
Learn more at www.kloonigames.com/crayon/.
Mike Qaissaunee, a Professor of Engineering and Technology at Brookdale Community College in Lincroft, New Jersey, shares his experiences and perspectives on integrating new technologies in and approaches to teaching and learning. ~ Subscribe to this Blog
I wonder what the distributed university will look like. For that matter, I wonder what the distributed education will look like. It’s not an idle curiosity. Like media and every industry and institution before it, the academe is waiting to be exploded by the internet.
Why should my son or daughter have to pick a single college and with it only the teachers and courses offered there? Online, they should be able to take most any course anywhere. Indeed, schools from MIT to Stanford are now offering their curricula the internet. Of course, these come without the benefit of the instructors’ attention — and without tuition — but it’s easy to add that interaction; there are lots of online courses taught by live faculty.
Similarly, why should a professor pick just from the students accepted at his or her school? Online, the best can pick from the best, cutting out the middleman of university admissions.
Now the next step: students teaching each other... students can self-organize with teachers and fellow students to learn what they want how and where they want. [and] ... could finally lead to the lifelong education we keep nattering about but do little to actually support.... why don’t we? Because it doesn’t fit into the degree structure. And because self-organizing classes and education could cut academic institutions out of the their exclusive role in education.
So what if the degree structure is outmoded? What does a bachelor’s of arts really say you’re ready to do?
If education ends up handled by the Phoenix Universities of the web, then what happens to scholarship? The problem here is that the internet is unforgiving of needs to preserve old models and methods. It disaggregates ruthlessly.
So I think that education has a rude shocking coming unless it gets ahead of this change and figures out how to become less of an institution and more of a platform. So what does the distributed university look like?
(2) MailBucket - takes the complete opposite approach, generating an RSS feed from you email and sending your email to an RSS reader. CAUTION: This approach is not for the security.
(3) TwitterFeed - I love twitter and have been using it for some time. Twitterfeed - takes content from RSS feeds and sends the content as updates to twitter. Here's a twitter feed for my blog. You can just follow this twitter account and get any new blog postings in yout twitter updates - pretty cool.
(4) Pingie - Feed updates via SMS - great for the iPhone.
(5) FeedJournal - If RSS and email are too techy for you and you prefer your news on paper, this might be your solution. Subscribe to RSS feeds and FeedJournal converts the content to a printable newspaper.
(6) Wigitize - A widget service that allows you to add RSS content to your website. Also consider SpringWidgets.
(7) ReminderFeed - Use your feed reader as a reminder service.
(8) TagMindr - Also a reminder service, but also you to add web links - sort of an feed reader with del.icio.us functionality.
(9) FeedBlendr / FeeDoor - Combine RSS and Atom, video, audio and text feeds into one.
(10) FeedCrier - Feed updates in your chat program (AIM , MSN Messenger, Jabber and GoogleTalk).
(11) ZapTXT -Monitor feeds for keywords. For instance, "Microsoft, Yahoo" to keep up-t0-date on the latest merger/takeover news.
(12) SpokenText - Don't have time to read? SpokenText converts RSS feeds to speech and allows you to subscribe to them as iTunes podcasts. Again, pretty cool!
(13) RSSMixer - Merge multiple feeds into one master feed and accessible from any feed reader.
(14) AideRSS - This is your RSS-assistant. Takes your hundreds and thousands of stories waiting to be read and applies a filter, leaving only the most popular stories. Sort of like your personal digg.
a speech will generally fall into one of four basic types:
- Informative – This speech serves to provide interesting and useful information to your audience.
- Demonstrative Speeches – This has many similarities with an informative speech. A demonstrative speech also teaches you something. The main difference lies in including a demonstration of how to do the thing you’re teaching.
- Persuasive – A persuasive speech works to convince people to change in some way: they think, the way they do something, or to start doing something that they are not currently doing.
- Entertaining — The after-dinner speech is a typical example of an entertaining speech. The speaker provides pleasure and enjoyment that make the audience laugh or identify with anecdotal information.
The Entry Level SetupHardware:
Software:
- GarageBand for OS X (part of iLife, usually bundled with a new Mac)
and optionally, for more granular editing
- Fission for OS X ($32)
If you’d rather not buy the whole setup, you can buy the C01U microphone all by itself for $85.
The Midrange SetupHardware:
- Samson CL8 Condenser Mic ($150)
- Samson Shockmount ($30)
- On Stage Mic Stand ($17)
- Samson PS01 Pop Filter ($25)
- XLR to XLR Microphone Cable ($9)
- M-Audio MobilePre USB Mobile Preamp ($100)
Software:
- GarageBand for OS X (part of iLife, usually bundled with a new Mac)
or
The Prosumer Setup
- Freeverse SoundStudio 3 for OS X ($80)
Hardware:
- Shure SM7B Dynamic Microphone ($315)
- M-Audio Firewire Solo ($180)
- PreSonus TubePRE ($100)
- Heil PL-2T Silent Microphone Boom ($99)
- XLR to XLR Microphone Cable ($18 – two at $9 each)
Software:
- Freeverse SoundStudio 3 for OS X ($80)
or, if you’re really serious
- Soundtrack Pro 2 (part of Logic Studio) for OS X ($480)
The mobile market is wide open in ways that the desktop market is not.
...
in the mobile world, Flash is rare, not ubiquitous. Why would Apple help Adobe establish Flash as a de facto standard for the mobile web, too? If Flash does turn into a major force in the mobile world, Apple can always add it later. But why shouldn’t Apple push for a Flash-free mobile web future now?
R.E.M. today released 11 videos for the first song from their forthcoming album, all in MP4 format in HD and under an open source license. 'Supernatural Serious,' is the first single from the band's next album, 'Accelerate,' due to be released April 1st.Very interesting approach - a twist on what has been tried by Radiohead and NineInchNails Trent Reznor. I'm fascinated by this idea - imagine taking content from MIT OpenCourseWare and Open Yale courses and remixing them to create your own custom course. What could our students do, if we let them remix our courses?
Viewers are encouraged to remix the videos and share them on the song's YouTube page.
JiWire Wi-Fi Finder: JiWire locates wireless hotspots around the world.
Glide Mobile: Glide is an online office and collaboration suite that allows users to create, edit, and share all kinds of documents including word processing documents, websites, photos, contact lists, calendars and more. Google Docs and iZoho offer similar capabilities (although read-only).
Gas.app: Gas.app lets you find the gas stations with the lowest price anywhere in the US. A great companion to Gas.app is iPhone Miles, which is an easy-to-use mileage tracker.
Movies.app: Movies.app lets you browse all movies showing in all theaters in your area on a specific date.
Movies.app integrates with Maps for location information and also links to trailers and IMDb information for each movie. It even lets you buy tickets online via MovieTickets.com.
Google Mobile: Google’s Web-based tools including Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google Reader, Google Notebook, Picassa, and more.
iPhlickr: iPhlickr - a simple and streamlined iPhone interface to photo-sharing site Flickr.
Mundu: Mundu allows users to chat using AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, and Google’s GTalk. (also try Meebo)
Listingly: Listingly is an online list manager.
uPhoneHome: uPhoneHome is an application launcher for the iPhone. (also consider mockdock)Social Networking: Facebook, Multiply, and Twitter (via Pocket Tweets or Thin Cloud) are all traditional social networking sites that have dedicated iPhone application access. There are also new social networking sites designed specifically for iPhone users, including iRovr, iPling, and iPhone Colony.
Visit Apple’s web apps directory to find more iPhone applications.
If you're playing cards in any gambling game for over 20 minutes and have not figured out who the patsy at the table is, then it's you.This RoT has applications in many areas of my life! Here's a try at re-working:
If you teach for a living and you haven't figured out who the worst teacher is in the department, then it's you.Please come up with your own and post in the comments.
According to an article in this month's Science Journal, researchers at Simon Frasier University in British Columbia have developed a new technology to generate electricity from the natural motion of walking. Assistant professor of kinesiology Max Donelan and other team members say their biomechanical energy harvester promises to revolutionize the way people charge the batteries that power all sorts of mobile devices, like laptops, cell phones, and emergency rescue gear.
The energy harvester, which straps across a knee joint just like an athletic knee brace, can generate up to five watts of electricity with little physical effort. And one minute of brisk walking can generate 13 watts -- enough to support 30 minutes of cell-phone use.
Add this one to your web office toolkit - LiquidPlanner is an online, hosted project management tool that lets you access and update projects anywhere you have an internet connection. The service offers you and your team a complete project environment, social networking and collaboration features, and a probabilistic scheduling engine which tells you the probability of completing each task - and ultimately the entire project – by a certain date. With everything organized into a centralized dashboard that can be customized for each team member, everyone on your team can stay focused on their tasks and how they relate to the project as a whole.
LiquidPlanner's three main areas of focus are task management, scheduling, and collaboration, all of which combined help you estimate your timelines and update progress on a project in a way that is customized for you.
...
Liquid Planner is free during its beta period, which is occurring now. Afterwards, it will remain free for a single users, but teams of two or more will need to pay a monthly subscription fee.
Though this year's show had been widely seen as the global launching pad for the Internet giant's mobile developer platform, Android, the few handset prototypes on display from chipmakers ARM, Qualcomm (nasdaq: QCOM - news - people ) and Texas Instruments (nyse: TXN - news - people ) lack sophistication.Perhaps Google should hire Apple's Jonathan Ive - designer of the iPod, iPhone, etc.
ARM's model resembles a plain, clunky smart phone. Qualcomm's is an ungainly mélange of circuit boards and screens. TI's boasts a large screen full of square icons for one-click access to messaging, videos, lists and maps. All are somewhat speculative test models, however, as Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) hasn't yet released specifications for Android phones. Nevertheless, a Google representative at the show confirmed that Android handsets will hit the market in the second half of the year as planned.
FreeCommercial
- AIM Pro - A business class version of AOL Instant Messenger (AIM).
- Eyejot.com - Web-based video recorder.
- KonoLive.com - Business class IM.
- Skype For Business - Includes a business control panel.
- 12Planet.com - Secure instant messaging on an intranet, or a Virtual Private Network (VPN).
- Avaya.com - Allows interaction with Provides solutions for customer interactions, remote offices and mobile workers.
- Huddle.net - Allows team members to set up a profile, invite Facebook friends, and collaborate with one another.
- LanTalk.net - A full featured instant messaging solution.
- Novell GroupWise - Mobile collaboration, communication and instant messaging.
- WebEx.com - web conferencing software.
we’ve just got word from a reliable source that Flash support is on its way to the iPhone, and it should be coming very, very soon.
Changes in the global environment require changes in engineering education. Markets, companies, and supply chains have become much more international and engineering services are often sourced to the countries that can provide the best value. Basic engineering skills (such as knowledge of the engineering fundamentals) have become commodities that can be provided by lower cost engineers in many countries, and some engineering jobs traditionally done in the U.S. are increasingly done overseas. To respond to this changing context, U.S. engineers need new skill sets not easily replicated by low-wage overseas engineers.The first point speaks to the increasing globalization of our economy and the challenges of off-shoring. Number two and three are particularly daunting. It's very true that the general public doesn't understand what an engineer is or does. Lastly, is student retention. Our engineering students are among the best at each of our institutions. They have to be, because engineering is such a difficult field. Unfortunately, this inherent difficulty results in lower enrollments, greater attrition, under-prepared students, and losing students to less demanding disciplines.
Society at large does not have an accurate perception of the nature of engineering. Survey data indicate that the public associates engineers with economic growth and defense, but less so with improving health, the quality of life, and the environment.
The third challenge for engineering education is to retain those students who are initially attracted to engineering. Attrition is substantial in engineering, particularly in the first year of college. About 60 percent of students who enter engineering majors obtain a degree within 6 years. Although this retention rate is comparable to some other fields, it is especially critical for engineering to retain the pool of entering students.
As I slowly merged back onto the highway, I kept my eyes open for the remote possibility that the phone had stayed on my car for a longer distance than what I'd searched on foot. Still, no luck. I got up to speed, giving up for good, and about that time (1/4 mile from the gas station) I saw a glimmering light from the lane next to me. As I sped past the object, I knew it was my phone - still alive and working! I slammed on the brakes and pulled over, waiting for the passing cars and trucks to go by so I could run across 2 lanes of 75mph traffic to retrieve my poor phone. As the last pair of headlights approached, the semi got over to the far outside lane because he saw me standing on the side of the road. I knew this was trouble. As I watched helplessly from the shoulder, the semi plowed my phone at full speed, throwing it to the ditch on the other side of the highway. At this point, I figured I'd retrieve it just for the purpose of seeing the crushed iPhone in disarray, mangled and crunched lifeless in the grass. [read more below]
Much to my surprise, as I approached, I heard the familiar sound of my ringtone -- the iPhone was alive and ringing! As I picked it up and cradled it gently in my hands, I saw the screen displaying my caller ID -- the screen still worked! I slid my finger gently over the answer slide and paused as I held the tattered and torn device to my ear -- my heart must have skipped a beat when I heard my mom's voice at the other end of the phone -- the phone still worked!
I ran back to my car and sat on the side of the road for about 15 minutes inspecting it, testing it, and looking it over -- how in the hell had it survived being trounced by an 18-wheeler at 70mph?!?
Microsoft lost nearly $40 billion in market cap in the eight trading days since they made their offer.
Microsoft has shrunk by a Yahoo in the last eight days.
the tool of choice to enable continuous partial attention is a mobile device, not a laptop. To my surprise, roughly 80% of my Money:Tech rowmates had iPhones in hand. I expected New Yorkers to be a Blackberry crowd, but it looks like Tim was on to something when he predicted that the iPhone will beat the Blackberry.
Finance: Both Google Finance and Yahoo! Finance let you get finance news updates for specific companies and stocks, just look for orange "Subscribe" or "RSS" icons in your browser. To receive stock quotes (only for some stocks), you can use NASDAQ's feeds.What about an RSS reader or aggregator? There's a lot to choose from, including web-based apps you can use from any PC or downloadable applications that run on your PC. There's a great list of both at NewsOnFeeds.com. I prefer the web-based Google Reader. Whitney Hess - a Bloglines Beta user - does a great side-by-side comparison of Google Reader and Bloglines Beta. Whatever reader someone chooses, it should integrate well into their daily workflow.Weather: You can get weather updates from The Weather Channel, WeatherBug, or NOAA's National Weather Service.
Classifieds: As Gary mentioned, both craigslist and Oodle.com offer feeds for all of their listings. Just look for the orange "RSS" link at the bottom of any results page -- when you subscribe to a search, for, say, apartments under $1500 in Manhattan, you'll get updates when there are new apartments matching that search. Similarly, in eBay you can find an RSS link at the bottom of any search page, and in Google Base near the top-right corner.
Package tracking: If you'd like to track packages that have been sent by UPS, FedEx, USPS or DHL/Airborne, you can use isnoop.net's universal package tracking or simpletracking.com.
Social networking: Facebook offers feeds for many of its features; you can see notifications, status updates, and your friends' posted items in Reader, as explained on this page. For those of you that are Twitter fans, you can get RSS feeds for many of its pages.
Shopping: Amazon lets you get feeds for the latest popular products as well as wish lists (look for the orange feed icon). Many other shopping web sites offer feeds, including Yahoo! Shopping, MSN Shopping, and NexTag.
Saved searches: Google Blog Search, Google News and most Yahoo! sites (among others) let you subscribe to search results as feeds. This way, if you want to monitor a topic, you don't have to keep running searches over and over again.
Microsoft expects the combination to yield $1 billion in cost synergies. We have run two scenarios, one with any cost synergies, the other with the expected $1 billion:
MICRO-HOO: No Cost Synergy
Revenue:
2007: $9.8 billion, up 12%
2008E: $11.4 billion, up 16%
2009E: $13.1 billion, up 15%
Operating Profit:
2007: - $250 million, -2.5% margin
2008E: $200 million, 2% margin
2009E: $1.6 billion, 12% margin
MICRO-HOO: $1 Billion Cost Synergy
Revenue:
2007: $9.8 billion, up 12%
2008E: $11.4 billion, up 16%
2009E: $13.1 billion, up 15%
Operating Profit:
2007: - $250 million, -2.5% margin
2008E: $200 million, 2% margin
2009E: $1.1 billion, 9% margin