AmphetaDesk

I installed AmphetaDesk on my OS X partition. Easy to use, setup and edit and lots and lots of news feeds covering many topics.

AmphetaDesk is a free, cross platform, open-sourced, syndicated news aggregator - it obediently sits on your desktop, downloads the latest news that interests you, and displays them in a quick and easy to use (and customizable!) webpage. With thousands of channels available, AmphetaDesk can shave hours off your day - and you'll look smart to all your friends! Egotism never had it better!

Read about it at:
http://www.disobey.com/amphetadesk/ 5:54:06 PM    comment []  

NEW HARD DRIVE STRIVES FOR SECURITY

In an attempt to provide increased secuirty for Web sites, the Tokyo-based company Scarabs has developed a prototype hard drive with two heads, one a read-write head and the other a read-only head. In practice, the device would only allow a Web server access to the read-only head, eliminating the possibility that a hacker could deface or modify data. A separate computer could use the read-write head to update the data on the hard drive. Because the heads function independently, there is no sychronous control between them, according to the company. An analyst at Gartner said that although it does nothing to prevent hackers from accessing information, the system provides a good means to guard the integrity of a site's content. CNET, 14 July 2002

http://news.com.com/2100-1001-946083.html 10:54:04 AM    comment []  

Inexorable and Inevitable: The Continuing Story of Technology and Assessment

This paper argues that the inexorable advance of technology will force fundamental changes in the format and content of assessment. Technology is infusing the workplace, leading to widespread requirements for workers skilled in the use of computers. Technology is also finding a key place in education. This is occurring not only because technology skill has become a workplace requirement. It is also happening because technology provides information resources central to the pursuit of knowledge and because the medium allows for the delivery of instruction to individuals who couldnâo[dot accent]t otherwise obtain it. As technology becomes more central to schooling, assessing students in a medium different from the one in which they typically learn will become increasingly untenable. Education leaders in several states and numerous school districts are acting on that implication, implementing technology-based tests for low- and high-stakes decisions in elementary and secondary schools and across all key content areas. While some of these examinations are already being administered statewide, others will take several years to bring to fully operational status. These groundbreaking efforts will undoubtedly encounter significant difficulties that may include cost, measurement, technological-dependability, and security issues. But most importantly, state efforts will need to go beyond the initial achievement of computerizing traditional multiple-choice tests to create assessments that facilitate learning and instruction in ways that paper measures cannot.

Read the study at:
http://www.bc.edu/research/intasc/jtla/journal/pdf/v1n1_jtla.pdf 10:54:04 AM    comment []