Here’s an interesting reflection — are iPads worth the extra cost, when compared to netbooks? EdReach says no. (More on that later.) At Seton Hill, students get a very nice MacBook (and they trade up after two years), as well as an iPad. It’s been great being at a university that is so supportive of…
Okay, this one was cute, too. Top 5 Viral Pictures of 1911. Similar:What Twitter Changes Might Mean for AcademicsThis is one of the reasons I still consi…AcademiaFamily Business (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 3, Episode 23) Quark feuds with his mother…Rewatching ST:DS9 The opening acts re…AmusingIt’s been a while since something got me into a movie…
One of the better April 1 gags I’ve seen in a while. Love the “lick a stamp and place it down” gesture. Gmail Motion BETA. Similar:So long, Newsweek Reaction to the cover: – Newsweek’s …BusinessHere's some good writing from The New Yorker: "Seattle’s Leaders Let Scientists Take the L… If you think of science like the…
Why read? You’d think that with the e-book and the Internet, with Google searching and channel surfing, the experience of curling up with a good book is as archaic as a buggy ride. You’d think, too, that with graphic novels and celebrity memoirs, and with Wikipedia offering their entries in “simple English,” the very idea…
Through the magic of FaceTime and the very light iPod Touch 4, yesterday my daughter gave me a ride in her Barbie car. Today, I took her flying in a Jedi fighter. The iPod Touch easily fits into larger toys. My daughter sat at my MacBook, and watched on the screen as I gave her…
I spent hours fighting to remove a virus from the virtual Windows box on my MacBook. I could have just flipped a switch and restored a backup, but that would have let the bad guys win. Similar:SAT essay section: Problems with grading, instruction, and prompts.In my freshman writing courses I work ha…AcademiaI voice the role…
How writers should not respond to criticism. It started when Big Al himself posted a review of a self-published novel by British writer Jacqueline Howett called The Greek Seaman. He starts off with a friendly bio note of the author and offers a link to her own blog, and gives a short objective description of…
Great news from the world of digital archiving. That is in fact the main office of the Internet Archive, yes, that Internet Archive, and yes, this has really happened… It primarily means I can stop thinking about where my next meal is coming from or live in terror of getting sick and start thinking where…
I’m not sure my students really need to read what I tweet while I watch episodes of the 1979 Buck Rogers shows, but it’s very interesting to see how Twitter impacts the perception of a faculty members’ professional ethos. The researchers created three accounts on Twitter for three fictional “professors” named Caitlin Milton, Caitlyn Milton,…
Some people don’t seem to get it. Here, in 2011, are 15 sites I’ve not featured before, all of which try to prevent you linking to them (usually restricting the “right” to link to just the homepage or else requiring written consent). YOU’RE ALL IDIOTS. I have, of course, linked to them – click the…
Highly-paid superstars aren’t preventing the exodus of TV viewers. The mind boggles that the fight to keep TV news profitable led CBS to pay Couric $15 million a year. That expense would provide an attractive living wage to 150 experienced journalists, or 300 cub reporters in feeder markets. Pelley, a Texan who began his career…
All games, from Starcraft to Scrabble to Angry Birds and beyond, provide players with complex problem spaces to explore in ways that are both fun and challenging. These spaces might take on the tone and texture of an ancient civilization, horror film, intergalactic space station, or mafia headquarters. When designed well, games can evoke a…
A touching, nostalgic look at “Colossal Cave Adventure.” Books are words on a page, sure. We follow along and visualize our own version of things, as much as the author’s descriptions will allow us the freedom to do so. But even the movies can change those, though. Whether we like it or not. And long…
Susan Jeffers had a job like that. She was the copy editor for a few books you may have heard of: “Order of the Phoenix,” “Half-Blood Prince,” and “Deathly Hallows.” Each title, in case you just got back from Mars, begins with the words “Harry Potter and the …” Pretty good gig, was it? “It…
This seems like a line from Catch-22. The driver had minor injuries and was charged with carless driving. — New Port Richey-Port Richey-Hudson News. Similar:The only snow alert you'll ever need.AmusingIn April 2000, I was blogging about HTML frames, the future of reading, grammar, Kairos, a…In April 2000, I was blogging about… …BooksThis Is Your Brain…
When my son was young, I noticed that videgames had taught him that problems are surmountable, so long as you have enough tries. That’s not always true, of course, or practical. We had a chat about things dying, and as I struggled to lightly broach the subject with him I ended up talking about the…
USA Today designed its coin-operated dispensers to resemble TV screens, but today’s flatscreen TVs don’t have rounded corners anymore. The content is getting a refresh, though. That breezy approach has reinforced perceptions that USA Today lacks the intellectual heft and sway of the Times and another national newspaper, The Wall Street Journal. Both those newspapers…
This was by the teacher’s station in Admin 403 today. I went to drop it off at the lost and found, but the campus police office was closed. Instead, I left it in the chaplain’s office, since that seemed appropriate. Similar:Detailed Articulation of Feet in Unity3DI’m following a lot of tutorials, and co…AestheticsDesigning Cabinets in…
A weblog’s most characteristic feature — the prominence of the most recent entry — has consequences for long-term discussions. But those archives are linkable; a really good blog entry exists in a network of other related posts. Constantly linking to your own ideas can be a form of narcissism, but judicious back-linking can overcome the…
Under the agreement with the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers, Google would continue to digitise books and sell access online. In return, the company would pay $125m (£76.9m) in royalties every year to the copyright owners of the books being scanned. However, copyright concerns persisted, as the ownership of many of the…