Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Right up there with death and taxes on “Ye olde inevitable list.” But fear not. A password will protect these records for hundreds of years...

There's Been a Leak At WikiLeaks

"German paper Der Freitag claims it has uncovered a batch of online unredacted diplomatic cables that came from WikiLeaks. Editor Steffen Kraft said he found a 'password protected csv file' that contained a 1.73GB cache of diplomatic cables from WikiLeaks. Its pages contained 'named or otherwise identifiable "informers" and "suspected intelligence agents" from Israel, Jordan, Iran, and Afghanistan.'"


(Related) ...or maybe not. Interesting that the US Government concluded that this deal was in the country's best interest. (Or perhaps Oracle's lobbyists were earning their pay?)

US Gov't Lobbied EU To Approve Oracle-Sun Merger

"Cables leaked by Wikileaks have revealed that the U.S. Government actively pressured the EU Competition Commissioner to approve Oracle's acquisition of Sun Microsystems. The cable reveals that the U.S. went to great lengths to discover how the competition commissioner felt about the 'pro-competitive' nature of open source software and whether this would represent a threat to the US$7.4 billion deal."



Interesting because this suggests that Privacy is valued or perhaps one billionaire (Bloomberg) has found a way to stick it to another – even if it is for a paltry $27 mil...

http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/murdoch_loses_27_million_contract_with_ny_schools_20110829/

Murdoch Loses $27 Million Contract With N.Y. Schools

… According to The Huffington Post, Michael Mulgrew and Richard Iannuzi, respective heads of New York City’s and the state’s teachers’ unions, protested the proposed contract with Murdoch’s company earlier this month: “It is especially troubling that Wireless Generation will be tasked with creating a centralized student database for personal information even as its parent company, News Corporation, stands accused of engaging in illegal news gathering tactics, including the hacking of private voicemail accounts.” —ARK



Interesting speculation? The ultimate Christmas present? A victory for content over hardware?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20099144-93/amazon-could-sell-5-million-tablets-next-quarter/

Amazon could sell 5 million tablets next quarter

… Sharing her thoughts in a blog post yesterday, Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps said that if Amazon can launch a tablet below $300 and provide enough supply to meet demand, it could sell anywhere from 3 million to 5 million tablets in the next quarter.

Earlier this month, Taiwanese news outlet CENS cited information that claimed Amazon was already planning to order anywhere from 800,000 to 1 million tablets per month from August through October from supplier Quanta Computer. An Amazon tablet could launch as early as October, according to Epps.

… Whatever device surfaces, a price point under $300 means Amazon would sell the tablet at a loss. But the goal would be to turn a healthy profit from all the digital books, music, videos, and apps sold to tablet users rather than from the hardware itself.



To Blog or not to Blog...

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/028152.html

August 29, 2011

World Bank Policy Research Working Paper - The Impact of Economics Blogs

The Impact of Economics Blogs, David McKenzie and Berk Özler, August 2011

  • "There is a proliferation of economics blogs, with increasing numbers of economists attracting large numbers of readers, yet little is known about the impact of this new medium. Using a variety of experimental and non-experimental techniques, this study quantifies some of their effects. First, links from blogs cause a striking increase in the number of abstract views and downloads of economics papers. Second, blogging raises the profile of the blogger (and his or her institution) and boosts their reputation above economists with similar publication records. Finally, a blog can transform attitudes about some of the topics it covers."



I'll tuck this away for my next Presentation Class (and send it to a few of my PowerPoint Challenged colleagues...

Short and Sweet Presentation Advice

In the two minute video below Kawasaki shares his advice for delivering an effective presentation. In the video he is speaking to a tech/ business audience, but 98% of what he says applies to any audience.



Now we're getting to the point where an entire education (K-PhD) can be stored on one device. Don't forget to backup your life!

New USB 3.0 Flash Drive Has 2 TB of Storage

"During Display Taiwan, Transcend and Taiwan's ITRI displayed a finger-long USB stick that reportedly offers 2 TB of storage. That's no typo. It somehow holds up to 2 terabytes worth of information. So far neither company has released anything official in regards to specs or a simple introduction, nor does the high-capacity USB 3.0 stick appear on Display Taiwan's website. But as seen in the video below, the 'Thin Card' thumb drive is even smaller than a thumb, measuring slightly thicker than a penny. It offers a minimum of 16 GB and a maximum of 2 TB."



This is not a trivial Infographic – there are many layers. I would like to see it a bit less cartoonish but perhaps that is appropriate for my students.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

How To Do Research - An Interactive Map

One of the challenges that every student faces at one time or another is conducting focused and efficient research. The folks at the Kentucky Virtual Library know this and put together an interactive map of the research process for students. The map, titled How To Do Research, walks students through the research process from start to finish with every step along the way. One of the things about this map that school librarians will like is that it is not focused solely on web research. How To Do Research includes a good section about using library catalogs, books, and magazines.


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