Government will spy on every call and e-mail - Times Online
From the story: "Ministers are considering spending up to £12 billion on a database to monitor and store the internet browsing habits, e-mail and telephone records of everyone in Britain."
more fromwww.timesonline.co.uk
Your chance to ask Sarah Palin a question, sort of
What an idea. The Democrats have set up a mobile electronic billboard near a Palin rally near LA, and anyone can text a "question for Sarah Palin" to an SMS shortcode and it will be displayed there. Live video of the billboard itself is being streamed via Ustream.tv.
more fromwww.cadem.org
The Carnegie Commons - Community Event: Discussion by the authors of Opening Up Education: The Collective Advancement of Education through Open Technology, Open Content, and Open Knowledge
An online discussion scheduled for 11 am, Oct. 2, 2008. The book: Toru Iiyoshi and Vijay Kumar, Opening Up Education: The Collective Advancement of Education through Open Technology, Open Content, and Open Knowledge, with an intro. by John Seely Brown (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2008).
more fromcommons.carnegiefoundation.org
Siva Vaidhyanathan, "Generational Myth: Not all young people are tech-savvy," The Chronicle Review (Sept. 19, 2008)
Vaidhyanathan's point: stop talking about the "digital generation." It's bullshit. Among current students, some are comfortable with web technology, others are not, and most are anything but "savvy." For example: they have no idea how to use Google effectively, just like twenty years ago most of them had no idea how to use a library reference room effectively, and no idea how to analyze broadcast or print media critically. Why should they? Are people thinking they somehow pick up these skills by osmosis just because computers are lying around?
more fromchronicle.com
Esther Dyson, "How Loss of Privacy May Mean Loss of Security," Scientific American (August 2008)
more fromwww.sciam.com
Edge
Seems genuinely good, if some of the content is maybe a little breathless (like, Omni Magazine style).
more fromwww.edge.org
The once and future university « Jon Udell
I'm sceptical of this kind of thing, but Udell is a very smart guy, and Jim Groom linked to this, so ... I intend to give it some thought
more fromblog.jonudell.net
RepRap: the self-replicating rapid prototyper
A "3D printing" device (rapid prototyper) made from parts that the machine itself can make; thus, it can "copy" itself. This project is still under development, but it seems likely that it will be built in the not-too-distant future.
more fromreprap.org
Buy a Fab@Home 3D printer for DIY rapid prototyping
This gadget retails for about $3500, some assembly required, and can be used to fabricate small plastic objects designed on a computer. What an incredible idea.
more fromacreationtech.com
"Fogcatchers": a new source for potable water
In remote Chilean villages where fresh water is often scarce and contaminated, a simple new technology -- mesh sheets strung between posts -- captures condensation from coastal fog, providing an abundant and reliable source of cheap drinking water.
more fromwww.idrc.ca
The "air car": a compressed-air engine
Energy-efficient and near-zero or zero emissions? Sounds like a winner to me. Apparently it relies on stored compressed air mixed with fuel. I don't quite understand the technology. An India-based company is developing it.
more fromwww.theaircar.com
NY Times's John Tierney blasts Leon Kass's anti-biotech arguments
A bemused science journalist laughs into his hand at Leon Kass. We used to read Kass as part of our suite of texts on cloning at the end of CIE 2. Tierney puts some of the objections to Kass's thinking in succinct and pungent language.
more fromtierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com
Dr Moeller's 400-mph flying saucer
How is this "news"? Still and all, it's amusing.
more fromnews.bbc.co.uk
The tools our students use
Alan November argues that educators should take advantage of students' high comfort level with networked tools. Via Laura Blankenship's tweets (that's GeekyMom to you): http://snipr.com/1ne3v.
more fromwww.techlearning.com
Educational applications for mobile phones
Some campuses are starting to take advantage of the ubiquity of mobile phones among students to develop new ways of communicating and building community. The story presents this as mostly a positive thing, but I wonder how successful it can really be.
more fromchronicle.com
More on Yves Rossy, the Swiss "Jet Man"
This guy, and his flying machine, are unbelievable.
more fromwww.jet-man.com
CogDogBlog on instructional technology [2]
I think this is from the guy who created the Feed2JS.org service.
more fromcogdogblog.com
CogDogBlog on instructional technology
I think this is from the guy who created the Feed2JS.org service.
more fromcogdogblog.com
"We don't trust voting machines" (Dutch organization)
Website of a Dutch organization devoted to eliminating the use of electronic voting machines that don't leave a paper record.
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