Ted Ritzer: Learning Technologies

Wed, 30 Nov 2005 02:58:13 GMT

Lately I've been researching ways to add a Mac Mini to my home theater set, and maybe even replace my second-generation TiVo in the process. Now it looks like I won't have to work very hard: Apple is set to unveil a new Mac Mini at MacWorld that includes Front Row 2.0, DVR functionality and an iPod dock. This project is dubbed Kaleidoscope and will be aimed at the living room, according to ThinkSecret. The Mini will have Intel inside, like lots of other machines being unveiled at the show (six months sooner than expected). Processor speed and other specs are unknown, although it's a safe bet that the hard drive will be larger.

I hate to give up my TiVo—the remote control alone makes it a keeper. But TiVo Desktop has not panned out like I'd hoped, and I'm looking for a way to get my music library, photos and the DVR functionality on my living room set. So, what would you do—keep TiVo, wait for the Mini, or something else?

Road to Expo: Reborn Mac mini set to take over the living room [ThinkSecret]

[Gizmodo]

Thu, 24 Nov 2005 23:40:49 GMT

eHub. A current list of new web applications and services with a focus on social software, web 2.0, Ajax, ruby on rails, tagging, folksonomy, and next generation web. [NewsIsFree: Recent Additions]

Wed, 23 Nov 2005 01:34:58 GMT

Dueling simplicities. Most of my writing goes straight to the web, but my column still takes a detour through the print magazine. Usually that's no problem. I'm not a news hound. And while I'm comfortable editing myself, I enjoy the thoughtful feedback I get from Neil McAllister who, in addition to editing my column, writes his own. Every now and then, though, I wish I could have bypassed the print loop. Case in point: next week's column on two-way RSS. I wrote it last week; it will appear on InfoWorld.com tomorrow; magazine subscribers will get it after the holiday. In that column I discuss how both Microsoft and Google plan to use XML syndication for two-way data exchange and, more broadly, to bring database-like capabilities to the web of linked documents that we are all collectively building. If I'd blogged it last week, I'd look really prescient now. ... [Jon's Radio]

Wed, 23 Nov 2005 01:32:09 GMT

Hauppauge Live TV Tuner.

Add live TV to your PC with the WinTV HVR-900 TV Tuner, a very small USB 2.0 stick that plugs right into your laptop or any computer to let you receive analog and digital terrestrial TV. Not a bad thing to have when you're stuck at the airport and don't feel like watching Fox News, the HVR-900 comes with a high-gain aerial, letting you receive up to 40 digital channels. It also lets you record live TV to your hard drive and burn DVDs at 1.68GB per hour. Of course, the bundled travel aerial, which is really what you probably bought the thing for, may not bring video up to your usual standards. Plug-and-play and easy to install, check for the HVR-900 by end of month.

Hauppauge Digital 'TV Stick' [Bios Magazine]

Pricing and reviews for Hauppage TV tuners [CNET]

[Gizmodo]

Wed, 23 Nov 2005 01:28:59 GMT

Linux Desktop Making Major Gains via Intel. Today on LXer.com, two of my collaborators joined me in writing a story about Intel's Government Assisted PC Program in rural China. Word of the program came from a source we believe came from inside Intel. Basically, the story is a leak. ... As we researched and vetted the article, I came to realize that the company could single handedly replace Microsoft as the largest supplier of Desktop software globally. Their initiaitves in developing nations staggers the imagination. [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service]

Tue, 22 Nov 2005 13:57:27 GMT

Microsoft adds e-mail, IM hosting to Windows Live.

(InfoWorld) - Microsoft Corp. has introduced a test version of a hosted e-mail and instant-messaging service (IM) as part of the beta release of Windows Live.

As part of its set of free online services, Microsoft will host the e-mail and instant messaging for a domain an Internet user already owns, according to a Web site describing the new Windows Live Custom Domains service, http://domains.live.com/. Users also can sign up for the service on that Web site, which allows them to configure Custom Domains through a Web-based wizard.

By signing up for the Custom Domains beta, users receive up to 20 e-mail accounts within their domain, each with 250 megabytes of memory; junk e-mail filter protection through Microsoft SmartScreen technology; and e-mail virus scanning and cleaning.

The service also enables users to check their domain e-mail from any PC via the Web, and access MSN Messenger and MSN Spaces through their domain so they can link up with users of those services, according to Microsoft.

Microsoft introduced Windows Live on Nov. 1 as part of its strategy to offer more ad-supported, Web-based services in an effort to compete with rival Google Inc. The service, which offers a range of services through a portal that users can customize, is in beta now. Though Microsoft said it will maintain its MSN portal, Windows Live is expected to replace MSN as the go-to portal for e-mail, search and other Internet-based services.

Microsoft plans to add more services to Windows Live later this year; a list of them can be found at http://ideas.live.com/. Windows Live services currently in development that are not in beta yet include Windows Live Messenger, a next-generation IM client with peer-to-peer file sharing enhancements; Windows OneCare Live, which offers virus scanning, firewall settings and software backups; and a version of Windows Live Search for mobile devices.

Google Local is sooo cooool

Thu, 02 Dec 2004 03:17:57 GMT

Google Local. Better than the yellow pages [Cool Tools]

like the man says, my wife and I like East Indian food, typed in that put in our city, Edmonton, Alberta and bingo bango a map with a list of East Indian food restraunts.

I will never let my fingers do the walknig again!!!!YAHOO FOR GOOGLE LOCAL!!!

Thu, 28 Oct 2004 01:58:18 GMT

iPod Photo is Alive.

It lives: iPod Photo. Back in a minute with details.

Lots of tasty details in this post, if you're coming in from a direct link.

iPod Photo: First Details [Gizmodo]

[Gizmodo]

Mon, 25 Oct 2004 03:14:58 GMT

Google Desktop Outshines Windows' File-Search Capabilities (washingtonpost.com). washingtonpost.com - Google is famed for its Web search engine, but over the past few years it has acquired a different role: Microsoft's No. 1 foreign aid donor. First, Google fixed some of Internet Explorer's worst defects with its Google Toolbar, a free add-in that blocks pop-up ads and provides a shortcut to (naturally) Google's search engine and an auto-fill option to complete Web forms. Now it has released the Google Desktop, another free program that fixes an equally glaring weakness of Windows: its woeful file-searching capabilities. [Yahoo! News: Technology]

Sun, 24 Oct 2004 16:25:14 GMT

Zope 2.7.3. Application server for building web sites. [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service]

Sun, 24 Oct 2004 16:18:40 GMT

More podcasting noise.... One of my favorite writers, Rory Blyth, takes on the podcasting hype and anti-hype. Meanwhile, Carl Franklin is starting another audio show, since his first one, .NET Rocks, was very successful. They are having a contest to figure out a tagline for the show, which is named "Mondays." In another post Carl defended podcasting. [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service]

Tue, 06 Jan 2004 17:24:12 GMT

ListenIllinois Goes Live!.

Thank heavens I can finally announce it! As many of you know, I've been trying to get a group purchase of Audible content for my libraries for more than two years, and I am thrilled to finally be able to say it has happened! It's been a difficult road to get it off the ground, but we leap-frogged many of the normal startup problems we would have faced thanks to the fine folks at the NOLA Regional Library System in Ohio.

NOLA has been running the original Audible group purchase since October, 2001, at ListenOhio, and I've been tracking their project for some time. Last year, NOLA offered to let Illinois libraries join their program, and I jumped at the chance before they even finished the first sentence. It's taken six months to get to a point where we could go live, but the day has finally arrived and you can visit the ListenIllinois web site to see what I mean.

We currently have 12 Illinois libraries in ListenIllinois, 11 publics and one high school. Right now Wheaton Public Library is the only library circulating titles/players to patrons, but we expect the others to go live this month. To give them full credit for their foresight, the 12 are:

Thanks to NOLA, we start with a catalog of 1800 titles, and we collectively purchase pretty much every title that Audible releases each month. Right now, each library is circulating Audible Otis players and patrons use the ListenIllinois web site to browse and choose titles. Of course, the overall goal is let patrons download files directly from online catalogs onto their own players, but for us this is the first step in that direction. In fact, I hope that one of Illinois' contribution to the project will be MARC records for everyone's catalogs.

I'm pretty sure that this collaborative group purchase across two states means we're the largest library buyer of Audible content, and personally I hope we can use that clout to push publishers to release more material in this digital format. Once the dust settles a little, I plan to pursue circulating titles to patron devices and I want to contact publishers directly to prove to them this can work. The time for being scared is over, and we need to move forward now.

I'll provide periodic updates for ListenIllinois, especially once we start getting some concrete numbers. The initial opportunity to join was open to only three Illinois Library Systems - Suburban (me!), DuPage, and Heritage Trail. My own kudos to DLS and HTLS for their willingness to take this to their members! However, in a few months, once we have all of the kinks worked out, we'll open it up statewide to any Illinois library that wants to join. I can't provide details here, but trust me... it's an incredible deal. If you're interested in joining when we get to that point, feel free to email or IM (cybrarygal on AIM) me.

[The Shifted Librarian]

Tue, 06 Jan 2004 17:20:35 GMT

New Year's Technology Resolutions for Public Libraries.

For 2004:

Start a blog for your web site, and concentrate most of your news there. If possible, put the blog posts on your home page (either make it a blog or display headlines using RSS) so that your new information gets maximum exposure. I'm not just hyping blogs - it truly will make it easier for you to keep your site more current and dynamic, and there are ways to do this at no additional cost.
Provide remote access to as many of your databases as possible, preferably using the patron's library barcode number as the autho key rather than some inane autho/password combination required by the vendor. A standing offer for SLS libraries: we'll implement scripts to help you with this - just email me.
Start investigating wireless networks because you need to offer wireless access for the public to use with their own devices. Even if you don't think you will implement it this year, you need to understand what's involved because you will offer it at some point in the future and it's best to be prepared when that time comes. I know some people will argue that not all public libraries need to offer this service, or at least not any time soon, but you can only make an informed decision if you understand what's involved.
Example: a couple of weeks ago I was interviewed for a forthcoming article in the Chicago Sun-Times about technology in libraries. The paper sent a photographer to get a picture of me for the article, and we met at the Thomas Ford Memorial Library to do this. The photographer was a gadget guy, so he was particularly interested in hearing about ListenIllinois and wireless access. He was thrilled to learn that the TFML offered free WiFi, and he was even knowledgeable enough to ask why there were no signs highlighting the service, specifically any warchalking symbols. In fact, he said he was willing to sit in his car in the parking lot when the Library is closed to use it because it would save him a trip downtown. TFML isn't his home library, but it hadn't occurred to him to go to public libraries for this service instead of Starbucks. Now, he'll try us first and Starbucks second. Which is a good thing, because we'll have definite image problems (okay, worse image problems) and major credibility issues if people can get wireless access all around town, except at the library.

Is this guy on the leading edge of the bell curve? Sure. But that just means that the larger number of people that make up the camel's hump of the bell curve are on the horizon. You don't have to provide wireless access today (although you really will have patrons that use it, just like TFML does, even without any marketing), but you do need to start thinking about it.
In the same vein, you need to start thinking about online, real-time reference. In Illinois, there are consortia you can join to make the strain on your resources easier, and this is increasingly true in other states as well. Instant messaging and chatting are moving beyond Generation Y and are becoming a norm, making this a valid channel for library reference here and now. To again use the Thomas Ford Library as an example (I like using them because they are a relatively small library surrounded by larger libraries), while I was waiting for the photographer to show up, Rick was "on" the virtual reference desk for MyWebLibrarian, and he received two help requests within about a half hour. This was a little before lunchtime on a weekday when school was out of session.

Again, think bell curve. You don't have to implement it tomorrow, but you do have to understand what your options are, even if you just throw up an AOL Instant Messenger link for specific hours each week, just to get your feet wet. (In fact, this is exactly what TFML did before they joined MWL.)

If your library is already doing all of these things, congratulations! Of course, you can't rest on your laurels (and hey, if you're doing all of those things are you marketing them in appropriate ways?), but those would be resolutions for another day....

[The Shifted Librarian]

Tue, 06 Jan 2004 07:45:42 GMT

Navicat - Navicat (MySQL Client) for MySQL database administration. Navicat (MySQL Client) is a graphical database management tool lets you create/ modify and manage MySQL databases in an easier way. [New Entries at Datamation Product Watch]

Tue, 06 Jan 2004 04:46:15 GMT

Epson P-1000 Photo Viewer. CES 2004: Epson has today announced the P-1000 Photo Viewer, a 10 GB storage unit with a large 3.8" VGA LCD display designed as an advanced portable digital photoframe. The P-1000 has a Compact Flash slot (other media supported via adapters) and TV out as well as connectivity to Epson Printers for direct print. But the features keep coming, the P-1000 can also be connected directly to a computer via USB for transfer or a USB CD writer for archival. This product has been available... [Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)]

Mon, 29 Dec 2003 19:38:13 GMT

Holy Grail of Inexpensive Laptop Alternative!

My daughter wants to be able to write articles for her university newspaper, but can't afford a laptop!Dana may have the answer running on Palm! So if you want to check this laptop altnernative, check out their website.

The Linux Switch Experiment!

Mon, 29 Dec 2003 19:13:14 GMT

The PCworld Linux Switch Experiment:

this article is based around the idea of taking away Windows from a non-geek, and replacing it with Linux for a month to see if they could be productive using Linux, and secondarily to see if they would immediately switch back after the experiment.

The punchline, OK, I can't resist, and for you Linux people, the punchline is this Windows user had not yet switched back, but as he says the jury is still out on the complete switch scenario! That said though you will really want to read the article, and track the wouldbe Linux user's switch or not story.

But to me this seems like a cop out, if after a month you choose to stick with Linux, I would say you by your actions have already made the choice!

Sat, 27 Dec 2003 20:31:30 GMT

Education wants research proposals from small business [Government Computer News (GCN) home -- federal, state and local government technology]

Wed, 24 Dec 2003 17:54:48 GMT

Merry Christmas from the Accordian Guy worth repeating:

Stole this file from the above site, cause I think it really does capture some of both the frustration and the joy of Xmas.

All the best from WIFLblog and enjoy the Accordian Guy's Christmas story, and don't forget to visit his site:

the Accordian Guy Christmas story now follows:

Merry Christmas, and I mean it in the nice sense of the phrase

by Joey deVilla on December 24, 2003 12:13PM (EST)

This is from last year (with a little polishing up), but it's worth repeating.

While I do believe that some traditions should be put to rest, I also believe that a lot of tradition-bashers are poor-impulse-control cases. Having abandones any actual tradition or culture of their own, they fill the void with a couple of < href="http://www.utne.com/">Utne Reader platitudes, a mild revulsion for anything even vaguely Judeo-Christian, even if it aligns with their beliefs, a pro-pot slant and a half-formed belief in eye-for-eye karmic payback.

Standing for almost nothing, they tend to fall for just about anything.

Chris Baldwin's summed it up pretty handily -- and perhaps unintentionally -- in a Bruno comic from last year:

To borrow the line about Klansmen and Martin Luther King Day: C'mon, Bruno, how hardcore a secularist must you be to not want a day off?

Of course, those of us who celebrate Christmas would argue the exact opposite: here we took a beautiful Christian holdiay and destroyed it through corportization and "We're white, we're straight, we're sorry!" guilt.

(There's a Randroid who would take another tack and say "here we took a beautiful commerical holiday and destroyed it in usual religious fashion." Haven't we developed some kind of Ayn Rand repellent yet?)

In the end, I believe that intent counts.

I'm certain there is no malice, no implicit "convert or die" message and no forcing of one's beliefs on others when someone wishes someone else a Happy Chanukah, Eid, Diwali, Kwanzaa, Saturnalia, Tet or even Festivus, the actions of certain vicious zealots notwithstanding. Balanced minds do not see any implied Hitler overtones at Oktoberfest nor Hirohito/Tojo insinuations at the sushi house, and neither do they see the Crusades in Christmas.

When people say "Merry Christmas", most of them are really saying "Happy Holidays, and I'm celebrating them Christmas-style. You do your thing, and I'll do mine. Come by for drinks."

That what I'm really saying, anyways.

No matter what you believe, enjoy the break from the hustle and bustle of 21st century life. Be nice to each other. Hug someone you love.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Tue, 23 Dec 2003 19:59:41 GMT

Linux Toys Projects
check this out if you want some projects for you and your kids

Linux Toys Projects

Music Jukebox
Home Video Archive
TV Recorder/Player
Arcade Game Player
Home Network Server
Home Broadcast Center
Temperature Monitor
Digital Receptionist
Mini ISP
Web Hosting Service
Doghouse Linux/BSD Games
Toy Car Controller
Digital Picture Frame

Tue, 23 Dec 2003 18:48:46 GMT

NetDiskô with NDAS Technology is the only external Hard Disk Drive (HDD) that can be connected directly to either your computer or your Local Area Network (LAN) using an Ethernet cable OR directly to your computer using a USB cable! Now you can easily share additional storage with everyone on your network. NetDiskô utilizes XIMETA's own NDAS Technology, making it easy to add instant, high-speed storage to your PC while giving you the option to share. Designed with ease of use and expandabilty in mind, this external storage solution combines high performance, reliability, security, and versatility.

Its value can also be found in the non-PC environment. For example, Digital TV broadcasting has already been launched. Home networking is being improved and popularized, and the game industry (currently represented by the PS2ô and X-boxô) is growing. In this age of home networking, NetDisk makes it possible to save digital TV recordings, digital audio recordings, and digital camera movie files onto a single network storage system and share this data with different kinds of terminals, including TVs, audio components, PCs, etc.

http://www.ximeta.com/products/netdisk.html

Mon, 22 Dec 2003 18:54:42 GMT

		ìWe conducted a very comprehensive evaluation, and Dot Hillís SANnet was the best performing, most cost-effective solution for our requirements." -- Joseph Anino Technology Director
American Museum of Natural History New York, NY Largest Natural History Museum in the World Located in Central Park in New York City, the American Museum of Natural History is the largest natural history museum in the world with over 32 million specimens and artifacts. It is home to vast collections of insects, invertebrates, fish, amphibians, reptiles, anthropological artifacts, and more fossil mammals and dinosaurs than any other museum in the world. The museum employs over 200 scientists and has one of the largest natural history libraries in the Western Hemisphere.

Digitize the entire museum collection. They are creating electronic records of archaeologistsí journals and notes for the past 100 years.

	Scalability-need to grow from 1TB to 35TB as entire collection is catalogued Heterogeneous environment using Solaris and NT Cost-effective with high performance

SANnet 4220 storage system and expansion chassis in a heterogeneous storage area network with Sun servers running Solaris and other servers running Windows NT.
	Excellent price/performance ratio Scalable, modular architecture to add capacity with virtually no downtime
SANpath storage networking software
	Ensures continuous data availability through parallel active storage paths Peak performance through load balancing capabilities
SANscape SAN management software
	Powerful easy-to-use GUI Manage SAN from a single console

Thu, 18 Dec 2003 22:12:11 GMT

Datamata - the web based database access tool. provides a web interface to query, browse, and modify database data online. [New Entries at Datamation Product Watch]

Wed, 17 Dec 2003 19:49:38 GMT

Government 'must act now to save science'. Education: The government must act now to tackle the 'plummeting popularity' of the sciences in schools and universities, the influential Royal Society said today. [Guardian Unlimited]

Wed, 17 Dec 2003 19:48:48 GMT

Berkley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing-BOINC

from their website:

BOINC is a software platform for distributed computing using volunteer computer resources. The BOINC's features fall into several areas:

Resource sharing among independent projects

Many different projects can use BOINC. Projects are independent; each one operates its own servers and databases. However, projects can share resources in the following sense: Participants install a core client program which in turn downloads and executes project-specific application programs. Participants control which projects they participate in, and how their resources are divided among these projects. When a project is down or has no work, the resources of its participants are divided among the other projects in which the participants are registered.

Tue, 16 Dec 2003 17:31:58 GMT

Sun's identity pitch. At SunNetwork 2003 back in September, Jonathan Schwartz made the case that the Java card is the most strategic piece of Sun's whole technology stack. Actually, I'd say per-employee pricing is the real strategic innovation. But I've always hoped to see movement on the identity card front, so this clip, in which Schwartz stresses something I've been harping on for years, got my attention:

Java card support will be built into the desktop that we offer. It is the fundamental way we will help people to understand that if there were a menu item in your mail app that said, 'Show only mail from people that have been strongly authenticated,' then spam would disappear. 'Show me only content that has been strongly authenticated,' viruses would disappear.

... [Jon's Radio]

Tue, 16 Dec 2003 05:35:54 GMT

WiredRed rolls out e/pop Web Conferencing - Infoworld Staff. WiredRed Software on Monday shipped its e/pop Web Conferencing Server, which combines multi-point audio and synchronous video conferencing with desktop and application sharing. [InfoWorld: Top News]

Sun, 14 Dec 2003 16:45:23 GMT

Canít find the perfect gift for someone special this holiday? Give them the gift of software freedom:

Download the free GNU Knoppix and burn some yuletide cheer! The CommuniquÈ is proud to offer the English edition ISO image of Knoppix 3.3 (2003-11-19), and as an added special bonus download a ready-made CD label in PDF for the 8694 format from Avery-Print (or you can do your own)

Knoppix 3.3 is a fully-functioning multimedia Debian-based GNU/Linux bootable filesystem on CD featuring:

Linux-Kernel 2.4.22
KDE V3.1 with K Office and the Konqueror browser
X Multimedia System (xmms) for MPEG-video, MP3 and Ogg Vorbis
Internet connection via kppp, pppoeconf (DSL) and isdn-config
Gnu Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) 1.2
Utilities for data recovery and system repairs, even for other operating systems
Network and security analysis tools
OpenOfficeô 1.1 office suite
many programming languages, RAD tools and libraries
over 900 packages with over 2000 programs, utilities, and games

In short, a complete GNU desktop demo that runs direct from the CD without disk partitioning or installation. They just insert the disk, reboot and enjoy!

note: other localized editions are available at The Knoppix Homepage where you can also download by BitTorrent.

Sat, 13 Dec 2003 05:35:59 GMT

Battlebots:. Accelerated learning via competition [Cool Tools]

Tue, 09 Dec 2003 14:38:02 GMT

U.K. gov't considers Sun in open source software push. LONDON -- The U.K. government has signed a five-year agreement with Sun Microsystems Inc. to potentially offer the company's new Java Desktop System (JDS) and Java Enterprise System (JES) software to public sector agencies as part of an overall open source push. [InfoWorld: Top News]

Tue, 09 Dec 2003 14:30:33 GMT

Australian Researchers Push Near-Broadband IP Over VHF. Curmudgeon Rick writes "A research group at the Australian National University is getting symmetrical 250K bps at 20km, using "empty" 7MHz-wide broadcast TV ... [Slashdot]

Tue, 09 Dec 2003 14:29:34 GMT

Las Vegas Schools Mix IP, Digital Communications. Looking to upgrade its communications capabilities and cut costs, the Clark County School District in Las Vegas is spending $31 million to install an IP-ready metropolitan-area network and about 27,000 phones that will be able to operate in both digital and IP modes. [Computerworld IT in Government News]

Tue, 09 Dec 2003 14:27:53 GMT

ObjectWeb, Apache team on open source J2EE. ObjectWeb and the Apache Software Foundation, which each develop an open-source Java application server, have reached a technology-sharing agreement designed to accelerate certification of their products under Sun Microsystems's latest J2EE standard. [InfoWorld: Top News]

Tue, 09 Dec 2003 14:20:37 GMT

Social Bookmarks Manager

Sun, 07 Dec 2003 23:13:58 GMT

Free Online Course Materials from MIT

OK, so I do not understand how this can be sustainable, but MIT is trying to provide free online ed materials to the world at large!

Who am I to question them?

Check it out at:

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Global/all-courses.htm

MIT and Microsoft's iLearn Goes Open Source in 2004

Sun, 07 Dec 2003 23:02:48 GMT

iLearn Goes Open Source in 2004

Starting in 2004, with the release iLearn of under an open source license, will begin seeking software development partners. Is has been built upon web services and the Open Knowledge Initiative project standards.

Ilearn was started as a collaboration between MIT and Microsoft through the iCampus initiative.

The first release can be downloaded from here.

If you're interested in helping to develop iLearn, please contact us.

Thu, 27 Nov 2003 03:00:17 GMT

Bryan Bell's report on the EdBlogger conference. [Scripting News]

Tue, 25 Nov 2003 06:25:48 GMT

I thought this device was so cool I posted it, more info at:

http://www.trittonsales.com/Networking/tri-asa1120.htm

Sun, 23 Nov 2003 18:43:51 GMT

TechNova suggests RSS Demon

Saw this posting at Ian Betteridge's TechNova blog, and tried FeedDemon out.

"FeedDemon RSS newsfeed Reader for Windows

FeedDemon just starts to look better and better. Current favourite feature: the ability to synchronise to an OPML file somewhere online, allowing you to keep your home and work reading in reasonable sync. One day, I hope NetNewsWire will get this feature."

It turns out FeedDemon is an RSS app that read OPML files, and has a listing of several, so I tried loading these OPML files in Radio, only got InfoWorld's opening, so I have posted the InfoWorld OPML file listings in my WIFLblog links sections, so if you are a fan of either Chad Dickerson or Jon Udell, check out WIFLblog links

eCampusAlberta Launch Nov 13, 2003

Fri, 21 Nov 2003 00:27:33 GMT

NOVEMBER 13, 2003
eCampusAlberta officially launched on November 13th. Honourable Lyle Oberg, Minister of Alberta Learning offered his congratulations and support to the collaborative vision of eCampusAlberta.

"eCampusAlberta is a milestone for our learning system," said Learning Minister Dr. Lyle Oberg, who was at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology today for the official launch. "Creativity, innovation, and collaboration continue to be essential in building a world-class learning system, and we're pleased to support this leading edge initiative."

A variety of courses offered by participating institutions will be available online to students across Alberta, in a way that is seamless to the learner. For example, students will now be able to supplement their program by taking online courses from the member institutions across Alberta, right from their home location. It also provides flexibility for the student by helping them fit courses into their current schedules. In the near future, students will be able to access full programs that aren't currently available where they live.

The launch of eCampus Alberta is the product of years of planning by the Alberta Online Learning Association, a sub-committee of the Association of Alberta Colleges and Technical Institutes.

"eCampusAlberta was developed in response to a need to provide increased access to high quality online courses and programs," said Tricia Donovan, Chief Operating officer of the Alberta Online Learning Association. "Through eCampusAlberta, learners will be able to access courses and programs from partner

institutes as well as 24-hour live technical support 365 days a year."

Source:

http://www.gov.ab.ca/acn/200311/15476.html

Alberta Leads in Online Learning

Fri, 21 Nov 2003 00:11:09 GMT

Quick Facts on Online Learning in Alberta

Alberta has more online students and schools than any other Canadian province.
Alberta leads the country in all aspects of Information and Communication Technology implementation in schools, according to a 2002 Microsoft Canada study.
Over 30,000 visitors use the LearnAlberta.ca Web site each month and access interactive, multi-media learning and teaching resources that directly relate to Alberta's curriculum and benefit students, teachers and parents across the province.
Alberta's Computers For Schools program has delivered more than 40, 000 refurbished computers to schools across the province since the program's inception in 1993.
SuperNet will bring high-speed Internet access to more than 4,700 sites in Alberta including all schools, post-secondary institutions and libraries.
Alberta is piloting an 'e-textbook' for Grade 9 Science students which offers an electronic format as an alternate means of accessing the print version of the textbook. This year multi-media components were added to this online format.
Alberta Learning supports many partnerships that provide professional development for teachers related to online learning including TELUS Learning Connection and the Galileo Educational Network Association.

Web sites that support and enhance teaching and learning

LearnAlberta.ca [www.learnalberta.ca]
Alberta Online Consortium [www.albertaonline.ab.ca]
The TELUS Learning Connection [www.2learn.ca]
Physical Education Online [www.learning.gov.ab.ca/physicaleducationonline]
Galileo Educational Network [www.galileo.org]
Tools4Teachers [www.tools4teachers.ca]
Teaching and Learning with Technology [www.tlt.ab.ca]
ICT Cyberbase [www.ictcyberbase.com]

Thu, 20 Nov 2003 01:09:29 GMT

Fully Wi-Fi Enabled Grade School. While parents of some students in Illinois schools are concerned about potential health affects of Wi-Fi, one school in New York requires every kid to have a Wi-Fi-enabled laptop: Students use the laptops in every class and Columbia University is studying how the program works. I¬íll be interested to see how laptops are eventually used throughout the school system. Teachers at this New York school rave about the additional skills they can teach kids because of the laptops but also note the... [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service]

Tue, 18 Nov 2003 23:29:55 GMT

Technology is advancing learner-centered education in Alberta [News - Government of Alberta]