2008: the Year of the Laptop December 23, 2008
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Articles/Videos, Hardware, History.2 comments
Looking back, 2008 will be remembered for many things. On the technology front, 2008 is the year of the laptop. According to a CNET News article, laptops outsold desktops for the first time (world-wide) in the last quarter of the year.
Global notebook shipments exceeded desktops on a quarterly basis for the first time ever, with Netbooks playing a decisive role, iSuppli said on Tuesday.
For the classroom, laptops have many advantages. Space is often at a premium in classrooms, and desktops computers take up a lot of room. Laptops, on the other hand, can be deployed in any room instead of a dedicated lab room and stored when not in use. Laptops can also be used in any part of the room, something that isn’t easy to do with a desktop computer. Wireless networking also eliminates the need for cabling. There is the negative of having to manage battery power. Do you have access to laptops or a lab? Which do you prefer?
Best of 2008 Collections December 22, 2008
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Articles/Videos, Edubloggers, Hardware, History, Link Collections.1 comment so far
This is the time of year for reflection and the ‘best of 2008′ posts are popping up all over. Here are a few worth checking out:
- The Best Posts Of 2008 | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… Larry Ferlazzo’s collections of classroom tools are always worth a visit.
- The Top Gadgets of 2008 Just in case you were looking for a new cool gadget, here is a ‘best of’ collection from Wired.
- CrunchGear’s Best of 2008 plus the People’s Choice Best of 2008 Gala Awards Ceremony, and People’s Choice awards. The readers have spoken!
- Most Influential Edublog Post 2008 The Edublog Awards This is the list of Edublogs posts nominated as most influential for 2008.
Kindle for Kids August 25, 2008
Posted by Matthew Woolums in 21st-Century, Articles/Videos, Fair Use, Hardware.add a comment
The Tech Observer, among others, is reporting that Amazon is hinting to investors that they may introduce a Kindle for the textbook market. I am not convinced about the long term viability of the Kindle as an e-book reader, however, based on the three people I know who have one, they all love it, warts and all. I can also see how it would make sense for text books to be loaded onto a Kindle. Students would gladly trade in their hefty texts for a single device that contained all of their course reading.
The Kindle is only one direction. Give every student a laptop, or let them use their own if they have one, and provide digital content is another option. Of course, file sharing and copyrights become an even more important issue for the book publishers if all of the material was available in digital format. This sort of reminds me of the transition from vinyl to compact disk way back when I worked in a record store in the mid 80’s. Short-sidedness on the part of the recording industry hasn’t done them any favors. We’ll have to wait and see what happens to the text book publishing industry as the world rapidly goes digital around them.
http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/the-tech-observer/2008/08/25/rumored-textbook-plans-for-kindle
One Internet Device Per Child July 21, 2008
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Articles/Videos, Hardware, OLPC, Opinion.2 comments
TechCrunch is proposing a simple web tablet device that looks like the screen portion of a Mac Book Air but with a coloring style that reminds me of the original iMac. It might make a good addition to the backpack I mentioned in my last post. $200 is the target price for this edition of hardware that we wished existed but doesn’t. If it does get built, I wonder how much it might cost, and whether or not there will be a kit that can be purchased to build my own. The article suggests that Firefox act as the OS, but I’m not sure we need to kill off the desktop just yet. Maybe we should make the OS more like a backpack instead of a desktop though.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/21/we-want-a-dead-simple-web-tablet-help-us-build-it/
The Future of Computing – They’re Everywhere June 19, 2008
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Articles/Videos, Hardware.add a comment
CNET has a collection of images from the fourth Microsoft-sponsored Next-Gen PC Design Competition. These are really cool and innovative. If these designs end up in production, sign me up for the YUNO, a coffee mug computer that keeps you up to date with news, weather, etc. Very practical. I’ve always thought that computing needs to be simpler and everywhere, much like the ubiquitous pen/pencil cups I have in every room of the house.
http://news.cnet.com/2300-1042_3-6241967-1.html
$100 Laptop Roundup April 25, 2008
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Articles/Videos, Hardware, OLPC.add a comment
Liliputing has put together a fairly comprehensive list of low-cost ultraportable laptops. There are several on the list I’ve never heard of, but for some reason doesn’t include the XO although it is mentioned in the reviews of other laptops. The whole site is a terrific resource for anyone looking for more information about small inexpensive laptops.
http://www.liliputing.com/2008/04/over-past-six-months-or-so-asus-everex_24.html
YATL or Yet Another Tiny Laptop March 20, 2008
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Hardware, OLPC.add a comment
These things are cropping up all over. CNET’s News Blog is reporting about a new tiny laptop from Elitegroup that includes a built-in webcam. No word on pricing yet, but I think the more options in the mini-mobile computing, the better.
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9899364-7.html
Voiceless Speech March 13, 2008
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Articles/Videos, Hardware, Opinion.add a comment
Techcrunch has posted a video about a new technology called voiceless communication. This is a fascinating technology that has the ability to do both great good and potentially a great deal of harm. On the positive side, those who are not able to produce recognizable speech would no longer be excluded from any voice-related activities. Imagine a world where no one knows what the word ‘mute’ means except in the context of a cell phone or TV.
One potential use for the technology that is demonstrated in the video is the ability to carry on phone conversations without anyone else hearing your end of the conversation. I can see the positive in that as well.
On the other hand (there is always an other hand) the ability to conduct conversations undetected means that students would be able to communicate with each other without any restrictions. Just imagine the cheating possibilities! We’ll have to install jamming devices in schools in order to prevent students from talking to each other.
Turn that around, and you have the ability to listen in on anyone who might be subvocalizing. This seems just one step away from reading someone’s mind. Once we are all fitted with an RFID chip to keep track of where we are, that same chip, or another one, might also be tracking our words, both internal and spoken.
Don’t get me wrong, I applaud the voiceless communication effort and think it should continue. There is much more to be gained in terms of removing barriers for a marginalized segment of society than there is a theoretical danger of the loss of privacy. Still, I think this is a good example of the normal development of technology. There is a problem, and someone provides a technical solution. That solution necessarily comes with its own set of problems, and very little thought is given to those new problems because in most cases we don’t know what they are until the solution is in place.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/03/13/the-future-of-voice-may-be-voiceless/
