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Comment Just do it. Go abroad, whatever you have to do. (Score 3, Insightful) 386

by trainsnpep (#26245793) Attached to: Study Abroad For Computer Science Majors?

I'm a senior CS student at Rice University who studied abroad the first semester of my sophomore year. The hoops you have to jump through to study abroad are worth it.

You probably don't really need to take technical courses every semester: there may be a light one with courses you can put off. I had to take a 3 week summer course and adjust my schedule a bit, but I made it to Florence, Italy for a semester. If you absolutely cannot go abroad for a full semester, do a summer program or go after you graduate (I knew a kid who graduated, then still went abroad for the experience).

Decide what school you want to go to based on whether you want to experience the culture or drink. A lot of the schools built for studying abroad have people who just go abroad to drink. I was at one of those schools although I would've liked more cultural things and less drinking. It's up to you.

I took no technical courses while abroad. I actually fulfilled a number of university requirements (arts and social sciences).

Make sure you clear all the courses you're going to take with your advisor: they should know you might be taking a semester off of CS. Make sure that you also get any classes you want to transfer approved beforehand. Get signatures.

(It may actually be cheaper to go abroad if you're currently going to a private school. If you have scholarships, some of them may pay for you to go abroad)

If you can't find some time to go, you don't want it bad enough. Feel free to contact me if you have any more specific questions.
Wireless Networking

FCC Approves Unlicensed Use of White-Space Spectrum 138

Posted by kdawson from the knights-in-white-spaces dept.
sidesh0w was one of a number of readers to alert us to the FCC's unanimous decision approving unlicensed devices to use the white spaces of the spectrum unused by television broadcasters, provided they take certain precautions not to interfere with licensed users. "Denying a tremendous last-minute lobbying effort by broadcasters, the vote on white space devices went ahead as planned today after a several-hour delay at FCC headquarters. When the vote came, though, it was unanimous. For the Democrats on the Commission, the devices are appealing because they offer a potential new avenue for broadband services, while the Republicans are pleased for the same reasons, but love the fact that this is a deregulatory order that focuses on less regulation and more competition."
Education

Wall Street's Collapse Is Computer Science's Gain 435

Posted by timothy from the portable-skills dept.
dcblogs writes "Thanks to Wall Street's implosion, the chairman of Stanford University's Computer Science Department says he is seeing more interest from students in computer science. Ditto at Boston College. Computer science enrollments crashed after the dot-com bust as students turned to hedge fund majors. And are computer science grads getting jobs? The professor at one university program that graduates about 45 students a year with CS degrees, wrote in a comment: 'Last year 87% of our seniors were employed before graduation. The median starting salary was $58,500. A majority of CIS students had multiple job offers. From where I sit, there is a huge demand for entry level IT professionals in IS and in CS.'"
The Internet

LHC Flips On Tomorrow 526

Posted by Soulskill from the nice-knowing-you-all dept.
BTJunkie writes "The Large Hadron Collider, the worlds most expensive science experiment, is set to be turned on tomorrow. We've discussed this multiple times already. A small group of people believe our world will be sucked into extinction (some have even sent death threats). The majority of us, however, won't be losing any sleep tonight." Reader WillRobinson notes that CERN researchers declared the final synchronization test a success and says, "The first attempt to circulate a beam in the LHC will be made this Wednesday, Sept. 10 at the injection energy of 450 GeV (0.45 TeV). The start up time will be between (9:00 to 18:00 Zurich Time) (2:00 to 10:00 CDT) with live webcasts provided at webcast.cern.ch."
Privacy

Talking CCTV to Scold Offenders in UK 486

Posted by samzenpus from the you-are-hereby-fined-1-credit-for-violation-of-the-verbal-morality-code dept.
linumax writes "The most monitored nation of the world is getting an interesting new service. According to a BBC News story, "Talking" CCTV cameras that tell off people dropping litter or committing anti-social behaviour are to be extended to 20 areas across England.They are already used in Middlesbrough where people seen misbehaving can be told to stop via a loudspeaker, controlled by control centre staff."
Music

Submission + - Someone In Congress Actually Understands Mixtapes!

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Most of us (for pretty good reasons!) have come to assume that our Congressional representatives are pretty far out of touch when it comes to things like technology and culture, but it's nice to see that at least one Congressman seems to understand that mixtapes and mashups aren't such a bad thing. Techdirt has the transcript of Rep. Mike Doyle's speech, which talks about the benefits of mixtapes, while wondering about why DJ Drama was arrested: "I hope that everyone involved will take a step back and ask themselves if mash-ups and mix-tapes are really different or if it's the same as Paul McCartney admitting that he nicked the Chuck Berry bass-riff and used it on the Beatle's hit 'I Saw Her Standing There.' Maybe it is. And, maybe Drama violated some clear bright lines. Or, maybe mixtapes are a powerful tool. And, maybe mash-ups are transformative new art that expands the consumers experience and doesn't compete with what an artist has made available on iTunes or at the CD store. And, I don't think Sir Paul asked for permission to borrow that bass line, but every time I listen to that song, I'm a little better off for him having done so...."
Handhelds

Submission + - Cisco, Apple settle iPhone trademark battle

Submitted by
_nderscore
_nderscore writes: "The Houston Chronicle is reporting that Cisco Systems Inc. and Apple Inc. have settled the trademark-infringement lawsuit regarding use of the "iPhone" name. From the article, 'The companies said they reached an agreement that will allow Apple to use the name for its sleek new multimedia device in exchange for exploring wide-ranging "interoperability" between the companies' products in the areas of security, consumer and business communications. No other details of the agreement were released. The companies both said they would dismiss any pending legal actions regarding the trademark.'"
Media

Submission + - College Students Illegally Sharing

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The IndyStar has an article about how copyright infringement is rampant on college campuses here. The article explains that if the schools do nothing about it, they could be subject to lawsuits. However, the punishments used by the school don't appear to be too harsh for the first couple offenses.
Wireless Networking

Skype Asks FCC to Open Cellular Networks 292

Posted by samzenpus from the level-the-field dept.
Milwaukee's_Best writes "Skype has just asked the FCC to force wireless phone companies to open their networks to all comers. Skype essentially wants to turn the wireless phone companies into just another network of the kind currently operated on the ground. This would require carriers to allow any phone to be used on their networks, and for any application. Users would simply purchase a voice or data plan (though these could easily converge into a data plan if VoIP calling is used) and then use the device of their choice to access the network of their choice. Think of it as network neutrality for cell networks. Given the competition that exists within the industry, is this needed?"
Businesses

Submission + - Registerfly - do you know where your domain is?

Submitted by
hookmeister
hookmeister writes: "If you registered your domain at Registerfly.com, then you should know it may be locked, and you are at the moment unable to access it through registerfly.com's website. The story as a video. You may even have an un-renewable situation where your domain expires into a status known as redemption through no fault of your own. By all accounts there are just under 2 million domains at risk here, ENOM dumped them as a reseller, Its a Mess... Once clue is that thier SSL cert expired.

Fortunately there is some good news. The Principals in this are trying to restore order. A website www.Registerflies.com (originally crafted as a gripe-zone and forum for regsiterfly users) has gotten inside the ranks of the Regsiterfly management shakeup, made some friends and connections and is creating a back-door problem reporting form that goes directly to those that can correct a domain problem. (The RegisterFly support ticketing system is clogged with thousands of Un-answered complaints.) Go HERE and get at the top of the list, or follow it as the situation evolves."
Software

Submission + - Hollywood training swedish police in Anti-Piracy

Submitted by
Oxygen
Oxygen writes: "IDG.se reports on it's online newssite that representatives from the MPAA, FBI and the Swedish lobbyorganisation Antipiratbyrån have held seminars for swedish police officers (Swedish only) that are being trained in fighting piracy and copyright violations. From the article: "According to Bertil Ramsell, responsible for the course, the purpose of the visit was to give the invited speakers a chance to explain to the students what their organsation's purpose was. But in a report from the IIPA, the pupose was to educate students in anti-piracy." Educating is one thing, but the acronym MPAA doesn't really spell "objective" or "no hidden agenda" to me."
Privacy

Submission + - UK: Blair Dismisses Online Anti ID-Card Petition

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "Elected Dictator / Prime Minister Tony Blair has responded personally via e-mail to 28,000 online petitioners opposing the UK's planned identity card scheme, and has closed the online petition. The e-mail reads: "We live in a world in which people, money and information are more mobile than ever before. Terrorists and international criminal gangs increasingly exploit this to move undetected across borders and to disappear within countries. Terrorists routinely use multiple identities — up to 50 at a time." ..."ID cards which contain biometric recognition details and which are linked to a National Identity Register will make this much more difficult.""

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