12/09/08 5:00am
Penn seems to have acquired a vigilante environmental group.
In the past few weeks, stickers appeared on the toilet paper caddies in Huntsman Hall bathrooms requesting that students avoid taking an extra sheet of toilet paper.
The stickers read, "Green Policy in Effect: Do you really need that extra sheet?" An image of an angry toilet paper roll and a crossed-out hand are also on the sticker.
12/02/08 5:00am
With soaring interest in two main programs and a new batch of winners for one of them, Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs is having the best week ever.
WEP, a hub of entrepreneurial resources affiliated with Wharton but available to all Penn students, supports a range of programs and projects that encourage students to transform thei
11/24/08 5:00am
The next viral video on YouTube just might come from dear old Penn.
The University now has multiple YouTube channels dedicated to sharing Penn-related video content on the Internet.
There are about 15 individual video channels, and each is controlled by separate schools and institutions affiliated with the University.
11/19/08 5:00am
U.S. News and World Report may say Penn is tied for sixth place, but it's number two for the quality of its students' note-taking, according to GradeGuru.com.
GradeGuru is a Web site that lets students from any university post old notes and study guides from classes and get paid for them.
11/17/08 5:00am
Defense lawyers and prosecutors agree that 2005 alumnus Edward Anderton is fully culpable for helping organize an identity-theft scam in which he and his ex-girlfriend stole about $119,000.
But at a hearing Friday, the two sides were at odds about whether Anderton's remorse or the severity of his crimes should be the main factor in his sentencing.
11/07/08 5:00am
When Microsoft upgrades to its newest operating system, Penn is likely to follow suit.
Microsoft recently announced the development of Windows 7, the seventh version of the Windows operating system and the successor to Windows Vista.
Penn officials said they will consider testing and using the system, despite fairly recent upgrades to Vista.
10/29/08 5:00am
New study spaces called Incubation Stations in the Weiss Tech House will provide students with more room to think this semester.
The larger of the two rooms features a wall-to-wall white board, projection equipment and new computers fully stocked with software such as Matlab and Adobe Creative Suite.
10/24/08 5:00am
Transforming books into digital resources may be the latest trend in the world of academic libraries, but Penn officials say it may be a while before Penn joins in on the fun.
HathiTrust - an initiative launched by the Committee on Institutional Cooperation as well as the 11 libraries of the University of California system - will grow to be a digital book repository for major research institution libraries.
10/17/08 5:00am
YouTube-addicts beware - more distractions are on their way.
The video-streaming Web site is in the process of loading several full-length episodes of TV shows such as Star Trek, Beverly Hills 90210 and MacGyver onto the site.
This is a test run of YouTube's new "theater format," which features higher video quality and longer selections than the usual YouTube clips, and the player dims the rest of the applications open on screen.
10/10/08 5:00am
Technology upgrades across campus are giving more students an interactive classroom experience.
Numerous central pool classrooms - spaces that are open to classes held by any school - are in the process of a massive technology update.
Changes include increased accommodations for "clicker" technology, upgrades in projection technology, Windows 2007 on all classroom computers and the installation of SMART Sympodium, a new program that can record a professor's voice as well as what he does on the computer in a lecture hall.
10/08/08 5:00am
The days of students sending files to themselves and waiting in line for computers at Van Pelt may finally be over.
Information Systems and Computing is working on configuring a wireless network that would allow students to print directly from their personal computers to Penn-networked printers in libraries and academic buildings.
10/07/08 5:00am
Navigating Penn InTouch and registering for classes might be smoother sailing next year.
A revamped Penn InTouch Web site is scheduled for a June 2009 release and will resemble the new Course Search tool, which was rolled out to students last spring, in its interface.
10/01/08 5:00am
Less than a day after its first successful run, the Large Hadron Collider - the largest particle accelerator in the world - ran into its first glitch on Sept. 11 and has been shut down since.
Penn researchers who were participating in the project say they are disappointed but still have plenty of work to take care of while waiting for the accelerator to be fixed.
09/30/08 5:00am
The Microsoft empire struck back this week with a new advertising campaign. The company is out to prove that it's not as stodgy as Apple commercials make it out to be.
The campaign's television advertisements have been generating a lot of interest, and most students think Microsoft's image is making a change for the better.
09/29/08 5:00am
Students obsessed with Gmail, Google Calendar and Gchat will soon be able to add the "Google phone" to their arsenal.
T-Mobile will launch the G1 phone - also known as the "Google phone" - on Oct. 22. And though analysts don't expect the same frenzy that accompanied the release of Apple's iPhone in June 2007, many say Google's strategy of open software may transform the wireless industry.
09/24/08 5:00am
Penn is continuing its efforts to maintain its status as a pioneer on the final frontier - the human brain.
The University announced the creation of five new Penn Integrates Knowledge professorships related to the field of neuroscience last week. The move will expand the PIK program beyond its original goal of 18 professors and bolster Penn's growing neuroscience programs.
09/22/08 5:00am
Both on and off campus, Penn's Internet2 network is about to see an expansion.
Internet2 is a faster network than regular Internet. It is specifically geared toward research and education, and Penn's access point went live in February 2007.
Internet2 allows for nearly instantaneous data transfer, making it useful for international data sharing.
09/19/08 5:00am
According to Information Systems and Computing, longer is better.
ISC is planning for all PennKey passwords to eventually be changed to "passphrases," ISC Associate Vice President Robin Beck said.
09/12/08 5:00am
Information Systems and Computing has reconfigured Penn's wireless settings.
ISC has remodeled the available wireless networks on campus, consolidating older networks and creating new ones to provide better access and support.
Prior to this summer, AirPennNet, AirSAS, AirSEAS and Wireless-PennNet were all wireless networks available in specific areas around campus.
09/10/08 5:00am
One Penn professor is in Switzerland today to test drive the largest particle accelerator ever built.
Physics professor Hugh "Brig" Williams traveled across the Atlantic to fine-tune Penn's contribution to the Large Hadron Collider.
The LHC is located at the European Organization for Nuclear Research laboratory near Geneva and is the world's highest-energy particle accelerator.
