Brian Gongol
Floods put spotlight on Iowa's unsewered communities
IBM report says Apple products have more security holes than any other maker
The report also claims that 94% of all attacks on Internet browsers occur within 24 hours of a vulnerability report, and suggests that independent researchers need to stop publishing the security holes they find since it's encouraging crooks to use them. We do find ourselves in a curious balancing act: If researchers don't have some way to pressure software makers into fixing their problems (for example, by publishing news of the security holes and how to use them), then it's much too easy for the software makers to act as though no problem exists. But on the other hand, it's easy to imagine that easy access to the news of potential exploits makes it much easier for crooks to take advantage of them.
The near-term future of electricity in Iowa
Demand continues to rise, so new plants are probably going to be needed in the next decade or so -- but just as important is the need for better transmission capacity. Energy doesn't do much good if you can't get it going to where it's needed. The inadequacy of the electrical-transmission grid across the country is in considerable need of an upgrade, and that's a problem we've known about for at least half a decade.
94% of Iowa communities have access to broadband Internet
The Iowa Utilities Board says that's an increase over the 92% deployment in May 2006 and 72% of December 2004. DSL and wireless/satellite service seem to have filled most of the service gaps in conventional cable-modem service.
