Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Microsoft Reduces Shared Source Licenses. [Slashdot] 3:02:36 PM      Google It!.

Firefox Tops 100 Million Downloads. [Slashdot] 3:01:48 PM      Google It!.

The Pitfalls and Perks of Adopting a New Standard. [Slashdot] 3:00:20 PM      Google It!.

Schools offered new video royalty deal - Corey Murray, eSchool News. Acacia Research Corp., the California-based company that claims it owns a patent covering all streaming video and audio technology, says it has reached an agreement with university attorneys that opens the door for schools to begin paying royalties on the [Online Learning Update] 9:38:34 AM      Google It!.

Broadband net goes stratospheric. Researchers have successfully tested a system using a high altitude balloon to offer wireless broadband. [BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition] This mean that it will be possible to deploy boradband access in the wake of natural disaster like eathquakes (on a less than real windy day - hurricane situations would have to wait a little  for calm weather).  On a more festive note it will be possible with this tehcnology to support large outdoor gatherings like festivals, peace celebrations, and sporting events.  The real benefactors may well be refugee camps and other emergency settlements where good communication and coordination are critical. -- BL 9:37:45 AM      Google It!.

International stem cell bank open. A bank that will create and supply embryonic stem cells for international research opens in South Korea. [BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition] 9:23:05 AM      Google It!.

A Clock That Runs for 10,000 Years. [Slashdot] 9:22:19 AM      Google It!.

Attention economics. You'd think that Clive Thompson's article Meet the Life Hackers, in this week's New York Times Magazine, would have produced a storm of commentary. After all, it's a major mainstream outing of Linda Stone's evocative phrase "continuous partial attention," Danny O'Brien's seminal talk on the seven habits of highly effective geeks, and Merlin Mann's 43 Folders1. Yet the blogosphere has reacted less vigorously than it would have a year ago. Here's a telling comment: The irony is that I have been trying to get through this article for a couple of days, but I keep getting interrupted... It's often suggested that this isn't a problem for generation X, Y, or Z2, the new breeds of post-humans who've adapted to continuous partial attention. I don't completely buy that argument, and neither does Clive Thompson. From an interview with NPR's Alex Chadwick: Don't the kids of today thrive on this? I've heard a lot of persuasive evidence that it's not true. Some researchers were sitting in classrooms of college students, and they said "This [attention scarcity] is what we work on" and the students said "Oh my god, that's exactly my life, please save us from that." ... [Jon's Radio] 9:20:27 AM      Google It!.

In a crisis, creating DNA vaccine could help save lives, slow spread of 'bird flu'. Researchers scrambling to combat a virulent form of bird flu that could mutate into a form easily spread among humans should consider developing vaccines based on DNA, according to British biochemical engineers. DNA vaccines, they say, can be produced more rapidly than conventional vaccines and could possibly save thousands of lives if a global influenza outbreak occurs. [Science Blog -] 9:18:46 AM      Google It!.

Flexible Electronic Paper. [Slashdot] 9:17:47 AM      Google It!.

ePortfolio Software for EduTools. I'm working with WCET to facilitate the development of an eduTools site that compares ePortfolio software packages, which will probably take a similar from to eduTools course management systems site. I was asked today to come up with a list of five to ten systems I think the groups from several campuses participating in the project should focus on initially. [National Coalition for Electronic Portfolio Research blogs] 9:06:39 AM      Google It!.