Hardware pirates are about to get another force to contend with: The new EPIC chip locking system developed by computer engineers at the University of Michigan and Rice University. While not infallible, the new locking technique should make things very difficult and costly for hardware pirates to copy chips that come armed with it. More in the full article.

While people have remained satisfied with all their technological doohickeys and whatchamacallits, it still stands to mention that consumers still get more headaches from tech goods and services than other consumer goodies.

A University of Michigan study said that there was an overall increase of 4.1% in customer satisfaction for products and services this year. At the same time, the Customer Satisfaction Index also mentions PCs as having a lower rating than other product categories. As the study hints at, even if other good and services offer problems of their own, they have an better time simplifying the information for others, in addition to a general ease-of-use with regard to maintenance.

The study also shows that Apple and Dell have had increased satisfaction ratings, with Apple Computers holding the highest rating among computer vendors. The news on Dell satisfaction, however, seems surprising given the large amount of bad press they've garnered over the year. Google and Yahoo, while still strong, did happen to lose some points this year according to the index, though Google still remains the most widely-used search engine at present.

Apple is now allowing universities to post lectures and other educational items on iTunes so that students can download the classes and listen to them on the go. It seems that the idea of putting the lectures online is quickly catching on, with more universities tapping Apple for the service.

Reportedly, the idea began almost without much fanfare, with a student at the University of Michigan asking students which form they would prefer best in disseminating the information online. Without much thought, the students overwhelmingly picked the iPod because of its ease of use and mobility. iTunes U was introduced to the dental school there.

Stanford is the latest in growing number of universities taking advantage of the service. Sheesh, who knew school WOULD finally be so cool?

[Via, Hexus]