Wednesday, December 29, 2004

Sakai, and Why I hate Java, Chapter 22. So a note in my discussion area prompted me to try to install Sakai, the open source learning management system. As a result I hate added yet another chapter to my legion of "I hate Java" stories. Everything went fine until I tried to insatll it. I have Java correctly installed, as per the instructions - a JRE (Java Runtime Engine) that I use for Java plugins on websites. Should work, according to the quick-start instructiona. But, of course, it doesn't. The first sign of trouble: "Unable to locate tools.jar. Expected to find it in /usr/lib/SunJava2-1.4.2/lib/t ools.jar" And when it ultimately died: "JAVA_HOME should point to a JDK not a JRE." Sheesh. I spent more time trying to install the Java SDK, which had the net effect of disabling my JRE, so now nothing works. In all fairness, this is a Tomcat bug, not a Sakai one. And I may have been the only person ever to try to run it with nothing but a JRE. Still. My point is that this is typical of Java - the rule, not the exception. And that - Chapter 22 - is why I hate Java. By contrast - I picked up a Python text in Ottawa, found it was already installed, installed and ran IDLE (the editor) without a problem, ran various programs - everything works beautifully and you don't need to worry about having the x.y.z version of the thing. Sakai? Python. QED. By Stephen Downes, Stephen's Web, December 29, 2004 [Refer][Research][Reflect] [OLDaily] 9:48:25 PM      Google It!.

iUpload Personal Publisher. As the new year rolls in, some very powerful personal publishing tools are being unveiled, such as the iUpload Personal Publisher, described here by Robin Good. Here is my test blog, made in about 30 seconds (including spell check). The interface is very smooth and fast, and although there's only one template it would be a snap to switch. But you can only customize them a little, and I didn't see any way to create your own. iUpload is a hosted service, like Blogger or Flickr - it's about as easy to use as Blogger, has the photo upload (without all the annoying (and unstable) Flash used by Flickr). Exports RSS feeds of the blogs, the images and the events calendar. The login (to add new posts) is very hard to find. Though it is written in ASP, it's a lot better than MSN Spaces - though be warned, the iuplogbeta.com domain name will probably disappear in a year. At which point your blog will cost you money. By Luigi Canali De Rossi, Robin Good, December 23, 2004 [Refer][Research][Reflect] [OLDaily] 9:46:15 PM      Google It!.

Staccato. If you like music, you'll need this site (or ones like it). Why? See the next link. For those of you who are wondering why I would write about music in a learning technology newsletter: the very same story is being played out in our field. The DRM lock-down of educational content versus the (one-day-to-exist) Ed-Staccato. And if you have any doubt of where my allegiances lie: it's with the latter. By Various Authors, December, 2004 [Refer][Research][Reflect] [OLDaily] 9:44:22 PM      Google It!.

Transparent Transistors Are Coming [Slashdot:] 9:43:27 PM      Google It!.

Oracle Takes Over Rival PeopleSoft. The Oracle Corporation has taken control of PeopleSoft, making Oracle the world's second-largest maker of business-management software. By By BLOOMBERG NEWS. [NYT > Technology] 9:40:44 PM      Google It!.

Internet Use Said to Cut Into TV Viewing and Socializing. The average Internet user in the U.S. spends three hours a day online, with much of that time devoted to work and more than half of it to communications. By By JOHN MARKOFF. [NYT > Technology] 9:40:00 PM      Google It!.

Federal Appeals Court Sides With VoIP Providers [Slashdot:] 3:32:34 PM      Google It!.

Slow-Motion Miracle: One Boy's Journey Out of Autism's Grasp. An 8-year-old boy's continuing journey to break free of the grip of autism reflects a struggle that more than 150,000 American children have faced in the past decade. By By JOHN O'NEIL. [NYT > Education] 8:47:10 AM      Google It!.

Bringing Down A Copycat Site [Slashdot:] 8:46:17 AM      Google It!.

The BitTorrent Effect. Movie studios hate it. File-swappers love it. Bram Cohen's blazing-fast P2P software has turned the internet into a universal TiVo. For free video-on-demand, just click here. By Clive Thompson from Wired magazine. [Wired News] 8:43:35 AM      Google It!.

High-Speed Video Using a Dense Camera Array [Slashdot:] - controlable super slow motion could enable  a synchronizing with the  viewers speed dynamically with a  little  well chosen biofeedback link. --  thnk immersive at  different levels of attention. -- BL 8:42:29 AM      Google It!.

Guidelines for Establishing Interactivity in Online Courses - Mark Mabrito, Innovate. Students are most successful in online courses that provide ample opportunities for them to interact with the instructor, other students, and the course content. An interactive online course must engage students as active learners rather than as passi [Online Learning Update] 8:36:43 AM      Google It!.

Dog genome boosts cancer research. The quest to understand dog genetics will help scientists track down the causes of disease in canines and people. [BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition] 8:35:28 AM      Google It!.

Welcome to HUM 202: Toward a literacy of cooperation - Toward a Literacy of Cooperation [Edubloggers Links Feed] 8:34:05 AM      Google It!.

markwagner: Online Course on Blogs and RSS in Education (Update 2) [Edubloggers Links Feed] 8:32:47 AM      Google It!.