Apple rumors are an interesting breed. No other company garners the same level of speculation and anticipation that Apple receives.
The rumor mill is always churning, especially leading up to a major Apple announcement, and sometimes rumors fly so fast that it can be hard to make sense of it all. In case you were wondering, this clever infographic shows how the typical Apple rumor forms over time.
See Full Article (Cult of Mac): Here
Yesterday Amazon unveiled a new tablet computer, the company’s long-awaited competitor to Apple’s iPad. Though it won’t go on sale until November, some gadget-happy college professors and administrators are already speculating about the impact it will have on campuses.
Image via Wired Campus
The big surprise in today’s announcement was the tablet’s price: $199. That’s far less than the lowest-cost iPad, which sells for $499. Amazon named its new gadget the Kindle Fire, and it is smaller than the iPad, measuring about 7 inches (compared with the iPad’s 10-inch screen), so it more easily fits in one hand. It is powered by a processor on par with the chip in Apple’s iPad 2, and it runs a modified version of Google’s Android-tablet operating system. Amazon’s offering is missing some features of the iPad, though. For instance, it has no camera (there are two on the iPad 2) and no 3G antenna (which is an option on the iPad).
Previous iPad competitors have failed to win substantial fan bases, but the Kindle Fire has one key advantage over previous entrants. The new tablet seamlessly links to Amazon’s extensive marketplace of books, software apps, movies, and television shows, letting users access content (and spend money) with a simple tap of the finger.
Many education-technology officials have been enthusiastic about tablet computers, hoping the lightweight devices might work better in classroom settings than do laptops. Textbook publishers have also cheered tablet computers, hoping they will lift e-textbook sales.
Here are some reactions by education-technology leaders posted today on Twitter and on blogs:
See Full Article (Wired Campus): Here
The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011 teams each produced a video walk-through to highlight their house design and provide an accurate look at the interior. This video, produced in August 2011 by The University of Tennessee, will be judged as part of the Communications Contest for the Solar Decathlon competition, held in Washington, D.C., September 23 — October 2, 2011.
The rear view mirror is one of the most effective motivational tools ever created.
There’s no doubt that many people speed up in the face of competition. We ask, “how’d the rest of the class do?” We listen for someone breathing down our necks. And we discover that competition sometimes brings out our best.
There’s a downside, though. Years ago, during my last long-distance swim (across Long Island Sound… cold water, jellyfish, the whole nine yards), the competitiveness was pretty thick. On the boat to the starting line, there were hundreds of swimmers, stretching, bragging, prancing and working themselves up. By the time we hit the water, everyone was swimming someone else’s race. The start was an explosion of ego and adrenaline. Twenty minutes later, half the field was exhausted, with three hours left to go.
If you’re going to count on the competition to bring out your best work, you’ve surrendered control over your most important asset. Real achievement comes from racing ahead when no one else sees a path–and holding back when the rush isn’t going where you want to go.
If you’re dependent on competition then you’re counting on the quality of those that show up to determine how well you’ll do. Worse, you’ve signed up for a career of faux death matches as the only way to do your best work.
Self motivation is and always will be the most important form of motivation. Driving with your eyes on the rear view mirror is exhausting. It’s easier than ever to measure your performance against others, but if it’s not helping you with your mission, stop.
See Full Article (Seth Godin): Here
Students moving into a newly renovated dormitory at the University of Kentucky signed up for a hyperwired college experience: Each one was given an iPad and required to take a series of tech-themed courses.
The unusual program is called A&S Wired Residential College and is housed in a dorm of 177 freshmen, who plan to major in a variety of fields.
Among the $1-million in renovations are 20 wireless access points in the basement and first floor—enough to serve 75 high-bandwidth users at the same time—11 large-screen televisions, which can be connected with multiple iPads simultaneously; and two 82-inch “interactive whiteboards.” The whiteboards will be in the dorm’s two smart classrooms, which both also have 55-inch televisions. The classrooms can do international videoconferencing, too; one class in the spring will feature interaction with a class in South Africa, says Mark Kornbluh, dean of the University of Kentucky’s College of Arts and Sciences.
“We see this as sort of a laboratory of different teaching technologies,” he says. The students in the dorm are meant to be a microcosm of the university, and the related courses are in subjects including “Social Connections: The Sweet and the Bitter of Relationships,” “The Vietnam War,” and “The African-American Experience in Kentucky.”
Each course will be tied in some way to technology. The course on relationships, for instance, will have a focus on social networks. The physics class will require students to use the iPad in science labs, said the course’s professor, Michael Cavagnero, who is chairman of the department of physics and astronomy.
The iPad can serve as a compass to measure magnetic fields, he notes. It has a built-in camera, so it can serve as a spectrometer to measure light source, and an accelerometer, which can measure how fast it is moving.
Students in the class will do regular physics coursework but will also be asked to come up with four projects during the eight-week course. It’s meant to be an “exploratory course,” Mr. Cavagnero says, adding that it is “intended to be as much fun as anything else.”
The overall goal of the high-tech dorm, Mr. Kornbluh says, is to teach students “IT IQ”—the ability to understand when a piece of technology is useful and when it isn’t. Faculty directors and social scientists will be watching to evaluate what’s effective, he says.
Stephen C. Ehrmann, vice provost for teaching and learning at George Washington University and a founder of the Teaching Learning and Technology Group, a nonprofit organization promoting high-tech teaching methods, says he is “encouraged” by the Kentucky project. Often such ideas amount to “giving students and faculty a bunch of gadgets” and not much more, he says, but he likes that the A&S Wired program seems to have a curriculum that integrates the devices, and a way of evaluating what works and what doesn’t.
See Full Article (Chronicle of Higher Ed): Here
Amidst the Facebook-centric society in which we now seem to live, it’s important to remember that groups of people around the world use social networks differently. We’ve taken a look at the social media breakdown in 10 countries — how they’re engaging with social networks, blogs and Internet culture.
Based on data provided by Nielsen, Facebook is clearly the favored social network. However, you might be surprised to see how runners-up like Twitter and LinkedIn rank on a global scale.
Image via Mashable
See Full Article (Mashable): Here
Facebook is driven by a single, unique goal. Its priority isn’t to gain more users (it already has 750 million of those), nor does it feel compelled to find stupid ways to increase pageviews. Its primary goal right now isn’t to increase revenue, either — that will come later.
Image via Mashable
No, Facebook’s goal is to become the social layer that supports, powers and connects every single piece of the web, no matter who or what it is or where it lives. On Thursday at its f8 conference in San Francisco, the world’s largest social network will take a giant leap toward accomplishing that goal.
I have seen what Facebook is launching on Thursday, and it’s going to change the world of social media. And while I won’t talk about the mind-boggling things Facebook will be launching (Mashable was pre-briefed on the matter and agreed to hold information under embargo at Facebook’s request), I will say this: The Facebook you know and (don’t) love will be forever transformed. The news that will come out of Facebook during the next few weeks will be the biggest things to come out of the company since the launch of the Facebook Platform.
For Facebook, it all boils down to one problem: emotion. Facebook has hundreds of millions of users and spectacular levels of engagement, but it is a platform that has lost its emotional resonance over the years. More and more people visit Facebook out of necessity rather than desire. It’s a platform people prefer to hate, but won’t leave simply because all their friends are there.
It’s a relationship gone stale. After years of dating, the magic between Facebook and its users has dissipated. It’s a natural evolution in any relationship, but now there is another suitor vying for Facebook’s users. And a lot of people think this suitor is easy on the eyes.
That’s why Facebook launched three recent changes: revamped Friend Lists, a real-time news ticker, and thesubscribe button. Friend Lists lets you share content with just your closest friends (with whom you have the strongest emotional connection), and the ticker lets you have real-time conversations with your friends as soon as they do anything. Subscribe lets you fill your News Feed with people you admire and respect, fostering a different type of emotional connection.
But these changes are just the beginning. The changes Facebook will roll out on Thursday are designed to enhance the emotional connection its users have to each other through Facebook. These changes will make Facebook a place where nearly everything in your life is enhanced by your social graph. These changes will make it so you know your friends better than you ever thought you could.
On Thursday, developers will be elated, users will be shellshocked and the competition will look ancient. On Thursday, Facebook will be reborn. Prepare yourselves for the evolution of social networking.
While we wait for Facebook’s big reveal, here’s a look at the changes to the News Feed that the social network already rolled out that have lots of users talking:
Facebook’s new design highlights posts that you’ll likely find important, and prioritizes them at the top of your feed when you log in. The top stories are designated by a blue tag in the upper left corner of the post. From what we can see, however, top stories don’t regenerate much throughout the day — especially if you keep Facebook open in your browser like your Twitter ticker.
Above your top stories you’ll find the option to expand more recent posts, much like Twitter’s “47 new tweets” real-time notification bar.
However, the new post notification bar doesn’t refresh as often, but instead automatically expands new stories much like the older version.
See Full Article (Mashable): Here
Skype in the Classroom has signed up more than 16,000 teachers to its social network for educators, since launching a beta version in December. Its goal is to connect 1 million of them.
Image via Mashable
“Skype has been going on for many, many years, and teachers have been finding each other and they’ve been finding ways to use the power of Skype in the educational process for a long time,” said Skype CEO Tony Bates on Wednesday at the Social Good Summit. “We really felt that it was time to take this to the next level…moving from grassroots Skype in the classroom to an initiative driven by Skype.”
What has long been accomplished between teachers using Wikis and individual project websites is now getting some organizational help from Skype.
Using the platform, teachers can create profiles that describe their classes and teaching interests. They can also search a directory of teachers from all over the world by student age range, language and subject.
What is perhaps Skype in the Classroom’s most useful feature is a “project” tab that helps teachers find partner classrooms for projects and ideas. One teacher, for instance, used the platform to coordinate a “weather around the world” unit. A middle school in Massachusetts regularly chats with an Afghan youth peace volunteer group. Another was able to host a virtual visit from Barbara Bush.
“It doesn’t have to be a famous person,” Bates said. “A busy parent could share their skills from their office in the middle of the day.”
About 900 similar projects have been posted on Skype in the Classroom so far.
Bates announced the 1 million classroom goal on stage after using Skype to video call a sixth grade class in New Jersey.
In a recent small effort to reach it, Skype hosted a virtual panel with five teachers in conjunction with Clorox, which it is partnering with for its “Power a Bright Future” school grant program. It asked them about how they use Skype in the classroom and what kind of features they’d like to see.
Some of the suggestions, such as a Skype in the Classroom widget, are features Skype had already started to work on. The company announced a handful of additional improvements to the platform on Wednesday, including email notifications for projects, a Skype in the Classroom “badge” that can be displayed on a blog, an “I’d like to do this” button on projects that adds the teacher’s avatar to the project page, and an “I’ve done this” button for leaving feedback.
The discussion will continue through two more panels that will be open to about 15 teachers each.
“If Skype can have 170 million connected users in eight years,” Bates said, “can’t we have 1 million connected classrooms?”
See Full Article (Mashable): Here
I know this is a repost of the video that I made for Valentines but it still get to me. It represents 20 wonderful years with my beautiful wife Samantha. I love you Samantha!
I love living life and working with a purpose. It's not always easy but I hope what I share can help add value to your life. Enjoy! . . More about me.
FacebookPintrestInstagramTwitter
