Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/55957
Grenoble faculty hope to dis- cover whether iPads can replace lap- tops, says Marc Humbert, head of the innovation laboratory. "We may realize that the iPad is less intru- sive than a PC, which, when open in the classroom, is like a barrier between the student and faculty." Although early reviews of the iPad are positive, faculty are likely to learn much more about its advantages— and disadvantages—in the months to come, says Bettina Büchel, professor of strategy and organization at IMD. "We're still in the discovery phase," she says. "The applications developed for executive education are just in the starting blocks." Social Networks Are More Social Than You Think A recent study shows that mobile social networks often leak users' private information to third-party tracking sites and other traditional online social networking services. That information includes users' physical locations, unique identifiers related to their mobile devices, and other personal data. Authors Craig Wills, a professor of computer science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachu- setts, and AT&T Labs researcher Balachander Krishnamurthy co- authored "Privacy Leakage in Mobile Online Social Networks." They examined 13 mobile online social networks, such as Brightkite, Flickr, Gowalla, and Urbanspoon, and seven traditional online social networks, such as Facebook, Linked- In, MySpace, and Twitter. They found that all 20 sites leaked some private information—most often the user's unique social net- working identifier—to third-party TOOLS OF THE TRADE Solar Simulator at Sloan Teaches Strategy A simulation from MIT Sloan exposes students to the fast-growing solar panel industry. MIT's Sloan School of Management in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has launched a new management simula- tor on its open courseware Web site. The simulator places students at the helm of SunPower, a leading Silicon Valley-based company in the solar photovoltaic industry. Within the sim, students compete with virtual firms while reacting to industry con- ditions, devising strategies, setting prices, and protecting their propri- etary knowledge. The game also exposes students to a fast-growing industry that promises to be incredibly important in years to come, says John Sterman, a profes- sor of management at Sloan. He also directs the MIT System Dynamics Group, a collaboration of faculty and leaders in the solar industry who designed the simulator. "The solar photovoltaic industry is growing at more than 30 percent a year," says Sterman. "While rela- tively small today, solar has enormous potential to generate huge amounts of renewable, low-cost electric power tracking sites. Six sites passed on the unique identifiers for users' phones, which could allow third-party sites to track activities in other applications. Wills argues for more comprehen- sive and easy-to-use privacy controls, so that social networks cannot com- pile such comprehensive portraits The interface of MIT's latest simulation puts students at the helm of a leading solar power company. and help combat global warming." Players strive to maximize profits over the long run, but they also can set other goals, such as reducing greenhouse gases or experiment- ing with carbon prices and solar subsidies. "The simulator reports both the profits of the firms and the cumulative greenhouse gas emissions avoided by the installation of each firm's solar panels," says Sterman. Sterman has used a prototype of the simulator in his MBA strategy course for four years. He notes that the simulator was designed for a wide range of business disciplines, includ- ing strategy, economics, technology management, energy policy, and sustainability. The simulator is available for free at https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ MSTIR/management-simulators/ solar/Pages/default.aspx. It is includ- ed as part of the MIT Sloan Teach- ing Innovation Resources Web site, which offers a collection of teaching materials developed by MIT faculty and students. of users from their personal data. Only then, he adds, can users make informed choices about the informa- tion they choose to share—and with whom they share it. at www.wpi.edu/news/20090/ junwills.html. n BizEd SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010 A link to the full study is available z 69