "It's a complete feeling of accomplishment. You feel proud and strong. It's something that nobody can take away from you. This is yours and that's the end of the story."
(02/22/05 5:22am)
Nicole Smith said she will never forget the day she woke up and noticed the small spot on her right calf had changed. The left side appeared to have grown an irregular border and was varied in color while the right side had become very dark and thick. \nSmith said she became very concerned with how quickly the spot was changing, so she showed it to her father. He immediately took her to see a dermatologist. Once there, Smith received her diagnosis.\nShe was 21 years old, and she had skin cancer.\n"I think it really hit home to me what had happened when my doctor told me that if I had not caught this melanoma in time, I could have died within a year from other cancers that had spread from the spot on my leg," Smith said.\nToday, as a 27-year-old graduate student at IU, Smith is cured. But as students anxiously await the warm, sunny destinations of spring break, local experts explain how an understanding of the causes and risks of the potentially deadly cancer can help protect a person from getting the disease.
(11/30/04 4:55am)
Every new technology emerging in society begets a public concern for security. While the Internet has completely revolutionized the way the world functions in terms of communication, commerce and entertainment, it also has brought security issues to the forefront. \nThe Internet has brought new terms like "hacker," "firewall" and "encryption" into the public mindset as more and more computers are inundated with intrusive schemes to reach individuals. \nFrom software to block pop-up ads on personal computers to programs used to scan computers for threatening viruses, IU students have a plethora of security options to pursue in order to keep their information private and safe.\nMark Bruhn, IU's chief information technology security and policy officer, is responsible for a team of people who are committed to helping University Internet Technology Services and other departments secure IU's networks and computers.\n"Students must understand that programs they download and some sites that they visit contain things that they don't want on their computers," Bruhn said. "Viruses and worms, but also Spyware and other programs, could harm their computers and put information they send at risk. Students should have anti-virus software active and updated, and they should have Ad-Aware and SpyBot both installed and actively looking for malicious programs." \nThe number of software programs available to protect Internet users is nearly limitless. However, IU students can download Ad-Aware and SpyBot, as well as other software, for free from the University by visiting www.iuware.iu.edu.\nIn addition, the UITS Web site offers information for students who have questions or concerns regarding software and hardware, training and workshops, information systems, security, and policies.\nOne of the biggest technological concerns students encounter around Bloomington is the "always-on" connection that is becoming more commonplace among Internet users. \nCable modems, DSL and T1 lines, which are very common in many of the dormitories on the IU campus, are more susceptible to attacks than dial-up 56k connections.\n"Broadband connections are always on and have addresses," said Jean Camp, an associate professor of informatics and associate director for the Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research. "Broadband systems are more valuable, and once an attacker has subverted one of those machines, the attacker can re-sell it." \nAs an additional safety precaution, students are recommended to frequently change their passwords so as to prevent anyone from potentially obtaining their personal information or breaking into their computer. Refraining from opening unsolicited e-mail and downloading documents that are suspicious can also help to keep students' personal computers virus-free and prevent the spread of a virus.\n"Once released, (worms and viruses) become like germs in an environment where there are always new people to infect because not enough people have patched their machine," Camp said. "Protecting your machine against endemic malicious code is as common sense as taking an Hepatitis shot when traveling to areas where it is endemic."\nAs students make more purchases online for various items and services, the risk of personal and financial information leaking to outside sources is certainly present.\nJunior Elizabeth Rosenberg, who uses anti-virus software and abstains from downloading music online, expressed a fear of her credit card number becoming public information. \n"I am concerned that someone could steal my credit card information when I am making a purchase online," Rosenberg said.\nReading companies' privacy policies before making online purchases can help to keep private or personal information safe. \n"Students should be careful where they put personal or important information. Companies like Sears or Kmart, or other well-recognized companies, may be perfectly safe to put your credit card on their Web sites, but other unknown sites may not be as trustworthy," Bruhn said. "Minimally, students should look for or read a Web site's privacy/security policy before they send personal information to a Web site."\nAs Web sites have become more diverse, Internet users who surf the 'net might be oblivious to what Web sites are more unsafe, insecure, and could potentially harm them and their computers.\n"Connections to Web sites that have in their address 'https' instead of 'http' are more secure," Bruhn said. "You can also tell these because they have a closed lock or an intact key on your browser frame somewhere. These indicate that whatever you are sending to that Web site is encrypted on the Internet and so cannot be intercepted and read by someone else." \nAlthough students can take control and protect themselves and their computers, organizations have also been created to ensure certain Internet security guidelines are being followed by Web sites.\nAs the Internet continues to change and progress, security will remain a prominent issue.\n"Right now, the parties most able to make investments in security have the least incentive, and the people with the most incentive have the least ability," Camp said. "The economics of computer security are backwards. If software producers had some liability for preventable computer security failures, there would be fewer security failures."\n-- Contact staff writer Mike Savitt at mpsavitt@indiana.edu.
(10/21/04 4:35am)
With the Internet revolution now beyond its infancy, only a handful of successful Web sites from its early years remain to this day. \nEBay Inc., located at www.ebay.com, has survived the revolution and gained a foothold in the e-commerce business through its daily auctions that bring people together from all over the world to determine the value of various products. \n"The idea of getting excellent 'deals' appeals to most people," said Dick Canada, IU professor of marketing and director of the Center for Global Sales Leadership. "People like to brag about their deals, boast about their negotiations, and eBay offers this attraction. People who buy on eBay will often consider selling on eBay, so eBay has changed the way we buy and sell from a sociological and psychological perspective." \nEBay was founded in 1995 by Pierre Omidyar in San Jose, Calif. \nOmidyar, along with the help of other key management officials, has turned the Web site into an e-commerce global empire. According to www.nasdaq.com, eBay's confirmed and registered users grew from only 2 million in 1998 to 62 million in 2002.\nWhether a consumer wants to bid on an autographed Andre Agassi tennis racquet or an antique automobile from the 1950s, eBay will certainly have exactly what he or she is searching for. EBay has become an obsession for some IU students and professors who have chosen it as a one-stop-shop for all their personal needs.\nJonlee Andrews, clinical associate professor of marketing and director of the Center for Brand Leadership, bought two cars on eBay -- each of which was a very specific model. \n"People can find anything they want -- even very obscure items," Andrews said. "Many people are obsessed with collecting. They begin with something that may be sentimental and then build from there." \nEBay users have the option to purchase items in an auction-style format or at fixed prices through a feature called "Buy-It-Now." Essentially, a prospective bidder must first visit the registration page. After completing three steps, registration is complete, and the new user may have a chance to purchase the millions of products that eBay houses on its Web site. \nOnce users find a product on which they would like to bid, they fill out the bidding form and wait for a response. Over the course of the bidding period, which typically lasts anywhere from three to five days, the user may increase his or her bid to surpass other bidders.\nSome users like the thrill of competing for a valued product, while others enjoy buying hard-to-find items. \n"Part of it is the risk that's involved," Andrews said. "Will you win the bid? This feeling of risk can make it fun and, similar to gambling, may be addictive to some."\nWhile some may be concerned with the security and trustworthiness of the Web site, eBay users have the advantage of rating each auctioneer so as to either warn or promote a specific auctioneer to future bidders. Each member has a profile that reveals the member's feedback score accompanied by either positive, neutral or negative ratings in the past several months.\nJunior Annie Russell uses eBay to find items she may not be able to get anywhere else. \n"It's really a great way to find specific things you are interested in at an affordable and pretty reasonable price," she said. "Sometimes, if you have something random that you want but don't know exactly where to find it, there's a really good chance you'll find it on eBay."\nEBay has attempted to simplify the search process for Web site visitors by grouping products into easy-to-understand categories, such as Cameras and Photo, DVDs and Movies, and Health and Beauty. \nIn addition, eBay offers live help to those who have questions or concerns and allows each individual user to customize their eBay page and receive messages specifically tailored to the user through the "My eBay" icon. \nBuyers can often get better deals by purchasing the item they want on eBay as opposed to buying it from a large corporate retailer. \n"Last semester, I was interested in buying a digital camera, so I looked on eBay to see if there were any I liked. I found one, researched it more at different Web sites from Best Buy, Circuit City, Target, etc., and wound up buying (one) off eBay for $150 when the product retailed at $300," said Russell, who has bought more than half a dozen items on eBay since returning to school this fall.\nWhile competitor auction Web sites have emerged into the e-commerce marketplace, eBay has remained the leader in online auctions. \n-- Contact staff writer Michael Savitt at mpsavitt@indiana.edu.