Technology on a Shoestring

The Washing Machine and Population Growth

2012-01-25T13:51:00.000-05:00

The washing machinecan sometimes be taken for granted. We take our laundry baskets, put clothes inthe machine, and come back an hour later to collect them without even thinkingabout how much time and effort we are saving. Washing clothes can be an ordealif it is to be done by hand. It is then that one recognizes how long it wouldtake to wash clothes that are worn on a daily basis. It is inconceivable tomany of us that years ago this was the norm. In the past, washing machines weresomething that people could only dream of.

The link between washing machines and population growth is an interestingone. There are many who believe that there is a direct link between washingmachines and population rates in the first world. Even in the 21^stcentury, we take for granted our washing machines while we enrich our knowledgeby perfecting our resumes, learning job skills from our onlineschoolprograms, or conducting research on Wikipedia. It may seem bizarre, butanalysis shows there is a great deal of truth to this argument. Imagine havingto constantly wash your own clothes by hand after coming back from work orschool. That is a good amount of time and effort spent on washing. After all,washing clothes can be just as tiring and exhausting as working out. Whenmaking this connection, however, we must realize that correlation does not meancausation. Having a washing machine doesn't directly increase the amount ofchildren a person will have. Instead, having a washing machine frees up timefor a person to become educated and find a well-paying job, which in turn helpsthem have the resources to prolong their (and their children's) lifeexpectancy. This takes away time and energy from other endeavors, such asreading, writing or pursuing higher education.

People who are constantly having to wash their clothes, or those of theirfamily, are not going to have time to worry about things such as going back toschool or increasing their education. They get stuck in the same cycle foryears and nothing in their lives ever changes or improves. On the other hand,imagine if these individuals all had access to washing machines. If everysingle person in a country such as India or Pakistan could have access to awasher and a dryer, their lives would be dramatically altered. This would be ahuge change for women in particular. After all, women are the ones who wash anddry clothes in the third world, not men. They are the ones who spend hourscleaning, washing, drying and rinsing. They would be able to relax, think aboutother things and enjoy their lives. They would also have more time to read andeducate themselves.

Studies have shown thateducation leads to a decrease in population growth. The logic in that argumentis easy to follow. When individuals, particularly women, pursue highereducation they are less likely to get married at a young age. They will notmarry till they graduate college, or possibly complete their Masters. Thistakes away four to six years of their child bearing age. This means they areless likely to have 5 or 6 kids, as compared to someone who got married at 17or 18.

Education also focuses individuals on their personal goals. They know they canbe independent and make a career that is theirs, not anyone else's. This takesthe focus away from marriage, having children, and settling down. This leads tolower population rates. In many ways, the advent of the washing machine is whathas driven down population growth in many parts of the first world. HansRosling, a prominent economist, has a great TED talk on this topic if you'd like to see a (funny) visualization ofwashing machines and population growth.

Elaine H.

Effects of Television on Child Development

2011-12-08T12:02:00.001-05:00

While many parents areaware that having the television on constantly around their children can have anegative impact on their young child, the degree of television's impact isoften ignored or thought to be negligible. Childhood development is acommonly-studied topic in many master's degree programs in psychology anddevelopment. However, in a recent study published in the professional journalChild Development, it was discovered that even as background noise, televisionhas a measurable impact on a child's cognitive abilities.

Attention Span and Television

Frequently, parents will watch television or have it on in the background whiletheir kids are playing in the same room. Although the children may show littleor no interest in the television programming, the study published in ChildDevelopment indicates that even as background noise, the simple fact of havingthe television on can impact a child.

In this study, children were allowed period of time where they played with thetelevision on, and then a period of play time with the television off. Theprimary difference between these two play periods was in the amount of timetheir attention was engaged in play. With the television on, children spent farless time looking at toys and in focused engaged play activities than they didwhen the television was not on.

This finding is significant because it may be an indication that having atelevision on at home, even if the children do not appear to be watching orinterested in the television programming, can be extremely distracting forchildren. With a constant barrage of changing visual images and sounds, it maybe that children have difficulty filtering out this excess stimulation, makingit hard for them to concentrate on developmental tasks such as learning throughplaying.

Cognitive Function and Television

In a study with similar findings published in Pediatrics, researchersdiscovered that the type of programming also had a significant impact oncognitive function in children. In this study, children were allowed to watch afast-paced cartoon and then asked to perform several executive level cognitivetasks that involved delayed gratification and simple stacking activities.

Researchers discovered that children who watched the television programmingperformed more slowly on executive level cognitive function activities thancontrol children who sat quietly drawing for the same period of time. Althoughthe effects of watching fast-paced television programming appeared to betemporary in this study, it cannot help but beg the question of the impact thatconstant bombardment of television has on a child's development.

Recommended Hours of Television for Children

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, American children under the age ofsix watch an average of two hours of television a day. Children over the age ofsix watch an average of four hours of television daily. Also, older childrentend to spend two hours of additional time either in front of acomputer screen or playing video games. This is a large amount of time thatchildren spend every day watching television, instead of playing, reading orbeing engaged in other healthier activities. High amounts of sedentaryactivity, such as playing video games and watching television are alsoassociated with higher incidences of obesity and other health problems.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children under the age of twowatch zero hours of television daily. Further, they recommend that childrenover the age of two watch no more than one or two hours of television daily.

During the early years of a child’s development, children need to be allowed toplay in environments free of unnecessary or overly stimulating distractions.Even as children get older, large amounts of television can prevent childrenfrom needed developmental tasks such as physical activity, academic pursuitsand socialization with other children and their family. Parents should limitthe amount of time their children are exposed to television, even if they arenot actively watching the programming. Instead, encourage your kids to engagein healthy play that simulates their imagination, creativity and social skills.

Elaine Hirsch

What are the Top Five Apps to Help Prevent Distractions?

2011-12-05T10:36:00.001-05:00

If you work from home,you know how little distractions that take fifteen minutes out of your day canreally add up. These can come in the form getting lost surfing the web, playinga quick game of Angry Birds, or listening to your favorite radio show, whichare all detrimental whether you're trying to meet a deadline in the office orcomplete your master's degree dissertation. Whilethese are all important aspects of daily living, finding the time to manageyour schedule so you can get things done can be hard without the properguidance. Check out these top five anti-distraction apps that will help youstay on track while you work from home.

1. Stay Focusd

Have you ever told yourself you would take a five-minute break to watch a videoon YouTube but still find yourself glued to the monitor watching cat videos anhour later? Stay Focusd addresses this issueby providing you with an easy-to-use blacklist for sites that you find toodistracting. You can set the maximum allowed time you want to be able to usethese distractive sites in a 24-hour period and after that time expires, theextension will no longer let you browse those sites. It is easy to set up andis seamlessly designed for Google Chrome.

2. Focus Booster

The pomodoro technique has long been thought of as an easy means to giveyourself a small break while getting more work done throughout the day. Thegeneral idea is to give yourself 55 minutes of work time and five minutes ofbreak time so that you stay focused on the task at hand. Focus Booster is anAdobe Air application that runs on your desktop. You can customize the time togive yourself as much as 15 minutes of break time. Focus Booster also comes inthe form of a web app called Focus Booster Live if you don't want to downloadanything to your desktop.

3. Read It Later

If browsing RSS feeds causes you to lose a lot of time during your day, then Read It Later is the perfectcompanion to minimizing distractions. If you find a page you want to save untillater, you can install one of the many extensions for Firefox, Chrome, orSafari and click a small button to add the page to your Read It Later account.When you have time to read everything you saved throughout the day, simply openthe page. Read It Later also offers iOS and Android apps and cleans upunnecessary clutter so you only see the content you want to see.

4. Mr. Number

One of the most annoying things about smartphones is that they can bedistracting when you need to get work done. If you want to prevent beingdistracted by someone constantly calling you or sending you texts, Mr. Numbercan help. You can block any phone number for any period of time. Mr. Number isavailable for Android smartphones.

5. Shush! Ringtone Restorer

One of worst things about silencing your phone to avoid distractions isforgetting to turn it back on when it is needed. Shush! solves this problem byallowing you to silence your phone for a specific period of time. Simply usethe volume rocker to silence the phone and a window will pop up asking how longyou would like to keep the phone silenced. Once that time period has passed,the phone will return to its previous volume level. Shush! is available forAndroid phones.

Of course, minimizing the distractions you suffer while using your computerdepends on your own willpower. Apps like Stay Focusd include methods to keepyou from circumventing their settings such as having to type an entireparagraph of text error free, but sticking to your guns and using these toolsas a supplement rather than a crutch is always the best way to get things donein a timely manner.

Elaine Hirsch

Kenya pays up with M-PESA

2011-10-26T16:22:00.000-04:00

M-PESA and Personal Finance

Since its inception in Kenya in 2007, the M-PESA mobilefinance technology has become a widely-used and cost-effective tool formanaging personal finances for many developing areas. This small-valueelectronic payment method was introduced by Safaricom, part of the Vodafonegroup and largest mobile phone operator in the country. M-PESA transactions inKenya alone have surpassedthose conducted via Western Union throughout the world. It doesn't take a PhD online graduate to see the power ofthis personal finance solution and realize it's value in developing countries.

“M” stands for “mobile” and “PESA” is the Swahili word for money. M-PESA isliterally a “mobile money” service that allows people to make deposits,withdrawals, and transfers without bank accounts. Many businesses have realizedits potential and made it possible for customers to pay their bills via M-PESA.

M-PESA is currently available in several other countries, including Tanzania,Afghanistan, South Africa, India, and the UK. It provides a simple way forpeople abroad in these nations to send money to friends and family members athome.

The service has transformed the way people carry out their personal financing,particularly in the developing nations where more people have mobile phonesthan bank accounts. It's estimated about 300 million previously“unbanked” people will be using some type of mobile banking by 2012.

Although there are different types of mobile banking services, M-PESA hasbecome more successful because it provided the core of what people reallywanted: a way to send and receive money. Other systems offer standard bankingservices through the mobile phone, but M-PESA doesn't require users to have anybank accounts at all. All they need are their IDs and mobile phones to registerfor and use M-PESA services.

The initial concept of M-PESA was to provide microfinance institutions a meansto collect loan payments easily. However, Vodafone and Safaricom soon realizedthat was a mistake and reconstructed the program, changing its slogan to “Sendmoney home.” This gave them the opportunity to offer their customers what theytruly wanted, which is the major reason for its success.

Before M-PESA, customers used to have quite a difficult time sending money totheir rural homes. They would use such unreliable means as putting money in envelopesand sending it through the postal service, public transport systems, or withfriends. Alternatively, they had to make personal trips, which was costly andtime-wasting. With a vast network of about 28,000 agents in both urban andrural areas in Kenya, M-PESA has helped people do away with such methods andenabled easy access to their money almost anywhere.

M-PESA’s simple user interface coupled with free registration, free deposit,and no minimum balance has made it attractive to customers who previouslymay've shied away from banking entirely. Many people use the system forpersonal business transactions without worrying about carrying a lot of cash.With more than 14 million customers in Kenya, its success has prompted theWorld Bank to pick Michael Joseph, the former Safaricom CEO, to help replicatethe model in other developing countries.

Academic studies have shown that a lack of understandingpersonal finances leads to further externalities such as lack of funding foreducation. With conventional financial institutions in America and otherdeveloped nations funded by public taxes, such a no-obligation, totally mobilepersonal finance solution might well become appealing worldwide.

Elaine Hirsch is kind of a jack-of-all-interests, from education and history to medicine and videogames. This makes it difficult to choose just one life path, so she is currently working as a writer for various education-related sites and writing about all these things instead.

Integrating Cellphones into Classrooms with Positive Results

2011-09-28T12:59:00.001-04:00

I'm happy to announce that the post below is the first guest post on this site. Natalie is clearly enthusiastic about the use technology in the furtherance of education. I hope to see many more insightful posts from her. Natalie's bio is at the end of this post. TT

The use of cellphones within the last decade has changed to include more than simply a single mode of communication. As technology continues changing rapidly, educators need to explore the possibilities for using cellphones to enhance learning in schools online and conventional classrooms, especially on a secondary level. Rather than being a disruption to teaching, cellphones could actually be used by teachers with students as a technology to expand possibilities in the classrooms, if educators are open to changing traditional paradigms.

With the rise of text messaging among all cell phone users (not just young people), educators can recognize the value of this exercise in orthographic knowledge and ability. Some educators regard it as a major distraction, but many want to integrate a popular mode of communication with education and are realizing that text messaging can actually be used to boost learning. Recent studies have shown that texting in the classroom has a positive effect on students' ability to write lengthier and more creative papers in general.

More teachers are harnessing the vast power of texting as an educational tool in a variety of ways. For instance, teachers can have students send in their answers to projected questions for quizzes or discussion as text messages. This simple strategy turns students' phones into a simple and flexible classroom feedback system. Software used to receive text messages from students collects responses and may even give teachers options for managing and displaying collected data.

Student responses are then more easily gathered together and made accessible both to teachers and students themselves. This type of student input can be made anonymous, which can encourage students who might not otherwise participate to do so. By the same token, tracking specific students' responses gives teachers a clear view of who's struggling with comprehension and needs additional help, or who's getting ahead with the material and needs extra challenge.

This sort of constructive use of mobile technology can and should be used in all subject areas as a dynamic tool for learning. Taking advantage of technology students already have and will be using one way or another really is one of the most valuable means of harnessing that technology for educational ends. Whether teachers like it or not, technology is the future of schooling on all levels.

Indeed, cell phone use in the classroom isn't just limited to secondary schools: elementary teachers and students are also finding similar uses. For example, texting has led to the development of a new literary form known as the "cell phone novel." This type of literature is written entirely using text lingo, such as "Ur" instead of "you're." The novels are written in the form of a text message conversation between any number of interlocutors, include minimal punctuation, and are completely open to the shorthand that characterizes text messages. Young students can use this creative and entertaining form of writing to learn narrative structure and even grammatical mechanics (albeit without the usual focus on spelling and punctuation) much more effectively than they would with the rote drills usually reserved for such topics.

It may become increasingly important to take once distracting technologies like cell phones and harness their power for the benefit of the classroom. The transition may be fraught with bumps in the road, and the boundaries of technology use clearly drawn. Education needs to embrace technology, not simply to keep up with a new generation but to actually make good the promise technology holds for learning. Because of its prevalence and flexibility, many educators already advocate the use of cell phone technology in the classroom. Students need to benefit from the increased learning that will occur with well-considered use of technology, and feel validated for utilizing skills they are already confident with. Using cell phones in class can help both educators and students streamline the learning process and have a readily available tool for increasing class cooperation and participation.

Bio:

Natalie Hunter grew up wanting to be a teacher, and is addicted to learning and research. As a result she is grateful for the invention of the internet because it allows her to spend some time outside, rather than just poring through books in a library. She is fascinated by the different methodologies for education at large today, and particularly by the advent of online education. She also loves to travel and learn via interaction with other people and cultures.

Blog as alternative to school newspaper

2011-09-12T14:22:00.000-04:00

Blogs have been great tools for various types of classwork but with today's bevy of smartphone apps that allow for direct editing, the blog is now a very viable alternative to the school newspaper. In fact, it would allow for a near real time newspaper that could be very handy for sporting events, field trips, and other events where people want to know what is going on as it is going on.

Blogger app announcement

Yes, Twitter can provide real time access, but it's limit in the number of characters it can handle and multimedia is constrained to pointing at external links. Google, the owner of Blogger, has just released an app for the iPhone that will allow blog post creation and editing. The user can upload and edit posts just as they would with a computer. The posts can include photos taken by the phone. It's not clear if the app can also handle videos taken by the camera. Given that Blogger handles video, it seems like the type of feature that if not there now can be expected in future releases.

The idea of making a post from a phone is not new. It's been possible to upload posts from smartphones using email for a long time. And, in a pinch one would have to use a smartphone's web browser to edit. Having a specific application makes the entire process easier.

The only issue that you need to consider if the process by which posts are published. If you trust your field reports, you can upload the posts and publish immediately. If there are good reasons for concern, you can have your reporters submit posts as drafts and then have the editor/moderator publish them.

T

Digital Certificates

2011-06-27T15:21:00.004-04:00

Getting a digital certificate is becoming more important as browsers start expecting to see everything that is encrypted as needed a digital certificate. And, many things are expecting to be encrypted -- which is a good thing in terms of security. The digital certificate is what proves to your browser that it is created an encrypted link with the right computer. This is important because encrypted connections often contain sensitive information and one does not want to providing user names and passwords to faked site.

The bad news is that setting up a digital certificate is not an easy process. Most people have created "self-signed" digital certificates -- in fact it's almost impossible not to have self-signed certificates. But browsers don't accept self-signed certificates because there is no external proof that you are who you say you are. That's where a public digital certificate is required.

Below is a diagram of what steps are required to obtain and use a public digital certificate. In upcoming posts, I'll describe my experiences and challenges with getting and using my public certificate.

Microsoft System Sweeper

2011-06-22T10:46:00.003-04:00

System Sweeper is an important tool that Microsoft apparently uses to scan computers that are manifesting problems that are otherwise not identifiable. I gather that people calling Microsoft for help and still have weird problems will be directed to this free utility. It's a shame that more people don't know about this utility because it finds viruses, trojans, and even root kits.

One of the problems with antivirus software is that once a bad piece of software gets on a computer, it can hide from the av software. This is especially true of root kits -- which dig under the operating system. The only way to find such deeply buried malware is to scan the computer's hard drive before it has been booted. That means booting from another device. System Sweeper comes from Microsoft as a bootable system. The image file one downloads is burned to a CD-ROM. The CD-ROM boots into a specialized version of Windows that has as its own function the running of System Sweeper. So far, most of the people I have given this disk to have come back reporting at least minor problems that they previously did not know about.

I suspect the main reason Microsoft does not make this important tool well known is because most users don't understand the idea of downloading ISO images and how to boot the CD-ROM drive. Because problems on your users' systems will come to haunt your network, it makes sense to make disks for your users and help them run this utility on their home computers.

T

Open Source Tools for Education

2010-08-23T13:48:00.002-04:00

The Guide to Computer Training has an interesting list of open source programs well suited for educational uses. While there are many such lists, this one covers pretty much the most important applications directly related to educational use.

The site also has a useful listing of schools that offer IT degrees of various types. While it may not be difficult to find schools with IT degrees -- probably most universities have a computer science department -- it is not always easy to find only the schools that offer a specific specialty. There is also a review section. Over time, the review section will hopefully become more useful as students and former students report on their experiences.

Don't Eat the Cookies

2010-05-25T10:42:00.004-04:00

Google has a useful set of tools for blocking cookies -- the type your web browser generates and not the nice ones you eat. First of all, let's set straight what a cookie is. It's a small text file created by your browser at the behest of the site you have visited -- or of a third-party's site somehow related to a site you've visited.

Cookies are not programs, viruses, or Trojan horses. The intention of a cookie is to save user or activity information so that the site may "recognize" you and hopefully make your experience on their site better. The downside is that cookies can create privacy issues. This is especially true with the cookies set by advertisers. In general, you want to allow cookies from the sites you visit but probably not from third-party sites, such as DoubleClick. The link at the top of the page tells you how you may stop third-party cookies plus the ones that DoubleClick set. I had not realized that DoubleClick had gotten around the third-party cookie blocking systems, but it has. The add-ons and instructions on this Google page -- the owners of DoubleClick -- gives you all the information you need to know.

Replacing Computer Fans

2010-03-09T11:10:00.003-05:00

I recently had an overheating problem that caused the computer to crash after a few minutes. The solution from the computer vendor was for me to purchase a $75 dollar power supply. The power supply was fine; it was the fan that was the problem. I looked online and found a number of places that sold just the fan. I opened the power supply case -- be care because the capacitors can still store electricity after the unit has been unplugged. I was happy to find that the fan was plugged into the case for power. I did some measuring of the fan's size and looked at the number of pins. With that information, I found a replacement fan for $4.00 plus $2.95 shipping. One of the parts vendors I found was directron.com. There are many other sites, but I like their system for quickly finding the right fan.

Securing Your Internet Browser

2010-01-12T11:32:00.004-05:00

The US Computer Emergency Response Team has a slightly old but nonetheless valuable document on how to secure one's Internet browser. Given the high level of risk associated with browsing the Internet, this form of security might be the single most important step you can take to keep your computer safe.

Browsers are serious applications. They just don't show you a picture of some remove web page, they are interacting with the web site's server in a variety of ways and they have the power to interact with your computer in ways similar to that of your operating system. In fact, some computer magazines have called the browser the new operating system. Great power brings great danger. The more a program can do for you the more it do against you.

The question of which browser is the most secure is frequently debated. Google Chrome now makes that claim because it has a system for isolating the activity of the web pages from the operating system. This isolation, called "sand boxing" is a system used by a number of applications, such as Java. It helps but is no guarantee of security. IE, frequently described as the least secure, can be made secure if the recommendations of CERT are followed. The problem with these solutions is that the end result is a browser that may not be able to do many of the activities expected of it. The best solution, in my opinion, is to make the default settings in IE strong and add sites you know well to the "trusted" list. These sites can do more because the browser allows them to access features that an untrusted site would not be allowed to use. If you go to a wide variety of new web sites each day, you might want to use Chrome, but if you only go to a handful of the same sites each day, a locked-down version of IE might be the best solution.

Even if you dislike IE, you should still read the instructions for making it more secure. Love or hate IE, the reality is that there are number of sites that only function with it. There are times that you have no option but to use IE.

Of course, the best form of security is common sense. The brain is still the best form of security software.

T

Living with Secunia

2010-01-08T10:35:00.003-05:00

My last posting was about Secunia's online scanner. I've downloaded and used their personal software inspector. I have to say that I like it. It does not grab too much of the CPU yet it monitors the system quite effectively. Many applications these days automatically update. Secunia picks up on that and lets you know. This is useful so that you don't run home to put in a critical update when it has already been done.

There are a few things that can be annoying. The main one I have is that it keeps reporting a problem with a fairly unusual application -- in my case, a video camera monitor -- and offers a link to a fix. The fix is the same version as the problem. The video camera people probably will never update their application and given that their system running on my computer does not connect to the Internet, I'm not too worried. The solution I had to use is to "ignore" the application. I would rather not do that in the case there is actually a newer version at a later point.

Yet, given that most vulnerabilities are in the applications and not so much the OS, this tool is a must have. While most programs are getting better at auto-updating themselves, there are many applications out there that don't.

In the school environment, this system is also useful to discovering applications you might not have installed. When you seen an update pending for an application you didn't install or forgot to remove, this provides you a chance to take action. I like the fact that this scanner will tell you exactly where the offending application resides. Most updates don't do that.

I'm going to keep using this product!

T

Secunia: Automating the Windows Software Updating Process

2009-11-11T11:01:00.003-05:00

Secunia is one of a short list of firms that perform vulnerability testing. While it does not perform many of the tests that a Blink does, it is light and can be run from Secunia's web site. Most users are aware that Windows system updates are important -- or at least they don't interfere with the automated updating system -- but many of the new threats come from applications such as Flash and Acrobat. These programs are in direct contact with the Internet in a way that exposes them to all types of attacks. Few users would think to even check to make sure these applications are updated.

Secunia is also very useful to finding applications you may not have even remembered installing. On my system it found an ancient version of WinZip. It clearly was not something I was checking for updates, yet many attachments come as zip files and WinZip will automatically start up to uncompress the zipped file. If the attachment was dangerous, WinZip would have been compromised. So, a program like Secunia is important to keeping track of all the potential entry points to your Windows computer.

T

SoundBible: A possible answer to your prayers

2009-11-03T16:47:00.002-05:00

SoundBible is a site that contains a large number of free-to-use short audio clips. While many of these sounds can be found elsewhere, this site puts them together in one place, provides a good description, and offers them in multiple formats. These sound files are great for student projects, such as a YouTube or Power Point. This site is also a great way to expose your students to working with audio files without having to work with huge files. They have fun and your lab still has hard drive space at the end of the class.

T

YouTube Education 2.0

2009-10-02T16:33:00.003-04:00

YouTube has just release version to of their education video site. Youth are now using YouTube as their primary search tool. The educational section is something like iTunes University. This site is worth visiting or taking another look.

T

Installing Snow Leopard: Not an obvious decision

2009-08-28T09:57:00.003-04:00

Snow Leopard, Apple's newest OS, is an interesting decision for educators. The school year is about ready to start and it's always easiest to do major upgrades during the vacation periods. Snow Leopard has a number of significant advantages that make it compelling to schools. The advantage I like the most is that the new OS is actually smaller than the current OS. If your drives are packed to the gills, then this move will be potentially quite interesting.

The problem is that not every application your school may be running will operate on Leopard -- or will at least take a re-install. If you are using older versions of software because you cannot afford the upgrade, you may locked out permanently. See Computer World's story on Adobe's statements about their software on Leopard. While Adobe's position is defensible on an economic basis, it's none too comforting to people stuck with old software.

T

The Back of the Class is front row

2009-08-13T13:11:00.002-04:00

There are many podcasts related to education but a new one, The Back of the Class, takes an refreshingly different approach to educational issues. Shows, such as the one on why the skills of a comedian are useful for teachers, addresses a common problem from what I assume must be the first association of comedic skills with instructional technique. And no, "the teacher must be joking" does not count. :-)

T

Nine Ways Google Wave Can Alter the Course of Collaboration

2009-08-06T12:47:00.002-04:00

Nine Ways Google Wave Can Alter the Course of Collaboration is a short slide show about the possible impact of Google Wave. While there are amazing up-sides to Google Wave, there are also possible downsides.

T

Sugar on a Stick

2009-06-26T15:15:00.003-04:00

The MIT Review has an interesting bit of news on the next evolution of the OLPC program. The original operating system, called Sugar, is being modified so that it run from a USB flash device. Because Sugar is build for low-end hardware -- what else does one get for $100? -- the operating system and its bundled educational applications should run great on old hardware your school might have in a back room. Sugar, BTW, is a version of Linux.

Sugar and the applications that come with it have been extensively tested with school kids and are in wide-scale use around the world. You know you cannot upgrade your old system to Windows Vista or to OS X, so you have nothing to lose. There is no installation required. You download on to a USB device and set the PC's bios to boot from the device. Unplug the device and the system will boot from whatever is on the hard drive.

T

Pigs Fly!

2009-06-19T12:59:00.003-04:00

InfoWorld has a very good post on Microsoft's recent security advances. Microsoft has spent billions on security and now it is beginning to show. It's not that security is extremely difficult on its own; rather, it is the combination of security and compatibility with old software and old hardware that is the trick. Apple has been able to switch operating systems and start all over again. DOS application, on the other hand, still run on Windows. Personally, I prefer Apple's model but I can understand why Microsoft felt it had to drag its history into the future.

The posting covers a number of the new techniques that closes the doors on the most common avenues for attacks. Whether we like Windows or not, I think we can all agree that reducing the number of zombie computers slinging spam by the billions is a highly desirable goal.

What does all this mean to you? Basically, the answer to whether Windows is security or not must now be considered seriously and not just addressed by a derisive laugh.

T

Three Point Lighting

2009-06-13T20:54:00.002-04:00

After one jumps into posting videos on YouTube and other on-line services, it's only a matter of time before you start wanting better quality. While a better camera can help, most schools don't have the money to buy high-end equipment.

The most important aspect of video is audio. Unless you are video recording mime or interpretive dance, the audio is important. If you are providing instruction, the audio is critical. We'll cover audio at some later date.

More important than the quality of the camera is lighting. While a high-end camera might be able to correct for common mistakes, it's always better to avoid mistakes in the first place. 3d Rendering has a nice tutorial on how to set up an effective lighting system called "three point lighting." Basically, the idea is to light from the front with a strong light and use a second light at the subject's side so as to create some natural shadows. A back light creates a sense of distance from the back wall. While there are three-point lighting systems on the market, you might be able to get away with less if you have a reliable source of light coming in from a window. You may also be able to cut down on lights if you use a reflecting board to bounce light from where a second light might normally be placed.

The most important thing is to try lots of combinations to see what works best for your environment and subjects. For example, how you would light for a school play would be very different from an one-on-one interview. The concept of three-point lighting is the same but the equipment and angles would differ.

Good luck and have fun!

T

Alternative To for knowing your options

2009-05-31T12:14:00.002-04:00

One of the great difficulties with working on the cheap is that the software your school uses or would like to use is beyond your budget. While there are many places to find which Mac or Linux based program can replace a Windows program, there are not many sites that provide lists of alternative programs on the same OS. Alternativeto.net does just that.
Alternativeto.net lets you click on a program you use or might want to use to see what other programs do the same thing. The site is still quite basic, but given the lack of alternatives, this site is a lot better than nothing.
If anyone knows of better sites, please put them into the comments area.

T

Blue Screen of Death

2009-05-04T15:40:00.002-04:00

MaximumPC has a great article on the dreaded "Blue screen of death" window that sometimes appears after a sudden crash in Windows. While the message can be an indication of a fatal problem, it also supply you with the information needed to fix the computer. Too often users see the screen and assume that it's only useful to a computer technician -- and then only to make sure the headstone for your dead computer reads correctly. MaximumPC makes it clear that it's far more likely that a recent hardware addition is the cause of the blue screen.

One problem that MaximumPC did not cover is how to handle the situation where the blue screens sails past in a fraction of a second as part of endless loop of failed boots/restarts. My trick with such situations is to use a video camera to video the screen and then replay the recording until I can read the blue screen.

T

Inexpensive Video Streaming

2009-03-27T15:20:00.002-04:00

Streaming video is becoming more common all the time. Point-to-point video, such as Skype, is already huge. But what do you do when the subject to be video streamed is on a distance stage or in a dark room? Web cams were made for people sitting in front of a computer. To my surprise, modern video cameras do not stream video nor do many of the "YouTube" video cameras. I did find a solution but it was not an obvious route: the Sony DCR-HC38.

The newer video cameras can transfer files to PCs and allow for editing of content located on the camera, but very few can stream. Even "YouTube" cameras, such as the Flip, don't stream. While YouTube does not offer live streaming, it does allow live recording. The Flip cannot not handle even this mode. Perhaps Cisco will add this capability now that they have purchased Flip.

I looked at top-end web cams and they simply don't have the optical zoom and steady-shot features I wanted. If all you want to do is to sit in front of your PC and Skype someone, a web cam is fine. However, if you want to stream a performance on a stage, a speaker at a distant podium, or a sporting event, webcams don't cut it. Sony has a new "Webbie" camera, but it doesn't have streaming.

The good news is that some older video cameras can handle web streaming -- and those cameras are now inexpensive as vendors discontinue older models. The unit I found is the Sony Handycam DCR-HC38 ($180). You'll need to contact Sony support for new USB drivers not found on the install CDs. The USB works with XP. If you want to run this on a Mac, you'll need to use the i-link (i.e. firewire connection). I have not tried out the firewire connection with my Mac, but I have used the USB on my XP laptop using Skype and one of my streaming services, Mogulus.

Mogulus is a great service for broadcasting public content. The most significant downside is that they don't have mechanisms for restricting access to a broadcast. Their paid-for offering does have privacy settings but it's far too expensive for non-commercial use. Kyte, another streaming service, does offer private broadcasts, but it's limited in terms of functionality as compared to Mogulus and it has a 60 minutes limit. That's a lot in YouTube terms, but not enough for many meetings/events. I'm now exploring Justin.tv. It does not have time limits and it allows for free private broadcasts -- with commercials. I have not used it as yet, so it may have downsides I don't yet know about.

If you think you might want to do video streaming, buy one of these discontinued cameras before new and probably much more expensive cameras hit the market. Yes, the new cameras will have better video quality -- but the extra quality will not translate to the image seen via the Internet.

Look mom, no wires! (Wireless Vue cameras)

2009-03-10T15:23:00.003-04:00

Avaak has a new web cam system -- Vue -- that does not require a computer, Ethernet wires or even a power cord. Additionally, while it transmits over the Internet using wireless signals, that signal can ride over links between camera units. These units use mesh networking to link one camera to another. At the end of the chain is a base station that links to your network. Mesh networking is a great way to extend a network's range well beyond the source of the school's Internet connection.

These units can be great for a school that needs to get a video camera to a difficult to support area. Because the units require no wires, it should be easy to put these cameras into weatherproof enclosures and us them outdoors. These could be used to monitor the parking lot, play ground, and other places that video cameras have difficulty being installed.

Another aspect I like is that this is a mobile system. As long as you have some access to the Internet for the base station, you could "string" the video cameras all around a special event, such as a sporting event or a performance in on the stage.

These cameras use lithium batteries for power. I have no idea how long these unit operate. Fortunately, given the fact that the units broadcast over the Internet, it should be easy to see when a unit has run out of power.

I should point out that broadcasting over the Internet does not mean the video streams are public or even that the video goes over the public Internet. Your school may just want to use it for internal coverage and have the signals stay on the school's LAN.

In any case, this system does appear to solve a number of video needs that are not otherwise easily addressed.

T

Flexible display gettting closer to school

2009-03-03T15:07:00.002-05:00

Flexible screens appear to be one step closer to being in the schools. The video above shows a demo of a small version of a flexible screen. Of course, one of the things I noticed was that the display can written on, as well.

I think one of the main benefits for a display being flexible is not so much that it can be rolled up, but because it is probably going to be able to resist the physical punishment of being carried in a heavy book bag or crammed beneath a desk top.

Ebooks have always had promise of being replacements for paper textbooks, but this new invention would also allow students to do homework and take tests on the hardware. The possibilities are truly exciting.

Your computer is the plug

2009-02-24T13:33:00.003-05:00

Marvell has produced a new Linux server that plugs into a wall socket. Essentially, what Marvell has created is a small Linux appliance. Others have gone this direction. What I like about this one is that it plugs directly into a wall socket and is designed to run all the time. One potential use for this computer is a host for a web camera. Internet ready web servers can cost quite a bit and they actually include a web server in their hardware. By using a computer with a low-end web camera, you get both the camera and the server, but you control the mix of the two.

This unit could also be used to run a continuous presentation in the school lobby or some other place that a full size computer would not work.

T

Kindle Two Arrives Today -- what it means to you

2009-02-24T10:49:00.002-05:00

Amazon's new Kindle is launching today. The first model was a big success and the second model has been getting even better reviews.

It's $350 price is not so bad if one considers the lifetime wireless connection and the savings of e-books over paper books. The unit could pay for itself in less than a year. My hope is that Amazon can get the school textbook publishers to convert their text books to Kindle-ready formats. Not only would it save a huge amount of weight on our students' developing backs, but content could be updated on the fly. The Kindle and those that will follow will be our future. The only question is whether the publishers will participate fully or be dragged into the 21st century.

T

2009-02-19T12:58:00.003-05:00

Anyone who has purchased a fully functional calculator knows they don't come cheap. You also cannot use the calculator that Microsoft or Apple supplies. SpeedCrunch is an open source project that matches the features of a top-end calculator and then adds some features that only a computer interface allows. With the new nettop computers, it may not be much of a difference between an expensive calculator and nettop computer in terms of expense. SpeedCrunch runs on all major OSes.

T

Viruses cannot do what you cannot do

2009-02-12T13:29:00.003-05:00

I've long held that one of the best methods of stopping viruses and other attacks is to refrain from using accounts with administrative privileges. What most people miss about virus attacks is that while a virus does things that you don't want to have done, but it does these unwanted actions as you. The computer operating system, in other words, believes that the requests from the virus is coming from you. Just another example of how computers don't "think" like a person. The idea of "why would anyone want to do that?" does not come into play with a computer.

If you are using a computer that cannot delete/create/modify applications, it is very unlikely that a virus would be able to do so, as well. Both OS X and Windows Vista deal with this issue by running in a standard -- limited -- mode and asking for permission. Of course, if you're one of those people who automatically clicks on permission pop-up windows, this security system does little good.

Beyondtrust has just released a report that documents that removing administrative rights on a Windows computer can protect it from over 90% of common security vulnerabilities. This is higher than even I was thinking it would be but it does confirm the notion that restricting user rights is a great security strategy.

T

OpenDNS for Internet filtering

2009-02-11T16:29:00.004-05:00

I've been using OpenDNS for quite some time and recently started using their filtering system.

First, DNS is the system by which URLs, such as abc.com, become the IP addresses (123.132.123.132) that the Internet actually uses to get from one place to another. While DNS is an open source application, OpenDNS is not so much open because of DNS being open but rather that it is not tied to any given ISP. Most users on the Internet use either their company's DNS server or one supplied by their Internet Service Provider. ISPs didn't always spend a lot of money making their DNS servers fast and reliable. In come OpenDNS with their DNS servers. They have great up-time and the look-up speed getting the URL turned into something meaningful has been great.

OpenDNS makes it money mostly by displaying advertisements on the error pages it presents when the user mistypes a URL. You're going to get an error page -- and your ISP is probably going to have ads too -- so that's not a big deal. They also route Google searches via their server. I assume this is the type of revenue system that FireFox uses to get money from Google for any Google search performed from the FireFox search window. FireFox makes millions a year off that search box. And, I'm glad that they do make money. It's not loss to me and I am able to support a service that benefits me.

OpenDNS is a nice addition to a school's ability to block bad sites. The way this works is being creating an account with OpenDNS and telling them that you want searches from your site to be filtered. You can select differing levels of protection from nothing to very tight. Any student trying to reach a bad site either intentionally or unintentionally will get an OpenDNS block page.

The system is not a perfect solution. If you want your staff to have open access from the same network as the students, the same restrictions would apply. I don't think this is a huge concern given that even the most restrictive filter setting does not appear to block anything truly useful.

Another problem with using only OpenDNS to block bad sites is that it obviously cannot help you if your student knows the IP address of a site they want to reach. OpenDNS would not be involved. It would not be a lot of fun for the student to get around the system in this way, but it is technically possible.

And, some schools may have issues with ads being displayed. I don't think there is a work-around for this issue. Given all the ads that are in school materials and on vending machines, I would think these ads are no worse, but don't assume you're okay until you have asked.

I would recommend using OpenDNS as one element -- a free one -- as part of an overall Internet safety system. You should also tell the students' parents to use it at home.

T

The eyes have it: How we see web pages

2009-02-10T11:50:00.002-05:00

Google's official blog has an interesting story on how users of their search results page move their eyes over the page. A "heat map" showing the intensity of where users' eyes tracked can be seen to the left. These maps are created by having a camera look at the user's eye as they look at the screen. The camera can tell which part of the screen is being looked at.

In the case of Google, the users' eyes were looking at the parts of the page with the most relevant information. This occurrence is not always the case. Frequently, web designers toss in lots of eye candy to pretty up the page. If you have something that is attracting the eye from what the user actually should be reading, then your site is probably going to be less satisfying to use.

This map is also telling in that it shows that people then to pop from place to place. Certainly, one would not expect to see this pattern with a book. This means that web designers need to create pages that are suitable for quick scanning. Use of font sizes, titles, icons, and graphics are as important as the content of the page. Well-written prose is not useful if people see it as a big block of dense text to be avoided.

T

$40 Smart Board using Wii Remote

2009-02-04T10:52:00.004-05:00

Johnny Lee, of CMU, has created a very useful hack of the common Wii remote to effectively replace the need for a smart board. Here is a video showing him demonstrate his technology. The system is based on the fact that the Wii remote is a high quality infrared camera. By connecting the Wii remote to a PC/Mac via Blue Tooth -- rather than to the Wii game console -- the camera can now be used to track infrared sources. Because many people have Wii remotes and Blue Tooth enabled computers, the only thing they need is an infrared source. A number of devices are now being produced. I have a customized key chain light, but a commercially sold version can be had for a few dollars. There are other versions, but I like this one because it does not require the person press on the surface to activate the light. That's important to me because I use LCD TVs to display. Pressing on the surface could cause damage. If you know that you are going to be using a firm surface, such as a white board, you can use a light pen that turns on as it is pressed to the surface. That can be lot better than having to remember to press a button every time you start to write.

The Wii sees where the infrared light is positioned on the surface -- which can be anything flat -- and relays that position back to the computer via Blue Tooth. The combination of the light pen and the Wii emulates a mouse. You can move, write, click, etc. as you could with a normal mouse.

The key to making this work is the software Johnny Lee created and the versions that have subsequently taken his code to the next level. The most sophisticated on the ones I found was Smoothboard. There is a cross-platform version that also works nicely. It's less feature-rich, but could be a good option for schools with Linux and Mac systems.

One thing I learned from my tests is that it's a good idea to use two Wii remotes. The reason is that when I'm writing I can inadvertently block the light of the pen from the Wii. Things are improved when I put the Wii remote to one side of the screen, but two units would certainly help.

The possibilities of this system is great. You could project on a brick wall via a LCD projector or view your computer via a large TV screen. The Wii will work with both.

Give it a try. It's a lot of fun and it could save you a great deal of money.

T

Ultimate Boot CD: A toolkit with something for everyone

2009-01-22T14:21:00.003-05:00

The Ultimate Boot CD is a collection of open source/free utilities. It has tools to check a computer's CPU, RAM, and hard drives. It can use the information of these tests to both stress-test your hardware and to generate a comprehensive technical support document. There is little that a technical support person could ask regarding the computer's hardware that these reports would not answer!

There are so many tools on this free CD that I cannot describe them all. I'll probably cover a few of my favorites in coming posts. I would highly recommend downloading a copy and trying it out on an unused computer. I should note that some of the applications are intentionally dangerous, such as the disk wipe, and should be used after gaining confidence.

For a school, this disk is a real help. Not only can it create useful technical reports, but it can clone and wipe hard drives. Both of these services are important as you receive donated computers or dispose of old equipment.

T

Open Office on the go

2008-12-19T13:17:00.003-05:00

Open Office is one of my favorite open source desktop applications. Not only is it competitive with Microsoft Office, it is portable. Schools that use thumb drives for student files may find it interesting to put a portable version of Open Office on the thumb drive. It means that a student can have all the Open Office settings and customizations on the same drive as the files. It also means that when the student goes home, the same application will there on the home computer. This is one of the more significant issues with good, but not commonly used, software. This portable version runs from the thumb drive and thus does not require any installation on the host computer.

Unfortunately, this system does not work on Macs. Of course, you could always take a copy of Open Office as an install file, but installation on every computer is not a good solution.

T

Clone2go for video madness

2008-12-19T13:05:00.003-05:00

One of the main problems with working with video is the large number of incompatible standards. I'm always looking for ways to convert video from one format to another. Clone2go is a well-reviewed application that has an impressive number of formats. Plus, it's free to use.

Oh, it also allows you to download YouTube videos. A nice feature given that YouTube videos are increasingly becoming a source for other videos. As Google continues to increase the quality of the videos on its site, I expect YouTube to become a great source of video content as well as a great hosting site for produced content.

T

Take your wiki with you

2008-12-16T14:16:00.002-05:00

Wikis are great for storing all types of information. Usually they are used in a collaborative environment, but not always. TiddyBackpack is an amazingly small wiki server. The zipped install package is only 20k. I've seen many application notes files that large.

This is a great application to take notes and play around with wikis. As a means to practice, it makes a lot of sense.

T

Ecofont: A font of printer savings

2008-12-15T13:09:00.002-05:00

A Dutch firm, SPRANQ, has developed a free font called "ecofont" which saves ink at the printer. Ecofont is a simple idea: cut holes in letters so that printer does not have to print every area. For those of you who are serious cyclists, the idea is much like drilling holes in various parts of one's bicycle for weight savings.

I've tried using draft mode every so often to see if looks acceptable. It rarely does. Ecofont uses standard mode printing yet reportedly saves 20% on ink. Ink costs are high and it's especially high if you have a color inkjet cartridge that requires all the ink to be replaced when any color is depleted. Your school could save hundreds if not thousands of dollars.

How does it look? What you see above is pretty much what it looks like on the screen, but when it prints, the type looks pretty close to normal. Much better than draft mode. There are two downsides: there is only one font of this type and if you send a document to someone who does not use this font, I'm not sure what would happen. The font this is based on is Vera Sans, but the recipient might have to know this. However, if you are keeping all your documents within the school and one font is just as good as another, this font should be an automatic choice for your school.

Try it out -- it's free -- and please post a comment of your experiences.

T

WatchKnow -- a kinder version of YouTube

2008-12-08T16:41:00.002-05:00

WatchKnow is open and collaborative project to collect and organize educational videos related to educational purposes. I use YouTube a great deal but then my students are graduate level. K-12 teachers have a real concern turning their students lose on YouTube or on the world-wild-web. I like what I've seen browsing WatchKnow and I like even better the idea that solution to the side-effects of the Internet is to use the "wisdom of the crowds" to organize content into sites that serve a specific function.

WatchKnow is in beta and is well worth watching. I wish them luck.

T

SoftMaker when Open Office will not do

2008-11-18T13:53:00.002-05:00

Many people are looking for alternatives to Microsoft's Office suite -- few find one. MS Office is a powerful tool and meets most user needs. The primary limitation is its price. Because any program that wants to compete has to be compatible with Office, this forces alternatives to be different while still being totally compatible. This is not easy to do and one wonders what interesting new office suites might have been possible if coders did not have to maintain document format and visual interface standards. Anyone who remembers the days before Microsoft dominated the office suite area will remember that there were many office applications and some of them, such as Framemaker, had very different ways to produce documents. The dominance of Microsoft has limited what can be done.

SoftMaker is a commercial entity located in Europe that strives for quickness and MS Office computability. The reviews of their new 2008 version make it sound very promising. They apparently have a great mobile version that can turn your Windows smart phone into a little desktop substitute. The price of $99 for an entire school is close enough to free.

Of course, there is Open Office/Star Office and a number of other alternatives that should be considered. While I like Open Office/Star Office, I know that some people believe it to be slow -- which was true in the past -- and others will not look at it because it based on an open source process. Personally, I don't find these to be problems, but I know that more than a few risk-adverse bosses would. At the very least, SoftMaker Office should be on your list of office suite alternatives.

T

DBAN before you recycle

2008-11-18T13:22:00.002-05:00

Recycling is a long overdue process for old computer hardware. Computers are full of heavy metals and poisonous elements -- they are also full of vital data. Data are difficult to get rid of. Modern computers often hide supposedly deleted information rather than remove it. The problem is that a hard drives always has something on the surface. When you "delete" information, the system only removes the information's location from the operating system's file index. This is much like ripping up a telephone book and thinking all the people are gone.

DBAN is a tool that writes over every part of the surface. It does not care what the operating system says is there or is not there. If you want to make sure your are not giving away your data and/or licensed software applications, then use DBAN or one of the other secure erasing applications.

If your drive is not working, that does not mean someone cannot extract personal information. In such cases, take the drive our of the computer case and smash it with a hammer.

T

VideoInspector

2008-11-17T16:20:00.002-05:00

VideoInspector is a utility designed to analyze your video files. I don't know about you, but I've frequently been left wondering if a video file has been damaged, is an incompatible format, or is damaged in some other way. This software tool appears to address all those concerns. I've not used this program -- but will. Please let me know what your experiences have been.

T

What the new wireless ruling may mean to your school

2008-11-06T14:45:00.002-05:00

Wired reported on the new FCC ruling that allows for unused TV spectrum to be used for any wireless device. This ruling allows unregulated devices, such as wireless access points and cordless phones, to greatly improve their range and signal power. It also means that signals might have been stopped by a wall or building may well go pass through.

WiMax is/was supposed to do these things, but has yet to show up in the market. On the surface, the TV spectrum that was sold off to Verizon for 4 billion is much better bandwidth. But, what the Internet has consistently demonstrated is that an open platform is more desirable than a closed platform even when the closed platform is technically better.

What this means for your school is that making your school wireless will be even easier than it is now. Currently, you have to play a game of how many access points are needed to cover the entire space yet not interfere with one another. The new systems may be powerful enough to have one unit cover the entire building.

Another thing it means is that a school might be able to provide a connection to the school for all the students living in the community. That's a service that schools are well position to offer given that students are either in the building or at home. The total bandwidth for the school needs not increase because the work is only transferred from the school to the home.

T

Small Pico LCD projector opens big opportunities

2008-11-05T13:40:00.002-05:00

The Pico Pocket LCD projector is one of new class of small LCD projectors to reach the market. While I've been hearing about these units for years, this is the first one that I've seen for sale -- approx $450.

The ability to project from a iPod or other small device means that you can share the output from devices that were exclusively "personal" products. I cannot wait to see what happens when cell phones are able to connect to these devices. Better yet, it may not be long before LCD projectors are incorporated into all laptops and cell phones.

This is a great tool if you have a to give a lecture to a small group and the full-size projector does not work. It's also great for sharing the screens of devices that are otherwise too small for a group to see. Will these replace full-size LCD projectors? Probably not for a long time. Producing the needed amount of light would require a more substantial unit. At least it does at this point in history.

T

Screentoaster shares your desktop for no $$$

2008-11-04T10:26:00.003-05:00

One of the reasons for using Adobe Connect is to share one's desktop. Adobe Connect is a great tool, but it is synchronous and expensive. Screentoaster is a screen capture program. While it does not help when someone asks you to show something specific, it is a great solution for situations where you are showing a canned set of tasks. Let's face it, if you are showing how to do something in a software application, the steps involved are fixed. You gain nothing from doing it live.

When you use real-time tools, the costs and difficulty factor go up. Many times the things we want to teacher are just as well done beforehand.

T

Recorded with screentoaster.com

The future of the "netbook"

2008-11-03T16:34:00.002-05:00

LifeHacker raises an interesting question of how popular a small laptop might be if it were to reach the $200 price point. Netbooks, such as the MSI Wind and the Eee PC, have small screens and limited horse power. But they do a lot, boot quickly, and are easy to carry in a book bag.

I've recently helped purchase an hundred of the MSI Winds for use by first graders. The small size and light weight make them ideal for small hands. If the price does reach $200 or less, I think many schools will ask the question: why not?

If you have not considered this new class of laptops, you probably should. What will be interesting to see is how the current low-end of full size laptops respond to the dropping of the prices on the netbooks. I think for first and second grade, I would prefer the netbook because of its form factor. But, if a full size laptop was $350, I would be very tempted to get it.

==Thane

Open Office 3.0

2008-10-31T15:14:00.003-04:00

Open Office is one of my favorite open source programs. For those who do not know it, it's a full office suite not unlike Microsoft Office. While it is open source, it also receives substantial support from Sun Microcomputer. Sun puts out their own version called "Star Office". For educators, Star Office is free.

In terms of which version to get, I would go with Open Office unless you have requirements only addressed by Star Office. There are a few things that Star Office does that Open Office cannot do. However, Open Office tends to be ahead of Star Office with new features. While that may not be so important for Windows users, the last jump for Mac users was a big one. Star Office will not be incorporating these new features until its next release -- version 9.

But Open Office is a great tool and does not cost a thing. It can read and write MS Office documents and anyone who knows one office suite will be comfortable on the other suite. With version 3, there is more reason than ever to try it out.

T

New Version of Audacity

2008-10-29T14:54:00.002-04:00

Audacity is one of my favorite audio tools. They have just come out with a new version that includes support new audio formats. Some of the bothersome audio formats I've been dealing with are addressed in this version. If you have tried it, you must give it a spin. It's free and open sourced.

T

Back Again

2008-10-10T16:36:00.002-04:00

Sorry for the delay in posting. I've been lecturing for the past month in China on the topic of educational technology. There is a real spirit in China to experiment. Below is a link to the photos I took.

Jincheng, China 2008

Shenzhen08

Beijing - 2008

Jincheng Institute of Technology

2008-09-18T11:01:00.003-04:00

Dwight Allen and I gave a series of lectures on educational technology and new teaching methods. Here are a few videos of Dwight. The below play list on YouTube is just a small part. It's on the teaching method called "2+2".

T

Jincheng Institute Lecture Series

2008-09-17T01:22:00.002-04:00

These are talks given by myself and Dr. Dwight W. Allen at the Jincheng Institute. They cover a variety of topics concerned with the effective use of educational technology. The talks are translated into Chinese.

Swype: Making quick work of typing on small screens

2008-09-10T03:31:00.002-04:00

Swype is introducing a way to type using a touch screen by dragging a finger over a keyboard. This is faster than lifting and pressing each finger. I'm not sure how one does double letters. This is one more indication that small devices, such as smart phones, will become PC replacements. Easy typing combined with a link to a large monitor via wireless will essentially make for a low-end PC.

T

Beijing Computer Shopping Mall

2008-09-09T23:20:00.004-04:00

Yesterday I visited the largest computer shopping mall in Beijing. The place is massive with ten floors of wall-to-wall computer booths. Lots of deals but I ended up not buying anything. The number of items that could be a fake is huge. As I was looking at all the products that claimed to being SanDisk or Kingston, I had no way to know if it were real or not. One of my friends purchased what he thought was a SanDisk only to find out when he sent ti to SanDisk for repair that it was a fake. He purchased it in this store. I guess the motto of the story is that one has to be extra careful when looking for a deal.

T

Getting past all that "helpful" technology

2008-08-25T14:29:00.002-04:00

As people involved with technology, we should love technology in all its forms -- well, not always. Some technology has not been invented for our convenience or for better customer service -- it's there to reduce the cost to the firm that just screwed up our invoice or sold us a defective product.

Dial A Human is a simple service that provides instructions on who to cut through automation hell to reach a real person. I have not tested these techniques, but I know I have used them with success on other sites. Hitting zero or yelling "agent" does often work. Some of Dial A Human's techniques are not obvious and I'm certainly going to use this site the next time I come to a Christmas tree full of automated prompts.

T

A Poor Man's Amazon S3 Storage

2008-08-12T13:29:00.002-04:00

Amazon has a very useful online storage system called S3. Cucku allows you to turn your home computer or the computer of someone you know into a personal version of Amazon's S3. While I may not use this for high-value content, it certainly is an effective means for creating an off-site backup.

Cucku is not the first application to allow this type of work to be done. What I like about Cucku is that it's easy to use, secured, and includes built-in backups. There are plenty of secure connections -- VPNs -- and plenty of backup systems, but not many easy-to-use combinations of the two. With hard drive space being plentiful and home Internet access fast, Cucku makes a lot of sense for the cash-strapped school. Just make sure there is no policy about staff taking school data off-site before starting a backup routine.

Cucku is also a great solution for backing up laptops. One interesting point is that Cucku uses Skype for transferring files. That's a creative way to utilizes a dependable peer-to-peer network. It does mean, however, that you will need to have Skype installed. Unfortunately, Cucku only works on XP and Vista.

T

FlyPaper turns Power Points into Flash Videos

2008-08-06T13:46:00.002-04:00

Power Point presentations are key tools in the instructor's tool kit. But, as multimedia becomes more the norm, the inability to produce a video from the Power Point has been a short-coming.

Flypaper is a product that allows for Power Points to be converted into Flash video files. For one, this allows for presentations to be placed on YouTube. Currently, to put up a Power Point on YouTube one would have to turn Power Point into a series of images, pull them into Movie Maker, and then create a video. Flypaper looks like a very good solution for obtaining a superior result in far less time.

Let's face it, Power Points have been abused so frequently that having a bit of an edge is something worth having.

T

How a proxy server can help you

2008-07-29T15:27:00.003-04:00

If you work in a large school system, you probably know proxy servers as something the school district runs to block web sites. If you're a technical person, you probably have sworn more than a few times when the proxy server has prevented you from reaching a tech support site or from downloading A/V updates.

While proxy servers can be useful for protecting students from bad content, they can also prevent you from reaching useful sites. Proxify is a proxy server intended for the purpose of hiding one's use of the Internet. Sites one visit via Proxify will have no idea who the real user is. It can also prevent ISPs from spying on your Internet habits.

So how could another proxy server help you? Well, the trick is that it is possible that Proxify is not blocked by your school's proxy server. If that is the case, you can send traffic to Proxify and the blocked sites would be sent by Proxify and not by you. Your school proxy sees you linked to Proxify but not to anything that it would have blocked. So, the solution to an invasive proxy server is another proxy server.

Proxify is not without problems. If you don't pay for their service, the connection speed and use of advertisements can be bothersome. This is an emergency solution and not a routine service. If you require regular service, you may wan to consider their $80/yr price.

T

Technology can make you a better person

2008-07-24T17:57:00.002-04:00

NPR Technology podcast (April 30, 2008) covers the work on Stanford's Virtual Human Interaction Lab. The segment starts 18 minutes into the podcast. While I have long heard that athletes can improves skills, such a free throws, by seeing it in their minds, VHIL has shown that watching an avatar that looks very much like use can impact our real world reality.

One of the more interesting findings they observed was that when a person picks a better looking avatar from a set of possible avatars, the student will take on some of the attributes of the avatar. For example, subjects were asked to fill out an online dating form in which they picked people they thought they could reasonably date. The subjects who had selected a good looking avatar filled out an online dating form where they projected better possible matches. I should mention that the dating service form was filled out an hour later and that the avatar was not used or associated with the dating system.

What does all this mean? Behavior modification and building self-esteem are two obvious areas for students. Perhaps new teachers could practice in front of a virtual class room. This feels like an area rich with possibilities.

T

Could this be your next video conferencing system?

2008-07-18T16:13:00.002-04:00

TechCrunch has a very nice review of live streaming systems. YouTube and its videos of last night are history. How YouTube has kept from offering live services is something I don't get. They allow real-time uploading from a web cam, why not let people watch in real time?

I'm currently trying out one of the reviewed system, Kyte. While it has not been perfect, I like it a lot. Not only can I broadcast live but I don't have annoying ten minute limits. Kyte allows for 60 minutes. For most teachers, that is more than enough for a class. Not so great for my 3 hour plus classes, but I can work around that problem.

Technically, these live streaming services are not replacements for video conferencing systems. While the viewers can upload video feedback in real-time, the model is more of a broadcast model than it is a face-to-face model. For distance learning situations, I believe real-time streaming is best. If you really need to do video conferencing, you could broadcast to each other.

The fact that you can broadcast from a cell phone -- has to be the right model -- is fantastic. You could take it on field trips, broadcast sporting events, and take it around the school without much concern if it would work. Of course, you can also broadcast from a web cam.

I think the potential for these technologies is huge and that you should start to play around with them now so that you'll be ready. BTW, they are all free to use.

T

Will ISPs be the future pot holes of the Internet?

2008-07-10T01:05:00.003-04:00

I was reading an interesting post on one person's experience with an ISP cutting service in ways that may be a harbinger of what will happen to many of us in the future. In short, his ISP, ComCast, cut off his wife's ability to send out email because they thought she was using email too much for a typical home user.

As gas prices continue to go up, many more of us will be working from home. Will our home ISP now expect us to buy a much more expensive business account? That was the "solution" that ComCast suggested.

So, you thought the $60/month your paying for Internet access was unlimited? Well, it is in that you don't pay by the byte. The contract you never read probably says you cannot have a server running from your home, etc. The ISPs have basically made this restriction a moot point by making the speed of going out from your house far lower than the speed coming in. In other words, the ISPs made it impractical to operate a server even if you wanted to break the rules of the contract you never saw.

The ISPs have two problems that they probably didn't anticipate. The first is that the competition between the cable and telcos have resulted in dramatically greater bandwidth. The second problem is that there are now services that can eat up all that bandwidth. Most people would not notice the difference between two and ten megs per second. Web pages don't speed up much after a certain point. But, download hi-def movies and the difference is large. Also, ISPs planned on the Internet being used when a person was home and on the computer. Soon, your computer may be an Internet-based Tivo downloading huge files all day long.

The result is that ISPs have run into a wall that is partly of their causing and partly a result of circumstances. They cannot cut back speeds and keep the same prices. I don't think they can raise the prices -- of course, they have been all too good at increasing cable TV prices. I think they will do one of two things. They will fight even harder in Congress to get bills passed that will allow for tiered performance on the Internet. This will allow them to charge you more if you want the ability to download a movie or to use Skype without it voice breaking up. The second game they can play is to screw up the applications they don't like and hope users will think it's the application's fault and thus stop using it. This has been tried by ComCast and by Rogers (in Canada). We'll see what will happen in the courts.

What does this all mean for you? Most likely, applications your are using now will be okay most of the time, but you may find that advanced features, such as Voice over IP, multimedia downloads, and remote control of computers at work will either be more error-prone or will be a "premium" service.

T

Amazon Connect

2008-06-30T19:21:00.003-04:00

Amazon is one of the most creative companies on the Internet today. Every time I turn around they are releasing a new product -- and frequently a new product area. Not long ago I did a review of Jungle Disk, a software application that makes it possible to store data to Amazon's online storage center. Amazon just isn't books and the zillions of other products people buy; it has become a true service company. If people need it, they supply it.

Amazon Connect is a new offering that allows authors of books to either create a blog for their books or to connect blogs that they may have to their related books. This is exactly what I've done. This posting should show up as the first posting that shows up here (techshoestring.blogspot.com) and on Amazon. A blog is not required to take part. One can post directly from Amazon.

What I like most about Amazon Connect is that it offers a means by which the author can continue the topics covered in the book. That was the original purpose of this blog, BTW. That is why the URL for the blog was put at the end of the book.

I think the next stage for books, such as mine, will be an even greater integration between the formal text and the more interactive environment of a blog. I'm sure Amazon will be there leading the way.

Thane

QIK bring video streaming to the cell phone

2008-06-14T20:57:00.003-04:00

Almost every cell phone is coming with a camera and video mode. Up to now, I've mostly seen videos taken by cell phone on the cell phone that took it. Sometimes one sees video taken on cell phones place on YouTube and the like. Today I came across QIK, a site that allows for live streaming of cell phone video. It's important to say that this happens over the cell phone network. You need not figure out how to connect to a computer. Of course, if you don't have an unlimited data plan on your cell phone, don't use this feature. It could cost you a fortune.

The quality is pretty poor. It could be used on field trips and for streaming of PTA meetings, lectures, and other activities that don't require great video or audio quality. Combine this will instant messaging and this could be a simple way to broadcast a live event with user feedback. You can make your video private. I also noted that videos can be longer than YouTube's ten minutes. I don't know if there is a limit, but at least it isn't ten minutes. QIK keeps the videos on your user account for later viewing.

This is still the cutting edge, but why not give it a try?

T

Frontline SMS

2008-05-29T22:49:00.003-04:00

Frontline SMS is one of those great communication tools that I wish were more common. I especially admire the social mission values that they strive for.

Frontline SMS is a PC-based server that can send and receive SMS messages. Doesn't sound impressive given that any cell phone in the world can make the same claim. What makes their system different is that it can serve as a communications hub for very large number of SMS-enabled users. In locations such as South Asia and Africa, SMS messaging is really the only viable electronic communication system other voice. The Internet is still missing in many parts of the world and where it can be found, it's too expensive and/or unreliable.

If you are living in South Asia or Africa, you should certainly look at this software. It may be the best -- if not only -- means to communicate with students, parents and staff. In locations lucky enough to have cheap and reliable Internet access, this server can still be used with great effect. It could be used as an alert system for school staff and parents. The system also collects data. Teachers could use it to report absent students from home room. They would just send the student's code to the SMS address of the server. The possible list of uses is a long one. Give it a whirl. It's free.

T

Windows NT Reborn

2008-05-24T21:20:00.004-04:00

As the debate goes on whether Microsoft should continue to offer XP or force everyone to Vista, a group of programmers have been reverse engineering Windows NT. The resulting operating system is called ReactOS and the idea is not as crazy as it may seem. BTW, I used NT for many years -- and still do on a few older computers -- and my only real complaints were that it did not support USB drives, did not have a built-in firewall, and that defragmentation was not in as a disk tool.

Why is ReactOS cloning XP and not NT, you may ask? As I understand it, they are not trying to copy a specific version of NT, but are attempting to create the architecture of the NT family of OSes. That includes everything from NT to Vista. Their point is that NT is the best possible platform for a graphical desktop. Linux and Unix were created for the command line and even Mac OS is built on the very old BSD Unix -- true, but what Apple has done with it kind of proves the reverse point. Anyway, I'm willing to see them make their point with a finished product.

Anyway, ReactOS is well worth following. Visit has a number of problems. If you buy HP -- the lowest priced units these days -- Vista comes with all types of add-ons and gadgets. It's amazing and disgusting what HP has done with Vista. Dells are better in this regard, but Vista is still something I'm trying to get used to. But, if you have an older unit, Vista is probably not going to be a solution. You cannot buy the OSes from Microsoft that were created for the older units you may have. Whle Umbutu Linux may be a great desktop solution for many, it may still be a hard sell to the administration. Mac OS isn't going on your old Dell Optiplex, so you may find that ReactOS is your only option.

It's too early to know how ReactOS will pan out, but I'm happy to see this option being developed. The man behind the architecture of NT, David Cutler, created one of the all time best OSes: VMS. You probably never heard of it, but it may be running your banking account. VMS was a revolutionary OS and I always wondered how Microsoft could hire such a genius and get NT out of the process. But, after reading the ReactOS introduction pages, I'm now thinking that perhaps Cutler did a better job than I had thought.

I wish ReactOS well. The option of having a free Windows-based OS that can be used on older computers or as an alternative to Vista is one that I am happy to see. I will certainly follow the progress of this project. They have a bootable CD that you may wanto to try out. I will.

T

Word Docs to the Web

2008-05-03T10:44:00.002-04:00

Wired "How-to Wiki has a nice write-up on a problem that anyone managing web sites knows all too well: How to get a Word doc onto the web without all the extra junk save-to-html creates? I've spent countless hours over the years taking Word documents that others have sent to me and done my best to clean them up so that the resulting HTML documents follow Web standards.

For people using Dreamweaver -- my HTML editor of choice -- it has a clean Word feature that works pretty well. The How-to article explores a few simpler ideas, such as using Google Docs, and recommends a few ways to handle large numbers of Word documents. This last feature is something I knew about a few months back when I had to use a batch search-and-replace utility to clean up a few hundred HTML files created by Word. Talk about mind numbing!

T

TurboDemo brings screen capture to education

2008-04-29T12:05:00.006-04:00

I've long used screen captures to illustrate manuals and Power Point presentations. TurboDemo, while costing money, looks to be a good solution for computer lab instructors who need to introduce new applications and then test the students to how well they understand what they have seen. TurboDemo has the ability to capture the screen in a continuous mode and then have to provide a voice over and ending quiz.

I could see this application saving a tremendous amount of time at the beginning of each semester. It would also work well for helping distance-learning students learn the distance-learning platform. I find that it can take a week or more for a new student to learn the ropes of a new online learning system.

T

JungleDisk

2008-04-17T10:50:00.002-04:00

Online storage is something I've been interested in for quite some time. It combines the pluses of off-site storage with a backup system that can be performed routinely. The old way I did off-site storage was to make an extra set of tapes and take those tapes home. That worked, but had many potential weaknesses.

I've played -- and blogged -- on a number of online storage providers. Some were too expensive and others went out business. And yet others had complicated menu structures that left me wondering what, if anything, had taken place.

In comes Amazon. In addition to books and garden supplies, Amazon now offers various computer resources. Unlike their consumer business, Amazon doesn't make their services easy for the common person to use. A number of providers have come into build in user friendliness into Amazon's offerings. One such provider is JungleDisk. They have one of the nice packages of services built on Amazon. One of the things I appreciate is that even if JungleDisk goes out of business, your organization's data continues to reside on Amazon.

I'm planning on using JungleDisk for my organization. Where I see it as being very useful is with staff with laptops. With online storage, it does not matter where the devices are as long as there is an Internet connection.

One of the things I like most about what I've seen with JungleDisk is their understandable pricing plan. This has not been my experience with other online providers. I hope to be back to post more.

Stay tuned...

T

How strong is your password?

2008-04-09T14:03:00.003-04:00

Passwords have always been important to get right but with more and more information being put online in publicly accessible locations, such as Google docs, are potential security problems. It's likely someone will know your Google email address if you use Gmail. They are left with just getting the password. That effort could be easy to virtually impossible based on the strength of the password being used.

Password Meter is a free tool that will analyze a password for how strong it is as a password. Finding such a service is not that difficult, but Password Meter goes further to explain what aspects of the password it liked and didn't like.

T

WorldAgInfo Final Report

2008-04-01T16:37:00.003-04:00

I've been away from this blog for quite some time. While I'm not going back to every day rain-or-shine, I will be posting things with more regularity. The reason I've been away is because of my work on agricultural information systems for the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. As always, I was specifically looking for innovative low-cost solutions to communications and educational objectives.

It was an amazing adventure to be on this project and I hope you'll take some time to read the results. The final report has just been release and can be found here.

T

civiCRM for Schools

2008-03-31T19:54:00.002-04:00

A few years ago I was at an educational conference in Montreal where the presenter asked the auditorium of 500 or so educators who the customer was in an higher ed environment. After a long pause, people started listing professors and researchers. I was shocked that no one listed students.

"CRM" stands for Customer Relation Management. Typically, this type of software is either used by hard-selling vendors or it's an expensive option for the corporate environment. Finding a CRM system that is inexpensive and oriented more towards "relationships" than it is "sales" had not been an easy task.

civiCRM appears to fit both bills. It's open source and thus low cost. I say "low cost" and not "free" is because even free software requires hardware to run and some level of installation and customization. While I'm not an expert in CRM software, civiCRM's list of features is certainly impressive for the needs of a single organization. The problems I see with it are when one wants to use this for multiple organizations or with an organization with many sub-organizations. Their site discusses installing these features, but until they are in the code, there is no telling what will happen.

While civiCRM can be used as a stand-alone system, it has been designed to work closely with Drupal.

I'm seriously considering using civiCRM for an sophisticated events management system. If anyone has had direct experience with civiCRM, please leave me a comment.

T

Article on Top Windows File Utilities

2007-12-06T15:53:00.001-05:00

Lifehacker has a great article on what they consider the top 10 free Windows file utilities. I've used most of these utilities or ones like them. They are all very useful. The WinDirStat is very useful when you suddenly find out that all your free disk space has gone -- in my case, it usually turns out to be podcasts I've downloaded using iTunes.

I recommend that you try out all of these utilities. When you need them, you'll probably need them right away and you will want to have had some previous experience.

T

Adobe's Buzzword has some new tricks

2007-11-09T16:44:00.000-05:00

Adobe has a new online editor which not surprisingly uses Flash to offer a rich editing environment. There are other on-line editors, such as Google Docs, but they all pretty much look like glorified text editors. Buzzword looks more like a traditional word processor. The functionality may not be different, but the attitude of your students and staff may be a lot better with with they will probably perceive as a more sophisticated application.

Here are some screen snapshots. Signing up is free.

T

Explore your ideas with exploratree

2007-10-29T14:58:00.001-04:00

Exploratree is a new web site that allows you to create what they call thinking guides. I was impressed with the wide variety of concept maps on their web site -- and they are still in beta.

This site would be great for any form of analysis or brainstorming.
T

Earth blog day and green pc

2007-10-15T15:00:00.000-04:00

October 15th is blog action day for global warming. While this is a school technology blog, we all have to live on this planet. So, I picked a device that is about as friendly a computer as possible. The Fit-PC is a small sized PC that consumes only 5 watts of power. It also produces no sound due to not having a fan.

This unit would be great for a number of situations where electrical power is not ample or noise is a concern. The small size would allow a small computer lab to bolt the unit to the bottom of a bench. The down side is the lack of CD-ROM drive and its lower performance. But let's face it, even a low-end PC has more than enough power for word processing and for Internet browsing. This unit can be installed with Windows XP or Linux. They don't say what will happen when Vista is the only Windows OS.

And, this makes for a good firewall. It may cost a bit more than reusing an old PC and open source firewall applications, but it can live in a small closet in a way that an old 486 tower could not.

T

Puppy Linux

2007-10-05T15:50:00.000-04:00

LifeHacker has a good review on the recently released new version of Puppy Linux. To be honest, I've not heard of this version. I'm a fan of small form factors of Linux for older computers. This version is also designed to run from a USB flash device.

Running from a flash device can be a good feature for students who need the same application at home -- a likely situation if you're using Linux in the school. This removes the issue of not having the required application at home.

T

What in the world is my computer doing?

2007-09-25T14:14:00.001-04:00

One of the most common questions I get is: why is my computer suddenly going so slow? There are often explainable reasons, such as a new version of a program having been installed or a download of a patch in the background. But sometimes there isn't a clear answer. I found this blog posting which provides an easy way to capture what is connecting to the Internet. If nothing else, you'll learn just how many of your programs are communicating with the Internet. Most of them will.

This system is very useful but it may not discover today's Trojan horses. The new Trojans and spyware try to appear to be a legitimate program so that a personal firewall will not block its communication.

Give it a try. It doesn't cost anything and you'll probably learn something useful.

T

Google announces its own "Power Point"

2007-09-19T15:59:00.000-04:00

The lack of a presentation application was one of the problems with switching over to Google's online application suite. Now they have their own presentation application. If you already have Google Docs, you will find that when you go to create a new document, presentation will now be one of the options.

T

Easy Wiki for Kids

2007-09-17T09:38:00.001-04:00

Wikis are great tools for schools. I've put in more than a few posts on wikis. The main problem for using a wiki for younger kids is that they have to learn an odd syntax to make the page. And making a nice looking page is quite a challenge. PikiWiki is more oriented to multimedia and to drag-and-drop editing. This is a system which younger students can use. It's also free.

T

CMS Review

2007-09-14T15:42:00.000-04:00

Information Week has a done a nice short review on CMSes (Content Management Systems). People have been using CMSes for document management to web site construction. They are powerful tools to accomplish most anything because they combine the power of a database with the design skills of a fairly good web designer. The user needs very little expertise to make the system work.

There are many CMS systems and they don't do the same exact things. So, if you are clear as to what you want, the number of choices often goes down to a handful from that of dozens. The review is a good one but a few important CMSes were left off the. Read the comments to get a fuller picture.

T

Another free Project Mangement Software

2007-09-13T10:47:00.000-04:00

GanttProject is another project management software program that came to my attention via a posting on yesterday's OpenProj software. I'm not sure which is best, GanttProject has more screen snapshots and more listed features than does OpenProj. They both look great and they both work on all the major operating systems.

They both look like they are worth a shot. I don't use this type of software; please leave a comment if you have used one or both of these programs.

T

Project Management Software for free

2007-09-12T11:16:00.000-04:00

Project management has been one of those applications where there has not been a lot of open source activity. Now there is OpenProj to take on Microsoft Project. The difference is that OpenProj is designed to take on the desktop version of MS Project. If you need a server based version, the same firm has a commercial version that runs in cooperation with a server. For most schools, the desktop version will be just fine. District offices and construction projects will need to spend some money.

T

Ophcrack: Your double-edged sword

2007-09-11T10:05:00.001-04:00

Ophcrack is one of many password cracking tools. While I cannot attest to their claims that they can crack 99.9% of passwords within seconds, it does should like they can get most passwords quicker than you would like. One of their tricks is to have a very large number of passwords encrypted into their protected form. The software then compares the encrypted password it finds on your system with the ones it has made. Once it finds it, it then knows the password required for that pattern to be produced.

The good side of this program is that it can help you to unlock computers that you don't have the password for. This can happen when you either forget, someone as reset it to something you don't know, or the computer has been donated and the owner is not around.

But, the downside is more obvious. A student could put in the ophcrack CD, boot the computer off that CD and then get the password. While I'm not positive, I suspect that finger scanners would not be much help because the finger scanner is only to confirm you identity and then the system inserts a password. The password would be sitting on the system. Probably it's complicated enough that you don't have to worry, but you may want to find out. The only system I would have confidence in would be a smart card system where the password is always changing and checked against a server in a remote and hopefully well-protected location.

T

Radio based computer communication

2007-09-09T21:08:00.001-04:00

While in Mali I visited a regional communications center that transmitted market information collected by a market enumerator (see photo to right). The enumerator's job is to observe real market transactions taking place on a variety of important crops. That information is then transmitted by a form of ham radio to other regional centers and to the capital, Bamako.

Internet access in Africa is very expensive and unreliable. Most of the places we visited were using vstat connections. Those links are running about $1,000-1500 per month for a 128-256Kb connection. The use of a radio based system was not a great solution in terms of speed and each center does have to have a tall tower, but at least the costs of running the centers are not high once they are going. This is a very good example of a way to handle some of the harsher technology environments. And, by the way, the room we were in was almost 100 degrees and humid. How the head of the center was able to keep his coat on was a mystery to me. I was afraid to ask how long computer equipment would last in such an environment.

T

Back from Africa

2007-08-21T13:43:00.000-04:00

I just got back from a two week trip to Mali and Zambia. I saw some very interesting uses of radio-based education. I may post on some of these activities, but I have these and other postings at my project website: worldaginfo.org.

Here is a link for my photo album:

AfricanSiteVisits

Blowing in the dust

2007-07-27T18:20:00.000-04:00

If you're like me you have plenty of very old computers coming across your work bench. I usually have a can of compressed air to clean off all the dust. Recently, I've come across information which may make my clean tendencies to be downright dangerous.

While I knew that using compressed air on a hot computer mother board was a bad idea because the extreme cold of the propellant could potentially crack the board, I had no thought of the possibility for static to be released. There is of course the concern of blowing dust deeper into the equipment and thus ruin an otherwise working computer.

Here's what I'm doing: I use a vacuum cleaner on keyboards, fan vents and drive bays. I used the compressed air on very dirty mother boards -- which have completely cooled down.

T

Drop of a file

2007-07-19T14:20:00.001-04:00

DropBoks offers the simplest interface I've seen for uploading a file that you or others can access at a later time. The site is both free and use encryption to secure the contents. You may send up to a 50 meg file.

T

Remote control and beyond

2007-07-16T15:33:00.000-04:00

Controlling a remote computer can be useful for troubleshooting or for demonstration purposes. There are many expensive ways to do this and there are few free systems, such as VNC.

I've always liked VNC for remote control but it was not easy to use, especially when used with SSH encryption. ShowMyPC.com eliminates all that complexity and adds the additional service of allowing multiple units behind a firewall to communicate. This is not an easy thing because home users have rotating IP addresses. ShowMyPC can also be used for broadcasting a desktop for demonstration purposes. This often requires a lot of money. The expensive alternatives include neat features, such as voice, but it's been my experience that these advanced features don't always work well on less than great bandwidth.

T

Getting the picture in math and science

2007-07-05T13:00:00.001-04:00

Teaching math and science is not always easy to visualize. Equations are often nothing more than something to be memorized for the next test and then promptly forgotten. The University of Colorado has a fantastic site that models and demonstrates mathematical equations and many scientific concepts -- even Schrodinger's quantum wave model. Wonder how is cat is doing...

T

Making a child-friendly PC

2007-07-03T14:05:00.001-04:00

SendMeOn has a good article on how to create a child-friendly computer. The purpose of the article is to get people to donate their old computers or work on other people's old computers to make them available for children. That goal is something that a school computer club might find interesting or you could use the information for parents who ask what they can do to keep their children safe or what to do with an old computer they have laying around home.

T

What does Microsoft know about you?

2007-07-02T16:32:00.000-04:00

The answer is quite a lot. This article gives the most complete list I've seen of what types of information Microsoft's Vista operating system collects and then sends to Microsoft. XP also collects information but not on this scale. Microsoft would certainly point out that this information goes into making their products better and their service to you more effective. That may not mean much to you if the government decides to collect these records -- as they have with searches on the major search sites -- or the RIAA figures out how to get them.

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Back from India

2007-06-25T14:16:00.000-04:00

It's been three long weeks but I had a great time and I learned a lot about how to make do with even less money than I'm accustomed to working with. I hope to bring some of that experience to this blog now that I'm back.

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Online Bibliography with a Twist

2007-05-29T12:33:00.000-04:00

bibme is one of several tools I've seen to create bibliographies. What I like about this service -- in addition to it being free -- is that it can perform a search and then create bibliographies for the ones you pick. I just hope the students read the books they reference. This system would make it all too easy to pad a paper with references the student wouldn't even recognize they were placed in their hand.

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Google's new position on paid essay writing

2007-05-23T16:47:00.000-04:00

The BBC is reporting that Google will stop selling advertisements for paid essay services. The Internet in general has made keeping students honest more difficult and paid essay services are one of the more obvious manifestations of this problem. Thanks, Google!

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Bring out the dead!

2007-05-21T17:46:00.000-04:00

LifeHacker has a story on how Staples will be accepting old computers and computer monitors at a price of $10 each. Keeping old equipment around isn't going to become any easier in the future. Most communities now prevent the disposal of computer equipment in the garbage because of all the toxic ingredients.

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Just Scratch-ing the surface

2007-05-17T16:47:00.000-04:00

The BBC has an interesting write-up on a new programing system that allows students to create multimedia presentations without a high level of programing. It works on both Macs and Windows and is free.

Looks very interesting. If you have experience with it, please enter a post.

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Put your computer in oil

2007-05-15T14:20:00.000-04:00

I've been thinking about what would happen if I put a computer in a tub of oil, but I was too afraid the result would be a big fire. Apparently, it's not a big deal and it could make for an interesting school science project. Just discussing the issues of heat would make for a number of interesting classes.

Here is an article on how to make the oil-bath computer.

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SELinux and what it means to you

2007-05-14T16:56:00.000-04:00

SELinux is a system and not yet another version of Linux -- we certainly have enough of those. SELinux is a security system that locks down the internal operations of program or process so that even if there is a bug in an application, the hacker will not be able to exploit it because the SELinux will forbid the hacker to use the compromised application in any unauthorized method.

Here is a good article on SELinux.

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AJAX and Sun's new product

2007-05-11T20:23:00.000-04:00

AJAX is one of the hottest new technologies on the web. It is a core technology for the entire Web 2.0 world. AJAX, which is the system which provides interactivity and customizability, is not one single technology. In fact, it may surprise you to learn that Microsoft is the first major implementer of AJAX with it's Exchange mail web portal.

Sun has long been a player in the AJAX world with its Java Script, but now it is releasing a new framework that looks almost as easy to use but far more powerful. Here is an article that compares the major AJAX systems -- including the new Sun announcement.

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ColorJack

2007-05-08T18:01:00.000-04:00

ColorJack is an online tool which helps web designers to pick the right set of colors. Graphic designers know about selecting compatible colors but most people only know when things look right. This color picker will help you to get the things looking "right" sooner.

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