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Wednesday, January 24, 2007 |
65% of Americans Spend More Time With Their PC Than SO. Ant writes "PR Newswire reports that 65 percent of consumers are spending more time with a computer than with their significant other (SO). The "Cyber Stress" study confirmed consumers' growing relationship with technology in their everyday lives. In fact, more than 8 out of 10 Americans (84%) say they are more dependent on their home computer now than they were just three years ago."[Slashdot]
5:33:29 PM Google It!.
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Scientists Unveil Most Dense Memory Circuit Ever Made. adamlazz writes "The most dense computer memory circuit ever fabricated, capable of storing around 2,000 words in a unit the size of a white blood cell, was unveiled by scientists in California. The team of experts at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) who developed the 160-kilobit memory cell say it has a bit density of 100 gigabits per square centimeter, a new record. The cell is capable of storing a file the size of the United States' Declaration of Independence with room left over."[Slashdot]
5:28:28 PM Google It!.
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Military Builds Robotic Insects. Israel is developing a robot the size of a hornet to attack terrorists. Micro Air Vehicles, or MAVs, are much closer than that. British Special Forces already use 6-inch MAV aircraft called WASPs for reconnaissance in Afghanistan. The U.S. Air Fo... [KurzweilAI.net Accelerating Intelligence News] This is the credible threat of nano tehcnology where weapons are the size of flying insects and not nearly so dumb --BL
9:00:01 AM Google It!.
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State of Wikipedia. More often than not, Wikipedia is the top result in Google searches, and more often than not, given a choice I'll point to the Wikipedia page as the definitive source, without knowing whether the text was written by an impartial third party with good information, or someone else; while I know that in areas where I have expertis, the Wikipedia pages are the result of "edit wars" between partisans, trolls and the people being written about. It's hard for me to know, for example, when reading a biography of Augustus Caesar (I'm a fan of the HBO series Rome) if it is the result of the same impossibly conflicted process.
Microsoft is the latest to fall in the trap. Better to stay way. They are criticized by Jimmy Wales, who has no credibility in this area, having been caught editing his own biography, removing mention of his collaborator. Wales is aware of the basic flaw in Wikipedia, his actions indicate that, yet he isn't above criticizing Microsoft for trying to hire someone to do what Jimmy did for himself. To be clear, what Microsoft did is absolutely wrong. If that practice were to escalate (and who knows that it hasn't) then Wikipedia would just reflect the views of rich corporations and individuals. The biography of Bill Gates would talk glowingly of his philanthropy, and downplay (or omit) his conviction for antitrust.
To me, in areas outside my expertise, it seems that Wikipedia is an excellent source of information. But that's the problem. In areas that I know better, I can see its flaws. I play by the rules and don't fix the mistakes. That leaves it to the trolls to write the story. Somehow we have to resolve this. And Wales should recuse himself from being the judge in these matters. [Scripting News]
8:55:56 AM Google It!.
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My Second Life. So about a month ago I decided I would check out the online world of Second Life for it's educational possibilities I kept reading about.
I logged in, created my own bald (looking only a few years in the future) avatar and started looking around. I was, of course, overwhelmed with the many, many 'adult' centered nations, but was pleased to find EduNation. I joined several Education centered groups and even went to a couple of online meetings. I started forming some virtual relationships with some really awesome educators.
Alas, work and other responsibilities called and I after about a week I returned to the 'real' world. I have not been back since. If I had a class I was teaching I might have some of my students meet there, or even look into using a classroom somewhere to teach a class as a test. For now I have just chalked it up as information to be passed onto a teacher at some point in the future.
Future of Second Life
Last night, however, I came across an article on CNNMoney.com entitled "Second Life: It's not a game" that really caught my attention... specifically one sentence. In pointing out the economic potential of the 'game' for businesses David Kirkpatrick says:
"It's the ability to use Second Life as a platform for a whole new Net - this one in 3-D and even more social than the original - with huge opportunities to sell products and services."
Networking
This really got me thinking. When I was in the game I really did form some real relationships with people. Much like a chatroom I made contacts with people that were already using Second Life in the classroom. I was once just sitting around in EduNation by myself and a lady flew in (yes, you can fly in Second Life) and started chatting with me about some of her research. I left with some great links to some great research. I was able to talk with other educators and bounce ideas off of them. The people I talked to were not always the same as me either. They were people teaching in high schools, small colleges, and more often than not, foreign countries. They offered insights that neither I, nor my colleagues, could come up with by ourselves. Now, all of this could be accomplished in an educational centered chat room, but somehow this was different.
Personal Touch
There were several times when I met somebody and as I left they asked to be my friend (which was added to a list where we could track our Second Life online status). I don't know if it is just educators, but twice as I parted I was presented with a virtual gift (once a script and once some wings for wearing). Now I realize that the gifts I was receiving were probably just second-hand gifts from somebody else, but it meant something to me... in my 'real' life. I had a visual image of a person that was my friend. My favorite gift was a script that allowed me to play paper/rock/scissors online and do backflips when I won.
I also remember once when I was talking with somebody and I had to talk with somebody in real life I asked the virtual person to wait a second. A second turned into a minute and when I looked back at my screen her avatar was looking at her watch. There is the added non-verbal communication of body language that adds to, and makes those relationships even more real.
This morning I came in and was going through my daily reading list and saw an article printed in Campus Technology about a researcher at Harvard that is creating his own virtual space for students to come and explore the 1800's in a real life, collaborating and social atmosphere.
Conclusion
I still probably won't make it back into Second Life anytime soon because I don't have the real need right now. If, however, Second Life actually turns into the new net, which I could really see, I will have to re-evaluate. How was your Second Life experience?
(Original Article: http://www.edutechie.com/2007/01/my-second-life/) [EDUCAUSE CONNECT blogs]
8:53:17 AM Google It!.
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© Copyright 2007 Bruce Landon.
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