2005¦~1¤ë27¤é

minipodcatcher. Another Baby Step Forward: "A Zero Configuration, All-In-One Podcasting Device For About $25." [Adam Curry's Weblog] 1:28:28 PM

Passion for Learning. More about learning about your passion to gain a passion for learning... Found this really great post (via Robert Patterson) at a new blog called Creating Passionate Users that just struck every chord in my brain regarding what's wrong with classroom instruction: The best learning occurs in a stimulating, active, challenging, interesting, engaging environment. It's how the brain works. The best learning occurs when you move at least some part of your body. The best learning occurs when you're actively involved in co-constructing knowledge in your own head, not passively reading or listening. (Taking notes doesn't really count as being actively involved.) People complain that their kids can't pay attention in school, then their kid comes home and spends two hours studying the elaborate world of Halo 2. Reading, absorbing, problem solving, using sophisticated mental maps, and on it goes. When learning is "presented" in a push model, your brain says, "This is SO not important." You're in for the battle of your life when you try to compete against the brain's natural instinct to scan for unusual, novel, possibly life-threatening or life-enhancing things. Forcing people to sit in a chair and listen (or read) dry, formal words (with perhaps only a few token images thrown in) is the slowest, least effective, and most painful path to learning. Yet it's the approach you see replicated in everything from K-12, to universities, to adult/corporate training. Mercy. Go and read about the school the author's daughter went to for the first six years of her education and you'll see where I was at a couple of days ago. Kids need to be allowed to pursue their passions. Actually, we all do. I have a passion for blogs. Well, guess what? Blogs aren't just technology. They're social studies (citizenship, collaboration, politics, geography, democracy, history), art (graphic design, video, photo, music), English (writing, reading, editing, researching), technology (programming, software, peripherals), mathematics (algebra (i.e resizing), geometry, statistics), world languages, business, etc. I learn about all of those subjects in the context of my passion. Which is why I've said all along, this isn't about blogging, it's about learning. And regarding adult learning opportunities: One of the biggest mistakes adult learning programs and learners can make, in my opinion, is to use traditional school as the model. It doesn't work for kids, and it doesn't work for adults. Because it doesn't work for the brain. I know there are enormous challenges and pressures for delivering public school learning (that so many teachers don't have the option or power to change), but most adult education programs that follow the same poor model don't have those excuses. In many cases, adult classroom training looks like school just because that's how it always looks. There are a lot of interesting and wonderful exceptions in the adult learning world, of course, and a lot of novel things being done with everything from arrangement of chairs in the room to the role of the instructor as facilitator rather than "teacher", and I'll say more on that later. But for the most part, we're still using the same approach that, given the pace of information change today, is even LESS useful than it was in the past. We need a big change. Can I get an "Amen"? (BTW...on the tiny steps path to this more effective model, my daughter's book is now online at Flickr. It's a start...) [Weblogg-ed News] 1:14:27 PM

Torrent Blogging for Movable Type Just received confirmation that the AzBlog Azureus Torrent Blogging plug is confirmed to be compatible with Movable Type installations. Thanks to those who helped test! - Thomas Winningham [WritTorrent] 1:12:37 PM

HOWTO build an Apollo Guidance Computer. Cory Doctorow: This guy spent four years building a replica of the 1964 prototype for the Block I Apollo Guidance Computer, then posted extensive, step-by-step build-notes. He's even written a C++ simulator for it! Link (Thanks, Bernhard!) [Boing Boing] 11:00:34 AM

What if Bill Gates hired Linus Torvalds?. Cory Doctorow: This month's Wired features a fanciful note that is meant to read like a memo from Linus Torvalds to Bill Gates, after Linus was hired to develop a GNU/Linux-based version of Windows. When you hired me three years ago, you had to realize that I was going to speak my mind, no matter what the consequences. You told me that if I ever hit a wall with Steve or his people, I should let you know. Well, here goes. (Yes, again.) After all our technical and strategic conflicts, I bet you never guessed we'd be at each other's throats over a matter of pronunciation. But the fact is, when Steve goes to a marketing meeting, as he did yesterday, and pronounces our desktop system "Winux," he jeopardizes not only my personal reputation, but, more important, the very foundation of our business and software approach for the next decade. The desktop system is not "Winux," as in Linux. As he knows very well. WinX is pronounced like "winks." Why is this important? Because the name WinX was not random. It was deliberately chosen to express the strategy behind a 24-month engineering marathon inside Microsoft. We've built a Windows desktop and application framework around a Linux operating system, and both sides of this equation - open source and proprietary - are needed for our plan to continue to work. By talking about "Winux," Steve blurs the distinction between Linux and WinX. Worse, he implies that we have taken over Linux for our own selfish ends. This makes the development community nervous, slows contributions from coders, and creates a huge amount of unnecessary noise. Link [Boing Boing] 10:58:03 AM

Say it with sprouts. Xeni Jardin: A Japanese toy company is selling plants that display written messages when they sprout. Six different messages like "I Love You" are inscribed through the plant with a laser beam. This one says "good luck" in French. I want one that says "fuck you." Link to BBC story (Thanks, justin), and link to more product info in Japanese on the Tomy toy corporation's website. I think the name of the product in Japanese is "mamederumon." They go on sale in February. [Boing Boing] 10:33:20 AM

Learning Design - Natural vs. Machine. This, I think, is a central principle: "Any design for a learning tool that continues the idea of separation will fail." What sort of separation? Among others, "topics, subjects, expertise." In the alternative approach, "experiences, situations and circumstances become the source of design." This is not to eliminate the need for separataion, but there should be a balance. "Looking at ways of facilitating design through a greater range of interaction is at the heart of a network learning environment." Quite right. By Brian Alger, Experience Designer Network, January 25, 2005 [Refer][Research][Reflect] [OLDaily] 9:10:23 AM

Wikiversity. The idea is to create a university (or at least, online university content) out of a wiki. Scott Leslie writes, "O.k., I admit I chuckled when I first saw this, but heck, I regularly turn to Wikipedia now for quick reference info (as does the Gurunet desktop reference app I use to check word definitions) so maybe this is one of the faces of open education to come. Not much there yet, though there is a page with some ideas on what it could become, but you gotta start someplace." By Various Authors, January, 2005 [Refer][Research][Reflect] [OLDaily] 9:09:15 AM

Google Video Search. Well, this one will be all over the web shortly. Google has a beta video search service. It indexes videos using close captions, and displays images captured from the video at the point of the caption. By Various Authors, Google, January, 2005 [Refer][Research][Reflect] [OLDaily] 9:08:04 AM

SIMpill: Medicine Bottle with SMS Reminders A South African doctor has developed the SIMpill, a pill bottle that uses SMS to monitor how often pills are being taken and can send alerts to a patient's phone if they have missed a dose by mistake. Each time the cap is removed, a small cellular transmitter in the bottle sends a secure SMS to a central server, which stores information about the intervals in which the prescription should be administered. If something goes wrong with the dosage, the service sends a message to the patient's cell phone, alerting them of the discrepancy. Since many long-term infectious diseases become resistant to medication if they miss a dose, the SIMpill can make it easier to maintain a more structured regimen. Technology Reminds Sick to Take Pills [AllAfrica via MedGadget] - lev (tips@gizmodo.com) [Gizmodo] 9:06:42 AM

World's Most Inexpensive iRiver H-140 Case It's been the gadget industry's quiet secret for far too long, and it's about time someone took the spermicide issue into their own hands. Infection and impregnation by digital manipulation is portable media's silent killer. Available in fine truck stop restrooms everywhere (tickler models may not be suitable for use with multiple headphones). (Thanks, Paul!) Condom keeps out bricks and dust [MisticRiver] - lev (tips@gizmodo.com) [Gizmodo] 9:05:53 AM

Kubrick iPod mini iBear From what we heard from import shops last year, the iKub Kubrick iPod Cradle ended up being a blockbuster hit¡Xpeople couldn't get enough of the $50 white robot that held the iPod with cold, but loving precision. Now it looks like there is a new model, which we're told is called the iBear, designed to match the now ubiquitous five colors of the iPod mini. The bad news is that all we have are pictures, as haven't quite determined how to purchase them through the Medicom site. We'll leave that as an exercise to the Japanese reader. (Thanks, instantenemy!) Catalog Home Page [MedicomToyJP] - lev (tips@gizmodo.com) [Gizmodo] 9:04:03 AM