Techno-News Blog

By Max Schlusselberg, New Canaan Patch

According to Director of Technology Rob Miller, laptop computers allow teachers to give their students a much more tailored approach to the curriculum. “We’re engaging students’ interests, which allows for a more active learning environment,” said Miller. “Teachers can group students together and move them around using laptops… Students can then work on specific parts of the curriculum.” But despite all the advancements in classroom technology at New Canaan’s public schools, educators believe they can’t get too comfortable. “You can’t stop,” said Sneath, referring to the effort of keeping classroom technology modern. “The minute you stop, it changes.”

http://newcanaan.patch.com/articles/cutting-edge-technology-coming-soon-to-a-classroom-near-you

By Hannah Guzik, Ashland Daily Tidings

Students at three Ashland schools will use district-issued iPods to study science and reading this fall, the superintendent said Monday. The district spent about $50,000 on 150 Apple iPod Touch devices, which will be used in science classes at Ashland High School and in first- and second-grade classes at Bellview and Walker elementary schools during reading lessons, Superintendent Juli Di Chiro said.

http://www.dailytidings.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100720/NEWS02/7200309/-1/NEWSMAP

by the BBC

The world’s internet is getting faster – slowly A report based on analysis of huge amounts of net traffic has revealed the state of the internet around the globe. The data, from network giant Akamai reveals the average global net speed is only 1.7Mbps (megabits per second) although some countries have made strides towards faster services. The fastest broadband city in the world is Masan in South Korea.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10786874

by TMC News, TMC Net

Given the ways computer technology–from the iPhone and YouTube to uses in medical research and national security–is changing so many facets of life, you might imagine that schools have been stepping up students’ exposure to computer science to help drive the digital revolution. But recent data suggest otherwise. One survey indicates a sizable drop in the availability of even introductory computer-science courses in public and private secondary schools since 2005. Participation rates for Advanced Placement courses in computer science have been relatively flat for years, while the rates have gone way up in traditional science and mathematics disciplines, such as calculus, chemistry, and biology.

http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2010/07/14/4900558.htm

By Kevin Cullen, Express-News

As San Antonio pushes to become the center for cyber security in the United States, local high school programs are looking to bolster the city’s work force and increase local interest in the industry. John Carrera created the cyber certification program at Holmes High School seven years ago. His classes offer students the opportunity to work in the cyber field right out of high school. Southwest High School and the Information Technology Security Academy at the Alamo Academies offer similar programs.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/high_schools_offer_cyber_career_opportunities_98687654.html

by Erika Smith, Indianapolis Star

I spend a lot of time in this column talking about the marvels of technology that are already out there: Smart phones, 3-D television, video games, tablet computers, location-based social networking and the mobile Web, to name a few. Yet, most of these actual technologies aren’t as interesting as the potential products being talked about in the emerging personal robotics industry. What’s cool is that it’s an industry that Indiana, with its wealth of established auto-related companies and handful of robotics startups, could have a role in.

http://www.indystar.com/article/20100718/BUSINESS10/7180359/1110/BUSINESS10/Robotics-event-offers-a-look-at-the-future

By Robert McMillan, IDG News Service

Siemens is warning customers of a new and highly sophisticated virus that targets the computers used to manage large-scale industrial control systems used by manufacturing and utility companies. Siemens learned about the issue on July 14, Siemens Industry spokesman Michael Krampe said in an e-mail message Friday. “The company immediately assembled a team of experts to evaluate the situation. Siemens is taking all precautions to alert its customers to the potential risks of this virus,” he said. Security experts believe the virus appears to be the kind of threat they have worried about for years — malicious software designed to infiltrate the systems used to run factories and parts of the critical infrastructure.

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9179298/New_virus_targets_industrial_secrets?taxonomyId=85

By Phil Wainewright, ZD Net

Too many people look at cloud merely in terms of the underlying technology of virtualization and IT automation. Although there are some very useful incremental improvements available there, what I’ve been spelling out in my pitches is that this very narrow view misses out the bigger picture of global, real-time connectivity that provides the defining context for cloud computing. Disruptive, game-changing business innovation becomes possible when you start to join up the dots and take advantage of the interplay between cloud computing with mobility, social networking and other aspects of the Web. Thus, to really take advantage of cloud for business transformation, you have to be what Vinnie Mirchandani calls a ‘new polymath’, harnessing multiple technology strands.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/saas/polymaths-see-the-bigger-picture/1108

by Bella English, Boston Globe

The more I connect digitally, the more I’m drawn to hard copy, so I decided to look at the history of paper and all related technologies. In reading Shakespeare, I stumbled on this moment where Hamlet pulls this thing out of his pocket that he called his tables. It was this fascinating example of a new technology where you wrote on pages (made of specially coated paper) with a stylus and you erased it at night. It was very much a 400-year-old version of what we’re doing today. It came to me that this thing was like his BlackBerry.

http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2010/07/17/william_powers_connects_the_digital_age_with_the_past/