Gift of Fire Current Events Assignment (15 pts each) 
Research and development efforts are constantly producing new computer-related technologies and applications. These new developments are continuing to change the way we work, play and interact with other people. Many of the social, legal and ethical issues involving computers are changing rapidly and may have changed significantly since our textbook was published; some issues may even be completely new since that time. The purpose of this assignment is to become familiar with current developments related to the material of our course.
There are four Current Events assignments and each one has its own due date (see deadlines in calendar). Each new submission should contain a reference to and copy or print out of the article (or other similar item) that has been published within the last six months. Many electronic sources are acceptable, as long as they have a specific publication date -- for example, articles from sources like CNN ( HYPERLINK "http://www.cnn.com/" http://www.cnn.com ) or ACM TechNews ( HYPERLINK "http://www.acm.org/technews" http://www.acm.org/technews ). On the other hand, an article from a Web source that is not published according to a regular schedule is probably not suitable. Note that some websites release dated announcements even though they do not publish on a regular schedule. In general, dated announcements are suitable. Here are some additional resources (this is not a complete list, so feel free to find your own resources):
TechWeb ( HYPERLINK "http://www.techweb.com/" http://www.techweb.com/) This site has links to several technical trade magazines.
CNET ( HYPERLINK "http://www.cnet.com/" http://www.cnet.com/) This site has consumer oriented technology articles and reviews.
ZDNet ( HYPERLINK "http://www.zdnet.com/" http://www.zdnet.com/) This is one of CNET's online magazines focusing on business technology.
TechRepublic ( HYPERLINK "http://techrepublic.com.com/" http://techrepublic.com.com/) This is one of CNET's online magazines designed for IT professionals. 
Ziff Davis Media ( HYPERLINK "http://www.ziffdavis.com/" http://www.ziffdavis.com/) This site provides resources for IT and business professionals and software developers. There are links to several of their magazines including eWeek, PC Magazine, DigitalLife and others. 
Digital Video ( HYPERLINK "http://www.dv.com/" http://www.dv.com/) This site has news and reviews for graphic artists, digital videographers and multimedia specialists.
Byte.com ( HYPERLINK "http://www.byte.com/" http://www.byte.com/) This site has articles and research papers about technology advancements. 
Give a short description of what the article is about and how it relates to the material of our course. It is not necessary to summarize the whole article, but be sure to include the publication date and enough information to let the rest of us find it and read it for ourselves. For maximum credit, your submission should also include your own thoughts about the article. That is, it should include relevant observations, implications or questions about the article, rather than just passing along information from the article.
Grading:
Each new submission of a current article can earn up to 15 points according to the following scale.
15 pointsThe submission gives a clear description of what the article is about, and clearly explains how it is related to the course material. It includes relevant observations or questions about the article (as described above).
10 pointsThe submission gives a description of what the article is about, and how it is related to the course material. However, it reports only information from the article, without adding significant new thoughts about the article.
5 points	The article appears to be related to the course material, but the submission does not explain this connection or does not add any new thoughts.	
0 points	The article does not seem to be relevant to the course material; or the submission does not contain enough information to allow someone else to find and read the article.