By Rick Aristotle Munarriz
October 14, 2008
Free nationwide Wi-Fi is one step closer to reality, now that FCC tests show that a chunk of available spectrum can support a countrywide network without interfering with rival spectrumholders.
Don't ditch your access provider just yet. This is, again, just one step in what will likely be a very long and winding road toward skinflint broadband.
The auction itself is still at least several months away. The eventual winning bidder will also have plenty of time to roll out the free product. The government is requiring that at least 50% of the nation be covered within four years, and 95% of the country within 10 years.
And lest you get all excited by thoughts of all-you-can-surf wireless, know that this isn't a charitable initiative. At least one likely bidder -- startup M2Z -- is looking at an ad-supported model, with paying subscribers receiving faster access. In other words, the free product is unlikely to satisfy cyberspace speedsters. The FCC will also make sure that free access is filtered; file-swappers and fans of X-rated sites will likely have to look elsewhere.
Still, canvassing the country with free connectivity will be a game-changer, full of opportunities and challenges alike. Let's look at both sides of the story.
The losers
The telcos and cable companies providing Web access may get hurt the most, especially among their entry-level pricing plans. If cheap, slow connectivity is what those consumers want, a free ad-supported model will hit the hot spot.
Most access providers are gargantuan companies with diversified product lines, but some are pure ISPs like Earthlink (Nasdaq: ELNK), and to a lesser extent, United Online (Nasdaq: UNTD). United Online has actually been moving away from its dependency on its Juno and NetZero dial-up offerings, acquiring properties like MyPoint, Classmates.com, and most recently FTD. Earthlink has not.
Wireless carriers should also feel the sting. Pitching subsidized handsets with expensive data plans won't be an easy sell if the public turns to Web chat alternatives.
Premium entertainment providers may get pinched, too. Sirius XM Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI) could face an uphill battle against free, universally accessible Internet radio. Local network affiliates, and even the cable giants, will suffer if couch potatoes begin to stream on their own terms.
In short, if you provide a premium service that has a reasonable Web-delivered alternative, free Wi-Fi is not your friend.
Another unlikely loser is Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT). Free users are likely to turn to cheaper Linux-flavored operating systems, bypassing premium productivity software like Microsoft Office in favor of free Web-stores apps like Google Docs. Cloud computing is coming anyway, but free nationwide Wi-Fi will make it even more pervasive.
The winners
Free Wi-Fi's aim is to provide deeper market penetration. That will naturally benefit e-commerce and online advertising companies, but investors need to be realistic. Folks who flock to free connectivity won't be voracious shoppers at Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) or desirable leads for sponsors on Google (Nasdaq: GOOG).
Still, free Wi-Fi should be a "net" positive for both companies. If you're shopping at the mall and you can hit Amazon for a little comparison-shopping -- many people do so already, but more will follow in a free Wi-Fi future -- Amazon will be treated to incremental sales.
Google will also be a winner, especially if the top bidder turns to this online ad king to monetize its landing page.
Another wave of profit may come from display advertising, an area where Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) excels. Yahoo! knows that it can't compete with Google on the paid-search side, but it knows how to milk the most out of less lucrative brand-enlightening display ads.
The scorecard
Dump the losers? Back up the truck on the winners? Not so fast. We may still be several years away from a reality of free countrywide Wi-Fi. That's a lot of time for the companies that now look like losers to arm themselves with the right tools to stay relevant.
Sirius XM Radio already has a Web-streaming product; an ad-supported freebie could help it compete with free Internet radio and serve as a gateway drug for the premium product. Phone and broadcasting titans have too much at stake to go down quietly, so expect them to map out ways to thrive in a changing environment.
The road is long, but it's never too early to study the map.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Avoiding the 5 Most Common Mistakes in Using Blogs with Students
By Ruth Reynard
I've used blogs in my classes for five years with university graduate students. I've found them to be extremely helpful in certain circumstances but only when there is clarity for students in their use. Students who object to the inclusion of blogs in a course are usually objecting to what they perceive will be just one more task on top of a myriad of others or simply some busy work that will not benefit their learning. Older students can also reject the notion of "publication" that is inherent with blogging. Each of these objections can be addressed by an effective and innovative instructor by careful planning and skillful management. There are, however, several common mistakes that should be avoided when using blogs in instruction. I have made all of these mistakes and have learned how to address each one proactively.
1. Ineffective Contextualization
As with any instructional tool or learning support, without a clear context within which the tool is to be used, students will not understand the benefit to their learning and will, ultimately, reject the use of the tool. In order to effectively contextualize the use of an instructional tool, instructors must think carefully exactly where the tool will be used in the flow of the course, how often the tool will or might be used, and how necessary the tool is to the learning process. In the case of blogging, the most effective use of this tool is in the area of self reflection or thought processing. As such, there must be concepts for students to think through, various resources and content segments to process, or ideas to construct. To simply ask students to blog without this level of planning will lead to frustration for the students. In other words, there must be a certain amount of content preparation already covered or made accessible for students before blogging will really support the learning process. While a blog can also provide social placement of students or academic placement of students within a group, blogs are fundamentally individual in their purpose and essence. That is, while comments can be added or ideas posted following a blog entry, these sit outside the initial posting--blogs are not wikis or online discussion forums, therefore, if individual self-reflection is the central benefit to the learning process, instructors must plan carefully as to when in the course self-reflection will enhance the learning process for each student. Please note: there are additional benefits that instructors can glean from blogs in terms of helping access student voice and understanding student progress in their idea or concept construction, but the instructional use of the blog tool is mostly about the individual benefit to students first in deciding when and how to use blogs in instruction.
2. Unclear Learning Outcomes
Following on from designing the placing of blog use based on the instructional flow, is the notion of designing blog use based on learning outcomes.
Learning outcomes are much more than course objectives. Learning outcomes begin with course objectives; however, include student learning needs and objectives, and future application of the learning. Therefore, understanding of the global nature of the learning outcomes of a course in crucial to good planning and use of learning resources and tools. Choosing the blog tool in a course would mean that the transferable skills of critical thinking, thought processing and knowledge construction would be well supported and recorded. If the instructor is unclear as to what the learning outcomes of the course are and is focused only on course objectives, the potential of the blog tool may not be maximized. The following are several ways in which the use of blogs in instruction can develop new higher level thinking skills:
Analysis: A blog can help students process their thoughts and ideas for analysis. There is no better way to begin to see the importance of analysis as when there is a goal of articulating your thoughts for explanation to others. That is, if two ideas are presented together in support of one concept, self-reflective students must learn to a) distinguish the ideas, b) understand the differences between and similarities between, c) understand where the connection points are if any, d) decide, based on analysis, which one (if any) they will include and build upon in their own learning process. This is a highly constructive process and the skills needed must be intentionally encouraged and can be visibly recorded in a blog.
Synthesis: As part of the analysis, it is important that students can synthesis the original ideas and the new ideas they will articulate. The synthesis of ideas is crucial to the process of working ideas and incorporating new ideas into their own thinking.
New ideas: Grasping new ideas through analysis and synthesis means that students can move ahead with their thinking and move closer towards transformation in learning and application. Information is not what makes a new idea. Information must be processed and applied before new ideas will emerge for students. Too many instructors remain at the information-exchange stage with students and do not move them towards new ideas. A blog can help develop these thinking skills as well as capture the new ideas well for others to view and absorb.
Application: Without application, new ideas are not "owned" by students in their learning. That is, new ideas can only become meaningful and relevant for students when then are directly applied in real life contexts of practice and use. This stage can also be well captured in a blog and, in fact, the entire thinking process of each student can be captured and made accessible for instructors and other students to explore.
Note: Each of these stages of thought development must be intentionally supported by instructors through comments and feedback and expectations communicated to each student. Additionally, grades should reflect the entire process of learning, not simply the end product, if students are to understand the value to their own learning.
3. Misuse of the environment
As I mentioned before, blogs are not wikis and they are not online discussion forums. The essential difference between a blog and other online tools is that it is intended to be an individual publication: a one-way monologue or self-post to which others may comment but do not contribute. The original post remains as the person who posted it wanted it to be. This is important to realize in the instructional setting. If a discussion is desired, then blogging would not be the tool of choice. In the same way, if journaling is the intended goal, then an online discussion forum would not be the tool of choice. It is important to realize, as an instructor, that if you desire a journal-type setting, then your comments should be supportive and constructive and not intrusive otherwise the student(s) will cease to post. Blogs can have a discussional nature if there are many subscribers and participants. That is, you can "hear" from every student on one topic or another by creating a blog ring to which they can subscribe. The self-posting, however, remains the same. That is, unlike a wiki, where changes can be made to posts and documents, in a blog, the initial post always stands and is simply responded to and not altered in any way. When using blogs to encourage students to articulate their thoughts students can become empowered and feel that they are developing their own voice in the learning process. Instructors can also "glimpse" students' thought processes and become much more aware of their learning journey.
4. Illusive grading practices
Grading of blogs should have clear rubrics so that students do not become confused as to how their work is being evaluated. As blog posts are essentially a series of statements, I have suggested elsewhere that, depending on the learning outcomes of your course, specific statement types to recognize in your assessment rubric might be:
* Reflection statements (self positioning within the course concepts);
* Commentary statements (effective use of the course content in discussion and analysis);
* New idea statements (synthesis of ideas to a higher level); and
* Application statements (direct use of the new ideas in a real life setting).
As already mentioned, blogging can move students forward in their thinking, help them process to a higher level of understanding, and apply the learning to a practical context. If the grading is not clear and the tool is simply made available to students, not only will students become discouraged, they will likely not participate. As I have seen on numerous occasions, it is when students continue regular use of the blog throughout a course that their learning is truly supported and their thinking truly challenged. It is, therefore, important to keep students focused with regular reminders and to keep expectations clear and grading transparent. Timelines for completion should also be set so that students know how much time they have to use the blog tool.
5. Inadequate time allocation
The notion of adequate time is not discussed often enough in the use of technology in learning. Just as students are different in their processing time within any learning context, so adequate time should be given for every student to complete work using online tools such as the blog. Instructors should be reasonable and if possible, leaving the blog tool open until the end of the course. This will help students maximize the benefits of the tool and will also provide more time for students who need it. As online tools provide a more immediate learning context for students, they also usually encourage more participation from students. This participation in turn provides more text or other response types from students and ultimately more for instructors to read through or view and grade. Therefore, instructors should plan ahead and plan well for the increased work that will likely take place when their students are using online tools.
Students should be fully aware of what the expectations are and how the tool is being used in their learning process. Once students understand this, they are more likely to participate and to a greater degree of critical awareness. While there are many mistakes that can be made in using any new tool in instruction, instructors should have a question and answer mindset in their use. It is important to find out what problems or challenges exist and to find solutions quickly. Instructors who use online tools must be innovative in their approach, creative in their course design, and flexible in their methods in order to ensure successful learning experiences for their students. While there is no one-way to use any instructional resource well, it is important to integrate the use of any tool or learning resources intro the overall course design intentionally and totally supporting the learning outcomes for the students.
Ruth Reynard is the director of faculty for Career Education Corp. She can be reached at rreynard@careered.com.
Cite this Site
Ruth Reynard, "Avoiding the 5 Most Common Mistakes in Using Blogs with Students," Campus Technology, 10/1/2008, http://www.campustechnology.com/article.aspx?aid=68089
I've used blogs in my classes for five years with university graduate students. I've found them to be extremely helpful in certain circumstances but only when there is clarity for students in their use. Students who object to the inclusion of blogs in a course are usually objecting to what they perceive will be just one more task on top of a myriad of others or simply some busy work that will not benefit their learning. Older students can also reject the notion of "publication" that is inherent with blogging. Each of these objections can be addressed by an effective and innovative instructor by careful planning and skillful management. There are, however, several common mistakes that should be avoided when using blogs in instruction. I have made all of these mistakes and have learned how to address each one proactively.
1. Ineffective Contextualization
As with any instructional tool or learning support, without a clear context within which the tool is to be used, students will not understand the benefit to their learning and will, ultimately, reject the use of the tool. In order to effectively contextualize the use of an instructional tool, instructors must think carefully exactly where the tool will be used in the flow of the course, how often the tool will or might be used, and how necessary the tool is to the learning process. In the case of blogging, the most effective use of this tool is in the area of self reflection or thought processing. As such, there must be concepts for students to think through, various resources and content segments to process, or ideas to construct. To simply ask students to blog without this level of planning will lead to frustration for the students. In other words, there must be a certain amount of content preparation already covered or made accessible for students before blogging will really support the learning process. While a blog can also provide social placement of students or academic placement of students within a group, blogs are fundamentally individual in their purpose and essence. That is, while comments can be added or ideas posted following a blog entry, these sit outside the initial posting--blogs are not wikis or online discussion forums, therefore, if individual self-reflection is the central benefit to the learning process, instructors must plan carefully as to when in the course self-reflection will enhance the learning process for each student. Please note: there are additional benefits that instructors can glean from blogs in terms of helping access student voice and understanding student progress in their idea or concept construction, but the instructional use of the blog tool is mostly about the individual benefit to students first in deciding when and how to use blogs in instruction.
2. Unclear Learning Outcomes
Following on from designing the placing of blog use based on the instructional flow, is the notion of designing blog use based on learning outcomes.
Learning outcomes are much more than course objectives. Learning outcomes begin with course objectives; however, include student learning needs and objectives, and future application of the learning. Therefore, understanding of the global nature of the learning outcomes of a course in crucial to good planning and use of learning resources and tools. Choosing the blog tool in a course would mean that the transferable skills of critical thinking, thought processing and knowledge construction would be well supported and recorded. If the instructor is unclear as to what the learning outcomes of the course are and is focused only on course objectives, the potential of the blog tool may not be maximized. The following are several ways in which the use of blogs in instruction can develop new higher level thinking skills:
Analysis: A blog can help students process their thoughts and ideas for analysis. There is no better way to begin to see the importance of analysis as when there is a goal of articulating your thoughts for explanation to others. That is, if two ideas are presented together in support of one concept, self-reflective students must learn to a) distinguish the ideas, b) understand the differences between and similarities between, c) understand where the connection points are if any, d) decide, based on analysis, which one (if any) they will include and build upon in their own learning process. This is a highly constructive process and the skills needed must be intentionally encouraged and can be visibly recorded in a blog.
Synthesis: As part of the analysis, it is important that students can synthesis the original ideas and the new ideas they will articulate. The synthesis of ideas is crucial to the process of working ideas and incorporating new ideas into their own thinking.
New ideas: Grasping new ideas through analysis and synthesis means that students can move ahead with their thinking and move closer towards transformation in learning and application. Information is not what makes a new idea. Information must be processed and applied before new ideas will emerge for students. Too many instructors remain at the information-exchange stage with students and do not move them towards new ideas. A blog can help develop these thinking skills as well as capture the new ideas well for others to view and absorb.
Application: Without application, new ideas are not "owned" by students in their learning. That is, new ideas can only become meaningful and relevant for students when then are directly applied in real life contexts of practice and use. This stage can also be well captured in a blog and, in fact, the entire thinking process of each student can be captured and made accessible for instructors and other students to explore.
Note: Each of these stages of thought development must be intentionally supported by instructors through comments and feedback and expectations communicated to each student. Additionally, grades should reflect the entire process of learning, not simply the end product, if students are to understand the value to their own learning.
3. Misuse of the environment
As I mentioned before, blogs are not wikis and they are not online discussion forums. The essential difference between a blog and other online tools is that it is intended to be an individual publication: a one-way monologue or self-post to which others may comment but do not contribute. The original post remains as the person who posted it wanted it to be. This is important to realize in the instructional setting. If a discussion is desired, then blogging would not be the tool of choice. In the same way, if journaling is the intended goal, then an online discussion forum would not be the tool of choice. It is important to realize, as an instructor, that if you desire a journal-type setting, then your comments should be supportive and constructive and not intrusive otherwise the student(s) will cease to post. Blogs can have a discussional nature if there are many subscribers and participants. That is, you can "hear" from every student on one topic or another by creating a blog ring to which they can subscribe. The self-posting, however, remains the same. That is, unlike a wiki, where changes can be made to posts and documents, in a blog, the initial post always stands and is simply responded to and not altered in any way. When using blogs to encourage students to articulate their thoughts students can become empowered and feel that they are developing their own voice in the learning process. Instructors can also "glimpse" students' thought processes and become much more aware of their learning journey.
4. Illusive grading practices
Grading of blogs should have clear rubrics so that students do not become confused as to how their work is being evaluated. As blog posts are essentially a series of statements, I have suggested elsewhere that, depending on the learning outcomes of your course, specific statement types to recognize in your assessment rubric might be:
* Reflection statements (self positioning within the course concepts);
* Commentary statements (effective use of the course content in discussion and analysis);
* New idea statements (synthesis of ideas to a higher level); and
* Application statements (direct use of the new ideas in a real life setting).
As already mentioned, blogging can move students forward in their thinking, help them process to a higher level of understanding, and apply the learning to a practical context. If the grading is not clear and the tool is simply made available to students, not only will students become discouraged, they will likely not participate. As I have seen on numerous occasions, it is when students continue regular use of the blog throughout a course that their learning is truly supported and their thinking truly challenged. It is, therefore, important to keep students focused with regular reminders and to keep expectations clear and grading transparent. Timelines for completion should also be set so that students know how much time they have to use the blog tool.
5. Inadequate time allocation
The notion of adequate time is not discussed often enough in the use of technology in learning. Just as students are different in their processing time within any learning context, so adequate time should be given for every student to complete work using online tools such as the blog. Instructors should be reasonable and if possible, leaving the blog tool open until the end of the course. This will help students maximize the benefits of the tool and will also provide more time for students who need it. As online tools provide a more immediate learning context for students, they also usually encourage more participation from students. This participation in turn provides more text or other response types from students and ultimately more for instructors to read through or view and grade. Therefore, instructors should plan ahead and plan well for the increased work that will likely take place when their students are using online tools.
Students should be fully aware of what the expectations are and how the tool is being used in their learning process. Once students understand this, they are more likely to participate and to a greater degree of critical awareness. While there are many mistakes that can be made in using any new tool in instruction, instructors should have a question and answer mindset in their use. It is important to find out what problems or challenges exist and to find solutions quickly. Instructors who use online tools must be innovative in their approach, creative in their course design, and flexible in their methods in order to ensure successful learning experiences for their students. While there is no one-way to use any instructional resource well, it is important to integrate the use of any tool or learning resources intro the overall course design intentionally and totally supporting the learning outcomes for the students.
Ruth Reynard is the director of faculty for Career Education Corp. She can be reached at rreynard@careered.com.
Cite this Site
Ruth Reynard, "Avoiding the 5 Most Common Mistakes in Using Blogs with Students," Campus Technology, 10/1/2008, http://www.campustechnology.com/article.aspx?aid=68089
Stanford Testing iPhone Application Suite
By Dian Schaffhauser
A suite of five software applications developed by students at Stanford University to run on Apple's iPhone is now being tested on campus. Two are for students, to manage course registration and bills. The other three will allow users to access Stanford's searchable campus map, get team scores and schedules, and check listings in the university's online directory, StanfordWho.
The university contracted with Terriblyclever Design, a startup company in San Francisco co-founded by Stanford student Kayvon Beykpour, to develop the suite of applications under the university's iApps Project. Beykpour is a junior majoring in computer science, and five of his company's six full-time employees also are undergraduates at Stanford.
During a pilot phase that launched recently, a select group of students who work in residential computing will test a beta version of the iPhone applications.
"We have talented students with good ideas about how they want to access administrative systems and services," said registrar Thomas Black, whose office is overseeing the project. "We want to harness their genius. We want to be able to say, 'You can come to Stanford, where students develop the applications that students use.'"
"We really were passionate about being more engaged in these systems," Beykpour said. "I am a student, and I use all these services, and I can't tell you how exciting it is to spend your time working in a capacity that you love working in--but also such that your final product affects your community."
Project leaders said the idea of letting students access key online systems and resources at Stanford via the iPhone began last May, when administrators in the registrar's office had a vision of introducing mobile applications that would enhance student life. The administrators then got in touch with Beykpour, and his company proceeded to develop the applications over the summer.
The university is offering a computer science course this fall titled, "iPhone Application Programming." The class currently has more than 80 students registered.
"We're offering this class because we think it provides students with a good way to exercise the foundations of computer science on an exciting new platform," said Mehran Sahami, an associate professor of computer science overseeing the course.
Acknowledging that security is a top priority, Tim Flood, director of student affairs information systems, said the same principles and practices currently governing the use of laptops and desktop computers at Stanford also will apply to mobile devices using the new applications. The applications will be compatible for anyone with an iPod touch as well.
Earlier in September Apple launched iPhone Developer University Program, for institutions looking to introduce curriculum for developing iPhone or iPod touch applications.
Dian Schaffhauser is a writer who covers technology and business. Send your higher education technology news to her at dian@dischaffhauser.com.
Cite this Site
Dian Schaffhauser, "Stanford Testing iPhone Application Suite," Campus Technology, 10/1/2008, http://www.campustechnology.com/article.aspx?aid=68044
A suite of five software applications developed by students at Stanford University to run on Apple's iPhone is now being tested on campus. Two are for students, to manage course registration and bills. The other three will allow users to access Stanford's searchable campus map, get team scores and schedules, and check listings in the university's online directory, StanfordWho.
The university contracted with Terriblyclever Design, a startup company in San Francisco co-founded by Stanford student Kayvon Beykpour, to develop the suite of applications under the university's iApps Project. Beykpour is a junior majoring in computer science, and five of his company's six full-time employees also are undergraduates at Stanford.
During a pilot phase that launched recently, a select group of students who work in residential computing will test a beta version of the iPhone applications.
"We have talented students with good ideas about how they want to access administrative systems and services," said registrar Thomas Black, whose office is overseeing the project. "We want to harness their genius. We want to be able to say, 'You can come to Stanford, where students develop the applications that students use.'"
"We really were passionate about being more engaged in these systems," Beykpour said. "I am a student, and I use all these services, and I can't tell you how exciting it is to spend your time working in a capacity that you love working in--but also such that your final product affects your community."
Project leaders said the idea of letting students access key online systems and resources at Stanford via the iPhone began last May, when administrators in the registrar's office had a vision of introducing mobile applications that would enhance student life. The administrators then got in touch with Beykpour, and his company proceeded to develop the applications over the summer.
The university is offering a computer science course this fall titled, "iPhone Application Programming." The class currently has more than 80 students registered.
"We're offering this class because we think it provides students with a good way to exercise the foundations of computer science on an exciting new platform," said Mehran Sahami, an associate professor of computer science overseeing the course.
Acknowledging that security is a top priority, Tim Flood, director of student affairs information systems, said the same principles and practices currently governing the use of laptops and desktop computers at Stanford also will apply to mobile devices using the new applications. The applications will be compatible for anyone with an iPod touch as well.
Earlier in September Apple launched iPhone Developer University Program, for institutions looking to introduce curriculum for developing iPhone or iPod touch applications.
Dian Schaffhauser is a writer who covers technology and business. Send your higher education technology news to her at dian@dischaffhauser.com.
Cite this Site
Dian Schaffhauser, "Stanford Testing iPhone Application Suite," Campus Technology, 10/1/2008, http://www.campustechnology.com/article.aspx?aid=68044
Seton Hall Monitors Recruitment Dollars with Coremetrics
By Dian Schaffhauser
Seton Hall University is using Coremetrics to better track its investment in recruitment efforts. The Web-based service, which is primarily used by retailers, captures behavioral data to provide the university with insights on how to allocate marketing dollars across campaigns and channels.
"Our recruitment cycle is a long one, often taking as much as 18 to 36 months from the initial inquiry to enrollment in classes," said Robert Brosnan, director of Web and digital communications. "During the application process, we interact with prospective students through a variety of online and offline channels. Coremetrics gives us one place to go to get all the data we need and to look at our marketing efforts from a holistic perspective. We've learned some surprising things that would have been impossible to discover without the ability to attribute conversion to multiple channels. Our analysis showed, for example, that natural search plays a more significant role than expected deep into the recruitment cycle. As a result of this insight, we have made changes to our online application process and are rethinking our paid and natural search strategies."
The marketing data is used to measure the impact of both online and offline influences, including print advertising, direct mail and college recruitment fairs, for the school, which has 10,000 students.
Dian Schaffhauser is a writer who covers technology and business. Send your higher education technology news to her at dian@dischaffhauser.com.
Cite this Site
Dian Schaffhauser, "Seton Hall Monitors Recruitment Dollars with Coremetrics," Campus Technology, 9/30/2008, http://www.campustechnology.com/article.aspx?aid=68038
Seton Hall University is using Coremetrics to better track its investment in recruitment efforts. The Web-based service, which is primarily used by retailers, captures behavioral data to provide the university with insights on how to allocate marketing dollars across campaigns and channels.
"Our recruitment cycle is a long one, often taking as much as 18 to 36 months from the initial inquiry to enrollment in classes," said Robert Brosnan, director of Web and digital communications. "During the application process, we interact with prospective students through a variety of online and offline channels. Coremetrics gives us one place to go to get all the data we need and to look at our marketing efforts from a holistic perspective. We've learned some surprising things that would have been impossible to discover without the ability to attribute conversion to multiple channels. Our analysis showed, for example, that natural search plays a more significant role than expected deep into the recruitment cycle. As a result of this insight, we have made changes to our online application process and are rethinking our paid and natural search strategies."
The marketing data is used to measure the impact of both online and offline influences, including print advertising, direct mail and college recruitment fairs, for the school, which has 10,000 students.
Dian Schaffhauser is a writer who covers technology and business. Send your higher education technology news to her at dian@dischaffhauser.com.
Cite this Site
Dian Schaffhauser, "Seton Hall Monitors Recruitment Dollars with Coremetrics," Campus Technology, 9/30/2008, http://www.campustechnology.com/article.aspx?aid=68038
More Universities Sign with Hothand Wireless To Deliver Mobile Marketing
By Dian Schaffhauser
Hothand Wireless, which delivers "recreation" information to mobile devices, said it has added 10 university partners to its service, among them Georgia Institute of Technology, Ohio State University, and Stanford.
The company offers a mobile Web application with opt-in text messaging that lets students and others access information such as sports scores, standings, schedules, facility availability, contests, polls, and advertising on Web-enabled phones and other wireless devices. The network is sponsored by merchants that want to reach the university community, and in some cases, the company said, a portion of sponsorship funds or merchant fees are allocated to the school.
The service is available to all students and staff members in partner schools. Registration is required to access the service.
The company launched its University Mobile Network with a pilot program at the University of California Los Angeles which was sponsored by Best Buy Mobile. UCLA students also took advantage of special deals from Subway delivered to their phones.
Dian Schaffhauser is a writer who covers technology and business. Send your higher education technology news to her at dian@dischaffhauser.com.
Cite this Site
Dian Schaffhauser, "More Universities Sign with Hothand Wireless To Deliver Mobile Marketing," Campus Technology, 10/1/2008, http://www.campustechnology.com/article.aspx?aid=68034
Hothand Wireless, which delivers "recreation" information to mobile devices, said it has added 10 university partners to its service, among them Georgia Institute of Technology, Ohio State University, and Stanford.
The company offers a mobile Web application with opt-in text messaging that lets students and others access information such as sports scores, standings, schedules, facility availability, contests, polls, and advertising on Web-enabled phones and other wireless devices. The network is sponsored by merchants that want to reach the university community, and in some cases, the company said, a portion of sponsorship funds or merchant fees are allocated to the school.
The service is available to all students and staff members in partner schools. Registration is required to access the service.
The company launched its University Mobile Network with a pilot program at the University of California Los Angeles which was sponsored by Best Buy Mobile. UCLA students also took advantage of special deals from Subway delivered to their phones.
Dian Schaffhauser is a writer who covers technology and business. Send your higher education technology news to her at dian@dischaffhauser.com.
Cite this Site
Dian Schaffhauser, "More Universities Sign with Hothand Wireless To Deliver Mobile Marketing," Campus Technology, 10/1/2008, http://www.campustechnology.com/article.aspx?aid=68034
Friday, May 9, 2008
XP SP3 Glitch a 'Gotcha' For IE7 & 8
By Stuart J. Johnston
May 7, 2008
Microsoft finally released Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) to the general public, earlier this week, after a minor glitch or two the week before. It is an update that many XP users have been waiting impatiently for, for months.
Despite the fact that it's now available, however, the company still has a caveat for some users. If you have Internet Explorer 7 or 8 already installed, you may want to uninstall it before installing SP3. Then, if you wish, you can reinstall IE afterwards.
Why? As the 1990s buzz phrase goes: it's complicated.
At least that's the message in a posting made on Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) IE team blog this week.
It revolves around the fact that SP SP2 shipped with IE6. However, XP SP3 ships with a slightly different version of IE6. It also concerns the order in which the service pack and IE7 or IE8 are installed.
"If you choose to install XP SP3, Internet Explorer 7 will remain on your system after the install is complete. Your preferences will be retained. However, you will no longer be able to uninstall IE7," Jane Maliouta, deployment program manager for IE8, said in her blog post. The same goes for IE8, which is currently in beta test.
That's because the uninstallation process saves the wrong set of IE6 files on your hard disk, which would cause big problems later – so you're locked out of simply reverting to IE6.
The best way to handle the problem, Maliouta said, is to first, uninstall IE7, install XP SP3, and then reinstall IE7.
For the more adventurous who may have installed the beta test release of IE8, the warning counts double. Microsoft has set its download sites to not offer SP3 to users who already have IE8 installed – for good reason. If you install SP3 on top of IE8, as with IE7, you will no longer be able to uninstall the beta software.
"Since people are more likely to uninstall beta software, we strongly recommend uninstalling IE8 Beta 1 prior to upgrading to Windows XP SP3 to eliminate any deployment issues and install IE8 Beta 1 after XPSP3 is on your machine," Maliouta added.
Two analysts said they don't view the situation as a significant problem, but one said that it makes the update process more complex than it should be..
"I suppose there could be some applications that are affected, but I don't see it having any impact on most users," Michael Cherry, lead analyst for operating systems at researcher Directions on Microsoft, told InternetNews.com.
Roger Kay, president of analysis firm Endpoint Technologies, was of a similar mind.
"It sounds like a glitch [Microsoft] needs to fix, but it doesn't sound like a big deal," he said. "Still, a user shouldn't have to go through a lot of work to get it fixed," Kay added.
The company had planned to release XP SP3 last week, but that fell through after Microsoft found a clash between the service pack and Microsoft's Dynamics Retail Management System (RMS).
Microsoft announced on Monday it had put a filter in place so that XP SP3 is not offered to users with RMS installed. Then it released the service pack as planned. The company is working to come up with a solution for RMS users.
May 7, 2008
Microsoft finally released Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) to the general public, earlier this week, after a minor glitch or two the week before. It is an update that many XP users have been waiting impatiently for, for months.
Despite the fact that it's now available, however, the company still has a caveat for some users. If you have Internet Explorer 7 or 8 already installed, you may want to uninstall it before installing SP3. Then, if you wish, you can reinstall IE afterwards.
Why? As the 1990s buzz phrase goes: it's complicated.
At least that's the message in a posting made on Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) IE team blog this week.
It revolves around the fact that SP SP2 shipped with IE6. However, XP SP3 ships with a slightly different version of IE6. It also concerns the order in which the service pack and IE7 or IE8 are installed.
"If you choose to install XP SP3, Internet Explorer 7 will remain on your system after the install is complete. Your preferences will be retained. However, you will no longer be able to uninstall IE7," Jane Maliouta, deployment program manager for IE8, said in her blog post. The same goes for IE8, which is currently in beta test.
That's because the uninstallation process saves the wrong set of IE6 files on your hard disk, which would cause big problems later – so you're locked out of simply reverting to IE6.
The best way to handle the problem, Maliouta said, is to first, uninstall IE7, install XP SP3, and then reinstall IE7.
For the more adventurous who may have installed the beta test release of IE8, the warning counts double. Microsoft has set its download sites to not offer SP3 to users who already have IE8 installed – for good reason. If you install SP3 on top of IE8, as with IE7, you will no longer be able to uninstall the beta software.
"Since people are more likely to uninstall beta software, we strongly recommend uninstalling IE8 Beta 1 prior to upgrading to Windows XP SP3 to eliminate any deployment issues and install IE8 Beta 1 after XPSP3 is on your machine," Maliouta added.
Two analysts said they don't view the situation as a significant problem, but one said that it makes the update process more complex than it should be..
"I suppose there could be some applications that are affected, but I don't see it having any impact on most users," Michael Cherry, lead analyst for operating systems at researcher Directions on Microsoft, told InternetNews.com.
Roger Kay, president of analysis firm Endpoint Technologies, was of a similar mind.
"It sounds like a glitch [Microsoft] needs to fix, but it doesn't sound like a big deal," he said. "Still, a user shouldn't have to go through a lot of work to get it fixed," Kay added.
The company had planned to release XP SP3 last week, but that fell through after Microsoft found a clash between the service pack and Microsoft's Dynamics Retail Management System (RMS).
Microsoft announced on Monday it had put a filter in place so that XP SP3 is not offered to users with RMS installed. Then it released the service pack as planned. The company is working to come up with a solution for RMS users.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
What can you do with a second Ethernet port?
By: Nathan Willis
Purchase a new PC or motherboard soon, and the chances are good that it will come with two built-in network interfaces -- either two Ethernet jacks or one Ethernet and one Wi-Fi. Tossing in a second adapter is an inexpensive way for the manufacturer to add another bullet point to the product description -- but what exactly are you supposed to do with it? If you are running Linux, you have several alternatives.
Plugging another Ethernet cable into the second jack and hoping for the best will accomplish nothing; you have to configure Linux's networking subsystem to recognize both adapters, and you must tell the OS how to use them to send and receive traffic. You can do the latter step in several different ways, which is where all the fun comes in.
The big distinction between your options lies in the effect each has on the other devices on your network (computers, routers, and other appliances) -- intelligently routing network traffic between them, linking them together transparently, and so on. In some cases, the simplest end result is not the easiest to set up, so it pays to read through all of the alternatives before you decide which to tackle.
Bonding
From your network's perspective, the simplest option is channel bonding or "port trunking" -- combining both of the computer's interfaces into a single interface that looks like nothing out of the ordinary to your applications.
A combined logical interface can provide load balancing and fault tolerance. The OS can alternate which interface it uses to send traffic, or it can gracefully fail over between them in the event of a problem. You can even use it to balance your traffic between multiple wide area network (WAN) connections, such as DSL and cable, or dialup and your next door neighbor's unsecured Wi-Fi.
To bond two Ethernet interfaces, you must have the bonding module compiled for your kernel (which on a modern distro is almost a certainty), and the ifenslave package (which is a standard utility, although you might need to install it from from your distro's RPM or APT repository).
On a typical two-port motherboard, the Ethernet adapters are named eth0 and eth1, so we will use that for our example commands. With ifenslave installed, take both Ethernet adapters offline by running sudo ifdown eth0 and sudo ifdown eth1. Load the bonding module into the Linux kernel with modprobe. There are two important options to pass to the module: mode and miimon. Mode establishes the type of bond (round-robin, failover, and so on), and miimon establishes how often (in milliseconds) the links will be checked for failure. sudo modprobe bonding mode=0 miimon=100 will set up a round-robin configuration in which network packets alternate between the Ethernet adapters as they are sent out. The miimon value of 100 is a standard place to begin; you can adjust if it you really want to tweak your network.
To create an actual bond (which for convenience we'll call bond0), run sudo ifconfig bond0 192.168.1.100 up to assign an IP address to the bond, then run ifenslave bond0 eth0 followed by ifenslave bond0 eth1 to tie the physical Ethernet interfaces into it.
Round-robin mode is good for general purpose load balancing between the adapters, and if one of them fails, the link will stay active via the other. The other six mode options provide features for different setups. Mode 1, active backup, uses just one adapter until it fails, then switches to the other. Mode 2, balance XOR, tries to balance traffic by splitting up outgoing packets between the adapters, using the same one for each specific destination when possible. Mode 3, broadcast, sends out all traffic on every interface. Mode 4, dynamic link aggregation, uses a complex algorithm to aggregate adapters by speed and other settings. Mode 5, adaptive transmit load balancing, redistributes outgoing traffic on the fly based on current conditions. Mode 6, adaptive load balancing, does the same thing, but attempts to redistribute incoming traffic as well by sending out ARP updates.
The latter, complex modes are probably unnecessary for home use. If you have a lot of network traffic you are looking to manage, consult the bonding driver documentation. For most folks, bonding's fault tolerance and failover is a bigger gain than any increased link speed. For example, bonding two WAN links gives you load balancing and fault tolerance between them, but it does not double your upstream throughput, since each connection (such as a Web page HTTP request) has to take one or the other route.
Bridging
The bonding solution is unique in that both network adapters act like a single adapter for the use of the same machine. The other solutions use the two adapters in a manner that provides a new or different service to the rest of your network.
Bridging, for example, links the two network adapters so that Ethernet frames flow freely between them, just as if they were connected on a simple hub. All of the traffic heard on one interface is passed through to the other.
You can set up a bridge so that the computer itself does not participate in the network at all, essentially transforming the computer into an overpriced Ethernet repeater. But more likely you will want to access the Internet as well as bridge traffic between the ports. That isn't complicated, either.
Bridging requires the bridge-utils package, a standard component of every modern Linux distribution that provides the command-line utility brctl.
To create a bridge between your network adapters, begin by taking both adapters offline with the ifdown command. In our example eth0/eth1 setup, run sudo ifdown eth0 and sudo ifdown eth1 from the command line.
Next, create the bridge with sudo brctl addbr bridge0. The addbr command creates a new "virtual" network adapter named bridge0. You then connect your real network adapters to the bridge with addif: sudo brctl addif bridge0 eth0 adds the first adapter, and sudo brctl addif bridge0 eth1 adds the second.
Once configured, you activate the bridge0 virtual adapter just as you would a normal, physical Ethernet card. You can assign it a static IP address with a command like sudo ifconfig bridge0 192.168.1.100 netmask 255.255.255.0, or tell it to retrieve its configuration via DHCP with sudo dhclient bridge0.
You can then attach as many computers, hub, switches, and other devices as you want through the machine's Ethernet port, and they will all be able to see and communicate with each other. On the downside, if you have a lot of traffic, your computer will spend some extra energy passing all of those Ethernet frames back and forth across the two adapters.
Firewalling and gateway-ing
As long as you have excess traffic zipping through your computer, the OS might as well look at it and do something useful, such as filter it based on destination address, or cache repeatedly requested Web pages. And indeed, you can place your dual-port computer between your upstream cable or DSL connection and the rest of your local network, to serve as a simple Internet-connection-sharing gateway, or as a firewall that exerts control over the packets passing between the network interfaces.
First, you will need to bring both network adapters up and assign each a different IP address -- and, importantly, IP addresses that are on different subnets. For example, sudo ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.100 netmask 255.255.255.0 and sudo ifconfig eth1 192.168.2.100 netmask 255.255.255.0. Note that eth0's address is within the 192.168.1.x range, while eth1's is within 192.168.2.x. Maintain this separation when you add other devices to your network and you will keep things running smoothly.
Forwarding the packets between the Internet on one adapter and your LAN on the other is the purview of iptables, a tool for configuring the Linux kernel's IP filtering subsystem. The command sudo iptables -A FORWARD --in-interface eth1 --out-interface eth0 --source 192.168.2.0/255.255.255.0 -m state --state NEW -j ACCEPT allows computers on the LAN interface eth1 to start new connections, and forwards them to the outside world via the eth0 interface. Following that with sudo iptables -A FORWARD -m state --state ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT keeps subsequent packets from those connections flowing smoothly as well.
Next, sudo iptables -A POSTROUTING -t nat -j MASQUERADE activates Network Address Translation (NAT), secretly rewriting the IP addresses of traffic from the LAN so that when it goes out to the Internet, it appears to originate from the Linux box performing the routing. This is a necessary evil for most home Internet connections, both because it allows you to use the private 192.168.x.x IP address block, and because many ISPs frown upon traffic coming from multiple computers.
Finally, run sudo sh -c "echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward to activate the kernel's packet forwarding.
This setup will pass traffic from your LAN to your Internet connection, but it does not configure the network settings on the LAN computers themselves. Each of them needs an IP address, gateway and network information, and some working DNS server addresses. If your dual-adapter Linux box is serving as a NAT gateway, you could easily have it provide that information to the clients as well, using DHCP. Your distro probably comes with the dhcpd package. Configuring dhcpd is beyond the scope of the subject here, but check your distro's documentation for Internet connection sharing and you will likely find the instructions you need.
Once you are comfortable using iptables to set up basic NAT and packet forwarding, you can dig a little deeper and learn how to use your box as a first-rate firewall by writing rules that filter traffic based on source and destination address, port, and protocol.
Isolating
Finally, you can always configure your secondary network adapter to work in complete isolation from the rest of your LAN.
Sure, there is little gain to such a setup for general-purpose computers, but it is a popular choice for certain Ethernet-connected devices that only need to send data to one destination. Homebrew digital video recorder builders use the technique to connect the HDHomerun HDTV receiver directly to a MythTV back end, thereby isolating the bandwidth-hogging MPEG streams from the LAN. The same traffic separation idea might also come in handy for other single-purpose devices, such as a dedicated network-attached storage (NAS) box, a networked security camera, or your Ethernet-connected houseplant.
For most devices, isolating your second adapter entails setting up the computer to act as a DHCP server as in the gateway example above, but without worrying about NAT rules routing between the secondary client and the rest of the network.
Caveat emptoring
So which technique is right for you? My advice is to think about what network trouble you most need to prepare for. If your dual-adapter box is a server with heavy traffic to handle, or you need to balance your traffic across two WAN connections, bonding is for you. On the other hand, if you just bought an HDHomeRun to add to your MythTV back end, think about attaching it directly to the spare interface.
Bridging and gatewaying are most similar, in that they use the dual-adapter box to connect multiple other devices into a single network. If that is what you need to do, consider that bridging works at the Ethernet link level, well below IP and TCP in the protocol stack. At the Ethernet level, the only sort of traffic shaping you can do is that based on the hardware MAC address of the computer. You have significantly more control when you run a full-fledged NAT gateway.
But whichever option you choose, remember that messing around with your network configuration can get you disconnected in a hurry if you make a mistake. For that reason, all of the above examples use commands that change the "live" system, but don't alter the configuration files Linux reads in at startup. If you make a mistake, a reboot should bring you back to a known working state.
If you decide you want to make your changes permanent, your best bet is to consult your distro's documentation. Distros vary slightly in where and how they store network configuration scripts (Red Hat uses /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/, for example, while Ubuntu uses /etc/network/).
One you start digging into the details, you'll find even more possibilities for utilizing that second network adapter under Linux. But you should now be armed with a general idea of how to make both adapters talk to your network at the same time -- and you can do your part to eliminate network adapter wastefulness.
Purchase a new PC or motherboard soon, and the chances are good that it will come with two built-in network interfaces -- either two Ethernet jacks or one Ethernet and one Wi-Fi. Tossing in a second adapter is an inexpensive way for the manufacturer to add another bullet point to the product description -- but what exactly are you supposed to do with it? If you are running Linux, you have several alternatives.
Plugging another Ethernet cable into the second jack and hoping for the best will accomplish nothing; you have to configure Linux's networking subsystem to recognize both adapters, and you must tell the OS how to use them to send and receive traffic. You can do the latter step in several different ways, which is where all the fun comes in.
The big distinction between your options lies in the effect each has on the other devices on your network (computers, routers, and other appliances) -- intelligently routing network traffic between them, linking them together transparently, and so on. In some cases, the simplest end result is not the easiest to set up, so it pays to read through all of the alternatives before you decide which to tackle.
Bonding
From your network's perspective, the simplest option is channel bonding or "port trunking" -- combining both of the computer's interfaces into a single interface that looks like nothing out of the ordinary to your applications.
A combined logical interface can provide load balancing and fault tolerance. The OS can alternate which interface it uses to send traffic, or it can gracefully fail over between them in the event of a problem. You can even use it to balance your traffic between multiple wide area network (WAN) connections, such as DSL and cable, or dialup and your next door neighbor's unsecured Wi-Fi.
To bond two Ethernet interfaces, you must have the bonding module compiled for your kernel (which on a modern distro is almost a certainty), and the ifenslave package (which is a standard utility, although you might need to install it from from your distro's RPM or APT repository).
On a typical two-port motherboard, the Ethernet adapters are named eth0 and eth1, so we will use that for our example commands. With ifenslave installed, take both Ethernet adapters offline by running sudo ifdown eth0 and sudo ifdown eth1. Load the bonding module into the Linux kernel with modprobe. There are two important options to pass to the module: mode and miimon. Mode establishes the type of bond (round-robin, failover, and so on), and miimon establishes how often (in milliseconds) the links will be checked for failure. sudo modprobe bonding mode=0 miimon=100 will set up a round-robin configuration in which network packets alternate between the Ethernet adapters as they are sent out. The miimon value of 100 is a standard place to begin; you can adjust if it you really want to tweak your network.
To create an actual bond (which for convenience we'll call bond0), run sudo ifconfig bond0 192.168.1.100 up to assign an IP address to the bond, then run ifenslave bond0 eth0 followed by ifenslave bond0 eth1 to tie the physical Ethernet interfaces into it.
Round-robin mode is good for general purpose load balancing between the adapters, and if one of them fails, the link will stay active via the other. The other six mode options provide features for different setups. Mode 1, active backup, uses just one adapter until it fails, then switches to the other. Mode 2, balance XOR, tries to balance traffic by splitting up outgoing packets between the adapters, using the same one for each specific destination when possible. Mode 3, broadcast, sends out all traffic on every interface. Mode 4, dynamic link aggregation, uses a complex algorithm to aggregate adapters by speed and other settings. Mode 5, adaptive transmit load balancing, redistributes outgoing traffic on the fly based on current conditions. Mode 6, adaptive load balancing, does the same thing, but attempts to redistribute incoming traffic as well by sending out ARP updates.
The latter, complex modes are probably unnecessary for home use. If you have a lot of network traffic you are looking to manage, consult the bonding driver documentation. For most folks, bonding's fault tolerance and failover is a bigger gain than any increased link speed. For example, bonding two WAN links gives you load balancing and fault tolerance between them, but it does not double your upstream throughput, since each connection (such as a Web page HTTP request) has to take one or the other route.
Bridging
The bonding solution is unique in that both network adapters act like a single adapter for the use of the same machine. The other solutions use the two adapters in a manner that provides a new or different service to the rest of your network.
Bridging, for example, links the two network adapters so that Ethernet frames flow freely between them, just as if they were connected on a simple hub. All of the traffic heard on one interface is passed through to the other.
You can set up a bridge so that the computer itself does not participate in the network at all, essentially transforming the computer into an overpriced Ethernet repeater. But more likely you will want to access the Internet as well as bridge traffic between the ports. That isn't complicated, either.
Bridging requires the bridge-utils package, a standard component of every modern Linux distribution that provides the command-line utility brctl.
To create a bridge between your network adapters, begin by taking both adapters offline with the ifdown command. In our example eth0/eth1 setup, run sudo ifdown eth0 and sudo ifdown eth1 from the command line.
Next, create the bridge with sudo brctl addbr bridge0. The addbr command creates a new "virtual" network adapter named bridge0. You then connect your real network adapters to the bridge with addif: sudo brctl addif bridge0 eth0 adds the first adapter, and sudo brctl addif bridge0 eth1 adds the second.
Once configured, you activate the bridge0 virtual adapter just as you would a normal, physical Ethernet card. You can assign it a static IP address with a command like sudo ifconfig bridge0 192.168.1.100 netmask 255.255.255.0, or tell it to retrieve its configuration via DHCP with sudo dhclient bridge0.
You can then attach as many computers, hub, switches, and other devices as you want through the machine's Ethernet port, and they will all be able to see and communicate with each other. On the downside, if you have a lot of traffic, your computer will spend some extra energy passing all of those Ethernet frames back and forth across the two adapters.
Firewalling and gateway-ing
As long as you have excess traffic zipping through your computer, the OS might as well look at it and do something useful, such as filter it based on destination address, or cache repeatedly requested Web pages. And indeed, you can place your dual-port computer between your upstream cable or DSL connection and the rest of your local network, to serve as a simple Internet-connection-sharing gateway, or as a firewall that exerts control over the packets passing between the network interfaces.
First, you will need to bring both network adapters up and assign each a different IP address -- and, importantly, IP addresses that are on different subnets. For example, sudo ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.100 netmask 255.255.255.0 and sudo ifconfig eth1 192.168.2.100 netmask 255.255.255.0. Note that eth0's address is within the 192.168.1.x range, while eth1's is within 192.168.2.x. Maintain this separation when you add other devices to your network and you will keep things running smoothly.
Forwarding the packets between the Internet on one adapter and your LAN on the other is the purview of iptables, a tool for configuring the Linux kernel's IP filtering subsystem. The command sudo iptables -A FORWARD --in-interface eth1 --out-interface eth0 --source 192.168.2.0/255.255.255.0 -m state --state NEW -j ACCEPT allows computers on the LAN interface eth1 to start new connections, and forwards them to the outside world via the eth0 interface. Following that with sudo iptables -A FORWARD -m state --state ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT keeps subsequent packets from those connections flowing smoothly as well.
Next, sudo iptables -A POSTROUTING -t nat -j MASQUERADE activates Network Address Translation (NAT), secretly rewriting the IP addresses of traffic from the LAN so that when it goes out to the Internet, it appears to originate from the Linux box performing the routing. This is a necessary evil for most home Internet connections, both because it allows you to use the private 192.168.x.x IP address block, and because many ISPs frown upon traffic coming from multiple computers.
Finally, run sudo sh -c "echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward to activate the kernel's packet forwarding.
This setup will pass traffic from your LAN to your Internet connection, but it does not configure the network settings on the LAN computers themselves. Each of them needs an IP address, gateway and network information, and some working DNS server addresses. If your dual-adapter Linux box is serving as a NAT gateway, you could easily have it provide that information to the clients as well, using DHCP. Your distro probably comes with the dhcpd package. Configuring dhcpd is beyond the scope of the subject here, but check your distro's documentation for Internet connection sharing and you will likely find the instructions you need.
Once you are comfortable using iptables to set up basic NAT and packet forwarding, you can dig a little deeper and learn how to use your box as a first-rate firewall by writing rules that filter traffic based on source and destination address, port, and protocol.
Isolating
Finally, you can always configure your secondary network adapter to work in complete isolation from the rest of your LAN.
Sure, there is little gain to such a setup for general-purpose computers, but it is a popular choice for certain Ethernet-connected devices that only need to send data to one destination. Homebrew digital video recorder builders use the technique to connect the HDHomerun HDTV receiver directly to a MythTV back end, thereby isolating the bandwidth-hogging MPEG streams from the LAN. The same traffic separation idea might also come in handy for other single-purpose devices, such as a dedicated network-attached storage (NAS) box, a networked security camera, or your Ethernet-connected houseplant.
For most devices, isolating your second adapter entails setting up the computer to act as a DHCP server as in the gateway example above, but without worrying about NAT rules routing between the secondary client and the rest of the network.
Caveat emptoring
So which technique is right for you? My advice is to think about what network trouble you most need to prepare for. If your dual-adapter box is a server with heavy traffic to handle, or you need to balance your traffic across two WAN connections, bonding is for you. On the other hand, if you just bought an HDHomeRun to add to your MythTV back end, think about attaching it directly to the spare interface.
Bridging and gatewaying are most similar, in that they use the dual-adapter box to connect multiple other devices into a single network. If that is what you need to do, consider that bridging works at the Ethernet link level, well below IP and TCP in the protocol stack. At the Ethernet level, the only sort of traffic shaping you can do is that based on the hardware MAC address of the computer. You have significantly more control when you run a full-fledged NAT gateway.
But whichever option you choose, remember that messing around with your network configuration can get you disconnected in a hurry if you make a mistake. For that reason, all of the above examples use commands that change the "live" system, but don't alter the configuration files Linux reads in at startup. If you make a mistake, a reboot should bring you back to a known working state.
If you decide you want to make your changes permanent, your best bet is to consult your distro's documentation. Distros vary slightly in where and how they store network configuration scripts (Red Hat uses /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/, for example, while Ubuntu uses /etc/network/).
One you start digging into the details, you'll find even more possibilities for utilizing that second network adapter under Linux. But you should now be armed with a general idea of how to make both adapters talk to your network at the same time -- and you can do your part to eliminate network adapter wastefulness.
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