Carolyn Duffy Marsan shares The 5 hottest IT jobs right now:
Leading IT job site Dice.com reports the following five areas as growing the most this year in terms of job openings:
- iPhone developers
- Cloud specialists
- Android developers
- Mobile developers
- Ruby on Rails
I particularly like the idea of the “confus-o-meter” and “understand-o-meter” - that sort of clear, direct, real-time feedback is important for successful instruction.
Angela Chen ... App Tries to Increase Student Participation by Simplifying Clicker Technology
From clickers to programs like Learning Catalytics—which data-mines to match students with discussion partners—student-response systems are becoming more and more sophisticated. But Liam Kaufman, a graduate of the University of Toronto, thinks that the key to effective feedback is a tool with fewer bells and whistles.
Mr. Kaufman is the developer of Understoodit, a browser-based app that lets students indicate their level of comprehension during class, and then see how much everyone else understands.
The idea is that, during a lecture, everyone runs the Understoodit Web site, which is also accessible via mobile and tablet devices. Students press buttons to indicate that they either understand the material or are confused by it. The feedback is displayed in real time, in the form of a “confus-o-meter” and an “understand-o-meter,” which show the percentage of students who comprehend the material.
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Wow – did not know this. From Dan Frommer … AOL Dialup Just Had Its ‘Best’ Quarter In A Decade, And Still Has 3 Million Subscribers:
did you know that AOL still has 3 million dialup “access” subscribers — generating a third of the company’s revenue and likely most of its profit?
Jason Kottke shares … Map made from movie names:
Design firm Dorothy has created a map where all the features are movie-themed: Jurassic Park, Shutter Island, Howards End, the Soylent Green...that sort of thing.
very clever device. Not cheap at $1,295, but could make up the cost in save travel time, hotel, airfare, etc. Available from Pwnie Express. Robert McMillan reporting ... Darpa Funds Hack Machine You’d Never Notice
If you saw this bad boy under your desk, would you say anything?
It may look like a surge protector, but it’s really a remote access machine that corporations can use to test security and log into branch offices. Called the Power Pwn, it’s a stealthier version of the little box that can hack your network we wrote about last March.
Hidden inside are Bluetooth and Wi-Fi adapters, along with a number of hacking and remote access tools that let security experts prod and poke the network, and even call home to be remotely controlled via the cellular network.
There’s a “text-to-bash” feature that lets you send commands to the device using SMS messages. Some customers conducting penetration tests of corporate security have been using Apple’s Siri voice-recognition software to send these messages, says Dave Porcello, the CEO of Pwnie Express, the company that makes the Power Pwn. “Basically, they are able to speak pen-testing commands into their phone.”
It’s a device “you can just plug in and do a full-scale penetration test from start to finish,” Porcello says. “The enterprise can use stuff like this to do testing more often and more cheaply than they’re doing it right now.”
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Seems lime this would be a great app for filming conferences and other live events. vyclone - life from all angles:
Now when you shoot video with your iPhone you can include footage taken by your friends filming the same events. Just point your phones at something and record, Vyclone does the rest. In a few moments it synchronizes and edits everyone's clips to create one movie with all the angles cut together. You get the raw footage too. So if you like, you can remix it to make your own director's cut. And when you're happy with your masterpiece, Vyclone makes it easy to share. It's filming genius.
Get it here.
Looks very interesting. Free for the first month and $10 per month thereafter. I haven't taken a look at the quality of the content or functionality of the "real Linux lab environment", but if a student can learn Linux and configure and manage a real server – for $10 a month – that's a real threat to higher ed – particularly community colleges. LinuxAcademy.tv | Learn To Manage Open Source Linux:
Linux Academy provides interactive step by step video courses that will take a newbie to professional over the next several months. The Academy starts out with an introduction to the Linux server and builds from there. The Linux Academy allows you to interact with a real Linux lab environment, giving you the ability to play, learn, and follow lessons on actual Linux servers. You could boot up your server, start following a lesson (or just play for fun) and delete the file system. It takes nothing more than two clicks to delete your server and re-build one from scratch. As a result, anyone in the IT field can learn to manage or interact with Linux servers.
I love the term polymath! From Keith Veronese … Benjamin Franklin's Fluid Theory of Electricity:
Benjamin Franklin, however, walked the Earth as a polymath in an era of polymaths, a self-made printing magnate who spent his spare time inventing and making scientific discoveries long before entering the world political scene.
In between creating bifocals and urinary catheters, Franklin ruminated about the size of the atom, tracked hurricanes, and studied climate change. Tying into the latter, Franklin theorized that dust, gas, and rock thrown into the air from a volcanic eruption could play a role in changing the climate thousands of miles a way by blocking the amount of sunlight that reaches the surface of the earth. Franklin made this connection on a jaunt to Paris in 1784 that followed a series of eruptions at Lakagígar, a volcanic fissure in Iceland.
Full size The fluid theory of electricity While Franklin's fateful date with a kite and key is debated, Benjamin Franklin is the first person to correctly suggest the positive and negative nature of electrical charge. In Franklin's Fluid Theory of Electricity, he posited that electricity acted as a fluid moving through the planet. The theory called for "electrical fluid" to move through the ether as a single substance and not two completely different fluids per the contemporary belief of the time.
Franklin's mid-18th Century theory called for a neutral equilibrium of electrical fluid, with electricity flowing from an area of electrical excess to areas lacking the electrical "fluid". Franklin deemed the areas of excess "positive" - a flipped viewpoint from our current scientific understanding wherein electron rich areas likely hold an overall negative charge or dipole.
From Annie Colbert … Internet Flowchart Explains Why You Never Get Anything Done [COMIC]:
The Internet will suck you into a spiral of procrastination, distraction, and GIF-based giggle fits. But how to explain it to non-Internet people?
Fear not. Doghouse Diaries understands the web’s tight grip, and has illustrated the familiar browsing cycle in handy flowchart form. Check, recheck, refresh, repeat.
Seems like a pretty useful app. From Thorin Klosowski … SoundGecko Converts Any Article Into an MP3 and Syncs with Dropbox, Drive, or an iPhone App:
At its core, SoundGecko is a new webapp that's essentially a text-to-speech transcription service. Drop a URL into SoundGecko and it converts the article into speech. On top of that it also integrates with cloud services and an iPhone app. By default the simplest way to use SoundGecko is to have it send you an email with the file, but you can integrate it into Dropbox or Google Drive for immediate syncing. You can also use the iPhone app to directly sync up articles you've converted, and use a Chrome extension to add articles on the fly.
As far as the voice is concerned, it's what you'd expect from a text-to-voice transcription. It's a little digital sounding and takes some getting used to. Still, for a free way to create your own MP3s of articles and have them synced up pretty much anywhere, SoundGecko works efficiently and simply. Currently SoundGecko is free for unlimited use. If you travel a lot and want to hear your favorite articles it's worth checking out.
From Jon Brodkin – Bold plan: opening 1,000 MHz of federal spectrum to WiFi-style sharing:
An advisory council to President Obama today said the US should identify 1,000 MHz of government-controlled spectrum and share it with private industry to meet the country’s growing need for wireless broadband.
The report from the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) says the "traditional practice of clearing and reallocating portions of the spectrum used by Federal agencies is not a sustainable model." Instead, spectrum should be shared. For example, the government might need a chunk of spectrum for communications and radar systems in certain places and certain times—but "that spectrum can be freed up for commercial purposes at other times and places while respecting the paramount needs of the Federal system."
If put into place, the plan would represent a major change in how the US government uses and distributes spectrum, one that will help power our future filled with 4G phones and tablets. Spectrum sharing is a concept already embraced by TV white spaces technology, which is sometimes called "Super WiFi" and uses empty TV channels instead of traditional WiFi frequencies. The PCAST recommendation is that sharing shouldn’t be the exception—it should be the norm.
...
PCAST said it has already identified more than 200MHz of federal spectrum that can be freed for sharing. Another 195MHz will be identified in a report coming later this year, and the Federal Communications Commission will use incentive auctions "to free up substantially more prime spectrum," the council noted.
…
PCAST recommended allowing "general authorized access" devices to operate in the 3550-3650 MHz band (used for radar). It also identified the following list of bands as being potentially suitable for shared use:
From Julie Bosman … Survey Shows Growing Strength of E-Books.
Obviously, print books are not going away. They will likely become niche' or luxury products and publishers will have opportunities to add value with packaging, high-end paper, binding, print, etc. But, much like the music and movie industries were disrupted by digital content, the publishing industry is losing to e-books. Unfortunately for most traditional publishing companies, the disruption is coming from external upstarts rather than from the incumbents themselves. Had publishers had the foresight to spin out separate digital content businesses they could have been leading this shift – instead they're watching their business model crumble around them.
E-books continued their surge in popularity last year, surpassing hardcover books and paperbacks to become the dominant format for adult fiction in 2011, according to a survey of publishers released Wednesday.
For several years, consumers have been rapidly switching from print to digital for reading novels, a sign of the growing strength of the e-book for narrative, straightforward storytelling.
Over all, digital books kept up their explosive growth in 2011, the survey confirmed. Publishers’ net revenue from sales of e-books more than doubled last year, reaching $2.07 billion, up from $869 million in 2010. E-books accounted for 15.5 percent of publishers’ revenues.
But as digital revenue grew, print sales suffered, dropping to $11.1 billion in 2011 from $12.1 billion in 2010.
The annual survey, known as BookStats, includes data from nearly 2,000 publishers of all sizes. It was conducted by two trade groups, the Book Industry Study Group and the Association of American Publishers.
From Olivia Smith WiFi-blocking wallpaper. Very cool!
Researchers at France’s Institut Polytechnique de Grenoble have worked with the Centre Technique du Papier to develop Wi-Fi-blocking wallpaper. The product, also known as metapaper, claims to selectively filter, reduce or reflect electromagnetic waves.
Metapaper not only protects against intruders stealing Wi-Fi from buildings, but also ensures that signals inside a building are more secure and stronger, the group says. Benefits include data security for companies or people that need dependable Wi-Fi. The wallpaper can also be used to create quieter spaces for places like hospitals and movie theaters.
Shared by Jeff Dunn – 20 Must-See Facts About The 21st Century Classroom:
So what is the current state of the 21st century classroom? How many teachers have computers in their classroom? What are the 3 biggest reasons to use technology in your classroom? A new infographic from Open Colleges spells it out.
Components of a 21st Century Classroom - An infographic by the team at Open Colleges
They need to move much faster with their rollout.
From Nathan Olivarez-Giles … Sprint's 4G LTE Network Launches in 5 Markets:
Sprint’s 4G LTE service finally launched on Monday, but finding it won’t be easy. As of day one, Sprint 4G LTE is live in just 15 cities in five markets.
Seven of Sprint’s first 4G LTE cities are located in Texas — Dallas, Fort Worth, Granbury, Houston, Huntsville, San Antonio and Waco. Six are in Georgia — Atlanta, Athens, Calhoun, Carrollton, Newnan and Rome. And the last two are in the Kansas City market of both Kansas City and St. Joseph, Missouri. Sprint plans on launching its 4G LTE service in more markets before the end of the year, though it didn’t say when or where.
While Sprint has offered 4G service since 2008, its previous 4G networks ran on slower, older networking technologies — WiMax and HSPA+.
Hilarious!
The Google Nexus 7 Is the Worst Gadget To Unbox, Ever—Watch Why:
The unboxing video is a tired trope of tech blogging, but that doesn't mean we can't find new ways to embarrass ourselves with it.
Juan Carlos Perez thinks Microsoft Office Must Evolve to Remain Successful:
To beat back competitors like Google Apps, Office must evolve into an easier to use, tablet- and smartphone-friendly product, and one that doesn't penalize customers who access it via the cloud with big feature gaps and complicated setups.
Specifically, Microsoft must overcome its reticence to make an Office version for iPads and Android tablets. And it must beef up Office 365, its year-old cloud suite that includes online versions of Office, Lync, SharePoint, and Exchange.
How a lead-acid battery works:
Bill explains the essential principles of a lead-acid battery. He shows the inside of motorcycle lead-acid battery, removes the lead and lead-oxide plates and shows how they generate a 2 volt potential difference when placed in sulfuric acid. He explains how the build up of lead sulfate between the plates will make the battery unusable if it discharged completely, which leads him to a description of how to make a deep cycle battery used for collecting solar energy.
Bill details how a microwave oven heats food. He describes how the microwave vacuum tube, called a magnetron, generates radio frequencies that cause the water in food to rotate back and forth. He shows the standing wave inside the oven, and notes how you can measure the wavelength with melted cheese. He concludes by describing how a magnetron generates radio waves. You can learn more about the microwave oven from the EngineerGuy team's new book Eight Amazing Engineering Stories http://www.engineerguy.com/elements
Clever, but read the fine print, highlighted below. From Steve Kovach … Samsung Galaxy S III Commercials:
Samsung released a new batch of commercials this weekend for its Galaxy S III flagship Android phone.
The ads don't waste time bashing the iPhone. Instead, they focus on what the Galaxy S III can do … playing up a feature called All Share that lets you instantly beam photos you shoot to other Galaxy S III phones. The iPhone can't do that, but it's getting a similar feature with the iOS 6 upgrade in the fall.
Unfortunately, All Share is difficult to set up and only works if your friends also have a Galaxy S III. [emphasis added]
Great tutorial from James Bruce – How To Make An Ethernet Cross-Over Cable:
a crossover cable can be used to connect two devices directly, without the need for a router in the middle. It simply reverses some of the pins so that the output on one computer is being sent to the input of another
One of my favorite words! Luddite - Grammarist:
In modern usage, Luddite is defined as one who opposes new technology. The term comes from the group of English mechanics and artisans who, in 1811, organized a protest that involved destroying new manufacturing machinery which they perceived as threatening their livelihoods. They named themselves after Ned Ludd—sometimes known as Captain Ludd, King Ludd, or General Ludd—a mythical 18th-century character known for sabotaging knitting machinery. British government crackdowns quashed the movement within a few years of its start, but the term lives on. It’s often pejorative.
I'm not buying it. Is it April Fool's day? From faithful reader "Chaucer"? Leaked from the "Caterbury" campus? Sounds awfully contrived.
From Dean Howell … Leaked: Microsoft Office 15 For Linux Screenshot:
Last night at 1:30am EST, we received a surprise tip from faithful reader Chaucer. Chaucer will not reveal his true identity for obvious reasons, though he does want to make it known that this screenshot was leaked from Microsoft’s Canterbury campus. Not much is known about this screenshot other than that it is supposedly from the upcoming Office 2013 suite of applications. Microsoft Office 2013, which has been pulling double-duty on Mac and Windows since 1990, seems to be ready to brave the unknown world of the Linux desktop.
Great photo!
Image: “rain over streetlights” by Flickr user silent shot
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Strange story from Mike Masnick – University Sues Student For Graduating Too Fast:
Here's an odd one. The School of Economics and Management in Essen, Germany is suing former student, Marcel Pohl, for graduating too quickly. You see, he finished all of the necessary exams for both a bachelor's and master's degree in 20 months -- representing three semesters. Normally, it takes students 11 semesters, and the school feels ripped off. The complaint is that, even though they charge per semester, what they're really charging for is the degree, and Pohl didn't pay enough for his. So they want another €3,000.
Of course, in the details, we learn that part of the reason he was able to take so many exams is that he teamed up with two friends and they all traded notes on classes they didn't actually attend. You can question whether or not that meets academic ethics requirements, but the fact is that Pohl still did pass the required exams, and met all of the qualifications to graduate -- and the University apparently let him graduate before it realized what happened.
The university feels ripped off? That's a first, usually it's the student who feels that way. This story also makes me cringe, as it highlights a shift from students we serve to FTEs we need to make our budgets. It says something that the student could pass the required exams by reviewing class notes – must have been good notes. Maybe it's time to update the exams?
MG Siegler on the rumored Kindle Phone:
A joint effort by Amazon and Google to make a truly killer phone makes a lot of sense to me on paper. Sadly, that’s where it will stay.
Schneier on Security: Naming Pets:
Children are being warned that the name of their first pet should contain at least eight characters and a digit.
Unputdownable is an adjective used to describe something, especially a book, so riveting that it is difficult to put down. If you’ve ever forgone chores, work, or homework because you were busy reading a really good book, that book was unputdownable. We also find numerous instances, all in Indian sources, of the word used to mean not able to be defeated.
Unputdownable is a new word, but not so new that dictionaries haven’t noticed it. Merriam-Webster says its first known use was in 1947, and the earliest example in the Oxford English Dictionary is also from that year. But a historical Google Books search uncovers some earlier examples, including one from an 1842 edition of the London Medical Gazette
From LoRNix … Earphone remote in sound jack as X input:
Those 'special' headphones or earphones which can be used on specialized devices to control media players, volume and mute usually have FOUR connections on the plug, versus the typical THREE a normal headphone output jack has.
The usual three are Left Channel, Right Channel and Ground (common), while the fourth is often set up as a multi-value resistance, each button when pressed presents a particular resistance on the fourth wire (+ ground), which the media device can sense and from that determine what function is needed. Pretty slick method of getting several buttons to work off one wire without resorting to expensive digital signal generators and stuff (all packed in that little blob on the wires!).
Four buttons might use four resistances (of any unit):
volume up: 1 ohm volume down: 2 ohms stop: 4 ohms play: 8 ohms If this looks suspiciously like a binary encoding scheme... it is!! (You're so smart!!) Using values similarly ratio'd, you can sense 16 different outputs, even handling multiple keys pressed at the same time. Taa Daa!
…
There will be 16 different values, not necessarily in an ascending or descending value... the various values can be sensed. It's only 'binary' in the sense that it's a matrix of 4 buttons with either on/off positions.
Photo by roberthunt1987 - http://flic.kr/p/87jKin
Good insight from Gruber … Bloomberg, Too, Says iPad Mini Is Coming:
Here’s the logic behind such a display. Displays aren’t manufactured at their finished size; rather, they’re made on big sheets, and then cut to size. I believe the iPad Mini (or whatever it’s going to be called) uses the same display as the iPhone 3GS. So instead of cutting these sheets into 3.5-inch 480 × 320 displays for the iPhone 3GS, they’ll cut them into 7.85-inch 1024 × 768 displays for the smaller iPad. Same exact display technology, though — display technology that Apple has been producing at scale ever since the original iPhone five years ago. These are displays Apple knows they can produce efficiently and in enormous quantities. All they have to do is cut them into bigger pieces.
Gisela Telis shares some new research - Multitasking splits the brain
When the brain tries to do two things at once, it divides and conquers, dedicating one-half of our gray matter to each task, new research shows. But forget about adding another mentally taxing task: The work also reveals that the brain can’t effectively handle more than two complex, related activities at once.
Photo by karmaOWL - http://flic.kr/p/6RwrC
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From Matt Warman ...Bill Gates: 'ereaders won't catch on':
Engineers brought Bill Gates an ereader prototype in 1998 – but he dismissed it because it didn’t look like Windows.
He sure does love that cash cow!
Research In Motion CEO challenges perception that RIM is in 'a death spiral':
Research In Motion chief executive Thorsten Heins says "there's nothing wrong with the company as it exists right now" and he's confident it will get past its current challenges.
Those hurdles include layoffs of about 5,000 people, faltering sales of its BlackBerry smartphones, a delay in bringing out the new BlackBerry 10 technology and a tanking stock price
...
Heins acknowledged RIM faces a challenge to regain market share in the United States, but said the company isn't in a "death spiral."
Ben Brooks responds to Christopher Mims wish for "a credible replacement for print" in Thinking Backwards:
Mims is missing the point when he says: “credible replacement for print”. That exact line of thinking is why magazines are not thriving on the iPad. So let me lay this out as clearly as I can:
We do not need, and should not want, to replace print with digital.
We need, and should want, to find a way to make print irrelevant. [Emphasis added]
...
What would you rather have: a digital replica of a magazine — perfect replica — or would you rather have a completely new concept of what a magazine is.
The same should be true for textbooks and and books in general!
In response to South Carolina Bans Municipal Broadband Christopher Mitchell linked to his blog Community Broadband Networks – a great resource for learning more on broadband projects around the country.
By "haven't taken off" I presume you mean the number of projects. I say that because the best places in the nation to get broadband are cities with muni networks - Chattanooga, Bristol, Lafayette, and Morristown have universal access to a gig and generally some pretty affordable lower tier prices. If you are interested in where the projects have taken off, let me recommend my community bb map.
From Sean … iPhone "5":
Apple's "world changing" iPhone celebrated its fifth birthday on Friday, June 29th.
Mikko's thoughts:
Last Friday (6/29/12) was the 5th anniversary of the iPhone – looks what's happened to RIM – maker of the Blackberry – since. Wow!
From Alex Cocotas CHART OF THE DAY: RIM's Post-iPhone Implosion:
RIM's stock price is down 89 percent since the introduction of the iPhone five years ago today. Apple's stock, for comparison, has almost quintupled and shot off the chart sometime in 2010.
Great advice!
Travis Triggs on How to Tweak Your LinkedIn Profile to Get A Recruiter’s Attention:
Linkedin is the largest online professional networking tool with over 150 million users. 275,000+ of those users are recruiters. Unlike Facebook , LinkedIn is open to the web and 100% searchable. This means your LinkedIn profile could possibly show up in the search results of a recruiter’s Google search.
So how do you make yourself stand out amongst the crowd? Let me share a few basic but helpful tips.
The first step to a solid LinkedIn profile is adding a nice professional image of yourself. Please do not use a logo. I believe a photo helps you make a more personal connection with those who view your profile.
Next, is your professional “headline.” Since your headline is the first thing a recruiter will see make sure you make it stand out. Your headline doesn’t necessarily need to be your job title, it really can be anything you want. If you are an online Marketing Manager, you may want to put something like New Media Engagement Manager. Now, doesn’t that just grab your attention?
The next step is to add your current/past employers, education, website, and social sites.
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Now it’s time to add your work experience.
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Another great feature Linkedin has recently introduced is the “Skills and experiences” section. This is where you can enter your core competencies. Make sure and choose wisely because these are also scanned in the keyword search.
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Lastly, let’s clean up that LinkedIn URL. When you first create your LinkedIn profile, you are assigned a very ugly URL, one you wouldn’t want to add to your email signature/business card. Fortunately we get to customize this URL.
To make this change just follow these easy steps:
Go to your LinkedIn page, navigate to “profile” at the top of the page, then select “edit profile.” In the section underneath your headline you will see “edit public profile” at the bottom. Once selected, on the right side of the page you’ll see “customize your public profile URL.” Once you make that selection you’ll be able to create your url. For example mine is my name. LinkedIn.com/in/travistriggs.
More from Jean-Louis Gassée piece What’s next for RIM?:
Since its high in June 2008 — a mere four years — RIM has lost about 95% of its value.
Wow!
Jean-Louis Gassée wonders What’s next for RIM?:
Will BB10, RIM’s answer to iOS and Android — the company’s “number one priority” — ever ship? And, if it does, will it matter?
Probably not…and probably not.
Municipal broadband efforts haven't exactly taken off, but this sort of legislation is a very bad sign for the future.
Cyrus Farivar …South Carolina passes bill against municipal broadband:
South Carolina has become the latest state in the union to pass a state-level bill that effectively makes it difficult, if not impossible, for municipalities to create their own publicly-owned Internet service provider that could compete with private corporations. The bill passed the South Carolina General Assembly and Senate on Wednesday and awaits the signature of the state’s governor.
"It’s not an absolute ban, but it makes it pretty tough," Matt Wood, policy director at Free Press, a digital advocacy group, told Ars on Thursday.
Oddly, the bill also defines broadband as being "not less than one hundred ninety kilobits per second," which is pretty laughable by any measure. Municipal broadband watchers also say that the bill’s passage shows the effective lobbying of AT&T, the state’s largest telco, who has contributed thousands of dollars in campaign contributions.
